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veil-touched-rights-org · 9 months

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This is Part 1 of a series of posts about moments in the Night Shift Podcast that made me pause/things that I look back on and have thoughts about (or just thoughts). I’m not planning on doing any kind of deep analysis here (though I’m sure I eventually will be doing that as well), as much as just highlighting some moments that for whatever reason stood out. This will be long, as its the entirety of the first episode.

I also want to be clear that there are spoilers throughout - I’ve also tagged as such. The general tag for this series will be "the veil opens", so watch for that!

All transcript portions pulled from the Night Shift web site (https://www.nightshiftpod.com/)

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads “[Audio cuts]”. End ID.]

Take this in, savor it, it will be a rare occurrence, as Seb has a lot of trouble turning off recorders, as you will later see.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “My goal here, really, isn’t to prove anything. It’s just to talk about it.” End ID.]

Seb, baby, my dear, sweet man, stop lying to yourself.

All jokes aside, I have no doubts that Sebastian actually started with this mentality, at least sort of. Like wanting to talk about it with sources that weren’t exclusively bought out by Augur or state-owned, and as he did so his natural want to know and understand strengthened this into a more investigative thing. Then his goal wasn’t to prove anything specific as much as that something generally was wrong.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “If you’re from Echor, you’ll also know a thing or two about ALPHAs. If you’re not, you’ve probably heard of them on the news or something. Augmented humanity, manufactured by the most progressive - and impressive - scientific minds in the United States.” End ID.]

It’s actually wild that this was the least shady thing going on here. Like, the super soldier genetic engineering program was fine, in the face of everything else. I remember hearing this and being like “that must be a controversial program” and it just wasn’t. Thinking it was weird was the controversial opinion and a rare one.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “Of course they’d say that. Augur are responsible for creating these genetically engineered freaks.” End ID.]

Sebastian, I have some news for you, about your genes.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “North: Well, I think it’ll be good for you anyway. Something to channel all that energy into. Even if Feldman’s a creep. Sorry - is he going to listen to this? Actually, I don’t care. He’s a creep and he should know it. So, how many shots of espresso do you think I can drink before I see God?” End ID.]

I don’t actually have anything to say other than that I love them. Adair North is a treasure who is doing their best, even if they’ve bought the corporate propaganda. In their defense, it seems that not doing so is an even bigger rarity in Echor than in our world.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “Sebastian: I don’t really like the idea of being experimented on for science. End ID.]

This, my friends, is what we call foreshadowing (or just an unfortunate coincidence).

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “Sebastian: It’s Friday night, about 1am. The shop is empty as usual. Who wants coffee on a Friday after midnight? Still it pays the bills.” End ID].

Me. I want coffee on a Friday after midnight.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “preternatural”. End ID.]

This sounds like a joke but I did actually pause this here because I LOVE the word preternatural. Like, I sat for a minute happy that this word was here. I’m not sure why I like this word so much, but hearing it so early on probably helped with how much this podcast dug its way into my heart.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: I understand what you’re asking here - the answer is yes. It would be possible. Theoretically, it would be easy. I’m sure you’ve heard stories of the incredible feats people can pull off in life or death situations, right? How people can survive climbing down mountains with broken legs or wrestle a polar bear to save their children? It’s called Hysterical Strength, and it happens in extreme situations when there’s just the right cocktail of cortisol, adrenaline, and endorphins. Humans only use a fraction of our maximum theoretical strength and our bodies naturally conserve energy, not waste it. In most cases, pain and fatigue keep us from reaching our max potential to prevent injury, but when those aren’t a factor, anyone could - again theoretically - run at intense speed or lift an unnatural amount of weight. It’s entirely possible that a drug could be developed that would replicate the physical conditions to set off” End ID].

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: Hysterical Strength. Although, it's never been replicated in a lab on public record, so it still seems unlikely. End ID.]

So, I’m mostly highlighting this to talk about how much I love the way Night Shift grounded itself in reality. (Briefly I also want to praise it for both clearly branding itself as fictional, and making itself obviously fictional as things move on. There have definitely been some podcasts in this style that I had to stop listening to because it messed with my head, and I think this made it much more accessible than it would otherwise be.) Hysterical strength is a very real thing, it really exists in our very real world! And while the specifics of genetics don’t match, the idea of things in our environment altering us in ways we don’t get, and genes being unexplainable also pulls from science in a grounded way. (I personally, have a genetic mutation that is not super understood that does things to me that aren’t entirely understood - unfortunately none of that include preternatural abilities.)

It does a lot to make this show more understandable, as it means that there is more of a base for what’s new, and not explained by the podcast (as it's assumed to be understood by the in-world listeners.) It makes urban fantasy work so so so well!

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “augmentation programs, and I’m inclined to believe it. It’s been more than two centuries since widespread magic died out. What remains is little more than the echoes of hereditary powers, and that’s limited to a fraction of our population. End ID.]

When I tell you I gasped. Firstly, this is new for the Urban Fantasy I’ve encountered. The idea that the magic of this world is largely inconsequential now? Again, a moment that got me hooked - how would they compensate for that (amazingly as it turns out). Around here is also when I decided that when I was recommending it to people, I was going to call it “Urban Fantasy with a Sci-Fi flair”.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “Sebastian: This was an interview with Volta earlier this year after CEO Wesley Hastings announced the ‘Alpha Prime’ initiative. This initiative intends to see an ALPHA Prime, aka an ALPHA with superior powers like…generating fire and camouflaging into their environment, placed in law enforcement in every capital city in the United States in the next ten years. As usual, Volta was the poster boy for the project.” End ID]

The impersonal nature and derision of how he approaches Angelo is almost startling after finishing the first season to be honest - but all relationships start somewhere, and the way their relationship grows is great. More importantly than my character/relationship/ship musings is the terror that I have with the idea of every police force having a super soldier who can set me on fire. It effectively set me up to distrust Augur, even more than everything else//

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “Sebastian: Never underestimate my ability to stick to a useless task. That is my superpower. End ID.]

Sure it is, buddy. The only one too, I’m sure.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “North: My opinion on ALPHA is… that they’re hot. If you’re an ALPHA you’re hot. It’s like a given, you know?” End ID.]

Look, they're right, right? Like, I’m an asexual lesbian so it's probably a different kind of hot for me than most, but like, they have to be right, at least for the most part. I think that if I saw Lea Parish in real life there’d be a minute where that was on my brain almost exclusively..

(I will say that I think I’d have more thoughts on ALPHA than that, because like, the idea of them is fishy at the very best, but it’d almost definitely be on my mind somewhere.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “What’s not to love anyway? Augur is the future. One day I’ll be living in my smart home, with my smartwatch and my A.I. assistant taking care of everything so I can live a carefree lids in the lap of luxury, and you’ll be grumpy and alone in your tinfoil hat scrounging for dinner in a dumpster. You’ll see.” End ID.]

There is so much not to love about this. Dystopian image of a future, to me. I get why some stuff gets smart/automated (disability reasons mostly), but my whole home absolutely will not be.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “In a simple sense, I don’t agree with any private entity holding as much power as Augur does. Yes - they are the very heart of technological progress, and I don’t begrudge progress by any means - but they also have a chokehold on energy, healthcare, housing… Even balancing their grip on ths country with charity work and initiatives to help people in need, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine they’re holding puppet strings in the government.” End ID.]

Seb is so real for this one, actually. I love his anti-corporate sentiments almost as much as I love everything else about him.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “[Sound: Footsteps walking away, stopping] North: Oh Seb? No, he’s really busy right now.] End ID.]

People looking specifically for Sebastian are such great moments!! Especially because at this point it's not because of the podcast, you know? Like whoever this is just wanted to see or talk to him just to do so. The guy is so so good at endearing himself to people and it makes me sad that he doesn’t know that.

[Image ID: A portion of a Night Shift: An Urban Fantasy Audio Drama transcript that reads: “Sebastian: I’ve been investigating some rumors about your ALPHA program? And about a street drug called Hunter that supposedly gives users temporary abilities like ALPHAs have? I found some leads, but it gave me more questions than answers, and I thought for clarity I could speak to… [Silence] You know what, never mind. Sorry to bother you. Angelo: Mr. Fen. Sebastian: Huh? Angelo: Take a seat.” End ID].

This will probably get its own post at some point because I have what those in the industry call thoughts about this. Like, okay, firstly the establishment of Seb as someone with all the audacity on this planet, who will go up to someone who is on their break and just ask to interview them is great. Then, Angelo just being willing to talk to this amateur reporter on said break, especially with what we know, also great.

There are ideas about parallels floating vaguely in my brain that I’m excited to delve into.

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

And that is all for this post!! I hope that you enjoyed this long post and dive into this episode, and that you stick around for the next one!! Enjoy your coffee, get some sleep, and remember that the veil touched are just people.

#veil vocalizes #the night shift podcast #night shift podcast #the night shift: an urban fantasy audio drama #the veil opens #night shift podcast spoilers

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inner-solstice · 2 years

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As previously stated, i did say id write about this later…..

I will never listen to or ever give a chance to a person who manipulated my whole being just to get me to love them

I shared my struggles, my issues, my trauma, my tears, fears, and worries. I opened up my whole self to a person with a history of massive manipulation, lying, gaslighting, and abuse.

I was in a position of darkness and heartbreak and it was taken advantage of.

I constantly communicated my issues on why I couldn’t do or feel the things you forced me to make me feel.

I opened up to you and you judged me. You used my weaknesses and heartbreak against me and forced so many emotions that still needed time and care to build, but instead you birthed a person that didn’t know how to love you properly and used my mistakes from it and present flaws against me. I genuinely genuinely thought I was a monster because I was always in the wrong. I was always “not treating you right” or loving you for a while and stopping. I’m a person. I was forced to love you when I wasn’t ready. I even stepped down and you begged me to come back with words of “I’ll change, I’ll change, I’ll change” - I think it just got worse every time. Why did I keep coming back? Why did I keep struggling so much? I gave you the answers to these questions in the very beginning. For months i communicated why. Naturally it meant nothing to you and i was overall manipulated And forced to feel bad about not reciprocating your ”love.” I finally have had time to emerge out of my rose colored glasses to finally see that I’m not the person you portrayed me out to be.

You turned me into a person that made me feel bad for everything. You used my current flaws and insecurities against me and made me believe i was a bad person, then when shit hit the fan, you told the whole world extreme exaggeration absolute lies. remember how you told people you were scared id share your nudes? youve got to be joking. i think it was a few months later you recorded us having sex without my consent…which i wasnt okay with when i saw what you were doing. i let you do it anyways though because i knew id get shit on for not wanting the same thing. Now IM scared that you are showing everyone. I know thats something youd do because youve showed me all of your exes nudes. -

regardless, you accused me of shit that you did worse by x1000000.

I admit, I’m not perfect. I fucked up too. i made genuine mistakes. in healthy relationships, we couldve gotten through them. but no, i was forced to think i was a monster and it was used as your fuel against me to make me believe i was a horrible heartless person

Eventually, I did things to protect myself because there was a small voice inside of me telling me to, because there is a possibility of things getting worse and worse and worse for the millionth time. Also…I thought it was love that drew me to you. I think it was plain obsession. I was obsessed with the story my head made up about you. Sad lonely troubled girl stuck in hell for years with an abusive family. The memories of us doing things that I never thought I’d ever do. You opened up my mind to new things and new interactions and more emotion that spoke the most beautiful language to me. Just a story… just obsessed of the good things… Every time I came back, it was good for a little while…but then the honeymoon phase would dry up and it was like I wasn’t even a person, just a thing that you manipulated me to be all of the time. I felt bad for having emotions and worries. I felt bad for having panic and depression, anger. Expressing any emotion. I felt bad for the flaws of my family and felt bad because I couldn’t give you what you wanted just as I was forced to in the very beginning. I knew it was warped, all of it, and I couldn’t let myself let you do it to your extreme degree with the rest of my life - as you did to my emotions and me as a whole. I realized that small voice was logic, wisdom, and reason. the monster turned into anger within myself…everyday i let myself fall farther down the hole….

I know I messed up a lot, but that doesn’t mean you get to tell me that you didnt do the same x100000000. I hated feeling so shitty about things i did that you had to passive aggressively tell me about when you literally did the same a week ago that was much worse. I tried to tell myself that it was okay that I’m not feeling okay from how you treated me and that I will try to forget about it as soon as I can so I can try to go back to being in that lovey dovey honeymoon phase again. I forced myself to push down things and I fucking broke after a while. i felt bad for my emotions.

Telling me I need therapy for my anxiety…shit. I need therapy to learn how to find strength to get away from the 3 year old monster of lies, abuse, and manipulation that chained my heart and mind down.

It got to an unhealthy point of “I’m stuck and I can’t get away. I’m trapped, why can’t I leave? I’m a bad person, I deserve this.”

For the second time you chose to be selfishly “poly” with montse and I. You didnt care that it hurt me so badly and still lied to montse.

I still stayed. It grew to the point of, “ just be with her, I don’t care. I’m nothing” and put up with her calling and calling and calling and you denying every single one because you were with me. When I was sad, you used your charming words of “let me go buy you some food, I don’t want you starving yourself, I care about you” - shit like that. I became more and more nauseous but her words manipulated me into thinking she actually gave a shit.

I shut down, I was silent, that very night you begged for me to open up again, you begged time to come back to you and you’d let go of montse “she means nothing, she’s a backup to you if you leave me, I’ll change I’ll change” yadda yadda yadda. Crying at my feet, begging me to stay when i was struggling so hard to walk away for hours. You knew I was struggling. But fuck I still gave you another chance. I told you that I felt so bad for montse. I didn’t even care about you seeing her anymore. But what stuck out to me was how you chose to let her go. The things you said to her….man. “Oh I just hate when people hate me” come on. She deserves the truth at the very least. I remember her texts along the lines of, “ this just isn’t working out and I’m so sorry and you deserve better” crap. Like seriously? You couldn’t tell her one hint of truth.

I saw montse as myself in that moment. I almost envied her because she was getting away.

But I stayed. And I took on more and more abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, and lies.

Girl if you’re reading this, take her with a grain of salt. It may seem so good at first but I’ll tell you, you wont realize when you are being manipulated and gaslighted with everyone else. if you’re setting boundaries with her now, don’t think that it wont be used against you again in the future if you decide to be with her. Be careful and protect yourself.

This is a perfect example of manipulation. I gave in to myself as a monster and let you use me while still seeing her because I knew I couldn’t get away. And when I finally tried, you still manipulated the both of us with zero honesty. And still continued the remainder of time we had….

I refuse to let myself fall again. I refuse. I write this for my sanity. I need to learn to validate myself again. Driving home was a nightmare for my thoughts. Writing it out all straightens out my emotions. I’m starting to learn the difference between love and manipulation amongst several other things -

I used to crave you every time we didn’t speak, and I know you craved me to. But I think we craved the story we manifested about each other. Im craving it now. But I feel sick about it. I haven’t been able to eat because I feel like all the darkness I’ve received over the years are swirling in me, trying to become one so I can purge it out. I’m so unbelievably nauseous with everything from the past three years.

I’m trying to figure out how to forgive myself now. I forgave you already….but now it’s my turn to do it.

might add more to this post later on…

I believe the universe took me down this path to teach me a valuable lesson of what love is and isn’t. Especially after all the other people who took advantage of me before you. I think the universe became so sick of me resorting back to people like that so it built this path for me to learn and grow. Pain can help you grow too as shitty as that is to go through as a human.

These past several days, I’ve seen glimpses of the person that I used to love and understand about myself…..I am not a monster, I am not a robot ~ I’m a survivor, a human, and I will keep surviving through this. I can do it this time.

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fonulyn · 3 years

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So I'm reading this sad Chreon story - as one does (it's me, I'm one) - and I just had the weirdest epiphany? Like, I dunno, it's probably dumb and far from a hot take or some eye opening character analysis no one has done before but I noticed that people (including myself, so like not saying this in any kind of bad way) tend to write Leon as stand offish, apathetic, and cold. Like this story stated it specifically, said something along the lines of "this is what Leon gets for cultivating a reputation for being unapproachable, apathetic, and indifferent" and the insinuation there is that he's done this on purpose, put on this front to seem unaffected by things when in the presence of others, and I think it's pretty true for his character. Like anything post RE2, Leon is kind of. I dunno, I wanna say deadpan? He seems to express v little emotion, and when he does it's usually in the form of a quip, one-liner, or snarky come back. Sometimes awkward small talk lol. But it feels like he's built this wall, this persona around himself, not just to protect himself from losing more people (bc he probably sees it as some kind of inevitability, and with his track record I certainly wouldn't blame him), but to protect people from him. This poor man has spent so long fighting, trying to save people, and even tho he saves the day in the end, so many people get lost in the process, and Leon feels every single loss personally. Right off the bat we see it every time someone dies in RE2, then again in RE4 with Luis, who he knew for a short period of time and yet mourned so heavily for, and even Krauser to an extent. Leon is someone who is quick to trust, even as he gets older, and we see that in RE Vendetta, too. Like that's probably one of the big reasons he's so devastated after losing his team. Not only was he entrusted with a group (which doesn't happen often, as far as we have seen), but he probably put his trust in them as well, including Petrucio, the man who betrayed them. I just think Leon is such a complex character who hides so much of himself (which is convenient for bad writers at Capcom who can't write good dialogue to save their lives lmao, but I also think it's a decent part of his character now), probably so what happened in RE2 doesn't happen again. Bc that shit was probably so traumatizing, and Leon was still a baby! I'm only a year older then he was at the time of RE2 but like, as humans our brains don't finish growing until age 25, so that kind of trauma at that age is for sure gonna stick with you, and it seems he picked up some unhealthy coping mechanisms from it that's more than just his drinking problem. Anyways I guess I just wanted to rant about how Leon is the most "emotionless" character in RE but in reality he feels and cares so much, so much so that if he doesn't put up that mask of indifference then he'll destroy himself. This man would die so that others could live, he's saved the world multiple times without a care for himself past the need to finish his mission and keep as many people as possible safe. He's such a tragic character and I love him so goddamn much, like he's one of those characters who you aspire to be like, in a way. Selfless, capable, dependable, reliable, smart, passionate, caring. And some of this might be my own character building I've done based off of other headcanons and character analysis posts and stories I've seen, but I do think we see a lot of this in the canon content, too. I just really love Leon S Kennedy, okay? He makes me sad but also so so happy and I love him v much, he is a big time comfort character for me. Sorry for the rant, just needed to scream about this with someone who would understand lol 😅

oh anon, I get you, I dooo. I think that you're right in that Leon has kind of this shell around himself because it's the only way he can cope. but there are so many cracks in his shell, and he lets people in so readily even when it would stand to reason that he shouldn't trust anyone anymore. he gets attached to people lightning fast, and he'd die for them even when he's barely met them.

this borders on headcanon territory, definitely, but I tend to often write him as someone who gets attached easily and falls for people easily (be it friendship or romantic or anything), but then he doesn't know how to properly let people in because he's got his defense mechanisms, he's trying to keep himself from breaking, and what if he truly lets someone past those walls and then another disaster strikes and he never recovers from it?

and I think it shows a lot in how he's so awkward with small talk, he can throw in one-liners and dad jokes and try to keep his own (and anyone else's) spirits up with that. but oh man. beyond that? the boy doesn't know how to naturally talk to people. (even like in Infinite Darkness, with Claire, I think his "don't do anything stupid" was 100% meant to be a joke, both times, but it just didn't exactly land perfectly. poor awkward bby)

but like even though he might put up this unaffected front, he's still so very expressive? like... if you really pay attention to him? he's far from actually an expressionless and cold person. he just isn't very loud about it. (i was just going through ID screencaps yesterday and while Shen May is talking and Leon is on the background, he goes through such a journey in expressions alone :'D)

AND HE CARES. like, for example in Infinite Darkness, he sees Patrick is shaken and the first possible moment he has, he immediately asks him if he's okay and takes a moment to reassure him. they're in a hurry, he's supposed to get going and not check up on a guy he's never even met before, but he does it anyway. and I think it speaks a lot of his character. he's quick to offer support and comfort, and he genuinely tries to be there for others the best he can. he desperately needs someone to listen to him in turn, seriously. give him emotional support, damnit.

and I wanna highlight what you said:

in reality he feels and cares so much, so much so that if he doesn't put up that mask of indifference then he'll destroy himself. This man would die so that others could live, he's saved the world multiple times without a care for himself past the need to finish his mission and keep as many people as possible safe.

because yes. 100%. also this:

he's one of those characters who you aspire to be like, in a way.

like. yes. there was this one meme thing going around which was basically like asking if you feel like you're like your favorite character and I'm just. I fucking wish I was one tenth of what he is :'D

I know not even he is perfect, c'mon, no such thing as perfect people exist (not even in fiction, or if they do then they'd be really damn boring :'D). i'm not trying to claim he has no flaws, or that he never does anything wrong. he has and he does. but the amount of genuine caring he shows and how hard he tries to do the right thing? truly awe inspiring.

i just. I'm right there with you. I love him so damn much. and that's why I spend most of my time writing fic where he gets at least some of that happiness he deserves :'D i need him taken care of, damnit, and if canon doesn't give him good things then i damn sure will.

#whenever you want to talk about him anon #i'm right here for you :D #i love him so much #so muchhhh #anonymous #ask and i shall answer #re answers #leon s kennedy #long post

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lunnybunny12 · 3 years

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Sirius Black x Reader (Soulmate)

A/N: This a soulmate AU (Takes place after deathly hallows and lets pretend Sirius is alive shall we)

REQUEST: @graniairish hello love. i love your stories and for the first time i really dare to ask a request. could you maybe write a short story for me? reader is a muggle, and the great love of Sirius Black. she is his soulmate, his one. Because of the things that happened in the first war, she was bewitched with the obliviate spell to save her life. after Sirius is free again he finds her and tries to awaken her memories of him in the hope that she still loves him inside her soul. because for him she is still the one great love.

Word count: 1438

No warnings

Master list

You were about 5 years old when you were told what soul mates were, why your parents and other peoples hearts would glow. You were told that when you met the love of your life, you'd get an overwhelming burn and as you got to know each other it would fade into a warm buzz. From what you'd heard it was the best feeling you could imagine. The youngest recorded soulmates were found in Edenburg in 1880 when they were 3 years old. As you got older however you fell out of love with the concept. Over the years you'd seen your friends, family even strangers find their mates and fall in love, have a family. You thought that you would have found yours by now. For all you knew they could have been in another country or even dead. There had been plenty of recorded cases of that on your time on earth.

Rain everywhere. Rain up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; Rain down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside of a great city. Rain on the garden, rain on the gnomes. Rain creeping into all the nooks and crannies of your roof; Rain running down your fogged window as you refined the details of your painting. The brush strokes had to be as careful and controlled as possible.

A sudden gust of freezing wind choked the warm air around you, breaking your concentration. You were not in the mood for talking the day you had to get the painting finished by that afternoon (or at least that's what you told yourself) and you weren't exactly dressed for guests.

"JACK!" you yelled throwing down your brush and marching to your front door. "You better have a good reason for being...." Your eyes widened in fear.

It wasn't your brother as you expected but a man you recognised in one of Jacks papers. He was looking right at you, his piercing eyes staring right at you, cementing you in place. By the way, he was dressed, he wasn't some hobo off of the street. He wore a green and yellow pinstriped coat that stopped at his knees, navy blue trousers with a matching shirt underneath and a dark waistcoat.

"I didn't hear you knock" you gulped, eyes looking to the closest vase in case you needed to defend yourself. "Why are you in my house?"

"(y/n)" the man smiled taking a step closer in which you took a step back and grabbed the vase.

"Don't take another step closer or else the vase won't be the only thing smashed into a million pieces." He stopped, face in shock.

"Who are you and why are you in my house?"

"I understand, you're scared but listen to me..." He extended his hands to shield himself. That's when you saw the wand on his hip, he was a wizard... and if he was going to hurt you he would've by now.

"You're a wizard? You here for my brother because if so he hasn't lived here for a year." you breathed slowly lowering your "weapon".

"I'm a wizard yes. My name is Sirius black" He breathed regaining his composure, his hands still out in case you changed your mind. "And no I'm not here for your brother but he did sent me here."

"Jack (your last name)? Tall, black hair..." "Has a mole on his left eyebrow and a tattoo of an owl on his hand yes that Jack"

It checked out your brother did indeed fit that description. You sighed and told him to follow you into the kitchen.

"Are you going to keep that with you? he joked talking a seat at your kitchen table.

"Yes, yes I am," you stated, turning on the kettle. "You're a complete stranger who just broke into my locked house, I assumed you used your magic. which begs the question... What was so important that you couldn't have wait long enough to knock on my door?"

Sirius just sat there with a smile on his face. Like when you haven't seen someone in a long time and you were catching up.

"Were not COMPLETE strangers, (Y/n). In fact, we're far from strangers and be happy to explain if you'd drop that vase. Id feel allot safer." He looked so smug and you were having non of it.

"Fine, but hand over the wand"

"Why?"

An equally smug smile was plastered on your face "Id feel allot safer."

"Touche"

Since your brother was a wizard, you understood most of the lingo. What each spell meant and how it worked. The manes of important places like Hogsmead and Azkaban were words you had to learn to simply have a conversation with people in the wizarding world. But there was one spell or charm or whatever the hell they called it that had slipped your mind quite literally, "obliviate". Sirius told you it was a memory charm, that could be used to erase specific memories from an individual's mind.

"Why would anyone want to use that charm on me?" you asked pouring the pair of you a cup of tea. "I mean sure I'm a muggle but Jack is a wizard."

Sirius had sunk in his seat a little bit, he knew that you wouldn't believed him if he just treat out said it so he did the only thing that he could think of. When you went to place his tea on the table in front of him, he grabbed your wrist, accidentally making you drop it.

"What the hell!" you began to yell until you felt an unfamiliar feeling in your chest. When you looked and saw your heart it was... glowing?

Where was the burning? why didn't it hurt? When you looked back at him, his chest was glowing too. That couldn't have been right, the only way it wouldn't hurt was if you'd already ... met.

Your heart was going a million times a minute and your breathing was too quick for it to be doing anything. Sirius stood up, still holding your hand. He was so close he couldn't lose you again.

"listen I know, I know it's confusing and scary and all over the place but if you give me my wand... I can give back your memories. Make you understand" before he finished the sentence you fished the stick out of your pocket and shoved it into his chest.

"Hurry up before I pass out!"

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

It was overwhelming at first when you met him. Like a fire was burning its way through your entire being, from the bottom of your toes to the tips of every strand of hair. It was a good burn, felt the same as blushing but internally. Then as if in sync, your hearts started to glow. For the first time in your life, you didn't feel so alone and he felt the same.

The pair of you were young and fresh-faced. Right out of school not knowing how ether of your worlds worked quite yet but you stayed together through it all. Years of emotions, conversations. arguments and apologies seemed to morph themselves into a relationship that worked for the pair of you. He was happy. You were happy.

Every smile and kind word, every annoyance, dances and songs you shared came flooding back to you. The day he was taken from you was the hardest thing you had to live with, you begged and pleaded with him to make you forget him and to save you from years of torturing yourself over what you could've done.... he did as you asked.

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

You woke up on the floor, Sirius arms wrapped around you with his head on your shoulder. He was holding you like you were about to shatter into a million peaces. He was always gentle with you, even during the times you didn't want him to be. He would always stroke your hair and kiss your head and... you remembered.

It was so quiet. The rain was still thundering on your window. The worlds still turned but you didn't care.

A content smile curled onto your lips as your hands glided to hold his face. He still held onto you.

" Its good to be back, Padfoot. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me"

He leant down and kissed you. It was so long and heated and filled with so much love you could've exploded. Your hearts still glowing with a warm buzz you had become so familiar with.

"How could I forget my Soul mate?"

#sirius black x reader #sirius black #Sirius #sirius black fluff #sirius x y/n #sirius black smut #soul mates #soul mate #marauders smut #marauders x reader #marauders #harry potter fandom #harry potter #x reader #padfoodblackdog #padfoot

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ikleesfiction · 3 years

Text

I'm a fucking alcoholic (with a sweet tooth)

Fandom : Chicago PD TV Word count : 1,623 words Pairing : Jay Halstead x reader Author's note : This is the third one shot of "Will you follow through if I fall for you" fic continuation. It would be better if you read it first. But if you don't, here's the quick summary. Warning : It's fluff. I hope it doesn't end up too cringy?

Disclaimer

◢◤

It is a cold Friday in Chicago. You would say it is super cold since you worked in the warm weather of Los Angeles last week. Jay is coming over to your place after work. Now both of you are snuggling on the couch, watching movies on TV.

"I cannot watch this part," You hide your face in Jay's chest, preparing for the frightening scene. The darkness in the room increases the tension.

"What are you talking about? This is not even a horror movie," Jay looks down at you, bemused.

"Say you! Watching Tom Cruise blowing up a Gallardo distressed me. My soul is crying. It is a nightmare!"

You move out from Jay's embrace to point out the screen where Maggie Q said it is such a nice car. "Yes, it is! Don't do it, Zhen," yell you at the TV.

However, The Lamborghini on screen still went kaboom and was engulfed in fire. "Oh, no!" You put your hand on your heart, feeling devastated.

Jay grins at your silliness, "I'm sorry for your loss," He rubs your back, offering his condolences. However, his smile turns flirty. "If there's anything I can do to ease your pain..."

You play along with his idea. "Hmm, is that so?" Your hands wrap around Jay, pulling him closer. Your nose is tracing his neck, up to his jaw, his cheek. Your lips softly grace his skin, make their way closer to his. Jay wasted no time to kiss you and keep kissing you.

You don't know how long it goes, and you don't care to know. Until Jay moves back abruptly, tilting his head away from you, "Your pho..."

Your lips cut his words as you get on his lap. Jay puts his hands on your waist to stop you, halfheartedly, "Babe, your phone is ringing,"

Your hands curl behind his neck. "Let it ring." You whisper to his ear. Jay shudders when he feels your breath on his neck. Your mouth soon follows to make a mark on the same point. Jay tries to hold himself back from reciprocating the gesture.

Unlike Jay and his work, you got no obligation to pick up your phone. No life or death depends on you tonight. But the phone keeps shrieking. It started to annoy you because Jay stops participating in this make-out session.

"Might be important," This is one of the rare times you want to curse Jay's occupation.

"I assure you it won't be," You try to get Jay back in the game.

"Well, at least you can tell them to call you back later," Jay lands a soft kiss on your forehead. With a loud sigh, you move away from Jay's lap to pick up your phone.

Seeing the caller ID frustrates you even further. "You are interrupting our date night," is the first thing you say to your best friend, Alex, when you receive the call and put it on speaker.

"Hi, Jay!" Alex chirps his greeting, ignoring your complaint.

Jay greets back with a chuckle, "Hey, man. Nice to hear from you," He takes the remote to pause the movie, where Tom Cruise is gunning a Mercedes CLK down the road.

"No, it's not." You grumble under your breath. "What's up? Did you just come up with a song idea that would make Bruno Mars wished he wrote it?"

As a fellow songwriter/producer, you understand that song inspiration could come anytime. But it would still piss you off if Alex insists on working for it tonight.

"Not yet. But we do have a potential project for you,"

"Couldn't it wait until next week?" You moan your refusal. "Jay and I got plans for the weekend,"

"Of course. As long as you promise to pick up your phone when Angelique calls. I know you have been dodging her." Alex chides you.

Huffing your aversion, you lay your head on Jay's lap. In reflex, he plays with your hair. "Who's Angelique? A new talent?" Jay never heard that name before. He is pretty sure that he knows everybody at Pyramid, Alex's record label in Amsterdam where you work for.

Alex starts to explain, "She is a singer. Been around for a while,"

"Country singer, turned bubblegum pop singer, and now I guess she wants to try dance music as well?" You elaborate to Jay and asking Alex at the same time. You have written and produced songs from various genres, but your notable works so far are mostly EDM.

"Maybe," Alex answers casually.

"Angelique..." Jay ponders for a moment before lighting up, "Oh! Is she the one whose songs you keep skipping whenever they pop up, babe?"

Your best friend lets out a big laugh from the other side of the phone. "Angelique wants Y/N to produce her next album, but all of a sudden Y/N here cannot find the receive button on her phone," Alex emphasizes his sarcasm.

"I took yours, didn't I?"

However, Alex begins his interrogation. "Why are you avoiding her calls anyway?"

"I don't wanna work with her," You know you sound petulant.

"Come on, Y/N, it would be great! Angelique's third album sold triple more than her second. Her last single went neck to neck with Taylor Swift's song. Now, she is gonna let you work on her fourth album! Other producers would kill for this opportunity," Alex tries to reason.

Jay whistles, being impressed by the story.

"Well, my boyfriend here is a cop. I don't wanna get involved in any criminal activity," You are intentionally being obtuse. "If it were so great, why don't you do it? You're the one who still works on stage."

"You know people talked about how you could be the next Max Martin, right? Made sense that she asked for you," Alex states. "Angelique doesn't need another artist to perform with her. She needs someone who writes and produces good stuff."

"Every producer could be the next Max Martin if they work hard," You shrug the notion.

Jay looks confused with all these new names. "And Max Martin is...?"

"We are never ever ever getting back together?" Alex starts singing a couple bars to show Jay some examples of Max Martin's works.

"Uh..." Jay doesn't show any recognition.

"ou make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream?" Alex sings another song. Your best friend is nothing but persistent.

"Uhm.." And yet, Jay is still clueless.

"Jay is not keeping up with pop music for the last decade, Lex," You joke to your best friend. "Try some songs from the Backstreet Boys,"

"Hey!" Jay protests. "I know your songs," He smirks at you in full smug. "Especially the ones that were written about me."

You laugh at his adorable and sexy smirk. Sitting up from Jay's lap, you kiss the smug out of him.

"Guys, I'm still here." The flat tone of Alex on the phone stops Jay from taking the kiss further.

You peck a corner of Jay's lips one more time. "Your own fault. Who told you to call during our date night anyway?"

"Since I'm not there to poke and pinch you, I hope Jay could help me convince you to take this project." Your best friend is shameless.

"Is Angelique not a good person or something?" Jay tries to understand the situation. He knows you are a hard worker. It is rare for you to run off from a big project like this. "She ought to be a good singer, right? With all of that achievements,"

You cross your arms and glare at your boyfriend, "It is a prerogative to hate your best friend's exes, no?"

Jay frowns, "Wait, Angelique is Alex's ex?"

"Oh, come on!" groans Alex. "It was years ago!"

"You know how the saying goes. Quote-unquote, "You are my friend. She is your ex. You get to forgive and move on. I get to hold a grudge until I die”

"That was kinda harsh," Jay comments.

"Your best friend still hates me until now, Jay." You roll your eyes at your boyfriend.

"Mouse doesn't hate you. I even haven't got a chance to tell him about you since he's been deployed," Jay raises his eyebrows.

"She meant your work partner," Alex answers Jay for you.

Jay frowns deeper, "Hailey doesn't hate you."

"Wanna bet on that?" You challenge him.

Alex prevents the couple from bickering further, "Guys, listen! Angelique and I broke up amicably. There were no hard feelings between us now,"

"Excuse you!" You exclaim. "I still remember those dark days. You cried over so many Tequila bottles. And those boxes of chocolate!! Why did we have to consume that much chocolate over a breakup?? My waistline did not come back to its original measurement for three months!!"

Jay lets out an amused snort.

"Oh, you don't get to talk, man!" Alex hits the couple back. "Your temporary breakup also forced me to replenish my Jenever stocks! I got bakeries phone numbers on speed dial for chocolate cake emergencies!"

Jay puts his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. You guys continue to discuss business," He stands up from the couch. "I'm gonna go warm up some pie," Jay gestures to the kitchen area. "Alex, it's nice to catch up with you. Hope the next time we talk, it would be more social and less about business,"

"And you, love, try to listen to what Alex offers first before you cut him off," Jay bends down to kiss your lips teasingly. "Please don't pull out any bottles with more than 40% alcohol content. I need you sober for our plans tonight." He winks at you before moving to the kitchen, leaving you to deal with your pushy best friend alone.

+x Taglist +x

@lorenakaspersen @life-treatments @itsdesiree86

Foot Note: - Tom Cruise and Maggie Q blew up a Lamborghini Gallardo in Mission: Impossible III (2006). All of the MI movies are classics in my household. - Max Martin is a Swedish record producer, songwriter. You might not know his name, but I'm sure you know his songs. In reference to this fic, he co-wrote and co-produced Taylor Swift's "We are never ever ever getting back together", co-wrote Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream", co-wrote and co-produced some of Backstreet Boys' biggest hits. - "You are my friend. She is your ex. You get to forgive and move on. I get to hold a grudge until I die" line is taken from Henrietta Wilson on 9-1-1 TV Series S02E04 "Stuck". I thought it was hilarious. The line became the reason for this particular fic's existence.

I'm sorry for the long note. Thank you for reading this fic and the note. You are so welcome to reply, ask or tag me. We can talk about music, series or Jesse Lee Soffer's abs. :p

#jay halstead x reader #jay halstead imagine #jay halstead fic #one Chicago fic #chicago pd fic #chicago pd tv #jay halstead #reader #original character #fanfiction #one shot #original work #wyftiiffy

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elizabeethan · 3 years

Text

Spaces Between Us Chapter 11: Strong

The hardships of real life separated them six years ago, and Emma has been struggling to put that fact behind her ever since. But then, only after she’s convinced herself that she’s moved on and that her new life is enough, Killian Jones comes back.

A Captain Swan Modern AU

A/N: Oh no my hand slipped and I posted early again

This chapter was hard to write, and it might be hard to read. Some heavy stuff happens so please take care of yourself and read the warnings! As always, if you need more information, please please message me.

***This chapter includes a scene containing descriptions of domestic violence. Please message me for more details if you need to***

Thank you, as usual, to my beta and friend @the-darkdragonfly, and to @donteattheappleshook and @xhookswenchx for listening to my ramblings and helping me figure out the plot to this <3

Read the Rest

Read on Ao3

Read my Other Stuff

~~~~

If there’s one thing Killian was not expecting when he woke up this morning, it was this. In fact, this has been the furthest thought from his mind for months. When Emma assured him that Henry is not his son, he believed her and forced himself to drop it.

He would gladly raise her child as his own, if she would allow him to do so. He would help them to escape her abusive husband, getting them out of the state entirely if he could, and he would act as a father figure to her boy.

But when she walks towards him in the hospital that afternoon, her eyes bloodshot and her face red and swollen as she cries some more, he hears the last thing he’d ever expected to hear.

“They want to do DNA testing,” she tells him softly, her voice croaking and rough in the aftermath of her violent sobs. “A… a paternity test.”

“Emma…” he tries, but nothing else will come out.

“I’m sorry. The pulmonologist says there's no way this is from him being premature. It’s really bad, and he says it’s got to be genetic.”

“I know, love, but… I just thought…”

She's silent for a moment, and it’s as if she doesn’t even want to try and speak. Finally, she inhales deeply and forces out her explanation.

“The weeks before you left, we were fighting all the time. And then we would have sex to numb how much it hurt, and the whole time, I mean… I was bad about taking my pill. And once you left I was still bad about it, but… if I got the date of conception wrong…”

He nods, though he’s having trouble understanding her as the world feels blurry still. Despite his confusion, though, he runs his hands up and down along the length of her arms. “He’s still so small, though.”

“He was five pounds, eight ounces when he was born. Which is tiny, but Dr. Whale said that a stressful pregnancy can impact birthweight. And… I mean, I spent my pregnancy with Walsh. I lost you.”

Taking her hands in his, he squeezes and begs her to look into his eyes before he pulls her bottom lip from between her teeth and wipes away the tiny trace of blood left behind. “Love, are you sure about this?”

He watches as she begins to break again, the tears immediate and her breathing quickening until he pulls her in for a tight hug. “If this is true-- if you’re his dad-- that means I put him through this for no reason. What kind of a mother does that make me?”

Although he’s overcome with confusion and a difficulty accepting what seems more and more likely to be the truth, he’s also overcome with the need to comfort her. So he shushes her gently, kissing her head, and whispers, “you're the best mother in the world to him, my love. You did everything you could to protect him. If this is true, we can leave, and I'll be the best father I can to him. Together, we’ll make up for what he’s been through, I promise.”

“I don't want to do this to you,” she cries, and although she grips him tightly, he can feel her pulling away. “I don’t want to put you through this.”

“There’s nothing I want more than to be a family with you and Henry. Even if he isn’t my son, I'm going to get you out of Storybrooke and I'm going to treat him like he is.”

She holds onto him for a while, letting her breathing even out and probably deciding whether he’s telling the truth, and he considers the weight of their situation. He never thought he would be a father. Once things ended with Emma, he thought it was over for him and that he would never move on and be happy enough to start a family with anyone else. Then, when he found her again and with a child of her own, he thought he would at least be happy enough raising someone else’s son if it meant being with her. When she so firmly and believably insisted that he did not father her son, he believed her and tried his best to move on.

Now that the possibility is dangled in front of him once more, he isn't sure he can survive the heartbreak of being proven wrong once again.

But when he thinks about the lad who has Killian’s mother’s eyes and Emma’s round cheeks and an attitude that couldn’t possibly be inherited from such a horrible man, his heart clenches in his chest and he can’t bear to not know. He can’t go through life without knowing whether this child is his. He wants him to be his so very badly. And even if he isn’t… he may as well be.

“What do we need to do, love?” he finally asks, giving her assurance that he’s in this with her no matter what they find out.

She sniffles, looking up at him with glassy red eyes and asks, “are you sure?” and he nods with firm resolve and a soft smile. She returns it and explains, “they can do a paternity test right now. I can pay for rapid results and find out in a few hours.”

Brushing the hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear, he nods again and leans down to kiss her despite the fact that they're in public. They're hidden in a quiet hallway, but the possibility that anyone can walk in on them in each other’s arms is real. “I’ll pay.”

“Killian, no--”

He cuts her off with another kiss, this one more heated, and then says, “I’ll pay. However the results come back, I want to be here for the lad. I’ve missed five years already, let me start making that up now.”

She sighs and kisses him now, holding him as close to her as she can as she cradles the back of his head in her hands. “Should we talk about what this means?” she asks softly, voice barely above a whisper in the quiet hall.

“All it means is that a part of me may have been with you all along. I can take comfort in that. It means I have a reason for being so fond of your son, other than him being your son. It means there’s hardly any reason for us to be apart ever again.”

“Aside from my potential murder,” she jests, although it feels heavier than any joke should.

“Hush,” he quiets. “I told you I'm not letting anything happen to you and I meant it. We’re going to get this sorted out now, alright?” She nods, her nose running along his cheek. “Now, are they going to stab me with a needle, or can they simply swab my cheek?”

With a snort, she asks, “what, you can handle a bunch of tattoos, but a bit of blood work is too much for you?”

“Oy,” he argues, tickling her playfully until she giggles and buries her face in his neck. “I’ll do anything for that lad, I swear. Just… a cheek swab is a bit less uncomfortable.”

“I’m sure a cheek swab would’ve been less uncomfortable than 39 hours of labor, too.”

“Alright,” he concedes. “Come, now. Let’s find out the level of torture I’m about to endure.”

~~~~

It’s hours of sitting behind the desk, torturously staring at the clock and willing it to turn to 8 pm so she can leave. Tink doesn’t deserve this shift; it’s a complete waste of a day, and hardly anything exciting has happened. One would think that the emergency department at a hospital would be more busy, but Storybrooke is a small and sleepy town. The only thing that’s happened today is a little boy getting checked in for his asthma, and if nothing transpires with what was discovered after he was admitted, it’ll feel like a wasted shift.

As if his ears were burning, the elevator opens to reveal something very exciting indeed: the mayor. He hurries towards her, leaning over the desk with a sense of urgency that Tink suspects is purely for attention and votes. “I’m looking for Henry Oswald,” he insists.

She blinks at him and cocks her head, turning to her computer for show, although she already knows what’s about to happen. “Do you have ID?” she asks when she sees the kid’s chart, concealing her smirk.

The mayor grumbles something about her not knowing who he is and the slightly sadistic side of her cackles. The cackling gets louder when she takes his ID and shakes her head, giving him a falsely apologetic look. “I’m sorry, sir, I can only allow family into his room.”

His face is nearly unreadable, but she sees the way his eyes widen threateningly when he asks, “excuse me?” in a deceptively calm tone.

Not falling for his playacting, she repeats, “only family is allowed in the room at this time.”

“I’m his father,” he insists.

Tink shakes her head. “Not according to his chart, sir. The name on your ID does not match the name listed here.”

“Let me see that.”

“I can’t, sir, it’s a confidential medical record. Only his parents are allowed to see his information.”

He slams his hands against the desk and shouts, “I’m his father! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Honestly, Tink should work on her tendencies to rile people up. But when she heard about the drama with the mayor’s son not actually being the mayor’s son, she was sort of hoping this would happen. She didn’t vote for him, anyway. “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to lower your voice and take a step back.”

“I’m not lowering anything until you let me see the kid!”

“Sir, I’ll have to have you escorted out by security,” she insists, pressing the button under her desk discretely and watching the security guards rush into the waiting area.

The mayor shouts in anger as he’s hauled away, threatening to sue the hospital and insisting that Tink is infringing on his rights as a father. She smiles softly at the image she saw earlier, of a small boy sleeping away in his big bed and his father diligently guarding him from his firm, uncomfortable chair.

~~~~

Killian wanted to go for her after finding out the truth about Henry-- the fact that Walsh isn’t his father and Killian is-- but she was terrified of leaving him alone for even a second without the protection of the sheriff, so she insisted on going. He didn’t take that lying down and made her promise to stay in the hospital where it’s safe, so when he fell asleep in the hard folding chair, she kissed his forehead and snuck out of the room and down to his car.

It’s strange how easily she’s been able to accept the events of the day. It started with her having a mental breakdown over her husband’s maltreatment of both herself and her son, and has evolved into her feeling a sense of completion. Things are starting to feel right. Her life is falling into place.

Killian is Henry’s father.

She can continue to stress over the fact that she was too consumed by the pain of losing him to even consider the possibility later, but for now, she focuses on getting as many of Henry’s things as she can and stashing them in Killian’s squad car before she goes back to the hospital to be with her son. Killian can bring all of his stuff to his apartment later, so that she doesn’t waste any more time being away from him or being in this damn house.

She smiles as she grabs his favorite stuffed animal, Mr. Quackie, and pushes it into his small backpack before reaching for his nebulizer and placing that inside as well. She grabs Goodnight Moon and his favorite copy of Henry and Mudge, and just as she’s reaching for the rest of his clothes that she has laid out on his bed, she hears the front door slam.

In a panic, she shoves his clothes into the duffle bag as quickly as she can and zips it up, but she isn’t sure how she’ll be able to leave the house without him knowing. The squad car is parked outside, and while she was initially worried about taking it for fear of Killian getting into trouble, she’s glad she has it now. Maybe if he thinks the Sheriff is here, he won’t do anything. Maybe she can climb out the window without being seen, sneaking back in the front to grab the keys from the kitchen and making a break for it. She doesn’t need any of her own things, just the contents of the small backpack slung over her shoulder.

Just as she makes the rash decision to head out the window, hoping that the roof below the second story will be enough to ease her to the ground, she feels a hand on her shoulder yanking her back inside until she’s on her back and looking up. She’s never seen him look so angry-- she’s never seen anyone look so angry. He glares down at her through fury and rage and she fears what’s to come.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asks simply, seething through his teeth as she gulps and attempts to stand. He stops her by pressing the toe of his boot, still wet from the snow outside, to her forehead. “I said what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Um--”

“I just left the hospital. The school called, and when I got there, they said only Henry’s family can go into his room.”

She tries not to dwell on the fact that the school called him because she knows that they were required to do so. She also tries to ignore the fact that he waited almost eight hours before going to the hospital to look for Henry, able to put the thoughts of anger out of her mind and replace them with relief at him not being the father of her child. All she can do now is gulp and stare up at him in anticipation for what he might do to her.

He removes his boot and lets her stand, and just when he steps to the side and she’s tricked into thinking that he may let her leave, he throws her onto the small bed and screams, “his family?! How convenient is it that the hospital thinks someone else is Henry’s father?”

“Walsh,” she tries, but he’s on her before she can go on, pressing his forearm to her throat to silence her with just enough force for it to hurt.

“And now you're here, in the sheriff’s car,” he hisses, spit spewing across her face as he berates her. “If you tell me he isn’t mine-- if you stuck me with this life for six miserable years for absolutely no reason-- I will fucking kill you right here.”

She lets out a sound that should indicate the damage he’s doing as he increases the pressure of his hold, and he lets go only long enough to replace his arm with two hands. He squeezes hard until she starts to see stars, clinging her hands to his wrists in an attempt to claw him away from her and open up her airways again. Instead of letting go, he lifts her by the neck and throws her back down against the bed with more force than she knew was possible. He screams some more, but her world is going dark and she can’t make out a word he says to her.

Her lips start to feel numb at the pressure he applies. Her eyes feel like they’re going to pop out of her skull. Her desperate movements at his hands weaken, and she truly believes that he means to kill her. He means to end her life as punishment for falsely saddling him with fatherhood. She has the realization that she’s about to pass out and probably die, and then sees her son’s face flashing before her eyes and is reminded of why she’s here. Not just why she’s in his room gathering his things, but why she’s here on this earth. What purpose she serves as a person.

She’s a mother.

No one can take that from her.

No one.

She lifts her hands from his, finding one last grain of strength, just enough to plunge her pointer fingers into his eyes and make him scream in painful anguish as he finally releases his hold on her. She takes the deepest breath she ever has and ever will again, and feels more sympathy for Henry than she ever has before because nothing has ever been scarier than wanting to inhale and being incapable of doing so.

Walsh cries out, swearing at her and calling her names before he throws her onto the floor, causing her to lose the wind in her lungs once more. But she’s committed to fighting back now, and she won’t let him win, so she kicks him hard between his legs so that he falls beside her and then moves to stand herself.

Grabbing the small backpack, the one that at least has his nebulizer in it, she feels Walsh's hands grabbing for her ankles as she starts to run. She makes it down the stairs and grabs the keys off of the counter, wishing she had just kept them with her, when he cuts her off. He raises the stakes, too, because he’s standing three feet from her with a gun she had no idea he owned and a wild, murderous glint in his eyes.

“Are you gonna shoot me?” she asks, her throat and neck burning as she speaks.

“I really, really want to.”

“What about your reelection?” she taunts.

“Fuck you.”

She glances around the room as she stares down the barrel of his gun, and realizes she isn’t scared. It’s the icing on the cake, the fact that he’s had a gun in the house that her five-year-old lives in the entire time and never bothered to tell her. She’s furious.

So she picks up the crystal vase on the counter and he laughs, asking what she’s going to do with it when he’s standing there with a gun to her head, and she tosses it at him. It’s his grandmother’s, and he wouldn’t dare let a family heirloom shatter, so he drops the gun and catches the vase. She grabs his golf club as she runs by the bag he’d left by the entrance of the kitchen, holding it like a bat as he turns to face her again.

“You’re not his dad,” she confirms finally, her strength giving way to the cocky attitude that she’s been wanting to give him for months. Years. “The sheriff is. And I’ve been fucking him for months.”

He growls in the back of his throat, grumbling something about her being a bitch, and rushes her foolishly. She swings the golf club with all of the force that she possesses and knocks him and the crystal vase to the ground, taking a deep grounding breath when he remains still, and then hurrying towards the door.

~~~~

She parks outside of the sheriff’s station, unsure of what to do next. She knows he can’t do anything to her here, and she doesn’t want to go to the hospital where Henry could see her. She also doesn’t want to let Killian see her like this, because he was right all along.

She always thought that a part of Walsh must've loved her, just a bit. She thought that he would never hurt her, because she’s his wife, and that’s just not how things are done. Killian was right, and she should have known better.

She remembers hearing a statistic in college, back when she wanted to be a social worker, about how battered women are in the most danger when they try to leave their abuser. She never for a second saw herself becoming a statistic.

~~~~

The sheriff’s car had been parked outside for twenty minutes before Deputy Ruby Lucas decided to take a peek and investigate why he wasn’t coming inside. When she finally does look, she sees something she would never have expected.

Of course, she figured out they were having an affair pretty easily. It’s not like they were being discreet about it, after all. But Ruby never suspected that the sheriff would lend his town-appointed vehicle to his mistress.

She likes the mayor’s wife well enough, even more so upon finding out how little she regards her husband. The man’s an absolute terror and she’s never liked him, and always struggled with how someone could possibly have found enough good in that man to marry him. Of course, finding out that Emma doesn’t actually like her husband very much was a bit of a pleasant surprise.

She taps on the window on the drivers side and the woman inside jumps, staring up at Ruby with wide eyes filled with terror. “Are you alright?” Ruby asks her through the glass, and she watches as Emma grimaces as she turns her head to face forward again. Suddenly and with great clarity, Ruby’s astute deputy skills kick into gear as she notices a deeper-than-normal shadow on the woman’s neck and realizes what’s happening. “Where’s the sheriff?” she asks.

Emma says, “the hospital,” although her voice is rough and sounds strained.

Ruby wants to turn on her flashlight and take a better look at the woman before her, but thinks better of it so as to not spook her. She leans down so that she’s more on her level and says, “can you come inside with me? We can call him.”

She watches as the frightened woman reaches her hand up to her neck and cringes away from her own touch before undoing her seatbelt and exiting the car, her eyes wide and fearful as she looks around the empty parking lot.

Ruby has never seen someone look so terrified in all her years as deputy.

~~~~

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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The Owl House: Enchanting Grom Fright: Happy Valentine’s Gays

Happy Valentine’s Day owl ladies, gentleman and non-binary folks! It’s time to finish off this holiday in proper style with a LONG overdue review of enchanting Grom Fright and even longer overdue coverage of the Owl House. The Owl House was one of the best debuts of last year if not THE best, only in contention because Close Enough also started last year and looks to surpass regular show in terms of quality. But with stunning animation, tons of representation, and colossal worldbuilding. And given how i’m on record for thinking Star Vs went so far down the tubes they bumped into where Cthulu is sleeping, it’s nice to have another magic based show that seems to be on the right track: carefully building i’ts world, supporting cast and for today’s topic main romance. It also rather than just obliquely hint one character was bi and the other pan, actually goes out of it’s way to have a bisexual protaginst with a gay love intrest. As my good friend @jess-the-vampire has brought up quite a bit, star had plnety of options. .but no willingness to actually campaign for any queer rep, the way Gravity Falls head Alex Hirsch tried to, he still gets credit for trying, and Owl House creator Dana Terrace gets full credit for.

Terrace got her start working on Gravity Falls in line production before working her way up to directing for ducktales, being instrumental in how Webby was animated and how she moves and acts, and being the director for several classic season one episodes including “Woo-Hoo!”, “The Spear of Selene” , “Day of the Only Child!” which was one of my faviorites from season 1 and “The Beagle Birthday Massacre!”. And while I can’t 100% confirm she’s the only part responsible for starting Weblena, given she was director on an episode where a lot of the romantic subtext was in the visuals, she certainly helped so thank you Dana. Thank you a lot. Their adorable. Point is she’s a talented lady and wasn’t satisfied with directing, so she pitched her own show, combining tons of ides and stuff including of all things, Pokemon Red. I checked the article wikipedia had sourced, it was one of her happy childhood memories as it was one of the last things her dad gave her. Awwwwwww. That’s as sweet as it is painful. She’s also currently dating Alex Hirsch, something I was entirely unaware of but find also adorable. Point is i’m glad I looked into her as she’s a very nice person, and very much my kind of weirdo and i’m happy for her sucess and her singuarly weird show that sprung from that sucess.

Now that part of it’s out of the way the episode itself was an uphill battle as you’d expect. As anyone familiar with this blog is aware, but just in case your new, you tend to hear me bitching about Disney’s handling of queer represntation a LOT

For the most part Disney’s pretty bad at it: There was the string of “FIRST GAY CHARACTER IN AN X” they had going for a while.. that consisted of a character I dind’t realize was gay, a kiss I didn’t see, and a talk with a character who I honestly wouldn’t of been looking for had disney not patted themselves on the back with some giant sized hands because htey saved some pym particles for that occasion. Ducktales was unable to have Penumbra come out as gay more clearly because I don’t know Ducks can’t be day.. but they can be IMPLIED to be gay or pansexual as hard as the crew possibly can so they win anyway. Pixar was able to have a gay lead character for one of it’s sparks shorts out and even focused on him coming out of the closet and it’s very good and something I WILL give Pixar credit for... but not Disney Plus who go out of their way to not mention the lead being gay.. despite the fact the short opens with a gay space cat riding a gay space dog out of a rainbow and then it being revaled our lead is in a relationship not long into the short. My point is the idiots who won’t watch this for having gay characters are just going to turn it off, who cares what they think, why are you like this Disney. They need to do better, and be better and i’m getting tired of this shit.

That being said... this episode is a step in the right directoin as despite having to get past one obstructive asshole, not her words but damn if it isn’t the truth, as the rest of hte execs were fine with having a gay character, Terrace fought hard for it and WON, having a clearly gay character, and a clear road to a gay romace as the lead one, all because she wanted some representation in her works. So to honor this, I present this review in honor of love, effort and saying screw you to not having represntation because money. Join me under the cut and allt hat.

We open in the owl house, in the owl house, duck dodge push and shove, it’s how we show our love in the.. you get the point. Luz is learning yet another Rune, this time plant runes.. and already something I love about the series pops up: the fact Luz’s rise in skill is gradual but noticable. Each spell noticably improves in potency with time, going from simple lights to shaping them into simple constructs, and learning to control or time her spells and glpyhs so they launch she she says so, with each one getting more powerful the more she learns. And on top of that osmething I just noticed on rewatch of this episode is her tecnique in finding them evolved, something I dind’t notice the first time because I hadn’t fully caught up and checked this one out to see if Disney would actually let them go through with it.. and they did. Point is her first spell is found by accident, her second by realizing how her magic works fundemntally, both require skilled deduction and on the fly thinking and casting, so she’s already pretty skilled.. but now sh’es ACTIVELY seeking out a new spell here for the first time. She knows how she gets them, she knows each school is tied to a form, and she likely got the plant from williow since that’s her thing and she’s a saint. A demon but also a saint. They can have those too. It’s what I assume relicor is.

I miss that goblin demon bat man. Point is it shows an evolution in Luz’s thinking: while it’s a subtle thing she took a more proactive approach this time even if it took a lot of practice.. and it pay soff as by the time of her next rune, while it’s once again sorta handed to her she has less time to learn it, almost none, and finds it singed onto a ball.. and learns it effortlessly to the point where by the next episode it’s a crucial plot point. IT’s subtle but clever character progression, and stuff I really enjoy, showing our hero going from a bit inept but not helpless or incomptient.. to a force to be reckconed with and far more clever and strategic than yo’ud expect given her sometimes reckless and almost always happy go lucky attitude.

Luz worries teaching King about the internet was a bad idea because he gets excited about a literal cat fight which .. yeah... it was a bad idea but not because of that.. but because next he finds someone saying the earth is flat and she wisely yanks it away. It’s.. very sad that the absolutley maddening and easily debunked flat earth theory is still RELATIVLEY more sane than the stuff we’ve had pop up during the trump era and the cornoavirus pandemic.

But one of the main conlficts of the episode pops up as Luz’s mom messages her and Luz can’t bring herself to tell her anything and just sends a thumbs up. I do think this episode helps even things from the pilot a bit as it was a bit lopsided: While I got that Camillia was genuinely struggling with how to deal with Luz, and was offered an out and had to take it... the fact she sees NO problem with the normalcy camp, which comes off intentioanlly or not a sa parallel to conversion camps or camps to make autistic kids “Normal”. And as someone whose both bisexual and autistic, I naturally relate to luz way more as someone whose intrests sometimes just don’t quite fit with everyone else, and who dosen’t get how bad some of their actions were. THat’s why this episode feels like a necessary course correction: Luz is shown to genuinely love her mama and feel guilty.. but we see camilia genuinlely loves and supports her daughter a bit more. While it was clear from the pilot this shows it more, with her genuinely just wanting to know her daughter’s okay and checking up on her, and giving me the feeling that possible consequences or no if something bad WAS happening or she didn’t hear from her for a long time, she would’ve drove up there to get her. It feels like the writers realized the implications they accidently created and wanted to fix it, though I can’t say for certain. But if so good on you for course correcting, not every show does that.

But King encourages her, telling her she’s doing the right thing by lying and to “trust the demon on your shoulder”. Keep this in mind for later, but that joke is great on it’s own. But soon i’ts time for school and Hooty.. barfs out Luz’s books for her.

I haven’t been this disturbed since.. (Looks at the clock) About 2 maybe three hours ago when I watched a man have, if apparently shorter than the oriiginal cut as I wanted to see everyone else’s reactions dammit, sex with hiis car which was possesed by the mad ghost of his dead wife. Because that’s the kind of stuff i’m into when i’m not reviewing stuff. And before that Tinky.. just everything about tinky.

I do not have enough time to get into TInky here or why he exestially horrifies me. Or why Jeff blim is a living god. I will save that for a proper review if I have the time tomorrow. Point is I saw a lot today and that still tops it. Willow and Gus are likewise grossed out and want to leave.

Cut to school where Luz wonders what’s with all the decorations.. that remind me of this honestly

And frankly given the whole state of the boiling isles it REALLY wouldn’t surprise me if the decorations were indeed well cooked faces. But i’ts Grom time, which means elaborate gromposals (Some Dude asks Skara out with a beating heart and an elaborate medical proposal.. which.. points for effort. And for using an actual heart. Couldn’t get one for mine. ), dancing and someone being chosen for Grom Queen. WHich Willow hints isn’t as nice as that sounds. Before we can get into that though Amity bumps into them and gets into a tizzy before meekly greeting “Luz.. and Co”. which.. not going to lie.. is my faviorite gag of the season. Just htw way she adds them and just the way Willow and Guz both smile widely at it as if to say “That’s us!”. Amity drops a note and snatches it back. This will be important later, you all know why, point is Amity becomes Grom Queen.. and is heavily depressed with Luz following her to find out why. At the gym.. she does indeed ifnd out why: Turns out Grom is not some mutation of an earthname but is based around a horrifying entity lurking beneath the isles, Gromethious the Fear Bringer, who emerges from his slumber once a year and must be fought back and brings out his target’s greatest fears. Just like groundhog day only with less time loops and rodent abuse. Amity is scared of hers, and i’ll obviously get into this more later, and Luz simply suggests asking bump to opt out and Amity appricates the support. Awwww.

Luz heads home and we find out Eda is chaperoning and King is mcing. Eda is also rocking a suit. Just damn girl, damn. But Luz considers taking her place.. and gets laughed at, with Eda assuming she’ll have to save her and King just being kind of a dick. I mean he’s a loveable thoroughly cuddly dick but he’s still a dick... just more like a stuffed plushie of one. So basically exactly like Tinky. Look I mention him more than once in this review he dosen’t put me in the bastard box. It’s a great system. Naturally this makes Luz more determined than ever to prove herself and she finds Amity in the night, with Amity having been unable to get out of it.. and Bumps a resonable guy, he just wants a substitute and no one wants the job.. except Luz who galdly volunteers and insists ntohing scares her before the giant spider on the back of her head proves otherwise. Because of course it does, spiders are fucking terrifying. Kill then all.. except the pokemon ones. Galvaltula are sweethearts. As are Ariadoses. Sweethearts who can elctorcute or poison you but still.

So the next way Luz begins preparing.. and by that I mean it’s time for training. Sadly we don’t get an episode of Luz and Amity getting trapped in an 80′s fashion montage... I mean yes Rise of the TMNT also did that plot the same year, but we had two diffrent plots about someone getting trapped in an eldtrich sitcom and a THIRD this year, all entertaingly unique. Though we do get Luz pulling out an otter suit that’s adorable and she sadly still hasn’t worn yet. “This one says i’m an otter, with a dark side”. She also got thrown out of a school dance for.. wearing an otter suit. Okay the other things we saw in the pilot were understandable but htis is just.. baffling. Who cares what you wear to a dance as long as it isn’t horribly racist of nothing at all.

Damn you flanders and your glorious ass. Point is Amity shows up and threatens hooty’s life because.. he’s hooty. The fact he isn’t dead already is a testiment to how badass he is and how much money he’d cost Eda to replace. Owl Tubes don’t come out of a stygian hole in the unvierse every day you know. That’s only every three years. It’s basic styigan owl tube science.

But Amity wants her to be ready and that she’ll have to face her greatest fear.. and cue hooty popping up, poking amity in the face and asking if she wants to know her greatest fear. Really he can clearly hear everything in the house given he heard that, so he heard the death threat he just chose to ignore it. That.. was a mistake. And by mistake I mean we get a hilarious cut to the outside of the house as Luz tries to stop her love intrest from murdering her second mom’s tube monster. The result is some bandages and an eyepatch. To be fair that last one was just flaring up from a previous beating.

For this solem task of training, Amity has brought in her local disaster bisexuals.. aka her twin siblgins Eldric and Elmyra, whose greatest fears are dying alone and being stuck with Eldric. Both understandable. They conjur luz’s greatest fears which are.. some of the funniest shit I heard all year.. and also very relatable. Human souls in cat bodies, which is genuinely terrifying good job Luz, Jerks on the internet who mansplain things, relatable, and soy milk.

But Amity knows this is just the openign act. it needs to be something deeper.. so while Luz dosen’t realize it’s probably her mom issues she brings up her issues with her other mom: that Eda dosen’t think she can do this. Hence we get a giant eda putting Luz in a babychair. Before we can unpack how wrong that sentence sounded, Eda comes out, and marvels at how hot giant her is. But she’s quickly distracted from sex with a giant version of herself, which is not an easy feat, by the relization “Wait Luz is going to fight grom isn’t she.. fuck i’m going to have to save her”, though Luz holds firm on doing it to prove she’s fine and dosen’t need to be saved constantly. it’s a good conflict. Eda IS right that Luz is not ready for this alone, that she’s overcompensating and that Eda would, in normal circumstances be the one to rescue her. As we’ll see it’s not her who does it but still, were this any other foe she probably would be. But Luz’s motivations are equally understandable: She wants to help her friend not have to do this and she wants to prove she can do it. She just wants her mentor, the only person in her life up to meeting her that GNEUINELY supported her in magic to respect her. To have faith in her and actually see how far she’s come. And given how her own mother writes off her dreams, if not unrealistically, and before this she had no friends or support system to speak of outside her mom, it’s easy to see why this is so improtant to Luz: she just wants to make the one person in her life whose ever support her actually think it was worth it when in truth Eda already thinks it does and just dosen’t want her to die.

She’s just not good with talking to her or not condescending to her as her own ego is stacked sky high, probably because the whole curse thing meant Eda was an outcast by default and the system wants to either chain her to one form of magic and one only or shackle her to them as a hired goon. Her ego, while justified, is also a defense mechanism: a way to shield herself from the fact almost no one cares about her and one of the few people who DOES, dosen’t care what she wants or needs. Once the curse happened she lost just about everything and had to rebuild and thus build up walls around herself and kept everyone else at arms length till Luz changed her for the better. It’s just a tragic clash of two wills both with similar problems but both unwilling to talk about them.

But with time up, our heroes need to get to the diggity dance. So they indeed do and we get some fun sight gags, Willow makes corsages, that one girl with the cresent head somehow ended up with Mathomule and is not happy, as anyone who ends up with him should. And it’s time for Luz to face her destiny.. in a tux with a tutu because of course, and Amity likes it because also of course.

IT’s time to rumble, with King getting nervous due to eda’s prodding about mcing since his co-mc gus is really good at it, and introducing our champion.

No wait sorry he’s still trapped in Mojoworld. no it’s still Luz who shows off a seasons worth of skill by easily dispatching the first few fears and saying to grom let’s finish it.. before grom puts a tentacle on her head.

It’s to downlaod her fear.. which is Camillia. Granted we could all see it coming but still Luz obviously can’t fight her own mother or her own overwhelming guilt.. her mom did hurt her.. but she gets why and just loves her and wants her to be proud but dosen’t know what to do: tell her the trutha nd possibly loose a happy and fufilling life or wait until it all blows up. It’s a painful choice. So luz and king end up running. King runs first because he can’t handle it and Gus talks him back into the groove while Luz runs away because she can’t fight her own mom, understandable, and Gus encourages king to lead the crowd which he does. Amity and Eda follow Luz.

So Luz is backed down, facing down a monster tha’ts going to go on to everyone else next if she fails... and Eda prepares to interfere.. but it’s AMITY who faces her fear and dives in. And we find out just what her fear was as grom turns into a humanoid shape and rips the letter in half.. it was a grom invitation. Though conviently the who it’s adressed to was ripped out.

And yeah not going to save this one: It’s Luz. You know it I know it I didn’t even hide it in the intro. Even before the reveal in a bit it was obvious. But it also makes perfect sense. I’ve avoided talking about her character arc up to this point because I was waiting for now. Amity’s growth is the third major arc of the season behind Luz’s slow learning of magic and eventually induction into hexside and eda’s curse, which I lump in with Lilith chasing her since both were mildly entertwined and then entirely are once the reveal hits in the finale. When we meet her she’s an outright bully.. but we slowly see there’s more there. That she’s not really HAPPY or content, is contstantly under pressure by her family name, is outright bullied by her own siblings who don’t understand her. So Luz coming in, seemingly only being intrested in magic because i’ts neat.. understandably bothers her. She’s not a great person, bullying her old best friend because tha’ts what’s expected and being close with outright bullies because of that.. but it’s through Luz she starts to grow, realizing Luz is genuinely nice and genuinely sorry for any trouble she caused Amity, and evne then both cases were causaed by Amity’s own dickishness and outside forces, so it’s easy to see why she defrosts faster. Her siblings realize they’ve genuinely hurt her, and actually try to be good siblings from then on and help her, and slowly Amity learns to truth luz, trust in her, and accept her... and thus accept her feelings for her. There are gradual hints she’s growing attracted to her.. but her walls had to come down first, and it wouldn’t of worked from the outset. The show cleverly has the two build a genuine friendship, two opposities who work well together, so when feelings do happen it feels natural. It’s not “I’m in love with this person because I have to because you can’t be friends with someone your attracted to” bullshit or anything like that, cough star vs cough, it’s just well built catching feelings. I’ts how this kind of thing SHOULD go: niether went in intending for this to happen.. it’s just happening.

And Amity’s reluctance is painfully understandable, as Luz is the ONLY friend and support she has. Sure she and willow are patching things up, but WIllow would understandably choose luz over her and she’s terrified of loosing the one good thing in her life. Of course Luz would either say yes, and probably will some day, or let her down gently, she’s nice.. but it’s also understandable to be afraid that someone won’t take the reveal well. I’ve been there trust me, it’s easier when you let it out even if you get rejected, but I get it being hard to let out because you don’t want to loose a friend. I did not, and niether would she, but I can see why she wouldn’t want ot take the plunge. At least not yet. We’ll see this summer hopefully.

But we do get a shiptastic, gorgeously aniamted scene of the two dancing an fightin gin perfect synch, combinging luz’s new use of plant magic with amity’s mastery of abominations resulting in the two utterly decimating grom, likely in part because with two fast moving targets he can’t get a lock on and likely nees more fear and mass to attack multiple targets at once. Or just more tendrils. it’s a quick, beautful sequence that’s utterly glorious, being framed as romantic as any hetero scene of the type and rightfully so. A triumph and well deserving of this praise.

Our heros have won, get crowns, and King gets praise. All is well.. except Luz drops the crown once she gets home because she feels like she failed and feels lost about her mom.. though at least king gets it “I’m king and queen, best of both things!”. You tell em sister.

So we end with Luz genuinely responding to her mom, with some montage stuff as we see Gus and Willow poke a fear blob, willow fears bugs, understandable and Gus fears clowns...

Also understandable. Though I didn’t put up a bug picture because

And Amity looks out folornly into the night. Camilla responds to Luz.. and mentions letters.. which while Luz brushes those off.. we see someone sent them. And by someone I probably mean king since we now know only eda and him had acess to the portal, and given he was actively encouraging her to lie.. yeah i’m supscious. But we’ll see next season. For now this episode is fan fucking tastic, showing off tons of character development, being representative and sweet as all hell.. and being really funny. Tons of great gags in this one including the turtle guy from an earlier episode being forced to be adisco ball. This is easily the series best so far and if you haven’t checked it out, please do it’s fantastic as is this show. Check both out. Until the next rainbow i’ts been a pleasure. Tommorow more disney shenanigans this time with pete. And also more of this possibly we’ll see what I get done.

Goodnight everybody!

#the owl house #lumity #luz noceda #amity blight #willow park #gus #eda clawthrone #king #principal bump #grometheious #enchanting grom fright #lbgtq+#disney #disney plus

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foundthe8wing · 4 years

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Okay, doing this over here because my main tumblr is usually a place for me to vibe and I don’t want all the bullshit tied to that account, but basically: I’m really angry and disappointed with the dndads cast for how they’ve put a lot of the minors in their fanbase in danger. Everything below is a repost from twitter (with permission from the OP, crypticjoy), and I’ll link the thread in a reblog.

Under a cut because it’s long and potentially triggering (content warnings for grooming, sexualizing minors, and sexual assault)

[OP tagged the relevant cast accounts; I added slashes here bc I’m not sure if those same urls exist on tumblr and I don’t want to be randomly tagging people over here]

5:49 PM Sep 5, 2020

“I don’t usually do this, but: the way that the cast of @/dungeonsanddads engages with their audience is actively dangerous to minors, and they need to get it together. (cw for discussion of grooming, sexualizing minors, sexual assault)

First off, there are some iffy jokes and situations in the podcast itself. I’m not going to get into all of it right here, but have a google doc: [doc will also be linked in reblog]

Yes, the kids in #dndads are fictional, but that doesn’t mean this stuff doesn’t affect real kids listening. a. it normalizes talking/joking about kids in that way and b. There’s a lot of inconsistancy and confusion on the lines they draw--

Paeden saying “baby” is weird but Ron sitting in Terry Jr’s lap isn’t? I’m confused. You know who the fuck relies on that type of confusion and unclarity? Fucking predators

And I’m not saying every in-character decision has to be perfectly moral or acceptable, but the way the cast, out of character, discuss what’s weird and what’s not sends a lot of mixed messages. And that’s legitimately dangerous.

So then you take all of this, and you add a patron discord server that lets nsfw discussions run virtually unchecked--you create a fandom space that allows adults to discuss kinks, and porn searches, and just, all this other stuff, with teenagers...

... and it becomes a breeding ground for grooming and abuse.

The creators aren’t responsible for babysitting their fanbase or for how people engage with their content outside of their spaces (though, again, I’d urge them to be very careful about what kind of messages they’re sending)

But they ARE responsible for taking basic steps to keep the spaces that THEY create and engage with safe.

“But the rules for the server say 18+!” The rules say you have to be 18 *or have parental permission.* They also say to keep things PG-13. That’s vastly different than establishing something as an adult-only/nsfw space.

“Minors shouldn’t be joining/listening anyway!” The cast can’t control who listens and neither can I, but there’s a difference between knowing teens are listening to you discuss sex with your adult friends vs facilitating conversations between teens and adults on those topics.

“If people are uncomfortable they can just leave.” First off, this situation isn’t just uncomfortable, it’s unSAFE. Second: fuck that. It’s not on minors to set and maintain boundaries about this stuff; a lot of them literally do not know how

Not because they’re stupid, but because they’re young and inexperienced. It’s the responsibility of adults to set and enforce healthy boundaries around sexual discussions, and this particular group of adults has done a fucking terrible job

(Maybe don’t encourage listeners to DM you about kinks! Maybe especially don’t do that when you’ve communicated, intentionally or not, that making and escalating sexual jokes is a really good way to get a reaction from you guys)

I get that they didn’t expect to have so many young listeners, but to be aware of that fact and make no adjustments whatsoever is irresponsible and it WILL lead to someone getting hurt. Does their “young, thirsty, female” audience only exist to them when they can laugh about it?

And let’s be absolutely 1000% clear: this isn’t an issue they’re unaware of. The stuff I’m talking about is an ongoing problem with how their server is run, but it came to a head with one specific situation very recently:

They released a bonus, patron-exclusive episode about the dads taking the bdsm test. Given the general state of the server, I was worried about where those discussions might lead, so before it dropped, I reached out to @/anthony_burch to express my concern

He told me he raised the issue with @/fwong and Ashley, meaning at least three members of the dndads team were aware of the situation, and decided it didn’t warrant any type of preemptive action on their part

(alternatively, it means Anthony lied, which would be a whole separate issue)

[Image ID: a discord DM conversation from Sep 1, 2020, between a crossed out username and reverendanthony. It reads:

OP: heyyyyy have you guys considered that releasing an episode focused on the bdsm test is almost inevitably going to lead to a bunch of 15 year olds sharing their results in your server because you might want to get ahead of that before someone gets hurt

reverendanthony: oh holy shit, really good idea

OP: thanks, I know it's easy to veer into that territory just because of the nature of your show but I wanted to bring it to your attention because I figured you don't want to create a situation that's like, actively dangerous (and for the record I'm willing to discuss what I think would make it safer but I'm also not going to assume you want/need my input, obviously you can handle it however you see fit)

reverendanthony: No, thank you for bring it up, I really appreciate it -- I just raised the issue with Freddie and Ashley

OP: Good to know, thank you /End ID]

I’m not overreacting. I have seen this shit happen, to my friends and to myself, and watching the dndads cast take absolutely no meaningful action to prevent situations like that from occurring directly under their noses makes me fucking livid

I can guarantee that the #dungeonsanddaddies fanbase includes both predators and survivors of abuse, grooming, etc (including those currently living through it), and I need them to think very, very hard about which group they’re prioritizing.

And I need that choice to be evident through more than just their words, because it doesn’t fucking matter how much you “really appreciate” that I brought up my concerns if you do fuck-all to address them.

It doesn’t matter how many times you say the word “consent” if apparently everyone was okay that “Darryl gets sexually assaulted” was almost a plot point played for laughs.

(His dare from Scam would have been rape, straight up. Just because no one said the word doesn’t mean it wasn’t coercive and gross).

I’d like to think the @/dungeonsanddads cast isn’t intentionally encouraging abuse, but they’re sure as hell enabling it, and they needed to get their shit together ages ago, because they’re not the ones their negligence hurts.”

Quote retweet by OP 6:51 PM Sep 7, 2020

“So, they updated the rules for the patron server, but I want to be really clear that from my perspective, it’s way too little, way too late.

The new rules don’t adequately address the core issues and they certainly don’t absolve the cast of the harm they’ve already caused.

[Tweet includes 2 screenshots: one of a bot asking people to click thumbs up to confirm they’re 18+ (or have a parent’s permission) and agree to the rules, and one that includes two of the rules. It reads:

“This is an 18+ space. Them’s the rules: per Patreon’s policy, you must be 18+ or have parental permission.

Use language as if you’re at your parents dinner table. Don’t get people in trouble because of your SPICY POSTS. Keep conversation polite. NSFW content is not allowed!”]

(and before anyone says I should bring up my concerns privately, a quick refresher on how well that went last time I did it:)

[links back to the “(alternatively, it means Anthony lied . . .)” tweet from the original thread]

So hey, @/fwong, some thoughts:

1.The rules are vague and unclear: what /exactly/ do you mean when you say “NSFW content is not allowed!” when the content of your show itself is so often nsfw? And how are you planning to enforce this?

Does it mean you’ll shut down the MBIC conversation that is literally just kink discussion? I need you to be clear on where the line is, because, again, predators rely on that confusion. Don’t give them a gray area to play in.

For an example of a more clear policy, it’s pretty easy to say, “yep, ‘Henry gets pegged’ sure is a sentence we said on our show and you don’t have to pretend it’s not, but if you’d like to discuss it in any more detail at all, you need to move”

2. Remember how I said I needed to be clear on whether you’re prioritizing survivors or predators? While I doubt it was intentional, the language you’re using here is prioritizing predators.

It’s not “don’t get people in trouble,” it’s “don’t make people uncomfortable.” It’s “we all have a responsibility to make sure this space is safe for everyone, especially the younger members of the community.”

You’re setting people up to be afraid of expressing concerns for fear of “getting people in trouble” or “inciting unnecessary drama.” Even if it’s not what YOU meant, it’s very easy for those words to be manipulated, so +

You absolutely have to be explicitly clear that if someone expresses their discomfort, you’ve got their back. Being safe is more important than being polite.

3. I need every cast member to take responsibility for their own actions. I’ve gotten no indication from any of you that you understand the ways in which the in-show things I brought up were harmful.

Acknowledging that harm is important not just because of the immediate effects of that content, but also because it implicitly sets an example for how similar complaints should be dealt with going forward.

When someone says “hey, I was uncomfortable that you seem fine with the Glennary ship, because she reads as very young to me,” I don’t need a dissertation on how the perception of characters can evolve due to your improvisational nature

I need to hear “oh, I interpreted her differently, but you’re right, we should have been more clear, and I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.” Because your responses to your own mistakes set the tone for any other situations like that going forward.

How comfortable is someone going to be with coming to you, or Ash, or any of the mods about someone making them uncomfortable if they’ve seen that when people call YOU out, they’re argued with and shut down?

Don’t tell people you’ve “made it clear that you won’t go there” when they tell you that you ARE there. Listen to them and do better.

Set the expectation that people will be respected when they raise their concerns. “If you want to come at me you have to bring the heat” is not an appropriate response on a subject that made people genuinely uncomfortable.

In essence: set people up to be supported and protected, not dismissed.

[It’s like a matriosche of tweets over here. This one links to another thread, also by crypticjoy. That thread reads:

A non-comprehensive guide to keeping discord servers safe for minors:

1. Make designated channels for nsfw/18+ discussion. Generally speaking, this is a lot more effective than banning those discussions altogether, because it’s a lot easier to say “hey, can you move this conversation?” than “hey, I need you to stop”

In fandom spaces, it’s usually a good idea to have separate channels for talking about nsfw fiction vs discussing your personal sex lives.

2. Give everyone minor/adult roles; make sure your 18+ channels are locked to people who don’t have an adult role. It’s important that there’s more of a barrier there than just checking a box.

3. NSFW channels shouldn’t necessarily be a free-for-all; be aware of people’s boundaries and respect them (for example, r*pe jokes aren’t funny or okay, even if you’re not making them around kids)

4. Explicitly state in your rules that people should feel free to come to mods if anyone is making them uncomfortable. Actually listen to people and resolve the situation if they do approach you.

5. Make it clear that creepy behavior via DMs or other means is also not tolerated--you can’t control what people do outside your server, but you can make the choice to not allow people like that in your space

6. Make sure mods are on top of things BEFORE people have to say anything; sometimes being a mod means being willing to be the “asshole” who shuts things down before they get out of hand, even if they’re not asked.

Be generally aware of signals that people are uncomfortable or that things are escalating too far, and address those situations sooner rather than later.

*It should be noted that safety involves a lot of components beyond just containing nsfw discussions; this thread just happens to be focused on that one specific element.

oh also! It's a good idea to provide resources on grooming so people know what to look out for [links to some resources; again, this’ll be in the reblog]]

So, @/dungeonsanddads, if you’re interested in anything beyond just having a flimsy excuse you can point to to cover your own ass, I’m gonna need you to try again.

Sorry I can’t be nicer about it, but I’ve given so many benefits of the doubt I could be running a successful charity, and this isn’t an issue I’m willing to drop.

10:02 PM

Thought I was done but actually I've got a few more questions: to what extent were @/HeyBethMay, @/WillBCampos, and @/mattLarnold included in conversations about this issue/the new rules? Is this something your whole team is involved in?

Have you discussed what you're doing on a team and individual basis to keep your fan interactions safe, and are you on the same page about how much it matters? Are you holding each other accountable? Is everyone okay with where this ended up?”

#dungeons and daddies #dndads #cw grooming #cw SA #8wing

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ethrenisnotthehero · 3 years

Link

Let’s talk about this now.

Everything that follows in this post is totally my own opinion. It has nothing to do with Jill; it wasn’t read by her or condoned by her. It’s my story and my experiences, and I think it’s important in this context because some of a survivor’s worst enemies are often other survivors.

As someone who has survived abuse, and as someone who is currently in training to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate for youth victims of abuse and domestic violence, I’m going to explain why internet callouts and motions like the #MeToo movement are not only something you can believe, but that you should believe because of the complete and systematic failures that continue to persist in our real-life institutions of justice.

Please heed the tags. Nothing is in too graphic of detail, but I remember when just the words were enough for me.

TW: Abuse, Neglect, Gaslighting, Sexual Assault, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Drug Use, Mental Illness, Violence

I spent a majority of the first years of my life in sexual slavery.

Before April, 2004, pseudoephedrine could be purchased over the counter and without an ID in the United States. Tablets of it were used across the nation to manufacture what some people still call “the drug of the 90s:” methamphetamine. In 2021, many people might know meth because of television shows like Breaking Bad, and make xenophobic jokes about Mexican drug cartels and the infamous “Wall” while breaking up blue-tinted sugar candy.

The truth is, few people our age this day remember methamphetamine use being the epidemic it was when Oklahoma enacted its ban of pseudoephedrine in stores. In 2005, which required medication to be sold at licensed pharmacies and for purchasers to present a photo ID to acquire limited amounts, OK officials located and shut down 334 home meth labs -- less than half of the 812 seized before the ban.

In fact, meth use was so widespread and easily accessible that 93% of people who went through rehabilitation for it would end up using again. It was viciously addictive, and the help that was offered was only a drop in the bucket of a growing sickness that the government wrote crime bills to control instead of trying to treat the symptoms. By 2004, it was too late for a lot of people. By 2004, it was too late for me.

My birth parents spent their entire lives addicted to meth. My birth mother grew up in the American foster care system and was adopted as a teenager by junkies in the deep South; my birth father was a paranoid schizophrenic who spent the first 7 years of his life locked in a closet by his parents until they lost custody, and then aged out of the system. She used drugs to get away from the fact that her birth parents despised her; he used meth to “calm” his paranoid rages when he couldn’t afford medication. They both tried rehab. They both failed to stay sober.

They had several children before us. My birth mother miscarried. She tried again. My birth father lost custody of his first before he met her, and they relapsed together and lost custody of a second child. That child died from complications of neglect.

They had me.

They stayed sober for six months. They relapsed again. They weren’t smart enough to make meth, so they bought it. They had another kid. My birth father lost his job. They couldn’t afford it. They couldn’t afford medicine or food. They had no money, they couldn’t get work, and so they gave up what they did have.

2004 was too late for me.

When the ban came, my parents moved to try to escape. We came to a new state. They found a job. My “uncle” became their new dealer and they paid the only way they knew how. One day, a SWAT team showed up at our door. They told us we could pack one box of our belongings, and that was the last time we ever belonged to those people.

The law chased them down, but not for what they did to us. They were given a plea deal; my birth parents would sell out their suppliers and their “business partners,” and they wouldn’t go to prison. The entire case would be locked up, the records closed, and they could try to get their kids back.

My parents never served a single day for their crimes.

They showed up once to visitation. They kissed me. They promised me they would come back. I privately wished that they would disappear forever, and they did. I later learned they relapsed the day before our next visitation, and had parental rights terminated.

The law does not protect children. It rarely protects the victims that it’s meant to, but it never protects people who can’t speak for themselves. Unless you have money, no one will care. If no one cares, your transgressors will never, ever answer for their crimes. To this day, the United States Justice System will not let me own records or copies of records of the case against my parents. I couldn’t speak until I was six years old. When I was put into foster care, I couldn’t eat solid food for three months. My gag reflex was so bad I couldn’t brush my teeth comfortably until well after I was adopted. I trembled under my bed because my nightmares blended into my waking hours and I was so scared I couldn’t even scream.

When I turned 18, my birth mother found me. She lives with my birth father in a state known for its rampant meth use. She had another child. He’s 14 now. He plays soccer, has girlfriend, learned the flute last year, and his favorite Pokemon is Rayquaza. He got all A’s in his final year of middle school. They started over.

I talk to him sometimes. I don’t talk to her, because when I asked her to apologize for what happened, she told me the government was lying to me. She told me there were two sides to every story. She told me that my adopted parents had poisoned me against her. She called me an ungrateful little whore and told me that God would punish me one day. She told me she was a victim, too, and she deserved a relationship with me.

She is a victim. I still remember the sound when my birth father broke her arm in a rage when she threatened to leave him.

I also still remember trying to hide with her as she lay on her bed, high as a kite, not so much as lifting a finger to help me.

Being a survivor doesn’t give a person the excuse to minimize the experience of other survivors. Some people get justice. A lot of people don’t. Sometimes the police swoop in and make predators pay. Sometimes they shoot mentally ill foster children to death because the alternative takes too much time and effort. Technology is a useful tool, because it gives a voice to the voiceless. It empowers people who are made powerless. My adoptive parents didn’t believe me when I finally had the words to say “I was harmed.” They beat the shit out of me when I was little for trying to draw out what was wrong. They stopped letting me see a therapist when she told them I showed signs of serious trauma from sexual violence. The internet gives a rope to people who are stuck in a whole with everyone around them calling them a liar. Technology gives survivors and outlet to make their story their own again.

Your story doesn’t erase other peoples’ stories. People who are nice to you can be hurtful to others. What you see isn’t necessarily the truth and until we have a government that survivors can rely on it’s always, always important to believe survivors.

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system-of-a-feather · 3 years

Note

Hey, do you know any information on if alters can cause the host to experience something like sleep paralysis, I had it recently where if I really tried I could force myself to move - and I could move my mouth but no words would come out - it felt like sleep paralysis but I could feel the static in mind - i did feel that earlier before sleeping when I could feel a possible switch.

Originally I was going to say I haven’t heard anything about it but it was interesting so I did a bit of a dive.

Immediately off hand, I could say that might be a strong form of dissociation, but there are some other interesting things I came to find.

I’m not any form of an expert on this and this is all new information, so Imma format this in a “Imma read through things and pull out info that might be relevant”.

Do not take any of this as a professional or anything and I would, in the end, really recommend talking to a mental health professional. I am just putting out my best (and sometimes maybe missinterpretted) information from papers for people to take.

Physiology of REM sleep, cataplexy, and sleep paralysis

Sleep paralysis and cataplexy are due to a dissociation (dissociation in this is used in an even more broad sense than what we typically use dissociation for in mental health** correct me if I’m wrong I haven’t read neurology literature in a bit) between structures that regulate the “paralysis” feel and muscle weakness that happens in sleep paralysis and sleep as well as states of waking / alertness.

Cataplexy is “ sudden loss of muscle tone while a person is awake leads to weakness and a loss of voluntary muscle control “ that is “often triggered by sudden, strong emotions such as laughter, fear, anger, stress, or excitement ”.[x] Cataplexy is often connected with narcolepsy

Sleep paralysis in narcolepsy: more than just a motor dissociative phenomenon? ( Not Related, but Interesting Read)

This didn’t have any specific points to pull out other than that chronic narcolepsy and sleep paralysis can actually result in dissociative disorder like traits like being “not fully able to distinguish whether what happened to him was actual or unreal”

It serves little to this discussion other than an interesting food for thought that I felt was nice to share

Relationships between sleep paralysis and sleep quality: current insights

Individuals with panic disorders, ptsd, and high stress / traumatic events in life are much more likely to experience sleep paralysis and sleep disturbance issues.

“Indeed, several studies have found sleep paralysis to be linked to levels of dissociative experiences, both in the context of severe trauma59,60 and in healthy samples.28,61 Furthermore, many studies have found levels of dissociation to be associated with a variety of sleep experiences such as bizarre dreams, hypnagogic hallucinations, and nightmares.41 Of note, the link between sleep and dissociation has not only been found in cross-sectional questionnaire-based studies but a causal role of sleep disturbance in dissociative symptoms has been shown in studies of sleep deprivation, which found that the loss of sleep promoted increased dissociation.”

Fun fact, fixing your sleep schedule can help with your dissociative symptoms in around 6-8 weeks according to this study; I don’t want to be THOSE click bait websites, so I do want to say I haven’t read through the experimental measures since that isn’t the focus of this reading dive but XD Felt Id pull it out

“ Of the studies that have recorded brain activity during sleep paralysis, results suggest sleep paralysis to be a dissociated state of consciousness, combining a mixture of waking and REM sleep brain states. “

Additional Off-Top-Of-Head Information I’ve Picked Up

When we talking about alters / dissociation in context of mental health, we are usually talking about partially altered states of consciousness. Its considered a form of self hypnosis of sorts.

Dissociation in general is the disconnect from various parts of self, the world, and in more general senses a disconnect of brain functions from one another.

Sleep, dreaming, REM sleep, cataplexy, and sleep paralysis are also forms that involve altered states of consciousness and various relationships and interactions between said altered states of consciousness

Personal Comments / Thoughts / Opinions

There seems to be a really interesting relationship between dissociative symptoms, sleep issues, cataplexy (the body weakness), and altering states of consciousness together that could bring forth a lot of implications that would need further research on

I did have to think for a moment if part of the reason inner worlds can feel so hyper-realistic is if it is something related to the dream states that are also considered to be hyper-realistic to most people; and if said dream states are correlated to experiences with DID. Also how the relationship between dream states and the function in dreams and memory sorting and processing may be correlated with how EMDR are helpful for PTSD, but risky for DID at the risk of flooding as they help access and sit with memories

Considering dissociation and sleep-related states of consciousness are seeming to be somewhat similar, I really wouldn’t be too shocked if there was an alignment between DID and severe psychological dissociation being able to cause something similar to cataplexy or sleep paralysis; though this is just me connecting dots that may not be meant to be connected as I don’t have research to substantiate the claim; its an opinion and a thought, nothing more

ANYWAYS, this was a really interesting research deep dive to start the day with so thanks XD Not joking, really do enjoy this and I hope you got some information to help orientate your thoughts on your experiences? I still recommend bringing it up with a professional (doctor, psychiatrist, and/or therapist) to see their words as they might know something more clear and direct than any synthesis or hypothesis that I might come up with from a two hour research binge XD

Either way! Hope this helped

-Riku (Host)

#alter: riku #research #information #resources #sleep paralysis #dissociation #dissociative identity disorder #ask #asks

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discotenny · 4 years

Text

xxX_Epic Memer Significant Other_Xxx

Ango, Fyodor, and Kunikida dealing with a significant other who likes showing and quoting obscure memes

Requested by !anon! [unedited]

Ango

P-please stop sending him pictures informing him that he has ‘been beaned’

Ango is so confused at your actions. He’s never mad, just in a constant state of questioning your sanity whenever you show him a meme you find funny

Okay maybe a little bit of annoyance mixed in with the confusion

He never understands the obscure jokes and memes sent to him, so he takes all of them literally

‘Y/n becoming a clothing hanger is unrealistic and you should put the degree you earned to good use’

He brings up your antics one day to Dazai and Oda, and his smelly friend concocts a plan to hopefully bring an end to your ways

though Dazai is just messing with him whoops

Following his friend’s instructions, he waits for the eventual moment where you stride over to ask what he did today

“Well we had to deal with another gifted person attempting to break into our organization. However they did drop their ID as they fled the building. Not stonks for them I suppose”

“W-what did you just say”

“Hm? I simply explained that their plan had completely backfired on them, which could be compared to stocks plummeting after a bad crash”

You didn’t know whether to laugh or cry

Kunikida

This man deals with so much shit from the agency already

Aside from a few slips here and there, joking around with Dazai about some coat hanger video, and the occasional vine you’ll send him; Kunikida has no idea about your ‘hidden side’

That is until he asks you if you could read some paper work for him [man can’t see small fonts he is blind]

“No I cannot” he looks at you with an empty expression. “What’s up I’m Jared, I’m 19 and I never fucking learned how to read” You conclude your quotations with a whip

“Y/n you’re 21″

No matter how much he loves you, you drive him insane whenever you blurt out random vine references during the day

How may times do you have to say you hope the road works whenever you come across a sign please

You want a way to distract Kunikida from all his responsibilities? Send him a deepfried meme and he has to take a five minute break to process the content

Do you know the biggest way to drive him up the wall? Have him walk in on you recording something stupid for your account and he might just faint

With the reveal of your true sense of humor, Kunikida now has two dumbasses to deal with

Fyodor

Okay so I am a firm believer that Fyodor is the biggest fucking troll in the BSD Universe

Like did you see him Naruto run away from stabbing Mori

Any meme you throw his way he’ll reply with another meme almost instantly, he’s not even fazed by it I stg

AHA HA YOU AND FYODOR BROWSE REDDIT TOGETHER IN HIS DOWNTIME

One day, you come across a folder on your laptop titled ‘send to dazai’

That folder wasn’t there before, yet there were numerous files inside of it. You clicked on one of the files and a picture of a bandaged up man, who you had seen roaming the streets of Yokohama, in a position similar to one taken for an ID. The caption read, ‘And then he betrayed the mafia. Funniest shit I’ve ever seen’

There wasn’t nobody else who used your laptop.... Nobody else but Fyodor

You called for your boyfriend and he strolled in from the other room. “Ye- Oh”

His face contorted into unease as you pointed to the computer screen

You had to cover your mouth to stop the giggles that were threatening to escape

Fyodor explained that he made the folder because he needed a place to store his creations. He would later email them to Dazai [who he described as a friend he knew from work], as a form of playful work banter

You simply laughed at him, ignorant to the true purpose of the folder

The next day, Dazai checked his work email and was met with Fyodor’s ‘gift’. A cry was heard that day

hhhnn I thought I had big brain moment with Fyodor but sadly I don’t think it turned out well ;~; this isn’t funny at all im so sorry T-T

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revengeoftheantichrist · 3 years

Text

Kingdom Come

Warnings: Knights, Inappropriate behaviour

AO3

Chapter 1

The kingdom of Morningstar was a proud one. Its territory spanned from the coast, all the way to the mountains. The soil was rich and fertile and its people prosperous. The kingdoms military was unrivalled, keeping the kingdom secure and safe from any threats. It was also unique; the Morningstar military allowed women to become knights. It was the highest a woman could go socially without being married, and it was the option in life that you chose too. Your family wasn’t particularly rich and marrying up would be impossible for you. And anyway, you were not prepared to marry just yet. You wanted to see what the world had to offer. So you worked hard. The training at the Robichaux military academy was rigorous and hard, you had the scars to remember your time there. But to you, it was all worth it. Your work paid off when you were given the position of ‘royal knight’. This truly was the highest one could go. You were trusted enough to guard your king and his family, to proudly walk the halls of the royal palace with your sword by your side. Your village celebrated your achievement with great joy, everybody congratulating you as you returned to say your goodbyes before moving to the palace grounds. You were glad the pay was good too, meaning your parents no longer had to work the long and back breaking hours that they did, you could repay them for all they had done for you by making their lives a little more comfortable. You could also send your siblings to better schools, allowing them to make something of themselves and live comfortably. To you nothing could go wrong now. The chances of war were almost impossible, and you were sure you could patrol the palace halls with your eyes closed.

However, the universe did not allow your peace for long. The king had fallen ill. Everyone eventually met their end and he was coming on in age. But what truly turned the world on his head were his orders. Holy men and law makers alike were up in arms about the decision. The king’s children protested the possibility of this historical change. The king would possibly legitimise a bastard son. It was unheard of and improper. The existence of this bastard was an open secret, but no one expected that he would ever be allowed to set foot into the palace halls. In fact, the rumour was that the crown prince would have him killed as soon as he was coronated. A man like that would only cause problems until his last breath and the royal family would have none of it. The only reason he was allowed to live up until now was the soft spot the king had for his mistress; any other potential bastards were killed as soon as they were discovered, and the king made sure of that, keeping a record of the women he had shared the bed with. The task of retrieving the man was up to you. You expected someone of a higher ranking to be given the task, but the palace needed to be protected by the most experienced during the kingdoms vulnerable period. //// The journey was long and difficult. Your party had a three-day journey to make on horseback, into the furthest reaches of the kingdom. Your plan was to only spend one night in the area, as the man had been informed of the move weeks prior. You breathed a sigh of relief when you spotted the large iron gates. You dismounted from your horse and pulled the hood of your cloak down. The guard leered at you before noticing your uniform, quickly standing up straight and letting you into the manor grounds. You thanked him with a nod. A short and dark-haired woman was waiting for you at the manor entrance, he all black attire made her almost blend into the night that surrounded you. “State your name and your business here,” she spoke out to you. “Dame Y/N Y/SN, a knight a royal order, I am here by order of His Royal Majesty the King,” you held a scroll out to her. “We are here to ensure Lord Michael Langdon arrives to the capital safely as his presences is requested by His Majesty.” You held your head high and met her gaze with the same intensity. She closed the scroll and smiled. “We’ve been expecting your arrival, I am Miriam Mead. Please do come in, the servants will ensure your horses are looked after.” You simply nodded and followed behind. //// It was obvious that this manor was a former royal residence, apparently it was the King’s favourite before it was gifted to his mistress. Everything was artisanal and expensive. Fabrics and furnishings from lands afar, hours of painstaking work in every piece. It was all well looked after, not a speck of dust. You weren’t surprised, the king provided a healthy stipend that paid for the staff and luxuries. You were also sure that Michael had his own business too, as far as you were aware, he was well educated and well connected. You never were one to involve yourself in rumours, but your stop in the nearby town had you worried. The man had a reputation. But then again, who were you to judge, the royals you served were also involved in scandal and debauchery, they did not have a leg to stand on when it came to socially acceptable behaviour. Lost in thought, you didn’t realise that you had stopped in an elaborate dining room. You looked at Ms Mead with a questioning look. “My Lord would like to dine with the knights that have come to escort him,” she explained. This was very strange; nobility didn’t usually dine with knights. “I’m not really dressed for dinner,” you joked with the woman, pointing to you travelling armour. You men snickered at your comment. “Please disarm before you are seated, your gear will be retuned to you in the morning before your departure.” You gave her another confused expression, looking back at your men that wore the same look. “I’m being serious. Lord Langdon has many enemies, so we have to be extra careful, just in case.” You couldn’t really argue with her reasoning. You nodded and removed all your weapons, handing them to the staff that was waiting. The doors swung open just as you were handing you sword over. A man with blond curls walked into the room. He walked with authority and confidence; you knew by looking at him that this was the man that you were here for. His blue eyes glimmered in the candlelight as he sized up your crew. “I see, the king thinks I do not need a high security escort.” The sound of his voice halted every other sound in the room, you were sure you were holding your own breath. “And what about you?” he moved closer to you, not hiding his wandering eyes, “a gift from my father?” You couldn’t hide your expression of disgust. Upon a closer look, he looked more like his father than any of the King’s other children. He seemed to have the same attitude too. This was going to be a long few days. “I’m Dame Y/SN,” you bowed slightly, “I am here to over see your journey to the Palace,” you gave him a polite smile. “How interesting,” he moved away from you and to the dining table. “Well, I must thank you for travelling this far, please, join me for dinner,“ he gestured at the table, before seating himself at the top of the table. You hesitated before making your way to the table. You chose the seat furthest away from him as you weren’t prepared to engage in any small talk. He had already left a bad taste in your mouth. However, his eyes never left you during the mean, his gaze burning into you the whole time. //// It was finally time to retire for the evening, a long journey ahead of you. You breathed a sigh of relief as you pulled your hair out of its tight bun, lightly massaging your scalp to ease the ache. Luckily for you, you were placed in the female servants’ quarters, engaging in light chatter and trying to listen for any information about your host. A maid was bashfully explaining her encounter with him in the library just before you had arrived. None of this shocked you though, his father and brothers were the same type of men. The egos on these men were bigger than their dicks, the vice of pride had an iron grip on them. You settled into bed as the chatter continued around you, the tiredness finally caught up and you drifted off to the white noise. //// The sound of footsteps woke you from your slumber. You could feel a presence in the room, the smell of cinnamon wafting through the air. You kept your eyes shut and reached underneath your pillow for the dagger you hid in you boot earlier. You never fully disarmed, a lesson you learned at Robichaux the hard way. You felt a weight on you, you shot up, dagger pointed at the intruder. Your eyes adjusted to the darkness and the identity of your assailant shocked you. It was Michael. He let out a low chuckle, bringing his finger to his lips in a ‘shh’ motion. You looked around the room to see everyone else in a deep sleep. As you looked back at him, you realised your dagger had grazed him, a light trail of blood trickled down his cheekbone. He said nothing as he gripped your hand, pulling the dagger away and towards his mouth. He smirked, before licking the blade, keeping his eyes locked with yours. Your breathing was heavy, hand trembling in his vice grip. After he had finished, his grip on your hand tightened enough for the dagger to slip. He said nothing as he took it, inspecting the blade. He stood, pocketing your weapon, and without a word, he left. //// The incident from last night had you on high alert. You had breakfast with the rest of the staff, going on to give out instructions to all the staff that would be travelling with you. The carriages were double checked for any security issues and the final bits of luggage was loaded. Your weapons were returned earlier in the day. You were talking to Ms Mead, before you were irrupted by Michael himself. “I thought id come ask the two ladies in charge myself if we were ready to depart or not.” “The final checks have been completed my Lord. We are ready when you are,” you answered. “Very well then. I need to confirm my lodgings during the journey with Ms Mead then we shall be on our way.” “There is no need,” Ms Mead interrupted, “I was just speaking to Y/N over here, your lodgings haven been organised by the king my lord, you will be staying in royal residencies along the way.” Michael simply nodded at the information. You bowed as your name was called by one of your men, leaving the pair as they were whispering to one another. To your benefit, the royal lodgings had separate barracks for knights, allowing you to avoid the man for the next three days. //// You had never been more thankful to see the city gates of the capital. The past three days had been difficult. Your charge just couldn’t seem to behave himself, causing problems in every little town you had stopped in. The money you had to pay off was so much it had eaten into your personal allowance. It would be returned to you, but you still had to fill out the long expenses report. Your horse also seemed excited at the prospect of a long rest, speeding up through the city, knowing her way to the destination. You dismounted to pass through the rear palace gates. Michael was not yet important enough to be let in through the front. The thought made you chuckle as you were sure he was scowling at the fact. Your superior was waiting to welcome the guest, u made sure you conveyed the emotions you were feeling through your facial expression. He bit back a smile. You handed the scroll of orders to him, transferring all responsibility to him from here on out. You hoped to never meet Michael again, not even for the return of the army issued dagger. You were sure you could explain why it was missing. You left before the carriage door even opened, hoping to relax in the nice and warm bathhouse. //// Michael would have a personal meeting with the king, no one else would be present. All Michael knew was that he had to prove himself to his father. To show the king that he too was worthy of the title of prince. He had suffered with a lowly title for years, knowing in his heart of hearts that he was destined for more, destined for greater things. His mother and Ms Mead raised him to hold his head high no matter what, and take every opportunity that he could, even if he had to fight for it or snatch it away. He had spent most of his life doing whatever he wanted. Living under constant scrutiny in the palace would be difficult, but he’d adjust, he prided himself in his adaptability. He’d do anything to get to where he wanted to be and the royal family was not prepared for how far he would actually go. //// You headed to the dining hall after your bath. You looked forward to sharing a meal with friends. However, you were stopped by your superior before reaching the dining hall. “Y/N, you need to get changed, your presence has been requested by the king,” he ordered. The look of shock on your face was spectacular. Had Michael told the king about the dagger incident? Was this the end of your career? All for harming a bastard prince. You nodded and ran to your quarters, changing into the clothing you had for the occasion. Your superior stood waiting for you, not saying a word as you walked to the destination. You wanted to run as the doors slowly opened, revealing the king on his throne and Michael with his back to you. You stepped into the room and bowed low to the king, going through will all the formalities before standing up straight. “Lord Langdon has praised your work, Dame Y/SN,” the king spoke. Michael ground his teeth at the ‘Langdon’ moniker. It felt like a kick in the teeth to him, he was just as deserving of the ‘Morningstar’ name as the rest of his siblings.

“Thank you Your Majesty and Thank you my Lord,” you replied. “I have decided to make you his personal knight for the time being and you are free to choose the staff that will accompany you. I’m sure you are aware of the magnitude of this task.” “Yes your Majesty. I thank you for this honour,” you bowed again. Michael grinned at you, making you fear exactly what his motives were. There were only so many daggers you could be issued. “Sir Moore will have further instructions, you are dismissed,” the King finished. You bowed before leaving the room again. You didn’t speak until you were out of earshot. “He’s only been here a few hours and I can already tell he’s up to something,” John Henry said. He was your superior. You nodded at his observation having witnessed the scheming personality for three days straight. You prayed to the gods above that Langdon’s stay would not be long. Your prayers fell on deaf ears. You would spend the rest of your life cursing the crown you has sworn your life to.

Next>>>

#my writing #michael langdon #michael langdon x reader #KC1

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buckyscrystalqueen · 4 years

Text

Too Smart for Your Own Good: Part 1

Pairings: Machine Gun Kelly x Reader, (Past and Future) Henry Cavill x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, one night stand, unprotected sex

Word Count: 2,551

A/N: Doesn’t have a completed end yet, but just giving you more content to try to get myself out of a writing funk.

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

“So there’s something you need to know about my cousin.” Ashleigh sighed as she took her ID back from the guard at the gate of your very exclusive Malibu community. Colson looked over at his best friend and manager as she ran her fingers through her hair and looked out the front window for a moment. With a small shake of her head, she looked over at him with a small sigh. “She’s weird, OK? And like… stupid rich.”

“Stupid rich.” He confirmed with a huff as the guard got off the phone with you and let your guests into the beach side development. “What, you got a fucking actor in your family I don’t know about, Ash?” Your cousin sighed again, trying to figure out just how to explain the one branch of her blood line no one really ever talked to or about.

“She discovered a new branch of stars and like micro planets and shit in the Milky Way that no one knew existed… when she was eleven.” Kels felt his jaw actually drop as his friend continued past the extravagant houses to the only gate guarded house at the very end of the road. “So her grandmother, Ann was the woman that invented the baby carrier in the 60’s for her son, my Uncle Negan, who is now the president of a motorcycle gang in LA- the Sanctuary? You heard of them?”

“Heard of ‘em.” He confirmed with a nod as he looked up at what he could see of the massive house through the slow moving bars of your personal gate.

“He married my mom’s sister, Lucille, and they had (Y/N). Aunt Lucille died in child birth, and Negan and my family got in a huge fight over who was a better fit to raise my cousin. With all the money that she was lined up to get, it was almost a sickening free for all for my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. But in the midst of the arguing, it turned out she was genius level smart. Like Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory was literally loosely based off her and she gets royalties off that shit. And after seeing all of the fighting going on over her for no reason, she convinced her dad to write us all off as a toddler. Which he happily did because he does anything his little girl asks him to do. She doesn’t talk to any of the older generations of my family but she talked to must of the cousins occasionally as long as they weren’t asking for money. Which, in the end, basically left me because I just see her as my cousin and not for her money.” Kels nodded his head slowly as Ashleigh parked her car and turned off the ignition.

“She’s an amazing person that has had one hell of a life because of her circumstances. Picked on for being rich, for being smart… for actually remembering her mother’s death. And it doesn’t help that her dad is in a gang or that he’s in prison for manslaughter or something like that.” Ashleigh shook her head again and grabbed her purse off the back seat to go inside. “She never had a chance. But I love coming up here when I come to town…”

“You better have my love child with you!” You shouted as you headed up the stairs on the side of your house that ran along the edge of the cliff which acted like a giant privacy wall for the left side your property. “Hi, I’m all sandy but still.”

“He’s with me.” Ash giggled as you wiped your hands off on your short jean shorts and stopped for only half a second to kiss her cheek. “I need a favor.”

“This is not favor town, Ash.” You said as you pulled open the back door to coo at your second cousin, Ashton. “This is Auntie love time! Hi munchkin!”

“(Y/N), this is Colson Baker, AKA Kels, or Machine Gun Kelly.”

“Kels is fine.” Colson said as you tossed Ashton up in the air a few inches to make him laugh.

“Mr. Baker works just as well.” You cooed to your cousin as you put him on your hip and turned to head inside. “Because I’m going to assume that the favor the pair of you need involves him, which leads me to deduce that this is a business transaction of some kind. You may either follow, or stand in my driveway all day, either option is acceptable in the world today. Freedoms and whatnot. Unless you are waiting for a formal invitation in which case, I’d be more than happy to write one up for you.”

“Her social skills with new people aren’t the best either.” Ashleigh whispered as low as she physically possibly could as she slung her bag over her shoulder and followed you toward the wrought iron gate at the entrance of your atrium. “But it’s better when you get to know her…”

“I can hear you talking shit, bitch.” You said evenly as you stopped and held the gate open for your guests. You gave the stranger to you a once over with your eyebrow raised as he passed by you and gave him a slight half nod. “I don’t see the purpose of small talk and sarcasm is the best defense in the world.”

“Small talk is over-rated.” Kels agreed as he, too, checked you out as shamelessly as you had. “Nice ink.”

“Save it.” You huffed with a smirk as you walked through the guest atrium and pushed open your ten foot tall, solid wood, pivot hinge front door to reveal the breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean you had. “What do you need? Yes, I’m putting you down.” You giggled as you set Ashton down on the floor and reached down for his hand to lead him over so he could push the window button, which made the glass panels slide open like doors into the walls so he could play out in the little private yard you had.

“Well… OK, so every year…” Ashleigh started as you helped Ashton into his favorite swing. “…we put on this concert for Christmas called XXmas. It’s fuckin’ crazy and it’s been sold out the last few years easy. It’s a two hour long set and they do some local Cleveland rappers for openers. (Y/N), you gotta see it some time. I mean, the following that Kels has managed to create…”

“The concert is in two days.” Colson interrupted when he noticed the slight hint of annoyance on your face. “And my guitarist broke his arm in a car accident last night. Now, Ash says you’re some kinda musical genius or some shit and you’d be able to help…?”

“I have plans.” You stated evenly as you kept your eyes locked on the toddler in front of you.

“It’s one night.” Ashleigh breathed, pleadingly as she took a step closer to you so you’d almost be forced to look up at her. “One night and I can make sure you are on a plane back that night or early the next morning. I’ll even pay for a private jet out of my own pocket to get you back on time to see your dad for Christmas if I have to.” With an audible sigh, you looked up at your cousin with a small shake of your head.

“Fuck you.”

“I love you, too.” She beamed, knowing that you were never going to say no to helping her out. You rolled your eyes and growled as you continued to push your cousin.

“Alright, play your songs. Which ever ones you want me to know, start playing them before I change my mind.” Colson looked a little stunned and glanced over at Ashleigh, who quickly pulled out her phone and nodded.

“She has an eidetic memory. All she needs to do is hear it once and she can memorize it.”

“Changing my mind over here.” You joked, flatly as you shot her an annoyed glare. “And it’s too close to Christmas to fight with flights so I’ll hire a jet. Hope your tickets are refundable.”

——

You choose to spend the four and a half hour flight sitting in the back of the private jet, with three different head phones in, listening to the full set list on repeat in your right ear, a narrated dissertation of someones research on further exploration of one of your original dissertations about the Milky Way’s cannibalism of surrounding stars in your left, and the feed back from your electric guitar in the head set you had over both ear buds. Your dad always told you you were crazy when you ‘nerded out’ like this, not being able to understand how you were able to have three different forms of audio stimulus going at the same time, nor how you could differentiate and focus on all three simultaneously. Even though you had your eyes closed, you could see the shift in the sun light in front of you and no matter how much you tried to ignore the feeling of eyes boring into your face, you couldn’t.

“This better be good.” You sighed as you pulled off your head set and pulled out both ear buds in an attempt to look civil.

“Three head phones?” Colson asked as you dropped the hardware in your lap and paused the two recordings on your phone.

“Keeping up with a dissertation from a colleague, listening to the set list, and messing around with it on my guitar.” You told him as you pointed to the corresponding head sets.

“Messing around with the set?” He asked as he scooted forward a bit in his chair and looked at the classic honey burst Les Paul on your lap. “Gunna share with the class?”

“Didn’t plan on it.” You responded as you tucked your legs up on the chair and held out one of the headphones. “But I’ll indulge all the same.” He nodded his head and put only one side over his ear while you handed him the other music headphone, put the original one in your ear, and pulled up the next track on the list. Your eyes closed again as the opening cords for ‘Rehab’ started playing, and you jumped right in with the riff that you had wrote in your head more to play for your father when you went to see him for Christmas.

“You wrote that?” Colson asked when you had finished. “You write music, too?!”

“No. No, I don’t.” You said quickly as you took back your headphones from him and put the extra ear bud away. “I… well, I remix songs. For my dad, mostly. When I go and visit… well I have a guitar there, and on nicer days, we sit outside and play name that tune. And I get my competitive side from him so I’ve gotten really good at recreating songs so that he can’t guess them but so they still sound like the original track.”

“So what’s he in for?” He asked innocently, which made you instantly stiffen and throw a wall up.

“Does it matter?” You retorted a little sharply. “He’s in prison.”

“Yo, my bad.” He said quickly as he held his hands up in surrender. “Didn’t know it was a touchy subject.” You nodded your head and glanced down at your lap as you started putting your headphones back in.

“Look, I’m not here to make friends, Mr. Baker. I’m here to help out some family, then I’m going home. That’s all. I don’t need friends…”

“Yea, you fucking got it.” He barked back as he got up from his chair to go back to his friends. With a shake of your head, you started your music and your paper back up, and slipped back into your anti-social bubble for a little bit longer.

——

You had never been an adrenaline junkie in your life, having had enough experiences with the club, but as you stood on the stage, playing through the set, you actually started craving the feeling. The high that the crowd was creating, feeding your soul and the music pouring out of the speakers behind you. You felt like a total rock star and you were glad that this feeling was something that you would remember forever.

It hadn’t taken you long into the set for you to notice Kels either, and not just notice, but really notice him. How sexy he looked in his low slung red pants with his ethika boxers peeking out. You hated that you were turned on by this stupid punk… but fuck if you couldn’t help but want to fuck his brains out. Even if his kid was only a hundred feet away from you, even if you never planned on seeing or speaking to him ever again. You almost needed to be under his sweat drenched body as fast as you could or your head was going to explode.

“She smiles.” Colson teased when the last cords of the last song faded away in the auditorium. You smirked and pulled out your ear phones as you handed off Ace’s guitar to the stage hand.

“Occasionally. Only when I’m having a really good time.” He nodded his head and looked around for a moment before grabbing your arm and turning you toward a side stage door. “Colson…?”

“You… are driving me fucking crazy.” He growled as he locked the door behind him with a shake of his head. “And I want to be pissed off at you for being a bitch for no fucking reason… but fuck I wanna fuck you way to Goddamn bad.”

“Oh, fuck…” You moaned as he pushed you back against a shelving unit and quickly started ripping at your jean shorts button. “Kels… the crew… your daughter…”

“Guess I’ll just have to be quick then.” You whined at him as he shoved your bottoms off, and lifted you up off the floor by the backs of your thighs. He pushed his boxers and pants down only as far as he needed, and slid into you. Your eyes rolled back and you grabbed on to his shoulder and the shelving unit you were pressed up against. It was short, quick, and dirty, and you both got off within a couple minutes, but it was absolutely worth it… until it wasn’t.

“Thanks for helping out… and not just on stage…” Colson said, almost dismissively as you both pulled up your bottoms. You let out a huff and ran your fingers through your hair.

“Do me a favor and don’t even so much as think my fucking name ever again.” You snapped as you pushed past him and threw the door to the closet open. You walked quickly to the green room, grabbed your bag and your guitar case off the floor and pulled out your phone to call a cab as Ashleigh called out your name from across the room. As a lone tear fell down your cheek, you simply walked away from her, back through the stadium halls, and out the back door, leaving your brief lapse of judgement in the janitors closet behind you.

Part 2

#machine gun kelly x reader #mgk x reader #colson baker x reader #Henry Cavill x Reader #Too Smart for Your Own Good

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bedbellyandbeyond · 4 years

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Medical Help

(Story Post; New Character!)

The building was rather unassuming at first. It appeared to be similar to the government building Theo worked out of, but a little bigger. Henderson used his ID to get them inside and then took him to the elevator. There were a lot of buttons inside which surprised Theo since the place was only a few stories high. After a moment he realised that the numbers on the bottom three quarters of the panel were all basement floors. Henderson selected one and they were on their way down quickly. The unexpected drop made Theo hold his stomach in shock. It felt like a lot of fluid sloshed around and it threw off his balance a bit that he had to grab Henderson for support. When the doors opened up, they were in a room that looked like any other reception at a small hospital or private practice. There was only one person in the waiting area minding their own business and they looked completely human. At the front desk, Theo saw what appeared to be the most beautiful human being he’d ever seen. Köbi smiled at them. “Hi there. Can I get your name, please?”

“Henderson Neil, but I brought my friend to be looked at,” Henderson said. “Do you have an appointment?” Köbi asked Theo. “No, but I'm looking for a second opinion on something and Henderson suggested I come here,” Theo said. “Oh, um... We don't usually take walk-ins I think... Lemme ask the doctor.” Köbi picked up the phone and called the doctor through the intercom. When it was picked up, he talked softly. “Hey, Syd. We have a walk-in here... They're with an employee... Okay, thank you.” “So?” Henderson probed. “You're in luck,” Köbi said. “We just had a no show, so the doctor has some time for you before the next patient. In the future though, we are very busy so you will have to make an appointment.” “Thanks a lot,” Henderson said. “Can I leave my buddy here in your hands? I gotta make a class.” Köbi nodded. “Mmhm. Can I get your name, buddy?” “It's Theo. Théodore Bernard.” Köbi typed it into his computer. “Ah, you're in the system. That's convenient for me...” “I'm sorry, I'm in the system?” “Yes, you're a government employee, right?” Köbi stated. “Even if you don't work directly with this department, APID has records of all government employees. It's a security thing.” “Oh... Okay, I see.” The doctor appeared from down the hall and placed a file folder at the front desk. “Köbi, I'm going to need you to input these while I'm with this patient, please.” “Sure thing.” Köbi took the file and placed it beside his computer. “This is Théo. He's your walk in.” Theo was a little surprised that Köbi actually pronounced his name the proper French way, but then again, he did have some kind of European accent. While he liked that, it was a little weird because he hadn’t heard it like that in months. “Hello, Théodore. I am Dr. Sydryn Aias. Please follow me,” Sydryn said, turning and heading back down the hall. The full name drop was a little weirder to hear. Usually only his aunt called him Théodore. “Oh, um...” Theo started following them. “Hi, doctor. Uh, I don't do it often, but last time I did a walk in, I had to fill out a form...” “Yes, yes. Information on your medical concern so that we can determine the level of urgency. No need,” Sydryn said bringing him to their office. “You can just tell me, although I imagine from the way your clothes don't fit that it has to do with sudden unanticipated growth in the mid-section.” “Y-Yeah!” Theo was a bit impressed. He located the exam table and got himself up onto it. “My doctor didn't really seem to think much of it, but I swear, when I woke up this morning, I just had a few rolls. Now it's like a beach ball.” “Théo, your gender, please,” Sydryn asked. “Oh, I'm a man,” Theo answered, though a little caught of guard. “He/Him. But it sounds like you guessed that I'm trans.” “Not necessarily, but it is relevant to the questioning,” Sydryn stated. “So, I imagine your GP ruled out pregnancy.” Theo nodded. “He did an ultrasound. It showed nothing more than fluid.” “Fluid?” Sydryn started typing on their computer. “In what part? Stomach? Liver? Intestine? Uterus? Kidney?” “He didn't say but I imagine it was just in the general...space of my stomach,” Theo said. “I dunno.” “You ‘dunno' is right... Do you have copies of this ultrasound?” Sydryn asked. “No, sorry.” “Fine... We'll have to do another.” Sydryn got up from their computer. “I recommend a trans-vaginal ultrasound but I won't do it if you're not comfortable with that, considering I am new to you.” Theo flushed. “Trans-vaginal...” He rubbed his forehead. “Honestly, I just want to know what's wrong with me, so whatever... Let's do it.” “Good. Do you have any ongoing medical conditions that may cause you pain in your pelvic region?” Sydryn asked. “No.” Theo shook his head. “Are you menstruating?” “Nope.” “Have you ever had a trans-vaginal ultrasound before?” “No. Does it hurt?” Sydryn shook their head. “It shouldn’t hurt, however some find it uncomfortable. The tool used is called a probe. It's about two centimetres in diameter and it is placed inside a condom and lubricated to ease passage into the vagina.” Theo chuckled uncomfortably. “You could've taken me to dinner first...” “It's better that you haven't eaten yet so that we can rule out any meals as an effect on your condition,” Sydryn replied. “Have you eaten recently?” “Not since lunch...” Theo said, a bit more uncomfortable since the doctor didn't share in his joke. “Good.” Sydryn got up and retrieved a patient gown for Theo. “Please put this on.” They pulled the curtain closed that encircled the exam table to allow Theo some privacy. Theo did as told, nervously undressing and pulling on the gown. The doctor had picked out a decently large one, so his middle didn't pull too much on the thin material. When he was done, he pulled back the curtain. Sydryn had stepped out for a moment but came back into the room when they heard the curtain. “Follow me, please.” Theo nodded and followed the doctor to another room where the imaging equipment was set up. He was directed up onto another exam bed and he reclined, resting his hands on his stomach. “Please rest your feet up on these platforms here and here,” Sydryn said, pointing to the pedal like appendages of the bed. Theo spread his legs as he did as told. He watched as the doctor prepared a very long probe and lubricated it. He tensed up instinctively as the probe was brought near his nether regions. “Theodore, please relax,” Sydryn said. “Have you had a pap smear before?” “Yeah.” “The pressure should be similar. Some would say this is easier,” Sydryn said. “Should you feel any pain however, do tell me.” “Okay.” Theo tried to breathe deep and relax himself. The probe was inserted moments later. The doctor looked to the monitor for information. For the next few minutes, they turned the transducer slowly, stopping occasionally to study the image. Theo didn’t really know what to look at so he just waited for it to be over. When it was, Sydryn removed the probe and set it aside to be cleaned later. “So?” Theo asked, putting his legs together. “Did it show anything?” Sydryn sighed. “It's inconclusive. However, it is clear that you have a large build-up of fluid within your uterus, much like with a pregnancy. There is an intact membrane like that of the amniotic sac, however there is no evidence of a foetus within. The question now is, what is this fluid build up and what caused it.” “So what do we do?” Theo asked. “I have this balloon of liquid in my uterus and what? Do I hope it goes away?” Sydryn shook their head. “No. I suggest we pop it.” Theo tensed at the thought. “Uh, what?” “If we, quote, break your water, unquote, we can, a., reduce the distension of your stomach, and b., collect some of the fluid as a sample and study it to determine its origin,” Sydryn explained. Theo rubbed his stomach. “...Oh... Do you think it's safe to do that?” Sydryn nodded. “Yes, it's like you're giving birth to an imaginary baby, but without a lot of the pain and stretching.” Theo swallowed hard. “If it'll make this stomach go away, then I guess let's do it...” Sydryn went to wash their hands and get new gloves. They called in Köbi from the front desk to assist and he got the tools ready. As Köbi was placing a plastic basin underneath the edge of the bed, Sydryn had Theo put his feet back up on the stirrups. “Now, is this going to hurt at all?” Theo asked. “It's not likely to hurt so much as give relief,” Sydryn said holding up what looked to be a hook on a stick. “It might feel like you're urinating but from a different hole.” “Alright...” The hook was inserted inside and Theo tried to relax again. After a moment inside, he felt a sudden popping sensation and then the rush of fluid out of his uterus and out between his legs. It was incredibly satisfying and he even noticed his stomach visibly deflate. “...Well, that's new,” he heard the doctor say. “What?” Theo asked. “Is something weird?” He sat up to try and see what the doctor was seeing. In the basin below the bed, a swirl of transparent but clearly blue and sparkly liquid pooled. Köbi had taken a sample in a beaker and left the room with it. “...Did that come out of me?” Theo asked, flabbergasted. “Indeed it did.” Sydryn pressed a little on Theo's stomach to coax the rest of the liquid out. When it seemed to have stopped, he gave Theo a towel and helped clean him up. “What is it?” Theo asked. “I can’t be sure,” Sydryn said. “We're going to run tests... For now though, I believe it's best you rest here overnight.” “What? But I have work—” “Your employer will be informed,” Sydryn said. “This is now an APID case and your health needs to be watched. This is a unique case, so we'll have to gather as much data as we can to determine the origin of this condition.” “...So I don't have a choice?” Theo asked. “Theo, the concern here is that we don't know what this might have done to you internally,” Sydryn said. “We don't know what affect it has on the human body beyond the distention. I can let you go home, but I believe it’s safest for you to remain here. If anything develops, we'd want you to have a medical professional nearby. It's up to you.” Theo rubbed the back of his neck. “Is this all covered by OHIP?” “A little late to ask that, and the answer is technically no, but there is no charge for diagnosis,” Sydryn stated. “Should we determine that there is non-human interference in you're health, which I am almost certain there is, then further care will be covered by our program.” “So... To be plain...?” Theo asked. “To be plain...If aliens or other non-human people are involved in this, a.k.a. this is not a human condition, you won't pay anything.” “And if there isn't?” “You won’t pay anything here, but you'll have to seek your usual human healthcare. Although I would suggest you find a new GP. Your current one is less than useful.” Theo nodded. “Okay, I understand...” “Do you have any questions?” “Yeah, well... Not exactly a question...” Theo looked at the doctor. “You say a lot of ‘human’ this, ‘non-human' that... Are you...human?” “It is not particularly polite around here to ask people whether they are human or not,” Sydryn answered. “Oh, I'm sorry...” “It's fine, it's your first time at APID. Please, have you chosen to stay as I requested?” “Well, where would I be staying?” Theo asked. “And I'm not really prepared for an overnight stay... I don’t have pyjamas or toiletries...” “I'll have the receptionist show you a room and he'll provide you any essentials you might need for the night,” Sydryn explained. “Let him know if you do plan on staying so that I am aware of the decision.” “Okay...” Theo got off the bed. “Should I go back and change?” “Please.”

After touring the overnight rooms they had, Theo agreed to stay. The rooms were much like a hotel and reasonably homely so he tried to treat it like a vacation. There was a set of buttons in the room near the bed, one of which he was he could use to call in a doctor or nurse to check in on him. He figured be might as well catch Henderson up so he texted him to call him when his class was over, and his friend kept the promise. Henderson sounded really excited about that idea that some alien had done this to Theo and he was rather proud that he'd called it. Theo reminded him that nothing was confirmed yet, but he was pretty sure Henderson was right as that liquid that had come out of him definitely looked otherworldly.

The next morning, Theo woke up groggy and delirious. It took him a minute to recognise where he was, then he sat up to get out of bed. It wasn't so easy as, once again, his stomach had swollen to unnatural proportions. He started to panic. What in the world was going on? Why was it back? They had drained him! It should've all left his body! Remembering the buttons, he picked the one to call the doctor. It was relatively early in the morning so he wasn’t sure if the doctor would be in, but sure enough, the pink haired physician was there within minutes. “It’s back,” Theo said, getting up and lifting his shirt. “What’s going on, doctor?” “Theodore, no need to reveal yourself,” Sydryn said. “I chose to prioritise looking into your case so I examined the substance we obtained yesterday and it is beyond what I’ve frankly ever seen. As such, I had to consult another doctor on the matter and I’d like them to speak with you.” Theo nodded, though he was starting to sweat a little. So far it seemed like no one knew what was happening to him and he just felt so lost. “Okay, um… So you don’t know anything?” “I know a lot of things, but this case in particular is new to me,” Sydryn said. “That doesn’t mean that I’m not trying to learn everything I can on the matter. I’d like to see you get through this.” That made him feel a little better. “Okay, who’s this other doctor?” Sydryn got up and went outside and returned with two others, one a handsome wavy-haired man with green tips and the other was none other than a Yulinian. Theo had never met a Yulinian, or any other alien for that matter, in his life and part of him was both very excited and another part was terribly nervous. He had no idea how to act and couldn’t help staring. “Théodore, this is Fay Demers and Dr. Ix,” Sydryn said. “Dr. Ix is our resident medical delegate from Yulin. They have been educating me on the physiology of various extraterrestrial species for the sake of my practice and I believe their knowledge on extraterrestrial life forms to be of benefit to you at this time.” Theo rubbed his legs nervously. “Hi, um, I’m Theo.” “It’s nice to meet you,” Dr. Ix said, smiling warmly. “I’m sure you’re feeling very worried for your health and I can assure you that this is the best place on this planet for you to receive the best care.” “Yeah, uh… Thanks.” Theo tried to look away, thinking he was making too much eye contact. “I’m really sorry if I act weird… I’ve just never met a Yulinian in person before.” “That’s quite alright,” the doctor said. “I get it a lot and frankly you’re one of the politer ones. Now, about your condition… I have a few questions.” “Okay, shoot.” “Have you been experiencing any strange dreams lately?” Dr. Ix asked. “Anything perhaps space related?” “Actually, yeah,” Theo said. “I have space dreams a lot.” “Can you describe them to me?” Dr. Ix pulled out a tablet to write on. “Yeah, um… Usually it’s the same dream from when I was younger,” Theo said. “I’m at a cottage with my friends, but I always breakaway to go look at the stars from the dock.” “How long have you been having this dream?” “I really don’t know. For as long as I can remember since that event.” “Has the dream changed at all within the last couple days?” “Yes! Actually, the night before last, I was on the dock but this time it was like…the night sky lifted me up into space,” Theo said. “And then it turned into a person with like, space hair. Galaxy hair.” Dr. Ix nodded silently, writing down some notes. Sydryn looked to the other doctor. “Does that line up?” “It does,” Dr. Ix said. “What does?” Theo asked. “You can diagnose me based on my dream?” Dr. Ix wobbled their head. “These types of ‘dreams’ are consistent with people we’ve found to share your condition. However, I also got to analyse the sample Dr. Aias procured and the two confirmed what I suspected you’re going through.” “So you know what’s wrong with me?” Theo asked, lighting up. “Yes,” Dr. Ix said. “I will say that not many beings go through what you are experiencing right now so our data is limited, but there is enough information that I believe we can help you with.” “So what is it? What’s wrong with me?” Dr. Ix crossed their hands over their tablet. “This appears to be a celestial pregnancy.” “Celestial what?” Theo placed his hands on his stomach. “I thought we determined I wasn’t pregnant…” “It was inconclusive,” Sydryn said. “What does it mean?” Theo asked. “Celestial pregnancy?” “You’ve been visited and impregnated by a celestial,” Dr. Ix said. “A celestial is a broad term for a number of extraterrestrial beings that do not inhabit planets but the space between them. Their existence and abilities are not easily explained by science, much like earthly creatures such as mermaids or dragons.” “Wait, hold on…” Theo said. “You’re comparing these celestial things to mythological creatures.” “I can assure you, they are not myths,” Sydryn stated. “The whereabouts and identities of such people are kept secret for their protection but they very much do exist.” “I for one am a merman,” Fay stated for the sake of proof. “Fay,” Sydryn warned. “You don’t know him…” “Relax, Syd. He’s clearly scared and harmless,” Fay stated. “Théo, I should probably explain why I’m here.” “You’re a merman?” Theo asked. Fay smiled and nodded. “Correct. I’m a case worker here at APID and Sydryn suggested I pick up your case.” “Fay here is one of our top case workers,” Sydryn stated. “He can help you with handling this condition on a more administrative and support level.” “Wait, hold on!” Theo said. “This is all a lot of information! I just want to know what we're going to do about this!” He patted his stomach. Dr. Ix nodded. “I'll continue. As I said, celestials are extraterrestrial beings. They do not belong to any one planet. Because of this, they are lesser known and often treated as mythological creatures. What we do know about some of them however is that on occasion they may visit a person in their sleep, often soothing them in pleasant dreams and they proceed to impregnate them with their celestial hybrid children. Implantation is certain and the, in your case, uterus swells with fluid to nurture the embryo as it grows.” “So you're saying...” Theo held his stomach. “This fluid builds up first? Then the baby grows inside it?” “Correct. You won't likely grow any larger than you are now, perhaps a bit more near the end of the pregnancy,” the doctor said. “From draining it yesterday, you only invited it to fill up again.” “Where is it coming from though?” Theo asked. “How can it fill up so fast?” “The fluid itself is...incredible to say the least. Exactly how it develops is hard to determine,” Dr. Ix said. “A microscopic examination showed that in fact, it contains micro-galaxies within. This is what feeds the offspring in the womb.” “I have...galaxies inside of me?” Theo asked. “Are you kidding?” “I don't kid,” Dr. Ix said. “I wouldn't concern yourself for the health of these galaxies. Something at such a small size is too delicate to worry about the condition of.” “I promise you; I'm not concerned about the health of micro-galaxies in my uterus,” Theo said, rubbing his head. “What do we do?” Dr. Ix placed a hand on Theo's shoulder. “We're going to monitor your pregnancy closely and make it as easy as possible for you. You'll get through this.” Theo shook his head. “But I don't want to be pregnant. I have no desire to have this kid. There has to be a way to get rid of it.” Sydryn shook their head. “Unfortunately, Théodore, the pregnancy is certain just as much as the implantation is. The will of a celestial is not one we can defy. This is why some cultures worship them as gods. We can help through the pregnancy, but we're not capable of terminating it. And I don’t mean it in the sense that we won’t or that we legally can’t. If we could, we would do so for you. There are no known methods for doing so.” Theo looked at all their faces, these people just staring at him. He knew they were there to help, but he couldn't help feeling despair. He started to tear up and tried wiping his eyes. “So...So I'm just stuck like this?” Fay came over to his side and rubbed his shoulder. “I know this is hard for you. This kind of thing is so uncommon and unheard of that it would make anyone scared. But you're not going to be alone through this and we're going to work out what we're going to do from here on. If it helps at all, think of it as being chosen by a higher power.” “On some planets,” Dr. Ix interjected, “These children are seen as blessings and become important pillars of their societies, oracles and shaman and so on. Their parents are treated like kings.” “Wait, am I expected to raise this thing?” Theo asked. “No, that is up to you,” Sydryn said. “You can take custody or APID will take them on as a ward. We wouldn't want to force you into parenthood against your will.” “But I have to give birth to it?” Theo inhaled sharply. “I... Guys, I can't process all this right now...” “Of course. It’s a lot,” Fay said. “It's not easy waking up to three strangers telling you a space alien impregnated you.” “Why don't you come with me,” Sydryn said, “And we'll do another examination just to determine your overall health today as well as get some measurements.” Theo nodded. “Okay.” “After you guys do that, I can get you some breakfast,” Fay said, patting Theo's arm. “What are you, an egg man? Bacon? Pancakes?” “Is there food here?” Theo asked. “Yes, of course. We have a lot of residents living here,” Fay said. “We have a really large cafeteria. But honestly, the food is really good.” “I wouldn't mind bacon and eggs,” Theo answered. “Thanks.” “Don't mention it,” Fay said. “Syd, can you send him to my office when you're done?” “Sure thing.” Sydryn motioned for everyone to leave the room. Theo called to them as Dr. Ix began to leave. “Sorry, um, I have another question.” “Yes?” Ix turned around. “How long will this pregnancy last?” “The few recorded celestial pregnancies lasted the length of a host species’ typical pregnancy so, it’ll likely be nine months,” Dr. Ix determined. “A whole nine months looking full term?” Theo paled. “No way.” Dr. Ix started to leave again. “I’ll be consulting on this with Dr. Aias. Should you wish to speak to me directly, you can come by my office. Dr. Aias can give you the location. I must go now however.” “Okay, bye…” The alien left behind Fay, and Sydryn was about to step out as well. “By the way, when Köbi had you fill out some forms last night, you put your aunt down as your emergency contact, correct?” Sydryn asked. “Yeah, why?” “Well, it's just that the address is a province over. Do you not have anyone in the city?” Theo shook his head. “I left my friends and family in Quebec to move here for my work.” “No contacts here? A significant other perhaps?” Sydryn asked. “What about that Henderson man?” “No, he's just a friend. We're co-workers, I couldn't make him my emergency contact.” “Very well, but I would suggest keeping your friends close,” Sydryn said. “Even a typical human pregnancy isn't easy to handle alone.” They paused then raised a finger. “Actually, there's a pregnancy group here at APID that could benefit you.” “Really?” Theo rubbed his neck. “For alien pregnancies?” “No, for pregnancies in general,” Sydryn said. “And if you’re worried about possibly being the only man they, it's actually majority men.” “You're kidding.” Theo lit up a bit. “Other pregnant men?” “Like Ix, I'm not a kidder. It is primarily for others who have experienced pregnancy and can share their knowledge and experiences. But I'm sure they can help you feel comfortable.” Theo nodded. “I think… Once I get my bearings in all this… I might actually think about going to that. Thanks.” “Let me know if and when you’d like to go,” Sydryn said. “They meet on Fridays. I sit in on occasion, but I can also understand if you’d rather I didn’t. Not everyone wants their doctor listening in on their personal life.” “Yeah, we’ll see…” Theo rubbed his neck. “Oh, um... I'm technically pregnant, right?” “You are pregnant, yes.” “Do I have to stop my injections?” The doctor shook their head. “Technically no, testosterone injections would not affect a celestial pregnancy, however it might cease to be effective in your transition considering the pregnancy will be preparing you for birth by raising your estrogen levels.” Theo swallowed hard. “Will it reverse my transition then?” “No, no... Fret not,” Sydryn said. “While you might find some changes seem reversed, a lot of FTM transition features are permanent. You're not likely to lose hair growth and your voice will remain the same. Your hips might get wider though...” Theo frowned. “So T. Not worth it.” “Not right now.” “I really should've scheduled a hysterectomy...” “We'll get through this. Don't worry.” Sydryn proceeded to do a physical examination, taking all of Theo’s measurements and checking his vitals. He was in good health despite the pregnancy, though it was clear the new weight was causing issues. Oddly, he didn’t have a single stretchmark from his rapid growth, and Syd suspected it was due to celestial influence. He was overall the same as he was before but with a bigger abdomen. After the exam, Sydryn suggested that Theo stay at APID one more night just to see if any changes occurred. If his growth had stabilised, then he could go home and they'd proceed from there. Theo agreed to it. He had breakfast with Fay after, and the other was keen on getting to know his new client. They talked for a while and Theo found out he was married with eight children. He and his husband both went to the pregnancy group that Sydryn had talked about and it made Theo feel a bit better about it, knowing he'd already know someone there. Theo talked about his job as a translator and they had that in common too; Fay apparently also translated for APID. As a siren however, it took him often no more than a few minutes with someone to learn their language without ever having heard it before. He could understand anyone, though he couldn't always speak the language of another species due to physiology. Theo only knew his native French and English. He was starting to think taking one of Henderson's classes wouldn't be a bad idea...

“Ta-da!” “What…is that?” Henderson was holding up a big bright green T-shirt with APID printed gaudily across the chest. He’d come back to APID after work to take Theo home. “I imagine your clothes don’t fit now so I got this for you on my way back from class.” “…Gee. Thanks.” Theo had already changed into his own clothes hours ago, but it was true, his own shirt did not fully cover his new burgeoning belly. He attempted to tuck his shirt into his pants but the slightest movement untucked it and it seemed like the APID shirt was going to have to be the one for the way home. “…You’d think the branding of a secret government organisation would be more subtle…” “It’s really not a secret anymore, you know that,” Henderson said. “And after the name change, they made up all this merch I guess to really sell the new name. I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of the limited edition throw blankets. Wanna come back to mine and see it?” “No, thanks… I really just want to go home,” Theodore said. “…I’ve had a shit day.” “Ah, I guess I’ll just have to bring it over then.” “Henderson!” Theo snapped. “I really don’t care about your blanket!” Henderson blinked and threw up his hands. “Sorry, I… Sorry. Bad day. Blankets don’t matter. You matter.” “Mon dieu…” Theo rubbed his face, his tears welling up again. “No, I’m sorry… I know you’re just trying to help…” Henderson panicked a moment. “Oh, shit... Um, it's gonna be okay...” He gave him a hug as best he could with Theo's belly digging into his gut. “Let's get you home.” Theo pulled away from Henderson after a few moments in the hug. “...I'll take the shirt.” Henderson nodded and handed it over. Theo proceeded to undress to his waist, his mood visibly falling once his stomach was exposed. Henderson restrained himself from reaching out and touching the belly again, knowing it would likely just upset Theo. Instead, he hooked his hands under his own armpits and tried not to watch. “So, um... Nine months of this, yeah?” “Yeah...” Theo sighed. “I don't know what I'm gonna do every day looking like this... Like, what will my boss think?” “Mm... You should ask these doctors here for a sick note of some kind, something to explain the swell and letting you off the hook in case you need some days off.” He pulled a hand out and snapped his fingers. “I got it. You've got a tumour.” “A tumour?” Theo grimaced. “What like, cancer? I don't want to lie about having cancer...” “No, no, it could be benign,” Henderson suggested. “But still not good for you because of the size. And-and it's complex and the only surgeon good enough to operate is away for the next nine months. How about that?” Theo stared at Henderson. “You're crazy.” Henderson shook his head. “Naw, you just don't want to admit that I'm a genius.” Theo sighed. “Just take me home...” “Yeah, yeah... Also, you're welcome.” “Huh?” “For the shirt.” “Oh. Yeah, I said ‘thanks' already.” “Sure, but I hadn't said ‘you're welcome' so I said it now. It's only polite.” “Whatever.”

#lore #Theo #Sydryn #Köbi #Henderson #Ix #alien #yulinian #Transman #trans preg

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thedoctorcried · 3 years

Text

Runaway - Part Seven

~Masterlist~

Concept: Hazel Richards is a twenty-year-old woman living in London. When she meets a mysterious time-travelling alien known only as the Hunter, she’s thrust into a world of wonder she could only have imagined.

Warnings: swearing, follows S1 of Doctor Who.

The Hunter's face twisted in agony as the electricity lanced through her body, but she managed to raise her left arm, ripping the ID card away telekinetically, and shoot it across the room against the collar of the revealed Slitheen, causing both it and Green to be enveloped with the electricity. "Deadly to humans, maybe. But I bet you don't like it much either." She ran out to where the armed police were waiting at their posts. "Oi! If you want aliens, you've got them. They're inside Downing Street. Come on!" They followed her as she ran back in, only to find Asquith back in his skin suit, Green looking outraged.

"Where have you been? I called for help. I sounded the alarm. There was this lightning, this kind of, er, electricity, and they all collapsed!" Green shouted.

The police checked the bodies. "I think they're all dead," one reported.

"That's what I'm saying," Green agreed. "She did it! That woman there." He was pointing straight at the Hunter.

The Hunter glanced at the policeman nearest to her. "If I were to tell you the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise, would you believe me?"

The man shook his head. "No."

"Fair enough." She sprinted off, but didn't get far before two sets of the armed police cornered her.

"Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorise you to execute this woman," Asquith commanded.

"Well, yes, uh, you see, the thing is, if I were going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, there's just one teeny tiny thing I would've done differently," the Hunter told them. The lift dinged behind her, and she stepped in. "Don't stand them against the lift!" She pressed the button and the doors closed before the police could open fire.

***

Meanwhile, Harriet and Hazel had their own problems. Chased by another Slitheen, they just barely saw the Hunter as the lift doors opened before they raced past the distracted Slitheen, slipping into a sitting room. "Hide!" Hazel instructed, hiding behind a curtain in the window. Harriet opted to crouch behind a draught excluder screen. The girls held their breath as they heard Margaret the Slitheen enter.

"Oh, such fun. Little human children, where are you? Sweet little humeykins, come to me. let me kiss you better," she crooned. "Kiss you with my big, green lips." Hazel made a face, even as she heard two more enter. "My brothers," Margaret greeted.

"Happy hunting?" Green the Slitheen asked.

"It's wonderful," Margaret replied. "The more you prolong it, the more they stink."

"Sweat and fear," Asquith said, sniffing deeply.

"I can smell an old girl," Green stated. "Stale bird and brittle bones."

"And a ripe youngster, all hormones and adrenaline," Margaret sniffed. "Fresh enough to bend before she snaps." Margaret pulled back the curtain, and Hazel screamed.

Harriet ran out from her hiding place. "No! Take me first! Take me!"

The Hunter burst into the room, spraying the Slitheen with a fire extinguisher. "Out, with me!" Hazel pulled the curtain over Margaret, then she and Harriet joined the Hunter by the door. "Who the hell are you?"

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North," the woman replied.

"Nice to meet you," the Hunter said, telekinetically shoving the Slitheen back before throwing the empty fire extinguisher at them.

"Likewise," Harriet agreed, and the three of them ran out.

"We need to head for the Cabinet Room," the Hunter exclaimed, leading the way.

"The Emergency Protocols are in there," Harriet stated. "They give instructions for aliens."

The Hunter grinned. "Harriet Jones, I like you."

"And I like you too," Harriet returned.

***

As they entered the Cabinet Room, the Hunter grabbed a decanter of alcohol from the side, hovering it above her silver palm while pointing her sonic screwdriver at it with her other hand. "One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof, we all go up. So back off." The Slitheen took a few steps back into the outer office, and the Hunter nodded. "Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"

"They're aliens," Harriet supplied helpfully."

The Hunter sighed. "Yes, I got that, thanks."

"Who are you, if not human?" Green questioned.

Harriet frowned. "Who's not human?"

"She's not human," Hazel answered.

"She's not human?"

"Can I have a bit of hush?" the Hunter asked, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry," Harriet muttered.

"So, what's the plan?" the Hunter demanded. She laughed a little when the Slitheen remained silent. "Come on. You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government. What for, invasion?"

Asquith snorted. "Why would we invade this God-forsaken rock?"

The Hunter's expression didn't change. "Then something's brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?"

"The Slitheen race?" Asquith repeated.

Green snickered. "Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service."

"So you're family," the Hunter nodded.

"A family business," Green agreed.

"Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a God-forsaken rock?" the Hunter questioned.

"Ah, excuse me?" Asquith interrupted. "Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability?"

The Hunter blinked. "Is... Is that what I said?" she asked, shrugging.

"You've making it up," Asquith accused.

"Ah, well. Nice try. Harriet, have a drink. I think you're going to need it." The decanter floated around to the woman.

"You pass it to the left first," Harriet reminded her.

"Sorry," the Hunter muttered, not taking her eyes off the Slitheen as she floated the alcohol back round to Hazel.

"Thanks," she muttered as it landed in her hands.

"Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter," Asquith smirked.

"Don't you think we should run?" Hazel suggested, taking a big gulp of the alcohol.

The Hunter shook her head. "Do you know, Downing Street had a fascinating history. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr Chicken. He was a nice guy. 1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four safest walls in the whole of Great Britain. End of lesson." She lifted a small panel by the door, and pressed a button. Metal shutters crashed down over the windows and doors, sealing them in. She turned back to the others. "Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in."

Hazel nodded. "Art?"

"Yeah?"

"How do we get out?"

There was a pause. "Ah."

***

Later, the Hunter dragged Ganesh's corpse into a small store room, next to the body of the Prime Minister. "Sorry, Indra," she muttered, before heading out and closing the cupboard, going over to Hazel and Harriet at the table. "Right, what have we got? Any terminals, anything?"

"Nope," Hazel shook her head. "This place is antique. What I don't get is, when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?"

"He's too slim," the Hunter answered. "They're big old beasts. They need to fit inside big humans."

Hazel frowned. "But the Slitheen are about eight feet. How do they fit inside?"

"That's the device around their necks." The Hunter pulled off her beanie and ruffled her hair, slipping the hat into one of many pockets. "Compression field. Literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas. It's a big exchange."

"Wish I had a compression field. I could fit a size smaller," Hazel joked. The Hunter rolled her eyes.

"Excuse me, people are dead!" Harriet looked horrified. "This is not the time for making jokes."

"Sorry," Hazel bit her lip. "You get used to this stuff when you're friends with her."

Harriet blinked. "Well, that's a strange friendship."

The Hunter frowned. "Harriet Jones. I've heard that name before. Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?"

"Oh, hardly," Harriet shook her head.

"Rings a bell. Harriet Jones..."

"Lifelong backbencher, I'm afraid, and a fat lot of use I'm being now," Harriet sighed. "The Protocols are redundant. They list the people who could help, and they're all dead downstairs."

"Hasn't it got, like, defence codes and things? Couldn't we just launch a nuclear bomb at them?" Hazel suggested.

Harriet looked at her weirdly. "You're a very violent young woman."

"I'm serious," Hazel raised her eyebrows. "We could."

"Well, there's nothing like that in here," Harriet shrugged. "Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it's kept secret by the United Nations."

"Say that again," the Hunter requested suddenly, looking up.

"What, about the codes?"

"All of it," the Hunter nodded.

"Well, the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a Special Resolution from the UN," Harriet repeated.

Hazel snorted. "Like that's ever stopped them."

"Exactly, given our past record. And I voted against that, thank you very much," Harriet said, before turning back to the Hunter. "The codes have been taken out of the government's hands and given to the UN. Is it important?"

"Everything's important," the Hunter replied.

Harriet sighed. "If only we knew what the Slitheen wanted." She laughed a little. "Listen to me. I'm saying Slitheen as if it's normal."

"What do they want, though?" Hazel wondered.

The Hunter shrugged. "Well, they're just one family, so it's not an invasion. They don't want Slitheen World. They're out to make money. That means they want to use something. Something here on Earth. Some kind of asset."

"Like what, gold? Oil? Water?" Harriet asked.

"You've very good at this," the Hunter complimented.

"Thank you," Harriet smiled.

"Harriet Jones," the Hunter mused. "Why do I know that name?"

Hazel jumped as her phone beeped. "Oh, that's me." She pulled it out.

"But we're sealed off," Harriet protested. "How did you get a signal?"

"She zapped it. Super phone," Hazel replied, not looking up.

"Then we can phone for help," Harriet suggested. "You must have contacts."

"Dead downstairs, yeah," the Hunter snorted.

"It's Mike," Hazel muttered, opening the text, her eyes widening when she saw the picture he'd sent.

The Hunter rolled her eyes. "Oh, tell him we're busy."

"Yeah, no," Hazel shook her head, showing her friend the picture of a Slitheen Mike had messaged. When the Hunter's eyes widened, Hazel dialled. "Mike? That was one of them aliens, yeah?"

"No, no, no, no, no. Not just alien, but like, proper alien," Mike told her. "All stinking, and wet, and disgusting. And more to the point, it wanted to kill us!"

"I could've died!" Jason cried in the background.

Hazel winced. "Is he all right, though? Don't put him on, just tell me."

The Hunter grabbed Hazel's phone telekinetically, ignoring her squeak of surprise. "Is that Spike? Don't talk, just shut up and go to your computer."

"It's Mike, and why should I?" Mike questioned.

She sighed. "Mikey the Pikey, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but, er, I need your help." The Hunter started giving him instructions to hack into the UNIT website.

"It says password," Mike stated.

The Hunter plugged the phone into a conference speaker. "Say again?"

"It's asking for the password," Mike repeated.

"Buffalo," the Hunter replied. "Two Fs, one L."

"So, what's that website?" Jason asked.

"All the secret information known to mankind," Mike told him. "See, they've known about aliens for years. They just kept us in the dark."

The Hunter rolled her eyes. "Mike, you were born in the dark."

"Oh, leave him alone," Hazel sighed, smirking a little despite herself.

"Thank you," Mike said smugly. "Password again."

"Just repeat it every time," the Hunter replied, sitting on the table. "Big Ben - why did the Slitheen go and hit Big Ben?"

"You said to gather the experts, to kill them," Harriet stated.

The Hunter snorted. "That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon. You don't need to crash land in the middle of London."

"The Slitheen are hiding, but then they put the entire planet on Red Alert," Hazel mused. "What would they do that for?"

Jason scoffed. "Oh, listen to her."

Hazel glared at her phone. "At least I'm trying."

"Well, I've got a question, if you don't mind. Since that woman walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets, I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my sister disappear off the face of the Earth," Jason complained.

Hazel rolled her eyes. "I told you what happened."

"I'm talking to her," Jason clarified. "Cause I've seen this life of yours, Hunter, and maybe you get off on it, and maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me. Just answer me this. Is my sister safe?"

"I'm fine," Hazel said weakly, seeing how the Hunter had frozen in place, curling some of her hair around her metal fingers with a haunted look in her eyes.

"Is she safe?" Jason questioned. "Will she always be safe? Can you promise me that? Well, what's the answer?"

"We're in," Mike stated, and just like that, the Hunter was back to normal.

"Now then, on the left at the top, there's a tab, an icon. Little concentric circles. Click on that," she ordered.

"What is it?" Mike asked as sound started playing from his laptop.

"The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea, and it's transmitting that signal. Now hush, let me work out what it's saying." The Hunter closed her eyes, crossing her legs on the table top, concentrating.

"She'll have to answer me one day," Jason muttered.

"Hush!" Mike hissed.

"It's some sort of message," the Hunter murmured, not opening her eyes.

"What's it say?" Hazel wondered quietly, sitting next to her on the table.

"Don't know. It's on a loop, keeps repeating," the Time Lady replied. Her brow creased as Mike's doorbell rang. "Hush!"

"That's not me," Mike stated. "Go and see who that is."

"It's three o'clock in the morning," Jason protested.

"Well, go and tell them that," Mike suggested.

"It's beaming out into space, who's it for?" the Hunter sighed, putting her head in her hands.

"It's him!" Jason shouted. "It's the thing, it's the Slitheen!"

"They've found us," Mike exclaimed.

"I need that signal," the Hunter muttered, only half listening.

"Never mind the signal, get out!" Hazel cried, making the Hunter open her eyes in realisation of what was happening. "Jace, just get out! Get out!"

"We can't," Mike told her. "It's by the front door." He paused. "Oh my God, it's unmasking. it's going to kill us."

"There's got to be some way of stopping them," Harriet implored, looking at the Hunter. "You're supposed to be the expert, think of something."

"I'm trying!" the Hunter snapped.

"I'll take it on, Jace," Mike said bravely. "You just run. Don't look back. Just run." The door splintered.

"That's my brother," Hazel whispered, her eyes wide.

The Hunter sighed. "Right, if we're going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they're from, Which planet. So, judging by their basic shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!"

"They're green," Hazel supplied.

"Yep, narrows it down."

"Good sense of smell."

"Narrows it down."

"They can smell adrenaline."

"Narrows it down."

"The pig technology," Harriet suggested.

"Narrows it down," the Hunter nodded, closing her eyes.

"The spaceship in the Thames, you said slipstream engine?" Hazel remembered.

"It's getting in!" Mike shouted.

"They hunt like it's a ritual," Hazel added.

"Narrows it down."

"Wait a minute," Harriet said. "Did you notice? When they fart, if you'll pardon the word, it doesn't just smell like a fart, if you'll pardon the word, it's something else. What is it? It's more like, er..."

"Bad breath!" Hazel realised.

"That's it," Harriet agreed.

"Calcium decay!" the Hunter nodded. "Now, that narrows it down!"

"We're getting there, Jace!" Hazel called.

"Too late!" Mike yelled.

"Calcium phosphate," the Hunter thought aloud. "Organic calcium. Living calcium. Creatures made out of living calcium. What else? What else? Hyphenated surname. Yes! That narrows it down to one planet. Raxacoricofallapatorius."

"Oh, yeah, great. We could write 'em a letter," Mike scoffed.

"Get into the kitchen!" the Hunter ordered, opening her eyes.

"It's going to rip us apart!" Jason cried as they barricaded the kitchen door.

"Calcium, weakened by the compression field. Acetic acid. Vinegar!" the Hunter cheered.

"Just like Hannibal!" Harriet smiled.

The Hunter grinned. "Just like Hannibal. Mike, have you got any vinegar?"

"How should I know?" the man asked incredulously.

"It's your kitchen!" the Hunter raised her eyebrows.

"Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf," Hazel supplied.

Judging by the proximity of his voice, Jason had taken the phone. "Oh, give it here. What do you need?"

"Anything with vinegar!" the Hunter replied.

"Gherkins," Jason muttered. "Ugh, pickled onions. Pickled eggs."

The Hunter shared a glance with Hazel. "That's disgusting."

The end of the fight was the sound of the door breaking down, Jason throwing the mixture at the Slitheen, and the thing exploding.

"Hannibal?" Hazel raised an eyebrow.

"Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar," Harriet explained.

"Oh, well, there you go then." The ladies toasted the moment with a glass of port from the decanter.

***

Later, Mike had turned on the TV for a broadcast from Green. "Listen to this."

"Ladies and gentlemen, nations of the world, humankind," Green greeted. "The greatest experts in extra-terrestrial events came here tonight. They gathered in the common cause, but the news I bring you now is grave indeed. The experts are dead, murdered right in front of me by alien hands. Peoples of the Earth, heed my words. These visitors do not come in peace. Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction capable of being deployed within forty five seconds."

The Hunter sat up, narrowing her eyes. "What?!"

"Our technicians can baffle the alien probes, but not for long. We are facing extinction, unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship," Green stated. "I beg of the United Nations, pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes. A nuclear strike at the heart of the beast is our only chance of survival. Because from this moment on it is my solemn duty to inform you planet Earth is at war."

"He's making it up," the Hunter growled. "There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it."

"Do you think they'll believe him?" Harriet asked.

"They did last time," Hazel pointed out.

"That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle," the Hunter sighed. "They want the whole world panicking, because you lot, you get scared, you lash out."

"They release the defence codes," Hazel continued.

"And the Slitheen go nuclear," the Hunter finished.

"But why?" Harriet frowned.

The Hunter stormed over to the shutters, opening them to see Margaret standing outside, back in her skin suit. "You get the codes, release the missiles, but not into space because there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth. They retaliate, fight back. World War Three. Whole planet gets nuked."

"And we can sit through it safe in our spaceship waiting in the Thames," Margaret smirked. "Not crashed, just parked. Only two minutes away."

Harriet frowned. "But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?"

"Profit," the Hunter told her. "That's what the signal is beaming into space. An advert."

"The sale of the century," Margaret agreed. "We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it piece by piece. Radioactive chunks, capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Hunter. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel."

The Hunter glared at her. "At the cost of five billion lives."

Margaret grinned. "Bargain."

"I'll give you a choice," the Hunter stated. "Leave this planet or I'll stop you."

"What, you?" Margaret snorted. "Trapped in your box?"

The Hunter nodded confidently. "Yes, me." She closed the shutters on Margaret's laughing face and took a deep breath before turning back to the others.

Jason sighed, having heard it all via the phone. "All right, Hunter. I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do."

"If we could ferment the port, we could make acetic acid," Harriet suggested half-heartedly.

"Mike, any luck?" Hazel called.

"There's load of emergency numbers," he replied. "They're all on voicemail."

"Voicemail dooms us all," Harriet sighed.

"If we could just get out of here," Hazel frowned.

"There's a way out," the Hunter stated suddenly.

Hazel blinked. "What?"

"There's always been a way out," the Time Lady admitted.

"Then why don't we use it?" Hazel asked, raising her eyebrows.

The Hunter looked towards the phone, a sad look in her eyes. "Because I can't guarantee your sister will be safe."

"Don't you dare," Jason shouted immediately. "Whatever it is, don't you dare."

"That's the thing, if I don't dare, everyone dies," the Hunter told him.

"Do it," Hazel ordered.

"You don't even know what it is," the Hunter frowned at her friend. "You'd just let me?"

Hazel nodded, a small smile gracing her lips. "Yeah."

"Please, Hunter, please," Jason begged. "She's my sister. She's just a kid."

"Do you think I don't know that? Because this is my life, Jason. It's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will," the Hunter stated, her voice hollowing.

"Then what're you waiting for?" Hazel wondered softly.

The Hunter looked across at her, a tiny smile turning up her lips. "I could save the world, but lose you."

"Except it's not your decision, Hunter. It's mine," Harriet interrupted.

"And who the bloody hell are you?!" Jason demanded.

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people for the people. And on behalf of the people, I command you. Do it."

After a moment, the Hunter nodded. "So how do we get out?" Hazel asked.

"We don't," the Time Lady replied, floating the Emergency Protocols over to the table in front of her. "We stay here." She sat next to the phone, giving Mike instructions as she scanned through the protocols.

***

Awhile later, Mike asked for a password, and Hazel looked up, curious. "Use the buffalo password," the Hunter told him. "It overrides everything."

"What're you doing?" Jason questioned, sounding tired.

"Hacking into the Royal Navy," Mike replied casually. "We're in. Here it is. HMS Taurean, Trafalgar Class submarine, ten miles off the coast of Plymouth."

"Right, we need to select a missile," the Hunter stated, her face showing little emotion, just concentration.

"We can't go nuclear," Mike reminded her. "We don't have the defence codes."

The Hunter shook her head. "We don't need it. All we need's an ordinary missile. What's the first category?"

"Sub Harpoon, UGM-A4A," Mike answered.

"That's the one," the Hunter nodded. "Select."

"I could stop you," Jason muttered.

"Do it, then," Mike challenged.

"You ready for this?" the Hunter asked.

Mike paused, eyeing Jason. "Yeah."

"Mikey the Pikey, the world is in your hands," the Hunter told him, sighing. "Fire." All they heard was a mouse click, but it was enough.

"Oh my God," Jason whispered.

"How solid are these?" Harriet wondered, patting the wall.

The Hunter shook her head. "Not solid enough. Built for short range attack, nothing this big."

Hazel blew out a breath. "All right, now I'm making the decision. I'm not going to die. We're going to ride this one out. It's like what they say about earthquakes. You can survive them by standing under a doorframe. Now, this cupboard's small, so it's strong. Come and help me. Come on." She and Harriet started clearing out the cupboard while the Hunter stayed with the phone. Although she could have easily emptied the cupboard in seconds telekinetically, she thought it best to give them something to do to keep their minds off the fact that a missile was heading right for them.

"It's on radar," Mike reported. "Counter defence five five six."

"Stop them intercepting it," the Hunter ordered.

"I'm doing it now," Mike stated.

The Hunter nodded. "Good boy."

After a moment he spoke again. "Five five six neutralised." The Hunter unplugged the phone and joined Hazel and Harriet where they were now sitting in the cupboard, closing the door behind her. She handed Hazel's phone back to her, having ended the call, and the trio grabbed each others hands.

"Here we go," Harriet breathed. "Nice knowing you both. Hannibal!"

Hazel closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the wall. As the missile hit, she curled in on herself, glad of the comfort of the Hunter's cool metal arm pressed against her skin, even as she closed her eyes in fear.

***

The Hunter pushed the steel door off with her metal hand, and staggered out into the rubble, followed by Harriet and Hazel. All three women winced as the sunlight hit them.

"Made in Britain," Harriet nodded, looking back at the steel container they'd been in.

A soldier ran up to them, looking horrified. "Oh my God. Are you all right?"

Harriet showed him her ID. "Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact the UN immediately. Tell the ambassadors the crisis is over. They can step down. Go on, tell the news."

"Yes, ma'am," the man hurried away.

"Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out," Harriet sighed, kicking a broken bit of chair half-heartedly. "Oh, Lord. We haven't even got a Prime Minister."

"Maybe you should have a go," the Hunter suggested, smirking a little.

"Me?" Harriet snorted. "I'm only a back bencher."

"I'd vote for you," Hazel told her, grinning.

"Now, don't be silly," Harriet admonished. "Look, I'd better go and see if I can help. Hang on! We're safe! The Earth is safe!" She jogged off towards the soldiers. "Sergeant!"

"I thought I knew the name," the Hunter nodded as she and Hazel made their way down the rubble, waving away paramedics. "Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister. Elected for three successive terms. The architect of Britain's Golden Age."

***

Jason and Hazel hugged in their living room as they reunited, watching Harriet Jones on the TV. "Harriet Jones," Jason snorted. "Who does she think she is? Look at her, taking all the credit. Should be you on there." He nudged her. "My sister saved the world!"

Hazel rolled her eyes, smiling. "I think the Hunter helped a bit."

"All right then, her too," Jason nodded grudgingly. "You should be given knighthoods."

"That's not the way she does things," Hazel told him. "No fuss. She just moves on. She's not that bad if you gave her a chance."

"She's good in a crisis, I'll give her that," Jason admitted.

"Oh, now the world has changed," Hazel's eyes widened. "You're saying nice things about her."

Jason shrugged. "Well, I reckon I've got no choice. There's no getting rid of her since you're infatuated."

Hazel blushed. "I'm not infatuated!"

"What does she eat?" Jason asked thoughtfully.

"How do you mean?"

"I was going to do shepherds pie. The three of us," Jason told her. "A proper sit down, cause I'm ready to listen. I wanna learn about you and her and that life you lead. Only, I don't know, she's an alien. For all I know, she eats grass and safety pins and things."

Hazel giggled. "She'll have shepherd pie. You're going to cook for her?"

Jason frowned. "What's wrong with that?"

"She's finally met her match!" Hazel joked.

"Oh, you cheeky bitch!" Jason exclaimed, trying - and failing - to hide his smile. "Get out of it!" He changed channels as Hazel got up to answer her phone.

"Hello?"

"Right, it'll be a couple of hours, then we can go," the Hunter told her from the TARDIS.

Hazel laughed a little. "You've got a phone?"

The Hunter scoffed. "You think I can travel through space and time without a phone? Like I said, couple of hours. I've just got to send out this dispersal." Hazel heard the flick of a switch. "There you go. That's cancelling out the Slitheen's advert in case any bargain hunters turn up."

"Er, Jace is cooking," Hazel said, biting her lip.

"Put him on a slow heat and let him simmer," the Hunter advised absently.

"He's cooking tea," Hazel corrected. "For us."

"I don't do that," the Hunter stated quietly, suddenly concentrating on the conversation fully.

"He wants to get to know you," Hazel pleaded.

"I've got better things to do," the Hunter lied.

"It's just tea. And he's my brother. Please?" Hazel sighed as there was silence on the other end of the line. "Artemis, please. Jace really does want to get to know you." More silence. "I think you're scared. I know you haven't really had anything like a family since the Time War, but that doesn't mean you have to be alone now. Just... come have tea with us, and then we'll sail off into space again. I'm not saying you have to treat him like your own brother... but I think maybe Apollo wouldn't have wanted you to be alone." She sighed again, ready to hang up. "Just think about it, okay?"

The Hunter spoke up, just in time. "Wait! I'll come. The TARDIS will repair herself. Thank you, Hazel."

~~~

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