#about when Bruno found out about the space in the walls

[gyupinkys]

FOUND YOU

Yandere Jihoon x fem reader.

WC: 3.8K

Jihoon was never one for relationships. His stoic behavior tends to bore the ladies, but he's had is fair share of flings. However, when some low life hacker tries to access his files; he cant help but look into you more, and some more, and a little more until he becomes obsessed. Jihoon makes it his mission to find you.

WARNINGS: YANDERE, stalking, DUB CON, phone sex, spying, unconsented filming, use of sex toys, fingering, mention of kidnapping, sugar daddy Jihoon, bratty reader.

A/N: i love this fic and I love you woozi.

One semester left… just one. Why on earth would they raise your tuition by $5,000? Are they forgetting both of your parents are dead and you have no job? The financial aid office is no help and you're already about $10,000 in debt. How nice. You look at your computer, contemplating. There's always that option… no it’s not safe. But damn you need money,  you need your degree, you need to get out of this fucking city and start over. You look down at your cat Bruno sitting at your feet. 

“Should I?”

He just gives you a judgemental look and walks away. This fucking cat…

You have no other choice. You pull out your spare laptop, not risking your pc getting any viruses. A few months ago you drunkenly stumbled upon a website on the dark web that gives you access to IP addresses of major company computers. You very easily figured out how to access their files, you can see everything; their expenses, investments, and payments. It would be so easy to transfer money to an offshore account and cover your traces. Scrolling through the list of companies you try to find one you’ve never heard of. More popular companies tend to have more security. 

“Universe factory?”

Hmmm. Doesn't ring a bell. It’s located about fifteen miles from your apartment so you aren't worried about them finding you. Weirdly, you can't find any bank accounts linked to this company. Scouring through some files, this seems to be a music company of sorts? You find samples of songs, lyrics, beats, and oh shit.. Drug shipments? Why is this in the music files? You try to dive deeper only for your connection to completely cut off and your computer blue screens. Fucking hell. The computer won’t turn back on and you won't have a chance to cover your tracks. So much for being computer savvy…

“Fuckkkkk” youre actually fucked. These people are clearly good if they are able to shut off your computer so they may have  already found your address by now. You're hoping your vpn and security walls help you. You get up and start to pace. Why on earth did you think this was a good idea? Of course you somehow chose the shadiest fucking company on earth. There's nothing to do now but stress and wait for your likely impending death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The fuck?”

Jihoon’s studio is his safe space. He’s lucky Cheol lets him pursue his passions on the side, this mafia thing tends to take up a lot of his time so being able to unwind in his own space is a treasure. But when he returns to his computer he senses something is wrong. Someone’s gone through his files. Now, Jihoon wouldn't be too worried if all that was on this computer was his music, but recently he’s been using the Universe factory as a coverup to store documents from past business deals. Now this couldnt have been the work of some amaetur, in order to get past all his security takes some real skill, and to be able to do it without a trace? Hm…

Jihoon looks through his files, trying to catalog all the incriminating evidence.

“Tiger’s super wicked diss track?” he speaks in disbelief. When the fuck did Soonyoung get in his studio? And record a fucking distrack? 

Jihoon runs a program to see the location of the last user to access his encrypted files. Nothing? Hmm… This is too random to be a coincidence, this person must've found his IP address and started from there. He decides to be bold and search his IP addresses on his self made database, it wouldn't hurt. 

 “ “FoundYou.com”? What the fuck?”

Well he hit the jackpot. He was able to look at who accessed this website in the past 24 hours and who interacted with the universe factory link. He traced the computer to a rural part of antarctica… ok that's definitely not the real location.  He digs a little deeper finding layers and layers of security. He’s starting to think this may not be some silly hacker and could be a rival mafia pulling at strings. After an hour he’s confident he’s found the real address and hacker. About fifteen miles from him lives a Y/N L/N, full time student, studying in computer science, $10,437.76 in debt and an orphan… hm. He looks up your instagram and woah. He wasn’t expecting you to look like that. He sees your friends, finds their instagrams, just to see more pictures of you cover his bases. Your college friends speak highly of you, your highschool friends love you, oh wow even your elementary school friends still hang out with you. He digs a little deeper, just to know who he’s dealing with. You adopted a cat a year ago, a cat who visits the vet very often. Gestational blockages, broken arm, not eating, bladder infection… This cat seems like a handful. 

“Bruno? Like Bruno Mars or Bruno from Encanto?” he whispers to himself. 

You visited the hospital last year from a broken pinky, your dermatologist keeps increasing the strength of your acne medication, you take very strong pills for your cramps. Car accident when you were 7, therapy for 10 years and dead parents?… Figures. 

Your credit card statement says a lot about you. $7 matcha lattes three times a week despite being in debt. $15 chipotle bowls and 12am Mcdonalds. You really like shopping at Adam and eve… freaky. You bought $100 worth of things from amazon yesterday. You sure do buy a lot of cat toys on amazon, this cat is spoiled. Hair dye, batteries, water bottles, 12 pound bag of skittles? 

“Woozi, what are you doing?” Soonyoung whispers in his ear.

Jihoon jumps, “When did you even get in here?”

“You get too immersed in your work, but why are you on amazon?”

“None of your business get out! AND WHEN DID YOU RECORD A DISS TRACK IN HERE.”

Hoshi’s eyes widen and he quickly makes his exit leaving Jihoon alone again. He knows he’s being a creep but he doesn't have it in him to care. You’re just so interesting.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bruno there's no one at the door stop growling.”

You open the door to show him no one is outside, but low and behold sitting outside your apartment is a large bouquet of hydrangeas… your favorite flower. 

“The fuck?”

You further inspect the flowers, seeing a note in the center.

“My precious little hacker, I’ll be seeing you soon. P.S check your bank account - Woozi’s Universe factory.”

You drop the flowers. Oh my god.You figured something like this would happen but now that it's happening you're freaked out. God, you should have minded your business. Now the little money you had is probably gone as some sort of twisted revenge. As you login to your bank app you're sure you've lost your mind and you're seeing things. $20,000 was wired to your savings account.

“What the fuck.”

You know better than to touch this money. It’s too good to be true. But, this would pay off your debt and get you a better apartment… fuck. You check your email to see what time the money was wired only to see an email from your school saying there were changes made to your account. Can this day get any worse? But it somehow gets better, not only is your tuition paid but all your debt is cleared… you must've suffered a head injury and you're making all of this up while in a coma. 

“Bruno, I might be killed in the next 7 days… Then you’ll have to fend for yourself.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bruno, I might be killed in the next 7 days.. Then you’ll have to fend for yourself.” your sweet voice rings out. 

Jihoon had to see your reaction to his gift. He’s glad you didn't notice the green dot on your mac as he watched you through the webcam. He loves the way you talk to Bruno like he’s a human.

It took a lot of digging to figure out your favorite flower, it was one of your security questions for your bank app. He hopes you appreciate his generosity, it’s not everyday that he goes out of his way to spoil someone. He sees you looking absolutely bewildered and he can’t help but smile. But this smile quickly drops when you turn to your computer and your eyes widen, presumably seeing your camera is on.

“YOU FUCKING CREEP!” you scream as you power off your computer, leaving him staring at a blank screen.

He just smiles in response. He’s gonna have so much fun with you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gifts don't end. Everyday at 4pm you arrive home and on your doorstep is  something new, perfume, jewelry, bags, clothes, cat toys. This person must be rich. Though today the bell never rings. You even stand in your hallway looking for the delivery but it never comes. 

“Well isn't that weird?” you say to yourself as you unlock your door.

“Bruno?” Usually he comes running up to you when you unlock your door.

You see Bruno inspecting a bright red gift box sitting on your kitchen counter. You stop dead in your tracks. How the fuck did they get in your apartment? 

“Bruno! Move away from that.” you say and scoop him up. 

Oh god. This is getting insane. Leaving the gifts on your doorstep is one thing but coming inside? 

You stare at the gift for an hour. You're too afraid to open it. That is until it starts to vibrate. Is this a fucking bomb? You jump and open the box, seeing a brand new phone… Um Ok? The phone is receiving a call from an unknown number and obviously you don't answer it, setting the phone back down only for the same number to call again. You hesitantly answer. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, my love.”

“Who is this?” 

“Don’t worry about it, yet.”

“Ok, I’m gonna hang up.”

“Y/N, I wouldn't do that f I was you.”

“Stop being a fucking creep and sending shit to my door step.”

He just laughs.

“I left one more gift for you, why don’t you go look.”

You sigh and walk to your door, looking out the peephole first and opening it, picking up the large box.

“Are there killer wasps in here?” you sarcastically say.

“No, there are no wasps,” he laughs.

You open the box and pause, turning your head to your computer to see your camera is on.

“Are you watching me?”

“I’m always watching you, love.”

“God, youre a fucking creep, I should call the cops.”

“And tell them what? You tried to hack me and steal money from me? That you're a dirty little hacker and a thief?”

You’re starting to get upset, this is fucking insane.

“Open the box, love.”

You look at the computer and flip him off before opening the box. You gasp. This fucker sent you sex toys? 

“ALL YOU DO IS SHOW ME HOW MUCH OF A FUCKING PERVERT YOU ARE!” you yell into the phone.

“Is it so bad I want my baby to feel good?”

“I’m not your baby! I don’t even fucking know you.”

“I know you don’t know me but I know you. I know everything about you. Your favorite color is blue, your favorite food is Japanese curry, though you eat kimchi fried rice the most. You adopted Bruno because you needed something to keep you company since you don't really date. Your best friend moved away eight months ago and you two don't really talk anymore. Should I continue?”

“What the fuck.” you say with wide eyes.

“Baby, don’t get scared. I’m just so in love with you I need to know everything.”

“Um.” What do you even say to this?

“And don’t pretend this isn’t your darkest fantasy. I’ve seen your tumblr search history.”

Your eyes somehow widen. He got you there. Just the idea of having a clearly rich man obsessed with you would be enough to make you wet if he wasn't a pervert. 

“I want you to take out the shibari.”

You pull out a pretty blue vibrator. It’s even your favorite shade of blue. 

“Ok?” 

“I want you to use it for me.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Baby, I wouldn’t want to do things to make you upset, but I need you to listen to me. I’m not above blackmailing you and I’m sure you wouldn't want me to come snatch you up.”

Your jaw drops. 

“Youre fucking crazy!”

“Baby, you just make me feel so many things for you.”

You groan, cursing yourself for ever being greedy and trying to steal.

“What do you want me to do?” you sigh out.

“Take off your pants and sit on your desk chair.”

“Do I have to?” you pout looking straight into the camera.

“Yes, baby. I want to see you.”

Why is this making you wet? God, you fucking hate that this is exactly the smut you would always search for. You groan at the situation, yourself, at this mystery pervert.

You shimmy out of your pants and sit in your desk chair. You put the phone on speaker and set it down.

“Now what?”

“Turn it on and rub it over your nipples.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I’m sure the guys waiting outside your apartment would love to do it for you.”

Your heart drops to your ass and you turn it on, quickly putting it on your nipple.

Jeez, this thing is powerful. You let out a breathy moan disguised as a sigh.

“Run it down your body.” 

You slowly drag the vibrator down your body, your breathing becoming heavy. 

“Put your legs up on the chair and put it on your clit over your panties, I wanna see you soak through them.”

You put the head of the vibrator on your clit a little too hard making you jump.

“Slow your roll baby.” he laughs, making you roll your eyes.

This vibrator is on a different level from the shitty ones you have. It feels like you're being stimulated throughout your whole body, everything is vibrating and you feel yourself leaking. 

“I can see you getting wetter baby, fuck. I bet that pussy tastes so good.”

You moan, pressing the vibrator harder against you, feeling your toes curl.

“Does it feel good, baby?”

You close your eyes and nod, swallowing the shame. “It feels really good.”

“Move your panties to the side, let me see.”

You pull your soaked panties over and press the vibrator to your swollen clit. He lets out a deep groan. Jihoon can't believe his eyes, it’s like a dream come true. Your pretty pussy dripping wet just for him, you whining and moaning like all you can think about is cumming. He pulls out his hard cock, beginning to stroke himself, imagining he was fucking you. He would give it to you however you wanted, let you come as many times as you desired. No matter how bad you treated him, he would be on his knees begging to make you cum. The hold you have over him is unfathomable.  You’re truly like an angel sent to heaven just for him and he'll be damned if he doesn’t get his hands on you. He doesn't even have it in him to feel bad about watching you, listening to you, exploring you. In his mind you’ve been his from the moment he first saw you. His to worship, spoil, love until the end of time. You’ve become his muse, his lyrics flow out with only you in mind, he makes songs with the purpose of you hearing them. You’ve taken him over completely and he is so irrevocably in love with you. You don’t even need to love him back, he already has enough love for the both of you, and it's not like he wouldn’t be able to force you. A little isolation does wonders on the brain. 

“I need more,” you whine out.

“Tell me what you want.”

You just whine more in response, too embarrassed to speak. “You want to use your fingers?”

You nod furiously, opening your eyes to plead with him.

“Ok baby, slide two in for me. I want you to make yourself feel good.”

You listen and slide your fingers in, pumping them straight into your g-spot. You feel yourself on the verge of an orgasm, your moans becoming louder and more frequent.

“Turn it off”

Your eyes fly open. “What.”

“You heard me baby, turn it off.”

“No, no please I’m so close.”

“Y/N.”

You turn it off and throw it to the side, so insanely frustrated. 

“What is your deal!”

“You’re not cumming unless it's around my cock, baby.”

This man never fails to surprise you. “And what makes you think I’ll fuck you?”

“Trust me when I say that won’t be an issue.”

“What makes you so sure I just won’t finish myself off when I hang up?”

“I’m always watching, baby. It’s crazy how small they make cameras nowadays.”

“Fuck you Woozi’s Universe Factory.” you say not even able to take yourself seriously.

He just laughs. “I’ll be seeing you soon my love.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is he named after Bruno Mars or Bruno from Encanto?” a deep voice rings out from your couch as you enter your apartment making you scream.

You turn to run out your apartment only to see two giants standing in your hallway blocking your exit. You groan and turn back around seeing Bruno sitting in the man's lap. Woah. Is this your stalker? Because if so, you have zero complaints. You’ve never been one to like guys with long hair, but his curls are just so hot and his lips.. How are they so plump? He’s wearing a tight black turtleneck and slacks with a gold chain. He looks so fucking hot, suddenly your not as pissed that he forced you masturbate for him. 

“Who are you?”

“You know exactly who I am, my love.”

“I don't know your name. Do you want me to call you Woozi’s Universe factory?”

He breathes out a laugh. “My name is Jihoon, love.”

“I’m sure you already know my name and give me my fucking cat.” you go to grab Bruno who hisses at you. You gasp.

“You little traitor.” you growl. “The real Bruno Mars would never treat me like this.” you say threateningly to the cat. 

“Ahh, Bruno Mars. I love that guy.” Jihoon says as he lifts the cat to look him in his eyes. “You want to stay with me don’t you?” to which the cat purrs. 

You’re more shocked at your cat's betrayal than Jihoon breaking into your apartment.

“Y/N, sit with me”

“No.”

He raises a brow at you.

“Fine, but not because you asked.” you pout and sit next to him.

“Are you not scared?”

“Honestly, you're too cute for me to be scared of you. Like look at these cheeks.” you say and squeeze his cheeks making him grab your hand and pull it away from your face.

“You don’t know who you're messing with, my love.”

“I mean if you were going to kill me you would've done it already. And I know you're not going to anyway because why would you waste all this money on someone you were going to kill?”

He smiles. “So smart, baby.”

Why is he calling you baby and love? This is actually kind of spooking you.

“What do you want Jihoon?” 

“I want you to come live with me.” 

Your eyes widen. The fuck? Your feelings must be visible on your face because he continues.

 “So, you just want me to get up and leave with you?”

“Yes.”

“Why would I come with you? You've done nothing but stalk and harrass me!”

“I’ve have not been stalking you, love. Everything I’ve done is a result of your actions. You decided to try to hack me which gave me access to everything.” 

“You're just trying to manipulate me!” you say and stand up.

He looked deeply offended by this. “Manipulate you? Tell me one thing in what I said that's not true.”

He has a point. You're just grasping at straw to be honest. “What If I don’t want to go with you.” you pout and stomp your foot looking like a child.

“Then I’ll take you by force.” he says with a straight face.

Oh. You weigh your options. Would you rather live in this hell hole remaining broke and sad or go with him and drain his pockets? You don’t even know where he’s taking you, he could be bringing you to a cabin in the woods to lock you up and kill you. But it’s not like you have an option and you would much rather do this the easy way.

“Ok fine. But not because you told me to” God, you sound like such a brat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Six months later

“Jihoonnnnnnn.”

“Yes baby?”

“Can you buy me this?”

He groans. “Baby, what else could you possibly buy? You have it all.”

You show him your phone.

“Baby, you have this bag in three colors.” he deadpans.

“OK? This is my favorite color though.” You say like it's the most obvious thing on the planet.

Despite his grumbling he gets up and takes out his wallet, handing you his black card. Jihoon can never say no to you. Anything you ask for is yours, no matter what. Your life has completely changed since meeting him. You wouldn't say he’s your sugar daddy because you're equally as in love with him as he is with you,  but, lord does he spoil you. You moved into his high rise apartment and completely renovated it to your taste without a single complaint from him. He bought you a new wardrobe, new cars, bags, jewels, anything you could ever dream of. And the sex.. It’s just incredible. And Bruno is as spoiled as ever. He’s Jihoon’s baby despite Jihoon pretending to dislike him. You know what Jihoon does for a living, that's none of your business though. All that you care about is keeping him and yourself happy. You’ve grown more than accustomed to this lifestyle, not knowing how you functioned before meeting him. 

“Thank you Woozipoo”

“Stop calling me that” he groans.

“If you want me to stop you’ll get out this fucking studio and come to bed.”

He rolls his head to you. “Why would I do that?”

“So I can thank you for being so good to me.” you say into his neck making him groan. 

“God, baby don’t say things like that.”

“I can’t tell my man how much I want to fuck him?”

“Get your ass in the bedroom.”

#seventeen smut #svt smut #woozi smut #jihoon smut #woozi x reader

[coochellati]

Comfort From Your Capo

Pairing: Bruno Bucciarati x gender-neutral reader

Summary: Bruno pauses a very important meeting to comfort you in your time of need.

Word Count: 963

Genre: Fluff

I’ve had a pretty rough week; I wrote this short one-shot to provide a bit of comfort. Honestly, it was pretty cathartic. If you’re in a similar position, I hope reading this can help you a little too 💙

{READ ON AO3}

Tap tap tap.

You abruptly lifted your face from your damp pillow, startled by the sudden presence of someone at your bedroom door.

A spark of annoyance rushed through your body, which lay sprawled across your bed. Great—someone else had heard your desperate sobs and had come to check on you. Mista had dropped by not even ten minutes ago. Were your walls really that thin? Sharing a house with Team Bucciarati already left you with limited privacy, but seriously? It seemed that not even your room was safe from nosy eavesdroppers.

“Is everything alright?” A muffled voice asked from behind your bedroom door. Wait, was that Bruno? Wasn’t he supposed to be in the middle of an important meeting with Giorno? You felt conflicted—on one hand, you were relieved that Bruno was the one who had come to check on you. On the other hand, you felt even more tense; you knew how crucial this meeting was. Bruno had been emphasizing the importance of it for the past week; he had made it very clear that he was not to be bothered.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be meeting with Giorno?” you choked out, hot tears streaming down your flushed face.

“I am,” he replied, “but one of the Sex Pistols requested that I come and check on you.”

“Well, things are fine,” you called out as you buried your face back into your pillow. Bruno didn’t need to hear your sobs.

“Your words don’t sound very reassuring,” Bruno replied, his voice laced with concern. “If you need space, I’ll leave you be.”

“No, it’s not—that’s not it,” you whimpered between gasps for air. “I don’t want to take you away from your work. You said that this meeting was super important, and I”—you gasped—“I don’t want to interrupt you.”

“Interrupting me—is that what you’re worried about?” Bruno asked. “I promise you aren’t disturbing me. Right now, your distress is a much more pressing concern.” His words melted your heart; the care in his voice made you cry even harder.

“Okay, you can come in,” you sniffled, shifting your body so that you were now sitting up. You grabbed a tissue on your nightstand to wipe away the snot pouring out of your nose—you didn’t want Bruno to see you in such a gross state. All of a sudden, you heard your doorknob jiggling.

“It’s locked,” he called out.

“Oh—sorry, I’ll get it.”

“No need,” he replied. You heard the low growl of a zipper as Bruno began crawling through the center of your door. The pull tabs on his suit jingled as he stepped into your bedroom and zipped your door shut. You stared at the floor, vision blurry with tears. You felt the bed shift as Bruno took a seat next to you.

A warm finger traced your jawline towards your chin as he turned your head towards him. Your lip quivered as you looked into his deep, sapphire eyes. The soft, tender expression he wore caused you to break down all over again. Bruno pulled a silk handkerchief from his pocket and softly dabbed the warm tears cascading down your face.

“Don’t feel any pressure to talk about what’s upsetting you. However, if you need someone to listen, I’m here for you,” he gently stated. “Everything is going to be okay.” You nodded your head as he leaned down and delicately kissed your forehead. He wrapped his arms around you and held you close, engulfing you in his warmth. You buried your face into the space where his suit opened up for his chest, your skin pressed against his. The soothing scent of his expensive cologne flooded your nose. You focused on Bruno’s rhythmic breathing and found comfort as you rose and fell with his chest.

“Were you upset when you had to leave your meeting?” You asked, voice shaking.

“No, not at all,” Bruno reassured. “I’ll admit that I was a little irritated when Number 5 first appeared, but I calmed down as soon as it informed me of your distress. Mista must have been pretty concerned about you. I don’t think Number 5 was acting on Mista’s orders—I imagine it was reflecting his subconscious. I’m surprised he didn’t check on you himself.”

“He did; I told him to go away,” you sniffled and lightly chuckled.

”Ah, so that’s why Number 5 came and got me,” Bruno remarked, softly smiling. “I’m glad it did.“ His words sent a shiver of bliss running through your body.

“By the way, don’t worry about getting my suit wet; it’ll dry. Besides, even if you did leave a stain, I’m not worried—I’ve got the best dry cleaners in Italy,” he softly laughed.

“So that’s how you keep your suit so white,” you muttered, half-smiling.

”Mm-hm,” Bruno hummed. You noticed that your tears had finally stopped. A melancholic tranquility had replaced your sorrow.

��You seem like you’ve calmed down; are you feeling any better?” Bruno questioned. You looked up at him and nodded your head in response.

“Good,” He murmured as he began stroking your back. “I’ll stay with you a little while longer. As much as I don’t want to, I do have to get back to my meeting sometime soon. Don’t worry, I’ll come back once it’s over.”

“Thank you, Bruno,” you tiredly mumbled. A fuzzy warmth flooded your body as he pulled you even closer.

“I’ll always be here for you, my love,” Bruno consoled. You closed your eyes; a wave of exhaustion flooded your body as you allowed all of your muscles to relax. Your world no longer felt as if it was falling apart; it was as if Bruno had used his stand ability to reattach its pieces back together.

#jjba #jojo’s bizarre adventure x reader #jojo no kimyou na bouken #jjba x reader #bruno bucciarati x reader #bruno buccellati x reader #bruno bucciarati #bruno buccellati #jjba fluff #jjba part 5 #Jovia Joestar writes #sfw #gender neutral reader

[i-am-a-lost-girl16]

Eris and his Hounds

I'm not going to lie.. I'm slightly obsessed with Eris and his hounds. @erisweek2023

Eris was given his hounds by his father, though I firmly believe the intent isn’t for comradery or compassion. Beron’s intent in initially giving Eris his hounds as pups is to teach him a lesson in responsibility

Eris, as a young boy initially, is worried about raising the pups. He’s seen his father’s other hunting hounds and how ferocious they could be. The last thing he wants is to be responsible for a number of them. But Beron has made it clear: Either Eris takes care of them or they starve.

The first day in the kennel with them is all about Eris letting the hounds get familiar with him, he starts by just letting his hand hang into the kennel giving each hound the opportunity to sniff him. Once they’ve been exposed to his scent, he takes a small step inside. He braces himself as they swarm him, but his tension quickly drops as various snouts sniff and tickle him. 

That’s how his first few weeks with them go, Eris lets himself get used to each one and lets each dog get used to him. Once he has a feel for their personalities he begins assigning them all their own names (In order: Four females and three males): Roux, Bronwyn, Aster, Gaia, Flint, Jora, and Bruno

Every day he has time set aside to go out and train them, starting with the basic commands of Sit, Stay, Down. Before he advances each of them into more complicated commands.

Eris takes full care of his hounds, he’s up in the morning to take them outside and give them breakfast, he’s back by mid day to run through training with them, and in his free time he will often find himself at their sides. Whether it’s more training or taking them out for longer breaks into the woods. In the evening, before he retires, he makes sure that each dog is alright and in its proper place before he goes to his own room.

Now I think bath time with seven hounds and Eris is a hilarious feat. The exasperated boy will absolutely chase each of them around the bathroom he commandeered for his task, yellow at them and using whatever distraction he possibly can. I think that bath time is the one space that hasn’t changed since the hounds were pups, it has and always will be chaos and Eris loves every single second of it.

By the end of their first year together, he and his hounds had already formed an unbreakable bond. Nobody takes care of Eris’ hounds but him and his hounds are the first thing he allows himself to love fully without fear of hiding it. His hounds answer to nobody but him truly. 

Eris often goes to his hounds for solace, they’re some of the few living creatures that get to see him for who he truly is and each hound has their own special bond with Eris. There are plenty of late nights where he’s snuck to the kennels for comfort and fell asleep alongside them, only to wake up the next morning and have to threaten the nearest servant into silence about it.  

He would never be able to choose a favorite, each hound has their own special spot in his heart and he knows each of their habits.

Roux won’t sleep without burrowing into her blanket several times until it’s up to her standard, Flint and Gaia have been inseparable since birth the only two actual siblings of his hounds and as such they can constantly be found side by side. Brownyn will not share her food and her bowl needs to be several feet from the others at meal times. Bruno hides his treats, Eris once found a stash of several bones hidden in a hole in the wall of his kennel. If it’s raining, Jora will howl and whine in his kennel until he’s given the chance to go out into it (On days like these Eris makes sure Jora gets a few extra minutes outside), and Aster is the kindest heart of them all and absolutely knows she has Eris wrapped around her paw with one sad dog look he can't help but give her an extra treat.

Eris isn’t often found without at least one of the hounds by his side when he’s wandering the Forest House or even other areas of the Autumn Court. There’s no need for a leash amongst them usually, they listen well enough to his commands to stay glued to his side unless otherwise told.

I truly believe that Eris’ hounds are his babies and he spoils them endlessly whenever he can. Wherever Eris goes, his hounds are sure to follow him.

If one of his female hounds got pregnant (or Beron demand that Eris find a stud to breed her with) Eris is the epitome of a mother hen. He’s beside his hound every step of the way threatening every animal physician he can into making sure it goes smoothly. When her pups are set to come, Eris is right by her side helping to deliver them. In the end she has a litter of about four healthy puppies with limited complications but Eris swears that he’s aged another hundred years because of the worry that he went through for his beloved hound and her pups.

I could probably ramble on and on about Eris and his pups but at the end of the day, they are some of the most important things in Eris’ life in my mind.

#eris vanserra #eris vanserra hounds #eris acotar #erisweek2023 #eris vanserra imagine #eris vanserra headcanons #acotar headcanons

[almondx1ao]

Rainy days, stormy nights {Abbacchio fluff}

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Cw: Unwanted touching and Google translated Italian

Word count: 1, 593

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Rain pelted against the window of your shared apartment. You could hear the wind whistling through the unsealed crack in your window. Even though the world outside the window was grey and dull you couldn't help but enjoy the sounds that came with the rain, the smells too. Despite the window being closed the smell of rain on the pavement wafted into your nose. You sat in your shared room, blankets covering up to your hips and your back pressed against the fluffiness of a pillow.

The glow of the candles that you lit danced against the four walls and objects that filled the empty space. A reminder of the life you shared with Abbacchio. A book nestled between your palms, fingers feeling the smooth texture of the pages. The pads of your fingers traced the words so you could keep track of each word and your eyes could easily take in the sentences that painted each page. It was a cozy atmosphere, quiet and calm it was like a haven from the chaos that stormed outside.

At first, Abbacchio was closed off, as he was with anyone, but you were persistent. You worked at Libeccio's as a server and that's where you had first met the goth and stoic man you had grown to love. You made it a mission to always serve his and the bucci gang's table. You would try and talk to him, get his attention, but he more often than not ignored you, headphones covering his ears to drown out the sounds of the buzzing world around him. But the moment things changed was the moment that he had stepped in to help you.

Abbacchio had been at Libeccio's a bit later than usual, Bruno had asked him to come. He had been the first to arrive and he very swiftly made his way over to their reserved table. He sat down and did the usual, he put his headphones on in wait for the rest to arrive. He noticed you waiting tables, like usual as well. You had taken overtime because you needed the money.

However, you had gotten to a table of yours and checked on the customers there, but a man at the table closest to you had one too many drinks. He reached his hand to you and put his hand on the small of your back and moved lower. You moved away, but he caught your apron and pulled you back to continue what he was doing. But that came to a stop and he instantly pulled his hand away from you. You felt a looming presence behind you and you turned around and looked up at Abbacchio with wide eyes. He was intimidating and was using that to his advantage, his eyes glaring daggers at the man who touched you.

His eyes found you once more and you looked relieved, a smile pulled at your lips. It was clear you were thankful for his intervention. Even though he had noticed that you had tried to get his attention and he got slightly annoyed by it, Abbacchio wasn't going to let someone touch you like that. But after he actually got a good look at you, his eyes traced over every single detail. You were so bright, he was nearly blinded by your shine.

Though he refused to admit it out loud, you were quite cute. From then on Abbacchio would acknowledge you at least a little more than he had been. He let you talk his ear off and show him things you were excited about. You were bubbly, but not in a way that annoyed him you actually made him feel warm when you talked to him. He even started to hang out with you outside of work.

When he realized he had feelings for you he had been in denial, he ignored it. In fact he had distanced himself from you because of it. He couldn't get close, not again. He felt as though if he were to get close to you he would lose you. But as I said before, you were persistent. You didn't let him pull away from you, you simultaneously gave him space and also kept close.

You were patient with him and reassuring which made him realize the reason he got feelings for you in the first place. When the two of you got together, he didn't let anyone know and he told you that would be the case. There was a lot of people that could hurt you, especially since you weren't a stand user. He didn't even let on a change to those closest to him, even Bruno didn't catch on until later on in the relationship. He only reluctantly told Bruno after he kept pushing it, and even when he did, he kept it vague.

Abbacchio wasn't the type to hold your hand in public, in fact he acted very closed off to you in public. It was to keep you safe from harm. It was very different when it came to being behind closed doors. While Abbacchio still wasn't too fond of physical touch he still loved the feel of your skin against his. And he would every so often let you indulge in cuddles or kisses.

The way he displayed his affections was through acts of service, he is very attentive to you and wants to make sure that you are happy and wants to cheer you up when you're not. He was very quiet when it came to show his affection for you, he showed it through his actions rather than words. Despite his gruff and brash exterior if you caught him doing something for you, he would get a bit flushed and act as though he wasn't doing anything, looking away as he did so.

You could hear the front door open and close, it was your boyfriend. Just from the sound alone, you could tell that he was agitated. It was easy to get him that way though, Abbacchio was always easy to anger, the only emotion that showed through his steely gaze. The rest covered with stoicism that only you and people close to him had been able see right through. He was both thankful and annoyed that you could read him so easily.

Abbacchio had closed himself off from people to be able to read him, so he was intrigued that you were able to see through his walls like they were windows. He looked around the living room and the kitchen to find you, but his lavender and gold eyes didn't find his little bundle of joy. You were an escape from the grueling world that surrounded him, you were a breath of fresh air amongst the smog that puffed amongst the clouds. He went to the bedroom and opened the door, his eyes immediately found you cuddled under the blankets. You were so cute as your eyes found him and the first thing you did was smile at him.

Your smile alone was enough to ease some of the tension in his tense shoulders. Abbacchio instantly made his way over to you, his rough hands took the book in yours and set it aside,

"Hey!"

You say with a gentle laugh, despite how cute you were it didn't stop him. He put a finger under your chin and lifted your gaze to meet his, his lips greeted yours in a familiar embrace then they traced to plant a kiss on your forehead. Not without eliciting squeals and giggles from you, how did he get so lucky? After placing many lavender colored kisses on your soft skin he had moved to lay on top of you, head buried into your chest. His eyes closed as he listened to the thrum of your steady heartbeat and the wisps of your soft breaths.

Abbacchio was never usually the one to initiate contact, so you knew he really needed your affections. Times like these you enjoyed the most, when he was super cuddly with you and had initiated it. You cherished the fact that he did and when he did, you loved his kisses and hugs, not forgetting to mention his cuddles. So of course you would lean into any affection he gave you.

The way your chest rose and fell with every breath you took comforted him, even after dating you he still hadn't come to terms with the fact you were real. That his hands could reach out and move over your form, that his words were to be caught by your ears and taken to heart. Abbacchio was taken out of his thoughts when he felt you kiss the crown of his head and rest your chin on top. He then felt your fingers start to course through his silvery colored and slightly damp locks. The cold irritation he felt from the day's events melted away with just a few gestures.

"Mio caro(My darling) Leone..."

Abbacchio heard you call him by his name in a soft tone, it sent shivers down his spine. You had him completely captivated by you, just your voice alone could lull him into a sense of bliss. The two of you sat in silence, your fingers gently ran through his hair until they came to a stop. Both of your breaths fell to a shallow pace, indicating that both of fell asleep. Once again, the only sounds that rang through the room was your shared breaths and the sound of rain hitting the window, leaving the apartment to hum in tranquil harmony.

#jjba x reader #jjba part 5 #leone abbacchio #leone Abbacchio x reader #jjba abbacchio #jojo abbacchio #abbacchio #abbacchio x reader #x reader #jjba #jojo imagines #jojos bizarre adventure #jojos

[wolven91]

Rats in Hats - Chapter 4

While Keest began her flight back to safety, Bruno was tinkering.

The other two fiks had begun to busy themselves. Krahl had started to meticulously unwrap and rewrap her arms and legs with the grubby bandages that remained after she had donated a few to Bruno, or ‘Runt’ as they were calling him offhandedly now. SAM had assured him that accepting this new name would do well for remaining undetected by the fiks as their ignorance of his true biology would keep him as safe as possible. He couldn’t really argue with the fact, plus when he had tried to get Krahl to say ‘Bruno’ she had also struggled like Keest had until both of them gave up.

SAM was still monitoring the pod topside and using its suite, had found that so far, the space buoys hadn't received any signal or sign that rescue was nearby or even on its way. Survival and subtly was the play the human was to rely on for now. SAM didn’t like the idea of Bruno tinkering, but they had calculated that his current project would assist in his survival.

The tinkering in question was due to Bruno being essentially abandoned as the other two went about their business. He had wandered and explored the various alcoves that made up the majority of the cave's walls. One was obviously a sleeping pit. A couple of depressions in the dirt that was covered in furs of various creatures that Bruno couldn't identify. There were two depressions on the ground, one larger, likely Keest's bed and one smaller. At first Bruno wondered which of the other two used it, until he noticed the hammock hanging above the others which had the feeling of 'Tahr' as the owner. She did seem to be ‘off-step’ when compared to the other two.

In another corner, was a bench and another piece of wood, jutting out of the wall. Unlike the table in the middle, this one was not pristine and had the appearance of it being scored, stained, and used heavily. The various tools that were spread across the old wood told Bruno that it was a workbench of sorts.

In the centre was an oddly shaped crossbow. He picked it up, gently removed the bolt and pulled the trigger. The resulting ‘crack’ told him that it at least worked, but it seemed weak, he’d need to pull the wire back himself too. If they got a stronger draw on it, the weapon would be stronger, but the user would need a mechanism for readying the weapon. The fact he was capable of moving the wire without cutting his fingers told him that.

With nothing better to do, he sat at the table, and began to meddle. He was supposed to be an engineer back on the transport before it exploded. He had been following a few aliens about, watching them work, listening to their explanations and wasn’t a slouch when it came to being technically minded. He had classes and lessons to go through, but the practical stuff came naturally to him. SAM also was immeasurably helpful. They had access to not only huge databases worth of mechanical knowledge, but could scan, break down and explain how to improve the device far beyond what Bruno could do on his own. In the end he and SAM had attempted to recreate a ‘Da Vinci’ design with moderate success.

It had been an hour or so when Keest stumbled back into the den. Bruno was still fiddling with the device which had changed shape rapidly as the AI was able to walk him through the fastest and most efficient steps without need for trial and error. Tahr had initially retrieved a knife to throw at the runt when she saw what he was doing to her project. She had spent weeks attempting to build something she dreamt of.

The dark assassin had wanted something to throw her knife further or harder than she could, but discovered that whilst good at spinning in the air, knives generally weren’t suited for being launched. When she stood, eyes wide and furious, a gentle hand grasped her elbow. Krahl. That niggling voice that had started doubting her surety that the world was simple spoke up once more. In an act so rare it was akin to a second sun rising, Tahr walked over to the runt and observed. She said nothing, but peered down her snout with her arms crossed. 

What she discovered was her personal design was still there, to a degree, but the runt had refined it. He plucked the bolt she had been practising with, placed it in the groove, aimed at the soft mud that had the holes of her previous attempts and pulled the trigger. The resulting snap echoed briefly. Looking for the bolt, Tahr couldn’t see it? Had it failed to launch? It took a moment before she saw that not only had a new hole appeared in the soft mud, but the bolt had driven itself so far down that it had disappeared from view.

After briefly touching her fingers over the new hole, Tahr looked down at Runt with a new level of respect. She had watched him modify the weapon towards the end, she may be able to reverse engineer it if she worked hard enough, or even ask him to help her make one for herself.

That was when the runt simply turned the weapon around and offered it to her. Krahl watched silently as Tahr gently, with reverence, took the weapon from the newest member of her clan and looked it over. Tahr was silent, it was strange to have her dumbfounded. She rarely was *given* anything though, she was used to *taking*.

As for Krahl during all of this, the den was awash with the tides of fate. It blinded her to the outside world, beyond their own haven. She found that she was swaying in time with the vast changes to her clan’s fate, happening right here in front of her. It was the *smell* of Keest that brought her back down to reality. The smell of her blood.

"Sah! Keest?!"

Tahr's head whipped round and ran across the room, the weapon clattering onto the table in the middle leaving Krahl’s rough earthen mug rattling and spinning.

"The chief has gone mad." Keest gasped, leaning against the entrance to the cavern with a bloodied forearm.

Tahr tried to support Keest who's arms and body ran red with her blood, but the towering fik brushed her off, trying to assure her two 'family' members that she was fine. She took a step forward before her knee visibly buckled and she fell forwards. Her two fik sisters crouching down either side to offer reassurance, but unsure of how to help. Injuries were always dangerous to fiks, there were no tinkerers who could fix the flesh, not anymore. Keest had been injured plenty of times in the past, but never this grievously.

Krahl hated the fact that she felt fate's icy grip reaching for her Keest and saw no path that could change it.

Bruno had joined them at this point, Keest could see that beneath the mask, his eyes were wide and worried. He didn't really know these aliens, but Bruno was never one to be cold or uncaring. The idea that one of the three that had taken him into their home was hurt, did not sit well with him, not to mention he had a soft spot for the, so far, gentle giant. ‘Survival’ he thought to himself, deciding how to help and his justification at the same time.

He pushed past the other two fiks and reached out to Keest's hand, her hand seemed to dwarf his. His own grasped only a few of her fingers, but she didn't pull away, rather; she stared at him, curious as to his actions. When he gently pulled her towards the table, she forced herself to move, standing and stomping forwards without resistance. She allowed herself to be led and sat when indicated as the other two fiks watched.

Krahl and Tahr shared a glance before joining them at the table. Gods and Runts, fate and the shattering of expectations, what was the small creature’s plan? Krahl tried not to show it, but she was fearful, she could not see another path of Keest, her path was one that ended, and soon.

Keest breathed heavily, the gouges that were raked across her arms, parted the flesh in alarmingly large swaths. They wept openly, small rivulets of the bright red blood dribbling down her arms, dripping onto the floor below, a significant trail had followed her. Her tail was also ruined; the end was completely gone with only ruined threads of flesh dragging along in the dirt.

The air stank of copper.

Bruno reached under the cloak, past the small survival knife concealed there and toward the first aid kit. SAM immediately warned him against showing the alien's this; not only would this immediately break any illusion that he was one of them, but may irrevocably adjust the course of their development as a species.

“The greatest chance for survival is the protection of an established ally.” He whispered quietly to himself and SAM, frozen in his action of kneeling by the grey giant. In his opinion, it was the moment of truth, of placing his trust in these creatures and the hope that they wouldn't betray him. SAM didn’t respond, there were too many variables, there would be consequences for his actions, depending on how much it affected these primitive’s development he could be considered a criminal. But the logic was sound, whatever creature did this, it was near and could theoretically follow the trail back to their home. SAM remained silent as Bruno revealed it to the surrounding fiks.

From the group’s perspective, Runt had pulled Keest to sit by the table and had knelt by her. For a time he was still, but all three heard him murmuring to himself. Keest, Tahr and Krahl all immediately recognised a prayer when they saw one, it could have even been a blessing even. It was when he produced a small metal item that drew their attention further, but deepened their confusion.

The kit itself was a small round cylinder, gun metal grey, except for the white circle and the thick, bold, red cross in the centre, a human symbol, but adopted by the wider community amongst the stars. The canister contained 5 doses of the deep blue emergency medical nanites. One jab into the bloodstream near the site of a physical wound would, over the course of a few minutes to an hour, depending on the severity, close and heal the injury in short order. Their introduction was a miracle to some. To humanity, it was science fiction, to the rest of the Galactic Community it was no different than a common light bulb.

From the gathered fik’s point of view... It was magic. From the moment the needle pierced Keest’s flesh, Krahl’s map of the future was suddenly awash with countless other possibilities. It was if in a flash a great tree with unending branching paths had grown from a dead stump.  

There were more paths than Krahl had ever seen before… 

It was well known that magic existed, at least in one form or another. Most fiks merely bore witness to it with their role in their society. Fiks tended to gravitate towards certain careers within their society. Keest had begun as the runt of her mother's brood but had grown swiftly and evenly as she hit puberty and found her disposition suited guardian work. Eventually her ability to simply charge into frays with little concern had gained her a reputation as a berserker, but she had always remained in control unlike those who lost themselves to a frenzy. Tahr had always had an innate ability to remain undetected and quiet, assassination and reconnaissance had suited her well. It was unusual for one of her kind to work so closely with Keest’s. Meanwhile Krahl was born an ermin and would die an ermin. They were the guides or those who dipped their whiskers into the unseen world of the gods and while Ermins didn't cast magic, they listened to it.

It was the only reason they were not killed alongside those that had used magic in the past.

Strange creatures that could cure the sick, create light from liquids and braved the storms with metal rods with wires dragging after them. Tinkerers. Tinkerers of the dirt, body and machines.

The Chief had announced years ago, with the help of his seer, that these creatures would lead the clan to their doom, so he led the massacre on them all those years ago when he came to power.

Now Keest was watching as Runt gently jabbed her with a small strange looking needle. She had thought that he was going to stitch her wounds up, but without touching it himself, the three brutal gouges in her arms began to seal. It wasn’t instant, to Keest; at first it just tingled before the bleeding stopped and darkened rapidly. Keest was no stranger to wounds, her flesh held hundreds of scars and she had watched all of them heal over time with morbid curiosity, up to and including being told off for picking at the scabs. But now, as if time was running quicker for her, her flesh scabbed, healed, and scarred in no more than twenty minutes.

Krahl glanced at Keest, who’s eyes flicked to Tahr. They had a magic user; a tinkerer and a powerful one too.

There hadn’t been a tinkerer since the slaughter and ‘magic’ in any form had stagnated. Sure, fiks had used what was already known, but nothing new had appeared since their wholesale destruction.

Keest stood, already trying to form a plan, before lurching and toppling over. She found she was suddenly lightheaded, and unbelievably tired. All three of the other occupants of the room rushed to her side, Runt, having no hope as to actually holding her up despite a valiant effort on his part.

Her muscles felt weak, shaky, it reminded her of her childhood and a time of little food. She grimaced at the memory of bitter roots that she ate to stave off starvation.

"Heal. Need sleep." Runt said, surprising all of them. His voice was odd, muffled, yet not. It was as if he spoke with two voices, one within his mask and another, different voice of the mask itself.

"You use magic?" She asked, being helped towards the beds.

He shook his head from left to right, a strange faulty mimic of a fik shaking their head in frustration or boredom. It didn't feel like he was frustrated or bored by any stretch. Thankfully, the small runt spoke as Keest collapsed into the furs.

"No, just smarts. Flesh with blood." His words weren't right, he was speaking, but reaching for the wrong words.

"Sah, what happened? The Chief did this?" Asked Tahr, reattaching her knife sheath. Her tail lashed from left to right as she paced. She was agitated, ready for a fight.

"His seer has given a prophecy." Keest stated, flexing her hand, turning her arm to and fro, watching the new scars pull and twist. They were deep, muscle deep and yet looked years old now. She had skipped past the whole healing process, but was left feeling weak.

Krahl sighed at the news, her brow furrowing with worry, but she remained silent and Keest continued.

"She has seen his end; he is now seeing shadows move. Demands a spy’s head."

"An assassin?" Tahr asked, even more animated now, checking and triple checking her blades were pulling free from their sheaths with ease. Bruno leaned back and watched her long tail hook one of her belts that was filled with blades and bring it over into her arm's reach. ‘A useful appendage’ he mused.

"He thinks so, he will-"

"Ha!" Krahl started and glanced at the door. "Tahr." the albino started, but the dark blur was already running towards the door, snatching one last belt from the table. The tip of her tail was the last thing to be seen before it too was swallowed by the shadows. Krahl had sensed something, something important was moving nearby, but needed to be observed.

Keest was nervous, she had been wounded, but not killed, once more fate being shattered. She dwelled on this, her wounds, if they had not stopped bleeding, may have taken her life. At the very least she would have been at a disadvantage with fresh openings in her flesh, but the runt's magic had cured her. But as with all miracles, it was not without its cost. She was drained completely. She felt weak, if the Chief walked in now, they wouldn’t stand a chance. By Tarquin’s Dark Dreams, even if a runt walked in right now she’d struggle to fight them off.

Keest caught herself drifting to sleep, her head bobbing backwards, waiting for Tahr to return from Krahl's alert. The ermin often foresaw events in the warren, but without one of the trio actually going to see what was happening, they would miss whatever the excitement was.

Keest's tail languidly flopped from one side to the other. The tip was missing, what was now the end, was a blunt stump, shortened by a foot, but it too was completely healed over. Damage like that would have been evident for months without the runt’s magic…

She simply couldn’t get past it in her mind. Everyone had heard the stories and formed their own opinion as to whether the tinkerers and their magic was good or bad, but now Keest had been directly subjected to it.

Runt crouched down next to her and placed a hand against her arm. It was warm, gentle, and calming, a far cry from most fiks that twitched and rarely stayed still for long. She reached up and clasped his hand with hers, gave it a squeeze and fell backwards to lie across her bed. Her eyelids drooped as the sound of pattering feet brought her back. Tahr had returned.

"A speech. The Chief has called a gathering." She declared to the group, she had simply listened in the darkness as other fiks ran past towards the main cavern of the warren.

Keest began to rise, but Runt reached out and stopped her by putting hands against either shoulder. She stopped moving at the gesture. It wasn't that he was strong enough to stop her, it was the concept that he'd try.

"Tahr and I will go. You stay with Runt; we will return with information." Krahl stated with finality, brokering no argument.

Keest glanced from Krahl, to Tahr before side eyeing Runt who was quivering but still resisting her. He could have been actually trying to push her back down, but she neither noticed nor cared; she'd lie down when she wanted to. She considered the plan, she didn’t like Krahl going out, but with Tahr, the danger to either of her family should be lessened.

"Fine. Be safe." Keest said firmly, before flopping back down, with Runt falling forwards. He had apparently been pushing against her with everything he had and now, with the resistance suddenly gone, had fallen on top of her in a pile. The other two left with separate chuckles while Keest grinned to herself as she felt Runt scramble up and off of her. He reminded her of other males, of those that were nervous around her. She had mated before, but it was with other fiks that had similar traits and personalities to her, she didn’t like that. They always had something to prove, fought her at every turn, never seemingly needing her as they could provide for themselves for everything. She had liked the other, smaller fiks, though. The idea of protecting them, of looking after them; it appealed to her at a fundamental level.

But fiks, as they were at the moment, would never trust her, or anyone, enough to be protected by someone else, and likewise she’d be foolish to trust other fiks. For one to trust her or allow her to defend them? To sleep deeply and soundly while she watched over them? No matter how much she desired it, it simply was the wrong time in their history for it to be.

She looked up at the runt with half lidded eyes, still wrapped in bandages with his strange legs, he was displaced, he was not one of the clan and did not act like one of them either.

It had been only a few hours but it already felt as if he was one of them, despite his strange origins. She thought briefly to those, how he fell from the twinkling lights. How his legs weren't like theirs, how his hands and fingers looked nothing like any fik she had seen before, runt or otherwise.

And she didn't care.

He knelt at her side, his covered arms and hands limp in his lap as he returned her gaze. As her own eyes began to close, blinking slowly, he yawned. The mask obscured his whole face, bar the exposed furless skin where the mask ended and the shawl began, but it seemed to be universal as he raised a wrist to where his mouth would be, as if to cover it while his chest expanded.

She reached out, snatched his arm and pulled him down onto the furs with her. Whether he wasn't expecting it or she once again underestimated her strength, Keest wasn't sure, but he barely had a moment to register before the runt fell forwards, rolled over his shoulders and landed against her front, his back pressing into her, squeaking a tiny muffled yelp.

Her left arm was underneath his body, compressed into the furs while her right she draped over his ribs and curled it around him. She lifted a leg and placed it over his, protecting him, in her own way.

He panicked at first, as she expected. The smaller ones tended to panic around her and often apologised to Keest even if they weren't at fault. Honestly, it was a source of amusement and a warm feeling within her chest when they were flustered. She loved it when the skinny ones were flustered. But she didn't want him to be panicking or worried, so she whispered to him quietly.

"Saaah, it's okay... Rest little one. Tomorrow will be a day of days... yes yes..." She promised, and as if on cue, he began to settle. Quietening his excuses and, although it was not instant, as she was drifting away, he too physically relaxed in her arms, his body uncoiling and pressing against her front. They lay there together for a time, both breathing as one, although Keest's mighty bellows took in longer, deeper breaths while runt's were smaller and far more shallow. He was warm to her skin, despite the bandages muting her touch against him. Her claws gently raked up and down his arm and she rubbed the soft fur of her cheek against the back of his neck and head as they both drifted.

As she lost consciousness Keest had the goofiest grin on her face.

===*===

It was only a short time later from Keest losing consciousness with Runt held against her that Krahl and Tahr arrived at the upper corridors to the central chamber that housed the sea of fiks that made up the entire nest or 'clan'. It was a truly cosmopolitan mix of types. Fiks of every shade of fur, or every height and size, all come together to hear the Chieftain speak. Tahr didn't like the crowds, so insisted on reaching the upper balconies rather than go down into the crowd itself.

Oh sure, no drinks would be available up here, nor any food unlike the huge market at the bottom, but, as Tahr planned, if anything went wrong down in the crush of fiks, they would not be included and have a better than good opportunity to escape. Krahl hadn't been privy to these plans but hadn't questioned the quiet assassin when she felt them go along a different path. She felt no major trouble with following the enigmatic fik, even with her threads of fate so quiet.

To Krahl, her lack of sight was made up by the scents of each living person's threads. Animals and creatures that could not think did not have them, but fiks and the runt, had a stream of... something, following them and flowing around them. This is what Krahl sensed when she gave advice or instruction of what path to follow. The threads were not clear, but often gave a hint as to what would happen if Krahl or the owner followed a particular future.

Krahl had crossed paths with Keest early and had seen herself far happier than she had ever seen herself before while standing next to Keest. Selfishly, she had involved herself with Keest without her input and ensured that the ermin had been useful in the short term so that Keest would not chase her off.

With Tahr however, her threads were thin and almost imperceptible. It was as if Krahl was sensing Tahr's threads hours after she had walked past, like a scent lost on the wind. Maybe it was her low-profile nature, or perhaps it was Tahr's certainty that Krahl was simply guessing. Tahr had made her opinions of gods and signs very clear in the past, in that they didn't exist. The world was the world, the dirt beneath one's claws was as it was and scents were merely bits of the owner, left behind and perceived by the tracker.

Keest and Krahl often laughed at some of Tahr's theories. It wouldn't surprise the ermin if Tahr was right though; she was incredibly intelligent and often spent her free time tinkering and inventing things, if she had more successes, she could have passed *for* a tinkerer. Recently she had been working on an arm mounted thrower, that could fire small spears over short distances, she was quite proud if not frustrated that she had stalled in its development. After Runt’s involvement, Krahl wondered how Tahr found him now.

Tahr leaned on the edge of a wall that overlooked the expansive cavern, the rolling mass of bodies down in the depths looked more like a writhing beehive than a nest of fiks. The body heat shimmered upwards and the walls sweated. To Krahl, she stood with Tahr but needed no reason to look out the opening. She could feel the heartbeat of the nest, even from up here where only a few of the like minded fiks had joined them. She closed her eyes, the darkness she lived in didn’t change but she sensed the thrum of her clan.

Tahr considered the Chief’s tower across the empty expanse, the den at the top held up by a thick central column with a spiral ramp all the way up made it a defensible home. Despite wanting to hear what the chief had to say, no one ventured up the ramp itself. More often than not, those who went up came back no longer whole, a clipped ear, a rent eyebrow. ‘A missing tail’ Tahr thought grimly. Besides Keest, The Baron was the last one to climb it and had descended shortly after in a foul mood.

Keest had been a known favoured soldier of the Chief for the longest time, famous in her own right. Now that the Chief had tried to kill her, both Tahr and Krahl had come to the same conclusion that he had to die or they would die in his place. If he was as paranoid as Keest had said, he may even seek her death if only to prevent her from seeking revenge. Quite rightly if any of them were to be honest.

A figure appeared at the top of the Chief's ramp, even at this distance, the sheer bulk of the beast as a sight to behold and the low level hissing of conversation below quietened.

He had addressed the warren like this once before, bellowing his mighty voice out to all to hear as if he himself were a god. After he had slain the previous chief for being weak, he had addressed the nest to alert them that the greatest danger was from within. He had built the clan up into a feverous pitch, with his words of betrayal by those within the clan itself.

In the end he had identified the tinkerers as the perpetrators to all that had befallen the clan, that they had meddled in works that had angered the gods and if they continued to live would only cause strife, misery and death. He had led the charge, had barrelled down the ramp and into the crowd to show he was one of the fiks rather than separate. He had never mingled with the fik after that day, instead sequestering himself in his tower.

Tahr considered now if that had been the right path saying how he was acting now.

“My clan! I speak to you now with grave news! When we began this new prosperous era, we slew those who would have led us astray! Now, a new threat stalks our home. It will snatch your children from their beds, steal the food from your very mouths and has already stuck at the heart of our clan!”

His voice echoed off the walls, his words clear and powerful. He had lost some of his charisma from years ago, but he still was the largest fik and still was capable of demanding attention in sheer brute strength; more than enough to control the clan as it was. They were aimless, they needed this strength.

“Earlier this evening, before the storm, the Baron sent several agents into our home. Despite our strength, they slinked into my own den and slew the Seer.”

He paused to allow a ripple of shock and murmuring to bounce around the cavern. Even Tahr and Krahl were taken aback. Thanks to Keest’s connection with the chief, even those two had met the old Seer who had offered blessing and boons to the two of them in supporting Keest and the Chief.

“I fought bravely and savaged the creature, she was severely wounded; her tail…” The figure atop the column, held something aloft before throwing it down into the masses. “Was removed before she fled. Seek the wounded one, seek the bandaged female. Bring her to me, break her limbs if you must, but bring her alive. Those that succeed will be rewarded like nothing you have witnessed before!”

Again he paused to let the words sink in. ‘At least Keest is healed’ thought Tahr as she considered the ramifications. ‘Thank the gods for Runt.’ She rapidly gained a new appreciation for him at this point, Keest meant everything to Tahr, she had given the assassin a new life after sparing her. They’d never discussed it, but it meant more than Tahr had ever let on.

“Next, is the spy. It is a creature not of us. This is more than just tinkerer or ermin. This *thing* is not fik. It is a demon, an imp, an unclean rot that will kill us all if it is not killed first. I do not care if it is brought to me alive, its body is all I need, so that I may sleep soundly with the knowledge that our young will not be consumed.” He roared into the crowd.

“He lays it on thick, yes?” Krahl said humorlessly, all respect for the leader, long gone, her arms were crossed as she leant against a nearby wall.

Regardless of the Chief’s acting, his message was received and the cavern below became a hive of activity. The fiks were visibly surging up the various paths, seemingly taking the call for the clan to protect its own very seriously. They flooded the lower tunnels in an alarming display.

“We should return…” Krahl said quietly, frowning. Tahr was already there, nodding absently and beginning to trek back towards the secret cavern. Krahl tried to sense forward, to see if danger would find the den before they returned, but could not reach that far. It was foolish to try, but her hands itched in worry.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #fik #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs

[miracles-and-butterflies]

For @maleficent09, based on the prompt: “how the villagers see or don’t see how wrong they were about Bruno.”

Hope you enjoy!

Comments are always appreciated.

~~~~~~

Ajustamiento

An adjustment.

That’s what Mama had said this would be. For both him leaving the walls for the first time in ten years. And for everyone else, who hadn’t seen him in ten years.

It was an adjustment for a lot of the Madrigals too. Some struggled - Luisa had to be keenly watched over, so she wasn’t overworking herself, and Pepa would instinctively keep a locked gate over her emotions. And some found it came easily - Isabela is impressively quick at dropping that perfection, happily wrestling in the mud with her younger cousins and demanding her Abuela join in, and Dolores takes the transition of enhanced to normal back to enhanced hearing in her stride. He’s even caught her singing to herself.

It was a careful balance for him. Bruno didn’t want to fall back into the whole golden child adoration he had before his reputation crumbled away, nor did he want to remain the mysterious Madrigal that nobody talks about. Though the latter was a good premise for a play or something.

Well, at least he thought that. Turns out there was no careful balance.

Most of the older townspeople came around within seconds. They remembered him from before and knew better than the twisted gossip of recent years.

The village kids too. They were an excitable lot, brimming with questions, clearly influenced by their babysitter/friend/playmate, Camilo.

All that was left is that awkward group in the middle. Young adults. Most people in their early twenties to late thirties, still walk very apprehensively around him. They think he can’t hear them whispering too.

There’s a tug on his ruana.

He looks down to see he’s surrounded by three little boys. One of which is clutching to green fabric.

“Are you Bruno Madrigal?” The boy asks, who yanked at his ruana.

“Can you really see the future?” Pipes up another.

“Can you tell us our futures?” Questions the last.

Bruno chuckles fondly. A part of him has missed this. He remembers the days when a young Isabela, Dolores and Luisa would hound him for visions in a very similar fashion.

“Yep. I’m Bruno and I can see the future.”

The children look at him in awe.

Would it be wrong to say he feels like a celebrity?

“Who wants a vision?”

The way all their hands instantly shoot up reminds him of doing this at school. Most of the kids would come running for the solutions to homework or tests to to find out if their crush liked them back. And he remembers Mama telling him off when she found out he was charging his classmates for them.

The kids introduce themselves as Diego, Juanito and Samuel Perez. The name is familiar, Bruno went to school with their parents. The boys are cousins. And are babysat by Camilo - though that was obvious already.

He leads them away to an open space.

It’s just outside the Perez house, which is getting an extension, built by Luisa. Bruno tries to wave at his niece as he passes but the kids have a very firm grip on his arm.

Seriously, these kids could easily rival young Isabela for how enthusiastic they are.

He doesn’t mind them helping out with pouring sand into a circle, but he doesn’t want to redo an angry Abuela getting involved because a flowery braid got singed while burning leaves.

“I bet I become the richest guy in the world,” Samuel says.

“I don’t care about money. Adults say money doesn’t make you happy. I want to become a farmer, like my Papas.” Juanito announces, proudly.

“I want to marry Sophia.” Diego pipes up.

“You said you liked Carolina?”

“I can like many things.”

“Who wants to go first?” Bruno cuts in.

It’s a silly question because obviously they all want to go first. And they start arguing about it.

In the end, Diego goes first. He was the eldest apparently. He would be followed by Samuel, then lastly Juanito.

“You ready, kid?” Bruno questions, holding out his hands.

He takes them instantly. “Born ready.” Diego answers.

They sit in anticipation under green light. The other two are sat off to the side, watching in hushed excitement.

Now that he’s actually doing the vision, he’s starting to consider what happens if the future isn’t good. He’s internally watching a repeat of young Dolores crying to Pepa and Félix, saying that she is never going to be loved and will be lonely forever - that wasn’t the vision, but the future can be difficult for some adults to grasp, never mind children.

He didn’t want to do that again, so he stopped doing visions for children after that. Much to the annoyance of young Luisa.

Since the magic returned, he’s been doing visions for anyone that shows interest.

Still not many of them have actually been kids under ten. With the exception of Antonio, due to personal biases.

The reputation that was created for him in those absent ten years are probably to blame. Parents have convinced their children or anyone that will listen that his gift is taboo.

Take Osvaldo Ortiz, for example.

The Ortiz family had been close with the Madrigals. Osvaldo’s father had been friends with Alma since birth and then worked with her in Encanto. So, his son was the best suitor for one of Alma’s girls. Until, of course, Julieta fell madly in love with Agustín.

Osvaldo hadn’t taken it well, to say the least. Bruno had only tried to advise him, it could hardly be called a vision, more than a warning.

Soon enough, Bruno found himself being accused for Osvaldo growing a gut.

He can’t help but think Osvaldo’s unhappiness is somewhat deserved though. He’s seen the way Osvaldo treats Agustín and the way he still tries flirting with Julieta. Isabela complains of the way he looks at her sister.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Bruno blinks, and the vision stops.

Oh. He hasn’t been paying attention to what he was actually doing.

However, there’s no vision slate in his hand, so hopefully nothing bad has actually happened.

A familiar woman suddenly appears in his field of vision, holding Diego by the hand. The other two boys are peeking out from behind her brown skirt. She looks down at him, glaring. The children must’ve done something.

Camilo tends to encourage mischievousness in the kids he babysits and that often leads to trouble. It’s no surprise adults are displeased.

“Ah, Xiomara Perez! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Don’t give me that, Bruno! How dare you try to use your magic on my son! And my nephews!” She screeched.

Yep. That makes more sense.

“They asked for a vision. I’m just doing my job.” Bruno shrugged.

“Liar! My Diego would never have asked. Your visions always lead to trouble!” Xiomara continued. “These are innocent kids, they have never done anything wrong, and don’t deserve getting awful fates!”

“What’s going on here?” Luisa asks, stepping over at the sound of commotion.

Xiomara points an accusing finger at the young woman. “You! How dare you just let this happen! You should have intervened. You are meant to be the protector of Encanto. Why wouldn’t you help these poor children?”

“I didn’t see anything wrong. Bruno gave these boys a vision because they asked,” she said. She glanced at the three boys in question. Bruno can see the exact moment something snaps in her. She stands, intimidating, at her full height, with muscles tense and eyes narrowed. “Poor children? Let me tell you, Señora Perez, these poor children need no help from my Tío screwing up their futures.”

“How dare you—”

“These three cut open Mirabel’s hand in some sick prank, and nobody has punished them for it. If they weren’t children, I’d kick them over the mountain for what they’ve done.”

It makes Xiomara shut up for a second.

Bruno is just gaping. He knew Mirabel had injured her hand, but he didn’t realise that was the work of three kids.

Xiomara has enough sense not to push Luisa’s protective older sister buttons. Though she quietly mutters, just loud enough for Bruno to hear, something about his youngest niece deserving that and much worse.

However, not enough sense to keep her mouth closed as she redirects the argument to Bruno.

“Looks like you bring out the worst in your own family, Bruno,” Xiomara said. “Can’t imagine why on God’s earth they welcomed you back into their lives - forcing us to put up with you and your curses as well. You should be ashamed of yourself and everything you’ve done to this town, and should’ve stayed in exile when you had the chance.”

“How dare you?”

“What—”

“Bruno is one of the friendliest and most inspiring adults I know, who has helped me grow in more ways than one. Which is more than I can say for these kids,” Luisa hissed, standing over the woman. “I can guarantee that if he was a parent he’d be doing a much better job than you - though I’ve seen mosquitos do better than you. Bruno only sees the future, he can’t change it. The only one who can do that is yourself. So if you have an issue with your vision, take a look in a mirror. And if you have a problem with him then you can get the hell out of our town.”

The woman stared up at Luisa with a beet-red face, completely speechless.

“Now, Señora Perez. Would you like some instructions on how to finish a roof or a recommendation for another builder? Because I and the rest of the Madrigals certainly won’t be doing anything else for you.”

The question was enough to make the woman give a huff and storm away with the boys, watching in varying levels of fear, shock and confusion.

The walk back to Casita was quiet.

Neither said a word.

Bruno was grateful for Luisa’s defence, even if she did take it a little too far. It reminds of when Pepa would do so when they were teenagers. He also knew well enough that there was plenty of others who had similar views to Xiomara, and no doubt Luisa did too. Simply yelling at one wouldn’t change the majority’s beliefs about him.

Luisa, on the other hand, knew she hadn’t kept control of her temper and would definitely find herself grounded for not doing work. Which was weird because she was usually grounded for doing too much work.

As much as she wanted to undo the renovation she had made to the Perez household, she knew it was better to stay with her Tío. Not only was it the right thing to do, but he looked like he needed and wanted her company right now. So she stayed put.

Even once they had reached Casita and had dinner with the others.

Bruno was about to excuse himself when Luisa pulled him back into his chair. He raised an eyebrow at her, but didn’t move.

“We… we usually have a game night on Fridays,” Luisa explained, nodding her head towards Isabela, Camilo and Antonio already arguing about who had the most wins. While Dolores was urging Mariano to go home before it got worse. “You’re welcome to join us, Tío. If you’d want, we won’t force you.”

Bruno blinked. Then tearing up a little, “I’d like that.”

Almost instantly, the chaotic trio stopped arguing and jumped into action. Isabela grabbed a stack of board games and a few packs of cards, sorting through them on the floor. Camilo bounced upstairs to find as many blankets and pillows as he could find. Antonio gathered his animal friends as cuddle companions, in case anyone wanted them. Dolores and Mariano opted to get some snacks and drinks from the kitchen.

Soon enough, the group were huddled together under a pillow fort, playing a game of Charades. Some of Bruno’s rats insisted they have a go.

That’s how, at three on a Saturday morning, they found themselves laughing and squabbling over Cluedo in a slight mess of sugar and pillows.

Readjusting to life could be exhausting for Bruno, but that didn’t mean it was without its good moments.

Family bonding was one of the things Bruno had missed the most during his ten year absence. Even the simplest things of playing games and accusing his nieces of blatant cheating was enough to bring a wide smile to his face.

Said good moments made it - dealing with people like Xiomara - all worth it.

#encanto #ask me anything #my writing #bruno madrigal #luisa madrigal #alma madrigal #isabela madrigal #dolores madrigal #camilo madrigal #mirabel madrigal #antonio madrigal #mariano guzmán #pepa madrigal #félix madrigal #julieta madrigal #agustín madrigal #madrigal family

[bullet-prooflove]

The North Star - Part Twelve: Got Your Back - Terry Bruno x Reader

Welcome to mine and @the-hinky-panda The Bronx universe featuring our favs Terry Bruno & Mike Duarte.

This story takes place several years after 'Blood Out'. Terry still lives in the Bronx and works in Manhatten SVU.

Following on from @the-hinky-panda story 'The Dog' Mike has retired from the NYPD on medical grounds due to seizures causes by the attack. He has a therapy dog called Bono and lives with @the-hinky-panda character Meredith.

Tagging: @mysoulisasunflower @legit9thlunaticwarrior @bbyxoo @the-adzukibean  @xoxabs88xox  @crazy4chickennuggets  @beardedbarba @wooshwastaken @justreblogginfics @im-just-a-mississippi-girl @storiesofsvu @anime-weeb-4-life @witches-unruly-heart

Part One: Moments (NSFW)

Part Two: Case of the Ex

Part Three: Her Worse Half

Part Four: Always

Part Five: Ask Me Again (NSFW) 

 Part Six: Degas

It happens quickly, too quickly but that’s the way it goes with these cases. You can spend weeks chasing a lead, trying to narrow down your suspect list and then before you know it your kicking down his door and slapping the cuffs on them. It’s a high, an adrenaline rush you can’t beat.

You feel that untapped energy surging through your veins even now as you stand in the locker room, pulling out your bulletproof vest from the hanger you keep it on. It’s new, with that fresh smell that comes with something that’s spent most of its life entangled in plastic. It was NYPD policy for a vest to be replaced every five years. You’d gotten this one over a week ago.

You already pulling it on by the time Sinclair enters the locker room. It fits snugly over the long-sleeved shirt you’re wearing, you’re adjusting the Velcro when he opens his mouth to speak.

“Sarge, can I talk to you a sec?” he asked quietly.

There was something about his tone…

You’ve only heard it once before, when he’d told you about the miscarriage him and Sharon had suffered. The two of you had been seated across from one another, separate desks but the same shared space, the way you’d been for the past five years. You’d known something was wrong, you worked with someone long enough, you learned to pick up on their moods and idiosyncrasies. However, you knew Abe Sinclair well enough to know when to push and when to give him space. The two of you were a team and he was the best partner you’d ever had.

“Is everything ok?” You asked him, glancing up as you re-holstered your weapon.

“You tell me.” He said pointedly, his gaze turning pointedly to the bruising that peeked out from beneath the sleeve of your shirt.

“It’s fine.” You said, shutting the door to your locker. The sound reverberated through the room as you tugged down the raised sleeve.

“You were kind of out of it the other night.” He said, taking a seat on the bench and rubbing his palms over one another. “You had me drop you off at Meredith’s.”

You said nothing as you sat down on the bench alongside of him.

“It was Russo wasn’t it?” Sinclair said quietly. “He hurt you.”

You sucked in a deep breath, your eyes raising to the ceiling so you didn’t have to look Sinclair in the face.

“Yea.” You told him.

“Russo’s that guy, isn’t he?” Sinclair asked, gesturing to the back of his neck. “That ex boyfriend you talked about.”

Another night, another secret shared during a stake out whilst dividing the last pack of peanut M&Ms you’d dug out of your stash. He’d asked you about the scars, and you found yourself telling him. You kept Paul’s name out of it. The blue wall of silence. He knew your ex had been an addict, suspected he’d been a cop, he’d seen the way Russo looked at you, acted around you. It wasn’t a hard deduction to make.

“Does Bruno know?”

You nodded before exhaling deeply.

“He took my necklace, the compass.” You found yourself telling Sinclair, gesturing at your throat. “Snatched it right off my neck, took it to SVU and rubbed it in Terry’s face.”

“It sounds like he’s trying to prove a point.” Sinclair said tilting his head towards you. “Guys like that, they’re always trying to prove a point. My question is where do you see this ending?”

You sighed.

“With me in the Captain’s office after this shift’s over.” You tell him. “I can’t let him do this to me, because I know the next step, and so do you. How many times have we seen the fall out from something like this?”

He knew what you were talking about, you’d stood over too many bodies of women who’d been brutalised by men who viewed them as an object, who’d decided if they couldn’t have them no one could.

“Too many.” He said, shaking his head. “I don’t want you to become another statistic.”

“Yea.” You told him. “I don’t either, that’s what I have to do it.”

“I’ll come with you.” he said, his hands coming to clasp your shoulder, it was a reassuring gesture. “This isn’t something you have to do on your own.”

You nodded, your throat feeling tight at the words that passed between you unsaid.

I believe you. I’ve got your back.

Love Terry Bruno? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

#detective terry bruno #terry bruno #terry bruno x reader #terry bruno x you #terry bruno fic

[encantobigbang]

Here is @ambidextrous-space-samurai's contribution to the Encanto Big Bang!! ⏳💫

🪨 Pockets Full of Stones 🪨

“And oh, poor Atlas

The world’s a beast of a burden

You’ve been holding on a long time”

- What the Water Gave Me, Florence + the Machine

Bruno was floating somewhere warm, safe - a vast darkness dotted with pinpricks of light. He could feel his feet soaring above his head, much farther out than he was used to, and his head felt fuzzy and broad. The echoes of some unknown song hummed in the abyss, punctuated by bright notes in a higher pitch. Those notes became more prominent, more grating, until suddenly something cold and damp jammed itself into his ear, and Bruno awoke with a snort, dodging to the side so hard he nearly slammed his head into the wall. He blinked, swinging his head about muzzily until he saw two beady little eyes shining in the darkness on the other side of his pillow.

"What was that for?!" he croaked, rubbing the shell of his ear against his shoulder. The chilly discomfort left behind by what had now obviously been a rat's nose did not abate.

A shrill squeak was all he got in reply.

Fumbling for his matchbox - which he kept on the bedside table when he could remember to take it out of his pocket - he lit a sharp flare into the night with a practiced flick of his wrist. The flame illuminated a sleek young agouti with a notched ear, sitting attentively next to the dent his head had left in the pillow. Ah. Viola.

"Well, well, well. The prodigal daughter returns," he snarked, raising a brow in her direction. She flicked an ear, unrepentant. He shook out the match, letting his room return to its natural semi-dark, and blinked at her until his eyes adjusted.

Once one of Bruno's clingiest cohorts, Viola had taken mightily to Antonio during the rebuilding of Casita, and nowadays - especially once the gifts had returned and the two were able to chat in earnest - she tended to spend most of her time in the little boy's company. Bruno didn't think he'd seen her at all in over a week, and it had been at least a month since he'd seen her without her new best friend. (He wasn't bitter. He wasn't. He was happy for Toñito. It was just...a change. That's all. He didn't miss her, not one bit. Nope.)

"So what are you doing, waking me up at...uhh," he glanced around but, as his little bedroom nook was windowless, he couldn't really parse out what time it was. He changed tack. "At...night? What do you need?"

Viola seemed to have been waiting for the question, and darted forward, grasping his sleeve lightly between her teeth and giving his arm a gentle tug. She hopped down to the floor and headed for his bedroom door, stopping when she was halfway there and turning to look back at him.

Bruno scrambled to his feet, flipping back the covers and slipping into his chanclas. She didn't look panicked or particularly urgent with her request, but it was still a strange ask. Based on the company she usually kept, this must have something to do with Antonio, and that alone sent a jolt of adrenaline through his veins. His tío instincts were strong, and not something he was likely to ever ignore. Never again, at least.

“I’m coming, Vi,” he mumbled, shuffling about until he found one of his ruanas, draped over the back of his comfortable old armchair. It was nearly winter, after all, and even in the valley it got cold after dark. She led him out his bedroom door, and in the clear air of the upper level of the house he could see that it was sometime between midnight and dawn. Late.

Viola scrambled up onto Casita’s railing and ran along the handrail, nimble and quick. He followed her around the mezzanine until she stopped in front of Mirabel’s new door - bright, smiling, and surrounded by butterflies, her relief carving made his heart pang with something fond and proud every time he passed it.

The rat lifted up onto her hind legs, raising her nose to the clear, starry sky - Pepa must be having nice dreams tonight - and sniffing a few times before she eyed Bruno meaningfully and raced her way up one of the columns, her long tail disappearing over the edge of the roof. He leaned against the railing, puzzled, and craned his neck up at the spot where she’d vanished. After a moment, he could hear a low murmuring, punctuated by a childish giggle and a quick shush. Antonio. Was on the roof. Oh, for fuck’s sake.

“Casita!” Bruno hissed, tapping the railing with urgency. “I need to get up there. Can you help?”

The spindles rattled and a few tiles flapped, as if the house was laughing at him. Still, the banister beneath his hands swung out and up in a smooth, practiced motion, forming something of a ladder between the place the tiles stopped and the overhang of the roof began. The ease with which Casita had given him a pathway made him suspicious. How many times had it done this before? For the kids? For Antonio?

“We’re gonna have words about this, Casita,” he scolded as he swung onto the makeshift ladder, starting to climb. “After...I take care of whatever this is."

When he poked his head over the edge of the roof, bracing himself to gently reprimand his youngest sobrino for the first time ever (And what right did he have to do that, anyway? He'd known the kid for a mere handful of months, and he'd never been much of a disciplinarian, even with the older kids), he was surprised to find that instead of seeing a little boy cuddling with a troupe of animals, his eyes were greeted by a towering silhouette framed against the night sky - one that could belong only to Luisa. Her profile was limned in moonlight, strong nose turned up to the stars. Normally held stiff and straight and always in motion, her body had relaxed into a pensive slump as she perched, still and statuesque, on the ridge of the roof.

"Luisa?" Bruno asked, clambering up onto the slope of the tiles.

The dark figure jumped violently, clasping her hands to her chest as she spun around to look down at him.

"Tío!" she gasped, immediately looking ashamed of herself. "I was just..."

"Just doing some stargazing, Tío!” a familiar voice piped up from the darkness beyond. As Bruno made it to the peak of the roof, he saw Mirabel’s curly head peep out from behind her sister’s hulking form, glasses flashing briefly in the darkness. From beyond her, a fluffy little head leaned out even further. There he was.

Antonio waved at him gaily, giving him a toothy grin. Viola sat on his knee, looking smug.

“Hola, Tío! So you were awake!”

“Uh. What?”

“Mirabel was wondering if you were awake and wanted to join us, so I sent Viola to go see!” he chirped, scratching the young rat under her chin. “Luisa thought you’d be asleep, but Mira said it was a good idea for Vi to check anyway. I’m glad you were up! The sky is so pretty tonight.”

Bruno didn’t have the heart to tell him that, uhh, no, he actually hadn’t been awake, and had actually been having a remarkably dreamless rest, for once. Viola was a devious little thing - almost as devious as Mirabel, who had clearly manipulated the situation to her advantage. She was taking in his rumpled, muzzy appearance, and met his eyes to give him an apologetic wince. She looked otherwise unrepentant, however - so proven when her wince gave way to a sly grin.

“Yeah, glad you were awake so late, tío,” she chortled. He sent a grumpy squint her way, but in the end just shook his head and swung his legs around to sit on the roof next to Luisa. She was still eyeing him warily, sitting ramrod straight and pinning fidgety hands between her knees.

“I’m sorry, tío! I know it’s not safe for us all to be up here, and it’s late, and I’ve got chores in the morning, but I caught Antonio and Mirabel sneaking up earlier, and Toñito hasn’t ever gotten to stargaze before. I thought maybe it would be okay as long as I supervised. Because, um. If anyone started to fall, I could catch them, no problem! And I’m an adult! Technically.”

She took a breath following her outburst, and gave him a tense smile. He opened his mouth to reply, but, lungs filled, she rambled on.

“But, um, you’re here now. And you’re actually an adult, so that’s...um, better. So! If you’re, ah, wanting to stay, I can go back to bed now, sorry. Have fun!”

She moved to stand, but Bruno held up a hand to allay her.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, kid. You don’t have to leave.”

Mirabel took the opportunity to grab Luisa’s arm, tucking in next to her and pulling her gently back to her seat.

“Yeah! Me and Toñito want you here, too! We were having fun! Right, hombrecito?”

Antonio nodded enthusiastically.

“I like sitting with you. I don’t get to very much.”

Luisa made a little gutted sound at that, but assented and settled back down. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, resuming her quiet perusal of the night sky, but her shoulders were tense now where they hadn’t been before. Mirabel turned her attention back to Antonio, who was asking a question about one of the constellations, and Bruno took the opportunity to settle in, crossing his legs more comfortably against the tiles. He looked at Luisa, frowning, and placed a hand gently on her back. Her eyes flicked towards him.

“It’s okay to do things for yourself, mija. Just because you want to. You don’t have to earn the right to relax.”

The corners of her lips turned up, and she tucked her chin into her arms.

“That’s what Mirabel said.”

“Well, Mirabel is right.”

“I know. It’s just...”

“It’s hard.”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t know what else to say. Luisa was staring up at the moon, conflict swimming in her eyes, and he wasn’t sure how to address whatever was bothering her without spooking her into clamming up again. A scuffling sound coming from the direction of the younger kids awarded him some time to think, as he turned his head to watch Antonio start to crawl along the tiles of the roof towards him.

The little boy paused in front of his tío, gazing up at him with those big doe eyes, and it only took Bruno a moment to parse out his intention. He opened his arms in invitation. Antonio smiled and clambered into his lap, turning around to lean back against his chest with a whump and wiggling a little to get comfortable. Viola emerged from the folds of his nightshirt and curled up in his lap. Once they were both settled, Bruno closed his arms back around the kid’s middle in a loose but secure hold, as he’d discovered was Toñito’s preference. Antonio laced his fingers together and settled his hands atop Bruno’s, humming happily.

“You want a story?” Bruno asked, tilting his head to the side to see around his sobrino’s cloud of curls.

“Yes please!” he replied. They had a system now, and what a revelation. To have something as simple as a bedtime story routine with the kid he’d lost so much time with - one he’d never expected to even get the opportunity to meet. The thought made Bruno’s chest tighten, and he shook it off immediately, giving Antonio a quick squeeze.

“Okay. What are you in the mood for?”

Toñito hemmed and hawed, flapping his knees like a pair of butterfly wings, before he lifted a hand and pointed at a random patch of stars twinkling above the belt of Orion.

“Who are they?”

“Ahh,” Bruno sighed, slipping into the theatrical tone he saved for stories and telenovela retellings. “The Seven Sisters. Their story is something of a tragedy, as most of the stars’ are. Is that okay, Toñito?”

The boy nodded firmly, and Bruno settled his chin into his hair, readying himself for the tale. He could tell without looking that he’d already roped Mirabel and Luisa in, as they’d gone silent and still next to him.

“The story of The Seven Sisters - the Pleiades - is a simple one, but important all the same. They were born to the titan Atlas and the nymph Pleione, and they were said to be so beautiful and so graceful and kind that everyone desired to marry them. But they were companions of Artemis - remember her, mijo? Protector of the hunt and of wild animals?”

Antonio gasped and nodded.

“Like me!”

“Right! Well, they were pledged to follow her forever, and could not take suitors. They turned everyone away. The hunter Orion, however, did not take no for an answer, and continued to pursue them.”

All three listeners gasped, scandalized, and Antonio as always voiced his thoughts.

“That’s mean!”

“Very right, Toñito. He was a bad man.”

“But he’s up there too! He’s right there next to them! Look!”

“And that’s part of why this story is so sad. Listen close, kids.”

Everyone leaned in, enraptured.

“When all of their rebuffs failed, Artemis went to her father Zeus and demanded he protect her beloved friends. But her father was not known to be a good man either. He decided to turn them into doves, and when that didn’t work - when Orion still followed, and Artemis stooped to beg for Zeus’s help - he turned them into stars.”

All four of them turned their faces to the sky, gazing at the little cluster of lights that sparkled so closely together their light became a glow that ensconced them all.

“While now the hunter could not reach them, neither could Artemis, and she was angry. To be placed in the sky was an honor, sure, but also a death sentence. She missed her friends, and Orion’s stubbornness had stolen them from her. So she asked her twin brother Apollo to send the great scorpion, Scorpius, to kill him.”

He could feel Antonio’s little hands tense against his own, and the breath of the girls to his left catch in suspense. Time for the grand finale.

“The scorpion succeeded. After a mighty battle, he stung Orion with his enormous stinger and the hunter died! But Zeus and Orion’s friends were angry to have lost such a great hunter, so Zeus raised Orion to the stars as well, placing him just behind The Seven Sisters so that he could chase them for eternity.”

The girls next to him were quiet, and Antonio plucked at Bruno’s fingers, brow furrowed and thinking hard.

“That’s not fair.”

“Yeah, sorry, kid. I warned you it was a tragedy. But look there!” He glanced to his left and saw that both sisters were following his finger too as he pointed just south of Orion. “The Scorpion. Zeus raised him, too, as a memorial and to remind mankind not to be too proud. So, every night forever, Orion may chase the Sisters, but the Scorpion chases Orion too. Now he knows what it feels like to be pursued. Maybe one day he’ll stop running.” Antonio relaxed against him, eyes fixed on the little tableau of pursuit written in the stars.

Mirabel snorted. “Yeah, I doubt it.”

Luisa nudged her lightly, and Mirabel glared until she saw Antonio’s face, screwed up in consternation. “But yeah, yeah, maybe! It doesn’t feel good to be running for your life all the time, maybe he’ll learn his lesson and stop chasing The Sisters so they can rest!”

“We can only hope,” Bruno cut in. “And keep giving them a good example to follow, right chiquito?” He patted Antonio’s belly gently, smiling down at him, and the little boy gave him a wide smile.

“That story was more about the hunter than the sisters, though. What were their names? What did they do?” he queried, head tilting. Bruno’s heart swelled. Oh, this kid. He’d been raised well. And he was so smart.

“Good catch, ‘Tonio! That happens a lot in these stories, doesn’t it? Okay. Let’s start with Merope. She’s often called ‘the Lost Pleiad,’ as she was the only one of the sisters to...”

... ... ...

Bruno had gotten through five of the sisters and had begun Electra’s tale when he felt Antonio slump fully against him, breathing deeply. He lifted a hand to carefully smooth the curls back from the boy’s forehead, and saw that his eyes were closed and already fluttering with dreams.

Mirabel, yawning on the other side of Luisa, looked over when she heard Bruno cut off mid-sentence. Her face melted into a sappy grin.

“Aww. Storytime always does the trick, doesn’t it?”

“That it does. Worked for you kids when you were little, too.”

Mirabel laughed, but Luisa remained still and quiet. When he looked up at her, she was staring at The Seven Sisters, a furrow in her brow. He nudged her, and she jolted, turning her face down to look at him.

“Sorry, tío.” Her face colored. “I was paying attention, I promise.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I’m fine.” She plastered on a stiff smile, and turned her face back to the sky.

Mirabel frowned behind her, and locked eyes with Bruno. She raised her brows, and he set his jaw, nodding once. Mirabel then affected a huge stretch, accompanied by the most theatrical yawn Bruno had ever seen - and that was saying something.

“Augh, I’m pooped. I think it’s about time for me to go to bed. Want me to take Antonio with me, tío?”

“Sure, in a minute. I’ve got one more story I’d like to share with you before you go, if that’s alright.”

Mirabel nodded.

“I want to tell you girls about The Seven Sisters’ father, Atlas. He was one of the Titans - the gods that ruled in the very beginning of everything, according to myth. There was eventually a great war between the Titans and the upstart Olympians - Zeus and his ilk - and the Olympians won. As punishment, Atlas was condemned to hold up the Earth on his shoulders for eternity. Well, technically the celestial spheres, buuut it’s just easier to say it was the Earth. Whatever.” He flapped a hand in the air lazily.

“The point is, he was this super strong guy - he could hold the entire planet on his shoulders, no problem! But after a while, even he got tired. It’s a big job. There was so much pressure on him, because if he dropped the Earth, uhh, that’d really be bad for all of us mortals, huh? So he couldn’t put it down, but it just kept getting harder and harder to manage, and it kept getting heavier because people and animals kept being born, y’know? He needed a break! The burden could only be taken willingly, though, and no one else wanted that job. So he stayed, holding up the earth, for millenia, no end in sight.”

“And he got free eventually, right?” Mirabel asked, hands fisted in the skirt of her nightdress. Bruno shrugged, playing coy.

“There are lots of different stories, but most say no. Perseus showed up one day asking for shelter, and because of a prophecy - yeah, I know, ugh - about a demigod hero stealing his golden apples, he refused out of fear, and got turned into a mountain range.”

“Argh! That’s dumb!” She kept her voice quiet for Antonio’s sake, but he could just about see her head steaming.

“Sorry, kiddo. Most of these myths don’t have happy endings. Lessons back then usually came down to something something folly of man, something something don’t mess with the gods.” He shrugged. She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Well, on that note, I’m gonna head down to bed before I something something folly of man and mess up my sleep schedule.”

Bruno chortled, and she tossed her curls haughtily. More and more as the formerly contentious sisters spent time together, he was starting to see hints of Isabela in her demeanor - he would never tell her that, though, lest he risk her wrath. Both of their wrath.

She leaned up to wrap a very stiff and stoic Luisa in a hug, then wove her way past her to kneel down next to Bruno and collect her little primo.

“You got him? He’s almost as big as you are, now.”

Luisa shifted, sensing duty calling, but Mirabel held up a hand.

“I’ve got him! Casita will help, anyway. Won’t you?” She patted the tiles fondly, and they rolled in a wave around her, lifting into a concave dome next to her knee. She and Bruno both worked to settle the sleeping boy into the makeshift cradle, and he rolled once, sighing, before falling back into dreamland. Viola groggily curled up beneath his chin.

Mirabel’s eyes flicked to her sister, who sat morosely with her chin atop her arms, staring blankly at the ridges of the mountains that surrounded them. She sighed and leaned in to give her tío a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Good night, mariposa,” he murmured, closing an arm around her.

“Good night, tío.”

She whispered in his ear as she pulled away.

“Good luck.”

He hummed in reply, patting her on the back, and watched as she trekked off over the ridge of the roof, Casita bundling Antonio along by rolling his makeshift bassinet over a series of flipping tiles. At the edge, the cradle expanded to let Mirabel climb in, and Casita turned the ladder into a slide, letting both of the kids skid gently down its slope to the mezzanine proper. A minute later, after all the tiles had bounced back to their places on the rooftop, he heard Antonio’s door open and close.

Luisa seemed to jolt back to herself, and glanced at him guiltily.

“I suppose I should head to bed, too. No one left to babysit,” she said, looking down at the toes of her slippers. She didn’t make a move to get up, though.

“Well, I’m gonna stay up here a while, I think. Despite what your tía might say, I don’t need babysitting, but if you’re willing to keep sitting with me, I’d enjoy the company.”

Luisa’s face instantly lightened, and she sighed out a breath that made her whole body deflate.

“Okay.”

He smiled at her, and turned his face to the sky. He was glad that his hunch had been correct. Give her a purpose, a reason to be still, a responsibility slyly attached to relaxation, and she will feel useful enough to indulge in some self-care without realizing that that’s what she’s doing. It had always worked with Julieta, the other tireless workhorse of the family.

They sat in silence for a while, simply enjoying the cool night air and the quiet of the house. The sound of Antonio’s door opening again, and slippered feet padding their way to Mirabel’s room beneath them, pulled him from his trance. He waited until he heard Mira’s door close, too, then turned to Luisa, mouth open to finally ask what was on her mind.

He stopped, shellshocked, when he saw that she was sitting there, tears cutting silently down her face, and he hadn’t noticed. She cried entirely soundlessly - to him, at least; he was sure Dolores would have been able to tell - and his entire line of thought instantly derailed.

“Luisita, hey,” he said, hands hovering over her. “What’s wrong, conejita?”

She jumped and cringed, hurriedly wiping her face with the backs of her hands.

“Nothing! Nothing, I’m sorry! I was just thinking!”

“About something that made you cry? What is it, mija?”

She clamped her jaw shut and turned away, clamming up just as he’d feared she would. He shuffled closer, rising to his knees, and the roof beneath them creaked.

Luisa gasped - half sob, half breath - and color rose to her cheeks instantly.

“Oh no! I - I really shouldn’t be up here. I’m too heavy, the roof won’t hold me, what was I thinking?” Her hands went to brace against the tiles, trying to distribute her weight more evenly as she began to edge her way backwards.

“Nonsense. Casita’s got you. Isn’t that right?” The tiles around Luisa’s feet clacked gently, and one flipped up to pat her hand. “Sit down, Luisa. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong, tío! The stories were just sad tonight, that’s all.”

“Sure. But what about them affected you so much?” He edged up to sit against her side, holding out a hand in offering. After a few too many moments of hesitation, she placed a hand in his, and he clasped it, squeezing.

“I just...Atlas. And his daughters. None of them did anything wrong, and yet they’ll suffer forever for it. It’s sad.”

Bruno hummed.

“It is.”

“Innocent people shouldn’t have to suffer because-because others are too selfish and hateful to let them be.”

“And yet they do. All the time.”

“It’s not okay!”

“It’s not.”

Luisa breathed out an exasperated breath.

“Why should Atlas have to carry the whole world forever?”

There it was.

“Because he was too kind not to.”

Luisa turned to him, brow furrowed.

“Think about it. What do you think his real curse was? It was kindness. Sure, he was sentenced to all that responsibility, but the real issue was that he refused to let it down. He didn’t want to inconvenience anyone else, couldn’t bear to endanger the people he was charged with protecting, and no one was coming to save him, so he stayed. A lesser man - Orion, for example - would have given up as soon as things got hard.”

Luisa’s face crumpled.

“But. But wasn’t he doing good? Helping? How is that a curse?”

“It becomes a curse when the good-doing is helping everyone except the do-gooder. For one, it isn’t sustainable.”

“He lasted this long. He can keep it up. Even if it hurts.”

“You’re not a god, Luisa.”

Her hand clenched around his, involuntarily, and he winced. The color drained from her face, and she released him with speed.

“Sorry! Oh no. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Luisa.”

“Are you sure? I think I felt a bone crack -”

“I’m sure. Don’t change the subject on me, now.”

Luisa fidgeted, pulling her hands to her chest and picking at her fingernails. Bruno sighed.

“You remind me so much of your mamá, you know?”

She looked up at him, perplexed.

“Most people say I take after my Pá.”

He looked her over; took in her long, straight nose, her lighter skin and chestnut hair.

“Sure you do. But there’s a lot of Julieta in you too.”

Luisa smiled shyly, tucking a curl behind her ear. He continued, taking her hand again.

“For one, neither of you have ever been able to justify taking time for yourself, unless it’s done as a service to someone else.”

She twisted her mouth, but stayed silent.

“Like Atlas - you’ve both taken on this huge, inhuman task of thinking yourself responsible for the whole community’s safety and happiness, and it’s just...not sustainable.”

“We’ve lasted this long,” she muttered.

“Yes, but past endurance doesn’t necessitate future suffering. Trust me. I know the future, heh.” Bruno smiled wanly, and squeezed her hand between his.

“But no one came to save Atlas,” Luisa whispered, tears beginning to fill her eyes once more. “He had to keep going.”

Bruno’s heart panged, and the pain of it drove him forward.

“And I’m so sorry no one has bothered to come and save you. I’m so sorry I haven’t. There’s no excuse. Voluntary blindness from a seer, how despicable.” He scoffed at himself, shaking his head, and she turned to him, gaze hardening.

“But you’ve done it, too. You carried the world for us, for Mirabel, all by yourself for ten whole years. That wasn’t fair, either, and none of us came to save you.”

He...didn’t have anything to say to that. He cleared his throat, turning back to the glimmering shape of the Pleiades in the sky.

“You know, the whole mountain thing. That’s not the end of Atlas’s story.”

Her brow lifted.

“It’s not?”

“No. I wanted to save this last bit for you - if you want to hear it.”

“Um. Okay. Is it sad?”

“There are a couple versions. One is a little sad. One isn’t.”

“Can I have the not-sad one? Please?”

Bruno laughed, a weary tension painting his tone.

“The sadness lives in both of them, regardless. Sometimes the difference between a tragedy and a comedy is just where you place the ending.”

“Oh.”

Bruno smiled at her, shifting back into story mode.

“Remember that prophecy that Atlas was so scared of? Turns out it wasn’t about Perseus at all - it referred to his great-grandson, Hercules.”

“Oh!” Luisa gasped. “I’ve heard about him!”

“I’m sure you have. He was a very famous hero, renowned for both his strength of body and his strength of character. Anyway, one of his twelve Heroic Labours was to fetch some of the golden apples that Atlas guarded, so eventually he came to the place Atlas stood. Hercules was very strong, so he offered to trade positions with Atlas and hold up the earth for one day in exchange for a basket of the apples. Exhausted and so so desperate for a break at this point, Atlas agreed, and Hercules took the world onto his back.”

“So he did get a break!”

“He did! Of course, when that day was up, and Atlas returned with the apples, he didn’t want to take up that burden, and tried to trick Hercules by offering to go deliver the apples himself, save Hercules the trip. Hercules knew deep in his soul that Atlas wouldn’t come back to relieve him, and remember - the burden can only be taken on willingly - so he tricked him in return.”

“That’s not very heroic,” Luisa muttered.

“No, but when you’re in pain and desperate, sometimes even heroes do selfish things. Just as bad people are capable of doing good deeds, so too are good people capable of doing bad deeds. No one is just one or the other. Nuance is a part of life.”

She hummed, and tucked in a little closer to him. Bruno let go of her hand for long enough to clasp her arm, guiding her down, down, down until she could reach to rest her head on his shoulder. This too was an uncomfortable contortion, so she twisted until she was laying flat on the tiles, head pillowed on his thigh, and stared up at the stars. Bruno rested a hand atop her head, and smoothed her curls as he continued the story.

“So Hercules tricked Atlas - he asked him to take the Earth back for just a moment, so he could pull his cloak up to pad his shoulders. Knowing how much his own shoulders ached, Atlas took pity and agreed. Once Atlas had taken on his burden willingly again, Hercules took the apples and fled, leaving the titan again to hold up the world forever.”

“That’s it?! That’s so sad! It’s almost worse that he got a break, but it was just one day. Now he remembers what it was like to be free.”

“Hmm,” Bruno hummed. “Almost like, I dunno, he...lost his strength for a few months and just got to be a regular person again? Then, just as he was getting used to enjoying life like that, his power was returned to him?”

Luisa’s mouth made a little ‘o’ as the revelation hit. Her gasp was more of a wheeze than an exclamation.

“Oh.”

“Mhmm. See what I’m getting at here, kid?”

“Yeah.”

“So. That’s where the story ends. Or, it’s another ending, at least.”

“And that’s the sad one?”

“That’s the sad one. Atlas gets one day of relief, and then returns to his duty. But there’s one more ending. And this one is my favorite.”

Luisa wiggled, much like Antonio, trying to get comfortable as she settled in for her own bedtime story.

“In this version - this continuation, rather - Hercules returns after he has finished his Labours. He had held Atlas’s burden for a day. He knew how hard it was, how painful, and he had empathy for Atlas. He was a good man, after all, renowned for his strength of character. Even if people liked to just focus on his muscles.”

He squeezed one of Luisa’s biceps, and she giggled.

“So he returned. He spent long days building and building until he had constructed two great pillars - the Pillars of Hercules - made so tall and so strong that they held the sky away from the earth, freeing Atlas forever from his terrible duty.” Bruno smiled and rubbed a thumb across Luisa’s forehead. “And that’s the real end to the story. Or, that’s where I choose to end it. I don’t know what happened next.”

“Wow,” Luisa sighed. “So he did get free in the end.”

“Yes,” Bruno said. “Because he accepted help, he shared his burdens, and he had someone who loved him enough to put the work in to save him. You see what I’m getting at, mija?”

Luisa rolled her eyes, smiling that shy little smile of hers.

“Yes, tío.”

“You are so loved, you know that? By this whole family. I love you very much, Luisita, and it hurts me to see you hurting. So please, let me be your Hercules on hard days, okay? Or, let one of us be. I promise you that no one will mind stepping up to shoulder your burdens - be that taking on your chores for a while, making you take a nap, just being a listening ear, whatever. Whatever you need, whatever will make your load lighter, we’re here for you. Your happiness is just as important as anyone else’s.”

Luisa’s eyes were damp again, and Bruno couldn’t say that his weren’t.

“Thank you, tío."

"Anytime, Luisita."

They sat in silence for a bit, staring up at the contentious sky - held away from them by the pillars agape built.

"One more piece of advice, and then I think it really is going to be bedtime."

Luisa nodded, eyes drooping.

"See how big the moon is in the sky? She overtakes everything else, she's so huge and bright. But did you know that even the tiniest, faintest stars in the sky are thousands of times bigger than she is?"

Luisa shook her head, mouth quirked in contemplation.

"She only seems big because she's so close to us. So too do even our smallest problems seem huge when we're right on top of them. You've just got to remember that just because something seems insurmountable now, it will pass. Nothing is as serious as it may seem in the moment - and the really big stuff? It's so far away that you don't have to worry about it yet, and anyway you'll definitely be able to see it coming. For long enough to have plenty of time to prepare. So. So don't worry so much. Little mistakes, little blips are like the moon when they're happening, but you've just got to remember the big picture. Don't lose the constellations for the stars, eh?"

He booped her on the nose.

"The Seven Sisters seem so much brighter because they're so close together, always. They're family, and as family, they depend on each other. They share the load. Let's be like them going forward, okay, mija?"

Luisa nodded, and yawned hugely.

"Okay, time for bed, for real this time." Bruno patted her on the shoulder. "Up, up, up. Come on, I'll tuck you in."

His sobrina smiled - a real one, wide and bright as the moon herself - and together they made their way down from their perch - two pillars suspended between the earth and the sky, taking the time to rest.

#encanto #encantobigbang #tìo sobrino bonding timeee yesss 🥹💚 #lovely lovely fic!! 💫 #and thank you so much for stepping in and being an amazing back up writer!! 🙏

[alexthebordercollie]

To Love at all is to Love Entirely

Chapter 3: Bibliophile

Warning contains alcohol and references to alcoholism.

︵‿୨ - January 10 1951 - ୧‿︵

A couple of months passed and the weekly tablas had become a major part of Bruno’s day-to-day routine. He found himself leaving his tower more and more often as he spent afternoons with Camilo pouring over scripts and doing silly voices, cracking jokes. His Sobrino reminded him of himself in a few ways. If only he could have been so confident when he was that age. Maybe then people would have liked him better. Though with his powers he doubted it.

Every day the walk down the stairs seemed to get a little shorter. He couldn’t tell if there were fewer stairs or maybe he’d just gotten faster. Living in the walls had worn him down over time. He was always rather agile. Good for running away. His first few days back in the tower had been more exhausting than he was prepared for. The stairs had gotten so long. That said they were already pretty long when he left. He looked back out at his room as he stood at the top of creaky wooden steps leading up to the curtain. The tile floor in the center had more color and life than he remembered it ever having. The stairs were sturdy and in much better repair. Certainly, they must have gotten shorter? These rooms always did tamper with one’s sense of space. The small enclaves that dotted the stairwells had developed smooth stone arches and he’d slowly been making use of more of them. The sign that sat in the center of the room, carved in stone, still taunted him every day though. No matter how homey the room became.

“Su futuro espera.”

He wished he could smash the blasted thing with his bare hands. What he once found funny and atmospheric as a child now felt like a bitter insult. He hadn’t used his powers since the house was rebuilt and his life was all the better for it. He hadn’t been to the vision cave. He didn’t want to see it. Perhaps he could ask Luisa for a favor later.

Bruno rested his face in his hand and drummed his fingers along the table. Saring blankly in frustration. Carlos attempted to dart under his drumming fingers occasionally. At least someone was having fun. Día del Encanto was coming up that weekend and Camilo wanted to do some kind of special performance for it but the inspiration was alluding him.

“We could do one on the town's founding.” Camilo suggested.

Bruno noticed his mother out of the corner of his eyes as she headed for the front door. He could have almost sworn he saw her flinch at that suggestion but her stoic expression made it unclear if she’d even heard them. She was always quiet and reserved when this festival came around. There were lots of parties in the Encanto. Holidays, birthdays, whatever have you. His mother helped organize every event and Día del Encanto celebrated her and the council especially. She was a near-mythic figure to this town. A saintly woman whose many blessings protected them from a wicked world.

She hated this festival. She never said as much but he knew she did. She didn’t like to talk about his father much. Not directly. He could think of nothing more insulting to her than to see his sacrifice represented by a silly story for kids. No matter how tasteful or buried in layers of metaphor.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” Bruno replied as he flipped Carlos onto his back with his fingers and tried to imagine him dressed as his late father. His stomach churned at the thought.

Camilo followed where Bruno’s eye line had been and watched Mamá leave for the day. No doubt to assist with festival preparations.

“Oh, uh, maybe you’re right.” Camilo replied as if he may have realized how inappropriate the suggestion was as it had left his mouth.

Camilo looked down at his hands for a second before perking back up with a new idea.

“I know! A meet and greet!”

“Perdona?” Bruno lifted his face from his hand with a confused shrug.

“Kids in town keep asking if they can pet the actors, maybe we could do that. Get a little area set up where kids could come feed and pet them.”

Bruno snatched up Carlos defensively. The rat let out a startled squeak as he was pulled close to his human padre’s scruffy face. The thought of a bunch of hyperactive children pulling little tails and whiskers. What if one of his niños got squished or worse?

“Oh, no. Absolutely not. The safety of our troupe is my first priority.” He insisted as he sat back and folded his arms.

“Venga Tío, We’ll supervise. It’ll be fine.” Camilo attempted to cajole him. Bruno wasn’t having it.

Bruno stood firm. Or sat rather. Arms crossed and hoping he looked sufficiently stern.

“You let Antonio play with them.” Camilo gestured to his hermanito who was doing homework laying in the sun in the middle of the courtyard. A capybara lay beside him listening to him explain basic arithmetic. Bruno could have sworn the math problem he was on sounded harder than the ones he was given at that age. Had the assignments gotten more difficult? Or was he just getting old?

“Antonio is gentle, I trust him.” Bruno clarified. “Most kids his age aren't Antonio.”

He very well meant it too. His sobrinito was a uniquely sweet and gentle boy who had utterly charmed Bruno every time they talked. That boy could convince him to murder and he would do it without a second thought. Antonio was too good for this family. Perhaps he was biased. He remembered being a shy little boy who escaped to the comfort of his own animal companions.

“Well we’ve gotta do something.” Camilo grumbled. “Everyone else has something they’re doing for the festival.”

“Not Luisa.” Bruno reminded.

“Luisa saved the town from a rockslide last week. What have you done for anyone lately?” Camilo snarked.

Bruno drummed his fingers along his arms anxiously. Camilo sounded like his mother. Bruno hadn’t really been contributing anything of importance besides helping his sister with dishes and sweeping the courtyard every evening. Casita tended to help with the latter activity. He really was a waste of space at the end of the day. Taking up a room in the house, eating their food, and contributing nothing besides something to laugh at.

No, what was he thinking? Camilo was a child. What right did he have to talk back to him like that?

“I said no Camilo.” He replied sternly after recollecting his resolve.

Camilo sat back frustrated. He crossed his arms and mirrored Bruno’s face back at him.

“I said no Camilo.” He mocked.

Camilo was a good boy. He really was. He liked to push Bruno’s buttons. He didn’t respect him. Why should he? Bruno vanished for years. He gave up any scrap of authority he may have once had in this family years ago. If ever he had any to begin with. He wondered sometimes if perhaps he was a touch bitter. Bruno escaped his mother’s overbearing pressure while he watched his sisters' children suffocate for years. Sure his sisters tolerated it, as did their husbands, but he had escaped it. If only Camilo knew what a cold comfort that was.

Bruno scrambled internally trying to calm himself down. Looking for a witty retort that might defuse the tension. Mirabel beat him to it.

“Go easy on Tío Bruno. He’s been having a rough time of it. Maybe you two should just relax and enjoy the festival this year.” Mirabel soothed as she passed by.

She pinched her primo's cheek and he deflated back into himself.

“Don’t treat me like a kid.” He whined.

“Well stop acting like one and I’ll stop treating you like one.” Mirabel teased.

She shuffled through her bag before brushing a lock of hair behind her ears and heading out the door.

“Where are you going?” Camilo called out to her.

“To hang out with some friends, what’s it to ya?”

“I didn’t know you had friends?” Camilo grinned.

Mirabel stuck her tongue out at him before heading out.

Camilo smiled mischievously. “Off to go play con tu novio.” he chimed.

“Her what?”

Bruno’s heart nearly stopped.

“There’s a boy at school she’s been hanging out with all week. She says she doesn’t like him but I know better.”

“S-she didn’t say anything to me about any boy.” He stammered out. He worried about Mirabel. Boys could be cruel. She could get hurt, heartbroken even, or worse, married.

“Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock…”

“Well of course she’s not gonna say anything to you and Tío Agustín. You’d just embarrass her in front of su enamoramiento.” He sighed as if it was obvious.

Bruno stared back at him with puffed cheeks and crossed fingers.

“Girls need to take their time with these things.” Camilo spoke as if he were a wise weary sage enlightening Bruno on the mysterious ways of women.

Bruno freed his breath with an exasperated sigh. Thinking back to the many times Pepa had fallen hard and fast only to flee to the mountains to avoid drowning the village. Suffice to say he wasn’t sold on Camilo’s insight.

“Oh, and you would know all about girls wouldn’t you?” Bruno replied grumbling dryly. “Have you ever even kissed a girl?”

Camilo flushed hot red “I’ve kissed a girl!” He flustered out, his voice cracking more than most teenagers would. A downside to being a shapeshifter.

“Oh yeah how many?”

“More than you.” He shot back.

Bruno leaned back again and stroked his scraggly beard. The kid had a point. Bruno had never kissed a woman. Never planned on it.

“Mira sobrino.”

Bruno stood up from the table and fiddled with his ruana for a moment as he thought. He’d been a bit spooked from watching tv in town after his enthusiasm started getting on the nerves of his neighbors. He’d barely had much time to really enjoy the art form despite how hard he’d fallen. He’d seen bits and pieces of the medium long before getting the chance to experience it firsthand. He'd seen it in visions as a kid. His dreams were often influenced by visions of the future. In his sleep, he could watch all the television he wanted though the programs were far more disjointed. “I’ll go see what’s on tonight. See if I can get some inspiration.” He tucked Carlos under his collar and ruffled Camilo’s hair with his hand. “If I can’t come up with anything maybe we can just sit back and enjoy the festival, eh mijo?”

“Fine.” Camilo pouted. Camilo enjoyed putting on a show. He’d been looking for opportunities to try and push the limits of what they could do with their tiny little stage. No doubt Camilo was hoping he could do something to market themselves to more people. Bruno lacked such ambition.

︵‿୨ -❇- ୧‿︵

That night Bruno made his way to the little bar facing out onto the plaza. The Martinez family had set up a television for the town to enjoy in their downtime. They had purchased it to share with the town after the crack in the mountains made trade expeditions substantially easier.

Their family had a talent for making aguardiente and lived closer to the fields but had set up a little spot in the middle of town. Every day one of their kids would be there serving drinks and helping Julieta pass out food. It was a comfy spot for folks to unwind and catch up after a long day of work. On rare occasions, Senor Martinez would go with some others into the nearest city to sell goods. He'd stock up on things they couldn’t make in the valley. The trade crew used to make these trips twice a year, now they were going once a month. Agustín was on the trade crew. Clumsy as he was Agustín had a talent for finding his way back to the valley. A task that was easier said than done. It was a wonder how he always managed to come back in one piece.

He remembered when his cuñado had to bring little Mirabel to the city to get her first prescription. He’d spent all day in his vision cave worrying over his sobrinita. Julieta burnt dinner that night. The stress had been worth it though to see her come home with those adorable round-rimmed glasses. The memory was bittersweet. Mirabel was so young, she barely remembered the adventure. Barely remembered him.

He looked over at the bar where the television sat. A large wooden-looking box with a staticy gray screen. It was playing a telenovela. Bruno had visions of them and seen them in dreams but he'd never gotten to watch them for real. They were a new medium. His curiosity was nearly outweighed by the stress of possible social interaction. Especially since he hadn’t been to the bar since a vision of crop failure angered the Martinez family enough to scare him away a dozen years ago. Rocco had been rather charmed by Bruno’s tablas. He'd invited him to come and drink with him sometime. The evidence suggested that old vision had been forgiven. With the added temptation of the new television, Bruno had been a bit more accepting of Rocco’s hospitality than he likely would have been otherwise. Though they still barely spoke. Mostly he just came for his shows.

A few neighbors of his chatted merrily. A man whose name always escaped him tried to get his attention and engage him in their conversation. “Eh, if it isn't Bruno Madrigal! Here I was afraid we’d scared you off hombre. How're things in la casa Madrigal?”

“Oh fine. I’m just here to see what’s on tonight.” Bruno gestured to the TV in a way that implied he didn’t really want to talk. The two drunk men shrugged him off and didn’t seem to take offense as they returned to their chatter.

“Sí, dale mi amigo.”

Baby steps.

He looked around for a moment as he took a seat by the television. He always sat closest to it. A seat most people didn’t take as it wasn’t particularly comfortable to watch from so close and at such an odd angle. Not to mention you could hear the rumble of the family's little gas generator in the back room which most folks found unpleasant. He liked being tucked away in the corner. It felt more private, just him, the TV, and the hum of the generator. He could see a hint of someone in the kitchen. A woman it looked like. Gabriella he figured. She was never a fan of his. She’d hated him since they were children and one of his rats made its way into her book bag in the middle of class. He couldn’t sit for a week after that incident. He stopped bringing his rats to school though. Which he supposed was the point. School was a nightmare without his companions there to comfort him.

He laid his head on the bar on top of his crossed arms and stared at the screen absentmindedly. He tucked Carlos’ head back down under his collar when his furry companion tried to get a good look at the TV. It would probably be better for him to stay hidden if Gabriella was serving tonight.

“You look like you could use a drink.” Came a woman’s voice. Unfamiliar, strange.

His eyes fluttered upward at the stranger though he didn’t move. Merely peering up at her from behind a curtain of black curls that refused to stay in his ponytail.

The woman standing over him placed a shot on the bar beside him. She was tall a little taller than Pepa even. Curvy with a low-cut, puff sleeve, top that showed off a bit more of her shoulders than his mother would have thought proper. She had a mole on her collarbone and long mahogany curls that fell in waves from a high ponytail. Most notable were the pair of glittering golden brown eyes smiling back at him.

He looked at the shot for a minute. “Oh no, no gracias.” He replied, pushing the drink a few inches away. He had a bad history with alcohol and no plans on reigniting that love affair. The woman nudged it back over to him.

“You look like you destrozado.” The woman insisted cheekily as she hoisted herself up to sit on the bar beside him.

The sudden proximity of her rear to his nose forced him upright in his seat.

“Who, Bruno?” The man whose name he always forgot chimed in. “He always looks like that.”

His companion added. “Oh yeah, man always looks como borrego degollado.”

Bruno glared at his neighbors as they laughed. The strange new woman laughed along with them and he couldn’t help but ask.

“Do I know you?”

The woman blinked at him for a moment before laughing again. “I hope not! Otherwise, I’ve set a new record with how quickly my reputation precedes me.” She joked. Twirling her hair into warm ringlets around her finger. She had a laugh like jingling bells. Her flat round nose crinkled up when she smiled.

Bruno stared blankly as he ran his fingertips along the counter. His eyes darted back towards the TV a few times. She was obstructing his view of with her... curves. The woman looked over her shoulder at the TV before sliding back down off the counter.

“I’m new in town.” She explained as she straightened out her fiery red skirt. “Mi hermano and I are sort of, nómadas.” She paused a bit as if looking for the right word.

“Gitanos?” He wondered aloud before immediately regretting it.

The woman stared at him for a moment. Bruno had a bad habit of blurting out unfiltered observations which had gotten him into trouble before. The woman jiggled once more like bells and he relaxed again.

“Oh no. Though I’ve met a few and let me tell you they do not disappoint.” She smiled wistfully as if recalling a fond salacious memory. Her stormy eyes had a glint of some worldly, primal, mischief that made him uneasy.

Newcomers were rare in this town. If Bruno didn't already have a hard time talking to people he knew... Bruno eyed the shot next to him. Maybe one drink wouldn’t hurt.

The woman turned back to him and held her hand out. “Me llamo Jacqueline por cierto.”

Bruno downed the shot faster than she could speak then stared at her extended palm. He took her hand in his fingertips, giving it a gentle awkward shake.

“Uhm, Bruno. Bruno Madrigal. But... you’ve probably heard of me.” He replied shyly.

Jacqueline seemed surprised by his odd mannerisms but didn’t seem to dwell on them much. “Oh I’ve heard of los Madrigals. People around here never seem to shut up about you guys.”

Bruno waited for her to ask about his powers. He knew it was coming. She’d ask for a vision and he’d have to decline. It was ok. He was braced for it.

“I’ve seen the little tablas you put on for the kids.” She nodded out towards the plaza where he usually set up his theater. “Funny stuff. You and the boy have some real talent.”

Bruno was astonished. Camilo shapeshifted at those performances, and this woman made no comment. “M-mi sobrino Camilo.” Bruno introduced. “He’s a funny kid.” He rang his ruana through his hands. Gently. Just feeling the fabric in his palms. He could feel a warm flush come over him though couldn’t tell if the buzz was setting in or he was just happy.

“He wants to do some kind of big performance for the festival this weekend but I’m at a loss for ideas lately.” He explained. “I thought I’d see what’s on tonight to try and get some ideas.”

There was a glint in the woman’s eyes he couldn’t quite place. He flinched as she slammed a palm on the counter.

“The library! Go read. What are you wasting your time here for?”

Bruno stared wide-eyed. His hands crinkled up near his face. “I-I can try the library tomorrow.” He stammered out dumbfounded. A strange suggestion to make so aggressively.

Jacquline cleared her throat and brushed a stray brown lock from her face. She leaned on the counter cooly and gestured to the TV with her plump red lips. The opening credits were playing for a show Bruno had seen before in visions. Sua vida me pertence. He'd seen a number of shows like it in green silence. Many he knew didn't exist yet. He'd been so excited to get to finally hear the dialogue outside of his dreams which he knew he couldn't trust to be fully accurate.

“Your writing is so much better than anything you’ll find on that caja idiota.” Jacquline tried to flatter him.

That’s what his mother called it too.

“I dunno, I think it’s an underappreciated medium.” He defended.

“Oh don’t get him started!” One of Bruno’s neighbors complained. “He’s been obsessed with the damned thing since we got it!”

“It’s going to change the way we tell stories. It’s the way of the future!” The other man mocked. Marcello, he thought, though he wasn’t sure. “Knowing his luck, it'll be the downfall of mankind.”

Bruno grumbled under his breath and looked down at his hands.

“Hey just because you idiotas lack imagination doesn't make him wrong.” Jacquline protested.

Bruno looked up again. This woman was full of surprises.

“Oh no. Bruno is never wrong. He’s just bad luck.” The one whose name still escaped him replied ominously.

Bruno got up from his seat. “I should go.” He mumbled.

“Wait!” Jacquline grabbed his hand as he turned to leave. She gave him a pleasing smile.

“Ignore them. Come, sit, have another drink with me. I’d love to hear your ideas.”

She really didn’t know, did she? Baffling, she hadn’t heard of what he could do. He knew he should probably decline the offer. He promised his mamá years ago he’d stop drinking.

“Ah, s-sí. Por qué no?” He stammered sweetly.

︵‿୨ -❇- ୧‿︵

His neighbors groaned and left as he and Jacqueline spent the rest of the night chatting away about the future of media. He tried to sound speculative of course. No need to ruin a good thing. Though sometimes he let slip a tone that was a bit too definitive. Did she really not know? It was hard to tell. She either didn’t know or didn’t care. Either way, the conversation was deeply refreshing. A few shots got him looser and more open than he’d been in a long time.

He got so distracted talking about writing and acting he lost track of time and missed dinner. He crept in the front door quietly after most of the family had gone to bed. Julieta was still in the kitchen doing dishes. Had he been a bit more alert it might have struck him as odd she was still up. He tried his best to be quiet, but Casita protested as he fumbled over the threshold. They rattled their floor tiles irritably. He put a finger to his lips to shush the noisy house but a kitchen cabinet waved in his direction to get his sister's attention.

“¡Mierda!”

Julieta looked up from the sink to the fluttering cabinet then over to Bruno.

“Traitor.” He hissed to the floor tiles who rattled indignantly.

“Bruno? There you are.” His throat ran dry as his sister made her way over to him. He should have tried to just walk past but froze up and missed the chance to maintain the distance.

“I was worried when you didn’t come to dinner.” She said as she took in the sight of him.

He tried to look at anything but her face. “Oh, lo siento. I was just watching television and lost track of time.” He insisted from behind a curtain of hair as he started eeking away. Hugging conspicuously close to the wall as he tried to get around her into the courtyard.

If she wasn’t suspicious before she was now as she leaned closer to get a look at his face. Her brows knit together and she rested her hands on her hips. Catching a whiff of him.

“Have you been drinking?” Her voice was trying to be stern but the shock and worry beneath the accusation made him wince.

“Who me? No, no I would…” He waved a hand dismissively as he continued to dig his grave deeper. “Psh! Why would I be doing that huh? I would never.”

He chuckled awkwardly as she continued to stare at him. Julieta was a sweet and non-confrontational type. She didn't need to be loud or aggressive. Her disapproving pout was all she needed to have a profound effect on him and Pepa.

“I-I’m just gonna go to bed now…” He stammered before scurrying off to his tower before she could say much else.

︵‿୨ - January 11 1951 - ୧‿︵

The next morning his hermana kept shooting daggers at him as she set out their breakfast. Bruno grinned sheepishly at her as he went to fill his plate.

“Thanks for covering for me.” Bruno whispered to her. It was apparent his mother hadn’t learned of his drinking.

Beatrice peeked out of Bruno’s breast pocket to sniff at his plate. The young mother's, rather large, adult children had been smothering her that morning. She'd opted to accompany Bruno for the day for a breath of fresh air. Julieta glared at the rat and grumbled.

“Eat your breakfast, you need it.” She scolded. He knew she didn’t like him feeding her carefully prepared meals to his pets. The edge in her voice implied she thought he might be hungover. Honestly? Bruno felt fine, at least not much worse than usual. He really wasn’t a morning person and adjusting to the family's schedule again definitely wasn’t easy.

Bruno took a seat at the end of the table opposite his mother. Occasionally sneaking a bite or two of his breakfast to Beatrice when Julieta wasn’t looking. She had started setting aside some grains for feeding his pets like she used to before he left. His rats, however, had grown spoiled and fat on her cooking and he couldn’t help himself. Beatrice especially was so sweet and tender. She was one of his younger rats and was always so gentle and shy. He couldn’t help but spoil her.

His mother shot him an angry glare as she sat down and began running through the itinerary for the day.

“Bruno.” She barked as he nuzzled his pet. Her voice startled Beatrice back into the depths of his pocket. Bruno sat upright and gave her his full attention.

“Sí Mamá.”

“I hope you enjoyed your outing yesterday.” It wasn’t a question. “Dolores says you were busy making friends in town.” His mother seemed torn between praising and scolding him. “So busy you couldn’t make it home for dinner. Or let anyone know you would be arriving late.”

“Right, perdón, I just, we, I got talking about the entertainment industry you see, and, and… I lost track of the time.”

His mother raised an irritable brow. “Well since you had such a relaxing evening I was thinking you could take over Agustín and Félix’s chores for the day so they could have some time off.”

“Oh, gracias but that really isn’t necessary.” Félix insisted. Bruno’s cuñados both seemed uncomfortable with the prospect of being used as a punishment.

“Nonsense.” Mamá insisted. “You are both wonderful, dutiful sons who do so much for this family. You deserve some recognition for all the hard work you do.” She looked down at Bruno from across the table. “Some of us could use to learn from you both.”

Agustín looked to Bruno with a pained expression as he mouthed the words “Lo siento.”

His mother continued to go around the table reminding everyone of their obligations for the day. Pepa had work to do in the fields and Isabela would be joining her as had become the norm. Luisa had a construction project to assist with on the edge of town, though her daily workload had notably decreased. Camilo was babysitting for the Marquez family after school and Dolores would be helping Antonio with homework after doing a sweep of the town for a pickpocket who’d become a recent menace.

“As for you Mirabel, I would like you to accompany me to today’s council meeting.” Mirabel nearly choked on her orange juice.

Bruno had more or less tuned out the rest of the day's plans after his mother had finished reprimanding him for his absence at dinner. This got his attention though.

“Who me?!” Mirabel fumbled out in disbelief. Seated directly next to the matriarch.

Mamá took her napkin from the table and reached over to wipe a drop of juice from her nieta's chin.

“I’ve been giving it some thought.” She explained carefully. “And I think it would be a good way to put your talents to use.”

Bruno noticed the look that flashed briefly on her face as she pulled her hand back. That little flicker of doubt. She had always been harsh but it still hurt to see her confidence so shaken since the house had collapsed. Those little flickers worried him.

“That is if you think you can handle it.” She clarified gently.

Mirabel looked dumbfounded around the table. Agustín took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze while Bruno gave her a pair of encouraging thumbs up. Mirabel would do well on the council. She was caring and observant and a far better communicator than most of the family.

“This is great. You’ve been asking for more responsibility. I think this job is perfect for you.” Her father reassured.

Mirabel opened her mouth to speak only to be disrupted by a disgruntled Pepa.

“Mirabel? Really Mamá?” She griped, a small cloud forming overhead. “You’re going to put una bebita on the council?”

“Pepi, mi amor.” Her husband soothed. She shrugged his hand off his shoulder and crossed her arms at their mother.

“I won’t be around forever.” Mamá answered slowly and carefully. She didn’t seem very comfortable acknowledging it out loud but was keeping her cool. “Someone has to be ready to take my place someday.”

“Yes, one of us!” Pepa challenged as she gestured to Bruno and Julieta. “Mirabel is a child Mamá.”

Bruno screwed up his face. Slightly disgusted by his sister's attitude. “Like you ever wanted a spot on the council.” He chastised. He was happy for his sobrina. It was about time she got a proper role to play and he didn’t doubt for a minute she was the best choice.

“We all know you didn’t.” Pepa rolled her eyes. “I assumed Julieta would be next.”

Bruno drummed his fingers on the table awkwardly. She had a point. Julieta was the responsible one. He and Pepa had always assumed it would be her though their mother never directly addressed the issue before. If people disliked his advice before he shuddered to imagine how much worse it would be if he had any real authority. Pepa of course was already a ball of nerves without the added responsibility.

“Julieta has enough responsibilities as it is.” Their mother defended her position.

“Honestly Pepa I really don’t mind.” Julieta insisted as she reached past her husband to pinch her daughter's fat cheeks. “I think Mirabel will do wonderfully.” She insisted with a kind of love in her voice that their own mother had rarely managed for them.

Pepa took a deep breath and sighed. Félix put an arm around her shoulder. The cloud over her head dissolved as she considered her words.

“Mirabel is young, Mamá. Doesn’t this seem like a lot to put on her?” Pepa clarified. “Especially given…” She trailed off. Bruno knew what she meant. Mirabel had always been given pretty minimal obligations before. This would be a big change for her.

“I think that should be up to Mirabel to decide, don’t you think?” He piped up timidly before Pepa could finish her thought. He looked over to Mirabel who seemed thankful for his reassurance.

All eyes at the table landed on Mirabel. She looked down at her hands for a moment. “I think,” She looked back to her Abuela, “If you think I’m ready, then I’m ready to give it a try.” She finally finished.

“You have my full confidence mi vida.” Mamá insisted with a smile.

Bruno couldn’t help but beam with pride as his cuñado started gushing and smothering his daughter in kisses. Mirabel was a clever, empathetic, girl. She helped his mother organize the reconstruction of their home. She was a natural-born leader and he knew she’d take to the job with her usual fervor. Camilo cheered his prima with playful hollering while others clapped. Dolores smiled brightly at Mirabel between the hands that protected her ears from her brother’s onslaught of noise. Pepa seemed to settle down and gave a tired smile. He understood his sisters' misgivings. While Mirabel’s giftless status had made her life challenging it had also afforded her a level of freedom. A childhood none of them ever got to have. He wasn’t surprised Pepa wouldn’t be eager to see that come to an end for their sobrina, but Mirable wasn’t a child anymore. It wouldn’t be long before she was done with school. She had a life to prepare for. As long as Mirabel was happy with this decision Bruno would support her to the best of his abilities.

︵‿୨ -❇- ୧‿︵

Eventually, most of the family funneled out of the house. Either off to school or sent to do work in town. Bruno was quick to get a start on the extra chores around the house while Agustín and Félix were off. His mother didn’t want him to leave the house today. She didn’t say as much. It wasn’t hard to guess. He was fully prepared for a quiet day with the house mostly to himself.

“So what held you up last night?” Agustín asked as he and Félix cornered him at the edge of the courtyard.

Much to his chagrin, his cuñados had decided to spend their free time pestering him.

“Nothing important.” Bruno muttered as he kept his eyes on the floor while he swept. “What about Mirabel, eh?” He attempted to avoid the conversation he knew was coming.

“AH! I’m so proud of her.” Agustín cooed. Félix elbowed his ribs.

“Sí, we’re all very excited.” Félix agreed. “You know what else is exciting?”

They were committed today, weren’t they?

“Claro, claro.” Agustín shook himself from his dreamy-eyed state to regain his resolve.

“I just got caught up chatting at the bar and lost track of time.” Bruno replied flatly as if it wasn’t news. It was though. He rarely spoke to anyone outside the family and it was no shock that people would be curious. Especially a pair of extroverts with nothing more important to do with their time.

The pair of friendly busybodies made juvenile hooting sounds as the tiles under his feet shook him upright.

“Bruno making friends in town?” Agustín cheered in disbelief. “That’s a new one.”

Bruno strangled the broom handle as his shoulders worked their way up to his ears. “It’s really not that impressive. She’s new in town. She didn’t know any better. I’ve probably already scared her off with my rambling anyway.”

Bruno tried to scurry out to a patch of floor further from the wall so they wouldn’t surround him as easily.

“You spent all night chatting up la señorita and think you can get away with leaving us in the dark?!” The shock in Félix’s voice would have felt condescending had it come from anyone else.

Of course, he couldn’t escape as the men both materialized in front of him to continue their inquisition. Bruno stumbled back a bit as Agustín crossed his arms and nodded in enthusiastic agreement with Félix.

“Tell us everything hombre.” Félix demanded.

Bruno stammered a moment and wrung the broom handle hard enough to turn his knuckles white. He was sure most of the color had already drained from his face. Beatrice peeked her head out of his pocket and made eye contact for a moment. Her glittery little beads were reassuring.

“Pues... she uh. She’s new in town… I think I already said that. I don’t think she knows what my gift is yet. That’s probably why she was willing to talk to me…”

“Sí, but what’s she like?” Agustín clarified.

Bruno looked back down at the floor again and continued sweeping. “Well, she smiles a lot. She’s very loud. Kind of pushy actually.” He thought back to how oddly insistent she was that he visit the library today.

“I was going to just watch some television for ideas for mis tablas but she said I should stop by the library if I’m short on inspiration. She was weirdly adamant.”

Félix and Agustín shared some kind of unspoken exchange Bruno couldn’t interpret.

“Interesting.” Agustín put a hand on his shoulder. “This woman wouldn’t happen to have long brown hair and blue eyes, would she?”

Bruno froze up a little but tried to keep moving as if he wasn’t startled. “Umm... More gray really but sí…” Of course, Agustín would have gotten a look at any newcomers in town. New folks weren’t a common occurrence. Having been one himself, once upon a time, he was often in the business of keeping track of people coming and going.

“Jacqueline! You won over that belleza!”

“You’ve met the new folks?” Félix asked. “I only heard about them yesterday.”

“I make a habit.” Agustín explained pridefully. “They’re travelers from what I hear, just passing through. But, I’ve seen Jacqueline and let me tell you that woman es muy bonita and a real firecracker.”

“She has a real jingly little laugh.” Bruno muttered absentmindedly as he thought back to their conversation. “Like bells.”

Félix and Agustín stared at him dumbfounded. Bruno realized the words that had just left his mouth. He could feel their eyes boring holes into his back while he swept. After a moment or two, he relented and looked back at them to see his cuñados holding each other with the glitter of barely contained excitement in their eyes.

“Our little Brunito is all grown up!” Félix teased.

Bruno groaned and thumped his head against the end of the broom handle. “It’s not like that.” He protested though he doubted his in-laws would listen. Why did no one in this family ever talk to him like an adult?

“Oh relax, we're only teasing.” Agustín reassured as he wrapped an arm around Bruno’s shoulder.

“Seriously hermanito you don’t have to act cool with us. If you like this girl then we’ve got your back.” Félix insisted.

Bruno did not in fact like Jacqueline. At least not the way they were implying. He didn’t think so anyway. There seemed to be no evidence to him of such a thing and past experience led him to very much doubt it. That said, she was nice to him which was refreshing. She let him talk and didn’t condescend to him. So that was a plus. It would be nice to talk to her again, he supposed. Maybe enjoy having a new friend for as long as that lasted. She likely wouldn’t be in town long enough to grow to hate him.

“Not to mention I think señorita might be interested in you too from the sound of things.” Agustín chirped as he continued to pull Bruno in closer and invade his personal space.

“I doubt that.” Bruno replied dryly.

“You said she wanted you to stop by the library right?” Agustín asked.

“Yeah…” Bruno eyed him quizzically.

“She’s trying to get more time with you. She’s been staying with Señor Robledo.”

Señor Robledo was an elderly man, or Diego as Bruno used to call him, older than Bruno’s mother in fact. He was one of the few people who were consistently kind to him growing up. An old friend of his father's and a founding member of the town. He was Bruno's teacher growing up before retiring to run the local library. He always seemed to appreciate Bruno’s love of reading. His home was attached to the library. A small two-bedroom space with a little kitchenette and washroom which he used to share with his daughter. Ever since she passed away, nearly twenty years ago, the spare room had become commonplace to put people up for the night should there be a need. The kind old librarian was one of Bruno’s few friends for a long time. That is until he had to give him the bad news about his daughter. Bruno hadn’t been to the library since then.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go to the library.” Bruno replied sadly and he pulled free from Agustín’s grip. “Besides, I've got a lot of chores today, and I’ll probably see her around town. She’ll change her mind sooner or later anyway.” His words began devolving into rambling before Félix yanked the broom from his hand.

“She’s inviting you over! Go get your girl mi amigo. We’ll cover for you.”

Bruno stared wide-eyed as he wrung his hands together. “You two aren’t going to leave me alone are you?”

“Mis hermano you spend too much time at home as is. We can’t just let you pass up an opportunity like this.” Agustín replied.

“If tu madre has a problem with it she can take it up with us.” Félix added.

It wasn’t just Bruno who caught on that his mother was being overbearing. Bruno thought it over for a moment, pacing slightly. He had enjoyed his chat last night with Jacqueline. Maybe that had been the alcohol talking. He wasn’t interested in flirting by any means. Maybe if he entertained this woman it might get his increasingly pushy family off his back for a bit. Ever since Mirabel cornered him with the tables de ratas it had become increasingly obvious his family was looking for excuses to get him to socialize. While he was going out every weekend he was still greatly more introverted than the rest of his family, and most frustratingly, people tend to assume you lack a life if you aren’t leaving the house. His mother was the one exception. She seemed more than content with him floating about Casita like a hungry ghost. Just as long as she knew where he was.

“I guess I could go see what she wants…” He replied hesitantly.

“That’s more like it.” Félix cheered as he slapped him on the back hard enough to send him fumbling slightly.

“We’ll finish the chores today. Just be sure to fill us in when you get back.” Agustín insisted as he went to grab the dustpan from the corner of the room.

Bruno left the house with an awkward little wave to his overbearing cuñados.

︵‿୨ -❇- ୧‿︵

He wasn’t looking forward to visiting the library. Perhaps he could just do something else with his newfound free time. He could just lie... No... He was a terrible liar and he knew that. Besides, Agustín would probably talk to Jacqueline later. Maybe she wouldn’t be there and he could just go back home. Perhaps he could actually do the thing she recommended and look for something to read for inspiration. Though he kind of doubted there would be anything interesting he hadn't already read. The town didn’t get new books near as often as he would have liked.

He barely paid much mind to the greetings he received as he made his way through town. He still habitually hunched over and stuck to shaded areas. He had no reason to sneak. Still he preferred to draw as little attention to himself as possible. He missed his hood. His old poncho had a hood and Mirabel had decidedly not given his new ruana one. He understood why, much as it frustrated him. He stood outside taking in the modest dusty building. It had been decades since he set foot in this place. It still looked the same. He didn’t. He had started tying his hair back every morning to keep it clean. With his new ruana he could no longer hide behind a hood. He wore more color, nicer button-downs and trousers. His eyes were heavier than once they were.

He eyed the door handle wearily. He didn’t want to see the old librarian. Sadly the man never left the building so it seemed unavoidable. Was it really worth it just to get Félix and Agustín off his back?

THWUMP!

A cloud of dust flew from the open window and knocked Bruno over as the breeze blew it into his face. Fumbling and coughing, blinking dust from his eyes he tried and failed to maintain his balance. He let out a startled yelp as he hit the ground despite himself.

“Lo siento! Are you ok?” called an unfamiliar voice.

Bruno rubbed the dirt from his eyes and squinted up. A face hung out the window looking down at him. As he focused his vision against the burning glare of the sun he caught a glimpse of dirty blond hair that shimmered gold where the light hit it. As the man's face became clearer Bruno regained awareness of himself and his pathetic state on the cobblestone.

Bruno leaped up to his feet and brushed off the dirt. “Oh no, me? No, I’m fine, just fine, I just, I mean,” Bruno forced his incoherent stuttering to a stop and shrunk in on himself as he made eye contact with the stranger.

The man in the window blinked at him as he leaned over a heavy pile of old books. A stack which was no doubt responsible for the dust cloud that had so rudely assaulted him. “I didn’t realize there was someone at the door. I would have been more careful otherwise.”

“Oh, no pasa nada.” Bruno insisted as he tried to play it off cool. “People don’t notice me all the time.” That was a failure.

Bruno was able to get a better look at the stranger now that the light wasn’t obscuring his vision. The man appeared around his age if he had to guess. Then again folks in the Encanto tended to age rather gracefully thanks to his sister's cooking, so perhaps his judgment was skewed. He had a round chubby face with a set of half-rimmed glasses that looked like they were threatening to slide off his relatively flat nose. His dirty blond hair fell in little feathery layers and stuck out occasionally at odd angles. Most notable however were a pair of stormy gray eyes that seemed unsettlingly captivated by what they saw.

“I noticed you.” The man replied.

Bruno stared back at him cluelessly. There was a moment of silence before the stranger seemed to collect his thoughts. He adjusted his reading glasses and smiled politely.

“You’re Bruno Madrigal. I’ve seen the little tablas you put on for the kids in town. It was a very endearing introduction to the local culture.” He chuckled. His laugh was warm. Bruno could feel that warmth in his chest.

“You’re the other newcomer in town I take it?” Bruno asked.

The man looked back at Bruno, the glint of his glasses in the sun making his eyes shimmer. “So you’ve met mi hermana I take it?”

Bruno nodded. This was Jacqueline's brother. That made sense. They had the same plump lips and wide flat noses that crinkled when they smiled. Though this man's voice was warm and soft as opposed to the loud jingle of his sister. The man slipped back inside. For a moment Bruno’s heart sank a little, only to be startled by the door nearly smacking him in the rear.

The man gestured inside. “Well don’t let me distract you. You must have come here for a reason.”

“Oh, uh, sí, sí.” Bruno stepped inside nodding graciously to the stranger. “Where's Señor Robledo?” He asked nervously.

The stranger held a finger to his lips. With a coy smile, he pointed to a lump in the corner behind the desk. The old man had fallen asleep in a rat's nest of blankets. Bruno would have almost worried he’d died had throaty snoring not occasionally punctuated the silence.

“Me llamo Wilfredo.” The strange man, Wilfredo apparently, introduced himself. “Consider me the new librarian as long as I’m here.” he explained.

Bruno nodded.

He looked about the cramped library. The place was in greater disarray than usual. Cleaning supplies were strewn about. Tall stacks of books sat in the available floor space next to half-empty shelves.

Wilfredo closed the door gently so as not to wake his sleeping housemate. “I hope it’s not any trouble.” He apologized. “I’ve been reorganizing things since I got here.  No es por ofenderte pero, this place looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in ages.”

“No lo hago.” Bruno chuckled as he started scanning the stacks of books. They were sorted by genre. “I’d believe it.”

Bruno found a stack of fiction novels and knelt down to skim the spines as Wilfredo returned to his cleaning. Some of the books were in better repair with unfamiliar titles. Usually, when the town bothered to buy new books it was practical things. Things his mother and the council thought valuable. He hadn’t seen anything new in the fiction section since he was a child.

“Me encanta el tablas de ratas, por cierto.” Wilfredo’s voice disrupted his trailing thoughts. “You’re a clever writer from what I’ve seen. Such a cute little idea.”

Bruno smiled to no one in particular. He grabbed a book from the stack. Wilfredo was in the next aisle over and couldn’t see his face, but he smiled anyway.

“It was mi sobrinas idea. You know how creative niños can be.” He was in no hurry to add that he’d been playing such childish games in private for decades with his many pets.

“She sounds like a clever girl.” He replied.

“She is. She’s brilliant.” Bruno turned the book over in his hands though could barely focus as a proud toothy grin consumed his face. A thought occurred to him as tender Beatrice poked her head out of his front pocket. Sniffing the unfamiliar binding in his hands.

“You’re not put off by the rats?” Bruno asked. “Most people are. Even folks who like the plays usually teach their kids not to get too close to the stage.”

“Nonsense really. Rats are highly intelligent animals and a lot cleaner than most people realize.” Wilfredo seemed mildly offended by the ignorance Bruno assumed of him.

“Al fin alguien lo entiende!” Bruno exclaimed in relief. He went and plucked out another strange book. “You like rats?”

“I like learning. I read a lot” Wilfredo clarified.

“So would you say you're, una rata de biblioteca?” Bruno inquired coyly.

“Perdon? Was that a pun?” Wilfredo seemed playfully stunned by Bruno’s audacity.

Bruno's short-lived confidence left him when, to his surprise, Wilfredo removed a book from the shelf that separated the two of them. The man eyed him with mock suspicion through the crack in the books. The adorable way his nose creased over pouty lips only made Bruno more nervous as he stammered back.

"Uh, yeah, Like, y'know cause you like rats, and reading, ratón, rata, and you're a librarian..." The pun didn't need explaining but he couldn't help the disorganized stream of consciousness that tumbled out. "A-and you're a bit too big to be a mouse, don't you think?"

Did he just call him fat? That wasn't what he meant. Wilfredo placed the book back on the shelf once again obscuring his face. The once comfortable barrier was now a source of anxiety as he worried he had just offended his new acquaintance.

"You're lucky I have a fondness for wordplay or I might have taken offense to that." His voice sounded teasing, but not angry. Bruno let a faint relieved sigh escape him. A smile crept over his face. Pepa always hated his puns.

There was a brief comfortable silence before Wilfredo poked his head around the corner. Inspecting the book Bruno was currently cradling. “Gracias.” He breathed. “I was worried my contributions to this place would go unappreciated.”

Bruno looked back down at the book in his hands. The condition was immaculate. It was heavy and felt good in his hands. Somehow it seemed sensible to him that such a beautiful book could only belong to someone like Wilfredo.

Bruno’s heart nearly skipped a beat as Wilfredo stepped over the stack of books to stand over his shoulder. Inching closer to get a better look at the cover. “This one’s a favorite of mine. I’ll miss it when we’re gone.”

Bruno took in Wilfredo's melancholy expression through the corner of his eye. Too nervous to turn his head and risk brushing his face against his new companion's cheek. He looked back at the book in his hands. “You’re leaving this behind?” Bruno asked as the melancholy infected him too.

Wilfredo stepped back and shook his head sadly before plastering on a fresh smile. “We can’t just take advantage of your people's hospitality without contributing something in return right?” Wilfredo insisted. “Mi hermana… We’ve fallen on some hard times and needed a place to stay while I wait on a job I have lined up in Cali.”

“That’s a big city.” Bruno mused. “I don’t think I could handle living somewhere so busy.”

“I used to teach at Del Rosario in Bogotá.” Wilfredo laughed and leaned against the bookshelf. “I assure you I’ll be well within my element.”

His dismissive response made Bruno feel small. “If you’re such a big city, big shot, professor how’d you end up broke in the middle of nowhere, uh?” Bruno’s reply was a bit snarkier than he intended.

Wilfredo stopped smiling as he looked down at Bruno. A lump formed in his throat as he worried he’d said something he shouldn’t have. This man was tall. Only about as tall as Agustín but wide as Félix. Bruno had always been short and scrawny. In the brief pause as he collected his thoughts Wilfredo seemed to tower over him. He felt like a giant. Utterly dwarfing Bruno. Eclipsing him in his shadow. Wilfredo examined him ever so slightly before replying.

“It’s complicated. Mi hermanita and I are wanderers. It’s just what we do. I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand.”

He wasn’t sure how, but somehow, Bruno felt he had struck at something delicate. Something that was better left untouched. Wilfredo ran a hand through his hair as he smiled shyly. His eyes cast aside. Bruno’s eyes darted about as he thought of some way to change the conversation.

“Dia del Encanto is this weekend.” He blurted out awkwardly. He scanned the gray slates as their eyes reconnected. Bruno found himself eagerly looking for something else to take in. The gray slates made his chest tighten. Wilfredo wore an earthy green cardigan with a light green v-neck with red trim. The red trim reminded him of Jacqueline's fiery skirt.

“Sí, I heard.” Wilfredo replied softly. He seemed to notice that Bruno was falling in on himself. “It sounds like fun but I’m not sure if a small-town festival is really suitable for a big city, big shot, professor.” Wilfredo replied with a playful jab.

Bruno felt an inexplicable disappointment sink in. He hugged Wilfredo’s favorite book to his chest. Had he offended him? “Alright you got me.” He chuckled awkwardly. Trying to hide how profoundly this man affected him. “It’s just, mi familia expects me to go and I’m sure it would be more fun with you there.”

Why did he say that? Meirda! Just shut up. Talk about something else. Anything else. Why did you say it like that?!

Wilfredo laughed heartily. His nose crinkled when he laughed. “I suppose I can take time out of my very busy schedule to spend time with a new friend.” He teased.

Bruno forced an awkward laugh as he considered his exit. He drummed his fingers along the book's binding.

“I should probably... uh, hmmm.” Bruno waved the book in front of him before pulling it close to his chest again.

“Oh, bien, sí.” Wilfredo scurried over to the desk and quietly shifted through loose papers as he asked Bruno for his library card only to learn Bruno hadn’t used it since he was a child. Library cards had always been largely a formality for him. The old man sleeping behind the desk has always trusted him to return his books on time. Wilfredo simply jotted down a note of the book's absence allowing Bruno to scurry out without further complications. Bruno was grateful for the leniency. He'd feared he might just asphyxiate if he spent any more time in that library.

︵‿୨ -❇- ୧‿︵

The last few minutes of their conversation played on repeat in his head the whole way home. Things were going well. They were getting along. Then he had to open his big stupid mouth and make things weird.

He hadn’t even paid attention to the book he’d checked out. He just needed an excuse to leave. He flipped open the cover to read the preface as he trudged along. It was a collection of short stories and poems. The perfect thing to inspire the kind of short plays he wrote for the kids in town. Albeit some of the titles sounded a bit inappropriate. A few cynical titles regarding god and politics did catch his eye. He couldn’t help but imagine how his mother would have reacted had she caught him reading such a thing as a child. It wasn’t until he neared the Casita that he remembered he had failed at the objective he’s been set out to accomplish. He didn’t even see Jacqueline at all today. Félix and Agustín would be expecting a report when he got home. He looked down at the handsome book in his hands. He really should go help them finish the chores. Especially considering he would have spent all day inside had it not been for them. He wouldn’t have met Wilfredo. Then again…

Bruno found himself a comfortable spot nestled in the roots of a kapok not far from home. It was a comfy spot he used to hide when he was young. The sunlight cast beautiful little shadows on the pages as he read. Félix and Agustín had expected him to be gone for a while anyway. Surely they wouldn’t mind if he took his time getting home. As long as he got back before dinner what was the harm in taking some time out to read? Beatrice made herself cozy in his lap sniffing each new page as he read.

“Did you like him?” Bruno asked as he scratched the top of her little head. She leaned into his touch and rubbed her back against his palm.

“I liked him too.”

︵‿୨ -❇- ୧‿︵

It was Beatrice who first noticed Alma making her way up the hill to the Casita and alerted Bruno. Seeing his mother he scrambled quickly to find a leaf or stick he could use to bookmark his page before hurrying home. He snuck around the back of the house and through the side door on the patio that led to the kitchen.

“Making it home just in time today, eh?” Julieta teased as he snuck in.

“You say that like there’s a curfew.” Bruno chuckled awkwardly.

His hermana passed him a tray of food. “If you’re going to skip out on your chores you can at least help set the table.”

Bruno carefully set Wilfredo’s book on a shelf next to his sister's cookbooks before taking the tray to the dining room. Julieta was still annoyed with him after yesterday. It’s not like he didn’t know why.

“Did you have fun with that Jacqueline woman I’ve been hearing so much about?” His sister asked cooly as she assisted in setting the table.

“Agustín told you about that huh?” Bruno replied sheepishly. “He seemed to think something was going to happen.”

“Did anything happen?” She raised an eyebrow.

Bruno looked back at his sister somewhat baffled. “Well no.” He replied as though he thought that was obvious. “I didn’t even see Jacqueline today.”

“Then why were you gone all day?”

“She wasn’t home. I ran into her brother instead. He recommended a book and I got distracted reading.”

Julieta sighed and tutted. “Bruno, what am I going to do with you? You need to stay focused. Mamá was so worried about you yesterday when you didn’t come home.”

Bruno tugged at his ruana. “I know.” He didn’t mean to cause their madre distress. He had such a bad habit of doing that.

Just as they finished setting the table Agustín came waltzing in cheerily with a bloody hand. The bite mark on the back of his hand was rather grizzly and Bruno wondered if Agustín had simply lost all ability to process pain over the years.

“Brunito, just the man I wanted to see!” He chimed.

Julieta noticed the blood on his hand and rushed over to investigate. “Ay! Agustín what did you do!?”

“He didn’t listen to me when we were cleaning Antonio's room, that's what he did.” Félix explained as he reached over to grab a morsel from the table to pass to Agustín who nibbled gratefully.

The unidentified animal bite quickly disappeared leaving only a stain on the edge of his sleeve.

“So Bruno, your chat with la senorita bonita, cómo te fue?” Agustín grinned cheekily. Julieta groaned and ran out to the courtyard to call the family to dinner.

“Oh, yo no.” Bruno replied, “I mean, I didn’t... like we didn’t have a chat 'cause she wasn’t home.”

“Oh.” Agustín seemed half surprised and half disappointed.

“C'mon man, we risked la ira de tu madre and that’s the best you got?” Félix replied irritably.

“Hey, I wanted to stay home.” Bruno raised his hands defensively. Then he thought of Wilfredo’s book and rushed to the kitchen to grab it while he filled his cuñados in. “I should thank you both though.” He explained.

He rushed back with his book and a smile that was maybe a little too wide. “I did meet her brother Wilfredo at the library though. He’s been reorganizing the palace and donated a bunch of new books.” He showed them Wilfredo’s pristine collection of poems and short stories. Pulling the book away protectively when Agustín tried to grab it to get a better look at the title. “We had a really great chat. He's a university professor. Did you know that? And he likes rats, what are the odds am I right?”

Bruno looked up from the book he was enthusiastically admiring as he realized he was starting to ramble. He stared awkwardly at his cuñados dumbfounded faces.

“Bueno, it’s great to see you haces amigos.” Agustín replied optimistically.

Félix rolled his eyes. “You’re too old for this hombre. You’ve got a shot at a beautiful woman and you spent your day reading and talking about tus ratas?”

Bruno wrapped his arms around the heavy leather-bound book and held it to his chest. “I mean, she wasn’t home. What was I supposed to do?” He tried to laugh it off but Félix’s words hurt.

“Go find her cabron!” Félix insisted as if it were the obvious answer.

“Go find who?” Camilo asked as the rest of the family began to funnel in for dinner. His sobrino’s voice nearly made him jump. He was certainly not interested in talking about his dating life or lack there of with his mischievous nephew. He would never hear the end of it.

“Your tío-” Félix began. Bruno rushed to cover his mouth before he could finish the sentence.

“It’s nothing important.” He laughed awkwardly. “Your Pa and I were just talking about boring grown-up stuff. Nothing interesting to speak of.” He insisted unconvincingly. Camilo stopped piling on his plate for a moment to stare at his uncle quizzically.

Bruno could feel eyes burning through him.

Dolores nudged her brother aside to fill her plate, “Leave Tío Bruno alone hermano. It’s none of your business what he does with his time.”

Dolores was a lifesaver.

“Lo que sea.” Camilo huffed as he took his seat. Félix and Agustín followed suit and Bruno reached over the table to fill his own plate. “As long as you finally came up with something for the festival.”

Bruno sat down and opened his mouth to reply before the sight of Mirabel and his mother shuffling in caught his eye. They were in some manner of heated conversation. Not angry, just very involved. Poor Mirabel looked a bit frazzled, to say the least.

“How was your first day with the council Mirabel.” Bruno asked gently.

Mirabel turned to look at him as she sat down with her plate. She brushed some stray hair from her face. “Oh, uh. It was great. It’s just a lot to take in is all.” She sounded breathy and flustered. Had his mother really been cracking the whip that hard today?

Mamá seemed pleased however as she praised Mirabel. “Mirabel did wonderfully. Very attentive.”

He wondered if his mother noticed how frazzled his sobrina was.

“Uhm, perdón! Tío Bruno!” Camilo snapped his fingers at him impatiently.

“Be respectful Camilo.” Pepa scolded.

Bruno returned his attention to Camilo who had sat down beside him at the end of the table.

“El festival?” Camilo asked irritably.

“Oh, no actually.” Bruno replied. “We’re not doing a show for the festival. I decided to go with un nuevo amigo.”

The whole table went silent.

“¡¿Estás bromeando?!” Camilo huffed. “Now you decide to have a social life all of a sudden?!”

#encanto #encanto oc #encanto original character #bruno madrigal #wilfredo fontana #jacqueline fontana #tlaa #madrigal family #fanfic #meet cute #library #tw alchoholism #tw alcohol

[girl-next-door-writes]

Just The Two Of Us

Characters: Bruno Madrigal x reader

Summary: Just two idiots falling in love with each other but needing a little Madrigal interference to make it happen.

Word Count: 1441 words

Prompt: Chaste kiss, everyone knows, face cleaning, one bed

A/N: This is for the wonderful @howaboutlunch as part of my ‘build-a-blurb’ follower celebration. I hope you enjoy this, sweetie. I wrote it ‘specially for you!

There were so many things that were overwhelming about being back out into the world. Things were brighter, noisier, more crowded while there was also somehow far too much space! He was glad to be reunited with his family, of course he was, but it was a huge adjustment. So many feelings, so many long-forgotten sensations. The fear was still there, the feeling of judgement hanging in the air, imagined or not. Bruno was thankful that he could escape occasionally, Hernando and Jorge making an appearance when needed, like right now.

He had pulled the bucket down over his head as soon as he had seen you round the corner, his heart pounding. You had been helping the rest of the Encanto rebuild casita, and your soft smiles whenever he met your eye had his brain melting, his heart pounding, and his words evaporating. It was obvious that you were kind, and he believed that any attention you turned his way was out of politeness. There was no way that someone like you could ever see him as anything more than the family weirdo.

“You should go talk to them.” Agustin said gently, leaning against a newly built pillar, nearly missing it and stumbling before regaining his balance. “I’m sure Hernando could make quite the impression.”

“Oh, I’m sure he would.” Jorge’s voice echoed a little sadly in his bucket. “The lasting impression that I am incredibly odd and awkward.”

“Maybe that’s the kind of guy they like. Come on, you have hidden away for far too long. Time to step out into the light and make some new friends, ones that don’t have tails and live in the walls.” Agustin tried to encourage his brother-in-law. It was painfully obvious to everyone in the family that the two of you had been pining for each other for weeks now and one of you had to make the first move. Slowly, he reached out and removed the bucket from Bruno’s head, giving him a supportive smile. “You can do this. Just go over and ask if there’s anything you can do. Just offer to help.”

With a frown, Bruno nodded, taking a deep breath and steeling himself for the social interaction. He could be brave. He had been brave standing up to his mother, even though it turned out that he didn’t need to, so talking to you was definitely something he could do.

It took him three attempts to get his feet to co-operate with the plan. At first, he had headed in your direction, only to veer off at the last minute before you could notice him. It turned out that telling himself he could do this, and the actual reality of doing it, were two totally different things. By the time he found himself standing in front of you, his brain had checked out, leaving him just staring at you, unblinking, in a blind panic.

“Hi.” You tilted your head a little, curiosity in your gaze and a slight smile playing on your lips as your eyes met his. “I’ve heard that you are really good at making up stories. Would you mind coming helping me out with the little ones? I need to entertain them for a while so people can get on with actually building.” The beaming smile he was rewarded with when he had simply nodded had his knees weakening, and from that moment on it was unusual to see one of you without the other by their side.

Despite this small victory, things did not progress beyond this rather adorable friendship the two of you had, which frustrated those around you to no end. It was obvious to anyone who saw you together that you were meant for each other, but between Bruno’s low self esteem and your apparent obliviousness to his feelings, it was going to take a little nudge to make it happen.

One evening you were all sat around a fire, enjoying the delicious food provided by Julieta. The weather was beautifully warm, and it had been decided that some of you should set up a camp on site for the evening, something the children were beyond excited about. Bruno was trying his best not to think about how close you were sitting to him, how your knee occasionally brushed against his, sending goosebumps erupting over his skin. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn’t noticed your gaze on him, hadn’t registered you leaning into him a little as you raised your hand.

“You’ve just got a little…” your voice was soft, and Bruno held his breath as your fingers brushed away a blob of sauce at the corner of his lips, the ghost of your touch lingering long after your hand had moved away. The two of you sat there in the firelight, staring into each other’s eyes, the tension between you thick enough to cut with a knife. Bruno swallowed thickly before clearing his throat and shuffling away a little, averting his gaze as his fingers picked nervously at the edge of his ruana.

“Thanks.” He muttered, unaware of the slightly crestfallen look on your face at his sudden withdrawal.

“No problem.”

Felix sat across from the two of you, witnessing the whole scene and barely holding back the urge to scream at the two of you to ‘just kiss already!’.

“We need to do something about those two, because I don’t know how much more I can take of the missed opportunities.” He grumbled to Peppa.

“And what do you propose we do? They are both grown adults, it’s not like we can force them together.” She hummed thoughtfully, an idea of a plan forming in the back of her mind.  

The hour was getting late, the fire was dying down and the stelliferous sky glowed as the velvety darkness grew deeper. Several tents had already been set up, as well as hammocks hung in nearby trees, people preparing to get some sleep had left the fireside one by one, until only a few remained.

“Well, I guess I should be heading home.” You said, getting to your feet and giving Bruno a sleepy smile.

“Home? Are you not staying?” Peppa asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I hadn’t planned on it. I haven’t brought blankets or a tent or…”

“I’m sure Bruno wouldn’t mind sharing his hammock.” Peppa said with a knowing smile, watching the panic flicker over her brothers face as his cheeks heated up at the thought. “It is late, you wouldn’t want your friend to have to walk all the way home, all alone, in the dark, would you?”

“Erm- er-n- no, of course- of course not.” Bruno stumbled over his words, caught between his own fear of having you close and not having you by his side. Rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at his feet, he turned to you and muttered, “You- you can, erm, share my hammock if you, if you want.”

“Really? You wouldn’t mind? I don’t want to put you out or-“

“He is fine. So, it is settled. Goodnight.” Felix interjected, quickly getting to his feet and taking his wife’s hand, leading her over to their tent before he had to watch Bruno somehow mess this chance up.

The two of you stood there a little awkwardly for a few moments before you cleared your throat, causing him to look up at you. It was then he noticed the flush to your cheeks, similar to his own, barely visible in the gloom but still there. Offering you his hand, he felt his heart skip as you took it, your palm pressed to his as he led you towards where his hammock hung.

To say getting into the hammock was smooth sailing would be a bare faced lie. It was awkward and clumsy and ultimately found the two of you pressed together, face to face, giggling at the ridiculousness of such a simple task. As the laughter died down, you found yourself looking deep into each other’s eyes and the tension wrapped around you like a blanket.

“Goodnight, Bruno.” You whispered, leaning over and placing a soft, chaste kiss to the corner of his lips. You had been aiming for his cheek but misjudged the swing of the hammock. Not that either of you minded.

“Goodnight, querida.” He murmured, pulling you closer, wrapping his arms around you and smiling to himself as he nuzzled your hair. The two of you might do things in baby steps, but he was starting to believe that there was a real chance things might actually work out for him.

#Bruno Madrigal #bruno madrigal x reader #something I wrote #gndw fic #build a blurb

[kayssweetdreams]

Meeting the Maestro

*AKA How Kaylo met Balan*

Nobody in Timeville knew this. But the Bruno Family has a very long history...and a very big, and very magical secret. The entire family, has a secret connecting them to Wonderworld...

And the Youngest Bruno was about to learn of that secret.

(The Bruno Mansion, 8 Years ago...)

A 4 year old Kaylo was currently trying to sneakily obtain her Aunt's famous marshmallows, when she overheard her mom and grandmother talking. They seemed to be arguing about something.

"...Mom, She's only 4, she can't handle it yet!

"...She's a Bruno! She CAN handle it! I was told when I was 2!"

"...But Mom! I haven't even told her about HOW to find it!"

"...Well then, I guess we just have to do it the hard way them..."

Kaylo didn't like the sound of that. What were her mom and grandma talking about? In her fear, She ran out of the Bruno home and into town. Small tears began to leak from her eyes. She didn't know what her mom and Grandmother were arguing about something, but she didn't like arguments in the slightest...

She stopped near her Aunt's sweet shoppe. But found that Arwen and Catilin were arguing about something as well. More tears flooded her eyes as she walked away from the shop. She found herself wandering some random road. The poor girl didn't know what to do...and unfortunately, now she was lost.

Poor Kaylo sat down in who knows where, tears leaking from her eyes. She was lost, and her family was keeping something from her. She cried for a long time, unaware that something was getting closer. She didn't see it, but she felt something soft brush up against her. At first, she thought it was someone pet, like a cat or a dog. Until she felt something nuzzle her face with a small "Timmu?"

Wiping her tear clouded eyes, she saw what appeared to be a funny looking pink chick, with no legs, but had little puffy stumps for wings and a tail. Her saddened eyes gained curiosity as it gently tugged at her dress, as if it wanted her to follow it. Growing curious, she got up, and began to walk after the strange looking chick.

After it lead her down a small alleyway, Kaylo spotted the little chick as it reached a very large, and very lit up theater. The bright lights illuminating the darkened space that the theater was located in. "Little Chick? Where are you?" She asked out. To her surprise, the pink chick creature appeared on the INSIDE of the theater, waving a little wing puff at her.

Kaylo felt a strange force telling her to enter the theater. As if she lost control of her body, she carefully opened the door, and entered the theater. The sun from outside, illuminated the hallway through the strange theater. The pink haired girl slowly walked inside, hoping to find the funny little chick, when she heard a small click from the doors, as if she was locked inside. Frantically running back to the door, she tried to open it again, but she was now locked inside.

Now that she was locked inside, she had to find another way to get out...as well as where that little chick went. She walked through the hall of the theater, gazing at the many posters that lined the walls, before she reached a large room...and someone was inside it.

His back was turned to the girl, but he was holding up a small yellow teardrop shaped gem. She didn't know it, but the person was gazing at her FROM it. Kaylo began to walk away, but she was cut off by a very deep "Eeyahoo?" That came from the strange figure in the other room. That very same figure cracked a very big, and very toothy smile.

"Why hello there..." He said as he slowly stood up. The pink haired girl froze in place, this person was bigger than her dad! She couldn't move, especially when he rapidly spun towards her and bowed down in front of her "AND WELCOME!" He bellowed out, the force of his voice causing the girl to fall over.

Little Kaylo didn't know what was going on, so she did the most reasonable thing...

She ran.

She fled from the tall being, but since the door was locked, she needed to find another way out. She ran to a window, but found that even that was to tall for her to get too. Hearing his footsteps, Kaylo dove underneath a nearby table, hoping to keep hidden from the Tall being until her parents found her.

Balan found himself a bit sad for the child. She was so scared of something beyond her control. And she was very young to have found the theater already. However, the head of Pink hair did remind him of something...but he couldn't quite place his finger on it yet. But that could wait, right now he needed a way to coax the little girl out. That’s when he got an idea, calling back the pink Tim from earlier, he whispered the plan to it.

Back underneath the table, the pink haired child shivered as she waited for the strange being to go away. She perked up when she heard the small Tim snuggle up next to her. She gave the little Tim a uneasy look, as it was the one that made her come to the theater. However, the Tim did seem to want to be her friend, so she gently put it on her lap and began stroking it's fluff.

"I don't know why you brought me here...but It's better than home right now." Kaylo admitted sadly. The Tim perked up at her sadness "My mom and grandma were gonna do something to me. And I don't know what that is, and I don't wanna know what it is..." she said. "If I may ask, and you don't have to tell me, who exactly would your Mother and Grandmother be?" She heard the strange being ask from nearby. Kaylo hesitated. She knew her parents told her not to talk to strangers, but this guy didn't SEEM like a stranger...

"My mom and grandma are "Thea and Krista Bruno." She admitted. Balan's eyes widened. NOW he knew why she seemed so familiar! She was another descendant of the ever growing Bruno Family! He gave a smile "Well...A secret I'll let you know. I've met your family a long time ago." He said, standing near the table she was hiding underneath. Kaylo couldn't believe what she was hearing. "R-Really?" She asked.

"Yes. Thea and Krista come from a long time ago. So have your other family members you know." Balan told her "Cookie, Cherry, Catilin and More. I've even met Mirabella before." He said. Kaylo's eyes widened "You've met Really great Grandma Mirabella?" She asked. "In a way. But she was much different than she is today." Balan told her. "But I'd like to know of the newest generation, but you don't have to come out if it causes you hesitation." He said. Kaylo, while she was still a little frightened, was curious about this person who had met everyone in her family.

She slowly crawled out from under the table, enabling Balan to get a better look at her. He saw the small child, still clutching the Tim to her chest, as well as the pink hair that made her easy to spot. Her eyes, still shimmering with tears and her knees a little wobbly. Kaylo leaned up to look at the tall being looming above her, almost falling back as she did. Balan gently grabbed her hand before she fell "Careful now, see its alright. I'm a good person, I won't bite." He said, kneeling down to her height.

In doing so, this made Kaylo less afraid of him. Balan wiped a tear from her face "There now. See? You don't have to be afraid of me." He said with a smile. Kaylo gave him a small smile back before a piece of her pink hair fell into her face. She blew it back before turning her gaze back at Balan. "Now let's see what we can do, to get a smile out of you." He said, giving her a playful poke on her side. Kaylo giggled as he picked her up, and carried her into the theater.

With a snap of his fingers, some music began to play from an invisible orchestra and Balan did what he did best. He put on one heck of a show! During the entire performance, Kaylo's eyes sparkled at his many tricks and gimmicks, even so much as to INVOLVE her in one! With it all ending with a very big firework show. When it ended, the pink haired girl applauded for the maestro "Yay!! That was so cool!" She cheered.

Balan floated down to her level "Why thank you dear! But that's not the greatest thing you'll see here." He said, picking her up again. Kaylo grew curious of what he meant until, as almost on cue, Her entire family came into the theater calling out her name. "Mommy! Daddy!" She cheered, scrambling to get out of Balan's grasp. The maestro gently put her on the ground as she hugged her mother's legs "KAYLO!! My sweet Baby!! Promise me you won't do that again!" Thea cried, hugging Kaylo to her chest.

"Well. I guess she already found the theater. We might as well tell her." Cookie Bruno said. "Tell me what?" Kaylo asked, that uneasy feeling coming back. "Well dear...You see. Our family has a special connection to Wonderworld. Your great great great, a few more greats grandmother, Mirabella. She was one of the first people to ever see Wonderworld. And our entire family keeps Wonderworld's existence a secret. Because we have something that many people would want to get their hands on." Krista explained.

Kaylo was curious until Balan knew what she meant "Of course! Mirabella's book! Your family protects it from those who want to take a look." He said. Kaylo's eyes grew wide. She didn't know this before! "And now, it's time to pass on said secret to the next generation. You." Thea said. Kaylo didn't say anything. She was too in shock, she knew her family was hiding something from her, but she didn't know it was this. "Wow..." she whispered in awe. "Now keep in mind. This is something you MUST keep secret from anyone. Many people would want to learn this secret...bad people." Krista said.

That sent a shiver down her spine. Who would want to know about Wonderworld? "That's a thought not now needed for you. But if a stranger asks you that question, what do you do?" Balan asked. "Don't talk to them." Kaylo said. The maestro cheerfully clapped his hands "I'd say she knows what to do! That deserves a reward! Yes you do!" Balan said, pinching her cheek. Kaylo giggled before another piece of her pink hair came falling into her face. She blew it out of the way, and Balan got an idea.

He twirled his finger around until a small piece of cloth formed around it. "Here little Kaylo, a small gift to show. A hairband with the same print from Mirabella Bruno." He said. Thea put the new hairband onto Kaylo's head, just as the pink haired girl Began to fall asleep. "I think our little girl has had enough excitement for one day." Stefan said, patting her head "Thank you Balan for finding her." Thea said. Balan waved it off "Oh please, Don't thank me. She was bound to know eventually." He said. "He's got a point." Catilin said.

"Fair enough. But let's let her sleep. She's had a long day." Thea said as she headed for the doors. Balan waved them off as Kaylo caught one more glimpse of him before she fully slept, giving her own wave, and a very sleepy

"Bye Bye Mr Balan..."

#Balan Wonderworld

[blackypanther9]

Part 13 - Start of work

WARNING!: Swearing and insulting. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!

(I had to add a picture or else something wouldn't have been shown.)

Bruno was counting his steps as he marked with his sand the shape of the underground facility. Luisa followed him with the big heavy pot she found, to help him. Heiko was already planning with William about designs, weapons and upgrades, while they watched Bruno and Luisa.

Heiko made a drawing on paper as to how the shape should be. Michael drew the inside of how it shall look after they also put foundation into their hole when it was crafted.

Antonio and Camilo went into the rainforest to ask every animal for help and explain the situation. Pepa practiced to manipulate her rain and drag the dirt up, she never did that before and now she is putting a lot of effort on it to master it. Mirabel and Isabella already went away to get wood and lianas to craft ladders. Dolores and Alma started to search the shovels, Julieta and Felix made food and Augustin was getting water for everyone.

Alma and Dolores then set up a big table that was surrounded by umbrellas to shield water and food from the hot sun.

Heiko, William and Michael went under the umbrellas as soon as they were set up and Heiko pulled out his Tablet to design.

“Alright so we are sure that this side is the saferoom ?”, Heiko asked and pointed at the drawing Michael made.

It was big enough for the villagers and animals to fit inside and it was on the right, right next to the planned tunnel to Casita.

“Yes.”, Michael said.

Heiko hummed and got to drawing and designing the room.

“There has to be carpets inside the room for the animals to not freeze and the beds for the villagers have to be warm and cozy. The deeper under the surface the colder it gets.”

With that said Heiko drew his thoughts.

“Then we will need a biiiig fridge and closet for them to have food for hours or even days, we don’t know how long we will fight.”

And Heiko drew them to the far left of the room.

“The walls need to be made out of very indestructible metal, so Leon won’t get in and take them. The ceiling and ground just the same. There will be a little engineer and a separate power generator for their room. Then we will need a few bathrooms and a cabin where they can dress themselves. With curtains, of course, for privacy. We will have to put a big TV in there so they can entertain themselves and we need food for the animals.  Then a few tables and chairs and board games. That should help them.”

Heiko drew everything and then showed them the end result.

Michael and William nodded in approval. Heiko saved his design and then went over to the next. Looking and pointing into the middle of Michaels drawing.

“That is supposed to be our workshop, right ?”

Michael nodded.

Heiko got to designing it.

“After the walls are up and about we will need a big terminal for our blueprints and a lot of other machinery so they can help us with the more heavy parts of the robots. A claw, as an example, will be needed. Then we will need cupboards and drawers for the parts of the robots. We will need an assembly line to transport the robots into the next room when they are finished and ready to go. Vince will make sure to not let anyone enter our terminal. Of course we can’t forget about lights and the power generator.”

With that soon Heiko was done designing and showed them his end result.

They nodded in approval. It was perfect.

“And the last one doesn’t need anything. They will rise from the ground unannounced. No need to make it stable. There will be doors that will be made out of the same metal as the walls, grounds and ceilings. Everything will be fine.”, Heiko told them.

“Alright.”, Michael replied and William nodded.

With that they leaned back and watched Bruno and Luisa work together and making lines, to mark the space that was described, with sand.

William then talked in a coded language.

“I will see. Maybe it will work.”

“That’s the spirit !”

They continued to watch them. After 2 hours Bruno finished and told Luisa to take a break for a little bit, which she gladly did. Bruno went over to Heiko, William and Michael and took a bottle then gulped it all down in one go.

Then he sat down and wiped the sweat off of his face.

“I think in 20 minutes we can start digging.”, Bruno told them.

The three of them nodded.

Ten minutes later and Camilo and Antonio came on jaguars’ backs back to the Encanto, after them billions of animals.

Heiko whistled.

“That’s a lot of animals…”, he said in awe.

Then he turned to Bruno.

“Your rats helping too ?”

“Hmm… I think so… I asked them before I left Casita. I don’t know.”, Bruno asked.

“With these animals we will be done even sooner, eh ?”, William asked Heiko.

“I wouldn’t say that this early. I would say maybe. But not surely.”, Heiko said.

William nodded and sighed.

After the rest of the 20 minutes were over, Bruno stood up and then clapped his hands, making his family and the animals quiet down.

“Alright. We will start digging now. The earlier we begin the faster we will be done with more progress. La Familia Madrigal !”

“La Familia Madrigal !”, the rest shouted.

The animals all took a space inside the big rectangle, Bruno made with sand. They took almost all of the space and they were so many that they had barely any space. Just one step to the front and started to dig.

The Madrigals grabbed all shovels and then went to bigger, more open spaces the animals left them, to dig too. Bruno in the meantime made already one little stair of dirt for later so they all can climb out.

Soon enough Bruno’s army of rats came to aid too and even made themselves holes underneath the dirt and made underground tunnels digging deeper already for better and faster progress for later. Other rats stayed with Bruno and digged next to him.

Heiko winced as he saw Bruno’s friends so filthy from dirt. He will definitely have to wash them all later tonight, or they clean themselves which would take hours on their own.

Time skip, 3 hours later…

Shockingly enough they already digged at least 10 feet deep and needed ladders and a tunnel to get back out. After Bruno sat down for a good 10 minutes he announced a break for 1 hour before they continue. Mirabel, Camilo and Dolores were thankful for their Uncle’s 1 hour break.

Isabela only scoffed. The ground started to shake slightly and Bruno knew what Isabela was doing.

“Isa ! Don’t overwork yourself !”, he warned her.

She ignored him and up came a very big and fat leaf with a lot of dirt on top of it.

“And 3 foot deeper.”, she said in triumph.

Bruno massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed. This girl…

Pepa groaned in frustration.

“I can’t manipulate it !”, she yelled.

Heiko chuckled and looked at her.

“You are trying too hard, Pepa. If you are trying too hard, you will trip over your own feet. Just don’t think too much about it and BAM it works. Trust me.”, he told the frustrated woman.

She looked at him in thoughts, nodded and then went to her spot again to practice.

Bruno looked at Heiko, who was already staring at him. Bruno blushed with wide eyes and turned away quickly. Heiko chuckled.

“Soo… You wanna use that hour to show me around the village ? And maybe show me some nice sights in the forest ?”, he asked Bruno innocently.

Bruno groaned and smacked his forehead with his left hand.

“I am so sorry ! I forgot about that ! Sure, c’mon !”, he said and sprung up.

Heiko chuckled again and then went next to Bruno.

‘Don’t have too much fun~’, Vincent teased Heiko in his head.

‘Shut up you damn Parasite.’

‘My feelings !’

‘Weasel.’

‘Fuck you too doggie.’

‘I am a wolf, asshole.’

‘Wolf, dog, same damn shit.’

‘Go fuck Vanny, Vincent. Get kids finally so you learn to lower your swearing and have more brains.’

‘Sh-shut u-up !’

Heiko smirked in small victory as Vincent left his head.

“So what do you wanna see first ?”, Bruno asked.

“Hmm… Your choice.”, Heiko replied.

“How about the market so you know where to go buy stuff that you need ?”, Bruno asked him.

‘We will never go there anyways, but meh…’

“Okay.”

With that Bruno pulled his hood over his head and then went with Heiko into the village and to the very busy market. Some of the villagers forgot all about Bruno and being a bad Omen since the reconstruction of Casita, some tolerated him and others still blamed him for everything that went wrong in their lives.

“So here you get baked goods. Literally anything.  Then we have, next to the bakery, a butcher shop. Next to the Butcher shop is a shop where you can get milk products, like cheese and stuff. On the other side, in front of the bakery, is a Tailor shop. Next to it, in front of the butcher, shop is a Jewelry shop and next to that shop, in front of the milk products shop, is a shoemaker.”, Bruno told Heiko and showed him around.

Heiko looked at the shops and then nodded for Bruno to continue.

Bruno led him to an open space and there were stands.

“This is the main market. Here they sell Vegetables, Fruits, Fish and everything else you need. You need some soap, there you go !”, Bruno told Heiko and pointed at the soap stand that was in the very far back of the market.

“Or you want a lucky charm ? Over there is one that sells that stuff.”

Bruno pointed at to the left behind 3 stands and there it was.

“You don’t wanna go to the butcher to get some sausages ? Well right there is a stand selling sausages !”

Bruno pointed to the right, right next to them.

“You need corn or anything to bake or cook, there are the stands for that.”

And with that he counted everything off of his list and showed Heiko around. To say that Heiko was impressed would have been underestimated. Yes, this village was very old fashioned, but it was also absolutely amazing.

It was so nice and relaxing with Bruno, Heiko was so happy. But that wasn’t for long…

“OI ! ASESINO !(Murderer)”, a woman yelled.

Bruno flinched, while Heiko calmly turned around and looked at her.

She approached in a run with an outraged face, she was a young, dark-skinned woman, who has her black hair tied into braids, put into a ponytail, accompanied with a red headband and had brown eyes. She wore a white and yellow top and a red dress.

“Oh no…”, Bruno mumbled lowly.

“Who is that ?”

As much as Heiko knew he never had anything to do with this female. He would have recognized her. So he assumed that she called Bruno a Murderer…

“That is Señora Pezmuerto… I once told her that her fish would die and since then she called me a fish murderer, because the very next day it was dead. But really…I never needed a vision for that. The bowl was very small for the fish and it was only filled with water. Nothing inside it. She overfed her fish and never exchanged the water in that bowl. It was already swimming on its side when I saw it. But she just doesn’t wanna listen…”, Bruno whispered to Heiko.

Heiko had a grim expression on his face after he heard that and looked at Pezmuerto. Then Heiko snorted loudly. Bruno looked at him confused.

“Doesn’t Pezmuerto mean in Spanish ‘Dead fish’ ?”, Heiko asked.

Bruno gave him a small smile and nodded. Then he flinched, because Heiko burst out laughing and falling onto the floor, rolling around and barking in laughter. As she reached them, Heiko was curled up on the floor, laughing loudly and hitting the pavement roughly with his fist.

Some village people looked at him confused and soon Heiko yelled in laughter.

“Señora DEAD FISH !!! AHAHAHAHAHA !!! NO, NO, NO, NO….AHAHAHAHAHA !!! OH..HAHAHAHA !!!”, Heiko started to wheeze and snicker like a teenager.

Some villagers chuckled too and laughed, now knowing why he laughed.

Soon Heiko came down and then looked at Bruno and then at the woman. As soon as he replayed the name and saw her, he started to howl in laughter again.

“BR-HAHAHAHA-BRUNO !!! KICK MEHEHEHE !!! PLEHEHEHEHESE !!! I’M GONNAHAHAHA ! DIEHEHEHE !!! AHAHAHAHA !!!“

Bruno looked at him for a while, sighed and then kicked his leg. Heiko yelped and was off of the floor in a second. He cleared his throat and looked at Bruno.

“Thanks.”

“No hay problema.(No problem)”

He then looked at Pezmuerto and snorted again, but covered it with a cough.

MASTERLIST HERE !

#Encanto #Crossover with another Fandom #Male!Reader #Bruno x Reader #Alma Madrigal #Pedro Madrigal #Julieta Madrigal #Pepa Madrigal #Bruno Madrigal #Isabella Madrigal #Dolores Madrigal #Luisa Madrigal #Camilo Madrigal #Mirabel Madrigal #Antonio Madrigal #Afton Family

[wolffox-makes-art]

I found my old USB drive which contained a word document for Haven's backstory from 2021 so i decided to rewrite it cus it was cringy and outdated

Here is all i have right now:

Chapter 1 rewrite

They threw me in a cell…. oh God, they threw me in a cell, “are you okay?” a voice called out from the

darkness, I laughed at that, how could anyone be okay when they’re about to be cast out of their home?

“Sorry I asked I realize now it was a stupid question” a match was struck, and a lantern lit up the room,

revealing the person that had been speaking to me. I gasped, prince Gabriel. “oh you look horrible” he

said “no offence” he added quickly his rosy cheeks becoming redder. A scream from the latest fallen

angel sounded outside before being drowned out by cheers from a crowd, I lost it there, my mouth felt

dry, a choked sob escaped my throat, my wings rose up smacking into the hard stone walls, I cried out in

pain “Breathe just breathe” prince Gabriel said trying to comfort me, “ I am now going to touch you if

you don’t want me to please tell or show me” he explained. I shook my head unable to speak “okay one

second I have something to help” he dug around in his leather pouch muttering under his breath. He

pulls a lunch box out of his pouch, opens it and hands me a peanut butter sandwich, I devour it suddenly

hungry. Prince Gabriel smiles his nose wrinkling as he gives me a lopsided grin, that grin fades as he

notices the tight chains around my wrists and ankles “ Those chains are far too tight for anyone!” he

announced kneeling down. “Prince Gabriel, please step away from the fallen they could be dangerous” a

guard said readying their spear, “Oh hush they haven’t fallen yet and I doubt this troubled young angel

could hurt me through the bars” Prince Gabriel answered back, standing up to loosen the chains around

my wrists “ thank you” I whispered “ oh it’s my pleasure, It not right making someone suffer more, now

tell me, dear what’s your name?” Gabriel asked smiling again.

“My name is Haven” I answered. Gabriel opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by someone

walking in before a sound came out “ Ah Gabriel there you are, The next trial is about to start and Father

wants you there” My brother’s boss and the Prince of heaven, Michael said placing a hand on Gabriel’s

shoulder “Oh sorry Mickey I guess I didn’t realize the time” Gabriel replied. Michael’s face flushed as he

frowned “Don’t call me Mikey and I know you don’t like these things because of the ‘L word’s’ fall but it

is our responsibilities as princes to be here and you must respect that” Michael said sternly as he tugged

at Gabriel’s sleeve gesturing to the door. “ he’s not Voldemort, Micha you can say his name” Gabriel

replied walking out the door. Unable to control myself I burst out laughing, Michael glares at me his face

red with rage and embarrassment, his eyes dart to the mark of the so called ‘ L word’ on my face and his

expression turns to disgust as he walks out of the cell block.

-----

The "L word" is Lucifer

Luci is basically like Bruno to the archangels we don't talk about him.

Please excuse the weird spaces in the middle of sentences I have no fucking clue why it's doing this and it's only Tumblr doing it and it won't let me fix it. Also, criticism is wanted.

#oc #writing #w.i.p #angel oc #Fallen angel #my writing #Fallen angel oc #Archangel Gabriel #Archangel Michael

[achitka]

Doors (Chapter 26) Into the woods

Chapter 25: Into the Woods

Summary:

Things get a bit tricky from here...hoping I don't lose track of anyone

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

As Pepa sat Bruno down the rats with him scurried forward. Two from behind his hair, and the two in his shirt pocket. They squeaked furiously at Pepa, and she drew back, but was not put off. Bruno said, “They’re just hungry,” he went to get up but was stopped when he noticed what Julieta had in her hand. The small cloth covered bundle likely had some food for the rats.

“I was going to give this to you at supper,” she said giving him that look she used on her kids when they were being irresponsible.

“Thanks, Juli,” Bruno said a bit sheepishly.

“Oh, can I feed them Tío?” Luisa asked. Bruno nodded so Julieta handed the food to her, and she smiled as she moved closer. She collected the four who were with him and went to the wall of cubbies where the rest of Bruno’s friends were waiting. She was going to be an awesome vet.

“Okay, no more stalling,” Pepa said leaning back in, “Spill it hermanito.” As much as being called little brother used to irritate him, Bruno discovered it was something he actually missed. Not that he’d never let Pepa know that, but he smiled as Julieta said, “Hermanita, personal space.”

Someone snickered in the background and Pepa shot Juli a look. The small cloud that appeared winked in and out of existence in the space of a few seconds and Bruno had to admit he was very impressed. It put a smile over his dour expression that he’d been hanging on to in hopes of getting his family to leave. Pepa patted his head and was actually smiling as she moved away from him to stand next to the chair Félix was sitting in. Again, Bruno was taken aback by how different everything was. The fact that his mother had not said a word was also something he was not used to. She usually always had something to say on everything. She was there on the sofa with Mirabel who was listening wide-eyed to whatever his mother was whispering about. Bruno decided he didn’t want to know but as he watched them, she turned to him and asked, “So Bruno, just tell us. Does that door lead to the Church of St. Agustín in Bogotá?”

Everyone and everything went silent, including the rats as Bruno cleared his throat and said trying his hardest to sound conversational and not too excited, “Yes. It is a beautiful Church by the way, stayed for afternoon Mass.” From there Bruno recounted his adventures. From his walk through the plaza shops, to his conversations with Pedro the appliance salesman. The radio, he saved for the very last. It garnered a lot of attention when he pulled it out and turned it on. The crackle of the white noise elicited several ooos and aaahs. Julieta frowned when he told her that he’d traded her bottle for it. He wanted to feel bad about it but was so pleased with the device he found he could not muster a proper level of guilt to be sorry.

“What’s done is done,” she said and asked, “Was it at least empty?”

“Yes, I mean he was actually more interested in glass…said his wife collects such things.”

“Odd,” Pepa said, and a tiny cloud formed over her.

“Said the lady with the cloud,” Bruno quipped and Pepa threw a pillow from the sofa at him. It bounced off his head and he picked it up, pulling at the fringe along the border. One more detail to tell them. “There is one other thing…my Gift was active outside the Encanto.”

Uproar ensued and Dolores immediately shouted for quiet. Bruno liked that his sobrina was doing more than just covering her ears when people got too loud around her. She’d not only stepped out of Isa’s shadow she was casting one. After a round of apologies, there were discussions regarding how this could be useful. Agustín had knelt next to his wife, he looked over at Luisa then he nodded before he straightened. Pepa was listening to Félix with a surprised look and nodding every once in a while, she glanced over at him and smiled when she realized he was looking at her. Isabela had a faraway look as she gazed out his window. It was no secret she wanted to leave the Encanto and travel. Dolores and Camilo were now next to their parents listening intently. Mirabel was off the sofa and moved closer to Luisa who was still feeding bits of arepa to the rats. She reached up and tugged gently on her sister’s arm to get her attention and said, “This is so exciting, Luisa. I wonder how close the church is to the college?” Luisa paused and smiled, clearly not wanting to get her hopes up.

“It would be nice if it was,” she said noncommittally, and noticed Mirabel was petting the smallest of the rats he’d named Pepito. “You wanna feed a couple?” Luisa asked.

“Yes.”

Luisa broke off a piece of cheese from the bundle and seeing that new food item sent the rodents into a short frenzy. Bruno smiled remembering the time he’d raided the larder and brought back some cake along with the arepa’s he usually pilfered. The rats with him then, had pretty much the same reaction. Ah, the good old bad days, he thought. Bruno rubbed his temples twisted his neck to try and loosen his muscles. It wasn’t a sponty, those he couldn’t put off. This was a full-on vision and those he could delay for a short time. It irritated him that something in the ether was once again demanding his attention and he thought, ‘Seriously, can’t this wait?’

It was his mother who noticed from her seat on the sofa. She was not really interacting with anyone unless they spoke to her first but was carefully watching everyone else. To Bruno, she appeared to be nervous and just a little anxious, but she looked mostly calm? At the moment she was watching him, and Bruno meant to smile, but instead his teeth clenched when his neck went stiff.

She looked genuinely concerned as she got up and said, “I think,” and she raised her voice just enough to be heard over everyone else, “it’s time for us to go. We can talk about this more after breakfast. The town meeting has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning at 10:00, so it would be best if everyone got some rest.” She turned toward him then and said, “Bruno, please don’t go off on your own without at least letting someone know what you’re doing. What if you’d been hurt? Or the door locked on the other side, and we could not get you back?”

Bruno’s teeth unclenched as his half smile turned into a full one and he said, “I won’t Mama. I’m sorry if I worried you.” She nodded, accepting his answer and Bruno once again was taken aback by the change or rather return of her younger self. The one that was trusting, patient and kind with her family. His family began filing out of his room, quietly chatting and as Mirabel walked past him, Bruno felt a half-remembered twinge. It took him by surprise because it was something that he’d not felt for a really long time, though he knew it somehow was related to his Gift and to magic itself. It was also something he’d never completely understood. It was that unexpected that even though he wanted everyone out he said, “Félix, Gus, can you both stay for a minute?”

Agustín nodded and Félix raised an eyebrow as both sat back on the sofa. His sisters stopped and Julieta asked, “Is everything okay, Bruno?”

Bruno did not remember whether he had ever talked to either of his sisters about this quirk. It only happened twice and both time it had spooked him for days. He did not want to worry them or even try and explain it, so he nodded and said, “Just need to get my cuñados opinions on something,” and hefted the radio he was still holding hoping it would do for an answer. Though neither seemed convinced, Julieta nodded, but Pepa fixed him with an appraising look as they exited and shut the door.

He sat for a moment in silence and said before he started, “Doli, I love you sobrina, but would you mind? Your Dad and Tío too.” This caused Félix and Agustín exchanged worried looks, but he needed to sort this out.

Bruno sat in silence for a few more minutes, he still had the pillow Pepa had tossed and was pulling at the fringe trying to find the best way of telling his cuñados what he was thinking. The problem he was facing was that he was not sure what he was thinking. But the feeling that something was off would not subside, and it had everything to do with the things he’d been seeing lately.

“Bruno,” Agustín said, “Just say whatever it is.”

Félix nodded and nudged him, “Does it have something to do with the red door?”

Bruno looked up and said, “No, it’s more to do with the spontys I’ve been having lately and the sketches I drew for Mamá.”

“The ones about the people in the forest?”

“Yes. I don’t think I’ve been looking at them properly.”

Félix and Agustín exchanged looks and Agustín said, “In what way?”

“I don’t know, just a feeling I got, but I think I need to gather them all up and look at them again.”

“The kids had some of them in Isabela’s room earlier,” Félix said.

“And a vision tablet.” Agustín added.

“Right,” Bruno said, and he went to the desk and pulled out another small stack of sketches. As they headed toward the door, he pushed back the need to deal with the vision waiting for him. Hopefully, it could wait a few hours. 

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

(…Doli, I love you sobrina, but would you mind? Your Dad and Tío too...)

Dolores squeaked and immediately shut out their voices. She’d made a promise to the family and herself that she wouldn’t try to eavesdrop on family conversations. Especially if she was specifically asked not to. They’d gone back to Isa’s room to talk about their plans some more, with Mira, Luisa, and Camilo. Everyone noticed her jump but didn’t ask. They knew she’d tell them if it was needful. The thing was it was harder to not listen than listen…so she decided to cast her hearing toward the mountains. Good distraction that. While she was not expecting to hear anything, she was surprised to hear a dog. It was growling.

A woman’s voice (…chhh…) the voice had a strange echo to it. A cave maybe?

The dog went silent, but Dolores could hear the dog panting as well as the breathing of several people. She focused on each realizing a good number of them were children. Tío sketches showed her this woman’s face. Dolores was sure they were one in the same. She moved further from her family so as not to be distracted and sat on Isabela’s bed keeping her eyes focused on the floor. Camilo knew what she was doing, he’d seen her do this before. His voice was hollow, like he was in another room as she faintly heard him say, “Everyone stay quiet.”

After a few minutes Dolores could hear the sound of at least five maybe six people walking on stony ground. But it was a slow walk, everyone must be very tired. The group came to a halt.

A man’s voice (…You said their tracks went this way old man…) there was a dangerous note of anger there.

Older man (…The ground here is extremely hard, and there’s been no rain. Sign is harder to see in those conditions. Perhaps they doubled back…) This man was lying.

1st man (…I’m tired of your excuses…) there was no answer from the old man, instead Dolores heard the sound of someone being struck quite hard, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.

2nd man (…It’s getting dark, we should head back to camp…)

There was no audible answer from the 1st man only movement of some kind.

2nd man (…what about him?...)

1st man (…leave him…)

2nd ma (…alright everyone, looks like another dead end, Back to camp…)

There were grunts but none contradicted the order, so the group left but were not moving much faster than when they’d arrived. Dolores followed the sound of their steps until she couldn’t hear them anymore and looked up to see her brother and primas all in front of her. Mirabel was on her knees holding the vision tablet tightly to her with her sisters on either side and Camilo in front. Her concern for these people must have been showing on her face because they were praying, but silently. Dolores refocused her attention on the woman’s breathing. She was calmer now and Dolores listened for the children. One was weeping quietly almost silently.

Woman (…They’ve gone, okay, mis pequeños. Water for everyone then it’s time to go…)

2nd Woman (…Doris, they need to eat…)

Doris (…I know, mi vida, but we cannot stay here. We need to put as much distance between us and them as we can…)

Inez (…What about Fernando?...)

There was a pause, and Doris said, (…He’ll follow if he can…)

Inez (…At least let me give them some bread and cheese…)

Doris (…Fine, they can eat while they walk…)

Dolores squeaked but made a mental note of where the voices were coming from. Everyone looked at her and she said, “They’re close enough for me to hear them, but still a ways off. Just on the edge. Like Tío said, they are being pursued.” Dolores gestured to Mirabel, and she handed her the tablet. Dolores turned it around and pointed to the angry woman. “I believe her name is Doris, and the woman behind her is Inez. There’s someone else, an older man named Fernando but…” Luisa was going through the sketches and held up one of an older man and younger who appeared to be arguing. “That one,” Dolores said pointing to the older man, “That must be Fernando...I’m not completely sure but he was doing his best to slow the pursuers down. All I could tell for sure was that he was not telling the other the truth.”

“Was?” Isabela asked.

Dolores paused and said taking the sketch. “I believe he is the leader of that group,” she said and pointed to the younger man in the sketch, “This one is dangerous. He struck this other man and left him unconscious in the mountains.”

“What?” Isa said as she stood up, “Should we try and find them?”

“I don’t know how we could. I only have a very general idea of where they are.”

“How many do you think?” Luisa asked.

“I don’t know. There were at least five, maybe six others with this one. They talked about going back to a camp before dark. I couldn’t follow their steps for more than a few minutes.”

Dolores looked to her brother, but he was watching Mirabel, who was sitting off to the side, her fingers tapping on her knees. She did not seem to be paying attention but was instead staring past everyone, looking at no one. Thing was, while it may not seem like Mirabel was listening, she was listening. Camilo looked back at Dolores as he moved to squat down in front of Mirabel asking quietly, “Hey there, prima, what’s going on in that head of yours?” She didn’t answer so Camilo gave her a poke “…Mira?”

Mirabel started and looked around for a moment as if just remembering what she was doing and said, “Sorry, I was just thinking about the path in the tower,” she said as she got up, “When Tío brought me up there before, I thought I heard someone calling out for help. I thought it was my imagination. Now I’m not so sure.”

Dolores still holding the tablet was moving then toward the door. “Where are you going?” Isabela asked.

“The tower,” Dolores replied, “If the voices are louder there, then perhaps we can get to them more quickly.”

Luisa already collected the sketches, and everyone was up and moved into the hallway, walking quickly toward the tower stairs, except for Mirabel who was heading toward her room, “I’ll catch up,” she said over her shoulder.

“I’ll go with her,” Luisa said handing off the paper to Isabela and followed after her sister who had not slowed.

The rest of the group continued on only to stop again when Tío Bruno’s door opened and her father and Tíos came into the hallway. “Where are you three off to?”

Dolores said, “The tower.”

Her father looked at Tío Bruno and all three of them said, “No.”

“But why not?” Camilo asked.

“Reasons,” her father said.

“And those reasons are…?” Camilo was not one to talk back to their father and Dolores was wondering what he was thinking.

“Where are Mirabel and Luisa?” Tío Agustín asked.

“In her room,” Isa said.

“You know,” Tío Bruno said, and took the tablet from Dolores, “how about we all meet down in the dining room so we can discuss this.” And tapped the tablet. It made a soft ringing sound that Dolores found appealing.

Camilo had grown more independent since the breaking and did not like being told he couldn’t go somewhere. Dolores elbowed his arm to forestall him saying something else and said, “Okay Tío,” and pulled her brother after her toward the stairs. Isabela had her arms crossed and she heard Tío Agustín say, “I’ll explain downstairs, Isa.”

Camilo pulled his arm loose and halted on the landing. “Quit dragging me around like I’m five, Dolores.”

“I’m sorry Camilo, but I needed to get you away.”

“Why?”

“Something’s wrong, I can hear it in their voices,” Dolores said. “Mostly Tío Bruno.”

Isa caught up with Dolores and Camilo on the stairs. “They seem really weirded out,” Isa said and together they entered the kitchen to find their mothers and Abuela having tea and chatting.

“What brings you three down here?” her mother asked.

Before they could answer that Tía Julieta asked, “Are those Bruno’s sketches?”

“Yes,” Isabela said and set them on the table, “We were going to go up to the tower to see if Doli could hear them better up there.”

“You can hear them, Corazón?” her mother asked.

Dolores nodded and said, “Only just.”

“Then where are Mirabel and Luisa?”

“Mirabel’s roo-” Dolores paused as she answered.

“No, no she is not,” her father said walking into dining room.

“She’s in the tower now,” Dolores said.

“She must have gone to the tower from my room,” Abuela said getting up, “Was the door missing?”

“Yes,” Félix answered.

“Dios Mio,” Tía Julieta said sounding quite vexed and she was up as well.

“Luisa is with her, Mamá. She won’t let her do anything too Mirabel-ish.” Isa said and shook her head.

Tía Julieta nodded but started for the stairs.

“Gus and Bruno went up there, I came to get you all.”

“Why not just tell me from where you were?” Dolores asked.

Félix’s eyebrows went up and he said, “Sorry, mi vida. Slipped my mind.”

Dolores smiled, that’s what he always said. Her Papí seldom to never tried to talk to her from a distance. He preferred speaking to people face to face, including her, regardless of how many times Abuela had told him he should. Dolores always found it to be the perfect distraction when the voices got to be a bit much. Dolores looked at everyone in the room and asked, “Where is Camilo?

Next Chapter

Previous Chapter

#encanto fanfic #disney encanto #encanto 2021 #camilo madrigal #isabela madrigal #luisa madrigal #dolores madrigal #mirabel madrigal #antonio madrigal #julieta madrigal #pepa madrigal #encanto fanfiction #abuela alma madrigal #don't do anything too mirabelish

[wolven91]

Rats in Hats - Chapter 2

The heated metal slowly ticked and panged as it cooled in the rain while not so far away, the trio of fiks approached.

Inside, Bruno the human woke with a gasp and found himself hanging from the chair, which was no longer on the floor, but seemingly attached to the wall. The world was ninety degrees the wrong way and the pod seemingly was ultimately resting on its side. That didn't help Bruno when he released the harness holding him safely to the chair from falling and hitting the hard metal of the wall with a painful 'whump' as he gracelessly landed in a groggy manner.

Bruno hadn't been awake for the landing as when the pod had punched through the storm one of the wall panels had broken loose and bounced off the man's head. Bruno blinked, gingerly touching a lump within his hairline, it wasn't bleeding at least. He groaned and pushed himself onto his knees.

"Congratulations, you have survived a less than optimal emergency landing with only a mild to low chance of concussion. This should be seen as a significant success and source of motivation." The computer chimed with a non-threatening, gender neutral tone.

"Thrilled, honest." Bruno deadpanned. "Who are you again?" He closed his eyes as he crawled forward before turning and laying his head against the gently curving wall.

"I am SAM, your Situation Awareness Module, my role is to keep you alive until you are rescued." SAM replied cheerfully.

"Huh." Bruno said absently as he glanced around the upturned vehicle. He decided he would take some time just to process what had happened first. Get himself nice and comfortable before beginning the task of figuring out what to do next. There was no training for this bit, it had always been described as ‘listen to the SAM, they’ll explain everything’. 

"Alert, lifeforms approaching." Said the voice of the computer. 

"Yay. I'm saved." Bruno mumbled sardonically, rubbing his face, ready for this whole ordeal to be over. It was good that the rescue team had already arrived, he wondered briefly how long he’d been out. 

"Negative. Lifeforms are unknown to my records and are approaching in a manner that indicates possible hostile intentions." Bruno smiled that SAM had the exact same tone throughout, not changing from congratulating him, to warning him that he was in danger, before his smile dropped.

‘Wait, danger?’ He blinked dumbly. "Wait. What?!" He spun on the console, spiking a headache that throbbed behind his eyes. Clambering to his feet, he was officially out of training now and needed more guidance than 'you're fucked'!

"What do I do?!" He demanded, glancing around the craft and seeing multiple cupboards and devices, but had no idea what each one did, there had to be a gun or something. Like hell was he about to be kidnapped! He’d heard the horror stories!

"First, equip the Bracer, as I will be better able to monitor and track your health." From the console, a drawer that had previously been hidden by immaculate seams popped open and, as the drawer was ninety degrees the wrong way, the bracer toppled to the floor with a loud clatter.

Bruno scrambled for it while 'SAM' continued.

"The lifeforms that are approaching do not seem to be space-flight capable as they have crude weapons and equipment. This would indicate that you should attempt to minimise your contact with them. Failing that option, attempt to escape or blend in, do not reveal technology to them."

Bruno slipped the bracer over his left arm, it was sleek metal with what looked like a large, flat blue sapphire in the centre that tightened until it was flush against his skin. From his training, Bruno knew that this would house the AI's consciousness and would communicate to him through it if he had to abandon the pod itself. Aside from the bracer, the only thing he had on him was a small knife and a first aid kit, both attached to the back of his belt as his emergency kit.

"Good, next would be an appropriate disguise. It seems they have leather working and rudimentary metallurgy, this gives us options for disguises…" The computer helpfully explained.

===*===

Outside, the trio of fiks approached the steaming rock. There were still lingering flames in the debris around it, but as the rain that was penetrating the canopy and had doused it by the time they stood near it.

"Looks like rock." Stated Tahr, unimpressed with her arms crossed.

Keest sniffed the air. Metal.

"Doesn't smell like rock."

Krahl remained silent as she stepped forwards, fingertips pressed against one another in the old symbol of reverence for the gods.

"Hai! Krahl, you-" Keest started, beginning to reach out for her, but stopping herself, letting her Seer do what she felt was right. Keest had to suppress the desire to let out a frustrated ‘saaah’. 

She grimaced, she hated Krahl going first, her claws dug into the inside of her palms as she crossed her arms roughly and pouted while she waited.

The white fik stepped close to the rock and reached out a paw. She saw most when she touched things, what hands touched it last, what emotions were felt by the wielders among other glimpses.

Her fingers caressed something warm and impossibly smooth, not a rock by any means. To Keest and Tahr, the ermin’s hand had disappeared past the rough uneven edges of the stone up to the wrist. 

In that same moment Krahl saw a sea of stars and monsters and creatures and enemies and victims and allies and a fik race. Those fiks were herself, but so many others as well. They couldn't tear themselves from the mud, it was drowning them, while a hand, not unlike those of the fik, but different; clawless, pulled them up. They kicked and screamed like pups who knew not that their guardians were protecting them. The hands continued to pull while the pups bit at their guardian's hands as if feral and mad.

She yanked her hand back and fell backwards, into the same mud she had foreseen with the force of her desperation to pull herself from the confusing visions. The other two took a step forward, the familiar mud squelching under their bare feet.

"Stop." She commanded from her seat in the dirt without looking back. The ermin pulled herself up and stood up straight, resolving herself to this task. The visions that assaulted her had been more confusing and strange than any she had witnessed before. Never had the visions been so strong though, as if all she had seen before now was diluted. But when she clenched her paw, she felt no pain, and remembered the emotions that had flooded her as well.

They were old memories of the Tinkerers who made the container, however long ago.

Each one added something to the device, many hands with a single goal, but their opinion of it was one of hope? Of protection? Whatever this was, it was no mundane rock. It contained life, it protected life still.

'No', she corrected, *a* life.

She gently ran her fingers across the smooth surface, following her nose rather than any other draw. This was not a god’s work, but perhaps the gods had guided it here.

“Not ‘container’… but… ‘pod’...” She mumbled to herself, discovering words that had never been uttered on that planet before. Both Keest and Tahr glanced at each other.

Her Sight was always a mismatched jumble of images, emotions or vague concepts of what was and what could be. She now followed one of the 'could be' auras. She gently slid her fingertips across the smooth surface and the aura got stronger as she made her way around the circumference of the object, until her fingers suddenly found a seam.

===*===

Inside SAM had run out of immediate advice to give Bruno. He had donned the closest thing he could get his hands on that may pass a glancing inspection by the inhabitants of the planet he was now stranded on. The gas mask elongated his face so that his facial profile was not as stunted when compared against the trio of unknowns that were mere metres away from SAM’s ward.

He was perfectly still while the creature outside sniffed at the entrance. It was unfortunate the creature had completely ignored the holographic projectors that gave the round pod a rocky appearance, but what was more alarming was that the creature had, against all odds, immediately found the entrance hatch of the lifepod as if it had known exactly where to look.

It tested the edges and found the manual release. It grasped it, twisted it one way, then the other correct way, which resulted in the seal of the pod breaking with a violent hiss. The other two creatures that had decided to wait to one side, took another sharp step forward, partially unsheathing weapons. The white furred one, again, waved them off and pulled the hatch open.

The human's heart rate spiked.

Inside his mask, a commutator whispered to him so that SAM could speak to him.

"Remain still, the creature seems to be blind. It should not be able to locate you." SAM whispered to Bruno who was trying to meld into the corner he had found himself in.

From Bruno’s perspective, from the small hatch, two large clawed hands grabbed the edges before a large nose, whiskers and snout appeared. The whole head entered the portal, its fur was bright white and the eyes, a bright ruby red.

It indeed seemed blind, the eyes looked around and saw nothing, not even Bruno who stood out against the stark white walls of the pod. Moments later the creature climbed in smoothly. It was hunched and had twitchy movements but moved with a confidence that shouldn't have been possible for something blind.

It stood easily at 6 feet tall, although its hunched posture hid its true height. Its skull was angular, long fine whiskers covered the front end of his snout which ended in a bright pink leathery nose. Its two front teeth jutted out from its top jaw and looked strong enough to punch through metal. The creature was covered in discoloured and grubby looking wrappings hiding the majority of its body, several of the bandages hanging loose off its legs and arms. It had a hood which was pushed back allowing its rounded ears to rotate and swivel on top of its skull. Bruno did not miss the bright red splotches that stained several parts of the material; blood. Bruno was near certain it wasn’t its blood.

Appearing out from the bottom of its back, before the legs began, was a tail as long as it was, the appendage was also completely hairless and simply dragged along behind it, it was still half out of the pod itself, but as the creature turned, it too ‘thumped’ into the pod.

The legs looked powerful and were digitigrade. When it stepped forward, it did so by stepping sideways into the space, not raising its foot too high, almost sliding its sole over the ground, seemingly to carefully judge if there were any obstructions.

Its clawed hands reached forward and out, finding the headrest of the seat first, they flinched, before both grasping it, giving a squeeze and running its fingers along its edges and along the cushions. Periodically it would sniff at its fingers as well as the air.

Stepping closer, it took up more of the extremely cramped pod and Bruno held his breath as its shoulder was mere inches away from him now.

The being brought its fingers away from the seat and sniffed at them once more before turning away from the human and touching at the console, feeling along its edges and even finding the now empty drawer. A brief exploration of the empty drawer and it turned around, as if searching for something before giving up, shaking its head as if dislodging a tick and reaching for the entrance again. As if to leave, it grasped the edges of the opening and began to climb out. This action however, brought the furless tail across Bruno's jean covered shins in a glancing brush.

The creature instantly paused, frozen in the opening and Bruno's heart skipped a beat.

It slowly dropped back into the pod, its tail was brought tight against it in a small curl. The creature's mouth opened, the two sharp front teeth dominating the maw, but Bruno didn't miss the rows of sharp smaller teeth on either side. It spoke, but unlike when other space faring species spoke to Bruno, none of its words were immediately translated. The hissing, clicks and drawn out s's meant nothing to the man who remained deadly still and silent.

It stopped 'speaking' after a few words and reached out a large hairless and pink clawed hand. It grasped once at the air, before leaning forwards again. Bruno closed his eyes as it laid a single finger against the side of his jaw. As if burnt, it whipped its hand back a moment later, but didn't retreat, instead, after another long moment of consideration, two hands reached out gently, as if to cup a lover's face.

===*===

Krahl had been almost disappointed when she had 'explored' the strange device. She had crawled into smaller spaces before, but had never felt such strange materials under her pads before. Sure, she knew it was metal, but it wasn't anything as crude as her clan's own metal, she didn't even know she *could* feel the difference in metal quality before this day, but it was starkly different, like the taste of water and wine.

The soft and yielding material she felt with her hands was also an oddity, she would have called it a throne if not for its placement in the pod, especially with the odd smell that permeated the cramped space. 

It seemed to her that they had missed their chance. Whatever was in this thing, had retrieved its treasure and had already fled by the time Krahl and her tiny coven had arrived. The empty space that was a drawer at one point had continued something precious, but no longer.

She had made to leave and figure a way of explaining to the other two that she had no idea what was going on. That was until her tail brushed against a possible future.

One that was steeped in blood and struggle, but also meant that fiks would tear away from the quicksand that they had found themselves in. Krahl was immediately hit with a lance of fear that struck at her heart. Her own life was in danger with this future. She stopped moving immediately.

It wasn't her fear she felt.

It was *his*.

She turned to him, nice and slowly, as she would a skittish animal.

"Saah, I think I understand why you hide..." Krahl said.

No response. She could still sense him, her brief touch was enough to notice the tiny heartbeat and the gentle glow of a strange aura in the corner. She reached out, one hand, to try and gently coax him from his silence. The moment her finger touched his skin, she was hit with yet more visions.

These were of who he was.

He had fallen from the stars. Not by his own fault or by punishment, but his home was long gone and its grave was far from here. He still desired to go back to the stars. He feared for his flesh here at this moment.

No god would ever fear for his flesh, they were above such things.

Krahl was once more hit with understanding. This creature had to get back to the stars and fiks would follow his path there, with or without his knowledge.

He had to succeed.

She had seen long ago that her path was seemingly with Keest and had stuck by her until now, but by doing so she had been led to this moment, one moment from millennia of waiting that would decide the very fate of her race.

The ermin had to ensure he understood that she meant no danger or threat to him.

Krahl remembered her mother, an ermin too, who would take Krahl's young face in her hands when the spirits would flood her with too much for her to comprehend. With her daughter's face, her mother would think of every loving and caring thing she could conceive of. The emotional feedback always washed away the noise and chaos of Krahl's Sight; a boon in adult life, but a curse in youth.

She gently took the creature's head in her hands and thought of reassuring concepts. Of safety, and warm nests. Of companions and allies. Of having an ally at one's back.

He flinched, but notably relaxed in her outstretched hands. She took a step forward and crouched, he was slim, almost frail, no bigger than a runt. Skinny; they'd have to feed him up a bit. She curled herself around him, gently holding him and pulling him away from the wall he was stuck against. Her tail was the last piece curling against the back of his legs.

"Hai! Krahl?! You stuck?" Shouted Tahr, followed by a grunt from her, most likely a backhand from Keest to her chest. The creature flinched.

With a wry smile, she stepped away from the creature. She'd have to convince the other two of his importance and find a way to hide his differences. Even blind she knew he wasn't a fik and nobody looking at him would believe him a fik either.

"Saaaah! Patience young one!" She called back, turning her head to the opening. She waved her arm in habit and felt the bandages there had come loose. She idly grabbed one of the wrappings she used when she was above ground to hide her fur that had unravelled and intended to put it back in place. But she paused instead, glancing ‘at’ the creature.

It worked for *her* above ground.

She began to unravel the bandage properly until she had a long strip that bundled between her and the creature. Hide his flesh, his legs and he could be considered a runt in most fik's eyes.

"Runt..." she mumbled as she gently grasped one of his arms, before wrapping the exposed skin up. The thing, its face was seemingly concealed in a mask that copied those of the old Tinkerers below, only she could feel his eyes; they flicked from her face to her actions. He would understand eventually Krahl was sure of it. 

She continued to wrap up his arm until it was covered from shoulder to fingertip. Even his palms were delicately wrapped to hide all but what was impossible to hide. She sensed confusion and distrust from him, she’d need to get him on side for this to work.

Krahl stepped back and used her shawl to obscure her face and act out exaggerated sneaking.

"Ouuugh" The runt said, seemingly grasping what she was doing. When she reached down to grab the second bandage, his other arm was already held out to her. She continued this until his arms and legs were completely covered. One of his arms had a metal bracer, but it didn't budge when she attempted to move it so she could obscure him. She ended up simply wrapping it up as well, she had a bad feeling about leaving it exposed.

She'd been surprised by his legs; they were bent the wrong way. But her shawl hung low and would hide those. His feet were unknown, his body's coverings were coarse but thin, his foot coverings however felt far sturdier; leather of a kind with an odd foot print. A mutated runt then.

She finalised the disguise by removing the hooded shawl from her own shoulders and threw it over his own. She reached to pluck at the material so it sat well over him when she noticed he was not holding himself like a normal fik, he stood straight like a berserker, or warrior. 'Or a Chief' she smirked to herself.

"Hai, hunch over." She instructed. He stood there, straight as a tree and nothing like a fik. Uncomprehending of her words. Krahl clicked her tongue, reached over and pushed his shoulders down and forwards, he completely crouched and seemed to still not understand her desire.

"Saaah!" She sighed in frustration baring her teeth, once again she resorted to ridiculously over exaggerated movements. She tried to emulate the Clan Chief's ermin, she was incredibly old and had almost folded in half with her hunch.

He got it though, his height was reduced, and with her shawl being too big for him, it would hide his odd legs. At a glance he would just be seen as a runt and worth ignoring.

They would hide him in plain sight; no one cares about the runts.

There was not much else she could do and Krahl needed to see if the disguise would work. She had a good feeling about it all, but without actual sight, certain things she could miss, she needed the other two to see him.

She clambered from the hollow 'rock' and found Keest hadn't moved at all while Tahr had resorted to pacing.

"Hai! About time, yes?!" Tahr snapped, both were dripping wet as the rain had only gotten worse in the time she had spent away from them. The storm was closer now. 

"Why are you undressed?" Asked Keest immediately, frowning and unfolding her arms.

Krahl said nothing, instead turning back to the runt inside and waved him to come closer to her. She stepped away from the opening to let him climb out on his own and addressed the other two.

"There is runt inside. I suspect he will need help." She said, hoping to keep it simple. Tahr simply sighed and whipped her tail in frustration which splashed mud up and into the brushes. Krahl kept her eyes of the grey giant however,  Keest was less distracted.

"How did you climb into the rock? There is no opening." Keest said firmly, brow furrowing.

"Saah. Focus on wrong thing." Krahl said with a hint of a smirk as she heard the runt drop down from the hollow 'rock'.

"Hai!" Tahr grunted in shock, drawing a wicked blade from its sheath. Krahl rolled her eyes and knew this wasn't going to help reassure the runt that he's in safe hands.

Keest stepped forward and stopped next to Krahl, facing the runt while Krahl faced Tahr, to Keest's back.

"A runt?" Keest asked simply.

"Ay." Krahl responded in kind.

"Do we have need of a runt?"

"Sah, all that is born is born a runt."

"It is-"

"He."

A sigh.

"*He* is grown, he is runt and will remain runt. Why should we take him with us? Dead weight." Keest pointed out. Some runts, if they lived long enough, could grow into something dangerous and useful. 

Krahl resisted the urge to shout at her friend as she flexed her hands.

"Let's say he did not exist. There was no fire from the gods today. What then?"

Keest scowled and glowered down at the hunched ermin. Even Keest had to admit that she would not have been able to kill the behemoth that was the Baron. He had the drop on all three of them and even if they had surprised him, they would have most likely failed. It angered her, the idea that no matter her actions, she would have likely failed this evening, if not for this… thing. It was no ‘runt’.

But the Baron was dead now, not by her hand though, more the pity.

She looked the small creature over. He was dressed in her ermin's robes, his face was obscured and seemed an odd shape.

"Where is his tail?" She asked, scratching at her cheek. Leaning down to look under the hood and found an oddly shaped tinker's mask. She could see the runt avoided her gaze through the near opaque glass of the back eye holes, good. 

"He is a runt, he is not a pretty creature, yes, true." She nodded with a sad look on her face, turning to face him as well, before gesturing towards him. "But, he is harmless and I sense good things stalking those who walk with him."

Keest glared down at the ermin again, but the white fik refused to look at her. She did however have a mischievous grin on her face.

Keest sighed dramatically and rubbed her face. Her ermin had never steered her wrong, but even a blunt like Keest could sense when there was nonsense afoot. 

"Saaaaaaah. Very well. Home. You! Runt! Follow." She commanded before turning and beginning her march home, Tahr seemed happy with the decision and began a fast pace homeward, drawing ahead of the group immediately. Keest threw a glance over her shoulder and saw the runt hadn't moved, likewise neither had Krahl, who was attempting to coax him to follow.

"Hai! Why delay?! Deaf? Follow!" Keest bellowed, becoming frustrated, pausing to partially turn back to him. Tahr let out a frustrated bark.

"Not deaf, just not understanding words." Krahl explained while attempting to summon the runt forwards with a curling hand gesture.

"What?" Keest asked, deadly serious.

"He was born of rock! What expect!?" Krahl snipped back, losing words in her frustration as she gestured to the runt. Keest had to give the ermin that point. But they could not stay any longer out here than more than they had, the storm on its way was upon them and there was no time to linger. One could not debate with the storm. 

With a snort, Keest marched back towards the runt, Tahr flapping her arms in impotent frustration at the constant delays. The runt had the good sense to back up as the berserker marched towards him and began to raise his arms to defend himself before one oversize mit grabbed him by the cowl's collar, lifted with complete ease and roughly deposited him over her shoulder with a quiet ‘oof’ from the runt.

She held him in place with a single hand and began to march towards home.

"I am cold, wet and still need to talk to the chief. No delays." She grumped as she stormed past the bemused ermin, who scrambled to chase after the other two. The runt wiggled for a moment, but the large hand held against his tail-less rump gave no quarter. 

The journey home was uneventful, if unpleasant thanks to the storm that promised a destruction of which hadn't been seen in years. The winds had whipped up into a tempest that promised only pain and discomfort for those above the safety of the vast warrens. As the party descended into the familiar tunnels, a fik was waiting for them. The runner. He was picking at his teeth with a chipped dagger, although the blade itself was merely a hunk of sharpened metal with a cloth wrapped around one end.

"Hai! Prisoner? Chief wanted all dead!" He called out on seeing them. “No call for reinforcements? Sah, Chief will be upset.” He gave off several admonishing clicks. 

Keest growled, but didn't stop moving as she simply walked past the smaller fik. Tahr was the same height as the lookout but also paid no attention to the underling.

"Loot then? Spoils? ... Meat? Will you barter?" The fik asked again, Tahr addressed him without looking back.

"Left loot there.. Take what it wants, if it doesn't get blown away." She said with a vicious grin, the storm that was now upon them was enough to tear trees from the ground. A fik his size would not be attached to the ground for long should he decide to poke his head up during the storm itself. The male hissed at their backs, turning to glance up at the tunnel where a chorus of moanful cries from the spirits called to him. 

He swore before ducking down a tunnel and disappeared from sight, choosing not to go loot hunting. He would no doubt report *something* to the Chief, mostly that the fight was not to happen, Keest would need to go and explain properly.

When they were deep enough in, Keest hoisted the runt off her shoulder and deposited him onto the well trodden dirt.

"We take him home, keep him out of sight. I then talk to the Chief. He needs to know about the Baron."

The other two nodded and began down a tunnel at a junction of several holes. Keest watched them go ahead of her and made a note to ask why or how the runt broke his legs so badly they bent the wrong way. She glanced down and his odd tracks too, she swept her tail from left to right over the loose dirt as they walked and obliterated them.

===*===

Meanwhile, deep within the warren, the oldest ermin awoke with a gasp and clawing at the air. The rough covers tangled around her limbs. To see the Chief in danger from her dreams always left her trembling, she could never hide that she saw something when they occurred to the elder. 

A rumble from her left brought her ears round, she sniffed the air and confirmed the Chief was sitting at her bedside as he often did when she slept. It was not out of care though, when she dreamt, she would whisper and mumble aloud. When she woke, over the course of the morning, her memories of her dreams would fade, but when she woke, there would be a time of clarity.

Those dreams however, had led the Chief to all of his successes. From the very beginning, when he would have fallen prey to an assault, she warned him and he lived. When he would have pressed an attack, and she cautioned him, its failure when he went ahead was a lesson he accepted after she begged his forgiveness for not stressing the gravity of his loss. Her tail retained the kink in it as her lesson. 

She was the one who warned him of the Baron. If he did not kill the Baron, then the Chief would fall to the Baron's hand; his death had plagued her since then.

So he watched from the shadows when she slept and listened carefully.

But now… his end crept into the warren anyway… It had neither walked, flew or slithered… there was a thing… not fik… in the warren. If it lived… the Chief would not. 

"What did you see?" Asked the voice of a mountain, he knew she had seen something significant. Was the Baron moving already? Had she seen things too late?

"Your death." She whimpered, already aware that she would be punished for uttering such a concept, the arm she brought up in protection told him the truth.

The fist that closed around her neck and tore her from her bed was not cruel, but callous and unrelenting. Her old and wrinkled hands grasped at his firm grip, but he didn't budge an inch. He did not care if she was in pain, or he may have been more creative. No, to him now, it was the same as honing a sword; he would batter the result out of his property.

"Speak." He rumbled.

The old Seer could 'see' the knife's edge that she walked upon in this moment. The wrong word and her path winked out of existence immediately after. But these days she could see the end of all her paths, those had drawn near regardless of which choices she picked, she only cared for the young and their benefit now. Her end was so close…

The Chief shook her, rattling her frail body in his unrelenting grip.

"You will speak!" His voice echoed, far from the not-fik that would spell his doom.

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #fik #haso #hfy #fiction writing #humans are space orcs

[tcthinecwnself-a]

Whenever I dream now it is the most intense, freakish fever dream in the world so here is my weird Coco/Encanto dream I had last night.

bullet points below. Obvious tw for child abuse

to set the stage. Miguel is Julieta & Augustín’s son. 

Alma remarried Papá Julio, who was pretty much the bad guy in this dream. a very abusive kind of step-father

Miguel was with Julieta at the beginning, hanging around. Very carefully, he tried to put forward the idea that he wanted to be a musician rather than receive his Gift.

Julio burst in, seemingly listening into the situation. he’s outraged at Miguel’s request and even more so at Julieta for even thinking of indulging him.

something weird happened, I’m not super sure, but Julio pulled out. a boxcutter, threatening Miguel with it. it was more to scare Julieta, but when she declared that Miguel could do whatever he wanted to with his life, Julio sliced down the back of Miguel’s hairline into his neck, drawing blood.

Miguel screamed, and suddenly Bruno appeared, watching from the doorway. He grabbed Miguel’s hand and booked it. Julio screamed after him, Julieta asked him to stop, but Bruno just kept running.

After running for a minute, they took shelter in a bush. Miguel tried asking what was happening, but Bruno shushed him. 

Julieta, Augustín, and Julio were now looking for them. Julio was furious but the parents were more concerned about the safety of their son.

I think, at some point, people started to believe that Bruno had simply kidnapped Miguel on a whim. More and more people started showing up, looking for them.

Their finding spot got found, Bruno shoved over Julio before he could grab Miguel, and they kept running.

This crowd of people was now following after Bruno, who was dragging more Miguel behind him. very much like an angry mob.

Eventually they reached a wall. Bruno shouted “Miguel, hurry!” and got the boy to scramble up the latter before him. the tío twins from coco were there, trying to get up the latter behind them. one grabbed Héctor’s foot, but he kicked him in the face and they both when tumbling down.

Bruno grabbed the latter and pulled it on the other side of the wall so no one could follow them.

they left a screaming crowd behind them as they ran in the small space between this wall and the mountains.

Eventually, they came to a tiny door, it lead to an old mine shaft built long before any Madrigal arrived.

Bruno shut the door behind them, grabbed Miguel’s hand, and effortlessly led them through the dark, twisting turns of the mine.

Finally, they had a moment to rest, curled up in a small corner. 

Someone approached, Miguel was scared but Bruno simply smile said “Hello Jorge” as a very withered old man came into view. Jorge was kind, said “to stay as long as you need to, as always” and left back into the darkness.

Bruno helped Miguel with his cut, and the two stayed close together, waiting for the situation to blow over.

#Bruno | headcanons | #Miguel | headcanons | #;drabble tag #{ not really but i feel i might write this all the way out }