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rogueshadeaux · 6 months

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Chapter Twenty-Five — Fallout

It took me way too long to find my voice — I felt more disconnected from my body now than when I was freezing over. “When does it get easier?” I asked, voice croaky and barely there. “When do you stop feeling guilty over it?”

5,555 words [teehee] | 20 min read time | TRIGGER WARNINGS: violence, described spiraling, death, racism, illness

Brent pulled the sleeve of his sweater over the wrapping on his elbow as the phlebotomist, I’d discovered they’re called, filed away his blood samples in this tube holder, each one marked.

“Stress to them that I need the results as soon as they can get them,” Dr. Sims was talking off to the side with some technician. “The full report, in email.”

The tech muttered some agreement, clearly awestruck at who he was talking to, and was gone with the vials the moment they were handed off.

“So what’s a…microray?” Brent asked.

“Microarray,” Dr. Sims corrected. He was dressed differently today; business casual, collar of his dress shirt caught on the neckline of the wool sweater. “It’ll break down the sequencing of each individual chromosome and tell us if there’s any genetic malformations in your DNA,”

“And why would we need to know that?” Brent glanced over at Dad, who was sitting in the now-baren windowsill seats and looking out the window. Everything Dad and Brent had in this room was packed up, ready to go as soon as I got medicine from the in-hospital pharmacy.

Dad sighed hard, staring at the sky like it had all the answers for a moment longer before turning in place to face us. “There’s something I need to explain to you both,”

And then he began to tell us more about how Mom got sick.

She didn’t heal immediately after having us, but the doctors brushed it off; a Conduit has to be in decent shape to heal and she simply wasn’t. She lost a lot of blood in the abruption, and the blood transfusion had to be from someone without the Conduit gene as the enzymes are dangerous to normal people, so she may have been beyond drained out. That’s what they thought, at least. “They told us to give it a week,” Dad said, “That we’d probably see progress by then.”

They didn’t. Instead, Mom was discharged, and then back in the hospital nearly two days later for MRSA.

The Doctors contributed the infection to her weakened system, and brushed it off then as well. “When someone’s pregnant, their immune system is ass,” Dad tried to joke, with no real humor in his voice. “So they reset the healing clock on us. Told us to wait two weeks. Raising two newborns on my own when she was hospitalized was horrible, by the way,”

Two weeks came and went and her scar wasn’t gone. Her and Dad brought it up to her obstetrician, and they simply said to wait till her six week check-up. The amount of time it takes for someone normal to heal. “They did that again and again, a lot. Just told us to be patient and do it the human way,” Dad shook his head.

She began to bruise. She started getting bloody noses again. She had accidentally sliced a knuckle to the bone in a dishwashing accident and had to get stitches, which stuck around instead of dissolving almost immediately. “Healing was the first thing to disappear, and then her powers got weaker.”

Brent looked at me, fear in his eyes. “So does…does that mean Jean’s…”

“We aren’t sure yet.” Dr. Sims said. “That’s what the microarray is for. I was still in school when Fetch died — what was happening to her was what made me go in the first place. But that means we never found out what made her sick, and we’ve gotta rule out that it isn’t something genetic.”

“But didn’t you guys say it might be Augustine’s tar?” Brent asked.

“It might be,” Dad responded. “Which is where the second part of this conversation comes in.”

What the hell did that mean?

Dad took his jacket from his lap and chucked it on to the little backpack he had, hands going to his knees in its place. “Remember that holiday vacation I promised?”

What the hell did that mean? “Yeah?” I asked, glancing over at Brent with a cocked eyebrow. Was this like how people take out their dogs for the day before putting them down? Was I getting a ‘Best Day Ever’ before kicking the bucket? At least Brent seemed to be feeling the canine excitement; he was suddenly sitting perched at the end of my bed like he was waiting for Dad to ask him if he wanted to go for a walk.

Dad smiled slightly — though it looked more like a grimace. “Have either of you ever wanted to visit New Marais?”

Brent immediately cringed, and I couldn’t blame him. New Marais was…bad. Bad enough that Theresa’s mom basically fled from there after her dad was killed. I’m pretty sure it was the world capital for place most likely to get stabbed at. There were literal robbers poised at bridges, shooting the tires of cars on the highway to make them crash so they could pilfer everything from the vehicle. The only people that’d thrive in New Marais were criminals, extortionists, and other sorts of bloodsuckers. It wasn’t a pretty place, hadn’t been in literal decades; after the flood and the fascists, it had no allure. Unless you liked French colonial structures and being assaulted.

Even the architecture couldn’t convince Brent; he looked at me, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. “Why, uh…” I drew off. “Why New Marais?”

Dad wasn’t surprised at our apprehension — in fact, he seemed to agree with it. “There’s someone there that can help us out. Knows a bit about tar powers — but we have to be there to get answers. He’s outside of the city center, from what I understand, but it’s…”

“New Marais,” Brent said distastefully.

Dad nodded. “New Marais.”

“That’s still Louisiana,” I said, “That’s gotta be a couple hour flight, right?”

Dad grimaced. “Actually, it’ll be a…three day drive…”

“I’m not allowed to fly.” Dr. Sims said from his place, yet again, by the sink. “Not in planes, at least. I don’t plan on flying that far with my powers, either.”

“You’re coming with us?” Brent asked, an undertone of astonishment in his voice.

Dr. Sims nodded. “What’s happening to your sister is something I plan to see through. I didn’t get to…to help Fetch in time. I’m going to do it this time. It’s what she’d want.”

The way he talked, you’d think he and Mom were age-old friends. How well did they know each other?

The doctor came up with prescriptions, pain medicine and antibiotics and something else I couldn’t pronounce, giving directions I knew I’d forget the moment I left this room. Dad knew this too, saying, “I’ll put alarms on my phone — oh,” he reached down to the backpack, fiddling with the thing and pulling something out. “Put them on yours too.”

He tossed my phone towards my broken arm, forgetting I couldn’t exactly reach out and catch it with it held against my chest in the sling.

Dr. Sims slipped out at some point on promises that he’d be right back — and he was. Almost within three minutes. He was a bit winded, looking past Brent and I as he helped me figure out how to put on my jacket to look straight at Dad, saying, “We’ve got an issue,”

Dad’s face immediately got steely hard, and he stood, shoulders squared. “What’s up?”

“Not that kind of—” Dr. Sims cut off, “Well, it could be. Protest.”

Dad growled. “How the hell do they know we’re here?”

“Someone probably slipped something to the media,” Dr. Sims crossed the room in a second and was at the window, looking down at the parking lot a few floors below. “Might have seen you. Looks like they’re congesting the main entrance though, so we can probably slip out back. Problem is, none of us can get to the parking garage without them seeing,”

“It’s just a few protestors,” Brent shrugged. “We can get past them.”

“It’s…” Dr. Sims trailed off. “It’s more than a few.”

“One of us could go move the truck—” Dad started.

“They’ll just chase us down.”

“Is there a roof entrance?” Brent asked. “Maybe we can leave a different way, come back for the truck?”

Dad looked at him like he was an idiot. “I’m not letting your sister climb a hundred feet in the air when she can’t make the landing.”

I managed to balance the jacket on my shoulders, saying, “We should just go. Brent’s right, we’ve walked past them dozens of times before. There’s probably cops monitoring, we should be fine.”

Dad looked like he wanted to do anything, literally anything, except that. “If they get violent, Jean…” he warned.

Oh, God. Don’t tell me he’s turning into this sort of parent. “I can still defend myself, Dad.” I insisted. He wasn’t going to start keeping me in bubble wrap, right?

Dr. Sims actually came to my rescue. “We’ll all be there, she should be fine.”

“We can even escort her,” Brent added, amused. “Like some c-list celebrity.”

Dad bit at his cheek, unsure — but also entirely out of options. “Fine, okay,” He said. “We’ll move quick. Eugene, think you can guard Jean while she gets in the truck? I’ll cover Brent.”

Well, at least I wasn’t the only one he was being overprotective of. “Sure,” Dr. Sims said.

They found a formation when we stood in the elevators, just in case some people made it into the lobby of the hospital; Brent and Dr. Sims stood in front of me, flanking each side for space while Dad stayed behind me. A full cover of large, powerful bodyguards to make up for the fact that I was now weak. It felt so demeaning. I was some weak spot in the family now, a risk that they’d have to mind at all times.

As the elevator doors opened up into a hallway, I could hear them, a dozen voices, maybe even bordering on a hundred, all chanting angrily — although I couldn’t make out what. Brent cast an unsure look over his shoulder, asking, “Maybe we should stay a while?”

Dad’s face was steeled. “There’s no point.” he said plainly, a sudden shift from his hesitancy before. “The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

Still, as we passed an electronic map in the hall, Dad’s hand came out and drained it of all imagery, matching Dr. Sims in power.

The lobby was huge and fancy and white, with some big fountain fixture in the middle, its white noise barely doing anything to silence the voices. The windows, though, were big enough to show how many people there were. There were at least a hundred, all being forced to the sides by police so that the actual entrance to the hospital would be clear for patients and visitors, with three separate news vans recording the tension. “Fucking hell,” Dad muttered behind me.

“At least there’s cops?” I offered, not entirely sure that was a good thing. Rarely was.

“Stay looking forward, stay walking, don’t engage,” Dad listed off behind me. “You hear me, Brent? Don’t engage—”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you,” Brent muttered, going a bit red.

The foyer of the hospital had a line of police whose eyes I avoided; just gotta stay in step and keep moving forward. Easy enough.

All of that assurance disappeared when we stepped outside to what was moments away from becoming an angry mob. But what I wasn’t prepared for was to be confronted with images of me; a grainy picture of me trying to get the huge concrete rock to not hit the helicopter, my Linus Pauling yearbook picture. The signs were all littered with words, accusations: Shot out of the sky on the ones with the footage, a sign with just the number 137 on it, the 7 written on a sticky note. An update on the death count.

Me. They were protesting me.

And as we stepped further into the light, the protestors zeroed in on me, and the general yelling became targeted insults that somehow melted into white noise and also stood out to me all at once. “Dirty Bio-terrorist!” one person yelled.

“There’s over fifteen thousand unemployed, I hope you’re happy!”

“You killed my brother!”

“We’re homeless now!”

“Someone oughta hold your head underwater!”

I didn’t realize I was frozen in place until Dad’s arm wrapped around me, and he began to roughly steer me through the slight divot in the crowd Dr. Sims and Brent’s bodies had made. “C’mon, Jean,” he muttered, voice as stiff as could be.

There was no getting through the crowd here; the flow of the protestors followed us like what I imagine wolves hunting elk did. But was it fair to paint them as the predators when they were the real victims here? If the Big Bad Wolf was on trial for the murder of those pigs, could you blame other swine for wanting to swallow him whole?

And that wasn’t an exaggeration; the crowd seemed to push closer in until they were claustrophobically close, until the heat of their insults warmed my skin. There was a shout, louder than the rest, and suddenly Brent was slamming himself into my side, arm steeled and shield up and I stumbled and yelled in pain. Something crashed against it with a musical ping, and a rather large decorative rock from the piles in the medians fell between his feet.

“The fuck, dude?” Brent shouted, swiping the rock up from his feet. He looked about ready to chuck it back, trying to get a good eye on whoever threw it.

“Things are getting out of hand,” Dr. Sims warned.

Dad tucked me closer into his side and walked faster, repeating under his breath again and again, “Stay looking forward, keep walking,” as if he was moments away from also going after people.

Brent stayed posted on my other side with his shield up all the way until we got to the entrance of the parking garage, people filtering around the entrance that was currently occupied by a few cars trying to either find parking or pay for it. Only protestors, though — all of those cops that had congregated the entrance? They were nowhere to be seen. The one running interference now was Dr. Sims, who stepped to the side, pushed us all into the stairwell, and then lifted his hands, blue light beginning to swirl around them.

“Eugene, what the hell are you doing?” Dad asked, pushing me up a step.

“Buying us some time. Go!” He demanded. “I’ll catch up.”

He waved those arms, and the air in front of him began to turn blue and solidify. Parts of it went silver like Brent, other parts stayed blue, and it began to take on a humanoid form when Dad pushed me again, forcing me up the stairwell.

Brent was in the lead, taking two at a time and looking back to watch me struggle to climb. God, the cut in my side was throbbing with each rough breath. Dad stayed behind me chanting encouraging reassurances, like “You’ve got this, Jeanie,” and “Last flight of stairs, c’mon.”

Thank god — I didn’t think I could go much farther.

Dad rushed us to his truck, opening the back door on the drivers’ side and forcing us both in there. “Brent, cover your sister for me. I’ll get us out of here,”

“Shouldn’t we wait for Dr. Sims?” Brent asked, crawling in awkwardly after me.

“He’ll catch up,” he reassured us.

Wasn’t sure how someone was supposed to catch up to a moving vehicle, but okay.

Brent’s shield was gone, but both arms were steeled now, covering my head and neck as he practically forced me to duck into his lap. I couldn’t see anything that was going on besides the shifts in light, but God, I could hear those protestors, louder than before and seemingly arguing with something. Did Dr. Sims…start a fight?

I peeked up from Brent’s lap just as the light shifted to see the protestors trying to fight their way into the parking garage against…eight tall, armored, blushed-blue winged angels.

“What the fuck?” I whispered, watching these angels levitate a mere ten inches off of the ground, refusing to part for the protestors — and cars — trying to come in.

“Get ready,” Dad warned us. Brent forced my head back down.

Dad honked the horn twice and there was a sudden collection of shouts from the protestors before Dad revved the engine and peeled out of there, throwing the truck so roughly right that I left Brent’s lap and nearly flew into the floorboard. There were more shouts, insults and curse words thrown our way that were drowned out by the truck’s roar and distance as Dad sped out of the area.

I stayed down for three minutes before Dad sighed hard and called back, “You’re good now, Jeanie.”

I could barely move. Those people, nearly a hundred people, came to the hospital to protest because I was there. Because of what I did.

“You okay?” Brent asked me.

I just stayed staring at the rock on the floorboard, the one aimed for me. How could I be okay?

We were well on the highway and nearly to the connection bridge that crossed to the other side of the Sound when the truck suddenly lurched as something slammed into the truck bed. Dad cursed as we both yelped, swerving in his lane so hard that the people beside us honked furiously as Brent and I spun around to see what happened.

Dr. Sims was in the bed face down, the groan audible from where we were despite the ambiance of rolling down the highway at 65 miles an hour.

“What the fuck was that?” Dad demanded, head whipping back to look at us and looking straight just as quickly as he moved to the right lane, slowing down.

“It’s uh,” Brent cocked his head. “It’s Dr. Sims? But he isn’t looking too good…”

He wasn’t looking anything. He hadn’t moved, face plastered in the lateral grooving of the truck bed.

Dad moved over until he was on the shoulder of the highway, putting the car in park and hopping out to check on Dr. Sims. “You good, Eugene?” he asked.

“Had to…couldn’t find you. Made an angel…fly me around. Out,” I could hear him groan through the window. “You’d think…I’d know how to land by now,”

“Well if your powers gave out, you couldn’t exactly stop it.” Dad shook his head. “C’mon, get in the truck,”

This was met by a loud groan that lasted for at least thirty seconds before Dr. Sims even tried to move a muscle.

Dr. Sims was now comfortably in the passenger's side seat of Dad’s truck, thanking him like a man parched when Dad sacrificed his phone for draining. “Does that not break it?” Brent asked.

Dad shook his head, glancing at us in the rearview mirror as Dr. Sims recovered. “Nah. Kinda just makes it short circuit for a while, but it’ll work again soon.”

Dr. Sims leaned his head back on the headrest, gasping out at the relief of the drain. “Thanks Del,”

“Sure. At least you have good aim,”

We were returning to Salmon Bay, but only for a moment; we were going to pack, maybe eat, and then start the thirty-nine hour drive to Louisiana. A multi-state trip that Dr. Sims and Dad began trying to plan as soon as Dad’s phone turned back on. “So it’s only a ten mile difference if we go right at Salt Lake City and take the highway to Denver,” Dr. Sims hummed. “Cuts through Wyoming,”

“We could make it a road trip?” Brent offered. “Yellowstone – could go to a Broncos game—”

“We’re…crunched for time, bud,” Dad said, casting a quick glance at me in his rearview mirror.

Right — I was the ticking time bomb now, the arsenal no one wanted around ‘cause it’d ruin days and maybe lives. I was holding the cool rock in my hand now that was aimed for my head, if what Brent chattered off at some point was true. I couldn’t even blame whoever threw it, not if they were impacted by what I did.

I was the cause of their discontent. They weren’t there to picket Dad or Dr. Sims, or Conduits in general with its two biggest leaders in the same place — but me. Not only for the deaths — people were screaming about losing their homes, their jobs. I may have killed one hundred and thirty-four — no, one hundred and thirty-seven, now — but I ruined the lives of so many more.

How many people were homeless now? How many people would have to scramble to live, to make money?

Salmon Bay wasn’t hurt, at least. That’s really all I could cling on to, was that they seemed relatively untouched. The Longhouse was roped off, and there were spots in the concrete that had been ripped up, but the wood chips and body were all wiped away.

Betty’s baby blue Beetle was in the house’s driveway, and it seemed the moment we turned down the street she was already racing out of the house, at Dad’s driver’s side in an instant and nearly yanking me out of the truck. “Oh, Regina!” She cooed, missing how I winced in pain as she gripped me tight around the abdomen. “You’re alright!”

Dad caught the grimace, gently peeling Betty off of me like you would a bandaid off of a toddler. “Okay, give her some room,” he chuckled under his breath.

Betty stepped back, shifting her hands to my shoulders and looking me over. She glanced over my shoulder at Dad with that look, that pathetically sad one that people reserved for children’s graves and oil-slick ducklings before wiping it clear off of her face and saying, “You need to eat! Come on, I made lunch.”

There was no convincing Betty I wasn’t hungry; she actually hovered near me until I took a bite of the grilled chicken she made before finally sauntering off, satisfied. The house was different; there was a new side table shoved in beside the couch, a television on the floor next to a propped-up mounting system. The kitchen had been entirely unpacked and had a bunch of unopened bulk cleaning supplies on the counters.

“Your family was meant to be the stars of the Potlatch,” Betty chimed in at some point. “A Potlatch is to share fortune among the tribe, and that’s what we planned to do for you all so that moving in would be more comfortable. Furniture, linens, the like — there were so many in the reservation that found something in good quality to donate. While you were…” She drew off, hesitating before going with, “In the hospital, I called in some favors and had everything moved in. In fact, I want to show you your room when you’re done!”

“We’re practically all moved in, now,” Dad added. “‘Course there’s probably a bunch of little things we’re forgetting, but for now, this is gonna be home.”

Yet another big change.

“Speaking of moving, though.” Dad added, taking a moment to chew on his food before continuing, “I found something when I was going through your stuff, Brent.”

Brent froze, fork midway to his mouth, and the blush from the cold outside almost immediately left his face as he paled. “Oh, really?” He tried to play cool.

Dad snorted, not ignorant to what he was doing. “Relax, you’re not in trouble. Not big trouble, anyways. But c’mon, man, why did you think having weed in a lawyer's house was a good idea? You know how deep of shit you would have gotten into if I found it before all of this?”

Brent blinked. “You’re…not mad?”

Dad barked out a laugh. “You really think I wasn’t smoking weed at your age? But Brent, son — it’s legal. You couldn’t wait till you were eighteen?”

Brent was still absolutely baffled at how this conversation was going, and I’m sure if we could hear the cogs in his brain, they’d be grinding so hard against each other that the sound would make us all cringe. “I’m…sorry?” he asked, not sure where he was supposed to go with this.

Dad shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t matter much, now. You have a higher metabolism, so getting high off of…regular stuff won’t be easy. That does not mean to try anything harder.” He stressed. “But if you plan on using dab pens, get ready to have to pull that fucker for a good eight minutes—”

“Delsin!” Betty chastised, Dr. Sims stifling a laugh from the couch.

Once they wound down and Dad mumbled his apologies, I spoke up, asking, “When do we leave?”

Dad hummed, thinking. “Tonight, probably. Less traffic, less people. We can all take turns too, since you two have your permit — well, you probably can’t Jean, but you could,” he directed towards Brent. “Eugene and I are gonna finish deciding which route we’re taking, and we’ll go after everyone packs.” He looked over his shoulder at Dr. Sims. “You’re sure you have everything you need?”

Dr. Sims shrugged. “For the most part. My laptops are still in your truck, and my go bag has enough supplies for a week without access to, say, washers or something. I don’t need much more.”

“I think I’m done,” I said, standing and abandoning the meal that was barely dug into. “I’m gonna go down to my room, start packing.”

“Oh! Let me show you where everything is—” Betty began, but I shook my head.

“It’s okay,” I assured her. “I can find it all. Kinda wanna lay down, too.”

Betty hesitated mid-step, shooting a look over to Dad, who seemed just as concerned. “You sure, Jeanie?” he asked.

I hated how they all were looking at me. “Yeah, Dad. I’m sure,” I said as lightly as I could, trying not to let my annoyance come through.

Dad slowly nodded, eyes not leaving mine. He was trying to analyze my poker face for something. “Alright. I’ll come check on you after we finalize a plan,”

Check on me. Like I couldn’t be left alone for too long without fear that I’d drop dead. “Yeah, sure,” I muttered, already turning around and heading down the hall. I ran away from their concern as quickly as I could, disappearing down into the basement and closing the door behind me, a small barrier between us all.

Betty really had put work into making the room feel less like squatting underneath a bridge and like an actual room; the mattress was now on one of those beds with storage cabinets underneath, my art chest sitting at its foot on the ground. There was a short, whitish dresser on one wall and a desk on the other, which I walked towards while pulling the rock from the protest out of my pocket, setting it on top of a bunch of random unopened school supplies.

Right! On top of everything, I was still in high school. Because things couldn’t get worse.

Well, no, they could. I knew exactly how they could, and how I could avoid it — but I didn’t. Why should I? I plopped down on the bed, threw off my arm sling, wrapped myself up in that woven blanket with Salmon in the middle and pulled out my phone.

Was it responsibility, curiosity, or just self-loathing that led me to wanting to look up more about the flood in Seattle? Probably all three. I needed to see what I did, how it impacted everyone because…didn’t I have a duty of care here? Didn’t I have a responsibility to care?

It would have been so much easier if I didn’t.

There was some footage from the fight from that helicopter, and that was really the only place I found anyone in my defense; the reporter, cameraman and pilot all lived, thank God, and it seemed like there were people in agreement that that was my initial plan. That’s where it ended, though.

There was a tag specifically for the tsunami everywhere, littered with people asking for donations to online fundraisers and if anyone knew which amnesty hotels still had rooms available. I hadn’t considered there would still be people missing too, unaccounted for in the chaos of recovery; .pdfs with faces and names and case numbers all littered the tag with family and friends begging them to come home. And the vitriol.

Another Rowe, ruining lives, one said.

There was a picture of my mom with a 289 above her, the image beside it of me at that art expo I won last year, side by side with the judges and Dad, 134 over it. The entire thing was titled apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

There were already politicians using what happened as their campaign fodder, speaking of how Conduits cannot be trusted to keep civilization safe if they’re able to live in it. “One Conduit has a bad day, and the body count is in the hundreds. A juvenile Conduit just killed over a hundred people in Seattle, injured thousands, and disrupted the lives of over seven hundred thousand people. This is a child who goes to school with your children, who doesn’t have control over their powers yet — what are we supposed to do when the next Conduit with absolutely no control over their abilities messes up? How can we trust we’re safe when these people don’t even seem to have control over themselves?”

Gotta get a new car because Tiger Lily flooded my brand new Mazda, one complained.

It’s gonna take more than identification, another tweeted. Pocahontas was stuck on a reservation and still managed to attack a big city. Biterrorists need to be carted off to some island.

He didn’t even spell Bio-terrorist right.

I could barely find the energy to get angry at the racism — how could I when the next post would be one for a funeral, or a wake, or just begging for someone, anyone, to tell the poster if their family member was alive?

And God, the obituaries. There was something bleak and horrifying about seeing one for a child that knocked the wind out of me so hard I began to hyperventilate to get it back. This was worse than the seven year old at COLE. There were dozens of children, old people and middle aged ones and people my age, barely adults. So many people died.

Waves began roaring in my ears as my breathing picked up, and while I was still looking straight at my phone screen, none of it made sense anymore. The words looked like nothing more than scribbles a child would do. That a child should be doing, not being lowered six feet into the ground or cremated or…

Oh, God, I couldn’t breathe.

I drew my legs into my chest and squeezed my eyes shut until they felt welded together, struggling to get in enough oxygen to feel like it was reaching my lungs. Fuck. A hundred and thirty seven people. All of this, all of this, was my fault. If I didn’t get caught by that Akuran, none of this would have happened. No one would be dead, our lives wouldn’t have been upended, maybe I’d even be able to heal without worrying why it was wrong — because if I didn’t know I was Conduit, I wouldn’t even feel like anything was wrong! My cast pressing into my chest wouldn’t feel like the squeeze of an anvil threatening to crush me whole. None of this would be happening, but it was, and it was my fault. My fault. My—

The bed moved, and someone settled in behind me, hands wrapping around the wrist dug into my hair and forcing it down to my chest, crossing it and grabbing my other arm the same way. I was gently leaned back, straightened from my curled form and pulled into a chest, and could barely hear Dad through the tinnitus in my ears. “You’re having a panic attack, Jean. I need you to breathe,” he commanded softly. “Use your stomach, not your chest.”

I tried to follow his instructions but it seemed to take two minutes just to get a neuron in my brain to spark hard enough to adjust how I breathed. Dad stayed there holding me, enveloping my little form, keeping me from doing anything else but concentrate on breathing.

My ears stopped ringing but began to sound like they were stuffed full of cotton balls, everything far away. Even as Dad’s soothing voice broke through my harsh hiccups, it felt like I was listening to him from underwater. His arms slackened their hold on mine, one leaving to pick up my phone as he whispered, “Oh, Jean,” before closing out the picture of a 10 year old’s obituary.

He shifted to my side, pulling me in so my ear was just over his heart. “I’m not sure,” he sighed. “It hasn’t gotten better for me.”

#infamous erosion #infamous second son #infamous #delsin rowe #Fetch Walker #sucker punch productions #eugene sims #who's busy being on the verge of passing out #We love him for it tho #YOU KNOW WHAT'S FUNNY #I WROTE THIS CHAPTER BEFORE MUSKS X BULLSHIT SO IDEK IF TWITTER WOULD BE AROUND IN 2037 #pretend it was bought out by Yahoo and abandoned or smthn idk

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citusfriend · 1 year

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Ok so. That ending fucking sucked.

Not to go "he would not fucking say that" but c!tommy would not fucking say that. Oh boohoo the abuse man was happy before the annoying teen came to the server, guess that completely justifies the psychological, mental and physical torture he put tommy through and puts them on the same level. Not to mention they were literally talking about how c!dream and c!punz goal was "becoming gods" and how they did literally every bad thing under the sun and ruined everything for everyone else for that unrealistic, stupid goal no one else wanted. How was that setup not used to show how insane they both are?? How was that mindset not reprimanded?? HOW AND WHY DO THEY GET A FRESH START LIKE THAT JUST DIDN'T HAPPEN 5 SECONDS AGO??

Big Edit: i feel the need to clarify that i don't have a big problem with ctommy saying"sorry". Because he wasn't forgiving cdream.he didn't warn about the nuke. What i have an issue with is the idea of "understanding" cdream. c!dream is human, that's the big point here. But that should come with the realization that he's a horrible human. He does not need to be understood, because he doesn't want to understand anyone else. He's a megalomaniac with a god complex and the implication that all they needed was "understanding" and then them becoming friends immediately after with the reset just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. For fucks sake, just moments ago he was equating c!tommy, a teen, being annoying, stealing and causing pranks to himself stalking, murdering, manipulating and abusing c!tommy in every possible way. These 2 things are not equal. I get that ctommy choosing to "understand" cdream rather than spit on his abusers' face was to show how ctommy is the bigger person, a better human being than cdream. But god do i hate that idea. You shouldn't need to be the bigger person than your abuser, because your abuser should have gotten what they deserved already instead of you feeling like you have to just "move on" with your life when they didn't get what they deserved for what they did. "that's just how it is" but it shouldn't be. Remember the discsaga finale? Where it seemed that ctubbo and ctommys' actually got a victory for once, a satisfying conclusion? Only for it to be ripped away because actually, cdream and cpunz planned that all along!!! Let's be honest here, did c!dream ever actually lose? Because every single time, while he receives some consequences (rarely), he always ends up winning. The discsaga finale. The prison break. And now the s1 finale. What does that show us? What are we supposed to get from this? Why can't c!tubbo and c!tommy ever just be allowed to have an actual victory for once, a happy ending for themselves without compromises and actuallys?-

- Why aren't they allowed to be happy without c!dream ruining it and having to make compromises to live with the man who ruined their lives?

End of edit.

The lore has in general been all over the place and kinda shitty lately. It's just been going steadily downhill for a while imo. Wtf was that with c!sam clones. Where did that come from.

Also. they really just. Did Not Mention DreamXD AT ALL even though he seemed super important to both the discussion at hand and seemed to be doing something important before : "I've been real busy dealing with some stuff"

AND ALSO WHILE ON THAT TOPIC. FOOLISH. FOOLISHXD. i am SUPER annoyed that that plotline of Foolish getting souls for XD was left completely unfinished. Really guys, one of the most interesting dynamics in the whole server and you choose to do NOTHING with them? (I'm a foolishxd shipper can't you tell). Besides, this entire thing of the finale centers around death and life and the balance of it all. Ahem. FOOLISH AND XD ARE RIGHT. THERE. THEY!! WOULD AND SHOULD BE!! IMPORTANT!! TO THIS DISCUSSION!!

i am also incredibly afraid that this "fresh start" completely resets everyones lore and personalities and development. No one likes an ending like that. Because, if that does happen, then what was the point of it all? Yes i am specifically thinking about foolishxd leave me alone. But also we didn't see ANYONE except for c!tubbo, tommy and dream. That's why I'm afraid.

#dream smp #dsmp spoilers #Dsmp #foolish gamers #dreamXD #tommyinnit #Tubbo #c!dream #c!tommy #c!tubbo #c!foolish #Weird shit has also been goin on in the foolish/dreamxd tag on ao3 lately #Like i wake up and suddenly there's multiple stories missing. Where did they go #It's a bad YEAR to be a foolishxd shipper

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genevievemd · 11 months

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Hey Bestie! Regarding Tobias Tuesday - I need more!

Who did the idiot cheat on Cam with? Did he at least feel like the dog he was? How did she find out? How dramatic was the revelation?

How did she forgive him (years later)? Was it just time ... time does wonders.

Thanks Bestie (FEED ME)

So you want the tea? We’ll buckle up cause she’s a doozy. She’s spicy. She’s hot.

Who did that idiot cheat on Cam with?

I went back and forth, when making their/his backstory on who this girl was. I was stuck between two routes, a girl from one of his labs that wasn’t shy about having the hots for him and a random girl in bar by Hopkins.

In the end, I went with the random girl. Someone inconsequential in a way. It wasn’t anyone he’d have to see again, just a girl he could self sabotage with.

Very reminiscent of Ethan attempting to have a one night stand during the reset era.

Cam had told him earlier that week that she loved him, that she was certain he was the one for her. And he said it back. And then as the week went on, he let his fears get the better of him — let his not so great friends get in his head. He was too young to settle down, he was only halfway through med school, he has his whole life for shit this serious, etc. So he went out one night, when he knew Cam was busy, got drunk and slept with some random girl. Told himself, in the moments leading up to it, that it was one last fling before “settling down” and if Cam found out then it is what it is.

Did he at least feel like the dog he was?

Immediately after. He didn’t even take the girl home, the hooked up in the back room of the bar. He felt gross, and horrible and left as soon as he could. Ran straight home, showered 7 times and realized drank some more.

How did she find out? How dramatic was the revelation?

Tobias told her. The guilt was eating him alive. So called her, told her he needed to see as as soon as she was up the next morning, took her to breakfast and broke the news.

He weepingly told her, “I screwed up. I had sex with a girl last night.” Cam sat there silent and then just got up from the table.

He followed her out, pleading with her to forgive him and it would never happen again, he was scared. The usual excuses.

She slapped him across the face, all rage and tears, and told him to never speak to her again.

She left him there, and walked back to her campus housing. Blocked him on everything (which wasn’t much back then but you catch my drift). She avoided both him and Ethan like the plague for the rest of their time at JH.

How did she forgive him (years later)?

Time. Like you said. But it took a very long time.

This was on the back of Ethan betraying her too, but in a different way. He’d let her fall in love with him, knowing he didn’t love her. Then turned around fell in love with Tobias and was betrayed again.

She didn’t think she’d ever forgive either of them. She didn’t date for a very long time after.

And then as she got older, built her career and fame she was able to let it go. Forgive them both.

The three still shared a mutual friend, Addy, who kept Cam in the loop about that they were up too. She found out about Gen, learned that Tobias never settled down or forgot about her. Which stung. Because she didn’t forget him either.

So when she was called to consult at EB, she was apprehensive. Knowing she’d very likely run into Tobias. Which she did almost immediately.

Spent the few days she was there, pining after him. And he did the same.

Little did she know, that when she invited Ethan and his fiancé to dinner, that they’d play match maker and invite Tobias too.

(She quickly learned Gen has a thing for true love — to which she pointed out to Ethan the next day. And he chucked, agreed and then apologized if they’d upset her by inviting Tobias because sometimes he can get caught up in his wife’s schemes. She’s very pretty and very convincing with her stupid green eyes and smile. Cam teased him for being so besotted with her, he blushed.)

The dinner was awkward at first, Tobias didn’t talk much. Gen just kept asking Cam questions and getting stories that she hadn’t been able to pry out of Ethan yet. Slowly, through reminiscing Tobias and her started talking and laughing and falling so easily back into their old banter.

Which led to the Ramsey’s leaving, saying they had an “emergency” — they did not. They made out in the car and then went home. — but came didn’t mind. And neither did Tobias. They sat at the table for another hour or two, talking about what they’d been up to in the 15 + years since Hopkins.

They exchanged numbers that night, with the promise of keeping in touch. And then when she went to leave after her consult was done, Leland offered her a job. She took it.

Tobias found out, and practically ran to the Ramsey’s for help. Asking what he should do, wanting to know if they thought he could get Cam back. He was jealous of their relationship and wanted that too. But only if he could have it with Camila — she was still the love of his life even after all the time that passed. Gen practically died at that, and told him that true love always finds a way. She and Ethan, through all their struggles and issues has found a way, and she was certain Tobias and Cam would too.

But also told him to not push too hard, and let her set the pace. Ethan agreed with that advice.

And the pace ended up being much faster than both Camila and Tobias thought it would be.

They texted almost every day in the time between her leaving and moving to Boston (Sept/Oct 2021) It was all in friendship but there was something under the surface.

On October 29 or 30th I can’t remember the exact day, but it’s in TYB, Cam set up a Halloween night in the PEDS ward and Tobias sent the night helping out and hanging with her and the kids/patients. She was dressed as Wonder Woman, and per her request Tobias did come in an costume — Batman. (He had to be on theme!)

They flirted and got closer but hadn’t really done anything past that.

I haven’t worked out exactly what happens between Halloween and the holiday Gala that December but they get closer and at the gala held but the Blooms (the one where people were talking trash about G, remember?) Tobias and Cam snuck away from the ballroom and ended up kissing for the first time in over a decade.

He asked her on a date a few days later and they’ve been together since.

He’s a major sap with her, tells her 20 times a day that he loves her. Showers her with every form of love he can think of.

There are times when she still feels a tiny twinge of the betrayal still, but she sees the man he has grown into and knows he’d never make that mistake again.

Sorry that was so long 😂😂 my bad. I could have kept going too 😂😂

Let me know if you want the story how how they found out she was pregnant. That’s a fun one.

#asked and answered #jerzwriter #tobias x cam

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parasite-core · 2 years

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Oh man tonight was a doozy of a Pathfinder session. We had Hounds of Tindalos, a wraith, a slug out with two proto-shoggoths, horrible transformation causing infections caused by said proto-shoggoths that could only be cured via negative energy knocking you unconscious, an accidental party member kill by another party member while trying to cure said infection, Alazhra, meeting the alchemist jerk we’ve been following for a week now who is mildly insane now and we feel too bad to outright murder him anymore, also his assistant is kind of a sweetheart despite also being evil, so we’re bringing them both along for now even though it’s probably going to be a mistake once we run into Lowls and he inevitably betrays us. But until then he’s our little helper.

We entered the Mysterium and were locked in—just in time to be jumped by four Hounds of Tindalos. Berin shared his Smite Evil with us and we went to town. Jo, Ileark, Dia, and Berin killed one each. Then we began searching through the library seeking the angel statues that would open the way forward. We split up to cover more ground. Ileark found two on the southern side of the room—as well as the mirror that the Hounds spawned from, which to him made his body appear distorted and hag-like, much to his displeasure. He decided not to look at it.

In the middle section, Berin and Jo found a hidden cache with some healing supplies—including restoration scrolls, which on a meta level put me on edge.

Ileark went into the room across from the mirrors and found it haunted. He got out with 20 hp of damage—nearly 1/3 of his total. He mentally asked Igil to warn the others away from that room, but Igil had split up with the others to deactivate another angel statue he’d spotted along the western wall. Fortunately, although Dia walked into the Haunt room a moment later through a different door, the Haunt was no longer active and she left uninjured. She and Ileark both found some more healing supplies stashed nearby, as well as the ladder up to a spherical room where it would be safe to rest away from the Hounds.

Igil found the final angel, and Jo heard something nearby grind and shift. Ileark went to investigate the nearby valves. He noticed that now the mouths of the angels, which had been closed, were open. The others goaded him into sticking his hand into one, but all he found was a stone tongue. Jo tried another but found the same. They repeated this until Dia found a metal tongue that acted as a lever inside of the final statue’s mouth, which opened a spiral staircase downwards.

As the party descended the stairs, they heard a crashing noise and then the familiar howls of more Hounds of Tindalos up above. It would seem the mirror had a one minute reset once we killed them. We tried to hurry down the stairs, but the Hounds were hot on our heels. Ileark cast prayer to buff us and debuff them, while everyone else focused on running. At the bottom of the stairs was a key and key hole. Jo tried turning the key, and when she did the stairs retracted and the door above slammed shut. The three Hounds that got in behind us fell to the ground—one landing on Ileark who wasn’t fast enough on his feet to evade. The fourth Hound was locked upstairs.

Clearing out the Hounds a second time was fairly easy work. The bigger issue was that as we were down to one Hound, a Wraith reached out from a nearby wall and also began attacking us as well. However after sniping us and taking a few swipes and attacks of opportunity at us, it vanished and quit attacking, leaving us to come back another time.

Seeing as we couldn’t go into the wall after it, we had to just continue onwards. We found some items on the ground, Berin found the first angel immediately and activated it, and we began seeking the other three.

Ileark found the next one. However as he went to go turn its head, he found there were creatures in the room with it. Horrible melting fleshy pink oozes with too many eyes. He called the others over as the creatures turned hostile.

Jo immediately ran in and attacked with her spear, but missed, and was instead grabbed by one of the creatures’ tentacles, crushed, and infected by a mysterious affliction. Igil and Dia came up behind to try to identify the creatures, but couldn’t make heads nor tails out of them. Berin tried to get to us, but he’d been on the opposite side of the area and when he tried to take the shortest route to us he stumbled into a haunt that trapped him inside of a forcecage.

Ileark tried to Holy Smite the creatures—only to discover that these monsters weren’t evil and were barely effected. Dia tried to dodge past the creatures to get to Berin to help dispel the Forcecage as we heard him yell for help, but she got caught in a grapple as well, also failing her save against the mysterious affliction. Igil thought it through and realized dispel magic wouldn’t work on forcecage, so instead began Magic Missiling one of the creatures.

The creature that wasn’t grappling someone already went after Igil and grabbed him. It would have killed him outright, but Berin used Paladin’s Sacrifice to take the damage he would have taken, also suffering from the infection he would have been inflicted with.

Ileark feared for Igil’s life and decided to reach into a side of his spells he doesn’t touch often, and cast a Major Curse on the creature. The curse took hold, and caused the creature to only act 50% of the time. For the next two rounds it failed to act on its turn. In that time, Ileark used freedom of movement to get Igil out of the grapple and Igil got away—although he took an attack of opportunity and ended up infected by the attack too.

Jo finally got out of her grapple and began stabbing the shit out of the cursed foe, while Berin squared off against the other one. Berin’s opponent climbed the wall and began grabbing Berin from above. Initially Berin focused on getting free and healing, but eventually he lost his patience and just began attacking from his grappled position.

Down below, the cursed creature finally managed to act for one round, and it grabbed Ileark after he made the mistake of stepping too close to take a full attack action. Ileark saved against the infection, however, with the help of Dia’s Gallant Inspiration. Ileark then dimensional hopped away from the creature and healed. He tried to flame strike both creatures, but failed to overcome their spell resistance and ended up only hitting Jo :( He healed her with his last swift action channel for the day as an apology.

Then Jo finally killed the cursed slime monster dead, stabbing it through its many eyes with her spear until it oozed out onto the ground. Then she joined Berin on assaulting the other one. Ileark cursed it as well, and a few moments later it fell as well.

The party was absolutely spent after that long slugfest of a battle. Virtually all of their resources were gone, and almost all of them had some form of constitution drain. They decided to Dimension Door up to the spherical room, rest, and regroup in the morning.

Once they were in the spherical room, Ileark wondered if there was anything they could do to identify the strange rashes the others had gotten from those creatures, as they looked rather nasty. Stefan offered to ask the stars about it—a suggestion Berin wasn’t keen on, but given that we’d exhausted all other avenues, it was our only choice. Dia and Igil had no idea what those thing had been or what they could do. Stefan’s abilities, although they were a strain on him, were our only option.

Stefan began meditating. Then he began clawing at his skin. “It’s inside of you. It’s making you like it. We have to stop it.”

He explained that this affliction wasn’t quite an ordinary disease. The infection could be halted by a remove disease, but the only way to purge the body of it entirely was by being knocked unconscious by a negative energy ability. This would have a chance to burn away the affliction.

We brainstormed the idea of allowing the wraith to knock each of us out, but that thing had constitution damage of its own. It was too risky. Ileark suggested he prepare harm, which reduces someone to 1 hp, and inflict light wounds, which is the weakest negative energy spell. He figured that would be enough to knock someone out without killing them. The others agreed to this plan. For the night, they had Berin use his Remove Disease mercy to halt the spread.

The next day (after leveling up, yay lv 12 🎉) they began plan Cure by Inflicting. Berin was up first. Ileark cast Harm, got him down to 1 hp, then cast Inflict Light Wounds.

It still did enough damage that if it had been able to do 1 hp more would have killed Berin outright.

However it did expel the infection from his body, and Ileark healed Berin back up.

Next up was Jo. Jo didn’t want Harm cast on her. So instead she went gung-ho using her mace to hit the spot where the infection had taken hold until she was sufficiently tenderized. Then Ileark cast inflict light wounds. He did max damage, but thankfully left her within a safe range to survive. She expelled the infection, and was healed back up.

Next up was Dia, who took the same route as Jo, worried Harm would be too dangerous after seeing how close Berin had come to death. This proved smart, as even with the hp Dia had left herself with, Ileark rolled max on his Inflict spell and left her 1 away from death just like Berin. However she also expelled the infection, and was healed up.

Ileark was not having a good time.

Last up was Ileark’s brother, Igil. Ileark suggested Igil do the same as Jo and Dia and find some way to deal damage to himself because Harm was too risky with Igil’s delicate constitution. Igil agreed and cast a maximized mind thrust on himself. At the same time, Jo quite literally stabbed him in the back ‘to help’.

With Igil properly tenderized, Ileark tried to knock him out. But he must have been holding back this time, probably because it was Igil and he was afraid of seriously hurting him, because this time he didn’t do enough and left him conscious. They healed him a little to keep from risking his life and tried again. Same results a second time.

This was Ileark’s final Inflict for the day. If this one failed, they’d have to wait an entire day to cure Igil. Ileark cast the spell.

He dealt max damage.

Ileark killed Igil outright.

Ileark was immediately stunned in place by the backlash of his mental connection with Igil breaking as he *felt* the moment of Igil’s death. The moment *he* killed Igil, with his own magic, with his own hands.

And then things started moving again and he grabbed out a scroll of Raise Dead to fix his mistake.

But as he was doing that, Igil was having a chat in the afterlife.

With Alazhra.

Igil’s soul had gone to Alazhra’s cabin in Abaddon. Alazhra seemed to get a twisted amusement out of it being her son who killed Igil. She tried to find out how to get Igil to come back to her. Igil told her that he’s considering going back to religion but in the other direction. But if she really wants him back, she’s a Night Hag. Make him a deal. She told him that she’s so much more than a Night Hag. Had he forgotten that she is also a goddess? She was going to leave Igil with a parting gift, to remember this little foray by. And a single lock of Igil’s orange hair turned stark white, like in his night hag form. Then she ordered Igil to follow her, and she led him outside of the cabin, to see the shadowy nothingness beyond. This is what awaited in the afterlife here with Alazhra.

And then Igil was pulled back, and Ileark was hugging him and apologizing profusely. And then when he let go and Igil stood up, Dia hugged Igil even tighter.

Ileark and Igil spoke and there’s no hard feelings on Igil’s end. The infection was purged, and it was a necessary thing they did. As far as Igil is concerned, Ileark saved him, the specifics of how it happened in the first place don’t matter as much. Ileark doesn’t feel that way at all. He feels like he hurt his brother and sent him to a terrible fate facing Alazhra again, after all he’s done for him, after how many times he’s saved him, after he stood up to Alazhra for him, saved him from slavery, saved his life…Ileark feels he did something monstrous in return. Despite whatever his intentions were, this use of Desna’s power was wrong.

And it seems Berin has some conflicting feelings of his own, as he’s been in a rather dark mood since that day as well. They all decided to rest for a day afterwards, giving Ileark a day to reprepare spells and Igil a day to rest.

As they healed up, Jo tried an experiment with her Topaz Judgement for fast healing, getting into a fist fight with Dia to try to activate it and gain fast healing to heal herself and then share the healing with Dia. When she shared Topaz with Dia, the other being spoke to her. Her began furiously writing instead of fighting. A name, a member of the rabbitfolk, and 3 dimensional coordinates. Then she snapped out of it. Jo, of course, had questions. Dia decided now was time to reveal to her companions the truth of who and what she was. After asking Igil to scan the room for anything spying on them, she removed her glasses and revealed her true rabbitfolk form to those who didn’t already know the truth. She didn’t go into detail about her family for now, except to say ‘they’re mostly all awful people’. She also revealed that her people are originally not from Golarian, which could be why one of her people were one of the beings who made up Jo’s consciousness.

The next day, they Dimension Doored back down to the second floor, and returned to the room where they fought the creatures Stefan had now identified for them as Proto-Shoggoths. Igil also informed us that he’d seen two more dead down the hallway. As we discussed, Jo noticed an invisible eye on the wall. She used her witch hunter skills to track the trail of magic it left behind to see where it came from, and pinpointed the door its caster must be behind. She pointed it out to the rest of us, and we went to investigate. We heard voices behind the door. Berin senses evil beyond the door, so we decided not to play it safe and were ready to go in full force.

The door was barricaded. We didn’t have time for that bullshit, and we had an Igil with full spellslots. One disintegrate later and the door was no longer an issue.

What we found within was the alchemist we’d been chasing for the past week, Lowls’ associate Mund, and presumably one of his creations, a man who looked much like Mund but with clawed hands and a cheerful, subservient disposition.

Mund had no idea who we were. He was scattered by the week in isolation and terror, his mind damaged by the stress and trauma. He believed Lowls was coming back for him, and wouldn’t hear otherwise. Jo told him that we could get him and his associate out of here under the church’s protection—although since he’d been helping with Lowls’ project he’d have to be taken into church custody afterwards. Mund seemed agreeable if only because he saw no other way out at the moment, especially since we’d destroyed his barricade. So he had his assistant pack up his alchemical supplies, and they both followed us out.

Mund and his assistant showed us how far the haunt that had caused Berin to temporarily be trapped in a forcecage extended, using chalk to line the floor where it’s influence ended, giving us a safe path to the third angel. He also knew the location of the fourth. He drew us a map. With that knowledge, Igil cast Telepathic Bond, leaving himself out of the link since he was already mentally bonded to Ileark and could communicate to them through him. Then he suggested he Dimension Door over to the angel and turn its head, by passing all the dangers between here and there. We decided if he promised to come back immediately if anything went wrong then that was fine. Igil teleported away, then returned a moment later to report that the angel’s head was jammed. We brainstormed what that could mean, and Mund figured it meant something was wrong with the gateway leading downstairs.

So we made our way towards the gate down. What we found was a mass of tentacles, which immediately turned invisible upon seeing us. Although Igil has permanent See Invisibility, and Jo had See Invisibility on as well. Ileark cast his True Seeing on Berin to make optimal use of it. Berin, in turn, granted his Smite to everyone—expecting this to be a long fight like with the Proto-Shoggoths. But it turns out that was not the case. Jo and Igil had already done a number on it, and when Berin stepped up and smote it, the thing shriveled and died.

Berin insisted they don’t waste his smite. They should go deal with the wraith while they had the chance in this minute. The others agreed. They decided to put Jo up front as bait to lure it out, and then they’d all smite it and unleash their best ghost-killing attacks on it. Dia could even grant Jo ghost-touch on her weapon, making its incorporeal nature no longer an issue for her.

With this plan in mind, the party approached the ghost’s preferred wall. The moment Jo got within range, its arms struck forth. Five Smite Good abilities hit their mark. Igil used his abilities that allowed him to use mind affecting spells on the undead to Mind Thrust the wraith. Ileark channeled positive energy into it. Berin and Jo attacked it with sword and spear. And between the four of them, the spirit fell before it got a chance to do anymore damage.

The party then returned to the portal to the stairs. It was covered in rubble, caused by the Spawn of Yog-Sothoth we’d fought, which explained the jammed angel head. Everyone but Igil and Mund helped to clear the rubble—Igil because he’s physically weak and Mund because he’s an ass.

Once we were done clearing out the rubble, Igil Dimension Doored to the angel statue again and turned its head. This time it clicked into place and the angels opened their mouths once again. Dia found the one with a strangely waxy tongue which was a lever that opened the next stairway down. This one had statues of angels on either side holding out their hands acting as the stairs.

And so we descended ever deeper into the depths of the twisted Mysterium.

#pathfinder #PF weekly

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ask-the-wrongswap-cast · 2 years

Text

What’s Wrongswap? A summary because I’ve realized I don’t have one of those up ATM

Wrongswap is a swap AU as the title suggests. Everyone retains their original personalities, though influenced by wherever they are in life right now. For some, this personality shift is almost entirely negligible. For others, they are almost unrecognizable as themselves. The important pairs are as follows:

Frisk & Patience soul (Vera)

Chara & Bravery soul (Ori)

Asriel & Papyrus

Toriel & Sans

Asgore & Gaster

Mettaton & Alphys

Napstablook & Undyne

Everyone also keeps their original relations to each other, so for example, Asgore & Toriel are still married and Asriel is still their kid, while Gaster is Sans & Papyrus (and Ori’s) father.

Here’s why they are where they are:

-Instead of Asgore’s family line being the royal family, it was Gaster’s. Gaster is still very interested in science and physics, but has no time to pursue it as a career, especially once the war begins.

-When everyone is sealed Underground, Asgore decides to help out his community by using what he’s picked up from Gaster about science. He builds the Core, though it takes him significantly longer than it would’ve taken Gaster.

-When Ori falls Underground, they are taken in by Gaster & his kids, who are 12 & 18 at the time.

-They’re there for less than a year before they realize that a plant very common in the Underground, delphinium, is poisonous by proximity to humans and has zero effect on monsters.

-They surround themself with it, intending for Gaster to take their soul and use it to break the barrier once he collected six more. Unfortunately, due to some pretty bad timing, Papyrus is the one in the room when they die. He, in his now thirteen year old wisdom, decides to go up to the surface and obtain six more souls. Predictably, this does not go great.

-Gaster is talked down from declaring war on humans as Asgore does, but he decides that in any given situation, any solution may be used to obtain a human soul, even and especially violent means. Sans thinks this is stupid and not what Papyrus would’ve wanted at all, and leaves for the ruins, renouncing his title as Prince.

-Perseverance, Integrity, Kindness, and Justice die via murder at the hands of a monster, the fall into the underground, offering their soul, and yet another murder, respectively.

-Chara and Frisk both fall into the Underground at the same time. Chara was attempting the canonically implied unpleasant reason for climbing ebott and Frisk was attempting to stop them. Unfortunately, they both fell down the hole Chara was trying to jump into. Fortunately, it was not as bad of a fall as Chara expected it to be.

-The Dreemurrs take the two in. Asriel immediately decides that they’re both his new siblings, though they never did feel like that about each other. Chara melds into the family soon after they realize that they’re trustworthy, but Frisk takes quite a lot longer.

-Gaster, still a family friend, stops by one day and the conversation happens to wander to the barrier. Chara, upon finding out that they could help get monsters above ground again, spirals back into the depressive hole they were in when they first fell.

-They ‘go missing’ just in time for a bout of horrible weather to hit Snowdin. The whole community go looking for them, and none manage to run themselves ragged moreso than Frisk, who dies soon after they locate Chara, who has died by this point.

-Toriel and Asgore do have a bit of a rough patch in their relationship, but consciously make an effort to get through it together because they don’t want to lose each other as well.

-A year later, Asgore falls into the core and the world forgets about him, save for Toriel & Asriel, because of the boss monster soul connection thing. This also allows the two to remember resets, as the void slowly seeps into Asgore’s soul, and by extension, theirs.

-Toriel and Asriel just have to get on with their lives and pretend no one is missing. Asriel later on applies for an internship at the royal labs so that he can try to figure out how to get Asgore back.

-Shortly before Asgore falls, Mettaton decides that he’s not going to wait around for the perfect body to just be presented to him, he’s going to make it himself. It takes an excessive amount of trial and error, but he eventually comes up with his EX form, bypassing the box step.

-He then decides that Napstablook should be in on this too and makes them a body as well. They are too nervous to say no. They never fully integrate into the robot body, due to personal preference.

-Eventually, Mettaton brings Napstablook along with him when he does more and more things, and as time passes, Napstablook learns that socializing isn’t as scary as they thought it would be. (They also learn how to set healthy boundaries for themself so saying no to metta is less of an issue for them now lmao)

-As Napstablook becomes more confident in themself and more comfortable with being around people, they join the royal guard. They still aren’t totally sure how, but they did.

-They work their way up the ranks, which was not on purpose, and they are offered the position of captain after the old one retires. They take it.

-After Asgore falls, Mettaton’s robotics experiments are noticed by Gaster, who is desperate to fill the position of royal scientist, as the entire team quit in the months following Asgore’s fall, for various reasons that they can’t actually remember having anything to do with Asgore. Mettaton decides this is a great opportunity and if there’s ever going to be a position that will give him the chance to break the barrier and become a star on the surface like he’s always dreamed, it would be this.

-Except being royal scientist is way more work than he bargained for and he realizes he doesn’t actually want the job. When the amalgamates happen, Mettaton confesses to it, hoping that at the very least he’ll get fired. He does not. Everyone is very understanding about this being an accident, and they’re just happy to get their family members back.

-Alphys & Undyne have been friends for a very long time, since they were kids even. However, Alphys has always struggled with her mental health, and has never felt like she’s good enough for Undyne, as a friend or otherwise.

-She meets Mettaton one day and learns how his life has gone and how Napstablook gained confidence through their robot body and she thinks that maybe, just maybe, if it worked for them it could work for her too.

-So she leaves, promising herself that as soon as she puts herself together, she’ll go back to her life. She takes on a false persona inspired by anime, and becomes kind of a social media influencer. Metta obliges her request to have a remotely pilot-able robot body, and allows her to pretend to be another cousin.

-It’s not actually that easy though, and this is not at all what Metta and Blook were going for when they got their robot bodies, so ofc it doesn’t go how she wants it to.

-Vera has never been allowed to explore the mountain on the outskirts of their little town, but one day they’re left unsupervised and they are filled with the power of mild teenage rebellion. They proceed to prove their parents right about the mountain being dangerous and fall down a hole.

#typing this as my Rottweiler/lab mix dog tries to figure out the best way to stand on me to squish all my organs at once #wrongswap #undertale #undertale au #ask blog #asks are open

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dearbaji · 3 years

Text

A Sudden Confession (Kyojuro x Reader SMUT)

Requested! I kinda got carried away 🧍 feedback is always appreciated!

CW: mentions of injury, female reader, dom Rengoku, 1620 words, 18+

"Come on! Harder! I know you've got it in you!" Rengoku yells, motivating you to do better. Your lungs burn, each time you swallow your throat dries up immediately, and legs shake, threatening to give in. You raise your bokken again, only for it to drop from your hands. “I can’t anymore,” you huff. Sinking to the floor you stare at the sky, watching the clouds eclipse the sun. Rengoku hovers over you, blocking your view. You close your eyes hoping that he’d leave you alone for just a few moments more. “Get up Y/N, we still need to work on your breathing,” he says, outstretching a hand to help you stand. Reluctantly you reach out, his hand gripping yours with almost impossible strength. You fly up to your feet unexpectedly, stumbling into his arms. “Careful there,'' he says, almost laughing at his caused clumsiness.

He’s peculiar. At times it seems like he pushes you too far on purpose, but he always helps you recover and start again. His fit arms hold you close to his body. Seeing his face that close, he’s actually quite handsome.

"Ready to go again?" he asks, reaching for your bokken. You sit on the floor again and pout. "Rengoku please, I'm tired! Let's try again tomorrow." He sighs and takes a seat next to you. "Your breathing has gotten better since last time. What you really need to work on is controlling your breath as you strike. You tend to let it all out as soon as your sword hits the target, making your impact quite weak," he lectures. You nod and take your bokken from him. “I know, we’ll work on that tomorrow. Thanks Rengoku!” You run off, a sudden burst of energy inspiring you to get home as soon as possible. Rengoku watches as you trip over nothing, laughing and shaking his head.

The next day, you meet Rengoku at the bottom of Sagiri Mountain. Prepared for another excruciating lesson, you fix your sword to your belt. Rengoku watches as you check over your sword for any scratches. It was so shiny and new when you first got it, you almost didn’t want to use it. You knew you had to at some point, and Haganezuka would kill you if you didn’t. “We can go to the Swordsmith village to sharpen it later if you want,” Rengoku says. You nod, picking up your bag and putting it on your shoulders. “Let’s go, I wanna be back in time to catch Granny Hisa’s onigiri,” you say, making your way to the mountain trail. Your passive determination makes Rengoku chuckle.

You’re a good way up the mountain, not exactly halfway yet when Regoku’s crow caws. Your crow follows behind it, landing on your head. “Head southwest to the forest below the mountain. There’s a demon headed toward a nearby village.” “Y/N, join Rengoku and assist him any way you can,” your crow speaks softly. Looking at each other, you and Rengoku nod, dashing down to the end of the path.

Rengoku notices that you’re not out of breath when you reach the exit. “Good work Y/N, keep controlling your breathing,” he compliments. You glance at him; his side profile is serious and focused. A branch almost trips you but you catch yourself and continue running.

The moon is hidden by tall trees, making it difficult to see. “This way,” Regoku says while grabbing your arm, leading you to the demon. When you’re finally face to face with the creature you unsheathe your sword. But something’s not right, it’s just a kid? Why would two demon slayers need to take on this mission, let alone a pillar? It turns around, baring its fangs. When you don’t move it lunges at you. “Y/N strike now!” Rengoku yells, holding his sword with two hands. You can’t move, thinking about how young the creature is, how horrible its life must've been. Your sword raises to end its misery, but it’s too late. One of its claws drag down the side of your face and lodges into your cheek before it breaks off. Rengoku jumps into action, “Third Form: Blazing Universe!” He swings his sword downward as you fall back, decapitating the demon.

You bring a hand up to your face in disbelief. Rengoku rushes to your side, bringing a hand behind your head. “Ok, just lean back, you'll be fine. Use your breathing to stop the bleeding,” he says, trying to calm you. The claw in your cheek disintegrates, making the wound open even more. Rengoku rips a piece of cloth from his uniform, wiping your cheek. Your breathing evens out as you focus on him. He’s concentrating on cleaning your cheek, lightly tapping at the edges of the wound. His eyes meet yours, interrupting your breathing. “You need to steady your breaths and focus on the bleeding, or else this is gonna leave a nasty scar on your beautiful face,” he says smoothly. You take this as your chance. “Rengoku?” “Hm?” “In case I don't make it, I just wanted to say that… I think I’m in love with you.” He looks down at you again and grins. “Let's get you cleaned up and we’ll talk about it, ok?” You look away dejected.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” he asks, skimming over your body. “I don't think so,” you answer, moving to get up. A sharp pain radiates from your collarbone and you lay back down. “Ah, my shoulder must’ve dislocated” “Let me take a look, may I?” You nod and look away as Rengoku unbuttons your uniform. He exposes your torso and checks your shoulder. “Yeah it’s definitely not where it’s supposed to be. I need you to bite down on something before I reset it,” he says, looking around for something to use. “Just take my belt,” you offer. He looks down and starts unbuckling your belt. Folding it, he sits it in your mouth before positioning himself to pull your arm. “Ok, on the count of three I’ll do it. One. Two.” He yanks your arm out of the position it was in and snaps it back into the socket. Your scream is muffled, covered by the belt. After waiting a few seconds, Rengoku pries the belt from your teeth. “Are you ok now?” he asks, gently cradling your face. “I thought you said on three! Not two!” you cry. He lets out a low chuckle, still holding your face. You both realize the position you’re in: your bra-clad chest exposed, pants sliding down showing your underwear, Rengoku hovering over you, so close to your face. He bends down to press his lips to yours.

His eyes travel down to your hips before he looks back at your face. The bleeding stopped, and you're not in much pain anymore. He goes for another kiss, but this time more intense. You lean up and kiss him back to show him you're interested in going further, but he pushes you down. “Relax, I’ll do everything. I don't want you to injure your arm again,” he says while undoing his belt. You watch as his proficient fingers unloop his belt from the buckle, then swiftly unbutton his pants. He stops, sliding his hand under your underwear. You take a deep breath, not expecting him to be so forward. He moves his fingers along your slit before spreading the lips, gathering some of the slick and spreading it around your sex. Your legs open wider involuntarily, wanting him to do more.

Rengoku tugs your pants down to your ankles, letting one leg slip out completely. He kneels between your knees and rubs your thighs, his fingers still wet from earlier. “Does anything hurt?” he asks. You shake your head and he smiles again. “I’m so glad you're not in pain. Allow me to be a little rough, ok?” He peels your underwear down to your knees and pushes your legs up, putting them on his shoulders. His tip teases at your entrance, slipping away every time he pushes. He takes his shaft in his hand and guides himself into you. A grunt leaves both of you as he starts moving. One of his arms holds your legs against him, the other moves from your hips to your waist. His movements get harsher, making you moan louder. “Oh- haah, you're bigger than I expected” you whisper. His brows furrowed together, hips thrusting into yours with long, sharp movements. Your breasts bounce with each of his thrusts, making him stare at them. He reaches a hand up to push your bra up, exposing your chest completely. His hand gropes at a breast while his hips work.

“Do you like that?” he grunts. “Yes, yes, I love it, I love it so much!” Your high approaches as your walls flutter against Rengoku. “How can you, ngh- grip me with such strength, yet still feel like- haah, silk?” he questions rhetorically. You’re moaning and crying under him as you rock your hips up against his, pushing him further to the edge. His hips jerk sporadically as he releases inside of you. He moves his hand in circles around your breast before bringing it to your knees. As his lips press soft kisses to your legs, he slips out of you.

He fixes your bra and pulls your underwear back up. After he buttons your shirt, he ties your belt into a sling for the walk home. You button your pants and catch him staring at you. “What? Is there something on my face? Other than the obvious,” you joke. He gently smiles at your joke, placing his hand on your knee again.

“Ready to go again?”

Rules

#kyojuro rengoku x reader #rengoku x reader smut #kyojuro rengoku scenario #kyojuro rengoku x reader smut #kny x reader smut #rengoku smut #rengoku kyojuro smut #demon slayer x reader smut #kyojuro x reader smut

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whirlybirbs · 3 years

Note

THEY'RE BEING NERDS TOGETHER.... OH POOR MOBIUS..

FROM THE VOID, WITH LOVE | control variable

summary: both of these men have a soft spot for you.

pairing: loki / f!reader

a/n: i like to think mobius genuinely respects doc but has now formed a mild attachment to her in the form of a older sibling sort of way. or maybe an endearing co-worker. anyways, time to diverge from canon slightly! this lovely gif is by @vought from this set right here!

[ MASTERPOST ]

"Where have you been? I just finished telling him about the apocalypses—"

Mobius was just trying to eat his damn lunch.

As you saunter up to the table, files in hand, Mobius takes the now soaked salad that had been used as an impromptu visual aid to Loki's thesis and drops it beside his empty can of cola. He looks up at you, despairingly exhausted, as you place a hand on his shoulder and offer an apologetic smile at the current state of his drowned lettuce.

"What happened here?"

Loki is particularly giddy — whether or not that's thanks to the ruined salad, you're not sure.

Mobius waves the question and off and gestures to the seat between them.

"I take it you heard about his little theory?" Mobius asks, gesturing to Loki as he leans back in his lime colored chair, "I still think it's a horrible idea—"

"I think I might have a worse one."

Both of their eyes snap to you.

Your gaze flits between the two of them. You wet your lips, then you lean forward.

"I have a theory."

Mobius, almost protectively, snatches up his jet-ski magazine. Then, slowly, he urges you on. "Okay...?"

You scooch forward in your chair and place your elbows on the table.

For a moment, Mobius catches Loki's eyes softening at the sudden excitement in your expression — but it's gone in a flash and replaced by a more neutral look of shared confusion.

Hm.

"Every time Loki's Variant makes an appearance, mine follows, right?" you begin, gesturing between you and Loki, "Which got me thinking — there's a record of a Variant of mine using 'Time Technology'. You said yourself I help develop that—"

"Right."

"—So," you wave your hands along as you speak, "What if that's the point of variation. What if this Variant of mine is using Time Travel again?"

"It's completely possible."

"Right — but! You called Loki and I Reoccurring Variants Anomalies, which could also mean that regardless of circumstance, we're both bound to have some sort of synchronicity when it comes to variation."

Loki's watching you with an open expression.

"What are you trying to say, doc?" asks Mobius, rubbing his temple.

"We don't know if these anomalies are contingent upon one another, or happen because of one another."

Loki can see Mobius' confusion. "What she's saying is that her Variant could be trying to find mine, or vice versa."

"Or! No matter what, we're both tied to one another because of our bond on the Sacred Timeline."

Mobius inhales slowly. Your smile is bright — and Loki can't help but feel a little bit of pride seep into him at the sight. Which is laughable, of course. He'd helped you reach this hypothesis anyways.

"Every theory has an experiment that follows," Mobius says almost like he knows exactly where you're going with this, "What are you proposing?"

"Asgard."

Loki's brows knot up as his attention snaps from Mobius, back to you. "What?"

"Absolutely not."

You raise a hand to shut them both up. You then tap a finger to the cover of the dossier the librarian had grabbed.

"In the training we were given, it was covered that standard practice until the Gorsbach Incident was to blend into one's surroundings to insure a slower branch stability deterioration—"

"We would be corrupting the Timeline, creating our own branch—"

"That could be reset! It could work!"

Mobius' mouth snaps shut.

You sit there, hands out like you've just said, "Tada! Here, Mobius! A gift!"

But it's not a gift. No, he's just greying faster.

He's beginning to understand how you and Loki make sense. Turns out you've got a little bit of chaos in you, too.

The Agent sighs and slumps back in his chair. Loki blinks between you both, waiting for someone to budge. Mobius speaks first. His face is down, but he's watching your carefully.

"What's your control?"

"Me."

"And your dependent variable?"

"The Prince of Asgard."

"—Well, hold on a minute—"

You, without looking, crawl your hand over to shush Loki. You place your hand over his mouth for a moment, other hand on his arm. He rolls his eyes. His smothered protest falls on deaf ears. You pull your hand from his mouth but keep hold of his sleeve.

It's... endearing.

"If this Loki finds a way to interact with me? I mean, that's proof."

Mobius rolls his jaw. He looks at Loki.

You pull away after a moment too long and stare at the God as well.

The God of Mischief wets his lips.

"What're you thinking over there, Loki?"

"That I think it's ridiculous," he says, "And that Heimdall will know there's an intruder in the palace almost immediately."

"The palace?" you ask quietly.

"Of course," Loki continues on without a single pause, "If you were going to imbed yourself into a scenario with which we all stand a chance not being rounded up and executed, it would need to be during a function within the palace. Those, typically, garner enough of a crowd that we'd be able to stay under the guards' noses."

Mobius looks at you. You look at him.

Then, plainly, you just blurt out:

"I've never been in a palace."

Mobius, suddenly, can sense a little bit of longing in your voice.

"How plausible is this, really?" he asks Loki.

"If our dear Doctor here thinks it's worth it," he says, "We'll make it work — only if we try my experiment first."

Mobius just lets out a long sigh.

He just wanted to eat lunch.

#from the void with love #loki x reader #loki laufeyson x reader #loki x y/n #loki odinson imagine #prince loki imagine #loki imagine #marvel imagine #loki spoilers #loki/you #loki x you #loki x ofc #loki/reader

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tsukasalvr · 2 years

Note

helo!! may i request hanako, nene and tsukasa with alluka!reader who has the same personality and power just like her?? also i love ur writing a lot :D <3

AN: AWW TYYTYTY!!!!!!❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

; 𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙪𝙠𝙖!𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

𝗔𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗲/𝗳𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺: 𝗧𝗯𝗵𝗸

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗸𝗼, 𝗬𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗼, 𝗧𝘀𝘂𝗸𝗮𝘀𝗮

𝗔𝗡: 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝘅𝗵 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗹𝘀

𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: 𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱, 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵

; ʜᴀɴᴀᴋᴏ

Is very amazed by this and has stars in his eyes when he finally meets Nanika

He treats Nanika with upmost respect and of she ever asked for anything he’ll do it, but when she asks what he wants, he’ll just ask for a hug or a kiss

But on days where he’s feeling in a particularly teasing mood, he’ll ask you to prank that little exorcist boy with the umbrella or the girl with the daikon legs, or so he calls them

“Yashiro—have you seen my staff? I’ve looked everywhere but I can’t seem to find it!”

“Sorry I haven’t, Kou, but something weird has been happening. In class I keep having these embarrassing moments happen to me.”

“Ah—me too! I had water dumped on me in the rooftop, which is already weird, and I slipped!”

Never asks for much though but asks many questions about people in the past and what they’ve wished for.

Very curious about how this happened and how these wishes work. It amazes him every time knowing you can make anything happen. But he does find it sad it comes at a cost for the next person and sometimes feels bad for the next person who is under Nanikas demands while the last person asked for something extravagant

He feels bad at how people just seemed to use you for their own benefits ad kept you closed off so he makes sure to take care of you. His wish doesn’t haven’t to come true by Nanika since all he wants is to have forever kisses and endless love

; ʏᴀsʜɪʀᴏ

Is at a loss for words when you first tell her and thinks that it’s just a weird dark joke you’re telling her and plays it off for a while but it always lingers in her mind

When she finally meets Nanika she almost faints because of both how shocked she is, and also how terrified she is.

When she first saw Nanikas face instead of your face plastered on, she was scared of how Nanika looked with those dark empty eyes and smile but immediately felt bad after and nervously started small talk with Nanika

The more she sees her the less nervous and jittery she gets and treats Nanika with the upmost respect and never wishes anything beyond a high five or hug despite the urge to wish for something special

But the fact that the next demands might be something horrifying really sets her off I’m asking something grand

When she learns about how you were locked up and only used to make wishes before it stopped and only kept you locked up and ignored your entire existence, her heart almost broke and she felt so much sympathy for you

She never looks at you any different though, treating someone differently from everybody else out of pity is horrible and she never wants to make you feel any different from others

Plus, she knows both you and Nanika are nothing but sweethearts so there’s no point in treating you different and making you feel horrible

; ᴛꜱᴜᴋᴀꜱᴀ

When you tell him he’s already very curious and interested about this and gets so excited to meet Nanika

When he finally meets Nanika he gets so excited and starts asking so many questions and goes whatever Nanika demands

But he never wishes for anything extreme though! He remembers from what you told him about the price you have to pay in the next demands and although very interested about what the demands might be, he’s not taking any chance for himself!

But for other people, that’s a whole different answer! If Tsukasa wants something but doesn’t want to pay the price for it in the next demanda then surely other people or spirits can wish it for him, right?

Besides, if they die or disappear completely then it’s fine since the demands will be reset completely!

But if he’s not making others wish for him then he wishes for pranks on Mitsuba or Natsuhiko, hugs, kisses—and everything soft and warm!

When he learns about how they would lock you up and ignore your existence and only use you for wishes, well he can’t really judge for the wishes part since he’s not any different but for locked up part, he’s not happy at all and will now forever cherish your existence

People who like, reblog or follow= hot asf💕😍

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pennylanefics · 3 years

Text

Okay - Jacob Black

•••

You knew the pack joining the Cullens in on fighting was going to end with someone hurt, whether that was one of the vampires or one of the wolves. And of course, it had to be the wolf you love with all your heart.

Emily was keeping you company back at the house, since you are the only two humans who were on the reservation during said fight. Both of you were growing more and more nervous as there were still no updates from anyone.

Sure, neither of you could read their thoughts, but Sam promised to send Seth at some point. That time finally came, though hours later.

“Jake’s been hurt!” Seth frantically runs into the house, where you and Emily sit at the kitchen table. Immediately, you are on your feet and making your way to the car, Emily following you as well. She gets into the driver’s seat and speeds over to Jacob’s house, where Seth told you to go.

Once she parks, you jump out of the car and run over to the group standing in front of the door. Billy has a somber look on his face as cries ring out in the dimming day.

“Is he okay?” You ask no one in particular.

“Carlisle’s with him right now,” Sam says, wrapping an arm around Emily’s waist. “A newborn shattered the bones on the right side of his body. Carlisle has to break them back into place before they heal completely.”

Just then, another pain-filled cry resonates from the house, your heart clenching, feeling the pain he’s in. You can’t help but sob out at the sound, falling to the porch chair next to Billy. He reaches over and pats your back comfortingly.

The screams continue for another five minutes, and so do your own cries and tears, so finally, Billy speaks up.

“Paul, why don’t you take (Y/N) on a drive until he’s done,” he instructs the young wolf. Paul nods and reaches for your hand to stand you up. You graciously take it and follow him to his car.

“He’ll be okay, (Y/N),” Paul tells you softly. He had been driving for only five minutes, and you weren’t even close to town yet. All you wanted right now was to see Jacob.

“How do you know?” You wonder. Paul sighs and pulls over on the side of the road. He shuts the car off and turns to you.

“Because he’s Jacob. He’s strong, he doesn’t let anything bring him down, and he always pulls through. Sure, he’s down right now, but as soon as the bones are set back to where they need to be, his healing will do the rest; one of the best things about being a werewolf, injuries don’t last long.”

A chuckle escaped your lips through your tears. Paul tenderly wipes your cheek, ridding the drops from your skin. They soak right into his thumb due to the heat emitting from his skin.

You’ve always been the closest to Paul, seeing as he was dating Jacob’s sister and was around a lot. When she and Jacob were out spending time together, catching up, you spent time with Paul, and he became like a brother to you.

“Hey, everything will be okay in the next couple days. Jacob will heal, the bloodsuckers will be gone, and everything will be back to normal, at least for now.” There’s a pause in the conversation as you take in his words, a smile slowly spreading across your face.

“You always know what to say, Lahote,” you laugh lightly, smacking his chest playfully. He chuckles and turns back in his seat, ready to head back to the reservation after hearing Sam’s thoughts that Carlisle is close to being done.

You two arrive just in time, Carlisle walks out of the house to talk to Billy. You run over and try to hear what they’re talking about. Upon seeing you, Carlisle smiles and pats your shoulder.

“He’s asking for you,” he tells you softly. Taking a deep breath, you look around the group to make sure it was okay that you were the first to see him. Everyone nods in a silent agreement, so you slowly walk inside and to his room.

Jacob lays in bed, sweat covering his entire body, his hair soaked from it, with a sling wrapped around his arm and body.

“(Y/N),” he breathes out, a weak smile slowly appearing on his lips. You can’t help but cry, finally seeing him after all the painful screams you heard earlier.

“Jake, I-I was so worried about you,” you mumble, falling to your knees beside his bed. He chuckles a little and closes his eyes as you push the hair away from his forehead.

“I was worried about you,” he says, staring up at you.

“Why?”

“Some of the newborns that were supposed to fight weren’t there. We thought they went to where you and Emily were. Just turns out another pack nearby got a hold of them before they could make it to us.”

“I’m okay, Jake. We were safe. Wasn’t Seth protecting the house?” He nods and winces in pain as he shuffles uncomfortably

“Sometimes I don’t trust the little runt.” You giggle and reach over to grab a towel that was laying on the ground. You begin wiping his face from the sweat. He just watches your eyes the entire time, admiring you, his imprint, caring for him so tenderly.

“I love you,” he whispers after you throw the towel aside. You turn back to him and caress his now dry cheek.

“I love you too, Jacob. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“I’ll always be okay because I need to protect you and make sure you don’t get hurt. I couldn’t care less about myself. The important thing is that you’re safe from those leeches.”

“I am, so no worries.”

You and Jacob talk for a little bit more before he starts yawning, signaling that you should leave.

“Well, I’ll let you rest. I’ll spend the night with Sam and Emily and come back here in the morning,” you tell him, giving him a kiss on the forehead. Before you can even stand up, though, Jacob reaches over his body to stop you from going.

“You can stay. I want you to stay,” he grins.

“You’re still recovering from having bones in your shoulder reset. I think you should have some space.” Jacob doesn’t let up on your hand whatsoever.

“Please,” he begs. The puppy-dog look in his eyes, his hoarse voice, and the unbreakable bond due to him imprinting convince you to stay.

So, you carefully crawl over the lower half of his body to lay on the uninjured side and curl up against him, the heat of his body engulfing you right away. A sigh escapes your lips and your eyes flutter closed.

“Hearing your cries and screams while Carlisle was helping you was horrible. I couldn’t stop crying,” you murmur. Jacob sighs softly and shakes his head.

“You heard all that?” You nod against his shoulder. “I specifically told my dad to keep you away so you didn’t.”

“He eventually had Paul take me for a drive until you were done.”

“Still. You shouldn’t have even been here in the first place. I hate hearing about you being sad and crying.”

“Paul was able to calm me down, like he always does.” Jacob smiles upon hearing that his pack mate was able to take your mind off of things for a little.

“I’ll have to thank him. For taking care of you when I couldn’t.”

“He’s a good friend. He knows how much you love me and he wanted to make sure I was okay mentally.”

“From now on, you won’t have to worry. I’ll make sure to take care of myself and watch myself for you. You don’t deserve that kind of pain, wondering if I’m even going to be alive.”

A few minutes pass and Jacob tries to stay awake to talk to you and just play with your hand.

“Get some sleep, Jake. I’ll be here when you wake up, okay?” He nods and gazes up at you, exhaustion evident on his face.

“You’re so perfect. I can’t believe you’re mine,” he whispers, kissing you as softly as ever before laying back down and finally shutting his eyes. You continue playing with his hair, lulling him to sleep instantly.

#jacob black #jacob black imagines #jacob black imagine #jacob black x reader #twilight #twilight saga #twilight new moon #twilight eclipse #twilight trilogy #imagines #fanfiction #fanfic

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catofadifferentcolor · 2 years

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Terrible Fic Idea #1: Raven's Plan, but make it Star Wars

I'm an absolute sucker for Time Travel Fix-Its, and Raven's Plan by The_Sithspawn is a somewhat unique take on the trope as it involves thousands of people having been sent back accidentally to a time that wasn't quite intended. So, naturally, my Star Wars-addled mind produced a plot bunny that I will never, ever, be able to do justice.

But just imagine it:

Sometime after RotJ - probably during The Mandolorian timeline - Luke and the force ghosts decide to do a timeline reset. But it goes horribly wrong, maybe because of outside interference, maybe because that's just what happens with Skywalkers.

So rather than, say, just Anakin or Obi-Wan or both waking up right before the events of AotC, they and thousands of others across the galaxy wake up remembering everything up until the moments of their deaths around 25 BY, when Anakin is like 15 or 16.

Most of the Jedi Masters remember, and everyone is immediately pulled into a Council meeting and the truth comes out. Nobody is pleased to hear Anakin became a Sith, even if Obi-Wan and Yoda claim he returned to the light - plus it's kind of hard to be too mad at the idiot when he's both a) calling himself an idiot, b) apologizing to everyone he comes across, and c) saying they should lock him away for his own good because he doesn't know what Palpatine might make him do even now.

But outside the temple a fair number of clones remember too, and you have 14 or 16 year old Rex and Cody leading a clone rebellion against the cloners and their trainers, and eventually reaching out to their generals to ask what Jetii osik they've done now.

Padme also remembers, but is either in her last years as queen or early years as senator and can't leave Naboo right away, but she genuinely thinks its just a weird dream until one of her handmaidens or her sister or someone sees her and bursts into tears about how happy they are to see Padme alive.

And maybe a few others remember? Maybe Boba or Jango Fett remember and help the clones rebel? Maybe Din remembers and is kidnapped by one of his now-teenager bounty hunter friends and brought to the temple because this is your Jetii nonsense, talk to your son and figure out how to fix it? Maybe Bail Organa, who shows up at the temple to "prove" to himself that it was just a dream and is surprised when Anakin pulls him into a hug and thanks him for taking such good care of Leia - while also apologizing for blowing up his planet?

People not in the know are completely baffled by the sudden string of galactic changes all of this brings about.

That's all I really have, but if anyone wants to take up the idea, feel free. Just send me a link so I can see the result.

More Terrible Fic Ideas

#fic ideas #plot bunny #star wars #sw #the prequel trilogy #time travel fix it #time travel #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #din djarin #boba fett #captain rex #commander cody #bail organa #padme amidala

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dannyphantom-rewrite · 3 years

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Character reference: Clockwork

Art by @ectoplasmicsoda !!!

(click image for better quality)

-Okay I need to start off by thanking Soda profusely for this bc I literally handed them the most basic inspo. sheet and they took it and ran with it in a direction I didn't expect and it looks FUCKING AMAZING??? Like BRO. All the little details and embellishments you added just really pull the design together and I'm in awe bud, ILY SM <3.

-ANYWAY, let's get to it!

-I feel like the fact that Clockwork can fight with a scythe is something we forget about and the more I was thinking about it the more I was like..."but what if...grim reaper?"

-So along with being the Spirit of Time, that's also what he is. The Grim reaper.

-I really like the idea of Clockwork and The Observants having a sort of dual nature, so while they both watch over And protect their respective dimensions, the Ghost Zone for the Observants, and the human realm for Clockwork, they also have the ability to destroy aspects of them. It's a give and take.

-At first I wanted to make parts of him actually be just exposed bones but then I thought about it and was like...mmmm nah tattoos are cooler.

-The Tattoos cover all of his body, not just what you can see rn.

-Does he have legs or a ghost tail? Probably depends on the day honestly but nobody knows regardless! Bitch just glides everywhere like a fuckin' Roomba or some shit.

-He/They <3

-When he laughs it sounds like ticking and if you somehow manage to startle him his clock chimes super loud

-Does not like to deal with people. Or ghosts. Has his lair anchored at the bottom of The Depths of the Ghost Zone exactly for that reason

-Got his scar from Pariah Dark in the process of overthrowing him

-Him and the Matron/Observants are core bonded but their relationship has really deteriorated over the last few centuries, especially after Pariah was sealed away and it's honestly...just really not great. They still love each other, it's just far too similar to the way a moth loves a bug zapper, now.

-It's not exactly one sided either, they're horribly codependent and equally destructive towards the other, bc they're both control freaks with vastly different ideas about how things should be managed.

-His relationship with the rest of the ancients (Nocturne, Vortex, Undergrowth, Pandora) is marginally better, he's well aware of his short comings, but he did do his best to parent them and they recognize that, at least. His relationship with them is strained after Pariah, (he was a tyrant, but he was still family) but still, it's nowhere near as bad as it is with the Observants.

Ghostly Abilities / Skill set.

-Standard ghost powers: Flight, Invisibility, Intangibility, Ecto-Blasts.

-Spectral body manipulation: Limited to shifting lower half from legs to ghost tail.

-Chronokinesis: The ability to manipulate the flow of time. Clockwork can make any given point in time pause, speed up, repeat or move in reverse. These effects can be applied to all of time and space or a localized area. He is also able to reset the time line a points where branches are formed.

-Total Omniscience: Clockwork knows, and has known since his Creation, everything that ever was, is, will be, or could be.

-Time Travel: Can travel to any point in time as a silent observer. While he himself can not be heard or seen due to his being Chronolocked, this same rules doesn't always apply to others. Anyone he sends who still exists within the current timeline can interact with others when time traveling, (as well as with clockwork himself, though it would seem as though they were taking to thin air) but not without the threat of creating a paradox. Furthermore, those he sends anywhere need to be wearing one of his time medallions or they'd immediately be sent back to their designated time period.

-Attempting to become visible/tangible when time traveling, without first freezing time, results in some funky ass time warping....refer to this ficlet.

-Summoning: Clockwork can pull anyone or anything from any point in time to his present.

-Teleportation: Can teleport to anywhere withing the Ghost Zone, or the Human realm in the present moment.

-Portal manipulation: When teleporting or time traveling Clockwork employs the use of portals.the portals first manifest as a giant clock hand, opening fully as it completes it's rotation. He can also create portals between the human realm and The Ghost Zone.

-Immortality: Does not age. (In the traditional sense, anyway.)

-Age Shifting: Clockwork alter his appearance to be either older or younger.

-Supernatural Strength

-Telekenesis

-Scythe weilding: Extremely profeciant at frighting with a scythe.

-Horology: Many of the Clocks around his lair are hand made. While he considers it no more than a hobby, Clockwork is a very skilled clock maker.

Weaknesses:

-Prone to periods of Disassociation: The whole total Omniscience thing, also known as seeing every-fucking-thing-ever, all at once, can really fuck with your perception of things. Clockwork is generally okay, but in times of high stress things can get mixed up for him and his mind gets sorta stuck in the wrong time period entirely. He also looses control of his age shifting, flipping through his different forms rapidly in quick succession. It's not pleasant to watch or for him to experience, and he often needs help being re-grounded to the present. Clockwork is not easily shaken however, so these episodes are thankfully not a common occurrence.

-Core destruction: Clockwork's core resides behind the clockface within his chest. Where his core destroyed, he would destabilize, same as any other ghost. His glass panel and clock are thankfully far more durable than they appear.

-Chronolock: Clockwork himself exists outside of time, thus his own powers have no effect upon himself. He cannot use any form Chronokinesis on his own person, or view the entirety of his own possible future. Any Individuals that exist outside of the current timeline are also Chronolocked, and exist within a blind spot that renders him unable to see their futures either. (For example, Dan.)

Loss of/destruction of staff/scythe: Clockwork uses the stop watch on his staff to better direct his Chronokinesis. While he can use this power without his staff, it is far more difficult for him to keep things under control without having the staff to channel it through.

Time medallions: Clockwork's Chronokinesis won't work on individuals wearing one, as they allow the wearer to temporarily exist outside of time, making them Chronolocked.

Blood blossoms, Ghost Nip and Fermented Ectoplasm: Blood blossoms will give him a severe migraine. Ghost Nip and Fermented Ectoplasm, (more commonly known as Boo-ze,) just don't sit well with him. Mind altering substances often make him go into that previously mentioned disassociative state, so he simply refrains from imbibing on account of being basically guaranteed to have a bad trip.

#danny phantom #art #character redesign #character reference #clock work #clockwork #the ancients #long post

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xxdragonwriterxx · 3 years

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🔥The Perfect Shot🔥

A/N: This one was a little experimental but I’m actually kinda proud of it 😅. I had a dream about this and just had to write it down so here you go! This one has been in my drafts for a while and I finally had time to edit it, not me doing this instead of my homework, so I figured I’d post it so I have some new content out while I work on the two requests I have. Speaking of which, those will be out soon so keep an eye out for those! I love working on them and they are both really awesome requests so I’m really excited to get them out to you. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this quick piece! Love you guys! 🥰🥺

🐉Song Recommendation: “Stick Up” By: grandson 🐉

Word Count: ~4.2k

~~~

Levi scowled immediately upon entering the bar. It didn’t have anything to do with the bar itself, the establishment was actually surprisingly clean. A little too messy to meet his usual standards, but clean enough for him to get comfortable. No, his scowl was aimed right for his old friend Erwin, the owner of the place.

“Levi, what’s with the sour look?” Erwin asked, his gaze sympathetic. Bastard, he knew what the look was for.

“Haven’t I told you not to pity me whenever I come in here?” Levi snapped, not in the mood for the giant blonde’s antics tonight. “My job is hard enough as it is without you constantly looking at me like I’m some kind of injured animal.”

“It’s not pity, Levi, it’s a thing called concern. I know you’ve probably never heard of it, but it’s something that friends show each other when they are worried about the well being of the other person.”

“I’m fine,” Levi grumbled. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

Erwin knew that wasn’t entirely true, could see it in the shorter man’s eyes, but he let it be, knowing Levi would just get more irritated the longer the conversation continued. “The usual?”

“Yeah.”

“Oi, Miche! Levi’s here, get him his usual, please!”

Levi heard Miche’s responding yell from the back room where the dirty blonde was probably hanging out with Hanji, the brunette scientist, a close friend of Erwin’s who got special permission to stay in the back room with them whenever the foot traffic was slow. Shaking his head, Levi fought the small smile that tried to appear on his face as he thought about the people he had surprisingly come to know as his friends. He still had no idea why they ever wanted to talk to him, but he had come to appreciate it nonetheless, even when Hanji blabbed his ear off about scientific studies, although he’d never admit it aloud.

Soon enough, a glass filled with dark copper liquid was slid in front of him, and he lifted his gaze to see Miche smirking at him, “Hard day?”

“You could say that,” Levi murmured, lifting the glass to his lips and taking a healthy gulp.

“Work hours are only getting longer, huh?”

“Yeah, and the people I work with are idiots. It was almost like my latest clients were on a mission to make my job as difficult as possible. It would’ve been a complete disaster if I hadn’t been able to focus everything at the last minute; would’ve cost both of us a lot of money if I hadn’t gotten the shots they wanted.”

“Sorry to hear that, Levi,” Miche said, a slight frown on his handsome features. “I hope this helps you loosen up a bit.”

Levi nodded as Miche ambled away with a light pat on the mahogany, a sigh quietly slipping from his lips as he picked up the glass and swirled it before taking another sip. The golden lights above him were dimmed, making the space feel surprisingly homey, the glow from the lamps contrasting nicely with the dark wallpaper and bathing the wood of the bar with a warm honeyed finish. Levi closed his eyes and sighed through his nose, allowing the cozy atmosphere to soothe him.

He was grateful for the emptiness of the bar, the quiet hum of the television playing the latest news one of the only sounds filling the air. He wasn’t surprised, it was nearly two in the morning, but it made him grateful nonetheless. He did feel bad about coming in so late, knowing that even though the bar was still open, his friends would want to be heading home soon, but he had been working late, cleaning his equipment and resetting his work space for the next day and hadn’t been able to come in any earlier. He had thought about waiting, but the stress of the day pushed him to put himself before others for once and have a damn drink.

Levi was still lost in his thought when the sound of a bell tinkling snapped him out of it, his silver hues darting over to the door and narrowing. He quirked an eyebrow in surprise when he saw a woman standing in the entryway, a black hooded cloak wrapped around her shoulders to protect her against the biting autumn chill.

“Hey, (Y/N)!” Miche’s booming voice called out, only adding to Levi’s confusion, “How’re you doing today? Work go well?”

The woman Miche had called (Y/N) lowered the hood of her cloak, letting out a relaxed sigh as the warmth of the bar chased the cold from her skin. She smiled when she saw the tall, dirty blonde man, her (e/c) eyes sparkling.

“I’m doing well, Miche, thank you! Work ran really late today, some difficult clients seemed to be on a mission to make me want to kill them, so I just had to get a drink when I finally finished up. I hope I’m not bothering anyone this late?”

Miche waved off her concerns with a broad smile, “Of course not! Seat yourself and I’ll be right with you, the usual, right?”

(Y/N) nodded and shrugged off her cloak, draping it over the back of her seat as she slid into a spot two places away from Levi, naturally giving the raven-haired stranger space. Levi watched her as she took her seat, his head tilted slightly to the side curiously. He had never seen her before, despite the fact that she was obviously a regular. He wasn’t a constant drinker, but he had come to this bar enough to be curious about her, trying to figure out which days she usually liked to come in. Maybe she usually came in during the day. It would make sense, Levi almost always came in around midnight due to the effort and professionalism he put into his craft taking up most of his time, but he was still surprised he had never heard of her, not when she was clearly a good friend of Miche’s.

“Ah, I thought I recognized that voice, welcome back (Y/N),” Erwin said as he rounded the corner, a bright smile on his handsome face as he presented her with her drink of choice. (Y/N) smiled back at him and gently grasped the glass in her palms, a quiet murmur of gratitude slipping from her lips before she sipped.

Erwin knew her too? That did make sense, if Miche knew her than Erwin, the owner of the bar, would definitely know her too, but this seemed like more than your average bartender and customer relationship. They were acting like close friends, as if they’d known each other for years. He could see it in the way the blonde behemoth beamed at the sight of the mystery woman, the way he talked so easily to her. He knew Erwin was usually charming, easygoing, but this felt different.

“I heard you had a tough day at work,” Erwin said, leaning against the bar with both elbows perched on the wood.

“Yeah,” (Y/N) said with a sigh, taking another sip of her drink. “It was these new customers. Most of my clients know of my skill and trust me to do the job right but these people just wouldn’t stop being so controlling. Every five seconds they would be telling me to move and take another shot, move and take another shot, practicing over and over again with decoy subjects as if this were my first time doing this. It took me way longer to get everything done, and cleaning up took forever at the end because of all of the extra stuff they wanted to include. It was infuriating, like, I know how to do my job, so please, shut the fuck up.”

Erwin chuckled, “I would’ve paid good money to see the look on their faces.”

“You know I didn’t actually say that to them. I wanted to, really wanted to, but they are business and business is money, so I just had to deal with it. It just comes with the job, I guess.”

Erwin nodded and leaned back, pulling a washcloth from his pocket to wipe down the the wood, cleaning the smudges from where he had been leaning. “Yeah, I get it. People come in here all the time just to be difficult. Some pick fights, some try not to pay, some are just petty because they want to be, some come in at ungodly hours of the morning, it’s just part of the job, like you said.”

(Y/N) winced, “Sorry, I know it’s late. I can leave if you guys are packing up.”

Erwin shook his head with a warm smile. “Don’t be, I was just teasing you. I had Nanaba working the morning shift, so I haven’t been here for that long. Take your time to unwind, you deserve it.”

She smiled at him again, thanking him as she lifted the glass to her lips. Erwin slapped a large hand on her shoulder and squeezed once before leaving to go into the back room, no doubt to check on Miche and make sure he wasn’t being harassed by Hanji and her over energetic explanations of her experiments.

(Y/N) leaned back and hummed happily at the feeling of the warm alcohol burning pleasantly in her stomach. She could feel the eyes of the raven haired man on her as she took another sip, but she ignored him. If he wanted to talk to her, then he could say something, but she wasn’t going to engage him unless he did, content to just finish her drink and go home.

She supposed if she didn’t want to talk to people she could’ve just had a drink at home, curled up on the couch with a movie, blankets, and maybe some ice cream, but there was just something about Erwin’s bar that was so comforting.

It was a quiet little place, even during the day, a hidden treasure that was hard to find if you didn’t know where to look. It was only known through word of mouth, which made it wonderfully calm most of the time, as most people went to the more popular bars in the area. (Y/N) had learned about it through Hanji, her friend from college, who told her about it after (Y/N) had had a particularly horrible day at work and needed a pick me up. Now, she came all the time, even if she didn’t order anything, just to talk to her now good friends and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere.

She had actually been surprised to find someone else sitting at the bar when she had walked in. Erwin’s bar wasn’t a complete secret, she knew that despite the lack of advertising, quite a few people knew about the joint, but she almost never saw anybody at this time of night. Not when the bar was technically closed and her friends were finishing up.

It made her wonder if her friends knew this man, if he was a friend of their’s. If he was, she had never heard of him. Maybe he was just one of those private types. But then again, would a private type be so obviously staring at a random woman in a bar at two in the morning? She didn’t know, but for some reason, although the stare unnerved her a bit, she wasn’t really bothered by it. She occasionally liked to people watch, albeit more subtly, so despite the intensity of the stare making her want to squirm, she let him be, downing more of her liquor until it burned her throat and warmed her chest from the inside out.

The man’s phone suddenly buzzed, the normally quiet noise sounding a lot louder in the wake of the near complete silence in the bar. He glanced down at it, turning the screen at an angle of which she couldn’t see, and scowled. She watched as he silently seethed, unlocking his phone and quickly replying to whoever had texted him, his fingers flying across the little keyboard.

(Y/N) had to admit, he was quite handsome, her eyes roving over him while he wasn’t paying attention, subjecting him to the same treatment he had been giving her. He was shorter than the average man but (Y/N) hardly noticed, his pale skin and black hair, both darkened by the dim lighting of the bar, paired with his gunmetal eyes proving to be an appealing combination.

Levi growled to himself lowly, pretending not to notice the woman staring at him as he typed on his phone, writing a response to a cheeky text from Hanji.

“You’re going to creep her out if you just keep staring at her like some kind of predator. Go talk to her!”

“Fuck off, Shitty Glasses.”

“I’m serious, Levi! She’s a good friend of mine, it’ll be good for you two to get to know each other. Besides, I think you’re drooling. Go talk to her before I make you, she won’t bite!”

“I said, fuck off.”

Refraining from rolling his eyes, Levi placed his phone face down on the table and ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of a reason to approach her. It wasn’t because he was drooling over her like Hanji claimed, he was just bored and had time to kill. She just happened to be different enough to capture his temporary interest. At least, that’s what he told himself. He didn’t let himself admit how surprisingly pretty she was, nor did he acknowledge the fact that his eyes kept straying to her face, fixated on her attractive features.

But, as much as he hated to admit it, Hanji was right. Staring at her like this without saying a word, in the middle of the night, at a bar, alone, was creepy as fuck. He was genuinely surprised she hadn’t confronted him already, telling him to fuck off.

Talking to people just wasn’t his forte, he felt uncharacteristically nervous, but he had to say something, otherwise she’d see him as nothing more than some creepy asshole. He had no idea why he cared so much about her opinion, but he ignored that thought as he scrambled for a topic to bring up.

“Hard day?”

Her soft voice snapped Levi out of his thoughts, his eyes flicking up to meet hers, which he hadn’t realized were trained on him, “What?”

“Oh, you just seem like you’ve had a hard day, so I thought I’d ask you about it.”

“What made me look like I had a bad day?” Levi asked.

“Well, for one, you’re here at two in the morning. You could just be an insomniac who prefers a drink late at night like me, but you also looked constipated a minute ago, so I made an educated guess.”

Levi fought the smirk that tried to appear on his face. He often made shit jokes when around his friends, it made a small part of him happy knowing she did too. “It was shitty.”

(Y/N) giggled, “Mine was too.”

“Yeah, I heard you talking about it with Erwin and Miche. Annoying clients, right?”

(Y/N) nodded, “Mm, just some folks who think they know everything. But it wasn’t anything a little drink from Erwin’s place can’t fix. How about you?”

“Same kind of thing,” Levi said, sipping from his glass. “Just some shitty people trying to control every aspect of my job.”

(Y/N) hummed her acknowledgement and took a healthy swig from her drink. “Exactly. All day, they’ve been making me change things that didn’t need changing, swap out equipment that didn’t need to be swapped, etc. It’s so infuriating sometimes when things would get done so much faster if I was left alone. I had a vision right from the start that would’ve given me the perfect shot if they hadn’t interfered, but because of them, my work wasn’t nearly as professional as it usually is.”

Levi raised an eyebrow at that, surprised. It wasn’t often he found someone who worked in the same career field as him, at least not in this area. It made him wonder just how spontaneous this was, if Hanji had somehow convinced (Y/N) to come out on a night when the brunette knew he would be there.

“Really? Why don’t you tell me about this perfect shot?”

(Y/N) glanced at him, one eyebrow raised, “What’s it to you?”

“I’m curious, we might have different perspectives on how to get this so called ‘perfect shot’. If you share with me your methods, I might share some of mine too.”

(Y/N)’s mouth parted in shock a little. Her profession wasn’t that uncommon, but in this area? She was the most notable by a landslide, so it made her curious. Maybe he was from out of town? She didn’t recognize him, but maybe she had heard of him before and just didn’t know it was him?

“Alright, fine,” (Y/N) said, getting up and moving closer to him, seating herself beside him. “Usually, to get what I want, I have to start by surveying the space. I really like to note all of the possible places I could position myself for maximum clarity and optimal focus.”

Levi nodded, his mind going back to his own methods, identifying that as one of the things he did when preparing for work as well. “I like to do that too. If you don’t pay attention to your surroundings, it can limit your opportunities and present unexpected obstacles.”

“Exactly. Then, once I’ve found a spot where I want to be, I try to either imagine the thing I’m shooting and where I want them to be, or try to plan for exactly where they are going to move to as I work. That way, I can estimate where the focal point will be, and when they are finally in position, it’s a lot easier to locate.”

“Where do you shoot from? Far or close?” Levi asked, his attention completely focused on the woman in front of him.

“Well, that depends on what my client wants and where the person is. The location, time, client, and weather can change at any time, and all of it directly impacts the quality of the shot. So I flip back and forth between them depending on what’s happening. How about you?”

“I usually tend to favor distance rather than close proximity, gives me more to work with. It makes it harder to focus and even the slightest movement can ruin the job, but close proximity can make it harder to see the whole picture, at least, in my opinion,” Levi said.

(Y/N) nodded, “That makes sense.”

“What next?”

“Well then, once I have a focal point picked out and a position set, I get my equipment ready. Sometimes I have a bunch of extensions and extra supplies to help me out if it’s a particularly important client, but most of the time I try to keep it simple. Less distractions that way.”

Levi nodded, his eyes glinting as he listened to her speak, neither of them aware of the eyes that were watching them from the back room window, trying to stifle their squeals and chuckles.

“After everything is prepped and ready to go, I then have to prepare myself. You’d think that after doing this job for so long that I wouldn’t be affected by nerves and emotions while working anymore, but unfortunately, I am. So before I even touch my equipment, I usually have take deep breaths and completely wipe my mind of all anxiety. It has to be perfect for each client, no matter who they are, so I have to get a grip on myself before I start. Even the tiniest hitched breath can affect the shot.”

Levi was pleasantly surprised with that one. It wasn’t like anyone he worked with denied the fact that emotion and nervousness could impact the shot, but they often didn’t consider it too much as a factor, preferring to power through the anxiety and get it over with. Levi had always been annoyed with this strategy and the mediocre results it produced, so hearing (Y/N) talk about something most others chose to ignore, made him want to get to know her more.

“I agree,” Levi said. “Ever since I started, that has always stuck with me.”

(Y/N) smiled, “Finally, once everything is in position and I’ve gotten a handle on my adrenaline, I position myself with my equipment and take the shot. Thankfully, after that, I have a crew that comes in for cleaning up the area when I’m finished so I can go back and take care of my equipment. Unless, that is, I miss. If I miss the target, then I’m responsible for tracking them down while avoiding shots aimed at me. I wouldn’t want anyone on my team to get hurt, and if I miss the shot, that’s my own fault, so I have to clean up my own mess.”

Levi was nodding along until her words really sank in, making him freeze. Target? Tracking them down? Avoiding shots? Getting hurt? Levi’s face paled and (Y/N)’s smile immediately faded, replaced by a look of concern.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Levi swallowed thickly and nodded, the gears turning rapidly in his head as he tried to think of what to say. “Yes, sorry, I just remembered that I have an important client coming in tomorrow that I forgot about since today has been such a mess. You just reminded me of it, that’s all.”

“Are you sure? You look… sick... all of a sudden.”

“I’m fine. I’m just stressed about this photo shoot tomorrow. It’s really important for my business. If I lose them, then I’ll have a bit of a problem on my hands.”

Levi watched the color drain from (Y/N)’s face as if her skin was being bleached right before his eyes. Her mouth opened, a small squeak coming out but no words, her eyes wide with shock and panic.

“O-Oh my gods…” (Y/N) whispered. “You-You…!”

“Yeah, I thought you were a...” Levi whispered back.

“Oh gods, I am so sorry, um, I-I didn’t mean to- um, okay,” (Y/N) stuttered and tripped over her words, her head turning frantically as she fought for something to say. She felt like she should leave, but she was worried about how that would look, especially after dropping such a bombshell on him. Sighing, she admitted defeat and pushed the rest of her drink away, moving to grab her cloak. “Gods, I am so sorry, I’ll just go, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or-”

“Wait,” Levi said.

(Y/N) wanted to escape the situation, wanted to leave this nightmare and bury her face in some pillows at home as she wallowed in her embarrassment, but the conviction in his voice made her stop and slowly sink back down into her seat.

“It doesn't bother me,” Levi said slowly. “You didn’t know, and it’s your job. I can’t fault you for that.”

“Really?” (Y/N) said, not convinced.

“Trust me,” Levi said. “I’m friends with Shitty Glasses, who literally experiments on anything and everything, I’ve heard worse stories than that one.”

When (Y/N) still didn’t look convinced, Levi sighed and reached into his coat pocket. “Here, I’d like to talk to you again sometime. Come around one day and I might just show you how I take the perfect shot.”

(Y/N) hesitated but eventually reached forward and took ahold of the little white card he held out to her, her eyes sparkling when she saw his name, number, and studio address on the piece of paper. Looking up, she could see the honesty reflected in his gaze and finally allowed a small smile to come back onto her face.

“That sounds good, Levi. I’ll see you around.”

“See you,” Levi said as he watched (Y/N) stand, stretch, and walk out, cloak in hand.

As soon as the door shut and the (h/c) haired woman made her way around the corner, his friends burst into the room, all of them wearing smug smiles that only made Levi scowl.

“So, looks like you’ve got some plans, huh? I’ve never seen you hand out your card to anyone that wasn’t a major client,” Hanji said, wiggling her eyebrows and beaming when he turned his glare on her.

“Shut up, Shitty Glasses. Why didn’t you tell me she was a sniper?”

“Well, because usually that’s a pretty big turn off for people. (Y/N) is my best friend and she needs some love too so I figured, why not? I knew you’d figure it out eventually, but I didn’t want to set a precedent for her that would make you unwilling to approach her. And look what happened! Now, you have a date!”

“It’s not a date, Four Eyes.”

“Uh huh, whatever you say, Shorty.”

Levi ignored his friends as the two men started laughing along with Hanji, cracking jokes about him and the situation he had somehow found himself in. Looking out the windows, towards the corner of the street where he had seen (Y/N) disappear, he couldn’t help the small smile that curled the corners of his lips.

A photographer and a sniper, huh? Maybe they weren’t so different after all. Maybe, whatever this was that was blooming between them, will be worth a shot.

~~~

A/N: I totally forgot to say earlier that this story is based off of the prompt posted by @writing-prompt-s! Sorry for not sourcing it beforehand, completely slipped my mind. Thank you to those who reminded me!

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rynnaaurelius · 3 years

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Titan’s Curse But Make It Time Loop: Nico di Angelo Edition

-Okay so I’m at work and not doing much and who wants to actually edit your shit drafts for your actual WIPs so that they’re less bad? No one, that’s who

-So I had an idea: The Titan’s Curse. Also known as the book where people start to die. It sucks to be a demigod in this book--for the first time in the original series, it really does.

-Not everything is fixed, not everyone is saved, and people start to have to make really tough decisions.

-So we fix it. Not by throwing Percy, or Annabeth, or Thalia, or, hell, even Bianca or Grover into the mix.

-Throwing the marginally more grown-up, more trained, and more knowledgeable demigods into the fire, who’d get everyone alive and safe by the third time ‘round? Nah.

-We’re making Nico fix this.

-Because here’s the thing about Nico di Angelo: Sure, he grows up to become a major badass, the Ghost King, so on and so forth. But not yet.

-For now, Nico is baby, a ten-year-old whose experience with any kind of fighting consists of one (1) Capture The Flag game and who’s still half-reliant on Mythomagic to explain what the fuck is happening.

-He’s also got the worst knowledge makeup possible! He knows he’s a son of Hades, which is bad, he knows to stick monsters with the pointy end of swords but nothing else, he knows that Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace are Very Big Deals (But also doesn’t know why beyond parents), and he’s, at best, vaguely aware that there’s some kind of bad prophecy hanging around.

-Also by the end of the book, he’s just been told his last immediate family who isn’t Hades is dead in one of the worst ways possible, and he--pretty irrationally IMO, but Nico’s a kid who has been through a lot recently, so we’re not holding that against him--blames Percy Jackson.

-Literally, you probably can’t pick an angstier or worse choice to run through the time travel trope. I love it.

-We’re making this kid save Bianca’s life via time loop, which happens due to. . .hmm, we’ll say the Fates did it.

-So, Loop 0 = Canon, only at the end of the day on December 21st, after the conversation with Percy, Nico falls asleep only gods know where only to wake up the day he meets Percy Jackson:

Loop 1:

-Nico doesn’t actually change anything meaningful at first.

-Spends most of it shellshocked and not unconvinced the last week (For him, anyway) wasn’t a horrible nightmare; shellshocked and staring at Percy Jackson, anyway.

-(Percy’s wondering what’s up with the silent kid his sister had talked up as a cheerful chatterbox)

-It’s only when Bianca agrees to join the quest for Artemis that he starts kicking up a fuss; demanding to go, screaming that she can’t leave him even more, not again.

-(Bianca hesitates; briefly, enough to remind Nico that she loves him. But she’s not their mother, and she needs this)

-Bianca still dies. Percy comes back pale and guilty. Nico doesn’t yell at him when he returns--he already knows. He accepts the Hades figurine so that he can throw it into the lake.

-He slinks off back into Cabin Eleven and falls asleep, hoping desperately that he gets a third chance.

Loop 2:

-He does.

Loop 3:

-After a very painful death at the hands of Dr. Thorn, Nico, generally being a straightforward person at this stage of life, takes the obvious path this time around: He tries to tell Bianca--who brushes it off as a dream.

-Annabeth still goes over the cliff when Nico takes the initiative of attaching himself and his sister to Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace at the dance. He tries to tell Percy and Thalia when Bianca still joins the Hunt, promising Nico that whatever he saw, she’ll be extra careful.

-(Bianca’s fearful of what Nico's saying, and thinks that if these sworn sisters can’t keep her safe, who can?)

-Artemis gives Nico a speculative look but agrees when he begs her to protect Bianca at all costs.

-He doesn’t get on the quest. Being a reasonable demigod of questionable parentage, he sneaks out of camp.

-He gets caught, because despite being aware of his awesome new powers, he doesn’t know how to use them, and is still a ten-year-old who can barely hold a sword the right way.

-He gives Percy the puppy dog eyes and shows off said awesome new powers. Percy forces him back.

-Nico follows him.

-Repeat until Percy dies saving Nico from the Nemean Lion in Washington, DC.

-Nico can’t find it in himself to be terribly sad--especially when he doesn’t make it much longer.

Loop 4:

-He’s really stuck like this, huh?

-Oh, Di Immortales.

-(Before Percy gets his chest ripped to shreds by a lion and Nico meets skeleton cats, he learned how to hold a sword properly and curse fluently in Greek. Percy probably only meant to teach him one of those things)

-In unrelated news: Having a big crush on a guy who thinks he’s only known you for a couple hours? Terrible.

-Trying to hate the guy who let your sister die when he’s that stupid and nice? Even worse.

-That stupid lion.

Loop 5, 6, 7, 8, 9:

-Nico repeats: That stupid lion.

-Somewhere in Loop 7 he starts to steal supplies out of the camp store when he follows Percy following the quest.

-They forcefeed the lion enough trail mix and frozen ice cream in Loop 9 that they don’t die this time.

-At least until someone called the General shows up and Nico’s dead before he can raise his sword.

Loop 10:

-Nico wakes up in his and Bianca’s room in Westover and starts crying. Bianca tells the headmaster they’re both sick and Nico lets her hold him all day.

-They fall asleep and Nico swears he won’t let her die again.

Loop 11, 12, 13:

-He wakes up and he still can’t get out of bed without feeling that blade cutting between his ribs, burning like it’s on fire.

-Gods, he’s so sorry, Bianca. Dispiace tanto.

Loop 14:

-He can get up without feeling like he’s about to die again. Bianca fusses but assumes it was just a bad dream.

-Nico is caught stealing and can’t follow Percy until it’s too late.

-Everyone assumes this means he’s a son of Hermes, however, and Nico can’t correct them without opening his mouth and letting the sobbing laughter out.

-Figuring he’s about to get another chance next round anyway, he takes Travis and Connor Stoll up on their offer to learn a thing or two so that he doesn’t get Cabin Eleven slapped with kitchen duty from now until Doomsday.

-He likes the Stolls. He spent most of the time, pre-looping, actively avoiding everyone at camp as he waited for Bianca and Percy to come back, but they’re not that bad.

-Percy comes back with the figurine and no sister and Nico remembers why he’s stuck.

Loop 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23:

-After Loop 12 and being killed in Washington DC again, Nico realizes: He needs to learn how to fight.

-Unless he gets killed early or refuses to leave Westover, the loop resets after seven days. So, he has seven days to train each time.

-He gets to camp, finds the arena, and meets Clarisse La Rue. He demands she teach him how to kill monsters.

-She laughs, and tells him that attitude in his size will make monsters easy to kill, they’ll laugh so hard.

-Clarisse teaches him how to swing a sword each time--but only after mocking his unamused face.

-Somehow, Percy coming back with news of Bianca’s death only hurts more each time.

Loop 24:

-Nico wakes up before Bianca this time. He looks over at her bed and knows. He’s got to try this time.

-It’s disturbingly easy making friends with Percy Jackson after the last loops.

-Bessie’s new. Cute, but new.

-Nico wonders just how much he’s missed in the past--he thinks of Annabeth Chase, and hopes she hasn’t been dying each time.

-Percy doesn’t even argue when Nico shows up in the stables with a bag slung over his shoulder, and the sword he’s been stealing out of the shed strapped to his hip.

-Nico suggests the ice cream--again--to Percy in DC before

-Nico might be getting the hang of this.

Loop 25:

-Nico is not getting the hang of this.

-Zoë Nightshade’s refusal to accept Percy and Nico on the quest--violating a prophecy, and gods, Nico’s curious if that prophecy ever mentioned this--has so far gotten them attacked and killed by spartoi once.

-And again. As Nico bleeds out on the floor, he watches a panicked blond man--a demigod--plead for mercy.

-Isn’t he on the other side?

Loop 26:

-His name is Luke Castellan and he apparently wants the gods dead.

-Nico can relate at this point.

-The General is Atlas, and Nico knows enough about Greek mythology, real and wrong, at this point to know that is bad.

Loop 27:

-Twenty-six tries, but they finally make it out of DC. Threatening the questers with Atlas killing them all is more than enough.

-For the first time, Nico doesn’t know what happens next. He glues himself to Bianca’s side and glares at anything suspicious.

-With help that Percy refuses to name, even when Nico tries his hardest, they go to New Mexico.

-There’s a boar and it’s so close, they make it to what the others are calling “the junkyard of the gods”.

-Nico sees the Hades figurine on the ground.

-Bianca grins in delight and picks it up, calling for him.

-He can’t help it.

-Nico starts screaming.

Loop 28:

-His sister’s murderer was never Percy Jackson.

-His sister’s murderer was a force of mechanics that makes Nico fully understand, for the first time, what the gods are, beyond stats on a card.

-Talos.

-Nico is going to destroy him.

Loop 29:

-She dies.

Loop 30:

-Again.

Loop 31:

-Again.

-Loop 32, 33, 34, 3536373839FortyFo r t y O n e--:

-Again. Again. Again. Again again againagainagainagainAGAIN--

Loop 42:

-Nico gets out of bed. He finds Percy Jackson at the dance, hugs him, and tells him he’s sorry.

-Nico walks outside and waits for Dr. Thorn in the snow. He can feel the shadows curling at the edge of the wood like a sixth sense, now. Waiting for him to summon the restless dead out of them.

-So many attempts to save his sister, ranging from sacrificing himself to sacrificing Percy--not that Percy needs the push, Nico has found--to any and all members of the quest.

-She dies. Always, always dies. Whatever Nico does, that junkyard is full of the death of Bianca di Angelo.

-He tried avoiding it. Once. Loop 33. Nico threw such a fit he’s surprised he wasn’t sent back to Camp Half-Blood by the Hunters, but it kept them out of the junkyard.

-He tries not to remember how little was left of his sister’s body by the monsters that time.

-Son of Hades. After all this time, Nico’s beginning to wonder if this is what it means. Death and death and death.

-Dr. Thorn walks outside, and Nico can feel a ghoulish grin crossing his face that has no place on a ten-year-old.

-One of them is going to die, this loop. And Nico will not go to New Mexico.

Loop 43:

-Nico wonders if there was a past life of his he needs to remember. Who could he have made this angry?

-He lies to Bianca and they stay in Westover again this time. Better than death, anyway.

Loop 44:

-Nico tries a different tack this time. A more roundabout way of things.

-He takes Bianca and throws the two of them in the way of the battle with the manticore.

-After all this time, he still doesn’t know much about Annabeth Chase. She gets kidnapped and returned safely to Percy every time, to the best of his knowledge.

-Nico dies holding up the sky, but at least Bianca lives, under the protection of Artemis.

Loop 45:

-Nico looks in the mirror and studies the new grey streak with fascination. And, maybe, some hope.

-Things can change.

Loop 46, 47, 48, 49, 50:

-Nico gets kidnapped a few times. Once, he’s killed in a rage by a Titan with horns, but it’s quick. Mostly, he holds up the sky to get Artemis out.

-She looks at him strangely each time and Nico wonders if she can see what he’s done.

Loop 51:

-They figure out he’s a son of Hades. They offer him Olympus. Olympus and Bessie--the Ophiotaurus, rather.

-Nico says no.

Loop 52:

-Nico says yes.

Loop 53:

-Being on the verge of overthrowing the gods and keeping everyone he’s grown to care for--in the case of several Hunters, against his will; in Percy Jackson’s case, Nico loves him as much as he hates him at this point--doesn’t do much, apparently.

-Nico stays in Westover again. He resists the urge to tell Bianca that would-be destroyers of Olympus don’t need to brush their hair, whatever she says.

Loop 54:

-Nico goes over the edge of the cliff again, but with Percy Jackson.

-This isn’t the first time; in Loop 46, Percy had taken the sky for both the sake of Artemis and Nico until it killed him.

-What’s different, is Nico’s in the middle of what’s become the usual panic attack when he’s about to die for the hundredth time, and his powers react.

-Percy holds him close and calls him cousin. Tells him he’ll never leave Nico.

-You have no idea, Nico whispers. You can’t leave me.

-You think I want to? Percy whispers back. You’re not alone, Nico.

-Nico’s sobbing sounds like laughter.

Loop 55:

-Nico tells Percy the truth for the third time. This is the first time he hasn’t told Bianca first.

-They’ve just found the Erymanthian Boar, Thalia’s told Nico his goth needs work--whatever that means--and Nico’s bracing himself for the junkyard again.

-Getting kidnapped by the Titans really gets old after a while.

-He still has the grey streak, and no number of excuses will fully soothe his sister, but the Hunt’s a good distraction from it.

-Nico doesn’t blame Bianca anymore for it. He thinks.

-Nearly a year into this loop and Nico’s finding it hard to blame anyone for much of anything, anymore. Especially when he sees what she’s faced. Again. And again.

-For now, this time, Percy Jackson is staring at Nico with wide eyes at what Nico’s told him--through these loops, Nico’s starting to wonder if he now knows more about Percy than Percy’s own best friends--and says he believes him.

-Once, Nico would’ve exploded from joy. Now, he just sighs and nods.

-Percy tells him how to condense the conversation for the next loop. He advises Nico to research Talos, “like Annabeth would.”

-He advises Nico to warn Percy’s next loop self about Annabeth’s kidnapping. Nico wonders if he’s gone insane that he’s considering it.

-Bianca dies.

Loop 56:

-Nico makes the executive decision this time to try and befriend Annabeth Chase. As such, he takes Percy’s advice.

Loop 57:

-It takes him two tries to befriend Annabeth Chase and learn about Talos.

Loop 58:

-Three times.

-But the nail. The nail in the ankle of Talos.

Loop 59:

-He hangs back at camp again this time and meets Charles Beckendorf, head of Cabin Nine, and son of Hephaestus.

-Nico figures that short of finding the god himself and committing temporary suicide--not that it hasn’t crossed Nico’s mind--his son will have to do.

-(He’s tried his hand at summoning ghosts, but Daedalus refuses to show, for some reason)

-Beckendorf frowns and tells Nico he would have to see Talos himself.

-Nico hadn’t realized just how much cursing he had picked up off of Percy and Thalia until that moment.

Loop 60:

-Nico knows what the prophecy says. One shall be lost in the land without rain.

-He knows it’s why he’s been failing so much.

-The trouble is, he no longer cares.

Loop 61:

-It took him a try, but he gets Beckendorf on the quest, prepared to defeat the Talos prototype.

Loop 62:

-Strike that, two tries.

-Nico really hates the Nemean Lion.

Loop 63, 64:

-Nico has solved half a problem: How to defeat Talos without putting someone inside the robot.

-The other half of the problem is now that they are all electrocuted by a dying automaton for their efforts.

Loop 65:

-Beckendorf’s crush--girlfriend? crush, they’re both insisting--Silena Beauregard comes along this time. Nico won’t complain over the extra manpower, even if he’s positive that eight campers and Hunters are patent overkill for one quest.

-Silena pulls Bianca out of the wreckage. Nico’s heart stops.

-Silena’s crying when she mentions that if they had been a bit earlier, she could have been revived.

-Nico wonders if Thalia’s going to stab him as he starts whooping. And takes notes about where Talos falls.

Loop 66:

-Nico swears, if Percy Jackson tries to sacrifice himself for Annabeth Chase one more time--

Loop 67:

-Bianca.

-I found you, he sobs. I found you.

-Gods damn the Hoover Dam.

Loop 68:

-And again.

-Despite having the distinct inkling at this point that he doesn’t much like like girls, Nico could kiss Silena Beauregard and Thalia Grace when they manage to revive his sister each time.

-She’s shaky and leaning on him and was dead, he could see her soul floating away--

-But she’s there.

-Nico refuses to let his sister out of the sight at the Hoover Dam and Percy befriends the Naiads this time.

-At least, until the Titans--who Nico made the very big mistake of taunting at DC--sends monsters he can’t control.

Loop 69, 70, 71, 72, 73:

-They keep dying in various combinations at the Hoover Dam now that Nico’s figured out how to save Bianca.

-At least, until he gets separated from Percy in Loop 73 and he meets a redheaded girl with a penchant for calling Nico pint-size.

-Athena dislikes Percy, Nico, Bianca, and Thalia in equal measure. Having learned of the Great Prophecy in Loop 16 and Percy’s mooning over Annabeth in. . .well, every loop, Nico can’t quite blame her.

Loop 74:

-Her name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Nico likes her. She takes none of their shit and if it weren’t for the fact that they already have eight people on the quest, he’d want to take her along.

-Bianca gets in a fight with the Old Man of the Sea. Thalia electrocutes him when he throws Bianca in the bay.

Loop 75:

-Nico wakes up in Westover with the distinct feeling that he was drowned on dry land.

-He stays in bed shivering, that day.

Loop 76:

-Atlas is the father of Zoë Nightshade. Nico learned this around Loop 50. He had realized around five loops ago that this probably meant she was going to die “by a parent’s hand.”

-He hadn’t realized that it was going to hurt to watch.

Loop 77, 78, 79, 80, 81:

-Now that he’s figured things out to about San Francisco, it seems the world is out to get him. The number of fights or mistakes that he either makes himself or has to head off are ridiculous.

Loop 82:

-Nico is so very tired. And wishes he felt ten years old again.

Loop 83:

-If Thalia gets in one more fight with Nereus, Nico's going to walk into the sea.

Loop 84:

-He wanders off, in this one. Grover had been killed in Hoover Dam, so Nico’s waiting for the reset at this point.

-In the meantime, Nico figures there are worse things to do than enjoy a good afternoon in San Francisco. He even meets a boy in a purple shirt.

-His name is Jason and he has hair like the sun.

-If he ever fixes this, Nico wants to find him.

Loop 85:

-Nico’s not fast enough in the junkyard.

-In San Francisco, he tries to find the ugliest, biggest trouble he can find.

-He finds a pair of teenagers in armor who yell Latin at him instead.

Loop 86:

-There’s a dragon that will attack them in the Garden of the Hesperides if they make it angry enough and Nico is so tired.

Loop 87:

- Zoë Nightshade is dead. They’ve won.

-Funny definition of “win”, considering they’ve all almost died this loop about a dozen times each, and Nico can’t explain why he’s crying on the body of a Hunter he only met a week ago, in their eyes.

-She hates him, some loops. More loops, she looks at him with ghosts of old grief in her eyes and hands him a knife.

-The gods execute Bessie, and then, Nico watches as his father turns to him and Bianca with sorrowful eyes.

-Nico should’ve figured, after almost ninety loops.

Loop 88:

-Luke offers one of them the entrails of Bessie again.

-Nico takes them.

Loop 89:

-For all the good it does. Nico wakes up as he does every time now: Powerless, in bed, and with only a grey streak to show for his efforts.

Loop 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98:

-Nico doesn’t know how to save Zoë Nightshade. Bianca, he could trick and fight his way into it. Beckendorf and Silena and Percy and a loophole in lost could save his sister.

-Her, she just. . .dies. Sometimes in DC, sometimes in San Francisco, sometimes on the hills of Mt. Tamalpais. Always at the hands of Atlas.

-Always, being murdered by her father.

-It’s not as gutting as watching his sister die, but it aches more in his chest, somehow.

Loop 99:

-He sticks close to Zoë this time. Same as he’s done with Percy, Annabeth, his sister, Thalia, and Grover, time and time again. But not her, Nico is realizing. Not the clinging he’s achieving now.

-Hoping for. . .something.

-He knows better than to tell the immortal Lieutenant of Artemis the whole truth. The loneliness is enough.

-She’s less frosty to him from the start than to, say, Grover or Percy, after Annabeth goes over the cliff again. When he shows up in DC, she’s much less angry than he’s seen her.

-Along the way to New Mexico and then San Francisco, he listens. He’s grown better at it, this far in. When the others are asleep, when Bianca is being fussed over after Talos, when everyone but them is asleep by the fire, he listens.

-And she tells him about her sisters. About her father, when the world was young and Atlas had looked on every daughter of his with pride. She tells him, pride glistening in her eyes, of the battles she has seen, the hunts she has overseen at the command of a goddess, the monsters she has killed, and the epithets she has been given.

-He doesn’t ask anything of her. Not until they’re in the house of Annabeth’s father, drinking lemonade the night before the battle, and Nico knows she is about to die again.

-What do you want, he asks. You’ve done everything. What’s left?

-She stopped, ice seems to creep over her again, and Nico wondered if he’d hit some sore spot.

-He’s opened his mouth to make his apologies when she answers, so quiet and quick he thinks he’s imagined it.

-To be remembered. When my lady has taken another lieutenant, as she must, and I have gone to where all gods go when they die, I wish for my memory to remain. And. . .

-Nico waits, and ignores the sudden, terrifying thought that he no longer knows what he wants.

-I wish to see the stars again. I was born a nymph of the sunset; starlight is precious to me. I want to see it again.

-Nico dies to preserve the memory of Zoë Nightshade.

100:

-Nico di Angelo wakes up in Westover Hall. He hopes for the last time.

-He does everything right: Annabeth goes over the cliff, his sister joins the Hunt, Percy is soon his friend, and he convinces Silena and Beckendorf to join the quest.

-The Nemean Lion never stands a chance, and Nico is glad to be rid of it.

-His sister lives.

-Nico watches Percy watch Rachel Elizabeth Dare go, looking like he’s just taken a frying pan to the face, and fights the urge to snicker.

-Thalia doesn’t start a fight with Nereus, but Percy certainly does. Nico could’ve sworn he saw the boy with sun-hair again, watching with curiosity.

- Zoë Nightshade dies in the arms of Artemis and is made into the stars she loves so dearly. Nico promises her soul that he will remember.

-For, he has found, the dead have a tendency of remembering things they shouldn’t.

-Annabeth and Percy now have grey streaks to match Nico’s, and Nico can’t wait to spend the rest of his life trying to explain that.

-It’s closer than he would like, but much less close than other lives with Olympus. The Ophiotaurus is alive and safe, and they are all alive.

-As Nico walks out of the council, he looks off to the side. By the fire is the familiar girl with red eyes--the Lady Hestia, looking much closer to Nico’s age than that of the Olympian she is.

-Besides her are three old ladies. Nico’s heard about them from Percy, in Loops 26, 53, 61, and 62.

-One lady holds a ball of string that is the color of a warm umber. The other is knitting what looked suspicious like socks. The last. . .

-Scissors, in one hand. Just as expected. Nico swallowed.

-In the other, was a knot of burnt string, tied to the socks. Behind her, Nico could see discarded string of all colors: an electric blue, a stormy grey, a black that seems to glisten with the promise of a storm, string the soft, hopeful pink of love, yarn run through with bright copper.

-Glowing threads that Nico could only describe as the color of starlight.

-As he walked out, firmly between Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace, the Hunt of Artemis behind him, Nico hears one last promise:

It is done, Nico di Angelo.

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atruththatyoudeny · 3 years

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Happy 28th! I’ve read so many awesome fics this month! Make sure to check them all out. As always, all my love to all the authors in this fandom ♥

➻ don't want to fight you | starryharry | enemies to lovers - enemies to friends to lovers - pining - mutual pining - angst - fluff slow burn - no smut - 124k Louis hates that it’s familiar. He hates that sparring Harry is familiar because they train together. He hates that he even has to spar Harry at all, because Harry is good. Louis wonders what his life would be like if him and Harry didn’t hate each other. He can’t picture it, really. The incessant bickering that often turns into real arguing, the nasty looks, the eye rolls, the middle fingers. It all feels very necessary at this point. Or, the one where two fighters can also be lovers because routines are never permanent.

➻ we are ghosts amongst these hills | louisgaynkles | Soulmates - reincarnation - historical - slow burn - angst - fluff - 84k Harry spontaneously buys a house in Yorkshire because the universe, or fate, keeps leading him to it. What he didn’t know, is that his new house comes with a past that seems to be mysteriously tied to his own life. Before he knows it he finds himself travelling back in time, stuck in the middle of a century old love story. Featuring Louis as a farmer with a passion for gardening, Zayn as the heir to the local manor, Niall as a pub owner with a secret, and a truly underappreciated Liam. Based on Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

➻ through the wheatfields and the coastlines | thepolourryexpress | farms - cowboys - angst - implied/referenced homophobia - implied/referenced gun use - humor - smut - 53k “You’re not from around here, are ya?” Hot Cowboy asks, tracking his little lamb with his eyes. Louis frowns slightly, having thought he was doing pretty well at not sticking out like a sore thumb. It’s not like he’s not from around here — it’s not his first summer he’s spent at his grandparents'. But he supposes that the Manhattan city lifestyle that he’s used to is always going to shine through. “I’m visiting family for the summer,” Louis explains, cheeks a little pink. “Trying to get some work done without distractions.” Or, alternatively, the one where Louis needs inspiration, and a certain cowboy and his lamb are the perfect distraction.

➻ An Irrationally Strong Bond Between Two People | jishler | dystopia - friends to lovers - angst - first time - 18k Before The Advancement, most human lives and careers were plagued by irrationality and a lack of productivity. This was largely the symptom of what scientists refer to as “interpersonal passion,” which included two separate (though often conjointly occurring) phenomena: “love,” and “sex.” “Love” was a pre-Advancement word which referred to an irrationally strong bond between two people, which caused its sufferers to prioritise their fellow “lover,” as well as the integrity of the malignant bond itself, over vital things such as workplace productivity. Taken every two weeks in pill form, The Drug immediately removes interpersonal passion from the human psyche. Children’s friendships do not have the capacity to develop into full-fledged “love” since they are not yet adults. Every person over eighteen takes The Drug gladly, grateful that it allows them to be productive, clear-headed, and rational members of society. A few weeks before Louis’ eighteenth birthday, Harry and Louis fall in love. (Based on the book Louis writes in indiaalphawhiskey's Our Lives, Non-Fiction.)

➻ And When It's Time | larryftnoctrl | Soulmates - soulmate-identifying timers - 6k Louis wants a soulmate, Harry loves his free will. They don't exactly go hand in hand. Prompt: AU where you have a countdown on your wrist for when you're going to meet your soulmate and if you miss it the time will reset. Louis/Harry keep having awful luck and always are missing their time until one day they don't. Maybe the other one is scared/has anxiety about meeting their soulmate? Maybe one time they're in a relationship so they intentionally miss their time? Who knows! But they finally meet :D

➻ made for lovin' you | cuddlerlouis | a/b/o - enemies to lovers - hate to love - soulmates - hurt/comfort - angst - fluff smut - 53k “I’m in,” is all Louis receives. He blinks a few times, making sure he’s reading this right. “For real?” he asks, just to be a hundred percent sure. “Yes,” pops up. “How do you wanna pursue?” The alpha adds, like he’s on a special mission or something. “I’m gonna call us a cab to go to mine. Once I know it’s here, I’ll leave and join you there,” Louis explains. “I’ll text you to go around five minutes before it arrives, so it doesn’t look suspicious, and our friends don’t notice us leaving together.” “Noted.” So Louis does, and ten minutes later, he’s sat in the backseat of a cab, next to Harry Styles, the person he hates the most but unfortunately still finds attractive. They’re on their way to fuck in Louis’ flat. Splendid. - Or the one where a quick, horny decision ruins Louis’ summer plans, but may also lead to unexpected discoveries. Featuring the road trip of dreams, misunderstandings, and a bit of fate.

➻ deFENCEless | solvetheminourdreams | neighbors - enemies to lovers enemies to friends to lovers - gardening - fluff - humor - banter - no smut - 27k "I moved here first," Louis says with finality, crossing his arms over his chest. Harry shoots him an unimpressed look before leaning forward, leaving only a tiny gap between them. "Then get the fence first," he whispers, lips a mere inch or two away from Louis'. When Louis butts heads with his new neighbor who loves to garden a little too much, all he can do to protect his yard (and heart), is keep on building up his fence(s).

➻ Canyon Moon | delsicle | a/b/o - werewolf - soulmates - childhood friends - friends to lovers - arranged marriage - mutual pining - hurt/comfort - angst - 41k For as long as Louis has remembered, he has been promised to be mated to Harry, his best friend and the future pack alpha. But Louis’s heart belonged to the forest and to the hunt more than he could ever imagine it belonging to Harry. Then Harry’s father dies in a violent accident, and Louis’s future alpha disappears on the wind. An A/B/O Lion King AU

➻ only guilty of loving you | sweetrevenge | a/b/o - strangers to lovers - blind date - soulmates - fluff - angst - mutual pining - smut - 22k After Harry gets set up with his co-worker's alpha friend Louis, he's expecting some pleasant conversation, free dinner, and maybe a new friend. What he doesn't expect, however, is that Louis' arrival in his life begins a life of crime Harry never knew he had in him. A You've Got Mail!AU with a twist.

➻ 'Til Everything Changes | lovelarry10 | a/b/o - older characters - brokend bond - loss - falling in love - fluff - implied mpreg - smut - 57k Harry’s nose twitched as he caught a scent on the breeze, one that sent a shudder through his whole body. His eyes closed subconsciously, and he lost himself in the heady scent, the vanilla top notes, and the more woody undertones, making every hair on Harry’s body stand on end. That was how Harry discovered this man was an Alpha. “Jaz, Harry, this is my Uncle Louis. Lou, this is my girlfriend Jasmine, and her dad Harry.” "Lovely to meet you,” Louis grinned, leaning in and kissing Jasmine’s cheek quickly, a respectful Alpha gesture. Harry held his breath as Louis stuck out a hand, taking it almost reluctantly, certain the Alpha would pick up on his own scent and the nerves flowing through it. “Hi, Harry.” “Hi,” Harry said, his voice low and raspy, still affected by Louis’ scent. “Nice to meet you.” ~~~~ Harry’s an Omega who has been alone for too long. Louis’ an Alpha who is scared to find love again. Thanks to the meddling of Harry’s teenage daughter and her boyfriend, the two seem destined to meet, and it might just change everything they thought they knew about their lives. Will they find what they didn’t realise they’ve always wanted in each other?

➻ Mind Over Matter (You Under Me) | youreyesonlarry | ice hockey - hurt/comfort - angst - fluff - major character injury - pining - unrequited love hospitalization - smut - 74k It’s dark outside when Harry finishes practice for the day. -------- Prompt 21: Harry stopped playing hockey (after 10 years of a professional career) because of a severe injury. The dream he worked so hard for vanished in the blink of an eye. His family insisted that he had to go to physical therapy, even if it only helped his health. Cue to personal assistant Louis, the most efficient and kind PA one could hire

➻ Rooms on Fire | softfonds | a/b/o - actors - famous/famous - friends with benefits - secret relationship - 34k Ten years ago, Louis helping Harry through a heat was the start of a romance that ended in heartbreak. Now, Harry's marriage is over thanks to his husband's very public infidelity, and Louis is fresh off a Golden Globe win. The last thing they both expect is to be cast in the same movie.

➻ Stumbling Into Your Arms | sunshineandthemoonlight | a/b/o - strangers to lovers - college/university - fluff - 7k Suddenly, Harry’s nose was brushing against Louis' neck, where his scent was overwhelming. Harry jerked his head to the side and took a deep breath of air, trying to clear his nose of Louis’ scent. ‘Don’t get slick, don’t get hard, don’t get slick’, he repeated to himself in his head, like a mantra. Louis and Harry are university students heading home for the holidays. Harry quickly becomes enraptured by the attractive alpha standing across from him in the train carriage, who has a heavenly scent and a gentle smile.

➻ Little by Little | nonsensedarling | mpreg - non traditional a/b/o - exploring sexuality - exploring secondary gender norms - gender identity strangers to friends to lovers - mutual pining - fluff - slow burn - 65k Harry Styles is an omega who works at the London Planetarium, has lived in the same flat for ages, and is happy enough on his own. When he gets home from his first (horrible) attempt at dating in years, a new pregnant neighbor knocks on his door after smelling his cooking. He and Louis quickly become close, but their friendship gets complicated when Harry begins questioning who he is and what he likes. Or Harry discovers figuring out who you are is more complicated than a potato metaphor.

#28th appreciation #fic rec #monthly reads #monthly fic rec #my reads #larry fics #completed fics

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