#the SOS is that loudest bird on earth noise

[black-and-yellow]

The Warning Call.

[x-hyzenthlay-x]

Haso! Haven’t made on in a little bit so here ya go <3 the loudest big cat on the planet is a lion with a roar that is up to 114 decibels.

A jet engine is about 120 decibels or higher depending on the engine

And the loudest human shout was 129 decibels

Humans are so small and yet we can make noises so loud it can overcome not just other apex predators but powerful explosive machines as well 0-0

There’s a theory that humans evolved to be so loud because of other apex predators. Our loudness actually scares them away because in the wilderness the louder something is the stronger it is. Now in the case of humans this is basically the equivalent of a bluff if your comparing a grizzly or a lion or tiger to a human lol. But it works and that’s what matters.

Bluffing is pretty common in the animal kingdom. (Cats becoming puff balls to look mean. Birds expanding their feathers to appear bigger.) humans just learned instead of making ourselves look better we can take some advice from tigers and stun others with sound. :)

Something I find very fascinating is that humans and loudness are so intertwined on earth that if you took a speaker and put it in the woods (this was an actual experiment done) and just played some human noises, all life in the area (minus a few prey species) will flee. This included large predators that could easily over take us. It wasn’t just yelling noises played on this speaker though. Other noises like calm poetry, laughter, and others were played and no matter how aggressive or soft it was the animals fled.

It seems like humans have been ingrained into the minds of almost all life on this planet. And in the worst possible way.

I also really enjoy imagining a dude yodeling to display dominance over his property if he lives in bear country

[sacrificialblood]

prompt lists are evil cause there's always too much good stuff smh

but this "Protecting your lover's sleep as they doze on your lap, making sure nobody bothers them as they entrusted their peace to you." immediately made me think of Bo

alternatively, I just loved the mental image of this "Not accepting that it's time to start the day, and pinning them onto the mattress with either your whole body, a leg, or more risque touches." with any of our big strong men 😂 "pinning them down"? wouldn't be my 5'3 ass 😂

- 🔪

reader is gender neutral!

BO SINCLAIR

He knows you're tired, it's clear as day. Your eyes say it all, unfocused and bleary, can hardly stay open, even when he's talking to you. And he's prideful of having that allure, that no matter what he says, you'll always have your attention fixed on him. He likes that. He loves your love of him. He drinks it in, could bask in it all day and still ask for more.

Bo’s greedy like that.

Still, he has his moments of mercy and his uneasy reciprocation of love.

He doesn’t know how to verbalize his offer when you sit next to him on the couch, barely enough energy left in you to hold your head up straight. He’s never been good with words like that, never been good with kindness, so he places a hand on your shoulder — it jerks you awake, however briefly — and leads your torso down. You take the hint, always been so smart and so fast to catch onto his wants, and lay your head on his lap and curl your legs up.

You thank him as he strokes your cheek with his thumb. And he mumbles under his breath how it ain’t nothin’ even though his cheeks are red and he’s nervous as can be, because you could have easily just refused and marched on off to bed. Instead, you trusted him enough to sleep around him.

It’s not long until you’re out like a light.

There’s not much for him to do while you nap. He reads whatever magazine is on the end table front to back and catches up on all the celebrity gossip that you just can’t seem to get enough of. Not once does he think of getting up. Any jostle, any flinch that could wake you up is out of the question even if that means his legs start going numb with pins and needles. His books on the shelf are off limits until you wake up.

There’s nothing good on cable and he can’t just go pick out a VHS tape or DVD from his massive collection, so he settles on whatever documentary is running on the Discovery channel. He doesn’t pay it much mind, it doesn’t interest him one bit but it’s nice to have the company of another voice.

He lowers the volume on the television until he can hardly hear it. Content that even the loudest of noises won’t wake you.

Not even the dog gets a crack at you, Bo shoos her away with a muttered command and the wave of his hand, and she huffs in displeasure as she turns to find someone else to bother. Someone else being Vincent, of course.

You trusted him with this — isn’t that an important part of a relationship, showing trust and vulnerability? You make it seem so easy. You know what he is: dangerous, manipulative, greedy, a killer and yet you still display vulnerability and entrust him with it.

He’s not good at that but he can try.

Bo rests his arm on your side and with his other arm, he snakes his hand between his thigh and your cheek and just holds you. You’re soft and kind, two things he’s never gotten out of life, and if you can trust someone like him, then it should be easy to show that same trust to you.

Bo tilts his head back against the couch and closes his eyes.

You couldn’t fault him for trying.

JASON VOORHEES

It's still early. The room is lit up with dark blues and greys of the early morning, that space between going to bed late and waking up early. It's the only time you like being up early. The birds have yet to wake up and other wildlife hidden away, waiting for the right time when the sun starts to heat up the earth. In that hour, Jason can still be lulled back to bed, coaxed by your hands and sweet promises starting the day together soon, if he just holds you a little longer.

But he’s shifting, eager to start his day of checking traps and stalking any campers. It’s the on season, odds are you won’t see him soon after he leaves for the day. You’re mornings together are already so short. You will make coffee for yourself and he will push past you and stop only to press the bottom half of his mask against the crown of your head before walking out the front door, not to be seen again until hours past sundown, which with the long days and late sunsets leaves you worried.

There’s nothing that can be done to stop him. Jason is a force of nature. That doesn’t mean you can’t try and delay him a while.

He doesn’t need sleep but he likes sharing the bed with you, like to watch you sleep. His role as a silent protector never ending. You turn to face him and smile.

He’s still out of bed yet, too busy untangling the sheets from his ankles, the flat sheet that you had kicked down in your sleep trapping him in bed a moment longer than usual. He doesn’t notice you staring.

Jason doesn’t ever move unless he wants to be and you expected some resistance when you straddled his lap and pushed him back onto the bed with both of your hands on his shoulders. He doesn’t fight it at all, willingly submits to your whim like he doesn’t want to be up either. There’s no vocal objection to it.

You stare down at him, hands still bearing down on his shoulders like you hold the power here, as if he couldn’t easily sit back up and snap your wrists like twigs. You see nothing in his eyes but exhaustion.

Whatever force that brought him back, that compelled him to kill campers on the lake, on his property, his home, would not let him rest.

“I know, sweet boy,” you sigh, “Just a minute more. I miss you.”

He nods. It’s an acknowledgement, an agreement, a mournful reciprocation.

Jason pulls you down against him, arms locked right around your waist. You’re not sure which sense he still has or if they all died with him. He still breathes air into his lungs that do not need it, he eats food that doesn’t not supply him with energy, drinks water and lies on his back with his eyes closed and his fingers linked over his stomach. He still works against his new nature, whether for your own comfort or out of old habits. Maybe it is for you.

He allows another two minutes of delay.

[ingolds]

◎ 𝙻𝙴𝚃'𝚂 𝙳𝙾 𝙰 𝚆𝙴𝙸𝚁𝙳 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶.

WHAT THEY SMELL LIKE. if you’ve ever smelled cedrat boise by mancera, that’s the one. theo smells like the earth; like citrus, greenery, and musk. he smells fresh and outdoorsy, with specific notes of lemon, bergamot, and cedar. most of their time is spent in nature, so there’s a natural woodsy and like. animalic scent. not bad, just masculine and inherently theo.

HOW THEY SLEEP. SLEEPING POSITION. SCHEDULE. ETC… sprawled out. they’ll sleep literally anywhere, any way, anyhow. in the nude, clothed, in a bed, underneath a tree. rest is necessary for health; the only requirement theo has is that they’re safe and won’t be disturbed. they go back and forth on being nocturnal and not, and they’re typically a very light sleeper. they don’t need much rest to function but every once in a while will knock out cold for upwards of 12 hours, just to sort of “ recoup. ” this especially applies if he’s been hurt.

WHAT MUSIC THEY ENJOY. not a huge fan of music in general, actually. they have a soft spot for classical music and ancient instruments, but don’t specifically seek out tunes to listen to. they’re happy to exist in silence, or with the background noise of people talking / animals chattering.

HOW MUCH TIME THEY SPEND GETTING READY EACH MORNING. decent amount. maybe 30 minutes? shower, shave, etc. general hygiene stuff. his hair takes a minute in terms of putting product in and shaping it. he does like looking good and puts in some effort to do so.

FAVORITE THING TO COLLECT. he doesn’t really collect things! theo isn’t a very sentimental person. they don’t like reminders of their past or to be tied down to any particular place. the idea of collecting artwork or ancient tools is an appealing one but he would never take that step.

LEFT OR RIGHT HANDED. left-handed. however, he can handle a sword in both.

FAVORITE SPORT(S). hunting. lmao. does that count as a sport? only for him, though; he doesn’t care for the way humans hunt for sport / bragging rights. he also likes any physical sport: rugby, american football, mma. watching people beat the shit out of each other is always fun. he also likes soccer.

FAVORITE TOURISTY THING TO DO WHEN TRAVELING. museums. 100%, easy. he’s ancient so he loves getting to see artifacts and exhibits from when he was younger. he also likes going on hikes, but prefers to do it on his own and go to less popular ones.

FAVORITE KIND OF WEATHER. rain. the far-off rumble of thunder, lightning behind clouds. the air is cooler when it rains, and the world smells fresh, alive. they like how the ground squishes between their paw pads and how birds chirp loudest as raindrops first begin to fall from the sky. rain is healing, nurturing, and an important part of life. they live for rainstorms.

WEIRD / OBSCURE FEAR THEY HAVE. it’s only weird because it’s unlikely to happen again, but somebody attempted to remove their head from their shoulders before, and they have a general fear of that. werewolves aren’t hunted ardently anymore but there are fringe groups that still try.

THE CARNVIVAL / ARCADE GAME THEY ALWAYS WIN WITHOUT FAIL. master of that game where you swing the hammer down and ring the bell. because of the super strength, obviously. he’ll win you a teddy bear every time.

tagged by: nobody, i saw it and wanted to do it tagging: steal it if you like!

[thegrandimago]

This time last April, on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the world was coming to grips with the isolation of quarantine and the economic and travel slowdowns that defined the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even now, with the rollout of vaccines, the virus continues to affect our daily lives. And the toll keeps growing: 3 million dead and more than 140 million cases worldwide.

If anything, the worst public health crisis in a century has brought our understanding of our planet, and our place in the fragile yet resilient web of life throughout it, into stark relief.

Amid so much grief and loss and uncertainty, the biodiversity crisis paced ahead over the past year, becoming a much bigger theme on the world stage. The climate crisis worsened, too. Wildfires blazed. Ecosystems became even more fouled up than they already were.

At the same time, the marked reduction in human activity spurred by the pandemic — what some experts have dubbed the “Anthropause” — has afforded scientists and researchers opportunities to observe the natural world like never before. Coinciding with these unique observational windows has been an increase in attention on Indigenous knowledge and land stewardship as a way forward in combating ecological catastrophe.

In true Vox tradition, here are the 10 most concerning, intriguing, and — dare we say — hopeful things we learned about our planet since the last Earth Day.

1) We saw just how quickly ocean noise pollution can drop, and how much that can help marine life

For a moment last spring, things got very quiet in the oceans.

The drop in human activity that came with the pandemic resulted in drastic and voluntary sound reductions that ran the underwater gamut: from a drop in shipping noise, the predominant source of man-made ocean noise pollution, to decreases in recreation and tourism. All of it suddenly ceased.

In Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park, the foraging grounds of humpback whales, the loudest underwater sounds last May were less than half as loud as those in May 2018, according to a Cornell University analysis. A May 2020 paper in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America found that underwater noise off the Vancouver coast was half as loud in April as the loudest sounds recorded in the months preceding the shipping traffic slowdown.

Chronic underwater ocean noise had been rising over the past few decades, to the detriment of marine life that have evolved to use sound to navigate their world. “There is clear evidence that noise compromises hearing ability and induces physiological and behavioral changes in marine animals,” reads an assessment of marine noise pollution research published in the journal Science in February.

The majority of ocean noise pollution is a byproduct of economic activity. But compared with massively complex issues like climate change, noise is relatively easy to turn down, at least a little. Silencing it at its source has an immediate positive impact: Famously, researchers studying right whales on the East Coast measured a drop in the animals’ stress hormones in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, after shipping traffic abruptly dropped. Even tiny fish larvae are better able to locate the coral reefs where they were born, which themselves emit sound, when the oceans get quiet.

Man-made ocean noise has since ramped back up and is now stabilized near pre-pandemic levels. But it fell silent for long enough last March, April, and May that a global team of scientists is actively scrubbing through audio recordings gathered by around 230 non-military hydrophones — underwater microphones — that monitor ocean noise around the world. They aim to study the “year of the quiet ocean” in the context of ocean sounds before, during, and after the pandemic.

2) A new study found that the Amazon is likely warming — not cooling — the planet

The world’s largest and most species-rich tropical forest, the Amazon, is home to billions of trees that not only provide refuge to a diverse assemblage of organisms but also store and absorb a huge amount of carbon dioxide.

That’s what makes the conclusion of a study published this spring so alarming: Due to human activity, the Amazon is likely contributing to — not offsetting, as one might expect— global warming. “The current net biogeochemical effect of the Amazon Basin is most likely to warm the atmosphere,” the researchers wrote in the paper.

While the Amazon is still absorbing loads of CO2, human activities in the basin, such as deforestation, are driving up emissions of CO2 and other more potent greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide across the basin.

Deforestation, for one, deals a double punch: It both releases gases into the atmosphere and removes CO2-absorbing trees from the equation. That equation now sees the Amazon generating more greenhouse gases than it emits, the study suggests. (It’s worth noting, though, this is all really complicated. For more, check out Craig Welch’s story in National Geographic or read the full study here.)

3) We discovered a bunch of new species

While humans have made a mark on all corners of Earth, we’ve only discovered a small fraction of the species that occupy it. In fact, that fraction could be smaller than 1 percent. And remarkably, not all of those species are tiny microbes and insects. They’re also fish, lizards, bats, and even whales. That’s right: Even giant mammals can elude scientists.

In January, researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said they discovered a new species of baleen whale in the Gulf of Mexico. (You can find the paper describing the discovery here.) Other teams of scientists are also on the trail of what could be yet another new whale species.

Last year, researchers documented scores of new plants and animals, from geckos and sea slugs to flowering plants and sand dollars, as Vox’s Brian Resnick reported. Our favorite? Brookesia nana, a thumbnail-sized chameleon native to northern Madagascar. It may be the smallest reptile on Earth; it’s certainly the cutest.

4) We got a much clearer picture of just how much wildlife we’re losing

The numbers aren’t good.

In September, the World Wildlife Fund published a report showing that the global populations of several major animal groups, including mammals and birds, have declined by almost 70 percent in the last 50 years due to human activity.

A separate report, published in Nature this year, found that populations of ocean sharks and rays have plummeted by more than 70 percent in roughly the same period. And one-third of freshwater fish have been found to be at risk of extinction.

A number of species were also declared extinct over the last year. Those include the smooth handfish, a bottom-dweller that rests atop human-like appendages on the seafloor. It was the first marine fish species to be declared extinct in modern history. (Environmental journalist John Platt has a list of recent extinctions in 2020 at Scientific American.)

5) Protecting plants and animals hinges on a thriving ecotourism industry

In the early days of the pandemic, the popular “Nature is healing” meme overshadowed a darker reality in many parts of the world: As travel ground to a halt, so did revenue from wildlife tourism, putting some wildlife conservation efforts at risk.

The fallout was most severe in Africa. According to a new collection of research from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a government and civil society group, more than half of the continent’s protected areas had to pause or limit field patrols and other operations to stop poachers in the wake of the pandemic.

“Parks have emptied out to a large extent and there’s no money coming in,” Nigel Dudley, a co-author of one of the IUCN papers, told Reuters last month.

Some communities are deeply reliant on wildlife tourism. Late last year, Vox’s Brian Resnick spoke to veterinarian Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, who is working to keep coronavirus-susceptible gorillas alive in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

When tourism dropped, “everybody was struggling,” she said. “The local economy suffered and poaching went up.” (You can read more of Resnick’s conversation with her here.)

6) Researchers uncovered more proof that a key system of ocean currents is weakening

Graphics that show changes in ocean temperature over time generally reveal one trend: The ocean is heating up. But there’s one critical exception. Just below Greenland lies a large patch of water that’s cooling off. And that patch has scientists concerned that we could be nearing a tipping point for the climate.

The cold patch, scientists say, signals that a network of currents that bring warm water to the North Atlantic — known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC — is slowing down, and the melting of ice on Greenland is likely a culprit. One paper, published in the journal Nature in March, suggests that the current AMOC slowdown is “unprecedented in over a thousand years.”

The AMOC shapes weather across multiple continents, so any major slowdown will carry major consequences that could include faster sea-level rise in some regions, stronger hurricanes, and other changes in weather, to say nothing of the impacts to marine ecosystems.

But to be clear, the science on this is new and complex. For a great run-down, check out this recent visual feature in the New York Times.

7) The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs gave rise to the Amazon rainforest

The massive asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago may be best known for driving non-avian dinosaurs to extinction, but it also transformed entire ecosystems.

It may have even given rise to the Amazon rainforest, according to a study published in Science earlier this month. The finding is based on an analysis of about 50,000 fossil pollen records and 6,000 fossil leaf records in Colombia from before and after the asteroid crashed into what is now Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

The data reveals two vastly different forests. Before the event, the forests were stocked with conifers and ferns, and the trees were spread out, with plenty of room for light to stream through the canopy. After the asteroid event, however, flowering plants started to dominate the landscape and the canopy became much more tightly packed, resembling the forest we know today.

“If you returned to the day before the meteorite fall, the forest would have an open canopy with a lot of ferns, many conifers, and dinosaurs,” study co-author Carlos Jaramillo of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama told New Scientist. “The forest we have today is the product of one event 66 million years ago.”

The idea here is that the asteroid impact somehow triggered a series of events that led to the modern Amazon rainforest. What were those events? One theory the researchers offer is that, before the asteroid, herbivorous dinosaurs prevented the forest from becoming dense by eating and trampling plants.

8) A review of more than 300 studies showed that the rate of deforestation is lower on Indigenous lands

The global conservation movement is pushing forward a plan to conserve 30 percent of the Earth by 2030 — an initiative known as 30 by 30 — and increasingly calling for Indigenous communities to be central to that effort.

These groups have historically been uprooted from land in the name of wildlife conservation. There is also greater evidence that forests fare better when they are governed by Indigenous and tribal territories.

A recent UN review of more than 300 studies found that forests within tribal territories in Latin America and the Caribbean have significantly lower rates of deforestation where land rights are formally recognized.

“In just about every country in the region Indigenous and tribal territories have lower deforestation rates than other forest areas,” wrote the authors of the report, which was published by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. “Many Indigenous territories prevent deforestation as effectively as non-Indigenous protected areas, and some even more effectively.”

9) Wildfire smoke can turn the sky an apocalyptic orange

If there was one day in 2020 that defined the climate emergency, it could have been September 9, when the sky above San Francisco turned completely orange.

Strong winds had carried smoke from fires burning across California to the atmosphere above the city. Particles of soot absorbed or reflected blue light from the sun, letting only orange-ish light through. (Wired has the details.)

But what made the image go viral wasn’t so much the science but what it symbolized: a growing climate catastrophe.

Climate change is making wildfires more frequent and severe, and 2020 provided more devastating evidence. Last year was California’s worst wildfire season on record. By the end of the year, nearly 10,000 fires had burned over 4 million acres — an astonishing 4 percent of California’s total land, according to the state.

10) Scientists finally solved the mystery of why wombats poop cubes

Sure, it may not have kept you up at night, but the mystery of the bare-nosed wombat’s poop puzzled scientists for decades. Why do these adorable, chunky marsupials, native to Australia and Tasmania, leave behind feces with six sides?

Thanks to a new study — published in the journal Soft Matter — we now have the answer.

Building on research published a few years earlier, a team of scientists found that wombat intestines have regions of varying thickness and elasticity that contract at different speeds: The stiffer regions contract relatively quickly, while softer sections squeeze more slowly, together forming a cube-like shape.

But there’s still a bit of mystery left: Why is their poop shaped like this? The jury’s still out, but some researchers believe it’s because wombats climb up on rocks and logs, and the cube-like shape prevents the feces from rolling away. This is key for wombats because they use piles of feces to communicate with other wombats.

What a difference a year makes, truly.

[19gumi]

WHEN THE SUN SETS | KUROO TETSUROU

Summary: Kuroo hates the way he can never tell what’s on your mind (and also, you eat your cherries ridiculously slowly)

Genre: Fluff (childhood friends to lovers, mutual pining)

Word count: 1.8k

Porcelain plates now stained with chocolate are neatly tossed to the side, bearing the remnants of the croissants Kuroo treated the two of you with. Secluded in your favorite part of the park, you try to get one last whiff of the sweet pastry that you ate a little too quickly for your liking, making a mental note to pay that bakery another visit soon.

The final beams of sunlight graze your face as you observe the birds above you, hurrying to find a shelter before the rosy sky hues turn dark blue. You’ve missed their renowned song – the winter fell into a silence after their departure, sometimes too deafening when paired up with the freezing December cold.

Your field of vision is obstructed by a muscular arm reaching for the cherries in the bowl placed beside your head. You observe his Adam’s apple move as he swallows the fruit, eyes focused on the horizon sprawled in front of him. And then they suddenly shift to your figure, your head soundly placed in his lap.

“You okay?” he asks, thumb rubbing circles in your shoulder.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Dunno. You seemed lost in thought.”

You’re about to respond when his body abruptly shifts under yours, the motion prompting you to sit up straight. Kuroo’s hand flies to the back of his head, and you assume he’s received a hit to it.

That is shortly proven to be true when a distressed mother shouts after her son who you don’t even notice at first, standing a foot away from the two of you. His arms are folded behind his back, lips pouting as his eyes search for the ball he had previously been playing with.

Kuroo’s furrowed brows shift back to their original shape, face muscles relaxing as he takes in the sight of the kindergartener. The mother pants as she approaches the two of you, crouching down next to the child that you assumed wasn’t more than 5 years old.

“Hi, I’m very sorry to have caused-“

Kuroo swats his arms in the air. “It’s not a big deal really, didn’t even hurt.” He then smiles at the kid, extending his hand towards him. “Nice to meet you. I’m Kuroo.”

The kid buries his head in the crook of his mother’s neck as a response, refusing Kuroo’s handshake. She spots the ball and sends him off to pick it up, sighing deeply.

“He gets shy sometimes,” she chuckles, scratching her forehead.

Couple of more apologies and one goodbye later, the sun now long hidden and the moon greeting you (this time only one half of it), Kuroo wishes he could take a peek at your mind.

He knows that’s not possible, though, leaving him with the only option of staring at the side of your face, alluringly illuminated under the evening sky. Admiring the faint glint in your eyes, he sighs when he realizes he is about to go to bed with the same unanswered questions another night in a row.

Kuroo is too lost in the way his fingertips itch to sink themselves in your cheeks, his body starving for that addicting warmth of yours – the one he sensed once for the first time many years ago and never wanted to let go of again.

You turn your head around unreasonably quickly – he’s unprepared and so, so exposed. The look in his eyes is soft, way too soft for you to have a full view of it. He hasn’t said a word, but the faint burning in the pit of his stomach convinces him he’s spilled the most tender secrets of his.

“You know,” you begin, reaching for the bowl with cherries behind you. You chew painfully slow, he thinks, the time that it takes for you to swallow the cherry seeming like an eternity.

“That child from earlier,” you continue at last, fiddling with your hands in your lap. “He reminded me of myself when I was his age.”

Kuroo doesn’t know what he was hoping for, but your words do cause a change in his stance. “How so?”

And there you are, flashing him your signature smile one more time. The enigmatic one, the exact one that he’s been trying to decipher unceasingly.

The same one that causes him to miss serves in practice.

The one that keeps him from entering the world of his dreams at night, but also the one that makes him feel like he’s living the sweetest fantasies of his when he gets to see it up close.

“Just like the birds we watched earlier, the pink sky alerts everyone that it’s time to find a shelter for the night,” you glance at him, to which he nods, prompting you to continue. “My mom would always tell me to go straight home once the sky changed colors, and you know I always followed that rule.”

“Yeah, I remember going home and sulking during dinner because I didn’t get to spend more time with you.”

He mouths an ‘ouch!’ when you poke him in the ribs, clutching at his chest. “Dramatic much?” you chuckle, rubbing circles in his back.

“Anyway,” you continue, retracting your hand. “Sometimes I’d lose my toys just like that child from earlier did, but I wouldn’t have enough time to look for them. The street lights would already be turned on and I didn’t want the monsters to catch me.”

Kuroo lets out a hearty laugh. “Monsters? What monsters?”

You shift your eyes towards your hands, which he sees as a chance to inch closer, just enough for him to feel your shoulder against his.

“Dunno,” you say. “But I knew once I’d reach my mom’s arms that I was safe. She’d always nag at me for forgetting to wash my hands – when in reality I didn’t, I always remembered to do it. But I guess I craved that noise which served as an additional proof that I was secure between the four walls of my room, when the silence of the night was the loudest.”

“Well aren’t you a poetic one [name],” he teases, wrapping an arm around your shoulders.

A hush descends between the two of you. Kuroo can feel his lips bruising as he chews on them, unsure whether to verbalize the words that could possibly hint at the desires he held close to his heart.

In the end he does it anyway. “It’s way past sunset now, though. So why,” his voice cracks, before he swiftly disguises it as a cough. Or at least he tries to. “Why aren’t you rushing to get home? What if as we speak, the monsters are actually coming to get you?”

It’s your turn to stare at his side profile now, your pulse forming an unsteady rhythm in your throat as you study the slope of his nose, unsure of what was about to come next.

A confession? Were you really ready to ruin a decade long friendship just because rather than playing catch with him you wanted to kiss his lips instead?

His question is silly, you aren’t that eight year old child anymore – the one who’d run away and leave their friends in the street the same instant the clock stroke seven-thirty.

It’s way past seven now, air breezy and short of any sunrays piercing through it, but not even the scariest monster in this world could make you budge from the tranquility surrounding you in this very moment.

It’s almost as if the thought of a life without Kuroo Tetsurou horrifies you more than anything else that’s out in the wild, waiting for you.

“That’s what I was wondering too”, you sigh. “It might be because you’re here.”

And just like that, your secret is disclosed; it’s a simple statement that makes your lungs feel lighter, the burden of having to bear it within your chest for so long now easing with every exhale you take.

He gulps. The arm around your shoulders seems to have become stiffer, too. He’s already close enough for you to feel his breath on your cheek and all you wish for is to lean into his embrace, all of this talk turning your eyelids heavy.

“But I was there all those years ago as well. What changed?”

“Well, for starters, I was what, eight years old?” you scoff, meeting his eyes momentarily before you let your head fall on his chest, inhaling deeply. You have yearned for the scent of the fresh new leaves ever since they wilted last October. “I guess I wasn’t in love with you back then, Tetsu.”

It’s silent. You think it’s unfair – everything you’ve built over the years rapidly slipping through your fingers, just because of one sentence full of longing, anticipation. But then his arm travels down to wrap itself around your waist, the other one finding its way to the nape of your neck.

It’s not the first time he’s heard those words leave your mouth - his imagination has deceived him multiple times already. He’d wake up only to find himself clinging onto his pillow, providing enough heat to trick him into thinking it belonged to you.

However, your scent is way too real for everything to be fake this time around; it simply can’t be. The words he’s been longing to hear are there, the confession lingering in the air only for him and the trees around you to know.

All it takes now is for you to learn his answer, even though the way he’s pulling you into his body gives you an idea of what it might be.

“Do you know why I never went home before you did?” he asks.

“Mm. Why?” your voice is muffled by his hoodie, the vibration sending chills down his spine. He’s convinced now. This is truly his reality he’d always been wishing for.

“Because you were there,” he tilts his head, moving your chin so you can look up at him. He’s grinning, and if he didn’t just admit he was in love with you, you’d probably be now telling him how lame you thought he was. “I couldn’t understand it then, the way your presence made me feel at peace. I realized what it was only when we started high school. I didn’t want to say anything, though.”

“So?”

“So,” he says, his hand leaving your waist to join his other one on your face, lightly squishing your cheeks. “I’m very much in love with you, too.”

His gaze momentarily shifts to your lips, before it’s back on your eyes. “I really want to kiss you, [name].”

The entirety of your body heat accumulates in your face, and his fingers effortlessly melt against it, your body sinking into the grassy earth as if it’s sand.

“Do you?” you ask, your thumb grazing his bottom lip.

“Yes. Can I?”

You nod, and Kuroo swears his heart skips a beat. Hypnotized, he allows his eyes to flutter shut, ready to memorize all the various flavors you have to offer.

When finally he gets to savor your bare, delicate skin - sweeter than anything he has ever tasted before, it’s like the world stops for the both of you.

Or maybe you only drift to your own, each swipe of his tongue guiding you through a new route, the destination of which has yet to be discovered.

[theravencawsatmidnight]

blue bird anon: Can I request a fantasy au with Dragon Kirishima, Bakugou and child!reader? Kirishima finds an abandon egg and takes it in. Reader hatches from the egg. (It's up to you if she's a dragon, harpy, or naga or any monster hybrid) thank you~~

THIS IS THE CUTEST GOD DAMN THING IVE EVER SEEN WHAT THE HECK.

Frostbitten

Kirishima was out on his morning flight on an early saturday morning like he always was. He enjoyed this time by himself , as much as he loved his King, he still wanted time alone to survey the kingdom and make sure everything was all okay. It was a rather chilly morning which was odd since it was in the middle of spring. The chill should be gone by now and the flowers should be blooming. Kirishima flew a little lower shaking his head at the chill he was greeted with, he landed changing back into his human form stretching with a smile on his face.

Kirishima was in an open area , a field it looked like. Lots of nests were scattered around in the sun too. Kirishima crouched down to inspect one of the nests touching it, feeling some kind of heat coming from it. The eggs were already broken so whatever was here has already left. The wind kicked up and Kirishima whined, hugging himself looking around each and every nest to find the source. Every nest had some kind of element to it; water,earth,wind,fire and… frost? In this part of the world..?

He kneeled down by the nest running his fingers around the frost on the ground up to the straw nest feeling the chill right in his heart giving him goosebumps. “Odd….what are you doing here?” he asked the unbroken egg sitting in the nest surrounded by hatched blue white eggs. It had frost coming off it and a small long crack on its side.

*

Bakugo was awake strolling around his castle checking up on his servants and maids. Making sure everything was good for the day and no problems came up overnight.

He was a … interesting King. He did not like change and wanted things done fast with no argument. If he had to use force he would, if the villagers in his kingdom ever gave him trouble then Kirishima was ordered to eat them. If any other kingdoms tried to overthrow him he and Kirishima burnt them to the ground.

So when Kirishima came back with a egg in his arms and purple face with goosebumps all over his body he was… annoyed.

“What is this?” Bakugo asked, gesturing to the egg in Kirishimas arms.

“E-e-egg fou-nd it!” he said, teeth clattering as he set the egg on a nearby table to hug himself and run in circles.

Bakugo leaned down to inspect the egg noticing it had two cracks in it , one looked freshly broken too. It was a white blue egg with a foggy look too it. The top of it had white frost on it and everytime Bakugo touched it his fingertips turned purple.

“Kirishima”

The man stopped running and stood next to his King. “yes?”

“Frost Scales are only found in the North, whats this doing all the way down here.”

“It was in a nest full of hatched eggs of the same kind. The whole field was full of Elements Eggs”

“So what do you plan to do with it?” he asked, standing back up with his hands on his hips. “If it hatches “

“Well uh.. Take care of it?”

“Do you really have time to pretend to be a dad ? Kirihsima?”

“Well i -”

“If it hatches, I'm training it to be a killer just like i trained you.”

“Y-yes my King..”

*

The days went on, and Kirishima made a nest for the egg with fur blankets in it in the main room on the table. It shook every now and then and every time Bakugo poked it he heard a soft noise come from inside it. He was excited, two dragons at his fingertips. Fire and ice at his disposal. He could conquer even more kingdoms, strike fear in the villagers, travel farther than ever before…

Kirishima on the other hand was worried for his King and the egg. Sure Kirishima always had a smile on his face but when his King needed him… it was like he was a different person/dragon. It was like a different mindset, as soon as Bakugo snapped his fingers something in Kirishimas mind switched and all he saw was red.

A week had gone by and Kirishima was out buying supplies for the kingdom while Bakugo had pulled up a chair by the table to watch the egg. It had multiple cracks in it now and everytime Bakugo talked to it it shook a few times.

“Cmon. ya little killer”

Shake

“Im going to train you to freeze everything in your path”

Shake, crack

“Almost there. Come to papa”

The top of the egg fell off and Bakugo jumped out of his chair with a huge grin on his face. A dragon, a deadly dragon. A deadly… his grin flatlined when he saw what was inside. Kirishima was a dragon when Bakugo found him, so why… He tilted his head and the rest of the egg broke revealing you to the King. you were small, very small. Your foggy white blue wings extended outward, they looked bigger than your body and the horns on your head were long and curled in on themselves at the tips. You had short white hair that covered your eyes and white blue scales all over your arms, legs, stomach,hips and chest. You lifted up your hair to see who was staring at you. You had pure white eyes that froze Bakugo right to his heart.

Kirishima came back soon after with a sack over his shoulder. He pushed the castle door open to see his King staring at the small child on the table. “It hatched!!” Kirishima ran over and you turned to him holding yourself shaking.

“You must be cold here here” he opened the sack, taking out a shawl made out of bear fur and putting it over your head . “there, that must be -”

Bakugo grabbed his dragon and yanked him to the side looking very angry. “What… is that…Kirishima…”

“Uhm.. My King. she looks like a Drakaina, a female with dragon features”

“Can she turn into a dragon..”

“No, just males .. my King..”

“Then shes useless to me, get rid of her”

“Wha? My.. my KING!”

“I have no use for her!”

“She just HATCHED!”

The two argued getting louder and louder, Bakugo was getting very pressed and Kirishima had set a couple things near him on fire.

You slipped off the table and sneezed out snow while you tried to get your legs to work. You held onto the table to steady yourself to watch them. The .. one yelling the loudest sounded the most familiar to you, what did he call himself again? You took a step and Kirishima was through the roof right now.

“She cant fend for herself!”

“I dont care! What am I going to do with a child? I have Kingdoms to rule, villages to set fire too!!”

Kirishima took a step back when he saw Bakugo raise his hand.

“Dont..”

“All i have to do Kirishima, is snap my fingers.. And she will not be a problem anymore. Its our pact, you cant fight it.”

“My King ill take care of her , you wont even see her.”he was panicking now. He did not want this.

“And when i need you?”

“Ill lock her away in the castle she wont be a problem… “ he didn't want that.. He wanted to care for you and show you what being a dragon was about…

Bakugo lowered his hand to grab Kirishimas neck, yanking him over. “You better be right, if your not i will do it -” his leg was very… very cold…. , slowly his skin was turning purple and he was getting goosebumps.

The two looked down to see you hugging Bakugos legs, nuzzling your chin on it. You were also pulling Kirishimas leg to you but when you looked up you were looking at the King.

“.....pa….pa..?”

[polfic-captainchikara]

Our Field

788 Words: A Bokuhina piece

They’re sitting in a field. It’s a weird way to spend a summer afternoon, but it feels nice. Sakusa didn’t come out with them, obviously. Atsumu looked like he was weighing his options, but his presence seemed to scare him off.

Bokuto glances over at the boy he has successfully managed to bring with him. Hinata Shouyou. In truth, he only wants it to be them. but it’s weird if a guy and his disciple went out, alone, to a field together, right? A guy and his disciple. It feels like a past life now.

Osamu always said that Atsumu had fallen in love with Hinata during their first match. Bokuto bites his lip and looks away from his friend. Despite the likelihood of it all, he hopes with all his heart that Hinata doesn’t feel the same. He looks at the dandelion in his hand.

Dandelions. Plants for making wishes. Bokuto blows it and all the seeds fall off in one go. The wind picks them up, and they fly across the field.

“Be free,” he whispers, and steals another glance at Hinata. Hinata, however, is already staring at him with amazement and wonder.

He wishes it could be more than that. 

 “You blew off all the seeds,” Hinata says, and looks at his own dandelion. “I’ve never been able to do that.” Without thinking, Bokuto edges closer to him, and encloses his own, much bigger, hand around his.

“Let me help you.”

Is it just his imagination, or does Hinata’s breath hitch? Is it just wishful thinking, and it was his instead?

“Okay.”

Together, they blow on the plant, and the seeds fly away, dreams and wishes coming true. Bokuto doubts that they’re his, though.

Hinata leans his head on his shoulder, and his heart is definitely beating faster.

“I like this. Being here, alone with you.” 

There’s a few moments of silence.

“I like it too.”

The Black Jackals are probably having the time of their lives. Their loudest members are gone, after all. Sakusa must be having the best bath- or whatever- knowing that he’s not going to get any calls from them about games gone wrong. They’re in a field, after all.

“Um. So, Tsukishima told me to grow up about this, and Yamaguchi was nicer, and Kageyama doesn’t know at all, because.” He doesn’t need to finish the sentence. It’s obvious why Kageyama was never told. Just...

“Grow up over what?”

He lets out a breathy sigh that sends chills down his spine. “Wow. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

Hinata glances at Bokuto’s hand, still tightly wrapped around his own, and then up at the sky above them. If he’s not careful, he’s going to go blind.

“So. I like you. And not in a friend way. So yeah.”

The only noise in the field is the sounds of birds chirping. Bokuto can feel his eyes filling with a lot of happy, happy tears. “Bokuto...?” He wants to hug him. Kiss him. Scream his praises to whatever god there is above.

But there’s something he has to do first. It’s his turn, now.

“God, Shouyou. I love you.” It sounds weird, hearing Hinata’s first name tumble from his lips like that- but it feels so right. Finally, he’s on the same level as Atsumu.

Hinata laughs. It echoes through the field, and everything is lifted off his shoulders.

“how long, Bo- Koutarou?”

He grins at the sound of his name. “Ages. Maybe even since our first training camp together.”

“So, if we weren’t such cowards, we could have been together by now?”

“Yeah, I guess. Sorry about that.” Hinata stares at the dandelion, and then lets it fall to the ground. “I think dandelions are my favourite things now.”

As much as Bokuto wants to agree, he can’t. Because Shouyou will always be his favourite. Forever and ever.

Hinata kisses him then. He doesn’t expect it, but Bokuto does his best to return it. It feels like heaven on earth. And when they next walk into practice, holding hands, big grins on their faces, the team probably thinks nothing of it. This is just usual antics for them, right?

But then there’s rounds of 2v2s, and they should be paying attention but they’re not and Bokuto’s gently kissing Hinata again and again and horror graces Atsumu’s face while Sakusa is clearly disappointed- of course, they don’t see this. They only hear Foster yelling at them.

Maybe, if Bokuto wasn’t so focused on his new boyfriend, he would have regretted that moment. But neither of them saw their teammates, or the obvious hurt on their faces.

So how could they understand why Sakusa and Atsumu are reluctant to come to their wedding?

[rosierossette]

Tempting - Ch. 3

Chapter 3 of my Tempting Loki series -

Work Summary: Working as a Temp for Tony Stark you only expected your life to revolve around sending emails and important papers for Tony Stark. However, all that changed when Loki came to live with the Avengers. Two years later, they still don’t trust Loki and need someone to constantly watch over him and keep him from causing Mischief. Given the magical ability to control Loki with your words, your journey begins as you try to carefully tread the line between keeping Loki safe and keeping others from harm. But trying to control Loki has more problems than you’re ready for, and soon you discover why he’s the God of Mischief, and how much he’s willing to sacrifice for his freedom.

Warnings: None for this chapter.

Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3

A/N: Oh My Goodness it’s finally being posted! You guys don’t understand how much I LOVE this chapter! I had such a great time writing it, and hearing the response from my Beta Reader about it brought me so much happiness! As always I’ve linked the previous chapters in this work, so if you need a refresher go ahead and do that! Let me know what you guys think of it, and thank you so much for the continued support of my work! <3

Word Count: 4,543

Loki was less than excited about the news of you watching him permanently when Thor visited him that night. While Stark paid to have your things moved to the Tower, you were busy decorating your room, pretending not to hear the sound of Loki throwing a fit. Unfortunately for you, Stark thought it might be a good idea to have your room down the same corridor as Loki’s, which meant you could hear all the nasty words about you coming from his mouth. 

Thor was trying his hardest to shut Loki up, but Loki was incorrigible. Soon lightning filled the sky, the terrible roar of the thunder was the loudest you’d ever heard it. The tower shook with every strike, and you could hear the muffled voices of Thor and Loki arguing. You were busy trying to sort through the large pile of furniture ahead of you, a lovely gift from Tony as you were moving into the Tower with all the Avengers. Trying your hardest to pretend you couldn’t hear what they were arguing back, you studied the pile of laundry you also needed to deal with. 

Crash. The sound of glass shattering was heard against your wall, right where yours and Loki’s rooms connected. You cursed as you ran down the hallway. You were already sick of this permanent arrangement, and the Avengers hadn’t even left yet. 

“Loki, shut up!” You screamed as you slammed the door to his room open, the door pounding against the wall behind it with a bang. Loki and Thor had both turned to you startled, Loki’s mouth involuntarily slammed shut.

You immediately paused at the sight of Loki’s room. It was beautiful, although you felt even that word didn’t describe his room perfectly. Loki’s room had a strange golden glow about it. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say you were no longer on earth, or at least it looked unlike any part of earth you had seen. It looked just like Thor had described Asgard. Massive windows overlooking an alluring scene of waterfalls and birds coasting through the air. The sky was a brilliant blue, the sun only adding to its beauty rather than taking away from it. Loki’s room was huge. 

Your room was nice and spacious, but it seemed like a broom closet compared to Loki’s. 

The walls and floor both had the same glow about them. And as you looked around, you noticed there was a huge bookshelf covered with books, most in a language you didn’t recognize. You turned in shock and amazement to admire more of the room when you finally noticed Loki and Thor. 

You shook your head, remembering why you came in.

“It is 10 o’clock at night, Thor is causing a lightning storm outside, and I’m trying to get stuff done before I pass out for the night!” You tapped your foot impatiently. “So if you’re both done having a fit at each other like children,” You gestured for Thor to leave, and he stormed out. 

He turned to look at the both of you before adding, “Loki, Lady (L/N),” He nodded to each of you, sending an angry look to Loki especially, before disappearing down the long hall. 

When you could no longer hear the sound of Thor’s footsteps you turned to him. “I’m sorry about casting that spell,” You spoke hurriedly. “I didn’t actually mean to do it, I was angry and well, people usually say ‘shut up’ when they’re angry, right?” Loki’s eyes never softened, he didn’t even move.  

“I release you from my spell.” You mumbled, rolling your eyes. This whole situation is ridiculous.

The look in Loki’s eyes was dark, filled with anger and annoyance, and it was your only warning before he magically shoved you out of his room in a green haze, the door slamming behind you. The air was knocked out of you, so you stood there attempting to remember how to breathe for a moment. When you finally calmed down enough to walk, you went back to your room. 

You threw yourself down on the bed, landing on the piles of clothes you were procrastinating working on putting away. Your room was still a mess but your mind was elsewhere. The image of what you were sure was Asgard flashed across your mind. It was absolutely breathtaking. For the first time since meeting Loki and Thor, you were actually disappointed that you were only mortal. You’d love to see the real Asgard sometime. 

Keep dreaming sister. 

“Alright fine, so I’m not going to Asgard anytime soon. That doesn’t give me an excuse to live in filth.” You muttered loudly to yourself as you jumped up to finish cleaning your new room. You finally came to a decision about where to move your furniture, and then promptly and unapologetically took all your clothes on your bed and moved them to the designated ‘laundry chair’. 

“Perfection,” You admired your handiwork, pointedly ignoring the pile of laundry you probably wouldn’t touch for another two weeks. At least. 

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

“Dinner is ready,” Friday’s voice filled the tower. It was six o’clock on a Thursday evening, and you felt your stomach rumble at the declaration. It had been too long since the small sandwich you had fixed yourself for lunch.

You’d been finishing some paperwork for Stark in his lab when you entered the kitchen and saw all the Avengers. They were….wearing normal clothes. You’d been working here for less than a year, and you had never seen them in anything other than their suits. Usually, when you saw them, they were either getting ready for a mission or working out for one. 

Your bewildered expression must’ve been evident when Natasha came up to you holding a plate of food, teasing, “We don’t always wear our suits. We’re only human.” She laughed at her joke. “Well, I guess some of us are.” She winked at you as she walked by to sit on the couch. The mom jeans and white tee she wore seemed so foreign on her, they seemed too casual,  but she didn’t look uncomfortable at all. In fact, she looked quite cozy. 

“(L/N), come get some food before Sam eats it all,” Stark called to you from the kitchen. When you walked in you laughed at the spread before you. Across the counter laid buckets of fried chicken, there were several containers of mashed potatoes, way more rolls than you had ever seen at once, and a small, sad container of coleslaw. 

“Um….” You snorted when you saw the coleslaw. “Who did this?” 

Wanda looked up from her plate, “Their coleslaw is absolutely disgusting (L/N). I didn’t want to buy any, but someone decided they couldn’t live without it.” Her eyes trailed towards Stark. 

“I will not be insulted for wanting some sort of healthy food with all this fast food junk you guys buy.” Stark didn’t even look away from his plate. 

“I offered to make some, Tony,” Steve spoke up, “But you said mine didn’t meet your standards.” Steve made a look towards the offending coleslaw. “At least the lettuce in mine isn’t swimming in water.” 

Stark scoffed. “Right, Cap. Well, your coleslaw is the same as what Pepper’s grandmother makes.” Stark made a vomiting noise, “It’s disgusting. I enjoy the look of swimming lettuce.” 

You shook your head but decided to fix yourself food instead of getting involved. Obviously, they were both wrong. Your coleslaw was absolutely the superior one. 

But like the wise temp you were, you didn’t say anything. 

You noticed that all the paper plates were gone. Shrugging, you moved towards the plate cabinet, opening the door before shrieking loudly as a ginormous rat pounced out of the cupboard, barely missing you as you ran backward. Falling on your butt, you only noticed once you had stopped to take a breath that there was a slightly green tinge around the rat. 

“LOKI!” You yelled at the top of your lungs, swiftly getting up and swiping at the fake rodent. You ignored the sounds of the Avengers snickering at your misfortune, and you muttered about Loki and his ridiculous sense of humor as you stood. Idiot God, who does that?!

Soon your anger melted away as you sat and enjoyed dinner with the Avengers. It didn’t happen regularly that they weren’t busy with their constant schedules, and you were happy they were so relaxed. Dinner, music, pleasant conversation, the evening went by in a whirl with you enjoying every moment. 

After you finally finished with helping the others clean, you walked back to your room. You were happy, full, and ready to sleep for the next twelve years. You walked to your room before pausing in the hall, staring at the direction of Loki’s room. Shaking your head, you opened the door. Your first view of your room was the ginormous hole in the floor behind your door. As clear as day, you could see the room three floors down and you stumbled backward, your adrenaline causing your heart to pound wildly, your chest heaving as you tried to remember how to breathe. 

You closed your eyes for a moment; your head pounding, your heart working blood through your system too fast. You couldn’t breathe enough. You laid down, your arms covering your eyes. You felt the shame course through you as the panic started to wear away. You finally could breathe again. Your chest rose rapidly, while your lungs remembered how to breathe properly.

When you finally were able to think properly, you stood and looked over towards the hole, expecting to see several floors through it. What you saw instead was your carpet, the floor showing no signs there ever was a hole, to begin with. Carefully you put a foot where the spot was, and all you felt was the floor. Your rage grew, your blood boiling.

Loki. 

You ran to his room, turned the door handle and slammed into the hardwood when the door refused to grant you access. No matter how hard you tried, it would not budge. “Loki, what the hell is wrong with you?” You slammed your hand against his door with precision on each word. “That was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced.” 

You heard his muffled words through the door, “You can keep banging on my door, but I’m still not letting you in.” Loki suddenly appeared in front of you, and you almost fell over to avoid being toppled over by him. He stood, leaning against the hard wooden door, a look of contempt covered his features. “What do you want?” The bored tone in his voice made you growl internally. 

“What in the seven hells is wrong with you?!” You righted yourself, standing directly in front of him, you still weren’t even close to his height. You stood up straight, attempting to close the distance, your eyes never leaving his. “Why would you do something like that?” If he was thrown off by the amount of sheer rage in your voice he hid it well, simply shrugging.

The urge to strangle him became almost unbearable, you turned, livid, going back to your room. As you walked away you gestured wildly with your hands to yourself your nails clawing at the air, growling once again. 

You turned around to flash one more dirty look Loki’s way when you saw his mouth twitch up. He was smirking, the piece of shit. Loki’s brow raised, and you turned to head into your room, slamming the door behind you as he slowly entered his room again. 

As you paced your room you struggled to figure out how to make him stop. 

You could just - you know - use that little magic ability you got. Just a thought. 

You shook the thought away. Not good enough. Besides, you’d just end up making him angrier at you, and you weren’t sure what to do if he got angrier. 

Then it came to you. If I’m not going to just tell him off….you came up with an idea, and smiled mischievously. 

Two could play at this game.

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

You had encountered only a couple issues with Loki again, all of them seemed like he was challenging you, egging you on. He was mocking you, that much you were sure of. If you hadn’t stopped him already, he was sure you weren’t going to do much about it. And you weren’t in a hurry to change his mind. Patience is a virtue.

Finally, your moment came. He finally stepped up his pranks again, this time by locking you in your room. By locking, he, of course, decided to get rid of the door, leaving you stranded in your room for about three hours before he got bored and moved on. When he finally thought you worthy of releasing, you had a whole plan figured out, and if things went well, you would be the winner of his stupid game. 

Well, at least for a couple of hours. But you decided not to think too hard about that. 

It took a few hours, but you finally ran into Loki. Unfortunately, your spell only worked if Loki could actually hear it. It was bittersweet: It meant you could see his face as you controlled him, but it also meant you couldn’t do it from a safe distance.

When he walked past you, you swiftly turned your mind towards his. “Loki, when you play a prank on someone or use your magic to inconvenience anyone, you have to kiss the person you’re standing next to.” 

When Loki turned to you, rage contorting his features, you simply winked and blew a kiss his way. 

It wasn’t long before you heard yelling from one of the Avengers as your spell did its job. True to your word, every time Loki decided to play a prank on someone, he had to kiss the poor soul standing next to him. 

It worked out perfectly that his first unintentional victim had been Steve Rodgers. Although you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t secretly hoped it would be Stark. Thinking about the look on Stark’s face made you giggle as you headed towards the sounds of Steve’s stuttering.

“What is wrong with you?” Steve repeated the question multiple times, his face was one of complete shock. His hand rested over his mouth. His words were fuzzy as they tried to escape through his hand. 

Loki looked just as shocked and looked over towards the sounds of footsteps, his face turning to stone when he saw it was you. “(Y/N).....” 

“Are you blaming me for you suddenly jumping Steve, Loki?” You feigned a shocked look, earning an even deadly glare from Loki. “Why would I put a spell on you to kiss Steve?” You walked over and rubbed Steve’s back, faking your concern when all you wanted to do was laugh out loud. 

Although you did feel a little bit bad. Poor Steve hadn’t seen it coming.

Loki stared daggers at you, and from behind Steve, you smiled widely. You laughed softly when Loki walked away, his steps thumping loud on the tile flooring. 

This means war little mortal, you could hear his voice sneering in your mind. I hope you’re prepared for the consequences.

You smirked as you headed towards the kitchen. I was born ready, Good luck with kissing everyone in the tower.

The slight pain you received as a reply told you everything you needed to know. Especially when Sam cried out this time. 

“LOKI!” 

A couple of days of Loki kissing everyone in the tower (you both had successfully avoided being around one another, Natasha was the only one left. But the look on Stark’s face when he became another kissing victim made everything worth it to you). You had been sitting, facing the window in the hall, sketching out a picture of the beautiful city below. You could hear Thor’s angry footsteps, appearing in the hallway connecting yours and Loki’s room.

“The two of you had better come out before I break both of your doors down.” Thor’s voice was low, but there was a terrifying power in his words. Thor noticed your presence and nodded towards you, the movement stiff. 

You stood, staring at Thor in confusion at the same time Loki walked out of his room. You both had turned towards each other, and immediate icy glares were shared between the two of you. Had Thor not been in such a belligerent mood, he would’ve laughed at your antics. You both stood in front of him. Loki with his arms crossed, looking as bored as ever. You with your hands on your hips, your brow raised at Thor’s anger. 

“What do we owe this lovely surprise, brother?” Sarcastic boredom were the words that came immediately to mind at the sound of his voice. 

“I’m here to tell both of you to stop your petty fighting,” Thor stared pointedly at Loki and then at you. “You both are causing unneeded wreckage to the tower and to everyone’s emotional stability.” 

You had a hunch Thor wasn’t here of his own accord. You also had an image of Steve’s face and snorted out loud, earning a look from Thor that clearly said not now. 

“I’m here to ask both of you to stop before I’m forced to take drastic measures,” Thor spoke after a moment of silence. He stared at you until you both nodded. “Good.” Then he left as speedily as he came. 

You both stared after him for a while before you spoke, “We’re not listening to him, right?” 

Silence. 

“Absolutely not.” Loki agreed.

You paused for a moment before speaking again. “Wanna join forces and prank Thor?” 

“Yes.”

You nodded, and silence filled the hall again. 

After a moment, both of you finally turned to go to your rooms. When you were at your door, you paused, noticing Loki do so as well. “Would-” You hesitated for a moment. “Would you like to come in? Just to talk about what we’re gonna do?”

“No,” Loki replied speedily. You nodded and started to head into your room. You paused in the doorway when you heard his soft voice say, “But I’ll meet you at midnight in the living room.” His door clicking behind him as you walked in was the last sound you heard from him.

You smiled softly, were you really about to do this?. “Deal.” You walked into your room, and hurriedly checked the clock. 

9:53

You groaned softly. Was it worth going to bed now, only to wake up in a few hours tired and bitter? Not really. Sighing, you looked around your room and spotted that pile of laundry you’d been avoiding. Guess we’ll waste time actually cleaning. Shocking.

When you finished hanging up the way too large pile of laundry, you checked the clock again. 10:30. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” you flopped down on your bed groaning loudly, already bored. What were you supposed to do to get the time to pass by quicker? 

How about you pick up a book to read, instead of being loud and obnoxious. Loki’s snarky voice snuck into your mind. You frowned. 

Rude. I’m not even talking. 

Your mind is scattered all over the place, and I can’t read with you sending your thoughts over here. You could practically see the annoyance on his face. Read woman, and let me have peace.

You rolled your eyes, but took his advice and picked up the first book you could find. 

Soon time passed by too rapidly, and you nearly jumped when you heard Loki’s voice once again. Let's go little one. You stood, stretched out your muscles as much as possible and headed towards the living room, walking behind Loki, every step in sync. 

“So how are we going to do this?” You asked as soon as Loki sat down on the chair opposite you. 

“I might have a few ideas,” Loki stared you in the face. “But it could get a bit….,” he paused. “A bit smelly.” 

You paused for only a moment, “Let’s do it.” 

And every moment after that you’d be more careful about what you’d agree to. Especially when it was followed by the sneakiest smile you’d ever seen on Loki’s lips. 

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

You woke up to the sound of your alarm clock going off, and you groaned sleepily. The annoying ding ding only increased the pounding in your head due to not enough sleep. It was nine in the morning, but you still hadn’t slept too well, since Loki and you had stayed up way too late preparing everything for the little prank. You could still smell the prank all over you. 

I am never, ever, doing that ever again. 

You jumped up and hurriedly took a shower, preparing yourself for the day. Loki had said that the rest was up to Thor, but that you would definitely know when the trap worked. You’d be lying if you said that didn’t worry you at all. You’d told him you didn’t want to do anything too drastic, but you were starting to worry you both might have different definitions on the word drastic. 

When you were finally ready, you headed out the door, already smelling way better. As you closed your door behind you Loki opened his and walked out, winking at you as he headed towards the kitchen in a green t-shirt, and black jeans. You smiled and followed him.

There were a few Avengers still eating in the kitchen, but for the most part, it wasn’t too busy. Wanda and Vision were sitting at the table chatting, and Bucky was watching some game show as he ate bacon and eggs. Your stomach grumbled loudly, and you took it as your cue to make something quick and easy. Your two favorite words when it came to food in the morning. 

You grabbed your ingredients and put them together before finally sitting at the table with your prize in front of you.

Delicious peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

You smiled to yourself as you took a bite. You hadn’t eaten this sandwich in years, the last time being when your grandmother made you one before your first day of kindergarten. Feeling someone staring at you, you looked up and noticed Loki eyeing your sandwich with a look of curiosity. 

“Did you want one Loki?” You gestured towards the glorious sandwich in front of you. 

“I’m good, thanks.” He kept staring at your sandwiches. 

You got up, grabbed a plate and gave the other sandwich on your plate to him. “It’s not the best thing I’ve ever made, but I enjoy eating it.” 

He nodded his thanks before grabbing the offered sandwich and taking a bite. When he took a bite he stared at the sandwich in his hand, then at you, then back to the sandwich. You giggled softly at his response before sitting back down and enjoying your own sandwich. Loki came and sat down next to you, the both of you enjoying your sandwiches in silence. 

Suddenly there was a loud roar heard throughout the tower. There was a loud CLAP as thunder and lightning shook the building. You and Loki looked towards one another before booking it out of the kitchen as fast as possible. The sounds of Wanda calling after you were drowned out by the angriest sound you had ever heard in your life. 

“LOKI! (Y/N)!” Your names were howled. You both tried to keep from laughing. You could hear Thor catching up to both of you. Loki turned a corner sharply, grabbing your hand as you attempted to keep up. When Thor’s howling became almost deafening, you both ran into the first door you saw, shutting it behind you before darkness enveloped both of you. 

You were breathing loudly, all the running had killed your ability to breathe properly. Loki placed a hand over your mouth lightly, still allowing you to breathe while he held a finger up to his mouth. 

Be quiet! His voice spoke into your mind, his eyes sending warnings your way. 

Thor had suddenly stopped yelling your names. You hadn’t realized, you were too busy trying to breathe. 

You could hear his footsteps, slowly getting closer when a horrible smell filled the area around you. You nearly gagged. Maybe dropping Thor into the sewer hadn’t been such a good idea. You looked towards Loki and saw him shake his head, a real smile on his face. You paused. You hadn’t actually seen a real smile on him before, and it was even more shocking for you when you were filled with the desire for him to never stop smiling. Something told you he wasn’t meant to be so bitter all the time.

This is one of my best ideas yet, Loki’s voice filled your head, and you saw him struggle to keep from laughing. You covered his mouth with one of your hands. He looked surprised but didn’t pull away. The look in his eyes made something inside you flutter, and you were suddenly aware of the sounds of both your heartbeats filling the closet you hide in. 

When you both saw Thor’s shadow stop right in front of the door you involuntarily moved closer together. Your head rested on his chest, his head on top of your head. You hold your breath, your hands both resting on your stomach. You felt his hands move and wrap around you. You breathed in and immediately could smell Loki. He smelled fresh. You couldn’t explain his smell. It wasn’t like anything you’d smelled before. 

When Thor finally leaves, taking the stench with him, you finally look up to smile at Loki, stopping when you realize how close your faces actually are. Your noses almost touched, you could feel his warm breath on your lips. You both pause, searching the other’s face. Neither of you moves, you just wait. You don’t know what it is you’re waiting for, but you know it’ll be worth it in the end.

When you finally start to move, the closet door whips wide open, revealing a very angry Thor. He’s soaking wet, and the sewer smell is overpowering. He opens his mouth to yell at both of you before pausing, taking in your questionable position 

You both jump apart as much as the small closet would allow, looking sheepishly at one another. You can feel your face turn slightly pink as Thor mutters, “Pardon me, Brother,” before he speed-walks away from you. You look over at Loki and notice a slight pink tinge to his cheeks, and you feel your cheeks heat up even more. You can’t even look at each other. His arms lay uselessly at his sides and yours are wrapped around your torso. 

“I should go,” you point towards where you think your bedroom is. “I’ve got a lot of work to do for Stark…” 

“Yes, right,” Loki stutters. “I do as well. I mean, not for Stark, I just have a lot of- a lot of work I need to do…” his voice drifts off. 

You can’t run away from each other quickly enough.

[san-station]

A Quiet Place AU / ATEEZ (Post-apocalyptic)

Chapter 1

↝Word count: 1772

Description: In a world full of silence and dangerous creatures seeking for blood, a group of friends have to survive for their own good and find the safe place they’ve heard about months ago.

Pairing: OC x San.

Note: This story is entirely fictional. The written universe is an adaptation of John Krasinski’s movie A Quiet Place, some terms or actions may or may not be included in the film.

WARNING: The followed story contains descriptions of violence, explicit wounds, mention of blood, death, depression. If you are easily disturbed, please, stop reading for you own good. 

A/N: Hiiii, this is my first serie ever. I hope you like the beginning~! Sorry if there are some typos. Don't be shy, comment what you think about it ;3.

・・・・・・・・

Watch Your Steps

We had to rush, except none of us moved, our feet glued to the cement as if it was still fresh. We knew we had to run but again, none of us could assimilate it. The sound that lasted a millisecond wasn’t even the loudest, however they could hear the smallest chirp of a cricket in the deepest forest, the purring of a cat under a lot of sheets or the yawn of a baby before going to bed as silent as the wind blowing slowly… No matter if we were on the top of the skyscraper, they always heard. 

It hit my shocked face when the growls started. I was tired, thirsty, my legs hurt and I hadn’t eaten a proper food in forever; who would’ve thought that a fucking pile of beer bottles hidden behind the door of a small bird house located on one of the rooftop’s corners could ruined three months of surviving the craziest era humanity ever lived. Once the bottles stopped rolling through the wooden floor, my lungs felt fire due to the air I retained, my hands started to shake inside my coat... and it hit me again. We need to fucking run, was the only thing on my mind, but I was not being the reasonable person I was, the common sense was off the place and so were my hopes.

    Since I was a child, I thought heights were the scariest thing in the world. The moment I stepped into the rooftop I was already hyperventilating, but it couldn’t compare to the feeling of being chased by those bloodthirsty creatures, and I knew I wasn’t the only one thinking about that, of course. The two people with me had the same expression on their faces. Seonghwa, the guy on my right, tall, blue eyes, body shaped, black hair and paternal instinct, looked at me with wide eyes; he quickly put a hand over my mouth and shook his head violently, words couldn’t be exchanged at that moment, not when we were that close to be slaughter, but his eyes could tell everything. Don’t scream. 

In front of us was Misuk, a small and chubby girl with a fearsome attitude who happened to be the other only girl that was stuck with us. She had short blonde hair and the most amusing personality ever (at least for me). She was the one that opened the door nonchalant trying to find bird seed... Oh, I can tell she was really mad at herself; Misuk was the one telling us to be more careful every step we made (even though we knew), and she always put sand or wet dirt on the places where there was none to prevent any of us from stepping on false. Oh, Misuk…  

My body began to feel numb and the cold wind wasn’t helping either. Seonghwa’s black hair danced with the breeze along with his clothes, he was wearing a long beige sheep coat that Yunho had made two months ago, skinny black jeans with ripped knees, sneakers too dirty to remember their original color because of the lack of water and a sharp knife on his leather black belt. The handle of it had his initials, “P.S”, engraved in silver with a lovely handwriting. Misuk had her natural outfit when we had to go scavenging for supplies, a pair of worn blue jeans, old black Converses, a brown t-shirt with the logo of NASA and a big black jean jacket with some alien patches. Funny, she loved those things before they arrived, after realizing that she actually liked the little friendly green buddies like E.T instead of the monsters that came to Earth. Well, after a while she found another affinity: collecting some alien fragments from their dead bodies for her own pleasure. 

Misuk was a weird kid, but everyone liked her in their own way. I, for example, used to have some discussions about provisions or night shifts with her ‘cause of her lack of leadership and consciousness; I always preferred order, and everything had to be calculated, at least in this madness. But she was a free spirit, she never listened when Seonghwa or Hongjoong made a statement about her, she never cleaned when it was her turn, she sometimes laughed way too loud on our soundproof room and got all of us shhhing her,… but you gotta stick together in this if you want to survive.

Thirty minutes ago we were on the crusade to find more supplies for the rest of the group, it was the calm day #438 after the attack, creatures with hypersensitive hearing showed up on Earth after a meteor shower impacted in December of 2020. We head through the city once the sunrise illuminated the area. Seonghwa, Misuk and I were the assigned crew for the task of recollecting provisions for, at least, two long months. Well, we assigned ourselves because we’d been in those walls for like forever. San was pissed about it, but we didn’t care… now I think it was not a good idea after all. 

“Jiyeong,” Misuk called me with sign language when she stopped walking in the middle of the deserted road that connected our place with the city ruins we were heading to. Misuk’s hands followed a sequence while moving her lips simultaneously, “we should split to find more rations by ourselves, right?”, she shifted her bag from one shoulder to another and gave me a bright smile.

I hesitated. The last time we splitted up, we never found Jin, he was Misuk's brother and a friend to all of us. Hongjoong still blamed himself for allowing that option for starters. 

“I think it’s better for the three of us to stay together…”, Seonghwa signed with his hands covered by brown leather gloves thanks to the cold air that surrounded most of the city in late February. We both nodded in agreement, not before Misuk rolled her eyes at him and kept walking over the scattered sand that created a path of silence down our bared feet.

The city was an hour left on foot, people obviously forgot about the cars after the sound of the engine roaring was too loud and mortal for all of us. Step by step we got closer and the city buildings risen before us; sometimes (more than we needed) we found other individuals on the streets doing the same we’d been doing for months: surviving. On good days, we found families or old friends walking silently and moving on from their houses to others. On bad days -not my favorite ones to be honest- there were suicidal types of people that transformed the atmosphere completely just to put everyone around in danger. It wasn’t funny running or hiding for your life when you did nothing for them to come for you… I disgusted those kinds of people that believed they could choose who lives and who dies. Moreover, there were days when nothing happened, like almost these three months that we stayed underground with enough supplies in our soundproof room that allowed us to speak when we needed the most, we just went outside to find more provisions or walk and watch the sunset; but nothing last forever, supplies were almost running out and we had to finally get more.

The rooftop we ended up praying for our lives was our last searching point, Misuk wanted the bird seeds so much that she insisted on going all by herself after two long hours, she said we were slowing her down, however you couldn’t be alone out there. Not when they could hear you anytime.

I could listen my thumping heart on my ears; the growling became louder, closer, and the unpleasant feeling in my stomach gave me nauseous. Seonghwa stared now at Misuk; she had a deadpan face and decided to close the bird house slowly with her right hand while her left hand rested on her mouth for preventing her of letting out a gasp. I shook my head. Just leave it like that!, I wanted to scream at her. But when the beer bottles rolled again and collided with a seed bag inside the little house, it felt dry on the floor with the most horrendous echoing sound. I swallow hard, my head hurt and the shrill shout that came from the rooftop door activated all my senses. My brain proceeded to watch everything in front of me as if it was on slow-motion.

One creature broke the door with a clean slam, a second one followed its entrance. Their knife-hands cut the metal with a perfect precision and distant howls filled the place when one of them jumped higher that a human being could ever do. My shaky breath was held by Seonghwa’s hands when I stepped back, my fingers reached his owns and I squeezed them as tight as I could against my mouth. Misuk turned around as fast as she could when the hand of one creature slammed into her stomach in within seconds, the deafening sound of her ribs breaking made the tears instantly fall down from my cheeks to Seonghwa’s gloves, she gasped. The sore flesh was vividly cut and her eyes, wide and green, looked to the sky while her body jerked on the floor with a thump. The enormous hollow in the center of her belly straight away scattered overflowing blood all over the floor, and the rest of her body rested on the cement, still she found a way to turn her head into our direction and gave us a sad smile. Red drops were now on our clothes and faces, some of her large intestine and lungs were being eaten by both creatures making grumbling noises. It looked like they were having a Thanksgiving meal and we were probably the desert.

Then, a creatures pulled up its head and the sides of it was wide open as we saw the sound sensors vibrating, trying to reach for more victims nearby. Seonghwa and I could only watch the scene petrified. A tiny groan left Misuk’s throat with her last breath and I gasped in silence while my soaked eyes blurred part of the view, the ripping sounds of bones and flesh continued and I felt Seonghwa’s chest shake a little on my back, but he kept his head high aware of the beasts in front of us. I don’t know if he closed his eyes, I just know we stood there still watching our friend die and hoping we wouldn’t be next.

 (…)

Masterlist

[mateship]

Starter for @singingfreedom

Despite the otherwise clinical appearance of the wildlife rescue centre, with scrubbed-clean surfaces and bone-white walls, the place eases into something much more down-to-earth thanks to the neutral smell of animal odor and the lively, almost white-noise buzz of singing and chittering.  The birds are the loudest of all, it seems, all bouncing off of each other as they talk and whistle and trill their own respective songs. Cradled like a human baby, Kyle is holding a small creature heavily donned in cloth ... It’s some kind of marsupial, with big eyes and even bigger ears.      ‘She’s a yellow-footed rock-wallaby,’ Kyle explains, holding her out enough so that Alfred may inspect her curious, juvenile face.  She’s wrapped up in a cushioned bag of sorts to help mimic a mother’s pouch, only her head visible.  ‘Can you hold her for me?  I need to prepare her formula.’

[aboyandhisstarship]

Humans are weird. air superiority/welcome aboard

been a while since i updated for this tag but i got thinking about how us humans can fly using machines crazy right! i also wanted to develop some people that will likely show up more in this series and as always feedback is welcome.

The balmora triangle was a very violate region of the galaxy. The council had a few assets in the region and a single client state but most of it was considered unstable and unsafe for settlements. Much to everyone’s surprise everyone agreed to this including the Humans who in all fairness were not even in the region anyway. That Is until the Klendethuins invaded.

The Klendethuins were an insect race relying on a regional hive mind to operate properly. The race had always been on bad terms with the council but that relationship escalated when they invaded the council client state Sorak 9.

Sorak 9 was the home world of a race known as the Sorak they vaguely resembled earth’s sloths. They were a Client state of the council with membership likely coming in the future. So when the invasion alarm was sounded any and all military ships in the region were instructed to support the defense.

 I yelped ducking down as the human fired Shredding the bug that was about to attack me his power amour covered in the green goe of the bug blood. He ignored me calling on his radio saying “this is LT Ericson we are R triple D requesting back up”

The voice returned “roger that dagger 3-0”

The human then looked at me saying “where is the rest of your squad son?”

I didn’t know much about Human rank but as I knew this Human was the highest ranking council officer on the planet “all dead…sir”

The human nodded sadly “lot of that going around…stick with us son and you will be fine.”

A sound of skittering was heard as the LT cursed aiming quickly before dropping another bug he sighed “come on we need the high ground.”

I nodded as I followed the human up the ridge where four other power suited humans crouched a human female asked “how is it done there LT?”

The Human sighed “not good all the council folks are KIA and there is a large force of them coming to mess up our day”

Another human asked “so I guess the hitchhiker is the only one left?”

I wasn’t sure what a hitch hiker was but I had a feeling I was being insulted so I growled  felling my fur stand on end. The human commander gave the man who insulted me a look that caused the Human to appear embarrassed before saying “we have been ordered to hold this valley so we will troopers! Do you get me!?”

The troopers all shouted “sir yes sir!”

I protested “there are thousands…hundreds of thousands of them all coming for us we can’t hold them”

I felt my knees buckle as I leaned against the sandbag feeling the terror as the sounds of the bugs got closer.

“Hang in their son” he smiled gently at me. the smile was off putting but I had read the package to get ready for the possibility of working with humans and knew that it was a sign of affection.

The LT was about to take up his own position when I asked “Why are you helping these people Sir? My people have a mining interest in this backwater but humans have no reason to get involved”

The human looked shocked “Because they needed help as asked for it nothing more nothing less”

I stared “you are going to die making a last stand for people you don’t even know?”

I stooped peeking over the cover sighing “they are going to kill us all”

The LT shook his head “no they are not you know why? Because in exactly 75 seconds the rollers are coming in to blow these bugs straight to the hot place”

The humans were clearly insane whatever these “rollers” were they was no way they could stop an army of this size. That’s when I heard it the loudest roar I had ever heard before I could I ask I felt a wave hit me as 5 metal birds blasted through the air. I had never seen anything like it but I could see the markings of SICON as they blasted past.

The LT yelled “cover!”

The entire squad dragged me to the ground forcing met to keep my head down. I had not realized I had stood up to see the metal birds better. I wasn’t able to see what happened as I was forced face down to the ground but I could see I big flash of light and the loudest noise I had ever heard.

I gently pushed myself up to see little more than the Smokey remains of the valley and a few bugs who were lucky enough to only be wounded.

The metal birds flew overhead again as the humans cheered and the LT’s radio crackled “Dagger squad we took care of that pest problem for you”  

The squad cheered again as the LT returned “ten four good work raven”

The pilot returned “anytime Dagger…by the way the Watson has asked me to rally to you that the 6th fleet  is here…expect reinforcements within the hour”

The LT nodded “ten four thank you…let the Watson know we have a Kalber here uninjured but all this fellows are KIA there government will want to know”

The pilot answered “roger over and out”

I demanded “what was that flying bird? Humans can fly?!”

The LT chuckled “that was an air superiority vehicle”

I had no idea what that was but asked the next question anyway “and you hit them with what?”

The LT shrugged “just a nuke”

I squealed “a nuclear weapon!”

The LT justified “a low yield one”

I stared “you can fly and drop weapons of mass destruction casually?”

The LT nodded “yep…wanna see more?”

I blinked “sir?”

The LT smiled “the council has wanted to put someone on a SICON craft for a while and honestly you have potential”

I blinked “as you asking me to join you sir?” it was crazy but I had stopped noticing just how used I was getting to having the human Give me orders has presence was oddly comforting. Before I knew what I was saying I said “I would have to get permission from my commanders…but yes sir I would love to.”

The LT smiled “well then welcome to Dagger squad…I just realized in all this craziness we have not been properly introduced”

I took a deep breath as the human extended there armored hand “Lieutenant Will Ericson, SICON Federal forces”

I accepted the hand in my paw answering “T’Mai Specialist, Kalber defense force”

A transport ship came in to land as the rest of Dagger formed up as The LT smiled “well then Mister T’Mai  I have the feeling this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”

[twodaysintojune]

The Tale of the Kidnapped Maidens 6

Supernatural, Warnings-None Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 Long Stories Masterlist, One Shots Masterlist Find me at AO3

Castiel was going through several files that he had already singled out with dexterity and placed them in front of him. He paused on one for a second.

“How many heads did you say this thing had?”

“Nine Cas! NINE! And it was massive! At least three feet taller than me! It’s wings were twice as wide!”

Dean was pacing up and down like a caged lion in the room. He had all his weapons ready and he was going to bolt out of the place as soon as Castiel told him how to kill that goddamned thing. He heard the shuffling of paper on the other side of the line.

“It’s a Jiu Tou Niao.”

“It’s a What? Whatever, how do I kill it?”

“You need to kill it in its lair. The lore is very specific about this Dean so listen carefully. Do you have a pen?”

Dean grabbed the notepad by his side.

“Yeah I do, speak up.”

He began to note down Castiel’s instructions and huffed frustrated. 

“Dude, I don’t have anything like that here, do you think the crossbow can work? … Alright, worth a try.” Dean noted down a couple more things “Yeah, no, he has his phone but I lost the signal, he’s probably up in the mountain. … No, it’s okay. I can track him down. … Alright. … Yeah … I know … I said I KNOW Cas, you think I’d let anything happen to Sam!?” Dean sighed in frustration. “Okay, see ya later.”

Hanging up, Dean grabbed his stuff and drove to the only store in town that probably had what he needed. Minutes later, he opened the door of the gardening shop run by an old lady and showed her his most charming smile.

“Hello ma’am, I was wondering if you have any large bamboo stalks?”

---

When Sam was finally back on the ground, he had seen quite a stretch of woods pass by below him and felt the wind getting colder the more they went upwards. Finally, they went down to earth and the bird opened with ease a heavy iron gate hidden behind a bunch of bushes right by the side of the mountain with one claw while the other held Sam easily against the ground.

Sam kicked and tried to fight but was unable to move. When the gate was open, the bird clawed him up again and threw him inside the cave, slamming the door back. 

Frustrated, Sam stood up and ran towards the gate, pushing against it with all his might to no avail. He groaned.

“Let me out stupid bird!”

The bird cackled and her cackle turned into laughter as she turned back to human. 

“Calm down girl, I don’t like it when my food gets angry at me.”

“I’m not your food.”

“Oh no, not yet.”

She smiled back, turned into a bird once more and left again.

Sam did his best to move the gate but it was too heavy, it probably would have been too heavy even for his normal self. Huffing, he gave up and decided to investigate. Grabbing his backpack, he took the flashlight and lit it up.

He didn’t have to walk much, a couple of turns that showed some nooks here and there and an open cavernous area after the passage came to view, the ceiling high enough that the bird could probably stand up freely. What seemed like breathing holes at the highest part worked as the only lightsource in the place. He saw a bunch of things gathered together and pointed his light at them. The things squirmed.

“Hello?”

A small head peaked from the bundle. Sam recognized her immediately. 

“...Elaine?”

The girl blinked. “Who are you?”

Sam approached her and the rest of the girls. He could see by their looks that they were underfed and then saw Kaylee, the first one to be kidnapped ten days ago  laying on the floor in the worst state of them all, eyes fluctuating between consciousness and stupor. Sam took her wrist and tried to tell her vital signs. He realized soon that they were in a terrible situation. 

“Hi... I’m Sam, Sam Winchester. I’m here to rescue you.”

“How? You’re trapped here with us.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry. Dean. My brother. He will come and save us.”

A walk around the place helped Sam assess their situation. A cereal bowl was strategically placed below a drip at a corner of the cave. It filled up after three hours, which meant it could be okay to keep the thirst of a person but never enough for five kids. What really bothered him was the fact that the kids were not being immediately killed but they were apparently forced to fast. Not only that, he was sure that the bird would eat them once they died, or when they were close to death but there were no bones or anything showing that there had been other kids in there before. That didn’t mean much in and of itself; owls were well known for keeping their nests clean by throwing out any carcasses.

Sam grimaced; he should start thinking on a way out instead of thinking about death. He sat back to back to Elaine. The cave was cold and that didn’t help at all to keep a positive mood. He began to rummage in his backpack. His gun was okay for when the monster was human but he couldn’t do much with it at the moment.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m thinking how to get you out of here.”

“We can’t go out.” The girl Sam identified as Brianne finally talked “The door is so heavy it doesn’t even need a lock. You didn’t see?”

Sam had seen that on his second tour around the confines of the cave but that wasn’t a hindrance in and of itself, it only made things a bit more complicated. It also was too early for Dean to have started looking for him. He knew that he had to give his brother some time to call Castiel and make a plan, probably learn how to kill this thing. He had to think of a way to help his brother find him and maybe also something that could stop the bird from eating the kids or attacking them in the meanwhile. Thinking about it for a moment, he took his knife from his bag and moved towards the entrance of the cavernous space once more. 

It took Dean a total of five hours to make enough arrows to fill a quiver with the bamboo he purchased. By the moment he was done, the sun was already getting at its zenith and he was ready to drive like a madman all the way to the base of the mountain. Once he parked the car, he grabbed all his hunting items and some food that he was sure the kids would need now that he knew they were most likely alive thanks to Castiel. He then mapped out the general direction he was looking for with his compass and a map and slow but steady, he began his way up. 

Around the same time, Sam finished the excruciating task of carving the sigils in the cave and covering them with some of his blood. Satisfied with his job, he sighed.

"What are those?"

Elaine was approaching him from behind.

"They're a safety measure.” He gave her a smile. “Uhm, by the way, how much do you think you can move?”

“Why?”

“I might need your help later on.”

Around forty minutes after Dean began his climb, wondering if he would be good enough to find Sam quickly, he noticed that there was a constant, repeating sound in the distance. It was still far away but he clearly noticed the very unnatural repetitive motion of the sound. A strong clang followed by two quick beats and then a blank space. He smirked, did his best to gather the general direction where the sound was coming from and started to walk once more.

An hour later he heard the odd rumbling sound that he had associated with the bird reaching his position from behind. He hid immediately under a thick bush but looked upwards searching the sky. He didn’t know how nobody ever saw the goddamned massive bird come and go but he didn’t really care at the moment. Checking her trajectory, several meters away from where he was originally heading, Dean retraced his route and began hiking again once the danger was gone. He quickened his pace when, around ten minutes later, the banging stopped with the loudest clang he had heard so far. 

The bird landed while turning into a woman in a very graceful demonstration of skill. She stomped towards the gate and hit it with her fist, making Sam fall backwards and lose the stone he had been using to knock against the edge of the gate.

“Stop that already you stupid girl! What the hell do you think you’re trying to do!?”

“I’m breaking the door!” 

The lady stood still for a moment and then began to cackle. She laughed and laughed until she somehow regained some composure.

“I can’t… I can’t believe it! You really think you can break this door!?”

She was bending over, laughing some more, unaware of Sam’s smirk. He stood up, ran towards the bars of his prison and gripped them tight, he did his best to look angry. 

“Of course I can! If I try hard enough!”

The lady stopped laughing and banged the door once more with her fist, her face suddenly transformed into a mask of anger that surprised Sam.

“Don’t be an idiot girl! You can’t break this door open! You’ll never get away from here! And no one will ever find you! No one will ever know you’re here, not even your father!”

Sam frowned, “Of course I will get out of here! De—Dad will find me and he’ll get me out of here!”

The lady gave Sam a twisted smirk. “Yes, hang on to that hope of yours, you stupid daddy’s little girl. I want to see how that hope leaves your eyes when you’re on the ground unable to move.”

Realization hit Sam like a strong hit to the gut; the woman was trying to egg him into trying, into believing that he was going to be rescued. This meant that what the monster fed on was not really the flesh of the kids, and it had not been the innocence of the girls, as he had believed. It had been their hope. Sam felt the fire inside him burn harder and the need to rescue these kids stronger.

“You won’t ever be able to eat my spirit. Because I’ll never stop believing. Because he will come and save me. Save Us. He always does.”

The lady was momentarily taken aback but quickly looked down at Sam, ill intended, and roared at his face. He stood up against it, only flinching because of the loud noise but unmovable. The lady eventually calmed down.

“Whatever, I’ll have enough time to break you. There’s one bound to be ready for picking soon enough, maybe tonight.”

“You’re evil.” 

She smiled at him with a wink and took off towards the sky once more. Sam sighed and allowed himself to slide to the ground. He was certain Dean would save him but that would probably not hold true for Kaylee if this all took much longer. He looked around for his rock and walked towards the gate once more. He would keep banging until Dean arrived, no matter what. 

About a mile away, in hiding, Dean saw the bird jumping up to the sky.

[odetoviscera]

i have sometimes struggled to explain to people why mania is not a "good" state to depression's "bad" state. they are equally and differently bad. the list of symptoms for mania i think does not clearly express to people the Mania Experience. so i'm gonna try to explain it here so i have something to refer back to.

it's sort of like suddenly realizing that your entire normal human nervous system has been spontaneously converted into electricity but it's fine because you're immortal. not literally, but that's the Vibe. [update: actually sometimes literally tbh.] also someone set you to 1.5x speed, so you're going just fast enough to realize that everyone else is very slow but not fast enough to ascend into another plane of existence which is embarrassing and that's irritability. you develop this new relationship to language where you mean something completely different than what you say but also, simultaneously, you mean exactly what you say, and no i can't explain it any clearer than that. sleep? is a coward's game, and you? are a HERO. every thought that passes through your mind at the speed of light is solid gold but, for some reason, no one understands your genius? you'd better say it again, but louder and more, even though you didn't plan to say it out loud the first time. it doesn't matter because it will be a completely different equally genius thought by the time you say it again.

anything that is not instantly gratifying? IN THE TRASH. if it takes more than fifteen seconds to activate between planning and dopamine release then you have already LOST INTEREST and moved on to this BETTER IDEA. if this requires you to leave something literally in the middle of doing it TOO BAD except actually EXCELLENT because you are FLAWLESS.

also all of your thoughts are in CAPITAL LETTERS and if you aren't careful you might end up in a SCREAM LOOP where your brain just picks a random collection of words and SCREAMS THAT REPEATEDLY FOR NO REASON. also you can't sit still, or stand still, or in general be Not In Motion, because as previously stated you are now Made of Electricity. hey you hear that noise? that's your heartbeat and all the blood in your veins and the sound your lungs make when you inhale and, maybe, probably, digestion? GOD YOU'RE A FLAWLESS MIRACLE MACHINE AND YOUR EXISTENCE IS STUNNING. YOU SHOULD CELEBRATE!!! GET THAT BLOOD PUMPING! LISTEN TO IT!

everything on earth is LOUD too LOUD that bird is LOUD the string on your blinds is LOUD your thoughts? THE LOUDEST OF ALL BECAUSE YOU ARE, AS YOU KNOW, FLAWLESS!!!!!!!!!

your atoms are entirely out of phase with the rest of reality and there is NOTHING you can do about it and! furthermore! why would you want to!

and all of this? is hypomania. this is the mild nice friendly bipolar 2 hypomania. bipolar 1 gets real legit no-holds-barred mania, which i am told comes with extra grandiose delusions and psychotic episodes.

[thefredricus]

New Year Surprise (☆▽☆)

I hope you’re all having a lovely New Year’s eve! I have something special for you all tonight: My very first Ripto fanfic! (<-- Link!)

This is the daruma doll that I made a promise to at the beginning of 2018. The promise was to write and publish a fanfiction before New Year’s. I originally planned to write for another fandom, but things happened, yet I decided that I didn’t want to break the promise I made to myself and burn the daruma doll.

However, I decided to split the story in two chapters. The first one was just published and ready for some reading! The second one is on its way and will be posted later this week. I’m so excited to share this with you all! <3 

You can either read it below the cut, or go to AO3 and read it there!

Year of the Dinosaur

The sun scorched the cloudless azure sky. Waves were seen lapping against a non-existent shore along the horizon, as non-existent trees reflected in the mirage. But the heat was real. The sand that stung their eyes and nostrils was real. The hunger, thirst and fatigue -- they were all real. The outskirts of Skelos Badlands at solar zenith showed no mercy to the broken duo. Ripto ran a sleeve over his brow to wipe off a disgusting lump of sweat and dust. He wasn’t accustomed to the feel of a new set of scars and still open wounds that ran across his face. Not only did they ache, but they made him feel hideous, even though he hadn’t dared to look at his own reflection since that night. That fateful night… He quickly shook himself out of his stupor.

“Gulp! Is that mountains I see over there? Or is it just another hallucination, like the time you tried to drink from that oasis and ended up with a mouthful of dry sand,” Ripto spat between chapped lips.

The massive quadruped grunted guiltily under Ripto’s frame as he walked and looked away, embarrassed.

“Well, it’d better be! I mean, how far could that bonehead have gone? Crush can’t go more than five minutes without food, we’d have found him dead by now-”

Ripto’s last words echoed out in rough coughs that left the small, wounded dinosaur gasp for air. He clenched his chest with both arms and bent forward in a sickly bark. Reflexively, he reached for one of Gulp’s horns for support, but he crabbed nothing but air and fell forward, rolling off his companion’s muzzle and into the sand below. He felt panic build in his stomach, climbing up his chest, oozing in his throat like acid that ate away everything.

Is this where it was all going to end? Did he escape one hell just to get flung into another?

Ripto’s thoughts were caught short when he felt a tender touch against his forehead and a breeze of warm air that brushed his skin, leaving him with momentary comfort. Gulp hummed softly and kept nuzzling his master, ever so gently. Ripto exhaled slowly, lifting his hands to his companion's face, pressing his forehead against the gentle giant.

“At least I can count on you,” he whispered, more to himself than anyone.

Struggling to get out from the molten lava and grasp whatever debris he could find was an ordeal in itself. Feeling every part of his being burn like a thousand suns on top of that would have been too much, if he wouldn’t have been so excruciatingly headstrong -- and if he wouldn’t have had some help from a certain green dinosaur who pulled him out from the burning inferno and who stayed at his side to nurture him back to as close as what health could be, given the circumstances. After Avalar was reclaimed, with the help of a filthy dragon no less, all dinosaurs were banned to the deserts and crags of Skelos. Whatever vapor Ripto ended up in there and then, finding Crush seemed like a good idea at the time. Better to reunite the trio, he thought. Better wallow in each others’ company, he though. But right now he was not sure if he could even think at all. His head was spinning, his mouth was as arid as the endless dunes surrounding him and his delusions blended seamlessly into reality.

“Are those mountains real, Gulp?” Ripto persuaded, even though they seemed to be miles away.

He could feel the big dinosaur’s snout lifting him up. Slump, the fallen king lay across his servant’s face. The weight of his heavy head and his agonies left him incapable of sitting up. His vision blurred as he faded away.

“Gulp... Take us there.”

***

Ripto’s consciousness returned along with a throbbing headache against his temples. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was seeing double when he opened his eyes, his pupils nothing but sharp slits in the brightness. The sun stood seemingly lower on the sky now, however, and with the sinking sun a cold night would follow. The thought of him staying alive for that long gave him a little bit of comfort. Just then, Gulp stopped abruptly and nodded a gesture, Ripto nearly getting flung off in the process.

“Gah! W-what are you doing, you-”

The irate dinosaur locked eyes with his servant, who now gestured enthusiastically with eyes and eyebrows for his master to turn his head. Having no choice, unless he wanted to get shook off again, he spun his horned head around, the rest of his body still laying flat on Gulp’s snout. Ripto’s eyes grew big in surprise, as his gaze met a large cavern protruding from a vertical crag in the sandy dunes. Partly because the crag was indeed not a mirage but a real, hard mineral formation, and partly because it was coated in a much familiar scent. Ripto sniffed the air. Ungraciously he slumped off Gulp’s wide muzzle and continued sleuthing, ignoring the grains of sand that got stuck in his nostrils and mouth. It smelled stale. It smelled of dinosaur. It smelled of flesh and blood. Ripto wobbled forward.

“Crush? No more hiding, we crossed this god-forsaken desert only to-”

Stale. Crush wasn’t famous for smelling of roses, that was for sure, but… this smelled wrong. It smelled of death. And when a dinosaur of Ripto’s size scented death, it ran. But there was nowhere for him to flee.

It all happened very fast when the lava lizard attacked.

All Ripto could see was a blur of sharp teeth plunging towards him, like an extension of the gaping maw in the rock itself. He wasn’t sure if it was deeply rooted survival instinct or sheer luck that made his body move on its own, throwing itself to the side and dodging his assaulter’s deadly strike. Stuck face-down in the sand, all Ripto could hear was a bone-chilling snarl that sent shivers down his thin frame. The noise eventually died out and a minute of silence followed. Or perhaps it was less than a second. Ripto couldn’t tell. Maybe it was an hour. Just as he was about to get up and shake it off as another hallucination, a heavy foot dug itself into the back of his head, forcing him harder down into the ground. One of the predator’s curved claws clicked against Ripto’s horn, once, twice. The helpless dinosaur felt the grip tighten around him. And then--

The pressure lifted in the fraction of a second, followed by a guttural roar and a blow that shook the earth around him. Yanking his head from the ground, Ripto realized that Gulp had rammed into the lava lizard head first, making use of his body mass and sharp horns to force their attacker off balance. The lava lizard scrambled back onto its feet as quickly as it had fallen, and it wasn’t quite until now that Ripto realized how massive this creature was; a monstrous biped standing a good three meters over the ground, with rough scales draped in a deep burgundy making it look like it just climbed out from the depths of hell. From its forehead grew a twisted horn, much like Ripto’s own. To complete the nightmarish image, its long jaws housed a jumbled mess of fangs and tusks. Ripto could only imagine how much of him there would have been left had the attack succeeded. Seeing Gulp and the lava lizard at a standoff was truly like witnessing a clash of giants. Ripto couldn’t help but feeling very small and insignificant. More so than usual.

Empty handed with his magic scepter long lost, he was helpless against this adversary. So he resorted to doing the only thing he was good at.

“Gulp! Finish it off! Kill it! KILL IT!”

Gulp didn’t need any second command to motivate him further. He swung his horned head into the side of the lava lizard once more, except this time the creature came prepared for his onslaught. With nimble hands, it grasped Gulp by the jaws and bit down his neck, more to catch the quadruped off guard than to do lethal harm. Gulp roared and shook his head frantically, foam flying from the edges of his mouth.

“Behind you, BEHI--!”

Ripto’s cries were in vain, as the massive red lizard shifted and chomped down on Gulp’s back, away from his victim’s reach, and sunk his hellish teeth deep into the green dinosaur’s rind. Gulp’s roars turned into howls that shattered the dead silence of the desert. Using all of its strength, the predatory dinosaur took advantage of the moment and pushed Gulp onto his side. Gulp flailed with his clumsy legs in the air, kicking someone who was out of reach, his mouth foaming and eyes tearing. The lava lizard slowly released his bite with a shrilling wheeze, fresh blood running between tusks and fangs, dripping down on Gulp’s leafy green skin.

Ripto couldn’t look away. Being a predatory dinosaur himself, he knew what was coming next. His companion’s vulnerable underbelly was dangerously exposed for the lava lizard and it would only take moments before a chunk of flesh would be pulled from his chest. Gulp would be eaten alive and Ripto would stand there and watch. Until the lava lizard wanted dessert.

There was really nothing but one option at this point. Ripto inhaled through his nose, puffing himself up like a bird ready to fend off a much bigger rival, and let out the loudest and most fearsome war cry he could ever muster. Then he leapt forward as nimbly and fast as he could, ignoring the tough resistance of sand and grain under his feet, dashing towards Gulp, up over his fallen body and jumped -- claws out, fangs bared -- against his enemy.

When Ripto fell into the pool of lava in Winter Tundra, he remembered that the impact had hurt a bit. But the actual sinking had strangely enough not been that intensely painful as one would imagine. That said, it wasn’t by any means a pleasant experience. His whole body was assaulted with what felt like a million needles that pricked him just at the surface, never truly going under the skin but still causing him plenty of discomfort. The suffocating, however, felt oddly… nice. Relieving, in a way. It felt like a warm hug that embraced him from the inside. He didn’t panic. His mind just slowly wandered off. He didn’t think of the dragon that did this to him. Nor did he think about how small and insignificant he was. Sinking into the lava, he felt bigger, somehow. Maybe even stronger. He couldn’t remember for how long he drifted, lost in oblivion, until all those millions of needles all at once decided to

PIERCE HIS SKIN.

Ripto gasped and filled his lungs with the dusty desert air. But it felt like his lungs never filled up completely. The lava lizard had seen the small dinosaur’s attack miles away, and simply snapped at Ripto, locking him shut in his jaws. Pointed teeth chewed Ripto’s skin and that warm, familiar feeling bubbled up inside of him. But that was only for a second. The lava lizard spun around and flung Ripto effortlessly, but with great force, into the crag horn first. Ripto’s mind went black the moment his head hit the rock.

***

When Ripto woke up again, the air was quite cool. So was the cavern floor he found himself laying on. The contrast from the searing heat was relieving and the air felt much easier to breathe. Ripto’s mind begun wandering back, but his body was still paralyzed, spread out in the darkness of wherever he was. After a minute or so of doing nothing, Ripto had found himself to have let out a monotonous moan ever since he woke, which he ended with a masked cough. Self-aware, but still laying flat on his back with limbs spread out, he scanned what parts he could of his surroundings with half-closed eyes. All he could see was naked rock hidden in the faint light. He slowly turned himself over in an attempt to sit, but vertigo got him immediately and the tiny dinosaur slumped back on the ground nose first. Ow. Something stung him. He opened his eyes and gently raised his head. Some sort of sticky twig was stuck to his delicate snout. He shook his head fast, but that only made him dizzier and the little branch only seemed only to attach more.

“Argh, what the-!”

Furiously, he clawed at his own face in an attempt to free himself of the nuisance. That’s when he noticed that the twig was covered in -- what he assumed to be -- tiny thorns. More enraged than his energy levels should allow, he grabbed the twig from his face with both hands and ripped it off like an old, glued up band aid. Ripto grunted out loud and grinned in anguish, his eyes tearing up. He threw the prickly branch as long as he could muster, only to notice that it was still attached to his hand after the throw.

“Oh, come ON!”

After shaking his hand frantically up and down and back and forth, the little piece of plant finally let go and soundlessly hit the cavern floor. Ripto used his free hand to rub his eyes while cussing under his breath. Blinking back his focus, still a bit wobbly, he tried to regain his balance. It was when he scanned his new home once more that he noticed something odd at the center of the room, a faint shimmer and a very familiar fragrance. Spreading his eyes wider, slit pupils dilating, he had to stare for a good moment to make sure his senses didn’t betray him. There was a smooth depression in the rock which almost looked like it was handmade, and it seemed to be filled with clear, fresh--

“Water!”

Ripto waited no longer. Endless days of thirst with nothing to quench himself but dry, rough sand caught up with him and before he knew it, he plunged himself at the water source, stuffing his whole face into the craggy bowl, not drinking but rather devouring the water inside. He even swallowed gulps through his nose, but he didn’t care, he wasn’t going to stop until every last drop was gone. He would soon find out, however, that the container was somehow refilling itself from the bottom through a pipe-like tunnel that went through the stone, where it must have originated in a freshwater spring, like an oasis. Grabbing the rocky water bowl with both hands, he pulled his head up from the much needed drink and gasped for air, as he caught up in the moment and forgot that dinosaurs can’t breathe underwater. Then he just stood there, silently staring at the water surface, watching as the liquid slowly filled up the small basin. That was the first time in a very long time he had seen his own reflection. He couldn’t tell if the reflected image looking back at him was distorted because of the bubbling water gurgling up from within the depths of the cave. Every part of him seemed to boil, bubbles rising up from under the surface, as if they tried to break free from inside of his skin. A part of his jawline had ripped open, revealing his red gum and sharp teeth beneath. His eyes looked more like dull, scratched up glass beads than real organs. The crooked tip of his horn was missing. The point where it had broken cried brown tears of dried blood.

As the water came flowing back, so did Ripto’s senses and his body woke anew, piece by piece. With it returned the aching of his head, torso and limbs, and the painful memories that accompanied every part. He could feel a distinct stabbing in his chest and with it came the memory of almost being bitten in half by a giant monster. Ripto clenched his small chest with his hand. And noticed-- that it was sticky. Blood? No, this wasn’t it. Looking at his fingers, sniffing, then carefully licking the alien substance with the tip of his forked tongue, he figured it must be some sort of sap. Gasping, he took another look into the water mirror. The tip of his horn was also clogged with the brownish glue, different from the streaks of dried blood that ran down along it. It was almost as if it had been applied there deliberately. Ripto turned around, touching all over his small frame with quick, clawed fingers. There, another lump of sap on his right shoulder, and, oh, it was even on his back too, at the place where the lava lizard’s teeth had pierced his skin. There was even some on his kneecaps and elbows, easily noticeable through his torn attires. Dancing around the room in this curious manner, Ripto misplaced his foot on something that made a cracking noise.

“Ow! What on- YEAGH!”

He had stepped on the prickly twig that was stuck in his face just before he had found the water. Skipping up and down on one foot while swearing excessively, he tried to pull off the unrelenting plant now attached to the underside of one of his feet. While doing so, he noticed that the surface of the cavern floor wasn’t all cold stone. There were leaves. Plenty of them. A pile of it was arranged as bedding, which Ripto must have woken up on. After having forced off the prickly brush and sent it flying a good few meters, Ripto brought one of the leaves up close to his nose and sniffed it. Its scent had a distinguished familiarity to the twig and sap. Could this be-

“Catbat claw?”

Ripto raised an eyebrow. He was indeed familiar with this plant. Dinosaurs, critters and humans alike had used this brushy desert plant as a medical complement since the beginning of time. It grew sparse and only in inhabitable places, but he remember that they always kept some at home when he was a child. It was named after those pesky animals because the thorns were needle sharp and slightly curved and once they got hold of you, they wouldn’t let go. The thorns of course didn’t possess any medical properties, but the leaves did wonders as pain relievers, and the sap could be used to help stop bleeding and speed up the coagulation process. Furthermore, it covered up the smell of blood which could attract other, bigger monsters.

The handmade water basin and leaf bed, the roomy cavern, the Catbat claw -- Someone had saved Ripto and brought him here. Someone was nursing him back to health. But who? Had Crush found him? Ripto looked up. The cavern was dark, but he could still make out a rugged ceiling. Had his horn not be broken off at the top, he would have barely been able to stand straight in the innermost corner of the cavity where he woke up. Past the water bowl in the center of the room, the cave widened as well as the ceiling got higher, but it was still much to small for Crush, or Gulp for that matter, to fit. Besides, Ripto though, Crush was dumb as a doornail. He would never know about the Catbat claw, or be able to apply it as delicately with those huge hands of his. Crush was good at crushing, not nursing, or cooking, or anything at all for that matter.

“And it’s all because of him I’m in this awful mess,” Ripto whispered to himself through clenched teeth.

The thought escaped him immediately as a scraping noise could be heard from the cave’s entrance. Ripto flinched and quickly looked in the sound’s direction. The light outside was dim and cold, and whatever source illuminated the outside world just barely made it possible to distinguish the outlines of the cavern mouth. He stood still for a good few moments. Then the noise stopped. Ripto’s heart pounded fast against his tiny ribcage, and despite trying to stay unnoticable with teeth tightly pressed together, heavy breathing from his nose would betray him. But silence had laid a blanket over the cave and that perked Ripto’s curiosity. Slowly, he tiptoed towards the entrance gap of the cave. He stuck his nose out first, then carefully the rest of his face, eyes deadly focused forward, as if balancing on a tightrope over a canyon. The air against his face hit him as chilly, but not freezing. He cautiously examined his surroundings. Instead of seeing desert sand or dusty, empty plains ahead and around him like he thought he would, he saw more vertical rocks to each side. His gaze climbed down the rock’s surface. There were even more rocks, and it went on for as far as his vision could reach. The air lay completely still and the silence bounced between the high cliff walls. Was he truly up in the mountains, the very mountains he thought he had seen before while on Gulp’s back? Then he looked up. It was night. He didn’t see the moon. But he saw a vast sea of stars. Ripto had always enjoyed nighttime with the twinkling and sparkling of millions and billions little stars. But this was something else entirely. The stars here were drowning the black vastness of the universe, illuminating the sky with whites and yellows, blues and reds. He could hardly even make out any common constellations, because between every zodiac there were countless tiny specks merging into one another, making the ocean of stars more like one enormous celestial body. It was mesmerizing. He may have felt very small that night, but he also felt very alive.

[creativebeast18]

Robstar Week day 1: Falling Falling for Each Other

Hiiiiii....I’m not late for Robstar week...I was just sent one week into the future!

JK, But I’m happy I could finally finish this! It was very hard to write, and everytime I came back to it, I just kept writing more and more. Thanks to my pal @lightdusk96 for helping me edit this and get the grammar right (I swear I always get one thing wrong and it bothers me to the moon and back). Hope you enjoy!

Summary: two life or death situations lead Richard and Koriand’r to realize their ddep love towards the other.

Everything around him seemed dull. The air, the screams, the blood: he was blind to it. The only thing he cared about, the only thing that kept him sane, was falling. Starfire laid on the hospital bed, connected to various machines, including a respirator.

When had everything gone so wrong? How, after all the preparations, did this happened? Questions clouded his mind now more than any case ever had. It had started as an usual morning in the Grayson household. Richard was getting breakfast ready for his favourite alien, while she slept through the morning. Suddenly he heard what sounded like a blunt object fall to the ground. The neighbours from upstairs, maybe? But the cause was clear as soon as he heard a scream. HER scream.

Richard immediately let go of the eggs he was holding and rushed to aid his wife. The sight that was in front of him shocked him almost as much as the accident that happened during his childhood. It was the love of his life, tears streaming through her eyes,  while she layed in a small pool of blood and stretched a hand out to him, to anyone, that could help her baby at this moment. Dick held her hand while calling 911, explaining to the operator that his wife was now in labour, contractions being very close one from the other.

The rest of the day was a blur to him. The only clear memories where of the pain in Kory’s face, how she squeezed his hand for support, and her last words before she was in this state: “I’ll survive this, both me and our daughter”. And then, all the machines started making the wrong sounds. Fast and erratic, while all the doctors yelled. He was soon taken out of the room to wait with his friends and teammates, the last sight of his wife being her, in an induced coma.

This was by far one of the worst experiences he had ever felt. His parents dying? Sure, it hurt, but that time someone else had killed them. Growing up with the most serious and distant man on Earth? Bruce wasn't that bad, and he grew to like him, to the point where he saw him as a father, even. But this? Knowing that the most precious person in our life is hanging on a thread because of something that was partially yours? Heartbreaking was putting it lightly. They knew from the very start that a half-human half-tamaranian baby was something completely unpredictable. They didn't know what could happen to Star, but they couldn't wait to be parents. So they hoped for the best. And that it had been for a while, until today.

There was nothing he could do at this time, except wait. There he was, surrounded by the support of all his friends, yet oblivious to the outside. He felt nothing but loneliness.

She needed to find him soon. Or else, her entire world would crumble around her. After reuniting with her fellow teammates, they didn't even need to state that finding Robin was the top priority . Their best bet at finding him were Star and Raven : they both could fly, but could pass undetected (Beast Boy suggested transforming into a bird or a bug to search for him, but they didn’t let him because Cyborg needed help camouflaging their tracks...and because he was Beast Boy)

But where could he be? All the police reports only lead our female heroines to Shinjuku, but it was so vast, he could be hiding anywhere. While Raven searched the north part, Starfire went over south of the neighbourhood over and over again, in the hopes of any patrol light, any radio communication, any rumor...anything. She knew that maybe he was hiding so well that she would never find him, but she also knew that she would never give up on him, that nothing could keep her apart from him.

Because, even after what he had said, and still debating herself if he had really meant it, she could not give up on this chance of them being together. Even if in the end he said no, for any reason, she would still be beside him. Because Robin was the first thing she knew from this world. Since coming to Earth, Robin was the first she ever trusted, the first she ever cared about, the first she ever kissed…. But (even though the kiss came first) they were most importantly friends. She could never let that go. She would always be a Titan, and she would always help her friends and stay by their side .

Koriand’r seemed so lost in her thoughts that only the loudest siren seemed to wake her up from her trance. She quickly followed it only to find several patrols chasing a single motorcycle. Said vehicle was being driven by a young male with jet black hair. Her breathing almost stopped at the sight of her better half. She tailed the persecution, trying to reach Robin, but he was running too fast for her, and after hours of searching, her energy was almost drained . However, at the sight of her love at the edge of a cliff, she took her chance and dived in, falling to him, so that she could grab Dick’s hand and take off into the Tokyo sky with him.

“It is great to finally find you, friend Robin!” Said Starfire in her most melodic and happiest tone. Richard noticed the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Desperation, fear, and adrenaline were what he had felt for the last two hours, but right now...he felt not only relief, but happiness.

“It’s great to see you too, Star. You have no idea how much I missed you” he said, as tears collected behind his sunglasses. But, after all the confusion he just went through, he knew that flying in the middle of the sky wasn’t his best idea. He would wait first to reach a safe place. So that he could tell her how much he had fallen for her.

Light begun to enter the room, as Kori felt her eyes slowly opening. She noticed that a big shadow was looking directly at her, holding her hand . Surprised, she springed up and sat on the bed, scanning her surroundings. The room was filled with most of her friends and family members. She looked around: Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Kid Flash, Jinx, Blue Beetle and old friends like Batgirl and Wonder Girl were there. But the two people she cared about the most were right by her side. The sight of them was simply overwhelming: her loving husband holding a small baby, cradiling it as it slept soundly , little bubbles forming on the corner of its mouth.

“Hi there, beautiful.” Said Richard, always so charming. “You had me scared there for a second. How are you feeling?” He said, while signaling Raven with his eyes so that she could get the nurse. Starfire lifted a hand and placed it on top of the baby’s head, caressing it softly.

“I told you I would do it”. Although her voice was cracking, she thought that this moment was nothing but perfect, as she stretched out her arms and held the product of their love. Dick sat by her side and hugged her with one arm while using the other to carefully grab one of their baby’s hands. One by one, their friends left the room so that the happy family could have a private moment .

“She is one strong, healthy little girl”, Richard said as he kissed his lover on her head. “What’s the last thing you remember?” he asked protectively.

Kori did not take her eyes off their daughter as she answered “Well, I remember you holding my hand as I felt a contraction, then I think I blacked out. I only heard a very sharp noise, and you calling my name.” As he relieved the memory, Dick squeezed her left shoulder. “ But then I think I had a dream… I dreamt about that time we were in Tokyo. The police was chasing you, and I was trying to catch you. I was just as scared right now as I was back then ” . Starfire looked at her husband, hoping for a different reaction than the last. Shockingly, she found a smile.

Richard just looked at her, staring right into her eyes. “That makes sense, considering”. This confused Kori greatly. Noticing this, he continued “Just before I had to leave, your line fell. Doctor said you flatlined for around 3 minutes. They put you in an induced coma just to be safe, and called me back after an hour to get prepared for the birth. I’m sorry you missed it” He said as he noticed her sad eyes and the pout her lips made.

“It is alright. The most important thing is that she is here, safe and sound. And we could always have more.” She said while sending him a funny look and her mouth forming a sultry smile. They both immediately giggled, as to not wake their newborn.

Dick kept going. “Anyway, I don’t think it’s a coincidence. When you rescued me, I thought that you had fallen from the sky, just like an angel. I remember even being a bit mad at you because you could have gotten shot by the police.” Star was a bit surprised, but she let him go on. “And today the line of your heartbeat fell completely. I think we constantly fall: while saving each other from missions, while facing high risk situations, when we try to save the other...But most importantly, we fall for each other. We fell in love with each other. And just look what that led us to: the most beautiful child in existence...What I’m trying to say is that, we´ll always be there for each other. Kori, you flatlined today, but you did it for our daughter; not that I’m happy about it, but it’s like you fell for her. And I could be back here in time for her when she came, and for you when you woke up. Just like you were there for me in Tokyo. I wish sometimes that our lives were easier, that danger wasn’t crawling in every corner, but I’m sure that, with you at my side, we can face anything. We can fall and come back each time, for each other, and for her.”

After this monologue, Dick lifted up his gaze from the floor, and looked at his wife. Tears were falling from both of their eyes, neither of them held them back. The moment was forever captured with an embrace, and a long-lasting kiss.

When they parted, their baby had opened her eyes, revealing two beautiful emerald irises. She lifted up her arms, and giggled, as if wanting to be part of the hug as well. “What shall we name her, dear?” the alien asked. The couple had already decided on an earthly name, with a touch of Tamaran, but they hadn’t concluded in which one. It wasn’t until Starfire suggested Mar’i that they knew it was the one. They both knew this was everything they ever wanted, and that they would always come back for her. In the end, they would always fall, to hell and back, for each other.

“Now, where’s the doctor?! My wife had a baby and she still hasn’t come here!” Dick springed up from bed and headed to the door, while hearing his wife’s and daughters’s laughter of joy.