#sorry you get my ire anon but like. come on

[sharkneto]

Patiently waiting for more TUA grown up Five who didn't go to the apocalypse fic update.

thanks for the fic description, i'd forgotten what fic i was writing and not updating around my busy couple months. you've saved the day

[artdcnaldson]

Has reader ever just had a "i have to get out" moment in the changeover universe?

Like art is trying to talk to her after sex and shes just staring at the wall re thinking her decisions.

They are very toxic and i know the reader has feelings for them so i think art would have been very smothering ir clingy if reader made any atempts at going out with another circle of friends and distancing herself

(im sorry i over analyse many situations 😭)

Anon… i love u <3 I love this messy main character bc i too would throw away my scruples for this man.

Rating: M

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Toxic situationship, manipulation kinda, mild angst

Summary: You say something you shouldn’t. It messes up the fucked up equilibrium that you and Art had found in whatever you could call the relationship you had together.

FEBRUARY 2007

For Valentine’s Day, you got Art a teddy bear and a box of chocolates. He got you nothing. He wasn’t your boyfriend, so you didn’t know why you were upset about it, but you were. It stung like a fresh wound, one you could never just let be.

The two of you fucked, because that’s what you always did. The feeling of his mouth on yours, warm and tasting of mint, almost made you forgive him for not getting you anything. He called you beautiful, let his hands trace your body reverently, made you cum once, twice before he pulled you into his lap and let you sink onto him.

His forehead was against yours, breath coming in pants as you rode him, bodies pressed so close it almost felt like making love. Maybe that’s why you said it— the words tumbling out like a prayer.

I love you, Art.

He was tense, for a moment, brows furrowed slightly, before he kissed you and laid you onto your back. He pulled another orgasm from an impossible place within you, one you didn’t know existed. He came, messy on your thighs, and rolled over onto his back.

It was quiet, and you felt so far away from him. Your fingers brushed against his hand, testing, but he pulled them away and stood to redress. It was so quiet that you could hear blood pumping in your ears, like an ocean.

”You shouldn’t say stuff like that,” was what he finally said.

Your lip wobbled, just slightly. And then tears pooled on your lashline. “Sorry,” you said weakly.

“It’s fine.” But you had a sinking suspicion that you’d really fucked up. He handed you a towel, and you cleaned yourself up as best as you could while fighting frustrated tears.

”Are you leaving?” You asked. He was standing in between yours and your roommate’s bed, like he hadn’t quite decided yet. You pulled on a tee shirt and underwear and gave him a pathetic, pleading expression. ”Don’t leave, please. I didn’t mean it. We can watch a movie.”

He acquiesced, and let you cling to his side pathetically after you pulled out a portable DVD player. You split a pair of headphones and watched The Royal Tenenbaums.

Halfway through the movie, clarity hit like a lightning strike. Or maybe it was more like a sinking feeling of dread— of being neck deep in quicksand before you realize you should be crawling out.

You couldn’t keep doing this. Because Art was a dream, really. Handsome, and talented, and smarter than you’d expected him to be. And he was so sweet, when he didn’t realize that he should’ve been discouraging your affection. Or maybe he liked it, but only when it was quiet and he didn’t have to acknowledge that what he was doing was wrong.

Maybe it wasn’t wrong and it was all your own fault for wanting someone who made it clear they weren’t emotionally available. Maybe you were pressuring him into something he didn’t want and it was all unfair to him too.

It didn’t matter. It was fucking killing you.

When the movie ended, he stretched and said he’d see you in class. You nodded, smiling the sad smile of a dog unknowingly being left at the pound.

Once the sadness faded, it was replaced with a molten resentment, an anger at him and yourself over your time being wasted. He still sat next to you in class, sneaking peeks of your notes, but you ignored him as best as you could. Days passed, then a week. You started to feel human again.

A couple weekends later, you ignored the text he sent asking for you to join him at a mixer the tennis team was planning on crashing. You ignored the follow up too.

You wound up at a party on the opposite end of campus with a few girls from the service org you were in. You flirted with a new guy, felt like maybe you were worth more than a casual fuck buddy.

So the sight of him sitting at your door when you finally stumbled home was the last thing you wanted to see. All sad, slumped against your door.

He scrambled to stand, expression filled with longing. “Don’t be mad at me,” he pleaded. “I missed you so fucking bad these past few weeks. Felt like I was going crazy.”

Your heart skipped, and hammered against your ribs. You wanted to reach out and kiss that sad, longing expression off his face. You wanted to tell him to leave. It was all very confusing.

“Don’t say that, Art, please,” you said weakly, lips turning down into a frown. You tried to sidestep him, to get the keys into the door, but he pulled you against his chest.

He smelled so nice— like cologne and cinnamon gum. You gave a pathetic sigh at the warmth of him, wrapped all around you. “I missed you,” he repeated. “It’s like a part of me has been missing. I wanted to talk to you so badly, to kiss you, to watch boring movies with you.”

Annoyance and longing bubbled hot in the pit of your stomach, you had to force yourself to push him away. “You just missed having a cheerleader you could fuck whenever you felt like it.”

He frowned. “That’s not true.”

”What’s my major? What’s my favorite place on campus?” He swallowed hard, exhaling sharply through his nose. “What’s my favorite movie?”

“How would I know that?” He asked, resignation flat on his features.

You rolled your eyes. “Because I tell you about it all the time. Because I’ve taken you there. Because I made you watch it. Twice.” You finally got into your room. When you didn’t slam the door, you realized that you were aching for him to follow. You wanted him to be near you, even if you were seething.

When you turned to face him, you hated that even though you were incredibly mad, you still wanted him to just prove you wrong. To convince you that you were being crazy and he was innocent and the only problem was you being a weirdo about your feelings.

God, he was so pretty. And he looked so sad.

“I’ll try to be better,” he said. “I’ll take you on dates, and buy you flowers, and give you what you deserve.”

But you’ll never be his girlfriend. You knew it, deep down. Even as you caved and gave a sweet, sad little nod. He was across the room, holding you against his chest as you felt annoying tears slipping down your cheeks. Tears of relief, of frustration, of resignation.

“I’m not Tashi,” you said when he pressed his lips to the crown of your skull. It was annoying that he had the power to quell all of your uncomfortable emotions with a single romantic gesture. He pulled back and met your gaze, and you softened. “I know she’s always been your first pick, and I don’t blame you, but I’m not ever going to be her, if that’s what you’re waiting on.”

Something passed over his expression, briefly. “I know you’re not.” It was more of a lament than it was an attempt at comfort. “I’m not waiting on anything.”

His lips trailed down, along your jaw, at the corner of your mouth. He pulled back, looking at you expectantly. Are you going to let me?

Your lips parted softly as you kissed him with lips that tasted wet and salty. It was chaste, and sweet. He pulled back and ran his thumb along your cheekbone. “Let me hold you until you fall asleep? Please?”

It was hard to stay mad at Art Donaldson, even when you knew you really should.

Thank you for reading! If you have any requests in the Changeover universe, or otherwise send me an ask :)

[bring-forth-your-justice]

Can i request an ADA x teen!reader ( platonic ofc ) where reader lives in a very toxic house w an abusive father but all the ADA member start to worrying abt them and think something is wrong bc they always come back with injuries and they finally decide to do something after that reader just broke down and they comfort them

:( i need some comfort so yea if its ok ofc u can skip it have a nice day ♡♡♡

Sorry this took some time anon, thank you for requesting, I wouldn't dare skip it. I hope you’re doing alright, you're never alone know that. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here for ya.

TW// mentions of abuse, blood, child neglect

Word count: 2k

Just angst and sad weather. Hope its good for my first BSD fic.

A soft breeze filled with springs essence flowed gently into the quaint office placed atop the red bricked building. It wasn’t much to look at, not really, other than its red exterior taking the eyes attention for a split second, there wasn’t much else to it.

Unless one was aware of its top floored residence. Quite the loud bunch many would complain. Always someone shouting and screaming about tardiness, unsettling comments about severing limbs, and often other occupants would notice a trail of emptied snack bags leading to the office. Simply a place to stay away from.

Now that was what you called home. 

The hums of the crowded streets played out in a symphony in front of you, just another side walk to cross and you were home. Home .. If the word stayed on your tongue for too long it might lose it meaning, or worse, become sour in taste. 

That top floor, was home. It had only been maybe 8 months since you began working there as an assistant. The Armed Detective Agency, the name really says all there was to it. The work wasnt too difficult, after all, you were a hardworker and you’ve been working your whole life one way or another. The president had made some adjustiments to your workload considering you were still a high school student. Of course you adamantly expressed your capabilities, but underneath it all, you were relieved. 

The breeze grazed your face and ruffled your hair, adding more knots into it after you had done so much to ensure it looked perfect, like nothing had happened. You sighed with a hint of ire plaguing not just your voice but your eyes. Perhaps holding your tongue could have granted you another hour or two of sleep. Alas, thinking of such what if’s was something you slowly learned to block out. It was pointless to fantisize of what could be anyhow.

You continued to fix your hair as you walked up the stairs, soon reaching the gates to your heaven with the oh so familiar sign positioned at the door. You hesitated briefly even as the sign urged you to come in just as the Earth welcomed rain. Thoughts began to overwhelm you. Mornings were never easy. You weren’t a sunflower waiting to greet the sun as the sun showers you with blessings and you return its gift with a smile. It was always terrifying. He was terrifying.

No matter what you did, no matter how hard you tried, you would never be enough to satisfy his will. At times, that thought alone shot bolts of desperation throughout your body, like an injured animal finding some way to stop the bleeding. What were you so desperate for? Home. It’s right in front of you, so why can’t you accept it now?

‘I didn’t get enough time to cover some of the bruises, what if they-’

“Ah you made it L/N-chan!” 

You shot up slightly at the new sound that entered your bubble. Your gaze turned towards the young boy’s voice, noticing his ragged hair. ‘Always quite slanted, not a single strand the same,’ you mused. “Atsushi you startled me aha..” Although the chuckle may have been a bit strained, you were happy to know your voice wasn’t void of that hint of delight to see him. 

“A-ah! Sorry! I guess I’ve been sneaking up on a lot of people lately. The other day it was Lucy, I made her drop her dish in the cafe- I really did apologize but she was very close to throwing me from a bridge aha-” Atsushi had a tendency of causing trouble from simple, and often innocent, actions. It was always amusing to hear about from him, they’ve never failed to crack you out of your reclusive state. 

Atsushi’s eyes wandered briefly to a mismatched coloured blotch on your arm, one you tried to conceal under your sleeves. When you took notice of his gaze, you quickly shifted that arm out of view; watching his shy and gentle eyes become disturbed with remorse. That unconcealable wrapping on your leg wasn’t any better to look at you figured, and you were sorry he had to see it. It was only for a moment though. He seemed more at ease once you smiled back at him. 

“If she did push you, I’d call Kyoka-chan.” You continued back at where the conversation left off at. At that Atsushi shaked his hands, trying to prevent the fictional scenario. “N-No! Kyoka might end up doing more than dragging me out of the water-” You both laughed at the scenario at the underlying understanding of Kyoka’s protectivness of Atsushi’s well being.

As you both walked into the office together, a scent of candies and coffee lingered in the air and the bustling office welcomed your arrival. Your eyes lingered on Atsushi as he made his way over to his desk to get started on what you could only assume to be another stack of Dazai’s unfinished paperwork. ‘I should go and get him some coffee, he might need it to finish all that.’ Looking at that stack was alone to make you wince and move towards your own desk. 

You usually make your rounds to greet everyone, but today was a difficult day and you were more tired than usual. So you figured finishing your work early would be the best way to go about things. As you began, the usual shenanigans continued to buzz around the agency. Naomi chasing Tanizaki begging him to bother himself with her rather than his work, the murmurs of the president and his secretary disgusing financial documents in his office, Ranpo-san’s loud crunches as he muched on what could’ve been his 15th chip bag of the day, and to top it off, Kunikida’s excessive yelling. You may be a hardworker but in this case, you couldn’t hold a handle to Kunikida’s work ethic. He kept everyone on task, or so he tried. 

While he was on his daily rant about Dazai’s tardiness to anyone who would listen, you felt a dreadful turmoil brewing in your head.

That buzzing in your head was a little more than unsettling. And just as your hand went to go reach your head, there it was again, that word. 

“Home.”

Why was it coming to the forefront of your mind? Why couldn’t that thought be subdued? Why were you so unlucky that the only word that haunted you was the one you cherished just as much?

He. Your father. Just a shadow of what he could’ve- no, should’ve been. A shadow who gained sentience and refuses to let you breathe. 

Your ‘home’ was hell personified. Every move you took would inevitably burn your feet. So you took no steps at all. Yet even then the fire raged on and clung to you. 

And right now, that fire was engulfing your head. 

You could faintly see Dr.Yosano in the distance, making her way to you. You couldn’t quite make out her expression when you dropped to floor and the fire took your eyesight.

~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes sleep was the only solace you could get, so you tried to cherish it whenever you could. This time, there was something different about the black void of unconsciousness. A dull pain.

It lingered and poked you in the void. Slowly voices became more clear, and feeling returned to your hands. Still, those wonderful eyes of yours refused to leave the dark. 

A part of you couldn’t deny that you liked it that way, but that poking sensation wouldn’t let you dream. 

You never had time for it.

So your eyes opened, breaking through the fire, and into the blinding lights of the ceiling panels. 

~~~~~~~~

“You’re awake-!” There a pair of wide yellowish-purple eyes looked back at you, secured with a load of concern.

It was Atsushi, worried about you as always. You wished he’d worry about himself more. 

It didn’t quite hit you that you were on Dr. Yosano’s lap or the fact there were tears in your eyes, slowly streaming down your eyes. Not until Kyouka, who sat next to Atsushi wiped them gently. 

What happened to you? 

Your body must’ve been more aware than your mind as it expressed it’s emotions more freely than how your mouth could vocalize them. Slowly you sat up and noticed exactly what had caused you to lose consciousness.

“What happened… y/n?”

Blood loss.

Dr. Yosano looked at the open wounds on your legs, carefully unwrapping the loosely tied bandages around them. She was inspecting the wound just as she was inspecting your face. 

They all were looking at you. Kunikida with a glass of water held firmly in his hand. Kyouka who stayed quietly by Atsushi, looking at your wounds. Yosano who looked slightly unnerved at the blood yet continued to press on; cleaning the wound. Atsushi who looked at you as though he knew and didn’t at the same time. But he wanted to know, oh how he wanted you to tell him. 

And suddenly, it was hard. 

You were young. You couldn’t hold it back anymore.

The tears poured out and so did the words you held in for so long. You tried to hold it all in, but everyone has their limits. Atsushi held you closely as you cried into his arms. Kyouka followed and joined the hug. 

She understood. 

You may be older than her but she knew your pain just as well. 

Yosano worked on your legs with utmost care and gentleness. She knew better than to ask to heal using her unorthodox methods. She’d rather not do that, even if it took away all the physical pain, it wouldn’t do anything for your mental anguish. So she helped in the ways she could. 

Kunikida offered you that glass of water as you talked and cried. He stepped back for a moment, eyes still intently on you as you spoke with your shaky voice and teary eyes. Until he caught the sight of someone hidden in the corner of the agency.

Dazai.

His expression was unreadable as always yet there was a sense of conflict stiring in those lax eyes of his that Kunikida rarely saw. Just as Kunikida noticed him standing there in obscurity, he left through the agency’s doors. Kunikida knew to follow him in case Dazai had finally built a sense of justice and planned to do something rash.

~~~~~~~~

When the tears stopped, you sat there with your ragged yet quiet, breathing. Atsushi never once left your side. Kyouka still sat by you, unmoving. Kenji had returned a little while ago and brought you over some tissues and began reciting stories of his farm life adventures. 

Ranpo finally appeared again. His whereabouts were always where his interests lied…. Or where the snacks were. Thus, it wouldn’t surprise you if he had been there the whole time, just hidden away. 

With a lollipop still in his mouth, he looked down at you. You couldn’t read his eyes, you barely ever saw them when you think about it. Kenji, continued to talk while your attention shifted to Ranpo. He brought his arm forward, in his hand, a single lollipop. He motioned you to take it. 

When it was in your hands, he was already gone back to whatever he was doing, yet you stared at it as though it were gold. 

Home…. A place that’s warm.. A place you feel loved..

You were home. You were safe.

And so you smiled, it would be okay.

~~~~~~~~

Weeks had passed since then, your father was arrested on accounts of child abuse and neglect and you were free from his torment. That moment when Kunikida had left that day, he must’ve gone to seek out your father you supposed. Regardless, you were thankful to not just him, but the entire agency. 

You were free, and you would be okay.

That ‘home’ meant nothing to you, so with Fukuzawa-san’s permission, you were allowed to move into the agency dorms. Again, nothing you could do would expression your gratefulness towards him.

Although old habits and traumas never die, you were healing. You had people who loved you and cared for you. People who would laugh with you as Kunikida and Dazai fought. People who would eat with you when you couldn’t sleep. And people who watched over you, even if silently.

You weren't alone, and most importantly, you were happy.

[luimagines]

Looking for Someone

Our second place winner for the 1200 follower raffle was mushroom anon! :D

They asked for some Sky and Wild bonding.

Masterlist

Content under the cut!

Sky knew exactly where they were.

He didn’t even know this place was still around, let alone in decent condition. He felt a sense of deja vu as he walked further into the area. It was sickening to a degree. Sky could feel his stomach doing flips but he tried to keep his lunch down for the sake of the others. They didn’t seem as bothered by the find, seeing as they were well enough to look around and banter. Somewhere behind him he could hear them discussing the meaning of the place and where they should head to next since it appeared empty.

But Sky knew better. He was almost expecting someone to jump out and attack him.

“Hey.” Wild puts a hand on his shoulder.

Sky jumps and pulls out his sword, aiming it at Wild’s neck without a moment’s hesitation.

The whole group freezes.

Sky takes a moment to pause and remind himself that he is, in fact, not where he thinks he is. He puts the Master Sword back in her sheath. The group eyes him wearily.

“Sorry.” Sky clears his throat, holding his hand out for peace. “I’m… I’m not… you startled me. Are you ok?”

Wild seems to get a knowing look on his face and waves the others away.

The leaves hesitantly.

“I think this place bothers you more than it bothers me.” He says quietly, putting his hand back on Sky’s shoulder.

The Chosen Hero allows himself to relax for a minute and claps Wild in his shoulder as well. Fellow knights are in agreement. All is well. “This place bothers you? You know what this place is?”

“I do.” Wild says bitterly. “We call this the Spring of Courage. You know this place as well?”

Sky nods and looks back out beyond the waters and straight into the face of the goddess statue. “Zelda came here to divinely cleanse herself as she grew into her powers of Hylia. I was always locked on the other side of the door. By the time I got through she was gone. I was always a second too late. I just wanted to find her.”

Wild listens silently. He, like the others, haven’t asked much of their adventures for the sake of privacy. For as much as Sky obviously thinks about his Zelda, Wild can confidently say he knows next to nothing about her. He’s not even sure what her ‘powers of Hylia’ even means. Maybe it’s similar to what his Zelda had to go through.

Wild clears his throat. “Did it work?”

“Hm?” Sky looks at Wild. “What do you mean?”

“The.. cleansing, as you called it. Did it work?” Wild stresses again.

Sky takes a moment to think about it. “I’m… not sure. Like I said, I was never there. But Zelda did eventually get some power of hers returned to her. So it might have done something to her.”

Wild thinks about it some more as well, bitterness welling up inside him. Frustration is on the rise as he thinks about what happened before that day. He remembers Zelda’s sobs and self doubt. It echoes behind her every move even today. A smaller voice behind all that reminds him that this is not the same case. Perhaps this is the reason why the king commanded the princess to come here to begin with.

Not that it did anyone any good.

“Don’t like that idea?” Sky ventures hesitantly. He’s never seen Wild look wrathful before. It’s an unsettling look for someone he’s come to know as mostly smiles outside of the battlefield. “It’s a bit of a long story.”

“No, not that.” Wild shakes his head. He should save this for later. Sky had done nothing to deserve any left over ire from the life long lost.

“My Zelda came here to pray.” He finds himself admitting. “She also needed to unlock her power. It didn’t work.”

Sky stays silent and  looks over at their reflection in the pool. Similar eyes that are not his own stare back at him. They have the same nose. If Sky looks close enough he thinks he can even see the same tired look in their figures. It’s strange.

Sky looks around again, feeling tense and unnerved once more. Despite the fact that he knows Ghirahim is no more- the idea of something waiting for him to turn his back is ever present in his mind. It was always right before the pool. Oh how he wishes Fi would talk again. He wishes she could talk some sense into him like she always seemed to do.

Wild clears his throat. “Sorry.’

It’s enough to break Sky out of his own thoughts. “Huh?”

“For starling you earlier.” He amends. “You keep getting lost in thought.”

“...I hate this place.” Sky spits.

Something in Wild relaxes. His whole body slumps with relief at his words. “Thank the goddess. I do too. Let’s get out of here.”

They leave.

It’s a comfortable silence until Wild pokes Sky’s shoulder once more. “One question.”

“What is it?”

“You mentioned trying to find your Zelda.” Wild mentions quietly. “What did you mean by that?”

They see the rest of the group up ahead, waiting for them. Wild takes the initiative to wave them off again, letting them know to continue further up without them.  This time they are less hesitant to leave them alone.

Sky takes a deep breath. “She fell from our home. I went down to the surface to find her. I searched everywhere.”

Wild says nothing at first. It doesn’t feel like Sky actually answered his question but at the same time, what was he expecting?

“What about you?” Sky asks quietly. “You don’t actually talk a lot about your Zelda despite being her personal guard.”

The Champion blushes. “It’s not like that…”

Sky doesn’t comment on it.

“When I woke up, I didn’t remember her. Even though she was the first person I heard from. She told me my name before I even knew who I was. Despite what the old man and what Ipa told me to do- which was to find her and help her- I felt like she was just a concept. An idea. When I finally remembered her, it felt weird to think that I still wasn’t sure if she was even dead or alive. Our relationship…  It’s… different now, whether we like it or not.”

Sky let’s Wild ramble. He didn’t think this would have gotten this much information out of the Champion as it did. He wonders if he’s told anyone else this. He has an inkling that perhaps Twilight knew, but seeing the speed at which Wild was willing to ramble, he doubts that too.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine in the end.” Sky says, unhelpfully. He cringes at his own words.

Wild thankfully sees the attempt for what it is. “You think so?”

“Yeah.” Sky continues on. “Things are different now anyway, right? For your time and your people. It’s all about finding a new normal. It can't be that much different from simply moving from one place to another right?”

Sky can feel himself start to ramble as well as he sticks his foot in his mouth.

“”Like… The people you know aren’t close to you any more- The ground is different from how you knew it growing up- The sounds are different- There’s plenty of new people to meet- The food is different- The animals are different- The air is different-”

“It’s a different place entirely.”

“Yeah! Exactly!” Sky can feel himself flustering. Is he making this worse or better? He can’t tell.

Wild thinks about it for longer and it makes Sky anxious.

“And that’s not a bad thing either! Because it was like that already before you got there.” Sky scratches the back of his neck. “Everyone else is used to it, you know?”

“It’s their normal.”

“Precisely.” Sky’s voice gets quieter. Wild seems to be listening to him intently. Sky’s still not sure what to make of it. “So you have to find a new normal despite the change in circumstance.”

They’re slowly catching up to the group once more. It’s like they meant to be repeated for long anyway. 

Wild takes a breath and sighs. “You get to go back to your ‘normal’ though.”

“...I don’t know.” Sky looks to the people in front of him. They all descend from the choice he has yet to make. He has to pave the way for everyone… just to get to Wild. He looks at the young man next to him. “I don’t think I will.”

Wild falls silent again before reaching out and wrapping his arm around Sky’s shoulder. “...That’s mighty noble of you then.”

Sky says nothing. He’s not sure if it’s true or not but he’s not about to ruin the moment further on purpose now.

“...I still hate that place though.”

Sky laughs out loud for a long time.

“You and me both.”

[the-lark-ascending69]

I just got an idea for whump Ronance.

What if Robin and Nancy gets captured by Brenner?

Like, they end up becoming his new lab rats. Thry get tortured and abused just like El was.

What do you think?

(Also, what kind of powers do you think they would have respectively?)

Anon I am so sorry i wrote a long asf response to this and then it got deleted and I was so mad I didn't want to do it again but now I feel inspired and motivated to give it another try.

SO. Wonderful concept! I love it! Let me share my thoughts!!

So what I came up with is:

At age 15, they both get lost in the Upside Down. They only vaguely knew about the other's existance from school but when they found each other down there, they became inseparable. This is an AU in which Will never went missing. Anyway they're terrified and starving and exhausted but at least they have each other, and they hold hands almost the entire time because they both desperately need the comfort.

Eventually, they make it out on their own after finding a gate... and it's in the Hawkins Lab. They come out on the other end before the unbelieving eyes of dozens of scientists, who were convinced no one would survive a minute in there without the proper equipment. Yet these trembling, starving young girls covered in grit survived with only the clothes on their back for a week.

Brenner recognizes them immediately - Nancy and Robin, the two girls from the missing person posters circulating through town. Everyone already thinks they're dead. They made fake bodies of them, for Christ' sake, he's not letting this opportunity go, especially after the disappearance of his only remaining test subject, 011.

This will be a new experiment. A different one. They are given different numbers for ir - A01 for Nancy and A02 for Robin. They get that tattooed in their arms. The purpose of the experiment is to study the effects of short-term exposure to the Upside Down on humans of their height, s.ex, age, health status and weight. They call themselves doctors. They give them separate rooms and run a series of tests daily on them. They try to be subtle at first as to not scare them too much - they don't want another 011 - so they call them by their real names for a while. They ask questions about their lives before the Upside Down and reassure them this is meant to test radiation levels - a standard procedure, before they can return them to their parents.

They immediatelly call bullshit. Why can't they talk to their parents now? Why can't they see them through a glass, at least, or a camera, if radiation is what they're worried about? Why won't they tell them what that place was or why it led back to the Lab? Do their families know they're safe? What is going on? They ask so many questions about every procedure ran on them, resisting in more and more extreme ways until the scientists need to tie them down and drug them whenever they want to do anything.

Brenner notices similar brain activity in them to that of his old test subjects, and he suspects the Upside Down might have given them some kind of ability. He keeps them in the rainbow room, hoping each other's company will help them develop their powers, yet for a long time nothing comes. They can't move objects with their mind, or astral project, or open gates. Even despite everything they do to them. Despite every horrible procedure they perform on them. Drugs of all kinds, leaving them delirious and weak for days. Electrocompulsive therapy. Hypnosis. Pain tests. Sensory deprivation. Solitary confinement. Brenner wants to activate their powers in one way or another, desperate after losing subject 011.

(It's terrifying each time. Nancy is invaded by pure rage while Robin is paralyzed by fear. Whenever they take one for a procedure, the other waits impatiently for her return, fully concious of what they're doing to her - or so it seems. Nancy, at least, thinks she knows what they're doing to Robin. She thinks they do the same things they do to her - tie her to a chair, put an IV in her, maybe, or stick a needle into her neck. Brenner will do this while casually telling her she'll only feel a small pinch, before doing such a monstruosity to her that she'll be woken up by seizures at night. It takes Robin some time to tell Nancy the truth).

They seem completely useless for a long time, but that changes the moment they capture a russian agent.

He was a scientist, working from an unknown location beneath Hawkins, trying to get intel from the Lab when he was caught and tortured to extract information from him. Robin wasn't usually allowed to wander the halls alone, but someone left the door unlocked and she was curious, and soon she found herself in front of a closed door, hearing panting and ragged breathing after this man received the beating of his life. He was talking to himself - curses and meanderings about death and whether or not he'd see his family again. Robin, despite having never learned Russian, understood everything, and in a perfect accent she began to talk to him. She didn't know why - she didn't even realize they weren't speaking English. For a moment he thought he was being rescued, and he shared with her a lot of information.

Brenner caught her in the act and severaly punished her. Solitary confinement for one week. She would only see other people when they ran tests on her, and even then they wouldn't speak to her at all. He ended up not living up to his threat when, not two days after the event, he noticed her brain activity going wild. He has fascinated, and he asked her what had happened, if that russian spy gave her something like a drug. "Russian?" she asks, only then understanding what had happened.

They believe her powers are related to xenoglossy, the supernatural ability to know a language without having ever learned it. Something extremely useful in that specific historical context. She'd be an incredible spy, and oh, Brenner can't wait to experiment with this. They kill the spy after she tells them everything he told her.

They begin to give her a special treatment over Nancy - not exactly for the better. Brenner wants to understand this new ability, developed not in the womb like in other subjects but when subject A02 is a teenager, possibly caused by exposure to Upside Down radiation, though that's not confirmed. Maybe it had more to do with their experiments. He thinks he hit a dead end when it's revealed Robin already knew intermediate-to-advanced French, Spanish and Italian from before being captured - she'd be just a regular poltglot in that case, a prodigious one, right, but with nothing of interest for Brenner. But he quickly realizes this is not the case. Robin didn't know a word of Russian before, and he develops a hipothesis he'll spend the following year testing. He tries her ability with different languages, escaling on rarity, complexity and distance from English. From reading a single short text, Robin becomes profient in Finnish - a non-indoeuropean language Brenner doubts she's ever had any contact with. Proficient, but not fluent. It seems like she can very easily extract a language's grammar from a short sample text, applying it to terms she's familiar with, but she can't magically "guess" vocabulary of grammatical rules not present in the material she was given. For example, by reading a text in which all 15-16 grammatical cases of Finnish are present, she will be able to apply them to any noun in nominative case she knows, but she can't do it with nouns she doesn't know, and she can't use grammatical cases not present in the sample text given to her. She also can't guess spelling or pronunciation without both text and audio samples, and she can't speak in accents she hasn't heard (though she can easily switch accents in a way native speakers of the language can't, a skill that is curiously not translated (lol) into her native English). She learns faster with audio than with text, but even faster with a real-time conversation. Brenner brings a colleague who is fluent in Japanese to test her and he's amazed by how quick her progress is. His hipothesis, seemingly now proven, was that hers was an entirely mental skill, not a supernatural one, since she doesn't magically have access to languages she never had any contact with. This would make her ability not real xenoglossy.

A few more fun facts about her "power":

Her pre-existing skill with Spanish, French and Italian didn't improve until she was exposed to these languages again after being captured. She becomes incredibly skilled at solving puzzles and cracking codes. Brenner believes her power developed thanks to her intensive studies in languages through her childhood. Her brain activity is similar to that of non-native speakers of a language during the few first minutes of having contact with a new language, but in less than an hour, it will be the same as with native speakers. She's confused by some reconstructed languages, but not others (Proto-Indoeuropean was easy for her to learn, Proto-Uralic took her some time before learning more finno-ugric languages than just Finnish. If this were happening in the 2000s, when the Dené-Caucasian theory was already formalized, then Proto-Dené-Caucasian would have sounded like absolute gibberish to her).Some of Brenner's colleages hipothesize that her knowledge of living languages help inform her of the grammar and syntax of proto-languages in an extremely accurate way, to the point she subconciously knows when a reconstruction is wrong. This would make her an amazing paleolinguist. Brenner is less interested in the reconstruction of ancient turkic languages in Siberia and more interested her use as a spy and code-breaker - though it wouldn't have hurt him to take a second look at the idea of turkic languages, because that Russian agent, he was from a region of Russia called Tartary, and he spoke another language aside from Russian, the Tartar language, though he never got to speak it in Robin's presence. Brenner and his colleagues, not familiar with the vast diversity of languages on Earth, spend a long time working with an incorrect hypothesis because they couldn't notice Robin speaking Tartar to herself as a distinct language from all the others they were teaching her. A year and a a half passes before someone spent enough time listening to her to notice the difference. It's a discovery that shatters completely Brenner's first hypothesis on the absence of a supernatural element in Robin's ablity, and he's once again fascinated when he discovers it. His new hypothesis: Robin's power grants her access to a person's mind through speaking to them in a strange, confusing way, and he can't wait to destroy her, pick her brain apart and figure out how it works even if he kills her in the process.

In fact, he does. Literally. He does it over and over and over again, and Nancy has to watch it happen time and time again.

Because here's the thing: Robin wasn't the only one to develop powers, and in fact, she wasn't even the first one.

If you've heard of the videogame Life is Strange, anon, then you'll understand Nancy's power here: she can rewind time. Her power is pretty much the same as Max's in LiS - she can rewind time up to a certain point, though it causes a great mental strain, and eventually, she will discover she can time travel to specific points in time through photographs she's present in, as her younger self.

She discovers her powers the first time Robin is killed.

Misbehavior got her punished - solitary confinement after a long testing session. She had an overdose in her cell, and no one noticed in time. Nancy barely remembers what happened then, other than the horror she felt, before the events of the day flashed backwards before her eyes and she was brought back to Robin - warm, alive, breathing - in the rainbow room.

She begged her to do as they said, to behave, to not fight back. Robin is confused but Nancy is in tears and she agrees to do as she says.

This time, when she has an overdose, they treat her on time. She was in a comma for a week, but soon she was back on her feet and back in Nancy's arms.

It keeps happening - over and over again. The time she swallowed her own tongue during a seizure because Nancy didn't hold her right, and she had to try over four times (and watch her choke and die four times) before she got it right. The time she didn't die - but she lost her ability to speak after hours of electroculpulsive therapy, and she had her fake an illness so they would submit her to less aggressive procedures. It happened again when, after a similar trial, she forgot her own parents and thought the scientists were her parents. But she mostly just died. Over, and over, and over again. Mostly from overdose or brain damage during seizures, but one time, she was purposely asphixiated during a test. To this point Nancy still isn't sure what was it that they wanted to test with that. She suspects it was just torture for the sake of torture. To break her, somehow.

Nancy is terrified of long-term effects of all of this on Robin's health. She's scared the damage will cross the point of no return too early, to a point she can't go back to, a point in which she can't stop it. She can hold Robin's head during a seizure but she can't stop the seizures, and the lasting damage they leave.

Robin is aware of Nancy's powers. Nancy didn't even have to prove them to her - she believed her immediately whe she told her, and she trusts her judgment completely. If Nancy tells her it's better to do X, you can bet Robin will be doing X. Robin doesn't tell Nancy about her newfound ability immediately - she doesn't want her to worry about something she can do nothing about. But she does share it with her, after some time. She felt the need to explain to Nancy why the sudden interest on her. Nancy worries about her Robin so much, so so much, because she's just become Brenner's favorite new toy, and he'll do anything and everything to exploit her. She's in much more danger than Nancy is, and Nancy wishes she could take her place, make herself into Brenner's toy, draw attention away from Robin, but they both know the best they can do for their safety is to keep Nancy's invisible power secret. Nancy hates herself for not being able to take Robin's pain for her.

They escape one day. It's a complicated plan including short-distance time travel, manipulating russian spies through a stolen radio, several forms of treason and going out the same way they came in - through the portal. Nancy does her best to keep them safe with her power as they search for the other gate, the one they first crossed three years ago. And then, they're out. They're found unconcious on the side of the road.

They wake up a few days later in the hospital, surrounded by their families. Nancy's brother, Mike, has a new friend - a quiet girl with long brown hair and a 011 tattoed on her wrist, and she knows she needs to speak to her desperately, but she's exhausted, so for the time being, she'll sleep for some time, feeling almost at peace now, knowing Robin is safe and in the good hands of doctors.

[halcyon-writings]

Moment of Repose

pairing: billy butcher/reader

notes/cw: none (save for butcher's bad habits /lh), after 84 years,,,, the request for anon is done. I am very sorry for the wait, the writer's block was really kicking my ass LMAO and ngl I liked the request bc lowkey it was challenging bc it was difficult to picture him as like,,, soft, when the man is quite literally the opposite, but I hope that it worked out

nav.

Billy Butcher is, in no way, soft. Edges that are far too sharp, too untrusting prevent such a thing. Trust that was hard to earn and easily lost at the drop of a hat did that to you. 

Billy Butcher is not soft. Something that even he insists upon, at least when pressed about it. He was cordial enough to those he worked with at best, and at worst, he would be downright vulgar to anyone else. 

So what made you different? Was it your relaxed demeanor? (In comparison to Butcher, anyone looked leagues calmer than he could ever be.) Was it the way you were practically unphased whenever he would slip into a string of curses when someone got on his nerves? Or was it the fact that you could read him like an open book? (No one said that last part out loud though, lest they risk his ire being directed at them.)

You supposed that the secret to seeing a soft or gentle facet of Billy Butcher was one that you would keep to yourself till the end of time. Or whatever other cliche bullshit he would say it was.

Such as right now, when Butcher basically running off of fumes and you had all but taken away his gun, any backup knives and blunt objects he kept on his person in case the gun failed, and his keys. Certainly, he could hotwire said car, seeing as how even a soft breeze could knock the thing over, but the image of your neutral face of displeasure made an uncomfortable feeling stir in his gut (it was that or the expired frozen dinner he ate, with him convincing himself that it was still good). Even with his protests, which were weak for the most part, Butcher was convinced to rest, or at least even take a nap under your watch.

So that left you to watch over the man as he slept for the first time in days, while everyone else in this little team of yours had taken that as an excuse for a free day.

M.M. had gone to see his daughter (and you slipped him some cash to get some flowers for his ex-wife but that was another secret of yours). Kimiko and Frenchie had decided to run errands, such as picking up things for actual food to cook rather than the frozen dinners Butcher would insist upon to “save” money, and you could only keep your fingers crossed that whatever damages that had appeared on the evening news were minimal at best. You cherished the pair dearly as friends, however, their penchant for chaos was unmatched. Finally, Hughie, you had guessed, had gone out on his own, sneaking off to see his date and you snickered as he stammered through an excuse.

“Just go on, you don’t wanna leave her waiting, do you?” A teasing bit to your voice makes the boyish man scramble up the steps and you hear the door to the shop open and shut in quick succession. 

So while Butcher snored away the afternoon, you had decided to read. Enjoying the silence that had come with most of the bases’ occupants being gone for the moment, occasionally interrupted by a snore here or there. 

Of course, you sometimes could not help but shift uncomfortably. With Butcher all but caging you in with his giant head on your lap, arms around your waist, you were at least glad you did not have to go to the bathroom yet. Despite your inner protests, you couldn’t help but feel a little pleased, who knew that Billy Butcher could be as soft and sweet during his sleep? 

Occasionally you reach down, smoothing the frown on his face so that he could at least relax again, his nose would twitch, and you curiously guess what he dreamed about. Maybe he had had some weird dream. Perhaps something ridiculous like Homelander actually being a responsible Supe. Or being right that eating an expired frozen dinner was the correct thing to do… maybe you should take him to urgent care for that. But then again if it took as much convincing as it did to get the man to rest his eyes for an hour or two, you would have to prepare the big guns. 

As you attempted to steer your focus back on the book in your hands, it was only a short moment that you could feel Butcher begin to stir. Well, it seemed that you could not get a chance to keep reading, as you use an old receipt like a makeshift bookmark. 

He sits up, groggy for a moment, you almost think it was cute if it weren’t for the kind of person he was.

“What day is it?”

“The same day that you took your nap,” You say helpfully. He curses. 

“Feel like shit…” Mumbling incoherently into his hands, almost like a bad hungover. 

“You kind of look it too,” You chirp, “But that’s what happens when you don’t get a proper amount of sleep.”

He sends you a sleepy glare, but there is no heat behind it. You reciprocate by giving him a bright smile. You expect him to stand up, getting back to whatever sort of chaos that would have Vought scramble for some PR recovery, instead, you’re pleasantly surprised when all he does is lay back down, this time using his signature jacket as a makeshift blanket. 

Once again, the silence is met with his snoring as he falls back into slumber. 

[vermont-writes-fanfic]

Hello. Can I request Alucard, Luke, Jan and Tubalcain with S/O, who is very awkward and clumsy when it comes to love?

Sure thing anon! Coming right up, sorry if they seem a little out of character but I did my best! Hope you like it, and feel free to request any time.

Jan:

Jan thinks it’s really cute but at the same time he’s also pretty clumsy when it comes to romance. You both fumble around asking each other things, the first time you nearly had a panic attack asking him to take you out somewhere nice. He took you out to the club and you both had a good time but Jan was internally freaking out. Of course when you got home his brother told him he was an idiot and that you should’ve been taken somewhere fact but you told him it was perfectly fine. When you try to give him things he gets flustered and you mistake that for him not liking it, you both have a lot to figure out.

Alucard:

At first, he thinks that you're just kidding around with him, but when he figures out that you truly are a mess when it comes to romance he intends to take full advantage of it. He teases you when you get him things or when you fumble over your words and mix up gifts. If you get upset about it he’ll make sure you know that your efforts however clumsy they are, are very much appreciated. When you try to set things up for him they often go awry but he still appreciates it all the same.

Luke:

Unlike the others he really tries to teach you how it’s supposed to be done. Jan laughs at the way your dynamic works, he’ll take you out and you’ll try to give him a compliment but it really comes out as a bad pick up line that manages to make you both cringe. He appreciates your efforts but has taken the job of being the romantic one. He really wants to take you on dating lessons. But he loves you, romantic clutz ir not.

Tubalcain:

He find it funny seeing your reactions as you two trade smooth and big so smooth one liners to each other. He has made you choke on your wine more times than you would ever admit. You stumble over your words and mix up your sentences and even accidentally break the things you’ve made for him. He keeps you away from all of his equipment on such romantic endeavours because you’ll end up hurting your self.

I hope this is what you meant, I wasn’t really sure. Have a great day!

[munson-blurbs]

Halloween idea anon here :) The first idea was Eddie and the reader doing the typical Halloween pranks (egging and TPing) on someone’s house and when they have to make a run for it to not get caught, when the light catches on their face, Eddie just thinks “yeah, I’m going to marry this girl one day”. The second idea was trick or treating with hellfire (because I cannot see Eddie ever outgrowing that and now they have freshmen in the club) and seeing the reader dressed as Galadriel or Arwen with the group she’s chaperoning and cutting each house visit short (much to the ire of Dustin) because he can’t let “the girl of (his) dreams” get away before he has a chance to talk to her after trying to work up the nerve all night. Sorry if neither of those are good ideas but thank you for letting me send them over!

Eddie falls head-over-heels for a fairy, but needs a little help talking to her.

Warnings: a little bit of language

WC: 990

A/N: This takes place in October 1986. Eddie & Steve are friends but obviously Eddie survived the Upside Down. Also, the LotR movies didn't come out till the early 2000s, so I decided to go with a D&D fairy costume! I hope that's all right!

--

Eddie Munson may be 20 years old, but he's not going to pass up the opportunity to go trick-or-treating. Dressing up in a sick costume and getting free candy? Sounds like a great time.

And now, he has a good excuse, since Dustin recruited him to drive the Hellfire Club (plus Steve) to the wealthier part of town. The kid had a whole plan mapped out based on the houses that gave the best candy in previous years. How could Eddie turn the poor guy down?

He’s dressed as a zombie rockstar, which consisted of an old concert t-shirt that he’d ripped holes in, ripped jeans, and some fake blood smeared across his face. He’d briefly considered bringing along Sweetheart, but didn’t want to risk any damage. 

“How are we always the goddamn babysitters?” Steve grumbles now, but Eddie knows he loves being adored by the kids. 

Before he can respond to Steve, something catches his eye a few houses down. A girl, about his age, standing behind two young kids, wearing a pair of fairy wings. But not just any fairy wings: she’s dressed as a fairy from Dungeons & Dragons.

“Holy shit,” Eddie breathes out. “Harrington, I think I’m in love.”

Steve meets his friend’s gaze, trying to keep an eye on the gaggle of children they’re somehow responsible for. “Oh, she’s cute.” He laughs at Eddie’s lovesick stare. “Go talk to her, Romeo.”

“W-what do I even say?” Eddie sputters, hands getting clammy. He clumsily wipes them on his pants.

Steve laughs, amused by Eddie’s nervous demeanor. “Why don’t you start with, ‘I like your costume’?” he says. “And, uh, try not to look like a total moron.”

“Okay, okay,” Eddie grumbles, turning to Mike, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin, who are waiting on line to get full-size chocolate bars. “Little sheep, let’s go! Put a move on it!” he yells out, waving them back.

“We didn’t even get our candy yet!” Erica laments. “I am not leaving until I have a giant KitKat in my stash, got it?”

Eddie huffs as he walks over. “There are a million other houses we can hit up,” Like the one where the girl of my dreams is standing, he thinks. “Come on!”

“Seriously, dude,” Dustin says, “what’s your deal?”

“Eddie's got a big ol’ crush on that fairy princess over there,” Steve teases, pointing in your direction.

“Don’t point at her, Harrington!” Eddie hisses, burying his head in his hands. “Forget it. Get your stupid candy.”

But the group has already snapped into wingman mode. 

“Eddie,” Dustin crosses his arms over his chest, “how many girls do you know are into D&D?”

“Um, Little Sinclair pretty much starts and ends that list.”

“Exactly!” Lucas exclaims. “So there’s a beautiful girl fifty feet away from you, who not only knows what it is, but likes it enough to dress as a character from it. And you’re gonna let her slip away?”

“No, but--” Eddie starts before Mike cuts him off.

“But what? You have no excuse; we’re not toddlers. And Steve can stay with us while you get her number.”

“Save my spot, or else,” Erica orders the boys, and they know to heed her warning. “C’mon, Munson. Let’s hurry this up so I don’t miss out on any candy.”

“Uh, okay,” Eddie stammers as Erica grabs him by the wrist and pulls him over to you.

“Hi!” she says to you, giant grin plastered on her face. “I just wanted to tell you that I love your costume! Is this your D&D character?”

You clasp your hands together excitedly. “Yes!” you reply. “Finally, someone knows where this costume is from. You don’t know how many people have called me Tinkerbell tonight.”

“Actually,” Erica says coyly, pulling Eddie in front of her, “this long-haired freak was the one who noticed.”

“H-hi,” Eddie bites the inside of his lip, cringing at how nervous he sounds. “I’m Eddie. Her, uh, baby-sitter.”

“Chaperone,” Erica corrects him.

“Right, Chaperone.” He softly kicks his foot into the grass. “I’m also Hellfire Club’s Dungeon Master.”

“You play, too?” Your eyes light up, taking him in. “Well, duh, of course you do, if you’re the Dungeon Master. I’m Y/N, by the way.” Pink creeps into your cheeks, and Eddie thinks it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen. Plus, it makes him feel better about being anxious.

“Yeah. We started at Hawkins High, but when I graduated earlier this year, we just kept up the tradition outside of school,” he explains sheepishly. “Maybe you could join us sometime?”

He feels a kick to the back of his ankle before you can respond. “Ow!” he cries out, turning to Erica.

“That’s not a date, nerd,” she loudly whispers. “I am not missing out on rich people candy for you to half-ass this!”

Eddie hears you giggle and swerves back to rectify the situation. “Or, uh, we could go to that new café that opened downtown? I hear they have kick-ass food.”

You nod. “That would be great!” A small hand tugs on the hem of your green dress. “I have to get going,” you apologize, wishing you could talk to him all night. “I promised the kids I baby-sit that I’d take them trick-or-treating until our feet fall off.”

“No worries. It’s like the Cool Baby-Sitters’ Code,” he jokes, conversation flowing more naturally now. “Could I maybe get your number? So I can, y’know, call you?”

“Of course!” You reach into your purse and pull out a pen. When you realize you don’t have any paper, you grab his arm and write your phone number on it.

“I’ll call you,” he promises as you walk away and wave.

Erica stares up at him, clearly pleased with the situation.

“Thanks, kid,” he says, clapping a hand on her back. “You’re a better wingman than any of those guys.”

“Yeah, well,” she replies with a shrug. “I call dibs on bridesmaid.”

--

[infamous-if]

You don’t need to post this but just so you know, it really does sounding like almost no one in the story who have witness to or have heard the MC’s work think it is very interesting at all 🫣, and just occasionally a person will randomly appreciate for some reason, such as Orion. I think maybe a lot of readers might had anticipated a type of MC that has the experience of undeniably suited for this and so on, in the way you have sometimes describe some others in the story, such as S

Hi ! Sorry but I'm going to post this mostly (and apologies that your ask is the one who is gonna get this long response, my ire isn't towards you because you're being very kind about it but others have, honestly, not been) because other people probably have this thought as well but I'm sort of confused on where this whole idea of MC being useless/untalented/not suitable is coming from?

I've said before there will be people who question MC's talent, but that's just natural--not everyone is going to think someone is worthy of their fame and attention. People thinking that there are better singers out there doesn't invalidate what MC is capable of. If I wrote a story where every person thinks MC is the greatest thing since sliced bread then that wouldn't be an entertaining story lol You need tension, and you need naysayers so every win can feel satisfying. Plus, doubters is a natural and normal thing in the business. MC is literally in a competition where other very talented bands are competing. Even though they're the main character, they're the main character of their story. Not everyone elses. Other bands believe they are just as deserving--if not more--of winning than MC's band. It's natural. To those bands MC is just another person they need to beat to win.

Seven being more famous doesn't mean MC isn't talented (the band literally voted for MC's vocals over Seven's). G being more famous doesn't mean MC isn't talented. Hell, if MC's band lost BOTB and went home empty handed, that doesn't mean MC isn't talented. It's part of the competition. Amazing bands and amazing singers get rejected all the time. There isn't room for everybody.

I do want to mention that people probably feel this way because I can not give concrete answers about an MC that is largely customizable. In the game, your MC can lack confidence. Or they can be arrogant. They can believe their skills are lackluster, or they can believe they are the best singer alive. People expect me to answer questions that have varied answers depending on what MC each player is playing. I can't give you that! I do my best.

Orion listened to MC once and quit his job to manage them.

2. August auditioned to be their drummer, and while August is largely indifferent, they admit themselves they were interested and they tell MC how good MC's voice is.

3. Maya is quite literally following MC's band around the USA because she's that much of a fan.

4. Seven dislikes MC, but Seven is not a liar: they will always stand by their opinion that MC is talented. That's one of the biggest reasons why Seven liked MC so much: their artistry.

4. This is spoilery but fuck it: G listened to MC once and wanted MC's band in BOTB.

idk why people think that people listen to MC and get bored when I don't think I've ever indicated that? The demo isn't even out lshshdhsahs

anyway this isn't an attack on you anon but it is kind of frustrating that people think MC is just this untalented fluke that didn't work hard to get to where they are today. Just as much as MC is yours, they're also mine, and I wanted to make it clear that MC isn't lazy nor are they someone who just does nothing and doesn't try. At least that part isn't customizable: MC works and has worked really freaking hard to be where they are.

sorry for the long response and once again, this isn't an attack on you, but this has been a topic in my inbox and i just dont get it--the demo is literally not even out.

[screampied]

vegas, i leave for couple days, you post ANOTHER toji fic. its like you wanted me to come back bc its literally four paragraphs in and im SCREAMINGGGG

the “oh yeah” when he walks in i moaned. LOLZZZZZZZ I GIGGLED SAUR HARD LIKE UGH i havent even finished reading this 😭

“uh, ill talk to you guys later” “nah, keep that shit on” i bit my fist. theres currently bite marks on my fist ARGH HES SO DADDY

the insults.. LMFOAOAOOAOAOAPAP “he looks like he doesnt shower” I CABT DEAL

oh my.. “i was gonna for three days and you forgot how to act” TEACH ME HOW TO SCT IM OBEDIENT 😻😻😻😻😻😻😻 sorry that was uncalled for.

honestly when she said she faked everything i said LIARRRRR out loud bc i wouldve came from the kiss.. coughs.. OH MY GOD “eyes up here, not them. theyre not the ones who are gonna fuckin eat you out are they” BUSSANUTTTTT

im sorry these comments are actually making me cry “even my domain has better quality than this” “clean up aisle my pants > . <” LFMAO I CANT DO THIS 😭😭

the detail. i might as well be the viewer watchin that stream cuz LAWDDDDDDDSS 😻 “mhm, pull on it” i came :P “..harder” AHAT??? HELLO??? i squirted. “that’s what im talking about” yeah im two more sexy lines away from touching myself . THAT SOUNDS SO WILD IM SOREY 😭😭

oh my GAWDWDWDS “feels good when you do that” “yeah cause i know what the fuck im doing” pla have mercy. HAVE MERTHY. im sorry he fingered me under a dinner table with my PADRE talking to me?? WHYUUULLLDDDD (wild) but we luv it 😻

“told you to keep those fuckin on me” coughs i js screamed. “yeah.” MFGGGFFFFGHHHH IM CLAWIN THE WALLLSS.

“baby hold it” YAWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLL IVE LOST MY BREATH WHYS THAT SOOOO then rhe comments. PLEASE 😭

“petition to have toji oiled and cheeked up” signed! 😛 “dad?” “lol no.” LFMAOOAOAOAO 😭😭

OHH???? “i cabt wait” “yes you fucking can, if i tell my girl to wait, she’s gonna wait.” ORDERS ARE BEING FOLLOWED ILL WAIT BB 🤤🤤🤤 THE FICS NOT EVEN OVER IT JS KEEPS CUMMING. btw, i love how they be like arch it for me/ass up like YOHHH 😻😻😻

“sorryyyy” shes so real for that. “but sweetheart, you’re not sorry.” “huh?” “huh?” ive got a mocking kink now bc of you 🙁 now whenever i get mocked or teased i giggle 🙁🙁 i act like a whore 24/7 😒 TALK TO ME NICE AAYFGGHHHH I LOVE THAT LINE IM GONNA DIE

“girl hello? i wasnt talking to you” HES SO SASSY 😭😭 but the fact he talkin to my pussy like SHE LOVES YOU TEW 🤤 THESE COMMENTS GET OUT GOJO ASKING FOR THE ONLY FANS N GETO ASKING FOR IR ☠️ “please toji im a single mom” IM DEAD 😭

we’re getting caught on stream.. im leaving.

IM HERE NO ALL MIGHT GASPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP?????? “shit i think im in love with you” OUUUUUUUU HELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ARE YOU JOKING HELLO KNOCK KNOCK NO PUNCHLINE ARE WE SRS YOHHHHH??

i LOVED this, sorry for waffling but WEOOOWWW you ate this one UP veve > 0 <

— pearl anon <3

YOHHHH IM GEEEEEKEDDDDD 😭😭🥹🥹

first of all welcome back pearly 🙋‍♀️🙆‍♀️ i hope you've been well this saturday <3

and LMAOOOOOOOO

IMCRYIKMGGGH the chat was the best part to make omg 💔 like i’d pay so much to see toji double cheeked n oiled up im just saying 🤷‍♀️

TALK TO ME NICEEEEEE 😫😫😫 omg ikr i love the line real bad n it just fits toji so well like ??? IMSO GLADDDDYOU LIKE ITTTTTT i was so close to scrapping it but we pulled through 🙇‍♀️

two more lines away from touching yourself HELPPPPPDPDGGG

omg thank you pookie this lowkey brightened my day i appreciate it commentary forever n always ☹️☹️☹️💟💟💟💟💟

[starcanwrecked-confessions]

remember this anon: https://www.tumblr.com/starcanwrecked-confessions/752561674802872320/i-had-a-dream-involving-a-shirtless-boy-jerry-and?source=share yeah that's me. i've come bearing an outline (which WILL reveal my identity bc. oc. but its whatever) fair warning. it does get strange. read at your own risk.

kai Drew goes on a field trip (GONE WRONG) (GONE SEXUAL ALMOST) (NOT CLICKBAIT)

——

Outline:

it’s a school trip and blowjob is there fior some fucking reason

girl jeri died in a firey car crash five years ago

They’re going to a casino to do some underage gambling 

Boy Jerry made them all fake IDs. Nobody knows where he got them. There are also wallets.

Karen Chasity made the IDs. She is a high level crime boss and also eats people bc raspy likes cannibalism (to be revealed later on in the story)

It’s like December and Boy Jerry is in the camp shirt and khaki shorts 

boy Jerry is like “gambling is a sin!!!” *proceeds to gamble away his life savings*

Doing it for girl Jeri for some reason???  “for girl jeri” *loses 700 dollars* (she had a gamling additction)

Jerry calls himself mama jerry. he will not stop. Execute him for this

Follows Kai around because her “chakras are misaligned”. Kai replies with “you could chak on this dick”

blowjob is ANTIVAX. he doesn’t think vaccines cause autism byt they DO kill uou. except for Kai they caused Kai’s autism hethinks. 

bj strongly believes in the benefits of skin to skin contacy:

“he was cery adamant about skin to skin after the birth of little jerrie. not with the mother no. with him”

“holistic health. oils and shit”

Thought skin to skin could save girl jeri feom dying. Ir did not

thinks crystals are of the devil but believes in Plants

either a hardcore vegan OR a carnivore. no inbetween i thibk

Calls Kai a liberal and says she has “blue hair and pronounce”

makes Kai listen to kidz bop

Bj calls kai hella corny shit 

I.e. i think he'd combine a bunch of shit to make it hella corny, my perfect little princess (he gets kicked in the balls for that)

antivax boymom girldad boy Jerry my love

50 year old Pete = Pat Spankowski

Pat has beer bottle for raspy mental health

Steph tries bunking with Kai but mama Jerry’s gaydar is ON POINT and then he tries bunking with Kai bc. Freak. Kai remembers she rich and gets her own room

Hotel room being a hallway is never explained hotel staff is always like “because 😸”

**LORDS COME IN WHILE JERRY IS BEING A FREAK (more on this later)**

Kai’s ass. CANNOT SLEEP. PEOPLE KEEP COMING INTO HER ROOM. 

A couple tried fucking in her room and she fucking killed them 

some guy flicked her lights on and off. She killed them

One guy walked by at like 3:47 in the morning. Didn’t do anything and tried to be as quiet as possible. Kai killed him

In the morning Kai is. Just trying to get ready 

In walks Pete and Guy. His name is Guy. Actually that’s his last name his first name is Weird. Weird Guy. I’m so funny

GIRL JERI MADE BOY JERRY DO A CANNIBALISM ONCE

Lil Jerry is there at some point and he and Kai get high cause they’re besties. Boy jerry shuns lil j and he makes a sad face 0.0000000000000000001 seconds before imploding 

boy jerry tries breastfeeding Kai at some point 😞 (“Kai I’m gonna feed you ☺️” “GET YOUR TITTIES OUT OF MY FACE”)

sorry for everyone who had to read this. but its amazing and i think everyone should see it. anywho toodles!!!

~~~

[elvisabutler]

Obsessed with the austin and priscilla headcannons pls do more x

Oh anon, I'm sorry I stuck with you a set of angst ones. But thank you and enjoy? In so much as one can enjoy. TW: Angst, mentions of sickness, death, age difference, Elvis and Priscilla's iffy relationship.

So. Priscilla hates the two of you together. It reminds her so viscerally of her and Elvis that the second Baz sends her a clip of the two of you and tells her about the two of you she literally stops him and tells him that if he doesn't protect you that she will rescind her permission for this. She will find a way to shut the film down.

Austin is not Elvis and she knows this. You are not her and she knows this. But she sees warning signs and dysfunction and that goddamn age gap and it makes her scared for you. She’s fine, she’s dealt with any issues left over from being Priscilla- Elvis Presley’s wife- and is Priscilla Presley, the actress who is still linked with her ex husband’s estate because that’s always been how they always were. You don’t leave Elvis’ orbit, he leaves yours.

When she sees you at the Met Gala- and even before that when she sees you being photographed by paparazzi looking like the world has ended she almost slaps Austin. She doesn’t know what he did but she told Baz to protect you and clearly he failed.

“I don’t know what you did to her but you better fix it.” “If I knew how, Ms. Presley I would.”

The Premiere at Graceland reminds her of every good moment she had with Elvis. Lisa’s motherly relationship with Austin calms her ire toward down to a very low fire. But she still worries.

“We’re not the two of you.” “I know.” “He’d give me the universe if he could.” “That’s what worries me, he’d have done that too.” 

Your marriage being hidden from everyone tells her that she was wrong. She makes up with Austin over a FaceTime call 

So when you break up you need a clean break and purposefully tell Austin to not contact you after your initial call and two days of off and on calls.

“I don’t get it baby girl, what did I do wrong? You- Dove you told me you’d tell me if something was wrong like this.”

“I gave you your space. I didn’t ask why you stopped calling me daddy. I thought me being in the hospital reminded you of your dad. But you know I wanted to be with you.”

“Why did you call me sobbing in the hospital? Is that when you found them, baby? Let me explain, they- I could catch a flight tonight.”

“Dove. I’ll leave you be but know you can call me if you need. Please. Whatever you need Daddy- I can get it for you. I’ll take care of you regardless.”

You don’t call him for months. You end up having the same thing that happened to him happen months after for you. It gets reported in TMZ before you have a chance to even text them.

“Tell me you’re alright. You’re supposed to be taking care of yourself.”

You delete several texts where you bemoan the fact that the doctor’s thought you were pregnant at first rather than what it was.

“I got the same thing you did, Butler.”

He starts fooling around with Lily Rose after that. 

You get photographed in his clothes after pics of them come out. 

It was petty but you’re young and you’re feeling less and less like Priscilla and more and more like yourself and one of your best friends- and former partners might have encouraged your actions.

“Why do you have my clothes? Why are you still wearing them?” “You’re not the only one who owns something like this.”

They broke up not too long after. 

You send her an apology. She accepts it. 

“I miss you, Austin.” “That’s the first normal response you’ve ever given me.”

You don’t talk to him again until you see the pics with Kaia in December.

Kaia is the relationship that worries you.

She’s going to be his new little Dove is what your brain helpfully supplies the second you see them. 

But he’ll be happy is what another part says.

He would have been happier with Priscilla and me.

He doesn’t take her to the Met. In fact, they break up right before it. 

At this point despite fooling around with other people you feel so touch starved that when Austin’s hand is against your back for a pose you shiver and lean into him in a way you haven’t since almost a year ago. 

His arm naturally curls around you when the two of you pull away. 

What do you need from me, Dove?" "You, I think.”

[britishassistant]

The Crewel siblings are as different as black and white, but that doesn’t mean they don’t share traits. One of the villains had the unfortunate experience of being targeted by Yuu’s mom’s ire. She was just trying to check on her baby after news came back about a particularly nasty villain encounter. But someone just had to break through the wall of Yuu’s apartment at the time. Anita was trying to be a good hostage like her brother taught to, but this gentleman was starting to. Get. On. Her. Nerves. I personally enjoy the idea of her dragging the villain out the apartment by the ear, whispering in gene/mother given wrath that Yuu needs a break and to tell all the others of that too. Slamming the door in the probably sorely confused Baddy’s face and just returning to Yuu saying “We’ll just go out for tea, you said there was this family run bakery you haven’t had the money to try?” Yuu knows at this point it’s better to just smile and nod.

Thank you for the ask, dear anon!

Yuu’s not sure who’s rapping at the door this early. Is it early? It feels that way, like they only closed their eyes half a minute ago, returned from yet another kidnapping turned Prefect intervention to perform a quick and dirty patch up and topple face first into bed.

They barely have the wherewithal to pull on the shirt they somehow shrugged off during sleep, stumbling towards the door on shaky, coltish legs, hissing at the cold.

“Love the knocking on doors, guys,” They grumble as they undo their locks and latches. “Real improvement on breaking it down, but what could you need this—?”

“Good morning!” Their mother chirps on the other side of the door. “Goodness, I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“…Mom?” It takes a moment of them blinking in stupefaction to realize yes, their mother is here, standing in the doorway. “Mom! I, ah, come in, come in, how, what…?”

“I hope now isn’t a bad time.” Mom says, stepping through the door with all her usual grace. “You did tell your father and I that you had today off, and while he’s got to take care of the puppies, I thought I could come down and check on how you were doing after what happened. You sounded a bit shaken up.”

“Mom, I’m fine, I promise. Heck, I end up tied to the tops of buildings so often now I’m used to it.” Yuu tries to smile unconvincingly, before darting a look around at the interior of their small apartment. “Uh…Sorry about the mess.”

“Oh, don’t be silly!” Their mother exclaims. “I didn’t come here to see your flat—I came here to see you, sweetheart. Anyway, it’s hardly as bad as your room when you were younger—remember when you were twelve and you’d just leave your worn-out slippers just lying around every time you got a new pair? And the pups would steal them for toys and we’d have to wrestle them back to throw away?”

“Mom.” Yuu groans, covering their face with their hands. “That was ages ago, and it wasn’t that bad! At least I’m better than Dad!!”

Their mother laughs and holds her arms out.

When Yuu goes in to hug her, she squeezes just tightly enough and whispers, “I’ve missed you so much, Yuu.”

Wrapped up in the warm embrace, they can feel tears begin to prick at their eyes, like they’re small and have just had their scraped knees bandaged and kissed.

“….missed you too, Mom.” They whisper, squeezing back fiercely.

Eventually, Mom pulls back, giving their shoulders a little squeeze. “Now, how about you go wash up and get dressed, and I’ll take you out for the day? I remember the pictures you sent over of those cute little tarts—”

Which is when the door explodes.

Yuu is momentarily thankful for the reaction instincts their time as the Prefect has made them develop, as they curl over their mother and twist her away to take the brunt of the wood shrapnel.

There’s a shadowy figure standing in what used to be the doorway.

“HUMAN!!” Banshee screeches. “MY LIEGE HAS GIVEN YOU THE HONOR OF REQUESTING YOUR PRESENCE!! COME!!”

Yuu groans as they straighten, trying to keep their mother behind them. “And you couldn’t knock?”

Sebek strides in, ignoring their question.

Silver Knight follows, but pauses when he catches sight of Yuu’s mom. “Ah. You have a guest.”

“HUMAN!” Sebek yells. “WE ARE KIDNAPPING THE REPORTER FOR THE MOST HONORABLE, MOST TERRIBLE SUPERVILLAIN OF ALL TIME, THE MIGHTY TSUNOTARO! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WAYLAY US UNLESS YOU WISH TO INCUR THE WRATH OF HIS FINEST BODYGUARDS!!”

Silver shrugs in apology but grabs one of Yuu’s arms anyway.

“Ah, so you two work for one of the newer supervillains Divvy was telling me about!” Mom exclaims, ever the optimist. “I’m Anita Radcliffe, Yuu’s mother. It’s lovely to meet the two of you.”

Silver blinks at her, wide-eyed and attempts to bow back while not letting go of his stranglehold on Yuu’s arm. He’s worryingly good at it. “Nice to meet you. I’m Silver, ah. Silver Knight, henchman to Tsunotaro.”

“This one is known as Banshee! Bodyguard to the glorious Malleus-sama, the secret identity of the most noble and terrible Tsunotaro!!” Sebek proclaims. “Be awed, human!!”

“If it’s meant to be secret, why are you outing it at the first opportunity…” Yuu mutters to themself, trying to covertly shake splinters out of their hair.

“Ah, be careful sweetheart!” Their mother says, though she doesn’t come towards them like she obviously wants to, heeding Uncle Divvy’s Hostage 101 lectures. “You’ll get something in your eye by doing that—would you gentlemen mind if they cleaned themself up a bit? Made them more presentable for your…employer?”

Yuu is uncomfortably concious of the way every eye in the room rakes over their comfy, ratty, covered in debris, pajamas.

“…As expected of the one who raised the reporter.” Sebek chuckles. “Naturally, human, you must dress in your finest garments for a meeting with my liege! Nothing less will do!!”

They pointedly do not remark that Tsunotaro has seen them in far worse attire than this.

Silver huffs a laugh suddenly, shaking his head.

“Sorry, it’s just,” He chuckles again. “Just remembered something Fa—Batman said, about how Tsunotaro would like to have a view when…”

He seems to remember himself as he trails off, pale cheeks blazing red. For their part, Yuu can feel blood rushing to their own face at the implication.

“SILVER!!” Sebek yells. “For once you’ve had a good idea!”

What.

“What?” Silver says, confused.

“What??” Yuu asks, desperately hoping they’ve misunderstood.

“Human!” Banshee proclaims. “You will bathe yourself, and I shall take pictures of you for Malleus-sama!”

Silver stares, mouth open in shock.

Yuu can feel their eyelid developing a twitch.

There’s a small snapping noise.

One of the shards of wood in their mom’s hands has been snapped in half.

Yuu knows that look on her face. It’s one they learned to dread growing up, heralding disappointment and scoldings and stories about clowns stealing their teeth.

“…Right.” Mom says. “Right. Yuu, you go get cleaned up. These gentlemen and I,” She seizes Silver with one hand and Sebek with the other, manages to prize their grips off of Yuu almost effortlessly. “Need to have a little chat about something private.”

“Uh—” Silver hesitates.

“HUMAN! UNHAND ME AT ONCE!” Sebek blusters.

“Mom—” Yuu starts forward, worried for their mom’s safety.

“That’s enough.” Yuu’s mother commands, then smiles sweetly at them. “Yuu, dear, be careful when washing things out—don’t get any splinters in your face. I’ll see you once you’re dressed, alright? We’ll pop down to that sweet family bakery for breakfast after I’m finished.”

Yuu hasn’t come this far in life by not listening to their mom when she tells them what to do in that tone of voice.

They turn around and walk through the bathroom door, shutting it behind them.

[rainbowsky]

Anonymous asked:

hi I'm back I found another video [redacted] 😭

I wanted to ask about the clips of gg's laugh being heard in the bg of dd's videos. have you or do you know of anyone that have made a full analysis of this? I'd love to read more about it even if it turns out to have been washed in the end. it feels like this is the kind of thing that can be easily faked in editing...

and would you happen to know if there's been an analysis of the moment with gg and dw? second opinions on translation is always important ☝️🧐

thank you so much for indulging us new turtles and answering our questions, you've been very helpful and welcoming and I appreciate it a lot 🙇💜

Hi Anon,

Thanks for your kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog! And I'm glad you feel welcome, because you definitely are! 😊

Fake, fan fiction, CPN.

Sorry, I couldn't post that link on my blog because that account appears to be unscrupulous and posts a lot of things that are inaccurate and/or out of bounds.

Yes, GG's laugh did appear in the background of DD's card trick video. It's not edited in, it really did appear. I remember the first time I saw it I noticed the laugh myself, before turtles talked about it being a candy, and I was immediately 👀. Of course it could in theory be someone else laughing, but it's a pretty distinctive laugh. If it's someone else with the same odd laugh, that's a big coincidence.

Those wanting to decide for themselves can view the video on SDOC's Douyin channel (the laugh happens about 40 seconds in).

For those who can't access Douyin, here's the clip.

The widespread translation of GG's interaction with Darren Wang on Sina day appears to be incorrect. The inital part of the conversation was covered on Marcus' YT channel, which can be found here.

The claim by some turtles is that as GG and Darren Wang are saying goodbye to each other, Darren Wang says, "You better get going or he (DD) will surely sulk."

I had a whole post about this somewhere in the past but I can't find it. A Chinese-speaking friend told me that's not what Darren Wang is saying, and that people are misinterpreting his words.

I asked @potteresque-ire to take a look and she agrees. Here's what she had to say:

I listened to it several times. There were a few words by Darren that were difficult to make out, but I can hear fairly clearly that Darren's last few words were 鬧你的直播 -- "raise havoc on the live broadcast". In the turtle version of the dialogue, since there was a pause between 鬧你 and 的直播, they omitted the last three words. 鬧你 can mean "scold you ", and so they translate into sulk. TBH though, in addition to the three words being omitted, I don't think 鬧你 as "scold you" is common usage in mainland / Taiwanese mandarin; only Cantonese speakers talk that way.

Without the you — just 鬧 — would have supported turtles version more. But the you is clearly there.

And so, I lean towards Darren saying something about raising havoc to the live broadcast as well. On bilibili, one of the translations given (can be by a solo) is: "Later I will come to wreak havoc on your live broadcast".

Which aligns with what I remember my other friend telling me a while back (wish I could find that post).

Anyway, hope this helps, Anon! 😊

[starsscarmyceiling]

ooo um I want to know about this merrical zombie fic 👀

Aww, thanks anon!

WOW, well, where do I even start with them?? THEY. The idea for this fic came from having an already started Reylo TLOU fic from my post TROS and TLOU 2 pains, and one day I sat down with myself and was like…but what if also Merrical though (much like I did with my neighbors AU bahahaha I have no self-control). Then the image of Cal wielding around two machetes fell into my brain and I was like OKAY THIS IS HAPPENING…

BUT THEN—I was like KATIE for the love of GOD please do not start another WIP, so it went on the back burner…for like a WHILE. I barely had an outline really, and then for quite some time I knew it was just going to be something I wanted to do down the line—but THEN—

Last October I got COVID for the first time, and well, I got into my TLOU 2 feels again (of which, that game was very hard for me) and was like UGHHHH WHYY, and idk I had a lot of time to kill…and oof well then started the absolute FEVER dream of me then writing the first 130k of this fic in two months. That was just insanity I cannot account for so much of that time. Everything just FLOWED out of me fuck have these two ruined my life.

Cal is traversing aimlessly (and has been for quite a few years) with his very well trained German Shepard, Beedee (who helps him hunt and kill infected), and he is in these woods realizing there are like not a lot of resources around…but he’s just hoping to find something…when he happens upon some featherfern he can harvest and is like OO!

Then he hears a sound snap and he only has milliseconds to react as a net is being set off around him, to which he ofc parkours himself out of it and was like damn that was close. He was going to leave, but then he’s like well actually what if I stick around for a minute and see who’s trap this is. Sitting up in a tree, Cal realizes he might just be lonely and want to see another person, and just before he’s about to give up—guess who comes onto the scene…

And GUESS how Cal decides to approach this situation??? It’s absolutely ridiculous I will tell you that:

“Sorry, that would have been me,” he said as she whipped around, and he supposed it wasn’t totally unexpected to be staring down the barrel of her rifle. Cal held up his hands.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t shoot you right now,” she demanded.

“Uh, well, I know you don’t know me, obviously, but…I swear we mean you no harm,” Cal insisted gently, still focusing on her weapon.

“We? How many of you are there?”

He let out a breath, tilting his head, “Just me and Beedee.��

Beedee barked, but the woman didn’t dare move, “This is your animal?”

“Yeah, yup,” Cal offered, sort of regretting the way it came out, “so…if you’re planning on killing me would you at least take care of my dog?”

Instead of entertaining anything he just said, she opted to scoff instead.

“So you just go around,” the woman said, stepping closer to him, “with your dog, and set off people’s traps? Why?”

“Uh,” he said as the gun was only inches from his face now, “I mean, I didn’t do it on purpose or anything.”

For the first time, she broke her focus on him, and looked over at the net again, but before Cal could fully relax, she grunted and reignited her ire.

“Did you tear a hole in it?”

“Well…I kind of, cut myself out of it when I was in midair—”

“You what?”

“What? Did you expect me to just lay back and let myself get caught in that thing?!”

She shoved the rifle at him again, “It would have made things a lot easier for me.”

Inhaling, his eyes flitted over to Beedee, who was now approaching them, “It’s fine Beedee, stay down.”

The dog did as he was told, sitting down once more, and Cal looked back over to the woman, “I really am sorry, alright? I didn’t even realize there would be anyone out here at all, let alone someone setting traps.”

“Do you have any idea how long it will take me to put it back up?”

“Well, I wouldn’t really suggest that because a torn net isn’t going to do you much good—”

She cocked the rifle’s chamber and narrowed her gaze, “Is this how you always talk to people who are literally brandishing a rifle in your face?”

In what was probably poor judgement, Cal nervously let out a chuckle, “Not…exactly, but…usually by this point the person would have made a decision whether or not they were going to shoot me—”

“And you think I won’t?!”

“No!” Cal shouted, moving his hands a bit in protest as he shook his head, “I mean—yes! Of course, I definitely still think it’s a possibility, but I kind of have this habit of talking too much when I’m nervous—”

“Something tells me that it is not just when you are nervous,” she said flatly.

“Look,” he tried to say as calmly as possible, “I can help you fix the net. I can even help you put it back up.”

She stood there for a couple of seconds, “Why?”

Cal thought the answer to that was obvious, “Well, I am the one who wrecked it, why wouldn’t I?”

“You’re acting as if we aren’t in the apocalypse. No one just does things out of the goodness of their hearts.”

A sigh escaped him, “I…realize that, but…I swear on the life of Beedee I have no other ulterior motive here.”

Again, she said nothing.

Cal closed his eyes for a moment, opening them again, “If I wanted to get away, I would have done it by now.”

“Oh, is that right?”

For an instance, Cal did nothing, but then he was swiftly reaching for her rifle before she could respond and had it pointed at her.

Then in what was the next few seconds, Cal watched her place her hands in the air, and now that he didn’t have a rifle in his face, he really got a look at her.

She was blonde, a few braids against her head with it all pulled back in a ponytail. Her skin was pale, and she had wide brown eyes that gleamed with amber as they realized the predicament she was in.

And as Cal stared on, her rifle in his grasp, he realized the one he was in.

She was goddamn stunning.

“Well,” she said, lowering her hands, placing them on her hips, “if you are going to shoot me with my own gun, just do it.”

She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever fucking seen.

Cal breathed shakily, “I’m not going to shoot you.”

Her eyes were still skeptical, but she didn’t move.

It was okay, he could definitely still have a conversation with this…ethereally…gorgeous…person.

It was fine.

“I told you…I would help you and I meant it,” he insisted, but she still narrowed her eyes nonetheless.

Cal relaxed his stance, “My name is Cal Kestis, and…I’m pretty handy with a knot or two.”

Her lovely countenance gave nothing away as he even lowered the gun all the way and offered it to her, “I even saw a rabbit just go by here. I can have Beedee on its tail no problem, so he could hopefully catch some food.”

She looked down at the rifle and then back at him. For a moment, Cal maybe thought that she was going to just take it back and shoot him, but, in what was probably considered a miracle, she took it back gently.

Cal let out an easy breath and smiled, “I can—”

“Cease your talking!” She demanded, to which he rapidly obeyed.

And…was that kinda hot?

No, it couldn’t have been.

“You are going to help me take this down and take it back to my home to patch up,” she said as she strapped the gun over her shoulder and walked over to the tree the trap was tied to, “and then you are going to leave after you put it back up. By yourself.”

Okay, so it was a little hot.

Oh, fuck.

“Alright,” he agreed, “let me just—”

She whipped her head at him, and he held up his hands, “Let me just get Beedee on that rabbit.”

Her head gave the slightest of nods, and she went back to untying.

Again, he let out a breath, and he had to quickly turn around himself, lest he lose himself in checking out the rest of her body, which was just downright unfair.

“Come ‘mere buddy,” Cal said softly, and Beedee trotted happily over to his master. He knelt down on the floor and let Beedee lick his face a couple of times, “alright, alright. We’re okay, huh?”

Cal gave him a few scratches behind the ears, “Good boy, now, I need you to track that rabbit that just came through here, okay?”

Beedee merely panted at him, so Cal pointed at the ground, giving the whistle that meant to track and hunt, which caused the dog to start sniffing right away.

Ever the great hunter, Beedee seemed to sniff out something right away, proceeding to follow it in the bushes, and then, he was off to hopefully find the bounty for them.

Cal turned back around, seeing her look in his direction as she finished untying the rope.

“So he is just going to hunt it?” She asked in a less hostile voice.

“Oh yeah, he’ll be fine. If he finds it, he’ll bring it back to us,” Cal explained.

“But we are going to be moving,” she pointed out.

Cal looked up, seeing that the net was caught up in the tree, close to where he was before.

“Well, he’ll be able to find me as long as you don’t live too far.”

She stood there, crossing her arms, “I live about one hundred yards to the east.”

“Oh, see! That’s like nothing, hey,” he said, “the net’s caught up there I can go get it down.”

Before she could say anything, he jumped up and grabbed the nearest branch, pulling himself onto it. Then, it didn’t take him long to find where it’d gotten stuck, so he quickly identified and solved the problem, to which the rest of the net fell to the floor.

He descended the tree, and then was jumping down again, his feet hitting the ground with another thump. For a moment when he looked up at her, he thought that she might have her rifle out on him again, but she was just standing there with her arms crossed.

She was staring at him, her eyes briefly looking up and down him, which made him nervously alert for more than a multitude of reasons before she was kneeling down and gathering the net.

Cal was immediately going to do the same, but then his eyes landed on the featherfern he was planning to harvest.

“Oh right, I was going to—”

“Do you have something better to do, monkey man?”

She was looking up at him incredulously, and he shook his head, his heart beating at the nickname she had suddenly given him.

“Uh, no,” he said, blinking a couple of times before he decided he could just come and get it later.

As Cal also now knelt on the ground, he felt anxiety spike through him, and he knew that he was never going to be able to shut his stupid mouth.

“It’s Cal,” he said out of nowhere.

Her head lifted to him with a raised eyebrow and he shrugged.

“In case you forgot—”

“I remember your name Cal Kestis,” she said, and then it did other things to him to hear his own name come out of her mouth as she stood with her side of the net, to which he quickly followed. She appeared to be about half a foot shorter than him, but she was still exceedingly intimidating, “I just prefer to compare you to a monkey due to your affinity for flouncing about in trees and your incessant chittering.”

She finished her sentence with gathering what she had of the net and slammed it into his chest.

His mouth was hanging open stupidly as he stared down at her. Their eyes met for the briefest, terrifying moment, before she was turning around and promptly walking off in a direction she obviously seemed confident in.

“Right,” he said, not sure if the whole ‘monkey man’ thing was meant to be an insult or not, but he just let himself breathe in and out before he was following her, presumably to where this beautiful, mysterious woman lived.

WE LIKE TO HAVE FUN HERE.

ALSO—I feel like I kind of have to put another preview in here…it’s kind of become a Thing™ in the Merrical server to say “giving someone a haircut” is to express care for someone as a metaphor. After Cal and Merrin have been traveling together and have grown close, Cal still has a difficult time like ever advocating for himself or anything he needs. It’s very easy for him to take care of everyone else instead, and he again, never even knows how to ask for anything in return. So one day, Merrin comments on how Cal's hair has grown longer, and he's like oh yeah I guess it has I've been meaning to take care of that, but then Merrin just--offers to cut it for him, which just like makes his mind explode. It just meant so much to him that she would offer without even having to ask. SO…I suppose I wanted to share some of that scene too considering what it’s meant to all of us…✂️💕✂️💕✂️💕

Both of her hands were on either side of his head now while she was still in front of him, and she seemed to be testing the length of hair out with her fingers from what it felt like.

For some reason, he thought it was pertinent to open his eyes now.

There she was, practically eye to eye with him as her fingers sought purchase on his scalp, and it was only made worse when she flicked her gaze to his.

Despite all of the anger she had just been projecting, Merrin’s countenance seemed completely softened now. And her coffee brown eyes were scanning all over his.

What he felt in that stare was the most beautiful sunset cresting into the distant mountains, and up until this point in his aggrievedly ambivalent existence, those mountains always felt like they were so impossible to reach, too far to even fathom before the darkness settled over.

But now?

With her here with him?

He was there, at the summit and letting the last of the sun’s rays warm his skin, like she was his guide, his refuge, in the night.

What a simple change, it seemed.

Or, at least it did in this moment.

And fuck he felt like Beedee whenever Cal scratched at just the right spot, and the dog turned into a melted mess on the floor, belly up and ready for all the pets.

Cal was certainly belly up now with her hands still so gently trekking their way through his hair.

“Hm,” he let out in a completely unwitting manner because he really was a fucking mess, and his eyes blinked slowly at her.

“Sorry,” she whispered softly with a bit of a lift in her voice, “I am just trying to see if everything is even.”

Cal practically wheezed at her. Apologize? She was apologizing?

He was about to lay down on the goddamn floor and tell her she could do whatever she wanted to him.

His mouth was a bit ajar as a brief exhale escaped it.

“It’s fine,” he finally attempted to convey, “take your time Mer…”

In another practically perfunctory action, he offered her a smirk. And he probably looked like an idiot, but—

He felt, for once in his whole miserable goddamn life where he thought for so long the only good place he had any more was in his memories…too special to care.

People just simply—didn’t do things like this for him, even before when he was at the base.

And it wasn’t their fault, really. It’s not like Cal knew how to ask for anything pretraining to himself or of his needs ever at all. That is another reason why taking care of everyone else came so easily to him.

So to see Merrin here now, so delicately weaving herself into his soul, it could have practically brought him to tears if he wasn’t careful.

This whole experience was certainly surging him through quite the myriad of emotions.

And Merrin was just giving him a fucking haircut.

But he wanted to reach for her now, turn his head so he could kiss at her wrists, slide his hands over her arms and slowly beckon her to sit in his lap now for an entirely different reason, so he could just hold her, show her his gratitude.

And if that led to him being able to lay his face gently on her cleavage, then that was just something he was willing sacrifice for the greater good of such an expression of thanks.

“Alright,” Merrin gently concluded as her hands, much to Cal’s dismay dropped and fell away from him, but they ever so briefly fell to his upper chest, where he was seriously about to raise his hands to place over hers in order to return the sentiment, but then she was actually standing up straight again.

Her eyes seemed to be taking him in, or more than likely examining her work, even though they lingered in certain places that Cal wished he could know so he could meet her there.

“I think it is complete enough,” she resolved now.

He was going to need about five to fifteen hundred business days to recover from that.

“Mm, okay,” he said, feeling like he had almost fucking disassociated for an actual positive reason for the first time in his life, which he honestly didn’t know was a possibility for him.

Cal did live in and inhabit a body, that’s right.

Why didn’t he just slide his way back into that thing, that ginger thing on the chair that was completely at this woman’s mercy.

Luckily, Merrin seemed to be able to pick up the slack when it came to human interaction.

“Would you like to go see it?”

He would like to go do literally anything she suggested.

His head trailed up her form as he breathed out though his nose. Their eyes met, and hers seemed to be surprisingly not impatient, but just waiting. Waiting for him to finally figure out how to be a person again.

A slow grin formed on his face, “Yeah. I’d like to see it.”

Finally, he recalled that he possessed leg muscles and used them to stand up.

Merrin was there, and he felt like he was drunk. Fucking inebriated off of her presence.

“Come on Cal Kestis,” she stated, taking him by the arm as she picked up one of the candles on the counter.

I am going to follow this woman to the end of actual time, he thought to himself.

And he would—he would stand there with her, until the sun rose again.

OOF, Cal Kestis, you are fucking in for it.

Yeah, idk what it is about these two in particular, but dear LORDT. They have…they have really fucked me UP.

Buuut, yeah, a lot of moving parts in the works rn before I post this. But believe you me, so soooo very eager to share…you DON’T even fucking know.

This was so much fun guys!!! Thank you SO much for all of your asks in this game

[louisisalarrie]

hey hey, hope you're well and those nasty hate anons're leaving you alone!

i've been thinking about the harry coming out as bi theory from back in 2015 with xander (i saw a post on tumblr a few days ago lol) and there is a lot of talk about how louis wouldn't come out without harry but like, would harry really come out without louis?

it seems so... unbalanced? one sacrificing ones own freedom for someone who would be willing to come out with someone else? idk if i'm reading something wrong or misunderstand something and maybe i'm projecting my own issues onto this situation (i've been in this same situation before and it ended badly for me so)

anyway, if or when L&H (together ir separately) come out, i personally only see it happening with a big bang and tell all. with all the shit going on the past 14 years, all the influential people involved,, like i guess what i'm getting here is, do you (with your knowledge) think theres another way? one that could be happening relatively soon (like next 5 years) or is it gonna be a retirement thing? meaning when they've retired theyre just like "yo btw"

another question: do you think they want to come out?

Heya anon!

First off, and most importantly, i am so so sorry to hear you had a negative experience like that. I hope you know you’re wonderful and loved and deserve the very best 🧡

And secondly, welcome to the show!

That post that you’re referencing, i do strongly believe that theory. It makes perfect sense as to the shift in Harry’s behaviour, and confidence, and i think it fits really well into watching him grow over the years, and how mgmt we’re gonna seed it. And then… it all just stopped. Anyway, it’s a great post if you haven’t read it!

So, let’s discuss this from the info we have, and the knowledge we have of Louis and Harry as people, and their sticky situation. Coming out is different for everyone, and everyone has their own time when they’re ready, and i am in no way invalidating anyone’s personal experiences with coming out with this post. I’m not going to assume exactly what they think and want, but i will put my two cents in and base it off what i think is best for them in a career sense, and their relationship to be strong after the official come out.

Okie dokie, with that in mind, let’s get right to it!

Louis did wear a big chunk of their relationship being closeted through Simon. I am in no way saying Harry had it easier, but Louis was older, and Simon saw that Harry would hang off Louis’ every word and action. He saw the dynamic, we all did, and if you were in Simon’s situation, you’d get Louis to sort it out, right? At the nip of the bud, you choose the 18 year old to get the 16 year old to do what you want them to do, because he looks up to Louis. Louis can guide him by being older and wiser and more of a dominant personality. The obvious choice was Louis, and starting there. And Simon did.

That day after the wonderful gay club show, Louis was flown out directly to Simon’s place in LA or whatever mansion he was in at the time, and chastised the fuck out of him. Hes said that before. Harry and Louis were all over each other that night, and they were so damn happy. But Simon doesn’t fly them both out to settle this, he just flies louis out. He puts Louis in a position where he’s telling Harry what to do, rather than chastising them as a team (which im sure he did at other times, but anyway, this is the stem).

So, sweet little Harry as he lives and breathes, is trying to be all in for Louis, and Louis is making sure he doesn’t overstep the boundaries. We’ve seen it a heap of times, and that’s really important to note. Louis did the denials, Louis had the long term gf, and Louis dealt directly with Simon, more so than Harry, i imagine. Harry had to have the womaniser image so he was always busy with that, and Louis had to have the commitment so they were never single at the same time (until all of the members were coincidentally single at the same time which was amazing hahaha).

So, we can already see the imbalance there, with proof. Anyway, as Harry grows into a more flamboyant person and starts wearing gucci and louder colours etc., people are already questioning his sexuality. He’s this sexy, charming man, with an image of already having a lot of partners, so it was easier to believe if he came out and was “experimenting”, rather than being in a long term het relationship. You get what im saying?

So, out of the two of them, it seems more likely that Harry comes out. He gets a lot of press, larries are getting excited, but also, Larry gets mentioned a few times in the media around 2015, during this Xander and H thing. And while Harry is the “frontman”, gets all the attention and we can already see how much of a superstar he is and mgmt/the Azoffs can see a very successful solo career for him, he’s allowed to be a bit ambiguous. Bring up the ratings, keep things fun and sexy and exciting. Even during One Direction, Louis just wasn’t as popular to the GP. so, it’s an easy choice. Harry.

(Also Harry is louis’ baby and he’d want to protect him at all costs and let him be free over his own happiness)

My bet is mgmt wouldn’t let them come out together at the same time bc that’s too much of a scandal, but also it exposes them. It’s a compromise. But, it doesn’t end up following through and Louis’ stuck with a stunt until the time is right and Harry is continued to be seen with every leggy gal who needs a bit of promo. The narrative was changing, and the seeding for Harry back then has even worked now. He’s so much more free. So, yeah. He’s a lot more free to do what he wants, and he also doesn’t have a kid tied to him. Unfair? Yes. But i believe Louis did do this whole thing for the sake of Harry, and mgmt wanted it to be Harry.

Now, about how they’ll come out… i mean… a tell all would be great, but they’ll be sued by a million folks who still hold a great deal of money and power over them. I truly don’t think a tell all will happen for a long time. It doesn’t seem plausible to me right now. And the thing is… if mgmt hadn’t have dealt them any stunts, and let them be single the whole time, they could’ve come out way sooner and been like “yeah we’re dating and we didn’t want to make it public” and get away without the whole forcible closeting thing. It would’ve been a smart move. But it’s all in the name of PR, and relationships and sightings of the boys with girls make money.

Anyway, who knows. They might break and just say fuck it and do it. But with budding careers, they need to be smart about this. Harry is at the height of his career (i think his absence from everything right now is very smart btw), and Louis is on the rise. They have to end the bbg thing (I’ve talked about my theories on this before and how best to end it, and i think i should probably send it to mgmt to save their asses), because I don’t think Louis would wanna be tied to that for the rest of his life.

However, Harry and Louis are enemies to the GP right now. So they’re gonna have to seed a friendship, then a relationship, and it’s gonna be a much longer process than a big bang. Depends on how savvy both their marketing teams are. But also, Harry is kinda.. halfway out? People don’t really believe he’s straight. Hes not yet given himself an official title to the public (he doesn’t have to), but he’s got one foot out of the closet. Louis is still stuck in fucking Narnia at the moment.

So if Harry wants to wait until louis can come out and they do it together, that’s great, but absolutely nothing about louis’ sexuality has been seeded. I think even at this point in his career it’s not gonna get much attention from the public, and bbg is still hanging over his head. So it’s kinda like… Harry is halfway out with a hell of a lot more freedom but hasn’t officially come out, who knows? Maybe he is waiting for Louis? Or he’s just enjoying the ambiguous nature of it all. He doesn’t have to announce anything and he’s on top of the world. Most people are seeing him for who he is.

Louis is just so focused on his career right now that I don’t think he’s pushing for the same amount of freedom. He’s trying to make a name for himself and a solo career that separates him from the idea that he’s “riding Harry’s coattails” or whatever tf people will say if they came out as dating. So I think he’s super focused on doing what he loves, and yeah. He’s not as fussed right now. And he’s still in a sticky situation with bbg, so he’s doing what he can to hint at us that he’s still there and thinking about it and it’ll happen, but not right now.

I truly think they both do wanna come out, even if it doesn’t seem like a priority for Louis rn, and Harry is kinda halfway there. It’s a weird little awkward timing for them I think. And don’t get me wrong, I want them to do whatever makes them happy and what’s right for their careers, but until we get some serious seeding and not just stuff larries pick up, it won’t happen.

Unless yeah, a big drop of everything and they expose everyone. Stranger things have happened. But it jeopardises their careers and networks big time.

Anyway, this turned way longer than I thought, and I probably repeated myself a bunch bc im exhausted from work, but if you have any specific questions about what I said, you’re more than welcome to send through! These big topics are always hard to grasp anything. Damn, im still rambling. Sorry, and thank you anon! Big love to you x