#spawns are for holding umbrellas

[aladaylessecondblog]

help me say goodbye (gortash x good tav pt 3)

Author's Note: Fingering, sex. Gortash is a manipulative prick.

----------------------------------------------

Tav supposed it was inevitable, even at the infrequent rate Gortash's visits happened.

She thought later that she should've known better than to assume it was just weight gain from the richer diet. The doctor confirmed what she both feared and hoped for.

"You are with child, my lady."

He had given a few gentle pats on the firm roundness of Tav's stomach, and sent her off with an order to eat well and a promise to see her again within a fortnight.

There was a chill down her spine, and yet--and yet there was a strange joy in it as well. A baby, really, a baby, someone to hold close, someone who would really love her. There was a momentary stab of sorrow but (perhaps almost worse) was the fact it passed quickly.

For all the sins he's committed, I hope making ugly children won't be one of them. Astarion's catty voice sounded off in her head. I mean, that NOSE...

One more step on the staircase into the hells. Halsin's voice followed, hard and cold. You should have left while you had the chance...but now you carry his cub, and that will link you evermore.

-----------------------------

Gortash was thrilled, but then, Tav had expected that, along with the announcement he made regarding it.

(She did not bother writing any letters to any of her former friends--they didn't care to hear news of Gortash, so why would they want to know of this?)

What she did not expect was how he would react to her growing figure. Touching her stomach, now, that might've been normal enough, but to do it so frequently...to have her join him for the night, and then to wake up with his hand on her belly...it surprised her in a way she wasn't sure she was ready for.

But it was the change in their bedroom trysts that surprised her most. Whereas before it was once or sometimes twice a week, and mostly a slow, indulgent sort of pace--now it was three or four times a week and with more quick passion. When she asked why after one such session, there was a dark chuckle before he replied.

"Can a man not be excited by his ripe wife?" He pulled her close and laughed again. "The sight of you like this has stirred me like nothing else."

Tav shivered slightly.

Why? Why must you be like this? What is making you act so kindly? Please, just stop. Be the tyrant you always have been, and this will be easier...

She didn't want to enjoy this. Didn't want to relax with the feel of his arms around her, with her head against his chest. This was not what he was supposed to be!

"I...had heard that the sight of a woman round with his child could...excite some men," Tav said quietly, "Something about looking at her, and knowing she would not be so if it weren't for you."

"Exactly that," he whispered in her ear, laying his still-gauntleted hand over the bump in her abdomen. "I see it, I see you, and think that here lies more evidence of my power. That here lies the one who will inherit what I build."

"I had the vague idea that you had planned to live forever," Tav gave a false laugh. "Through some means or the other."

"To live forever would require putting myself under another's power, and that I will NEVER do again." Gortash sat up and brought her with him. He was holding her head in his hands, and meeting her eyes seriously, directly, for the first time since their marriage had been arranged.

Silence.

"I need you to understand, Tav. What we're doing here could become a dynasty. Do you understand? Are you listening?"

Tav quailed, though not from fear of Gortash. She gulped, and forced herself to hold eye contact with him as a few tears slipped out.

"I'm listening."

-----------------------------

"What--here?"

She was pressed against the wall of the conference chamber designated for their meeting with Karlach, and Gortash was quite clearly ready to go. Never mind that they were to commence the meeting shortly, never mind that there were any number of Flaming Fists in the outer hallway--

"Why not?" he was smirking at her as one hand hiked up the hem of her gown. "No one is going to enter this chamber until I allow it."

"You are the most depraved man I've ever met," Tav practically growled the words, but didn't fight a bit when his hand slipped below her underwear. "What happened to not wanting it too often?"

"You happened," Gortash said against her lips, "You, the way you've swelled, the way you carry MY child..."

His fingers stroked down and then in--

Tav gripped tightly at his shoulders.

"Try to keep quiet," he whispered, "Do you WANT to be heard? Do you want the guards to hear how well pleased you are?"

"You--" Tav attempted to retort, but was reduced to a shaky moan when two fingers moved knuckle deep inside her. "Oh..."

"Don't call out," Gortash demanded as his fingers deviously worked inside her, "Don't let them hear you. We must maintain the visage of dignity, after all..."

"I can't--"

"You can, I know you can." The whisper turned dark as he went on, "Or...do you WANT them to hear you, Tav?"

She clenched at the wall behind her as best she could; it was wholly inadequate for the exercise.

"I think you want to be heard," Gortash teased further. His thumb rubbed eager circles over her clit, and only moved faster when she pressed a hand over her mouth. "But it's wonderful you're trying to stay quiet...you're trying so hard to do what I'm asking--of--you--"

He punctuated the last two halts with a thrust of his fingers, and she saw that smug look in his eyes even as she felt the knot coiling tighter and tighter in her belly.

Gods, take me now...

(Only at the last moment before she felt his cock on her thigh did Tav realize he'd also been stroking himself...)

His hand drew back and almost in an instant he'd lifted her just slightly to give a thrust--

Tav held back as best she could, but a muffled moan still sounded off beneath her hand.

It was awkward for about thirty seconds, terrifying for one when she felt herself falling, and awkward once more when she caught herself on the seat of a chair just beside them.

Instead of trying to hold the position she steadied herself and turned to bend over the chair. Gortash instantly took the hint and pushed into her the second he could with an almost choked sort of groan.

"And you tell ME I want to get heard--" she said, "Now...stop fooling around and--"

A hard, almost hip-bruising thrust. A leap of pleasure in her gut.

"I don't recall you being the one who gives orders here," he said, "Such a shame we don't have time to punish you properly for it. But we can correct this bad behavior."

The gauntlet came down to grip tightly at her hip. She gasped more from the surprise of it than the actual pain, but what took her breath away was the next series of thrusts. Hard, merciless, unyielding--and which left her completely unable to form anything like a coherent thought.

"Not a sound," Gortash growled after the next one, "Do you hear me, Tav? Not a single sound until after I've finished you."

It was a struggle, but with a hand clapped firmly over her mouth, Tav managed it. The ecstasy rose higher, higher, and higher still, until every feeling was lust and every thought was more--and then suddenly it broke. Her whole body shuddered with the release and the effort, and from the grunt and spasm behind her she knew he'd almost at once found his own end. It was a cascade of feeling, as the fine point of release faded into the warm afterglow...

On shaky legs she stood, healed the wound at her hip, and adjusted her gown. Gortash tucked himself away and rebuckled his belt.

Just in time, too, for there was a knock at the door.

"Enter," Gortash called.

It was one of the Flaming Fists.

"Karlach's here."

"Send her in."

--------------------------------------------

The look of surprise on sight of Tav was written all over the tiefling's face, but Karlach got down to business right away without once mentioning it. There was still the matter of the remaining Absolute army--Gortash suggested having splinter factions form in order to not only weaken the different units but also remove the singular focus as a whole.

"Won't they question that?" Tav asked. "The point of the Absolute was to unite them."

"'Only a suggestion, my dear. What do you propose?"

"Something similar, but...perhaps purging the more...bloodthirsty units in some way. Such soldiers can be handy, but...well, Orin comes to mind. A mad dog can bite its master's hand too."

"And well we know that," Karlach added.

In the end, though she didn't at all care for it, it was hashed out that the more...evil inclined...units, or soldiers, would find themselves encouraged to take place in bloodsports. The army of the Absolute would need strong champions, after all, and what better way to prove themselves than in such competition?

Karlach stood to leave once they had issued the order to the elder brain.

"Perhaps you'd like to stay for dinner," Tav said, "It's been so long, I'd hoped that I could see how you're doing. You and all the rest of..."

"Ah, you know me, soldier, I don't do well in places like this." Karlach gave a strange half-done smile, and a glance in Gortash's direction. "And I'm not so certain others would like the view."

Tav inclined her head.

"I understand. You prefer the freedom of...Moonrise Towers, and its surroundings. It's been some time since I visited..."

In similar nothings did the conversation conclude. Karlach left politely if a bit coldly.

--------------------------------------------

Perhaps it was a masochistic streak that lead her to make the journey down to the Elfsong on foot. It hadn't been bad before, but something about trying to do it not--perhaps it was just from her swollen feet. They HAD been paining her of late. Whatever she had been eating wasn't--she didn't know how to describe it, but she wanted something less refined. Something more in the way of common food, even if it was only just so.

It was raining by the time she got inside, and after fielding a few bows and polite greetings Tav headed for the bar. No alcohol, of course, but they did have a delightful fruit blend that--

"I was glad to get out of there."

Karlach's voice sounded off from a corner table, and Tav--after making a quick order for some chicken and shrimp stew--listened carefully to see what she could hear.

"She looks like she's enjoying herself. Didn't bring up the grave--Wyll told me to ask about it, but really, I don't think it's going to be necessary."

"We should all have gone," Shadowheart's voice was heard then.

Tav got her stew, and started on it.

"And make you put up with Gortash's company? I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

Yet you're making me do it, Tav thought. She tried to shut out the thought, tried not to hear more, but there was no escaping it.

"It's not that I don't want to see her," Karlach went on, "It's him. But...you should've seen her...parroting what he thought and agreeing with him in smaller ways, like she was toadying up to--"

A surge of anger carried her up and away from the very-much-wanted stew, towards Karlach's table.

It was as if something inside her had broken, given way,

"I'm so sorry I DON'T meet your standards," she snarled, "Pardon me for trying to please the man who could make my life as good or bad as he wanted to."

"I didn't make you do that!"

"What choice did we have?" Tav asked. "Orin doing what she did, the tadpoles, and...I just..."

"We could've found a way out," Karlach replied.

"I wasn't going to take the chance on losing anyone else, not after--after--" She took a deep, shaky, horrible breath. "--I did this all for all of YOU, and you just...you just abandon me! And then you wonder why I've shifted about to keep this man I call husband happy!"

Neither of the two could find a reply to that.

"I...I just wanted things to be as they were. I thought...I could bear with it, I have my friends! ...but...it looks like...like you hate him more than you like me." Tav took a deeper, shakier breath. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to...to unburden you from my company."

"Tav--"

She didn't listen; whether it was Shadowheart or Karlach no longer seemed to matter.

-------------------------------------------

There was a breeze, at least, and an air of calm peace. It was a place she was sure Halsin would have loved in life, and as for Astarion--well, his grave would get plenty of sun most days out here. It was outside the city, under a nice tall tree. And getting no sun right now, with the grey rainclouds largely blocking it out. She would have to leave sooner than anticipated if it started raining, else the maids would fuss at her for getting her silks wet.

The gravestone she looked down upon was marble, cut with the words:

HERE LIES ASTARION & HALSIN

LET YOU WHO READ THIS KNOW: I LOVED THEM BOTH

AS ONCE THEY LOVED BOTH MYSELF AND EACH OTHER

Atop the gravestone was a carving of a bear dancing with a star.

"I miss you both," Tav said quietly, "You have no idea how much...I wish I could turn back time and undo all of this, but I can't...time only moves forward and I...and I..."

Her tears began to fall just as the drizzling of the rain began.

"I don't think they meant to, but...but it's just been Gortash all this time, just me with him, trying to...trying to make something of the pile of shit I've..."

Deep breath. It didn't much help.

"Help me figure this out. Help me figure out how I'm suppose to--to--keep doing any of this when the people I did it for...don't seem to realize what I gave up for them. Maybe they don't realize because...because they don't have to live it. He's all that I have now and I...I'm afraid of what I might feel..."

She let her gaze rest on Astarion's name.

"It should be you, my star," she said, "Astarion. It should be YOUR child I carry..."

She looked away.

"Or Halsin's, but..." Tav took another deep breath. "I miss you more right now, Astarion. The jokes, the snobbishness, the catty humor...you were everything, until Orin...until Orin..."

She burst into tears once again.

There was a sudden chill, and she shivered, standing and pulling her cloak more tightly about her shoulders.

But she realized quickly it wasn't the rapidly-worsening rain, because none was falling over her.

Someone--she remembered this one from the Flophouse--was holding an umbrella over her head.

"I had heard you knew where this grave was," said a dark, clipped voice behind her. "How fortunate you chose to visit it today."

Wiping her eyes, Tav looked up and into those belonging to Cazador Szarr.

[indierpgnewsletter]

A Sociology of Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Every once in a while, one must embrace hubris.

Let’s start with play. Play is an important part of life – mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physiologically, grammatically. It has uses. As a child, it helps with learning and growth. As an adult, it helps with not being sad all the time. But people don’t play because it’s useful. People play because it feels good to do – because it’s enjoyable, pleasurable, delightful.

The big joys for me are winning, risk-taking, solving, mastery, socializing, performance, storytelling, humour, novelty and catharsis. If you want a more in-depth list, it’s hard to do better than Levi Kornelsen’s Manyfold, which lists 17 different kinds of fun. But even that list is thinking about RPGs specifically and if you start including stuff like sports or sex or crafting, the list probably gets longer.

What I like about Kornelsen’s Manyfold is that it makes sure to focus on the fact that these are joys, not types of people. Which avoids 90% of the most annoying arguments.

Based on what kinds of enjoyment they’re chasing and what they’re avoiding, people make games. People connect with games that evoke their preferred kinds of enjoyment and fun. This leads to people making games that build on what came before in different ways – specializing, generalizing, forking, mutating, etc.

They also lead to cultures of play. These cultures are social infrastructure – values and practices that congeal around certain places or communities aimed at certain combinations of joys. These cultures develop norms and then expectations. Also, they tend to spawn sub-cultures constantly and immediately, often consciously defined in opposition to their roots. The three that I refer to most in this newsletter are trad, storygames, and OSR.

Trad play culture, the dominant play culture, is best understood as a specific model of player and GM roles and responsibilities. According to Retired Adventurer, “Trad holds that the primary goal of a game is to tell an emotionally satisfying narrative, and the DM is the primary creative agent in making that happen – building the world, establishing all the details of the story, playing all the antagonists, and doing so mostly in line with their personal tastes and vision. The PCs can contribute, but their contributions are secondary in value and authority to the DM’s.” In terms of joy, I feel like that the trad play style is defined by not specializing in specific forms of enjoyment and allowing groups to “wander” (as Kornelsen puts it in Manyfold) around from one kind of fun to another.

Storygames and OSR are both usually defined in opposition to trad. The storygames playstyle changes the trad model of GM-player by trying to make the GM more of a player. In terms of joy, the play style clusters around storytelling, performance, and risk-taking with less emphasis on solving or winning.

The OSR is an umbrella term of play cultures that accept older forms of d&d as a kind of lingua franca of roleplaying. They veer away from the trad model by eliminating the GM’s responsibility for a satisfying narrative (and resulting knock-on effects). In terms of joy, there’s a spectrum of cultures that vary in their emphasis on solving, winning, humour, and risk-taking.

There are probably an infinite number of potential cultures of play but some are particularly visible because they lead to design cultures (where games are made for a specific culture) and become markets (where game-sellers target cultures to reach customers).

In terms of design traditions, trad, storygames and OSR have their own norms which create a feedback loop with the play cultures associated with them.

Trad games are often built around detailed settings, involved character creation, and often tactical combat. They tend to avoid specificity in narrative, preferring to let the GM decide or use (often very specific) adventure modules.

Storygames tend to focus on specific narratives or scenarios and rules designed to support those outcomes exclusively. Settings tend to be co-created amongst the player and the GM and are thus, often improvised rather than prepared beforehand.

The OSR has a DIY ethos that values creativity and ease-of-use in setting and scenario design. So while settings are concrete, rule sets, while plentiful, tend to be improvised.

And markets, well, you know ’em.

That’s quite enough from me. I assume this kind of post can do no good but I typed it out anyway.

(This post was first published in the Indie RPG Newsletter.)

[gaspshichat]

pearl quotes !!

i write down a lot of pearl quotes and sometimes share them in her discord server. i've decided to put every single one i've gathered into one tumblr post. i will reblog the most recent addition every saturday with any new quotes that i have acquired. you can also send me quotes in my ask box or my dms on twitter [username is gaspshichat, like usual]. no guarantees that they'll be added though!

a lot of these quotes are sus and very out of context. that is part of the point! if pearl wants me to delete this, i absolutely will

[before it gets asked, karn is her bestie boyfriend]

~|•🌙•|~

pearl: before we do that let me restock my balls

~

pearl: ooh there's things happening on the ser- A BEACON ????

~

pearl: don't thank me because i didn't approve of it

~

pearl: i hope you guys understood what i said because i didn't

~

pearl: "you killed a frog?" yup! it was for science......let it be known that is a terrible excuse in real life

~

pearl: "do you take iron tablets?" i have them!

~

pearl to keralis: well you're a letdown but i don't talk about that

~

pearl: fix ai, make them breedable

~

pearl: i got the double p! please don't acronym that

~

pearl: "do you use slabs in terraforming?" *zooms in on a slab she used for terraforming* no

~

pearl: "don't sell yourself short" it's okay i'm tall

~

pearl: they don't bite! much..

~

pearl: doc owes me child support!

*long, stunned silence*

cleo: ....okay….

~

cleo: so keralis did the kidnapping, and you did kidnapping by proxy

pearl: ...no

~

pearl: it was a heart of mutton. it was creepy

cleo: it was a meat heart :D

~

cleo: i want to mail horrible things, like animals, to iskall

pearl: oh! that's horrid

~

pearl: "you charge your other mats rent?" yes

~

pearl: i don't know if this is lag or if my balls are just popping in really slowly

~

pearl: these balls ain't going away

~

pearl: let me move my balls aside for you

~

pearl: hello ♪

karn: is it me you're looking for ♪

pearl: no ♪

karn: oh :(

~

pearl: i don't need a big, strong man to kill me

~

pearl: turn down the thing you need to turn down...you know what it is

~

karn: i fractured the world from what i can tell

pearl: ..bruh

~

pearl: what does the button do?

karn: THE BUTTON SHUTS THE DOORS ON US AND SPAWNS A BUNCH OF MOBS

pearl: i pushed the button hehe

~

pearl: cleo made the child

false: ...the child?

pearl: yeah :D it's a bebe

~

pearl: "why are there beach umbrellas at the post office?" *long pause* maybe it's because of all the water?

~

pearl: you caught me mid construction

gem: i know >:3

~

pearl: he's letting his babies loose

~

gem: look at you up there. you're adorable *punches her*

pearl: aH-

~

pearl: i am greatly navigationally challenged right now

~

pearl: i got too comfortable with hermitcraft actually working

~

pearl: ah! moist!

~

pearl: anyway that's completely distracted me away from my really passionate rockies

~

pearl: we have pickles to do !!

~

karn: let's not sit on the balls

pearl: 🤨

karn: *holds up cat toys*

pearl: oh- *starts laughing and hides her very red face*

~

pearl: just shove it in

~

pearl: how do you know what brimstone tastes like

karn: i've lived quite the life

~

pearl: give it a suck

~

pearl: our feet are not equal

karn: why are you bringing our feet into this ??

~

pearl: i could give you the australian bestie word-

karn, oblivious: alright

pearl: -but it's not pg

karn, realizing: ahhh

~

karn: it's a mental thing, you see

pearl: oh

karn: yes, i'm mentally stuck here

pearl: i see

karn: yes, i'm in a position where i don't want to leave-

pearl: that's very intense for a friend

~

karn: it's just as sweet as you

pearl: don't butter me up

karn: too late!

~

pearl: i'm flee with extra flee

~

karn: you okay, my dear?

pearl: *sobbing*

~

pearl: did you pee in the ocean?

karn, instantly: yes

~

pearl: stop wasting your bullets!

karn: sorry ☹️

~

pearl: did you think his ass was his face ????

~

pearl: in what realm is a butthole a face ????

karn: *trying to explain*

pearl: babe :I

~

pearl: take that you stupid ass robot

~

karn: on the count of three. one-

pearl: *starts blasting*

~

pearl: stupid ass spider

~

pearl: a butt is clearly defined by two cheeks, a hole, and a tail!

~

pearl: [karn] is very special. in multiple ways

[merchant-wizard-and-jerry]

“Hello, I’m the friendly wizard _____. My name got taken by a fey prince but it hasn’t really hampered my life. Anyways I am new to this wider wizard community and would like to get along. I have a magic book, a cart, and a friend. His name is Jerry, he is a fungus colony that has taken over my magic book and acts sort of as my patron. He…is a little weird but great fun.”

*sound of an explosion in the background, a book flys by being chased by goblin shamans casting fire ball*

“He is…”

“He is fine.”

“Anyways, I am here to sell goods and make a small profit. If you need something I’ll see what I can do : ) ”

“Also apparently I helped smuggle an amnesiac @fattocatto-wizard out of the city in my wagon. That was a shock, though he was just a cat.

Character Cheat sheet

( 3 currency to 16 silver crowns and 2 copper crowns)

(3 skulls to a coin)

(2 currency to 1 gold)

(100 currency to a 1000 grams gold bar)

(1 currency per 10 grams of gold)

(Current balance 89,314.250,001 currency, one penny, 23 meat pucks, 14 pounds, 2 gold coins one with Julius Cesar on it, 3 naturally-grown mana stones, 2 highly enchant able metal pieces, and one bar, 1 special bug corpse, 1576.5 gold, silver 18, 70 aus, 5kg silver, magic dirt house size. 24 counterfeit currency. Moss/lichen-coded bio stone. An inverse cold torch. 99 BG silver. EMERALD LINCOLN, GOLDEN CARROT, 200 SALTED MEAT DISKS, 200 POLISHED ROCKS, 82 FIGET SPINNERS!, A FULLY EQUIPPED LICH'S DUNGEON, and a cardboard box (magic black marble).” Invisibility stone, a bundle of drake feathers, quantum locked rock, raw gold. 9 Gold coming from the green goblin empire, 50 mushrooms, 92 secret society emblem. 5 trans enchanted gold coins, 2 skull coin, ancient lost civilization fragment, 5 glistening green metallic coin, 31 writhing bugs of gold, jade coin. Pile of gold coins and gold coin bugs, pile of shines from harpy, dust, quantum glass shards, bag of tooth shaped candy, 6720 candies from the festival, bag of holding money bag, 68 money bags, 500 flat Foxen, double sided dollar coin, 3 floppies, a Brahman horn, a medkit, a few candy bars, and an umbrella, 130 goblins eggs (goblin cooked chicken eggs.), 17 bars of pure gold, 1 crate of guns, temp singularity potion. 762 grasshoppers glow in the dark.Book on the formation patterns of natural portals - @serious-tabaxi. Edward Evandrian’s expired library card. Gems and frenicx mother gem and a junkarian leap amethyst. white mithril sapling. Timeseed, infinite note book, time tunnel. A nice gold bag. bag full of candied scorpions 💰, large gem stone. 💰 💰 💰, gems = 70currency. 1/3rd a gold bar. Compass map, it's keyed to the Island of Silence. N=10^7 menger sponge. 2416 shadow cloaks, 52 shiny stones. 20$, 3 gold coins 100 grams. Gummy worms. 100 journals of Ventus Asamuran, Last Peacekeeper of Har Aminas. car keys, box of a 27 rusted necklaces with warding spells. an amulet made of stone, with blue rectangular crystals growing out of it. 48 shiny stones, 30 currency worth of silver. 3 sets of custom made chips @crickled-thorn-thug. Gold potion It opens a portal to the realm of metals! It causes any land within 20 feet to be transmuted, temporarily, into a variety of metals. If left untouched, the land reverts after a day. If harvested, the stuff stays metal and can be used. It also causes uhh 20 gold peices to spawn, and anyone within the radius to get a bit of vertigo. Causes slight iron deficiency, for some reason. 23 bouquets of metalic flowers. They're grown beneath volcanic chambers, uses the heat of magma as a supplement for sunlight. Given their environment, they grow petals sharper than claws and harder than steel. They can be used for creating armours and weapons.)

(Currently holding baby dire bunnies. A ring of mana (covers energy into mana. Only suitable if you don’t have mana)

(Jerry’s balance 13 gold, a fancy rock, 1 coin, flower petals (snacks for later), harpy eyes, feathers, vocal cords, and talons, a coin with @informis-the-many-faced on it, it is locked away for emergencies. bottle of magic mold rejuvenation powder, wooden key @crickled-thorn-thug)

(Warlocks of Jerry @fungal-boy-witch-yay @ignisuadaroleplay @life-is-okay-rn2 I think that is who it was…)

(Possessions - wealth stone, Antidote stone)

Owner of membership cards

——————————

@the-final-knight-2

@confused-sorcerer

@bi-gender-sorcerer (+ 10% off for employee discount)

@the-mighty-dalob

@detectivewizzard

@goblin-wizard-in-the-making

@serious-tabaxi

@weltreths-wanderings

@ignisuadaroleplay (will)

@shittest-wizard-ever

@wizard-wylin-wylerian

@akronus-and-associates (the primordials)

—————————————

@hallowed-the-silver-gun

@jormungand-seas-champion

@crow-natures-wrath

@antros-ember-of-fear

@akronus-the-redeemed

@clockwork-time-watcher

@aldira-born-anew

——————————

@wizard-ghost

@yeast-wizard

@crickled-thorn-thug

@sorcererest-sorcerer

@damnable-druid (+ 10% off for employee discount)

@informis-the-many-faced

@kittycatwizard

@gun-sorcerer

@crime-wizard-conglomerate

———

Perks

———

5% off all purchases

Special requested items

More favorable bartering

———

[conchiferrous]

robin and croc going on vacations amidst the evil scheming is a funny idea to me

[ID: Nico Robin and Crocodile at a water park together. Robin is lounging in an inner tube in a lazy river, wearing sunglasses and laying her real arms behind her head while she spawns two extra arms on the sides of the inner tube to hold up a drink and a bowl of ice cream. She's smiling contently while Crocodile in the background sits at a table under an umbrella eating french fries and one slice of pizza. Crocodile looks annoyed and a single fry is pierced on his hook. He's wearing a hawaiin shirt that isn't buttoned up. Bushes line the other side of the lazy river closest to the viewer. The background is littered with simplistic animal characters. Two dogs sit in a table next to Crocodile, one of them eating a hot dog. Another table further back has two mice sitting at it. There's a dog laying on an inner tube in the lazy river. Further in the background, a horse and giraffe are in a pool at the foot of a water slide, a rabbit is standing on a tall diving board, and an actual crocodile with sunglasses sits in a lifeguard chair. The umbrella above Crocodile says 5 19 2024 on it. /END ID]

[writingforcuteppl]

Nothing’s Gonna Take You From My Side

PAIRING: Sparrow!Ben Hargreeves x Umbrella!Reader

SUMMARY: After returning from the 60s, you weren’t the only ones surprised that Ben was alive; the Sparrow Academy was surprised you were active too.

GENRE: Fluff.

WARNINGS: Cursing, violence, mentions of death.

WORD COUNT: 6.4k words

“Holy shit,” you could hear whispers from not only your siblings but from these people that claimed to be the “Sparrow Academy.” You didn’t understand their shock in the first place. Of course, for you, seeing Ben alive after so many years was a shocker. The last time you saw him, all of you were 17 years old.

“Is that you?” You could see the shock on Luther’s face as he got closer to Ben.

He looked more mature, and of course, it didn’t look like YOUR Ben. He seemed more serious and mean. Ben couldn’t take his eyes off of you. He slowly made his way to you. The closer he got, the more you started to hold your breath. You have dreamed of this exact moment for years, to have Ben in front of you for at least one more time, even if you knew this wasn’t the Ben you knew. He stood just inches from you. You could see shock and confusion mixed with happiness. For a moment, he looked like your sweet and innocent Ben. The one you have loved for so many years. You could feel one tear roll down your cheek, which was whipped out by Ben. He left his hand on your cheek, stroking it. You leaned into his touch, closing your eyes and trying to enjoy the little contact he was providing you. This couldn’t be real right? This has to be a dream. You felt his hands holding your face, and you opened your eyes. He was admiring you as if he hadn’t seen you in so long. And you could tell because you were sure you were looking at him in the same way.

“How are you alive?” he whispered while hugging you. That took you by surprise. What was he talking about? He was the one who died, not you. You pulled away from the hug, even if you wanted to stay like that forever.

“What, what do you mean I’m alive? Ben, you’re the one that's dead, not me” You could see the same confusion on his face.

“She’s back, and she’s still as dumb as she was,” a girl on the balcony said.

“What did you just say about my sister?” You heard Diego say, taking out a knife. You looked back at him with a pleading face. If this escalated, things were going to end badly. “AND WHO ARE THE WEIRDOS ON THE BALCONY?” Diego spat out.

“Shut up Jayme!” Ben shouted at the girl. They may be siblings, but you could feel the venom coming out of Ben. The Sparrows started to go down the balcony. Everything was happening so fast that you almost forgot Reginald was still in the room.

“They are the Sparrows. My children.” Now, what the hell the old man was talking about?

“I’m sorry, what do you mean, your children? That’s not possible, old man.” Five told Reginald. Finding out they were the Sparrow Academy and Reginald’s “new children” was not what you expected to find out after returning from the past. Ben put one arm around you. You looked at him, but he was looking at the situation unfolding in front of you, entertained by your siblings' confusion.

“Of course it is! I think I’d know, wouldn’t I?” Anger was starting to bubble inside you. Reginald wasn’t the best father in the world, but saying that he had other children was too much, even for someone as cruel as him.

“Everybody can see Ben, right?” Klaus turned around, amazed by Ben.

“Cute hat, Sundance,” Ben said to him. You could hear the irony. Yeah, this wasn’t your Ben. You tried to free yourself from his grasp, but he was stronger than you. He wasn’t making it easy for you to pull away. He was grabbing you as if you could disappear at any minute.

“They call themselves the Umbrella Academy, a group of scheming, perfidious malcontents who accosted me in the fall of 1963 when I was away on business in Dallas. Be warned, they claim to be my spawn.” He had to be joking. You could see your siblings started to get angry at his words. All of this was just insane. You tried again to escape Ben’s hold, but it was useless.

“Stop it, darling. You’re not going anywhere. Not again,” he whispered in your ear. Something about the way he let out the pet name made you feel the whole damn zoo in your stomach.

“Claim? Look, Five, what the hell is going on” Allison was mad, and you didn’t only sense it, but you could see it.

“I don’t know yet, but it’s concerning.” Five looked at the Sparrow and noticed the way Ben was holding you.

“Is he telling the truth?” The guy next to Ben said.

“Not the part about us being perfidious,” Viktor answered him.

“No, we’re amateur-fidious, at best” You could see Klaus was trying so hard to ease the tension in the room.

“But we are his children. This is our house,” Viktor tried to explain to the Sparrows.

“Yeah, yeah. We, uh… We grew up here.” Luther stuttered. A guy from the Sparrows, who you could tell had been badly injured, mocked what he had just said. You rolled your eyes. And you thought there couldn’t be anyone as immature as your siblings.

“I kinda think we would have noticed you,” the other girl from the Sparrows answered. Luther stayed silent for a moment and introduced himself with the biggest smile you have seen in any of your siblings. You knew what he was doing.

“Really, Luther? Right now?” You said to him. You heard a chuckle coming out of Ben.

“Okay. None of you belong here” Allison was done with all of this situation, just like you. The past days have been nothing but trying to save the world not once but twice, and the only thing you wanted was to rest. Ben could see your tired expression. “Don’t worry. Once we finish with them, you can rest, darling” Ben kissed your forehead, and the action made you smile. You didn’t fully understand why he was being so polite and caring to you, but you didn’t want him to stop.

“Oh well, I guess we’ll just pack our bags and move out,” A girl with glasses said, and the cube that was next to her made noises. Now, what the hell was that? This just keeps getting more ridiculous.

“Oh, you slay me, Chris,” you heard Ben say next to you. You heard steps getting closer to where you were.

“I wasn’t expecting company” You turned your head to the voice. It was Mom. You somehow managed to get free from Ben’s hold. Getting closer to her. You felt Diego standing next to you. “This is the best I could do on short- short- notice.”

“Mom…” Diego said. It felt so comforting seeing her.

“Mom? She’s a robot, you perv,” The girl that called you dumb a moment ago, Jayme, blurted out.

“It’s not a robot” Diego was trying his best to remain calm. Out of your siblings, you and Diego were really close to Mom. Even if she wasn’t your real mom, you knew she was the closest to one.

“Hey, don’t you call him that,” Luther tried to defend Diego.

“Or what?” Ben asked.

“Why don’t you come closer and find out” Luther and Ben started to get closer to each other, with the full intention to start fighting.

“Luther!” You tried to get his attention.

“Luther! Guys, Chill!” Viktor tried to calm Ben and Luther, but of course, they didn't listen.

“Think I’m afraid?” Ben was ready to fight Luther at any moment. He stole a glance at you to see your reaction. You were unimpressed.

“Stand down, Ben” The guy next to bend extended his arm to prevent Ben from going forward to Luther.

“How about I hide that big Rubik’s Cube up your ass?” This was not going to end well. You saw how all your siblings were starting to get madder by the second. Even if everyone in the room seemed to be upset, you just couldn’t seem to move; having Ben so close to you after all this time was starting to affect you badly.

“ENOUGH!”

Jayme suddenly fired some kind of liquid out of her mouth. The substance landed on Diego’s left cheek. You could see how he was touching it, trying to understand what just landed on his cheek.

“I don’t know what circus you people escaped from or how you got past our security, but we’re done here. You got 30 seconds to get out of our house.”

“And what if we don’t?” Allison was ready to fight.

“Then we’ll have to settle this the old-fashioned way.”

“Agreed,” Luther said.

There was such a deadly silence in the room, the tension growing by the second. Your sight went to Diego, and he didn’t seem very well. It looked like he got sick in such a short amount of time. Something was on the substance Jayme threw at him. It looked like he completely disconnected from reality.

“Look, we just fought a literal army, okay? This doesn’t need to get ugly. Let’s all just calm down, and let’s talk” Finally, someone with a little sense and Viktor was right. This was just so stupid to fight over who’s Reginald’s children. If it was up to you… Well, you didn’t care.

“Psst. Ben-er-ino” Klaus seemed to be the happiest one in this situation. You knew how Klaus was able to see Ben even after his death, so you understood his happiness. “You look so much better alive than you do dead. Am I right? Except for that haircut.”

Ben was annoyed, and his face showed it. You took advantage of his annoyance to free yourself from him and made your way next to Diego.

“What the hell did you just say?” You were glad Ben was too distracted. You were pretty sure if it wasn’t for Klaus’ comment, his grasp would’ve tightened around your body.

“Come on come on, stop with all the hostility, Mr. Grumpy Pants” Klaus made his way so he could be standing in front of Ben. “Oh wow. Nice scar. Muy macho”

“Shut your mouth!” You could see the last hint of patience leave Ben’s body

“You shut your mouth and just hug your brother-” That was it. Ben punched Klaus in the face, and you felt your blood boiling out of anger. Klaus stumbled and tripped over the center table. You quickly made your way to him, wanting to make sure he was ok.

“Hey! What the hell?! You didn’t have to do that!” You heard Luther say.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I did!” everyone in the room started to bicker, but you couldn’t care less. Right now, you were just mad at Ben for hurting Klaus not only physically but emotionally too. You didn’t need Klaus to tell you that. Ben was his only real companion for so many years that the way this Ben reacted definitely hurt Klaus.

You felt someone’s pair of hands holding you by the waist, and when you least expected it, you saw Luther fly across the room, crashing down straight into Klaus.

“You ok?” Diego asked you.

“Yeah, don’t worry.” you turned your head to him flashing him a smile. You took a look at everyone in the room. And your eyes landed on how Reginald was just leaving the room, knowing well a fight was just going to start. Diego pulled you away from the center of the room. The guy that was next to Ben, the one that was standing in the middle, sprinted to the other side of the room, running and walking over the table and going straight to Klaus and Luther. This was going to get messier.

All of the Sparrows remaining except for Ben and that cube, stay in the living. As for the other ones, they start to follow Allison and Viktor.

Five went straight to Ben while you and Diego stayed in your place, waiting for the cube to get closer to you.

“Come at me, litter box!” Diego shouted and tried his best to keep his balance, but he was still trying to recover after the substance hit his skin. The cube, well, Christopher, made some noises. Surprisingly you did understand what he said, and Diego did too.

“Hey! Listen, I have amazing hair, all right? This was era-appropriate” Christopher didn’t care about what Diego was explaining since the stupid cube shot some kind of lightning toward Diego. “That’s all you got?”

“Not on my fucking watch” You wanted to get as close to the cube as possible, but you felt something tighten around your body. It was a tentacle.

Christoper started to chase Diego, and you saw where the tentacle was coming from. You were shocked but not surprised. What piqued your interest is that Ben was still fighting with Five but somehow managed to restrain you effortlessly. You started to punch the tentacle that was around your waist for it to let you go, but it was useless. It appears the tentacle had his own strength. Five was bitting the shit out of Ben, but the tentacle remained as strong. When you least expect it, another tentacle went and tangled around your arms, making you stay still without an opportunity to fight back.

Ben gets Five in a headlock, but luckily Five manages to blink to get away from Ben. Ben seemed slightly confused at Five’s actions.

“You’re alive. That’s… great. Or possibly horrible. I’m not really sure yet.”

“Is that some kind of weird smack talk?”

“It’s more of an existential problem, really, Ben. Now can you please let go of my sister?” Five looked at you, and he realized Ben managed to leave you still.

“Awesome. Well, here’s your next problem” Ben didn’t even wait for a second when a tentacle shot out of his body. Five disappeared again, teleporting to the balcony close to where you were.

“You know, even though you’re a total asshat now….” Five blinked and appeared behind Ben. He punched Ben in the face, knocking him out. “It’s nice to see you again, really” You felt the tentacles loosening around your body. Letting you fall on the balcony’s floor.

“Thanks, Five!” you shouted from the balcony.

“Well, maybe you want to use your powers, sis” Five smirked at his comment, knowing fully well your powers only worked outside since you were able to control only the weather.

“Oh look, now you’re a comedian,” you smiled at him. “Five, watch out” You saw how Christopher started to fly toward Five, but out of a sudden, Diego jumped onto the flying cube.

“Who’s your daddy? I’m your daddy! Who’s… your… daddy?” Five, and you only saw how Christopher started to go up to the rooftop with Diego and started to spin him around in an attempt to get Diego away from him. Christopher turned so fast that Diego flew away onto the left side of the balcony.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” You said under your breath. You made your way down the balcony and entered the living room; you were getting closer to Five when you felt two arms wrapped around your body.

“You’re not going away so easily, my darling,” Ben whispered. You could hear he was starting to get tired of all the fighting. Five disappeared from the living room. It was like your whole body stopped responding the moment you heard the nickname roll out of him. You don’t want to admit it, but he has power over you. Maybe it’s just weakness, or perhaps you just really missed him after all these years, but you were sure about something. You weren’t going to be able to fight against him. And the same happened to him. How can he fight the love of his life? Someone he also thought he had lost forever. He wasn’t going to let you go so easily. And he will make sure you never leave his side ever again. You were staring at Ben, having him so close… You were able to take a look at the scar he had on his left cheek. You want to ask what happened to him, but something interrupts you. Well, someone is actually shouting.

“See? We’re hugging! This is progress!” you turned your head to Klaus, noticing the giant tentacle around his body.

“Let him go, Ben,” you begged him.

“Ok,” you could see how Klaus fell to the floor with a loud thud. Ben was smirking.

“That’s not what I meant, asshole.”

“It was funny, you have to admit it, angel,” you wanted to answer back, but he kissed your forehead, making you forget everything the moment you felt his lips on you.

“Cat got you tongue?” You heard Ben chuckle.

“Shut up” You felt the blood rush to your cheeks. Damn him, all so beautiful and perfect.

“See? Bigger isn’t always better,” One of the Sparrows spat out after punching Luther.

“Is that what you tell your girlfriends?” You asked him, making him look at you. Luther took this as an opportunity and attempted to kick him down, but he was faster and managed to avoid Luther’s kick by jumping, and then he kicked Luther in the face knocking him down.

“Thai food for dinner?” The Sparrow girl that’s wearing glasses asked.

“I could go for pad see ew,” Ben answered her question. It seemed like all this fight was so easy for them, as if they didn’t care about it. You were impressed, but at the same time, it hurt your pride. Your siblings were doing everything in their hands to at least fight for your home, and all of these people were acting as if none of it mattered as if you didn’t matter.

“I’m in. Marcus, Thai?”

“Why are you even asking him? He hates Thai” Ben was making your approach where Luther was.

“What? Since when?”

“Fine. Italian,” the girl in glasses asked.

“Absolutely not” You looked at Ben and then returned your sight to where Luther was being beaten by who you assumed was Marcus. How could they have such a trivial conversation while one of them was beating the shit out of your brother? That only helped you confirm something. They were good, and they knew it.

“We done here?” Marcus stepped on Luther’s chest.

“Nope,” you wanted to smile at Luther’s answer, but right now, you were more worried someone managed to knock Luther down. “I don’t run from a fight.”

“Yeah, that’s the wrong answer, dude.” The Sparrow guy next to Ben, that was all beaten up, said to him.

“Let him finish him off,” Ben interrupted him. You hit him in the chest.

“Come on, Luther,” you whispered to yourself. He cannot let some random guy treat him like a punching bag. You wanted so badly to help him. You knew if all of you were outside, all of them would have been thrown away by now. But unfortunately, you were inside, and Ben was keeping you from doing anything at all.

“Let’s end this” Marcus started to kick Luther in the chest repeatedly, the action making you flinch, and you turned your body to Ben so you could hug him. Ben slid one of his arms around your body. You know it was wrong, but you just needed his comfort right now. You were pretty sure you heard some bones being broken, and you were trying so hard to not start crying right now. You listened to a rumble of thunder in the distance, meaning that if you didn’t calm down and started to collect yourself, a thunderstorm would get closer anytime soon. So you decided to pay attention to Ben’s heartbeat. It was calm. Not a single glimpse of being agitated or excited. It was as if you were the one who made his heartbeat stay peaceful.

“Stay down!” Marcus yelled at Luther.

“Luther!” You heard Viktor scream from the balcony.

“Viktor!” Luther groaned. You heard someone speak to Viktor, making you turn your head to where the voices were coming from. One of the Sparrow girls made Viktor levitate to the center of the living room.

“Guys, go! Get out!” Luther took your arm, pulling you towards him, taking advantage of Ben’s confusion. The two of you managed to get out through a secret door in the living room, running as fast as you could. A part of you was worried about Ben. If he didn’t get out of that place, Viktor was going to hurt him badly. But you knew you shouldn’t feel that way. Not after the way he treated your siblings. Even if he looked like your Ben, he wasn’t that Ben. So you knew you needed to focus on that. If you didn’t do it, not only were you going to get hurt, but your siblings would be too, and that’s the last thing you wanted.

You and Luther managed your way out of the secret passage. You could see Luther was trying to walk like he usually does. The previous fight made all the bones in his body move from the place they were supposed to be, his joints cracking when suddenly he turned around and punched the girl that made Viktor levitate not so long ago.

“Oh shit!” Luther exclaimed. “Hey, I’m sorry. Uh, are you okay?” Luther squatted down so he could help the girl.

“Yeah,” you could see Luther was actually worried for her, and it warmed your heart. “Hi,” she said to the two of you. “I’m Sloane” Luther smiled at her.

“Hey, Sloane. Uh... I’m Luther, and this is my sister Y/n” You waved at her and offered her a sympathetic smile. She seemed nice. Even nicer than her siblings

“Luther! Y/n! We’re leaving! Come on!” Five shouted at you and grabbed your hand for you to follow him.

“Just a second” Luther tried to continue speaking, but Allison just grabbed Luther for him to start moving.

“Come on! We gotta go!” Allison said, hustling Luther away in the process.

You were arriving at the end of the hallway when you saw the girl with glasses materializing some ravens from her back for them to start following the four of you.

“Seriously?” Luther baffled.

“Move, move, move, move!” The four of you started to run again as fast as you could, trying to get away from the birds as if your life depended on it

“The briefcase!” Five shouted.

“What?” You asked him, but Five blinked away before he could even listen to you.

“No time!” Allison tried to stop him to no avail.

“I hate that he can do that.”

“Go! Shut it!” Allison commanded. The three of you managed to enter a new room closing the door behind you. You could hear the ravens screeching from the other side of the door.

“That was close,” you panted out, trying to calm down your breathing. When you least expect it, the ravens started to peck the door with their beaks.

“Oh shit!”

“What do we do?” Allison was starting to get worried. You looked around the room and saw a window.

“Come! We have to jump,” you instructed them to follow you. You open the window in a swift move, making the air move around you and your siblings, helping you to get out of the window without having to jump from the first floor. When the three of you were on the floor, you started running as fast as possible. You didn’t know where, but you just wanted to get as far from that house as soon as possible.

All of your siblings except for Viktor managed their way to a park that was near the academy. All of them looked like shit. Out of the 6 of you, you were the one who was only agitated by the previous events. You knew the reason for you not being as beaten as them was because Ben made sure you didn’t get hurt, preventing you from actually fighting. You were mad and disappointed in yourself. You should have been able to at least help them during the fights, but the fact that your powers do not work indoors made it more complicated. You felt so useless, all of them were able to fight back and use their powers to their advantage, but you, you weren’t even able to free yourself from Ben’s tentacles. Your mind started to go around in circles, and your heartbeat was beginning to pick up its pace that you overlooked when the sky was starting to get cloudy while thunders and lightning could be seen and heard from the distance.

“Y/n” Five tried to get your attention. He could see your anger, and he was pretty sure the cloudiness was because of you “Hey, it’s okay, we’re fine” You felt his hand touching your arm, trying to calm you down, and it worked. He gave you a quick smile, and you smiled back at him. You slowly calmed down, making the clouds go away.

“Just gonna sit. I’m just gonna sit for a minute,” Luther groaned as he was sitting down on the park bench.

“That didn’t go well.”

“No, not our best work,” Five answered Diego.

“Oh, I’m cracking” You could see and hear the way Klaus’ body moved and cracked, making you shiver.

“You alright?” You asked Luther. After the beating Marcus gave him, you were worried for him.

“I don’t know yet.” Luther sighed. “I’ve just never had my ass handed to me like that before. It’s like… Here you go, it’s your ass,” Luther mimicked, giving you something to show his point, which only made you laugh. Allison was looking at him as if something wrong happened to him.

“Okay, I think Luther’s concussed.”

“Luther, how many fingers?” Klaus asked him, and Luther looked baffled.

“Oh my god, Viktor” Before someone could answer him, Allison pointed at him.

“Oh, thank god you’re alive,” Viktor said from afar.

“You okay?” Allison asked him

“Apparently, so is Ben,” Klaus said cautiously, looking at you, trying to not get a reaction from you. Trying to get your mind away from Ben. You stay motionless.

“Yeah. And he’s a complete dickhead” You nodded at her comment.

“They’re all dickheads” you hear Diego say.

“Dickheads who can fight” Luther was right. They were able to defeat the 6 of you like it was the easiest thing in the world.

“Okay, the next person to say dickhead is getting a punch to the throat.”

“Dickhead” All of you said in unison.

“Hey, did Dad tell you why he was calling them his kids?” Diego asked Klaus, and for the first time since you arrived at the park, you started to pay attention to the conversation.

“He sure did!” Klaus laughed. “You ready? Dad was so repulsed by us back in Texas that he adopted an entirely different group of children just so that he didn’t have to raise us” That piece of shit! Talking about your attitude as if he wasn’t the reason why you turned out like that in the first place.

“That’s just peak, Dad,” Diego said

“Isn’t it?”

“So he just didn’t want us anymore?” Viktor asked. A hint of disappointment could be heard.

“Did he ever?” Allison blurted out. She’s right. Reginald never really cared for the 8 of you. You always asked yourself why he even bothered to adopt all of you in the first place if he wasn’t going to at least treat you with civility.

“See? I told you we shouldn’t have asked him for help in ’63”

“I think you’re all missing the big picture here. If Dad didn’t adopt us as kids, he changed the timeline,” Five started to explain to you. “So, who knows what else is different now.”

“Shouldn’t you know?” Allison asked Five.

“Sorry, Allison, but it might take me over 20 minutes and a traumatic brain injury to figure this out. Is that okay with you?”

“No, actually, it’s not”

In an attempt to calm everyone, Viktor spoke, “Guys, look, it’s fine. We still have the Commission’s briefcase, so worst case, we can just go back in time and fix it.

“Great!”

“Okay. There are two problems with that statement. First off…” Five started explaining

“Here we go.” You looked at Five, knowing well you were about to be told by him how dumb of a statement that was

“Time travel is complicated, people.”

“Yeah, we get it. Your job is so hard, so what?” Diego tried his best to remain calm.

“And secondly…” Five made a pause. That’s not a good sign. “I no longer have the briefcase.” Everyone was shocked at his comment. How could he lose it? He was always so careful and made sure to never leave the briefcase alone.

“Five. Where the hell is the briefcase?” Five didn’t answer. At the lack of response, one by one started to get up, knowing something had to be done to get the briefcase back.

Diego came closer to you. Your silence was starting to make him feel uneasy. He put an arm around you, pulling you closer to him.

“How do you feel? I can hear how your brain has been thinking since we arrived at the park” he always managed to get a smile out of you no matter what situation you were in, and this time wasn’t the exception. You sighed.

“I don’t know. I feel angry at myself. I wasn’t able to help you guys back there. It was like I just was someone useless. And then the Ben situation… You saw him, he’s more than alive, and, god, it felt so good being close to him again, but he’s just a jerk that I want to punch in the face, but I can’t do it since, well, it’s Ben. And not only that, but you saw how those dickheads looked at me. It was just as we were looking at Ben. As if they knew me from before but were gone a long time ago. It made me feel uneasy.” Diego made you stop walking and gave you a tight hug, and, of course, you hugged him back. “And don’t even get me started with this Sparrow Academy thing. The fucking balls that old man has,” Diego chuckled. “Not only he makes our childhood the worst one, but he just discarded us like we were trash. I swear to god…” The weather around you started to change. The wind began to howl. You wanted to show that old man who he messed with that you didn’t even notice you were starting to get angrier by the second.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down, little tornado. You are going to blow us away if you don’t calm down” You turned your head to Diego, and the wind you created messed up his long hair.

“Oops..?” The two of you started to pick up the pace, your other 5 siblings were already walking, not sure where, but you just followed them without any question.

“What are we doing?” Allison asked.

“Ruminating,” Five answered her.

“Why is everyone staring at us?” every person that was walking by or was just hanging around in the park gave the 6 of you nasty looks.

“Because we look like the damn Village People just lost a fight” Diego took Klaus’ hat off him, trying to make him look as normal as Klaus could look.

“Gimme that. Hey!” Kalus attempted to get his hat back from Diego. “Ow!” but of course, Diego was stronger than him.

“You know what? I need to go find Claire. I will catch up with you guys later” Something made you go into alert mode. If the timeline changed… Would everything you left before going back in time still be in this timeline? Ben was just an example. He was back… Well kinda.

“Guys cut it out” Five “attempted” to stop Klaus and Diego.

Allison started to walk away from you. You began to follow her until someone familiar caught your eye. Across the big body of water in the middle of the park was Ben standing just looking at you. He was wearing different clothes, more usual compared to his Sparrow uniform, and he also was wearing a cap and some sunglasses. He shot a smile at you, and you could feel your heart beating in your ears. You stopped hearing whatever conversation your siblings were having. It was like only the two of you were in that park.

“What makes you think they are coming after us?” you heard Viktor said

“Because I would” Diego looked at you.

“Yeah, we did break into their house…Bust up all their nice antiques and shit.”

“Our house” You stopped paying attention. Ben moved his head, trying to show you where he was going so you could follow him.

“And well, there’s also Ben” Everyone stayed in silence after Five’s comment, and you felt everyone’s eyes on you.

“What?”

“Well, let’s be honest, Y/n, we saw how you acted back there. And we also saw how Ben acted….”

“That means nothing. He’s not our Ben, so stop it with the judgy looks” You didn’t want to admit how bad Ben was affecting you.

“Can you just not mention the thing about him, please?

“Yeah. I don’t think the crime-fighting super nerds are gonna let that go.”

“Let’s just think of someplace off the radar where we can lie low and not draw attention?”

“What kind of a weird-ass place are we not gonna draw attention to?” everyone looked at Klaus. If someone knew of a sketchy place, that was Klaus.

“You know what? I’ll meet you there, okay?”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Five questioned you. “Besides, you don’t even know where he’s taking us.”

“Oh, believe me, I know where we’re going. I just need… you know… fresh air,” you started to walk, remembering where Ben was walking to a few moments ago.

“Oh yeah, because being at a park means there’s no fresh air,” you heard Luther, but you decided to just ignore him.

You realize you didn’t know what you were going to say to him. You were pretty sure if you were able to understand he wasn’t the Ben you knew, he understood you weren’t the Y/n he knew.

“Hi,” Ben said when you were close enough to listen to him.

“Hi,” you sighed. You needed to collect yourself and stay focused.

“It’s really you Y/n” “Ben went for a hug. You enjoyed having him this close.

“Ben, I’m….” You tried to free yourself from his hug, but he was stronger than you.

“I know. Just let me enjoy this, please” Ben begged for you to stay just a bit more time in his embrace. He slowly pulled away from you. Ben removed his hat and glasses, and you finally saw his face in detail for the first time. He looked so gorgeous.

“Wanna talk?” Ben grabbed your hand, and you felt a shiver roll down your spine.

“Sure,” he guided you to a free bench in the park. The two of you sat down.

“I’m gonna start. Is that ok with you?” you only nodded. “I was shocked to see you back there. For a moment, I actually believed my Y/n was alive. And well, the way you looked at me… I’m sorry if it took you by surprise.”

“It’s okay. Well, I was also shocked to see you. The last time I saw my Ben alive was when I was 17 years old, so I understand the feeling.” you gave him a reassuring smile, and he mimicked you. You stayed like that for some minutes. Holding his hand, listening to the air go through the leaves of the trees. Enjoying every moment of it.

“I don’t… I can’t lose you again, Y/n,” Ben finally said. “You don’t understand how much I’ve missed you. How I wish I could go back in time and hold you just one more time. And know that I have you right in front of me. I will never let you go. Nothing’s gonna take you from my side, not again.”

“What makes you think I’m just like your Y/n? What if I’m just completely different from her? I mean, just look at you. You are so different from my Ben,” Ben sent a questioning look at you. At his lack of response, you continued. “Well, for instance, don’t take it the wrong way, but you seem conceited. Like, that’s cool, but you just want to show off. Prove that you’re the best-”

“I am the best.”

“See? My Ben wasn’t like that. He was sweet and polite. Someone so caring. He didn't like the attention at all...” You felt a tear roll down your cheek, and Ben swiped it away.

“Well, you’re right. I am different from him….”

“Exactly. Look, I love having you here in front of me. But just as you lost someone, I did too. And to be honest, I don’t think I will be able to lose you again. I cannot go through that again, Ben. So I will ask again. What if I’m not like the Y/n you knew?”

“Well, you are as beautiful as she was. That’s good.” you laughed. “Yeah, maybe she was a little tougher. You seem like a really sweet person. And judging by today’s events, you also have the same power as her. Weather manipulation.”

“How…”

“My Y/n wasn’t able to manipulate the weather indoors. And well, you weren’t able to do much today. And, of course, I also didn’t let you fight.”

“Yeah, what was all that about?”

“As I said. I won’t lose you again. I will do everything in my hands to keep you by my side. Even if that means fighting your stupid siblings again.”

“Hey!” you hit him in the arm jokingly.

“I’m serious” Ben started to approach you slowly. He lay his hand on your left cheek, stroking your cheek with his thumb. “I never stopped loving you, my darling, and I will make sure no one gets in our way. Not again.” you sighed and closed your eyes. His touch on your skin felt good. You felt Ben’s lips on yours, giving you a short but sweet kiss. “Please, don’t leave me, please.” Ben rested his forehead on yours. You opened your eyes and looked right directly into his beautiful, brown eyes, and that’s when you knew… You will never leave his side ever again.

n a v i g a t I o n

[nuclearwastetoday]

hear me out. Alan Wake serial, but it's not about Wake. Its about Bright Falls and Watery, and people out there in like 90x sitcom style. There's some crappy romantic plotline with random people, bad jokes, background laugh track etc. BUT Alan ACTUALLY is there. He just appears at the end of every episode, covered in blood, mud and dirt and like: Yes, finally, i got out from this hell!!! (always somewhere by cauldron lake) AND something or someone just ACCIDENTALLY knocks him back. EVERY episode, new plots characters people life going on and Wake is there getting out and going back there. Every Single Time.

One episode he's crawling at shore, standing up all exited and stuff AND some random dude tosses a dog toy or something, casually playing with pet, Alan makes step, trip's over and here he go back into water.

Another episode, some lovely dovey scene romantic moment, a couple in a boat, drifting in lake. Suddenly, Alan spawns near, trying to got in like: ohmygod guys u won't believe me but help i need to get out here right now. Couple helps him, but oops, lost their balance and Wake again back in dark place.

Some fisher man kicks him in a face, someone bumps into him, someone slaps him with a beach umbrella (kinda???), someone asks him to hold something for a sec and he looses his balance. literally, EVERYONE knows him like yeah this guy, eh weirdo snooping near lake all the time.

and after credits scene Zane and Scratch doing regular insane things, minding theyre own business. suddenly Alan pops up, and they like: Oh, u back again. How's the day, writer boy?

That's IT. Maybe FBC agents in a background not understanding a damn thing, doing tests monitoring lake and shit, but they're always a second late to catch poor Wake. Or, otherwise, leaving at exact time when he escapes.

[i-dropped-the-chief]

AO3 Fic Masterlist

✨✨ For pinned post purposes ✨✨

BNHA

◉ To Hold the Universe series (BNHA x Reader/OC)

The Hobbit/LotR

◉ Resplandor series (MGIME, Fili x OC, Bilbo x OC AU)

◉ Scales, Gleaming in the Dark (Thorin x Reincarnated!Dragon!OC)

◉ Daughter of the Lake (Time Loop, Fili x Sigrid)

The Umbrella Academy

◉ i know you'll be by my side series (Five x Reader/OC)

Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon

◉ We Are as the Gods Made Us (Reincarnated!Rhaenyra x Cregan Stark)

◉ Performing Live at the Hall of Nine (Reincarnated!Rhaena & the Targaryen spawn)

◉ Cat of Gold Coat (Lannisters & OC)

Dragon Age

◉ The Sostenuto (MGIT, Garrett Hawke x OC)

[kaytrawrites]

Distilling Scents

Summary In which Tubbo and Ranboo give a gift to a Spider Pastor. Philza is also there.

Notes Jschlatt is an adult and briefly uses crass language.

Story

“Tubbo? Ranboo? Where you at, mates?” Philza asked, floating down into the pair’s shared underground complex. The Elytrian cautiously stepped out of the vertical shaft, settling his wings. He wasn’t a fan of underground spaces, and although the pair had put in a lot of effort to bring the overworld to the underground, Philza still felt a bit claustrophobic down here.

Despite his slight discomfort, Philza inhaled the sweet scents of grass and flowers permeating the space. He looked around, spotting the open piston door across from the entrance to the base immediately. He walked forward into the hub and followed his ears into Tubbo’s work room.

The young Bee had his goggles pulled down while he worked busily on the sheet of metal in front of him. The much taller Enderian that shared the base with Tubbo was leaning against a table, watching. Philza’ movement in the doorway drew Ranboo’s notice and he looked up with a slightly surprised, but happy expression. “Oh! Hi Phil!” He chirped.

“Hey mate.” Philza drawled, his gaze shifting back to the young Bee Engineer busy at work. “He almost done?” He asked.

“Nearly. He has almost all the parts done, just needs to finish this part.” Ranboo nodded happily. “While we wait, do you want a bite to eat?” He offered.

“Sure.” Philza replied, shrugging. He resettled his wings, and followed the lanky Enderian toward the kitchen.

The pair put together a few sandwiches, Philza taking one and Ranboo claiming two for himself. Ranboo did take a moment to put a bit of honey mead in a mug for Tubbo before he began working on his own sandwiches.

It didn’t take long for Tubbo to emerge, and Ranboo held the mug out to Tubbo. The blonde Bee accepted the mug gratefully and took a small sip. He gave Ranboo a smirk. “Blackberry with a hint of Honeysuckle.” He said proudly.

The Enderian stared at the much shorter Bee for a moment before slumping, seemingly defeated. “How do you get it every single time.” He grumbled, rhetorically.

Tubbo jabbed a thumb toward his chest, a grin starting to spread across his face. “Bee.” He stated proudly.

Ranboo rolled his eyes, and took a bite of his sandwich.

Philza smiled at the pair as he finished off his own sandwich.

Ranboo finished his sandwiches quickly, which prompted Tubbo to gulp down the last few sips of his honey mead. The young Bee sighed happily, setting the mug aside. “I’ve got all the parts packed up. Hopefully Father Fragrance is awake early.”

Philza nodded as Tubbo turned to head to the bedroom, pulling his shirt over his head. Ranboo followed, also needing to change out of his work clothes.

Philza wandered out of the kitchen and back into the entrance hall. The kids had asked him to tag along, which he was happy to do.

The pair was quickly back, with clean clothes and light armor. Ranboo holding his umbrella in his his hand while he settled his inventory bag. Philza launched himself up with a powerful kick, he landed on the ground around the entrance to the pair’s bunker, and looked down at Tubbo, who had spread his wings and was flying up the shaft to the surface.

A few meters away, Philza saw ender particles gather, compress for a moment, and Ranboo seemed to spawn from space, as if he just popped into existence. The light drizzle outside made Ranboo flinch slightly, and he snapped open his umbrella quickly.

Tubbo joined the pair quickly, and ducked under Ranboo’s umbrella as well, brushing the splatters of water off his wings with a slightly disgusted expression.

It was thankfully a short walk, and as they approached the church, the doors were already open and a warm light emanated from the inside.

Father Fragrance was up and about, already replacing the wilted flowers on the altar with fresh ones. He glanced up when the three entered. “Ah! Welcome to the Church of Fragrance!” He said, spreading his arms wide. The young Arachnid smiled as kindly as he could.

“We made something for you Shla-ah! I mean Father Fragrance!” Tubbo said.

“Really?” Father Fragrance replied, clocking his head in curiosity.

Ranboo nodded. “Yes. Do you have a spare room that we can set it up in? Even a corner of your kitchen would work. As long as it’s in a well-ventilated area.”

“Kitchen would be best.” Father Fragrance replied, tucking his hands into his sleeves. “Follow.”

The four walked to the kitchen, Ranboo in particular nearly wiggling in joy.

Father Fragrance indicated toward a table shoved against the wall. “You can put it there.” He said.

The two young folk quickly got to work unpacking the contraption from Tubbo’s pack. Philza sidled over to the nearly untouched basket of fruit on Father Fragrance’s counter. He grabbed one of the apples and immediately began munching on it.

Father Fragrance glanced at the older man, and smiled slightly. “Feel free to eat anything,” he drawled.

Philza smirked between bites, enjoying the rich appley taste and scent of the fruit. The young Arachnid inched closer, lightly sniffing the fruity scents of the apple, his expression softening.

As the two kids set up the mechanism, Father Fragrance’s eyes went wide as it came together. “Is that what I think it is?” He asked, his voice shaking. “No fucking way.” He said, a wide grin spreading across his face.

Ranboo finished inserting the last piece of the small still. “If you think it’s a Still for distilling scented oils, it’s exactly what you think it is.” He nodded cheerfully.

“No fucking way.” Father Fragrance repeated. He looked at the two kids. “You two. Oh my god. I’m getting choked up.” He said, his voice tight. He brushed his eyes, and smiled. “Oh my god, you kids.”

“You like it?” Tubbo asked.

“Like it? I love it!” He said, moving forward and grabbing the two kids in a tight hug. “First scent I’m distilling will be for you two.”

“You don’t have to…” Ranboo started.

“I’m doing it!” Father Fragrance insisted.

Tubbo looked up at the taller Arachid. “I’m looking forward to it, Schlatt. Ah, I mean Father Fragrance.”

[quirkwizard]

Stealing from RWBY a bit here, but how about a Quirk that lets the user to anything into a gun temporarily? Has to be something small enough for the user can hold and carry. Doesn't have to already be a weapon, could be something like a cane or an umbrella or even boots or gauntlets. User would need to carry ammunition. Item size determines weapon in a way, like something big can't become a pistol and something tiny can't turn into a chaingun.

I'm not sure about about the idea, at least having it work like this. Besides how odd is to turning anything into something as complicated as a gun, if the user needs to provide their own ammunition, why not just use a gun in the first place? This doesn't seem anymore convenient or powerful then using a regular weapon. If anything, the user needing to work with whatever is around them seem more inconvenient because they may not have the right ammunition for it. Maybe if you did it with some other kind of weapon where the user spawns parts of it on objects they are touching, like what I did with "Black Lance". If you want to stick to guns, the user could send energy bullets through objects as a medium. Another way you could go about it is that, instead of making it fire bullets, the user can make ammunition out of whatever they are holding. Like they could grab a brick and suddenly it'd be shooting clay bullets off at someone as the brick becomes smaller and smaller the more they use the Quirk with it.

[aladaylessecondblog]

the life you knew before (good tav/gortash pt. 4)

Previous chapter here

Banter, and sex (obviously). Enjoy :)

---------------------------------------

Tav stood, mind off like a shot. Cazador she had seen several times in the eight months she had been Duchess Gortash, and somehow it had entirely slipped her mind to talk to him about...the situation.

How, how could I forget about CAZADOR?

The same way you forgot about ME, my dear, returned Astarion's voice in her head.

"Lord Szarr," Tav gave a slight curtsy, "A pleasure to see you. I almost didn't recognize you, so rarely do I see you outside your palace."

"And so rarely do any see you outside the city."

"True enough," she replied, "I've had so much to do...but I have had rather a...taxing day. I found time in nature and with...old friends...a better prospect than remaining behind stone walls."

Cazador did not respond to that, but took a step forward and looked down on the gravestone.

"Were you--"

"Who is this Halsin?" he interrupted and gestured at the carving atop the headstone. "Don't tell me Astarion went and wed himself to a bear."

"A druid...he did love to stay in his wildshape much of the time. Were you...familiar with Astarion?"

She hated to pretend it, but she also knew it was a good idea to act as though she did not know what he was. For now.

"Perhaps we might call him a bastard son, for certainly he acted like one. Running off like a slave, cavorting with--animals..."

Is he daring me to say something?

Cazador then turned those eyes on her. "And you say you loved him."

"I--did, yes. Before I met the Archduke, of course." She looked at the gravestone and gave a soft smile. "It was strange how long it took to earn his trust. He was running from something, I think."

"He always was a fearful sort. I assume you were the one to bury him? The one to make this gravestone?"

Tav took a deep breath before she answered. "I was, yes."

"Quite frankly, it surprises me that you would bother."

His voice was so severe; it made her think she'd done something wrong. She resented the feeling, but tried to keep her tone polite.

"Every man deserves a proper grave," she replied evenly. "I did not know him long, but...for that time, he was..."

It had started with wanting him, as she was sure he had intended. Then it had become oh-so-much more, and now...now, she didn't know.

She bowed her head just slightly.

"One might think you are unhappy in your marriage, if you pine so over a dead man," Cazador said then. "I cannot think the Archduke would approve."

"He knows of this...former romance. And he knows--" Tav gulped just slightly before going on, "--he knows, really, that 'tis he who holds my heart now. It is just that every so often...I think of the past, and what might have been."

"A life in the trees amongst the beasts is not fit to be lived." The sternness had a slight edge in it now, "You are lucky to have the Archduke to show you that there is more to life than speaking to those who have nothing to say worth hearing."

"It would have been good enough for me. My poor pale elf could have used a few colorful flowers in his hair."

With that she turned and began to walk away.

(The spawn who had been holding the umbrella over her head seemed to tense; she actually saw his eyes widening into fear when she looked.)

"I wasn't done speaking to you," Cazador said.

"I was done listening." It was out before she could stop it.

"One might think badly of a lady who makes so free with those above her."

"The only man above me is the Archduke, Lord Szarr. Unless you have plans to ascend to a crown."

She turned back briefly.

"One never knows what might happen," Cazador said in a darker tone, "I am surprised, you know, that you have so sharp a tongue. I expected nothing like this from so subservient a woman."

"I am such to my husband and no one else."

It was the last thing she said to him as she walked away. There was a strange thrill and yet a fear with it when she heard Cazador seething.

-----------------------------------

"Someone's been acting up today."

Tav had been standing by the window, staring out at the ships passing on the water for nearly an hour when she felt Gortash's hands on her hips.

"Your lady is only feverish," she said quietly, "An illness she caught tending to the needs of the people..."

"Of course she will require several days of rest to recover. After all, her loyalty is well known...and anything that could make her say such terrible things in earshot of others, well..."

It was easy, so easy, to relax into his touch. To gently cover the hands that slid forward and around the bump of her belly and feel...well, she didn't know what she was feeling. But she couldn't think that it was wrong anymore.

And even that fact was not scary any longer.

"When are you going to grow angry?" Tav asked after a long silence. "Throw something, perhaps...or have me locked away for making you look foolish?"

"Is that what you think of me?" Gortash's voice was softer than she had yet heard it. "I wasn't lying when I told you that you had nothing to fear from me."

Please... She gulped softly and begged silently, as she had been begging for months now. Stop being like this. Like someone I could...

To distract herself Tav looked out the window. The sun was setting in brilliant reds and golds, with a single dark ship passing on the horizon.

"You were a decision I made in haste, and I presume the same could be said from your position. But must you keep yourself in this state of agony? I'm sure you don't wish to be there." There was the lightest of grips at her belly. "And it's certainly not good for the child."

Deep breath.

She thought of Astarion, the first time he was comfortable participating in the lovemaking with Halsin. The first time she had woken up with the two of them. The last smiles she'd seen from either of them.

Then...

Then those thoughts turned to Gortash. The dances she had with him at the wedding, the smiles he gave at balls later on...the way he went about showing his interest. He was for every appearance a perfect gentleman...except in the bedroom, where he did things that made her weak in the knees. Where he left her wanting only to push her to greater heights of desire.

And where of late she slept beside him more often than not.

Tav opened her eyes and saw that the ship on the horizon was gone.

"You have not been what I expected," Tav replied, "Everything since the tadpole has been an endless series of unpleasant surprises. I could scarcely lay down my head without being woken by some problem, some fight...and then...then I lost everything."

Where was this coming from? Why was she saying all this this? She hardly knew. Her emotions were a horrible typhoon centered around the calm that he'd created. She had now been his wife longer than she had ever been with Astarion or Halsin...and there was a space shaped like him forming in her mind.

"I'm afraid to be at rest." she added "Because when all is quiet..."

She waited--waited for some mocking, some cutting remark she was sure was coming. But none did.

Deep breath.

"The nastiness comes out. My poor bride, dealing with so much...and alone. You really needn't do that. After all, how well can you help me handle this city if you are so burdened?"

"I didn't know whether I could trust you then...and now...and now..."

"We should lay down," Gortash said, "Clearly, you're in need of rest."

Tav relaxed and allowed herself to be lead to her bed, and was glad when he joined her. Even more so when she realized he was clad as he had been that first night, with one difference--this time, he wasn't wearing the gauntlet. Just that pair of black trousers...

"Something set this off," he said gently in her ear. "I want to know what set it off."

"I..." she took a deep breath as Gortash reached a hand up to stroke at her face. "I visited the...the grave, and...there's something--someone you should know about. I was...afraid to mention it because he's..."

"Did he harm you?"

"No, but...he could be dangerous to you at some point soon. I forgot all about him with the...the uh...what lead to my marrying you."

She was glad. So very, very glad, that he was really listening to her right now.

"Cazador." Tav said, "He was...Astarion's...sire. A vampire...and one of the most abusive pieces of shit I've ever heard of, if the way Astarion acted was any indication. I had been planning to deal with him--"

"Unsurprising," Gortash replied, "The man was always odd and reclusive, and while I had my suspicions..."

"And I may have upset him by not...paying him what he saw as his due. He's planning some sort of ritual..."

Here she explained what she knew of Cazador and his plans for ascension, and while Gortash quickly began to look more severe, at least he didn't vent any of that potential anger on her.

"I must inform the guards about that. Noble or not, I'll not have him steal what I've worked so hard for." He smirked slightly and pressed a brief kiss to her lips. "And I'll not have YOU risking either your life or my heir's by going after him."

"I've helped imprison Mizora--the former patron of the Grand Duke. I've assisted in the killing of a cambion..."

"Really, now."

"Raphael never stood a chance. Foolish man...and very stupid, too, telling me he had something I wanted, and by extension where to find it WITHOUT taking his deal."

There was something in Gortash's face then that she had never seen before.

Shock.

"I...presume...that you are not talking about th--"

"Raphael of the House of Hope, the one who wanted me to hand over the crown to him so he could become king of the hells or something along those lines."

"And you are...quite certain...that he is dead?"

"Certain as the sunrise," Tav replied. "He'd been a smoothtalking pain in my ass for too long for me NOT to kill him."

A pause...and then, from nowhere--one second, Gortash was laying beside her, looking her in the eye. The next, his lips were on hers and he was moving over her.

"Eager," she got out quickly, and when he let her break for air she added, "Aren't we?"

He didn't answer. There was a pause, and then, in rather an awkward dance she reached down to pull up the hem of her gown as his hands moved down to rid himself of his trousers.

"Off," he demanded, once he was bare before her, as he tugged her gown up and over her head. He yanked off her underclothes and moved atop her, planting another hot kiss on her lips.

Tav returned the kiss, and awkwardly shifted beneath Gortash as she spread her legs for him. And despite the awkward maneuvering due to her swollen belly, they contented themselves like this for several minutes.

He seemed to want to say something at one point--but then apparently thought better of it, and settled for pressing his hard cock against her wet heat and thrusting inwards a moment later. Tav groaned, and reached up, wanting to hold SOMETHING. Her hands ended up on his shoulders.

"Please," she said, meeting his eyes, "I want--"

It was what usually excited him. Her begging, pleading to be fucked, yet somehow this time, she didn't need to say any more. He drew back and pushed forward in rapid thrusts that were pushing her high already from how deep they were hitting.

More, more, MORE

Tav's nails clenched at the skin of his shoulders, and her knees squeezed at his sides as his hips rocked against hers. Gods above, how badly she suddenly wanted to kiss him again!

But there would be none of that, only the repeated invasions of his cock, spearing and spreading her around him as he vented whatever in the hell this was.

"More," she moaned softly, "More..."

She needed him now, wanted to feel him within her, to be reminded of what passion lay behind that dark smirking face of his.

And he was going to give it to her.

Gortash's thrusts grew faster and faster still. He braced himself with one hand and lowered his face, only just far enough away from hers to prevent a kiss. But she could see it now, the expression, the desperate need for her, the agonizing pleasure he felt as the climb begin.

It was like he wanted her to see his ecstasy, to witness what he was drawing from her.

"Harder--"

It sparked suddenly, unexpectedly, and Tav forced herself to keep that eye contact as the pleasure seized and burned through her body in rapid wildfire.

"Oh, gods!"

She moaned for Gortash, let him hear her pleasure, let him see the look in her eyes as she let go. It lifted her high, so high, so achingly keen, and then dropped her back into the warm sea of the afterglow.

Faster, and faster still. She was still sensitive but he was thrusting hard, lust driving him onward with no coherent thought or reason other than fuck. She bore with it, bringing her heels up to dig into his ass and encourage him to go deeper still.

No moment of hesitation appeared, as sometimes it had since first they had been married.

Tav kept his gaze, and it was exhilarating. He was close, so close, and for once she was focused solely on that, on seeing his pleasure, taking it in in every sense of the word.

On an inward thrust, as he sheathed himself entirely inside her, it struck him. His cock pulsed and he went empty inside her in three warm waves of lusty heat that rose threatening to drown him.

Gingerly, Gortash withdrew from her and curled close, as though all the troubles of the world melted away with his head on her chest.

For all his scolding that she needed to relax, Tav realized--as she raised a hand to tangle its fingers in his hair--that this was the first time she had ever seen him do so.

[linettefox]

Seeking human feedback this time, here is what I spent all day working on. Warning for a bit of swearing and a small amount of blood.

Leroy's A Strange One

Prologue (Draft 4)

Rays of sunlight reflected from the golden streets of Junction City, a curious town where dreams are real. Daily floods of tourists and underpaid spokespeople flock to the streets selling and buying and crying and looking in awe at the perfectly ordinary mansions. The city looks perfect from their foolish views, but when the moon comes with stars and the people settle down in their inns something wild seeks to bring chaos to the land. The sound of the song Let Mom Sleep from the Sega game Jet Set Radio echoes through the alley like a sort of lightning to the oncoming thunder. The arms of a figure reach towards the stars as their fingers link to a stretch as they bend to one side and then to the other. Earbuds enter on each side but they do nothing to muffle the noise, with a crack of a knuckle and a purple hood flapped over the pink hair the playlist slides into the next song dawning the song be yourself by DE DE MOUSE like a flag to a race car as soon as the beats begin the figure bullets across the rooftop to jump off the ledge and feel the thrill in their hair as they tumble into a closing marketplace where the crowd shout in shock as the person cuts through them.

This is the individual known as Leroy Strange, known by every person of power in town as a mythic bitch. Like a video game protagonist, they jump from a newly placed lid atop a trashcan onto an umbrella that collapses beneath their feet. The people are cleaning up after another successful day, each one turns briefly to glare or watch in fear as they hurry by. Now this person did not earn the reputation they have by being some sort of monster, instead, it is mainly what the rich people refer to them as thanks for their refusing to follow all laws of order they have set. Stands are rolled away and signs are turned around to signify closing time but Leroy continues on their way running from an awning to swing up a lamppost and land perfectly on another roof where their speed does not give way for even a second. They parkour up to a bridge holding a train high above the city and land perfectly atop its roof as it chugs forward. No human alive could ever stop their beat and they pride themself in it. A nearby officer catches a glimpse of them opening their water bottle to hoist it to their lips and glares turning to call for backup.

“What do we have here?” Leroy’s gaze turns to the white wall that had just been painted to hide unwanted graffiti. Their paint-stained fingerless gloves wipe a drop of water from their chin as they stand at the ledge letting themself fall to the ground towards the new canvas. A sketchpad spawns from their backpack as they map it out before dumping out a bunch of paint cans to start on another masterpiece. The OC that makes its way onto the wall has a striking resemblance to its artists only more fin and surrounded by friends with an anime style. They are everything Leroy wishes they could be, an aspiration they strive for but can never seem to achieve. Partway through doing the hair lights flash against the wall as the artist turns with curiosity in their eyes.

“You have resisted arrest for the last time Mr. Strange!” The one from earlier is in charge stepping closer with eyes glued like a cat who has finally found his mouse. Leroy lets out a laugh like this is some sort of game to them

“Mr. Strange? That was my father’s name,” A cocky smirk spreads across their face as they toss the paint cans into the bag and hoist it over their shoulder. “I ain’t no mister, I’m just a Leroy!”

“This is no time for games, you have muddied our walls for far too long!” The officer shouts in outrage.

“This ain’t no mud,” Leroy gestures to the art behind them but freezes when the guns point again. “Why does it matter what the rich folk think? Most of the tourists actually like it-”

“Graffiti is a crime, crime implies we are imperfect,” The officer spits harshly to the yawn of his opponent who now has their bag fully packed up.

“Perfection is boring, I’ve always preferred chaos,” At that, they charge towards the officer who ducks afraid of being attacked, instead Leroy jumps high into the air doing a front flip before landing on their bum, scrambling to their feet, and jumping across police cars making their way down the main road via cartop. As the night carries on the streets the few stragglers who have yet to go home make way for the pursuit, but despite their persistence and speed the cops lose Leroy’s trail like they do every night. Once free the individual makes their way toward the city’s industrial district a land factory smoke, mountains of trash, and the ruins of a once beautiful swamp. They stop to fix the wooden sign that named this corner of town Industrial Gunk before passing the border towards the rustic apartment complex where they live. After climbing to the top they plop down on the old couch that has seen better days, entering through the window like usual.

Finally home they stand up to pull off their hoodie staying in nothing but a chest binder and shorts as they go over to the kitchen area to start on dinner. It isn’t much of a meal as all they do is pull out a jug of milk and get a bowl of popcorn started. While waiting for all of it to pop they drink directly from the jug until it's empty, belching loudly once complete. These habits seem to be second nature to them as there are several empty bags and milk jugs piled up in the overflowing trashcan crushing a dead rat in the process.

The smell of the butter fills the room as they poor a whole bowl of it over the popcorn, they stop briefly to clean the counter before heading to collapse on the mentioned couch and slipping an old VHS of the original Pretty Cure series into a video player before turning on the old box of a TV to start playing the worn-out tape. The best parts like the emotional scenes and transformations are the glitchiest, clearly from being rewound and watched too many times. This is not an issue for them who quotes every line of their favorite character flawlessly and in sync with the video. It is clear from the way they react they long to be in a friend group like the protagonist has but a sigh reveals they aren’t sure how to get it. Leroy shakes off the seriousness like usual as they continue to enjoy their nighttime ritual.

“Holy shi- cakes, what a mess!” A stranger’s voice fills the room to startle Leroy who immediately looks around for its origin. They were supposed to be alone like always, who would dare invade their dump? Walking over to see a few plastic ponies had fallen over on their shelf, they push them aside to find the glowing creature at the back then it hits them. They open their eyes on the floor with the pixie on their torso, looking confused before holding out an ant-sized hand. “Leroy right?” The tiny human’s wings buzz as they lift the little guy upwards, they pull the confused Leroy to their feet before continuing. “How can you live in such a place without barfing over everything?” The fairy insults the odor of the apartment as he begins flying around cleaning some stuff up. As he flies all over with cleaning supplies Leroy just sits on the floor squinting and scratching their head, they slowly approach the tiny creature-like a cat that just discovered insects exist. He notices and lands to face the curious human once more. “Don’t you want to help me?”

“No…” Leroy shakes their head as they watch the little guy’s arms go on his sides angrily.

“This is not a one-person job! Come on now!” The fairy crosses his arms and taps his foot on the coffee table. When the fairy starts moving again they grab a glass from the sink inching closer and once the moment strikes they place it over the fairy so they can properly examine the situation. “Hey lift this up now!” The little guy pounds on the glass, too weak for it to do anything. This gives Leroy the chance to slide a piece of paper under the glass, causing him to fall on his bum. They pick up the glass with the fairy trapped inside and chuck it out the window before locking it. Their eyes close tiredly as they think about what they just witnessed. 

“Too many late nights? Yeah, that’s gotta be it…” This is the last thing they say before removing the chest binder and sliding on their cleanest dirty shirt to faint into their bed that is more like a beanbag in the corner than a real mattress.

The sound of water running from the bathroom sink is heard before the tired face of Leroy appears in a mirror with a toothbrush. Outside the window, a crow lands in its nest regurgitating food to silence its children. Falling off of its back is the fairy from last night who flies upwards to search for a way inside. They spit into the sink moving on to do their makeup all in black unaware of the returning intruder. Finally ready Leroy walks down the complex’s hall, while waiting for the elevator an elderly lady appears beside them with four heavy bags.

“Need any help?” Leroy looks up from their phone to ask.

“Oh no, sorry I got this,” The lady looks frightened at the sight of them picking up her bags to grip tightly as she steps to the side to make room for them.

“Lemme guess, you’re going to the library again?” Leroy looks at the bags of about 100 different books their neighbor is known to check out every week. “Find anything good this time?”

“That’s none of your concern,” The elder’s raspy voice spits, disappointed like always. Her eyes close as she lets a self-centered line leave her breath. “But if you really must know I could write better crap in one night,” The elevator opens to release the lady who pushes past the confused Leroy. “I’m sorry dear but I can’t talk to you today.”

“Wasn’t forcing you to respond, jeez…” Leroy looks down slightly before rushing out of the elevator before it can close. Soon they are walking down the dirt road that weaves its way between junkyards and factories. There is so much garbage around that the water gurgles black goo with monstrous eyes glaring up at the bridge being crossed. As the fairy flies over the mentioned goo a monster pounces and captures him in its mouth, it doesn’t take long for sparkles to seep from its teeth causing an explosion that destroys its head, sending blood down the river so the fairy can continue flying after his subject of work.

While Leroy stops at an ice cream stand, scaring away a mother who shields her child from the individual, right as they go to order from the worker, who was trying her best to appear friendly, the fairy casts a spell to launch himself into their back. He pulls on their hood to lead them onto a bench across the street he then flies around and hovers above them angrily. “This is not a breakfast!”

“Is this a dream again?” Leroy remembers him from last night, scratching their head.

“What part of this looks like a dream!?” The fairy scolds.

“The part where there is some kind of fairy scolding me about my habits,” Leroy raises an eyebrow, hoping for an explanation.

“Oh, I forgot!” The fairy punches his fist as he remembers. He lands tugging the skirt of his maid getup to curtsy politely. “My name is Brian I am here to serve you from now on, hey wait!” His introduction is met by Leroy’s back as they slowly walk away, angered Brian flies around to the front of them while floating backward. “Why are you avoiding me?”

“I don’t want a maid,” Leroy keeps walking, watching as the fairy tries to stay in the lead. As much as it sounds like an intriguing anime plot the same freedom they want for themself they wish everyone in the world to have, having someone serve you mindlessly is not the way to go in their book. 

Brian does not seem to get that and only questions further. “Isn’t this like those cartoons-”

“Anime.”

“Those animes you like? I thought this getup would get a more positive response from you,” Brian puts a finger under his chin as he follows, he snaps his finger and changes from the maid uniform to his usual pink and green dress. “Still though, I am here to help you.”

“I only really watch mahou shoujo…” As they say it Brian snaps to become a more cat plush-like fairy with purple markings.

“Would this suffice~ian?” Brian tilts his head as Leroy stops with wide eyes, looking amazed. 

They reach out and pick up the little pink cat petting his head as he smiles happily, but the petting soon changes to a tighter grip as the excited Leroy soon becomes skeptical again. “Are you trying to trick me or something?” This question causes the fairy to shake his head and teleport from their grasp.

“All I want is to help you make happier and safer choices~ian,” He says very matter-of-factly, almost like it was scripted in case of an emergency.

“What exactly are you here to help with?” A brow is raised once more as Leroy crosses their arms to watch the little kitty sit with a paw pressed to his chest.

“The fairy queen specifically assigned me to aid as a sort of conscience~ian,” He walks beside them as they walk back to the ice cream stand. “For a while, it has seemed all of your choices have been for the detriment of your well-being. We seek to change that, I know you are capable of it if pushed hard enough~ian. Now would you like me to make a good breakfast for you~ian?”

“No thanks,” Leroy responds harshly, losing interest after the explanation. “Don’t need or wanna change!” They remain stubborn despite some part of them deep down wondering if this could change their life for the better. Their mind thinking about what they want now. On the other end, anger boils inside the fairy who poofs back into his default tiny human with wings and purple hair form. “Why is your queen trying to dictate my beat anyway? Sounds like a scam.”

“That would be because- Well it is not dictation, the decisions in the end are all your choice I will not force anything onto you,” Brian’s interruption of his dialog causes an eyebrow to be raised, Leroy does not trust him. The fairy flies over to make eye contact, startling them to look down at their feet anxiously. “I am only here to provide advice and maybe do some chores.”

“Can’t you leave!?” Changing their entire living situation is not something Leroy has ever thought possible, they even deemed it impossible. So for some fantastical stranger to suddenly show up and decide it was time for a change not only did it waste all of their efforts to do so in the past but it also just seemed very suspicious.

“I apologize greatly but no, I cannot leave your side until my queen says so and if it is not me then another fairy will be sent,” Brian watches as they finally get their ice cream cone and begin to eat it. There is a long awkward silence as Leroy considers what is happening, they wonder if this is a dream, even pinching their cheek to see. The fairy just waits patiently, unsure how to better explain it to them. The two stay side by side in the silence of the afternoon walk.

“So you’re just here forever now?” The silence is finally broken by a wondering Leroy who stops to watch the people in the park enjoying themselves.

“Yes, now is there anything you need?”

The question is considered as they turn to face Brian. The two stare at each other for a great moment in anticipation of what the other will say, Leroy’s mouth opens, and the outcome. “I wish to be a magical girl like hero!”

“What the fuc- cupcakes do you think I am some sort of genie!?” Brian is outraged, what he thought would be help with chores or permission to do his job turned out to be this ridiculous response. “No, I am not doing that!”

“You’re no fun,” They dissapointedly cross their arms before chuckling to themself. “I will say I’ve no need for a maid or a conscience.”

“Then what do you want me to do?” Brian maintains a cross look on his face before noticing a slip of sadness on Leroy’s face. The individual themself is watching as children make friends in the park’s playground, they see their parents conversing about a variety of things and even the crows fly around with their murder of friends.

“I do have an opening for a friend, actually a lot of openings for those…”

“I see,” Brian hovers for a moment watching the happy people walk by all with companions to laugh with. “Is there a particular reason?”

“Folks don’t like this,” They grip their hoodie near their chest tightly as they choke down some emotions. Thoughts intrude about their graffiti, the nightly police chase, and the looks, and whispers behind their back. The imagination of themself is seen wandering an empty mall reaching a hand out as a green-haired girl their age laughs as she abandons them. To close the intrusive mix of dreams and reality they close the conversation there. “That’s about it! It’s fine if you don’t want to befriend me though, I suck haha!”

“Are you okay?”

“Great! Now anyways,” Leroy nervously laughs and shuffles away before being stopped by a wait!

“If it's a friend you want then that is what I will be, would you like me to change into a human?”

“Hell no! Be yourself and we can settle for that, deal?” Leroy looks down at the now smiling fairy who lands on his shoulder.

“Alright it is a deal,” He nods as the two walk off together down through the golden streets. Still awkward but now conversing as the sun begins to set once more, Brian warns against doing their usual activities but like always no one can stop the artist from going wild with their graffiti. This is the start of a blossoming friendship, or maybe a rivalry as the two seem to argue far more than they agree. Oh well, it's all the start of an excellent series of adventures soon to take way in the bizarre land of Junction City.

[taocc-clara]

*a blue and cyan snow protection umbrella spawns in Clara's hands*

*they hold it tight so it doesn't blow away*

[liviavanrouge]

Dahlia Death

Dahlia: *Smiles, holding her umbrella as she walked through the rain, carrying a snack for Mikey*

Chris: Dahlia, hey! I didn't expect to see you out here!

Dahlia: Oh Chris..it's nice to see you but I must get going!

Chris: ....I wanted to ask..why'd you let him do it

Dahlia: Do what

Chris: Dahlia....You're fifteen, expecting Mikey's children, were you ever gonna tell him..

Dahlia: *Stares, her eyes wide in shock* How...you just returned from your school, how'd you find out....

Chris: I have my ways, I don't like that you're expecting Mikey's little spawns, nor do I like you being with him...

Dahlia: *Steps back alarmed* Chris, you're scaring me...

Chris: I didn't want things to end like this, but I know you'd never choose me over your beloved Mikey, I've been watching you..I've seen how happy you both are

Dahlia: CHRIS, STOP IT!!

Chris: And for that....I'll have to kill you

Dahlia: *Drops her umbrella, turning to run away*

???: *Swings their arm, hitting Dahlia outside the head with a brick*

Chris: *Smiles, narrowing his eyes, watching the blood get washed away towards a sewer drain* Ha...she looks prettier this way...

???: *Pulls their hood down, Dahlia's best friend standing beside Chris*

Chris: Good job, Harriet....

Harriet: *Nods, and walks away beside Chris*

???: *Steps out of the alleyway, his eyes wide on shock as he stared down at Dahlia*

Ryusei: *Sits on his knees and picks her up as the sound of a motorcycle came closer*

Mikey: *Stops not far from Ryusei, staring at him in shock* Dahlia....

Ryusei: Chris killed her....I'm sorry....

Mikey: *Runs over, Ryusei handing Dahlia over* Dahlia....

Ryusei: Manjiro...

Mikey: *Hugs Dahlia, his body trembling* Dahlia, I'm sorry

[microphone-invasion]

Chapter 9: The Final Battle pt.5

Edison: Don’t worry, I can just teleport us back. But, I figured I might as well teach you something: Which is Kamehameha.

Soul Keith: What? In? The? Sussy? World? Of? Imposters?

Chad: That was literally UNfunny.

Soul Keith: I don’t CARE.

Chad: I didn’t ask to see if you cared. Now please, SHUT UP.

Edison: Can we all just chill for a moment?

Soul Keith: I think yes.

Narrator: Then, Liam pulled off the tape.

Liam: -Gasp- I'm alive! Also, I will shut up. Even if you were talking to someone else.

Narrator: Then, Liam faints. For the fifth time.

Soul Keith: Good.

Moisty: That man has a problem. And I’m glad he fainted because Liam is like- really annoying. 

Soul Keith: True. I only came to make him suffer.

Edison: We are here to relax for 5 hours, so make the most out of it, and you guys want him out?

All (Except Edison & Liam): YES!

Edison: Alright then.

Chad: I’ll just chill like I’m at the beach.

Narrator: Then, Chad pulled out a beach chair, an umbrella and a towel.

Edison: Huh, that’s normal, anyways.

Narrator: Then Edison opened a portal (Like usual) and yeeted Liam in it. When Liam got in, the portal closed.

Edison: Well, that’s taken care of.

Moisty: OH MY GOD THANK YOU-! I’m glad he’s FINALLY GONE!

Edison: Doing what people want, anyways, back on track, wanna learn this? Kamehameha!

Narrator: Like before, a giant beam came out of Edison’s hand.

Chad: Whoa.

Garcello: Cool! But, can I use my force to stop it from hitting me?

Moisty: 5 words. How. Did. You. Do. That?

Edison: Garcello, you can’t stop the Kamehameha. And Moisty, I can teach you all how to do the KAMEHAMEHA!

Garcello: Dang.

Moisty: YES.

Chad: You guys okay in the heat? This umbrella can hold more than one person.

Edison: It’s literally 60 degrees outside.

Chad: I still don’t wanna get cooked alive. Go get inside this umbrella!

Narrator: And then Chad pulled everyone in his extra large umbrella.

Edison: Why, Chad? I’m perfectly fine. And everyone else is fine.

Garcello: I was actually getting hot.

Moisty: Same here!

Edison: Are you guys serious? 

Chad: Have you ever went to the bea-

Narrator: Chad was cut off by Edison.

Edison: WE GET IT! BUT NOW IT’S NOT THE TIME!

Chad: Sheesh. Chill!

Soul Keith: I want to just relax, but Edison, are there donuts here? I really want one.

Edison: Fine, here.

Narrator: Then Edison spawned everyone's favorite thing and food.

Edison: There, are you guys happy?

Garcello: Sweet.

Soul Keith: YES! I have been waiting for this moment for THREE YEARS! Dunkin’ was always sold out!

Moisty: Nice.

Chad: Finally, FOOD.

Edison: Enjoy it, it’s not gonna last though, since, you know, your universe is in danger.

Moisty: -Muffled- What do you mean?

Soul Keith: Wait, what? I’m dead. I can't die again… Right?

Edison: Right now, if I check… The Imitator has taken 40% of the universe.

Soul Keith: What in the world?

Chad: Oh no… We gotta get back to our world and stop him!

Garcello: We’re doomed…

Moisty: GREAT.

Edison: Don’t worry though, time is still stopped there, so we’re good, for now….

Soul Keith: THANK THE FLIPPING GOD. WE’RE SAVED! I think… 

Garcello: Not entirely. FunkiTown still has a time stop.

Edison: Yep. And the reason why I got you guys here is because the Kamehameha is almost strong enough to stop him.

Soul Keith: I need to learn that. NOW.

Edison: Alright, this only takes like 2 hours.

Soul Keith: Hold up, can I just encourage you guys by playing an electric guitar?

Garcello: TWO HOURS?

Narrator: 50 minutes later…

Edison: You guys mastered it already?! I’m impressed.

Moisty: Guess it’s not as bad.

Chad: Nice, but… I still lost my main power. I think the Imitator still has it.

Edison: Don’t worry, I can find a person to help us. But first, do you guys like Pokemon?

Narrator: Then they got teleported to the Pokemon Universe.

Soul Keith: OH HECK YEAH! I LOVE THIS! -catches mewtwo- E.Z.

Edison: Oh, we’re not here to catch pokemon, we’re here to meet a friend of mine here, and he so happens to be a Pokemon.

Soul Keith: Oh. Can I keep Mewtwo? And charizard? And Blastoise? And Dragonite? And Kabutops? PLEASE? And squirtle?

Edison: No, our friend here will NOT be happy.

Soul Keith:  FINE.

Narrator: Then, Soul Keith lets all of his pokemon go.

[messers-moony]

Devotion: Chapter Twenty-Two | F.H

Paring: Five Hargreeves X Fem!Reader (Series)

Summary: In which the Hargreeves siblings come together to stop the end of the world.

Disclaimer: I don’t own the Umbrella Academy. All rights go to the creators of the show, the comics and everyone in between. Gifs used in these chapters are NOT mine and are/were found on Pinterest.

Warnings: Cursing, Sex, Nudity, Violence, Gore, Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking, Intense Scenes, and Abuse (if I missed any let me know)

—Tempered Timeline

❝Thank you for your time.❞

She was tired. There was nothing more she wanted than to sleep. The universe was never kind. It was unusual to think that it would change its ways for one time. Everything looked the same. The interior hadn’t changed a day. Y/n was getting a headache. She tucked her hair behind her ears and turned around. Ben was still standing there. He looked nothing like the boy she knew. 

“Ben.” 

He narrowed his eyes. Luther walked toward him, “Is that really you?”

“And who are the weirdos on the balcony?” Y/n and Klaus jumped at Diego’s shouting.

“Jesus Christ,” Y/n muttered.

“They are the Sparrows.” Reginald replied, “My children.”

Y/n felt the house rumble beneath her feet. She turned to Five with wide eyes, “I'm sorry. What do you mean, your children?”

“That's not possible, old man.”

“Of course it is!” Reginald said, “I think I'd know, wouldn't I?”

She turned around to see all of them. They were standing with Ben on the foyer floor. Y/n counted. They only had seven. Her head was pounding. Y/n watched Klaus point at Ben, “Everybody else can see Ben, right?”

“A little too clear,”

“Cute hat, Sundance.”

“They call themselves the Umbrella Academy, a group of scheming, perfidious malcontents who accosted me in the fall of 1963 when I was away on business in Dallas.” Reginald announced, “Be warned. They claim to be my spawn.”

“Claim?” Allison asked, “Look, Five, what the hell is going on?”

“I don't know yet, but it's concerning.”

“Is he telling the truth?” Y/n turned to see the man with dark skin and hair. 

Vanya tilted her head, “Not the part about us being perfidious.”

“No,” Klaus replied, “We’re amateur-fidious, at best.”

 “But we are his children.” Vanya said, “This is our house.”

“Yeah, yeah. We, uh… We grew up here.”

Y/n sighed. The man with the melting face seemed amused, “‘Yeah, we grew up here.’”

“I kind of think we would have noticed you.” Long brown hair said.

“Hi. I'm Luther.”

“Okay. None of you belong here.”

“Oh!” The short-haired woman exclaimed, “Well, then. I guess we'll just pack our bags and move out.��

Y/n jumped when the cube started speaking. She tilted her head. It was just making squeaking noises. The cube’s head had nothing inside. She wondered if it was another one of Reginald’s experiments gone wrong, “You slay me, Chris.”

She heard heels on the floor and saw Grace in the archway. She still looked the same. She had a floral shirt with a blue and white apron. Grace was holding a white plate with cookies piled on top, “I wasn't expecting company. This is the best I could do on short-“

“Short… Short notice.” Her voice got deeper as it stuttered. 

“Mom.”

The black-haired woman scowled, “Mom? She's a robot, you perv.”

“It's not a robot.”

“Hey,” Luther called, “Don’t you call him that.”

“Or what?”

“Come closer and find out.”

“Luther!” Vanya called, “Guys, chill!”

Y/n tuned out the arguing. She was rubbing her temples. Their thoughts were so loud. Five tapped her left shoulder. She looked up to see his green eyes filled with concern. Y/n gave a week smile. He left his right hand on her shoulder. She consumed herself with his thoughts. He was worried and concerned, but not just for her. He was afraid for his family and concerned that they’d get hurt. She jumped, and Five’s hand lost contact with her shoulder when Klaus was punched. 

 “Hey!” Luther yelled, “What the hell? You didn't have to do that!”

Ben shrugged, “Oh, I'm pretty sure I did!”

“He did.”

“Get back!”

“Luther, hey!”

The dark-skinned male grabbed Luther’s stomach, “Back off!”

Y/n watched Luther throw his punch as the other man ducked. The man kicked him in the stomach and lifted Luther off his feet into Klaus. Y/n hissed as the couch flew backward from the weight. Luther fell on the rug beside Reginald, on top of Klaus. She could hear Klaus groaning. Y/n saw the man with the melted face heading toward her. She followed Allison and Vanya into the foyer. 

Her back was to the stairs. The man had his back to the wall separating it from the living room. He chuckled and tilted his head at her, “How old are you, little girl?”

“Does it really matter?”

“I suppose it doesn’t.” He said, crossing his arms, “I’d prefer not to go to jail for sending a minor to the hospital.”

Y/n shook her head, “What’s your name, tough guy?”

“Why?”

“You’ll need a headstone, won’t you?”

“Alphonso.”

She smiled, “Thank you for your time.”

He furrowed his eyebrows before he started groaning. Y/n clenched her fist. She could hear the bones in his right arm shattering until she felt the same pain in hers. She whined and lifted her left hand. Y/n held it facing her right arm, palm out and started holding the bones in place. She could feel the energy leaving her body. It felt like a beam ripping it from her. 

“How- How are you doing this?”

Y/n chuckled through the whining, “I’m not just a little girl,”

She waved her right hand and watched it bend backward. Y/n’s left hand fixed her bones before releasing the hold on herself and Alphonso. He grunted and fell to his knees. His left hand holding his right arm. Alphonso squinted at her, “You’re more powerful than I thought.”

“Well,” Y/n said smiling smugly, “Practice does make perfect, doesn’t it?”

Y/n turned around in the foyer to see Allison and Vanya gone. She sighed. Alphonso couldn’t do much with a broken arm, and Y/n couldn’t do much. She stood in the middle of the foyer when she heard footsteps on the wooden stairs. Y/n sighed, and Alphonso held a gleeful smile. But they weren’t footsteps. 

She looked down to see a boy in navy clothes at her feet. Y/n sighed and kicked his side lightly. He groaned. Y/n chuckled, “So, how was your trip down the steps?”

“Oh,” Five replied, “Fucking magnificent.”

Y/n laughed until she heard a voice in the living room, “See?”

“Bigger isn’t always better.”

“Is that what you tell your girlfriends?”

She saw the man from earlier standing on the coffee table. Luther was standing up. He swiped his feet as the other man jumped. The man lifted his leg from swinging and swiped Luther in the face. Luther groaned and flew over the couch. Five whined at her feet. 

“Come on, Five.”

Y/n extended her hand, and Five took it. He dusted himself off, and Y/n moved the sleeve of her shirt over her hand. She started wiping at the blood on his forehead. Five swatted her hand away, “I need you to save Luther’s ass.”

“What’s new?”

“I’m gonna find Allison,” Five said, “We need to get the fuck out of here, quick.”

“All right, I’ll see you on the other side.”

She heard a wisp, and Five was gone. Y/n sauntered into the living room. Her shoes made no noise against the usually noisy tile floor. The Sparrows were gathered around Luther in a small circle. Y/n overheard them talking about dinner and learned that the dark-haired man’s name was Marcus. He had a foot on Luther’s chest. 

“Yeah, that's the wrong answer, dude.”

Ben held up a finger to Alphonso, “Let him finish him off.”

“Then let's end this.”

Y/n cringed at Marcus stomping on Luther’s chest. She could hear the ribs breaking, and Marcus went for one final step. His foot was held mid-air. He pushed down again and struggled. His foot wouldn’t meet Luther’s chest, and Alphonso groaned. Marcus’ foot flew into the air, and he lost his balance. He fell onto his back. The Sparrows turned behind. 

“Hello.”

“This is the girl who broke your arm?” The black-haired girl asked. 

Alphonso nodded, “Yes, Jayme.”

“She looks the same age as the little boy I just kicked down the steps.”

Y/n narrowed her eyes, “Excuse me?”

“Protective, huh?” Jayme snickered, “Cute.”

Y/n didn’t get a chance to reply. Jayme was releasing a black substance from her mouth. Y/n saw the black veins in her neck and watched it fly from her mouth. She chuckled before holding up her palm. The substance stayed floating in between them. Y/n chuckled at Jayme’s shock.

“Yeah?” Y/n crossed her arms, “Let’s try that again.”

The black substance hit Jayme in the cheek. She seemed spaced out, and her eyes dilated. Y/n jumped when she heard Vanya’s voice, “Luther!”

“Vanya!”

She looked up and saw Vanya being held in the air. Vanya floated over to the living room, “Luther, Y/n, go! Get out!”

Vanya was pulled down faster than Y/n could counter. Vanya’s back hit the coffee table, and the table broke into wooden splinters. Y/n looked around and saw Luther gone. She sighed with relief. Y/n walked into the foyer and heard a wisp. She turned to see Five frantically looking around, “Where’s the briefcase?”

“Shit,” He cursed, “It’s gone.”

His eyes widened when they saw her. He held out his hand, and she didn’t take it. Y/n was staring in the living room, “Vanya, get out of there!”

Y/n watched the Sparrows surround Vanya. She was still lying on the broken coffee table. Y/n felt someone grip her hand tight. She looked down and saw Five’s hand wrapped securely around her wrist. Vanya’s skin went pale-white, and her chest began glowing. She couldn’t see anything else before blue electricity surrounded her like an old friend. 

They appeared outside the Academy. The warm air hit her like a brick. The spatial jumps were always freezing cold. She saw Luther, Allison, Diego, and Klaus standing outside. Her body shivered. Five pulled her into his chest. His heart was beating erratically. Y/n’s body was trembling. 

“You’re okay,” Five assured, “You’re okay.”

Y/n released a shaky breath, “I’m- I’m okay.”

She pulled away from him. Everyone was staring at them, “You try getting spatial jumped when you aren’t expecting it.”

“I have!” Diego raised his index finger. 

“I’m aware.” She deadpanned, and Diego smiled. 

Five sighed, “Come on,”

Y/n tucked her hair behind her ears. Five walked in front of the others. Luther and Allison weren’t far behind him. Klaus strolled the streets like a dazed cat. Y/n and Diego walked together in the back. His arm wrapped around her shoulders. They walked ten minutes away, and Y/n couldn’t feel her legs. Five led them to a park. 

The grass and scenery was beautiful. She found herself enjoying it despite her body feeling numb. Beside a pond was a white bridge with two white picnic tables and two brown benches. Y/n rubbed her temples before stumbling onto the first picnic table. She sat on the table and put her feet on the seat. 

Everything was too much. The sun was too hot. Her clothes were too itchy. Everyone was too loud. Her ears were ringing. Her head was pounding. Everything was spinning. Someone was talking, but she couldn’t hear them. The trees turned into green blobs. Everyone turned into mostly black chunks except for Five, who looked navy. He was snapping his fingers in her face. 

She didn’t get to reply because she fell head first into his jaw. Her skull pounded as a result.

The beach was a blur too. She couldn’t see. Her hearing was very faint. Her head still pounded. Y/n took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She could see concerned jade ones staring back at her. A steady hand on her left shoulder kept her in place. She rubbed her eyes, and everything went slightly into focus. Y/n saw Five in front of her and turned to see Diego on her left. His hand stroked her shoulder. 

Y/n turned more to the left to see Klaus lying on a picnic table on his back. His hair was sprawled against the wooden surface. The sun glazed his face. She saw Allison and Luther sitting on a park bench together. Allison had dried blood beneath her nose, and Luther had dried blood all around his hairline. Diego didn’t seem to harm, and Five had a massive spot on his left temple. 

“Oh,” Klaus sighed, “I'm cracking.”

“You all right?”

“I don't know yet.” Luther said, “I've just never had my ass handed to me like that before.”

He sighed, “It's like… Here you go.”

Y/n watched him cup his hands as a giving gesture, “It's your ass.”

“Okay, I think Luther's concussed.” Allison declared.

Klaus sat up on the seat of the picnic bench. He held out three fingers, “Luther, how many fingers?”

She groaned. The sun was too bright on her still sensitive eyes. Her head laid on Five’s shoulder. It pounded. She needed Tylenol. Y/n saw Luther look around. His eyes widened, “Oh my God. Vanya.”

Allison nodded and pointed toward the park entrance. Vanya limped to the park bench, “Thank God you're alive.”

“You okay?”

“Apparently, so is Ben.”

“Yeah.” Allison said, “And he's a complete dickhead.”

Diego scoffed, “They're all dickheads.”

“Dickheads who can fight.”

“Okay,” Five sighed, “The next person to say ‘dickhead’ is getting a punch to the throat.”

“Dickhead.”

“Dickhead.”

“Dickhead.”

“Dickhead.”

 Y/n chuckled and felt Five shake his head. She felt Diego’s hand leave her shoulder, “Hey, did Dad tell you why he was calling them his kids?”

She heard Klaus laughing, “He sure did!”

“You ready?” He asked, “Dad was so repulsed by us back in Texas, that he adopted an entirely different group of children just so that he didn't have to raise us.”

“That's just peak Dad.” 

“Isn't it?”

Vanya squinted her eyes, “So he just didn't want us anymore?”

“Did he ever?”

“See?” Luther said, “I told you we shouldn't have asked him for help in '63.”

“I think you're all missing the big picture here.” Five replied, “If Dad didn't adopt us as kids, he changed the timeline. So who knows what else is different now.”

Allison tilted her head, “Shouldn't you know?”

“Sorry, Allison, but it might take me more than 20 minutes and a traumatic brain injury to figure this all out.” Five retorted, “Is that okay with you?”

“No, actually, it's not.”

Y/n narrowed her eyes, “Jesus Christ, we just got back. Can we all get a break?”

“No, I’d like to go see my daughter,”

“Yes, and I’d like a very long nap,” Y/n deadpanned, “But we don’t always get what we want. Do we?”

“Guys, look, it's fine.” Vanya interjected, “We still have the Commission's briefcase, so worst case, we can just go back in time and fix it.”

Klaus snapped his fingers, “Great.” 

“Okay. There are two problems with that statement.” Five stood up from the bench. Y/n groaned and placed her head in her palm, “First off–“

“Here we go.”

“Time travel is complicated, people.”

Diego narrowed his eyes, “Yeah, we get it. Your job is so hard. Just what?”

“And secondly…” Five hesitated, “I no longer have the briefcase.”

“Five,” Allison called, standing up, “Where the hell is the briefcase?”

Five bit his lip, “When I went to retrieve it, it was no longer there. I can only assume that Grace or Reginald took it while we were fighting.”

“Amazing,” 

“Well,” Y/n blew a raspberry, “We need to get out of this park because we all look like shit. Luther and I need a lot of sleep. Allison and Five have blood dried all over their face. Klaus, Diego, and Vanya need a fucking break.”

Klaus sighed, “Agreed.”

“Yes, please.”

“Sleep sounds nice.”

Y/n swayed a little, “Perfect, let’s go.”

Five started to walk, and Vanya followed him. Luther and Allison weren’t far behind. Klaus wobbled on his feet. Diego put his arm around Y/n to keep her upright. She leaned most of her weight into his right side. The scenery was gorgeous. The trees were so green, and the flowers were vibrant. Y/n wiped the sweat on her forehead with her sleeve to find it tattered. She sighed and looked down at her pants. 

Her jeans were covered in new holes. Her shoes were scuffed. Y/n’s shirt was ripped all around her body. Time travel sucked. Her entire body still felt woozy from the unexpected spatial jump. She watched people stare at them. The people gave them judging looks. She didn’t bother. She couldn’t do anything until she slept. 

Allison was always too impatient, “What are we doing?”

“Ruminating.”

“Why is everyone staring at us?”

Diego narrowed his eyes, “Because we look like the damn Village People just lost a fight.”

He took Klaus’s hat. Klaus tried snatching it back, but Diego elbowed him lightly in the stomach. Y/n pushed off Diego and tucked her hair behind her ears. Her body felt like it was overheating. She couldn’t imagine what seven people, wearing all black, with dried blood, looked like.

“You know what?” Allison said, “I need to go find Claire. I will catch up with you guys later.”

“Hey, Allison, no.” Vanya replied, “First, let's get somewhere safe, clean up those cuts, and then we'll go find her.”

“Man, I hate those guys.”

Y/n looked up to see a billboard of the Sparrows. They had catchphrases on them with pictures of the members. She tilted her head. The Umbrella Academy didn’t get far enough for that. She saw Luther look loathingly at the image, “Look at 'em with their… stupid smug…”

“You can do it.” Klaus encouraged, “You can do it.”

“S- s- smug- smugness.”

Klaus sighed, “Keep working on it, big guy. You'll land one, eventually.”

“But honestly, what are we doing?” Allison asked, “We can't stand here bleeding out in this park.”

Y/n shrugged, “I’d rather bleed out in a park than the Academy.” 

Diego ruffled her hair, “I don't know, but we better gear up fast before they come for round two.”

“What makes you think they'll come after us?”

“Because I would.”

Y/n chuckled, “They aren’t you, vengeance.”

“Aren’t you his Robin?” Klaus asked.

Diego laughed, and Y/n huffed. Klaus waved his hand, “We did break into their house…”

“Our house.”

“Bust up all their nice antiques and shit.”

“Yeah.” Luther said, “I don't think the crime-fighting… super nerds are gonna let that go.”

Five placed his hands in his pockets, “Let's just think of some place off the radar where we can lie low and not draw attention.”

“What kind of a weird-ass place are we not gonna draw attention?”

Y/n looked at Klaus swaying in the air. He twirled his body, moving the weight of his arms around. She saw everyone slowly turn to Klaus from her peripheral vision. Klaus looked around aimlessly at the eyes. His hair was slightly frizzed, and his dog tags made a subtle clink noise. He smiled.

“I have the perfect place.”

Klaus skipped in front of the group. Y/n shook her head lightly with a fond smile. They walked deeper into the city. The area still looked the same except for the new billboards and posters. Y/n remembered walking the streets daily to get fresh air. The parks were always so lovely. She’d walk to the pharmacy, Klaus’ rehab facility, Diego’s gym, and Vanya’s apartment. 

The city was bustling with people. She heard cars against asphalt, people talking, music playing, and animals. She followed Klaus as they walked blocks away from the Academy. In the middle of downtown was a huge hotel. It was multiple stories high and made out of brick. A black overhead at the entrance read ‘The Hotel Obsidian.’ There were two revolving doors. She watched everyone walk into the left door in the same cubby. 

Y/n was squished between Klaus and Diego, “Oh. Okay. Honestly? We don't all need to be squeezed-”

She stepped out of the door. The hotel lobby had a high ceiling and stairs leading up straight ahead. Elegant light fixtures were lighting up the entrance. The sun covered the room with orange rays. The floor was carpet. To the left and right were sitting areas. The main desk was to the right of the doors. To the left was a bar and buffet with a dining area. 

“There were two entrances, by the way.”

“Oh, Hotel Obsidian.” Klaus said, “I missed you, you slutty old dame.”

“Absorb her. Absorb her into your bosom.” He continued, “You know, 'cause back in her heyday, she played host to world leaders. Roosevelt, Gandhi, Stalin, Gorbachev, Castro, King Olaf of Norway, one of the Kim Jongs, Tito, Dalai Lama, Elvis, and not one but two Kardashians, allegedly.”

Y/n could see people staring. She watched Allison roll her eyes and stroll away, “Wouldn't that- Where you going?”

“I gotta make a call.”

“Nowadays, she's just a flophouse, a party house for those of us not looking to be judged by society's rules and norms,” Klaus said.

“You mean a place to hide?”

“Exactly!” He exclaimed, “It's perfect!”

“And the best part of it is, she's gonna look after us, no questions asked. Never ever. Right?”

Y/n could hear phones ringing in the background. It played like a broken record. She followed Klaus to the front desk. It was wooden and had a black countertop. Behind the black countertop was a pug sitting on a fluffy pink bed. Y/n tilted her head, and the dog just kept panting. 

Klaus tapped the bell, “Chet! Mon frère! It's so great to see you.”

A man wearing a blue and yellow blazer approached the counter, “I'd like my usual suite, por favor.”

“I've never seen you before.” Y/n watched Luther and Diego pet the small dog. 

“See? Told you.” Klaus said, “Discreet.”

“Please stop scaring my dog.” Both men backed away as Y/n snorted.

“We need some rooms, please.” 

“Super,” The man grabbed a sign from behind the counter, “And how will we be paying today?”

The sign read ‘Cash up front.’ Y/n sighed. Luther rolled his eyes, “Fine. Empty your pockets.”

Y/n dug through her pocks. She could feel the silver knife still in her front pocket. Y/n squeezed the handle with her fingers. The cold metal was soothing on her sweaty palms. In her back pocket was a wallet she had stolen in Dallas. It had cash inside, but she left it in her back pocket. 

She watched Klaus pull out condoms from his pocket. Diego grabbed his knife and held it from the black handle. Five held out the old Commission candies. She slapped and took the sweets from his hand. Y/n threw them back into the main entrance. Five narrowed his eyes. Vanya held out peppermints.

“Condom?” Luther asked, “Put the knife away!”

Diego put his knife back into his pocket. She watched Luther dig through his pockets and pull out a translucent item, “Why do I have a hairnet?”

Y/n watched him look at his wrist and take off the watch from Elliott’s, “What does this get us?”

Chet took the watch and looked at it under a magnifying glass. Y/n tilted her head. The man looked and placed the watch on the counter. Chet turned around and grabbed two keys sitting side by side. The keys jingled as he put them on the black countertop, “Two rooms. Mazel tov.”

“Awesome.” Klaus took the key to the left.

Allison snatched the right key, “Well, let's Brady Bunch this bitch.”

Y/n sighed, and her shoes dragged on the carpet to the elevator. Five looked around, “Uh, meet back in the bar in two hours so we can make a plan.”

“I have a plan.” Diego said, “We attack the Sparrows, and we take back our house, and then we punch Dad a bit until he admits that we're better and he loves us more. Boom! Done! We're wasting time!”

She slumped up the stairs. Her legs still felt like jello. Y/n leaned on the elevator behind Five. She watched him click a button and closed her eyes. Klaus and Diego were talking, but she couldn’t hear them. Y/n felt someone push her, and she stumbled forward. Five flew forward and gripped the front of the elevator. He turned around to see her holding desperately onto the railing. He sighed. 

The elevator creaked, and she felt it beneath her feet. It was a slow ride to their floor. It was quiet. The doors dinged open three minutes later. Y/n groaned and opened her eyes. She followed Diego. Klaus put the key into the door, and it clicked open. It had green palm wallpaper. The doorframe was cracked. There were two windows letting light in. The carpet was no different from the lobby. There was a mattress in the right corner and bunk beds in the left corner. Y/n saw a couch in the middle of the two windows. To the left were two armchairs with a small circle table. 

“Oh!” Klaus gasped, “See? It's paradise.”

“High ceilings, sense of space. Aromatic.”

“What the hell? Diego cursed, “Where's the bathroom?”

“Down the hall, or…” Y/n watched Klaus open the window closest to the bunk beds, “Nature's bathroom.”

Diego sniffed, “You're disgusting.”

“But consistent.”

Y/n watched Five shrug off his blazer, “Let's unpack. Settle in.”

She rubbed her eyes tiredly. Y/n watched Klaus unzip his pants and sighed. She watched Five put his blazer on the pole of the bunkbeds. Y/n sat on the bottom bunk and untied her shoes. Luther looked around the room, “Unpack? Unpack what? We don't own anything anymore.”

“Yes, Luther.” Five retorted, “Isn't that liberating?”

“What are you, a commie?”

Y/n heard urine trickling from her left and kicked off both her shoes. Five watched her slide into the bottom bunk. Y/n scooted against the wall. She thought the bed was smaller than a usual twin. Y/n pulled the comforter from above the pillow and slid under it. It was itchy. The pillow was rough beneath her cheek. She closed her eyes and felt someone sliding into it beside her. She felt someone put their arm around her. Y/n opened her eyes to see Five pulling her onto his chest. She moved her cheek and placed it on his chest. Her eyes were slowly drooping.

“No!” Diego yelled, “If I wanted bunk beds and group showers, I would've stayed in the Texas nuthouse.”

“Quite frankly,” Y/n muttered, “I’d rather be here.”

Diego scoffed, “At least they had free Jell-O.”

“I didn’t get Jell-O.”

The bed squeaked as Luther sat on it. Y/n snorted, and Klaus climbed on the top bunk. She watched Diego mutter something under his breath, but Klaus creaked the bed above her, “Jell-O!”

“Hey, Diego,” Five called, “I just spent the past 20 straight days saving the world. Twice.”

“Can I get five minutes to relax before figuring all the new kinks out? Please and thank you.”

Y/n watched Diego groan and hit his head against the wall. She chuckled and closed her eyes. Five was a better pillow. Her body curved against his. Klaus was still jumping above her, and Luther’s mattress occasionally squeaked, but she didn’t want to be elsewhere. She let her breathing even out and slipped into sleep. 

She was protected, loved, and secure. That was enough for now. 

The beach was peaceful. The waves hit her feet, and the stars were bright. She leaned her back against the sand. It was in her hair and getting in her shirt. The cool breeze hit her face. It felt so long since she’d looked at the stars and their intricacies. She saw constellations and remembered their stories. She spoke to no one and let her body relax in the hands of her dream world. Y/n woke up to Five moving from beneath her. 

She groaned and opened her eyes before closing them again. The sun was still too bright. Five chuckled and closed the curtains before kneeling at the bed. Y/n opened her eyes to see the room barely lit by the lightbulbs. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, “I forgot what a deep sleeper you are.”

“Shut up.”

“How did you survive the Commission?” He snickered, “You sleep like a rock.”

She shrugged, “I dunno.”

“You need new clothes and a shower.”

“Are you trying to tell me something, Hargreeves?”

“No,” He replied, “But I’m going to have a shvitz.”

“Okay,”

Five smiled before getting off the bed. She heard his shoes tap against the floor. The door opened and shut closed behind him. Y/n stretched before swinging her legs off the mattress. Thankfully, they no longer felt like jello. She got up and walked out of the room. The door closed with a click. Y/n walked down the hallway to find the bathroom and opened the door. 

It was disgusting. The white tiles weren’t white. There were three bathtubs in the center of the room. Straight ahead were three sinks and three mirrors. They were put in three stations. On the side of the room were shower stations with blue doors. Y/n sighed before walking into the first one on the left. She swung the door closed and locked it. In the stall were shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. She stripped her clothes and placed them out of the water’s reach. She turned the water to warm and started her shower. 

The bathroom was disgustingly humid when she opened the shower door. Her tattered long sleeve stuck to her arms, and her pants were uncomfortably tight. Y/n’s hair was still damp. She took a towel and dried it the best she could. It was still wet, but it wasn’t dripping. Y/n walked out of the bathroom and took an elevator to the lobby. She saw Klaus, Luther, and Diego opening Chinese food containers in the dining room. She smiled and took a seat on Diego’s right. 

Diego was setting out the boxes. He handed one to Y/n, “Figured you’d be hungry. This is all yours, sis.”

“Thank you,” Y/n grabbed a slip of chopsticks. 

She bent the metal bar down and unfolded the top of the box. The smell of food made her more hungry. Y/n dug her chopsticks into the container and started eating. Luther and Diego shoved chow mein into their mouths as Klaus ate delicately. She snickered as Klaus picked around at his container. 

“You should try chewing,” Klaus said, “You might actually taste the food.”

“I haven't eaten in days.”

Y/n saw the chair to her right get pulled backward. Five was plopping himself on the wooden chair. His hair was still slightly damp, and he wore a fluffy white robe. Y/n tilted her head, and Luther narrowed his eyes, “What's wrong? You look happy.”

“I am plenty happy. Had a nap and a shvitz.” Five replied, “What does a man need?”

“Brothers who don't eat like barn animals?”

Y/n snorted as Diego and Luther looked up. Five smiled fondly, “So I've been thinking through our little timeline snafu, and I'm pleased to report that in my professional, expert opinion, we are totally in the clear.”

“Awesome!”

“Huh!”

“Great.”

“Yeah.” Luther said, “So everything's totally fine?”

Five grabbed a slip of chopsticks, “More or less. I mean, there is one… small thing. It's nothing we can't manage.”

Y/n watched him grab a container and start to open it. Diego was still chewing, “So spit it out, Boomer!”

“Fine, Diego, it's like this.” Five said, “Dad didn't adopt us as babies, but those babies still existed here. We just grew up in different places with different people.”

“So?”

“So where are they now?” Five asked, “Odds are, we each have identical versions of ourselves walking around out there, living completely different lives.”

Luther gasped, “Our doppelgängers!”

“That's a made-up word,” Klaus replied.

“No, no! I learned all about this in Texas.” Luther said, “Tell him about the paranoid psychosis, Five.”

Y/n narrowed her eyes, “You mean paradox psychosis?”

“Yes,” 

Diego glared, “I thought you said this wasn't a problem.”

“Okay, yes, technically, if you're near your doppel for long, you'll go insane. So, if you see your other self-“

“Kill them.”

“Sleep with them.”

“Avoid them.”

Luther stared incredulously, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Come on.” Klaus drawled, “As if you wouldn't climb Luther Mountain.”

“Wait,” Diego said, “How are we supposed to guarantee we don't cross paths with ourselves?”

“Easy. We're the Benetton ad of superheroes, born all around the world until Dad brought us here, which he no longer did.” Five replied, “Doppels probably aren't even in the same time zone as us.”

“That's true.”

“Yeah.”

Five pointed at a container, “Would you pass the moo shu?”

Y/n jumped when Diego lurched forward. She looked down at the chair and saw his knife sticking out. Y/n put her chopsticks in the container and placed it on the table. She turned around at the same time as Diego. There in the distance was Lila. She had blonde hair with the same choppy fringe. She had a plaid skirt, black tank top, a jean jacket, tights, and boots. In her left hand was a briefcase.

“Hold up.” Diego put his food on the table. 

“I'll be right back.”

Y/n jumped off her chair and followed Diego down the halls. The hotel was grossly warm. Y/n felt the sweat piling on her back, and she sighed. She followed Diego walking through the maze of hallways. The lights were always dim, and it helped ease tension on Y/n’s eyes. They turned a corner to see Lila leaning against the wall. 

Y/n crossed her arms.