#i do actually like darker stuff every now and again ehe

[vorish-wonderland]

One day, someone had eaten you. After begging him to let you go, he does, on the condition you let him eat you whenever he wants to. A terrible situation, but what other option do you have...? If you complain, then... he'll let you die...

Includes: soft/safe vore (well, it's safe for mc...), VERY cruel pred, implied digestion

★✦I'll Make An Exception✦★

☆ﾟ⁠.⁠*⁠･⁠｡ﾟ☆ﾟ⁠.⁠*⁠･⁠｡ﾟ☆ﾟ⁠.⁠*⁠･⁠｡ﾟ☆ﾟ⁠.⁠*⁠･⁠｡ﾟ☆ﾟ⁠.⁠*⁠･⁠｡ﾟ

"You did taste quite delicious... such a shame I'll never be able to eat you again."

That day, you had been quite clumsy while taking food from the kitchen, and you ended up getting yourself caught... and swallowed whole.

You didn't really want to die, so, you came up with the best idea you could in that situation.

"M-maybe you can?!"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"If... i-if you let me live, then... I'll l-let you eat me whenever you want...! A-as long as you promise I'll be s-safe everytime, ok?!"

"...I'll consider it."

Thankfully, that was enough to convince him not to kill you.

Now, you're Jade's... well, for lack of a better term, you're his personal snack.

As he walks through the kitchen with you on his shoulder, he spies another tiny person such as yourself on the counter.

Jade reached out to grab them.

You wanted to yell at them to run, to tell them what was going to happen if they were caught, but... Jade would punish you for that.

"Hello there." He said as he grabbed the person. "What a delightful surprise~! (Y/N), do you know who this is?"

"I-I have no idea..." You said, squeezing your eyes shut, as he showed you who he'd grabbed up close, hoping not to see them. You really don't want to think of this person as... a person.

"Are you sure~?" Jade teasingly asked you. "Whatever, it's not any problem for me." He smiled just... too wide. "In you go."

You heard a loud gulp, and just tried your absolute hardest to not think about what it was.

"Ahhh...... what is it about you? What is it about your kind that makes me just want more...?" Jade laughed to himself. "If there's one, then there's more. Let's find them, why don't we~?"

You hated this.

One day, when he's sleeping, you'll find a way to get out of this situation...

But... for now, at least, this is how it has to be...

...sometimes he'll make you find more 'food' for him. He'll set you down in the kitchen and make you give him a signal when you find another member of your kind...

He continued searching for the 'pests' and eating them, insisting you watch each time...

"I believe that's all of them." Jade licked his lips. "Each of them had such a wonderful taste... now, I need to really focus to give them the punishment the rightfully deserve. Come on, (Y/N)."

Jade walked back to his dorm room, a hand on his stomach as he did so. He looked so full and happy... it was disturbing.

"Each and every one of them... I can feel all of them squirming around in a panic, how pathetic, really~" Jade grabbed you off of his shoulder as he laid down on his bed, before setting you down on his stomach. "Can you feel them?"

Of course you can... he knows you can... he just wants to mess with you...

He placed a hand over you, preventing you from moving too much.

He quickly fell asleep- well, not exactly asleep, but not exactly awake either.

You were left to listen to the sounds of his stomach, which could be slightly calming... if it weren't for the muffled screaming and pleas for help you could hear...

You can't help them.

This isn't your fault.

You couldn't do anything to help, even if you wanted to...

So for now...

Just... just go to sleep for now...

It's not like there's anything else you can do.

You woke up in Jade's stomach. A regular occurrance.

"Not now, please... not after what you just did." You quietly said.

"Ah, are you awake, (Y/N)?" You heard Jade ask. "I just had a fun idea! Maybe next time I could eat you along with them, after casting a protection spell on you, of course. I could allow you to watch as they-"

"No, no thank you..." You said.

"Are you defying me?" He asked you. "You remember what you said, don't you? As long as I let you live, I can eat you whenever I want, as long as I keep you safe. Whenever I want includes after eating other meals. You understand that, don't you?"

"...right..."

"So you'll be a good little snack and accept whatever situation you're put into, right?"

"...y-yes, of course..." You hesitantly responded.

This terrible situation you're in...

One day you're going to find a way out of it...

...right...?

#i do actually like darker stuff every now and again ehe #i hope this is good lol i feel unconfident today... #soft vore #safe vore #twst vore #twisted wonderland vore #gt vore #jade leech #twisted wonderland x reader #v.ore #v/ore #jade leech x reader

[bestiesenpai]

Taker pt2 - Sukuna

Ah, the smell of freshly baked step-brother kink in the morning -3- the flavor is so good, I like to have it with my morning tea. Femme reader and this is the second and final part for this series(?)

part one

Content warnings: Sukuna big meanie, noncon+dubcon, degradation, a smol bit of praise!, spanking, choking(brief), pseudoincest(duh)

The incident you had with Sukuna was burned into your brain forever. You couldn’t even pass the couch anymore, gaze pointedly turned away from it whenever you were near. Sitting on it with your family was too much, especially when your mother sat in the seat Sukuna had been when he had his cock buried into you.

So, you did what seemed like the right idea: ran away to your grandparents house. It was under the guise of spending time with them and no one questioned it. They welcomed you with open arms, excited and surprised at the sudden visit.

It was nice with them, not having to deal with Sukuna sending you dirty looks when he walked past the lounge room and not having to avoid him in the halls at night when you were trying to use the bathroom or get a glass of water.

But when it came to you and your step brother Sukuna, nothing good lasted long.

“Oh Sukuna, hello!” The front door opened and your grandpa stepped back to reveal Sukuna, bundled up in a hoodie and sweats.

“Hey gramps.” Sauntering into the house with his hands in his pockets, Sukuna smirked widely at your horrified expression. “Hey little sis, ‘m here to take ya home!”

“W-what?” It had only been a week since you’d been gone, and while you had been planning to come home in a few days you weren’t expecting Sukuna to come get you.

“Yeah, you don’t remember texting me last night asking to pick you up today? Dad let me borrow the car, it’s parked out front.” Hooking his thumb behind him, Sukuna dropped the smirk when your grandma came into the room and donned an innocent pout.

“Sukuna, good to see you! Staying out of trouble I hope?”

“Eh, not really.” He shrugged and laughed lightly. Your grandparents didn’t know the half of it. Just a few days ago Yuji texted you that Sukuna had gotten into another fight and stumbled into your empty room dripping blood.

Your grandma laughed easily, patting him on the chest and muttering something about how rowdy young men can be. Glued to your spot, you watched in agony as Sukuna chatted up your grandparents, talking about something that you didn’t quite catch.

“(Y/N), don’t just sit there Sukuna came all this way to get you! Pack your things.” Your grandma caught your eye, brows knitting at seeing you not moving.

“But-” You stammered, trying to say something more diplomatic besides ‘I don’t want to go home with my perverted step brother that bullies me’.

“You need help getting your stuff together? Where’s your room, I’ll help.” Sukuna was already walking past you and toward the bedrooms, and you couldn’t stop him now. Biting your lip, you followed after him and darted into the bedroom you’d been using.

“Not so fast!” You tried to slam the door shut before Sukuna could come in but he was faster than you thought and much stronger than you remembered. His hand caught the door, shoving it open and shoving you back into the room with ease.

“Why’re you here?” You huff, turning your back to him and gathering the clothes you’d left strewn about.

“I came to get my little sister of course!” He said loud enough for your grandparents to hear. He had one eye over his shoulder, checking to see if one of them would come into the room. With the coast clear, Sukuna turned to you and dropped his voice. “I can’t have my little princess avoiding me forever now, can I?”

“It’s only been a week!” The sentence comes out as a whine and you throw your head back, stamping your foot in a huff.

“A week far too long to be apart from you.” With a dark chuckle, Sukuna walked up to you and pushed you on the shoulder, turning you to him. “I won’t let you slip through my fingers that easily.”

“I hate you.” You glared harshly at him and pushed him back.

“Ouch, those words would hurt if you meant them.”

“I do.”

“Nah, I’m sure you’ll be taking them back real soon.” Snatching the clothes out of your hand, Sukuna threw them across the room. “Now hurry up, I’m tired of fucking waiting.”

The drive home was heavy with unspoken tension. Not a word was spoken from either of you, not that Sukuna particularly cared. He had the radio turned up to some blaring punk rock station, mouthing along to some of the songs and humming every so often.

Entering the house, your heart dropped at realizing it was just you two alone again. It was the middle of the work week and both your parents were out, and Yuji had university classes to attend. Only you and Sukuna, who had no school or job to go to, were in the house.

“My room, now.” Shoving you in the back, Sukuna nearly made you fall over.

“Hey!” He forced you up the stairs and to his room at the end of the hallway, knocking you into the closed door a few times as he fumbled to turn the knob.

“Home sweet home.” Sighing happily, Sukuna closed and locked the door behind him. You’d been in Sukuna’s room only once, when he wasn’t home and you had to collect a few things he’d ‘borrowed’ from your room.

There was an electric guitar and amp in the corner next to a desk covered with random papers and old fast food bags. Multiple overlapping posters were hung on the walls of different bands and strange art that Sukuna liked, along with a few gravure models above his bed. The faint smell of cigarettes and body wash clung to the air, making the dark room feel even darker.

“So, tell me why you left me.” Pushing you to the middle of the room, Sukuna walked around you in circles.

“You know why.”

“Mmm, I don’t think I do.” His voice sounded behind you, and in one swift motion he knocked you out at the knees and sent you to the floor. “Try again.”

“You know why!” You shouted at him, attempting to stand but his hands on your shoulders kept you on the ground.

“Try. Again.” Bending down to your line of sight, Sukuna stared at you with widened eyes.

“I don’t know what you want me to say! You fucked me, Sukuna! And- and I didn’t like it!” Immediately his hand was around your throat, constricting your airways and forcing you to sit up straight on your knees to try and breathe.

“Ya say you didn’t like it but then why’d you cum twice? Certainly weren’t saying you didn’t like it when I was fucking you so good. What were the words you said, ‘I love my big brother's cock’?” Tilting his head to the side, Sukuna let out a disappointed hum. “No, there has to be another reason and I think I know what it is.”

Letting you go, Sukuna straightened up and stared down his nose at you, a hollow look in his eyes as he watched you clutch your throat and gasp in air. Sometime during all this, your phone had fallen out onto the floor and Sukuna picked it up.

“You’re screwing around with a little boyfriend, aren’t you?”

“Wh-what? No I’m not.” You choked, lungs still burning.

“You didn’t want your big brother Sukuna to find out you were fucking cheating on him, right?” Waving your phone in front of your face, Sukuna jerked it out of reach when you tried to grab for it.

“Give it back, that’s not true!” You played the game of cat and mouse, desperately trying to get your phone back from him and leave the room. “Sukuna, it’s not true and you know it!”

“Liar.” Tossing your phone onto his bed, Sukuna grabbed your upper arms and forced you to stand. Stumbling back onto his bed he dragged you with him and as soon as he sat down he threw you across his lap.

A short grunt left your mouth as your chest collided with his legs, hands scrambling on the bed to try and drag yourself off. Sukuna kept a tight grip around your middle, yanking your bottoms and panties off in one go.

“Suku-” Your cry was cut off by a hard slap against your ass, hot pain shooting across your body and only getting worse when he landed a hand on your other cheek.

“You fucking bitch. Do you hate me now?” Sukuna huffed, smacking you again and putting more of his weight into it. Your bottom was already stinging and with each smack that landed it only made it worse.

“S-sukuna! Stop, stop-” Tears were easily streaming out of your eyes and dripping into his mattress. Your feet beat against the bed, trying in vain to stop him from hitting you again.

“You’ve already forgotten your training too? Wow princess, I’m fucking disappointed.” Smacking you again, Sukuna yanked your shirt collar up, forcing you to rest on your elbows and look back at him. “What’re you supposed to call me?”

Squeezing your lips together, you shook your head hard. You couldn’t even focus fully on him with all the tears clouding your vision and there wasn’t a hope for you to actually speak either with the way you were hiccuping.

“Say it.” He barked, slapping the back of your thighs this time.

“Ow!”

“Oh so you can speak! What are you supposed to call me?”

“Big- big brother! Big brother, big brother!” Shaking your head harder, you sucked your bottom lip into your mouth, trying to calm your frantic cries.

“Much fucking better.” Letting you fall back onto the bed, Sukuna hit you a few more times in rapid succession. “But it seems you’ve forgotten just who you belong to.” Without warning Sukuna shoved you off his lap and back onto the floor.

Landing on your ass, you yelped loudly and flipped over onto your stomach, the cool air in the room doing nothing for how hot and irritated your skin was now. It hurt and there was no hiding it, your crying the only sound in the room.

“Quit your crying, you dumb baby. I went easy on you, you should feel grateful.” Walking over you, Sukuna dug through his dresser before procuring a large black t-shirt. Holding it up to the light, he smiled and tossed it down to you.

“Wh-what-?” Trembling fingers grabbed the shirt and turned it over, and you blinked hard to clear the tears and look at what was printed on the front.

“Like it? Had it specially made for you.” On the front of the shirt in big, bold white letters were the words ‘big brothers cumslut’. Sukuna didn’t wait for a response, taking in your horrified expression with glee as he stripped himself. “Go ahead, put it on.”

“Big brother…” You whined, coming to stand on your knees and keeping your ass away from your feet. Twisting the shirt in your hands, you couldn’t decide what was worse: the shirt or the fact that Sukuna was barely two feet from you with a hard cock only getting harder with his hand pumping it.

“Don’t keep me waiting.” He warned and walked past you to lay on the bed. Hanging your head, you stood up and whined again, grabbing the edges of your own shirt and lifting it up. “There we go, nice and slow.”

Your body shook as you took your shirt and bra off, cheeks burning when Sukuna let out a low whistle and fisted his cock a few times at the sight of your naked body. Tears wet your lashes again as you slid the new shirt on, the words on it permanently branded your chest.

With a soft mutter, Sukuna pulled you over to him, moving you to straddle him with his cock nestled between your legs. Laying heavy hands on your hips, he pushed your ass flat against his thighs, not caring in the slightest about your pained squirming.

Humiliation clung to you like a second skin as the weight of the shirt settled on your body. Embarrassment burrowed deeply in your brain as the memories of being spanked by your big brother and crying like a baby took up space in your brain. There was already shame hanging over you from being fucked by Sukuna the first time and you thought it couldn’t get any bigger.

But when he maneuvered his cock between the lips of your cunt, pressing it flush against your wet sex without sticking it in and pushing and pulling your hips to grind against him, it increased tenfold.

Your hands slapped down onto his chest, whether you wanted to stop him or get more momentum was unknown even to you. It was deplorable the amount of your slick he was able to build up just by grinding you on his cock.

“You like that, stupid girl?” Sukuna groaned lightly, his lip caught between his teeth as he watched your cunt envelop him, the tip of his cock poking out every so often.

“I-” You struggled to answer. Every slide back brought the pain in your ass back to the forefront of your mind and every slide forward had sparks shooting up your spine at the way your clit rubbed against him.

“See, I just had to be a little mean to you, to teach you a lesson.” Sukuna kept talking, catching your hazy eyes but not really caring if you were listening. “Big brother just had to remind you of a few things, but as long as you’re good he won’t have to do it again.”

“O-okay.” Nodding your heavy head, you sniffled away the remaining tears. “M’sorry, brother.” You weren’t even sure what you were apologizing for, the words just tumbling out of your mouth easily.

“Ooh princess.” Sukuna cooed, pouting his lip and lifting a hand to shake your head by the chin. “I know you are. That’s why you’re gonna make me feel real good to make it up.”

“Mhmm.” Sukunas hand dropped from your chin and grabbed onto your hips again and this time you moved with him. The slow push and pull of your hips picked up when you began to move on your own accord, gliding your cunt across his cock.

Seeing you move on your own, Sukuna let go of your hips and put his hands behind his head, lacing his fingers together and sighing contently. His lip caught between his teeth again watching you grind yourself on him.

“Big brother, I-” The pleasure you were getting from this was mind numbing, the direct stimulation on your clit combined with the hazy fog you were already in from getting spanked making you forget how to do anything except keep moving.

“So good for me, aren’t you.” Sukuna groaned and his arms shook as a jolt went up. “Just like that, keep going.”

“Brother…” All the pleasure you were getting was amazing, but you were growing needy. There was something you still needed, something the clenching of your empty cunt wouldn’t let you ignore.

Lifting yourself up with horribly shaky arms, your eyes were glued to Sukunas cock, glistening with your juices and absolutely rock hard. Stuffing part of the shirt in your mouth so you could see better, you grabbed Sukunas cock and attempted to guide it into your cunt.

“Aht, not so fast princess.” Snatching your hand off of him, Sukuna grabbed both your hands and held them up and away.

“Lemme go- I wanna- want your-” Your attempts at tugging your wrists free was weak and in vain. Sinking back, Sukuna’s cock resumed its previous spot hugged by your cunt.

“Don’t forget you were still a bad girl, you still need to learn your lesson.”

“Meanie.” Pouting down at him, you sloppily jutted your hips forward. The move made Sukuna’s breath hitch and you did it a few more times, rutting against him in a feeble attempt at getting back at him.

“You think you’re doing something but really you’re just gonna make me cum.” Squeezing your wrists one more time, Sukuna let them go and put his hands on your thighs. “And when I cum it’s all over.”

The implication of his words took several long seconds to reach your consciousness. If you wanted to cum, it would have to be this way, and it would have to be before Sukuna came. Slowing down, you tried to angle your hips forward to put more pressure on your clit.

“Don’t slow down now, keep going!” Catching on quickly, Sukuna smacked your thighs and squeezed them, forcing you back to the pace you were at earlier.

“Brother, please!” Digging the tips of your fingers into his chest, you tried to forcibly slow down.

“Quit being such a greedy brat and take what I give you.”

“Gimme- yo-your cock!” Gone was the shame that had clung to you so heavily. Nothing else mattered now except for the achingly empty feeling inside you desperate to be filled by your big brother's cock.

“You have it right here princess.” Sukuna grinned, thrusting his hips up. The sharp movement had your heavy head lolling forward and eyes screwing shut.

“Big brother, fuck.” Your chest heaved greatly as you fought to keep getting air into your lungs. Your shirt was bunched up by your waist, held in place by Sukuna so he could get an uninterrupted look at you humping him.

With renewed vigor you ground your hips against his as fast as you could, zealously chasing the pleasure that you could get from this moment. It had your toes curling and you were absolutely gushing around his cock, making the slide even easier.

A couple sharp, high pitched cries leave your lips just as Sukuna cums at the same time as you. His back arches up off the mattress, a deep groan rumbling from his chest. You don’t stop moving and Sukuna doesn’t let you, making you fuck him through both your orgasms.

Some of his cum catches on the front of your cunt, but most of it splatters across his crotch and lower stomach. Every thrust of your hips seems to push more out, spurting the sticky white fluid out in a disjointed pattern.

When the stupor of his orgasm wears off Sukuna lets you go, lets you fall forward and then to his side in a tired, mushy lump. As he catches his breath he watches your thighs twitch from the aftershocks of your orgasm, the shine of your slick cunt glaringly obvious to him.

Lazily, Sukuna grabs a few tissues of the bedside table and wipes himself clean. He would have had you do it and made you lick him clean, but he couldn’t trust you not to stick his soft cock into you and try to fuck him.

“Hey, princess this isn’t a fucking hotel.” He jerks your shoulder, forcing you to sit up and shake off the light sleep that had dusted across your eyes.

“What’re you doing?” You grumble, steadily growing annoyed as he forces you to your feet and towards the door.

“Good girls get to sleep in my bed, but you’re still on fucking punishment, remember?”

“You’re being mean, s’not fair!” Pushing back against him, you almost make it back onto his bed.

“Get out, you little bitch! Learn to act right and be a good girl.” Wrapping an arm under your breasts, Sukuna hoists you up and drags you out of his room, dumping you unceremoniously out into the hall.

A pitiful whine leaves you, but you gather yourself up and stand in front of him. You don’t even realize you’ve started crying until Sukuna rubs a rough hand across your face and wipes a few tears away.

“Shut up and go put your shit in your room.” You nod, lower lip trembling and sniffling loudly, but make no sign to move. Rolling his eyes, Sukuna slaps the doorframe. “Fine, since you’re being so pathetic, here’s a deal. Are you listening?”

“Y-yes.”

“If you go and put all your shit away you can come and lay down in my bed. Deal?” Crossing his arms over his chest, Sukuna tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for you to answer. “Well, do we have a fucking deal or not?”

“Yes.” Wiping your eyes again, you take a few steps back.

“Yes what?”

“Yes big brother.” There’s a pout on your lips as you say it and Sukuna swipes his thumb across your bottom lip.

“Good girl. Now get going, I don’t wanna have to come and get you again.” Giving your ass a pat and reminding you of the pain in your backside that had been pushed away, Sukuna grinned. With a quick nod you scurried away, feet landing heavy on the stairs as you went to grab your bag.

Man, did Sukuna love having such a good little sister or what?

#tw: incest #tw: noncon #tw: dubcon #jujutsu kaisen #ryomen sukuna #ryomen sukuna smut #sukuna x reader #jujutsu kaisen smut #jujutsu kaisen imagines #jujutsu kaisen fanfic #jujutsu kaisen scenarios

[egglands-worst]

Ok, I've been having this doubt for a long time now and I think you can answer it: how do you learn colours and anatony? Like, where do you search? I know I have to learn the name of bones and shit, but WHERE do I find this information?

Sincerely, a really confused novice artist

(anon you are so sweet??????)

NOOOOOOOO. I'm SO sorry i had this whole entire big huge post talking about this stuff and then! tumblr glitched and gave me an entirely blank screen! ruining all my progress!!!!!

so here it is again but in slightly less detail as i mourn the loss of my words. under the readmore!

y'all wanna know the honest truth? the Biggest thing that has gotten my anatomy to where it is? (not that i've practiced all too much lol)

Tracing.

yeah, i said tracing. The thing is, you're not supposed to trace other people's art (please Do Not do that btw. not only is it Not Cool but also people aren't perfect and they will make mistakes so you're not gonna actually learn that much.), but you ARE supposed to trace Real Life Photos.

yeah!!! you are supposed to! as in, you are supposed to trace photos in Actual Art School! they encourage it!

as you trace, you acquaint yourself with the shapes and form of a subject Much more intimately than just looking at a picture.

and as you trace, you DO want to keep in mind how the form is working. its shapes, its flow, its shadows, et cetera. Not just tracing Because. you do need to have a purpose. think about why you're tracing this anatomy and Observe. think about how those muscles connect to each other and to the bone.

also try to visualize these shapes three-dimensionally. it's hard at first, but eventually you'll get the hang of it.

(and yes, you Do also want to look at a few diagrams of skeletons and muscle anatomy. That you can just search on the internet for)

and now for Colors!

colors are fun :)

let's start with basic stuff!

when you have a color, never ever ever do you want to use colors that are completely saturated and bright!!!!!

which of these two looks more natural and easier on the eyes? (the answer should be the one on the left)

they're the exact same hue, but one is slightly desaturated and darker while the other is complete saturation and complete brightness.

you just don't find those colors in real life unless you have something reflective neon

another thing!

shadows :)

say you just happen to have a mysterious purple orb. doesn't matter how you got it, everyone comes across one eventually

but wait! that's not an orb, that's just flat!

alright, so it needs a shadow. for these purposes, it is floating

just take the color and make it darker, right?

eh, you could i guess, but it still looks flat and lifeless.

instead, why not try nudging the hue in a different direction and making it a little more saturated?

wow! the base color is exactly the same, yet somehow it looks much more lively and vibrant!

colors also tend to behave.... oddly, when you change their brightness and saturation.

which of these do you think I changed the hue as it got darker?

if you thought it was the top one, that's actually incorrect!??!?! isn't that weird?? i honestly don't know why it does this.

to combat this weirdness, every time i took it a step darker, i shifted the hue slightly more and more blue.

uhhh,,, as for some basics of lighting, i talked about it in that other post.

though if you want, i'd encourage you to take a picture of something outside at right before dawn, midday, and sunset! compare how the lighting looks and changes the colors.

(note: some cameras, especially phone cameras, may automatically adjust to the lighting. you might have to figure out how to turn that off.)

also again! research how light Itself works. i dunno if i'm weird or if it'll actually help others but! doesn't hurt to try!

and one more thing, blending modes! "what is a blending mode??", you may ask.

they are different modes for layers in digital art that changes how those layers interact with the layers below them

i'd show some examples, but tumblr is starting to glitch with this post so i think it's time to stop haha. i highly encourage you to try messing around with different types and see how they affect the colors!

the last thing i wanna say is that, i am not a professional artist!!! this is all stuff i have learned mostly by myself, and art is only my hobby. (the art school thing is because i Know people)

#answered #whew boy this was a long one #art tips #reference #art reference #art tutorial

[nagisasstunningpersonality]

Retranslation and Analysis of That Fight Scene

So firstly, I just want to say the subs are not bad and convey the general meaning very well, in a way that sounds natural in English. That being said, there's always some things that get lost in literal translation, and I really want to demonstrate how much depth the Japanese in this scene actually has for Karma and Nagisa's characters.

Basically the TLDR point here is that this fight is very much not about Korosensei. This is completely platonic, I promise I resisted making any shippy points.

Karma: Hey, Nagisa kun, aren't you getting extremely carried away?

Nagisa: Eh? (definitely surprised and bewildered)

Karma: The number one strongest assassin in Class E is Nagisa kun, isn't it? (uses yo here, which suggests confidence in the statement). Are you (very directly yourself, your own thoughts) wanting to quit assassination? Let's think about the talentless others who are desperately trying their hardest to kill him. When you put it like that, it's like a woman who 'has it' telling the ugly ones that they should honestly quit being so desperate to get a boyfriend, that kind of feeling?"

So some interesting analysis here is that Karma says "zuibun", or extremely, when the original translation is "a tad". The translation feels more natural in English, however it kind of makes me feel that Karma's trying to make more of a point. Nagisa has the right to be making suggestions and stepping up, but he's gone so far this time it's crossed a line.

I think 才能がないなり (talentless, saino ga nai nari) is also very interesting. Talent is the best translation, but if you look at the kanji very literally, there's "genius" and "ability". This specific word choice more implies that the other assassins are good, but Nagisa's just another level. Japanese grammar is confusing at best, but essentially 'nari' means become. So you take this as kind of like 'students who couldn't develop genius ability'.

The repetition of 'desperate' is also pretty interesting, linking the examples together better. It emphasises the point that they're kind of at a loss with. He also doesn't directly say attractive woman, he says "motteiru onna", which essentially means the same, but is literally "a woman who has (no object given but essentially 'it'). This more directly reflects to what he's saying about Nagisa, he HAS talent, this unspecified natural quality that makes him better than everyone else without trying.

There's also a lot more rhetorical questions in the Japanese, which got combined into single sentences in the English. The "let's think" thing is very literally what he says, like he's wanting Nagisa to actually consider his thoughts for himself.

Nagisa's original argument and intention may have been about Korosensei. Karma may be genuinely opposed to saving Korosensei. But that isn't the point of Karma's argument at all, he's making this about Nagisa because he's reached a limit with the both of them.

In order to spare you, more under the cut.

Nagisa: T-the aim wasn't... Above all, for assassination, your understanding is always better than mine

Karma: Saying that directly (take with slight pinch of salt - he could have also said "fixing your statement") is irritating. In reality, isn't it that you yourself are the most powerful, and you can't comprehend the feelings of weak humans?

Nagisa: That's wrong (also using affirmative yo here)! That's not what I said! These are my true feelings! Do you hate Korosensei? We went to see a movie together with him, didn't we have a variety of great times?!"

Karma: That's why, that octopus did his best to come and make a fun classroom every time, and didn't give up like Nagisa. Without bloodlust, this classroom wouldn't have been built. Can't you understand the effort?! It's not just your body, are you still a fresh elementary school student?

One thing to note here is that Nagisa isn't actually finishing his sentences. You can absolutely tell what he means because Japanese makes sense like that, but he's still dropping words. Or when he does say a full sentence, they're very short statements. He is desperate here, trying to prove a point he can't actually voice into words correctly.

The context here is that this is before we know their full backstory. Nagisa admired Karma, and he can't quite say it right yet. He thinks they're on different stages still, and Karma is frustrated because Nagisa doesn't see the point.

Karma, after all, does have this inhuman image of Nagisa in his head from years ago. The image of Nagisa looking like some kind of snake demon as he kills Karma in his sleep. He genuinely still, here, believes that Nagisa is purposely hiding this. That's why he keeps putting words into Nagisa's mouth. He's also cutting him off at points, not listening at all to what he's truly saying.

At the same time, Karma starts talking down to him. Instead of saying 'no' (how you'd end a sentence to a friend), he starts using 'kai', which is condescending and how you'd speak to a child. There's an argument here to be made for Karma doing this as a kind of defence mechanism too, but that's very complicated. At this point he really is just trying to get to him.

They are not arguing about killing Korosensei, not at all.

Karma: Huh?

Nagisa: *does the creepy eye thing*

Karma: Eh? What are those eyes? You with the social standing of a tiny female animal, are you defying a human?

Nagisa: I was just...

Karma: If you have a complaint, how about saying it after you win a fight for once? It's aimed at me, so come on. C'mon. C'mon. C'mon!

This is actually one of the most significant changes to the original.

This is the thing, Karma was never calling Nagisa a tiny mouse of whatever, he was just comparing him to one. Because he knows very clearly that Nagisa isn't like that. He sees that look in his eyes and it prompts him, in his frustration, to finally try and bring it out of Nagisa. He's trying to prove a point.

But then Nagisa stops himself. He lets go of his bloodlust for a moment, defaulting to Nagisa as we know and love him, literally turning his head away from Karma.

But Karma's too far gone at this point, he's dragged stuff up his past feelings about Nagisa, the ones he's been hiding for a year to be tentative friends with him, and now he can't let them go. He needs to see Nagisa's darker side plainly, no matter what that means.

It's also important that he says "it's aimed at me". I think this is a little deeper than literal. I think what he's implying here is this entire thing is somehow aimed at him, like Nagisa's trying to strip everything away just for his own perspective.

Obviously at this point Nagisa snaps and chokes him.

Nagisa internal thoughts: Even I...

Nagisa: I'm not going with half my feelings!

Karma: This guy...

This is also pretty significant. I'm surprised they cut the "even I" part because that says a lot about Nagisa's current feelings. He still doubts himself. He's aware that he's a pacifist, that he's got a lesser social standing, but Karma's put him into a position where he has to stand up for himself. And this is important to him.

Karma smiles when he says "this guy", getting ready to punch him. He feels like he's succeeded, in a way. Though at first he looked genuinely surprised Nagisa actually did it. There's a certain kind of satisfaction that finally he managed to bring Nagisa's 'true' self out.

Obviously at this point they get separated.

So what does all of this actually tell us? Well, pretty clearly here, this is just Karma's issues coming to light. But also a very helpful and useful moment for Nagisa's development as a character. Whether we agree with Karma using him as a punching bag or not, it genuinely does force Nagisa to get some self agency for once.

Karma and Nagisa will never be characters who sit around and talk honestly about their feelings. But even if they're using a whole situation to mask the fact that they very much are discussing their relationship here, it is still a significant moment where pretty much all the barriers they've been putting up against each other drop. They're just still not entirely on the same page through this scene.

Nagisa thinks Karma is just looking down on him and trying to pick a fight. He's baffled and confused as to why Karma feels so strongly against him.

Karma, on the other hand, thinks Nagisa is better than them all and is frustrated when he 'purposely' acts like he isn't. Karma still feels lied to from when they were kids. And he wants to expose it all, to get Nagisa to understand the position his skill puts him in. I honestly don't think Karma ever thought Nagisa was less than him at all, he just knew it would be an easy way to get a reaction. See how he flips tactic from "you're the best here" to "you're a tiny animal" when Nagisa just went into denial the first time?

I'm not going to go into the whole of their actual full fight, but there's some interesting points that reflect back on all of this.

Korosensei saying "your own answer is right in front of you", basically demonstrating that this entire thing really is just Karma and Nagisa

The entire point of the fight was to get one hit in with a knife, but Karma decides to just continuously beat Nagisa instead. Which yeah, is pretty ineffective. Pretty much proves again that it wasn't about just taking a victory.

Karma took Nagisa's hits on purpose, maybe it can be argued that this is trying to make things last longer, to get Nagisa to actually work for it.

Nagisa demands that he listens to what he has to say. And that's right, because Karma was cutting him off originally.

Karma is a super strategist right? And he was genuinely shocked that Nagisa didn't use his bloodlust to take him down. This is Karma. Sure, he's allowed to make mistakes. But this is odd for him. He was so caught up in his own perspective of Nagisa just having that skill that unfairly made him better. But Nagisa literally throws that skill out and beats Karma on his own level, pretty much disproving him. Maybe Nagisa has this special ability, but he's also worked just as hard as everyone else. He's trained to know what assassination means.

Beating Karma like this, on a 'human' level, was pretty much it. Karma stopped fighting back when he realised that, because he was disproven, and pretty much every wall he put up against Nagisa got literally choked out of him. Karma is already known as kind of an ass and a dirty fighter, you really think he'd worry about the others not accepting it if he stabbed Nagisa fair and square? If he cared that much about killing Korosensei, he would have just done it.

Their fight was never about Korosensei.

#assassination classroom #ansatsu kyoushitsu #ass class #karmagisa

[dialovers-translations]

DIABOLIK LOVERS Para-Selene Vol.6 Sakamaki Subaru Animate Tokuten CD

Original title: DIABOLIK LOVERS Para-Selene Vol. 6 逆巻スバル アニメイト 各巻購入特典ドラマCD

Source: Diabolik Lovers Para-Selene Vol. 6 Sakamaki Subaru Animate Tokuten CD

Audio: Here

Seiyuu: Takashi Kondou

Translator’s note: I don’t know if they are popular in other countries too but aquarium dates have always struck me as such a typical Japanese thing. I’ve seen it so often in anime/dramas/etc. but in real life, I’ve never really heard of two people going on a date to an aquarium. :p If anything, it’s mostly just parents with their children visiting those places. I loved all of Subaru’s little tsundere moments where he would grow jealous over the fish because they captured his S/O’s attention. xD His bolder attitude near the end of the CD wasn’t half bad either. <u<

→  LIKE MY TRANSLATIONS? SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI!

The two of you are walking in public.

“Che...This fuckin’ sucks...The aquarium lures in visitors at night as well!? ...Do you really enjoy comin’ here with me?”

You nod, smiling.

“...! ...I see. Damn, guess you give me no other choice. I’ll keep you company then.”

Subaru suddenly comes to a halt.

“This pool attracted more people than I would have expected. What’s happenin’ over here?”

You explain.

"The Dolphin Night Show? Hmー”

You ask if he would like to watch.

“I don’t mind but are there any open seats left?”

You point.

“Hm? ...Ah, you’re right. Guess we can sit down there then.”

The two of you walk towards your seats.

*Splash*

“Oh. Seems like it started already.”

*Splash splash*

“Ah...Hm...”

*SPLASH*

“Haah...

...The fuck’s so interestin’ ‘bout this? It’s just a bunch of dolphins jumpin’ in the air and headbuttin’ some balls. ...Say? How much longer will this go on fo...Oh...Fuck. Look at her watchin’ in awe like a damn kid...”

*Splash splash*

You suddenly turn your head towards Subaru.

“...Eh? W-W-What!?”

You ask why he was looking.

“...W-Who says I was lookin’ at you!? Don’t be gettin’ the wrong idea, geez!”

The crowd cheers.

“M-More importantly, the dolphins are ‘bout to pull somethin’ again so shouldn’t you watch that?”

You turn your attention back to the show.

“...They call it a ‘big jump’ but is this shit really worth gettin’ so excited over?”

*SPLASH*

“...Woah! Amazin’...! So high...!”

The two of you get splashed with water in the process.

“...Ugh.”

*Clap clap clap*

“The water splashed all the way over here, huh...? ...O-Oi!? Are you alright!? ーー Actually, you got pretty soaked. Do you have anythin’ to wipe yourself down?”

You start rummaging through your bag.

*Rustle rustle*

“Aah...Then use that towel.”

You offer to wipe his hair as well. 

“...Hah? Nah, I’m good.”

You insist.

“I don’t catch colds, so it’s fine. Instead you should worry ‘bout yourself, right? Your hair got wet as well so hurry up and wipe it.”

You act tough.

“Hell no it’s ‘fine’. ...Gimme. I’ll do it.”

You become hesitant.

“Oi! How am I supposed to wipe your hair when you back away like that? Come closer!”

Subaru scoots closer. 

“Keep still, ‘kay?”

*Rustle rustle*

“...There we go. Guess that should do. ...Your clothes aren’t that wet at least. ...Oi. Why are you all tensed up? Also, your face’s red. D-Don’t tell me...You’ve got a fever!?”

You explain.

“...Hah? I’m too close? ...!! D-Don’t get all flustered over every single lil’ thing...!”

He moves away a little.

“Here, you can have your towel back. Also...Wear my jacket.”

Subaru throws his jacket your way.

*Thud*

“Stop complainin’ and just put it on. It didn’t get wet and...It should help you warm up a lil’ at least. I don’t want you...to catch a cold. (1)”

You thank him.

“No need to thank me, honestly. ...The show has ended so should we go to the next thing? There’s still other stuff you wanted to see, no?”

You nod before the two of you get up from your seats.

*TIMESKIP*

“...That bein’ said, the inside of an aquarium is darker than I expected. You better not trip, ‘kay? “

You tell him that won’t happen.

“Heh. I wonder? You’re a huge klutz, aren’t you? You’d definitely trip and fall while gettin’ distracted by the fish.”

You puff out your cheeks and protest. 

“Heh. Let’s see ‘bout that. ...Let’s go.”

You suddenly stop walking.

“Hm? What’s wrong? ...Oh, jellyfish.”

You note that they are very beautiful. 

“...Aah? What’s so pretty ‘bout these gelatinous blobs? They lit up, that’s all, right?”

You continue to look at them.

“...You like these guys?”

You suddenly start dragging Subaru towards the tank with jellyfish.

*Rustle*

“...Wah!? ...F-Fine! You want to go there, right!? Don’t pull me!”

You are totally excited about watching the jellyfish.

“Are they really that beautiful? They’re just floatin’, right? I don’t get the appeal at all...”

You continue to watch the jellyfish in awe.

“Haah...She’s totally enraptured by those damn jellyfish...I don’t get chicks...”

He continues to watch you in silence.

“...You’ve seen enough, right? Let’s go already.”

You want to watch the jellyfish just a little longer. 

“Che...I’m goin’ ahead. I’ll leave you behind if you take too long!”

You try and chase after him but nearly trip in the process.

“...! Watch ouーー!”

Subaru catches you in his arms just in time.

*Thud*

“...Ugh. Haah...See, what did I tell you? You almost landed on the floor. You really are so clumsy.”

Your cheeks flush bright red.

“Wait. ...Hmm~? Look at those flushed cheeks...You’re basically tellin’ me I’m free to do what I want, right? In that case, I won’t hold back. I’ll suck you to my heart’s content, right here, right now.”

You protest.

“I won’t wait. If you don’t behave, I’m gonna rip apart your throat with my fangs.”

You immediately keep still. 

“Hehe. Perfect. Just be a good girl, and I’ll make sure you enjoy it.”

Subaru nearly bites you but other people arrive.

“ーー Ugh. There’s visitors approachin’, huh? ...Fuck off.”

You frown.

“Oi, don’t get all worried over some other people.”

You shake your head.

“It’s not ‘impossible’. All you need to do is focus on me.”

You insist.

“Haah...Guess you leave me no other choice. If you’re that desperate, I guess I won’t suck you here.”

You sigh in relief.

“Why do you seem so relieved? I won’t suck you here, but you better don’t believe this is the end.”

*Rustle*

“If we can’t do it here, we can simply go somewhere a lil’ more private, right? In that case, we can both have some fun.”

Subaru grabs your hand.

“Let’s head home. We’ll continue where we left off once inside our room. ...I’ll give you my love until you fall apart.”

ーー THE END ーー

Translation notes

(1) Literally he says he would be troubled if she were to catch a cold, however, the expression ‘I don’t want you’ sounded more natural to me in English. 

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #subaru sakamaki #diabolik lovers translation #diabolik lovers drama cd #drama cd

[rainofaugustsith]

So I've heard that other game is slowly moving into damage control, while at the same time doubling down on the changes and restrictions they created that players hate. And meanwhile I just plunked down $60 for Final Fantasy XIV and signed up for a recurring subscription. Because even if I continue to write about Lana/Viri, I'm done with Bioware. I'm so done. I was very apprehensive about starting this game, but now that I'm there, I'm really loving it. If you are hesitating on playing this because of the multiplayer I'd urge you to still give it a try. If you want to spend all your game time fishing or mining ore or sewing, you absolutely can.

1. The story is good. Really. Fucking. Good. And I'm told I have not reached the truly excellent parts yet.

2. There is a staggering variety of quests, games and things to do in the game. When I was told that Realm Reborn was made on a shoestring budget my jaw dropped because, wow. If that's what they did with a small budget I can't wait to find out what they did with even more funding.

3. You can try out a lot of different jobs.

4. They constantly release new material. Like, all the time.

5. Yes, the game includes multiplayer stuff as part of the main story quests. However, they specifically removed this in later expacs, and they are going back and removing it from the MSQ in Realm Reborn and Heavensward because people don't like it.

Read that again. They understand players don't like doing a particular thing and they are taking that thing out. 6. They really, really want you to understand how to play the game. They directly link you to the game handbook and have tutorials and helpful tips about just about everything. 7. Along with the above, the game has a series of excellent and very encouraging tutorials to teach new players to play their role in a group (healer, DPS, or tank), so they actually try to prepare new players for group stuff.

8. And from what I have seen the duty finder that matches people for group content is really low key.

9. Every job, craft and gathering discipline has its own series of really interesting story quests. Like, you're not just mining rocks. There's a story about mining the rocks.

10. They have weapons in their outfitter system. Enough said there, eh?

11. Thus far, I have not encountered a niche fan base that constantly screeches for female characters to be excluded from the narrative and killed off.

12. LGBTQ+? Yep! From the start!

13. There's a game culture to be kind. You don't necessarily need to flee from other players because they are far nicer.

14. Fates. If you see a fight, join in. If you're done, leave. You don't have to talk to anyone.

15. Really good music.

16. Amazing scenery. 17. Players seem to actually like the developers and management and there's a good reason. 18. The game gives you a puppy, a kitten, a silly miniature ship and a giant bird you can ride around town. There's a lot of humor and a lot of cute touches to balance out the darker parts of the narrative.

#yeah having fun #don't even want to tag that other game here #ffxiv #rain plays ffxiv

[booasaur]

God people being angry bc the Hera died and the girls survive is one of the things I kinda expect it but surprise me.

And another anon:

people really are being like "actually literally everyone other than the lesbians were the best characters in fear street and it should've focused on them instead, but I'm not homophobic or anything" i don't know why i'm surprised

I dunno that many God people would be angry if Hera died... :P

But yeah, I get it. You know what, I'm gonna address a bunch of the complaints and comments I've seen. First: where is the media literacy?! What do people think they're watching? It's a slasher, most people, including likable, fun best friends, will die.

And despite how often this happens, I am surprised each time. I guess in this case I at least expected that with leads, as rare as that is, THEN they'd get a certain inherent sympathy that leads get. But the issue is, Certain types of characters have to earn it. The viewer actually starts off a little bit against them, waiting for them to justify their selection over someone more default in Western media.

This happens for a variety of people, in all kinds of combinations: men (and even many women) find it difficult to get women's viewpoints, straight people toward LGB people, cis people toward trans, white people toward POC, POC toward other POC, especially Black people. Even within groups, darker skinned people find it harder and it took me a very long time to feel the same empathy for desi characters as for white (in case you don't read my bio, I am desi).

Even people who've had one queer experience may feel judgmental toward other queer people, like recently we've seen a rise in frustration and annoyance with closeted people, right. The biggest victim of Sam's struggle with homophobia is not Deena, or even Peter, it's Sam! So many people act like closeted people are manipulating others for the joy of it, like it's a secret because of selfishness and not a deeply traumatizing fear! They're never granted that empathy, though. I've seen people call Sam boring and undeserving, meanwhile she's the girl who showed huge personal growth, fully came out to her scary mom, has a fun lowkey sense of humor, and made the decision THREE TIMES this night to die!

Now to Deena. Again, the way people view her from the outside instead of thinking, oh no, she has to try to force pills down her gf's throat and then drown her while hearing her best friends be killed, now she has to pick between her brother and gf, hoping that she'll be able to save both but possibly losing them. You know what it is, it's such a lack of good faith toward these characters. I said sympathy and empathy above, but really, it's simply not believing them of being capable of the same emotions and feelings as everyone else. There's this suspicion and bad faith jump to the worst motivations.

Like, other characters do this all the time? Prioritizing saving a loved one? There is almost no concept more generally pushed forward by Western fictional media than "a group that sacrifices the few to save the many means they don't deserve saving the many"?? That love and teamwork will always win out, that you don't give up or give in, that against all odds, every effort should be made to save everyone?

Speaking of which, going back to media literacy, I love Kate and Simon, enough to say that before the official airing, but the moment they were ready to sacrifice Sam? These movies don't forgive that kind of selfishness. Like, okay, usually that comes from very obvious bad guys, the kind of smirking, bullying jock that Peter was, who would normally survive to be able to pull something exactly like this and then be killed right when he thought he'd escaped but the movie playing around with tropes doesn't mean it's completely ignoring them.

It's funny, people talk about how bold media like GOT, The Boys, Succession, etc, are but really, where's the boldness when you know your audience is gonna eat up your straight white people doing shitty things? It's stuff like this, wanting your audience to like characters they normally wouldn't and allowing them to be messy, that is far braver.

HAVING said all that....thanks for letting me vent the thoughts that've been percolating, lol, but I don't think we should dwell on this. As hard as that sounds, because the more mainstream this is, the more ubiquitous the discourse and it's obviously more than just fiction, it's about the real life ways real life people relate to us, and clearly I have had a lot of thoughts about itttt, but let's not let them ruin it, eh? Get your frustrations out and then just have fun.

It's not our responsibility to try to defend or promote the movie or even, really, try to get its ratings up. It's incredibly unfair that we have to do that and surely media producers and neutral consumers expect things like review bombing and lack of audience sympathy and factor it in. We get two more movies, it's their loss if they can't enjoy them.

#>_> #I didn't mean for it to get this long #but I've been thinking on it since the 5th #and seen the comments even before that #replies #femslash related stuff #sent on 20210705 #sent on 20210706 #Anonymous #fear street spoilers #fear street #fear street part 1: 1994 #deena x sam

[rancoeur-the-unfortunate]

Pills (Chapter 29)

(Hello everyone, Rancoeur here. I know it's been a while since I last updated this book and I am truly sorry about that. But it's been so long since I've seen Zim or have even read fanfics about it. So in a way I sorta fell out of love with it. This doesn't mean I'm going to stop updating this though. This book is a monument to how my writing has evolved over the years and is my pride and joy. I will finish it, even if it kills me. It will be awesome and I can't wait for it. Thank you for reading this and please accept this 3300-word chapter as my apology. I know it's a little short and I did want to add more stuff to it but then it just looked bloated and I didn't like that. I hope everyone is staying safe out there. Have a nice day.)

Monday morning, Dib slowly got out of bed and stretched as his alarm clock rang. The boy rubbed his eyes softly before grabbing his glasses from the nightstand and put them on his nose after turning off the said clock. He glanced outside, noticing the dark clouds coming in, and sighed.

"Already looks pretty gross out there," he muttered to himself before he started to get dressed for school.

Honestly, it felt weird to sleep on a bed after sleeping in a tent for a week. Aside from just being comfier it kinda felt... lonely. Like someone was missing.

The boy shook his head as he slid on his coat and began the trek downstairs to greet Gaz and his father. Another rare day of eating with the Professor.

"Hey dad, hey Gaz," he smiled a bit and went to the fridge to grab some juice. When he grabbed what he wanted he pulled back and shut the fridge, only to find his dad right behind him holding a new device to his head. He reeled back in surprise, "dad?!"

His dad smiled at him and waved him off, "no need to worry son, I was just testing out this new invention I'm making on you. Says here your serotonin levels are higher than usual. You must be in a good mood!"

Dib gave his dad a nervous smile and laugh before backing away to the table where his sister was eating with one hand while simultaneously playing her new game with the other.

"Yeah, you haven't mumbled about killing Zim all morning. What's wrong with you?" She spoke between bites of cereal.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just too tired to think about killing Zim," Dib shrugged as he poured himself a bowl.

"That's bull and we both know it. You talk about capturing Zim in your sleep, I can hear it in my room," Gaz tossed a glare his way before going back to her game.

Dib rolled his eyes, "whatever." He muttered as he began eating.

Still, he couldn't help but feel a strange sensation in his chest.

Zim tentatively stepped out of his home. The Dib had told him that the skool children had already forgotten about the drugs, but he still felt fear. Like there were still eyes following him as he marched down the sidewalk. A feeling of uneasiness seemed to wash over him.

Eventually, the blocky, grey building came into view. A few children were loitering about, waiting for the bell to ring. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Zim just sat on a bench and waited alongside them. Only observing them slightly.

Humans were weird on Mondays, Zim had no idea why though. Something about that particular day of the week seemed to drain all of the energy from the weird meat bags. One kid looked like he was about to fall on his face from exhaustion.

Down the street, he spotted the Dib and his little sister. A part of Zim was fearful. Now that everything had gone relatively back to normal, would Dib go back to trying to expose him?

When the two entered the skool's grounds, they separated. Gaz went to sit on the steps, playing her video game. While  Dib glanced about, when he looked his way, the human... smiled at him.

Causally Dib stepped closer and closer until the two were only a few feet apart. There was a moment of silence between them, both of them just staring at each other. It was obvious they both wanted to say something but neither knew how.

Eventually, Dib sighed and spoke a little quietly, "hey uh... can I sit here?" The boy gestured to the spot on the bench next to Zim.

Zim looked surprised for a moment before he crossed his arms and looked away with his usual snark before quipping a quick, "you may."

Dib chuckled to himself, "same old Zim." He said as he sat down beside the green alien.

With that, the two sat in silence once more, the two of them just looking down at the skoolyard. Humans shuffling about like zombies, waiting for something to happen. Eventually, Zim slumped out of his uptight posture and looked down in his lap, fiddling with his thumbs.

It was Dib who once again broke the silence, "so, what evil plan is it this time?"

Zim looked up at the human in surprise, "eh?"

"You know, to take over the world and all that?" Dib smirked and leaned close, "or did you forget your mission."

Zim immediately perked up and sneered in disgust, "of course not! And to answer your first question. WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO KNOW!" He shouted that last part accidentally as he pointed an accusatory finger at the boy.

Dib just laughed, clutching his stomach as Zim tried to regain his composure. Zim couldn't help but giggle to himself slightly.

"In all seriousness," Zim started once the two had calmed down. "I don't know... I know I have a mission. But at the same time, that mission was given to me by them." Zim found himself glaring at his own hands. He clenched them into fists.

"It feels so strange, to have a purpose one second only to realize that purpose was only given to you to get you out of the way. And now that I see past all their lies I... I don't know. I have no idea what I should be doing, or what my purpose is now or what I'm even still doing on Earth." Zim sighed and closed his eyes, he knew Dib was looking at him, either pitying him or laughing at his distress.

Instead, he felt a hesitant hand on his shoulder. Zim looked up at Dib who was giving him a comforting yet awkward smile before pulling his hand back and sitting properly.

"If we're being truthful right now I guess I'll be straight with you," Dib spoke as he laid back on the bench and looked up at the sky. "The main reason why I wanted to help you was because I was hoping you'd leave once you realized what your mission was." Dib hummed to himself.

"But now that you're off your drugs and ready to leave... I..." Dib paused, "Don't get me wrong, I still hate your guts." He huffed but then frowned, "but the thought of you leaving now... it just doesn't sit well with me." Dib admitted.

"Funny how the one I considered my worst enemy could become someone I might even call my..." Dib paused again and looked at Zim with an emotion ZIm couldn't decern, "friend."

Zim stared at Dib in complete silence, 'friend?' Dib smiled slightly before going back to looking at the cloudy sky.

Three minutes passed before Zim opened his mouth, "Dib I-" Before he could finish the ever-piercing sound of the bell rang, cutting him off. Simultaneously, Zim was both annoyed and grateful for the interruption.

"Well I guess we'll finish this talk some other time," the human spoke grabbed his bag, and got up. "I'll see you later Zim," Dib gave one last smile before waving goodbye and walking away towards the school building.

It was then that it hit Zim, he'd never seen Dib smile so much before. The boy seemed genuinely happy in Zim's company. It felt so strange, a foreign feeling, a feeling he hadn't felt since, "Skoodge."

Suddenly it felt like all the air had left Zim's respiratory organs and he fell to his knees on the ground. Tears were building in his eyes until eventually, the dam broke, and he started sobbing loudly. Trying and failing to gasp for air. His cardiac spooch felt like it was being squeezed like a stress toy. It hurt and Zim was just figuring out why.

All alone in the Skool courtyard, Zim was crying. Crying like a long-forgotten smeet. Eventually, the Irken just laid down on his side curled into a ball. How could he? What was wrong with him?! How could he have hurt Skoodge like that?! His best friend! His partner! His mate!

How could he have hurt someone so close to him, so one who had seen him at both his best and his worst?

The tears wouldn't stop.

Eventually, his thoughts went back to Dib, the human who even despite their mutual hatred for one another still sought to help him. To get him off those horrid drugs and saw him as a... a friend.

Suddenly it felt like time itself had stopped. A friend.

Zim had a friend. Quietly the little alien stood up and whipped his eyes. He found himself staring up at the sky, just as Dib had. The clouds seemed to have gotten darker, it was likely going to rain soon.

He should probably get inside-

A hand came out from behind him and covered his mouth roughly, cutting off his thoughts as he went into a panic. That was before it all went dark.

"So uh... what is it exactly?" Tallest Purple asked a hand on his chin as he inspected the strange being before him, keeping his distance of course.

"A Murthen, my Tallest, female, foot soldier class." The Doctor spoke, his back upright and arms tucked neatly behind his back as he gave a quick bow.

They all stood on the bridge of the Massive. The two Tallest were near the controls while the Doctor and his captive stood at the other end of the bridge. Behind the Doctor stood Skoodge, the little Irken was practically sweating bullets as he clutched Raz's egg. He kept his mouth shut, but every time he even glanced at the Murthen or her collar it felt like another ton of weight was added to his shoulders.

"A Murthen?" Tallest Red gave a confused and disgusted look at the blue figure, "ok...but what's it doing on our ship."

"I believe she will be a great help to our mission to subdue Zim. Despite her lower rank, she is incredibly capable and has experience in both war and combat.

"I mean, so did Tak," Tallest Purple crossed his arms.

The Doctor actually laughed and it was the most haunting thing anyone in the room had ever heard. "Oh, my Tallest, Raz here, is certainly no Tak, trust me."

"I don't even trust the way you just said trust me," Purple muttered in the background as Tallest Red stepped forward.

"Murthen, Murthen where have I heard that name before?" He squinted his eyes at Raz as Tallest Purple stepped behind him, "was it a planet we conquered."

"I assure you my Tallest, Murth most likely will never be claimed," the Doctor hummed.

'He seems so sure of himself,' Skoodge thought.

"Why's that?" Tallest Red asked skeptically.

"This is why," the Doctor spoke as he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Before anyone had any idea what was going on, Raz raised her arm, showing a previously concealed weapon. She aimed it at one of the foodservice drones and fired and a blue beam-like laser shot out.

"AHHHHHH!!!" A scream ripped through the room as the service drone fell to the floor, the donuts he was carrying, splattering beside him. He had been shot in the lower abdomen and was clutching his melting chest in a frenzy. He was quite literally melting on the floor. Eventually, he fell silent as he collapsed on the floor, smoke coming off his body.

The two Tallest jumped back in fear, "WHAT IN THE US WAS THAT?!" Purple screamed.

"Show them," The Doctor gestured to the two with his head.

Raz held out the gun, displaying it in front of the two leaders. It was small and compact, not unlike the blasters the Irkens used. This one however was silver with a grey handle, on the sides of the round barrel were tempered glass that displayed a blue liquid.

"This is just a ground soldier-grade weapon. Yet it has the capabilities to destroy Irken armies. It's filled with a chemical compound known as H2O aka water. Due to our solubility when an Irken comes in contact with it, we tend to melt. However, that's not everything. The water is also mixed with a compound only found in Murthen waters, it is known as Gr4F8 aka Blue Gix. Mixed with water it lowers the boiling point to room temperature and creates energy in the form of light and heat. This creates the beam you just witnessed. This gun alone could destroy our entire empire and that's not even half of it." The Doctor nodded toward Raz and she lowered the gun.

"This is the kind of weaponry that can be expected on Murth, that is why we can not conquer it yet. I'm sure with a bit of studying we could find a way to make ourselves immune to this but until then. We'll just have to leave Murth unconquered. At the moment, however, I believe we should get back to the topic of Zim."

"R-right right, Zim," Tallest Red stuttered, trying to keep his composer. "Are you sure she's fit for the job?"

"Oh my Tallest, you have no idea," the Doctor smiled that irksome smile of his.

"Zim won't know what hit him."

The rest of the discussion seemed to fade out for Skoodge as he stared, wide-eyed at the dead Irken before him. He had just been shot, no warning, no nothing. He was just doing his job and he was shot and then forgotten about. Like his life meant nothing.

Already some of the cleaning drones had come over, collecting the body to be disposed of. Most likely going to be tossed out of the airlock like trash.

Skoodge looked to the egg in his hands, little Mur. Every time he looked at her he just felt more and more guilty. Her carrier was being controlled against her will and he was the cause of it.

Now he had to carry her around, an actual burden on his shoulders.

"Alright then, I guess it's settled, we'll be leaving the quadrant in a few hours to start heading for Earth," Tallest Red's voice cut into Skoodges thoughts and he felt panic run through him, that means they'll be leaving Murth and Raz's family.

Before Skoodge had a chance to voice his concerns, the Doctor was already leaving with Raz in tow.

Quickly Skoodge ran after them, once they were out of the bridge and in one of the Massive's many hallways he spoke up, "Doctor! What about the egg! There's no water on the ship!"

"Your pretty good at stating the obvious," the doctor hummed, not even bothering to look at him.

"B-but-"

"Look Skoodge, I already told you. If you want the egg, you can keep it. But that makes it your problem, not mine," the Doctor growled, getting agitated by the shorter Irken's nagging.

"But Doctor!"

Suddenly the Doctor spun around and pointed glaringly at him, "no! I'm tired of hearing your squeaky insignificant voice!" He shouted, "one more word out of you and I'll reveal the secret about your lack of pills to the Tallest!"

At first, Skoodge was terrified but one look at the child, strapped to his chest and he was quick to shoot a glare of his own. "And reveal yourself?! Fat chance!"

"Oh please! you don't think I don't already have the Tallest under my thumb?!"

Skoodge paused and stared up at the Doctor wide-eyed, "what?"

"You heard me, I've had them on my drugs since day one! I have nothing to fear from them. Just like I have nothing to fear from you! You short, intolerable, idiotic, service drone!" The Doctor raised his hand to smack Skoodge only to collapse to his knee in pain. He grimaced and gripped his right leg in pain, a new bump already showing through his pants.

"Damn it!" He snarled and began to roll up his pant leg, showing the ugly lump on his calf. To even the Doctor's horror, it seemed to be splitting off into two.

"Damn things are getting worse," he muttered to himself and looked to Skoodge expectantly.

Almost on instinct, Skoodge pulled out 4 syringes from his pac only to pause before approaching.

"What the hell are you doing, help me!" The taller Irken demanded.

"No! I will do no such thing until we return Raz and her egg back home!" Skoodge demanded himself.

"And ruin your chances of taking over the control brains and getting Zim back?" The Doctor sneered, gripping his leg tighter now.

"The ends don't justify the means, Doctor!" Skoodge snarled.

"Fine," the Doctor stammered out, already looking out of breath from the pain. "W-with friends like you, who needs enemies," he growled and snapped his fingers, and Raz, who had been standing beside him stoically this whole time, tackled Skoodge.

The scariest part wasn't those sharp webbed fingers, or those strong four arms, no it was those cold eyes. Raz looked completely dead on the inside like she was just a body heading the commands of something that wasn't her. It was terrifying.

She was quick and strong as he pinned his arms and legs down before grabbing the needles from his hands and kicking him away once she got what she was after. Not even bothering to be careful about her egg, thankfully Skoodge used his own body as a shield for the fragile thing.

After that, she knelt before the Doctor and began to siphon out more of that green stuff from the lumps. She managed to get one of the lumps to go down but it seemed the remaining two syringes weren't enough to lessen the larger one. Only reduce it, as Raz got up to get more from Skoodge she was stopped by the Doctor standing up.

"Leave it, this will do for now," he hissed as he pulled his pant leg back down, hiding the bump. "And you," the Doctor glared at Skoodge.

"You're lucky I'm far too busy right now to deal with you. I do however have this to say,"  he looked down on Skoodge the lighting making him look absolutely terrifying. "If you pull that again, I'll make you watch as I dissect that egg." With that threat, the Doctor turned around and left Skoodge on the floor, Raz following obediently behind him.

Skoodge felt sick to his stomach like he was about to throw up. He clutched the egg tightly, trying desperately not to cry. How was he supposed to go on? He needed to save Zim, but at the same time, just the thought of abandoning Mur and Raz left Skoodge feeling sick.

"Oh, what do I do," Skoodge held up the egg, staring at the little Murthen inside as if she could give him an answer. What worried Skoodge was just how developed she was now. Her four arms had all formed and little pink and purple spots decorated her body, soon to make the pattern of one or both of her parents. Her eyes were slightly open now too. Revealing dark purple eyes.

"Oh Mur, you're going to hatch soon aren't you?" Tears started to form in Skoodge's eyes, "and your carrier won't even be there to witness it." Skoodge covered his mouth with one hand as he scooted to press his back against the wall in revelation, "and it's all my fault."

"I'm a monster," he whispered in horror. Just as he was about to break down, crying. Skoodge felt a shift in the egg and looked down at the little Murthlet inside. She had moved her hands from the clutched position they had before to the shell of the egg. She had just placed all four of them there and it completely mesmerized Skoodge. Four little blue hands with little webbing in between, even tiny little claws on each finger.

Skoodge felt a small blush form on his face in surprise before a small smile crept onto it as well. He placed his forehead on the shell, ignoring the slight burning sensation it caused, and smiled.

"I know I've hurt you and your family. But I swear on my life, I'll keep you safe, I promise."

#pills #invader zim #invader zim zadr #zadr #zim x dib #Zim #Dib #Gaz #Skoodge #the doctor #Raz #Tallest red #Tallest Purple #drugs

[writer-room]

Siblings: Chapter Four

AO3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Summary: The Bats reflect on how their thoughts about siblings have changed over the years. Some opinions stayed, others didn't.

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

Tim didn’t know how to feel about being an only child.

He didn’t think about it all that often, there weren’t many kids he talked to at school who mentioned their siblings all that frequently. And, in some parts, he didn’t mind it so much.

The kids who did talk about siblings complained, whether their siblings were older or younger. There were those who said their sibling took up more of their parents attention, which was something Tim was already lacking in. Some said that they never had any time to themselves, something that Tim had an overabundance in, but still cherished. Others said that the accomplishments, and failures, of their siblings reflected onto them, making their parents expect more or less of them. Tim couldn’t afford that either. His parents already didn’t think much of him, he didn’t need it to be any less. And if they wanted more, he worried he wouldn’t be able to meet their expectations.

And yet…

Sometimes he liked the idea of someone else in that empty mansion. Someone to talk to when the rooms felt too large, when the loneliness was suffocating him. He liked the thought of sharing his recent theories, photos, and the like with someone. Wondered if he could go on for as long as he wanted without being interrupted.

Maybe they’d be someone who didn’t call him by a name that wasn’t his, then feign forgetting. Who didn’t treat his binders like they were assaulting their eyes. Who didn’t scrutinize his every movement for faking.

That’d be nice, he thinks. 

But there were pros and cons, he reasons. And for all he knows, if he had a sibling, they could’ve been just like his parents. Or they could’ve been kinder. Not like he’d ever know.

He had more important things to worry about than hypotheticals and wishes.

“Before you scold me, know that I took a five hour nap earlier today and I’m only getting a snack.”

Steph and Duke blinked at him from the doorway to the kitchen, their expressions a sharp contrast between exasperated and concerned, respectively.

“Wow, five hours?” Steph snarked. “That’s a new record. Are you dying?”

“Not yet,” Tim said, opening the fridge. “Give it a few weeks and I’m sure you’ll see rumors of my tragic defeat at the hands of, I dunno, Flamingo.”

“There’s a supervillain named Flamingo?” Duke exclaimed, staring at Steph incredulously.

“Oh, yeah, it’s a whole thing.” She nodded. “He had a scuffle with Jay and his kid a while back.”

“Jason has a kid?”

“Why are you up, anyway?” Tim talked right over him. “Duke I understand, he’s the disgraced child of the sun. But you patrol at the same time as every other nocturnal person in this house.”

“Hey-”

“I actually had to pretend to have a normal sleep schedule, my mom was getting worried and I didn’t want her finding me sneaking in with my full Spoiler getup on.” Steph explained tiredly. “I’m still trying to recover.”

“Tragic,” Tim hummed, pulling out a container holding a ham sandwich. 

“The only thing that's tragic is your outfit.” Steph snorted, looking him up and down.

Tim blinked, looking down at himself. His outfit consisted of a pair of knockoff Batman shorts, knee-high pastel dinosaur socks, and a long red robe that absolutely did not belong to him hanging loosely off him, exposing countless scars littering his body.

“I look awesome,” Tim said, popping the lid off the container. 

“Damian’s gonna start asking what battles you got your scars from again,” Steph tutted, striding further into the kitchen with a confused Duke following her. “Know that I will not be on your side when Dick notices and gets worried.”

“I’m more worried about Dami seeing this one,” He said, brushing the robe back slightly to reveal a poorly stitched surgical scar on his upper abdomen. “Because then he’s going to ask what happened, and then I’m gonna have to tell him that's where my spleen used to be, and then he's going to be reminded that oh, yeah, his brother has a missing spleen, and then he’s going to be treating everything like its diseased-”

“Does...he keep forgetting you lost your spleen?” Duke blinked, concerned. “I feel like that’d be something you were kinda always aware of…”

“Eh, everyone's worried about a different scar whenever they see ‘em.” He shrugged, glancing down as he traced over one of the surgery scars along his chest. “Which is frankly a little rude. I earned this right to be shirt free.”

“Hell yeah you did,” Steph grinned before her eyes dropped to the sandwich Tim was attempting to eat. “Isn’t that Cullen’s?”

“He didn’t label it, therefore it’s mine.” Tim said simply.

“Harper’s gonna kill you,” Duke warned warily. 

“Only if she catches me,” He said, taking a bite of the sandwich. “Why’re you guys here, anyway? Grabbing a snack?”

“Lookin’ for Babs,” Steph said, hands in her pockets. “Someone on Twitter started a war about which Batgirl was better, and Babs will probably get a kick out of being remembered as the ‘missing Batgirl.’”

“Oh she’ll be pissed about being remembered that way.” Tim agreed, shoving the rest of the sandwich in his mouth. “Babs will see it in five minutes or less, though. Swear she has a sixth sense for whenever someone mildly associated with the Bats is mentioned.” He mumbled.

“You wanna hijack the thread before she finds it?” He suggested.

“Hijack it?” Duke echoed.

“We’re gonna yell about random stuff that doesn’t contribute to the conversation until all hell breaks loose.” Steph explained, already pulling out her phone. “Tim?”

“How do you feel about discussing why the sun lightens hair, but darkens skin?” Tim suggested, leaving the container on the counter as he brushed by Steph.

“You just want to piss off someone from Metropolis.”

“It’s law as a Bat that I have to torment Superman whenever I possibly can.” Tim shrugged.

“Does that include me?” Duke blinked. “Because I personally think tormenting Superman is a bad idea.”

“Clark wouldn’t hurt a fly,”

“Yeah, but he’ll give me the face of disappointment and I don’t think I can live with that.” Duke protested.

“He can barely even manage--where are you going?” Steph looked up, only now realizing Tim was leaving the kitchen.

“I’m starting the mayhem on the big screens.” Tim grinned, looking back over his shoulder.

“Please don’t tell me he’s going to use Twitter on the bat computer,” Duke sighed.

“He’s totally going to use the bat computer,” Steph smiled, following after him. “C’mon! It’s initiation time.”

“Do you guys just call every weird thing you do initiation?” Duke called, hurrying behind them. “Because I’ve been told I’m part of an initiation five times in the last week.”

“You’re stuck in initiation until this becomes the norm,” Steph said cheerfully. 

“Of course,” Duke muttered.

Tim’s robe billowed behind him like an amateur cape as he wandered towards the door leading towards the steps into the Batcave. He threw open the door, the sound of it slamming echoing and startling the bats on the ceiling.

“Jesus!”

Harper jumped from the swivel chair in front of the computer, wide-eyed as she blinked up at the trio at the top of the stairs.

“Hey, Harps,” Steph greeted, hopping onto the stairs railing and sliding down. “We’re here to cause problems on Twitter.”

“Oh, well, in that case, by all means.” Harper snarked, getting up and grandly gesturing to the countless screens. “Not like I was using it for actual work.”

“Were you using it?” Tim asked, pointedly glaring at Steph to keep his recent adventure to the kitchen quiet.

“...looking for tasers to modify count as work, right?” She said after a moment.

“Technically,” Tim nodded,  ignoring Steph’s smug look that absolutely signified she was going to blackmail him later. “But you can just use Dick’s old escrima sticks. He goes through a pair every two or three weeks, but most still work pretty well, he’s just too lazy to fix them.”

“Sweet,” Harper grinned. She then paused, taking in Tim’s appearance as he slid into the seat she was previously occupying. 

“Why do you look like you’re auditioning to be the pretty girl who dies in a low-budget slasher?”

“First of all, how dare you assume I wouldn’t be the first one to die for representation points,” Tim said, pointing an accusatory finger at her. “Second of all, it’s called having fashion, and also being allowed to do whatever I want.”

“You have terrible fashion sense,” Harper snorted, crossing her arms as Steph and Duke came up beside her. “But fair, I can respect that.”

“See?” Tim said, looking at Steph. “Some people can afford to not be rude.”

“Keep talking and I’ll lose more blackmail material,” Steph calmly threatened.

Harper glanced between the two, to which Tim quietly, and quickly, turned back to the screen and ignored the both of them. Harper raised a brow but didn’t comment. Tim made a mental note to sneak into one of Jason’s unused safe houses after this was over. Steph couldn’t keep quiet for the life of her.

“What are you starting, anyway?” Harper asked, crossing her arms and leaning on the back of Tim’s chair. “A sob story about the Opportunity rover?”

“Another day,” Tim promised, opening up Twitter on the countless screens. He opened another one on the other half of the computer, which Steph quickly stood at and got her own Twitter set up. “Right now, we’re questioning how the sun makes hair lighter, but skin darker. And we’re dragging Clark into it.”

“If anyone asks, I had no part in this.” Duke said, watching the two typing with a frown. “Initiation doesn't include learning how to taunt Superman, right?”

“Eh, we can settle for you becoming close with a Kryptonian,” Steph shrugged. “Dick and Bruce share Clark, Jay’s got Bizarro, Cass and I got Kara, Babs I think counts with her, too, Damian’s got Jon, and Tim has Kon.” She listed off.  “Harper and Cullen took the ‘bully Superman’ route without befriending any of his family, which is a coward's way out, so you can take, I dunno, does Chris still exist in this timeline?”

“I can call in a favor from Bart to reset the timeline again so he exists.” Tim said with a casual shrug, pulling up the thread arguing about the Batgirls. 

“I’m sorry, what--”

“Finding Kryptonians who aren’t already taken is hard!” Harper protested, talking over Duke. “And Clark likes you guys being friends with his family. The only issue he has is Damian getting testy and Tim making heart eyes at Kon every five minutes.”

“I do not!” Tim squawked, whirling around in the chair to glare at the traitors he dared call family. In his head. Family in his head.

“You do,” Steph and Harper chorused.

“I’ve met Kon for less than twenty minutes and even I know.” Harper added. “I’m sure Duke knew.”

“I...yeah…” Duke coughed into his fist and turned away. “But in my defense, the gossip around here is practically shouted down the halls twice a week.”

“You were subjected to Dick having another crisis about Jay dating Kory for two months, weren’t you?” Steph said, trying to hide a snicker.

“There were so many things I didn’t want to know,” Duke whispered, face horror-stricken. 

“Eh, at least Jay hasn’t brought up Talia around Dami yet.” Tim shrugged. “At that point, it’s better to just vacate the premises.” 

“Wait--”

“Point is, you either befriend the Kryptonian or you torment them. That’s the rules.” Tim talked over him again, scrolling down the thread and boredly looking over the arguments. “You ready, Steph?”

“As I’ll ever be,” She grinned, giving a thumbs up. “How long till Babs notices and takes this whole thing down?”

“Few more minutes, tops.” Tim shrugged, already typing. “You two wanna give any input?” He asked, glancing behind him to Harper and Duke.

“Ask if Kryptonian skin can be used as extreme sunscreen,” Harper suggested. “That’ll rile him up.”

“Now I’m just curious if it can,” Tim said, but obediently began making his comment.

“You could just...ask?” Duke tried, clearly not taking in any of what was happening.

“Nah, Kon’s half human, I don’t think it works the exact same.” Tim shook his head, not looking back. “Kara would destroy me if I tried, Bizarro has the same problem, Jon wouldn’t know, and Clark would start telling Bruce he’s worried I’m deranged again.”

“Aren’t you?” Duke raised a brow.

“Only if I feel like it,”

“And when he forgets to sleep for ninety-eight hours.” Steph spoke up.

Tim rolled his eyes, tuning out his siblings as they continued to talk. He posted his comment before sparing a peek back at them, currently throwing off ideas to their hijacking plan like it was an everyday occurrence. Well, to Steph and Harper at least. But, to Duke’s credit, he appeared to be getting more used to it on prodding from his...sisters? Hard to tell, Steph was her own classification of family member. They were some weird choices for family, at least.

Tim watched them for a moment before turning back to making another comment on the logistics of sunscreen, a smile on his face.

He couldn’t find it in him to complain. Too much, at least.

#dc #dcu #dc comics #tim drake #trans tim drake #trans character #stephanie brown #harper row #duke thomas #barbara gordon #twitter #dumbasses #siblings #batfam #bat family #writing #my writing #fanfic #ao3 #fanfiction

[everywhereallofthetime]

Some Girl ... Part 15

Word Count: almost 1.8k

Warnings/Notes: A few cuss words. Overzealous, disrespectful fan, Shawn trying to be a sweetheart anyway. Brief mentions of Camila.

// * // * //

Monday / July 26th

At 9:03am Monday morning, Charlotte was at the front desk chatting with Jaime, her office assistant, when Ethan came rushing in, apologizing for being late. Charlotte waved it off and told him that it happened to the best of them. She then led him to the studio they would be starting in.

While they warmed up, Charlotte learned that Ethan was the single dad of a 15-month-old baby girl. The reason he was late, he felt the need to explain, was because he had his daughter over the weekend and he needed to drop her off at daycare on his way. She didn’t want him to go, so he gave her an extra few snuggles to try to comfort her.

Charlotte smirked. “She already knows she has you wrapped around her finger.”

“She absolutely does,” he chuckled. He showed her his home screen on his cell phone, which was a picture of her.

“I have a six-month-old son,” Charlotte offered with a smile of solidarity, showing him the photo of Sebastian on her own phone home screen.

They chuckled at the fact that they were ‘those kind’ of parents; showing photos of their kids without asking others if they even wanted to see them.

It was a nice jumping off point for them to connect and start getting to know one another on a more personal level.

On a professional level, Ethan was about 25 pounds heavier than he wanted to be. Charlotte reminded him that he would be trading fat for muscle, so his overall weight might not change much, depending on how muscular he wanted to be. She didn’t believe in weigh-ins except with their first session and again at their last. She told her clients to mark their progress with measurements, not the scale.

Aside from that, he was an absolute dear and very, very attractive. He had the darker skin of someone with mixed heritage and short dark hair, but his eyes were a beautiful sea green.

Ethan was also somewhat flirtatious. Charlotte had a feeling he was holding back and couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of Shawn. He had, after all, first met her when Shawn was standing beside her.

If she wasn’t so unsure of where she and Shawn may be heading, she would certainly be flirting back.

// * // * //

Charlotte was saying goodbye to Ethan, and how she was looking forward to their next session that Thursday, as her newest potential client was arriving.

Jetta was petite and cute, with blonde hair and dark eyes. Charlotte thought they might be close in age, but not in maturity. She had an air about her that said she was spoiled rotten and used to getting whatever she wanted. She hoped she was wrong in her presumption, this was only their initial meeting after all, but she was more intuitive than most people.

Nonetheless, Charlotte flashed a warm, professional smile in greeting. She then brought Jetta back to her office to begin their consultation. She was a no-nonsense trainer, not the coddling type. She was about to learn if Jetta had the disposition and dedication that she needed to be one of her clients.

After a straight-forward conversation with Jetta about the kind of commitment she would need to be successful, Charlotte could already tell she was wavering. Still, she showed Jetta the studios and equipment, and they had a brief workout to get a feel for each other.

When their time was almost up, Jetta excused herself for the washroom while Charlotte made a few notes, which ended with: Probably won’t be back...

// * // * //

Charlotte headed toward the front office, where she and Jetta were supposed to reconvene, and found Shawn chatting with Jaime at the front desk.

“You’re only supposed to flirt like that with me, Mendes,” Charlotte teased.

“I’m practically married already. It doesn’t count,” Jaime giggled.

“You aren’t married yet.” Shawn made the gesture of holding a phone to his ear and winked at her, mouthing ‘call me’.

“And he calls me ‘trouble’,” Charlotte said to Jaime, chuckling. She then gave Shawn a playful shove and said, “Go warm up. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Before he could make it to the door which led the way to the CrossFit studio, he was intercepted by a slightly overzealous Jetta.

“Hi! Oh my God! I’m a huge fan!”

Shawn was always unfailingly polite and full of gratitude. He flashed that brilliant smile of his. “Thanks!”

“I didn’t know you worked out here!”

“No one knows that I work out here, and I’d kind of like to keep it that way.” He said so in a way which asked Jetta not to say anything without actually asking her not to say anything.

“Sure, absolutely. I watched your Live last night.”

“That’s great! I hope you liked it.”

“Of course I did! I’m so excited for new music from you.”

“It makes me happy to hear that.”

“Can we take a selfie?”

“For sure, but then I’ve gotta go.”

Jetta handed Shawn her phone and posed beside him, standing as close as she could. As soon as the shutter clicked, she stated, “I’m glad you and Camila finally broke up.”

Shawn felt immediate dizziness fill his head. “Oh,” was the only response he could manage.

Noticing how he stiffened beside her and how red filled his cheeks, she quickly added, “It’s just that I never thought she was right for you,” as if that would make it better.

Charlotte felt the need to step in and end things. “I’m sorry, Jetta, but Shawn is here for a session and we should really get started.”

“Sure. Yeah, all right.”

Charlotte could see the very moment everything all came together in Jetta’s mind.

“You’re ‘starlit_charlotte’! You posted the basketball video!” Jetta turned back to Shawn. “She’s the friend you were talking about in your chat!” She looked from him back to Charlotte, and again at him. “Are you two together?”

“We’re friends.”

Jetta’s focus remained on Shawn and Shawn alone. “If you aren’t dating her, do you wanna go out sometime? With me? Here,” she said, shoving a business card into his hand.

Quickly glancing at it, he could see that it listed all of her social media accounts and usernames.

She placed her hand on his forearm and flashed him what she thought was her sexiest smile. “Feel free to slide into my DMs.”

Shawn tried to stay cool and cordial but he was ready for her to get out of his space, and he hating feeling like that around his fans. “It was nice to meet you, Jetta, but I really gotta go. We’re running late.”

“Oh! Okay, sure,” she grinned, oblivious to Shawn basically telling her it was time for her to go away. “See you around!”

Not if I can help it, Charlotte thought to herself while she did her best to smile pleasantly. She turned Shawn away from Jetta, placed her hands on either of his hips, and pushed him through the door. Over her shoulder, back to Jetta, she said, “Give me a call if you decide you’d like to start training and we’ll work out a schedule.”

// * // * //

Charlotte handed Shawn a jump rope. He started skipping and, after he found his rhythm, murmured, “I’m sorry, babe.”

“You never need to apologize for stopping for your fans, and for being kind, even when they don’t deserve it. If it had been me, it would have meant the world to me if you took time to talk to me and take a selfie. I’m sorry. You looked like you were beginning to get overwhelmed and I reacted, but it was wrong for me to butt in. I know you’re perfectly capable of handling things on your own. After all, you’ve been doing this for years.”

“In this case, you weren’t wrong. Sure, she was a fan, but I am also your client and we had a scheduled session that has now started ten minutes late. As my trainer you had every right to call attention to that.”

“Sure, but as your friend, I want to be supportive of you, and I want your fans to like me. It will make your interaction with them a lot easier if they do.”

Shawn shook his head as if in disbelief. “She was...excitable, eh?”

“She was rude,” Charlotte said frankly.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean to be.”

"You are too good for this world,” she sighed. “She insulted Camila and your relationship with her right to your face, babe. It was disrespectful.”

“I wasn’t going to be impolite back at her... She might be your newest client.”

“First off, no one would have blamed you, least of all me. And no. I don’t want to train her, and I hate saying that about anyone. Until she saw you, I had a feeling she wouldn’t have been back. Now that she knows you work out here, with me, she will be. I’ll see if Lina will take her on.”

“I wonder if she’ll say anything to anyone.”

“Of course she will. And I wouldn’t put it past her to embellish the story of your meeting. ‘He’s even more gorgeous in person!’ At least that wouldn’t be an embellishment. ‘He was flirting!’ She won’t bother to add ‘with the office assistant’. A business card for social media. Like, really? Is that a thing now? I’m only 23. Should this not surprise me?” Shawn started giggling. “‘I gave him my number and he said he’d slip into my DMs!’ She’s cute though; she’d be easy to believe. At least she caught you pre-workout and not when you were all gross and sweaty. Although, I don’t know, she might’ve liked your sweat and post-workout stink.”

Shawn was having difficulty catching his breath; it was hard to laugh and jump-rope at the same time.

“So much for subtly and slowly, eh?” he said between chuckles.

“More like clearly and quickly,” she giggled. Shawn opened his mouth to say something but Charlotte immediately shut him down. “Don’t you dare try to apologize again. Do I have to remind you of our conversation last night?”

“Okay, fine.”

“All right then. Twenty squats.”

“I fucking hate squats,” he groaned, dropping the jump rope.

“I can always make them buddy squats,” she threatened. “Come on, babe. They’ll make your ass look great.”

“You must do a lot of squats,” he smirked.

She rolled her eyes but still blushed. “Your charm will not get you out of having to do them,” she snickered. “Let’s go. Shit stuff first, then fun stuff. You know the drill.”

// * // * //

Part 16

#shawn mendes #shawn peter raul mendes #shawn mendes fanfic #shawn mendes fic #shawn mendes fiction #shawn mendes angst #shawn mendes fluff

[alirhi]

If I wrote Loki pt 6 (finale)

Missed any of the previous episodes? Here: Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5

*Deep breath* Lord. Here goes. We've finally reached the end (at least until they fuck up season 2. It's like the donkey show in Clerks 2, guys. "I'm disgusted and repulsed and I can't look away!" I hate it, but I'll watch it once, anyway.)

So here we are. The sixth and final installment of Ali trying to fix Loki season 1. And I'm honestly torn on how to proceed, because there was literally nothing I didn't hate with every fiber of my being about that finale. Do I just change some parts around, like I've been doing to the other episodes, or rewrite the whole fucking thing and try to make it halfway decent? Eh. I'll figure it out as I go.

Our sixth and final episode finds a line of Lokis on the ridge, OG Loki in the center with Sigyn at his right holding his hand. They're watching the murder cloud (I know it had a name, but fucked if I'm gonna bother googling it) and Loki's trying to think of a strategy to get its attention. He sighs, shaking his head, and when Sigyn gives him a questioning look, he tells her with a wry smile, "This has been the longest week I have ever endured. Do you know it was only three or four days ago that I was being smashed repeatedly into the floor by an angry, green, radioactive scientist?"

"Darling, if we survive this," Sigyn says with a laugh, "remind me to give you some tea and a massage."

"Darling, if we survive this," Loki parrots with a smile, "marry me."

"It's about time, you bloody coward." King Loki nudges OG Loki, who rolls his eyes and shoots back, "Oh, I don't recall any of you sharing stories of wedded bliss with her, either!"

Before the debate can go too far and distract them, Sigyn grabs Loki's head and kisses him. "Do more than survive," she commands softly, staring into his wide eyes. "Win. Free us all, and I'll consider it."

"No pressure," he grumbles, but smiles when she points out matter-of-factly, "You've always performed better under pressure."

After some back-and-forth with several of the nearest variants (each contributing a good idea, none "superior"/"inferior"), it's decided that Feral and Old Loki will lead a handful of them in going crazy with the magic to attract the thing's attention while OG, King, and Princess Loki run in and enchant it. Sigyn insists on joining them, and though none of them want her to risk getting hurt, they all know better than to argue with her.

They do figure out how to enchant, but then centuries of anger and resentment bubble up in OG Loki. In connecting with this beast, he touches all its hunger and lust for power and destruction, and he's had it. Pushing the other two Lokis back so they don't get hurt, he unlocks a whole lot of power he didn't even know he had. He turns blue again, and his sleek black suit turns into a black, green, and gold outfit; a mix of Asgardian leather and Jotun fur, embracing both his heritage and where he was raised, and rising above them both. A green glow surrounds him, and he grins. "Hungry, beast?" he calmly taunts the cloud, "Come and get me."

While Sigyn and the other Lokis gape at him, shocked, OG Loki kills the thing all the variants have lived in fear of for so long. He's decided, screw controlling this monster; I'll just obliterate it. One less murderer in the universe. He turns and holds a hand out to Sigyn with a smile, handing the Tempad to Princess Loki with his other hand. She gathers the other variants and opens a portal for them all to escape. Hesitant (because holy shit where did THAT come from?!) Sigyn takes his hand with a shaky, unsure smile of her own, and together they move forward to see what the monster was guarding.

(Watching the actual episode, I really thought for a second that Miss Minutes was going to be revealed as the actual villain, then I thought maybe another, badder Loki variant. Both of those, while really dumb imo, would have been more compelling than what we actually got, but... fuck it. I'll stick with the one they used, weak and flat as he was...)

He Who Remains is shocked to see them there, but tries to play it off like he wrote it all and everything's gone according to plan. He makes the same stupid offer, but Loki doesn't consider it for a damn second. The villain never actually reveals the whole evil variants of himself thing, only offers Loki what the idiot thinks he wants: power. Loki shakes his head, glancing at Sigyn, who's as unimpressed and darkly amused as he is, and says to HWR, "You've deluded yourself into thinking you're omniscient, but you know nothing about me."

"Never in my life," he growls as he moves around the desk, "have I wanted a throne. I only ever wanted to matter." HWR tries to use his Tempad to get away, but Loki uses his magic to keep pace with him. Every time his prey pops up in a new location, Loki's there to fight him. Meanwhile, Sigyn is going through all of HWR's stuff, reading what she can of what he's written and trying to figure out the secret behind the TVA and the "sacred timeline".

Growing frustrated with the cat-and-mouse routine, Loki uses his magic to freeze HWR in place and destroy his Tempad. "Did you write this, Timekeeper?"

"Loki, DON'T!" Sigyn found the early stories of HWR fighting his darker, more chaotic selves, but not in time. Loki kills him just as Sigyn is calling for him not to. Startled, he turns to face her and she holds up a few of the pages. "He wasn't telling us everything."

"Hardly surprising," Loki points out, confused. "He was a megalomaniacal dictator who fancied himself a God. I was raised by one of those, remember; they never tell the whole story, and they like to heavily edit and exaggerate what stories they do tell."

Shaking, Sigyn hands him one of the pages. "I hope he was exaggerating this."

Loki skims a few lines, goes pale, and holds his hand out to her. "We have to get back. Now." He teleports them back to the TVA, hoping to talk to Mobius and figure out what's real and what's HWR's deranged, god-complex fantasy. They arrive in the midst of chaos, watching the timeline branch like crazy on the monitor.

"You really are the God of Chaos," Mobius remarks as Loki steps up beside him, both staring at the monitor, numb with shock.

"I may need your help to quell some of it," Loki admits, still gripping Sigyn's hand for dear life.

The finale ends on a shot of (l->r) Sylvie with her hand on Mobius' shoulder and Loki and Sigyn holding hands, all watching the Multiverse branch on and on.

#loki #loki series #loki negativity #fixing bad writing #if i'd written it #episode 6 #finally fucking done #omg that sucked #but hey I'm free #i hope

[recurring-polynya]

Do you have like some top renruki fics based on theme? Like top 5 saddest that make you sob or top 5 that made you laugh or too 5 nsfw? 😳

I love doing fanfic recs, and everyone can feel free to send me a theme like this at any time. I do fear that I talk about my favs too much, but on the other hand, can I ever really talk up my favs too much?

Sad

1. Everyone better know this by now, but that which cannot be seen by @gizkasparadise​ is my go-to “get emotionally wrecked” fic. I will never stop talking about it. Fuck I am thinking about Rukia and Byakuya in that giant house thinking about their dead spouses again f u c k

2. Metaesthesia by @lucymonster​ is another heart-ripper-outer. It’s a little hard to explain, but Renji and Byakuya swap bodies, and it’s about Renji sort of... turning into Byakuya and it is an amazing exploration of character and also amazingly sad.

3. Is The Curse of the Zanpakuto by c2t2 sad or is it just horrifying? It’s both. It’s a (much) darker take on Rukia and Renji’s time in Inuzuri and it is indelibly printed on my headcanons and I don’t like to say it’s my favorite, but it might be my more important fanfic. [contains sex]

4. The primary reason I can never really get behind IchiRuki as a ship is because I get too sad thinking about Renji and Orihime. But sometimes, I feel like feeling sad about Renji and Orihime and then I read this wild abandoned star: a romance in twenty by the genius paperiuni (who also wrote The Roots of Heaven one of all-time Great Works of Fanfiction)

5. I don’t know if The Red Devil of Inuzuri by @junko222 is actually sad, but it makes me sad. It’s a what-if where Renji gets all fucked-up after Rukia’s adoption and ruins his life, which I think is only a thin hair away from canon and I am constantly thinking about this.

Funny

For some reason, this category was really hard for me? None of these are straight-up screwball comedy, they are just fics where I really like the writer’s sense of humor.

1. Look, I assume you wanted Bleach recs, but the actual funniest fanfic in existence is Bruce Wayne Banned from Walmart by @unpretty​ this is not up for debate.

2. “Mildly bad things happen to Byakuya and he gets upset about it” is one of my favorite categories of comedy, and @thegreenfaery​ is one of my favorite practitioners of it. Saturday 7th November 1987: The Wedding Party is my favorite example of her humor. In the interest of full disclosure, she wrote it for me, but also, it’s really funny. I have been meaning to re-read this for months; I probably should.

3. Not So Easy A by apearlinmyhead a GrimmIchi college AU. It has great banter and really great use of side characters, and it’s really, really funny. Every single interaction between Renji and Ichigo is comedy gold. It’s unfinished, which is a shame, because she indicated she only had one more chapter to go. I have faith that she will come back and finish it someday.

4.  I don’t talk about @murderlight a lot, because she’s already super-famous and doesn’t need my help, but among other things, her fics are hilarious (when they are being hilarious, less so when they they are slamming you over the head with a baseball bat of feels). Both Cat Scratch Fever 🐈  and A Demon in the Rough 💎 are tremendously good, and I am really excited that she has said she’ll be picking up the latter again soon.

5. I have read Become a Ghost by @hardlyfatal several times, and it always makes me laugh a lot, but more in a “Skeletor cackles and shakes his fists at the sky” way, because it has so many great Extremely Fanfiction plot twists. It is also very funny-- it’s got a great humorous narration style, and there are a bunch of turns of phrase in it that stick with me to this day.

NSFW

I always feels goofy about revealing my Tastes in Pornography, but, eh, whatever. I’m putting this under a cut, and by clicking it, you are Legally Agreeing Not to Judge Polynya Too Much. Suffice it to say, these all include explicit sex.

1. The best RenRuki porn is IchiRenRuki porn and the best IchiRenRuki porn is written by thekurosakiconundrum. I refuse to choose between Eighteen and I Like It , Solutions for the Three Body Problem , and I Get By , but the last one includes Orihime, which is a selling point in my book.

2. Rukia Gives Renji a Haircut by Nicole4211 is the perfect Renruki porno. It is unapologetically horny. It is heartfelt. It is long, and yet every time they Do It, there’s some new little twist.

3. Leaving Inuzuri by @sillier-things is about a story about Rukia and Renji’s feelings for each other right before they, um, leave Inuzuri (as the title would imply). This one is more of a “story that has sex in it” than straight-up smut, but it is sweet and thoughtful and another one of those “invades and shapes your headcanons” and it’s one of my all-time favs.

4. I just really like Stay by eosdawnaurora? It’s just like...what you’re looking for in a Renruki porno? I mean, it’s got a lot of framing story of them being at a party and they have some verbal sparring and fancy outfits and stuff and I just like it.

5. Meant to Be by valentineninja is a PWP based on ~an omake~ and I respect that so, so much.

#fanfic recs #maybe someone should recommend some funny fics to ME #i would actually love it if people would add their own suggestions #it's been a while since i went digging down in the bowels of ff.net but maybe it is time again #i honestly wish i were into grimmichi because they got so much talent over in that part of the fandom #but you don't get to pick your otps

[thegalleonsnest]

Wiggle’s Muse - Short Excerpt turned into a FanFic

Yo, so, I wanted to share a small snippet of a future project I’m working on (while also delaying my current art projects). What I’ve written out here in this post was originally in a format not meant for professional writing purposes, but I said “eh, why the hell not,” and written it out in sort of a short fanfic format for you guys to read. This project btw, is not a fanfic (had to make that clear). What I am working on is a very large scale project for myself and is still in the blocking out/rough draft phases. This right here is probably my most fleshed out scene I’ve written out, and feels pretty complete as it’s own thing. Honestly, I’d appreciate the feedback if any of ya’ll found this interesting! 

Also I’m putting this in a tumblr post because I don’t have an AO3 or fanfiction account, and this is already too short for it anyway. Read the excerpt below

In front of the camera lenses, multiple grumpuses walk back and forth discussing a matter of topics but most importantly, where was Wiggle?

"Has anyone gotten ahold of Wiggle yet? She was supposed to be here hours ago,” a gruff voice coming from out of frame says. “We’ve tried calling her for over an hour, but we got nothing,” says another off camera, “do you think we should reschedule-” before they could finish, the studio doors bust open with a loud thud echoing the studio room. A tall, short armed grumpus with a boa stumbles along the room carrying an oddly shaped banjo.

“There she is,” said the gruff voiced grump, “Wiggle, whatever you got going on, you better do it now cause we got a meeting with investors in half an hour!” From the blurry view of a slightly out of frame Wiggle, she barely registered what the grump said. In a stumble, she walks to the center of the camera’s view & shakes her head, almost slurring her words, “Doooon’t worry, Darling, we’ll get you a new vest later.” “What, no, wait, that’s not what I-” before another word could be said, Wiggle readies her banjo and strikes a quick pose before strumming the strings like her life depended on it.

It didn’t take longer than a few seconds before the crew sprung into action, setting the proper lightning, mics and cameras around her. Her rhythm and measures became a lot more stable, catchy even, and then she broke into song. The next set of lyrics would become an instant, regrettable classic. 

It’s not long before the VHS tape stutters and stops, showing mostly static. A magenta furred Grumpus with some hair covering a part of eye, hits the eject button, takes out the tape and turns off the tv. “Girl, you were a right mess there!” She said with a giggle. “Tell me about it, Vrittany...” Wiggle said frustratingly, pinching the bridge of her nose. “And you’re telling me you can’t come up with anything better than that? Come on now!” “I wish I was lying, but I’m not. No matter what I come up with, nothing is topping whatever the heck my walking coma came up with instead!” Wiggle grabs her mug of coffee and takes a longing sip.

The two sit across from one another at the coffee bar. The aroma of that day’s set of cocoa beans waft through the cafe as most of the outside lamps fill out the darker spots inside. The place is nearly empty besides them, and a single muted green furred occupant sitting at a booth at the opposite end of the cafe, drawing away in his sketchpad.

“So, whatcha gonna do?” Vrittany asked sarcastically, “Stay awake for another week? Get inspired again? Hehe.” Wiggle sets her mug down, and answers, “I did try that again, but in style I fell asleep comfortably on a couch in the lobby”. Vrittany looked a bit stunned. “You’re kidding?! You’re crazy!” “Not crazy, Vrittany,” she takes another sip of her coffee before striking a pose in her high stool seat, bellowing out her voice. “Just creatiiiivly driveeeen~” “Whatever you say, darling,” Vrittany says before turning around to her bar’s sink. She cleans several mugs and glasses with gusto while preparing one last pot of coffee, enough for a single cup for later.

Vrittany takes off her apron and hangs it on the wayside of the counter as she walks around to take a seat next to Wiggle. After situating herself, she puts a paw on Wiggle’s shoulder. “Listen, pretty sure this is just a rut you’re stuck in right now,” she says. “Doesn’t every artist go through that every now and then?” Wiggle turns her head toward Vrittany, “Well..yeah, but this is different,” she desperately says. “I can’t let a song I made in my sleep be the best thing I’ve ever made! I know I can make something that’ll shake the world more than whatever ‘Do The Wiggle’ was.” 

Vrittany pulls back her paw from Wiggle to put on her best thinking cap. As deeply in thought as she was, her face immediately relaxes into a deadpan expression, “Have ya tried singing from the heart?” Wiggle cracks a smile, “HA, if only that’s how it works! It takes a musical genius to write a hit song in show biz, not just some field day with my feelings.” “Eh, worth a shot. Got any other plans?” “I’m still trying to figure that out. I need some kind of inspiration...almost like a-”

Before she could finish her thought, they both caught a glance at the muted green furred grump who walked up to them. He mustered up the words and said, “E-excuse me, you’re Miss Wiggle, right?” Wiggle turned in her seat to get a better look at the young Grumpus. She could tell he was nervous, clutching his sketchbook in his arms rather tightly. She quickly put on a more relaxed front to help calm things down, while also still showing off a bit of her excited side. “Why yes I am, Darling,” she said enthusiastically. “And I can tell you must be a fan of mine.” “Y-yeah...!” The green grump looked a little more relaxed, but still stiff in the shoulders. “Hey now, no need to be so nervous. I always got time for my fans.” “Thank you, Miss Wiggle. Um…” “No need to finish that thought, Darling, I know what you’re about to ask and I’m happy to oblige!”

Before the young man could stop to say something, Wiggle pulls out one of her many professional hand out photos that she has, and quickly signs with her autograph before handing it to him. “O-Oh, thank you, Miss, but that’s not what I was going to s-say.” he sheepishly says. “Really? Not an autograph,” Wiggle says surprisingly. “It’s usually the first thing fans ask of me.” “Sorry, I just...I wanted to show you this sketch I made…” 

The nervous grumpus slowly turns his sketchbook around to reveal a fully sketched art piece depicting a stylized Wiggle singing her heart out at the bar with Vrittany hanging out in the background cheering her on. He hands it to Wiggle to give them a closer look. It was still somewhat messy, showing a few guidelines and early roughed out shapes, but for what it was, it was still impressive to the two girls.

“Woah, that’s pretty rad!” Vrittany yelled out, leaning out from her seat trying to get a closer look. Wiggle was pretty stun, gasping at the sight of such a piece of artwork. “Darling, you drew this?! Just now,” Wiggle asked in awe. “Yeah! I was listening to some of your music and then you came in and sat down. It made me wanna draw you as fast as I could,” the green grumps says excitedly before rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry if it’s still a little messy looking though…” “Don’t be, because it is beeeaautifuuul~” “T-thank you so much, Miss Wiggle! T-that means a lot to m-me!” the grumpus says while his face lights up red from the praise. “You’re like an inspiration to me.” “Really now? Like a muse? All I do is sing the night away, Darling. You draw little masterpieces like this from me?”

As Wiggle continues to be enthralled by the young man and his work, Vrittany notices the coffee pot had finished brewing. She gets up from her seat and go back behind the counter to finish her last cup for the night. Wiggle and the green grump continue their conversation.

“W-well kind of,” says the grump, “it’s a bunch of music that inspires me when I draw. A lot of your stuff is so upbeat and fun, it gives me lots of different ideas to pump out!” Wiggle looks back, almost flabbergasted. “I’m...honestly a bit stunned that I had that kind of impact on you, Darling,” she says, almost with a melancholy tone, “...heh, kind of forget sometimes I do make some kind of impression on grumps like you.” She looks back down at the sketchbook, entranced by the creativity that sparked in the moment. That dazzling moment where it all clicked...where could she find that, when someone else can find it in her?

After an awkward minute of silence, the young grump spoke up and said, “If you like, you can keep the sketch page, Miss Wiggle?” Wiggle snapped her head back up from the sketchbook to the green fuzzball. “W-wait really? Are you sure you wanna give up this piece of art?” said Wiggle worryingly. “It’s no problem at all,” said the green grump proudly. “I already took a picture of it to save for later. I’m gonna make a painted version of it online later! Besides, it’ll make me happy if you kept it, since I was going to give it to you anyway.” “Oh Darling, you’re nothing more than a sweet one now, aren’t you? I’ll gladly keep it!” “Thank you so much, Miss Wiggle!”

Wiggle hands the sketchbook back to the green grumpus and he tears out the sketch. “No, Darling, thank you,” Wiggle says ecstatically. Vrittany returns from behind the bar with a to-go cup in hand, saying “Here’s your order, kid.”  “Oh, thank you, Vrittany. How much was it again,” the green grump asked. “Eh, don’t worry about it. Don’t feel like counting change. It’s on the house.” “O-oh you sure?” “You wanna change my mind?” “Don’t think I can, so thank you!” The green grump turns back to Wiggle and says “It was so nice meeting you in person, Miss Wiggle!”

“The pleasure is all mine, Dar-,” Wiggle catches herself before she realizes something. “Actually, what was your name?” “It’s Grite, Grite Tillsland!” Wiggle lets a genuine soft smile grow on her face. She felt a lot more at ease and happier knowing her new friend was much more relax and happy overall. She reached out her paw for a handshake, and Grite reciprocated.

“The pleasure’s mine, Grite, Darling.”

#Bugsnax #Wiggle Wigglebottom #TheGalleonsNest Writing #Fic #wip excerpt #Bugsnax Fanfic #Hope you guys enjoy a taste of what's to come #even when there's very little context #I've got multiple large scale projects lined up #this is just one of them #I hope to officially start it this year #but there is still a lot of backend work to be done #and also I got tons of art to make too before then

[neerasrealm]

AAAAAAAAAAA I LOVED that poly!Slender x reader x LJ!! I didn’t originally request it, but if it’s not too much, can I please request a sequel (featuring the adorable Slendra Jackson?) Ty! 😁😁

Anon you have no idea how happy this request made me- I NEVER get asks about my OCs so you calling Slendra adorable and aSKING TO INTERACT WITH HER??? MADE ME REALLY REALLY HAPPY SO THANK YOU- sorry this ask took a bit to answer, I only got your ask late in the evening so I had to finish it off over the course of my morning. Thank you again for the ask!! I hope you like what I came up with- (put it under a cut since it’s a little long)

‘’More wine, dear?’’ Slender asks you from across the couch. It’s late, and quiet. A rare combination here in the mansion. Somehow, every other person in the mansion is downstairs, in their room or somewhere else. Meaning you and your two boyfriends are free to occupy the couch by yourselves and have a quiet evening, and you couldn’t ask for more. Being curled up against Jack’s soft body with Slender’s arms wrapped around you both. Even Jack is being quiet for once, his face resting against Slender’s chest. He might be asleep- you’re honestly not sure.

‘’Sure.’’ you murmur back, looking up at Slender. He seems to smile despite his lack of face and reaches over to the coffee table, pouring you some wine from the already-half empty bottle sitting on it. A benefit of not being human, you guessed, was being able to drink a lot of the stuff without worrying about intoxication. As you’re taking another sip from your glass a soft, shy voice interrupts you.

‘’Mama? Pops? Dad?’’ 

The three of you look over at the voice’s owner. A short girl with fiery hair and brownish-purple skin. Her eyes are bright and gold, and she has pale red horns and dark red claws that scratch gently against the bannister she’s holding. Your shared daughter- it’s odd, she’s not related to you, she’s adopted like every other child in the mansion, but she’s one of the few that calls you mom. Everyone took fairly naturally to you dating the mansion’s ‘dads’, just treating it like you were dating anyone else, but Slendra? She’s been calling you mom since day one. Not that you're complaining.

‘’Need somefink, luv?’’ Jack murmurs behind you. He sits up a bit. 

Slendra shifts where she stands. ‘’...can I get a bedtime story?’’ she asks quietly. Slender IMMEDIATELY sits up, alert. ‘’I-I know I’m a little old for it but-’’

‘’Ye can’t ou’grow bedtime stories, kiddo.’’ Jack says. Slender nods. You can’t help but smile a little bit at the two’s excitement- though Slender’s is far more obvious. You can’t blame them. Slendra is beginning to hit that- odd phase where kids think they need to act like adults. Except she’s only five years old. Damn demon aging. ‘’Ow abou’ me an’ Slen do i’ fer ya? I’ll do th’ voices an’ ‘e can narra’e. Like when ye were li’le.’’

You look at the two of them. ‘’I want in too.’’

‘’Ye can be th’ damsel in distress.’’

You give Jack an offended look and playfully slap his chest. ‘’Rude. Slender fits the damsel role better and you know it.’’

‘’...I do look good in a dress.’’ Slender says as he climbs off the couch. You and LJ cackle in amusement. Slendra giggles shyly.

The three of you follow Slendra upstairs to her room and walk inside. Her room is like a mix between Jack’s room and Slender’s office. Her walls are a deep lavender with darker swirls running across them. Her bed is round, oddly, and covered in pillows. She has a desk piled high with books and papers for her drawing and writing habits and her ceiling is covered in not only glow in the dark stairs, but music notes too. Her carpet is soft and your socked feet sink right into it. There's shelves on nearly every wall, full of toys, trinkets or books.

The little demon girl crawls into her bed and grabs her favorite stuffed toy- a purple and green dog you tried to win for her at a carnival but...well of course the game was rigged. It was actually her older brother EJ who managed to win it for her. With a little help from his demonic strength of course. She named it Scam, and you’re still proud of her for that.

The three of you all sit down at the foot of her bed. "Wha're ye in th' mood fer then?" Jack asks.

"Can you make a story?" Slendra asks, her eyes shining. A toothy grin curls up Jack's face. 

"Oh, I ge' ta flex me wri'in' t'nigh', eh?" He reaches into a puffy sleeve and pulls out a book. Slendra grins excitedly. You glance at the book's cover. Apparently Jack's homemade bedtime story is called 'The Damsel's Dragon'.

He clears his throat and opens the book. "Once upon a time, there wuz a pre'y young lass named…" Jack holds the book over to Slender. He shoots Jack an annoyed look and sighed.

"Damsel N. D. Stress." He finishes in the most airy, feminine voice you've ever heard him do. The three of you laugh while Slender fixes his tie. 

"Damsel wuz th' pre'ies' lass in th' land. People came far an' wide ta see 'er an' 'er collection 'f antique ties. All th' men in th' land wanted 'er 'and in marriage, bu' she wanted none 'f tha'." You watch Jack hold the book over to Slender again. 

"I hate you." Slender mutters. Slendra giggles. "Oh if only a big, handsome clown would come to admire my ties... if only…"

You laugh so hard you almost fall off the bed. Jack's hand reaches over quickly, his palm against your back, and pushes you back up. You snicker. "Sorry, sorry continue."

"Damsel spen' 'er days in 'er castle, wishin' an 'opin as th' worl' wen' by. Until one day, th' castle began ta shake! 'Er ties fell off th' shelves, 'er wine smashed to the ground!"

"Not the wine!" Slender exclaims in that airy, overly dramatic voice. You snicker again. 

"Th' castle stopped rockin' an' Damsel ran up ta th' top tower ta see wha' 'ad 'appened. When she go' up there, she saw a big migh'y dragon sleepin' on 'er castle's roof!" Jack stops and nudges you. "Ye're th' dragon." He whispers. You grin. 

The book is handed to Slender again. "Mr dragon, whatever are you doing up on my roof?" He exclaims. Jack holds the book over to you. Slendra looks at you excitedly. You're nowhere near as good at voices when compared to Slender and Jack, but Slendra doesn't seem to mind. You clear your throat.

"I'm taking a nap of course!" You growl out. Jack smiles as he passes the book to Slender again.

"Fockin' 'orrifyin', luv."

"Jack!" The three of you yelp. He laughs a bit.

"Sorry."

"Well you can't nap up here!" Slender continues with the story. "This is my castle! You have to go somewhere else!"

You lean over Jack's shoulder to see your next line. "Mmmm…No." You say. 

"Now Damsel wuz'nt tha' dumb. She knew be'er than ta argue wiv a dragon, an' so she wen' back into 'er castle an' began lookin' fer a way to ge' rid of th' dragon." 

"Good to know you don't see me as a total idiot." Slender murmurs.

"Wha' do ya mean? This isn' you, i's Damsel."

"Of course it is."

Jack grins to himself and looks back at the book. "She looked through 'er ye ol' phone book an' foun' somefink ta 'elp 'er!" He looks up at Slendra for a moment. "Th' mos' famous dragon extermina'or in th' worl'. 'Er name wuz Jackie Ardlens."

You force yourself to to 'awe' at the Slendra self-insert. She doesn't seem to have realised the character is literally named after her. 

"Jackie came ta th' castle an Damsel led 'er up ta th' tower."

"It's terrible!" Slender exclaims. "That great big ugly dragon does nothing but snore all day!"

"I don't snore." You retort. Slendra looks at you. You clear your throat. "I don't snore." You say again, this time in your dragon voice. She laughs. 

"Oh dragon," Slender continues with the story, ignoring you. "I've brought someone to drive you away!" You can't help but smile at how much he's actually getting into this role. Slendra is certainly enjoying it too.

"Huh? Drive me away?" You growl back at him. "How am I supposed to fit into a car?"

A grin curls up Jack's face. "Jackie stepped forward an' looked up a' th' dragon." He passes the book to Slendra who looks surprised, but then smiles wide.

"I've come to make you leave this poor lady alone!" She reads. "Why do you want to stay on this castle so bad?" 

"Why the sun of course, it's nice and warm up here. And this castle is the comfiest bed I've ever had!" You read back. 

"Hm…" Slendra cups her chin in her hand, pretending to think. "Well I say we build a new tower for you to sleep on! That way both of you will be happy."

Slender clasps his hands together. "Of course! That can be arranged." He says. Jack takes the book back and turns to the very last page.

"An' so, they buil' a big ol' tower fer th' dragon ta sleep on, an Damsel continued ta collec' 'er ties an' live 'appily ever after." He closes the book and smiles. "The end."

Slendra smiles wide. "I liked that one."

"Good." Jack leans in and kisses her forehead. "Now ge' yer res, swee'pea." He says softly while Slender pats the girls head. 

"Mama?" As you're following Jack and Slender out of the room Slendra calls you. You stop and look at her, curled up around Scam, a bright golden eye looking at you. "I love you."

You swear you can feel yourself practically melt for a moment. You smile at her. "I love you too, sweetheart." You say softly. She smiles, a couple fangs glinting in the light, then closes her eyes and snuggles up under the covers.

#creepypasta #creepypasta oc #creepypasta x reader #slenderman x reader #slenderman #laughing jack #laughing jack x reader #slenjack #writing #writing requests #request #ask #anon #anonymous

[saiilorstars]

Dare To Forget Me

Ch. 27: Shock-worthy

(Previous chapters)

Fandom: Law & Order SVU

Pairing:  Rafael Barba x OFC

Warnings: Due to the nature of the series’ plots, I do have to rate this as ‘mature’ for constant mentions of rape.

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel​​ [If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ` 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: The case SVU has going on is a particularly terrifying one. It has a few of the detectives feeling sick to their stomachs. Meanwhile, Sonny comes to a shock-worthy realization that might hurt a few people...

"So you guys didn't really...get anything, did you?" Montserrat couldn't help ask Amanda as they walked down the corridor of Riker's. At Murphy's command, the two detectives were supposed to visit Gordon and extract more information on Wilkes.

Amanda's bob of head said exactly what she thought about their undercover job. They hadn't really gotten anything from Wilkes directly, so now they were supposed to get Gordon to talk again. "We tried. Murphy tried."

"Hm…" was all Montserrat had to say.

They stopped at the front desk where they had to sign and relinquish their guns.

"I get that you don't like him, but he is trying to do his job," Amanda leaned against the desk while Montserrat finished writing her last signature.

"Oh, I can't say that I don't like him this early in the game," Montserrat looked up with an expression that read 'But I'm close to saying it'. "I just feel like he needs to sit back and let us show him how we do things. He should be taking notes from Olivia. She's practically a Lieutenant already."

"Well, as long as you don't say it this early," Amanda's light sarcasm made Montserrat roll her eyes.

The two detectives were allowed into the visitor's ward a short moment afterwards. Gordon was brought out and immediately had something to say to them.

"Can you get me into solitary? Everybody's looking at me all the time."

Montserrat so badly wanted to respond with 'Why do you think?' but knew it would hinder their investigation. So, she kept her mouth shut until she had something better to say.

"Might be able to do that, but you gotta stop holding out on us," Amanda was the one to respond. "Your pal Erastes, did he ever talk about actually hurting boys?"

Gordon shook his head. "No, I'm not a part of that, okay? I-I-I just like to watch. He is into things that I would never do."

"Hm, like what?" Montserrat gave him a hard, levelled look warning him he better not lie.

"Well, there was this live-streaming Webcast from Estonia a few months ago. Erastes kept sending messages to the master asking him to hurt the boy...make him bleed. Now, I-I turned it off, but then later, Erastes bragged that he had watched the boy die. And then he said to me that we should find a boy that nobody would miss."

Montserrat exchanged a glance with Amanda. This could be exactly what they were looking for.

"Listen to me very carefully," Amanda leaned forwards, "What was the name of that webcast?"

~0~

Once they had gathered sufficient information from Gordon, Montserrat and Amanda reported back to Murphy about what they learned.

"Gordon told us about a Webcast for something called 'damage groups'", Montserrat said, though the more she explained the more uncomfortable she looked. And that was saying something considering what they worked at. "They take live requests to torture young kids. The darker the skin, the worse they get it. Bruises don't show."

"Okay, any way to access it?"

"It streamed live three months ago," Amanda replied. "And everything's been turned over to interpol."

"That won't help," Murphy turned to the other detectives in the office. "Take over Gordon's chat room accounts. Keep fishing."

The detectives filed out of the office with their new tasks. Though at the end of the day, they really didn't come up with much to work with except for another UC job.

"How about tonight?" Nick was asking the others as they left the precinct.

"Tell me where," Olivia agreed.

"No, I got to head uptown, going to a meeting," Amanda said as she backtracked in the opposite direction.

"Okay. Safe home," Olivia waved her off.

"She's really working her program," Montserrat was happy to see. It wasn't too long ago that Olivia was threatening to transfer Amanda and now here she was doing better than ever.

"Least someone's doing good around here," Nick shrugged, though his attempt at being casual failed miserably.

"Jesus Nick, you could at least pretend to be civil with Murphy," Montserrat turned to him. "You know, like the rest of us do. Right?" she glanced at Sonny, but the detective just shrugged.

"He's alright," his choice of words prompted Olivia to make a 'thank you' motion at him.

"Guys, I think you all just need to give him a chance," Olivia felt tired of having to repeat herself. Everyone just seemed on the plan to hate Murphy.

"You should be C.O. now," Nick said, "He comes in and…"

Olivia was not interested in hearing the same thing again tonight. She guessed why Nick seemed more on edge today. "Maria and Zara are in town, right?"

Nick knew where she was going and shook his head at her. "Yeah. I'm not crossing the line. Maria asked to see me. She got a job offer in California and wants to take Zara with her."

Now it was really easy to understand why and Nick was so on edge.

"And she brought up the idea of me going with them."

"What?" Olivia blinked.

"Yeah, I know. I mean, a month ago, she's calling you, telling me to back off. I do, and then…"

"Are you thinking of going?" Montserrat had to wonder. It wasn't easy separating from your child, much less when that child would be going to the other end of the country.

"My life is here," Nick said without a moment's thought. "I don't want to fight, but Maria's not taking my daughter away from me."

"We're here if you need anything," Sonny said. Nick thanked him and the others. "Hey Montse, Kara just texted me saying you weren't answering her."

"My phone's dead,"Montserrat shrugged.

Sonny gave her a look that indicated how irresponsible that was, but all the ginger did was shrug. She was going home anyways, what was the point?

"She's having dinner with her brother and wants you...and me…there…"

Montserrat gave him an amused look. "You, uh, don't sound so excited about it."

"Having dinner with your girlfriend's brother isn't exactly what I had in mind when I asked her to have dinner with me," he said in a straight face, one that made it incredibly hard not to laugh.

"Damian is nice and you're going unless you want to die by Kara's wrath."

Before Sonny would answer that, he briefly looked to Olivia and Nick. "Now you know who did it if I ever disappear."

Now Montserrat had to laugh. "C'mon!" she grabbed him by the arm. "I wonder what she made for dinner? I hope it's not pasta again. She's the one dating the Italian, not me." Sonny rolled his eyes while Montserrat dragged him away then waved goodbye to the others.

When the two got home, they found Kara in the kitchen, taking something out from the oven. She was dressed in a nice sleeveless, purple jumper. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail and when she turned around they saw her light make-up.

"Don't you look nice," Montserrat remarked. She began to take off her blazer. "Making me feel underdressed."

"Makes 2," Sonny said rather self-consciously as he fixed the collar of his button shirt.

Kara set down the tray of casserole on the table and smiled. "You guys are fine. It's just a casual dinner."

"It's never casual for me," Sonny said with a frown on his face.

"Jesus, you are so dramatic," Montserrat patted his arm and went straight for the table.

"Ah! Don't touch!" Kara smacked Montserrat's hand away from the food.

It was always the rule: don't touch the food until every guest is there. Lucky for Montserrat, who happened to be starving, Damian arrived only 5 minutes of waiting.

"Oh thank God, sit down!" Montserrat gave Damian a quick hug then yanked him towards the kitchen.

"Hello to you too," Damien said with a laugh. "Guess we're not giving hugs to anyone else?"

Kara stood by the table with her hands on her hips. "Guess not." Her disapproving look on Montserrat didn't faze the ginger at all.

"It's fine. She gets a pass," Damian smiled at Montserrat.

"I do? Why? Just so that I know how to use it when I need it," Montserrat pushed her chair in and signaled Kara and Sonny to do the same.

"Because you're you," Damian looked at her with type of expression that almost made Sonny do a double-take.

Was he seeing right? Was anyone else seeing right?

They started eating together and having conversations. It started with Kara's day which, as it turned out, had been stressful.

"This lady was just so difficult to work with! She asked for a bob and I gave her a bob but then she started saying it wasn't!" Kara huffed angrily. The mere reminder of the frustrating woman made her blood pressure go up. "How do you not see what a bob is!?"

"You want more to drink?" Sonny asked her, making Montserrat and Damian laugh on the side.

Kara pointed but nodded her head. "Yes, please. I really hope I never see her again."

"If you pissed her off that bad then she won't be coming back anytime soon," Damian pointed his glass at her. "Drink up, little sister." Kara all but drowned her glass that Sonny had just filled up.

"Dare I ask how was your day, then?" Damian looked to Montserrat.

"Eh, I don't think you would want to know," Montserrat crossed gazes with Sonny. Wilkes was quite the man and his doings weren't something you'd want to talk about at the table.

"Gloomy, got it," Damian nodded. "I don't know how you guys do it, honestly. Seeing all that stuff…"

"We do it for the victims," Sonny said without a second thought.

"So what do you prefer doing?" Damian asked Montserrat. "Homicide or SVU?"

Montserrat bobbed her head while she thought about it. Each time she did, though, she always came up with the same answer. "SVU. Homicide gave me the luxury of not having to deal with live victims, but SVU gives me the ability to get full justice for victims. They're here to see it be done."

"And I guess you get to talk to them and make them feel better?"

"Well, gotta admit sometimes it feels like there's not a lot of words we can say to make them feel better," Montserrat said with a small sigh. "Though it does get better when they get to hear the guilty verdict."

"But you're there, helping them through the process," Damian gave her a soft smile. "I'm sure you give them a lot of comfort."

Montserrat automatically smiled back. "Thanks."

Whether or not he planned to, Sonny looked over to Kara. He wondered if she saw the same thing he was beginning to, but Kara looked none the wiser. She ate and laughed along with them. But another thing Sonny saw was that Montserrat didn't even appear to notice anything.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing things, he thought after a moment. This was meant to be a dinner, after all. Just a casual night with his girlfriend and friends.

But then Damian pointed out the watch Montserrat was wearing around her wrist - it'd been his gift for her on her birthday. It was a beautiful Kate Spade watch with light pink crystals over the hour the glass. Sonny, as well as the others back at the precinct, had remarked over the elegant watch when they first noticed it. Montserrat absolutely loved it.

When Damian remarked he'd gotten the watch on a good deal, as a joke of course, Sonny went into shock with his realization.

~0~

Thanks to the latest UC job Murphy conducted, SVU had been been led straight to Wilkes' torture room that turned out to be quite supplied.

"Oh, this is horrendous," Amanda was just one of the people completely stunned by Wilkes' "torture room" and what it consisted of.

Montserrat felt like she wouldn't be able to walk further into the bright, white room for fear that something might snap her ankles. Every part of the room seemed to be part of a torture instrument. Who's to say there wasn't anything on the floor ready to capture their ankles and keep them still?

"Well, that's the view he talked about," Fin stood in front of the small window that gave the perfect view to a school across the street. "Right out onto the school yard."

"Gordon was right," Sonny said with a scowl.

"Luminol every inch. Check all film and storage spaces," Murphy was busy giving orders to the incoming forensics. "Pull up the floors. Knock out the walls."

"This place is pristine," Nick stopped by Murphy and gestured to the cleanliness surrounding them. It could almost sparkle from how clean it was. "He brought boys here?"

"So he scrubbed it clean. He's careful," Murphy moved past him.

"So what does he do with the bodies?" Olivia dreaded to think the more she gazed around the room.

"Open up the drains and test for chemicals," Murphy called to the nearest forensic. "I want a drop of blood, a shard of bone, something, anything."

"Lieutenant," another forensic's walked up with several pictures in hand, "CSU found these hiding behind a fake wall."

Murphy all but snatched the pictures from the woman. He flipped through them in disgust. "Sick son of a bitch. Pick him up, now."

And that was one order none of the detectives minded following.

~ 0 ~

Wilkes had his face buried in his hands, rubbing from his forehead to his chin while he listened to Olivia's and Amanda's findings in the interrogation room.

"It was all fantasy!" he tried arguing for the tenth time since he was brought in. "Nothing happened."

"Nothing?" Olivia gaped at the blight lie being thrown her way. "Found your little…" she scrambled to find the right pictures for him to see in case he'd forgotten he owned a torture room. "We found your room! Photos of boys being tortured in that room? Who are they?"

"What? No, I photoshopped those," Wilkes tried to reach for the pictures but Olivia snatched them from his reach. "I'm an art photographer. I took photos off the lnternet and manipulated the images."

"Yeah, stop lying now," Olivia let the pictures fall back to the table. She felt Amanda's hand on her arm and was overly confused to see her not appearing to be as frustrated as she was.

"Let's hear his side."

Now Olivia was convincing herself she was hearing wrong, but Amanda looked dead serious. "His side?" she repeated, almost tapping her ear so she could see what she was doing. "We have him on tape, negotiating to buy a boy that no one would miss from Mexico, El Salvador." She settled a death glare on Wilkes. "Does that ring a bell?"

"That was just a game-"

"-A game? Do you think it's a game to torture young boys, huh?" Olivia practically slammed her hands on the metal table, creating a loud clang that made Wilkes flinch in his seat. "You like to be in control? Well, guess what, that game's over. New game, my MY rules, not yours." Amanda knew that the closer Olivia got to Wilkes' face, the less willing Wilkes would be to speak without a lawyer but Olivia seemed hellbent on making Wilkes realize his situation.

Outside, on the other side of the glass, were the others watching keenly.

"If she keeps this up, we'll have nothing," Rafael warned Murphy, practically telling the man to pull Olivia out already. He was already on edge from this difficult case considering there was, so far, no concrete evidence except for those pictures.

"I know," Murphy said, his hand already nearing the door. He just wanted to give Olivia a chance to reclaim her control...but it didn't look like it was coming back anytime soon.

She was face to face with Wilkes, spewing out some hard threats. "How about we play this game? You start talking now, or I'm gonna take you back into that room, and I'm gonna strap you into that chair, and I'm gonna slice you open until your blood runs out-"

Murphy flung the interrogation room's door and shouted for Olivia, "Sergeant!"

Olivia basically ignored him and continued with Wilkes. "How about that game?"

"Hey!" called Murphy again.

"I need a minute!"

"Take a break!" Murphy commanded and left no room for arguing, especially in the vicinity of a suspect.

Olivia withdrew from the table and turned away, storming out of the room. At Murphy's second order, Amanda was brought out as well. The blonde might have been a bit pissed Olivia went overwhelmingly head-on with their suspect that now she too was being pulled out of the interrogation.

"I've been here for 15 years. And you've been here for two minutes, and you're pulling me out of an interrogation?" Olivia was right in Murphy's face, much to the surprise of the others.

"You weren't asking him questions. You were yelling at him," snapped Murphy. "You do know the goal is to align yourself with the suspect, not to judge him?"

"Yeah." Olivia released a small breath, probably the way to begin calming down. She crossed glances with the rest of the squad and realized they were all giving her strange, startled looks. She might have gone a little overboard, but had Wilkes not done enough things to provoke it?

"Then what the hell was that?" demanded Murphy.

Olivia wouldn't bother answering because no matter what she said, it wouldn't be right. "I'm going to take that break," she muttered and turned to leave.

"Don't be hard on her, it's not like the guy doesn't deserve it," Montserrat folded her arms over her chest.

"You better not show that type of feeling when you get there," Murphy's subtle order startled Montserrat. She blinked and even pointed at herself, asking if he really meant her. "Go in there and align yourself."

"Are you kidding? I go in there, I cannot guarantee I won't follow in Liv's footsteps."

"I can go back," Amanda volunteered but Murphy shook his head.

"No, I need someone fresh. Someone he hasn't seen yet," Murphy pointed at Montserrat to go. "Amaro, you too."

"Fine, guess we can kill him together," Nick mumbled under his breath, though not as quiet. Still, he didn't look so bothered by the disapproving looks.

"Detectives," Rafael's warning voice stopped the two in front of the door.

"We'll tone it down," Montserrat promised but then mouthed a 'maybe' at Nick. They shared a smile before going into the interrogation room.

It irked Rafael how close those two were acting lately. And he was going to be sticking to the 'irk' description because there was no way in hell he would be admitting to anyone, even himself, that it was more jealousy than annoyance. Just...where did that closeness come from? When - You need to stop, Rafael berated himself when he realized he was letting his thoughts get to him. He wasn't even paying attention to the interrogation happening in front of him.

The irony is that this was one of the reasons why he told Montserrat they couldn't be together, because their jobs would be affected. If they clashed before, then who knows what could happen if they got together? And yet here they were, not together, and he still couldn't focus on his job. Great.

Inside the interrogation room, Montserrat and Nick weren't exactly getting much from Wilkes. And it was a real struggle to keep trying to bond with Wilkes over his "Photography".

"It's true," Wilkes kept insisting over his photography. "I have images in my head, and I try to re-create them, but it's digital trompe I'oeil. I don't expect you to understand."

"I don't think we do," agreed Montserrat. She sat across Wilkes but, probably like Olivia, she would really like to climb over it and slam Wilkes' head against the table.

"I imagine your jobs-" Wilkes made a gesture at her then Nick, "-often times put images in your head...from everything you've seen. I just get those images...and I watch videos at night...as an outlet."

Nick wanted to scoff but if he did that then his 'bonding' would end there and then. So, he kept it cool. "That's what you're saying this is, a release?"

"Yes, I swear!"

"But you crossed over when you started talking about buying a boy," Montserrat snapped. Her hands on the table started gripping the edge of the table, something Nick caught. "Literally... buying…" she struggled to say the sentence in one go, "...a boy."

"Your guys were talking about that!" Wilkes argued. "There was no boy. There never has been one. I didn't give any money!"

"Yeah, but, Simon, that chamber…" Nick reminded, but Wilkes shook his head and refused it to be true.

"That's...My meditation room. I'm the only one who's been in there. Tear the place apart. You won't find anything."

Montserrat's lips curled into a humorless smile. "It's a meditation room," she repeated sourly. "Sure."

The door flung open to let in a woman who made a beeline for Wilkes' side. "Mr. Wilkes, I'm Minonna Efron. Your wife's waiting right outside. She's retained me as your attorney. Detectives-" the woman gave Montserrat and Nick a look, "-give us the room."

Montserrat figured it was better to give space before she lashed too. She left the room first and glared directly at Murphy. "Cannot believe we had to bond with that guy."

"Nothing you haven't done before," Murphy said. "It's called doing your job."

"Hey, I've got two kids," Nick reminded. "A ten-year-old son. I want him gone."

And for that, Montserrat turned to Rafael. "Get him gone."

Suddenly Rafael's irkness - that was not jealousy - disappeared. There was a certain feeling that usually came when Montserrat laid her absolute faith in his prosecuting abilities. "I'm going to need evidence," he warned, but Montserrat didn't care. She needed to see Wilkes behind bars.

"I'll get it done," she promised and took off.

#ocappreciation #svu #rafael barba #svu fics #rafael barba imagines #svu imagines #rafael barba fics #svu imagine #fd: svu #oc: Montserrat Novak #fic: dare to forget me

[lu-undy]

Chapter 78 - SBT

Here it is!

"I assume you had your reasons for doing it this way but it has to change, and fast." Lucien sat on the oval table and crossed his arms. The smoke from his cigarette floated in the air like a cloud above his head.

"I did. But now that there is no danger anymore, I might actually do it." 

Lucien frowned and pondered.  The king of the beggars went on.

"I will set a rendez-vous point. All you have to do is have him be there." 

"Non." Lucien answered, raising cold eyes to his ex-colleague. 

"What?"

"Non." He repeated firmly. "You are not taking any risks in this business, I am. So we will do things my way."

"What risks are you taking?" Maurice asked and Lucien's anger flashed on his fair irises.

"You know very well." He answered drily.

"Very well, what do you suggest?" 

Lucien sighed. 

"I do not know yet. I need to think about it. The stakes are too high. Every second that I spend with you discussing it is a second that I betray him and his trust. I cannot afford that, nor do I want it, not anymore, not ever." 

"Fine." Maurice said, from his old wooden throne. "You do as you please." 

"Tell me where they are. I shall bear the responsibility of the rest." 

Maurice wrote something on a piece of paper and slid it to the ex-spy. 

"That is where I have kept them. Good luck. They are expecting him."

The Frenchman's rage boiled up a notch higher. 

"Pardon?" He asked in his native tongue. "Do not think for one second that this puts you out of any responsibility!"

"What are you going to do? Stab me in the back, like in the old days…?" 

Lucien's jaw relaxed and he smirked, not like the free man he was now, but like the spy he had been: cold, arrogant and overly self-confident.

"Me? Nothing. Him? I am not so sure, Maurice." 

He took the piece of paper that he stored in his pocket and exited the hideout. When he made it back to the surface, he adjusted his scarf and headed back home. 

-- Next day -- 

"Mundy, I forgot to tell you something."

"What is it?"

Lucien was sitting next to his lover at the table while they shared breakfast. 

"Richard and his wife agreed to take Diamond." 

"Oh, that's great news!" 

"I also sent the word to Maurice, and he is happy to take Star."

"Oh, alright."

"Oui, he shall train her to take on Perle's job and hunt mice and chase away any undesired rodents." 

"That's nice, hear that, Starry baby?" Mundy was cuddling the lady kitten. She meowed happily. "You'll get a nice home and a job. Kids'll cover you in pets too!"

"And guess where our beloved ball of hunger will end up?" Lucien asked, petting Glovy on his lap. 

"I don't know, where?" 

"There is one young man who will make him more than happy." 

"Who?"

Lucien smiled before answering. 

"Bastien." 

"Bastian?" 

"Who better than an apprentice chef cook for our beloved Glovy?" Lucien asked. 

"Hear that, fat boy? Your new dad's gonna make you delicious food!"

"Mrow!" He answered excitedly. 

"Yeah…" Mundy extended his hand and scratched Glovy under his chin. "You're one happy, chunky boy, aren't ya?" 

The large yet short cat purred happily under the attention. 

"So that settles it apart from Junior…" Mundy said. The kitten had grown up like his brother and his sisters but still looked smaller. 

"Viens, mon petit." 

[Come, my little one.]

Lucien bent down, released Glovy and scooped his namesake off the floor to put him on his knees. 

"He will have a good forever home. We shall offer him as a gift and a surprise." Lucien answered, cuddling the kitten. 

"Yeah, but to who?" Mundy asked. 

"To whom?" Lucien corrected. "Well, who will need a Lucien and has been missing me while I was away?" 

"Me?" Mundy answered. 

"Apart from you?" Lucien asked. 

"Don't know, who?" 

"Victoria." He answered. 

"Oh…" 

"I think she will take the best care of him." Lucien added. 

"I'm sure you're right, darl'." Mundy laced a lazy arm around Lucien's shoulders and the Frenchman leaned on him. 

"Any plans for today?" Mundy asked.

"I was thinking of taking the kittens to their new homes." Lucien answered, pushing a lock of silver hair behind his ear. 

"Oh, ok, sure."

"I suggest we start with Bastien and Richard, they are not too far apart from each other. Then, Maurice and in the end, Victoria."

"You wanna take Junior to the diner?" 

"Non, I planned on knocking directly at her door, after her shift." 

"You know where she lives?" 

Lucien raised his eyes and his smirk to his lover. 

"Right, right, ok, ex-spy, I get it." Mundy chuckled.

"I see you are learning." Lucien teased. "But what do you think of this plan? That ought to keep us busy for most of the day."

"Seems like it, yeah. I'm alright with the plan. But first, we need to tell Pearl and Soot." 

"But of course." 

Lucien and Mundy finished their breakfast and found themselves sitting on the carpet in the living room, facing the cats. 

"Right, ladies and gents…" Mundy started. "Today, you're gonna leave Mum and Dad, even your gramps."

The kittens listened with wide open eyes. 

"Meow?" Perle, who had been laying on the carpet, moved to sit up.

"Do not worry, mon bébé," Lucien scratched her head gently. "They will all go to good homes. Star will go to Maurice and hunt the mice there, oh and Junior will go to Victoria."

"Meow?" Soot rose to his feet too. 

"Hey, Sooty boy, you trust the old gramps, eh?"

The black cat went straight to Mundy and purred when he scratched his jaw. 

"There we go. Now, we're gonna give you a few minutes to say goodbye, ok? You be good boys and girls." 

Mundy rose to his feet. 

"Mrow…" Perle bit her Papa's sleeve. 

"Oh? Qu'est-ce que tu veux, ma chérie?"

[Oh? What do you want, my darling?]

She kept on pulling his sleeve and meowing sadly. 

"I will stay with her, go and get ready, Mundy."

"You sure?"

"Oui, she needs me." 

"Fair. See ya in a bit, I'll go get my shoes and stuff." Mundy left a kiss on Lucien's brow and left him with the cats. 

Perle stood on her back legs. Lucien smiled and lifted her into his arms, rocking her gently.

"Qu'est-ce qui se passe? Tu n'aimes pas les 'au revoir' ?"

[What is happening? You don't like goodbyes?]

"Mrow…" She answered sadly. 

"Personne n'aime les au revoir. Ni les hommes, ni les chattes apparemment. Ne t'inquiète pas, tes bébés sont grands maintenant, ils n'ont plus besoin, ni de toi, ni de leur père, ni de nous."

[No one likes goodbyes. Neither people, nor lady cats apparently. Don't worry, your babies have grown up now, they don't need you or Soot, or us anymore.]

"What's wrong, baby?" Mundy joined them and put Lucien's shoes down next to him. "Don't want the kids to go, eh?" 

"Non, she does not." Lucien answered. They both spoiled her with affection, scratches and sweet words. 

"When…" Lucien started. His eyes were riveted on Perle. "When Jérémy was growing up…" 

Mundy's eyebrows jumped. He hadn't expected Lucien to talk about his late son. 

"There came an age where he liked me… less." 

"Oh?" Mundy scooted closer to his lover. 

"Like any other child of his age, he started seeing me not as a model, but as someone who continuously failed to understand him."

"It's fine, luv', we all had that phase for a bit…"

"I guess so but," Lucien sighed and looked away. "It still felt strange to hear the baby that I had carried in my arms a few years before tell me that he hated me, that I was never there for him, that… that…" 

"Sshhh." Mundy wrapped his arms around Lucien and pulled his head under his chin. 

"I was a poor father… I was absent, I was busy, I was away, I was…"

"Hey, it's alright. All dads are like that, ok? They're all busy with work and stuff when we're kids. Then we get to teenage boys and we start gettin' weird, and wonderin' about sheilas… And boys, I guess… About ourselves. We got all these questions and parents are shit at answerin' them. So we feel alone, and not really understood. But it's fine, it's how it goes and how it should go." 

Lucien buried his head deeper in Mundy's chest. 

"Doesn't mean you were a bad dad. And I'm sure of it now, I've seen you with Victoria and with Pearl. You're a bloody good Papa." 

"Maybe." Lucien's voice was muffled. His eyes were closed against Mundy's heart that he heard beating gently in front of him. He could smell the cheap cologne too, it brought him immense comfort. 

"Hey, not to me, eh? I saw you. I even told you. Wish my dad was like you."

"Oui but…"

"But what, love? Tell me." 

"I…"

"Get it out, darl'... Better out than in."

Lucien's shoulders sank. 

"I wish I could now know what Jérémy really thought of me. At the end, he kept on reproaching me all those things and, well, they were all true. Each time he did, I looked in his eyes, God, his eyes… He had his mother's eyes… Blue, of a darker shade than mine, dirty blond hair, buck teeth… He was an adorable little boy but he grew up to hit puberty, too soon. And each time he would address me, it would not be with admiration anymore, but with anger and hatred." 

"Hey… Darl'..." Mundy gently rocked his lover and slid his fingers through his long hair. "Close your eyes and remember when you were his age, eh? Didn't you think that you had it all figured out, that you'd be better off without your parents, that they didn't understand what you felt…?"

"Mundy, you are not understanding."

"Oh?"

Lucien pulled himself out of the embrace and rubbed his eyes. 

"Non, I understood him too well! I knew this rage, this powerlessness, this frustration. I knew it so well that when I was faced with it, I decided to leave home and live in the streets." 

Mundy frowned. 

"When I turned 18, I fled. My mother and step-father pressured me and forced me to choose between Medicine and Law. I didn't want either, and so I ran away. And whenever I saw Jérémy look at me with hatred, I would see myself, right before I fled. It terrified me, that sight."

"You were scared that he'd run away too?" Mundy asked. 

Lucien raised his eyes to him and nodded sadly. 

"Oh, I get it now… But Lu'..."

"Who knows? Maybe he wanted to flee too. Maybe God claimed him back before he had the chance."

"Ssh." Mundy pulled Lucien in a hug again. "You can't know. No one can."

"What terrified me most is how his mother would have reacted, had he decided to run away."

"Lu', stop thinkin' about it. You can't do anything about it, and in any case, you don't have to."

"Oui, but what if-?"

"No, luv', listen." Mundy cut him off and cupped his face such that he rested his forehead against his. "What ifs are useless, darl'. Stop thinking about it. Let your baby boy rest, and let yourself rest too."

"I cannot. There are things that I have been holding within myself for far too long. I want someone to know. I want someone to share all these personal secrets with, I want to share the weight of that burden, all those mistakes, those sins." 

"Hey now, don't be dramatic. Everyone does stuff they regret. There isn't one man or sheila alive who doesn't regret somethin'! It's just not possible!"

"Oui, but I don't care about other people!"

"Neither do I! But you can't continue carrying stuff like that on your back!"

"You want me to forget?" Lucien asked, his eyes wider than planets. 

"No! I want you to learn to live with it in your heart, not on your shoulders like you're carrying the world's misery on yourself!"

Lucien lowered his head and softly headbutted Mundy's chest. 

"I know it's hard, love. I really do. Sometimes I think about my parents and how I… I-I…" 

Lucien raised his head and Mundy looked away. 

"How you what?" He gently asked. 

"I'm a monster… I-I left them to die."

Lucien's eyes snapped wide. 

"Non!" He frowned. "You outdid yourself to avenge them! I saw you, the delicate, shy, compassionate you torture a man. You burnt a man, you burnt every square inch of his chest while he was wide awake and alive!"

Mundy rubbed his eyes and winced. 

"Yeah, you don't need to remind me of that, thanks…."

"Mundy…" Lucien put a hand on his cheek. "You have surpassed yourself, you have done what you never thought you could and yet what did you do? You put yourself aside and did more than what trained soldiers did during the war! Mundy, you avenged them and made them proud."

"Hm. Don't think they're proud." Mundy answered. 

"That is not what I said. I said you made them proud. You avenged them and that is what you had set yourself to do, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Don't you feel at rest now with respect to your parents?" 

Mundy raised his eyes to Lucien and his gaze hung there for a few seconds. 

"I… I'm not sure." 

"Do you regret having dealt with Duchemin?" 

"N-not really but…"

Lucien nodded as he started to understand it. 

"Ah, I see… It is the discussion you had with your parents when you took me to meet them?"

Mundy nodded and sighed. 

"I feel like they'd be even more furious at me." 

"Why?"

"Mum's a good woman. She never would have wanted to hurt anyone. And Dad just hated violence for the sake of it."

"So you feel like you have avenged them but betrayed the education they gave you, their values?" 

"Yeah. I think you put the words on it, again." 

"Again?" Lucien asked. 

"That's why I was so fascinated by Lulu at first. It's cause he managed to put words on things I felt inside me."

"Mundy, you did what you did because it was the right thing to do when you had to do it." Lucien said. "Had things been different, of course you would have reacted differently. Had you not been dragged into the alligators business, you surely wouldn't have followed the track of the worthless man who killed your parents. Besides, this isn't a case of violence for the sake of it. You didn't wake up with the crave to torture someone, no one does. Non. You used violence because what else was left?"

"Nothing." Mundy answered.

"Exactly, you were alone and you didn't have any other way to set things straight. No law on Earth would have condemned that man for the atrocities he caused. So don't look at it the way you are. Had you not followed that lead to find the alligators, Duchemin might still be walking this Earth."

"And I wouldn't have met you." 

Lucien smiled. 

"Non, you would not have, but such is the game of life. You cannot win everything. Either you missed all this, you didn't deal with Duchemin and you didn't meet me, or you indeed go through all of this but with me at your side." 

"Is that the choice I have?" 

"Not exactly. You have made the choice of pursuing the alligators' road and we know where that has led you up until today. Who knows what the other path could have offered?"

"I wouldn't have known you."

"Indeed, but you would not feel this almost regret that you do right now." Lucien explained. 

"Hm."

"It is similar to me. I thought I had put away the suit and tie for good after Marie and Jérémy passed. Yet when the Minister of Defense told me of Duchemin, I could not resist the urge to deal with him." 

"D'you think they'd uh… They'd be… proud of you?"

"Non." Lucien chuckled. "Marie hated my job with a passion. She was very wary of Jérémy discovering it and becoming attracted to the idea of becoming like me. I pretended I had an office job - after all, the suit and tie worked wonders to fool anyone - and invented all kinds of stories and lies to him. He was too young to understand. But I think that as he grew up, he might have had suspicions. There aren't many jobs where you travel left and right, attend luxurious parties but don't take even your partner with you. I think he had his doubts about my job, maybe that added to his hatred towards me." 

"So we're both in the same state, eh?" 

"Oui."

"Again?"

"Oui." 

"Thank God." 

Lucien looked at Mundy. He smiled softly. 

"I'm tired of feeling alone and have weird feelin's inside me, and I'm startin' to get used to you understanding me and feeling the same way too." 

Lucien returned the gentle, lopsided grin. 

"I am grateful to have found you for that same reason, mon loup."

[My wolf]

Lucien tapped the tip of Mundy's nose and the Aussie's eyelids fluttered as he chuckled. 

"Hey…!" Mundy pulled Lucien from his waist and kissed his nose. "There, now we're even."

"Merci!"

[Thanks!]

"You're welcome. So, shall we take the kittens to their new homes?" 

"Before we do, do you feel any better?" Lucien asked.

"Yeah… Thanks love, you're the best."

"My pleasure.  In that case, let us proceed." Lucien turned to Perle. "May we…?" 

The lady cat rubbed her head against Lucien's hand before going to his mouth. He kissed her and she went to lie against Soot. 

"I think that's a yes, Lu'." Mundy said. "I found this cardboard box. Let's put the kitties in and I'll carry it. You lead the way." 

"Perfect." 

The couple scooped the kittens and placed them gently in the box. They went to the door and exited the place. 

"Mister L, Sir?" 

"Oh?" Lucien saw a group of kids running to him in the street. "Oui, what is it, gentlemen?" He squatted to be at their eye level. 

"Maurice said Francis left this for you." One of the blond boys recited his text and inflated his chest proudly. 

"What did he leave?" Lucien asked.

"This!" The child pointed further in the street. 

"Oh!" Lucien's eyebrows jumped and he failed to hide his surprise. "Is that really true?" 

"Yes, Sir! Francis said he was delighted to know you were doing well. He sends his regards." 

"Thank you. Here…" Lucien took his wallet out and gave the children a note. "Don't spend it all on sweets, and do share it." 

"Thank you so much!" The kids ran away, leaving the couple and the kittens alone on the pavement. 

"Hahaha!" Lucien went to the black motorcycle and tapped it gently. "A marvel of elegance and technology. I am delighted that Francis decided to leave it to me…" 

Mundy caught up with him, the box still in his arms. 

"I remember that bike. You came to see me at the lake with it. It's the one that turns invisible, right?" 

"Indeed, that is the one." Lucien let his fingers run on the leather seat. "A delight to drive too." He raised his eyes to Mundy and took the box off of his arms to secure it at the back. 

"What are you doin'...?"

"You don't think we will walk to deliver those kittens, do you?"

"N-no, we could take me van?"

"Non. Here." Lucien handed him the second helmet and made sure the kittens were safe. He wrapped his scarf around the box to dampen the noise of the engine.

"W-what? You want me to-?"

"Come on, Mundy!" Lucien straddled the motorcycle and held a hand out for his lover.

"You sure?"

"You don't trust my riding abilities?"

"N-no, nah, it's just that…"

"What then? Am I too old for riding a motorcycle?" Lucien chuckled.

"Nah, course not, hold on…" Mundy put on the helmet and took his lover's hand. He straddled the motorcycle, behind Lucien.

"Be careful on the road, love." 

"I will. Now hold on." Lucien started the engine and the motorcycle woke up in a roar. 

Mundy put his hands on Lucien's sides and took advantage of the situation to hold him dearly. The Frenchman smiled in his helmet and off they went to deliver the kittens. 

The first stop was made to Bastien. He was delighted to meet his new companion. Then came Maurice and a well earned lunch break. Lucien and Mundy were left with Junior. While waiting for Victoria to finish her shift, they spent the afternoon in a park with the young cat. 

"Mundy?" 

"Yeah?"

"I had a thought about something you said."

"What is it?"

"Remember when you told me that there were things you wanted to do with me and that you hadn't had the chance before I went away?" 

"Yeah."

"I think we should do one of them this evening." Lucien answered.

"What d'you have in mind?" Mundy asked. 

"Surprise…!" Lucien teased. "But first, let us deliver this young man to his new mother." He scratched his namesake's jaw and the kitten purred. 

"Alright, you lead the way."

#tf2 sniper #tf2 spy #sniperspy #SBT