scarletfasinera · 11 months ago
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I will tell you what I did today after I do it. See you soon.
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russo-woso · 2 months ago
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We’ll always be there for you || Lionesses/Arsenal/Alessia Russo
Request | Masterlist
Warning pregnancy, morning sickness, horrible cravings, labour and delivery
Summary Pregnancy is hard for anyone, but it’s even harder when you’re young and it’s unexpected. Luckily, you have some of the best teammates who’s always there to help you.
“Fuck.” You whispered, your eyes glossy with tears as you looked down at the stick in your hands.
Pregnant 2-3 weeks
You didn’t know what to do. You didn’t know whether to scream, or to cry.
Your emotions were already high, having broke up with your ex boyfriend two weeks ago, but having his baby? That was whole other type of emotion.
You’d always known you wanted children, you wanted to be a mother, but later in life, once you’d retired from football.
Currently, you were playing for Arsenal and England, frequently having a spot in the starting line up or if not, definitely coming on later in the game.
Barely just turning twenty, that was an amazing achievement and were expected to be one of the best by the time you were 25.
That’s gone out the window now.
Thoughts flowed through your mind as you continued to stare at the stick.
You were supposed to be playing France on Friday, you couldn’t play whilst you were pregnant.
“Y/N, is that you? Are you okay?” You heard Alessia ask, gently knocking on the door.
You were so wrapped up in your own bubble that you hadn’t realised you’d been crying and sniffling, Alessia clearly hearing your muffled cries and sniffs.
Not coming up with an excuse as to why you were crying, you thought you’d just tell her the truth.
You trusted Alessia like a big sister so you knew she would never judge.
You leaned forward to open the door, Alessia slowly coming in.
You watched as her eyes travelled down to your vulnerable body curled up on the floor of a cubicle in St George’s park.
Her eyes widening as they landed on the stick in your hand.
“Are you…?” Alessia questioned softly, crouching down to sit on the floor next to you.
You nodded, before breaking down.
Alessia held your shaking body as you sobbed.
“I’m here. I’m going to be here with you whatever you decide to do.” Alessia whispered, rubbing your back. “No matter what.”
You spoke to your ex over the phone and had told him about the pregnancy, but there was no surprise when he put the phone down as soon as the words left your mouth.
There was a sense of happiness when he did it because quite frankly, he was a dick and you didn’t want a kind of man like him in your babies life.
You’d also told your parents. That conversation went okay.
Your mum and dad lived over in America, moving there when your older brother decided to. After all, he was their favourite child, it was obvious he was, so they were always going to follow him.
They said they would help no matter what and that they were excited to meet their grandbaby.
As for the England and Arsenal team, that went better than you expected.
You were scared some of your teammates would judge you.
Judge you for being careless. Judge you for being a young mum. Judge you for your decisions.
You stood in the Arsenal changing rooms after a training session, you having to go off and have a separate session.
You’d already told the Arsenal staff, obviously having to notify them of why you causing participate in normal training and games.
“Why didn’t you join us today, kid?” Katie asked, ruffling your hair as she walked past to get to her cubby.
You didn’t know whether to say the truth or not.
Alessia was the only one out of all of them who knew.
You’d spoken to less just a few days prior about telling the team and it had been decided you’d do it soon since you were approaching 12 weeks.
“Umm, tweak in my knee. Just precautionary.” You replied, quickly, truing to make it believable.
“Oh, kiddo, how long did they say you’d be out for?” Steph questioned
“A few weeks.” You said, casually, trying to take the attention off of you.
You looked at Alessia who sent you a saddened look.
The room went silent for a few minutes as you slowly built up the courage to announce it to them.
“Actually…” you began, looking around the room as all your teammates looked at you. Locking eyes with Alessia, she nodded encouragingly. With one final breath, the words fell out your mouth. “I’m pregnant.”
The room fell deathly silent again, to the point where you’d hear a pin drop.
You wanted the world to swallow you up.
You looked at your teammates blank faces, no expressions on them at all.
But then they all turned to smiles.
“Congratulations, kiddo.” Beth exclaimed, tackling you into a hug.
“Thanks, beffy.” You smiled softly as you hugged her back, a sigh of gratefulness leaving your mouth at your teammates reactions.
“My turn for a hug now.” Leah said, pushing Beth out the way. “Congratulations, star. You’re going to be an amazing mama.” Leah told you, using your nickname she’d given you from when you first joined arsenal. “I’m gonna have to come up with a nickname for your baby now.”
“Pain in the ass, that would be a good one. Waking me up every morning to be sick.” You explained, resting a hand on your slightly curved stomach.
“We have another partner in crime!” Kyra cheered, nearly jumping into your side.
“Careful of the baby! She’s carrying arsenals next best player.” Leah scolded Kyra
“I’m fine, le.” You said before turning to Kyra. “Think of all the pranks we can pull with the baby.”
“It’s going to be so fun.”
Everyone came and hugged you, congratulating you on the news.
The England girls reacted all the same.
You’d messaged the group chat with all the lionesses in and explained that you’d be out for a year because you were pregnant.
That afternoon, your phone was blowing up with messages from your teammates congratulating you.
You cried at their reactions, really happy that you could welcome your baby into a world where they’d be loved so dearly.
The next few weeks went by quickly.
You were ten weeks pregnant when Alessia suggested you moved in with her.
If you were to describe Alessia, you’d describe her as an overprotective older sister.
So when you let it slip that you had been sick all night and morning, she insisted that you moved in with her.
She couldn’t stand the thought of you being that vulnerable on your own.
You told her that it wouldn’t just be you moving in, it would also be the baby, but she didn’t care.
She wanted what was best for you and the baby and that meant not being on your own when you’re that vulnerable.
You were grateful that she had offered to move in with her because the day after moving in, you had the worst wave of morning sickness.
Alessia was up immediately, rubbing your back and holding your hair up.
“This is fucking ridiculous. I thought morning sickness was supposed to last a few weeks.” You mumbled, leaning against the wall as you finished the first round of throwing up.
“I know, hon, but you’ll have your baby at the end of it.” Alessia pointed out and you nodded, going to respond but instead having to throw your head in the toilet. “It’s okay, I’m here.”
“And if you look just over here, there’s your baby.” The nurse said, pointing to the screen.
“That’s your baby, Y/N.” Alessia whispered, her eyes stuck on the screen.
Since your parents were in America and you had no other family living in England, you’d asked Alessia to go with.
She said yes immediately, pulling you in for a hug at how honoured she was.
“And if you listen, that’s your babies heartbeat.”
A soft rhythm of a heart beating filled the room as stared in awe at the screen.
Alessia squeezed your hand, and you looked up at her with a smile on your face.
You watched as she blinked back tears.
“Why you crying, lessi?”
“I’m just proud of you, kiddo.”
“Your baby looks perfectly healthy. They’re the perfect size for 12 weeks.” The nurse said, as you nodded along, but you couldn’t really hear anything else because you were so focused on the heartbeat. “As you can see here, there’s their arms and their legs. Their head is resting just on the left side of your womb there. And their nose is just there.” The nurse pointed to them all on the screen.
You watched the screen closely as you watched your baby move.
“They’re saying hello.” The nurse joked as you let out a small laugh.
The nurse continued to go through things with you, before printing off some pictures and booking in your next scan.
“You best send a picture to everyone, they’ve all been messaging me asking if everything okay.” Less said as you got in the car.
You took a picture of the scan pictures, sending it to the Arsenal and England group chats.
You sent them a follow up message explaining how everything’s perfect.
Everyone messaged back saying how happy and proud they were.
You’d finally reached 20 weeks, the half way mark.
Your bump had grown a lot and so had your need for sleep.
Your baby has started kicking a lot.
Two weeks ago, you felt the first kick, and then they never stopped.
All day, every day. But it was even worse at night time.
Barely getting three hours sleep at night, you struggled to keep your eyes open.
You were exhausted and you were only half way through the pregnancy.
Today though, you were pushing your exhaustion to the side because today was your gender reveal party.
You weren’t having anything big. Just a few teammates and a cake with either pink or blue in it.
Unbeknownst to you, it had been arranged that loads of your international teammates were travelling from all over the county to come.
Tooney was obviously coming, in fact she’d spent the night as well.
Viv had organised everything for the party, including the cake, because she was one of the only ones you trusted not to tell anyone.
She’d dropped the cake round earlier and had helped Ella and less decorate the house before everyone came.
You’d been stuck inside your room all morning, Alessia and Tooney wanting the decorations to be a surprise for you.
So when you were finally allowed to leave, it felt like you were leaving jail.
You were all ready, your hair and makeup done.
You wore a white dress that showed off your baby bump.
Walking into the living room, you were met with a room full of your teammates.
“Surprise!” They exclaimed, your eyes widening in shock.
“Y/N, you’re glowing.” Chloe said, getting up to hug you.
“Thanks, Chlo.” You replied, shrugging it off, not believing her.
“She’s not kidding, kiddo. You look great.” Mary told you
“It’s all makeup, I look exhausted without it.” You sighed, plonking yourself down next to Leah on the sofa.
“How’s bubba doing?” Leah asked, rubbing her hand over your bump.
“Kicking a lot. Feel.” You moved her hand to the right side of your bump, exactly where the baby was kicking.
“They’re kicking hard. Gonna be a defender just like their auntie le.” Leah told you and you scoffed in response.
“No, they’re going to be a midfielder like their mama.” You said, rubbing your bump.
The room fell into a light chatter, everyone talking to one another.
Eventually, it was time to cut the cake.
Everyone crowded round the table where you stood waiting.
“Before I cut the cake, I just want to say thank you to all of you who have turned up today. It means a lot to me, knowing how much you love the baby. So thank you.” Everyone cheered before encouraging you to cut the cake.
They counted down from three and on zero, you cut the cake.
Slowly, you pulled out the slice, revealing a baby pink colour inside.
A girl
Everyone cheered at the sight, the England girls happy that another lioness was joining the squad.
You cut the rest of the cake, sharing it round to everyone.
Everyone sat in the living room, full from their cake, as they spoke some more.
They all stopped their conversations one by one when they heard small snored filling the room.
They turned to you, delicately holding your bump as you sat leaned up against Alessia, fast asleep.
Everyone got their phones out, taking a picture, awing at the sight in front of them.
“Bless here. She needed this sleep, didn’t she?” Millie questioned as Alessia nodded.
When you awoke, everyone had gone and it was back to being just you and Alessia.
“Did I fall asleep?” You mumbled into Alessia side, rubbing your eyes.
“You did, hon, but it’s okay everyone knew you were tired.”
“Did I at least get round to cutting the cake? God, don’t tell me I fell asleep before cutting the cake.” You panicked as Alessia laughed slightly.
“You cut the cake.” Alessia confirmed. “A baby girl. You’re a having a little girl, Y/N.”
“Good, I don’t think I could’ve coped with a boy.” You joked, your eyes still full with exhaustion.
“Go back to sleep if you want to, hon. We don’t need to go anywhere.”
“How you feeling?” Alessia asked, rubbing your shoulders as you sat bouncing up and down on a yoga ball.
“They’re getting worse.” You respond, holding your now nine month bump.
You’d started getting contraction yesterday afternoon and they’d continued all throughout the night.
“Fuck.” You mumbled, grabbing your bump as a contraction hit.
Alessia rubbed your back comfortingly, helping you get through your contraction.
“Missy needs to come out soon, auntie lessi wants to meet her.” Alessia said, using the nickname you’d created for your baby girl.
“I know, I can’t wait to meet her either. It also means I don’t have to be pregnant anymore.” You said, sighing.
“I know, hon.”
“Less go get ready, you’ve got training in an hour.” You pointed out to her
“Y/N, you really think I’m leaving you whilst you’re in labour? There’s no way I’m leaving your side.” Alessia told you
“Less, you’re going to training. My contractions aren’t that bad for you not to go to training. You’ve got a match Saturday that you have to train for. Please go.” You begged, feeling guilty for being the reason why she wasn’t going to training.
“Fine, but if anything happens, you ring me straight away.” Alessia said and you nodded.
“I will, I promise. Can you help me up? little miss is kicking me right in the bladder.”
Alessia helped you up before you waddled to the bathroom.
Just as you were reaching for the door handle, you heard a pop before a gush of water.
“Less? Forget about you going to training. My waters just broke.” You told her, looking down at the puddle by your feet.
“Your waters broke? Fuck, what do we do? You go wait in the car, or go change it’s up to you. I’ll grab the—” Less rambled, clearly panicking.
“Woah, lessi, calm down. You go take a seat. I’ll go upstairs and change and then we’ll head to the hospital. Oh and also, take a chill pill, yeah?”
“So close, hon. She’s nearly here.” Alessia encouraged you, wiping your sweat drench hair out your face.
After nine hours of gruelling active labour, the time had come to finally push.
Alessia had stayed by your side the entire time and most of your teammates were already waiting in the waiting room.
“I can’t do it, less.” You said, breathlessly, throwing your head back after pushing for ten seconds.
“You can, Y/N. Your baby girls gonna be here soon. I know you can do it.” Less told you
“She better be worth it after this.” You remarked, squeezing Alessia’s hand as you felt another contraction come which meant one thing, it was time to push again.
“She will, hon, I promise.”
“Her heads out now, one more big push and she’ll be here.” The midwife announced after another torturous push.
“Never have children, less.”
“Okay, hon.” Alessia said, letting out a laugh. “One more push. That’s it.”
The next moments went by in a flash.
All the pain disappeared as you pushed for the final time.
A cry filled the room as your daughter was passed onto your chest.
“Hi, baby.” You smiled, tears and sweat rolling down your face, as you looked at your baby.
Alessia watched, tears flowing from her eyes.
“Who’s cutting the cord?” The midwife asked, holding up a pair of scissors.
“You cut it, lessi. You’ve been with me the whole pregnancy.” You told her, taking your eyes off your baby girl to look at her.
More tears welled in her eyes as she cut the cord.
The nurses took your daughter away to be cleaned and checked over.
She was perfect, ten toes and ten fingers, and weighed in at just under seven pounds.
When she was handed back to you, she was wrapped in a blanket with a small hat upon her head, covering her small tuffs of brown hair.
“She beautiful, hon.” Less whispered, looking at the baby on your chest.
“She is.” You agreed, stroking your finger up and down her cheek. “I have a baby, less.”
“You do indeed, hon.” Less laughed before a small silence filled the room.
“You want to know her name?” You questioned, Alessia nodding straight away, desperate to know.
“Her name is Missy Alessia Y/L/N.” You revealed, looking up to see Alessia’s reaction.
Alessia just burst out crying, leaning down to hug you.
“Thank you so much.” Alessia said in between sobs.
“Thank you, lessi. You know, when I first saw that I was pregnant, my first thought was to put the baby up for adoption. It wasn’t that I didn’t want a baby or I wasn’t ready for one, it was that I didn’t have anyone to help me. But then you saw me, and in that moment, When you said you’d be with me the whole way, I knew that I wanted to keep the baby. We have you to thank.” I explain to her, getting emotional. “Here, hold her.”
“Hi, missy.” Alessia cooed, staring in awe at the baby in her arms.
The rest of the girls came in shortly after, looking in awe at Missy snuggled up in Alessia’s arms.
“Hey, kiddo. How you feeling?” Leah asked, gently hugging you.
“Exhausted, but it’s so worth it.”
“I bet.” Leah kissed the top of your head before walking round to see missy.
“She looks just like you, kid.” Beth said, sitting on the edge of your bed.
“Lessi said that too.”
“Are we late? Has she been born yet? Oh my god, them hallways are long. I feel I’ve just ran ten miles.” Tooney shouts, bathing into the room.
Cries fill the room, everyone turning to see missy.
“Tooney!” Less lectured her, passing the crying baby to you.
“It’s okay, mamas got you.” You whispered, missy immediately calming down from your voice and touch.
The girls watched, most of them getting emotional at you and missy.
“Tooney, you can’t just—” Mary started shouting but everyone shut her up by shushing her.
“We’ve just got missy to sleep.” Leah told her. “What is her name? We can’t just keep calling her missy forever.”
“Of course you can. Her name is missy after all. Missy Alessia Y/L/N.”
“See, I’m the favourite auntie. She’s named after me.” Alessia told Ella, a playful smirk on Alessia’s face.
“Welcome to your crazy family, missy. Where all your aunties are all weirdos, except for me.” Millie whispered, stroking her cheeks.
“Welcome to your family, kid.” You repeated to Missy, pressing your lips delicately to her head.
• Y/N_Y/L/N04 posted •
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Liked by alessia, leahwilliamsonn, and 72,753 others
My little love 🤍
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deunmiu-dessie · 7 months ago
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ⅷ▬ ⁽ 𝒶𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓃 ⁾
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𝓌𝑜𝓇𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓃𝓉 ♡︎ : ₈˖₅ₖ ˚₊·—̳͟͞͞♡
𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 ♡︎ : unedited, plot, alien/human, fluff, nim'xen is a simp, he falls first and then falls harder. ₍⑅ᐢ..ᐢ₎
૮ ˙Ⱉ˙ ა ʳᵃʷʳ ⁿᵒᵗᵉˢ : no smut, but! a cute little unfinished one-shot of mine.
𝓈𝓊𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓎 ♡︎: on the way home from the store, the unthinkable happens.
꒰male!alien ₊⊹ afab!reader꒱
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“Breaking News: Massive Asteroid Comes Dangerously Close to Earth, Scientists Unaware Until Hours Later.
In a stunning turn of events, a colossal asteroid, previously known as ZTFoDxQ but now identified as Asteroid QG, narrowly missed colliding with Earth. The planet-sized asteroid made its closest-known approach to our planet on Sunday at 12:08 a.m. EDT, coming within a mere 1,830 miles. This remarkable event marks the closest asteroid flyby ever recorded, where the celestial object managed to survive the encounter unscathed, as confirmed by NASA.
However, the surprises didn't end there. Just this afternoon at 1:00 p.m., reports have emerged that a fragment of the asteroid has broken off and penetrated Earth's atmosphere. The exact location of impact is currently being evacuated as a precautionary measure. 
 Scientists are scrambling to analyze the data and understand how such a massive asteroid managed to come so close to Earth without being detected until hours later. The lack of awareness has raised concerns about the effectiveness of current asteroid detection systems and the potential risks posed by near-Earth objects.
NASA and other space agencies around the world are now working to improve their monitoring and detection capabilities to prevent similar surprises in the future. The incident has also sparked discussions about the need for increased funding and resources for asteroid detection and deflection efforts.
As the world watches in awe and relief at the near miss, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the potential dangers lurking in space and the importance of continued vigilance in monitoring the skies for potential threats. Stay tuned for further updates on this developing story.” 
3 months later
“Can you do me a favor, sweetheart?”
Interrupting your peeling, you raised your eyes from the bowl of potatoes, freezing the peeler in your hand. You cast a frustrated glance at her, your annoyance thinly veiled behind a strained smile. You were already handling most of the cooking for the evening, so what more could she want from you?
Interpreting your insincere smile as a signal of agreement, she resumed her task of tending to the bubbling broth on the stove, deftly chopping the carrots and watching them plunge into the savory liquid with a satisfying plop. "Your sister's going on a trip tomorrow and I totally spaced on getting her food. She likes turkey right? I'll just throw together a sandwich for her." 
A soft snicker escaped you as the peeler slipped from your hand and plunged into the water-filled bowl. You shifted your attention towards her, trying to decipher if she was genuinely serious or not. Yet, as you locked eyes with her, she responded with an arched eyebrow and an inquisitive grin.
"Jess has a poultry allergy, Mom." 
The woman paused briefly, inhaling deeply to gather her thoughts. As she glanced up at you, she shifted her hip to the side. Her apologetic expression seemed somewhat contrived. "Of course, I should have remembered. I'm sorry, honey." 
It was understandable that the woman might eventually forget. She wasn't the one who hurriedly took Jess to the hospital when she had her first experience with it, she wasn't the one who remained by the girl's side day and night, eagerly waiting for her to regain consciousness. But you were. You were Jess's first in everything. You had always been there for her, so it's only natural that the bond between the two of you grew strong. You knew all about her allergies, her preferences, her school crushes— you felt like more of a mother to her than her biological one.
 "Whatever. I'll pack her lunch." 
You swivel the chair and slide off of it. "The blue card, right?" As she nods her head absentmindedly, almost as if she's in a daze, you leave the kitchen with a frown etched on your face.
Snatching your keys from the hook, you hastily slide into your gym shoes, relieved that you hadn't bothered changing your clothes. You stand at the bottom of the stairs and shift your weight. "Jess! I'm going to the store, do you want anything?!" You delve into your mom's purse, sifting through the chaotic contents until you locate her wallet and retrieve the blue card food stamp card.
   After a brief silence, her bedroom door swings open and she rushes towards the railing, a bright smile on her face. " Ice cream? Shark week came and I've been really craving strawberry ice cream."  You give a nod and quickly retrieve your jacket from the closet. "Do you need any money for the trip tomorrow? I can take some out on my way back." 
The young girl shakes her head, her eyes filled with adoration. You raise an eyebrow but still nod in understanding. Retrieving your phone from your pocket, you give it a gentle shake. "Text me if you need anything, but be quick about it." Without waiting for her response, you swiftly unlock the door and make your way onto the porch.
The sky is adorned with a delicate blend of pink and deep purple, gradually blending into the mysterious darkness of the night. A gentle breeze carries a subtle chill, but you embrace it without a word, wrapping your jacket tightly around your being. Swiftly, you navigate towards your vehicle, unlocking the door and sinking into the plush leather seat. A faint hint of smoke dances in the air, causing your nose to crinkle in response. Without hesitation, you lower the window, letting it air out.
As the smell dissipates you roll up the window and rub your hands together from the cold.
 With a flick of a switch, the heat begins to flow, gradually filling the space and caressing your cheeks with a gentle warmth. The jacket you wear, once a shield against the chill, now threatens to make you feel almost too warm. With a contented smile, you leave the driveway behind and glide swiftly down the street, embraced by the cozy ambiance within.
 As you embark on the drive, the radio remains silent, allowing your thoughts to drift away. Your thumb dances lightly on the steering wheel, lost in a world of its own. Deep down, you had already made up your mind to have Jess by your side once you left. There was no way your parents could take care of her, especially with what you've heard today. 
 Your job was well-paying and you had saved up to rent and secure a two-bedroom apartment at an astonishingly reasonable cost, despite its pristine condition. Nestled within a delightful community, the apartment stood conveniently close to Jess' school. Naturally, obtaining their consent would be imperative, yet even if they were to resist, you would unhesitatingly embark on a legal journey to assert your rights. Yet even if they were to resist, you would unhesitatingly them to court. 
  You wanted a better life for Jess, you wanted the rest of her remaining years of growth to unfold effortlessly. Your affection for her was so profound that witnessing her spiral, just as you had, while residing with your parents was simply inconceivable.
Startled by a gentle tap on your window, you were momentarily transported from the reverie you had been lost in while sitting in the Kroger's parking lot. Your mind had been wandering, lost in a sea of thoughts. With your heart pounding in your chest, you slowly shifted your gaze towards the source of the sound and cautiously opened the window, allowing a sliver of the outside world to seep in.
 She was an elderly lady, much older than you, with a look of homelessness about her. Her shirt was stained and torn, her jeans in tatters, and her face covered in grime. You hesitated for a moment before offering her a warm smile and rolling down your window just a tad further.
  "Hi, do you need something?"
As her murmurs dance in disarray, fragments of words manage to intertwine, and in a fleeting moment, a shiver cascades down your spine. " You're. . . Die. . . Tonight."  
Her expression is vacant, her gaze distant, and the fidgety way she picks at her cuticles hints at her unease. Even though you feel a sense of discomfort, a strong urge to leave the parking lot doesn't overcome you. Instead, you reach into the glove compartment, retrieve a crumpled $20 bill, and gently pass it through the window.
 You recoil in shock as she snatches it out of your hand, making sure to quickly wobble off. With your heart racing, you roll up the window and sink into the headrest, trying to soothe your jangled nerves. What the hell was that about? The only conclusion you can draw is that she must be a deranged old woman.
After finally catching your breath, you unlock your car door and slide out, card in hand. Gently inserting the blue plastic into the slot at the back of your phone case, you carefully place it in your pocket. The night had fallen, and you were eager to return to the comfort of your home.
You took a cart from the parking lot racks and pushed it inside, feeling the chill of the air as you entered the store. "Hmm, what should I pick up for Jess?"
   "Jess! Mom! I'm home!" You set the bags onto the dining room table and wait there with a cocked hip. Within moments, Jess emerges from her room and descends the stairs in a flurry. A gentle smile adorns your face as you present the tub of delectable ice cream, relishing in the delightful sound of her joyful squeal.
  "Ah! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" With a grateful smile, she plants a sweet kiss on your cheek and pulls you into a warm embrace. She then heads to the kitchen, excitedly searching through the drawer for a spoon. Your mother, already present in the kitchen, peeks out from behind the corner.
You notice her face contorting into a slight frown paired with a gentle smile. You recognize that look instantly, so you grab the car keys and smoothly slide the card off the table. Her eyes soften with regret as she passes you a tiny list. "It's just a few things, the ingredients for Jakiya's birthday cake that slipped my mind. Do you mind picking them up?"
   You raised an eyebrow, lips pursed. "I don't necessarily have a choice, mom." Your mom huffed and rolled her eyes. "It's a simple yes or no question, don't be difficult." Despite your strained relationship with your mom, you made an effort to avoid arguments when Jess was present.
Speaking of which, Jess had stopped rummaging in the drawer, body strung tight like a bow. Your gaze softened as you released a weary, deep sigh. You were completely fed up with your parents' nonsense, but Jess shouldn't have to witness the constant fighting between the three of you.
With a gentle nibble on the tender flesh of your cheek, you gracefully acknowledged your mother's request, enveloping yourself in the comforting embrace of your jacket. "Sure mom, what do you need?"
A smile of gratitude adorned her face as she pushed a small list towards you. You grinned wryly as you snatched it, then swiftly headed towards the door. The sun had long set, plunging the world into darkness. The street lights flickered weakly, barely illuminating the empty streets.
 Jess gazes at you as you prepare to depart, smiling guiltily.  With a playful roll of your eyes, you silently express your affection, mouthing the words 'I love you' and blowing a tender kiss in her direction. Her nose scrunches up adorably, but her face lights up with a radiant smile as she reciprocates the gesture. As you steal a glance to the side, you catch sight of your mother observing the exchange, her eyes filled with a bittersweet longing.
 "Text me if there's something else, I'm not going back out later." The words were directed towards Jess, but she dismissed them with a wave of her hand and reached for a large spoon from the drawer. Stepping outside, you were greeted by the refreshing embrace of the cool, crisp air, causing you to release a frustrated sigh. The sound of your keys jingled as you retrieved them from your pocket, pressing a button to unlock the car doors. With a swift motion, you hopped into the front seat and firmly closed the door behind you.
 You wait impatiently as the engine sputters before shutting off. Resting your head on the steering wheel, you attempt a few more times before surrendering. Frustrated, you hit the dashboard and recline in your seat. If you were to go inside and inform your mom that the car wouldn't start, she'd make you walk anyway.
With a sigh escaping your lips, you swing open the door and slide from the seat locking the doors behind you. Embarking on your journey towards Kroger, you find yourself humming a gentle melody, adding a touch of serenity to your brisk pace towards the supermarket. The night envelops you in a tranquil embrace, yet the houses you pass by are alive with vibrant activity. As you stroll along, your gaze wanders towards the windows, offering glimpses into the lives unfolding within.
    Some families are cooking while others are at the table already eating. Happiness danced in the air, casting its enchanting spell upon every corner. Yet, as you observed this idyllic scene, a twinge of envy tugged at your heartstrings. Growing up, you yearned for such a blissful atmosphere that seemed to elude you. At the tender age of nine, your parents bestowed upon you the title of maturity, deeming you wise beyond your years. And while, yes, you possessed a certain level of wisdom, it did not equate to being capable enough to care for your baby sister.
 It fell upon you to fetch Jess from daycare and ensure a safe journey back home for the two of you. It was your responsibility to prepare meals for both of you after school. The weight of raising your four-year-old sister and yourself rested solely on your shoulders, as there was no one else to do it for you. Over time, the bond between both of you and your parents had weakened. They were seldom present, and when they were, disagreements ensued. You made an effort to keep the arguments hushed whenever Jess was around. She often blamed herself for the strained relationship between you, your mom, and your dad.
As you stroll along the dimly lit street, a sudden hush falls upon your heart as the echo of footsteps reaches your ears. Time seems to stand still, and for a fleeting moment, your heart skips a beat. Yet, amidst the uncertainty, you cling to a glimmer of hope, imagining that those footsteps might belong to a passerby, innocently treading the same path as you.
They draw nearer, their footsteps quickening. You swallow your trepidation, nearly stumbling as a man's voice pierces the air. "Excuse me!" His voice resonates with a deep, thunderous timbre, sending shivers down your spine. You flinch, but press on, hastening towards the bustling street where the glow of passing cars illuminates the pavement and towering structures. Towards the sanctuary of safety.
 "Hey! I'm talking to you." 
  You're almost there. You start to jog a little but they've closed in a bit too much. Their presence looms closer, their energy palpable. Just as panic threatens to consume you, you part your lips to release a piercing scream, only to find that silence has enveloped the air.
A gentle breeze rustles the leaves of a bush, followed by a brief, hushed cry that fades into silence. The chirping of crickets has ceased, leaving a stillness that envelops the world. With uncertainty, you glance behind you and collapse to the ground as the two men have vanished. Gazing up at the night sky, the reflection in your eyes, you offer silent gratitude to whoever intervened and saved you in that fleeting moment.
   You stand up and you resume your journey, eventually arriving at the bustling street. Though your legs falter when you notice the woman from earlier sitting on a bus stop bench. The impact of the $20 becomes evident as she savors a warm, nourishing meal, and her once weary eyes seem to be less bloodshot. 
 A part of you hesitates to pass by her, yet you dismiss that fleeting sense of unease and march towards her. It appears that she is also cautious of your presence, as her head swiftly turns towards you—almost as if she is just as cognizant of you as you are of her. Her gaze drifts beyond your shoulder and her eyes widen, a sheer terror reflecting in them. She abandons her meal, rises with some effort, clutches onto her bag, and hastens away.
Your brows knit together and you cast a glance over your shoulder, a whirlwind of bewilderment dancing in your gaze. There is no one lingering in the shadows and the surroundings appear undisturbed. Returning your attention to her path, you discover that she has vanished into thin air. A sense of unease settles within you as you resume your journey towards the store, diligently keeping a watchful eye on the space behind you.
The parking lot is nearly empty when you leave the store. Alongside you, a stream of tired employees bid farewell to their workday, their footsteps echoing in harmony with your own. Amid this scene, a message from Jess illuminates your phone, informing you that dinner has already been prepared. However, a bittersweet note lingers as their parents, driven by impatience, have chosen to indulge in the meal without your presence.
      The girl had put you some food up and would eat with you when you got home. You tell her that it's fine and for her to go to sleep. She responds back with the middle finger emoji. You let out a soft laugh and gently tuck your phone away, resuming your journey back home. In moments like these, you can't help but appreciate the invaluable presence of your sister. She is the unwavering support that keeps you grounded, the guiding light that helps you navigate through life's challenges. It is because of her that you find the strength to persevere, even in the face of your parents' constant demands.
Raising Jess, despite its challenges, has molded you into the person you are now. A person who is dependable, always on time, patient, and strong-willed. You possess the remarkable ability to adapt swiftly and thrive in any endeavor you undertake. If your parents hadn't entrusted you with the responsibility of raising your sister, none of these remarkable qualities would have blossomed within you. Although it may be bittersweet, raising Jess has truly been a hidden blessing, concealed in the depths of life's mysteries.
As you hurriedly make your way home, you take a shortcut and find yourself in the dimly lit parking lot of a mysterious barber shop. Instantly, a wave of regret washes over you as you stumble upon a group of men engaged in some clandestine activity. Panic sets in, and you quickly decide to retreat. However, fate has other plans for you. In your haste, you accidentally collide with a solid chest, causing you to freeze in your tracks. 
When you gather the courage to look up, you are met with a sight that leaves you breathless. Standing before you is a towering figure, adorned with intricate tattoos that seem to tell stories of their own. His pierced septum and eyebrow only add to his intimidating presence, and his annoyed expression sends shivers down your spine. As his eyebrows furrow, you can't help but do a double take at his striking attractiveness.
 "Watch where you're going, woman." You nod in agreement and attempt to move aside, but a member of the group lets out a disrespectful whistle. Your body tenses as you try to keep walking, only to have your wrist grabbed by another individual. "Where do you think you're going? You're such a pretty little thing."  
"I just want to get home. Please, let me go." Your attempt at a stern tone falters as your voice quivers and a hiccup escapes. Laughter fills the air, causing you to shrink back as if confronting a pack of wolves. Six of them. 
   The mysterious figure you collided with earlier firmly grasps the man who is restraining your wrist. " I don't have all fucking night Tyler. Either give me my shit, or I'm going to blow your brains across this goddamn lot." 
The atmosphere suddenly becomes hushed, as if time itself holds its breath. A distant memory resurfaces, a conversation shared with your sister, where you both playfully pondered about how you would handle such a situation. Laughter filled the air as you jokingly mentioned pepper spray and karate moves. But now, in this very moment, fear grips your heart, rendering you utterly petrified.
    Tyler releases his grip on you, causing a small, trembling breath to escape your lips. "Jesus, Dom. I was just joking," he says nervously, glancing at his friends for support. A few chuckle while others remain silent.
 Dom gazes at you, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Go. Before I change my mind." Despite the stern tone, there is a softness in his eyes that reassures you. You thank him profusely and speed walk away from the group. 
The moment you thought you were making headway, the piercing screams and the thunderous gunshots shatter the night's calmness. Time seems to stand still as the world around you falls into an eerie silence once again. With a lump in your throat, you quicken your pace, feeling the weight of tears welling up in your eyes.
This couldn't possibly be the end for you. It simply couldn't. You still had a duty to care for your sister, to provide her with a better life than you ever had. You longed to shield her from your parents, but how could you do that if you were no longer alive?
   As you sprint away, tightly holding onto the groceries, a gasp escapes your lips before a hand covers your mouth, guiding you into a hidden bush. The struggle feels like the most intense challenge you've ever faced. Through a tiny gap, you catch a glimpse of your groceries left behind on the pavement.
  " Shh, little female." 
As if by magic, a wave of calm washes over you the moment you recognize the familiar presence of 'Dom'. Tears cascade down your cheeks, and you gently rest your hands upon his, feeling the rhythmic beats of your heart resonating in your ears. As you glance through the foliage, a gasp escapes your lips upon seeing 'Tyler' once again. Yet, he appears far from human this time. His complexion is a mesmerizing shade of deep purple, and his face is adorned with four fiery red eyes and a menacing set of frothing, razor-sharp teeth.
His mouth oozes with saliva, which cascades onto the solid ground and creates a sizzling noise. It was acidic. Dom embraces you tightly, his free hand ascending. In his grasp, a peculiar gun emerges, unlike anything you have ever laid eyes upon. With precision, he positions the barrel's tip against the peephole, his finger gently caressing the trigger. As the gun powers up, a radiant orange glow illuminates its entire frame, casting an ethereal aura. The release is nearly soundless, as a beam pierces through 'Tyler's forehead. 
He moves away from you, emerging from the bushes, taking your stunned body in his arms and lifting you up gently. Running his fingers through his hair, the white locks falling smoothly into place.
As your gaze meets his, your mortal eyes widen in awe. He appears changed, yet undeniably captivating in a strange, otherworldly manner. His complexion is a deep shade of grey, adorned with intricate tattoos in an unfamiliar script. Some markings are white, while others emit a haunting red glow. His hair, too, is a ghostly white, almost pulsating with life. His eyes, a cloudy white, give the impression of blindness, yet two more eyes rest just below the main set. The piercings on his nose and eyebrow remain, adding to his enigmatic allure.
 You take a step back, but he gives you a piercing look that freezes you in place "What are you?" Without a word, he hesitates for a moment before taking your hand and leading you away. "Where are we going?" Your voice trembles with fear. Dom halts and releases your hand. He gestures towards the lifeless body.  "Do you see that? Hundreds of those things have already touched Terra, 3 earth months ago." 
  You shiver and wrap your arms around yourself, trying to keep warm. The deep timber of his voice brings you back to reality. "They proliferate with astonishing speed, ceaselessly multiplying. Your planet is infested, we're only here to see if it was preventable. We were too late." 
As he looks down upon you, his eyes soften, embracing the sight of your trembling figure.  "Our ultimate aim is to gather a chosen few among humanity and escort you to a hospitable planet, so that you can once again repopulate."
You shake your head slowly, taking a step back, "I cannot abandon my sister here." Dom releases a fierce growl, pointing his gun towards you and firing. The beam narrowly misses you, striking another monster in the head.
"Make it quick."
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In a flurry of movement, you dart into the house, the groceries slipping from your grasp and finding their place on the table in a haphazard manner. Dom follows silently, his presence masked by a cloaking device that renders him invisible to the naked eye. 
Your heart races within your chest, a wild stallion galloping against the confines of its cage, as you ascend the stairs with reckless abandon, the sound of your footsteps reverberating loudly against the wooden steps. Bursting into Jess' room, a wave of relief washes over you, a grateful prayer whispered under your breath. Taking a seat on her bed, your smile quivers with a mixture of emotions.
Her expression is one of bewilderment and a touch of fear. Tenderly, you sweep a strand of hair away from her face. "Do me a favor, my sweet girl. Pack some clothes, but pack light. I'll explain on the way but do it quickly." Jess has always trusted your decisions without hesitation, and she won't begin to question them now. She swiftly jumps out of bed and retrieves a bookbag from her wardrobe, the very same one you both use during your camping adventures.
"We don't have much time, little female." His tone isn't rushing in the slightest but you quickly head to your room and grab your book bag. You gather only the essentials - tough denim, comfortable shirts, reliable footwear, empty notebooks, and writing tools.
Jess rushed into the room, packing faster than anticipated, much to your relief. You take her hand and guide her out, but suddenly a loud crash interrupts. Both of you scream and huddle in the corner. Dom reveals himself and fires a shot, striking the massive creature in the shoulder. Its deafening roar rattles the house and you hear your parents' heavy footsteps approaching. Just as the monster lunges towards you, Dom takes aim and shoots it in the head. Neon blood splatters the wall, causing it to slowly dissolve.
With wide, frightened eyes, Jess looks up at you as you cling to her protectively. Your parents step into the room, dressed in their robes, shocked expressions on their faces as they take in the scene in front of them. Dom pays no attention to them, instead turning his gaze towards you and giving you a once-over.
" Are you ready?" 
 With a subtle nod, you accept his outstretched hand, intertwining your fingers with his while ensuring your younger sister is safe by your side. The first to break the silence is your father, his voice laced with bewilderment. "What the hell is happening?!" His eyes fixate on you, as if you hold the key to unraveling this enigma. Disregarding his inquiry, Dom strides past, leading the three of you down the staircase. Your parents trail behind, bombarding you with a flurry of questions. Despite their persistent curiosity, you make a conscious effort to block out their voices, but your mother intervenes by snatching Jess away from your side.
With a sudden movement, the girl breaks free and falls into your waiting arms. Dom brandishes his weapon, his expression icy and resolute. Your mother retreats, seeking solace in the arms of your father.
 Dom takes the lead, while the two of you follow closely. Observing Jess, he sees her slight build and anticipates she may have difficulty keeping pace. However, he remains utterly unfazed, not a hint of complaint escaping his lips. In a surprising display of strength, he effortlessly lifts her, prompting her to let out a startled yelp, and places her book bag on his shoulder.
" We need to move fast. Keep up."
 As you secure your book bag and inhale deeply, a rush of adrenaline courses through you. Dom sprints ahead, weapon in hand. The sound of breaking glass startles you, disrupting the tranquility of the surroundings you had just passed. The anguished cries of parents and children tug at your heartstrings, but your focus remains on Jess.
 The length of time you've been running is a blur, your legs now numb from the effort. Nevertheless, you persist, matching his pace as best as you can. Jess has succumbed to sleep, worn out from the night's adventures. You grin wearily at her and give yourself a firm slap on the cheeks, determined to stay awake.
 Dom is pleasantly surprised by how far you've been able to sprint, appreciating your resilience and commitment to your kin. As the three of you reach a vast clearing, he gradually slows down and halts. You catch up to him, panting heavily, with sweat glistening on your skin. You look at him, curious as to why he's stopped. Dom raises his arm and utters something in his native tongue. The gauntlet beeps and responds to him in kind.
The once vacant clearing now teems with life as your gaze is captivated by the majestic arrival of a ship. Its sheer grandeur overwhelms you, compelling you to take a step back. Towering above, the ship's entrance demands you to tilt your head back. 
As Dom guides you onward, the hatch swings open, inviting you to step onto its surface. A warm welcome awaits you from a gathering of his companions, each adorned in vibrant hues, yet all sharing the distinctive feature of milky white eyes. Drawing nearer to Dom, you find solace in the proximity of your sister. They engage in conversation briefly, before the hatch seals shut and Dom secures his firearm in its holster. " You will be safe here. The ship will take off tomorrow night when my people come with more of your kind."
  He leads the two of you to a room, one big bed placed in the middle of it accompanied by a smattering of curious contraptions. The walls exude an ethereal shade of slate grey metal, while a petite window graces the space just above a cozy sitting area. Tenderly, Dom settles Jess upon the bed and places the bag on a nearby table. He looks towards you and motions forward. "Rest."
As he moves towards the room's exit, you seize his hand. Your eyes betray a lack of trust, not in him, but in the very ship and its occupants. Dom stares at you, his emotions veiled, and you struggle to hold back tears. " Will you come back? Are you leaving us?" 
 In Dom's world, the idea of a female requiring reassurance and assistance was unfamiliar territory. The females on his planet, known as sîmalę, were formidable warriors, often occupying positions of power surpassing those of the males. Dom found himself fortunate to have gotten his position. [ Female¹]
He reminds himself that you are a human hailing from the terra planet. The concept of hunting or encountering creatures that did not resemble pets or the animals confined within the cages of a zoo was foreign to you. Dom gently releases your hand from his grasp, his gaze emanating reassurance despite the vacancy in his expression." Sleep, little female and this one will be back soon."  
Observing as you reluctantly nod, you make your way towards the bed. With tenderness, you remove your sister's shoes and tuck her in, finding solace in this simple act of nurturing. Your savior exits the room, leaving you to collapse onto your knees, tears cascading from your eyes. The events of today crash upon you with the intensity of a thunderstorm, and you come to the realization that it is now solely you and your sister. A small part of you regrets not bringing your parents along, but you have convinced yourself that it was the wisest choice.
 " What's wrong?"
You swiftly brush away the tears with the back of your hand. Gazing at your sister, you grasp her hand gently in yours. Her eyes hold a hint of doubt as you shake your head. It was crucial to show Jess that you were the pillar of strength, assuring her safety and control.
  "It's nothing, I'm just exhausted. Let's head to sleep okay?" Jess nods, revealing the empty side of the bed for you to rest on. You kick off your shoes and wrap yourself in the comforter. Jess joins you promptly, nestling beside you to provide warmth. The lights recognize your need for rest and dim down.
  "I love you." 
You grin and hold her hand in yours. "I love you too."
—-
The gentle murmur of voices pulls you from your slumber, but Jess is no longer by your side, leaving you feeling a sense of emptiness. Your eyes gradually open, taking in your surroundings. A sleepy yawn escapes your lips as you sit up in bed. The voices fall silent, only to be replaced by Jess' voice, beckoning you to join the conversation.
"Are you finally awake?"
A slight thumbs up is the only response Jess receives before you run your hands over your eyes, dispelling the drowsiness. "Dom says that the others will be back soon, in two hours. Then we'll be leaving here." At the mention of his name, you lift your gaze completely. The alien is stationed at the entrance, arms crossed, sporting a ghostly smile as a greeting.
Relief floods through you when he appears, and he can sense it too. Your oxytocin levels spike at the mere sight of him. The moment is disrupted by the loud rumbling of Jess' stomach, leading her to groan and flop onto the bed. "I'm starving!"
  A piece of your heart is relieved to see Jess back to her usual self, yet a part of you understands the importance of discussing the recent events and what lies ahead. Dom opens the room door and motions to it. "This one will take you to the canteen, you'll eat there." 
   Jess eagerly jumps out of bed, taking your hand and pulling you along. "Hurry, I don't want to go by myself," she pleads. You yield to her plea and stand up. Dom watches the two of you but doesn't race you to get ready. The two of you quickly put on your shoes and exit the room.
Dom assumes the lead, acknowledging the presence of the guards stationed throughout the ship. "You will eat with the rest of your kind, worry not." You reciprocate with a nod, holding your sister tightly while marveling at the ship and its bewildering gadgets that surpass Earth's comprehension. Dom opens the door for both of you, placing a comforting hand on your lower back. His touch brings solace as you step inside, with Jess following closely behind. Although the canteen isn't teeming with people, its modest occupancy provides a semblance of safety within the ship's vast expanse.
"Jess?"
    The sound of your sister's name comes from a girl with dyed red and pink hair. A dazzling diamond stud graces her pierced nose, and her eyes gleam in a warm toffee shade. It takes a moment for your sister to locate the person who called out to her, but when she does, her eyes fill with tears of happiness as she waves in acknowledgment.
You anticipate your sister's eager rush, yet she remains rooted, her hand clasping yours with increasing intensity, as if seeking your validation. A profound connection is forged as your eyes meet, and despite the weariness etched upon your visage, you manage to summon a tired smile, silently conveying your agreement. With unwavering determination, Jess propels herself towards the girl in the queue, leaping into her outstretched arms. "Kayla!"
 While your sister is occupied, you sit at an unoccupied table, startled by Dom's sudden presence across from you. "How do you and your kin fair? Little female." It's a pity that you feel more at ease with an alien than your own kind. 
" My name is [ ]."  The nickname he has given you isn't one that offends you in any way. The way he uses it is quite endearing, but you'd rather him call you by your real name than anything else. You wring your hands together and your stress levels rise steadily. Anxious thoughts swirl in your mind as you ponder,  "What will happen to everyone else that's left here?" 
Your name carries the meaning of 'to conquer' in his native tongue and he finds it fitting for you. Dom's jaw tightens slightly as he locks eyes with you. "This one will not lie to you. Many of your species will die, it is survival of the fittest when it comes to the Qęnłar. They are hard to kill without proper weapons but it is not impossible."  
[ Abomination¹]
A soft gasp is stifled by your hand as tears well up in your eyes. The sense of guilt consumes you, making you question your own worthiness. Unsure of how you could have helped, you can't help but feel like an imposter among those who perished.
Dom seems to sense your inner turmoil and does his best to console you. "There is not much you could've done, litt–."His voice falters momentarily as he nearly utters the name he'd given you, but he swiftly regains composure. "Had you not gone out that night, you also could've been left here on terra to die. None aboard this vessel would have spared a second thought to rescue you." 
 It's clear that he's not skilled at soothing people, particularly humans, yet you offer your thanks with a watery smile. As he opens his mouth to speak again, he gently places a hand on his ear. Despite the absence of eyebrows, you observe the furrow in the center of his forehead. His gaze turns icy as he stands up from the table.
   "This one will find you in your chambers later, ask the guard to lead you when you are ready. Fęrłåk dė hłał." Although you don't understand the meaning behind his words, you nod in agreement, captivated by the enigmatic aura surrounding him. He then departs, pausing briefly to converse with the guard. [ Eat well ¹] 
  With a glance in your direction, the alien acknowledges Dom with a nod. Your stomach emits a low growl, prompting you to lay your head on the table, too fatigued to make a move.
Clang!
Next to your slouched figure, Jess sets down two trays brimming with mouth-watering dishes. As you straighten up, a grin spreads across your face. You instinctively grab the tray loaded with an assortment of fruits, feeling understood by her intuitive gesture— she knew you so well.
"Where did he go?" You assume she's talking about Dom. With a nonchalant shrug of your shoulders, you indulged in the succulent sweetness of a ripe mango, savoring each delicate bite.
 "Jess. What happened yesterday–."
The girl holds up her hand. "I don't know what happened when you left, and there's no need to tell me. I've never questioned anything you've done for me before because you always have the best interest at heart. Thank you for coming back for me. Dom told me that you wouldn't leave without me." 
She gazes down at her tray of food. "A part of me feels guilty for leaving mom and dad but I know that you made the right decision and had your reasons." Jess lets out a shaky sigh and turns to face you. "I'm scared, absolutely terrified but I want to be strong for you. Like how you are for me. I can tell you're stressed as it is and I don't want to burden you." 
  You pull her into a hug and shake your head. "Jess, you could never, and I mean never be a burden to me. Do you understand?" She nods into your chest, sniffling softly. You rub her back and bite your lip. "I'm also really scared, this is new to me but I'll make sure that we'll get through it."
She nods again and pulls away from you. You purse your lips, a mixture of emotions swirling within you, and decide to divert your attention by savoring the delectable cantaloupe. "Now eat. You pulled me from my sleep and I want to go back to bed."  Jess chuckles softly, her head bobbing in agreement. " I'm also really sleepy. It'd also be crazy to wake up in space." 
 The mere thought causes you to grimace involuntarily. This entire experience is uncharted territory for you, but just like in the past, you will learn to adapt and persevere. The cool, refreshing juice of the watermelon glides down your throat, its delightful taste prompting a gentle hum of satisfaction.
 It feels almost surreal to grasp the idea that within a mere two hours, you will bid farewell to your beloved home. A place you believed to be exclusively inhabited by humans, the notion of extraterrestrial existence had never crossed your mind. The journey that lies ahead will undoubtedly present its fair share of challenges and hardships. This very moment, unfolding like a scene from an otherworldly sci-fi saga, is something you never could have anticipated, even in your wildest dreams. And now, as you find yourself in this new reality, your mission has taken on a profound meaning - to protect Jess at all costs.
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 "Captain X'ęnš would like to enter your chambers. Will you allow him access?"
   In a state of heightened alertness, you find yourself sitting up, your muscles tense with anticipation. The room is suddenly bathed in light, only to swiftly dim as the perceptive AI detects that Jess is still sound asleep. A wave of uncertainty washes over you as you contemplate the identity of the person standing outside the door. 
 Your gaze sweeps across the room, desperately seeking an object to grasp onto for a sense of security. Eventually, your eyes settle upon one of your worn boots. With a mixture of doubt and determination, you call out to the AI. "Please show me the door feed." A brief moment of silence ensues before the AI responds, its voice calm and reassuring. "Certainly."
The door shimmers, revealing a translucent barrier that draws you nearer. Dropping the shoe, you breathe a sigh of contentment at the sight of Dom standing before you. Standing in front of the door, you gaze at him, captivated by the intricacies of his face.
 "Can he see me?"
In a swift response, the AI speaks, "Negative, this is a unidirectional perspective. He is visible solely to you."  As soon as it finishes saying that, Dom raises his head. Your heart pounds rapidly as his gaze eerily connects with yours, contradicting the AI's statement. "Open the door."
As the entryway unfolds with a whisper, Dom's towering figure emerges. You greet him with a breathless smile, slipping your hands into your back pockets. "Hi." Dom mellows at your soft tone, allowing you to place a hand on his arm and push him back, watching as you discreetly slide out of the room so as to not wake up your sister. He does a once over, looking for any wounds or signs of distress, and finds that he's pleased with himself that you're alright. 
 "This one said he would visit after his duties, jœrmünd łæ bšłåm." He watches with amusement as your eyebrows furrow. " What does that mean?" Your lips form a thoughtful pout. "And earlier you said, ferrak di hal." From the moment you first laid eyes on him, even though it was just recently, you had been curious to discover the sound of his laughter, and it did not disappoint.
   His laugh isn't boisterous. It's a deep and soothing sound, akin to the soft murmur of a distant waterfall. As the echoes of his laughter reached your ears, they stirred a gentle fire within, causing a delightful warmth to spread and caress your belly. Whether he noticed the subtle increase in your body's temperature or not, he remained silent, allowing the enchantment of the moment to weave its spell.
    "Jœrmünd łæ bšłåm, it translates roughly in terra language to, 'good evening.'" His eyes twinkle with a playful delight as you attempt to mimic the intricate sounds and melodic cadence. " Fęrłåk dė hłał. It means to, eat well."
Dom gazes intently at you, then clasps his hands behind his back. "Walk with this one."  You wriggle your toes in your cozy socks and give a slight nod. 
As if guided by an invisible force, your steps align effortlessly with Dom's. The silence envelops you, but it feels far from uncomfortable. Your gaze wanders through the vast corridors of the ship, capturing glimpses of unfamiliar beings from distant worlds. At this moment, you break the silence and softly inquire, "May I know your name?"
With a quick glance, Dom's gaze shifts to you, his lips forming a straight line, prompting a frown to appear on your face. You ponder if your request was too bold, unsure of the cultural norms that may have been offended by your question.
As he utters the words, a sense of relief washes over you, even though his expression seems tinged with sadness. "This one's given name is Nim'xėn." he murmurs. In the distance, a group of his fimea approaches, but you remain oblivious, lost in your own thoughts. With a tender touch, he clasps your wrist and guides you to his side, yet your attention barely registers the gesture. [ soldiers ]
  "Nim'xėn, in the language I speak, translates to 'of soft heart'. It doesn't much fit, when it comes to this one's line of work." Your mouth opened in a small 'o', that was probably the reason he had stuck with Dom all this time. You laughed softly, holding your hands up in surrender when he shoots you a coltish look of exasperation. 
    "I think it fits, regardless of what you do." There is no trace of mockery in your tone, nor any hint of jesting at his expense. With a gentle smile adorning his face, he steals a glance at you. A surge of warmth courses through your veins, causing your body temperature to soar. Swiftly, he averts his gaze, evading your notice.
With a gentle laugh, he responds to your attempt at saying his name, "Nim'jin?" He guides you towards a door, "This one will help you practice your Tuökkorsė, later." You assume that he's talking about his home language and your cheeks flush with embarrassment, making you question just how badly you butchered his name.
As Nim'xėn gently swings open the door, a beckoning gesture invites you to step inside. Without hesitation, you follow the invitation, and in an instant, your jaw falls open in awe. Unbeknownst to you and Jess, who had been lost in slumber for over two hours, the ship had gracefully ascended into the vastness of space. The sight before you is nothing short of breathtaking, confirming your belief that waking up to the wonders of the cosmos is an experience beyond compare.
The space around you is encased in what looks like a delicate glass structure. You floated weightlessly in the vast expanse of the universe, far from the comforts of home. "Nim, this is truly breathtaking," you marveled. The alien blinked in response to the endearing nickname but remained silent. "Jess would love to see this." 
  Nim'xėn walks up behind you and fixates on the view he has witnessed countless times. However, inexplicably, he discovers himself treasuring your pįiwth expressions and yearning to unveil new wonders, all to witness your delightful grin once more. [ childish or cute¹ ] 
 "This one gives permission for you and your kin to visit here anytime." The enigmatic allure you possess has captivated him, leaving him bewildered. It is not his nature to be swayed so easily. He should have abandoned you on that desolate street, yet your innocent gaze had a profound effect on him. The depth of your love for your family astounded him, for even in the presence of imminent danger, your thoughts were solely consumed by her, and her alone.
Once he had escorted you to your room, his task should have been complete. Yet, your tender human hand had entwined with his own. Your unwavering trust and reliance had ensnared him, making it difficult for him to let go. In a realm where his female counterparts were independent and formidable, that moment of vulnerability had drawn him in, like a eürq to light.
 [ large mosquito like creature —  a saying similar to, ' a moth to flame ' ¹ ]
   Yet, he also knew how strong you were. None before you had managed to match his speed, let alone endure it for an entire three hours. Your unwavering determination fascinated him. Nim'xėn yearned to prolong your time together, reluctant to bid you farewell.
 Turning to the extraterrestrial, you met his gaze with the same wide-eyed innocence that had captivated him during your initial encounter. "Seriously?" His nod elicited a radiant smile on your face, reminiscent of the joy of Christmas, and Nim'xėn felt a flutter in his hearts. Your eyes then sought his. "How do you say thank you in your language?"
 Nim'xėn couldn't help but find it pįiwth¹ that you were making an effort to learn his people's language. He decided to humor you. "Stęq'hn kevvhr.²" The alien chuckles when you grimace, looking up at him with furrowed brows.  [ childish or cute¹ ] [ thank you² ]
 "Lirft X'ęnš, quœ mojå iėał ph'ük ak hlem.¹ "
As he tightens his jaw, a resolute grunt escapes his lips. Returning his attention to you, he observes the slight downturn of your plush lips and the tilt of your head to the side. "Do you need to leave, again?" Nim'xėn softly hums, his hand finding solace on your lower back as he leads you towards the door.
[ Captain X'ęnš, we need your assistance up front. ¹ ]
"This one will take you back to your room."
 As you tread back, a hushed calmness settles in, and Nim'xėn discerns that your thoughts have carried you away. Respecting your need for introspection, he chooses not to disturb your reverie. Upon arriving at the room, you turn around, meeting his gaze head-on. "Stęq'han kever." Without delay, you slip inside, leaving him standing there, his words left unspoken.
   He then realizes that while the two of you were walking back, you had been trying to replicate what he had just said. Nim'xėn, finding himself once more, made his way towards the pit. Despite your imperfect rendition, he grasped the essence of your intention and couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
phæż pįiwth ¹ he thought.  [ how cute. ¹ ]
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exhaslo · 9 months ago
Note
Ok ok soooo what if you did like a fasion designer y/n and she is helping Miguel redesign his suit then like as she is measuring him or something she notices he is hard and like ✨smut✨
Oh, reader will take the measurements alright. Hopefully they can remember it *wink wink*
Warning: MINORS DNI, smut, p in v, oral (m receiving), slow sex, mirror sex
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"How did this happen?! I specifically remember both of us working on this suit, making it nearly impossible to tear!" You yelled towards a poor, nervous Peter.
"To be fair...It wasn't one of my villains."
"Oh? I'm sorry, I didn't know heroes could villain swap! Who the hell did you trade with? The Guardians of the Galaxy?" You scoffed, holding the destroyed suit in your hands.
"Easy, (Y/N), only I can bully them this much." Miguel said as he walked into your office, "You also have to remember, he's new."
"Which is why I helped him with the suit." You hissed lowly and tossed it back to the Peter, "You get to remake it. When done, I want to know who the hell you fought that tore the suit to shreds."
"..."
Peter kept quiet as he slowly made his way out of your office. The silence was more than enough for you to start assuming shit. Inhaling deeply, you walked over to your espresso machine and made both you and Miguel a cup of coffee.
"You know the work you do is above all," Miguel hummed as he took a seat on your couch. You gave him a pout,
"But it's never enough. How am I supposed to be helping you all make suits if they never hold up after a few fights?"
"They're not supposed too," Miguel reassured you, "Only special conditions like my original suit can withstand such events."
"But you won't let me touch the stuff."
"It's unstable for a reason." Miguel said with a heavy sigh and approached you from behind, "But, like everyone else. I need to upgrade my suit."
"Oh? No more blue and red?!" You gasped in shock, then grabbed his hands, "Ohhhhh, does this mean-"
"Yes, I'm letting you help me make a new suit."
You jumped with joy, nearly squealing at the thought of helping Miguel. The man liked to keep his toys to himself. That, and you would finally get a chance to measure him. There was a glint in your eyes as you observed him.
Miguel was a FINE man. Compared to all of the Spiders, he was definitely your type. When Miguel first approached you with the intension of making super hero suits, you nearly drooled at the thought. You loved a challenge.
And Miguel was your new target.
"So, when can I take the measurements?" You asked, handing Miguel a cup of coffee. Miguel raised a brow,
"I can have Lyla send them over-"
"Seriously? What the hell am I supposed to be here for then?" You huffed, giving Miguel a glare.
"Fine. Is tomorrow alright?"
"It's a date."
-------
Miguel was internally screaming as he sat in his office, staring at you on the cameras. The thoughts he had about you. The things you did to him. Miguel had a damn good reason why he never went to you for his suits. You brought out the worst of him.
Even now, the thought of you being up close to him was turning Miguel on. He was going to have to take precautionary measures in order not to lose control.
"Fuck."
--------
Today was the day. You had your morning coffee, your best outfit and your best panties attitude. No one was going to disturb you today. Your office was closed to everyone expect Miguel. This was the chance of a lifetime.
Getting your station and measurements ready, you just smiled from ear to ear. Your notepad was set aside, ready for you to take down Miguel's numbers.
"(Y/N)? Are you here?" Miguel asked as he entered. You hurried over and locked the door,
"The chance of a lifetime is mine. Get your ass up on my stage! We begin with your chest!" You cheered. Miguel resisted a chuckle as he took his shirt off,
"At least one of us is enjoying this."
You were giddy with glee as you approached Miguel. Your gaze against his chest as you started to take his measurements. You could not lie, being this close to him was driving you crazy. His cologne smelled so good too.
You hummed quietly to yourself as your fingers stroked his chest. Every now and then you grabbed your pencil and wrote in your small notepad. Moving down to his hips, you kept your focus. Miguel's body was just perfect.
"(Y/N)...Maybe we should take a break," Miguel grunted lowly.
"Not yet," You muttered.
Your hands rested against the rim of his pants, reading the numbers on your measuring tape. Adjusting the tape, you leaned down in front of Miguel and felt your face burn up. His hard erection was right in front of your face.
"Ah-" Your eyes widen and without thinking, "Should I measure this too?"
"If you want," Miguel whispered.
Both of you weren't thinking.
Your fingers gripped Miguel's boxers, slowly pulling them down. Your attention was focused on his large, thick cock. With a gulp, you grabbed your measuring tape and wrapped it around his meaty shaft. A shudder ran down your spine, before you checked the length.
"Is this...proper...length?" You whispered, your fingers wrapped around his dick, "Or should I-"
"You should," Miguel groaned lowly.
You could feel your heartbeat in your panties as you leaned towards Miguel's dick. Your tongue gently swirling around his tip, listening to his low groans and grunts. You glanced at the mirrors all around you, the sight turning you on more.
You were on your knees with Miguel's dick in your mouth. Inhaling through your nose, you leaned forward and started to suck his dick. Your hands resting against his hips as you bobbed your head back and forth. His thick shaft hitting the back of your throat.
Your panties grew damper as you felt Miguel's bitter precum start to go down your throat. His hands gripping onto your hair as he started to move your mouth faster. The sheer length of his dick was starting to burn your throat as you gripped his hips.
"Fuck, hn, (Y/N)!" Miguel hissed.
Tears formed in the corner of your eyes as you tried to touch yourself. Unable to handle the burning sensation anymore, you pulled away from Miguel, panting heavy. Quickly, you stood up and wrapped your arms around his neck, kissing him.
Miguel was quick to follow as he nearly tore your pants, tossing them across the room. His talons ripping your panties as he started to rub his dick against your wet cunt.
"Hah~ You owe me...new underwear and pants now," You moaned, pressing your body against his. Miguel grunted as he pressed you against one of the mirrors,
"You wanted to take my measurements," He hissed, pressing his thick cock inside you.
"Hn~ Mhm~ Y-You wanted a suit,"
"I still do," Miguel hummed, sitting his dick nice and deep inside your tight velvet walls, "Do you still remember my size?"
"O-Of course!" You huffed, glancing at yourself in the mirror, "Y-You're way too big."
"Haha, but look how well you take me,"
A shiver ran down your spine as Miguel lifted your body closer to his. He spread your legs, allowing you to see his cock deep inside your dripping pussy. The sight alone was making you hot. With a slow thrust, you moaned, nearly shaking in his grip.
"Sucking me in so well," Miguel sucked against your neck as he continued his slow, yet rough thrusts, "This was why I didn't want you to measure me."
"Ah~ Ah~ Y-You should have, mhm~ let me, oh god~" You cried out, feeling yourself about to cum.
"You're right, I should have. Look at how perfect your pussy is sucking my dick in," Miguel grunted.
Turning your face to the mirror in front, you moaned as Miguel slapped his dick back inside you. Your eyes rolled back as you cam, crying out as he kept his slow thrusts. Miguel's hands gripped your breasts, pinching your nipples as he hummed against your ear,
"Do you still remember my measurements?"
"D-Deep~"
You trembled as your pussy fluttered against his dick. Miguel chuckled in response and pressed your body against the mirror, rubbing your clit as he moved even more slowly. You cried, begging for him to go faster.
"Not until you tell me my measurements."
"P-Perfect!" You cried out, moving your own hips, "S-So deep! S-So big ah~"
"Hm, good enough,"
You cried loudly as Miguel's pace finally fasten. His dick slamming against your cervix, causing you to cream and suck his cock more. Your body shaking as your juices started to stain your floor. Miguel grunted as he pulled you closer, reaching his own high.
"Want to watch me fill this pretty little pussy?" Miguel groaned. You nodded,
"Yes!"
Lifting you back up, Miguel held your legs open. His had you staring in the mirror with him, watching your own fucked out expression contort in pleasure. You gasped as Miguel pinched your clit once more, watching you cum against his cock once more.
You cried and leaned back, but Miguel kept your face towards the mirror. You gasped and moaned as he slapped himself once more inside you, filling you with his cum. Both of you took a minute to catch your breathe before Miguel set you down,
"Are you alright? Let me clean you up," Miguel said worriedly. You grabbed his hand,
"I may have forgotten your measurements."
"Oh?" Miguel said with a low chuckle. You glanced up at him, cheeks red with embarassment,
"I think I need a reminder."
"As many times as you need."
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I'll take his measurements any day. I mean hope you enjoyed!! Haha
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mechaknight-98 · 9 months ago
Text
Skyline (NSFW) Ft. Eunbi and Hyewon
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Authors note: an unexpected and unplanned Eunbi/Hyewon fic. Enjoy
You wake up tied to your chair confused you try to move but you are chained.
“Oh good you are awake,” a familiar voice says to you.
You are done playing nice at this point though. You turn to the voice which is behind you, “Look I don’t know who put you up to this but you are going to get yourself killed playing this game. So I suggest you back off while you still have bones.”
“Oh, what your super-powered girlfriends are going to hurt me. No, I told them if they came here you're dead. Now if they want to see you again I am expecting a formal retirement announcement from Eunbi.” the voice said, you break out of your chains and groan.
“Oh you're Superior,” you say recognizing the voice.” look I am going to leave, and if you follow me or do anything to come for me I am taking you off the census,” you add as you get up and begin to leave. You turn to make sure he sees your face. As you walk out. His face is furious and you realize that you are going to have to kill him when he says,
“You think I'll let you just leave?” you shoot a laser beam through his skull vaporizing his nervous system. He fell to the floor dead. You groan as you fly back to your apartment. You do hate killing it was messy and left too many variables in play but you weren't going to let a D-tier hero keep you as a hostage or kill you. You had too much pride for that. When you open the door Eunbi and Hyewon are waiting for you patiently. You smile at your girlfriends. Eunbi approaches you with a cute pout. She has a needy look in her eyes. Hyewon sneaks behind her. Hyewon grips Eunbi’s bountiful chest and brings her tits out. Hoping you would fuck her wild tonight. She also wanted you to destroy her pussy as well but she knew Eunbi’s tits in combination with the bloodlust you felt after a kill would be more than enough for you to be ready, but she needed one more spark which came to her when she remembered what she caught Eunbi earlier
“You know this slutty hero has been getting off on your stories right? I saw her in the bathroom masturbating to a recording of one of your early fights.” to her credit Eunbi tried not to give into her arousal but when she was aroused she came fast and violently. She desperately screamed for you, “God Overlord I love your rage please take it out on my pussy. It's so wet and ready for you.”
Eunbi and Hyewon began to strip as they continued to watch you. Eunbi eyes you with hungry eyes as you take your cock out and give it a few precautionary strokes. Eunbi’s eyes are wide.
“Is my good boy going to let me suck his cock.” she says as she manages to pull away from Hyewon long enough to get close to you. You nod as Eunbi smiles.
Hyewon smiles behind Eunbi as the duo leads you to the bedroom. “He's not a good boy.” she teases. The three of you walk into the bedroom and they begin to strip you. Eunbi starts by slowly pulling your pants and underwear down. Your cock points at her aggressively. Eunbi looks up at you eyes full of rampant lust and pent-up frustration. You caress her face letting her know it's going to be okay. She subtly nestles in your touch. You can feel her worry about your safety fade, and in its place respect and lustful fear. She looks up at you and says, “How did you ever become a villain? Everything about you is so caring and considerate. You cook meals for us. You take us shopping, heck you cuddle with us all night. Everything about you screams safety. So what made your heart so dark?”.Eunbi asked as she swallows your cock.
You consider your words carefully and ask if she wants to know. Her responsive gaze is full of lust and adoration as she nods. You turn to Hyewon she smiles and mouths “Tell her.”
“Do you remember a new hero about 8 years ago named Skyline?” you ask.
Eunbi’s eyes squint as she struggles to suck you off while answering your question. She just wants to engorge herself on your rod, gag on it, and lose herself to the pleasure but can't because she needs to be present for the conversation she asked for. As she remembers your question she nods before giving a few more bobs of her head before breaking the connection and crawling to your side. She began to leisurely stroke you. You moaned. Hyewon began to kiss you. She loved when your mind was clouded by passion whether it be derived from lust or wrath as it always led to a “good fuck” afterward.
“So what was this about skyline?” Eunbi asked you.
“Well I was Skyline,” you said to Eunbi. Your voice was heavy with the sadness of the memories. Eunbi looked at you with eyes full of soft care
“Wait how? I remember hearing that you died destroying that meteor. The same meteor That destroyed Pleasanton.” Eunbi asked as she held you in her hand. She massaged your balls as your body confused jolted into her touch, as both several emotions blurred and mixed in your mind.
“Well the reports of my death were greatly exaggerated but the short story is. I got a call from the UNSA telling me that a meteor was coming down. What they didn't tell me was that in my dealing with it would still cause damage. See they told me it was a baseball-sized meteor. So imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the size of a minivan. The UNSA figured that the meteor would kill me and they get rid of the malcontent who was vocal about the way the bureaucracy ran superhuman endeavors, but that's not what happened. Now yes my tracker and super suit all burned to ash but obviously, I didn't die. My powers mutated beyond what they were due in part to two things, the exertion of trying to stop the meteor and the radiation that it gave off, but what really “killed skyline” was the aftermath. Because the president of the UNSA used it as a platform to install the Aegis program, which I was deeply vocal against. The worst part about it all was that. Oh god.” as you spoke Hyewon felt your rage swell and it aroused her. She took matters into her own hands and started stroking you faster until you couldn't take it anymore. You got up from the bed and lined your cock with her pussy before plunging in. Hyewon moans
“Yes babe give it to me,” Hyewon said
“You dirty girl,” you say to your girlfriend before you spank her ass. You thrust slowly at first giving her time to adjust
“Just fuck me. I need it.” Hyewon whined. You grunted in response and began to thrust harder and faster. Hyewon arches her back into you as your cock sends shock waves and ripples through her ass. She smiles at you.
“Damn Hyewon you're so wet and tight tonight,” you growl. As you continue to impale her with your cock.
“Yeah, babe I got so wet thinking about you fighting.” Hyewon cooed
“Oh so you like it when I'm bloodlusted,” you question
“Oh god yes. You always are so rough with me just the way I like. I get to feel your strength tear me apart.” Hyewon moans as you pick her up to kiss her. Her tongue rapaciously invades your mouth as she tries to dominate you, but you're in charge right now not her. You lift her and put her in the mating press position.
“Oh God. You're so deep.” she moans as you lift her off and on your cock repetitively. Having not tasted her tits in a while you lean down and begin to suck on her left nipple. It drove her crazy. Both Hyewon and Eunbi had sensitive nipples so sucking on them always elicited a favorable reaction. When you finished with the left nipple you attacked the right nipple. You notice Hyewon has a nosebleed but when you mention It she says, “Don't stop keep pounding my pussy”. as you came up from the air you saw Eunbi fingering herself as you dove into Hyewon again. The dripping sounds of her sex taking her fingers in and out serve as a double dose of dopamine as you pleasure Hyewon. Her wanton look encourages you to thrust deeper and harder. Your loins are burning with the desire to fill Hyewon’s pussy. As you turn back to face Hyewon after ravaging her right nipple She moaned then yelled, “I'm cumming.” you continue to fuck her through and past her orgasm. She began to scream at being overstimulated as you kept fucking her.
“You like how I fuck her,” you say to Eunbi who watches with vehement lust. She nods as she encourages you to continue to wreck your shared girlfriend. Her pussy is now audible from across the bed as the squelching noises tell you all you need to know. Eunbi is loving the show you're putting on for her.
“Fuck that slut till she can't walk anymore,” Eunbi says with unbridled lust and lidded eyes. You gaze into her lidded eyes that scream harder and more. So you oblige you continue to fuck Hyewon through her orgasm harder and harder until she finally uses the safe word
“Sea pirate.” she gasps. You immediately cease all of the activity and set her down. Hyewon breathes heavily as you look at her with concern. Eunbi also stops pleasuring herself to check on Hyewon.
“I'm fine I just blacked out. You were too rough and I got scared.” Hyewon replied. You nodded and let Hyewon rest. She tried to convince you to get back to it but in your serious voice you responded
“No, you're done for now. I got carried away and lost control.”
Hyewon groaned, “ I just needed a little breather but I'm good now. I wanted you to fill me up.” she wined
“Another time Hyem. Right now rest.” both you and Eunbi say in your serious voices.
The rest of the night is significantly less aggressive and just somber. You spend time working on various projects to alleviate your lust. Hyewon passes out after you two stop. Later into the night, Eunbi approaches on the couch. She tells you Hyewon is still sleeping.
“Okay good I'm worried I went too hard on her.”
“She’ll be fine. It isn't the first time someone has been rough with her in bed to the point of passing out.”
You nod then a question that's been on your mind pops into your head.
“Go ahead ask it,” Eunbi says with her adorable gap-toothed smile.
“How did you know I had a question.”
Eunbi pointed to your right hand, which was opening and closing repeatedly, “You do that when something's on your mind” she answered, “let me guess how did me and Hyewon meet?”
“No that wasn't my question. I know you all were a part of the same Hero collective before the corporation backing you all disbanded,” you answer with a shrug, “my actual question was why is everyone so obsessed with me seeing red? I mean a consistent theme of my life had been people tiling me up just to see the reaction. Don't get me wrong I love being so free and expressive but I don't want to always be that.” Eunbi was stunned at your question. She had always figured that you reviled in the depravity but as she considered it again everything about you was calm nurturing and peaceable. You didn't want to fight unless it was either needed or it was to refine skills. Everything you did was in the pursuit of Honor. Every Conquest every trial had a goal She thought. The more she considered your temperament the more It made her reconsider several of her opinions and ideations of you. It shook her but also weirdly aroused her. Like her mental image of you before was this wild and free spirit but seeing you in such a grounded and focused sense made her view even more as a strong man, and if there's one thing Eunbi loved it was strong men. You watched as Eunbi lost herself in thought at your question. You didn't want to interrupt but you were taken aback when she said,
“You'd make such an excellent dad I need to make you a dad breed me now.” your cock sprung to life at her words but your mind was reeling from the mental whiplash. “Excuse me?” you questioned
“I just realized that you'd make an excellent dad. So please fuck me and put a baby in me.” you squint as you listen because none of this is how you expected the chat to go.
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cottonlemonade · 5 months ago
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Chickening Out
word count: 630 || avg. reading time: 3 mins
pairing: Oikawa x chubby!Reader (feat. Seijoh4)
genre: fluff
warnings: none
synopsis: Oikawa couldn’t pull through kissing you and his friends find out
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“What do you think happened?”, Matsukawa whispered to the others.
He, Iwaizumi and Hanamaki stood in their captain's bedroom, looking down at the bulk of blankets hiding the boy.
“Sick?”, Hanamaki suggested.
“Dead?”, shrugged Matsukawa.
“Rejected?”, Iwaizumi offered with an indifferent groan.
“He hasn’t even touched his milk bread yet.”, Hanamaki said, adding, in his mind, a piece to the puzzle as he pointed to the little bag they had carefully placed by the pillow as to draw their friend out.
“You think it has something to do with the new girl he’s been running after the past month?”, Matsukawa asked, his arms crossed in front of his chest, examining Oikawa’s form closer, maybe to check for breathing.
Iwaizumi nodded knowingly.
“Do you think she slapped him for pulling something weird?”, Hanamaki wondered, feigning scandal by raising his hand to his mouth.
Matsukawa tilted his head and shrugged again, not excluding the possibility.
“Would serve him right, being rejected by a girl like that.”
“A girl like that?”
“Yeah, one you’d actually want to date.”, Iwaizumi explained and the other two nodded in agreement.
After a short stretch of silence, Hanamaki asked, "Has anyone checked if she is still alive?"
"Oh my god, guys, I can hear you.", came Oikawa’s muffled voice from under the blanket.
They took a precautionary step back when he lifted the cover and rubbed his face.
"Come on, Trashykawa, you missed our morning jog. We just wanted to check if you’re still breathing.", Iwaizumi explained and approached his friend's bedside, thinking for a second, then retreated again and sat down on the desk chair, the others following his example of bringing distance between them and the glaring setter.
"What happened last night?", Hanamaki asked again.
Oikawa really did not feel like sharing.
"Nothing.", he turned his back to them when he put his feet on the floor, looking for his slippers.
"So, you struck out?", Iwaizumi asked bluntly.
Aware of the fact that they would not stop pestering him until he told them, he took a deep breath and recounted last night’s events. How he helped you study (not missing to tell them how adorable you looked in your home clothes and how your school uniform didn’t even do your cute squishy form justice), how you had fallen asleep at the desk about two hours into your study. How he had brushed your hair out of your face and just watched you sleep for a while, making sure you were comfortable and just as he was leaning in to take a picture of your adorable expression you had woken up and sleepily apologized for nodding off. Oikawa had then realized just how close your face was to his and how desperately he wanted to kiss you. And so he had packed his books, given a lame excuse and stormed out of your room instead.
“You… you ran away?”
“She was almost asleep, okay? Would you want your first kiss with someone to be when they are asleep?”
“So what are you gonna do now? Just never talk to her again?”, Iwaizumi lifted a mocking eyebrow, hoping his friend would understand that this was not an option.
"What could I possibly tell her, though?"
"Say… say you remembered that you had early morning training, which you did by the way, and that you only then realized how late it already was.", Hanamki suggested.
"You really think she'd believe that?", Oikawa asked, doubtfully.
Matsukawa snorted. "No, but what else can you say that doesn't make you a coward?"
He effortlessly caught the pillow Oikawa threw at him.
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icarustypicalfall · 7 months ago
Text
Exciting don't you think?
masterlist • ao3 • follow for more
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Leon Kennedy x fem!reader
summary he is too oblivious to notice, bless his foolish heart and pretty eyes.
warnings re2 leon Kennedy, sorta open ending? fluff, mentions of murder and serial killing, short drabble :3
note my hyper fixation is alive y'all, i am not over the infinite darkness leon, but re2 leon is so sweet. sorry if it's inaccurate this is one of the rare times where i post something other than the cod fics. enjoy and ily
**
“[he] is only slain by stab after stab, and loves on till the last drop of life blood drips away”
Raccoon City, what a magnificent place to be! The soft notes of jazz filled the air, permeating your car as you gracefully cruised through the night. Darkness reigned, with a sprinkling of stars and a glowing moon casting its ethereal light upon the road. It was a wonderful night, such a night as is only possible when we are young.
Ah, speaking of youth, you spotted a youthful-looking police officer on the side of the road, gesturing for you to pull over.
Darn it.
Trouble was certainly brewing. You were well aware that the curfew had already passed, a precautionary measure implemented by the government to safeguard citizens from a recent spate of serial killings. They were secretive about the details, as always.
With a heavy sigh, you glanced in the rearview mirror. Thoughts raced through your mind as you turned off the engine, coming to a halt just as the officer approached your vehicle.
Taking a moment to double-check the weapon holstered at his side, the officer—Leon, made his way towards you. A gentle cough escaped his lips before he rested his forearm on the window, knocking lightly to signal for you to lower it.
As you complied, a sweet smile adorned your face, emitting an aura of innocence. The cold breeze crept under Leon's skin, causing him to shiver. He couldn't help but be captivated by your alluring smile and daring attire, a testament to your mischievous nature. Despite his best efforts to maintain composure, his heartbeat quickened as he mustered the courage to speak, attempting to avoid any stammering. "Your registration and identity papers, miss.."
You obliged, handing him the requested documents and, for a fleeting moment, your fingers brushed against each other. Your mischievous self reveled in his bashfulness, as his cheeks flushed, and he retreated to his patrol car to inspect your records. Meanwhile, you remained still, leaning against the window with an impish grin.
Leon returned, his voice barely above a whisper as he returned your papers. "It is past curfew, miss. May I know why you are out?"
Your smile grew wider as you locked eyes with him, finding him rather intriguing. His baby blues avoided your gaze as he fidgeted with the door. With a grin, you replied, "I was with a friend, officer. I assure you, I am a good girl."
Leon gulped, nervously rubbing his neck as the blush continued to stain his cheeks. These formalities were unfamiliar territory for him, making him all the more flustered. Softly, he whispered, a gentle smile gracing his lips as he leaned closer to the window. "Alright, miss... I mean, call me Leon."
You asked, finding the play rather too attempting not to."Tell me Leon, do you always work alone so late?"
He shook his head, feeling his insides flatter with warmth, none had really shown interst in his job before. He replied in a hushed tone still smiling.
"No, I usually don't work alone at such late hours. This is my first time."
Ah, still so young, you thought to yourself.
No, not him.
You nodded, sealing his cheek with a tender kiss. Leon blushed once again, pulling away and watching in awe as you started the car. "Take care miss!"
He called out, and you laughed, "I do enjoy a little danger, Leon."
He observed as you drove off, his heart fluttering with an unfamiliar sensation. Unfortunately, he was oblivious to the crimson stain on your shirt or the axe resting in the back seat.
The following morning, Leon couldn't believe his eyes when he saw your picture in the newspaper. The headline screamed of the capture of the notorious serial killer who had slain a cop while being stopped during the curfew.
You did that in order to silence the persistent officer who had stopped you right after Leon. Caught red-handed, the only thing on your mind was those mesmerizing baby blues... too precious, too angelic. You contented yourself with leaving a mark on his cheek and etching a core memory in his heart.
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annoyinglandmagazine · 1 year ago
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I love the idea of Finweans being transported into Years of the Trees Valinor as much as the next person but you know what I think could be just hilarious for a crack concept? A Sinda being transported into Years of The Trees Valinor. Think Beleg, Mablung, Daeron or maybe even Thingol himself (preferably with no one knowing who they are) getting out of Mandos and into Valinor but they don’t realise immediately that this isn’t current Valinor.
Thingol sees Maglor Feanorian in the marketplace which is a shock already because why would he get out before him but he doesn’t even have the decency to offer apologies when he sees them, how dare he in fact wait a minute he’s waving at him? What’s going on here why is he being friendly, he shouldn’t be able to be that friendly after killing so many people? Does he feel no guilt?
Mostly though for Thingol’s world to get absolutely shattered at meeting Maitimo Nelyafinwe, who yes technically is Maedhros Feanorian but how?! He doesn’t recognise Thingol of course so when he notices he seems a bit shaken by something he’s all polite and considerate and guides him to a bench before clapping him on the shoulder reassuringly and fetching him some tea. With the two hands he now has somehow.
And he sits with him and tries to find out if he’s alright but Thingol’s too confused to run like his life depends on it (and since this is the infamous Lord of Himring it might) because what is he even wearing? That’s practically a gown, not one he’d want to see Luthien in either, he’s not even wearing armour or carrying a blade? And he’s still smiling and it doesn’t look even slightly forced and his hair is actually long, not normal long either it’s down to his thighs for goodness sake.
All hope of sanity disappears when someone who looks no older than 20, comes up to them and starts tugging on Maedhros’ sleeve impatiently, ‘Nelyo, Nelyo, I can’t reach the tools I need for a project.’ Why in all of Arda would a child be approaching Maedhros Feanorian for anything? Why would they not be running in terror and avoiding him at all costs?
Maedhros shot him a conspiratorial glance as if he’d enjoy being in on some joke with a kinslayer ‘That’s most likely a sign you shouldn’t be using them Curufinwë,’ Curufinwë as in Curufin, possibly worse than even Maedhros himself. Of course it was.
‘But Nelyo.’
He smiled apologetically and asked him if he was feeling well enough now. He assured him he was mostly to get him out of his sight long enough to process the interaction and Maedhros Feanorian beamed at him, ‘Alright then, just feel free to come to me if you need anything, I’m always happy to help and Uncle Ara is very good at giving advice if something’s bothering you if you’d prefer.’
Then he stood, making Thingol concerned enough about the loose swathes of material to look away as a precautionary measure (was this a seduction attempt? He’d never heard of the Lord of Himring employing such dishonourable tactics but did he really know anything anymore?) and swept the child who could not be Curufin into his arms spinning him around above his head until he was in fits of giggles, ‘Now how about we ask Ammë about your project and if she says no I can take you somewhere instead? There’s an exhibition on in the city you might like? Sound good to you?’
The person who has to have just stolen the face of the eldest son of Feanor walked off with the elfling balanced easily against his hip and chatting away. This must be a weird fever dream.
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elvestoneanzelote1 · 6 months ago
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𝘈:𝘯- 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦/𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘵.
𝘌𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘰. 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭.
𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘵 24-25 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰.
𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭.
𝘠𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘮 𝘣𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘶𝘺𝘢 𝘹 𝘧𝘦𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳.
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𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵.
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘹 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴.
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There are two ways of how Chuuya falls for you.
𝐎𝐧𝐞: you met him while he was on sheep organization leader and somehow you are a part of it.
--You were kind to him like all the members and admired his strength, You have your own charms on how you approach him.
--if the reader was manipulative he wouldn't catch on that you are swaying him for your benefit.
--but when he does realize it he would already be in love with you deeply. And he will make sure you do so too.
--but if it is pure intent of wanting to be close with him and eventually just want to be friend he will value you dearly.
--he will be hasty and precautionary on you as to how to approach you without scaring you away.
--both side of which reader approach is, Chuuya will not kidnapped you right after the sheep disbandment.
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𝘋𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘧𝘪𝘢.
--if the reader was a part of Port Mafia, at first he would not interact with you much. Though he admits he was slightly attracted to you.
--your ways of dealing things and how calm and Patience you were even towards Dazai or any superior who may have gone overboard.
--This can result a very good deal to him. As a matter of fact.
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𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘴𝘴-
--it is either Reader came right after he was boss. Well it won't have any affect on him as he will concentrate more on dealing the organization over some new members.
--unless you caught his attention some way.
--no seduction will not work on him. Especially after he deals with womans like those even if you are too beautiful he won't. Sway. I feel Chuuya will not care about looks that much.
--I see him to be more matured and doesn't care about lust or love. You will be only just a women who chased after him or perhaps just been too naive and will result you to leave mafia for your own sake.
--but if reader knows him from the day he join mafia or in sheep time he will deeply reluctant on you been around others.
- ---
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥.
--Chuuya care can diverse from both side.
--manipulative reader can result him to care but... Can result breaking of emotions. He will surely show he have power over you and will not be swayed again by your manipulation.
--he dealt with those type a lot, Dazai and Fyodor or even his brother hself.
--You can say your words will slightly affect him but it will be you that will break down first.
--he is way too stubborn. And the fact he gives you a lot just so you will genuinely love him.
--he doesn't want you to always try to think a way to escape nor he wants your fake love.
--he wishes for something deeply from your heart is it too hard for you to give in?
--but some way you do come around... Perhaps... Broken.
--Even if you become shallowed and apathetic, he will still love you.
--shower you with love... Even if you lost all your emotions.
-he knows one day... Or the days to come you will come to love him ... And not the ways to leave.
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--but if the reader is naive and genuine... He will feel guilty of your tears and questioning him.
--he will be the one that manipulates you though.
--not much but slight so that you... Won't hate him.
--Even if he act as a friend for you... To closer friends to suddenly very close... And you don't even know if it is friendship or relationship.
--He will have to take great of his intellect instead of his brawns to make you stay with him.
--perhaps an enemy attack and you rely on him or... He can sway you by guilt tripling you.
--if you were from sheep it is very effective.
--you know how he feels how much he is hurt by the betrayals.
--you know how he come to you for comfort.
--you know how he feel weight down by the others of been a leader yet you stayed with him.
--so... Can you stay with him while he reign over as a Boss?
--without knowing you will be trapped to him as you try to be the comfort for him.
--you were too... Kind and genuine that the felt guilty to literally lock you in his house with guards and all.
--he will take you around the places though.
--and thankfully you have your emotions.
--and no, He won't let any harm come to you.
--and shower you gifts and all.
--well in both cases he will shower you with gifts and all.
--the only difference is Innocent reader will not have the heart to leave Chuuya at all... And the manipulative reader who was not that genuine will be more... Protected.
--you can say manipulative reader will be love way more as suffocation and obsessiveness well more likely not loved that much but a feeling of you to submit to him will be more present.
--while... innocent Reader will bring him comfort and he... Will love you... Slightly less obsessed.
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A:n- that's all thank you for reading!
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once-upon-helluvaboss · 9 months ago
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Rewrite of ‘The Circus’
Hope y'all enjoy
A young Stolas’s eyes shoot open as he sits up in bed, “ My Birthday! It's my birthday!” The young owl squealed happily as he leaped out of bed before rushing into his dressing room, his imp butler following close behind.
Stolas continued to squeal as he sat as his butler began applying gel to his feathers, smoothing them down.
“Calm yourself, young prince, you wouldn't want me to mess up your feathers on your big day now, would you?” The butler said calmly.
“Oh! Right. Sorry,” The young owl responded, taking a breath to contain his excitement.
The Butler walked off momentarily before returning with Stolas' vest and cape.
“You know Father told me, today is the day, that I am old enough to know my purpose and responsibility!” Stolas said happily as the butler helped dress him.
“Of course I know,” The butler responded before placing Stolas’s crown on his head “I'm sure it will be wonderful.” The Butler smiled warmly giving Stolas a light pat on the head.
Stolas happily followed the butler out of the dressing room and down a large hallway. The walls are lined with giant pictures of himself, from when he was an egg right up until now.
The butler pushed on the large double doors at the end of the hall, opening to reveal a throne room. There sat Paimon, Stolas' father and King of the Ars Goetia, in a monstrous black form. As he stood up, his form shifted to display something more bird-like. The butler quickened his pace to stand next to him as Stolas approached his father.
“Ahhhh! There is my little, ah… Stolas!” Paimon smiled, greeting his gleeful son. Paimon leaned downward toward Stolas, slightly surprising the boy.
“Ahem,” Paimon coughed, clearing his throat. “Now then, my little fledgling,” Paimon said as he began to circle his son. “It is finally your day to become a true part of the Goetia family. Are you ready to know what you'll be meant to do to serve Hell?”
“Yes, Father!” Stolas responded confidently.
Paimon then opened a small portal to the cosmos as he spoke, giving Stolas a glimpse of the stars.
“You will be entrusted with the study of the Earth's skies, stars, and the prophecies they hold!” He continued as he pulled an enchanting book out of the portal.
“You will begin the studies of your grimoire, which will grant you access to the mortal realm to study and observe, you will grow to be a mighty Prince of Hell, with your own legions to lead and pass on your knowledge to!” Paimon exclaimed grabbing Stolas off the ground, holding the grimoire under his arm
“I will do my best, Father!” Stolas said bursting with excitement.
Paimon pulled him close into his arms and handed him his grimoire. “Wonderful! Oh, and one more thing; because you are destined to sire a precautionary addition to the Goetia family. You're now engaged!”
Stolas blinked in surprise, he could have sworn it would be a couple more years before this conversation “Engaged? To who?” Stolas asked, cocking his head to the side.
Paimon bent down a bit as the imp butler handed him a yellow envelope. “To a lovely little peacock named Stella! Isn't she charming?” Paimon responded by pulling a picture out of the envelope.
Stolas’s eyes widened as he stared at the picture. Her feathers were in a wild mess as she angrily strangled a Quieve, fiery fury blazing in her eyes. The background set aflame in a pink fire.
Stolas began to loudly wail, snapping his head away from the picture in fear.
Paimon stared at him with a look of surprised confusion painted on his face, before looking at the photo himself, that is. He let out a yelp himself before he began digging in the envelope.
“Oops! Haha, wrong photo! ” Paimon said with a nervous chuckle as he tried to show Stolas a better picture of Stella sitting with a sweet smile, her feathers groomed nicely, with not a Quieve in sight.
Stolas continued to cry, “ Ah, come on son calm down! We’re supposed to meet her today…” Paimon sighed as he wiped away his son's tears.
Stolas only gave a sniffle and a whimper in response. As tears silently rolled down his cheek.
______
Stolas sat silently next to his father in a dark carriage pulled by black horses, his eyes fixated on his talons.
His father looked down at him before lightly rubbing the feathers atop his head. “Just… try to be nice to her okay?” The large owl said with a smile in the softest voice he could muster.
“.....Yes Father,” The small prince responded quietly, without lifting his head.
The two sat quietly, the clopping of hooves racing across the road being the only thing that dared cut through their silence.
Soon the noise began to slow as they reached their destination, the carriage door opening allowing the two to exit. A beautiful large white castle stood before them, Stolas marveled at the flowers that lined the entrances a mix of blue and red. The butler knocked and the door opened, and greeting them was an Imp maid.
“Ah, I was told to expect you! Please come inside!” She said with a curtsy as she led them into the palace. Soon enough they came to a hall where there sat two peacocks and another that looked a bit older than Stolas.
“Ah, Paimon, I was wondering when you would arrive.” The male peacock said with a bow. “Well, weather as nice as this I would have taken my time too!” The lady peacock next to him said with a giggle and a curtsy.
“Yes, it is a nice afternoon isn't it Isabelle?” Paimon responded with a bow of his own. As he stood up straight he looked over, noticing the small blue peacock next to them. “Ah, and you must be Andrephuleus, my future son-in-law, correct? Hmph you take after your mother don't you?” Paimon said with a hum, the only response the small peacock gave was an icy cold glare.
“He truly does, but at least I got some of my genes in Stella!” The male peacock said with a small laugh leading everyone else in the room to quietly chuckle along with him.
“Hmph yes I can tell, but speaking of Stella I can’t help but notice she isn’t here,” Paimon asked,
“Oh, well she wanted to make sure that she looked her very best for her fiance even if it meant risking a bit of tardiness, I do hope you don’t mind.” The man responded with a sigh.
“Oh, not at all Alexander, first impressions are quite important after all!” Paimon smiled as he took a seat at the table.
Stolas looked over to Andrealphus, “Um, hello my name's Stolas! It’s nice to meet you!” he said nervously.
“Ugh, I already know that! You're marrying my sister after all!” Andrealuphus said slyly.
“Oh, I-i uh well,” Stolas shifted as Andrealuphus chuckled watching the smaller squirm.
“Ah, speaking of Stella, ooh~ there she is!” Isabella exclaimed as she stood, everyone's gaze turned towards the stairs as Stella walked down. Stolas stared at her, she was admittedly quite pretty, her feathers brushed down nicely in her light pink dress and silky white gloves, with a small simple gold crown sat atop her head, one the same as his. To be honest, Stolas thought she was quite cute, that is until the image of her strangling that Quieve flashed through his mind, he shivered.
“Ah, you must be Stella! Aren't you just a doll!” Paimon said as the girl came closer.
“Thank you Mr. Paimon!” She giggled as she curtsied.
“Oh, you look lovely dear!” Her mother marveled
“Come on now Stolas, say hi to your fiance!” Paimon said calling Stolas to his side, Stolas could feel a pit in his stomach but he went.
“Ah, I’m Stolas! It's nice to meet you Stella, I like your dress!” Stolas said, bowing as she greeted her, she giggled at his compliment.
“Alright, now that everyone's here, mind telling us where you planned to take the children?” Isabella said, clasping her hands.
Paimon blinked in confusion, “Um, I thought you had made the plans for them?” Paimon said, staring at her bewildered.
The two peacocks both looked at each other's eyes widening .
Paimon pinches the spot in-between his eyes seeing there reactions .“I'm sorry do you mean to tell me that neither of you have anything planned for this afternoon?” Paimon groaned
“I-it seems so… I sincerely apologize for this inconvenience, but I’m sure we can come up with something!” Alexander said with a shaky sigh.
The three children stood quietly as their parents did their best to come up with something last minute. After a moment Stolas came up with a suggestion, “Uh, maybe we could go to the circus?” Stolas said
Everyone paused, “The circus? For a first date?” Alexander said doubtfully
“Well, I mean that’s not a terrible idea but, I don’t know if Stella would be interested in a place like that,” Isabella said skeptically,
“What kind of plebian goes to the circus? For a first date at that!” Andrealphus said quite enough for only Stolas to hear. Paimon made a ‘hmph’ sound with no further comment.
Stolas shifted under the pressure of their comments.”Um, well I’ve never actually been to a circus, but it sounds like it would be a lot of fun! Especially with someone like Stolas to lead the way for me!” Stella chimed in with an innocent look.
“Mph, I don't know…” Alexander said
“Come on love, I don’t see the harm in it! Plus it's not like we’re coming up with any bright ideas!” Isabella said with a breathy laugh.
“Oh alright,” Alexander responded with a sigh
Paimon clasped his hands, “Well then if we’re all in agreement, then I guess the circus it is!”
“But I don’t want to go to the circus!” Andreluphus chimed in,
Paimon furrowed his brow “I'm sorry, who said you were going with them?” Paimon said still slightly annoyed.
“What- I obviously can’t let her go alone with him! She’s my sister after all!” Andrelphus pouted, puffing up his icy blue tail feathers.
“Calm down son, we’re not sending them alone obviously they’ll have imps with them. Plus you think we’d marry your sister to some ruffian?” Alexander asked
Andrealphus pouted, as Stolas sighed happily knowing they would be without him.
______
Stolas squealed as they arrived at the circus, “This is going to be so much fun!” He yelled
“Mmph, I can smell candy even from here!” Stella said as she hopped out of the carriage, Stolas jumped at her voice but she seemingly paid no mind.
As they entered the two imps stopped them momentarily, “Alrighty, now listen here you two, I know this is a circus and I know y'all wanna have fun and you two probably outrun us a bit! But try not to get too far so you don’t get lost ok?” The imp maid that had greeted Stolas and his father, said in her soft country accent.
“Yes ma’am, we will,” Stella said, rolling her eyes, she turned around making her way into the circus with Stolas following close by her.
“I swear, I ran off one time and now I doubt I’ll ever hear the end of it! It’s so annoying!” She huffed
“Uh yeah, that um sounds annoying…” Stolas responded quietly
“Hmph, glad we agree! Now come on, I've always wanted to try carnival games!” Stella cheered excitedly as she walked through the crowd.
The two ventured through the carnival, playing different games, going on different rides, and eating food with enough sugar to give a small imp diabetes, soon they stopped for ice cream.
“Alright chocolate for Stolas, and strawberry for Stella, give this to her will you?” The butler asked he handed Stolas both icecreams,
“Oh, uh here you go Stella,” Stolas said as he tried to hand her her ice cream, but his hand faltered instead dropping it on her dress before it fell to the ground.
Stolas froze as he looked up at her watching her eyes begin to well with tears, “Oh honey, it's alright we’ll get you another one, with two big scoops!” Her maid said, trying to comfort her.
She began to tremble as Stolas tried to apologize, “I-I’m so sorry Stella, here I’ll help clean your dress off!” Stolas said shakily as she grabbed a towel to try to wipe off the ice cream staining her dress.
Stella smacked his hand away as she burst into tears, “This is the worst date ever!” She cried as she ran off into the crowd, her maid called out to her as she ran to go get the girl herself.
“Oh Lucifer, Stolas stay here please while I go get them okay!” Stolas’s butler said running off after the two before Stolas could fully process what happened.
Stolas sat on a bench near the ice cream van for a moment not even noticing he had dropped his own ice cream in Stella’s fit.
“First day meeting her and I get ice cream all over her! Father is going to kill me, or worse he takes away my grimoire!” Stolas whined to himself, and then he had an idea, “Oh! maybe if I go find her myself I won’t be in trouble!” Stolas nodded to himself as hoped of the bench entering the crowd.
Stolas walked through the crowd, his small size making it easy to get through the many people. However, it also meant he couldn't really see where he was going, unfortunately, he only realized this as he came to the back part of the circus. He walked nervously, the area was fairly empty as the circus was in its prime hours so most of its actors were busy.
He sighed to himself as he came to a wooden fence at the very back of the carnival, “Great, not only am I lost, but I’m going to be in so much trouble when I get back!” Stolas whined, but before he could turn around he heard something, it sounded like crying.
Stolas’s eyes flicked back and forth between the fence and the path, he then sighed and went closer to the fence, he came all this way after all. He squeezed himself through the fence and walked through the bushes. Soon he found the source of the noise, Stella, hugging her knees on the ground sobbing to herself.
“Stella! There you are, people are looking for you y’know !” Stolas shouted as he ran toward her. Stella smacked his hand away, “Go away, you’ve already ruined today!” She yelled causing Stolas to fall on his bottom.
Stolas sat there for a moment unsure what to do, he decided that the best thing to do was apologize first and foremost.
He took a deep breath before scooting a bit closer to her, “Listen, Stella, I’m really sorry about your ice cream and your dress, it was an accident honestly!” He said
“Oh please Stolas, do you think I’m stupid?!” Stella shouted
“What no I don’t-”
“I mean seriously after everything else you’ve done you really think I’d believe that you dropped ice cream on by accident, puh-lease!” Stella huffed, turning away from him.
Stolas tilted his head confused, “W-what other stuff?” He asked cautiously,
Stella grumbled “Ugh, it’s like you're being stupid on purpose! Seriously, how don't you remember bumping into me and then stealing my duck in that fishing game or letting that tent flap hit my face when we went to see that magician?! You don’t remember any of that?!” Stella huffed as she poked his chest with her gloved finger.
Stolas paused for a moment thinking about the adventure, sure he remembered winning the fishing game and seeing the magician, and he supposed he had bumped into once or twice but everything else was lost on him.
“Well?!” Stella huffed, snapping Stolas out of his thoughts, he looked her right in the eyes as she made the same angry face she had in her picture. But he knew he couldn't just stay frozen now so he swallowed down the lump in his throat.
“Uh, well I guess I remember bumping into o-once or twice but, I don’t remember anything else, any of that other stuff… ” Stolas responded, his voice quivering.
Stella huffed again as she pulled her hand away from his chest, “Well even if you don’t remember it, it still happened and all of that isn't even mentioning how you've barely looked me in the eye! I mean this is the first time we’ve met and yet every time you look at me it’s like you've seen a ghost! So explain that why don’t you!” Stella said crossing her arm across her chest while pouting,
Stolas took a deep breath deciding to tell her the truth, he was already going to be in another world of trouble when they finally got back so why not, he looked down and sighed before saying “Well it’s because of that picture your parents sent with you strangled that Quive, it uh didn’t exactly give you the best first impression.” Stolas said, while twiddling his fingers.
Stella stared gobsmacked at him, the anger all but robbed from her face. She blinked a couple of times before she began to speak, “W-what, how did you even see that? They told me they’d thrown it out, it shouldn't have even gotten developed! A-and I didn’t even mean to do it!” Stella said in a panicked frenzy, grabbing onto her feathers.
“Wait what? What do you mean you didn't mean to do it? How do you accidentally strangle something?” Stolas said still lightly cautious of his words
Stella took a deep breath to calm herself down, “Okay maybe that isn't the best way to put it…” She started, “You see when I was taking those pictures to send to your daddy my mum brought in those quives, something about them looking good with my palette or whatever.” She continued rolling her eyes. “And then out of nowhere, one of them bit me right before the photographer snapped a photo! I even have this bite to prove it!” Stella huffed pulling off her glove revealing what looked to be a deep bite mark, and Stolas blinked in a bit of shock.
“Oh my, that looks terrible, it must've hurt…” Stolas said as look at the nasty bite mark on her hand.
“Pft, you're telling me!” Stella huffed pulling her hand away and tugging her glove back onto her hand.
The two sat there quietly; the only noise to be heard was the rustling of leaves blowing in the wind.
Stolas sighed again as he looked up at her, “Uh, again I’m sorry for being rude to you and stuff I guess I shouldn't have judged you,” Stolas said scooting a bit closer to her.
Stella sighed “It’s fine I guess, I suppose I wouldn't be the nicest to someone if I saw them do something like that…” Stella responded, Stolas could feel her hand brushing up against his he lightly jumped at her touch. But after a second he put his hand back letting her grab a hold of it.
The two sat there quietly letting the wind blow through their feathers, both enjoying the tranquility of the moment.
Suddenly Stolas remembered where they were, "Uh Stella we should probably get back, there probably looking for us." Stolas said quietly.
Stella blinked “Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Well come on then let's get going!” Stella said leading them out of the underbrush holding tight to Stolas's hand.
After the two managed to squeeze themselves back through the fence and walked a bit through the trailer parklike area behind the circus they saw their two imp servants. They were frantically looking around for two, but somehow didn't notice them just up the path in their frenzy.
“Oh no we're going to be in so much trouble when they see us!” Stolas whinned
“No we won't! Just follow my lead alright?” Stella responded confidently leading Stolas and herself towards them.
Stolas became petrified when Stella stopped and called out to the two, “Miss Maid, Mister Butler, we're over here!” Stella called
The two snapped their heads around and quickly rushed over to the two. “Stolas, Stella there you are! We've been looking all over for you two!" Mister Butler said quickly inspecting them, Miss Maid doing the same.
Stella gave a sly smile before explaining things, “Ah, well you see, Stolas had actually come and found me! We were going to head right back to you two but then some mean imps tried to get us to we ran and hid in some bushes!”
Stolas gave a shocked expression at how easily she came up with it, “Uh y-yeah it was really scary but thankfully we weren't hurt!” Stolas continued nervously.
“Oh dear, well I'm glad you two are okay! C'mon we should be getting you two home it'll be getting late soon!” Miss Maid said with the Butler nodding in agreement.
They both grabbed their respective child's hand leading them back into the carnival.
“I can't believe that worked! How'd you come up with that so fast?” Stolas whispered with a small giggle.
“You know how I said I ran away one time? Well maybe it was more than once.” Stella responded with a giggle of her own.
As they continued through the circus Stolas looked up and saw the large circus tent. “Oh, Mister Butler, can we please go see the show?” Stolas squealed forcing the Butler to a pause.
Both Stella and her maid also stopped watching the two, “Stolas, it's getting late, plus you've seen this show several times.” Mister Butler sighed
“I know but we are already coming up to it so we may as well!” Stolas responded practically hopping with excitement.
Mister Butler looked over to Miss Maid who gave a shrug, “Fine we'll go see the show.”
Stolas squeeled as he went over to grab Stella’s hand pulling her toward the circus tent.
“Uh, why are we here, it looks like we’ve missed half the show by now,” Stella asked as Stolas sat them down at one of the seats in the crowded tent.
“Because we're just in time for my favorite part!” Stolas said excitedly, clapping his hands.
An imp with horns seemingly too big for his head came into the spotlight as one of the performances finished, “Now, everyone's favorite thing about circus shit: the motherfuckin' clowns!”
Several frightening Imp clowns with glowing eyes leap out at the audience from behind curtains. The large horned imp laughs as they fly outward disappearing into the darkness. The audience scream and pull away in terror, with Stella grabbing onto Stolas as he giggles knowing it’s just part of the show.
The spotlight flashes over to a small foot stepping on a pedestal board accompanied by the sound of a bell jingling.
“You ready, Blitzo?” A young voice says out of view.
A young imp presumably Blitzo gives a rope a quick tug. “Born ready!” Responds Blitzo as he and another, more clown-dressed imp leap off of their boards and begin a flying trapeze act. Blitzo passes by Stella and Stolas’s section of the bleachers, time appears to slow; they both stare up at the imp in awe.
Blitzoo then lands on a ball the other imp swings away, “ Haaaaa! Tada~!” The imp laughed “Heya, folks! Wanna see me make a horse?”
Blitzo takes out a green balloon, blows it up, and attempts to tie it into a horse shape. It appears as a knot, before immediately popping.
Blitzo’s eyes widened in surprise “ Crap.” he said quietly, he then began pulling out balloons and attempting to make a horse, with them popping all the same. His expression grows more worried with each popped balloon.
The audience stares dead silent, unimpressed as Blitzo keeps trying and failing to make the simple shape.
“ De-de-de-de-do-do-do-do- Ah, hehehe, Horse!” Blitzo exclaimed nervously as he finally made a horse except it had no legs.
“Well, heh. It was a horse, but then it ate too much sugar and its legs stopped working so he had to amputate. Now, it's a gross worm horse.”
Stolas begins to laugh softly,
“See? He gets it. Because horses - they make no sense.” Blitzo said with a small laugh
“Uh, Stolas that wasn’t really funny,” Stella murmured
“Obviously not! It’s part of the act, Fizzarolli’s coming on next!” Stolas whispered back
Fizzarolli the clown-dressed imp jumped down, joining Blitzoo with a red balloon of his own.
“Okay, Blitzoo, that's enough horsing around! Hey, everybody! Look at this, it's Banana Pudding the clown horsey!” He smiles making horse noises, a perfect horse balloon in his hand the crowd laughed as Blitzo stood to the side giving an awkward laugh.
—------------------25 years Later--------------------—
In the present day, an adult Stolas wakes and stretches in the morning, he stares dejected at the empty spot next to him in bed. He sighs before perking up a bit and grabbing his wine-red robe. He heads into his bathroom splashing his face with water before brushing his teeth.
He leaves his room humming to himself as he goes to his library to check on his grimoire. He picked it up off the shelf before flipping through the pages unaware of the imp in a tattered jacket looking at him through the window, staring at the magic flying off the pages. He tugged at the window trying to get inside, falling off it as Stolas closed the grimoire.
Stolas jumped at the thud going over to open the window, he stared down only seeing the bushes that lined his house. “Must've been a bird,” He shrugged as he closed and locked the window.
He heads down the hall, stopping at one of the doors, peeking inside giving a loving smile seeing his peacefully sleeping daughter Octavia. He softly closed the door and continued down the hall.
He makes his way to the kitchen pouring himself some coffee as he hears his wife, Stella come in. He turns to look at her on the phone being held up by an imp, she readjusts her pink fluffy robe, her feathers fluffy and uncombed as she hadn't fixed herself up. Her white tail feathers flap as she speaks to someone on the phone.
He poured another cup before coming up behind her, “Morning love,” he said, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek, as she handed her her cup.
“Ah morning Stolas,” She responded flatly, rubbing the feathers on the back of his head before continuing her conversation on the phone.
“Um, Stella, I know you want to plan for our anniversary and stuff, but don’t you think you could take a break and let the servants handle it? I mean they're called ‘help’ for a reason.” Stolas asked as they sat down at the table.
Stella rolled her eyes, “Oh please! The last time I let them plan things everything went to shit! They got Alizarin Crimson instead of-”
“Wine red for streamers…” Stolas sighed,
“Exactly!” She huffed while hanging up her phone.
“I’m pretty sure you're the only one who noticed but alright,” Stolas mumbled under his breath as another imp brought them their breakfast.
“Oh, and speaking of the party do you have any requests? Like food, or special guests and stuff?” Stella said, taking a bite of her pancakes.
“Um, well I'm sure you’ve already planned for any food either of us would want and I’ve never cared for special guests. But I do have one teeny-tiny little request about the guest list.” Stolas started shyly.
“I’m not uninviting my brother,” Stella deadpanned
“But Stellaaaa,” Stolas whined
“Don’t ‘Stellaaaa’ me! You know I can’t uninvite him, plus he’s not even that bad!” Stella snapped, rolling her eyes.
“Ugh maybe not you and Via, but he’s certainly ‘that bad’ to me! He’s just so, so ugh!” Stolas responded by dragging his fingers down his face.
Stella sighed “Either way, you know I can’t uninvite him! You remember the stink he made when he found he was invited last, how do you think he’ll react to not being invited at all?” Stella asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
“I know but still, I won’t enjoy it…” Stolas pouted
Stella paused and set her utensils down, “How about this, if you do act right then I’ll add an extra surprise to your anniversary gift~.” Stella said in a sultry tone, as reached over the table.
Stolas's feather puffed up in an instant, “I uh, suppose a few hours with him wouldn’t be too bad,”
_______
Stolas stood next to Stella as they laughed along with their friends, Ville and Evelynn.
“Wow Stella you really outdid yourself, this party is great!” Ville said with his raspy voice, swishing his wine in the glass twice as small as his white feathered hand.
“Doesn't she always~?” Evelynn giggled flipping her short purple feathers.
“Oh stop you two are making me blush, uh but do continue!” She tacked on at the end giving the group a laugh.
“So, how's Octavia been doing?” Ville asked, taking a sip of his drink.
“Oh, she’s just fine, she has been doing quite well with her magic studies I must say!” Stolas responded pridefully.
“Oh trust me we’ve heard plenty about it from Christopher!” Ville laughed
“Y’know Stella if those two ever got married then we’d really be sisters!” Evelynn squealed
“Oh my goodness you're so right!” Stella squealed along with her.
Ville chuckled at their excitement, “Oh actually speaking of Octavia, where is she? I've barely seen her all night.” Ville asked, scratching his jaw.
“Oh, you know how she can be sometimes, she’s probably up in her room taking a break from the party.” Stolas responded without a thought.
“Mm yes, as much as I love her I do wish she wasn’t so shy sometimes.” Stella said with a small sigh.
As their conversation continued, Stolas spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Blue glitter feathers peeked out from the crowd, he bit his cheeks.
“Uh, do pardon me, I —ah need to head to the bathroom,” Stolas said, shoving his glass into Stella’s free hand as he excused himself from the group. Stella gave him a bit of a funny look but shrugged as he ran off.
Stolas closed the door of the ballroom and went a bit down the dark hall, “Just a few hours, and then you get that gift you've been waiting for!” He mumbled to himself still grimacing at the thought of having to interact with his Brother-in-law.
After there for a moment or two, he heard Stella’s voice as she came up behind him, “Stolas guess who just got here!” She said happily, grabbing his arm and ready to drag him back to the party.
Stolas panicked knowing who would soon follow and be by her side. He then heard a noise like someone struggling, they both looked forward to see two large white hellhounds holding an imp between them.
“Excuse us, sir we found this imp snooping around, we’ll take care of him.” The left one said ready to continue on their way, but just then Stolas had an idea.
“Ahem, as a Goetia I believe I should deal with this disrespectful imp myself!” Stolas straightened his posture as Stella gave him a funny look.
The two hellhounds unceremoniously dropped the imp, Stolas quickly grabbed him by his raggedy jacket pulling him off to somewhere. “I’ll be back in a bit, so don’t have too much fun without me~!” He yelled as walked deeper into the hall.
“There he goes running off again, like a coward,” A sly voice behind Stella said.
“Are you saying you wouldn’t deal with an imp breaking into your house? Sounds pretty cowardly to me.” Stella responded with the same sly tone in her voice.
“Wha-”
______
“Dammit, Dammit, Dammit! Why isn't he responding?!” A male imp with white hair is at the top of Stolas’s mansion.
“You don't think he got caught right Moxxie?” A female black-haired imp asked,
“Why else wouldn’t he respond, Millie? Ugh, I told him this was a bad idea! He’s probably a stone statue by now! ” Moxxie responded, pulling his hair out.
_______
Stolas entered a room with the imp, “Alright, little imp, usually, I would have already turned you to stone! But since you’ve helped me a bit tonight I’ll let it slide just this-” Stolas turned around after locking the door, he paused before bending down and getting close to the imp’s face. He grabbed the imp by the chin as he began to sweat, Stolas examined his face in silence.
“Do, do I know you?” Stolas asked still looking at him.
“Wha- nooo, I’ve uh only ever seen ya’ on TV!” The imp responded nervously waving his hands as he scooted back from the curious owl.
Stolas’s eyes widened as it hit him, “Wait, I do know you! You're that circus performer!” Stolas exclaimed “Oh what was your name? Buz, Bucko, Bing?” Stolas inquired, tapping his chin.
“Blitzo, it was Blitzo.” The imp responded quietly
Stolas cocked his head, “Was Blitzo?” he asked innocently
“Yeah, the ‘o’ is silent…” He responded avoiding the owl's eyes
“Huh, why silent the ‘o’?” Stolas once again inquired innocently.
“Reasons… a lot of reasons. But listen you're gonna kill me can you not turn me stone and just, like, shoot me or something?” Blitzo laughed nervously
“Mm, no I don’t think I’ll do that,” Stolas laughed, waving his hand. “But I’m curious now, since you're here, what ever happened to you and your circus troupe? I assumed you would rebuild after that fire but it was like you all disappeared!” Stolas said crouching down to be on eye level with Blitzo.
“Uh, a lot of things were happening behind the scenes, b-before after the fire, i-it was better we split.” Blitzo responded as he crossed his arms close to his chest, still avoiding the owl's red eyes.
“How unfortunate,” Stolas responded, Blitzo could barely tell if he was being sincere or not. “Well let me ask you another thing, why exactly did you break into my house, on my anniversary no less?” Stolas asked his tone a bit more annoyed.
Blitzo paused, “I uh was trying to find a way to the human realm, and since there was this big party I thought everyone would be too distracted to notice me! Plus you're like royalty so I doubt you’d notice if I nabbed an asmodeus crystal or two, aha ha…” Blitzo responded, twiddling his finds as Stolas stared back at him.
“And what pray tell, would an imp need asmodeus crystals for?” Stolas inquired
“My uh business…” Blitzo responded
Stolas gave a surprised hum, “An imp with a business, now that’s certainly new! What does it have to do with the mortal realm?” Stolas asked his curiosity, growing with the imps nervous replies.
“Uh, well uh me and my team are assassins and get revenge for ya’ if someone killed you or anything similar! Ah, here's my business card if you're interested!” Blitzo said, perking up as he handed Stolas a crudely made business card.
Stolas stared at it, it looked to be a colored piece of cardboard, he smiled “Well then, tell me little imp how would you feel if I were to hire you then?” Stolas smiled
Blitzo stared back at him, his eyes widening in shock, “A-are you serious? This isn't some prank to try to embarrass me in front of your friends or something??” he asked cautiously
“Why of course not! You’ve helped me a bit tonight, and plus I really did enjoy the shows! So it's only fair if I help to repay you! So little imp do we have a deal?” Stolas asked, giving his hand to Blitzo.
Blitzo stared at the hand before grabbing it with his own, “Yes, yes we do!” He laughed happily, shaking the owl's hand. “Well, uh I guess I should go and call back later?” Blitzo laughed as he went to the door.
But as he grabbed the knob Stolas grabbed the collar of his coat, “Ah, I kind of told them that I was going to deal with you. And by deal, I mean you were supposed to be a statue long before now…” Stolas said with a bit of a sigh.
“Then how am I supposed to leave?” Blitzo asked, Stolas looked over to a window as a devilish grin appeared on his face, “I have an idea.”
Moxxie and Millie stood on the roof panicking as they tried to get in contact with there, until the sound of someone talking could be heard.
“Uh, Moxxie do you hear that?” Millie asked, they ran over to the edge of the roof, only to see Blitzo flying out and landing far across the yard.
Suddenly Moxxie felt his phone buzz in his pants,”Hello, sir is was that you?!” Moxie yelled over the phone.
Blitzo sat on the ground quietly not answering for a moment, “You guys are never who might've just hired us,”
—--------------A little while after that—---------------
Stella sat at a table with her, a large cake in front of them. However just as they were about to indulge an imp came crashing down onto it, “Sorry I fucked your husband!” Blitzo laughed as he quickly scurried off the table.
Stolas came rushing toward the balcony only to see the mess Blitzo had left, “STOLAS, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?” Stella yelled at the top of her lungs
Stolas only stared back down at her with a cowardly expression.
—-------------------------Now…----------------------—
Stolas blinks awake, groaning in pain, lying next to a bottle of absinthe. He's still wearing his outfit from Ozzie's, his mascara he took an hour to perfect now running down his cheeks.. He pulls himself up, grabbing his phone out of his pocket, and scrolling through his recent photos, a series of pictures of Blitzo or things related to Blitzo.
As he stared at them he couldn't help but sing,
♫ Owl in a cage ♫
♫ You show your age ♫
♫ Your sweetness has run foul ♫
♫ Without a change you're lost, exhausted ♫
♫ By your time on stage ♫
♫ Then you walked in my room ♫
♫ And like sparks in the dark ♫
♫ Life was suddenly thrilling and new ♫
♫ What between you and I ♫
♫ Just a comfortable lie ♫
♫ I'm the fool who believes when you look in my eyes ♫
♫ Prince, all alone, upon your throne ♫
♫ Your power is so frail ♫
♫ You raise your voice ♫
♫ You have no choice ♫
♫ Inside your gilded jail ♫
Stolas stood, his hands on the balcony as he stared into the stars he usually studied. So entranced by them he didn't notice the clicking of heels coming towards him.
“Stolas…” A calm but angry but angry voice said.
He turned quickly to see Stella, he was a bit surprised to see her still dressed up at this hour.
“Ah, S-stella darling I didn't expect to see you up this late!” He stammered.
She stared back at him with clenched fists, “Don’t you Stella darling me! You were with that imp again werent you!” She yelled coming toward him.
Stolas gave her a panicked look knowing that he couldn't argue. His silence only seemed to enrage her further, “Oh, I can’t believe you, do you even know what you've done!” Stella yelled.
“Stella please, I-i know I hurt you but-”
“But nothing! Not only have you completely disgraced our marriage, but you've also completely embarrassed us! Do you have any idea how difficult it was to track down all the newspapers of your little speech in the Wrath ring?! Have you thought about any of that!?” Stella screeched, coming closer to his face.
She raised her hands seemingly ready to crash down hard onto Stolas’s chest. However her fists came down onto him rather softly, she held them there lightly hitting on his chest as tears began to fall from her eyes.
“Stella…” Stolas said softly as they both sank to the ground.
They both sat there as Stella shivered while quietly sobbing, after a moment Stolas went to grab one her hands now in her lap. However, the second he placed his hand on hers she quickly pulled them away.
“No, no,no I-i’m done with you! I can’t do this, I hate you!” Stella yelled as she rose up.
“What, no Stella please can w-we can talk about this!” Stolas said standing up with her.
“After all you've done you think you deserve that!?” She yelled back.
“I-i don’t but please, j-just give me a chance. I’ll agree to whatever you want to do just-” Stolas begged, returning to his knees.
“Fine..” Stella said, Stolas gave a sigh of relief, before Stella continued. “I’m calling my brother..” She said, crossing her arms.
“W-what, but Stella he has nothing to do with this a-and-” Stolas stammered
“Ah ah! You said you’d agree to anything, this is anything!” She replied snlyly, Stolas sat there on the ground as Stella walked back into the house.
Stella clutched her chest as she closed the balcony door, sighing as wiped the mascara off her face.
“M-mom, are you okay?” Stella snapped her head up to see Octavia, from the looks of it she seemed groggy as if she had just woken up.
Stella sighed seeing that she probably hadent heard their conversation, “Y-yes, I’m just fine dear! Come on you should be getting back to bed!” Stella responded grabbing her daughter shoulders to lead her back to her room.
“A-are you sure, I heard you two arguing, again…” Octavia said planting her talons in the ground to keep her mother from moving her.
Stella paused, “I- yes dear, its just-” Stella paused again deciding to bite her tongue, “I-it’s nothing, we’re fine! Now come on lets get to bed..” She responded softly.
“Mh, alright…” Octavia responded, but even then she couldnt help but turn back to the balcony door.
And on the other side sat Stolas wallowing in his own mistakes and misery.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I’m done, this took so much longer than I anticipated!
Now if you have any criticism’s please share, I had a bit of trouble with certain parts. For example Stella and Stolas a muppet babies, I was trying to make there conversation realistic for there age without just making them drool. Same with Stolas and Blitzo’s talk, it looked a bit funny but I tried so I guess thats what matters?
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i-yap · 5 months ago
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I have a Dick Grayson request!
I don't know if you do vigilante s/o but I was wondering if you did could you write how he would react when he finds out that the crazy person jumping off buildings with his alter ego is also his gn s/o? I always find the different takes on the reader finding out about Nightwing but I really want to know what you think his reaction would be?Anyways, this might not be something you'll write but I just figured I'd ask
Lots of love and admiration for you and your works
❤️
A compliment and a Dick grayson ask??omg made my day ( I promise he isn't my favorite I love them all equally)
Ive never really written vigilante reader..or even imagined one but I can try
Dick Grayson x vigilante!s/o
s/n- supername
"There's an armed robbery at the children's hospital on 34th" reported Tim onto the batcom.
"I can get there in 5" replied Dick.
"Take hood with you, he's on 39th " Ordered Batman
"I don't need a babysitter..especially not hood"
"HAHA, Ill be there as soon as I'm done beating up this creep who was cornering pretty girls" Jason says cheekily.
"wait ..I dont think i need you here hood, or even I'm needed..S/n got here first. She's tying up the perps as we speak"
"Unmask her Nightwing, even I couldnt figure out her identity and she has been spotted in too many crimes around gotham" said Oracle
"You can't passible think THE s/n is a criminal" tim replied shocked
"Haha timmy has a thing for s/n just cause she was caught buying rock shirts from the shady stores he loves" Jason teases
" NO REAL NAMES ON THE COMS JASON, also Oracle is right. Best to be precautionary" states Batman.
Nightwing approaches s/n. "OH JEEZ, hi your scared me haha. Not that you're scary. You're really hot , I mean your partner probably finds you hot but not me. I'm just random vigilante...Uh anyways Ive called the police they're on their way so I think my work here is done!" You say hurriedly after spotting your boyf-nightwing approaching you.
"Well good work here s/n. But I actually had to speak to you alone. " "Me? why??"
"I need you to unmask yourself. Batman's orders . You cant trust me, you know I'm one of the good guys and we have been on multiple cases together. Plus you are kind of in my city"
" Well I- dick listen." "How do you -" You take off your mask to reveal yourself.
"I was about to tell you dickie..please don't be mad" "MAD? ME? MY SWEETHEART IS A CRIME FIGHTING ASS KICKING SUPERHERO! I KNEW YOU WERE TOO STRONG TO BE A BARISTA!. I mean I do wish you told me before" "I just didn't know how you would take it. You always talked about how much you loved our domestic intimacy and simplicity in our relationship and i-" Dick takes your hands in his "We can still have that baby, just because you are a superhero doesn't change anything. Youre still the best thing that ever happened to me and now we can even spend more time together as our alter ego. We would be a great power couple!" Says dick, pulling you into a passionate kiss.
"EW EW THE ROMANTIC SPEECH WAS GROSS BUT KISSING NOISES?" Yells jason into the coms
" NO DICK HOW COULD YOU, MY SUPERCRUSH MAN" Cries out tim
"shit i forgot to turn off my comms" whines dick
"NO REAL NAMES ON THE COMS !" Orders Bataman
"Bring her to the manor once you have discussed the - the revelation. There is much to talk about" Says Batman.
"I'm Surprised Y/n is even real" Joins in Damian.
"WHY WOULD I LIE ABOUT HAVING A PARTNER" yells Nightwing into the comms while you try to muffle your laugh.
"Well, I am no one to comment on your mental state NightWing, But it is questionable"
You pull away Dick from the comms before they all start bickering- and giving bruce a headache. Sure there was a lot to discuss but dick is the best batboy to be a vigilante partner to. He would be understanding and non restrictive and the perfect partner in fight. Communication is easy with him and he trusts you and gives you your space to be yourself. After all, its all these things that make him love you for you.
sorry if there is anything offensive i don't usually write gn!reader cuz I'm a cis female and I don't proof read. Also english is not my first language. Lmk if there's anything offensive and ill change it.
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astro-b-o-y-d · 7 months ago
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Triangulum - Chapter 4 - The Morning After Bill
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— — — — — — —
Despite the shroud of unease that lingered over the Shack throughout the night, darkness eventually faded into the warm sunlight of morning.
And even for someone like Ford—whose tireless efforts had left him with only a few pages of halfway-useful ideas, with the rest being banished to a crumpled and discarded pile in the fireplace—the morning sunlight that poured in from the window across the room brought with it a comfort.
“Seems kinda pointless to toss all that into a fireplace if you’re not going to actually set it on fire.”
Regardless of the stress that still lingered from the previous evening.
His gaze met the pair of slitted pupils—pupil? Ford hadn’t missed the way Bill’s right eye was less reactive than his left. A visual impairment, perhaps?—on the far side of the room, while a toothy, cheshire grin spread wide beneath them. “I’d bring up the whole ‘expert in burning things around here’ thing again, but I hate using a joke more than once a millennia,” Bill said. “It’s like, I’ve had an eternity to perfect my material so doing a bit twice in such a short amount of time just feels so lazy. You get what I mean, Fordsy?” 
Despite his gaze being focused elsewhere, the tip of Ford’s pencil snapped against the paper for the millionth time across the past several hours. And with a bitten-back huff, he tore his attention from Bill again in favor of reaching towards the small end table at his side, hand briefly lingering over the gun he had kept there all night.
It would be easy enough to kill the body that Bill was currently possessing—as gruesome as the idea was, it was simply an undeniable fact. The body looked young, barely older than a teenager if Ford had to harbor an estimate. And that was before taking his…uncanny resemblance into account.
Ford had to physically restrain himself from casting another sidelong look at Bill, a shudder crawling up his spine as he disregarded the gun in favor of the pencil sharpener. He wasn’t sure how much of the remaining household had picked up on it—there was a high chance that Stan and the kids had noticed to some degree—but it was truly eerie how similar Bill’s vessel looked to Dipper.
The structure of his face, the way the hair hung down over his forehead just as Dipper’s did whenever he wasn’t wearing a hat—
“I mean—it was all kind of a blur when I possessed the guy. Didn’t exactly feel like stopping and sussing out all the details, not when the chance to stretch my legs again after spending nine months as a lawn ornament was right there in front of me.”
If Bill’s earlier claims were to be believed—Ford did not believe them in the slightest—then there were a few possibilities. Either some outside force had prevented him from getting a proper look at the vessel or Bill had simply jumped into it first with the intention of asking questions later.
…Admittedly, jumping first and asking questions later was a very Bill-esque way to approach a deal; one didn’t usually need to ask question with the power of omniscience on their side.
But if his earlier claims weren’t to be believed—once again, Ford did not believe them in the slightest—then there were even more possibilities. 
Bill had been lying through his teeth and had purposefully sought out a vessel that looked as uncomfortably-identical to Dipper as possible. And now he was determined to keep such awareness of his appearance as much of a secret as possible, for unknown—but likely sinister—reasons. Perhaps as a precautionary shield of sorts; with the assumption that most would hesitate first before putting a bullet through the eyes of someone that resembled their own.
A counterpoint to that theory was that Bill had asked for a mirror without prompting, but maybe that had been part of the lie? To throw the rest of them off track and push their assumptions towards one direction, all to take focus away from the other?
Of course, none of those theories and guesses brought up an answer to how Bill had managed to come across a new vessel in the first place. Or discussed the matter of the vessel’s original soul, one who had likely been tricked into making a deal with Bill—leaving them bound to the mindscape while he once again puppeteered a body that did not belong to him.
Nor did any of that address the biggest and most pressing issue at hand; how Bill was still alive at all.
With a sigh, Ford forewent the sharpening of his pencil in favor of staring numbly at the mess of discarded paper in the fireplace. Even after a full night of brainstorming, he was still left with both a physical and metaphorical pile of unanswered questions with no clear solution.
“What, are you actually considering that fire idea of mine?” Bill piped up from his spot. “And here I thought I was doomed to keep talking to the air.”
A cackle. “It’s really a shame I can’t hear inanimate objects with this body, the lovely ladies on the shelf over there look like the kinda gals who’ve got a lot of entertaining stories under their belts!”
After a few more seconds of disassociated staring—gaze locked firmly on the mess of paper in a desperate attempt to tune out Bill’s mockery—Ford finally resharpened his pencil to a fine point and returned it to the notebook page. 
Rather than continue writing, however, the tip lingered above the paper while he stared at the most recent sentence in silent consideration. And after another second more, he brought it beneath his words to scribble out a bold underline.
It wasn’t the best idea in the world, and it would all depend on whether or not the needed supplies would’ve kept their potency after all these years. 
But for now, it was an idea.
— — — — — — — 
“I’m awake!”
Mabel’s eyes snapped open as soon as the morning sunlight hit her eyelids, and she bolted upright so quickly that Waddles was sent rolling over onto his back with a surprised oink.
Despite his otherwise-unbothered state, Mabel still crawled to the end of the bed to pull him into a hug. “Sorry, buddy,” she cooed apologetically. “I didn’t realize you were back over here again!”
“He moved to your bed when we switched shifts an hour ago,” Dipper explained from his side of the room. “Guess you weren’t wrong about him being a good guard pig.”
With a tired laugh, she pressed several kisses to the top of Waddles’ head. “I told you! I’m just saying, maybe feeding Bill to him might actually get the job done.”
The laughter petered off as the events of the previous night came flooding back to them, and they exchanged an uncomfortable look. “Did…did you have any nightmares about him?” Dipper asked.
Mabel thought for a moment, the kisses now replaced with scritches to the top of the pig’s head as her affectionate gesture of choice.  “Not that I can remember,” she mused. “I had a dream where I was the size of a doll living in a dollhouse, and the little girl who owned it really wanted me to go for a drive in my convertible when I clearly wanted to go shopping at the mall!”
She pressed a finger to her chin. “But other than that, I think my dreams were pretty normal.”
“Yeah, mine too,” Dipper said. “I mean, I kept seeing triangles wherever I went. But it didn’t feel like anything I don’t normally dream about.” A shrug as he reached up to brush the hair from his eyes. “Back when Bill visited me in my sleep last year, it felt a lot more—I dunno, vivid? Like it was something that could be happening in real life, you know? But nothing from last night felt that way.”
“I guess that means Grunkle Ford kept a close enough eye on Bill and he didn’t hop into anyone’s dreams, then,” Mabel said. “You think he’s really been up all night?”
“I’d believe it,” Dipper agreed with a nod. “You saw how freaked he was over Bill’s return, I don’t think he’s gonna sleep until Bill’s gone for good. I mean, for good-good this time.”
Mabel stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “Well, I hope he’s gone for good-good soon. I really want to be able to spend some time with Grunkle Ford this summer…”
“Yeah, me too.”
They exchanged another look, before Mabel placed her hands on her hips. “Welp, can’t think of a way to re-kill an evil, triangle jerkface on an empty stomach!” she said, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Let’s go get breakfast!”
A gurgling sound from Dipper’s stomach brought a hand to his shirt, and he hopped down from his bed to join her on the floor. “Ugh, good call. I swear I ate, like, three helpings of lasagna last night, and somehow I’m starving again!”
“Ughughughhhhh, me too,” Mabel bemoaned as the two exited their room and made their way towards the stairs. “This puberty thing is the worst! Why are we always hungry?!”
“I know, right? Everyone went on and on about the acne and the body hair, but they didn’t think to mention how we’d be eating as much as your pet pig?”
Their griping continued as they headed down the stairs together, although Mabel’s decision to skip a step at a time soon brought her to the bottom floor before her brother, leaving her to amble on through the kitchen door by herself.
Her nostrils were immediately greeted by several different scents at once—coffee, pancake syrup and bacon being the most potent, seconded by the smell of lasagna with a charred, reheated undertone that could only be produced by two-and-a-half minutes in a microwave.
From the kitchen table—with a little bit of everything stacked on his plate—Soos greeted her with a wave and a cheerful: “‘Morning, girl dude!”
“Mmm, I smell bacon,” Mabel muttered, trudging sleepily over to the table to join him. “And I’d just like to clarify that even though I have a pet pig, I still want five pieces. At least!”
Melody cast her a smile and tossed more bacon into the pan. “I’ll see what I can do—uh, do you want crispy or crunchy? Because I’ll just warn you right now that I’m way better at making it crunchy.”
She shifted the pieces of bacon around with the end of the spatula. “In fact, the last time I tried making it crispy, I don’t think I fried it long enough. So I’d probably pick crunchy, because there’s less of a chance that I’ll undercook it.”
“Well, I still thought your undercooked bacon was delicious, babe,” Soos piped up loyally.
From the open fridge, a very groggy Wendy raised an eyebrow at him. “Didn’t you need to get your stomach pumped after eating too much?”
“Yes, and the doctor who did it was very polite!”
“Crunchy’s fine,” Mabel said, settling into an empty chair. “And my demand from before still stands.”
“Yeah, I’ll just stick to pancakes,” Dipper chimed in as he shuffled into the kitchen as well. “Morning, by the way.”
“Hey, dude!” Soos once again greeted, turning his attention to both twins as Dipper joined them at the table. “You two sleep okay? Especially with, uh—you know?”
The kitchen fell silent for a moment—save for the bacon sizzling away in the pan and the occasional scrape of the spatula as Melody continued to shift everything around for an even sear—before Dipper replied: “About as well as we could, yeah.”
“No dumb triangle guys in our dreams,” Mabel added. “Or at least, not the actual one. What about you guys?”
Wendy looked up from the fridge. “Eh, slept like I always do on that couch. Dead asleep around three am, while those early-morning infomercials play in a loop on the TV.”
After another moment of searching, she finally decided on the milk carton and swung the door shut behind her. “Pretty sure the only dream I had involved a talking watch that could also wash my dishes. If that means anything.”
While she held the carton up to her mouth for a swig, Melody moved some of the finished bacon to a plate. “When Soos and I slept, we slept fine,” she said. “But every so often, we’d wake up to go check on Dr. Pines.”
“Mornin’.”
The group turned to see Stan near the doorway, his groggy demeanor a clear indication that he had slept very little during the night. “Heard somethin’ about Ford,” he said, and held out his hand. “Gimme a plate of that bacon, then gimme the news.”
“As far as we know, nothing big happened,” Melody explained, and handed him a plate as instructed. “Every time we peeked in on them, Dr. Pines told us everything was fine while Bill was still tied to the chair.”
“Whaddabout the prisoner himself?”
“He’d call us a bunch of mean names whenever we checked in,” Soos added. “Or—well, he mostly just called me Question Mark. But the way he said it made it sound mean.”
He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “He also tried calling me Shirt at one point when I picked him up off the floor, but he went back on it pretty quick. Said it didn’t feel right.” A shrug. “Other than that, though, he didn’t really do anything.”
“Which probably means Ford didn’t have to do anything.” Stan exhaled with a sigh of relief. “Thanks for the update, Soos.”
“Would someone like to bring him a plate of food?” Melody asked. “I’ve pulled my fair share of all-nighters, I know how hungry they can make someone.”
Mabel’s expression brightened and she quickly hopped back down from the table. “I’ll do it! A hearty breakfast is sure to keep the Evil-Triangle-Killing gears turning in Grunkle Ford’s head!”
While Melody handed her a plate, Stan reached up to scrub the sleep from his eyes. “Well, it ain’t exactly how we expected our first day back to go, but can anyone really say they’re surprised?”
“I can’t,” Dipper said, hiding a yawn behind his hand. “Man, Dev’s gonna freak when he hears about what our trip’s been like so far.”
Suddenly Mabel’s eyes shot open wide as she slapped her own hand to the side of her face. “Dev! I completely forgot that he wanted to talk last night!”
“You wanna go call him now?” Dipper asked. “I’ll take Ford his breakfast, if you wa—”
He barely had time to finish his question before the plate was thrust into his hands and Mabel hurried back out of the kitchen towards the stairs. Waddles—who had sleepily ambled after the kids as they’d headed down to breakfast, and had been in the process of finally reaching the bottom step—promptly turned around as she whizzed past and began to head back up after her.
Stan watched until both of them disappeared out of sight, before looking down to Dipper. “Not gonna ask about all a’that, but if you don’t mind havin’ a tag-along to go feed Ford—” He flicked a thumb at himself. “—there’s at least one other Pines here that can get the job done.”
Dipper cast him a small smile. “Yeah, actually, I’d like that.”
Stan shifted the thumb away from himself into a proper thumbs up before the two of them exited the kitchen, making their way towards the hall and the bedroom that waited just beyond the corner.
— — — — — —
After his early-morning attempt to torment Ford, Bill had fallen into yet another thoughtful silence.
Sure, he’d barely gotten more than a sentence or two out of Ford over the course of the night, most of which had just been threats. But that didn’t stop him from stringing together a few things on his own, using the various context clues he’d gathered since he’d first regained consciousness.
First thing of note was the room itself. Several points from the previous evening informed him that it had shifted from a parlor room to a bedroom for Soos’s grandmother; her current location unknown and her overall existence the farthest thing from a priority to Bill. One less person to keep track of—and/or to wave a random weapon in his face—was perfectly fine by him.
But her owning a bedroom here at the Shack implied that she had moved in since the previous summer. Additional clues gathered throughout the night also implied that Soos and the woman who came to check on Ford with him—Bill didn’t care enough to pay attention to her name, but it was blatantly obvious that the two of them were an Item. An upgrade from the year prior; good for you, Question Mark!—had moved into the Shack with her, specifically into Ford’s old bedroom next door.
On the same topic of Soos and Who-Cares-About-Her-Name, Bill had heard them pass by the bedroom about thirty minutes prior and head towards the direction of the kitchen. Given how they had yet to return, he wagered a guess that a new day had rolled around and the household was springing to life once again.
None of that could be considered groundbreaking information to Bill, but it was always nice to get a clearer picture of what he was working with in terms of scenery. Sixer had allowed his home to be turned into Domestic City over the past nine months, how uncharacteristically quaint of him.
Speaking of which…
Bill tore his stare from the the shelf of porcelain dolls he had kept his attention on during the quieter parts of the night—hey, his earlier remark had been more than just a light joke; old, porcelain dolls were always good for a chat or two when he could actually talk to them—and cast a glance back Ford again. 
He had briefly touched on his appearance the previous evening—mostly in the form of jokes about his silly beard—but there were a few other differences that could be spotted if one had spent several billion years honing the art of observing people.
Ford’s fashion sense was definitely not among those differences, not when he still donned the same red sweater and faded dark pants from the year prior. Even his glasses looked the same, sans the broken glass in the left lens being replaced at some point. Unsurprising in the slightest; ol’ Sixer hadn’t exactly been the kind of guy to keep up with the latest fashion trends.
But the crow’s feet around Ford’s eyes—ones that had been so deeply embedded that it was a miracle they hadn’t left scars—were fainter than before, and the dark circles that had once called the area beneath them home had faded to more of a light gray.
Overall, the aged ruggedness of his features had shifted to something more relaxed, more vital. As if he’d suddenly switched to a full four hours of sleep a night and lowered his daily coffee intake from twelve cups to eight, with an actual breakfast to go with them instead of just his usual nutrition pills.
All of that, and something else Bill couldn’t quite pinpoint. 
A fact that made his scowl lower as his gaze shifted from Ford to the gun on the nightstand. It had been pretty easy to piece together that Ford was scribbling down methods to try and kill him, likely without causing any lethal harm to his current vessel. 
The latter was only mere speculation, once again tying back to his original thoughts upon regaining consciousness. But combined with the events of the previous evening, where the worst harm inflicted on him was nothing more than a punch to the eye—painful and annoying, but clearly nothing that was going to kill him—and an entire night of all bark and no bite when it came to Ford firing a bullet, Bill felt far more secure in his initial assumption.
Ford was trying to find a way to kill him without killing the body itself. A relatively-easy conclusion to reach with the evidence presented to him.
So naturally, the temptation to reveal what he knew to Ford had been locked in a fierce and grueling battle with his common sense for most of the night.
It was a great risk for sure, but the pile in the fireplace granted Bill some reassurance that Ford was nowhere near an actual solution. And if he did have any ideas left in that tattered little notebook of his—no new journal, huh? An unusual choice, but perhaps it was just a temporary method of notetaking. Not like he could exactly write in the other ones after Bill had used them for kindling last year, haha!—they certainly weren’t going to be his A-game.
Needless to say, toeing the line in this instance felt like a safe bet on Bill’s end. Plus it’d double as a chance to redarken those circles and recarve those old crow’s feet at the edges of his eyes. 
Really remind Ford of just who he was dealing with here.
“It’s morning by now, right?” he finally asked aloud. “You must be tired, Fordsy.”
His remark earned him a dirty look from Ford, one he broke within seconds in favor of turning back to his work. An action that earned him a condescending sigh from Bill. “Still no dice on getting you to talk to me, huh? Can’t even take five minutes away from your mysterious scribblings to have a chat?”
With a laugh, he kicked his legs up in the air and clanked them back down against the chair in the most annoying fashion possible. “I’m just kidding, Stanford—I know what you’re trying to do. Obviously you’re trying to figure out a way to get rid of me, without killing the body of the poor sucker I’m possessing.”
He flashed a toothy grin. “It’s why you just keep sticking that gun in my face instead of just pulling the trigger and busting out a mop to clean up the blood before it stains the floorboards, right?”
This earned him yet another sharp glare, one which masked something else behind Ford’s eyes that Bill once again struggled to decipher. Ugh, being stuck in a human vessel was so annoying; how was he supposed to reach his hand into someone’s mind cavity and really dig his fingers into their deepest fears and insecurities in a body like this?
Well, if he couldn’t poke and prod at the newer stuff, there was always the older spread for Bill to revisit. “No need to be get all huffy, Ford, I’m sure whatever brilliant plan you come up with will work so well,” he continued with another clank of his legs to the chair. “Like that memory gun trick~! I toldja last night how clever it was, right? Too bad you can’t go and Swiss cheese someone else’s mind this time around, huh?”
Another laugh escaped him, one that slowly faded into a dry, deadpan cackle as he folded one leg over the other. “I mean, you could always try it, but just know that it’ll be a lot trickier for me to go along with your little game again. And don’t think I won’t be counting the number of fingers on Goldfish’s hand—”
A light crunch of wood cut him off mid-sentence, and his eyes moved from Ford’s piercing glare to the pencil clutched tightly in his fist. The top half was bent at an unusual angle than before—a likely implication that it had snapped right in two, with Ford’s ironclad grip being the only thing keeping the pieces together at this point.
Well, he was definitely succeeding in getting under the man’s skin, that was clear~!
Before either of them could remark on the matter, however, the creaking of floorboards from further up the hall drew their attention to the door—
—and it was only seconds later before the creaking stopped just outside of it and Dipper’s voice called: “Grunkle Ford! Breakfast time!” from the other side.
Bill felt his eyes roll so far back into his head, he swore he got a glimpse at the useless lump of gray matter—or at least, it would normally be useless if he wasn’t the one taking it for a joyride—that humans called a brain. Great, one of the meddlesome little rugrats was acting as the Sunshine Brigade, and not even the fun one with the pig.
Well, at least he could probably get a kick out of scaring the little weenie. And at least said weenie’s voice succeeded in getting Ford to react with his own call of “Come on in.” as he set the broken pencil down on the nightstand.
The door was slowly pushed open with a hesitant hand to reveal the aforementioned Dipper and—
“Hope you’re feeling non-kosher today,” Stan piped up behind him. “If not, I’m snagging that bacon off your plate.”
Seriously? Didn’t Punchy Mc-No-Memory have anything better to do? What, were there no tourists for him to currently scam or candy to snatch outta the grubby little hands of an underdeveloped human toddler?
Whatever, at least the two of them combined would bring some excitement into the room. “Oh, so both Pine Tree and Goldfish wanted to join the party this morning~?” he greeted with a bright grin. “Great, the more the merrier~!”
Dipper pushed the door open further and—while likely fighting the urge to wince at the sight of him—crossed the room to where Ford was seated. “Good morning! Melody prepped you a plate of food so you could eat while you worked.”
Despite his exhausted demeanor, Ford’s expression brightened at the sight of Dipper approaching him. “Thank you, Dipper,” he said, taking the offered plate with a warm smile. “Did you sleep well?”
“As well as I could with—well—”
He attempted—attempted and failed miserably—to give a subtle tilt of the head in Bill’s direction, to which Bill responded with a cackle. “You know, Pine Tree, it’s very rude to gossip about someone when they’re in the room!“ he taunted. “Don’t beat around the bush, go ahead and tell him how restless your sleep was now that I’m back~!”
He tilted his own head with a playful smile. “Also please feel free to go into any nightmares you might’ve had in intricate detail! I looooove flipping through the night’s haul every morning! It’s like reading the newspaper at breakfast, but with more teeth falling out of someone’s head!”
While Dipper finally lost against the urge to wince in response, Stan flicked a thumb in Bill’s direction. “So, he do anything outside of be an annoying little nuisance all night?”
“Outside of that, no,” Ford answered. “But after a while, it grew easier to ignore him.”
“Okay, well, that’s even ruder than gossiping about someone while they’re in the same room,” Bill said with a scoff. “Honestly, somebody should give this family a few pointers on guest hospitality.”
Stan cast him a sidelong look of disgust. “Little jerk really likes hearing himself talk, huh?”
“You have no idea,” Ford said wearily. “But hopefully he won’t be an issue for us much longer.”
“Did you find a way to deal with him?” Dipper asked.
Ford opened his mouth to reply, looked to Bill—
—then stood up in his chair. “Let’s discuss this out in the hallway.”
“Wow, again with the hallway meetings, huh?” Bill asked aloud. “While I’d normally be flattered at how often you chumps feel the need to play hush-hush with your plans, gossiping about someone where they can’t hear you is even ruder than doing it in the same room as them~!”
Despite his snark, Bill was elated by the thought of being left alone again. A few minutes to himself meant a chance to search for something sharp enough to cut his binds.
Sure, getting Ford to do it for him was still the preferable option. But if a chance to take care of the issue himself was presented to him, who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth—
“Whaddabout him?”
Stan’s voice and pointed finger in his direction pulled Bill from his thoughts. “Think it’s safe to leave him all by himself?” 
Bill’s brow furrowed at the question. Guess being a spoilsport ran in the family, huh?
Oh, well. Nothing he couldn’t twist in his favor. “What do you mean, Goldfish?” he asked with a kick of his feet. “I’m still just as tied up as I was last night, aren’t I? What could I possibly do while you’re all busy discussing Sixer’s oh-so-clever plan to get rid of me~?”
An even bigger risk than before. To reveal all of that to Ford was one thing, but to reveal it to other people?
Eh, Pine Tree hadn’t even picked up on his little laptop stunt last year and Goldfish was more brawn than brain—Bill could afford to play loose and fast here.
Dipper shot Bill an uneasy glare before turning his attention up to Stan. “I hate to agree with him, but he does have a point: what can he really do while he’s all tied up like that?”
Oh, Pine Tree, you wonderful, reliable idiot. “Yeah, yeah, listen to the kid!” Bill agreed. “Unless you feel like leaving him to babysit me~?”
Okay, well, that one wasn’t so much of a risk as it was sticking his hand in a bucket of defanged piranha—the end result was so pathetically safe and predictable that it was almost not worth the effort. And sure enough, Dipper’s immediate wincing at the suggestion proved that he had bluffed successfully. “Guess that’s a no, huh?” he asked with a flash of his teeth. “What’s wrong, Pine Tree? Don’t feel like spending some quality time with me? I know I could use the company; Ol’ Fordsy over there was a total drag the entire night.”
He pointed a leg in the direction of the porcelain doll collection. “And like I was telling him earlier; in a pathetic, unevolved body like this, I couldn’t even settle for a conversation with the girls over there! Such a shame, Lupita on the middle shelf looks like she has quite the tongue for gossip—”
“Alright, that’s it.”
Before anyone—Bill included—could react, Stan stormed over to the chair and lightly pushed it backwards onto the floor. And before Bill could let out more than an agitated “Hey—HEY!”, Stan nudged the chair forward with his foot until the top rail was tucked beneath the underside of Abuelita’s bed. 
Leaving Bill unable to rotate the chair in any direction without the top clanging against the bed. And despite his best attempts to flail around helplessly, face reddening with anger by the second, the chair—and by extension, his own body—remained firmly in place on the ground.
Stan turned back to Ford with a grin. “So hallway, then?”
“Hallway.”
After a collective nod, the three of them shuffled out of the room. Leaving Bill to once again slump against his restraints with a huff and cast another glare in the direction of the porcelain shelf. “Not a single word outta you, Lupita!”
— — — — —
Once the door was pulled firmly shut behind them, Dipper asked: “Has he really been like that all night?”
“Sadly he picked up on the fact that I would’ve preferred not to use the gun unless absolutely necessary,” Ford explained, with a scrub at his weary eyes. “So he was probably taking advantage of that for as long as he could.”
“Yeesh,” Stan said with a wince. “So, uh—hate to go the gruesome route first, but why can’t we just take the little gremlin and—” 
He held a pair of fingers to his temple and made a shooting motion with his hand. “I know it ain’t the best idea, what with the whole…you know—”
They turned towards Dipper in unison, who reached for his own arm with a grimace. “Oh…you guys saw it too, huh?”
“Kinda hard not to see it,” Stan pointed out, and glanced over at Ford again. “But uh—I’m guessing that’s the main reason we’re not trying it?”
“There are plenty of reasons why I’m abstaining from killing Bill in his current form,” Ford explained, before casting a sympathetic look to Dipper. “Although the resemblance to you is certainly one of the bigger reasons as to why I’m hesitant to try.”
Dipper gave him a small, grateful smile in return. “I mean, if it helps, I accidentally killed a ton of my own clones last year,” he said. “Plus I did have some pretty dark thoughts about what I wanted to do to Dippy Fresh in Mabel’s dream world.”
He shrugged nervously. “So, you know, if you really have to kill him while he looks like me—”
His words were cut off with a weak laugh as Ford pressed a comforting hand to the top of his head. “Well, I’ll keep that in mind for sure,” he said, before both hand and smile fell again. “But there are other reasons as to why I’m hesitant. One of the main ones being that we have no way of knowing if killing the body would kill Bill himself.”
“Whaddaya mean?” Stan asked.
“Bill’s a creature of the mind,” Ford explained, pressing a finger to his temple. “One who lacks a physical form, and needs to resort to possessing those of us in the real world if he wishes to accomplish anything in this dimension.”
He gestured to himself, then to Dipper. “It’s why he had to use both Dipper and myself as his vessels on separate occasions.”
Stan’s gaze shifted awkwardly between them. “Oh, uh—right.”
“He mentioned something like that last year,” Dipper added. “About how if you don’t have a vessel, you’re basically a ghost in the mindscape.”
“Precisely,” Ford continued. “Based on his current appearance, he’s likely made some sort of deal with an unsuspecting person and claimed a new vessel as his own. But if a form of harm—or worse, death befell that vessel, it would leave the poor soul of whoever he’s possessing without a body, and him free to bounce around the mindscape again.”
He crossed his arms. “Which would just leave him completely unbound to our dimension and leave us back at square one.”
“So…if we can’t kill him and we can’t remove him from his vessel, then what can we do?” Dipper asked.
“Ah, well, I never said we couldn’t remove him from the vessel,” Ford pointed out. “I simply said that using the most drastic method available would be a poor decision, with no guarantee that it would actually kill Bill himself.”
A pause. “Plus there’s the natural reluctance that most people tend to face when presented with the idea of putting a bullet through a child’s head. Obviously.”
“I mean, if the kid’s possessed by someone who tried to destroy the universe, I don’t think anyone in their right mind’s gonna get huffy at you for pullin’ the trigger,” Stan pointed out. “But if we’re not doing that, then—what are we doing?”
“My current best idea is to take Bill down to my lab and try an artificial means of exhausting the body,” Ford explained. “In the hopes of exorcizing Bill from it in a safe and controlled environment, and to possibly bind him to a vessel where he’ll be unable to move around freely.”
He pressed a thoughtful hand to his chin. “Perhaps if we’re lucky, it will also grant the body’s original host a chance to retake control. And if they do, maybe they’ll be able to answer any further questions we might have regarding the situation. Answers we're surely not going to get from Bill himself."
He raised his hands in a shrug. “And even if none of that works, it might still give us a clearer picture as to what kind of possession we’re dealing with, and hopefully steer us towards a method that will actually kill Bill for good.”
Stan blinked. “...Now say it in layman’s terms for the kid, in case he didn’t catch that—”
“He’s going to try and make Bill so tired that he leaves the body, but can’t escape from the lab,” Dipper explained. “And move him to a vessel where he won’t cause more trouble and also doesn’t look like me, while maybe giving the original body back to whoever owned it.”
“Oh!” Stan said, and began to crack his fists. “Well, I mean—if you need a way to tire the little guy out, there’s nothin’ better than a good, old-fashioned round of fisticuffs—”
“No, Stanley,” Ford interrupted. “I appreciate both of you bringing me breakfast, but I’ll be handling this on my own.”
“Wh—” Stan’s hands fell to his side. “Seriously? You’re really not gonna let anyone help you with this?”
“Yeah, I’ve gotta side with Grunkle Stan on this one,” Dipper added. “You said yourself that you’ve been up all night, having to listen to Bill do everything he can to get under your skin. Are you sure you don’t want any help dealing with him now that the rest of us are awake?”
A shrug. ”Or, you know, someone to at least watch him while you take a nap?”
“Atta boy, Dip,” Stan praised, before pointing a finger at his brother. “Like I said last night, I can watch over Bill for you while you get some sleep. If you don’t want me to kill him, I won’t—I’ll just keep an eye on him—”
“I believe I gave my answer last night,” Ford said firmly, turning back to the door. “I’ve got a few plans in mind, and if it turns out that I’m unable to accomplish this goal on my own, only then will I ask for help.”
“...Will you?”
Ford’s hand froze just above the doorknob, and he turned back to Stanley with a raised eyebrow. “Come again?”
“Will you ask for help?” Stan repeated with more boldness as he leaned closer. “Because you’ve got a guy who’s practically throwin’ himself at you to help, and you keep saying you can handle this by yourself.”
“I said I will ask for help if I’m unable to handle it by myself, Stanley,” Ford replied, narrowing his eyes. “And so far, I’ve been able to handle it just fine—”
“Uh, maybe I should just—”
Dipper shifted uncomfortably in place, before taking a step backwards. A motion that caused both men to turn to him with looks of concern. “It’s alright, Dipper, you can go,” Ford reassured him with a smile. “And thank you for bringing me breakfast, I really appreciate it.”
“Yeah, go on and get, kiddo,” Stan added with a wave. “Actually, why don’t you go check on your sister, or somethin’? Don’t know if she got any food in her.”
“Hmm, come to think of it, I don’t think she did,” Dipper mused thoughtfully. “I should probably go fix that, huh?”
He turned and hurried back down the hall, the older men waiting until he disappeared from sight to face each other again. “Come on, Ford,” Stan asked, flicking a thumb towards the door. “You’ve been at this all night, and the only idea you’ve got isn’t even one that’s gonna kill him.”
“I realize it’s not the best idea,” Ford said. “But if it works, we can always trap Bill in a safer environment and—”
“And what, stay up for another week as you keep looking for a way to actually kill him?” Stan interrupted. “And what happens if you don’t find one? Are you just gonna stay up forever and let this Bill stuff takes over your life again?”
“If I have to, then yes,” Ford said firmly, and turned to face the door again. “What other choice do I have, let Bill wander around freely and attempt to destroy the universe again?”
“You have the choice to let someone else babysit the little jerk while you rest for five minutes!”
Much like the evening prior, Ford felt a hand clasp his shoulder tightly. “Ford, just—don’t you remember what I said at the bus stop yesterday?” Stan asked, pleaded. “About not having to deal with anything by ourselves ever again? What, did you think I was lying when I said that?”
Ford froze at that question, hand less than an inch from the doorknob.
He wasn’t lying. Of course he wasn’t lying.
But that was the issue in itself.
His shoulders tensed beneath Stan’s hand as his thoughts drifted back to the events of the previous day. Those looks Stanley had given him after their arrival, the way he’d dodged his concerns back at the mermaid tank.
Ford had initially written them off as his own paranoia, as something to not concern himself over. But Stan had said as much himself yesterday; he would toss himself in front of another blast of the Memory Gun to protect his family again. So willing to let himself burn if it meant keeping the others warm.
Was it truly his paranoia talking when it came to those thoughts? Or—
“I don’t know, Stanley. Were you?”
The question escaped Ford’s mouth before he could stop himself, leaving Stan to stare at him with a perplexed look. “What? Whaddaya talkin’ about?”
Ford hesitated to reply at first, but eventually continued with: “You said we could talk to each other about anything. But ever since we’ve arrived at the Shack, you keep looking at me like you’ve got something you need to say but refuse to say it.”
“Again, I ask: whaddaya talkin’ about?”
“The way you looked at me last night at dinner,” Ford explained. “And…and back at the mermaid tank when we were talking with the others. You kept looking at me like you wanted to tell me something, but the one time I actually asked you if anything’s wrong, you just brushed it off with a joke!”
He folded his arms. “How am I supposed to believe you when you say we don’t have to deal with hardships by ourselves anymore when you can’t even grant me the same courtesy in return?”
Stan blinked at him a few times, before his eyes narrowed. “Are you ki—you cannot be serious, Stanford! Are you really not letting me help you deal with Bill because—because you think I’m hiding something from you?!”
The implications of what Stan had said hit them both like a truck, any aggravation that had been building between them instantly replaced with identical looks of shock. Shock that lingered for a few, agonizingly long seconds before—
“You know what, I need to get back to work,” Ford said, and spun to face the bedroom door again.
“Ford, I—”
It was as far as he got before the door slammed shut in his face.
Stan lingered where he stood, too stunned to properly move or react. And much like the previous evening, the idea of barging into the room after Ford once again flashed to the front of his mind. 
Barging in, making a scene—heck, he even eyed the dent on the wall where Ford had swung a fist the night before, his own hand balling into a fist as the temptation to follow suit swelled inside him.
But despite the red flooding his vision, he still had enough of a grasp on his common sense to know that making a whole scene—especially in front of Bill—would only make things more difficult for Ford. It would only push him further away, only make him close himself off even more than he already was, only make him bury himself further in his work and sleepless isolation—
“Are you really not letting me help deal with Bill because—because you think I’m hiding something from you?!”
If he hadn’t done that already, after implying that Ford—the man who had spent several decades being lied to and manipulated by the very same demon in the next room—was just being paranoid because he didn’t want Stan's help. 
“Well, we have you to thank for the idea, Dr. Pines.”
That Ford’s accusations about him were just based on nothing.
“None of this would’ve happened without you, Grunkle Ford!”
That Ford had been anything but completely right about him.
“But then again, you might have a little trouble convincing him. Considering your poor track record in  fixing mistakes. ”
Great. Great. 
Just another way he’d royally screwed things up.
It took every ounce of restraint that Stan could possibly muster to once again force his balled fist to his side, before he turned and stormed back down the hallway.
And once he was sure that Ford wouldn’t be able to hear him, he finally swung it hard at the wall near the stairs, the wood splintering beneath his knuckles with a loud cracking sound.
A sound that unfortunately attracted the attention of the remaining kitchen-goers, Soos poking his head out less than a second later. “Mr. Pines? Is everything okay?” he asked. “Are you still hungry? Melody made more bacon—”
Stan barely managed a grunt and a “Goin’ out to the boat!” in response before he continued onwards out the front door—he left it ajar; Soos would close it behind him and Stan knew for a fact that if he tried to close it himself, the slam would be loud enough to wake up the entire town—down the porch steps and towards the direction of the boat at the edge of the yard.
— — — — — — — —
“You know, most people would be mad about being left on the floor while you went out in the hallway to gossip with your blowhard brother and a kid who probably has Baby’s First Conspiracies memorized cover to cover—”
Clank, clank.
“—but lucky for you, Fordsy, I’m in just as much of a forgiving mood as I was yesterday—”
Clank, clank.
“Honestly, I kinda like laying down on the floor like this! In fact, I could stay here forever!”
While Bill continued to rock his body back and forth—causing the top of the chair to clank loudly against the underside of the bed—Ford remained with his back to the door, too submerged in his own troubling thoughts to pay him any mind.
“Are you really not letting me help deal with Bill because—because you think I’m hiding something from you?!”
The question was like a chilling rush of ice water to his veins. Stanley really thought that he wasn’t letting him help because he didn’t trust him? After all they’d experienced together, after everything they’d gone through—
After everything that Stanley had sacrificed to save the universe, Ford had the gall to imply right to the man’s face that he didn’t trust him? To imply that Stan was being secretive about something, based on evidence as miniscule as responding strangely to a question about his mood? A response that Ford himself had originally brushed off as his own paranoia getting the better of him?
And what had changed about that original mindset to cause such doubt in Ford’s mind? Stanley’s constant insistence to help deal with Bill? A natural response to have when someone he cared about was in need?
Yeah, definitely worthy of the cruel accusations Ford had tossed at him.
He remained rigid against the door, and it was only once he heard the telltale sound of floorboards creaking their way up the hallway on the other side that he finally moved back to the chair and his waiting breakfast.
“Not even a look at me, huh?” Bill piped up from the floor. “Wow, did your chat really go that badly?”
He kicked his legs straight up into the air with a thoughtful look. “Come to think of it, that’s what—twice now that you’ve gone out into the hallway with him and come back looking worse than you normally do? And here I thought I was joking when I said the two of you were fighting.”
Devilish laughter followed his remark, and he gave the top of the chair another clank against the bed. “But even after nine months and a homemade bout of amnesia, you Pines twins really can’t get along, can you?”
Ford stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth, fighting desperately to keep his attention fixed on his plate of food. A repeat of his unsaid sentiments from the previous evening; that damned demon could chatter on all he wanted.
He could say whatever he wanted, tease him however he wanted—
He finally turned back to his list of potential ideas, gaze landing on the one he had underlined earlier in the morning.
He swapped his plate for the notes and returned to where Bill was still situated. After a few more clanks of his legs against the chair, Bill flashed him a wide grin. “Aw, have you decided to finally pick me up—oh, actually, you have.”
Ford grabbed the end of the chair leg and pulled it out from beneath the bed, Bill’s grin only widened further as he set the entire thing back up in a standing position. “Well, well, well, you’re finally listening to me again,” he said smugly. “It’s about time you—hey, what are you doing?”
While Bill had prattled on, Ford had moved to the rope by the wall—the one that had been abandoned for most of the night. Originally he’d planned on using it to tie Bill’s legs to the chair, but circumstances had prevented him from getting around to actually accomplishing that throughout the course of the evening.
If anything, that had worked out in Ford’s favor. If he was really going to try his attempt at exorcizing Bill, this would save him a trip to the storage room.
After slinging the rope over his shoulder, he returned to the chair and placed his hand on the back, before scooping it up from the floor in one fluid motion. Further ignoring Bill’s follow up remark of: “Welp, guess we’re leaving~! Too bad, I was starting to grow fond of those porcelain dolls! They’re great nightmare fuel!”, he kept his grip on the chair and lead both of them out into the hallway.
Leaving the barely touched plate and scrapped pile of ideas abandoned in the room.
— — — — — —
Dipper trudged up the stairs and towards the room at the back of the attic, the sound of Mabel’s voice growing louder and clearer as he approached the bedroom door; “Yeah, sorry, things got a little crazy last night,” she was saying. “We literally got into town and the bus had to stop because some gnomes and Lilliputtians were fighting in the middle of the road!”
“Did you snap any pics?” Another voice piped up.
A long, sad sigh. “No, we didn’t think to at the time. Sorry, I know you would’ve loved it.”
Dipper pushed the door to the bedroom open to the sight of Mabel seated near her bed, phone in hand as Dev continued to speak through it: “Eh, no worries, you guys have all summer,” they said. “I’m sure you’ll be able to get pics of all the other weird stuff that town has to offer.”
“Hey, Dev!” Dipper called as he approached the bed. “Just letting you know that I’m now in the room, so no making kissy faces at each other!”
“Psh, who says?” Mabel asked. “We can make kissy faces at each other all we want, whenever we want!”
“Hey, Dip!” Dev called in return. “Mabel was just telling me about your busy first day, and why she forgot to call.”
“So I heard. Hey, scoot over.”
Mabel obliged, and he planted himself down on the floor next to her. “Did she tell you about how we got carried up to the shack by a Manotaur?”
“Ugh, you guys have all the luck!” Dev whined. “I wish I could’ve convinced Aaron to let me join you guys up there for the summer!”
“Ehh, I don’t know about that one, Dev,” Dipper said. “It wasn’t all gnomes and Manotaurs once we got back to town. See, after we got to the Shack—”
“Our Grunkle Ford had to deal with a whollleeee lot of old business stuff!” Mabel interrupted quickly. “Lots of nerd stuff—not the cool nerd stuff that you like, boring nerd stuff—that might keep him busy all summer, and we might not get to spend as much time with him as we thought we would.”
“Aww, boo,” Dev said supportively. “You were so excited about getting to spend the summer with him! You even made that sweater and everything!”
“Right?! But hopefully he gets it all dealt with in time for us to do lots of fun Grunkle-and-great-niece-slash-nephew activities!”
She paused for a moment. “Ugh, that’s a mouthful. What’s a better way to say great-niece-and-nephew?”
“...Gniece and Gnephew?” Dev suggested. “Like gnome but the g isn’t silent?”
Mabel’s eyes went wide and she clutched the phone to her cheek. “Ugh, you’re the SMARTEST smarty-pants in the world~!” she cooed, kicking her feet. “I’m soooo gonna use that now!”
“Anyway, sorry for not checking in last night, Dev,” Dipper chimed in. “Just assume that if we go a while without calling you, we’re probably being held captive by like…mutant tree people or something.”
“Wait, you guys have mutant tree people up there?!” Dev asked excitedly. “Maaaaan—next year I’ve gotta convince Aaron to let me go up there with you guys—”
There was a muffled shout in the background, before Dev said: “Oh, he’s calling me down to breakfast, I’ve gotta go.”
“No problem, we’re supposed to be eating breakfast now, too,” Dipper added. 
“Bye, Dev~!” Mabel said sweetly. “We’ll talk to you later~!”
“Bye, Dev! What Mabel said.”
“I love you!”
“—also that, but platonically!”
“Later, guys!” Dev called. “Hope you get a chance to spend time with your Great-Uncle Ford, and don’t forget to snag me an autograph if you can!”
“Dev—” Dipper said with a laugh. “I’m telling you, he’s just a regular guy.”
“Remind me again how long you spent searching for him last year.”
“...Point taken. Talk to you later.”
There was a click and the phone went silent, before Mabel slapped it shut. “Aww, I wish we could’ve convinced Aaron to let Dev come with us on our trip up here!” she lamented with a sigh. “He’s usually so cool, I don’t know why he said no!”
“Maybe because you told him about how one of our great-uncles stole the other’s identity for thirty years,” Dipper reminded her. “While the other spent that time traveling around the Multiverse. I mean, what older brother would want their younger sibling to spend the entire summer with two old men like that?”
“Uh, the coolest older brother?” Mabel replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Oh well. Maybe we can convince Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford to come down to Piedmont for Hanukkah this year. They can meet him then, and then he’ll be willing to let Dev spend next summer here with us~! Perfect plan!”
“Yeah, perfect plan,” Dipper said. “As long as they’ve gotten rid of Bill by then.”
An uneasy silence fell over the room, the twins’ gazes shifting away from each other as Mabel suddenly found herself very interested in the pattern on the floorboards while  Dipper reached up to fiddle with his hat. “So you didn’t tell Dev about Bill’s return, I’m guessing?”
“Nuh-uh,” Mabel confirmed in a low voice.
“...You know, what I said yesterday about talking to Mayor Tyler still applies,” Dipper continued. “I mean, he’s dating Wendy’s dad now and he seemed really excited to see us when we got back to town. Maybe if we ask—”
“Race you downstairs to finish that breakfast we didn’t eat!”
Before Dipper could continue, Mabel had leapt to her feet and was bolting for the door. Dipper blinked in surprise, before leaping to his feet as well and hurrying after her with a shout of: “Mabel, wait, you didn’t let me finish—”
Mabel simply laughed in response as the two of them raced their way back down to the first floor—
“Well, well, well, looks like Shooting Star’s awake too~!”
—only for that laughter to get caught in her throat as she reached the bottom step, eyes wide at the sight that waited before her.
Ford was just coming up from the hallway, Bill’s chair clutched tightly in his hand as he walked. And upon hearing Bill’s greeting to Mabel, Ford gave the chair a warning shake.
To Mabel, however, he gave a warm, tired smile. “Good morning, Mabel.”
“Uh, good morning, Grunkle Ford…”
Mabel couldn’t help but let her gaze linger on the restrained figure in the chair, one who cast her a wide smile full of teeth. “Sleep well~?” he asked. “Heard your brother had an uneasy night—”
“Hey, I didn’t say that!” Dipper piped up, as he came down the stairs behind Mabel. “Don’t put words in my mouth!”
“Aw, but putting words in other people’s mouths is so fun,” Bill insisted. “All you gotta do is take one word, pluck it outta someone’s head, and then just slap another word in its place! You can make even the most serious and no-nonsense chumps say all kinds of silly words when you do!”
He jerked his head towards Ford. “Like ol’ Fordsy here—go ahead and try to get him to say the word ‘burden’!” he urged with a bat of his eyelashes. “Come on, you know you wanna~!”
As Dipper and Mabel both winced in discomfort, Soos peered his head out from the kitchen. “Good morning!” he greeted cheerfully, before his gaze fell to Bill. “Uh, that doesn’t apply to you, triangle dude.”
“So grateful you spelled that out for me, Question Mark,” Bill said with bright sarcasm. “Otherwise I never would’ve caught it~!”
“Oh, uh—you’re welcome, then? I guess?”
“Nobody pay him any mind,” Ford instructed. “We’re simply passing through on our way down to the basement.”
“Yeah, nobody pay me any mind,” Bill chimed. “Unless they’re really valuable, of course!”
He laughed at his own joke with a kick of his feet. “I’m just kidding: I’ll take any mind as a form of payment, even the dumb ones!” he said, with a wink in Soos’ direction. “I’m talkin’ to you, Big Guy, I know for a fact you’re not using yours!”
“Ugh, is there any way to get him to stop talking?” Wendy piped up from behind Soos, a moment before she propped herself against the kitchen doorframe. “Can’t Mr. Pines pop him in the other eye or something?”
“He coooould,” Bill taunted. “If him and Sixer weren’t fiiiiighting~!”
He laughed as Ford gave the chair another shake, while Mabel stared in confusion. “You and Grunkle Stan are fighting?”
“As I said, Mabel, pay him no mind,” Ford instructed. “Nothing that comes out of his mouth is to be trusted in any sense.”
“Well, uh,” Dipper started awkwardly. “Do you know where Grunkle Stan went after you guys talked? I don’t think he ate much of his breakfast before we went to bring you yours, so—”
“I know where he went,” Wendy began, before her eyes fell to Bill. “He—he came up the hallway, then headed outside to the boat. Didn’t say why, though.”
“I did ask if he wanted any more food, though,” Soos added. “But he just kinda grunted and didn’t really give me an answer. Which is a pretty normal Mr. Pines reply, but still—breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I hope he’s alright!”
“Sounds to me like he’s going outside to sulk because somebody doesn’t want him around,” Bill said, once again tilting his head in Ford’s direction. “But I guess they didn’t hear that from me, did they?”
Ford glowered at him for a brief moment, before turning towards the living room doorway. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be down in the basement dealing with our little…problem.”
“Oh, wait one second, Dr. Pines!” Melody called from the kitchen, seconds before leaning into view from the doorway. “Before you go, I just wanted to ask about the party tonight. And, uh—whether or not we should still have it after—”
She gestured towards Bill with the spatula, upon which he flashed her a smile. “Aww, you chumps were going to have a party?” he asked. “Well, don’t stop on my account! I dunno if anyone’s told you, Newbie, but I’m quite the party fanatic myself~! Practically invented the word!”
Melody raised an eyebrow. “Newbie?”
“He does nicknames,” Wendy explained with a wave of her hand. “It’s a thing, don’t worry about it.”
“Ignoring him, please feel free to have the party as initially planned,” Ford instructed Melody. “I assume you’ve already passed out invitations, and canceling at the last minute would arouse more suspicion than just hosting the party anyway.”
“Okay, well, if you’re sure,” Soos said, casting him a small grin. “You—uh, think you’ll be done in time to join us? It’s a party for you too, you know?”
Ford looked to him, then silently to Bill—who only widened his cheeky little grin further as he waited for an answer—
—before passing through living room doorway in silence, letting the chair thump down the small step and to the carpet as he dragged it behind him. With a vocal complaint from Bill in the form of: “Hey, hey! You could at least carry me all the way, you jerk!”, Ford continued onwards towards the door to the gift shop on the other side of the room.
The rest of the group watched them go, and looked to each other once the two of them disappeared from sight past the swinging door. “So, uh—guess we should start prepping the shack for the party then, huh?” Soos asked the rest of them.
“Probably,” Melody agreed. “We didn’t get around to cleaning up the exhibits yesterday, so there’s a lot to do if we want to be ready by tonight.”
“Ughh, does that mean I have to work on another one of my days off?” Wendy started with a groan—
—before casting a look to the twins still on the stairs, gazes still focused on the vacant living room doorway. “—ah, well, I guess it’s a good chance to show off our new way of cleaning things up around here.”
She flashed them a grin. “I could use a couple of assistants to help me out, though. Whaddaya say, dorks?”
Dipper pulled his gaze away from the door frame to look at her. “You want our help?”
“No, I’m talking to the other pair of twins standing in the exact same spot as you two,” Wendy said with a laugh. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Or as fun as cleaning can get—”
She shrugged. “I know that’s not very convincing, but seriously, I could really use someone to talk to while I work. Make the boring stuff less boring, y’know?”
This got a smile out of Dipper, and he leaned over to nudge his sister. “Come on, let’s leave Ford to do what he’s gotta do and go distract ourselves for a bit,” he urged. “Besides, I’m sure Melody will let you toss up as many streamers as you want if you ask.”
“I will!” Melody confirmed from the doorway.
Mabel didn’t take her eyes off the living room doorway at first, but the draw of streamers finally moved her attention back to the rest of the group. “As many as I want?”
“We have at least a hundred rolls at the ready,” Soos said with a thumbs up. “When we told the lady at Party Metropolis what—and who—they were for, she sold us her entire stock.”
Mabel’s mouth curled into a wide smile. “We~ell, I guess that’s a start—”
“Atta girl,” Wendy said with a wink, before making her way to the front door. “Come on, I can’t wait to show you guys how we clean everything up now—”
While Dipper rushed after her with just as much gusto, Mabel trailed slowly behind them, casting a hesitant look in the direction of the living room before the door swung shut behind her.
The shack was quiet now, leaving only Soos and Melody left in the kitchen doorway. After a moment, Melody turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “Hey, did either of them eat any breakfast?”
“Don’t think so,” Soos replied. “Don’t think Mr. Pines ate much either. And I know we had Dipper bring Dr. Pines some food, but that was only a few minutes ago and he didn’t have it when he headed for the basement.”
He waved his hands. “So unless he picked up some kinda superpowers in the Multiverse that let him, I dunno, inhale all his food in one big gulp or something, it’s a tossup if he actually ate anything,” he said, before pressing one hand to his chin. “Either way, I should probably go get that plate from Abuelita’s room.”
With a smile, Melody ducked back into the kitchen. “You take care of that while I’ll go ahead and stick four premade plates of food in the fridge for later,” she said. “They’ll eat when they get hungry, right? And if not…then we have four ready-made plates to eat later.”
“You’re so smart,” Soos said, giving her a smile as he head towards the hall. “I want the last of that lasagna though, babe! You did such a good job making it!”
“Soos, it was premade.”
“Well, you can heat up a premade pasta better than anyone I know!”
— — — — — — — —
The elevator rumbled slowly as it descended beneath the house, the vibrations making the chair—and by extension, Bill—bounce slightly in place.
It didn’t take a genius to guess where the two of them were going, and a cheeky smile was widening across Bill’s face as they continued downwards. “So, Sixer, taking me down to the lab?” he asked. “Gonna run a few tests? Maybe poke me with a couple of needles?”
He tilted his head closer to Ford. “Come ooooon, I know you can’t resist a chance to take some sample blood!” he said cheerfully. “And if I know anything about you mortals, it’s that you’ve got a LOT of blood to spare~!”
Ford remained silent, gaze fixed ahead as the elevator finally slowly to a stop, with the small ding of a bell signaling their arrival. Once the doors slid open, he grabbed the back of the chair and dragged it behind him as he stepped out into the—
—private study.
Huh?
Bill had expected Ford to take them all the way down to the main laboratory for whatever plans he had in mind. More privacy, the wide open space of the portal room acting as a nostalgic backdrop for the both of them…
He couldn’t possibly imagine why Ford would bring them to his stuffy old study instead.
The chair legs clattered loudly against the floor as Ford dragged him through the room, past all the various collections he had accrued over his years of study. Collections that Bill couldn’t help but take a look at while he was pulled along.
Sure, he’d seen plenty of them more times than he could count—whether it was through Stanford’s eyes or the eyes of one of the countless triangles that he had once kept in his home. But hey, long time no see and Bill was always happy to see!
Besides, maybe he’d finally get a proper look at his vessel’s face for the first time while the two of them were down here. He hadn’t missed the fact that nobody in the household had followed up on his request for a mirror, and he could feel the curiosity about his vessel’s appearance rising with each passing minute.
They probably weren’t very tall, judging by the stubby length of the legs he had stared at—and kicked obnoxiously against his chair—for most of the night. And the way that Ford and Stan had towered over him while he was seated only added more credibility to this theory.
Had Birdbrain given him a short vessel as revenge for all the short jokes he had previously tossed their way? If that was the case, then somebody was being very immature.
Aside from that, a few glances at his hands and the fluff of blond hair that hung down over his eyes, he was completely clueless about what his vessel actually looked like.
Ford continued to drag him through the study and towards the far space at the back of the room. A space that brought an elated sparkle to Bill’s eyes once he realized where they were heading. “Oh, we’re going over here~?” he asked delightedly. “Man, I haven’t seen the shrine in age—oh.”
His initial excitement died in his throat as Ford finally stopped and set the chair in place, allowing Bill to get a clearer look at the area around him.
Gone were the golden statues and shimmering prisms resembling his likeness, and the usual tapestries of deep red and gold—each thread stitched with care by Ford’s own hand; he had really gone the extra mile back then—were now replaced with nothing but dreary-gray walls and assorted garbage that Ford had yet to clean up.
The beloved shrine that had once been Ford’s glorious tribute to Bill’s greatness, his godliness—
Gone. Completely torn down.
To add insult to injury, Ford had set the chair down right in the very center of the mess—withered ruins of a once-magnificent display—and made his way over to his workspace. Leaving Bill to stew in his bitterness as he cast a sour look around him, gaze landing on the only thing left near him outside of the discarded trash.
More specifically, an elaborate computer system with its main screen completely busted.
Ford might’ve attempted to cut him off before creating Project Mentem, but having eyes everywhere allowed him to keep tabs on things outside the mindscape. And boy howdy, he had sure kept tabs on Ford after his cruel and unwarranted betrayal. Even going so far as to rip handfuls of wires out of the machine whenever Ford’s body succumbed to sleep, setting his progress on the project back further and further. Sure, that problem had temporarily solved itself in the form of the Portal incident, but Ford had gotten straight to work upon his return and finally finished the project to completion.
Yeesh, between that and the destruction of the portal, Ford had really spent the entire month-and-a-half after returning to this dimension being as inconvenient to Bill as possible.
A brief spike of panic shot through Bill as the thought of Ford using the machine on him bubbled to the front of his mind. The technology was designed to scramble minds and make reading them near impossible—although for the record, Stanford, he would’ve eventually found some kind of work-around for that—but Bill also knew that before the scrambling process began, the machine would project all those thoughts onto the screen itself.
A weird design choice on Ford’s end, but in an indirect way, it granted him his own artificial method of reading minds.
Sure, the machine had been damaged shortly after completion—oh, Bill had to give Pine Tree some praise in that regard; probably one of the most useful things the little pipsqueak had done in his entire life. But if Ford had been smart enough to understand the complex, multidimensional schematics that Bill had provided for him for the portal’s construction, then repairing some fancy-schmancy thought scrambler would be child’s play.
If Ford managed to get Project Mentem working again, there was a chance that he could snag a glimpse at the deal Bill had made with Tangy. To see a lot of things that he had no business seeing, to know things he had no business knowing—
Hold on a second.
Bill continued to stare hard at the old computer, gaze fixed on one of the smaller, undamaged monitors. The screen was decades old—a tried-and-true relic of the early nineteen-eighties, much like the rest of the technology that Ford and his…assistant had used for their inventions around that point in time—and the inactivity of the machine left a dark reflection of the room and anyone in it on the glass.
And while the angle Bill was situated at made it difficult for him to get a clear look with his functional eye, he could almost make out his vessel’s face. If only he could turn his head at juuuust the right angle—
“Hey—hey!”
And suddenly his head was guided—jerked back to the front by a firm hand around his jaw, and Bill found himself face-to-face with Ford. 
He expected to see the same anger in his eyes that he’d been subjected to for the past several hours. But Ford’s expression was more studious, pupils darting back and forth behind his old lenses in deep concentration—
“ACK!”
A small flash of light was shone in his functional eye before Bill had time to brace himself, and he shrank away from it as best he could—despite Ford’s hand keeping both his head and the small flashlight in place. “Hey, come on,” he griped, snapping his eyelid closed with a nasty look. “Trying to kill me is one thing, but blinding me’s a low blow, even for you!”
Eventually the light was shifted to his right eye, and Ford kept it there for a moment before finally clicking the small flashlight off and tucking it back into his pocket. “Had a feeling…”
Despite his irritation towards being manhandled, Bill raised an eyebrow at that remark. Outside of the occasional threat, Ford hadn’t said anything to him the entire night he’d been back.
Granted, his remark was more about him than to him, but it was close enough to count! “Oh, so are you finally ready to talk to me, Sixer?” he tried with a cutesy bat of his eyelashes. “Because lemme tell ya: after being rudely ignored all night, I’m not so sure I’m even in the mood to—hey!”
And now Ford had both his jaw and forehead in a tight grip, keeping his mouth propped open for a moment so he could look inside. “Dental structure appears normal,” he mused quietly. “Canines have already grown in, second molars—”
“Oh, don’t tell me you’re researching me,” Bill said with a perturbed scowl once Ford finally let go of his head to scribble down his findings. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m flattered and open to answering any questions you might have about me.”
He flashed Ford a grin. “But like I warned your brother last night, I wouldn't go sticking those freaky hands of yours anywhere near these puppies, unless you feel like going from six fingers to five!” he said with a snap of his teeth. “I’d advise against it, though. Those extra fingers of yours are probably your best qualities—can you stop?!”
Ford’s hands were back on his head, this time to push that blonde tuft of hair out of his eyes—
“Oh.”
Ford’s curious stare at his forehead gave Bill pause for a moment, and he raised an eyebrow. “What? What’s with the ominous ‘oh’-ing?”
Ford continued to stare in silence for a few seconds, before turning back to his notes to scribble something else down.
“Hey, you tell me what you’ve written right now!” Bill demanded, face hot with anger. “Do you hear me, Sixer?! You don’t get to poke and prod me like a lump of flesh clay and then just sit there and not tell me what you’re writing!”
Despite Bill’s ire, Ford ignored him in favor of finishing his notes, only stopping to reach for the rope he had grabbed from the bedroom. And as Bill watched, he laid the rope in a perfect circle on the floor around the chair and himself. 
Yeesh, whether it was through a sketch in a notebook, spray paint on the ground, or with a simple rope, Ford really did have a knack for creating near-perfect circles. An impressive talent, although Bill had always—and understandably—favored his ability to draw a perfect equilateral triangle far more than some silly circles.
Once Ford had closed the circle, he moved to one of the nearby storage cupboards for the needed moonstones and vial of mercury. “You know, I feel like you’re being a biiiiit excessive with all of this, Fordsy,” Bill piped up. “I mean, I’m already bound pretty tightly over here. What’s another spell circle going to do?”
Rather than reply, Ford set the remaining objects in place and returned to his desk to fiddle with something just out of Bill’s line of sight—despite several failed attempts on Bill’s end to stretch his body far enough to get a peek. And after a few minutes, he stepped away again and made his way towards the spiral staircase on the other side of the study.
Bill continued to watch as he descended upwards and towards the level that waited just above the room; a hallway that connected to the cellar beneath one side of the shack, an additional hidden entrance that opened up to the house on the other, and a bathroom smack dab in the very center. All of which was comfortably situated just beneath the stairwell on the upper floor.
All in all, a general area that provided solutions to more than one type of emergency.
It was only when Ford disappeared completely from sight near the top of the stairs that Bill turned his attention back to the desk. So Mister Brainiac wanted to play sneaky with his plans, did he? Well, if there was anything he should’ve picked up on last night, it was that he should’ve used that extra rope to restrain Bill’s legs!
Or maybe not, since that would’ve only inconvenienced him further.
With an inhale of breath, Bill leaned backwards in the chair before throwing all of body weight forward and bringing himself to his feet. He wasn’t quite used to using his new human limbs yet—let alone with a whole chair on his back—but all he needed to do was get within reach of something sharp long enough to cut his ropes.
Sure, the circle on the floor limited his range of motion, but the rope had been placed right up against the broken monitors. Maybe if he angled the legs of the chair enough, he could get a piece of glass from the broken computer monitor within his line of reach. All he needed to do was take a few wobbly steps—
“Oh, come on!”
—wobblier than expected, apparently. For it was one humiliating crash later that Bill found himself as acquainted with the hardwood floor as he had been with the rug back in Abuelita’s bedroom. 
His face was smushed against the ground in a way that barred his sight of the stairs. But he could hear Ford stomping back down them in an instant—likely to investigate the source of the crashing sound—and it was only a few seconds later that an unseen hand gripped the back of the chair and hoisted it up off the floor.
Both chair and Bill were rotated forward again, and his own glare met Ford’s as the two of them stared at each other in furious silence. “See, I don’t know what you’re so upset about,” Bill finally said with a roll of his eyes. “You’re not the one who keeps giving the floorboards the wrong impression about what kinda shape I am.”
He tilted his head dramatically. “With how often my face meets the floor, these poor planks probably see me as some kind of…woodwork womanizer at this point~! My reputation’s gonna take ages to recover from such a scathing blow!”
He dropped the theatrics for a moment to roll his eyes. “Or at least, it would if I actually cared about that kinda thing! Not much of a hardwood guy, although I did meet a couple of sentient birch trees who had quite the bark to match their bite~! Haha!”
With a huff, Ford set the chair back in place with a solid thunk of the chair legs, only to step just out of range when Bill tried to kick at him. “And seriously, would it kill you to put some carpet or a rug down in here?”
“I had a rug.”
“Yeah, well, what happened to—”
Any further protests died in Bill’s throat under Ford’s narrowed glare, and he looked away with a muttered: “...Could’ve just bought another one.” as Ford returned to his desk.
— — — — — — —
Even as far back as their childhood, Stan had often teased Ford for the way he organized things. Whether it was his half of their dresser drawers, his school binders—
—heck, even his beloved journals of all the Whatchamacallits and Whatsittoyas of Gravity Falls had been organized to some degree.
Granted, everything was always organized in an incredibly-nerdy way—one that only Stanford Pines and Stanford Pines alone could properly decipher. Sorting sock brands by alphabetical order? Academic awards by height and medal quality?
And organized didn’t always mean clean. Even a complete and total memory wipe hadn’t managed to make Stan forget the time he had come home to most of Ford’s science books and countless sheets of paper with associated scribblings scattered around the bedroom. All of which Ford had insisted that Stan not move in the slightest, because he was ‘on the verge of completing a super important experiment for the science fair, and couldn’t afford to move a single paper’.
Wait, had it been for the science fair? It could’ve just been some random project—whatever, it didn’t matter at the moment.
Regardless of his eccentric methods—and how often Stan had ended up spending the night on the living room couch to avoid another one of his brother’s nerdy all-nighters—the fact of the matter was that Ford was an expert in keeping his stuff organized. A place for everything and everything in its place, and all that other jazz Ma had always taught them growing up.
And despite Stan reacting to such behavior in the only way he knew how to react—juvenile, brotherly teasing with the occasional noogie for good measure—Ford had always gotten the upper hand in the end whenever they needed to locate something in a hurry.
And thankfully that mindset had carried over to adulthood, and included his notes on all of the oddities that the two of them had discovered during their sea travels across the past nine months.
It had taken Stan about two minutes to locate said notes after he finally managed to calm down from the events that had unfolded inside the shack. Whether or not that also took two minutes was up for debate—if there was a universe out there where two minutes and ten minutes were the exact same length of time.
Yeesh, Stan could practically hear Ford in his head at the very thought, going off on elaborate story about how he’d actually jumped through several dimensions where time worked like that during his travels.
His grip on the saltwater-stained journal—one whose front was emblazoned with a golden hand and the number four—tightened as he moved to the counter at the back of the cabin, and set it down in front of him before flipping open to the first page.
It wasn’t the best idea in the world, since it limited their options to sea-based methods. And unless that little triangle twerp had some unknown weakness to water, they probably wouldn’t get anywhere with just the one book. 
But for now, it was an idea.
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bcolfanfic · 3 months ago
Note
“Exposed raw nerves and can't help but poke at them.” For YV Clegan! Some self destructive Bucky
anon im answering this now bc this draft is getting quite long and i want to make it it’s own gale pov Thing which might take some time but. you spun the angst wheel good. this is gonna be set a little less than a week before john’s attempt/the events of east side of sorrow.
----
A few hours passed before he was woken up loud beeping echoing off of seemingly every surface in the house.
His first thought was that he didn’t think it would be that loud.
His second was his husband.
In a daze, Gale stumbled out of bed and down the hallway to find John standing by the shoe rack. He was still in his pajamas, hands pressed over his ears with his head down between his forearms.
"Shit- John, it's alright," He said gently, approaching him with caution.
When he got closer, he could see how tense John’s entire frame was, the only part of him that did seem to be moving his lip wobbling.
“Make it stop,” He said harshly and Gale couldn’t tell if he even knew he was there. His was voice high pitched and whiny, like it got when he was talking to himself sometimes. “Makeitstopplease.”
Gale put a hand on his shoulder as he walked by him, flipping up the cover on the alarm by the door, squinting to see the numbers on the keypad in the dark. He could feel John breathing hard next to him as he disabled the alarm, murmuring to what he was certain were deaf ears that it was okay.
When beeping ceased, John shouting was the next thing reverberating off the walls.
“God damnit Gale,” He spat bitterly, yanking away from his touch so hard he almost lost his balance.
Gale recoiled in shock, eyes widening as he took a precautionary step backwards against the door, reaching back to close it completely. John was trembling with what he could only assume was adrenaline, pressing the heels of his hands into his own eyes, nails digging into his scalp.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't think th-" Gale stuttered, but John ripping his hands off his face startled him off his train of thought.
"You didn't think?" John snapped. "I could have told you that- told you booby trapping our house was real fuckin’ dumb."
Gale could feel his own breathing getting more ragged. He looked John in the face, into his eyes like if he just looked hard enough, he could see right through to his head. Maybe there was a keypad there too.
"I'm- I didn't mean to scare you." He said, trying not to sound as desperate as he felt.
John snapping at him wasn’t completely new. But at least before, he never seemed to be very lucid the few times he did.
The John reading him the riot act now wasn’t spinning out in some far away corner of his own head. He was here, and he was losing it.
"It was supposed to only go off in the bedroom, for me- so it’d wake me up when you went out,”
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covid-safer-hotties · 1 month ago
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Get ready for some grade-A bullshit
How can they claim that these masks cause "facial ulcers" and "Breathing problems" when miners can wear P100 elastomeric masks underground for 4 to 8 hours at a time with no similar complaints?
Filed under 'ugly' on our archive (we also have a 'good' and a 'bad')
By Jim Reed
There is only “weak evidence” that high-grade face masks better protected health workers than surgical ones in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has been told.
Prof Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said respirator masks – known as FFP3s – may have performed no better than thin surgical masks in real-life situations.
She said there could be “significant harms” from wearing tight-fitting FFP3s, including blisters and breathing difficulties.
“If the evidence was strong that FFP3s really protected people, and we saw a definitive reduction [in infections], they would have been recommended,” she said.
'Life and death' Not all scientists agree on what has become a controversial issue.
The BBC has previously reported on research which appears to show a significant real-world benefit from wearing higher-grade masks on hospital wards.
Throughout the first two years of the pandemic, groups representing doctors, nurses and other health workers repeatedly called for urgent improvements to personal protective equipment (PPE), including the wider use of respirators.
FFP3s are tight-fitting masks with a built-in air filter designed to block out tiny aerosol particles which can carry the virus.
Before they can be used, each wearer must undergo a fit test, to make sure the mask is properly sealed to the face.
For most of the pandemic, national guidance across the whole UK said that healthcare workers should wear basic surgical masks rather than FFP3s, except in intensive care or a small number of medical situations.
The decision was heavily criticised by some staff with the doctors’ union, the BMA, calling it a "matter of life and death".
National guidance on face masks from April 2020 was drawn up by a group of experts from across the United Kingdom known as the IP (Infection Prevention) Cell.
Its membership included representatives from the NHS, government departments and health bodies, including Public Health England (PHE), the organisation replaced by UKHSA in 2021 in a shake-up ordered by then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
The inquiry was shown minutes from an IP Cell meeting on 22 December 2020, just after the new Alpha variant of Covid had been detected, which appeared to show disagreement about the use of higher-grade FFP3 masks.
The records quote Dr Colin Brown, now the deputy director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA but at the time with PHE, as saying: "Our understanding of aerosol transmission has changed. A precautionary approach to move to FFP3 masks [in all healthcare settings] whilst we are awaiting evidence should be advised."
However, the wider IP Cell decided that no upgrading of the guidance was warranted at the time, and NHS trusts were told to continue to supply staff with standard surgical masks in almost all cases outside intensive care.
It was not until January 2022 that the advice changed, saying that FFP3 respirators "must be worn" by all staff if they are caring for patients with a virus such as Covid, and should be offered to other staff depending on a risk assessment.
By that point, the World Health Organization, and other health bodies, had recognised Covid could be spread in tiny airborne particles over distances longer than 6.5ft (2m), something officials said was impossible at the start of the pandemic.
Prof Hopkins, who served as PHE’s chief Covid adviser before moving across to UKHSA, told the inquiry that FFP3 masks offered a high degree of protection in laboratory studies, but the real-world benefits were less clear-cut.
“Where we looked at it, and repeatedly looked at it and are still looking at it, the evidence is weak that FFP3s protected more than fluid-resistant surgical masks,” she said.
“At the outset, in March 2020, the risks were that we had never asked people to wear FFP3 masks for prolonged periods.
“We saw them get ulcers on their faces and having challenges breathing and challenges in being hydrated.”
'Groupthink' Asked about the December 2020 IP Cell minutes, which suggested PHE was pushing behind-the-scenes for the wider use of respirator masks in healthcare, Prof Hopkins said that was a "really challenging time" in the pandemic with the UK about to enter a third wave of the virus.
“The fact that PHE was giving and airing a different view is an example of [us] not being involved in groupthink,” she said.
The Covid inquiry is currently taking evidence about the impact on the NHS and healthcare systems across all four nations of the UK.
More than 50 witnesses are expected to appear in this third section or "module", which runs until the end of November.
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Azran Legacy Guidebook: Page 70
The Nest
Dangerous Area
Precautionary Guide
To obtain the final egg, Layton and co. have no choice but to face the danger and set foot into the enemy headquarters. What awaits is a confrontation with Bronev.
WANTED: Robin (Bishop) Not particularly dangerous, but his actions are bothersome.
WANTED: Macaw (Rook) Very capable, but is a good person at heart.
△ If you see any suspicious men, do not approach them and leave. Once you step foot into The Nest, you are in a danger zone. As you move away from Targent’s headquarters, the Obsidian Tower, the security becomes lighter, but black-suited men all over town keep a close eye on intruders. If you carelessly get too close, a dangerous puzzle might be thrown your way.
Emmy’s Snapshots: - Plastic container - Discarded tyre
Waste Disposal Plant >> Proceed after hearing gunshots Wylie Street >> Help Mackintosh, who is being driven out Waste Disposal Plant >> Find Mackintosh Big Airship, Cargo Hold >> Solve puzzle and proceed Big Airship, Midship >> Proceed after solving Macaw’s puzzle Big Airship, Control Room >> Take Mackintosh to the Bostonius Bostonius >> Leave Mackintosh Wylie Street >> Solve Robin’s puzzle and proceed Obsidian Tower >> Enter and proceed Obsidian Tower, Mid Floor >> Solve guard puzzle, proceed Obsidian Tower, Upper Floor >> Solve elevator puzzle and proceed Obsidian Tower, Rooftop >> If 75 puzzles have been solved, Swift will allow you to pass Obsidian Tower, The Boss’ Room >> Confront Bronev and take back the egg Obsidian Tower >> Solve the egg puzzle and make the keystone Obsidian Tower, The Boss’ Room >> Descending from the tower via hand glider To the Bostonius
△ Waste disposal Plant
The passage leading from the back is narrow, and it’s difficult to walk through without being spotted by the enemy. On the right is a landing strip, a crane carrying waste is humming.
Hint Coins:
The cans in the waterway
In the grass near plastic containers
At the top, atop the building on the right
The red switch on the wall on the right
The story behind background art
Keeping in mind the thought that: “this is a dangerous place!”, I created this oppressive-feeling backdrop. I remember working on the waste disposal plant in particular was quite difficult. (Lead by: Level-5’s Kenichi Kurakari-san)
ゴッド街 危険地帯警戒ガイド
最後の工ッグを入手するため、レイトンたちは危険を顧みず、敵の本拠地へと足を踏み入れる。最後に待つのは、プロネフとの対決だ。
WANTED ロビン 特に危険はないが行動がはた迷惑
WANTED スワロ ー 能力は優秀だが基 ー本的に善人
△ 怪しい男たちを見かけたら近づかず立ち去ること ゴッド街にひとたび足を踏み入れれば、そこから先はすべてが危険地帯。タ ー ジェントの本拠地「黒の砦」から離れれば比較的警備は薄くなるが、それでも黒服の男たちは街中で侵入者に目を光らせている。うかつに近づけば、危険なナゾに挑むことになるだろう。
Remi’s Snapshot ポリタンク コミのタイヤ
廃棄物処理場 銃声を聞き先へ進む
暗黒街 追われるタッコウを助けにいく
廃棄物処理場 タッコウを見つける
大戦艦・貨物室 扉のナゾを解いて先に進む
大戦艦・通路 スワロ ー のナゾを解いて先に進む
大戦艦・司令室 タッコウをボストニアス号に連れていく
ボストニアス号 タッコウを預ける
暗黒街 ロビンたちのナゾを解いて先へ進む
黒の砦 中に入って先へ進む
黒の砦・中層 見張りのナゾを解いて先へ進む
黒の砦・上層 エレベーター のナゾを解いて先へ進む
黒の砦・屋上 75問以上ナゾを解いていればターミガンが通してくれる
黒の砦・首領の間 プロネフと対峙しェッグを手に入れる
黒の砦 エッグのナゾを解きキ ー スト ー ンを作る
黒の砦・首領の間 ハングライダーを作って砦を降りる
ボストニアス号へ
背景画制作秘話 「なんか危ない場所だ!」を心掛けて、圧迫されるような背景が出来上がりました。廃棄物処理場は作業が大変だった思い出があります。(担当:ルベルファイプ倉狩健一さん)
用水路の中にある缶/ポリタンク近くの草むら/上の方にある右側のビルの先/右側の壁についた赤いスイッチ
△廃棄物処理場 奥へと続ぐ通路は細く, 敵の目をかいくぐり通り抜けるには難しい場所。 右側には発着場があり、方イ則では廃棄物を運ぶクレンがうなりを上げる。
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keendaanmaa · 5 months ago
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.
i could have died today. that's a surprisingly sobering realization to have once the adrenaline of the situation wears off.
backing up: my dad and i are on our way back from helping blue move, which means we were doing 110 down the highway in his pickup, towing my uncle's trailer. and then when we were approaching an intersection, the Absolute Idiot coming from our right pulls out in front of us. i'm talking like, he's halfway across our lane and we are maybe 30 feet away. still going 110. cue one of the sharpest swerves i have ever seen and then those precautionary videos about why you don't make jerky turns while towing a trailer are coming to life and i'm in the vehicle attached to it. thank God my dad was able to maintain enough control to pull back over to our shoulder and stop. with everything juddering and smashing the whole time. we get out to inspect the damage and the tailgate is mostly off, the bumper looks like it's been pulled halfway off the truck, and the trailer is only still attached by one of the two safety chains. the biker who was in the opposite lane and the guy in the car behind us both stop to check that we're alright, before the biker keeps going. car guy stays to help us get the trailer rehitched and tells us that Idiot took off as soon as we had come to a stop - or maybe before. he also offers to follow us for the next twenty miles until our turn off to make sure the trailer stays hitched, since all the jerking and swerving and bouncing did a number on the hitch and we can't get it properly locked in. so now we're safely to my uncle's yard and unhitching. it's just.
we could so easily have been killed. the truck could have rolled, the trailer could have rolled, we could have hit the Idiot straight on. he could, probably would, have been killed if we weren't able to swerve. the biker in the oncoming lane could have been killed if my dad hadn't been able to keep what control he did. there could have been a larger, closer vehicle in the oncoming lane.
praise God for His protection because this could have been so so so much worse than it was. as it is i'm shaken up and feeling so so grateful for my family and friends. so grateful that the only damage was to things, and that they are fixable. that we were coming home with an empty trailer and not going with a full one. that we are alive.
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