#I thought the antibiotics had cured me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

heartthumpnovel · 7 days

Text

Heart Thump: Chapter 7

“Growing Pains”

Word count: 9437

Just got this wrapped up before I leave for a week! This is gonna be insight to how Jason is dealing with the new big changes in his life (I am not sorry). This chapter was very fun to write because it has my favorite character in it; Oliver :> By they way, since it seems people are getting interested in this story, I've seen people do tag lists for each chapter. Let me know if you're interested in that!

cw: Cursing/Swears

Last chapter: Seeking Answers

Next chapter: It Came From Outer Space

---

Atlas Gang Group Chat November 9th @ 3:00 pm

Jason: Just got out of the doctors office.

Jason: Won’t be dying anytime soon, but, It seems like I did get electrocuted at some point on the golf course.

Ellie: FR??? Are you going to be okay??

Natasha: HOW?? OH MY GOD JASON HUN I AM SO SORRY!! I SHOULD OF GOT YOU TO THE HOSPITAL!!!! D’:

Motor: Shit dude. F.

Jason: Now don’t get too upset @Motor.

Jason: But to make this clear, @Natasha you have nothing to be sorry about. It wasn’t obvious and I had a bit too many drinks. I am still not sure what shocked me but I have those lighting scars on my back…

Ellie: Like Lichtenberg Figures? At Least those are the coolest scars to possibly have right?

Jason: @Ellie I guess... I am just lucky I managed to live through it.

Motor: bro you realize you don’t have to @ everyone you’re trying to talk to right??? It’s literally just the four of us here.

Jason: It’s called being efficient @Motor.

Motor: I don’t wanna hear pinging coming for you every five seconds. IT'S CALLED BEING ANNOYING.

Natasha: uh hey are we just gonna ignore the fact Jason nearly died from electrocution or??

Jason: Awh @Natasha It’s quite alright! The doctor said that I had little to no damage and the shock passed right through me. He did say that it was a risk considering my heart condition but, I am overall unharmed. However, he did write me up for two weeks of rest just to be on the safe side.

Natasha: Consider the call in done. Imma also gonna look into that golf course to see if there’s any loose wiring problems and give them hell!! >:(

Ellie: YEAH GIRL GET THEM!!!!

Ellie: And here I thought golf courses couldn’t get any worse.

Ellie: But uh Jason, wasn’t there anything else the doctor … found out about your condition or?

Jason: No. Just pain medication and rest.

Motor: yeah no big deal..no BIIGG deal at all. >:3

Natasha: :/ ????

Jason: Shut it @motor.

Natasha: Uhhhh

Ellie: Don’t worry about it Nat. :’D

The phone screen went dark as Jason pressed the side button on his phone and shoved it deep into his pants pocket. He didn’t need the stress that Motor was giving him for nearly spilling the beans on the whole giant fiasco. It felt like the entire thing was one stupid joke away from giving away the big secret. He laid back in the bus seat and stared down at the small paper bag filled with the prescription antibiotic cream and tylenol that was settled in his lap.

Thinking back on the doctor appointment, Jason wished he could have told his doctor everything that was happening to him. Maybe he could have gotten more than just stuff to treat the surprise scars on his back. But, the troubles that would have come from telling his doctor would have been extremely bad. His doctor could have thought that he was either having a mental breakdown, ran out of the room screaming if Jason were to prove the claim, and may have probably called the government to take him away to be then experimented on for the rest of his life. Yeah, there’s no way he was going to take those chances.

However, Jason was told that his heartbeat was now more noticeable and beating faster than usual. Not enough to be at the regular rate but a definite improvement than before the incident.

“Huh, cure me a little bit and in exchange turn me into a freak of nature… Not really a fair trade is it?” Jason quietly mumbled to himself as he placed a hand on his chest. Looking outside the bus window to check for his stop, his mind began to wander as he witnessed the rain outside fall into the streets of Seattle. Sure, he does believe now that he was right in the middle of this weird phenomenon but it still felt so unreal. A monkey’s paw’s finger must have curled as he always wanted to be a few more inches taller, feel more happiness and have a clean bill of health. At this cost however?

Definitely not worth it.

While listening to the bus’s public radio talk about this newly discovered meteor that was currently in orbit of the solar system, The bus slowed and pulled up to the bus stop where Jason needed to get off. He rose from his seat and stepped off the bus as quickly as he could. He just wanted to get home. Before he could make his walk back to his townhouse, Jason couldn’t help to notice the inky spot on the road that was across the bus stop. His memory started to jog and wondered how that lady with the crushed minivan was doing.

Wait, had he seen that minivan before? Consequently, he could feel a slight pain emerge from his foot and once he put two and two together; He remembered.

During that fateful night, he remembered getting the boot from a ride-share car. Jason couldn’t recall for the life of him why he was removed from the car or how he even was able to summon one in the first place. However, his drunk/electrocuted brain was thinking of Natasha for some reason and with the knowledge Jason gained about what happens when she enters his thoughts…

He could only recall pieces of the night. Losing one of his nice dress shoes, stumbling in the streets, buildings slowly shrinking around him, and the moment his foot accidentally stepped on a hunk of metal that blared loudly as it was crushed beneath his weight.

The pain in his foot stung worse and Jason immediately started speed walking down the street. He needed to get home ASAP before he unexpectedly grew again and caused more damage. If only he could repay that woman for her van and make it up to anyone else who was a victim of his carelessness. Though that would be very expensive, and he would have to admit that he was the giant freak that did it. Perhaps these one-time sins from when he didn’t know better could serve as a lesson to Jason to not let himself get carried away.

That fast paced walking turned into a sprint as he had no faith in his wandering imagination. Thinking back on the bus ride, he realized that could have ended badly as well and Jason mentally scolded himself for putting people in danger. The few people he ran past stared at him and Jason for once didn’t care what they thought. He needed to put himself away at home where he could focus on NOT focusing on those lovingly destructive thoughts.

He stumbled onto the stairs on his front door and shoved a hand into his pocket, fumbling on grabbing his keys. His two feet tapping anxiously on his welcome mat, and Jason using his other hand to search for the keys as well. Wait- where was his prescription bag!? His gaze darted below him and his head snapped to the bottom of the porch stairs. Jason spotted his nearly spilled out shopping bag on the sidewalk and just as fast as he sprinted there, he quickly shuffled his way down the stairs and nabbed his bag with a swift snatch. Muttering a few quiet ‘oh come ons’ before he managed to shove his key into the front door.

The front door swung open and slammed closed. Jason laid on the other side of the front door, trying to catch what little breath he had. It took the man a couple of deep breaths to find his bearings as his shoulders dropped. Though he did snap back to reality when he felt a comforting presence press on his calf. “Meow.” Jason looked down to see that his orange companion, Oliver, was already complaining about waiting for his dinner. The lovable dope had his tail raised and was rubbing his face into Jason’s pant leg, getting fur stuck on the fabric. “Awh is the little pumpkin hungry?~'' Jason cooed as he bent down and picked up Oliver by the sides to hoist the cat to be cradled into one of his arms, “Sorry I’m late, Daddy’s dealing with reality shattering stuff lately.” Jason walked into his cozy living room and dropped the prescription bag off at the coffee table while his orange fur-baby was meowing complaints. As he made his way to the kitchen, Oliver kept staring at Jason with his one eye and began to purr loudly as he lay comfortably in Jason’s scrawny arm.

What a strange little creature.

Oliver didn’t stay in Jason’s arm for too long as he jumped off when he saw his food bowl come into view. A cat has his priorities after all. Going through the cabinets Jason started to tell his thoughts to his cat, just like any cat owner would even if the cat had no idea what the heck their owner was talking about. It wasn’t like Oliver could snitch on him or anything.

“I honestly don’t know what’s happening to me Oliver,” Jason said as he peaked through the cabinets, “I’ve become a ticking time bomb overnight and now I am a threat to society without even meaning to be…” Jason grunted when he didn’t see the cat food in the usual place.

“Wha- oh goodness I thought I just bought you a palette recently..” Jason spoke as he pushed some cans of soup aside and he tried to rack his brain on where in his house the cat food could be. It was about a week ago he went grocery shopping, and consequently that night had also been board game night with his friends from work. He did pick up some extra snacks for that night and Motor, while annoying he can be, actually offered to help Jason with the heavy groceries.

He felt his blood run cold. Jason arched his neck up to the high cabinets in his kitchen. While it probably was a stupid idea for a short man like Jason to rent a home which felt like it was specifically made for tall people, it was a really good deal at the time considering he was living in Seattle. Besides, he had managed to live with it this long and had no problems since he had a step stool on hand. Though he had to admit, Motor putting the heavy cat food stack on a high shelf was seriously infuriating.

Jason sighed and turned to find that step stool buried deep in the pantry. However, his feet stopped half way through the turn as he had a small thought sprout in his mind. What if instead of spending more precious time digging through his pantry to get the step-stool, Jason could just simply put that new side effect to good use. Jason shook his head for a moment, “Oh heavens no-” He mumbled as he took a step towards the pantry, “That’s ridiculous, I wouldn’t want to risk it…” He cleared his throat as he reached his hand over to the pantry door. The hand halted before it could grab the handle and Jason took another glance at the high up cabinet. It had never looked so close yet out of reach…

“I mean,” Jason spoke towards Oliver, “Just maybe a little bit couldn’t hurt… Now I know about what the cause is..” “Meow.” “Yeah, it could end up being safer than throwing my back out! Smart boy, Oliver.” “Meow.” It has been decided, then.

He made his way back to below the high up cabinet and stretched out his arms as if he was going to be entered in a weight lifting competition. A long concentrated deep breath came from him as he closed his eyes. Feeling a bit anxious from this but, if he only thought of her for a moment then it should only be a few inches right? “Alright Oliver, keep your distance.” Jason said as pushed up his glasses and wondered what he should specifically think about. Obviously nothing too intense, probably? He actually wasn’t sure when the point of no return was. His hands came together and made them hold each other. Maybe just the thought of holding her wonderfully soft palms might do the trick--

BANG

CRASH

“HISSSS! ROWWEEERRRR!”

CLANK

“AGGH! BOLLOCKS!!”

[Image Description: Jason grew too tall and ended up slamming his head on the ceiling. This caused him to fall back onto the kitchen island and he got smacked by a pan and is in pain.]

In one brief moment, the kitchen descended into chaos. The height that Jason had desired was passed up very quickly and his head punched itself through the ceiling, causing a huge crack to form. Debris fell and blinded Jason for a moment- causing him to stumble backwards onto the kitchen island. In a different time, it was nice to have a really good cast iron steel set of pots and pans. At the moment however, the back of Jason’s head didn’t appreciate it as he tumbled into them. His back was sprawled across the counter and all he could do was hold the back of his head, seizing in pain.

“Oooowww-” The now 10 foot tall Jason moaned, “How... have I not gotten brain damage?…” He opened his eyes to a horrifying sight, not at his ceiling being caved in nor his expensive cooking equipment being scattered everywhere; but the sight of his poor fluffed up baby boy huddling in the corner and hiding his scared face behind his puffed up tail.

“Oh… oh no pumpkin I’m so sorry...” Jason cooed, feeling like an absolutely disgusting human being, “I-I didn’t mean to scare you, It’s still me Oliver…” Jason managed to flop himself over so he could lay on this stomach comfortably. He reached out a large hand to Oliver, who at first backed up from the offered hand. The man’s heart dropped from seeing this and expected Oliver to sprint towards the bedroom to hide from the big scary monster that invaded his home.

Instead, Oliver slowly raised his head from his tail and stared at the hand with his good eye. His nose reached over to Jason’s huge fingers and gave them a couple of small sniffs. From this new perspective Jason gained, Oliver could have been mistaken as a kitten on how small he looked. This almost made Jason’s heart soar with glee as he’d never got the chance to meet Oliver when he was a baby cat, but what really brought him glee was when Oliver rubbed his fuzzy head into Jason’s palm and let himself be wrapped by his owner’s large fingers for scratches. Tears of happiness covered Jason’s knocked askew glasses.

Forgiveness was granted.

----

After giving Oliver double the serving that he usually had for dinner, Jason crawled through his own home to get to the bathroom. The hallways of the townhouse had become more like service tunnels as he had to duck throughout the home. While he was careful to not smack his head on any light fixtures, his feet were having a hard time adjusting to the new walkway. The pain in the back of his skull was still stinging slightly from the incident so he used his free hand to massage it while the other large hand traced the walls and grabbed onto the door frame that entered the bathroom.

“Ugh, the new pain meds are comin’ in handy today..” Jason mumbled before he looked up at the mirror, “AH!!-- Oh… oh.”

He yelped for a brief moment before realizing that the bathroom mirror had only reflected himself. However, he almost didn’t realize it was him due to the fact he was now completely covering the doorway and he was crouching to be able to get inside the bathroom.

Watching his reflection, Jason's emotions morphed from surprise to a tinge of sadness. It dawned on him why his coworkers had initially been apprehensive around him. With a resigned sigh, he maneuvered into the bathroom, barely leaving any space to spare. He chuckled at the thought that he had once considered this compact bathroom relatively spacious for townhouse living. Without further ado, he removed his glasses to splash water on his face.

“...Wha- Wait what!? Are you kidding me!? Noooo,” Jason spoke out of disbelief as his glasses suddenly shrunk right as they left his face, “How the hell?...”

Try as he might, he couldn’t put them back on his face as they just simply wouldn’t fit. Jason couldn’t exactly get himself to fit the glasses either as the pain in the back of his head made it near impossible to concentrate.

“Oh, that’s just great…” Jason said sarcastically as he placed his glasses on the bathroom counter, “That’s how it’s going to be then.” He rubbed the arch of his nose before gingerly turning the faucet on. Splashing cool water on his face did make him feel a little bit more grounded despite the weirdness. He patted his face dry with a teal bath towel before eyeing his sweater vest and polo.

“I guess I’m not expecting visitors or going out like this…” He mumbled to himself as he grabbed the bottom of his polo and started to pull it over his head, “But I’ll leave the trousers on for now- Ugh!” Jason grunted as he was having a bit of trouble trying to get his upper wear over his shoulders. His elbows had hit the ceiling and the lack of space made it hard to yank the polo combo off. Undeterred, Jason persisted, shifting and shimmying until he successfully removed the polo shirt.

Jason held onto the clothing and was rather stunned as he saw that it too, had shrunk back down to his normal clothing size. This brought on more questions from Jason; Why did his clothing shrink back to normal when he took them off? Does anything in his pockets change size too? How is his clothing growing along with him and not getting ripped to shreds?

Jason shivered, perhaps he should just be grateful that he gets to remain fully clothed as the alternative would be a whole new set of problems to deal with.

He tossed his clothes into the hamper to put an end to those thoughts and looked back at the mirror. His large hands nearly eclipsed the bathroom counter as he gingerly placed his palms on it. His eyes traced the scrawny ribs and various fresh bruises that marked the kitchen incident. An uncanny feeling was raised from within as it felt like a crime against nature itself for a body type like his to be able to fill an entire room.

Spotting the end of the lighting scar on his shoulder, Jason reached out his fingers to touch it and turned a little bit to get a better look at the wound. The appearance of this scar shocked him as he hadn't felt pain from it till days after the incident. His muscles tensed up from touching the scarring and he pulled away to just stare at it. While getting a Lichtenberg figure from a lightning strike wasn’t uncommon, what was strange about this scar was that the entry point looked shaped like a cartoon heart. Probably a silly coincidence or a mocking branding.

Coming to terms with his condition felt impossible, it wasn’t like anyone else in the whole world that could relate to him. He could no longer stare at the freak in the mirror and hung his head low, thoughts wondering if this meant he could never truly find happiness in a relationship. While he didn’t want to be in a relationship, now it was as if he no longer had any say in the matter. Tightness built up in his chest; what did this all even mean and why him? Perhaps he was being selfish for falling hard for someone who could be fired and have her life ruined if he’d dared to act on his feelings.

“Meow.”

“Oliver? Oh bloody hell I left the door open didn’t I?”

“Meow!”

His eyes squinted to try to make out the fluffy orange blob that passed under his legs and was rubbing his ankle dramatically. The flick of Oliver’s tail made Jason’s frown curl into an appreciative grin. Oliver’s paw twitched a little bit from the unexpected puddle on the floor, Jason looked back up in the mirror and realized his face was completely wet with tears.

“I-I’m sorry for crying like a big baby Oliver, That’s very unbecoming of me…”

“Meowwwwww.”

Jason reached down gingerly to hoist the fluffy noise box off of the tile and into his arms. Oliver squirmed a little as Jason tried to find a comfortable position for his fuzzy son due to his arms being much longer. It only took a few seconds to adjust and Oliver was once again cradled like a newborn comfortably.

“Oh my gosh Pumpkin you’re so tiny~”

Jason sniffled as he used one finger to lightly pet Oliver’s fluffy tummy as he turned away from the mirror. Truthfully, It was awkward trying to shuffle out of the bathroom with a bundle that demanded attention. The kitty’s insistence was a little bit annoying, but the annoyance was overpowered by how Oliver wields his cuteness to his advantage.

While it took a minute to navigate his home, he managed to get to his living room. Thankfully the ceiling was raised considerably, so he didn’t need to stress his back anymore. Getting to his usually comfy leather couch, Jason ever so carefully lowered himself down. The squeals from the wooden legs made him flinch and held onto Oliver for support. When he managed to sit completely down onto the couch, he sighed in relief that it didn't give way. Looking around his living room, he started to notice the fragile photographs that adorned the walls, the expensive television across from him, and plenty of breakable items that are precious to him. More things he could quite easily destroy without meaning to.

He’d let go of Oliver and the orange fluff cloud pranced onto the low coffee table, sitting down regally with his tail covering his front paws. “Well,” Jason said, leaning down to his right and attempting to make himself comfortable on his ‘new’ loveseat sized couch, “I think it’s about time to reorganize the place, just to be on the safe side.”

The couch creaked in protest, as Jason laid his back to toe cushion and his neck cradled haphazardly on the arm rest. His long legs found it uncomfortable to curl up on the couch, so they stretched out over the opposite armrest, and the soles of his feet rested on the floor. Finally, he had managed to find some comfort in this new body of his.

He took a deep breath and- SNAP

Oliver leaped off the coffee table in response to the loud noise, caused by the couch's plywood giving way under the weight it was never meant to bear. Although it startled Jason for a moment, his body sank back onto the broken couch with a disappointed sigh. What else was new?

------

A Ravine [ Dream II ]

She was farther than ever before;

Across the Ravine.

Upon looking down,

He couldn’t comprehend the unseen.

Before he could plead,

His chest burned.

No fear, no regrets

He took the leap.

The blue moon loomed

Claws dragged his ankles down,

Before he could cross;

Abyss cemented his doom.

Down he fell into the ravine;

Knowing he will never be seen.

Darkness consumed all,Lost forever within the Ravine.

------

It wasn’t a recent development for Ellie’s hatred of college level essays about the unclean parts about mental health. Though she didn’t like writing essays in general, she really had to double her effort from having to research grotesque subject matter. While it was necessary for her future career, damn if it wasn’t a mood killer. The blank document’s cursor flickers in mockery at Ellie as he sat on top of her bed sheets. Curled up with a nice warm cup of matcha on the side and held a firm grip on the sticker covered laptop on her lap. Sadly, she couldn’t use her love birds as an excuse to procrastinate as they were in the middle of their mid day cuddle nap. Ellie rubbed her nose in frustration, her mind pulling out blanks for an introduction for a tricky subject such as this.

After another embarrassing date going south, she wasn’t in the mood to chat up potential bachelorettes either. This left her with just herself, and the doomed assignment.

Usually when she found herself stuck on inspiration for stuff like this, she’d head over to her best friend that was conveniently next door for guidance since he’d always had a knack for essay writing. Unfortunately, he wasn’t available and hasn’t been for a week. Ellie missed the days where they’d open their bedroom windows to chat nonchalantly about their weekend or gossip about their coworkers. It was one of the reasons why they rented these townhouses as they could stay in touch and get those sweet discounts on the places. However, every time Ellie peaked through her bedroom window to check to see if Jason was there, his curtains had remained closed. Ellie did think about heading over there herself to check if he was okay, though her deep rooted fear held her from going. It wasn’t like she was scared of Jason necessarily. What monster would be afraid of their best friend suffering from an unknown sickness? On the other hand, her sleep had been tormented with imagery of being unknowingly squashed under a heel and feeling like a helpless bug in an uncaring universe.

This part of herself she knew, long before this mess. A deep sinking feeling of panic brewed when she passed by unthinkably tall buildings and passed on Motor’s movie night ideas. If she could diagnose herself, she'd guess it was a classic case of megalophobia. That fear was usually unfounded and didn’t affect her life day to day usually so she wasn’t that upset about it. Until now. While she did manage to push through it during their experiments in the forest for her friend’s sake, she did have to binge through videos of kitten fostering videos to cope through the tears.

Ellie noticed that she was gripping the sides of her laptop and biting her tongue as her stress boiled over. Her laptop was pushed onto her bed and she rose from her sheets with a determination filled with obligation. She rushed to her drawers and got dressed into her usual autumn weekend outfit.

Her heart couldn’t take the communication break down anymore. Ellie needed to make sure Jason was alright and the thought of abandoning her friend when he needed her most made her feel like a disgusting coward.

Ellie snatched her keys and rushed by her chirping lovebirds as she made her way to the front door. Once she shuffled down the front steps, her gaze turned to Jason’s front door. At first she couldn’t find the strength to move her feet, the mere thought of what could be happening in there made her blood run cold. Though it was too late to bail now.

With one last look at her front door, Ellie sighed and her heavy feet walked up to the front door of Jason’s home and she knocked her fist on the door. Ellie’s shoulders jumped when she heard a dramatic thud coming from within the home. Her concern only grew from there as the noise was followed with a few scraping noises and then silence.

“Uh, Hey man are y-” Ellie said before the front door suddenly swung open, revealing a normal sized, but uncommonly disheveled Jason with a deceitfully wide grin.

[Image Description: A very concerned Ellie staring at Jason, who has opened his front door and is leaning on the door frame with a wide guilty grin.]

“Heeeeey Ellie,” Jason said, with fake cheerfulness, “It’s so nice to see you! Man alive, how long has it been?” “Uh, about a week…” Ellie said, trying to peek her head behind Jason, “Wanted to check in on… things.”

Jason shoved his head in the way of Ellie’s eye line while he kept that telling grin on his face. “OH! Things have been just swell! ” Jason paltered.

And as if the universe itself took offense, a shelf crashed to the floor.

Ellie peered further over Jason’s shoulder and decided to push him aside despite Jason’s protest. To no one’s surprise; everything wasn’t swell in Jason’s abode. Bits of the ceiling fluttered onto the carpet and the cardboard boxes that had been hastily taped up. Once Ellie looked up, she could see multiple sized dents in the ceiling with a few expensive looking holes.

“Jason…” Elllie gasped, turning to look at Jason who at this point was hiding his face with his fingers. “I know…” Jason groaned, “the landlord is going to bloody kill me.”

Ellie gestured her hands towards the disaster in his house, “You did all of this in a week!?” Her voice raised, more so out of concern than disbelief. Jason kept his head low and moved past her into his ruined living room in shame as he laid a hand on one of the boxes. “Getting used to this disease has been harder than I anticipated…” Jason confessed, “I’ve been putting everything breakable away and haven’t left the house for days.” At this point he had completely dropped the act, his face darkened in shame.

“Oh gods…” Ellie said as she reached a hand out to Jason’s shoulder to comfort him. Though right before she could, she heard a familiar yowl come from the couch. Her attention was shattered and she cooed at Oliver, who was trying to take a needed nap and was rudely woken up by the commotion. Ellie bee-lined towards the couch and scooped up the orange fluff ball into her arms.

“Right, that’s why you came over,” Jason said with snark as he approached the two.

“Nooo, I did come over to see how you were doing,” Ellie said as she bounced Oliver like a newborn, “But I mean, come on look at him!” She hoisted Oliver up in her arms and the look in his eye showed that there was truly a void of nothing behind it.

Jason couldn’t wallow forever and acquiesced with a chuckle. He petted the top of Oliver’s head and kept his eyes on his little furry friend as he spoke to Ellie. “He somehow still loves me after all of this mess, ” Jason said, “Though I’m not sure how long I can control myself to keep him safe.”

An awkward silence filled the room after that. Ellie sighed as she looked at her dissonant friend and she gave herself a moment to ponder the situation. She took note of the crater’s in the ceiling and the clearly evident eye bags below Jason’s eyes. “How much sleep are you getting?” Ellie asked as she set Oliver free. The cat pranced out of Ellie’s arm and onto the back of the broken couch. Jason sighed as he put a hand on his forehead in foggy thought. “None,” Jason complained, “I’ve been having a lot of dreadful nightmares and I’m afraid I’ll wake up to find myself homeless.”

Ellie anxiously tapped the broken remains of his couch and took a deep breath. She gave a comforting gaze to Jason despite her own comfort. “Why don’t you come over to my place?” Ellie suggested, “We can try to do research on this thing, just like what we used to do in college.” She put a firm hand on Jason’s shoulder as he recoiled in shock. Before his stuttering could refuse, his head shook vehemently and he tried to pull away. “Wh-what!?” Jason exclaimed, “N-no! No, that's a terrible idea! Do you want me to get you in trouble with the landlord too!?” Ellie thought to argue that. “Look around, You’ve been isolated for way too long and it’s gonna drive you nuts!” Ellie said as she gestured her hand to the disastrous state of Jason’s living room, “Besides, I know that you’re gonna be extra careful if the house isn’t yours, you’re too considerate.” Jason folded his arms. It was very rare that he was unsure of his friend’s judgment, though at the moment, his doubts were plenty. “It’s dangerous,” Jason said, “I’m not keeping myself locked in my house for no reason Ellie.” He pushed Ellie’s hand away grimly and stared at the floor longingly.

Well, Ellie didn’t care for that one bit. She took it upon herself to scoop up Oliver, who chipped in surprise, from the couch and marched towards the door. “In that case, I’m sure Oliver would love to study with me to find out how to cure your stubborn butt.” Ellie said while she headed straight towards the front door with a sly grin on her face. “Wait- WAIT ELLIE,” Jason called after her and clumsily followed her trail like a helpless puppy, “You can’t just take my cat! Hey- ELLIE! HOLD JUST A SECOND-!!”

------

If one were forced to think of one word to describe Ellie’s living room, it could very well be ‘serene’. The place definitely looked lived in, but it was a very clean mess of psychology textbooks on the handed-down oak coffee table, that had been gifted to her by her mothers. Pots were placed around the room that cradled many different types of plant life, and in one corner, Ellie's cassette collection laid haphazardly near her vintage boombox. Despite the apparent disorganization, she never had trouble locating any mix-tape in that pile. Music selection was not a frequent problem, though, as her two very vocal love birds' cage occupied a central position in the living room.

Jason had been sitting quite uncomfortably on her bequeathed bargain couch, though not due to the lack of support from the couch, but because he was essentially held hostage there. His traitorous kitty decided he wanted to spend time with auntie Ellie after being catnapped. He crossed his arms pouting, trying to ignore the smug look she had on her face as she entered the kitchen. “Whatcha want to drink?” Ellie asked.

“Earl grey,” Jason said, “Also you’re evil.” “I know,” Ellie playfully replied as she disappeared through the doorway.

As much as he wanted to right then, Jason couldn’t seethe forever and eventually released the breath he was holding. He knew she was just trying to help but he was more scared than angry at her insistence. His gaze checked around the room for anything potentially breakable and expensive. By the end of the first week of being a circus freak, he’d picked up a new awareness of how fragile things can be and how much of a hassle it would be to replace them. Jason stood up from the couch, not wanting to dwell on how much money he was already losing, and made his way over to the pair of love birds.

“Ah! Hello Mango and Papaya,” Jason greeted them as he leaned over to the cage, “Oliver is in the guest room right now so you two can stretch your wings, yeah?” Mango squealed in agreement as the door to the cage was opened and she hopped excitedly onto Jason’s hand. Papaya decided to stay cautious and only peaked her head out to check on Mango’s well-being. Mango had always been the more approachable one out of the couple. Jason’s thumb scratched the love bird’s neck and ruffled her head feathers. She leaned her head towards his hand in merriment, as her closed eyes smiled in bliss. For a minute, Jason completely forgot that he was forced to be there against his will. He showered the bird in affection until their wholesome interaction was cut short.

Despite the desperate neck stretches and opening her beak to show authority, Jason didn’t realize that Paypapa wasn’t going to let her soulmate be taken by some human tart. She thought to rectify this slight and confronted Jason with a hard bite on the fingertip. “Owch! Okay fine I’ll put her down, god-” Jason stammered as he let both birds onto the top of their cage. He rubbed the small bite mark on his finger as he saw his aggressor frantically groom Mango. Despite the pain of being chomped on, Jason chuckled after the fact. “My apologies,” Jason said, “I almost forgot you’re a bonded pair.” While he was not a bird expert, it was obvious that Papaya was just trying to protect her sweet girlfriend. How romantic.

Only for a moment Jason got lost in thought, unaware of his surroundings as his mind was swooned by the very idea of soulmates and his longing desire to have one for himself. To be honest, he did feel a tad jealous these birds have a better love life than he ever will. The train of thought crashed as he heard a loud gasp, tea being spilled and the feeling of the ceiling pushing down on his head.

“Oh gods, J-JASON!” Ellie stuttered, trying to regain her composure from nearly suffering from a heart attack by the sight of a giant suddenly appearing in her house. Panic flooded onto Jason’s face as he realized he wasn’t as careful as he thought he was. “I-I’m sorry!” Jason begged as he tried to crouch down, trying to make him seem smaller in vain, “I’ll try not to break anything on the way out.” Before he could start crawling towards the front door in a fit of panic, Ellie rushed to set the un-spilled mug of earl gray onto her coffee table and approached him. “Wait!” Ellie said, with her phobia and compassion at war with each other, “You don’t have to go! It’s fine, I swear!”

Jason halted and looked at her in disbelief. While he wasn’t the best at reading people like Ellie was, even he could tell that Ellie was terrified of him and was just trying to be polite. “I know you’re scared of me,” Jason said bluntly, “My feelings aren’t hurt, I’ll just take my leave.”

A harsh tug on the bottom of his t-shirt stopped him from turning around. He looked over to see that Ellie is gripping the fabric as if she was able to actually keep the man the size of a Honda from escaping. Though that sad desperate look in her eyes may as well have bolted him to the floor.

"No! I might be scared, but I'm even more terrified for your well-being!" Ellie argued, “No matter what horrifying thing you turn into; Giant, cockroach, hell, a giant cockroach! I’m still not going to abandon you!” Jason sighed heavily and before he could even begin to formulate an argument, Ellie cuffed her full hands together. “Please let me help you,” she pleaded, “you don’t have to deal with this alone.”

Jason felt this stomach tie up in knots. He’d already felt guilty for being a terrible house guest, but he couldn’t just say no to her insistence. Jason stared at the floor in shame as he admitted defeat. “Fine,” Jason said, “I’ll stay.”

Ellie smiled, releasing her shaking hands and turned to pick up the spilled tea mug off of the floor. “We’ll figure it out,” Ellie said, “Besides, what kind of a cat dad leaves their precious baby behind?~” Jason groaned, “Don’t push it.”

----

This impromptu study session really did bring back those college freshman memories when Ellie and Jason had to cram for exams. However, the tension wasn’t being built by a demanding deadline. Ellie felt the stress when she peaked over her laptop and saw the gargantuan man sitting next to her couch trying to gently sip the tiny mug in his massive hands. His fingers fidgeted around the mug's handle uncomfortably. He also kept hesitantly pulling the cup towards his lips but, whenever it got near his mouth, he pulled away reluctantly. Watching this constant backpedaling was starting to be unbearable to watch. “Dude, I can make you tea in a mixing bowl,” Ellie commented, glancing over to see Jason’s grimacing face being offended by the mere suggestion.

“What? No,” Jason said as he tried to ‘properly’ hold his mug, “I don’t need to feel anymore out of place than I already am.” He uncomfortably shifted as he glanced down at his remarkably large hands that nearly enveloped the little mug. Ellie rolled her eyes, sharing that same gaze to his mug. “Getting accommodated doesn’t make you weird,” Ellie said, taking a sip herself before turning her attention back to her internet browser, which had several open Wikipedia tabs. They’d been looking at a variety of human body size disorders that could fit the bill. None of them helped in the slightest, since it seemed like Jason’s condition was anything but normal for a human. Ellie started to mass-close all of those useless tabs as Jason sighed in defeat and sat the mug onto the coffee table gingerly.

“I don’t even know why we’re bothering trying to search this… thing on the internet,” Jason said, folding his arms, “It’s not like some other poor sod could be going through the same deal, and if we do find something, it’d be some weirdo’s fantasy writing.”

Ellie thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. “Myths! We can look at legends around the globe for answers,” Ellie said excitedly as she started to type search terms in the browser bar. “Why myths?,” Jason asked, “Shouldn’t we be looking for, you know, factual evidence?” “There’s a nugget of truth in a lot of cultural tales,” Ellie explained as she pulled up more web pages filled with different stories concerning giants, “Maybe one of them is actually true.” “You’re sounding an awful lot like Motor,” Jason said as he pushed himself a tad closer to Ellie and arched his neck so he could get a look at the kind of ridiculous stuff she was searching for. The listings had notable large figures such as the treacherous Gogmagog to the vastness of the Daidarabotchi, though many of these listings seemed to pull up gods or malevolent creatures. Jason was sure he was definitely not either of those things.

Probably.

While Ellie may have been on the right track, Jason couldn’t see how any of these beings and monsters had any relation to him. Though it was getting hard to read her laptop screen as she kept tabbing through websites at top speed. While this made Ellie great at procrastinating and getting away with it in her college classes, Jason wanted to research too.

A brief flicker of recognition flashed registered in Jason’s brain as he spotted golden fur for a split second through Ellie’s browsing. Quickly Jason leaned over her and without thinking, slammed his hand next to hers. “Hold on! Can you… Ellie?” Jason attempted to ask before he realized that Ellie’s body froze suddenly. The only thing that was moving was her shivering hand. It felt like her entire soul left her chest and seeing a huge hand that could have weighed more than a brick nearly missed hitting her frail fingers. Ellie’s neck craned slowly tilted her head upwards hesitantly to be met with Jason’s wide chest. Ellie was rendered speechless and Jason eventually picked up on that. He lurked away from her, sputtering apologizes as he proceeded to sit on his hands. “I’m so sorry I-I didn’t think about- I’ll keep myself right here,” Jason nervously trembled as he watched Ellie let go of a sigh of relief she herself didn’t realize she was holding.

“Warn me next time will ya? Geeze,” Ellie said as she tried to regain her composure and sense of safety, “could’ve lost my writing hand.” Compulsively, Ellie rubbed her wrist as she kept her eyes off of Jason for the time being. For now, she pushed down that icky feeling of distress and flicked through some of the back pages silently to see what Jason nearly broke her hand for.

“...It’s uh- … the golden dog I think,” Jason muttered with his gaze glued to the floor, “It looked familiar.” After a quiet moment that felt like ages, Ellie finally spoke up again after taking a swig of her tea.

“The Golden Beast,” Ellie began to read out loud, “A phenomenon seen around the world of a large golden canine that is very elusive, but it is said to be a symbol of great change and good harvest.”

Jason waited for a moment to listen intently to Ellie’s lecture, but nothing else came. “... and?” Jason asked, though he got his answer when Ellie shrugged with a disappointed look. “That’s it, not much information written down here,” Ellie responded as she went ahead to search for the term elsewhere on the internet. Both of them would be lying if they said they weren’t disappointed, especially Jason.

“I swear I’ve seen something that looked similar but,” He commented as he easily finished off his tea with a single sip, “I just can’t seem to recall anything.” He sat the mug down and watched Ellie peruse through a few websites, but in the end didn’t seem to find much else about the mysterious beast.

“Another brick wall… bummer,” Ellie said as she stretched her arms outward, making sure her wrists weren’t getting sore. Her bones cracked as she rolled her shoulder, she had attempted to loosen up and let go of the pent up anxiety she had plenty of. In her peripheral vision she could see Jason reaching his head to the side to look hopelessly at Ellie’s laptop without having to get too close to her.

“There really is nothing that can help me is there?” Jason said as he slumped, “Figures.” The two of them sat in silence for a while, unsure of what they could possibly do next or even find a trail to follow for the answers to their building questions. Ellie even half-mindly scrolled through news sites for anything unusual happenings. Though other than a couple of strange meteoroids being found around the globe, it was all mostly just news of politicians lying, groan worthy e-celebrity drama and a heartwarming story of a local pit bull named Twinkles saving a bus full of deaf school children from falling into the Vancouver River.

Ellie took a deep breath, “Jason I’m sorry I can’t…” Before Ellie could properly apologize to him, she noticed that Jason had a few visitors perched on the top of his head that were tugging tufts of his hair. Though he didn’t seem to notice it himself until he saw the despair disappear from Ellie’s face and she started to chuckle. She couldn’t keep a straight face for even a second.

[Image Description: Mango and Papaya are playing in Jason’s hair and Ellie is just sitting there. LAUGHING. ]

“Hey, what are you two doing!?” Jason exclaimed, trying to gently shoo away the uninvited guests. The birds of course, did not even acknowledge Jason’s attempts to evict them. Papaya just tugged at tufts of his hair to see if she could make a nest and Mango naively rolled around in the strange grass they discovered. If he had just been a little more stern, he could have negotiated with Mango and Papaya to retreat. However, Jason’s hesitant hands and soft voice made it clear that he wasn’t going to risk being slightly rough with Ellie’s pets.

“Uh- a little help please?” Jason asked as he turned his awkward gaze back to Ellie. She stood up from the couch, and from there, she had to hold on a second to take in how large her friend had become. Her mind could still barely comprehend a giant human being real and be sitting in her house. However, that pleading look in his eyes that paired with his helplessness from the invasion of her birds made one thing very clear: Despite her skin crawling, he was still a harmless dork. “They probably think you’re a tree,” Ellie giggled, feeling confident enough to wave him down closer to her. The giant hesitated, unsure if he really wanted to loom over her like a beastly ogre and give her heart’s well being a run for its money. That thought ended quickly though as Papaya started to nip at the brim of Jason’s glasses. “Oh good grief,” Jason mumbled, rolling his eyes and leaned down towards Ellie’s direction. His shadow engulfed Ellie as he eclipsed the ceiling light to draw closer. The heart in her chest might have exploded in fear when he bowed his head at her. Though upon seeing the little trouble maker’s untroubled play in his hair, Ellie’s shaking ceased. Perhaps, there wasn’t anything for her to worry about after all. Ellie reached her hands out to coerce her babies onto her shoulder and pushed aside tufts of hair to get to them. Though she froze when she felt a huge sigh brush against her legs. “I don’t know what to do,” Jason groaned, “no one in the world is going to know how to help me, never mind fix me.” His fingers halfheartedly fiddled with his socks, not really giving Ellie’s fiddling with his hair much mind. Ellie frowned, placing her birds onto her shoulder and gave the crown of Jason’s head a few pats. “Thanks,” Jason said. “No problem…” Ellie responded, though she did pause for a moment to contemplate a suggestion that Jason probably wasn’t going to like very much. “You know, ” Ellie continued, “there is someone who knows a lot about giants and he already knows about this curse.” “No way,” Jason objected, raising his head up to look Ellie in the face. She stepped back in a panic, trying to not be in the path of his drastic head swing. “Wait- hear me out,” Ellie pleaded, “Motor might be a bit… eccentric, but he might be our only available expert on how to handle yourself when you’re like- big.”

“He’s not a professional Ellie, he's a nerd,” Jason said, folding his arms indignant, “all he’d be able to teach me would be how to level a hospital.” Jason kept coming up with complaints while he watched her carry her birds back to their cage. Though most of those unwarranted complaints went through one ear and out the other. “And he’s just not all that bright honestly, how could I trust that ido… ” Jason’s rant was cut short by the daggers Ellie was staring at him, “My bad.” He learned to shut his mouth and sat there with gripped hands on his knees. “I know you two aren’t always on the best of terms,” Ellie said, “but he wants to help you and might be your only option for insight.”

The very idea of Jason having to grovel to Motor for help was already humiliating enough, but reaching out to him about this life threatening disease? Jason would almost rather stay indoors for the rest of his life. Realistically however, it would be only a matter of time before he hurts someone or destroys his house. Unfortunately it would seem like getting help from Motor was going to be his only option even if it was going to be an agonizing experience.

“Augh, Alright then if I don’t have a choice,” Jason said with a defeated sigh, “can’t help to feel that this is going to be a big mistake.”

Ellie closed the bird cage behind her, “Come on man,” she said as she walked back to Jason with a smile on her face, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?”

“Something terrible I reckon,” Jason responded, his fingers gripping his knees with another long sigh, “Also uh, can you help me shrink back to normal please?”

-----

Nothing happens in Stanley, Idaho. Well, that’s how one particular citizen would like to keep it.

This unassuming older woman stepped out of her lifted jeep with little effort and made her way inside the tea shop. A subtle exchange of knowing nods were exchanged between her and the front store worker as she walked past the meticulously put together display of various tea leaves. Upon reaching the elevator in the back of the shop, she proceeded to press the following buttons: Lobby, 1, 9, 8, 7, and pound. The elevator closed, and took her below the ground floor, which shouldn’t be possible for a two-story building.

As the elevator took its sweet time, she glanced down at her Hamilton military watch and gripped onto her steaming hot americano in her other hand. Seeing the watch read ‘5:00am’ made her groan with distaste. It was way too early for her to be up at her age. Duty calls, however, and she begrudgingly accepted.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity for the elevator to stop on the correct floor, she stepped out and was greeted by a long metal corridor that was barricaded with several security doors. Unperturbed, the woman walked up to each door, the same song and dance she always put up with to get to her damn office. Fingers to the hand scanners, eyes to the headache inducing retina scanners, and the most embarrassing of all, sticking her tongue out to a DNA analysis to let her through the final door. She had wondered if the engineers thought that last trial was some kind of bad joke.

Nevertheless, She slogged into the massive intelligence operation room that was filled with the panicked voices of government workers. They have all been responding to all sorts of calls for assistance to deal with found anomalies and confused 911 operators. However, the older woman was used to this chaos, and promptly walked past all of the pesky underlings trying to ask her questions. Even if she wanted to answer their queries, she had no idea what was going on or what she was called in for during her vacation.

Once she got to her office, she took off her windbreaker coat and wearily donned her standard issue FAIRA director’s coat. Before she headed to her desk, her hand shuffled through her windbreaker coat’s pocket and pulled out an opened box of cigarettes. Today was going to be difficult, why else would her superiors spring a surprise call-in on her? It didn’t take long for her to sit down at her desk and log her passwords into the computer with the help of her countless post it notes. The video call did not take its time either, ringing the moment her desktop loaded. She rolled her eyes and answered.

“Witch reporting in, receiving you loud and clear Eagle,” the director spoke before she heard the ear-grating voice come from the other end.

“EEEY BLAIR! How’s it goin’ grandma?”

“Sir, we have discussed this, we need to use our code names, also do not refer to me as grandma ever again.”

“OOOOH YEEEAAAH… I forgot.”

“Of course, sir. Anyway, was there any godforsaken reason why I was pulled from my vacation?”

“Calm down grandma! This is your crop and you gotta be the cream of it, ya hear?”

“Just get to the point.” “Aye soooo, we got a situation brewin’ up in the lil’ Washington, oooh yeah. You gotta take care of this ASAP. Ya see, they found these shiny rocks fallin’ out of the sky and it looks like your ring, if you catch my drift.”

“Right, so why isn’t NASA leading this operation?” “HMmmmmm uh, remember those budget cuts?” “I see.” “And while I love my guys in camo, they ain’t got the brain cells like your eggheads do, ooohh nooo.” “Fine, I’ll dispatch my team in the pacific northwest immediately-” “Oh no sister! You’re goin’ to pack your bags too!” “What!? Why?” “Cuz I noticed yer always sitting on your ass in that chair for years and I think you’re forgettin’ what it’s like to be one of your men, grandma.”

“My way of running things does not hold any relevance to the situation and for the last time; stop calling me grandma. I have a codename, Eagle, use it. ”

“It does more than you think chica, with somethin’ this big, I don’t think you should skimp on it. Plus, it’s the big Eagle’s orders so ya got no choice ya hear me?” She groaned, “…Understood sir.”

#heart thump #g/t #gt community #giant tiny #gt writing #giant/tiny #gt #writing #giant #jason #Ellie #Thank you guys <3

30 notes · View notes

azures-bazar · 1 year

Text

A Man From Another Time

A new one ! No need to remind you about my very strange writing schedules lmao This one came out of a corner of my mind as I asked myself "what if Arthur travelled with Francis Sinclair to 2023 ?"

I think I'll be doing a whole series of Modern!Arthur ! I just love picturing him trying things from the 21st century and being like totally thrilled by his discoveries !

And look at these absolutely gorgeous blue dotted socks

Modern - Arthur Morgan x GenderNeutral!Reader

Word count : 3.1k

Short summary : Somehow, Arthur has time-travelled with you to your own era, and discovers a world he never thought about.

A/Note : It’s based on a French experience, forgive me if it’s inaccurate.

Tags : cute, Arthur being like a kid, modern technologies, where are horses ?, overwhelmed boah, time-travelling, from 1899 to 2023, Francis Sinclair, post chapter 6

******

"Where are the horses ?"

This was the very first thing Arthur asked when you took him out in the city you were living in. His arrival at your place was rather strange and sudden as you woke up one night with him standing in your living room, completely unfazed and scared about something that might have happened earlier on. You had switched all lights on, absolutely terrified by this tall man wearing a union-suit, covered in bruises, coughing blood, unarmed, who looked at you with fear in his eyes. The only thing which made you keep your calm was Francis Sinclair, who was with him, holding him by the shoulders.

"We need some help here !" Francis had told you

You had met Francis while having a drink at the bar. He had first told you about time-travelling, you did not expect it to be true until he made you go through a door which led you straight to Saint-Denis, somewhere in 1899. Francis was a very peculiar man who had enjoyed playing with your thoughts about time-travelling. You never expected to move from an era to another, being somewhat scared to cause a paradox which would lead to some serious issues in your own time. You had watched many movies about paradoxes and did not want ending up into one of them.

The very first thing Francis had explained you was that Arthur had a tuberculosis, leading you to rush to your car in the middle of the night to drive to the nearest hospital. Arthur was absolutely mortified when he got inside, not saying a single word, even when you got to the hospital and dragged him inside. He coughed, still shaken and limping. Francis kept explaining him that you were going to see a doctor, but Arthur felt scared by what was happening. He had followed Francis into this strange door leading to your place, and there he was, with all these folks wearing white blouses and masks surrounding him. He had to remain at the hospital for a few days for his health to stabilise itself with the set of antibiotics given to him. You heard his voice for the first time when he got surprised by the doctor’s response to his illness.

"Tuberculosis has a cure ?"

Yes, his illness had a cure, there was enough hope for him to survive with the modern medicine. If Francis had decided to leave him behind in 1899, Arthur would have died on the top of that mountain in Roanoke Ridge. Francis had brought him to you right after Dutch had abandoned him, and Arthur was still devastated by this set of events that had happened a few minutes ago. In fact, he unexpectedly tried looking around the room to spot you nearby, afraid someone else was about to abandon him. You could not do that, you could not leave this poor man behind.

"You’re gonna be okay, sir." a nurse told him. "What’s your name ?"

"Arthur…" he groaned. "Arthur Morgan... I…I was…-"

"It’s okay, you’re okay."

Tears started streaming on his cheeks as they put an oxygen mask over his bruised face, you had watched him from distance while Francis had explained you the whole situation about Arthur’s old gang falling apart, his father-figure turning against him, his overall sacrifice for his brother. You felt the need to take care of him, Francis did not bring him to you by mistake, he knew you would help.

"It’s alright Arthur, we’re gonna take care of you." the nurse had told Arthur to calm him down

You had spent that night next to Arthur’s bed at the hospital, holding his hand while he was coughing, sobbing while remembering these past events, the way Dutch had betrayed him. You had tried your best to calm him down all night long, almost feeling devastated for this man you did not even know, ready to give up a piece of your own freedom to nurse him back to health and, probably, make him forget about his former life. He was certainly going to have some hard time to accommodate to this world, 124 years ahead of his time.

****

You had been taking care of Arthur for weeks already, Francis having been gone somewhere, leaving you alone with this peculiar roommate. You gave him your room, sleeping on the sofa of the living room in order to provide him with his own personal space and not bother him while you were either cooking, doing your laundry, watching tv or even working from home. For the first few days, Arthur hardly left your room, feeling constantly tired and mostly unable to walk around your place, only making it to the bathroom. These antibiotics given to him were certainly a cause to this permanent exhaustion, but he did not mind. He thanked you for nursing him back to health and being so kind with him perhaps twice a day.

His attitude was sweet, if not downright clingy at times. Arthur’s overall trauma following Dutch’s abandonment led him to develop a permanent need to have you around him, you could not spend a whole day at your workplace because you knew how much your guest longed to have you with him. After searching on the internet, you had found that Arthur was most likely suffering from a severe PTSD, but you did not mind. In fact, you enjoyed having Arthur near you, knowing he was feeling relaxed by hearing your footsteps, your voice, or by just seeing you.

Arthur had put all his trust on you since you brought him back from the hospital. Despite displaying his usual rowdy behaviour at times, he still obeyed your rules. You liked his overall presence at home, it made your life more enchanting to know that you were not going back to your empty place, but were going to see Arthur. It certainly brought the two of you quite close, enough for you to start displaying some physical affection towards him., something he had mostly forgotten following his arrival at your place. Sometimes, you would run your fingers in his hair, and he adored that. He adored everything you were doing to him. You were like an angel, his saviour. The one who almost brought him back to life.

Some moments were certainly funnier than others. When Arthur started feeling better, he finally had the occasion to take a shower instead of rubbing some wet cloth on his body. Poor man spent about ten minutes trying to figure out how your shower worked, absolutely shocked to feel hot water coming of it. You could hear him laugh, not used to this peculiar feeling it gave him. It tickled him ! Sometimes, he would even sing under shower, humming a few old songs with his rather raspy voice. At some point, he nearly broke your hairdryer, not fully understanding how it worked. Oh, and also your coffee machine. Arthur was not good with modern technologies yet.

You had seen him glance through the window for days, looking around your room, reading some of the books you had on your shelves. Once he felt better, he even walked inside the living room and was absolutely amazed by the TV, looking around to see where the projectionist platform was. He had jumped back when you switched it on, swearing at your TV for being so loud. When he first saw your phone laying on the counter, he took it between his hands and genuinely believed it was some piece of decoration.

"What’s that ?" he had asked, not understanding what this device was, looking like a very tiny TV screen

"It’s a phone. I’ll get you one, someday."

"That lil’ thing’s a phone ? You gotta be kiddin’ me !"

"You can even take instant pictures with it. And record stuff."

"Instant pictures and record ? But can you still call folks ?"

Arthur’s rather childish fascination for the modern world was fun to watch. It took you about a week to explain him how your TV worked, how your laptop could be switched on, how he could use your keyboard, having been used to typewriters… or to his own hands. His face, whenever you were switching your phone or your laptop on, was absolutely priceless ! You saw him randomly gaze the ceiling, trying to understand how your light bulb worked from up there. At some point, he kept playing with the switch, being mesmerised by how quick your lights could switch on and off.

"What a progress !" he exclaimed

You had introduced him to 20th century music, he seemed to be fond of rock and roll and awkwardly had danced on some songs from The Doors or The Rolling Stones. At least, he was doing much better than the day Francis brought him, even when he was listening to sad songs like the ones from Johnny Cash. His overall fascination for modern music was beautiful to witness, he even shed tears while listening to some songs he found sad. It was so hard for him to accommodate to this world, but listening to modern music made it easier.

At some point, you decided to take him out to show him the world you lived in. You had bought Arthur some clothes from local thrift stores after explaining him how men were dressing themselves up. He loved tee-shirts and sweatpants, you had mostly seen him wandering around your place dressed in those. Knowing you were going outside to take a walk, Arthur decided to ditch his sweatpants to wear some jeans instead. It suited him well ! You had trimmed his hair every three months, no one would have thought that man was from 1899 at first sight… until he would start talking.

As soon you left your place, Arthur felt overwhelmed by the world surrounding him. He had not stepped a foot outside your place since you brought him back from the hospital following his diagnosis. His first remark was quick to come, he came from 1899, when cars were far from being as popular as they at your time. Where were the horses ? You took your time to explain him that these shiny metallic figures on four wheels were the equivalent stagecoaches, and that motorcycles could be seen as the modern version of horses. At first, Arthur believed horses were all gone.

"So you killed all horses ?!" he gasped, looking somewhat angered and shocked

"Of course not !" you chuckled. "We just don’t use them anymore, but we don’t kill them. Cars are way faster than horses, so that’s why they got built. For us to travel faster."

"What’s the point of goin’ faster if you can’t take time to look around ?"

"Our society makes us want things fast, and cars are one of the tools which allows us to be faster."

Arthur nodded. What an overwhelming sight, a massive amount of information to process ! He wanted to analyse one of the cars parked nearby and moved on to the road to gaze at the wheels, a bus nearly ran into him as you jerked him towards you. Arthur looked petrified when as the bus passed by so fast, clinging his fists onto your shirt. He was obviously not used to see vehicles move at such speed!

"Good lord !" he gasped. "I nearly got killed right here !"

"Alright, I think you’re going to hold my hand."

Arthur did not respond, he did not even react when you grabbed his hand. You started walking on the sidewalk, keeping Arthur close to you while he kept looked around, nearly stumbling a few times, not looking where he was going. You almost felt like you had a giant child with you as he spent about a third of his time asking you what this place was, why there were green and red lights, why the buildings were sometimes this high, where were the sherifs. At some point, he even stopped your walk to glance at the store, exposing clothes for women. Some casual high-waisted shorts with black shirts.

"So women only wear underwear now ?" he asked. "They ain’t covering their ankles anymore ?"

"Some still do. Depending on your cultural beliefs, you can cover your ankles, your hands, or your head."

"And women walkin’ around in their actual underwear is acceptable now ?"

"No. Men and women can’t just walk in their underwear."

You were not ready to explain him anything about swim wear, he would probably confuse bikinis and boxers with actual underwear. Arthur was discovering a new world, enough for you to smile at him when he was stopping to look at casual things which were not this casual in his time. He even got completely amazed by a screen moving on a nearby billboard, showing an image of a Neil Armstrong going during the landing on the moon. An exhibition about Apollo 11 was currently available in your city.

"What’s that ?" he asked, pointing at the image

"What ? The rocket ?"

"I get it’s a rocket, but why is thy feller going down ? Where was he ?"

"Oh, that’s Neil Armstrong about to set foot on the moon. There’s an ex…-"

"Someone set foot on the moon ?!"

He was shocked by this, as his core memory was still focused on 1899, with electric chairs still in progress and planes being only prototypes. Arthur would have been around 106 years old in 1969, provided he did not have tuberculosis, survived two World Wars, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Military Administration until 1944. You decided to take him to the exhibition for him to learn more about the events which led to the Apollo 11 mission, Arthur did not let go of your hand, asking you several questions about the short movies displayed, spatial suits, even what a rocket looked like. His puppy eyes glancing around the exhibition made your day more bright, he was almost not the same man the one Francis had brought you months ago !

After the exhibition, you took a break in the park. Arthur casually took a cigarette out of one of his pockets. He was looking at people walking by, families and simple town folk, dressed so differently than people from his own era. For months, he had not left your place, he barely knew what people looked like and how they behaved. He still tried greeting them, but a vast majority of them did not respond to his peculiar politeness. People did not greet each other anymore, at least in cities, and it somehow made him sad. Arthur suddenly turned back to you and pointed a plane passing above your city.

"Y/N ! What’s that ?!"

I"t’s a plane, Arthur." you smiled. "People take them to travel faster. Faster than cars."

"Can we try goin’ on a plane ?"

"Sure thing, but not now."

"That’s so amazing ! I wasn’t born in the right era !"

You wanted to contradict him. As far as you knew, you had experienced numerous financial crises, were on a brink of a new war and had gone through a global pandemic. You deeply wanted to tell Arthur that he was somewhat wrong, but the sheer innocence he kept displaying made you change your mind. In no way could you spoil this moment, stop the discovery of this new world.

After a day wandering around the city, Arthur felt exhausted. He had not walked this much for weeks, still trying his best to remain in shape while being around your place, carrying the groceries from your car to the kitchen, sometimes doing the laundry for you, cleaning the plates when you were not home while watching TV. He enjoyed watching documentaries to learn more about the your own world and like sitcoms like F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Malcolm, often asking you to watch these with him. You still requested him to help you to prepare some food, to which he obliged. He loved doing this and secretly loved being with you.

You ate before the TV, watching an old romantic movie you could not even name. Arthur nearly fell asleep in the process while his arm carefully moved around your shoulders. You smiled as you noticed him slowly drifting into sleep, still strong enough to make a very first move towards you. He had done that before, mostly preferring short embraces or resting his head on your shoulder at times, allowing you to kiss his forehead or his cheek. This was a big move !

"Arthur, go to bed." you smiled, gently passing your hand through his hair you had cut yourself

"Hmmm… yeah…"

Arthur rose from your couch and limped towards your bedroom, getting his jeans off to fall on the bed. His legs were so painful, enough for him to struggle lifting them up ! You calmly approached him, dragging a blanket above him, his eyes remained open.

"Care to join me ?" he smiled

"Well… why not."

You took a few clothes off, slipping under the blanket as Arthur dragged you into a very sudden embrace. You had almost forgotten how your own bed felt like, being used to your sofa. His warm body made you feel safe, very safe. His arms were wrapped around your waist, he had forgotten how great it felt to have someone to embrace. He kissed the top of your head as the two of you drifted asleep, leading you to wake up alone the next day. You glanced around, stretching a little as you heard the faint sound of your coffee machine in the living room, leading you to leave your room to come face to face with Arthur standing before the counter, having prepared you a warm coffee.

"Mornin’ darlin’." he smiled. Made you some coffee.

Arthur looked delightful, wearing a large white top with a pair of green boxers you had thought would be cool on him. He was also wearing these funny winter-themed socks you had offered him on a random occasion ! A pair of red socks with Christmas trees and stars on the. He first thought they were ridiculous, but came to enjoy them, cherishing them like any gift you were willing to offer him. He had even baked a chocolate cake !

"Morning." you smiled, kissing his cheek while he was sipping his coffee, causing him to blush. "Didn’t know you could use the oven !"

"Well… I tried some stuff." Arthur answered with a large smile. "Red a book and cooked."

You smiled even more more at Arthur’s sudden pride. He did really well, the cake tasted great. At first, you had forbid him to use the oven, being persuaded he would cause much more trouble than expected. You did not want to come back from work and find out that your place was one fire because Arthur was not able to understand how your oven worked. These past months were fun and you looked up for what was ahead. Arthur was just a man from another time, lost in a world that was not his… but, at least, he was no longer ill and was doing alright, mostly !

to be continued, maybe, maybe

#arthur morgan #arthur morgan x reader #rdr2 #gender neutral #arthur morgan fanfiction #rdr2 fanfic #red dead redemption 2 #red dead redemption fanfiction #red dead redemption au #azurestales #our modern boah #modern arthur morgan #my gifs

262 notes · View notes

ask-carmenpondiego · 24 days

Text

Chapter 16: The Unexpected Visitor

Weeks go by as the VILE team prepares for the retrieval of the chest that was mentioned in the moonlit carvings of their previous clue. In the bathroom, Wally sits shirtless on the bench by the tub as Carmen removes what vivianite crystals she could, making sure not to cut her latex gloves by accident. In a steel pan, she collects the shards, disinfecting and patching each wound as she goes. “I really wish you would see an actual trained doctor and not me. I just know basic first aid and CPR.” Wally winces a few times as he feels her remove the crystals, hearing the clanking of the shards in the pan. “I doubt they’ll know anything about this. Its not like that have an antibiotic for it. Its a little worse than the sniffles..” he tried chuckling, but started to cough a little, making Carmen hesitate a moment. She wipes her wrist across her forehead under her horn, moving some hair from her face. “Sounds like its starting to affect your lungs. We need to get these treasures so we can get you cured as soon as possible. Otherwise I wouldn’t even bother with asking a jerk spirit for anything.”

The blue pony sighed, looking at his scarred body in the mirror. “How much do you know?” He asked. She was silent for a little bit, closing up a rather large hole with a few stitches, “About the treasures? After the chest is a rabbit then a duck then an egg with a needle inside.. we need that needle to-“

“No, about me. What I am.” He fidgeted with his wedding ring, looking at her from the mirror. She straightened up and sighed. “I had my suspicions but I fully found out because of M. He claimed to be your brother by blood. He confirmed that you were a light balance changeling. Which would explain why Blendin changed from green apple color to a teal when he was a newborn if he is half changeling. But I don’t care what you were. I care about who you are as yourself. You married me as an earth pony, M told me you prefer to be an Earth Pony, so to me you have always been an Earth Pony. I still love you all the same no matter what you identify as.” Wally turns to face her and smiles, brushing her cheek with his hand. “What did I ever do to deserve an angel like you? Even after all this time, we found each other again. Its like you chase away the rain from my life.”

She chuckles and nuzzles into his hand, “You silly stallion, you always need a little rain, otherwise you’d be a desert. Harsh, gritty, dry… getting sand in unpleasant places..” The two ponies laugh a hearty bit. Wally smiles and leans closer and kisses Carmen softly.

Kiros knocked on the doorframe and smirked, “Hey Boss, is this a bad time? We zeroed in on an opening for the chest. We just need your approval for the go-ahead.” Carmen pulled off her gloves and tossed them in the bin. Kiros handed her the tablet, showing a plan and extraction, complete details of any traps or weak structure points.

She poured over the details, made a few notes and frowned. “Is this the best window we have to grab it? Theres several variables that are not consistent. We need stability in these areas to pull off that zip-line. Not enough room for a glider. If we can’t get across that way, going around will add more time.” Kiros shrugged, “This is what we keep coming up with after weeks of trying to figure this out. We’re fresh out of ideas of how to cross that trouble area. We just don’t have the ability to do much more in the way of advanced options.” Wally peeked over, “Have you thought of flying her over? I mean you have wings.. M has wings..”

Kiros and Carmen looked at him a moment. Carmen checked his wingspan and shook her head, “Just about the glider size. I can’t risk broken wings.” Kiros thought more, “Although I can size shift, making me smaller would mean I wouldn’t be able to carry as much. So thats out. What about Lekir? Maybe she can solidify those weak points with ice?” Carmen rubs her temples, “The moisture in the rocks expand when frozen, there a chance it will destabilize even worse.” Carmen hands Kiros the tablet and heads over to the war room to see if looking at it another way may be helpful. Kiros followed her as Wally stayed behind, looking over his bandages before putting his sweater back on.

The bathroom closet suddenly glowed blue around the edges and a young teal unicorn colt stuck his head out. His pink and blue eyes met Wally’s blue eyes with confusion. “Well hey there! Thats a funny place to hide!” The colt stared back at Wally, “…Dad?” Wally tilted his head, “Are you.. Blendin?” The colt rushed out of the closet door and gave his father a big hug, almost being the same height. It was quite obvious he was in his early teens and getting his growth spurt. “I didn’t expect you here! Why are you hiding in the closet?” Wally laughed. Blendin whipped around and closed the closet door, which did not look like a closet when Wally peeked in. It looked like a lobby to an old library if he had to guess. “I wasn’t in the closet.. Is… Mom here? I’ve been getting her letters. But I needed to ask some questions..” Blendin rubbed his arm nervously, his red hoodie looking baggy on his thin frame.

“So if we attach the zipline to this opposing wall, that will be a much better angle to be able to swing without issue..” Carmen pointed to a now 3D hologram of the temple area they were previously discussing. Wally cleared his throat, “Um, my light? I’m sorry to bother you while you’re working but.. I think you may need to see this.” He gestured for her to join him in the hallway privately. “Wally, I can’t keep stopping things for…” Carmen stopped as he stepped aside, pulling Blendin from shyly hiding behind him. “Look who I found in the bathroom closet!” Blendin blushed and gave a very annoyed sigh, “I wasn’t in the closet! I used the ley lines to connect my door to one of yours! How was I supposed to know it was in the bathroom??” Blendin looked over at Carmen who was practically shaking with holding back emotions. “Blendin.. look how tall.. you.. how.. how did you find us? We’re practically off the grid!” So many thoughts and questions raced through her mind, “You’ve grown so much! How is the Library treating you? Have you eaten? Have you gotten my letters? Are you angry with me? Where is Adora? Is she still angry with me? I’m so sorry for leaving you two so alone!” She rambled and had to stop herself.

Blendin chuckled a bit nervously. “Um… I will tell you as much as I can, I’m just on limited time. I snuck over here, I wasn’t supposed to use the ley doors yet. But I did a bit of digging online and noticed some activity in the dark web about this location being connected to the Sweet Spot. It was really tough to hack through, but I was able to find rough coordinates and wanted to see if you were here.” Carmen looked past him towards the bathroom, “You say you connected doors? Like interdimensional travel?” Blendin adjusted his glasses, which looked remarkably like Wally’s. “More like a more stabilized teleportation spell but yeah. Why?” Carmen wrapped him in a huge hug and kissed his cheek repeatedly, “I think you may have solved our problem!! You are such a smart kid! I’m so proud of you!!” Blendin squirmed out of her hugs and adjusted his hoodie, “Please.. warn me next time?” Carmen held up her hands, “Oh I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to overwhelm you. Right. Technically new person…. Have you eaten? You have time for a snack, right?”

Wally puts his hand on Blendin’s shoulder, “She’s been through a lot, give her some credit, this is new to her too. She’s just really excited.” Carmen darted back into the war room and gathered some books and papers, “Sorry! Big thing. Son’s here.” She blurted out and dashed out again, “Ok, Let’s go to the kitchen! Questions are always good paired with food. Eating something pleasureful helps the memory retention.” Blendin watches her hurry towards the kitchen and looks at Wally, “Is she always like this?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, “No, only when she finds something really interesting or if she finds an answer to a long problematic issue, she gets a bit hyper. But I’d say this is bigger than that.”

“Aren’t you excited to see me? You seem very… not excitable.” Blendin tilted his head, Wally chuckled. “Oh I’m very excited, I just dont show it like your mom does. I’m also dealing with some amnesia from a few years back so I’m just vibing until things start to click more.”

Wally and Blendin sit down at the kitchen island, Carmen had her small stack of papers and books on one end and was busy putting together a veggie platter, and stopped, “Do you like veggies? Whats a good snack you like?” Blendin sat up straight, arms by his side and hands on his lap, “Oh um, veggies are good, and maybe some Tajin and hot chili oil?” Carmen smiled over her shoulder, “Thats my boy, a good taste in seasoning! You probably get that more from your father, he’s loves everything spicy! I like more flavor than pure spice though.” She set the food in front of them and leaned on the bar, “Ok so you said you had some questions for me? I’ll answer what I can if you can answer some of mine.” Blendin’s eye sparkled as he saw different fruits and veggies on the platter, he was expecting just carrots and celery. “Um yeah, I needed some help with completing this thing for the Library.. and since I’m a minor, and technically a surrendered child, I can’t get a parent or guardian’s permission, and the Keeper won’t sign off as my guardian. And this is important to me. I want to learn more so I can travel and not be stuck in the library..” Carmen beamed, “You’re saying you need a permission slip signed or else you cannot start to go on missions until you are 18?” Blendin nodded, crunching a starfruit, “Yeah and that may set me back farther than some of the other candidates.” Carmen looked at Wally and tapped her chin, “Sounds like I need to pay the Keeper a visit then. Perhaps I can finally get to get custody of you two again. And this mansion is the safest place you can be as far as I’m concerned.” Blendin perked up, “You mean it? You still want us around?!” Wally and Carmen chuckled, “Of course we still want you!! We never wanted to give you two up in the first place!”

Wally smiled, “I’ve only come back recently as well but from everything I know, she’s been worried sick about you kids.” Blendin smiled and started to cry, “I’m so happy that we actually have parents.. I need to tell Daring..” he pulls out a pink cellphone and starts texting. “Daring? Who is Daring” Wally asked, looking at Carmen, “I’ve seen some fiction books about a Daring Do, but maybe its one of his friend’s nicknames? You know how kids are with fursona or original characters and fanfics..” Carmen chuckled, snagging a carrot chip and stacking a dragonfruit piece on top. “Oh, no, I’m talking to Adora, she IS Daring Do. Its not fiction. She writes about her adventures all the time.” Blendin showed his cellphone to Carmen, showing off pictures of a young adult Adora in safari gear. “I thought she was working with the Warehouse. Not galavanting through rainforests and rough terrain!” Blendin smirked, “She’s the top of her class, been doing work in the archeology division. She loves the stuff!” Wally laughs, “She really takes after you, doesn’t she?” Carmen almost chokes on the carrot and dragonfruit, “You mean thats all real? So she’s top of her class AND a published author? And here I thought being promoted to detective in my early 20’s was impressive!”

M strode past, looking a little worse for the wear, shirt and leather coat all disheveled, a few new plasters on his jaw, bent cigarette hanging from his mouth, his horns looked a bit demonic, one the tip was broke off. He went behind Carmen and used his tentacles to reach the top shelf for some chips. Blendin nearly dropped his phone. “M-Mom?? Why is there a demon in here? I thought you said it was safe here!!” Carmen turns to look at M, who just waved, “Sup, Squirt?”

“That is a good question. Why are you here? You should have been the first to tell me of a breach in security..” Carmen raised her eyebrow at the demon changeling, crossing her arms. “What? I fuckin checked him out, he’s cleaner than a newborn. Plus he came from one of your secure locations you told me to keep around. Consider yerself notified.”

Carmen noticed how uneasy Blendin looked and smacked M on the arm. “Fine, but you’re scaring the poor kid, tone down the horror show for a bit.” She leans towards Blendin assuringly, “Its alright, thats M, your uncle. He’s a dark balance changeling. He’s the one who helped me get back on my hooves after the accident with your father here. Its a long story.” M, who didnt turn down the horror show at all as far as his appearance was concerned, “I ain’t the only one he needs to worry about. He hasn’t met the fuckin team yet and I smell delicious doubt on him, like he doesn’t know if this was the right call, coming here. Which he knows exactly where here is.. or should I say What here is.” The poor young teen was trembling visibly and kept his eyes on his phone. All of a sudden he blinked invisible, startling the three adults. “Where the fuck did he go?” M blurted out as Carmen remembered to tap her glasses. “He’s still here. He’s just using one of his talents! Brilliant boy!”

She looked around and found him curled up under the island bar by his chair. She motioned for them to be quiet as she took a seat on the floor next to him. “Hey kiddo, I know its kinda scary with all these new people, but you can trust them. They’ve all been a part of this weird family we pieced together.” She heard sniffling and looked at the heat signature beside her. “So you aren’t just a misunderstood adventurer, are you? You really are a villain? Thats why you have demons and monsters and secret mansions with black market ties…” Carmen thought a moment and nodded, “I suppose you could see it that way, but its more like being an anti-hero, we don’t kill and most the targets have done things that made them deserve what we did.”

Blendin sniffled still and made his head visible from inside his hoodie, the strings pulled tight. “So I have anti-hero villain parents who want to have custody of us..” Blendin groaned as he tried to wrap his head around it. “I… don’t know if I can do this. This was a bad idea. You probably just want to have us break the law with you..” Wally and M looked at Carmen who winced, she did hope she could use his door transport to help with the chest retrieval. “No, sweetheart.. I will never force you into anything you don’t to do, ok? I could never do that to you, especially since this Librarian candidacy seems to really have you excited. And I couldn’t be more proud, you are a brilliant colt, and you are handsome and so very loved! And your sister too! I wish she were here so I could tell her to her face!” She opened her arms and let him choose to hug her or not. The young colt groaned in uncertainty still but tilted himself into her arms, dropping his invisibility. “This is fine, its progress!” She rubs his back comfortingly. Wally smiled wide, bouncing in his chair a bit, “You are so good with kids. You always were.” M scoffed, “Give it time, they’re teens.”

#mlp oc pony #carmen pondiego #ask blog #story update #ao3 fanfic #Blendin #Waldo #marehem #Kiros #chapter 16

8 notes · View notes

quohotos · 9 months

Text

Thoughts about bonds/bonding

This was something I was already planning to write up but then the latest return to regalia episode opened the flood gates and filled in some missing pieces for me. What follows is my own educated guesses and headcannon, very little of this is explicitly in the text of the books. Understand that much of this is my own headcannon, though I'll try my best to justify it with the text.

(also note that since I was an audio book kid I don't actually know if it's spelled flyer or flier and I'm going to get it wrong more than once and you're just going to have to live with that)

Luxa says that it wasn't normal for her to bond with Aurora so early, but that an exception was made as almost a form of therapy after the death of her parents. The same exception was made for Hazard and Thalia. We aren't explicitly told how old Henry was when he bonded with Ares, but I'm assuming it was before adulthood given how all four of them (Luxa, Henry, Ares, and Arora) have a storied history before the events of the first book. Henry had to be younger than 16 when they bonded (16 being the age of legal maturity in the underland, will amend if I'm misremembering), which isn't surprising given that he's Henry and he's never played by the rules. This raises the question of the bats' ages... we aren't ever told that. I would assume that the bats are of similar ages to their bonds, but I have no evidence to back that up.

In the Marks of Secret Ripred explains that rats grow up incredibly fast and reach full maturity in about a year, and that humans are uncommon in how long they take to grow up. It's not clear how long the bats take to grow up. Would Thalia have become an adult while Hazard was still a little kid, or would they have grown up concurrently? I can't say either way. One thing I can say with more confidence is that regardless of their ages, Aurora and Ares probably see their respective bonds like younger siblings. Obviously, being bonded to someone is a completely different relationship that we can't exactly map onto what we have in the overland, but I think that's a close approximation.

So Why and How do regular people get bonded?

The most surefire way to get bonded would be to join the military (something you can do from a very young age... I mean they have armor on hand for 12 year olds and we see seven year olds doing military drills in the Prophecy of Bane... yaaaaay). In the military you will be assigned to mixed species units and it's just sort of assumed that they'll all end up pairing up and bonding.

For civilians there are likely special yearly festivals that the two kingdoms share with the express purpose of giving people a chance to find bonds. My guess would be right around the time of the harvest when there's plentiful food to go around. After a hard year a bunch of flyers come to regalia and everyone has a big party to celebrate. There are probably specially organized games of whatever sport Gregor walked in on back in the first book. While specific flyers are probably scouted for sports and more importantly the military there's still plenty of opportunities for common Regalian and flyers to interact and meet.

What does bonding do for a flyer?

We see so much of the Underland Chronicles from the point of view of royal humans. To them, the benefits are obvious. Humans can't fly, bonding gives them access to someone who can. But why would a flier seek out a human bond? That just sounds like an obligation, right?

The Regalians have incredibly advanced medical technology. I've roasted them before for their metalworking, but their chemistry/biotech is unparalleled. They're able to produce antibiotics, as well as synthesize plagues and their cures. They have ways of treating illnesses that the overland doctors (allegedly) cannot. We also see that they have incredibly reliable and safe oral administered sedatives. Anesthesiology is such and advanced and risky field, and they seem to have cracked it to the point where people can safely be sedated for trivial maters without anyone batting an eye.

The arrival of humans (as permanent residents, native people made limited journeys to there before the arrival of Sandwich) in the Underland definitely raised everyone's average life expectancy by decades... before lowering it immediately afterwards through endless wars. In Curse of the Warmbloods someone steals the pain killers and Gregor realizes that the rats couldn't even use it if they wanted to because they don't have hands to open the bottle. Much of the Regalian's medical technology still requires a human to administer it. You need humans to carve splints and set them, you need humans to administer injections, you need humans to cut hair and perform surgery. Spinners can do some things to stop bleeding, but any significantly complex medical procedure is going to need human hands involved. Think about things like glasses and prosthetics, things we don't normally associate as medicine but would still kinda are. Humans probably manufacture and prescribe bat-glasses.

For a flyer, traveling long distances without a human bond is incredibly risky. If something bad happens, even if you have other flyers with you, you could die from what would otherwise be preventable causes. Bitten by mites? Who's going to apply the the ointment? Wing dislocated, who's going to pop it back into place (this one literally happened to Aurora). There are also probably some foods that can't safely be eaten raw, but a human could prepare. Heck, a human can boil water to purify it, or place traps that catch pray that otherwise wouldn't be hunt-able. Humans can catch fish that live too deep in the water for a flyer to peruse. Humans are adaptable. Your bond is your Swiss army knife, adaptable and versatile even if sometimes fragile.

Any flier trying to pursue and education needs to be bonded. You wanna go to bat-college? You gotta bring a human. You'll need one to transcribe all your essays and help you read books. The fliers definitely have a rich oral history that they all maintain, but there are some things that you just need a human to access. The average flier probably doesn't have a bond, but the higher in status definitely do for the educational purposes alone. While the queen herself doesn't have a bond, in fact it seems almost frowned upon in the royal family (Nike doesn't have one despite getting very close to a human who would like to bond with her in the later books), you bet your ass that every middle manager and local bat official has a bond who takes care of paperwork and accounting.

It's a funny parallel how flyers of low status like Ares can suddenly be whisked into royalty by being bonded to Henry, the same thing probably happens to humans. You could be Joe Shmo nobody (or I guess this is the underland so Joeth Shmavetus) who would probably live out their whole life carving stone jars, but you do numbers good so the bat-secretary of bat-state bonds with you and now you're really important.

That means that there are probably lots of places within the flyers lands that are built specifically to house humans long term. We see a little bit of that in the first book, but there's probably a lot more out of sight. Special areas where an important fliers' bonds can live and do their taxes and whatnot.

Bonding is usually an egalitarian process. It seems like both sides and both factions have to consent to it. When Gregor insinuates that one side owns the other he gets massive push-back. With that being said, I'm almost certain that Ares had little control in the matter over bonding with Henry. I think there's kind of an unstated rule that the royal families are going to bond with whoever they please, and that turning down a bond of high status would be a massive faux pas. Ares probably didn't feel like saying no was even on the table.

What about non-flyer bonds?

Oh yeah, code of claw spoilers beyond this point. Now that everyone's doing the reread and we're probably bringing a few first time readers into the fold I'm going to spoiler mark this part just in case since I'll be discussing things that happen in the last installment

Luxa and Ripred bond to usher in peace. This is treated as something that has never happened before but that the rules don't explicitly forbid. Henry jokes about people bonding to the crawlers, but in a way that portrays it as stupid and pathetic rather than impossible. In doing so she also symbolically brings the Gnawer into the spiritual fold that the flyers and humans already share.

Humans and Gnawers would then be allowed to bond with each-other. It might take generations for that to happen in earnest, sicne both sides have so much trauma and resentment built up, but maybe decades in the future the younger generations will find it in themselves to do so.

The fact that Luxa bonding with Ripred doesn't break her bond with Aurora sets the precident that you can bond with as many people as you want so long as you never have two of one species. I do not think Aurora is that happy about that, and I doubt she sees Ripred as her own bond. It's possible though, that in the future you could have big groups of underlanders who are all united by one bond. A whole bad batch rogues gallery of a flyer, a gnawer, a human, and a nibbler who each bring something special to the group.

Though never explicitly stated, I think it probably goes without saying that Hamnet and Frill were bonds. It definitely wasn't done the proper way, probably just informally in the jungle with nobody else observing, but still. A bond is a bond.

#the underland chronicles fanart #tuc #gregor the overlander #tuc lore #tuc fan theory #tuc discussion #tuc spoilers #return to regalia #return to regalia podcast

26 notes · View notes

gildedmuse · 2 months

Text

For anyone who donated to Diesel's bills, I want you to know I WILL be starting on those projects.

While we were not able to afford the surgery, I was able to afford a vet visit and antibiotics and I did everything they told me including holding a heating pack to the wound for 15 minutes every night and as you can see, the little angel is doing so much better!

I am deeply eternally thankful for what donations I received, and I apologize that it's taken me so long to do.... anything. Anyone who follows the blog knows I deal with my own health issues. They've caused me to lose my job (turns out throwing up at your desk is a faux pas, even if you tell them about your sickness at your interview, even if other people work from home with weak excuses but you're not allowed because "your history of getting sick". ) due to the opioid endemic and my age - I'm under 50 - they only intended the pain meds as a "temporary" fix for a chronic, genetic problem that has no cure short of getting my kidneys replaced. So I'm relearning after two years how to live in full time pain.

I hope you can stay patient with me. I am so thankful for all help and well wishes, I honestly wish I could write for everyone who even promoted my original post. When he was brought to me, I just quit my job and gave my sister all my savings for his surgery and then suddenly, from nowhere, she drove up and left two dogs with me. Turns out that's a lot of expenses, especially when one needed a second surgery. It's honestly thanks to the support I received I was able to get Diesel into a vet; I still haven't been able to take his sister in to see anyone, and my sister didn't leave any of her records, but she seems happy and healthy. According to my mom, they are happier with me now that they're not kept in crates (plus I spoil them pretty heavy with pets and walks; I can barely afford the kidney meds and food the boy needs but damn if I can't pet him for hours!)

I just want to thank everyone once again, and promise you're requests have not been forgotten.

I know it's selfish to ask, but I just need a little more time to adjust to my old pain levels and try and find a passable way to make a living while dealing with this pain (the reason I was given pain meds in the first place was because I worked; the deal was, I found a job I thought I could work so they'd give me pain meds, but without a job, obviously, there is no reason for me not to be in pain. And the pain grew bad enough that I was unable to continue work). But I am so, so thankful and I have not forgotten. I've just had to adjust to a very new lifestyle, and I am so sorry about the delay.

Thank you again, I promise I won't disappoint.

#real life shit #I suck and I'm sorry #doggie update #you WILL get your prize for being amazing people #unfortunately I am less amazing #I suck #so it might take a while #but damnit you saved my dog #and I owe you more than just a fic #but if thats all I can offer that's what I'll get you

7 notes · View notes

transandersrights · 1 year

Note

happy Friday :D for DADWC this week, perhaps some modern AU Anders? 😊

(I take prompts! See info here)

Ty for the prompt!! I took this as an excuse to write ~850 words of Anders in my big DA modern AU for @dadrunkwriting. Content warning for a discussion of an injured child (injured in an accident) and emotional abuse (by a templar).

“Welcome to my pride and joy!” Anders span a full circle, arms outstretched as he indicated the room. “I’d call it cheap and cheerful, but it’s free and we’re based in Darktown, so…”

“Skint and simple,” Lirene surmised. Anders laughed. “Illegal and impoverished?”

"Not illegal,” Anders corrected. “Look.” He pointed in sequence to a poster stuck on each wall of the single-room clinic, which read, in large black and bold letters: ‘ANDERS VALEN DOES NOT HAVE A MEDIAL LICENSE. HE HAS FIVE YEARS OF CIRCLE TRAINING, EIGHT YEARS OF HYBRID CIRCLE/TRADITIONAL MEDICAL TRAINING, AND TWO YEARS OF FULLY QUALIFIED PRACTISE. BY CONSENTING TO TREATMENT BY ANDERS VALEN, YOU FOREGO ANY RIGHTS TO COMPLAIN TO THE FREE MARCHES MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.’

Lirene blinked. “Dubiously legal, then. But you’re just… offering this?”

“Of course.” He said it so simply. Like it was obvious; like people weren’t, two blocks over, being forced to pay hundreds for treatment or wait three months. “There’s a lot I can’t do, of course, with no equipment and no authority to prescribe anything, but if there’s anyone you think I might be able to help…”

“I’ll send them your way,” Lirene confirmed. “What can you do?”

“Emergency healing,” Anders said. “Injuries, mostly. I can give advice or instructions, and there are a few diagnostic tests you can run with magic even if machines are more precise. I can ease symptoms of illnesses, too — but I can’t cure them. Infections still need antibiotics, but if a kid can’t breathe with a chest infection I can ease that, if you want an example.”

“Right.” She wrote as he spoke, but honestly she was most of the way to convinced already. He was a persuasive young man, clearly sure of himself, and clearly should have been qualified, but… “One last thing, so I know what to tell people. Why aren’t you in one of the Lowtown or Hightown clinics or hospitals, charging more than most can afford for a hybrid approach that heals faster than a traditional doctor?”

Anders grimaced. “They’ll leave as soon as they come in if you don’t warn them in advance, right?”

“Depends on how desperate they are,” Lirene said. She saw a lot of desperate people, these days — including people who would go to quacks just if there was a chance of fixing something. All she could do was inform them as to what they were getting into. “But if you can give me something to tell them, I’d hear it now.”

“Alright.” Anders sighed. “I worked emergency care in Central, and I was earmarked for all mage patients that came in. You get cases where kids have been hurt for or because of their magic, so seeing someone like me— meant to be good, right?”

“Of course.” Lirene didn’t need to be told twice when it came to what mage kids had to deal with in Kirkwall, even now. She saw it in the news plenty, and from experience she imagined actually living it was worse. “So, something happened?”

“A lot of somethings.” There was a hard edge to his voice when he spoke, something that just hadn’t been there when he was showing her the clinic earlier. “Sometimes there were kids who’d injured other people as well as themselves. Didn’t matter how injured the other party was — if someone else got hurt, then when the mage kid came into the room, they had to have a Templar escort.

“They were always brutes — nasty when they thought no one was looking. Even when they were meant to be looking after a kid in one of the most difficult experiences of their life so far. These kids are being rushed in to see urgently, and one of them that night? It was past midnight. Poor kid was crying his eyes out, electricity burns all up his arms. He’d zapped his mum hard enough that she was out cold, so he was unaccompanied other than this Templar. Six years old. Could barely get a word out, and the Templar shouted at him to speak up.”

“Bastard.”

Anders chuckled darkly. “I’m glad someone agrees. Anyway, I told the woman to fuck off, get out of my examination room. Legally, the kid had to be accompanied by a Templar, but the woman was so heated I had to— well. I called someone from security I could trust, and he removed her anyway. Boy stopped crying, all the healing was done in five minutes, and I returned him to his lovely handler. I lost my license for breaking the law; endangering the hospital by removing the confessed perpetrator of a magical crime from Templar custody.”

He looked furious, and Lirene was sure her expression mirrored his own. It was patently unfair, and… well, she knew it couldn’t have been the whole story, but it was enough of one that she knew what to tell anyone who came looking for her advice.

A free clinic for anyone willing to seek out a mage healer, manned by a doctor who lost his license in a miscarriage of justice for protecting a child. It certainly wouldn’t earn him any enemies in the kinds of people she saw on a daily basis.

#da drunk writing circle #dragon age fanfiction #dragon age 2 #dragon age anders #anders

41 notes · View notes

dunmeshi-darlings · 7 days

Note

Thank you so much! I loved it!!!

Tuberculosis huh? I recognized it the moment s/o started coughing blood. Pretty nasty disease, but it's easily curable with antibiotics (which they obviously do not have) which means s/o should be fine once they return.

Aye spot on anon, Im genuinely incredibly impressed you knew the symptoms of tuberculosis enough to recognize it. Here i thought my Mothers nursing career had taught me some things others might not know. I chose tuberculosis due to the time frame of it being so deadly during the medieval times, granted it was most deadly in the 19th century but still. and also because like you said, easily cured with antibiotics so they would be fine to return. its just returning would be the hard part.

#mod ask

2 notes · View notes

atombonniebaby · 1 year

Text

Duncan MacCready and the New Plague Fan Theory!

Warnings -

- Spoilers for MacCready's LIFE

- Descriptions get a bit ...um...squishy…not for the faint of heart.

Duncan's disease is 100% The New Plague (The Blue Flu)

A theory I know I share with others but is often disproved because the symptoms don't add up…allegedly. Welp, guess I better delve into that part of my brain that enjoys talking about gross diseases!

Okay, so let’s look at the symptoms of the New Plague:

Profuse Sweating

Unexplained Contusions/Swelling

Massive External Hemorrhaging

New Ideals, such as socialism (Yup it's on the pamphlet 😂)

How MacCready describes Duncan’s illness.

“One day, he's playing out in the fields behind our farm... the next, he took a fever, and these blue boils popped up all over his body.”

“Last I saw, he was almost too weak to walk. I didn't dare ask him to come with me.”

So:

Blue boils.

Fever.

Lethargy.

So it can’t be the same, right? The New Plague is contagious, and there are no mentions of blue boils.

Welllll, when you really think about it (and I have...a lot!)... There are way too many coincidences for them not to be the same...and I don't mean the in-game Plague!

My theory is this. Duncan has a the New Plague, but a different strain.

If the New Plague is a weaponized version of the original plague or the Yersinia pestis bacterium. (Y. Pestis. AKA. The Black Death), I’d assume it would share some of the same characteristics.

And it absolutely does!

Y. Pestis presents differently, depending on how you are infected.

There are 3 versions of The Plague.

1: Bubonic - The Lymphatic Plague.

This is probably the stage most people are aware of.

The one that is commonly thought to have been spread by rats. Which, in a way, is true.

The rats were only carriers…of the fleas that were the real culprits (justice for the rats!)

It is not contagious, but it could be spread if someone is contaminated by infected blood through an open wound. It had to get under the skin.

Symptoms

Fever.

Headache.

Weakness.

Boils (more commonly known as buboes - the infected lymph nodes)

Sounding familiar? 😉

2: Pneumonic - The respiratory Plague.

The bacteria has reached the lungs!

Symptoms:

Fever

Weakness

Headaches

Coughing

Chest pain

Shortness of breath

Pneumonia (hence the name)

Respiratory failure

Shock

This one is HIGHLY contagious. Spread by inhaling plague particles.

It has been thought of as a bio-weapon IRL.

Sounds like New Plague to me…

3: Septicemic - The Blood Plague.

It can be a result of both Bubonic and Pneumonic plague. It is not contagious but can be contracted the same way as Bubonic.

Fun fact: The iconic Plague Doctor uniform was effective, but not for the reasons they thought. It was highly believed that the plague was spread by miasmas (unpleasant smells) when the doctors were protecting themselves from flea bites and particles in the air.

Anyway…back to the point.

Symptoms

Fever

Chills

Abdominal Pain

Internal Bleeding

Blood Pooling under the skin

Septic Shock

Septicemic Plague often occurs when the infection is not treated and is normally end-game and is the likely culprit for the names. Blue Flu is a moniker for the Black Death!

Septecimia leads to bruising as the small blood vessels are destroyed. Necrosis was also a possibility (Black Death?)

What do we say when we get injured or in a fight…. “I was beaten BLACK and BLUE.” NEED I SAY MORE?

Actually…yes, because I’m not done.😂

So, if Duncan has this deadly disease, how can he survive if Mac has been gone for months?

I'll admit. When I first heard Mac talk about Duncan, I have to say, without treatment, I would be surprised if Duncan survived… 😭😭😭

HOWEVER!

The plague was a disease that killed millions. Then an amazing Scottish Physician discovered Penicillin. The Plague is treatable with antibiotics.

We know Mac has spoken to doctors. If Duncan was running a fever and had boils, antibiotics would make sense. Chances are this variant of Y. pestis can not be cured by simple antibiotics, but it could prevent it from progressing to the more fatal variants.

MacCready would need a steady supply of caps to send back home for Duncan’s treatments...Heck, I even HC, the man, gives his kid blood transfusions (O- Blood type!)

How did Duncan catch this disease in the first place if it is non-contagious?

How big are the fleas? 😂

Okay–This is where my dot joining gets a little far-fetched, but it’s fun to speculate!

Theory One - The Moletat Disease.

Remember how Mac dislikes it if you give Austin the cure-all for the MoleRAT disease?

A disease you could only get if you were BIT.

Only Austin (or you if you are not quick) would contract it, but you don’t get as sick as the kid does. It can’t be because he is a Vault Dweller…

We already know how FEV came around. What if Curie did what the researchers couldn’t and made the cure for the New Plague?

What if it's not a mistake that Mac reacts negatively? What if the original intention of Vault 81 was to be part of Mac's questline?

Ultimately, choosing between the defenseless Vault kid & Duncan was unfavorable. You either condemn one child, a stranger, or your companion’s son. A decision that would immediately turn Mac hostile if you chose the kid you just met…because, let's face it, he won't stick around after that.

So they rewrote his questline: We always get the cure for his son, allowing his affinity to develop as intended.

Vault 81’s quest was then changed, and they chose between yourself or the kid as a suitable quest arc instead, having the molerat disease as a separate disease altogether.

…And then forgot to change his reaction!

Or having Curie cure the New Plague would hinder the main storyline of Fallout 5…???

Theory 2: Maybe he’s born with it. Maybe it’s a social disease (I’m not sponsored by Mabayline)

What if Duncan was born infected…now hear me out!

Is it too far-fetched to believe a genetically modified plague variant couldn’t become sexually transmittable?

If we look at the New Plague pamphlet, it states:

The New Plague is what’s commonly known as a "social disease". This means that the New Plague is especially contagious and can be commonly caught in the course of social interactions such as:

* Ice Cream Socials

* Cruising Main Street

* Promiscuous Activity/Sodomy

* Attending Fairs or Festivals

So; what’s the best protection against social diseases? Why not stay home and enjoy a novel or home-cooked meal? Limiting your exposure to other individuals is the best and more surefire way to avoid contracting the New Plague.

The propaganda does recommend avoiding “Promiscuous Activity,” so it is implied.

So if Duncan’s parent(s) passed it on to him, how did they get it?

MacCready grew up next to Vault 87. (I 100% HC Lucy is Lamplight Lucy, so she might have already been infected, but this theory works if she isn't the same Lucy.)

A Vault that was experimenting with FEV.

The Forced Evolutionary Virus is a sub-product of research into curing the New Plague...They never successfully cured the New Plague.

Wouldn’t they keep samples of the disease to see how the test subjects react if infected with it? There is no point declaring a win with the advancements they were making if these Super Humans were killed in a new outbreak.

So, if the Lamplight kids are somehow infected, (Or little idiot adult-sized-stones goes exploring after the Lone Wanderer clears 87...and uses an infected Stimpak…I know…I’m reaching now…) wouldn't they/he experience symptoms?

Well, not unless something was keeping the disease at bay.

What were the kids eating in Lamplight….Cave Fungus. (I won’t address the whole ‘strange meat’ thing…MacCannibal!) Penicillin is literal Fungi.

We know Eclair cooks with the fungus, and it keeps the kids healthy and even heals their radiation. The weird fungus that cured the kid's Radiation also controlled the disease.

Fast forward and MacCready turns 16 and has to leave Lamplight. His immune system was simply strong enough to let him outgrow the child strain (There is mention that the disease Duncan has only infected children and Teens).

So, all the while, MacCready is a carrier.

If the disease can be passed on under eh-hem romantic circumstances. Perhaps he unknowingly gave it to Lucy and, by proxy, Duncan. (Fetal transfer of Y. Pestis has been known to be possible. There just isn’t a lot of research.)

Duncan shows no symptoms because his mother is keeping him healthy by breastfeeding, and her breastmilk contains sufficient antibodies to keep it dormant, but when Lucy dies, the disease takes hold.

If I'm even a fraction right...nobody tell Mac! 😭😭😭

Well, that's it...That'll all the things in my brain about this..probably.

Have a MacCready Quote!

"I suppose I can be a bit, well… rambling at times."

#Fallout #maccready #duncan maccready #robert joseph maccready #fo4 maccready #fallout 4 #fo4 #fallout maccready #rj maccready #robert maccready #fo4 duncan #mayor hancock #mayor maccready #mac

16 notes · View notes

amalia-uwu · 2 months

Text

S K Ó L I X

ΣΚΏΛΗΞ

I DONT OWN -> Undertale, Horrortale, Farmtale, the rights go to the respective owners. I only own my original characters and this fic.

Undertale by Toby Fox

Horrortale by Sour Apple Studios

Farmtale by GuinongTale_AU

Cover

Warnings ⚠️: angst, unrealistic medical stuff, inaccurate medical stuff, formication / tactile hallucinations, self-injury (due to hallucinations) angst, hurt / comfort, maggots, implied rotting of bones, blood, (let me know what else).

Headcanon

They still breathe even tho they don't have lungs.

The air is turned into magic or something.

They can smell but maybe not exactly like humans.

The sense of breathing and smelling, tasting, hearing It's slightly different from humans.

Due to magic they can detect more smells than the average human.

Skeleton Monsters are more sensitive than humans.

The senses of smell and taste even hearing. It's stronger to skeleton monsters than humans.

Maybe it's survival technique the skeleton monsters developed to evolve.

All in all, skeleton monsters have higher sense of smell, taste and hearing than humans.

❤️💚🧡❤️💚🧡❤️💚🧡❤️💚🧡

It was around 21.00 at night.

As Saejun was resting; he felt a stabbing pain at his neck, that traveled all over his body. His face scrunched in discomfort.

However as the intensity of the pain rose he wide opened his eyes. He felt someone tearing his soul and body apart.

As if the excruciating pain wasn't enough, he sensed the maggots crawling all over him. His expression morphed in that of horror. He felt them crawling in every spot of his bones. They were many.

He began removing said maggots.

Upon his panic to remove the maggots, he removed the IV. He fell off bed, cracking his shoulder.

He still had the feeling of maggots crawling all over him.

He half crawled and dragged himself towards the corner of the room. He tried to make himself as small as possible.

He kept removing the maggots from his body.

(Back to Ophelia and the others )

Lilian walked closer to Ophelia.

"I have the results; Papyrus was right. The stinger belongs to worm known as Skólix.

Its a dangerous worm for monsters but mostly for skeletons. It can cause:

blindness

impairment of the voice,

paralyzing of the body,

swelling,

dizziness,

fatigue,

headache,

fast soul beat,

formication*,

lunacy.

It depends!".

"Is there a cure?" Ophelia asked. She realized that it was the first time she ever confronted such a case.

She felt helpless but she will not give up! Farmy will go home safe and sound. No matter the cost! She won't let a worm take him away.

She came out of her thoughts when Lilian spoke.

"the cure.. is well... first of all trying to take care of the symptoms. Then using antibiotics, marrow dialysis, vitamins, herbs etc. Organic medicines will do him good as well".

Ophelia looked at the results and inspected them.

Lilian continued explaining. "We need to perform marrow dialysis (similar to haemodialysis) otherwise it will happen again and he might not make it.. His stats are already too low".

Ophelia was reading and seeing through the notes and pages.

Lilian went on with the explanation.

"It says here that it may cause:

Sepsis or other infections.

It can lead to his bones rotting.

If we don't do something..

He might loses his vision permanently.

He might suffer from a soul attack.

Even go insane

...possibilities are many.

One thing is certain.. If we don't cure him in time.. He will suffer.. This worm is tricky because it has two stingers...-".

Ophelia froze "-two...?"

Lilian thought for a second and he froze as well "we removed only one..."

"....."

Uh oh.

"I'll prepare the equipment.." Lilian said running hurriedly.

_____________________

Agatha went to check up on him.

As she walked in, she saw the bed empty.

She tried to stay calm. She heard; soft ragged breaths, whining, groaning and the sound of bones being scratched.

She found him in the corner.

"Hey, is everything okay? Are you in pain?" She attempted to go closer but, he surrounded himself with blue attacks and bones.

Agatha slowly backed away. Among the blue attacks and bones she noticed; the panicked, frantic look on his face. The scratches all over his bones but mostly the hands and face.

She pressed a button on the wall and called Ophelia "He seems to be hallucinating, he clenches his head, he is in pain! I can't go closer he has surrounded himself with bone attacks".

As soon as Ophelia heard it her heart skipped a beat. She ran towards the room. "Farmy?!"

He was in the corner shaking like a leaf in strong wind. They could hear his bones rattling.

He was clenching his face and his bones.

"Sans.... we mean no harm, we are here to help you!" Ophelia tried, but nothing happened.

He moved further into the wall.

Ophelia and Agatha looked at each other. Ophelia pulled her phone out and called Papyrus.

(Back to Papyrus & Axe)

They had just finished dinner. He was washing the dishes. Axe was drying and organizing them on the cabinet.

One plate slipped from Papyrus's hands and shattered into pieces.

Axe turned his attention to Papyrus and asked concerned "Are you okay? Did you get cut?"

Papyrus's hands trembled a little "Im fine! It just slipped..."

Axe felt a twinge of agony in his soul. Papyrus began picking up the broken pieces. Axe decided to stay silent.

He didn't know that Papyrus felt the exact same twinge of agony but stronger...

Papyrus silently picked up the broken pieces.

After a few minutes..

His phone rang. Both of them looked at it.

"Axe could you please pick it up?" Axe nodded.

"It's... Ophelia..." that caught both their attention. They silently looked at each other. He put it on speakers.

"Ophelia?" Axe asked slightly alarmed.

"We have a problem, I need you to come here". She sounded urgent.

"Is he okay?!" Papyrus asked quickly.

"He won't let us go near him, It's best you come here as fast as you can.. He has surrounded himself with attacks and he seems to have lost contact with reality".

"on my way!" Papyrus said as calmly as he could master.

He looked at Axe "Do you know a shortcut?". Axe smiled "Of course I do. Come!".

He held Papyrus's humerus and teleported right there.

...........

They saw the doctors.

"Ophelia?" he walked towards her. She looked behind her "We can't go near him. Im afraid he might hurt himself more".

Axe attempted to ran close to his side; Ophelia grabbed his humerus "NO!! Not yet!" she said firmly.

Axe nodded. They stepped back leaving more space.

Ophelia looked at Agatha "Agatha go meet Lilian and help him prepare the surgery room. This worm has two stingers. We removed one. After we remove it, we will take him next room for marrow dialysis".

Agatha nodded and went into action.

Papyrus took a deep breath and walked towards him. Ophelia grabbed his shirt "Papyrus...!!"

Papyrus looked at her calmly. "He is my brother Ophelia, I got this! Besides, you called me for help" he assured.

Ophelia let go.

Papyrus quietly walked closer, he stretched his phalanges.

"Sans?" Papyrus tried.

Sans slowly perked up at the sound of his voice.

He removed the attacks from around him and summoned them behind Papyrus.

They were gasps but Papyrus was calm.

That was one step.

"He is just confused and scared. He means no harm, I'm fine. Stay back!" Papyrus informed calmly.

Among the chaos Sans attempted to talk but no words came out.

Papyrus's soul clenched. He decided to use their brotherly bond.

Their souls shone. Sans's (faint) bright green. Papyrus's vivid peach. He closed his eyes. When he opened them; they were in a dark room.

Sans was before him. On his knees. Papyrus knelt.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Sans: “...pap..?”

Papyrus: “Sans, what's wrong?”

Sans: “they won't leave me alone”

Papyrus: “They?”

Sans: “the maggots, they are crawling all over me... i remove them but they keep appearing more and more”.

Papyrus carefully shuffled closer to him. He noticed dark veins spreading from Sans's neck. He stayed calm. Abrupt moves will make things worse.

Papyrus: “I see...Sans, brother? Do you trust me?”

Sans “of course i do paps!”

papyrus carefully caressed Sans's bones "removing the maggots". Sans flinched.. But it felt nice.

Sans: “pap! It's dangerous, they will bite you too!”

Papyrus: “I'm helping you remove the maggots. They won't bite me, I'm wearing gloves. I won't let them harm you. Do you feel better? Do you want me to stop?”

Sans: “No please, it... it feels nice... thank you!”

Sans closed his eyes. His shoulders slightly relaxed. Papyrus's soft touch alleviated the suffering.

Papyrus: “Ophelia and the doctors are here to help you with that. Axe is here! I am here! Trust us! Trust me!”

Sans: “Papyrus I am scared”

Papyrus: “I am here! We are all here! We had our ups and downs like all siblings but, don't we go through everything together ? You won't be alone Sans! I promise! And I keep my promises!”

Sans: “...Will you forgive me?”

Papyrus: “Why Sans?”

Sans: “...For all this...”

Papyrus: “I am not mad! I am just worried, you would do the same for me. However, I forgive you! If this makes you feel better!”.

Papyrus stopped caressing Sans's bones and stretched his hand.

Papyrus: “we will take care of everything together! All of Us! I believe in you! I promise.. We got you Sans!”

Sans: “Thank you!”

Sans reluctantly stretched his phalanges towards Papyrus's stretched ones.

They were brought back to the room.

Papyrus felt weak phalanges taking a hold of his. He opened his eyes.

The bone attacks disappeared. Sans was holding his phalanges.

Papyrus opened his eyes. He saw sans slouching forward.

Papyrus gently took him in his embrace protecting him from the world. He noticed that the, dark lines like veins were spreading faster than before.

Sans's body felt heavy in Papyrus's embrace.

Sans turned his head away from Papyrus. Sans coughed and spat rotten magic and blood.

Sans's magic began oozing again from his eyes, nose and teeth.

He was wheezing and shaking.

Papyrus gently picked him up and walked outside. Sans was slack in his brother's humeri.

Ophelia looked at them, her soul sunk at the depth of her stomach.

"Oh, no!" She gently held Sans's forehead and sternum.

She took a magic liquid from her pocket and injected it to Sans's humerus.

"Follow me Papyrus!" she urged.

Axe and Papyrus followed Ophelia. They went to the surgery room, it was enormous.

Sans squirmed in discomfort. A couple of tears ran down his eyes.

They looked at him sympathetically.

Ophelia injected a sedative at the side of his neck.

Papyrus laid him on the bed and attempted to leave. However Sans, despite the sedative, was restless.

Ophelia allowed Papyrus to stay in; "Papyrus? I'll have my nurses give you a robe to put above your clothes. Then I would like to keep his head as steady as you can".

Papyrus nodded.

The nurses helped Papyrus get dressed.

(those clothes doctors wear in surgery rooms, it's mostly for Sans's safety. What Sans has is not contagious).

Then carefully examined his neck. Papyrus was observing.

Axe was outside. After around 7 minutes they found the second stinger..

Papyrus was holding his head on the side softly caressing his cheekbones.

Sans made some inaudible mumbling and raspy sounds.

More magic oozed (eyes sockets, nasal cavity and teeth) and some of it was spilled on Papyrus's gloved phalanges. "It's okay brother!"

It took around 5 minutes for her to remove it. Blood, fluids and slightly rotten magic oozed.

Agatha gently patted the spot on his neck, with an antiseptic liquid on a gauze.

Ophelia held it in the light and inspected it.

This stinger was slightly bigger than the previous one.

Papyrus grimaced.

"Good job everyone! Now, Lilian, Hermione go active the machine for marrow dialysis in the next room".

Lilian and Hermione nodded.

Ophelia added a gauze on his neck.

Agatha gently wiped the oozing magic. Agatha took a syringe.

She carefully let small droplets of the green magic liquid close to his teeth.

Sans's magic absorbed it weakly.

Then Agatha added a breathing equipment (mask) on his nasal cavity and teeth. "I need you to inhale it. Deep breaths. You can do it".

(Note: she is doing it that way, so his soul won't be overwhelmed. By absorbing too close and too fast.)

Sans tried to follow Agatha's orders.

At first, his breaths were uneven.

Slowly he manage to control them and took deep breaths.

Agatha kept encouraging him to breathe.

Papyrus gently caressed the side of his skull.

Soon Sans breathing became even. He was now breathing slowly and evenly.

The magic stopped oozing. Agatha removed the breathing equipment (mask).

She kept with the syringe on his teeth.

After a few minutes, she injected a medicine in the IV.

"Papyrus?" Ophelia began. He looked at her.

"Farmy here, is a lucky skeleton, having a brother like you.. If it wasn't for you and Axe he wouldn't be here.. You did our job so much easier! We wouldn't have found it without you.. Thank you Harvey!"

Sans's soul shone. Ophelia noticed it, "Seems like he agrees".

Papyrus's cheeks had a dark pinkish hue. He smiled softly at the compliments..

He spoke lowly.

"Thank you and your team Ophelia! You and your team did your absolute best to help my brother, I know a simple thank you is not enough but.. Thank you for everything! You have my gratitude!"

Ophelia smiled.

Sans's soul shone weakly, both Ophelia and Papyrus felt a soft

“Thank you!” echoing in their souls.

Ophelia and Papyrus grinned.

END OF CHAPTER 6

Chapter 5 | Chapter 7

Likes, reblogs, Comments, feedback, Constructive Criticism, fanfics, fanarts are welcomed! 💙

2 notes · View notes