#save wayward sisters

[tanjir0se]

Soft launching my KNY OCs with a dumb little WIP bc I regret to inform the council that I fucking CARE THEM

[drfrankensteinvsthequeerborgs]

I LOVE Jody's moment with Patience, we know why Dean says what he says to her and it's true but his isn't the only perspective, which is like, the theme of this episode, Dean (and James) is speaking from fear and grief but there are ways around that tunnel vision

[krewekreep]

Baby Daddy Red Flags: Bleach Edition (😜🤍)

This one…this one for the sluts! 😭💕 I’m an old anime bitch like lemme get it out my system! (We gonna tag this #ToxicTalk lmaoo, this is a safe space)

(If you wanna know who we share 😒, I’ll add an asterisk or whatever. ((They still mine first 😂💝🫡)) (will update and repost with new additions, semi-live post)

***ICHIGO: Lemme get my baby daddy out the way. Biggest issues would be his availability before and after the kid. Probably got pregnant in a makeup sex situation anyway. Ichigo doesn’t seem to type to breakup but will say let’s break. Based on how selfless he is it also can be seen coming from him not being able to save his mom—so he may have a savior complex. It may seem valiant at first like “oh wow you became friends with Chad helping him with bullies? You became closer to Orihime (😒) after helping her grieve her brother? You’re such a good person!” Til you realize seniority is in place and when his friends call he drops whatever he is doing to go help. It’s been time, money, etc and increasingly his selflessness comes off as codependent. Like he can’t stop trying to make up for something that wasn’t his fault.

He will also randomly reserve to right to become reclusive. Not necessarily secretive but less energetic, talkative, or engaged. (You def realize your baby got some functional depression going on. Iykyk). Might not annoy you but the random times he doesn’t want to be touched or seemingly avoids you does hurt…but he sincerely comes back letting you know he was in a weird space etc.

Ichigo’s biggest yes or no is if you’ll be able to sometimes come second or third (likely til you marry and/or have kids with him.) His father and sisters are absolutely #1, his friends are #2, and his oath to the Soul Society and humanity at large is a consequence of him protecting the first two so that’s of course #3. See where I’m going? Even on your best days you might be upset he runs off to Rukia’s or Orihime’s aid. That he has to “save the world,”to save you too. Jealous types might really become frustrated with Ichigo. And tbh I don’t see him breaking out of his ways. He won’t see a need to because there’s real results of his good deeds in his life. He knows he’s saved lives, so he knows he can continue to—so will you be able to handle the fact his duty and mindset will be self sacrificing? I don’t know I think I’d tie him down with a baby and move on.

**KENPACHI: I fully accept and am attracted to his animalistic tendencies. I absolutely can admit that about myself 😭 but…realistically you’d def have to tell him he’s too rough during sessions. He’s grown up wayward, defensive, survival mode, stomach touching his back— during a time so seemingly historical and old who knows how bad the conditions of poverty were—most kids died if they simply weren’t rich and able to eat. Or turned to crime at extremely young ages or exploited….That’s just global history in real life. And the soul society is that much more complex and arduous. Kenpachi will be a man of few words but immense action. If you want someone who will open up even eventually that is not Kenpachi Zaraki. You will highly likely never know of his past because he will never say he is excruciatingly doing everything to never have to. And no, he won’t communicate ever if anything terrible is on his mind. Although kenpachi is coded as barbaric he really is just that protective—he’s as angry as he will be based solely upon someone’s proximity to him emotionally. You and Yaru will be so exclusively held in a regard he won’t even understand. Just the black hole of his awareness he’ll surpass anything to save y’all. He won’t speak on why Lady Unohana isn’t around anymore (new anime, manga lore). But again, when he ends up rough too many nights in a row you distance yourself from him. He can’t admit to you he disassociates and goes back to bad times. He can’t tell you your comfort and warmth makes him remember the times he needed it before—he doesn’t mean to hurt you but he lives for a fight. But he wants to stop making everything and everyone something to “conquer.” He’ll be a real deal handful and it will solely up to you to either tell him you can’t be with him until he figure shit out or you’ll stick beside him and work through it together. (In this case Yaru is the “kid” yall share, I see him being weary of birthing a child and being a dad in such a “visceral” way. Will have total abandonment trauma and just can’t see him getting over it completely to bring new life into a world he already sees the worst in tbh.) but in terms of “baby momma” treatment? Or your prioritized and protected best believe. 💕 he also will force you to learn combat cause you should be able to take care yourself too. Which might either be hot or burdensome. You’re gonna know how to fight. And tbh he might try to bring it into the bedroom on some weird let’s play fight shit so watch yourself. That’s a BIG MAN! 😭😂💕 “HA! Now that you know how do a few things why don’t you test it on me?” Big cheeky sneaky ass grin girl don’t fall for it!

BYAKUYA: This is the guy who will match your freak everywhere but in public. No PDA—actually don’t even look at him or try to talk to him in public…be professional. He will be joking with others and you’ll get upset saying “Hey! You let the other members of the society tease you?” And in private he’ll admit it’s just to keep up appearances and he hates it all. 😭 I think his biggest issue will be coming off fake or disingenuous or you’ll have a hard time sincerely seeing him cause he’ll be so different depending on where y’all are. People wouldn’t know he’s like a mom boyfriend who makes sure you eat, sleep, and keep up with yourself. Yes, he will absolutely unintentionally say something insulting like “This doesn’t suit you. Find something else.” And yes he will be very clearly on guard when in public. People will openly wonder why you’re with him tbh. Which will frustrate the both of you of which neither of you ever bring up to the other. Byakuya has lost a love before—he won’t talk about it ever. You MIGHT get something out of Rukia about it cause it was her sister but I doubt she’ll go super intimate about THEIR relationship cause she respects both his and her sister’s privacy. So you might be stuck on an eavesdropping side quest with Renji that amounts to nothing cause he’ll sense yall. He’ll be amused and somewhat touched you wanted to watch him work though. He’s usually the one keeping check or track of things so he’ll never say he likes that you peep on him and mind his business. You care about him and he knows he’s a bit unfair not allowing any PDA. But he so openly loved on Rukia’s sister he couldn’t help the shameful self imposed embarrassment once he had to walk the halls alone…Byakuya will be a very intentional, quiet lover. I doubt he’ll moan very much tbh unless he’s exhausted and allowing you to take care of him. Sometimes he’ll absolutely disappear all day into work. Other times he’ll be sure to direct his underlings to wait on you in his stead. He’s more manageable if you can accept his sometimes snarky, distant, super private ways. As a father he’ll be annoyingly big on exceptionalism and them being smart and talented. You’ll have to be sure he isn’t burdening your kid when you aren’t around. And you’ll have to be sure he doesn’t inadvertently impart his insensitive habits too. Likewise, you’ll ABSOLUTELY have to “deal or no deal” him about giving affection to your kid in public. You will absolutely have to go off and tell him it’s y’all or his image. And yeah now he’s holding both yall hands albeit defeated. 💕😭

AIZEN: Shit…girl (im black my “girl…” is gender neutral don’t be annoying 💕) you already know what it is. Yandare, selfish, self righteous, MEAN, EVIL…but fine and rich as fuck. 😔🫤 it will be a doozy to be with this one. You literally have to know and accept what you getting into bestie. I can’t even warn you, you know! 😭 but seriously if your an aizen bias you accept him as is 😭 psycho ass. So I wanna just write how’d he be as a baby daddy. Now not to get…too mature…but if you happened to be someone captured/kidnapped by him and pregnant…baby you is a victim! BUT ITS FANFIC SOOO if you were the captured baby momma that’s in his realm with him…well girl you in the realm lord you stuck. “Can I go to the human world?” “For what?” “Uh, sun?” “Humph what do you need sun for…” He’ll look down at your crying child and be like “Ugh okay whatever but Grimmjow is your chaperone.” And you won’t care cause Grimmjow lets you run off and live life. Which Aizen knows but the minute you aren’t overtly scared and submissive to him he’ll lose his weird sense of “power.” You’re man crazy bestie. He’s definitely someone you won’t talk back to until you’re a parent and equally going to advocate for your kid. He’ll realize and laugh to himself “Their not really submissive at all…little minx…” and hold you in completely new regard. “So you took me as is because you wanted to?” He’ll start thinking shit that confuses him and decide to randomly kill a grunt to distract himself like no he’s not gonna reflect into a better person. 😂 you’ll have everything you want cause you can’t go nowhere 😭. Mind you yes the sex is mind blowing so you sadly do take what positives are there…his eyes don’t fall sexually to anyone but you. His body doesn’t respond certain ways to anyone but you. And as you stand next to him more and more he’s leaning into you and your baby’s energy rather than tryna to overtake yall with his. Just don’t speak about the change and it’ll be fine. The minute you tease or openly acknowledge his becoming softer and less controlling you’ll ruin all the progress you made. Let him feel like he’s in control or whatever.

New Additions (1):

Hitsugaya: (adult of course) Hitsu will be a blend of Byakuya and Ichigo. The best aspects of him will be how attentive and actionable he is about his love for you. But — he will shy away from PDA and sometimes have moments of separated solitude. Unlike Byakuya, he will absolutely open up to PDA, just will never be the initiator of it. Maybe grab your hand at the end of the day to hurry back home or stare at you as long as he can while he observes your dutiful working. He’ll be shy always which keeps your love feeling young and refreshed. You’ll always be able to make him blush and unlike Ichigo, he’ll warm up to you imposing yourself on his alone time. He’ll be big on love making and planning when to have a child so it will be less spontaneous. He’ll have the baby registry and wishlists prepared, printed, and passed out to members of the Soul Society. He’ll enjoy trips to the human world to acquire new toys and trinkets for your baby.

As a baby daddy he’s almost too protective. You wonder what he’s been through as he’ll have a firm grip of your hips as you cradle your child. He’ll have a habit of looking at your baby and then between the both of you stunned at how he can see the perfect blend of your features on your child’s face. He’ll be very close to a simp honestly (which I’m a fan of) and be at your beck & call no matter the hour. Definitely the dad to tell you don’t worry about tending to the little one, keep resting cause he knows how tired you get. He’s honestly the perfect idea of a new father as he’ll be bumbling a bit but with so much to prove. I realize I kinda didn’t write red flags cause I truly see Hitsu adjusting to parenthood and a long term relationship the best. Only thing I can think is that he’ll be overtly willing to sacrifice himself for your family’s safety. So any massive issue in the Soul Society will make your heart sink a little because while he’s capable he’s been in enough life threatening predicaments to cause ample, appropriate worry. He’ll be hard to break out of working I think until your child starts schooling which could be frustrating cause he’ll overcompensate parenting in lieu of his work commitments. Overall, I think he’d be the baby daddy with the least to really worry about.

Renji: Oh lord— all tea, all shade this man will STRUGGLE. « What do you mean the baby is hungry AGAIN ? You just breastfed! WAIT DO NOT PULL YOUR TIT OUT IN PUBLIC WOMAN ! » He’ll have a hard time adjusting to your freedom as a breastfeeding mom for sure (if you choose to). Work ? What’s work? One thing you can count on is that he will absolutely commit to being a family man and even a stay at home dad. He’ll take all his PTO or even « quit » (basically will say don’t call me to help unless the Soul Society is about to die.) He will wait on you hand & foot because he can’t imagine how much your body and mind has gone through and the strength it takes to be so tired but smile and laugh with him and your kiddo. But, he may end up a bit controlling about you leaving the house without him. He’ll either become a sad puppy or an angry old man. « Baby…what do you mean you want me to stay home ? 😓🥺 » or «  Woman, what did I tell you about going out without me ? What if a crazy person tried to rob you ? » You laugh at him always being some level of dramatic but it may get annoying how clingy and worried he’ll become. You’ll have to remind him you lived this long for a reason…and plan to live longer, so he can chill out sometimes cause his worried nature worries you…you might benefit from guilt tripping him into apologizing and giving you a breather on leaving the house. But just know someone is watching over you. Renji would be a great cook or a terrible cook who improves over time. He might be great at catching the baby right when they poop or…end up shat on rushing to a sink. I really see him either being weirdly good at being a dad or definitely suffering from the learning curve.

Your baby will definitely be conceived in a wild love making, (maybe rough, passionate sex) session. And you’ll catch him blushing when he holds your baby and looks at you remembering the night you had. You’ll be the type to walk in on them sleeping crazily on the sofa, his arm instinctively holding your baby firm. He’ll be grateful to not have to jump up to go to work honestly. His biggest red flags will be being overbearing, needy, and likely requiring a lot of overt reassurance. (Which isn’t necessarily a red flag given he just will want to be a really good dad and partner.) Otherwise he’ll become a stubborn dad who will try (and fail) to « put his foot down. » Which will likely result in him sleeping on the sofa…💕

[blughxreader]

Platonic Yandere!Batman x gn!Reader

Purge AU. Info on au. You receive your official government letter announcing a yandere's claim on you in tomorrow's Purge. Accompanying it are five crimson letters from the yanderes themselves. ~600 words

Dear [Name],

I want to take this first encounter to assuage your fears—you are in no danger.

The fear you must be feeling might be the most dreadful you’ve ever experienced, and I’ll forever regret it. While the monotonous bureaucracy of the Purge is taxing on everyone, it’s a necessary evil… Inside this letter, you’ll receive what brief explanation I can give you and, hopefully, comfort you in some capacity.

[Name], I’m your father, and this letter is my official and legal introduction. In the next 24 hours, I and your siblings will bring you home.

You don’t know this yet, but we met on a moonless evening many months ago. You were walking alone, trying to leave the emptying streets before Gotham’s evening crowd took hold of the city. I worried for you and decided to keep a close eye until you were home safely, but something about your demeanor kept my attention. How polite and unassuming, yet quick to navigate the streets you were. You drifted through the evening like a wayward spirit, eventually finding yourself in my heart and soul.

That chance encounter sent us spiraling down a destined path, one in which I never anticipated would lead to here. I never realized the grim darkness I had been living in until I experienced your light, and now, the day before our first meeting as father and child, the promise of eternal contentedness just beyond these 24 hours is almost too much to bear.

Your brothers and sisters are equally ecstatic. You’ll never be bored for a moment in your life moving forward, as the halls of our home are always thrum with the echoes of banter and excitement. I can’t promise it will be an easy life free from any sorrows, but your new family already loves you so, so dearly.

In time, I’m confident that you, too, will reflect on this event as the start of a better life.

However perfect your joining our family seems, I find myself asking how it came to this. How did I discover a soul as kind and lovely as yours? Despite all my failures and shortcomings, the world still crossed our paths and sent the merger of our lives into motion.

As a servant of justice, I’ve dedicated my life to protecting what is moral and just. I’ve spent decades refining my values and priorities, yet this has often left me at fragile crossroads between myself and my children.

I’m flawed. I’m imperfect. I don’t think I’ll ever be worthy of being your father. I need you to know these things before we meet, to save yourself from the inevitable misfortune that will strike us. Yet know this: there is not a force in this world that will keep me from you. I love you more than I love humanity, more than the Earth itself. I would defy the laws that govern the universe if it meant seeing you happy.

The world is dangerous and unpredictable. However inadequate I feel at protecting your light, I know you’re significantly more likely to fade from existence outside of my care.

To receive a crimson letter from the city a day before the Purge might be one of your darkest nightmares, and for that I’m sorry. With my heart, soul, and all my love for you, I promise to rectify the misery you and your biological family are experiencing. Please take comfort in the fact that you will be the most beloved and cherished person in the world.

I will give you everything. For your family’s sake, I hope they can rest easier with this knowledge.

Please remain put until we arrive.

See you soon.

Love,

Dad

Note... I love this self-hating old man. Damian's is finished and will be up soon! For more yandere batfam, visit my masterlist!

[2-dsimp]

Zebad really making me feeling a type of way. Got me wanting to make a lot of jokes,. Lke Father Zebad? More like Daddy Zebad 😉🙏🍆.

Getting on my knees to pray more like getting on my knees to suc-

I'll show myself to the door now 👋🚪🚶‍♀️

“Sister Y/n, you seemed most energetic in your conversation with the other sisters mind if you let me in on it?”

The holy priest had you backed against the wall. Putting on an unassuming closed eyed smile from hearing your wayward comments amongst your fellow nun peers. You were a newcomer in the church and wanted to try and convert if only to save your hide from the dangers of being alone in the cruel world.

You desperately tried to convince yourself that you were still in the clear and tried to hastily brush off your earlier thirst comments about the 28 year old superior of yours.

“Oh! Uh yes I was! You see, Father Zebad, I was just retelling a funny story of how I almost got tripped over by a lone chicken—“

You gulped in between your stuttering. With his all imposing form looming over you. You couldn’t help but feel nervous, especially from the way his golden eyes squinted down at you in contemplation.

“Now, now don’t be so deceitful, it is unbecoming of a precious servant of god don’t you agree?”

Zebad’s dimpled smile, slowly turned into a disappointed frown. As he then placed a glove finger against your lips while he whispered lowly in a scolding tone. Against the shell of your ear.

“Did You really think that I Didn’t hear you confess that you’d get on your knees and suck my cock?”

“W-what? I don’t— no, you’ve must’ve misheard me!”

“ It’s no good to not follow through on your promises~ perhaps we should correct that.”

You blinked as you soon found yourself being herded by Zebad into his chambers. As he waved his hand off to his fellow churchgoers with the claim of teaching you. How to devote yourself to the holy scriptures with your entire being literally and figuratively. In hindsight the priest had you worshipping the very thing you craved his dick from day and night. Correcting you on how to always be honest and to never again lie to his face.

[slowd1ving]

Hey I could request for a Daniel Park who has a crush on Male! Reader ( fluff please )

27,000 WON ゜・DANIEL PARK

Armed with nothing but a headache and the fit of a wayward uncle, it's perhaps not your proudest moment. But it's a moment nonetheless: one the cashier in this stupid convenience store locks away in his pounding heart. aka first meetings with this guy /// anon this is more crack than fluff I'm sorry ..my idea of fluff is getting a free umbrella from a fumbling cashier because it's raining, I swear it sounded better and fluffier planned pairing: daniel park + male student reader warnings: mentions of alcohol, convenience store weirdo #1 + #2, tiny bit of violence, not a warning but shy daniel (in both bodies), more reader-centric than anything, pre training arc wc: 2.2k

LOOKISM MASTERLIST

MASTERLIST ・゜・NAVIGATION

Without an umbrella, Seoul was a miserable place tonight. Anyone else might’ve appreciated the dense shimmer of rain streaked neon with this fluorescent city, but your head throbbed miserably with the urban cacophony. Fuck. It was pointless stumbling out onto the grey asphalt when you were in such a shit mood. People swarmed and jostled, and you might’ve stepped on a foot or two as you leaned against the rough, corrugated shutters of a closed shop: barely holding on to both your sanity and your consciousness. 

Ironically, it was the detestable luminescent rods that saved you, beckoning your damp body towards a 24-hour convenience store. Warily, you peered at the cold lights—and they winked back. Winked, for their clinical flickering suggested sentience, or at least, some sort of quest window that was your beacon for safety from the downpour. 

Located on the very corner overlooking an alleyway, it really wasn’t very surprising that it was a magnet for trouble too—if you objectively looked back on the situation. Dark, dingy, smelly—all were generous, polite adjectives you’d use to describe the surroundings. 

You dodged the businessman puking up his guts on the off-white wall with a strained smile and a pained twitch in your eye. An abandoned soju bottle sloshed onto your shoes from his wobbling, and your day (night) became worse. Immediately. Biblically, your irritation surged to such unprecedented levels that he might’ve turned into a pillar of salt had you even an ounce of psychic talent.

Still, you stepped across the threshold smelling faintly of pollution and alcohol, but you were finally in one of Korea’s sanctuaries. Albeit soaked, shivering, and possibly seething with annoyance. The triple S threat of all bad days. 

“Shit,” you cursed as your phone rang in your pocket. Desperately juggling the two bottles of barley tea and a lychee ice cream onto the top of a freshly polished shelf, you scrambled for the device and swiped it multiple times with wet fingers. Stupid, stupid phone, you thought as it creaked in your incensed grasp. Answer the fucking call, damn it. 

The caller ID was as followed: stupid sod. The person on the other end? Well. 

“Where’d you go? The weather was supposed to be rainy all through the night, and you really went for a walk?” The voice on the other end of the line was just as irritating as ever. Nasally, too, like if a short dog suddenly started barking with a French accent. Your head throbbed just trying to imagine it, but you did suppose your younger sister was a migraine and a half. 

“Hungry,” you muttered. The brick-red plastic basket at the entrance clattered against the linoleum floor as you pulled it out single-handedly, but still you tried to keep your voice down during these witching hours. Those two barley teas bounced against crimson when you swiped the goods into your mode of carrying, and you thoughtfully threw two blue, cardboard packets of paracetamol into there too. Now, you were just missing some yellow to complete the haphazard primary colour wheel you cradled. 

“What? Can’t hear you.” Your eye twitched at her admission, and you just knew she was squinting at her phone with an open mouth as if she could simply inhale the frequencies instead. 

“—yeah I don’t have my ID, but you could let it slide, right?”

“Hungry,” you enunciated, clearly, for the dear sister struggling to hear a single word. “You happy? I’ll be back in twenty so just don’t burn the house down. And clean out your ears—I don’t want to give the poor guy working the graveyard shift a headache by talking loudly, especially since you’re a banshee on speaker.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she dismissed. “Get me those chips—those ketchup ones—and those peach candies. The knockoff ones, you know which ones.”

“With whose money? Get them yourself, you lazy bum,” you sighed exasperatedly. You were on, what, your last twenty thousand won? In this economy, too.  

“—what do you mean you can’t just let it slide? Hey! I look over 21, don’t I? C’mon man, don’t make this difficult.” There were snippets of conversation threading along into the spool of your own, and your eyes flicked upwards. One poor cashier in his green vest, hands clasped like God would possibly rescue him from this situation if he was pious enough. The other had an obnoxiously fake leather jacket draped over him—a wannabe thug if you ever saw one. 

“I sent you some, you broke shit. Like, you literally have a job, so there’s no need to be so stingy. Get me some lemon tea too,” she groaned. Her syllables dragged out abrasively, but you were more focused on the conversation unfolding in reality rather than how much you hated her voice. 

“I’m sorry, I really—I legally can’t sell you these products if you don’t produce a valid ID.” The clerk had guts, you had to admit. His voice cracked just twice in his answer, and though he was about half the size of the guy blocking the lottery ticket view, his shaking fists clenched and unclenched. You liked the look in his eyes: determined to stand on principle, even if it was just to some guy high off a power trip. 

“Okay, sure. Uhh, I might be back in forty. I just need to do something.” Words, as fickle as they were, drifted into nothingness while your eyes communicated your intentions. It was a pity you didn’t want to see her irritating face—you would’ve pressed the video call on Kakaotalk just so she could get front row seats to a beatdown. To be clear, the harrasser’s beatdown, not the harrassee’s. 

“Hey. What’s that supposed to mean? Hyung? Fuck, not this— don’t you dare hang up, we’ve literally got our first day tom—”

“Gross.” You made a face as you finally pressed the red button; she should’ve known you’d simply leave the call sooner if she used that term. Cooties. Idiot cooties. Dropping the phone into your pocket and her cavity-inducing requests (plus some cup noodles for your grumbling stomach), you set the basket a safe distance away before eyeing the cashier. 

You were quite the expert in miming and clownish arts, if you said so yourself. His face turned everything from unsettled to confused to hesitant in the span of two and a half seconds: pointing first at yourself emphatically; then to the man’s back as he stood waving his arms about; and finally making a fist and clenching it, all to really emphasise your point. Me. Him. I punch. 

You don’t know if he took it as a joke. You hoped he didn’t, but his eyebrows crinkled and uncrinkled like he was trying to figure you out. 

However, he didn’t exactly have the luxury of piecing together the implications. Not when the man became dangerously more incensed as he was asked to leave, and certainly not when he was about to grab the poor employee’s vest with those nasty hands of his. 

Gross. 

There was no time to hesitate and plead the heavens for forgiveness. 

“Hey man, there’s no need to be a dick to workers,” you gritted out, gripping both his arms in an ironclad grip that miraculously relieved some of your tension headache. Like some damn stress ball, except this was not satisfying at all as you felt the hair on his forearms shift together. Ew. Ewww. 

“Who the fuck are you?” His words sounded garbled, temples throbbing while you glared down at him. Get out. It was enough of a pain to move fast, let alone come up with an answer that didn’t sound corny. In a soaked hoodie, slippers and tracksuit bottoms, there was little you could say that wouldn’t make you stay up at night in embarrassment later on. 

“Shut up,” you instead bade, since you looked like an uncle in this particular outfit. Might as well give out life advice. “Don’t give yourself liver and lung problems, kid.”

The cashier’s lips might’ve twitched in that moment, and your own suppressed the agonising grimace that convulsed through your face. Fuck. Why was a high school student giving life advice to this dropout?

“Who the fuck do you think you are, huh?” He began rocking his body to build momentum and twist free—and twist he did. Through the air and right into shiny, slippery linoleum after he canted his hips sideways for a weak punch. And you threw him, plain and simple: collar grasped tight in your aching fists. 

Success. You did not hit anyone! And neither did you accidentally wreck any of these painstaking displays! You would not get chewed out with a slipper curve-balling straight at your head tomorrow!

“Are you—” the cashier began, but you gestured ‘wait’ with a splayed hand as you stared down at the half-conscious man at your feet sheepishly. Was he… alright? Any more of a brain shake and he could end up more stupid than he was five minutes ago, because how the hell would some random shopkeeper join the National Assembly and change the law? Just so this buffoon could buy drinks without an ID. 

“Hold on,” you muttered with a dented pride and some shame. “Let me just—”

You hoisted the guy’s cheap leather-jacketed arm around your shoulder and dragged his wobbling body out, too repulsed by the stench emanating from him to pay heed to his nonsensical babble. There. Now the businessman holed up outside by the bin would have a buddy for company. For good measure, you tossed a powerful mango body spray into the red basket to douse yourself with promptly. 

Awkwardly, you placed the miscellany onto the little table the thug had bracketed off—only this time the cashier’s opponent was some guy trying desperately to not wilt away on his feet. 

“Um. Sorry about that—” The apology was muffled through your hand dragging across your face—peeking through your middle and index finger at the guy in front of you. Pinned to his vest was a nametag you hadn’t spotted earlier: Daniel Park, noted in size 15 Latin characters and rounded hangul alike. “—Daniel Park.”

Gosh, you even bowed. “Please forget what I said to that guy, for my dignity.”

“Sure.” Once his voice had stopped shaking, it really was quite pleasant to the ears—though it currently shook with barely suppressed laughter. He scanned your items with a tiny, tiny smile. “Thanks for that. I might’ve gotten punched if you hadn’t been there.”

“Real pricks out here,” you grumbled. “No sense of shame or anything.”

“Ah,” he quivered for a brief moment, and you felt your ears heat with just how much you sounded like an ahjussi. 

“Forget I said that too,” you muttered mournfully: five stages of grief beginning and ending within you. “I promise I’m not that old.”

Plastic rustled as he pushed the bag towards you: “Twenty-seven thousand won.” And with it, a cheap polka-dot folding umbrella was also pushed your way with a self-conscious smile. You froze, and he floundered. 

“As a thank—as a thank you,” he waved, panicked. 

“Well, thanks.” You honestly were a little dumbfounded at this sudden good fortune. Maybe you’d get struck by lightning on the way home—you were tall enough that it could probably serve as a conducting rod if you tried hard enough. “I’ll see you around, I guess.”

Just like that you were gone. Back into the neon rain of Seoul you walked, though this time it wasn’t as bad with a pattern over your head and acerbic ice wedged between a sheepish pout. 

・゜・

With a barely suppressed yawn, you stood loudly and proudly (silently and exhaustedly) before your new class. They looked like any other crowd of teenagers: gum surreptitiously being chewed, sneakers squeaking right against vinyl flooring, and a barrage of interesting fashion choices as befitted this department. Back to your own name, you introduced yourself while thinking of about a million other things you could’ve been doing. 

Speaking of your new classmates, they may have been looking at you with curiosity, but there was one particular guy who looked like he’d seen a ghost. Another pretty-boy you’d never done business with, but somehow—for some damn reason—he was staring like you’d shot a horse in front of him. Staring like he was the shot horse. Seriously. Paracetamol was limited in how far it could cure a headache. 

Your gaze met his, and he flinched. Who’s this guy?

Fuck. 

Daniel Park was done for. As you looked at him, he could feel his heart threaten to explode and spatter this whole classroom with veins and sanguine matter. Still wearing that same hoodie, still grinning lazily, and still sporting that confident expression like you could handle anything. His pen creaked in his tight grasp. 

By all heavens, this man was flushed red as soon as your unimpressed gaze met his—pink and suppressing the urge to hide his steaming face in his hands. 

Shit, shit, shit. 

・゜・

“Daniel, why the hell is your face so red?”

‘Are you sick?’

“He’s basically the healthiest out of all of us. Can’t be illness.”

“Okay so you agree it’s unusual then?”

“How odd. Maybe he’s come down with a fever.”

[lynnpool]

Coffee

Inspired by Coffee by Chappell Roan

Mentions of physical abuse, angst, not a happy ending (spoiler?)

(I haven’t seen this done before but if it has been done I’m sorry)

I had just got home from work, tossing my keys and purse on the floor. I look around my bare studio apartment, a twin size mattress, a microwave, and a 32 inch tv being the only things to my name. I left my shared apartment with Wade a little over 2 months ago and I haven’t spoken to him since.

We had a fight. I don’t even remember what it was about now but it got him so worked up for some reason. I let my smart mouth fly off the handle again and in a fit of rage he had slapped me. The man who I loved, who was supposed to protect me, put his hands on me. I’ve never let a man lay hands on me before and I didn’t intend to again. So I packed a bag and left.

I stayed in a hotel until I found this apartment, not that it’s much better. I’ve been saving money over the last two months to hopefully buy myself some furniture for this place.

I sigh, plopping down on my mattress on the floor, turning the tv on to flick through the channels mindlessly.

My phone lit up beside me.

Wade: Can we meet for dinner at Nico’s? I want to talk..

Can’t meet you for dinner at the Italian place

It’s where I met your family, some words were exchanged.

He’d texted me a couple of times over the past couple of months, trying to get me to meet up with him to talk. I wasn’t ready yet. I ignored his texts, hoping this would all go away.

I think back to the first time Wade took me to Nico’s. It was a nice little Italian place on the corner by his apartment. We had been officially dating for about a month. He told me he had some ‘acquaintances’ who wanted to meet me.

When we made it there I met Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead(that’s a mouthful), and her girlfriend Yukio. As the night drew on, I had realized they were more than acquaintances. They were his friends, his family as much as he’d deny it. By the time we got our food, he was in a full-blown fight with Colossus, yelling across the table about how he’s ’not a child’ and he’ll ‘never join the X-men’. “We don’t have to take this shit!” He grabbed my arm, dragging me out of the restaurant dramatically.

He later apologized profusely and made plans to take me back there, just the two of us.

I frown down at the text message on my phone, deciding on whether to answer or not. I thought maybe I might be ready, but there’s no way I’m meeting him at Nico’s. It’s too intimate of a place. I wrack my brain, thinking for another place to suggest.

I’d suggest the jazz bar on MaryAnn street but

you’d buy me a drink and we know where that leads, so

The first place that popped into my head was Sister Margaret’s School for Wayward Children. Definitely not going there. That’s where Wade and I first met. My friend brought me there, claiming the drinks were killer (they weren’t). I learned later she was just looking for a bad guy to take home.

“What’s a pretty place like you doing in a girl like this?” I hear a chipper voice from behind me at the bar. I turned to see a man in a red suit leaning against the bar, looking me up and down. I giggled at his pickup line as he called to the bartender. “Weasel, her drinks are on me!”

We made simple small talk for a while before he leaned over to me, “Wanna cut the shit and head back to my place, hot cakes?”

It was like mortal combat in that bitch. Round 1, 2, 3, 4. From that day forward I was like a crackhead waiting for his next high, eagerly waiting for my next bootycall from Wade. I was utterly addicted to him.

I’ll meet you for coffee, cause if we have wine

You’ll say that you want me, I know it’s a lie

My mind finally settles on coffee. Seems safe enough right? I tap away on my screen,

Me: How about coffee? That little place by the markets?

I shut the phone off quickly, leaning my head back against the wall with a sigh.

If I didn’t love you, it would be fine

I’ll meet you for coffee, only for coffee

Nowhere else is safe, every place leads back to your place

I did still love Wade. I just won’t allow myself to be hurt in that way. I felt betrayed by the one person who was supposed to protect me.

My phone buzzes beside me on the bed.

Wade: Sure! Meet you there in an hour?

Me: Sure. See you there.

I sigh, pushing myself off the mattress on the floor and making my way to the bathroom for a shower. It’s just coffee, right? What could go wrong with coffee?

I take a quick shower and put on some comfortable clothes, a pair of jeans and an oversized sweater with some sneakers. I make my way out the door and down the stairs, onto the chilly street outside.

I feel my phone buzz in my pocket as I walk.

You said let’s do the park, cause I love the park

That may be true but God forbid it gets dark

Wade: What about the park? I know you love the park.

I sigh, thinking back to the times Wade would take me to the park. I loved to just sit and read in the comfort of each-other’s silence. And after we’d spent all day there and the sun set, making it impossible to read, we’d cuddle and watch the stars.

Tears gather in the corners of my eyes as I walk, the wind chilling my face.

Here comes the excuses that fuel the illusions

But I’d rather feel something, than nothing at all

Me: It’s too cold for the park.

I find an excuse. I know under our old circumstances Wade would have brought me a blanket or given me his jacket if I was too cold. Tears stream down my face as the memories continue to flood in. It’s the first time I’ve cried since I left Wade’s apartment. I’ve felt numb for months until now.

I’ll meet you for coffee, cause if we have wine

You’ll say that you’re sorry, I know it’s a lie

Wade: Just coffee, then.

Wade begged and pleaded with me as I packed my bag to leave. He told me how sorry he was, how he didn’t mean it. You don’t just slap someone and not mean it.

If I didn’t trust you, it would be fine

I’ll meet you for coffee, only for coffee

Nowhere else is safe, every place leads back to your-

I stop on the sidewalk, realizing I’m now in front of the coffee shop. I did trust Wade. I do believe he let his feelings get the best of him and he didn’t really mean to hurt me. But it doesn’t ease the pain in my chest.

I look up into the window from across the street, seeing him sitting at a table, scrolling on his phone. I take a deep breath, my nerves growing in my chest as I cross the street.

We’ve been here before

And I don’t need it anymore

We had argued before but we’d always talked through it after we had our space. But nothing like this.

I reach for the handle of the door, taking a deep breath.

So let’s not do coffee, let’s not even try

It’s better we leave it and give it some time

I turn around quickly, making my way back down the street in the direction of my apartment, tears streaming down my cheeks. I couldn’t do this. Not now.

If I didn’t love you, it would be fine

I was still madly in love with him. I knew if I let him speak, I’d be at his place by the end of the night. I just can’t go back that easily.

Cause if we do coffee, it’s never just coffee

It’s never just coffee

[wildlife4life]

Tease Tidbit Tuesday

Tagged by the super fantabulous @bekkachaos (dropped a whole fic, check it out!) @jamespearce9-1-1 @thewolvesof1998 @giddyupbuck @eddiebabygirldiaz @hippolotamus @daffi-990 @jesuisici33 and @disasterbuckdiaz. Thank you all so much and I am so very excited for your works!

Feeling a lot better today and I'm in still in a good NFL Buck mood. So here is a little snippet from the Dosed arc, featuring for the first time Buck's perspective. (Everything NFL Buck can be found here.)

After many different un-needed apologies from Eddie about the pollen and several assurances from Buck that Eddie is safe from the tiny ladies made of said pollen, the dosed firefighter finally passes out. Poor man is still in his uniform and is going to have one hell of a hangover when he wakes up. Or at least according to the article Buck speed read after Sergeant Grant stated his boyfriend and the majority of the 118 had been dosed with a hallucinogen. Most likely LSD. Buck lets out a groan of both frustration and weariness. He had just gotten home from the days workout with the team and was getting ready for his cool down when the gates intercom went off. Thinking it was another wayward delivery person who had yet again ignored instructions to leave all packages in the lock box, Buck was taken by complete surprise to see LAPD on the video. And hearing Eddie's desperate cries in the background, threw him for a major loop. Eddie is taken care of for the moment and quick texts to Carla and his sister, insured Christopher would be away until tomorrow afternoon, giving his father time to recover. The last issue at hand, is waiting patiently in Buck's living room. Rolling his shoulders, Buck steps through the arch way, doing his best to ignore the niggle of fear in his gut and to just put on the mask of Evan Buckley, charismatic and cool NFL quarterback. "Seeing that you are alone and a little more at ease, I assume firefighter Diaz is finally settled?" The Sergeant asks sounding truly concerned, but Buck can also see a glint of scrutiny and the mask of charm falters. "Um, yea." Buck answers trying and failing to meet her sharp gaze, feeling as if she could see every little secret he was holding. "Thank you, again for bringing him home and keeping him safe." Ms. Grant shrugs, "Its the job and he's fellow first responder. Plus my husband is becoming quite fond of Diaz, even without knowing him all that well." She catches Buck's wondering eye at that and it freezes him on the spot. "Have to say, finding out Evan Buckley, the LA Ram's shiny new star and hottest NFL bachelor is secretly dating a single father and firefighter from Texas, is the most surprising thing that's happened to me so far this year. And I allowed a delinquent kid out of my custody, to hot wire a concrete mixer to save a man trapped in his burning car." The entirety of the Evan Buckley facade shatters and Buck has to swallow every shard of dread. Shit.

Like Buck could fool Athena. Psssh. Hope you all enjoyed!

PSA: School has officially started for me this week and as I am in a 9 month fast track program, most of my focus will be on my school work, so my writing is going to slow down. But I will find the time.

Tagging (no pressure): @wikiangela @exhuastedpigeon @spotsandsocks @rainbow-nerdss @devirnis @spaceprincessem @fortheloveofbuddie @lover-of-mine @athenagranted @eddiescowboy @evanbegins @elvensorceress @malewifediaz @911onabc @911-on-abc @loserdiaz @hoodie-buck @try-set-me-on-fire @theotherbuckley @ladydorian05 @bigfootsmom @watchyourbuck @thekristen999 @shortsighted-owl @spagheddiediaz @monsterrae1 @rogerzsteven @eowon @princessfbi @honestlydarkprincess @vampbuckley @bitchfacediaz @buck-coded @housewifebuck @glorious-spoon @buddierights @prosperdemeter2 @gayedmundodiaz @lemonzestywrites

[spnscripthunt-inactive]

In Their Own Words: What is the most difficult sacrifice you’ve made to pay down your medical debt?“

“Had to move into rental place from home and not able to buy a house. Cut in some household or good food for kids.” -35 year old woman with $5,000-$10,000 in medical debt, Texas

“Quality of life. We’ve never been able to ‘get ahead’ because we have a 35 year old disabled daughter. We’ve had medical debt for 35 years varying from 30k down to $500.” -60 year old woman with $2,500-$5,000 in medical debt, Tennessee

“Not paying bills on time, creating larger bills due to late fees. Depleted savings.” -38 year old man with $2,500-$5,000 in medical debt, North Carolina

“Cutting out any expenses/services I can. No job, fixed income and chemo. Even with insurance, no one can afford cancer.” -67 year old woman with more than $25,000 in medical debt, Nebraska

“Limiting birthday/Christmas gifts for children and grandchildren.” -83 year old woman with $1,000-$2,500 in medical debt, New Jersey

“Getting a second job. I’m exhausted and I don’t see a way out.” -44 year old woman with $1,000-$2,500 in medical debt, Ohio

“I can’t do anything; I literally stay at home. Never taken my kids on vacation. I’m a single mother and all my money supports the household. So, there are not a lot of extras in my house.” -55 year old woman, with $2,500-$5,000 in medical debt, Missouri

“Strain on relationship with [my] father due to asking for help to pay medical expenses; negative impact on mental health issues (e.g., significant increase in anxiety symptoms).” -35 year old woman with $10,000-$25,000 in medical debt, New York

“This was medical debt for my (now deceased) husband — my credit cards are maxed-out, savings is gone, I will need to relocate to afford rent and pay down bills.” -67 year old woman with $10,000-$25,000 in medical debt, Illinois

Source: Lopes L, Kearney A, Montero A, Hamel L, Brodie M. Health care debt in the U.S.: the broad consequences of medical and dental bills [Internet]. San Francisco (CA): Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation; 2022 Jun 16 [cited 2023 Oct 11]. Available from: https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-health-care-debt-survey-main-findings/

—

So far we've raised $3,196.20 [2:11 PM Eastern; Sun Oct 15] for RIP Medical Debt toward our $5,000 goal.

With what we've raised so far RIP can wipe out over $300,000 in medical debt (nationwide).

Our goal is to wipe out $500,000 in medical debt (nationwide) and, as an incentive for donating $10+ we're doing an (optional) raffle of the last of our server (group) purchased scripts.

Key raffle scripts:

$1000 - signed Walker & Gotham Knights pilots

$2000 - Wayward Sisters (by Kim, Briana, Kathryn)

$3000 - The Winchesters (signed by so many)

$4000 - Stranger in a Strange Land (Jensen & Danneel)

$5000 - Lebanon (JDM, Sam Smith, J2, Misha)

Our fundraising page:

[saberwitch]

Imagine you're a Mesmer in Tyria, just doing your thing, helping your friends save the world over and over again. You get into some pretty fucked up situations, you brush up against the gods and the dragons and their magic-- the lifeblood of the world-- ley energy and Mist portals and time warps and fractals and all kinds of weird stuff.

It's just second nature to you. You win most of the time. You lose sometimes. Occasionally you're left wondering what the fuck just happened. It's during one of these latter events that you see it: one of your clones just...doesn't shatter. You stare at it, it stares at you, a look of bewilderment on its face that you can feel on your own.

And then it disappears. It takes you a moment to realize it didn't finally shatter; it ran off. Before you can gather your wits, it's gone, and you're off with your friends to save the day again.

You forget about the errant clone for a while. After all, you've got another elder dragon to kill and your girlfriend lost her sister and she needs you even though she says she doesn't. There's more enemies to fight and more battles to win and more funerals to attend.

Every so often, though, you hear weird things. Someone saw you in the Reach and said hello but you didn't respond. That's not like you, and besides, you were in Maguuma at the time. These moments keep popping up, like odd little echoes of your life.

You forget about it again for a while. You have new lands to explore, new friends, new trials. But then you see it: across a sandswept dune, a familiar mirage: the clone that didn't shatter. It looks...different. Not exactly like you any more.

"Hey, wait--!" you call out to it, but it disappears-- she disappears-- in an unmistakable glittering flash of Mesmer magic.

You start to wonder if you're losing your mind.

You talk to your girlfriend about it. She laughs and says something about a threesome. You laugh along with her and make a joke, but in the back of your mind, a shadow of doubt lurks.

What if this has happened before? What if it happens a lot? You think you have a pretty good understanding of your magic and how it works...but you thought you understood a lot of stuff before embarking on this journey, and you've had your entire universe upended more than once.

You feel like you should talk to someone about it. The Council. The Queen. Her bodyguard. Powerful Mesmers, all. Surely they would know something about it. Surely they could help solve this problem.

You go cold.

What if their solution was to terminate your wayward echo?

You finally understand what you saw in the desert, why she didn't look quite like you any more. Because she wasn't you, any more. She was her, a phantom wearing your face but living her own life.

And oh, you know exactly what the Countess, at least, would tell you to do. Hunt down your double and destroy it. She would say "it", and not "her".

You've killed people before. You wish you could say your hands haven't been stained, but saving the world sometimes calls for the most extreme of measures. And this isn't just some random foe, it's you. And what if killing your echo means killing a part of yourself, too?

Can you afford to lose more than you already have?

[rocksalt-and-pie]

alright I've made a more in depth list of episodes I would like to see in a fanservice season 16 as previously mentioned in my other post:

- human Impala (should be portrayed by a 55+ years old actor or actress with a strong Detroit accent and a very loud deep voice. they have arthritis in their shoulders because Dean never oils their creaking door hinges)

- Sam and Dean body swap (the potential for jokes is just top tier and the outtakes from this will be out of this world) (Jensen playing Jared playing Sam and the other way around sounds like absolute chaos)

Cas immediately recognizes Dean even in Sam's body and it's revealed that all this time he has been looking directly at Dean's soul 😭 (no kissing in this episode though. God the psychological damage a Misha/Jared kiss would cause)

- parallel universe with female Sam and Dean that they get sent to and meet each other / alternatively: some kind of gender swap curse that makes them turn into women (the potential for misogynistic jokes turning into more understanding and therefore changed behavior is just chef's kiss)

Bonus points for Cas off-handedly mentioning that he doesn't think it's weird that he wasn't affected by the curse because technically he has no gender and the body he inhabits is just a vessel (close up on Dean's face Thinking Thoughts)

Rowena takes care of it and compliments the female versions of them and it's kinda gay ("do we have to turn you back? Shame, would have been nice to have some female company, we could have formed a coven! Or done other fun things" cut to irritated glances being exchanged between the brothers/sisters)

- Jack and Claire teaming up for a hunt (preferably saving their damsel in distress father and step-dad that got trapped in some dangerous place where they finally have nothing but time to talk things out because there is no way to escape, you have to be freed from the outside)

- stanford era Dean flashbacks (feeling lost and alone on the road)

- Bobby and Rufus in the 80s flashbacks (including baby Winchesters!)

- Bigfoot hunt (the teddy bear episode doesn't count) but it's just an escaped gorilla or something. I just wanna see them hiking again okay I like the woods

- some, like, desert monster idk. filmed on location in Arizona or Nevada in the sweltering heat. the boys being forced to remove layer after layer of plaid. show me Dean in a tank top (handprint included)

- birthday episode (either Sam's or Dean's idc. How come that in 15 years there was never a case taking place during one of their birthdays!)

- an actual wedding, either Sam and Eileen or Jody and Donna or Dean and [gun shots]

- beach episode, show me those bathing suits. give me a Bond girl moment

- another Wayward Sisters episode please

- reverse French mistake although it would be absolutely fucking insufferable and I would hate it with all my heart (but it would be sooo funny)

- resolve all the other loose threads of open ended episodes (there are so many! The tulpa from season 1! The girls in the hotel from the haunted house episode in season 2! Jesse the antichrist kid from season 5! The witch twins and how one of them brought the other back from the dead! The kid of that monster friend of Sam's that Dean killed in season 8 i think and told him to his face to come looking for him when he's grown up! That's five whole episodes right there!! and those are just the ones i could come up with from the top of my head but I'm sure there's more)

- BRING BACK BELA FOR JUST ONE SCENE PLEASE

- a lot of you mentioned a proper musical episode, which. sure why not. a curse that makes you sing/perceive everything happening as music perhaps?

- and then of course. The coconuts gently colliding but this goes without saying

[kybercrystals94]

Stories

Read here on Ao3!

Febuwhump 2024 | Day 27 | Prompt 27: Left for Dead

Rated: G | Words: 1624 | Summary: Crosshair sees his opportunity and takes it.

“Crosshair! We’ve been looking for you,” Omega announces, unabashedly intruding on Crosshair’s peace and quiet.

Crosshair cracks open one eye to glare at his sister looming over him. He had found a lush patch of grass under a tree about a five minute walk from their Pabu abode, hidden from the prying eyes of curious neighbors and meddling siblings. Well, evidently not hidden enough.

“We?” Crosshair drawls, closing his eye again and shifting to get more comfortable.

“Yeah, me and Tech!”

Crosshair sighs. “Why?”

“We found an uninhabited island on one of Phee’s maps. We wanna go explore.”

“That doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with me.”

When Omega doesn’t immediately respond, Crosshair opens his eyes to see her looking away, a despondent expression on her face. “Well, Hunter and Wrecker are working today…and Hunter said we could only go if you went with us because,” she pauses miserably, “you know, Tech’s still recovering, and if anything happened…”

Omega outright stomping on Crosshair’s stomach would have been a softer blow for all the dread and regret that boil up at the hesitant explanation. Tech, his adventurous, capable brother, still recovering from a botched rescue attempt…an attempt to save Crosshair. Tech almost died. Had died in the minds of their siblings until he got a distress message out weeks later.

And now he’s reduced to hoping Omega can convince their wayward brother into joining them for something as mundane as a nature walk on another island.

Crosshair pushes himself up to a sitting position, not missing the way Omega’s face lights up, dispelling any shadows that had lingered there. “Thank you, Crosshair! Tech didn’t think you’d say yes, but I told him you would,” Omega tells him, her hands immediately latching around his wrist to haul him to his feet, as though he needs any help.

“It’s not like I have anything better to do,” Crosshair grumbles, if only to put off the undeserved gratitude.

Omega is unfettered. “I already packed a picnic and everything. Wrecker helped me make sandwiches this morning, and Hunter said we could bring that sweet drink Lyana taught me how to make.”

It seems Omega is not the only sibling who believed Crosshair would go, which simply aches more.

Only Tech had doubted, and another dull ache throbs in Crosshair’s chest as he allows Omega to drag him up the trail. Too soon, they are entering the house, Omega’s voice ringing through the small space, “Tech! I found him! He said he’d come!”

Tech appears from the common room, a spanner in one hand and a small part in the other. He looks surprised. “I am just finishing up on the proximity alarm I am repairing, but it should not take more than a minute or two.”

“That’s fine,” Omega tells him, “I still need to put another container of juice in my pack for our picnic.” She skips into the kitchen happily humming a local tune.

Tech doesn’t immediately return to his work, regarding Crosshair with that calculating look that makes the ex-sniper want to squirm. “I hope Omega didn’t pressure you into agreeing to come,” he says after a moment.

Crosshair scoffs. “Unlike Wrecker and Hunter, I know how to say no to Omega’s tooka eyes.”

This gets a smirk out of Tech before he walks back into the common room. Crosshair hesitates a moment, and then follows. Tech’s work table looks as Tech’s work tables have always looked: cluttered chaos. However, Tech is able to see through the mess, plucking up parts and tools as though they are exactly where he means for them to be. A method to his madness, Crosshair thinks fondly, before squashing down the sentimental emotion.

“I told Hunter that I am recovered enough to handle such a small expedition on my own,” Tech says, not turning to face Crosshair, “but the local healer does not agree…and apparently my own medical experience and knowledge is of little weight in the matter.”

Crosshair leans against the back of the couch. “I don’t mind coming, Tech.”

“It’s not…” Tech starts, his voice taking a sharp tone. He takes an audible breath. “I am not helpless.”

“None of us said that you are.”

Tech huffs a deprecating noise, but does not offer a verbal retort. The room becomes occupied by stiff silence and the soft clattering of Tech finishing his work. Until Omega bursts in, a large pack strapped to her back. “We’re ready whenever you are, Tech,” she chirps.

Tech sets aside his tools and turns, giving Omega a small smile. “I am ready,” he says, going for his own pack that is propped against the table. Crosshair almost offers to take it; however, he doesn’t want to confirm any of Tech’s ill founded ideations. But the allowance doesn’t negate the feeling of guilt when he sees his brother stagger slightly under the weight.

Even in civilian clothes, Tech has incorporated a utility belt, which he clips his well worn data pad to. He looks at Crosshair and Omega in turn. “Shall we?”

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

The island in question is small. Small enough to walk around at a leisurely pace in an hour. Small enough that Tech is barely able to land the Marauder on the widest part of the narrow beach. Small enough that Crosshair wonders why it was marked on a map at all.

“In her notes,” Tech says, data pad in hand, “Phee states that there is a rare variety of flora native only to this hemisphere, and then only to a few select islands. This being the closest to Pabu. Phee says she has come a few times to look for it, but has been unable to locate it.”

Crosshair and Omega exchange glances, and the tilt of mirth on Omega’s lips nearly sets Crosshair laughing outright. All this to find a flower for Phee. Crosshair is not remotely surprised. But who knew Tech, of all his brothers, would be the hopeless romantic among them.

“Do you have a holopic of it?” Omega asks sweetly at Tech’s elbow.

Tech tips his data pad in Omega’s direction. “Merely a crude sketch; however, it is sufficient.”

They begin their trek into the forested center of the island. Omega, having relinquished her pack to Crosshair when he wordlessly put out his hand for it, is unburdened, darting off ahead to “scout”, as she calls it. Crosshair begins to protest, but Tech shakes his head. “I assure you, this island is perfectly safe. She will be fine.”

They walk shoulder to shoulder, eyes wandering their surroundings in search of the elusive species of flower.

“It should be evident now,” Tech says after a long period of silence, “that Omega and I would have been fine on our own. Your coming was entirely unnecessary.”

Crosshair bristles, disguising his hurt as a bitter retort, “If you didn’t want me to come, you could have just said so. I’m sure the kriffing flower could’ve waited until Hunter or Wrecker were available.”

“That is not what I meant.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Tech is quiet a moment before he bites out, “You felt obligated to accompany Omega and I out of a position of guilt. I do not desire your pity.”

“That’s not–”

“Do not deny it, Crosshair. You forget that I know you.”

With a step and a sharp turn, Crosshair cuts off Tech’s path, forcing the splicer to come to an abrupt stop. He shoves a finger into Tech’s chest. “And you forget that I almost lost you!”

Tech glares up at him. “I was not aware that you could lose something that you gave up.”

The words crush like a fist around Crosshair’s heart. “I protected you, all of you, after Kamino fell,” Crosshair hisses, the words feeling like fire in his throat.

“We didn’t want your protection, we wanted our brother.” Tech keeps eye contact, doesn’t flinch away. “And when the opportunity arose that we might save you, I readily gave up protection in favor of you. And I would willingly die again and again, for any one of our family.”

Before Crosshair can respond, Omega’s voice breaks through trees. “Tech! I think I found them! Come see!”

Tech pushes past him, trudging through the undergrowth towards their sister’s voice. Crosshair takes a steadying breath before trailing after.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Crosshair lays on his back, staring up at the cloud strewn sky, listening to the tumbling of waves and the animated voices of his siblings down by the shoreline. They’d found Phee’s flower, and carefully transplanted it in a container Tech had brought especially for the occasion. It sits next to Crosshair now, its petalled head bobbing in the salty breeze.

“Crosshair!” Omega’s voice calls out, sounding far away over the roar of the tide.

He lifts his head to look at the girl, up to her knees in the lapping water. Omega waves her arm wildly, motioning for him to come. Tech isn’t in the water, but he stands just short of its reach, inspecting a shell in the sunlight.

“I’m good up here,” Crosshair calls back lazily, dropping his head back on his arms.

“Aww, you’re no fun!” Omega taunts.

Crosshair chuckles and closes his eyes. “I can live with that!”

A few minutes pass, and someone sits down on the blanket next to him. Crosshair doesn’t have to open his eyes to know it is Tech.

“You’re wrong, you know,” he says, softly.

”Pardon?” Tech asks.

“About why I came,” Crosshair says, “It wasn’t guilt.”

“Why then?”

“Omega told me stories about…while I was gone.” Crosshair pauses, swallowing back the emotion that creeps up. “I’m not gone anymore, Tech. And when Omega tells this story…It’ll be my story too.”

END

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[drfrankensteinvsthequeerborgs]

I love that Jody and Donna eventually manage to actually do what Victor’s pretending he does this ep, which is provide a stable home for hunters and bring up the next generation, but without the murder and the manipulation and the genocide

[thelampisaflashlight]

You Are A Haunted House

[Don't you just hate it when your boss places a curse upon you post mortem? Or, what happens when Bea gets promoted Sister Imperator. Feat. Mountain and Rain.] Below the cut.

There is a notion that all old buildings are haunted; That the creaks and groans are not that of the ancient wood settling, nails squeaking as it expands and contracts with the seasons, but rather the forlorn groans of those long since passed.

Whether these ghosts are real or the conjuration of of an excitable mind is left up in the air, no one has indisputable proof of life after death, and yet, so many hold to superstition, even if they are not wholly aware of it.

Those who hold onto traditions passed down through the generations, despite their original purpose being lost in the relative comforts of modern living.

Few have to worry about wayward spirits leading them astray in the forest, nor need to fear that the creature they are viewing prancing about the meadow is not really a deer, but we as human beings know almost instinctually when something is not as it seems.

And in those moments, even the faithless turn to God.

Beatrix Milne, however, turns to Mountain.

"It's fuckin' creepy is what it is."

Before the pair stands the ruins of the former "Little Chapel" -it never had a proper name before, always referred to as either the small or little chapel- that sits a ways into the forest surrounding the abbey's grounds.

Despite only amounting to a singular room with no roof or even a door to speak of, Bea finds the structure... ominous and dark, though not the sort of darkness she's grown accustomed to working around the abbey.

The forest is still here, and while Bea may not know much about the natural world beyond what is necessary to do her job, she knows this stillness, this deep, unsettling quiet, is not normal.

Mountain, too, is silent as he takes in the wreckage.

"...You think it's haunted?" Bea laughs nervously, trying to bring a little light to the situation, but the ghoul gives her a look that has her stepping just a smidge closer into the safety of his towering form.

"For such a brash young woman, you certainly frighten easily, Miss. Milne." Mountain chuckles, offering her his hand as he walks towards the burnt out building, dry leaves crunching under his cloven hooves, "Not all places touched by man are left with an impression of them."

"There are no ill memories in this place, save for that of its end."

Bea follows the ghoul through the narrow threshold, her boots finding stone where she thought she might hear the soft squeak of weathered boards or damp soil.

The interior of the building is not in much better shape than the exterior; Though, Bea supposes, this may still count as being outside, given the lack of protection from the elements.

A cold drop of rain water manages to make its way down through the dense canopy and lands directly in the space made by the hood of her jacket and her bare neck, causing her to yelp, and the earth giant to snort.

"Fuckin' cold!" she hisses, shaking her shoulders as she feels the water trickle down her back, "Remind me why we're out here again??"

"A bit of water isn't the end of the world." Mountain smirks, earning a harrumph from the small woman, "In order to properly care of the grounds in my absence-"

Bea narrows her eyes at him.

"-Which I know you're already doing just fine-" he adds quickly to avoid starting an argument, "You need to be more acquainted with the parts of the property that you weren't allowed to visit before."

"Now that Sister Imperator has..." he inhales deeply, "...gone to see the father... It has fallen to Papa... Frater Imperator to decide how the staff will manage things in her absence."

"...I don't know whether I'm being promoted or being set up right now, Mountain." Bea says after a moment of quiet contemplation, "Sister Imperator forbade me from coming out this way for the sake of my personal safety, I don't think Copia changing his title means I am any safer here now than I was before..."

"It's true that parts of the grounds are more dangerous than others, and that this place is no exception, but if you want to stay-"

"-I do." she interrupts, then frets, "I-Is that old man thinking of kicking me out??"

Mountain stiffens, "I, well... He..."

"Does he think I'm not capable of doing my job??"

"No, but-"

"Mountain, I can't lose this fucking job." Bea pleads, grabbing hold of the front of Mountain's shirt, "I can't fucking go back to-"

"Bea." Mountain grabs her shoulders, "I am doing this so you don't have to worry about that."

"...What... What are you going to do?" she asks, feeling the air around her grow cold, "Mountain, what is this? Mountain, I'm scared-"

"Just close your eyes and it will all be over soon..." he whispers, moving his hand up to cup her face, "...Just..."

"-Wake up already!"

Bea bolts upright in bed, her eyes searching the dark expanse of her bedroom, coughing a little as she groans and falls back down onto the mattress, cringing when she's met by the pool of sweat that had gathered beneath her in her sleep.

"Fuck..." she wheezes out, "That was a fucking stupid nightmare..."

She coughs again, pulling herself upright and kicking her feet over the side of the bed, "Water..."

Wandering over to the sink, Bea turns on the tap and runs it for a short while until the water turns cold, rinsing out the mug she used for her tea earlier before filling it up.

She stares out the window as she drinks, eyes trained on the lake beyond her garden gate.

Slightly obscured by the waves rolling over the water from, Bea can see the shine of Rain's scales growing beneath the surface, and stares quietly as the ghoul slithers about in his beastly form.

It's an oddly soothing sight for what it is; A monster, impossibly large and frightening making its presence known to her, because he somehow always knows when she's awake... but Bea will take comfort where she can find it.

Lately -at least since Sister Imperator's passing- Bea's been feeling... out of sorts.

She has to wonder if the spell the older woman had cast upon her were beginning to fade now that she was gone.

Bea thinks of her nightmare, and the many more that came before it.

Oddly specific, always featuring Mountain, always ending in... not quite death but something akin to it.

She's not sure how to describe the sensation.

With a spluttering cough, she is brought back to the present, having inhaled a bit of her water trying not to spit out the contents in her mouth, but unable to swallow.

She stands over the sink hacking and wheezing for a solid minute before she manages to get her lungs to cooperate with her, again.

She swallows and goes to pour the rest of her drink down the drain, when she notices a splattering of dark liquid standing out against the metal; Acrid and watery, so dark it almost seems black until she pushes herself away from the counter and her shadow moves, revealing the rosy red hue of it.

Blood.

She brings a hand to her lips, feeling it stick to her thumb as she tries to wipe her mouth clean.

It's not... She's not...

What is this?

Why is this...

Why is this happening?

And then suddenly...

"Mountain?" she calls out weakly, looking towards the door, and she can almost see him in her head, hand poised to knock, now frozen in confusion.

"...How did you...?"

And then she can see him.

As if she's standing on the porch beside him, like she's outside, she can even feel the night air on her overwarm skin, and-

"...Mount, I think I'm gonna throw up..."

[audreyscribes]

CARRY ON MY WAYWARD CHILD [PART 3]

Ω PJO IMAGINE Ω

PROMPT: When a dream makes the reader unable to settle, they decide to take a walk, converting their dream to reality.

Reader encounters Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth on the run when they have a dream that makes them go out and see a sick Annabeth with a tired, injured Luke and Thalia. They take them in, saving them, and encounters them years later when they remembered a kind stranger.

a/n: Reader is neutral; no specific pronouns or descriptions used. Referred to as Y/N. Roughly college/university age. [AO3 LINK] | [1] [2] [3] [4] ___________________________________________________

Rationalizing that you had definitely lived in your aunt’s house for way too long to start thinking about gods and goddesses, and demigods, you decided to push the thought the kids you brought into your house were demigods.

They were just kids who you so happened to find in the place you dreamed about and that you decided to be a respectable person and keep these kids safe in your house, and you were going to be a good host until they decided to slip away to run to their haven from whatever they were running from.

‘whatever they were running from? To their haven’ you thought oddly, as you swept up the shards and dropped food. ‘How the hell did I know that?’

Your brain stalled once more as you stood up with the swept up contents, and almost dropped it again in fright as you saw the three kids staring at you wide-eyed from the threshold of the living room.

“OH GEEZE” you yelled, hand shaking to not drop the dustpan and scatter more, but you did drop the broom to place a hand on your beating heart.

“Ah, sorry!” said Luke as he held up his hands, “We just...we heard the plate crash and then we really didn’t hear anything so we just wanted to see what was wrong-”

You took a deep breath to continue but before you could dismiss their worry, you heard Annabeth gasp as she was standing in front of the weapon that brought you your latest revelation.

“Wait, why do you have that?” asked Thalia, giving you a curious look.

“Well...I did mention my aunt was pagan. I think she used that for some rituals on very special circumstances” you explained, dumping the dustpan contents into a nearby trashcan.

“But it looks like its made out of celestial bronze! Like our own weapons-” muttered Annabeth intrigued before Luke shushed her.

“Celestial bronze? Wait hold up, you guys really have weapons-” you felt the air in your lung leave you. The ringing in your ears were going off as you felt a heavy feeling in your gut.

Like a storm that was brewing and the pressure was building, waiting to snap-

“Y’know what, I just remembered. I need to check on your sister’s temperature to see if her fever has gotten any better” you said, changing the subject. You didn’t miss the three kids look at each other with a silent communication but you ignored it to get the thermometer.

You found the kids hadn’t moved from the living room, looking at all the stuff your aunt had collected over the years. As you began to Annabeth’s temperature, you found your eyes staring at her gray eyes, that seemed to study you. Deconstructing you and made you feel vulnerable and on edge.

You looked from the corner of your eyes to see Thalia watching you steely with her electric blue eyes. There was something in her eyes that radiated warmth and longing but you recognized those eyes as something as weariness. She was a teenager if you had to ballpark it, but you also know she was tired yet guarded, as if she had to grow up in more ways then one.

You then glanced back at Luke who was also watching you but was doing his best not to make it obvious. You saw something akin to envy and relief in his eyes, watching as you looked over at Annabeth, but you also saw him looking all possible exit points; as if any moment they needed to bolt.

The thermometer beeped and you withdrew it, checking her temperature. You grinned, “A bit on the high side by a couple of points, but you’re better then before! Just got to be careful, get some more medicine, food in you and rest, then you’re good to go.”

You took the alcohol wipe to clean the thermometer and busied yourself cleaning, but you smiled privately as Luke and Thalia physically relaxed at your news.

“Uh,” you turned and saw Thalia looking sheepish. “Thanks, for...everything and sorry too.”

You blinked in surprise but you gave a smirk, and shrugged. “Hey don’t worry about it. I swore on the river styx didn’t I?” you looked away to put away the medicine kit to the side, though aware of Thalia rubbing her arm in embarrassment.

“Besides, putting aside of being a good host, I’m doing what needs to be done. Don’t worry about it.” you nodded your head to her other siblings, “I’ll take of you guys, and you’ll be able to take care of each other right?”

Thalia looked at you with something akin to understanding and nodded. “Yeah, we take care of each other.”

You grinned but somewhere in the back of your mind, you could feel someone, or something, peering at you from the corner of the darkness.

After that day, things seemed to progress. You let the kids have more free reign in the house seeing as they would be around for a bit longer. You showed them where the books, toys, and board games were to keep themselves entertained while you still had to face your reality as an adult.

Which was the damn paper and your college classes.

It was nice, having them around. It made the house less lonely and it seemed to motivate you. But when you got absorbed in your class work and your classes, in between, you started to notice somethings. While on the outside, they seemed to relax and finally settle back into being kids, there was just something off.

That was something wasn’t right.

The first time you were conscious of it was when you were coming back from one of your college classes. You had to attend an evening class that lasted 4 hours straight, followed by a post-lecture class, and you had to stay behind with your fellow classmates to get some stuff done. So by the time you returned home, you were dragging your legs numbly through the barely illuminated street, carrying your book bag and some cold, leftover take out.

As you got closer to your home with its fenced off barriers, you placed your hand on the gate when you felt that preying look. It made your skin crawl, becoming clammy yet numb. You turned your head to look and you could see a figure across the street, standing there, facing your home. It was dark but even if you wanted to chalk it up to the midnight hour, you suspected it was inhuman.

You walked through the gate, making sure the latch was closed. You felt eyes on the back of your head, but it wasn’t dangerous. You turned and saw one of the kids, taking position at the window, staring across the street towards the figure…

Your spine shivered, with your hair rising at the realization. You speedwalked up to your home, stabbed your key inside and swung the door open, before promptly closing it in one smooth motion, before you stalked to the living room where one of the kids were.

You reached for the window curtain, closing it shut before the kid could question you as you turned to see whichever the kid it was.

It was Luke and he was clutching the dagger.

He looked wide-eyed up at you as you spoke with a shaky grin. “Came down for some late night snack? Want some leftover takeout?” you asked, holding up the very cold takeout.

The boy nodded numbly at you and the next thing you knew, the two of your were in the kitchen, eating some microwaved takeout.

It was a bit awkward eating the takeout but it was something. You felt safer that the kid was in the kitchen, away from whatever was making your senses go off. Somehow you knew, in this hearth, you had some power.

“So…” you started, taking a sip of your drink. “...Why are you really up?”

His hand stopped midway through and you politely took another sip to give him a second to gather his words.

“I...well, we...we’ve been taking turns keeping watch” admitted Luke, glancing at his dagger that was on the counter.

“Huh?”

There was a bite to the lip, his eyes dimmed before he gave a sigh. “We’re really thankful that you’re letting us stay here (y/n), even when Annabeth’s fever is long gone. To the tell truth, we should’ve been on our way a while ago but...we wanted to see how long we could stay here.”

You paused, finding the words that you once prepared gone. You mulled over his words as you spoke softly. “It’s not me is it?”

“No, but….we’ve been followed, in a way, but since you let us stay in your house, we’ve been safe in a way we haven’t been in a very long time. And we haven’t been safe...before.”

You took another moment to gather your words. This wasn’t the first time you’ve caught the kids taking watch. Between your odd hours and working between your work at home, you’ve caught the kids making what was perimeter watches. As if someone or something was going to break through to hurt them.

You then remember another memory that took place in this very house.

“Why keeps you awake, little one?” asked your aunt as she sat by your bed.

You squeezed yourself under the safety of the covers, glancing up at your aunt with scared eyes.

“I’m scared” you whispered finally.

“Scared of what?”

“The monsters...” you rasped, feeling your limbs turn heavy and cold. “The ones that hide underneath the bed and in the closet.”

Your aunt stared at you before cackling. She didn’t laugh in a way that was at you or the notion, but it was at the monsters themselves.

“You worry over nothing little one” reassured your aunt as she tucked you into bed. “There are charms and protections everywhere on my home and hearth. No monsters or any harm will fall on you or any of us.”

“Really?” you whispered as if you breathed out of the water.

“Yes. Long ago, our ancestors knew the way of the gods. We passed our knowledge down and we even use it to protect ourselves. We may be mortals, but we may never know. Especially in the way of the gods and monsters.”

Somehow you felt comforted and the relief begun to lull you to sleep. Your aunt smiled as she patted the top of the blanket and hummed a lullaby. “Just for tonight, I will watch over you sleep. Rest little one.”

Your eyes begun to close and darkness took over. You were lulled in it and the lullaby and warmth before you slept-

You smiled as you felt a burst of warmth spread from your chest. Luke stared at you oddly as you chuckled.

“Well, if you’re afraid of monsters like the ones under your bed or the boogeyman, I used to have the same worries too,” you started to say and you knew the way Luke was going to say by the way he opened his mouth, “But, you don’t have to worry any harm coming to you. As my aunt once said a long time ago, our ancestors knew the way of the gods and monsters. As long you are my guests, you are guaranteed safety.”

Luke gave you a look of doubt and worry as you smiled. “You might not believe it, but what’s wrong in believing something good, even if it’s just for a moment?”

And for just a moment, Luke gave you a soft smile.

After that night, it wasn’t as if they stopped taking nightly watches but they tapered out to every once in a while. You sometimes found one of them taking watch but they didn’t protest when you guided them back to bed. But there were nights that seemed to keep one of them awake anyways, then you would do what you could.

You were going to put whatever they were doing as a symptom of being on the run but it wasn’t until one night, you saw Thalia holding her canister tightly as something came close to the fence of your home. It didn’t touch the fence (as if it couldn’t) but you did notice something edging the parameters, as if waiting for an opening.

Something dreadful sat in your stomach but then it turned into fire. “You stay here, and watch your siblings. There’s a backdoor into a forest if anything happens, it’ll give you some time” you said to Thalia as you went to the front door.

You heard Thalia sputtering out some excuse to prevent you from going out, but you got distracted by something glinting in the corner of your eye. With what little light you were carrying, your eyes fell upon the greek tool that hung on the wall.

The Kopis.

You paused and then you grabbed your fingers around the handle, and lifted it. You weighed it and it brought a sense of strength in you. You found yourself out of the door and stalked towards the open gate towards the mysterious figure and pointed the Kopis at the being.

Your heart was beating wildly and while anger was fueling you, you weren’t sure what your next steps were. Words seemed to filtered from your mind to your mouth.

“Take my warning and do not approach any closer to my home and hearth. You will not harm me or those under my care.”

The being paused and you saw its inhuman mouth grin. “You know not what you house mortal”

The voice made your skin crawl, “They are my guests and as their host, I will not let harm befall on them. Lest even children.”

It tilted its head to contemplate. “Perhaps, you will not let any harm befall on them, but what about you?”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, I can’t but someone else will” it grinned. It begun to mutter something that sounded like another language, in a way that sounded familiar. It was You heard bells ringing in your ear as you realized it sounded like what your aunt chanted, and you felt your hand swing the kopis. The being disappeared into nothingness before the blade could even touch.

You stared at where the being...no monster disappeared to and felt something ominous looming over you.

And when you turned back? You saw the cool and tough facade that Thalia always carried replaced with fear.

That same night you encouraged Thalia to go back, reassuring her that everything was going to fine. She didn’t believe it. You didn’t believe it. You both knew it wasn’t going to be fine. As you checked the other kids, tucking them into bed for good measure, you kept your eye on them as you closed the door.

When the door clicked shut, you took a few steps before you slid your back down on the nearest surface. Fingers clutched the kopis close to your chest while your eyes looked back at the windows to see if the monster was lurking outside. There was the quiet reassurance that whatever protection your aunt reassured you with, if it was even real, would hold but you didn’t like how the thing seemed to know a loophole.

While the children slept, you didn’t.

As you continued to find yourself awake still, you begun doing god knows what in the mean time. The previous events still replayed in your mind as you went through the events to have an idea what may have transpired.

Every time you blinked as you looked towards the windows, the sky changed until it was early morning. Routine kicked in as you haphazardly made your bed and made your way out of your room, down the stairway-You just smiled as the kids came down and for a moment, you let them believe it was going to be another regular day.

Then it came the nightmares.

Thalia begun to get nightmares to the point Luke and Annabeth weren’t able to sleep. Luke couldn’t stop doing night watches, seemingly taking them every night to not only cover his but also Thalia. Annabeth went back and forth between Luke and Thalia, who seemed to deeply trapped in her dreams. And when you all did manage to wake her up, she stayed up awake and kept nodding off.

The sleepless nights were all getting to you, until it’s final night.

That night, Thalia seemed tossing and turning. You got up from your desk at midnight to check on the kids and saw Luke and Annabeth tiredly and sadly watching over Thalia.

You had enough.

“Hey,” you called out to them as the two kids turned to you, long acquainted with your presence. “Come on, let’s go downstairs” you said.

Reluctantly, they followed you, trudging behind you. You went to the living room and got them to sit down on the couch. They looked at you confused as you went to the fireplace, feeling a greater chill seep into the house.

You started the fire, watching it roar to life and provide warmth and light to the room. You watched the fire dance for a moment before getting up to go to the kitchen.

It wasn’t long till you broke out the hot chocolate, marshmallows, and other goodies. Annabeth hummed with giggles at the hot chocolate and floating marshmallows as Luke carefully sipped his, wrapping his hands around the cup while the two of them were bundled in the thick fluffy blankets. You entertained them with stories from books and your own, watching them nod off as they listened to your voice.

You smiled as they nodded had finally gotten to sleep on the couch, as you stood with your back to the fire. The crackling of the fire and the warmth it emitted comforted you, as you lazily looked at all the lanterns from the fire litter across the room. You sipped your drink and let out a sigh, and was about to do a victory dance at the fact you got 2/3 kids to sleep-

A scream pierced the air and in shock, you dropped the cup. It shattered across the floor but upon instinct, Luke was already vaulting over the couch to their room as you ran after him. Annabeth’s smaller footsteps behind you. She pushed past you to go into the room as you saw Thalia thrashing more violently then before on the bed, screaming. Luke was shouting and shaking Thalia awake but was also keeping her down.

Annabeth was on the verge of tears and was also trying to get Thalia to wake up but there was little progress.

Luke turned to you and you saw the vulnerability on his face. How scared he was and how helpless he turned to you. “Y/N, help” he said with a broken voice, more lost then ever.

You pushed past as Thalia was scratching at herself and you wrapped your arms around her, blankets and all, and hugged her to yourself.

“Shhhh, it’s okay, everything is going to be okay! Your safe, everyone’s safe. It’s just a dream, you have to wake up-” you said in a mantra as you kept her tight.

The chill was getting stronger and then suddenly, Thalia’s eyes snapped open crackling energy before you felt something shock you immensely. You let out a yell of pain and your limbs went numb at the shock as you fell off the bed.

You let out a hiss and swore, as the pain went through your arms and body. You could feel your skin also burning like you just touched a hot pan by accident and you looked at your hands, seeing they were slightly red and were trembling. You couldn’t control your nerves, as you saw electricity sparking off Thalia who looked at you with terrorized eyes.

Realization was in her eyes and then regret. “I...I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t-” she stammered.

Your fingers and arms twitched at the electric pulse but you pushed yourself off, as you went to reassure her. “It’s okay, it’s fine. You’re safe, it’s not your fault-”

your words got caught short when a piercing howl went through the air. All three kids stiffened with wide eyes as you turned to the source of the sound.

“No” you whispered as you sped down to the foyer, and you could see from the window the mysterious figure from before grinning at you with its inhuman feature and the other monsters surrounding him. You heard the kids chasing after you and gasped as you all watched the figure take a step forward through the threshold and the monsters were coming.

You could feel the house pulsing with an energy that was growing weaker. Your stomach dropped like it was plummeting into a pit, the speed making you queasy.

You turned to the kids, seeing Annabeth weakly holding up and onto Thalia who seemed utterly lost. Luke looked wide eyed, betrayed but also lost as well. Your mind was racing-

“Luke, get your stuff! Now-”

“But-”

“NOW!”

The barrier was weakening.

You turned to Thalia and Annabeth for a moment before you went to the living room. You grabbed the kopis, weighing it in your hand for a moment. As you did, you saw a glint and saw the fire roaring to life and the lanterns.

You barely stopped to think what you were doing before you slid your knees towards the fireplace, grabbing one of the metal laterns. If you were thinking clearly, you would’ve noticed your hand thrusting into the fire, barely feeling anything as you grabbed a flaming coal to put into the lantern.

Words came to you easily as you whispered to the flame. “Flame of the hearth, let the flames of Hestia bless and watch over those who carry the flame to those weary souls” you prayed as the fire grew brighter.

“I got them!” said Luke as he rushed down the stairs just as the banging on the door grew more and more intense, with a nail being bounced off.

You rushed towards the kids, holding the bright flame in the lantern as you pointed to the back of the house. “Go to the back! There’s an exit!” you said as you pushed them out. You looked back as the door was almost being torn out of the hinges from the force of impact.

You pushed the kids out and grabbed the emergency pack that you left in the kitchen on the way out, before taking them to the back of the house. You opened the door and pointed to the backyard, where there was a small hidden gate behind an overgrown bush that would take them to a line of trees, hopefully it would be enough.

You gave the emergency pack to them as you took a quick glance back to see how much time you have.

“Alright, make a break straight forward. There’s a gate hidden by that mistletoe bush and it’ll lead you straight to those line of trees that hopefully delay them. Whatever happens, just keep running and don’t look back” you instructed as you pushed the kids out.

“But, Y/N what about you?” stammered Luke, looking at you for answers.

You looked at them all and saw that they were just kids. Your eyes softened as you looked at each one of them. You held out the metal lantern to Annabeth who took it carefully.

“Take this lantern. May the coal of this flame protect you all and light your way. Never forget there is light and warmth in times of darkness” you said as you reached out and patted Annabeth’s head. You turned to the other two, pressing a hand onto each of them.

“You’ll all be fine” you said before you heard the door crack in the distance. You readied your kopis, heart thudding against your chest as you pointed the way forward.

“Go! I’ll hold them off as long as you can” you said, before any of them could protest you turned towards the inside of the house, your back to them. You heard more protests before you heard Luke tell them they had to go now and their disappearing footsteps. You took a glance back and saw the light of the lantern growing smaller and smaller.

When you turned back, you saw the mysterious figure from before standing before you with monsters backing it. You held up your weapon as you shuffled to cover the door as much as you could.

The mysterious, definitely a monster, tilted its head at you. “Step aside mortal, we have no qualms against you.”

“No, not when you’re about to definitely go after these kids and hurt them” you said, raising your weapon.

“Yes, but they are demigods and we are monsters. It is their destiny to be chased after and be killed by us.” then it grinned, “Besides, why protect those who have harmed you?”

You heard the gloating tone in its words as you cursed. “That’s how you guys broke in” you said.

It hummed. “Well for a mere mortal, you’ve managed to protect them long enough, I’ll give you that. But yes, we can’t harm you directly but once those demigods have, then the rule of hospitality no longer applies to them.”

You could smell ozone and you were reminded of Thalia.

“It was an honest mistake” you said.

“Nonetheless, the rules were broken. Your protections are strong, but not unbreakable. Step aside mortal or you’ll be another nameless figure sacrificed for these heroes.”

You felt your limbs go weak for a moment. Your resolve wavering. You could feel yourself wanting to protect yourself in pure instinct, and your fingers loosened on your weapon.

But as you were about to step aside, you remembered the kids. How happy and relived they were to finally have a safe place to rest. How scared and broken they looked at their safety ripped away. You licked your lips and the faint taste of the hot chocolate you just had with them reminded you of them.

They may be heroes. They may be demigods. They may die an unnatural death but-

they were just kids and just because it was their fate, doesn’t mean they deserved to suffer unfortunately at every turn.

You gripped your kopis, feeling strength well up in you as you raised your kopis and growled.

“No, over my dead body” you said.

“Well, if you say so” said the figure and charged.

You slashed your kopis and swiped the first monsters appeared from the back. It disappeared in powder of gold at the merest touch and you moved, as if someone was taking over your body to fight for you.

You heard the mysterious figure yell out commands but you could see faintly something working in the background covering your bases but it was being tested.

Words filtered to you as you remember the flames around the home.

“Flames of the hearth, ruled over by Hestia, heed my call. Flames of the hearth, may your flames burn away the evil in my home and purify thy space-”

You heard a curse among them but everywhere went alight as flames took over through the hallways, sweeping through every space. You heard the monsters yowling before the flames burn them away, their golden dust mixing with the flames and disappearing. You felt the flame wash over you like a warm blanket, not harming you in the slightest as you closed your eyes and hoped the kids got away.

As you watch through the open doorway, watching the sky turn its hues from dusk to dawn, your mind and body seemingly at peace. The world around you was quiet. The house was quiet, almost hauntingly as the echoes of inhabitants you shared with were now gone.

The sun peaked through as you sat on the stairs, with one dumb thought.

‘Well shit, they still have my ID’

[Ao3 LINK]| [PART 4]

[bugtoonz]

Hii!! do you have any HCs for the negaverse teen ninjas ? I almost see no one talk about them! Have a good day! :)

Omggggg you know I would never pass up an opportunity to talk about the teen ninjas!

In the negaverse, the teen ninjas are a small group of teenagers dedicated to protecting kids and fighting the DNK’s oppression. Maybe since it’s an opposite universe, they’re cowboy themed or something? Whatever’s the opposite of a ninja lol. Anyways, the group is run by the Neg!Cavallero twins, two genius chess players that excel in being one step ahead of the DNK. They’re quiet and standoffish, but ultimately goodhearted. Second in command is Neg!Stacey, a sugary sweet bookworm. She’s a little dorky, but if you think that’s bad, wait until you meet Neg!Chad. He’s basically the negaverse’s version of Numbuh 13. Slow, bad at everything, and the biggest loser around. Just because he’s incompetent doesn’t mean he’s useless, though, because him and Neg!Maurice are secretly still working for the DNK. Neg!Maurice is willing to do anything for someone else’s approval, and he waits with bated breath for Neg!Wally’s next orders. He’s also borderline obsessed with Neg!Cree, the group’s hacker who much prefers sitting in her dingy basement and saving her own skin than being on the battlefield with her teammates. She genuinely does care about saving the kids though, specifically her wayward younger sister who’s fallen into the clutches of the DNK. Are they the most efficient team around? Definitely not. But even an ounce of kindness is a novelty in the negaverse.