#they can literally shapeshift their vocal cord to do so

[biscuit-munchies]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ONE AND ONLY YAMCHA!!! some of my favorite frames below

[mediocre-noodle]

first notes part:

i keep thinking about mcu and how it’s a few years behind us as of CA:CW and s:hc and FFH (civil war, spider-man homecoming, & far from home). like infinity war is in 2019??

so i keep imagining dallas listening to music and it’s all the stuff i listen to now. and the avengers are all like WTFWTFWTF bc TF IS PHONK (it was first popular in the early 2010s but idk if the genre NAME was popular. like tiktok made it explode. and also i feel like the genre and music differs from years ago). like tony stark listens to ACDC (in fanon or canon, idk) not ayesha erotica. he would flip at lumi athena, cade clair, 6arelyhuman (/pos or /neg?) I’M NOT EVEN TALKING ABOUT VOCALOID EITHER OR VSYNTH. like they had vocaloid is the late 2000s (sometime it was created) and then the 2010s obvi— but it’s developed so much since it was made.

and then dallas just sings along to stuff in other languages and stuff that’s “not appropriate for a 17 year old”. and he can sound like the computer!?? or the singer??? WITTTCHHHH. (reference to the shapeshifting vocal cords headcanon and the ‘99% of every Eye is multilingual’ -> which is bc theyre hella old and watch over the multiverse.. which means to actually WATCH and guide the beings there, they need to know the language,, so they picked up on it as they first encountered new worlds and would teach ofhers who Watched the same universes as they would)

(the people who know multiple languages often side eye him like ‘do you know what you’re singing?’ (bucky & nat for russian, nat & clint for several languages bc theyre spies, asl w clint & peter, several languages w peter bc hes a nerd—) (<- headcanons)

second notes part -> just dallas’ nickname ideas for mcu cast!!

- dallas calls peter “hangtime” -> this is actually a name from a wild kratts episode for caracal mitton but idc its funny and i like it as a nickname bc peter is SPIDER-MAN!! he literally HANGS!!

- calls hawkeye (clint) “‘squito’” or “‘skeeter eater” (bc of mosquito hawk)

- calls thor “flashbang”

- tony: toy story? (tony stark -> TS -> toy story) major WIP. i cant think of anything funny

the nicknames LMAOOOOO

i actually never thought about it but yeah :00 music and stuff from (checks notes) 5 years ago (???????? 2019 does not feel like that long ago 😭) would be pretty different!! i love the multilingual stuff its sick :0

[l0uk45]

If students from class 1A and 1B were part of the Riordanverse:

Yuga Aoyama: Son of Aphrodite. Not even a good one, unless you need someone blinded by his glitter-gun. Oh yeah, he has a glitter gun with lasers for maximum flare. Is he completely over-the-top? Absolutely. But is he good in a fight? Surprisingly, yes.

Mina Ashido: Daughter of Hermes and legacy of Hecate, capable of inhuman movements and can produce a slime that magically dissolves anything. She also tattooed her eyes black and yellow for some weird masochistic reason.

Tsuyu Asui: She’s a frog-turned-human by Ochako. She still has her tongue, leaps, hops, camouflage, a reversible stomach and poison that can kill a group of whales. And he can still inflate her throat like a balloon, which makes for good scares.Very good scares…

Tenya Iida: Son of Mercury, he never skips leg day. Never. Seriously, have you seen those legs? He could crush a car with those puppies! Or crush monster heads! Which he does do quite often! He doesn’t skimp out on upper body exercises either, but LOOK AT THOSE LEGS OF THUNDER!

Ochako Uraraka: Daughter of Hecate, she specializes in a set of spells that manipulate an individual object’s or being’s gravitational pull. It’s gotten to the point where she makes anything she touches with five fingers on one hand, it will float, no matter what, which is why she wears gloves all the time.

Mashirao Ojiro: Son of Mars, he’s an expert martial artist and very, very good at multiple of them. He’s lost multiple sparring partners because of his profinity with a number of weapons, and his lethality without any weapons.

Denki Kaminari: Legacy of Zeus and Apollo, each by about 50 generations. About as bright as his godly ancestors (not very), but he still makes one Hel of a lightning bolt, and he’s also pretty good with a guitar and lyre. 

Eijiro Kirishima: Son of Vulcan, his blood and skin are pure liquid gold, bronze and diamond he can infinitely harden for a period of time. It also obtains unnaturally sharp edges, and given his tendency to go hard when excited, he has made his friends frequent the infirmary for cuts and broken ribs.

Koji Koda: Son of Actaedon, he can talk with wildlife. He’s also a Legacy of Heracles, hence his size. His hugs are nice, war and gentle.

Rikido Sato: Son of Mars, this guy has a serious sweet tooth. He’s also surprisingly gentle for a guy that can decimate an opponent with a single hit.

Mezo Shoji: Son of Ares, he’s surprisingly level-headed. And malicious. Seriously, this guy always has at least ten different weapons on him, on top of him knowing a variety of potentially lethal moves. His arms are known as the Anacondas for a reason.

Kyoka Jiro: Daughter of Apollo, she’s a top-tier musician, singer and is moderate with a bow and arrow. She can whistle in the ultrasonic range, clap like thunder, sing and play like either a sweet little bird or a whole-ass heavy metal choir without ruining her vocal cords, and she gives the opposite amount of fucks that Zeus does (ie. zero).

Hanta Sero: Son of Hermes, he inherited a pair of magical tape dispensers that can dispense any tape in any amount of any properties he chooses. He uses them to swing around like Spider-Man, which made him a regular visitor of the infirmary until Momo made him a special harness to keep his joints from dislocating. 

Fumikage Tokoyami: Son of Erebos, he suffers from split-personality disorder, but it’s fixed nicely by his inner demon incarnate made of pure darkness he calls Dark Shadow. They have a strangely healthy relationship for a boy and his literal inner demon.

Shoto Todoroki: A Legacy, descendant of Hel and Surtr, capable of making ice that freezes fire, and fire that burns ice. He gives so little shit he’s actually oblivious to social cues, which makes for more than a few funny moments on quests with him.

Toru Hagakure: Legacy of Iris, she can manipulate light around her to turn invisible or project bright flashes

Katsuki Bakugou: Son of Ares, with rage and instincts of war so strong and powerful he can convert his sheer rage into explosions in the palms of his hands. He generated more than one explosion with the explosive yield of a nuclear weapon in his life. How he hasn’t gone deaf yet is beyond most people, though he does still know a variety of sign languages.

Izuku Midoriya: A mortal, capable of seeing through the mist, was gifted the Spartan Spirit, a spirit formed by Kratos, Nike, Bia and Zelus, to protect humanity in its greatest times of need. He ends up breaking his bones an absolute shitton, and is a regular at the infirmary.

Minoru Mineta: Died on a quest. His quest-mates say ‘by accident’. Everyone knows it was very deliberate, but then again, everyone hated him and is fine with him dead. Some people wanted to be the ones to kill him though.

Momo Yaoyorozu: A Legacy, granddaughter of Hephaestus and Athena, capable of making virtually any machine. She’s also very fidgety, and once made an entire army of fully autonomous grass soldiers that went on to terrorize the other campers for a bit. In thirty minutes.

Class 1B:

Yosetsu Awase: Son of Hephaestus, he also likes to make stuff. Though mostly he combines already existing tools, gadgets and machines, and makes weird amalgamations. He once fused an automaton bull, an automaton dragon and a school bus, and it actually works.

Sen Kaibara: Son of Ares, he’s pretty chill compared to his kin (especially Katsuki and Setsuna), mainly due to him bottling up his anger. Which he can unleash as tornadoes around his limbs, which he can use to drill through walls. Thank gods he doesn’t lose it too often.

Togaru Kamakiri: Son of Ceres, he likes farming tools. Especially ones with blades. That’s lead to him using all kinds of sickles, scythes (both farming tools and war scythes) and even a few lawn mowers, shovels, axes...

Shihai Kuroiro: Son of Nyx, him and Tokoyami get along exceptionally well. Given his ability to shadow-travel and use shadows and darkness as materials to make some pretty nifty weapons only he can use.

Itsuka Kendo: Daughter of Athena, she excels in critical thinking and a variety of martial arts. And knocking out her piers with precise attacks when they start to get exceptionally annoying.

Yui Kodai: Daughter of Trivia. She excels in potions and spells that manipulate the size of objects, so much so that she has to resort to gloves because she now naturally makes things smaller with her left hand, or bigger with her right hand. She’s the calm one.

Kinoko Komori: Daughter of Demeter, she has a soft spot for fungi and mushrooms. Which she can make grow rapidly. Very rapidly. She’s fun at parties.

Ibara Shiozaki: Daughter of Demeter, she dyes her hair green with actual chlorophyll for some reason (“To feel one with the beautiful plants,” she says), but she can also grow and manipulate vines and other vine-like plants, along with trees, quite effectively, and she has some rose and poison oak (she’s immune to it) seeds in her hair. Don’t ask, her answers are just as ridiculous as the chlorophyll-dyed hair.

Jurota Shishida: Son of Mars, he’s been cursed by most likely Hera to be a humanoid boar/dog thing. He’s especially good at wrestling, and is very diplomatic in his approach. Until he gets pissed, then he charges like a boar and yes, he keeps those tusks of his sharp on a regular basis.

Niregeki Shoda: Legacy of Hermes, son of Hephaestus, he likes to make explosives and plant them everywhere. More than a few campers were scared. Except Katsuki, who tried to outdo the ground (Niregeki’s mine) in explosive yield and put skylight access in the roof of Bunker 9. Niregeki had to repair it.

Pony Tsunotori: Legacy of Poseidon, she can shapeshift. She likes to shapeshift into horses, bulls, deer and goats (including mooses and buffalo), and she has a nifty gadget from the Hephaestus and Vulcan campers in the shape of horns that transform with her, giving her detachable remote-control horns. 

Kosei Tsuburaba: Legacy of Jupiter, son of Ares, he’s competitive and can make walls and blades out of air. Especially annoying for monsters because they can’t get to him, period, and every time they try, they don’t get past his walls of air for a whole minute before someone either cuts/hacks/slices them to bits, freezes/burns them alive, blows them up with their fists/explosives/expanding stones they previously ingested or some other way of disposing a monster.

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu: Son of Vulcan, capable of turning to pure steel over his entire body, also increasing his strength. Because of this, and his tendency to go hard whenever he’s excited, he’s made his friends frequent the infirmary for bruises and broken ribs.

Setsuna Tokage: Daughter of Ares, she’s actually been hurt pretty badly in one of her fights (she went on a Quest with Katsuki, and no, it wasn’t him who hurt her) and had to have automaton grafts to replace her limbs, a part of her lower jaw, her eyes and the muscles around her spine, along with parts of the vertebrae. Which she asked to be detachable and splittable in as many pieces as possible, which she can control telepathically and uses to troll other campers. A lot. Especially two certain sons of Vulcan.

Manga Fukidashi: No one knows what he is, they just know his head is a speech bubble and he can make anything he writes real.

Juzo Honenuki: Legacy of Gaia, he can virtually liquify the ground (does not work on metal or wooden floors). He trolls a lot with this ability. And I do mean a lot.

Kojiro Bondo: A golem? A person? His head makes it hard to tell whether he’s a demigod or a monster to be honest. And his glue-like spit doesn’t help much either.

Neito Monoma: Legacy of, you guessed it, Zeus! He has a superiority complex because of this, and he frequents the infirmary on the basis of Itsuka or whoever he was annoying KOing him constantly. All that brain damage probably isn’t helping his mental issues...

Reiko Yanagi: Daughter of Hecate she can make things she touches float and fly around using some sort of incantation. The biggest she can do is double her own body weight, but that doesn’t stop her from delivering high-speed flying punches and scaring other campers.

Hiryu Rin: Son of Mars and Legacy of Poseidon, he can shapeshift into various animals. Most notably a mix of human, hedgehog and a lizard. Sharp, painful and deadly precise. And also meditating. And a lot of it.

[graaythekwami]

Love Square Fluff Week: Day 1, Concert

Also read on ao3!

Pairing: LadyNoir

Note: This takes place in an animal/shapeshifting AU I’m working on. Instead of superheroes their Miraculouses turn them into animals, and the general public is scared of them and their powers.

-----

‘My Lady? Is that you?’

The ladybug let out a small hum as she heard the voice in her mind, wings flapping wildly as she tried to navigate the dark corners near the ceiling. Her senses were a mess at the moment, so many smells touching her antennae, echoing noises of hundred of people below. She was either flying in patches of darkness, or in the bright lights of the show below.

‘Yes,’ she replied telepathically as she flew closer to the agreed meeting location. In the daytime it had been easy to find, when the concert hall was empty, but now that everyone had gathered for the performance tonight it had become pure chaos. ‘Are you positive an akuma is going to strike tonight?’ 

She caught a glimpse of neon green out of the corner of her eye, turning mid-flight as she sped towards it. She didn’t slow down, her mind still trying to sort through the array of senses coming to her– and she ended up crashing right into a mass of fur– which proceeded to shake as it let out a loud purr.

‘I see you decided to crash for the night,’ Chat said, and the ladybug let out a grumble as she folded in her wings, the protective elytra swiftly covering them as she was no longer flying. ‘And with so many emotions running high tonight? I would be surprised if Papillon didn’t strike.’

She crawled up her partner's chest, scurrying past his neck and not stopping until she was on the top of his head. She settled herself into his fur, feeling much more secure on him when she was this small. He was no bigger than the average house cat, but seeing she was a tiny ladybug he was giant to her.

‘I think you just want to see the Jagged Stone concert for free,’ she replied, and if she could smirk in this form then she would have.

‘“Free” is not the issue,’ he replied. ‘It’s seeing it at all for me, my father isn’t that keen for me to go to events such as these,’ Chat began purring once more. ‘Besides, if we didn’t come like this I wouldn’t be able to see it with you.’

‘True,’ she said after a moment of thought. ‘We have a pretty good view too, might I add.’

They were up in the rafters, perched on a metal beam above the concert hall. They were a ways back so they could see the stage, but close enough that it was just as good as front row seats. She peered out from between his fur to look down at the crowds of people below. For a moment she was tempted to grow larger, but shuddered at the thought of if someone saw her.

A just cat in the rafters? Annoying, but not the biggest concern to most people. Chat Noir and Ladybug up here though? She knew they would be less than welcomed. Especially Chat.

‘You have your symbol covered up,’ she noted, peering down as his black furry chest. A neon green paw pad that was an emblem of his power usually sat there, but he often covered it up with ink or mud to hide the fact he was Chat Noir, so he could roam the streets of Paris without the people scattering in fright.

‘Too many people out here tonight, I would have been noticed otherwise,’ he replied, laying down with a yawn. The cat was careful to keep his head balanced as to not knock her off of her perch. ‘You have it easy.’

That was true, her symbol was simply the spots present on her back, meaning she just looked like the average ladybug when transformed, and it was easy for her to blend in. Chat’s on the other hand stood out like a sore thumb, and had to put effort in his appearance.

‘At least you aren’t at risk for getting squished,’ she replied.

‘You can fly.’

‘You got to stay a mammal! Have lungs and vocal cords and a nose!’

‘You can climb up walls, heal your own wounds, are practically invisible you’re so small–‘

‘At least you actually have a natural ability to fight– claws, teeth, agility– I’m just basically a tank with the akuma!’

‘A beautiful tank,’ Chat replied with a purr.

‘...I’m literally a bug, Chat,’ Ladybug said.

‘You’re beautiful,’ He insisted.

She buried herself deeper into his fur. ‘I’m not beautiful like this, Chat, and I know it. I don’t have the cute factor going for me like you do. When I augment I’m nothing but a hideous giant bug.’

‘My cute factor is gone once I augment too, My Lady. A giant bull-sized cat isn’t exactly the most cuddly thing,’ he pawed gently at his head, not enough to knock her off, but she got the message and flew down in front of him.

He pressed his head against the metal beam they were on, trying to get as close to her eye level as possible. In the end she had to crawl up onto his paw, bumping against his nose. A puff of warm air ran over her, and he began purring once more.

‘And by the way, you are beautiful,’ Chat’s telepathy became softer. ‘You’re kind, brave, funny, selfless. You help protect a city that’s looking for any reason to turn against us.’

‘Chat–’

‘Trust me, Ladybug, I’ve been around plenty of people that the world would claim as “beautiful”, and they’re some of the most toxic people I have ever met. You on the other paw... You do everything in your power to be a good person, and I can’t think of anything more beautiful.’

She had no reply.

Chat brought his paw in close, gently bumping the top of her elytra with his nose. ‘Let’s enjoy the show, shall we?’

The crowd below let out a wild cheer as Jagged Stone went out on stage, Chat Noir joining in with several loud meows. She could see his excitement– ears perked, tail swishing, pupils dilated. At times it was surprising how easily she could read him, but after how long they had worked together it was to be expected.

She knew the people in the city feared them, even if they had come to need them with the presence of akumas. No matter what they did they were just unnatural to them, dangerous, fused with a foreign magic they couldn’t understand. She had come to accept these terms a long time ago.

But as she looked up at Chat, her Kitty happily purring away, she realized he was right.

They were beautiful.

[nancywheelxr]

(our friends set us up on a blind date as a prank because we don’t like each other but neither of us wants to let them win so ) | Part 9:

( part 1 ) ( part 2 ) ( part 3 ) ( part 4 ) ( part 5 ) ( part 6) ( part 7 ) ( part 8 )

There’s something to be said about routines. It’s sort of calming, to ease back into a daily life knowing where all things fit.

Even if said routine might include chasing aliens on security cams or analyzing DNA that should not have that many helixes. Maybe especially then. It certainly makes the uncanny feel ordinarily common.

So what if that guy shines in the sun? Twilight did that ten years ago, get over yourself, dude. It wasn’t even that good of a movie, everyone was just visibly way too creepy stalkerish. Winn snorts, wondering for a fleeting second if Brainy watched the movies or if he even knows what Twilight is.

You know what, he just might drop a reference later to see what the verdict is.

Two DEO agents carry the Edward wannabe away in cuffs, his tail dragging uselessly on the floor and shining bright like a diamond all the way to the cell block. Winn spots Kara coming in behind them, dripping salt water and smelling strongly of rotten fish. He wrinkles his nose at the stench, shuddering, and he’s so busy not throwing up that all his brain registers are dark brown hair and a familiar uniform before jumping to the conclusion– “Nura?” He asks quietly bewildered before pushing his chair as far as he can from them. “Oh, my god, why do you smell like a dying whale threw up on you– Kara, I know I was the one to make that, but you need to burn your suit, cape and all.”

“Oh, come on,” she whines, sniffing at her hair and promptly gagging, “someone had to flush that guy out, it’s not my fault he was rolling in that disgusting mud.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I told you we had the sonar thing for that,” and now that Winn is a safe distance away from Kara and her overwhelming stench, he can focus back on the things around him. Like, for example, the fact that of course, that’s not Nura, even if her uniform looks a lot like hers and even if she has the same warm, smiling eyes and the same shape of her nose. Then, it clicks on his head. Right, the new addition to their team Kara and Brainy are always talking about.

Dreamer.

“No, you did not,” Kara is shooting back sullenly, her cape draped protectively over her arm.

“I did. And so did Brainy. We said, Supergirl, wait, the sonar will bring him out, and then you said no, there’s no time and dove in the ocean after his lair,” Dreamer says, barely holding back her amusement. She trades a conspiratory look with Winn, “we totally had time, the tide won’t rise in like, hours.”

“That sounds like her,” Winn nods sagely.

“Unbelievable,” Kara glares half-heartedly. Her nose scrunches up and her hand flies to her mouth. “Be right back, guys,” she tells them, voice muffled, before jogging out of there.

“You have superspeed, did you know?” He calls after her, laughing as she flips him off.

“Do you think they’d buy it if we tell at Catco that she fell in a dumpster?”

Winn shrugs, thinking back at all those times he and James had cover for Kara over the years. Or, even worse, the times J’onn had to get involved. “Maybe, she told worse excuses before.”

“Oh, of course– you worked with her there! I mean,” she falters, second-guessing her conclusions, “you’re Winn, right?”

“Yup,” he says, cheerfully. It’s nice to be recognized, alright. “The one and only.”

“Sorry, I’m Dreamer. But you probably already knew that, of course.”

“Yeah, the uniform is kind of a giveaway. But it’s very nice to meet you– and cool suit, by the way.”

It reminds him a lot of Nura’s own uniform, enough to see how Dream Girl was inspired by her ancestor when coming up with it. And that’s kind of a trip to think about, if he’s being honest, because Winn met Nura first, got to know her quirks and the love she had for her family, saw how proud she was of carrying this legacy; they became good friends in all those months he spent with the Legion. It’s just so weird– Winn hugged Nura goodbye last year and now here he is meeting her ancestor not even five months later.

“Thanks, it was my mother’s. Oh,” Dreamer lowers her voice, glancing around quickly, “you can call me Nia. Nia Nal. It’s nice to finally meet you too, I heard a lot about you from literally everyone here.”

Of course. Nia Nal. Time travel is so trippy. He can’t imagine how it must be for Brainy, who spent considerably more time with both of them.

“I knew you would be here today,” Nia blurts out after a second of silence. She closes her eyes, huffing, as if annoyed with herself, then amends, “I saw it in a dream, I mean. You know, how that’s my thing? Seeing stuff– and you probably already knew that too.”

Winn grins, before sitting up on his chair on his best The Godfather impression. “I know everything,” he says in a stage whisper because he definitely can’t do voices to save his life.

Nia giggles, sounding more at ease.

“Except how to get your own coffee, it seems,” Brainy says, and man, Winn is happy to see him climbing the steps towards them, two mugs on his hands. He stops by Winn’s chair, giving him a grumpy look before handing over one of the mugs. To Nia, he says, “greetings, Nia Nal. It’s good to have you back sooner than expected.”

“It’s good to be back,” she grins, and Winn isn’t surprised she genuinely means it.

Taking a sip from his coffee, he sighs contentedly. God, he needed the caffeine. “Thanks, and you were going that way anyway,” he notes, looking pointedly at the mug on Brainy’s hands.

The sigh from Brainy is long-suffering at best and he gives Nia a see what I mean? look even as he rests his hands on Winn’s shoulder.

“Hey, I needed this,” Winn defends himself, cradling his mug, “I’m pulling an all-nighter here.”

“Still looking for Alex’s shapeshifter?” Brainy frowns, leaning over his shoulder to study the security videos on the screen. And this close, Winn can smell his cologne and aftershave, and oh, it smells pretty good. He swallows thickly, clearing his throat. Maybe he’ll ask later what brand he uses. Brainy gives no indication if he feels overheated like Winn is feeling where his hands are digging lightly on Winn’s shoulder to keep the chair in place, calmly changing the camera angle every five seconds while the footage plays. “It’s a long shot, but have you tried running facial recognition?”

He clears his throat again. “Yeah, and I found him here,” he maximizes the videos as he speaks, “and followed him all the way down this street, through cameras 2, 5, and 7. See here? That’s our guy in the corner making his way downtown, walking fast until he’s out of shot, and we should see him here now, right? It’s the same street, not even a block away. But nothing, nada. Between cameras 6 and 9, he disappears.”

“Shapeshifted.”

“Yup. He could be literally anyone,” Winn levels them with a suspicious look, “even one of you.”

“Well, count me out, I was out of town until this morning,” Nia raises her hands, playing along, “and then chasing the fish guy in the docks with Kara.”

“So that’s why it smells like rotting fishes in here, the– ” Brainy scrunches up his face, and then makes the same sound J’onn had made when identifying the fish guy’s species. It’s definitely not meant to be said by anything with vocal cords, Winn is not even going to try to replicate that. Kara had tried, it sounded nowhere close. In fact, it sounded like a particularly hoarse kitten drowning. “They are surprisingly filthy for a kind that lives in the ocean.”

Winn and Nia trade another look, silently agreeing to keep calling him fish guy.

“Anyway,” Winn says through a yawn and takes another sip from his coffee before continuing. “Since face recognition has failed me because our serial department store thief is a shapeshifter, I thought, what is the one thing he can’t change?”

“Voice?” guesses Nia.

“Only if he had a stutter. Some species cannot change their irises, though,” ventures Brainy.

“No and no– but that is good to know,” he leans back on his chair to beam up at him, catching the way his lips twitch into an almost-smile. “What not even a shapeshifter can change is his gait– the way he walks. It’s been used for some time now along biometric identification, and sure, it’s still a bit wonky, especially since our guy keeps changing height and build, but,” Winn pulls up the security feed from the last department store robbed, “do you see that? He has a limp, in all the videos. It’s subtle, but it goes a long way to help my program.”

“Wow, okay, I see it now,” Nia comments absently, looking between them.

“It’s not perfect,” Winn scratches the back of his neck, feeling a little self-conscious. “It can only narrow it down to a few dozen possible hits.”

“Because of the aggravated spatial displacement,” Brainy explains as if that would clear everything up for anyone that hasn’t spent the night researching identifying methods.

“Yeah, that. You know, the differences in camera angle, height, speed, all that stuff,” he translates, “which is why I connected it directly with our facial recognition program, told it to discard anyone under 16, and because this guy is only copying people’s face, send an alert only when any remaining suspect has two hits in two different places at the same time.”

“You wrote all this in one night?”

Winn shudders, shaking his head, “god no. A university in Japan already had a pretty good interface, I only tweaked it a bit to run in our servers.”

The hands on his shoulder twitch and Winn looks up inquisitively. But Brainy is watching him again with that odd expression Winn has no idea what to make of, except that it sets off something warm in his chest. It might be pride. It could be pride, he sure is proud of his program. “This is really remarkable,” Brainy finally speaks, quiet as if meant just for Winn to hear.

Winn looks away, mouth strangely dry. “Yeah, thanks,” and the words weren’t supposed to sound so sincere. He claps his hands, hoping to defuse the weird atmosphere that settled in. “So, any questions?”

Nia smiles softly at them before raising her hand, “I have one, actually. Why not under 16 years old?”

“Glad you asked– I looked up all the disguises we know of so far, and they were all male adults, between 20-36 years old, and let’s go with fit for their age. And I mean, that doesn’t have to be necessarily weird, but there were several occasions where say, a kid or an old lady would blend in a lot easier.”

“So you think he has a type?”

“I think he’s a kid,” he licks his lips, setting his now empty mug on the desk. “A stupid scared kid trying to look big and strong. All he stole from the stores were some clothes, food, toys, electronics. In fact, if he hadn’t shapeshifted in front of like ten different cameras, it would have never caught our attention.”

“He needs our help,” she frowns, “not a manhunt.”

His thoughts exactly, but to do that, they have to find him first, and fast, before the press gets wind of this and turns it into something it’s not. People going around paranoid is never a good thing, especially with the air still a little tense. And Winn is sure Alex thinks the same, or she wouldn’t have told him to keep digging, even after the meager leads they had went cold.

“What’s this about a manhunt?”

Winn does not startle, because that would be too undignified a thing to do in front of his fake-boyfriend and a superhero he’s just got to know, so no, of course, he doesn’t startle when Alex materializes out of thin air, looking vaguely harassed and smelling strongly of car fresheners.

He’s going out on a limb here and say she was with the strike team that captured the fish guy.

“We’re avoiding one,” Brainy supplies helpfully.

“Thank you,” Alex says, halfway into a question like she’s not sure she truly wants to know the context. “That’s generally the consensus, but why are we in danger of one?”

She looks at the three of them waiting not so patiently for an answer; it doesn’t have to be a good answer, he thinks, the bar is pretty low lately.

“I have done something amazing,” Winn tells her, gesturing the computer with his program running.

Alex perks up, “you found a lead on the shapeshifter case?”

A deeply betrayed pause. “Why do you have to kill my vibe like this?”

There’s a snort from above him, and Winn doesn’t have to look up to know Brainy is absolutely not as ready to defend his honor as he should be. In fact, he can pretty much imagine the stupid amused grin that he must be wearing. Nia, too, is snickering quietly beside Alex.

“What vibes?”

Kara pipes up, grinning that little grin that really, is more of a smirk because she knows she’s being a little shit. At least the terrible smell is gone, mostly.

“You know what this department needs?” Winn throws his hands up, “bells. All of you.”

She laughs, shrugging innocently, and because she’s Kara Danvers right now and not Supergirl, she turns to Nia, “hey, James called, we have to hurry back to Catco. I can give you a ride if you want?”

“Sure, sure. Just give me a minute to change!” She rushes out, setting off towards the locker room and calling back a goodbye, “it was nice to meet you!”

Alex drums her fingers on the desk once, a quick staccato tapping that tells them her mind is nowhere near. Still, she smiles briefly at Winn. “Hey, good work on the program. Call me if you get any hits. Kara,” she whirls on her sister, “we have to talk about Lena’s gala next week.”

And then they are off to the balcony, talking in low voices.

Winn expects Brainy to leave after that, but instead, he lingers. On the screen, the grainy footage of security cameras plays on a loop. The chair creaks as Winn spins to face him, eyebrows raising when he finds him studying the computers thoughtfully.

“It’s– I’m impressed, that’s all,” the comment is said as off-handed and absent, as anything else. As if yes, that’s all there is, nothing strange to it. As if Winn should not find it so surprising, or pleasing. Brainy’s impressed, that’s all.

“Thanks,” he says, half shrugging on his chair. “We’re still on for dinner tonight?”

“Yes, we can head out after work,” Brainy nods, and leaves for his own desk.

Outside in the balcony, Kara takes off with Nia and Alex waves at them until they’re out of sight.

That’s all.

*

The rain starts when they’re a bit over halfway to Winn’s apartment and maybe walking back wasn’t the smartest idea, even if traffic is a nightmare at this hour. They should have known the dark clouds wouldn’t hold out for the twenty minutes walk.

By the time they actually make it inside the building, Winn thinks he’s never going to be warm again. The water had been freezing, as it always is in the first three months of the year; they definitely haven’t hit the April showers yet.

It’s more on the lines of March freezing baths.

Now, with both of them dripping puddles on his living room, Winn has no choice but shove a set of sweatpants and a hoodie that he thinks might fit Brainy into his hands. “The bathroom is down the hall, there are fresh towels in the cabinets,” he directs, before changing into dry clothes himself and going to the kitchen.

Mac and Cheese are generally very easy to prepare, especially the kind that comes in a box, and Winn has never been more grateful for it. With the rain battering on the roof and the lack of sleep he’s running on, he’s not sure if he would be feeling up for doing anything more complicated than that.

“Winn?”

Brainy is on the doorway, wearing Winn’s old UCLA hoodie and Winn’s old sweatpants that are a little frayed at the hems, and Winn needs a minute to adjust.

Just.

It’s weird, okay?

Give him a break, he’s tired. “Yeah?”

“This,” he holds up a cilinder– oh, “I did not know you kept it.”

Right. The dirt collection. Winn narrows his eyes, “you went snooping,” he accuses jokingly, shrugging off Brainy’s vaguely guilty face. “It’s cool, relax. But yeah, I did. I mean, I threw away the bug first and scanned every inch before bringing it out of the DEO– by the way, jerk move, dude– but it was dirt from the future and it’s not like I knew back then I’d get the chance to see it for myself, so.”

The vaguely guilty expression turns vaguely constipated. “I apologize for that,” he fidgets uncomfortably, “at the time I did not realize I would be crossing boundaries. I was worried about the upcoming fight with Reign and wished to know the outcome. I hoped it would be positive, but… I really hoped it would be positive.”

“Well, Mon-El wouldn’t have stayed behind without it and he was kinda helpful,” Winn concedes, “and it was a long time ago anyway. Apology accepted, as long as you help set the table.”

“Of course. I will put this back where I found it, but– can I ask something first?”

“Go for it, man.”

“Why do you keep it inside a cabinet and not displayed like the others? When I ran a diagnostic on your personality, it seemed something you would be more likely to brag about.”

Well, he’s not wrong on that. Winn would absolutely love to have it where everyone can see, but he also would love not to have a lawsuit opened against him; the DEO’s non-disclosure agreement is tight. “Can’t really tell people that’s from the future, you know? I mean, the DEO is a secret branch, so. It has to stay hidden along the alien dirt.”

There’s a long minute of silence before comes the flat, disbelieving reply. “You have been to other planets.”

“Hey, don’t give me that look– I so did! No, I’m serious, you can ask Kara and Alex, they were there! We had a transmat portal and J’onn couldn’t go and there was this trafficking ring– it was a whole thing! No, you know what, that’s it. Go put the dirt back on the cabinet and help me set the table, ‘cause you’re about to hear the whole unabridged story.”

Brainy smiles drily, “I cannot wait.”

“Chop chop, come on. It all starts, really, with James going just five more minutes like vigilanting around is suddenly the same as saying screw you to your alarm clock–”

As Winn launches into a retelling of that mission from years ago, the first really, where he felt like an actual DEO agent and not just a glorified IT guy, Brainy takes the plates and silverware passed to him, snorting every time he tries to imitate someone’s voice. Not that he notices beyond a passing, background thought, but outside, the rain is finally letting on.

[bedbellyandbeyond]

Characters

Time for a character bio update!

Dario “Dari” Collins Age: 24 Height: 5'3” Ethnic background: Greek/Welsh Relatives: Milo (son), Ari (daughter)

Bio: Dari was abducted at the age of 14. He spent 9 years as a breeding slave for extraterrestrials after teeth implanted in him a womb and a gamete converter (a device that converts body cells into egg cells). He was rescued by Yulinian forces and returned to Earth physically and mentally scarred. He met his boyfriend Fay at the Extraterrestrial Immigration Department (EID) where Fay worked and Dari was brought to him to be rehabilitated. Fay is Dari’s 'guidance counsellor' of sorts, despite the policy against dating patients. Together they are raising their daughter Ari and  son Milo. Dari deals with depression, anxiety and PTSD on a regular basis but is recovering and often finds joy with his loved ones. He has trouble being among strangers more than one person at a time but is adjusting to Vi and Lino’s company. Dari holds a dual Canadian/American citizenship. He was born and raised in the US but his mother was born and raised in Canada. When he was rescued, he was brought to the EID in Canada and was only able to remain there because of his dual citizenship. Otherwise, he would've had to return to the US where it would be uncertain if he would have had the same access to rehabilitation (and almost certainly not for free).

Fay Demers Age: 28 Height: 5'8” Ethnic background: Merperson/Siren Relatives: Ari (daughter)

Bio: Fay started working at the EID to meet new species and help people. Being a siren, he has the ability to bewitch every person he meets to some degree of fancying him. He also has the ability to understand all languages within a few moments of listening to them and can rapidly learn to speak them (should they fall within his vocal range). While water does prompt his tail to return, he can resist it to some limit (such as in rain). The fish associated with his race is the betta fighting fish. While his species is polyamorous by nature and social necessity, he is not against monogamous relationships and feels a strong will to stay loyal to Dari and their growing family. While he is teaching them sign language, he is the only way for Milo and Dari to properly communicate with each other. Being a resident of the sea, Fay has the right to any citizenship he desires around the world (with the exception of landlocked nations). He was born near France and therefore identifies most with that country as his origin but does enjoy working in Canada with EID. He is currently pregnant with his and Dari’s second biological child together, making it his fourth pregnancy.

Milo Age: 7 Height: 7’ Ethnic background: Arna/Greek/Welsh Relatives: Dari (father), Ari (sister)

Bio: His alien species paid to have Dari bred with their own kind and Milo was the result. Being half human however allowed him the higher problem solving intellect to escape from his owners to Earth to find sanctuary. By luck, he was reunited with Dari and with a lot of help from Fay, came to live with him. Dari and Fay are teaching him to understand English but he must rely on sign language to respond as his vocal cords were not developed for human vocalisations. His paternal species is three times his size. He has a keen sense of smell and the development level of a teenager but the emotional level of his age. Some features he gets from Dari are his smaller size, his human ears, and the diamond shapes under his eyes imitating Dari's freckles. The dark gem like structures on his body are as hard as diamond.

Arianne “Ari” Demers Age: Baby Height: Baby size Ethnic background: Merperson/Siren/Greek/Welsh Relatives: Dari (father), Fay (father)

Bio: Dari’s only child born on Earth, Fay’s ninth child and the only one he’s inclined to raise, and Milo’s little sister. She’s new. Little is known of her so far but she seems to dislike diapers and enjoys being held up high by her super tall big brother.

Camilo “Cam” Ferrer Age: 19 Height: 5’7” Ethnic background: Venezuelan

Bio: He’s a young university student working at the EID as a junior assistant. He’s a big nerd, and while he can be very socially awkward, he has very little problem with the extraordinary. He actually requested to be Fay’s assistant because he was a merman and had access to the aliens at the EID. After a pretty bad break up, he’d put aside romance to take care of himself and the last thing he’d expected was to fall for a man in an alien body. He finds he shares a lot in common with Rheni and the two understand each other quite well. He’s a bit of a neat freak and frankly can’t figure out why he’d fall in love with a literal mess.

Arrhenious “Rheni” Age: ??? Height: Depends but usually around average male height Ethnic background: ???

Bio: A man in the body of a slime alien. His past is unknown as he only remembers fragments from before his consciousness was but in the alien form. He doesn’t like to talk about his lack of memory as thinking too hard on usually makes him confused and flustered. He’s certain he’s a human man though and must’ve lived in North America based on his voice and accent. He has mixed feelings about his new body as he’d rather be human but also enjoys some of the abilities he gained through having a fluid body, mainly shapeshifting, the inability of being harmed by physical attacks or injuries, and not needing to exercise. He was cooped up in the EID basement for many years until he met Camilo. When the EID found out about their budding relationship, they unloaded him on Camilo. Now they’re living together and taking it day by day.

Lino Mannan Age: 20 Height: 5’9” Ethnic background: Indian/Italian Relatives: Dante (brother), Marco (nephew)

Bio: Lino lives with his boyfriend Vi in the house next door to his brother Dante. He dropped out of college and makes money helping with his boyfriend’s work as a multiplier. Lino is a mean spirited young person without much reason to be. He just seems to like to get people mad and is often the slang definition of ‘little shit’. The only time he managed to make Vi mad was when he drugged him with fertility hormones causing him to hyper-ovulate but even then the Yulinian was only mad for a few minutes and it’s part of why Lino loves him. Together, they are expecting their first child surrogated by Yori as neither can carry children. They own two chicks named Bacon Cheeseburger and Matilda. This does not change Lino’s mind about eating chicken. He shows very little respect for Ruben.

Vi Fyse Age: 87 (equivalent to 29 Earth years) Height: 6’2” Ethnic background: Fyse Clan, Yulinian

Bio: Vi lives with his boyfriend Lino. He works as a multiplier which essentially means that his reproductive abilities enable him to produce multiple offspring for clients of other species. He came to live on Earth mostly because he likes snow and his planet doesn’t do that. He also felt outcasted by his people due to his lower perception of spirituality, a key part of their knowledge and culture. Vi is very kind and makes friends with pretty much everyone he meets. Yulinians don’t have genders but when he registered for documents on Earth, he chose male because ‘it felt safer’. He really likes chickens and would never dream of eating them especially now that he owns two chicks. With Lino, he is expecting their first child surrogated by Yori as neither can carry children.

Yori Age: ??? (adult) Height: Short and ¾ Ethnic background: Dog Spirit Relatives: Marco (son), Skylar (daughter), Rowan (son)

Bio: Yori came to live with Ruben and Dante because of the wishes they made on a wishbone a couple Thanksgiving’s ago. Technically he came to be Ruben’s boyfriend and Dante’s dog however their relationships have become more complicated than that. He gave birth to Marco, Skylar, and Rowan by Dante, Ruben and their previous landlord apparently and respectively. Yori doesn’t have a last name because he doesn’t have a last name. He is usually very calm and reserved, but it has come to light that he feels uncertain of his place in the family now that Dante and Ruben are together and they have the kids that turn into puppies.

Ruben de Vries Age: 28 Height: 6’Douche & ½ Ethnic background: Dutch Relatives: Skylar (daughter)

Bio: Ruben lives with Dante and Yori in their apartment. As a rowdy child, he got into trouble a lot despite often having good intentions. This led him to bad friends and just shitty relations and circumstance which ultimately led to his parents kicking him out when he came of age. Despite getting his life straight, he still resents his parents for not helping him. But now he has his own new family to deal with. He wished for a partner on a wishbone because he’s always had very poor luck when looking for a life partner. He was into Dante since he moved in as his roommate but never told him because he’d never told anyone about his interest in men and didn’t want to jeopardise their living situation. Yori’s arrival basically outed him however and since then he has grown much closer to both of them. He does not get along with Lino.

Dante Mannan Age: 26 Height: 5’10” Ethnic background: Indian/Italian Relatives: Lino (brother), Marco (son)

Bio: Dante lives with Ruben and Yori. Dante is a nerd with an affinity for late night gaming. He makes money as a programmer and minor internet personality. He didn’t always like Ruben. In fact, he only let him move in with him because he really needed the extra money at the time. They butted heads often at first due to conflicts in the living situations, but compromise was made and since then he has developed fondness for Ruben’s generally honest character. Dante wished for a dog because his landlord didn’t allow pets, thus Yori became the solution to that problem. Now he is very much in love with the both of them and has put aside a lot of his slacker lifestyle to organise their lives with the kids.

Marco Age: Toddler Height: Toddler size Ethnic background: Indian/Italian/Dog Spirit Relatives: Yori (‘mother’), Dante (father), Skylar (sister), Rowan (brother), Lino (uncle)

Bio: Dante’s son and Yori’s first born of triplets. Little is known about him. He seems to enjoy being a pup more than a baby. So far he’s the one most like Yori in both appearance and personality.

Skylar Age: Toddler Height: Toddler size Ethnic background: Dutch/Dog Spirit Relatives: Yori (‘mother’), Ruben (father), Marco (brother), Rowan (brother)

Bio: Ruben’s daughter and Yori’s second born of triplets. Little is known about her. She inherited Ruben slight immunodeficiencies thus is more prone to illness than her siblings.

Rowan Age: Toddler Height: Toddler size Ethnic background: ?(some brand of human)/Dog Spirit Relatives: Yori (‘mother’), Marco (brother), Skylar (sister)

Bio: Yori’s third born of triplets and assumed son of Dante and Ruben’s ex-landlord. Little is known about him. He seems to enjoy being a pup more than a baby. He has yet to meet his biological father.

[freshlyjuicedbeetles]

Part Four IT Microfiction!

Pennywise is never far from my mind. He is a fascinating, annoying, and terrifying presence in my life. I never had this close of contact with a subject and he alludes to the idea that there are more like him. I want to understand him and where he comes from. I only know the bare basics about him. He’s an alien from another dimension. His name is not pronounceable with human vocal cords. Technically, he is not a he, just that the closest representation of his true self is a male by human standards. He is millions of years old. Something about being pure energy and a giant spider… He had some sort of quarrel with a turtle?

When he’s not with me (which is 99% of his time), he’s in the sewers hiding or doing whatever aliens do. He used to also hide in an old house and scare anyone who dared come within his reach, but it was torn down in ’95. Inside was the old well that supplied the city in its first few years. It was sealed during the demolition. He would often use that well as access to and from the sewers. I’d never venture to either one or want think of all the places my mouth has been on the body of something that spends it’s time in the sewers.

I think he liked having that house, he still complains about a kid who insulted it.

“He called it a crack house! I know what crack is!” He exclaims, indignantly.

“Well, you did live in a crack house.” I reply.

“That’s not the point!” He huffs and pouts.

I try to puzzle him out. Are we talking Mass Effect like aliens who are civilized or xenomorphs that are more animalistic? He’s obviously intelligent and sentient so the rest of his species must be too. Did he come from an established society? Did he have parents or some sort of family line?

I decided to try to interview him one day. I expected it to be like herding squirrels. He doesn’t have the greatest attention span. I wasn’t sure what I would do with the information, I couldn’t slap it on my blog proclaiming I had managed to interview a cryptid. No one would take me seriously ever again. It’s ironic, I run a paranormal blog were my readers want this kind of contact, but the minute I make real and tangible contact with a subject like I have with Pennywise and put it out there, I’d be fitted for a strait jacket.

“Where are you from?” I asked, my phone recording us. Most paranormal phenomenon messed with electronics. His presence never caused such a thing.

He thought for a moment, then grabbed my hand and led me outside. He looked up at the sky, spun in a half circle and moved a few feet past my house.

“Right there,” He said pointing to a spot in the sky.

For all I knew, he could be pointing to an arbitrary spot.

Suddenly, he starts sniffing like a bloodhound, creeping up on a scent.

“I can smell the internet.” He says and is gone.

I am left there trying to understand his thought process but decide it’s better not to.

A few days later, I was able to understand what he meant. Prior to the ‘I smell the internet’ thing, I had gotten a hate comment on one of my posts. It was the same dribble most women get when taking up space online, ‘I’ll rape you till you die cunt’ and mansplaining how I was wrong about everything. It was an unfortunately common occurrence.

I thought nothing of it, that it was just some guy who was angry that he couldn’t get off. I deleted the comment and reported it to my hosting domain.

The next day, I was at the grocery store stocking up for the week. A fat hand reached for the same box of cereal I was grabbing for and we both knocked it to the ground. I bent to pick up when I noticed this person had a literal bite mark in his chubby, hairy calf. I stood thinking that maybe he ran into a grumpy dog. He looked at me like most people look at Pennywise.

“Are you okay, dude?” I asked.

“I’m sorry!” He exclaimed, running out of the store.

Later that day, I got an email about the comment from my host saying the user had lost their account privileges. It displayed the comment in question and the user’s avatar. It was the man from the grocery store.

Just looking at this slovenly and sweaty guy, I could see why Pennywise only took a chunk of his leg. He does have some dietary standards it seems.

Living with him has been a weird experience. It’s like living with a komodo dragon. It could probably kill you. He may humanoid, but he was still a bit feral. Yeah, I have a feral clown living with me.

Most of his knowledge about humans is outdated or he simply has no concept of something. His contact with humans was limited to stalking and eating them before he met me.  He knew what sex was, it’s purpose and how humans do it. He had the broad strokes, but not the fine details. I’d thought he die of an orgasm when I introduced him to period sex.

He understands most human limitations (and disregards or exploits them), that when we’re born, we’re more or else stuck with our appearance. I found him watching shows about plastic surgery on my laptop and the only word that seemingly encapsulates his feelings towards surgery is: barbaric; that humans, sometimes electively, will let other humans tear us open, move stuff around, add something new or take something away completely. More irony. I would assume the healthcare system where he’s from is quite different. Not all of us are shapeshifters like you are, Penn.

He’s not actually a clown, he knows just as much about the persona to lure victims in. A clown is just the form he likes the best; it helps him catch his meals and scares people, a win-win for him. Kids (an easy target) like clowns and people fear them.

An annoying thing he does is taking my things. I lost so many pairs of panties to that dumb clown alien. He took my fluffy makeup powder brush AND my favorite highlighters (as in the writing utensil and makeup product). He even stole my favorite blanket. What will he take next? My favorite novel? Can he even read English? Does his species have a writing system?

He likes to watch me cook, which is funny since he lives on a raw diet. I probably should detest him, but obviously, his species is higher on the food chain than humans. Maybe I’m rationalizing it. We shouldn’t mess with the natural order of things. I am rationalizing it.

I gave him War Heads candy once and he has been constantly sucking on one or six, grimacing at the sourness and drooling. I want to give him Pop Rocks next. I plan to actually cook a simple meal for him, just to see what’ll happen.

He drank one of my perfumes, too, thinking it was potable. Maybe it was to him, it didn’t seem to bother him.

I watched in horror as a $90 liquid slid down his throat.

“That was Marc Jacobs, you idiot!” I screeched.

He didn’t understand.

“You spray it on yourself to smell good.” I explained, tersely.

“You smell tasty to me without it.” He shrugged.

I took the bottle from his gloved hand, cradling it like an injured bird. “It wasn’t for you to enjoy.”

He took my phone while I was napping. He found YouTube watched four cat videos, three Lady Gaga music videos (good taste, my clown alien), one and half makeup tutorials and seven from NASA about aliens and our galaxy.  In between videos, he texted my mom for an hour.

Mom: Hi, honey, are you still in Maine?

Pennywise: The main Maine mane!!!!!!!!

Mom: Clever. How is your article coming?

Pennywise: Stupendously!!!!!!!

Mom: That’s good, Dad and I were getting curious, you’ve never stayed somewhere this long before.

Pennywise: I met someone!!!!

Mom: Really?

Pennywise: He’s a real looker, too!!1!1

Mom: Is he from Maine?

Pennywise: Sort of!!!! :D

Mom: You’re acting strange, are you drunk?

Pennywise: What’s drunk? That sounds fun!!

I started to wake up around this point and haven’t heard back from Mom. I have no idea how I’ll explain this. Guess he can read English.

He may take my stuff, but he’ll also bring me stuff. He’s brought me a beautiful and ornate vintage jewelry box that was probably made before my grandparents were born; a handful of marbles, a key that is probably older than the country, a freshly molted feather from a raven, a raw amethyst and a single earring that looked like it was from the 80s.

I think he sees me as his human, someone worthy of his attention and protection (while still wanting to eat me. That’s the ultimate possession, I guess?). I think his gifts are endearing, but the second he brings a snack with him and/or one for me, we’re going to have issues.

It all leaves me wondering is this how his species shows romantic affection. How does his species mark their loved ones to show the rest of society that they are off the market? Bringing gifts, spending a lot of time with their significant other and a possessive protection while still wanting to eat me is my best guess.

I am protected by a bucktooth, feral clown.

Yep.

[meet-the-saints]

Writing challenge part 3

Day 3 of 10 Write an action sequence

(this part is a bit long, but some excerpts do tend to be. Happy reading! Also, warning for gorew)

“I will beat one of you with this book!” The young woman yelled, pointing the book at the various people standing in front of her desk. The young woman looked quite infuriated at the newcomers, considering that they were getting on her nerves really quickly. The customs officer had dark blue hair, covering her right eye, and turquoise eyes as deep as the Royal Sea. Her black sleeveless turtleneck was covered by a light blue vest and she was carrying a green book with several bookmarks in it. She had a vial hanging around her neck with what appeared to be sea water in it.

“ちょっと　まって　ください, Misty。"1 Rose mentioned, coming towards the front of the group. His normal prankster’s face was replaced with perpetual glee. "We’re just trying to get through here. Why are you threatening us?” He sent Misty a playful wink.

“Because you all are getting on my nerves!” Misty commented. “I’m trying to check you all in, and one of you keeps poking me!” Rose shook his head as a blonde with olive eyes lifted their head from behind Misty and smiled. They held up a peace sign before shrinking back down. Misty’s right eye twitched, before she swung the tome at the other person’s nose, successfully knocking them out. Blood was on Misty’s book, and starting to drip on the floor. Rose laughed hysterically as some others from the Saints of Hell helped the other person up.

“Sorry about Alex, they’re worse than me sometimes when it comes to pranking people.” Rose commented sincerely.

“Uhm guys, ten thirty!” Slate said, as the police moved toward the group. The Saints of Hell all exchanged looks before nodding in sync.

“Look Misty, we’d love to stay, but as you can see we have an issue at hand.” Rose winked. It was a good thing that the Saints could change forms. Rose, Hazel, Midnight, Violet, Scarlett and Ken dissolved into mist, Derek and Raven became beams of light before leaving everyone’s sight. Slate morphed into a tiny ice blue dragon and sat on Misty’s shoulder. Veronica stood by another officer’s desk and started to chat with them. By this time one of the policemen had caught up to Misty and the remainder of the group.“Miss Waters, have you seen the group known as the Saints of Hell? They’re wanted for treason, espionage, and over three hundred counts of murder.” With this statement, Misty sat up straighter and pulled on a straight face.

“No sir, I’m afraid I haven’t. If I did, I would have been dead by now,” lied Misty, “When I do, I will certainly notify you.” She mentioned, sighing as the police left her alone. “Okay guys,” Misty mentioned, talking to Veronica, Alex, and Slate. “My work day’s over, so you’re on your own.” Slate looked dejected as Misty said that.

“Please?” Slate asked, curling around Misty’s shoulders. Misty looked really irritated at the trio. Alex peered back at Slate, keeping up with them.

“Ugh! Fine.” Misty growled. Alex and Slate cheered quietly. As the quartet left, the rest of Misty’s workplace sighed in relief. When the group got to Misty’s convertible, the police that had talked to them earlier heard Misty calling the dragon Slate, which he recognized as a Saint of Hell.

“Hey you!”

“Get in the car!” yelled Misty.

“After her!” replied the policeman.

Misty threw Slate and Veronica into the vehicle. Alex claimed shotgun and Misty started the car. When the police got in their cruiser the group had already got on the road.

“My sister is going to kill me!” yelled Misty, as the car speed away. Slate changed back to their human-ish form.

“Nice ride.” Slate commented nonchalantly. Veronica leaned her head outside the window, apparently very nauseous.

“Misty, are you really a customs officer? I’m not trying to be rude for once, but you don’t hold yourself like one, if that makes any sense.” Slate questioned quietly.

“Wow I can’t believe you noticed!” replied Misty sarcastically, “No. I am, in fact, a coroner. I believe Veronica has told you about my help in her cases…” Misty continued, more seriously this time. Slate nodded her head slowly.

“Veronica and I really don’t get along that well, but yes. She did talk about you a bit, especially along with Trenton, even though she didn’t really like her subordinate either. But back to you; who’s your sister?”

“Oh, my sister’s name is Brook Waters, she’s an expert archer, and she also enjoys hunting, surprisingly.” explained Misty. “Oh yeah she’s also two years older than me.”

“Oh, is she nice?” Slate asked. “Very, she’s the best sister ever.” Responded Misty. As Slate and Misty finished talking, they approached Misty’s quaint suburban home. “Welcome to my cave.” Said Misty in a very bad Northern accent.

“Ah ah ah…” Slate started, clicking their tongue. “Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly..” They finished, bowing and letting their familiar thick accent flow off their tongue again.

“Wow. Just wow.” Misty deadpanned. “Oh yeah,” She piped up. “My sister is a bit overprotective, but she’s awesome when you get to know her.” As soon as the quartet walked into the house, Slate was tackled by a girl with dark green hair. Slate’s head hit the floor as they muttered a small ‘oof!’. Veronica laughed hysterically. It seemed her motion sickness was cured. Alex gave Veronica a DiNozzo. Misty pried the mystery woman off of Slate.

“Brook, seriously?” Yelled Misty. “Get off of Slate.” “Of all people, you.” Brook sassed.

“It’d be nice; my wings are already torn. I don’t need anymore help.” Slate mentioned quietly so Brook couldn’t hear and slowly got up. The young lady, in addition to her hair, had a light green colored shirt on with a skull and a crossbones necklace; the jolly roger, if you will. Her left eye was black and her right eye was blind. This was Misty’s older sister, Miss Brook Forrestt Waters. She had a quiver filled with arrows all the way around the rim and they were grouped in colours for some unknown reason. A simple traditional wooden bow was slung over her opposite shoulder and her black jeans stayed ripped.

“Veronica, Alex, Slate, meet my sister Brook. Brook, these people are my friends from around town.” Misty explained.

“I know that one from work,” Brook stated, pointing at Slate. “And that one.” She continued, pointing at Veronica. “Not the other, though. But these….creatures, are your friends?” She asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. The quartet’s eyes twitched and Misty snorted like a bull.

“Don’t ever call these people creatures.” Misty growled at her sister before stalking off.

“Misty, we’re…. Used to it…” Alex tried to reason with her. Brook stood there in silence, not knowing what made her sister tick so much, not knowing of the blood coursing through her sister’s veins.

“Okay then…” Brook trailed off. They all walked inside and got settled down in the living room, where a crime scene was broadcast on the television.

“We have just received news about yet another murder in the area! The lady to my right is Faith. We were not given her last name, but as you can tell, her death you pretty gruesome.” The reporter said, motioning to the mangled body next to her. The body had its eyes, trachea, heart and vocal cords removed brutally. There were also several stab wounds all over the body. Alex glared at Slate. Slate sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Veronica sat slack jawed at the sight before her. All of a sudden, police sirens were heard. However they were not on the television. They were blaring through the windows. An officer had knocked on the door demanding Slate, Alex, and Veronica to surrender. They then added one more person to that list of names. Misty. Knowing what to do, Brook shoved the four into the basement.

“Motherfucker!” Slate yelled.

“Let me handle them!” Veronica shouted, pounding on the door. “I’m a cop!”

“Put a sock in it!” Misty demanded. “She’s trying to help us.” She walked down the basement stairs and turned on the lights. The basement was more like an underground home than anything.

“Misty, what’s this?”

“A hiding place, and it’s Mist.” Mist replied. Slate’s face turned from one of curiosity to confused familiarity. They heard loud voices when the door opened with a bang. In stepped a round policeman with a large mustache. Laying behind him was Brook, passed out on the floor. Seeing this as an opportunity, Mist turned into a cloud of black smoke. When the smoke dissipated, Mist had large black and red wings along with longer hair. Terrified, the officer attacked. That was a stupid move on his part. Next thing you know, he’s on the ground thinking Mist is going to kill him. She didn’t. She only taught him a lesson. “Run. Run and never come back. Or you will die here.” Mist growled, her eyes slightly glowing. The officer ran for his life. Slate furrowed her brows together.

“What? Are you?” Alex asked.

“A shapeshifter.” Mist answered simply.

“Why didn’t you use your books?”

“Left them upstairs.” Mist admitted with a shrug. The five went and tended to Brook. When Brook started to stir, Mist bolted for the bathroom. When she came back out, she was normal. Or at least, as normal as she looked. “Let me tell her what happened.” “Go right on ahead.” Slate said, sidestepping. Mist explained everything to Brook once she was conscious enough to understand. Everything except for the fact that she was a shapeshifter. After about two hours after that scare, Mist brought up something.

“Brook, I want to join the Saints of Hell.” Brook stayed silent for a minute.

“What? Don’t you know what they do to people?” Brook asked.

“Yeah, they do all of it in self defense. Brook, they are literally history. The only reason why they’re getting a bad rap is because people are trying to kill them! They’ve lived for so long, people are getting jealous of them! The fact that these people can be assets to everyday life, and they’re the country’s most wanted. So yeah, if I’m gonna do something with my life, I’m gonna surround myself with living history!” Misty shot back. 

[homefortheaus]

Running From the Monsters

Now this is a bit late, but it’s a short story I wrote for the monster au

--Mod Rose

They took refuge inside a small cave. All of their breathing echoed off the damp walls and went deeper into the earth, but Max’s labored breathing was the loudest and echoed the most.

Elina watched Amber set him down on an outcropping of rock, letting him rest against the cavern wall. He closed his eyes, drained both literally and figuratively by Blakk and their escape from his arena. A lump caught in her throat as Amber held his hand, pressing down on his fingernails, watching them intently, and pressed two fingers against his neck. She knew that Amber was just checking his vitals, but the way her fingers then intertwined with his and how her hand lingered against his forehead reminded her of her own stolen touches.

She looked away and asked, “Is he okay?”

“He’s a little drained from Dredd’s…experiments, but he’ll be fine. He just shouldn’t do any fighting,” said Amber, giving him a pointed look and crossing her arms.

He let out a weak chuckle and looked at her with a crooked grin. “Please. Steel and I could take you on even while I’m half-drained.” Amber lightly swatted his knee.

“Don’t even think about it and you-” she pointed at the steel homunculus floating over Max’s head. “shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“I could–” said Steel, tapping his arm against the plate that served as his “face.” “–or I could finally stretch out my legs after being cooped up in that prison!”

“…You don’t have legs.”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

Elina laughed, but her laughter quickly paused when Amber came to check on her.

“Thanks, but I’m okay,” she said, scooting out of Amber’s reach. She nearly tripped, feeling off-balance, with the…weight on her back. Wings with feathers as blue as her hair.

Amber put her hands on her hips, giving Elina flashbacks of being lectured by Gabe.

“Elina, I had to pull you out of a burning gladiatorial arena after nearly trying to stab you to death with a spear. Let me at least do a small check up.” Her hands lit up with a blue energy, illuminating the newly acquired red burns wrapping around her arms. A few places looked like the skin had peeled back, revealing the angry skin beneath it.

“Shouldn’t you get your burns looked at first?” she said. The red was shiny, so very angry. She stared at them, drawn in.

She couldn’t help but stare. Those burns were her fault. She could remember the the roar of the crowd. Amber’s spears flying past her and dissipating as they hit the sand. Amber’s movements had been smooth, her movements calculated as she drove the spear towards Elina, purposely missing at times. Blakk’s voice rang out, cold, commanding, cruel. “Kill the human.”

Amber’s eyes had locked with hers and had shown nothing but guilt and sorrow. Death had thrown the final spear.

The spear had pierced her chest, but she did not die. The spear had burst into blue flames. It entered her chest, entered her heart. With each heartbeat, the fire grew. It burned. It burned through her. It ate up her air, her blood, her bones, her very soul. She screeched, sending the fire out, yet some still lingered on her skin. She watched it fly out, devouring everything in its path. Amber’s eyes widened. Amber’s arms crossed in front of her face as the fire raced towards her, but she wasn’t fast enough, too slow, too slow, too slow–

Someone snapped their fingers.

The sound was precise, clean, and echoed through the fog in her mind.

“Elina. Elina. You have to come back to me. Elina!”

She snapped back to– they were no longer in the cave. They were now back in the forest, and fog hung low over the ground. She and Amber were crouched behind a log with Max’s arm slung over Amber’s shoulders for support. He was panting heavily and in his armor.

“How did-”

“No time. When I say so, scatter,” she whispered.

“But how-”

“I’ll find you. I promise.”

Behind the log, dead leaves and wood crackled.

We found you….

A legion of whispered voices came from everywhere yet also right behind her. Her mind blanked, and her heart pounded against her ribs.

“GO!”

She didn’t need Amber’s shout to propel her forward. The sounds of thousands of cracks and a barrage of splinters hitting her back brought back childhood terror as the log they were hiding behind snapped and splintered. She shot forward, alone, into the woods.

Stop running…

Her feet stumbled over loose stones, tree roots, animal holes, and yet the whispers still followed her. She didn’t dare to look back as the sounds of trees falling over and boulders crumbling continued to come from behind her. She knew what she would see, the shapeshifter’s true form causing destruction as it followed her through the woods.

Her skin began to tingle. Tiny blue flames began to sprout from her feathers. She frantically began to pat the flames out, but they just continued to burn. With each of her smacks against her arm, they actually seemed to grow.

She could hear the crowd again, booing and jeering at her. She continued to run until her lungs were burning. The boos and jeers still followed her through the fog.

Elina paused and hugged her arms around her chest. The flames were still burning on her arms, but thankfully the crowd had died down.

Hello little Hunter…

Elina stiffened. She ran to the nearest tree and pushed herself against its trunk. Her nails dug into the bark as the sound of popping wood and cracking bone grew nearer.

From the fog, an arm reached out and gripped a tree. The fog flowed through the gaps in the main arm comprised of exposed sinew, bone, and wood. The fingers–a bear paw, the hoof of a deer, a branch, and a human hand–dug into the wood and pulled the body into view.  

The tail whipped back and forth against the trees, cracking the human ribs and spines against the wood and sending splinters through the air. Its other arms pushed the figure up on the largest two legs, exposing the chest to the air, a rib cage covered in patches of either muscle or fur. It stood as tall as the trees around it.

At the top of a mangled mess of muscle, fur, animal bodies, human skulls, a grinning deer skull with a lone red orb in an eye socket stared at her.

This was the Shifter’s true form. A monster. She briefly closed her eyes as Sigil flashed through her mind, roaring with rage, in this form.

Do you remember me?

She could see all of the vocal cords vibrate and the jaws of every mouth trying to move in tandem with the voice. It was wrong. So wrong.

“You’ll have to remind me,” she said, her voice strong and defiant, yet her heart pounded away in her chest and the tree began to smoke. It knew her…It knew her…It followed her…had it always been following her?

This shifter tilted its head, the red orb falling into the other eye socket. Its main head grinned, the bone popping and grinding to create this “smile.” It could tell she was scared…

I remember you. The first hunt Blakk sent me on. I remember your hair…You were young…around the same age as my sister… I hesitated. That cost me dearly…it was a long time since I was allowed on another hunt.

All the jaws flopped open in crude grins. And she remembered. She remembered cowering under rubble as claws grasped at her. She remembered those jaws flopping open in a grin as the rubble disappeared.

But it won’t happen again. I’ll bring you to Blakk, phoenix.

She caught the shifter’s legs tensing and leaped to the side just as the shifter pushed off of the trees and crashed into the one behind her.

She took off into the trees, heart pounding. The flames on her body erupted into a blazing inferno, acting like a beacon in the darkness.

Her hand brushed against a dying tree. Elina yanked her hand away as the tree burst into blue flames. From there, the flames continued to jump from one tree to another.

Once again, she was surrounded by a fire that consumed everything.

Her wings wrapped around herself, and she let out a cry. The fire reacted, and grew higher.

Give up, the legion of voices whispered.  I can take a thousand forms to hunt you down. 

A skeletal tail slammed into the ground next to her, and she flinched, but didn’t turn around to do anything. She hugged her arms around herself as the creaking and popping of bones grew closer and closer. 

There is no river that can hide your scent, no forest that can hide your presence, no town that will hide you from me. 

She hugged herself tighter. The foul stench of exposed flesh filled her nose. A large presence towered over her.

“I can run,” she whispered. “Far away.”

Wherever you go, fire and destruction will follow.

Burning flesh filled her nose. The screams still echoed in her ears. Amber’s screams filled the air as Elina’s fire ate at her skin. 

A human hand touched her shoulder, and human voiced whispered into her ear, “Even among monsters, you are an abomination.” 

She cried. She dropped to the ground and cried. Every tear that hit the ground erupted into a tiny blue flame. Her fingers clawed the dirt, and with every heave of her shoulders, her hair spilled in front of her.

Elina could feel the presence walk around to the front of her. 

“I understand. Watching as your actions hurt the ones around you. It’s a terrible burden. You try so hard to help, but you just make things worse.”

A hand dropped down in an offering of peace.

“Come with me,” said the voice. “ – and I can make sure you will never hurt another person again.” 

She looked up into the eyes of a man that looked just as dull and broken as she felt. He gave her an encouraging smile. 

“Take my hand, Elina Shae.”

“Don’t listen to him, Elina!” A familiar blue spear pierced the ground between them. 

The man’s face contorted into a snarl before his skull pushed through his face, elongating. He grew and grew, his skin ripping away, his muscles folding back on each other, his bones splitting into two as he took his true form again.

The Champion shows herself to protect the weak. How fitting. 

Elina looked over and saw Amber standing tall and proud, spear in hand. Blue energy and confidence poured off of her as she took a battle stance. 

“Nice to see you too, Lux. It’s been a long time since we’ve fought…”

She twirled her spear, eyes never leaving the shapeshifter’s. Elina was almost afraid to breathe as the two watched each other intently, waiting for an opening.

Amber struck first.

She hurled the spear towards his chest. He ducked low to ground, but Amber did not stop. She rushed at him. Two more spears formed from the blue energy pouring off her body and into her hands before quickly being flung towards him.

Lux reacted. His body melted into the ground, becoming flatter and almost liquid-like. Four skeletal legs sprouted from the front and back. He propelled himself towards Amber, jaws flopping open and closed with each jostle against the ground.

Amber was a great fighter, but Elina saw the burns, her weak aim, her slowed reactions. And she was not alone. Lux formed back up, tail poised to strike, sharpened bone about to pierce Amber in her–

"NO!"

Elina burned. Her wings burst out of her back, propelling her towards Lux. In the palms of her hands, fire burned. She roared back at him as she flung fireball after fireball towards him. 

“You will not touch my friends!” she screamed at him, pushing him back into the forest, through flames. Her eyes blazed with blue fire. A clawed hand tried to touch her, but it burst into flames. The very air around her burned, shimmering in the light she was creating.

For once, he actually looked panicked as blue flames ate at his skin. From behind her, blue spears cut through bone, and he let out howls of pain. He condensed his body, becoming a smaller target as he ran away. 

The fires died down as the adrenaline faded. Elina slowly slumped to the ground, drained and exhausted. 

“That...won’t be...the last we see of him,” panted Amber, holding herself up with a nearby tree. “Nice work, Elina. You bought us some time while he licks his wounds. Now, we just need to find Maxie and get out of this godsforsaken forest.”

“Amber... can you teach me to control my powers?” she whispered. “I don’t...I don’t want to cause any more pain.” 

“...It’ll take time, but yes. I’ll help you.”

A weight lifted from her shoulders as she and Amber supported each other. They walked through the fog and ashes, quiet and exhausted, but alive.