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hirsheyskisses · 7 months

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When You're Sober.

RORONOA ZORO x READER (short)

Summary: Being Roronoa's childhood friend, he's declared for the world to hear how one day, he's going to make you his wife. As adults, you had assumed he moved on, but as it stands..

A/N: I've had this in my head for AHH so long. So I'm writing it before I go back to requests 🤣

"..are you going to stay this time?"

Child Zoro questioned you. You sighed softly, seeing the tears pricking at his eyes pulled your heart strings in ways the young swordsman couldn't even begin to comprehend. Kuina's funeral had just ended, and Zoro had immediately sought you out. You were a slightly older swordsman pupil, by 2 years to be exact, and Zoro had latched onto you recently, with Kuina jokingly teasing you of how much he liked you. Sure, 11 and 13 weren't too big, but to a kid, it was all the difference. Still though, you couldn't help but care for him.

"..no. I'll be staying at the dojo." You replied, watching him smile, just a bit. You were both still sad after Kuina's death, and you weren't about to leave the mossball all on his lonesome- and you'd grown to like this dojo, as had your father. You were certain you could convince him to stay, rather than travel to another.

"Good! 'Cause I'm gonna marry you one day, so I can't have you leaving!" Zoro declared tearfully, through his shit eating grin, and you quickly angled your head away and growled, "we're not getting married!"

It didn't matter how many times you defended yourself, he wouldn't let up. If flustered and enraged you to no end. No matter how many battles you raged against him, no matter how many times you had him panting and defeated, holding your wooden sword to his throat, no, none of it scared Zoro.

"I'm gonna marry you one day, (Name)!"

Sometimes, Zoro would even sneak into your bed. You realized they were mostly driven by nightmares. You'd hear him slowly open the door, sniffling from tears, and walk over to you. He'd prod your side before diving under the covers with you, snuggling as close to your side as possible. "I know.. you're awake." He'd mumble, wrapping his arms around you. You'd give in, wrapping one around him. "Yeah. Hard not to when ya sneak into my bed." Zoro snuggled a bit closer. "Wanna be close. That's all." You knew it was more. He trusted you. He even began to tell you about the nightmares, and despite yourself, You'd comfort him. Hold him until he fell asleep.

It grew increasingly difficult for you to be mad at him, especially not seeing as it had become almost a game- plus his wholesome and innocent smile was so damn adorable. You figured he'd grow out of it eventually, popping out of nowhere to declare his undying love. Until then, you grew accustomed to him popping out of closets, around trees and doors, and through windows and met his confessions through the clashes of your blades.

As it turns out, Zoro did grow out of it. The two of you had long since left the dojo together, became bounty hunters, and then became pirates on Luffy's crew. Around 16, and you being 18 is when Zoro had began to stop asking, the questions growing less and less often until they had halted altogether, his mind set on fulfilling his promise to Kuina, to become the world's strongest and carry his name to the heavens, where yours was to find the world's wonders, and the blades of your dreams. In fact, the last time he'd done so..

..Zoro had grown. He knew that, you knew that. He'd never let you live down that you're shorter than him, much to your dismay. You both had barely left the dojo, and Zoro had decided the first thing he wanted to do was drink for the first time. So that's what he did. You chose to stay sober, just in case.

What you hasn't anticipated was just how clingy he'd get when he was wasted.

"Hey.." you were leading him back to the hotel, when without any warning, he'd pulled you into an alley and pushed you gently against the wall. Zoro stared intently into your eyes and pressed himself a bit closer, you could smell the alcohol from his breath. "Fuckin- Zoro! What're ya doin?!"

"So cute.." he'd lean in and smell your hair, his earrings glinting in the moonlight, arms keeping you caged against the wall. "I've waited.. s'long. M' even of age now."

He pulled back a bit, towering over you, and you could feel yourself becoming a furious, blushing mess. Zoro himself was flushed, panting softly, lips parted ever so slightly.

"Wanna marry ya. Wanna marry ya s'bad.."

He slurred, and you flushed a deeper shade of red. His hand reached up to tuck some hair behind your ear, and you were frozen for a long moment. Until you finally came back to your senses.

Shoving his face away, you grabbed his arm and began storming to the hotel,

"Stupid mossball! Ask me again when you're sober!"

He never did.

Sometimes you missed it, how close you and Zoro used to be. Sure, you still had complete trust in one another, and always had each other's backs in battle, but it was as though you'd both spoken so much, that you no longer spoke. You'd still train, sometimes even nap in the others presence, but words had become rarer, instead communicating through looks more often than not, quick and brief. You were beginning to miss his voice.

"(Nameeeeeee).. hey. 'chu doin' all alone?"

Speaking of Zoro- he'd joined you on the rail of the Sunny. On the beach, the rest of the straw hats were celebrating with the locals, and said locals had given Zoro an alcohol like no other. Zoro, believing his tolerance was high enough to take it, decided to drink it during a drinking contest. For the first time in a long while, he was wasted. Again.

"Relaxing. It was quite the battle today." You responded, smiling at the swordsman. His swords rested at his side, and your two rested st your side.

"It was.. f'sure." Zoro agreed, leaning against the railing, "you handled yerself good out there." He placed a hand at the small of your back, smiling at you. "Saw the new technique.. should use it against me sometime."

You awkwardly moved away from his hand, laughing softly. "Yeah, sure, when you're sober." His smile fell ever so slightly, and you tilted your head in confusion. "Ya good there, Zoro?"

"No. I'm not."

He responded, and with little warning, he had you in his arms, practically squishing you against him in a fiercsome hug. "Ack! Zoro! Can't breathe!" You yelped, laughing breathily as you struggled to escape his wrath, deciding to worry about him after you could breathe again.

"....why ya talk ta Sanji s'much?"

Zoro growled, loosening his grip and grabbing you by your shoulders, suddenly pushing you away but still holding you, at arms length. "HAH? Fuck you mean?" "It means.. exactly what I'm askin'. You even ditched training the other day.. ta' talk to that damn cook. Why?" He sounded hurt, and you grew even more confused. "'Cause he's my friend? Plus, I've been taking some cooking lessons from him to help out." Zoro scowled, clenching his teeth and flat glaring at you. His grip was tightening to the point it hurt, and you tried not to wince, instead meeting his glare with one of your own. "What's your problem, Roronoa?! They put angry juice in your damn booze?" You placed emphasis on his last name, which only caused his grip to tighten more. You watched as he opened his mouth, then closed it again, struggling to find the right words to say.

"My problem is, is I wanna fuckin' marry ya, and seein ya with that damn cook pisses me off."

His voice was low, and he loosened his grip, instead opting to massage your shoulders. Yet again, you'd frozen, watching Zoro's glare turn into a pout as he dropped his head.

"I know I know.. ya dont feel the same.. but.. damn it, atleast choose someone better than him."

To say you were shocked was an understatement. You'd never seen Zoro look so defeated, watching him turn his head away. He hasn't given up, but he was about to. Your heart shattered in more ways than one. As his hands dropped from your shoulders, you knew one thing: it was now or never.. but what if these were just..

You reached out and grabbed his hand, staring at the ground. You couldn't look at him- not when he looked like a kicked puppy. "Zoro.."

"...yea?"

"Ask me again. When you're sober. I'll answer you."

Then, you jumped over the edge of the ship, landing on the beach, and ran to join the others, face beet red and guilt boiling deep in your gut.

He didn't. The next day you both went on as if nothing happened. However, after breakfast, Zoro vanished off the ship, alongside Nami. You'd decided to think nothing of it, however, part of you wished, so badly, that you'd just told him. But you had also decided that if Zoro couldn't tell you when he was sober, then it just wouldn't work.

I've loved him for years.. I thought he'd forgotten. God.. I wish I could turn back time, and accept him. I'm a fool.

"(Name)-chan? You're looking gloomy. That damn Marimo do something to you?! I swear I'll-"

Sanji had approached you, and you cut him off with a wave of your hand. "Its.. just a childhood subject came up. It's touchy." You responded, finally removing your gaze from the table to meet his gaze. Sanji sat across from you, "Wanna talk about it?"

"...not sure what good it'll do." You huffed, fidgeting with your hands. For a long moment, Sanji was silent. Which was odd, seeing as he was usually swooning over you, or whisking you away to teach you a new cooking technique.

"..things will work out between you two. Don't worry. He may be a lumbering fool, but he isn't a total idiot." Sanji said, a twinkle in his eyes. You glanced at him, "whatddya mean by that?" "I mean exactly what I said, darling."

You spent the rest of the day wondering what Sanji could've possibly meant. Working around the ship and making sure everything was ready to set sail in the morning, Chopper dancing around your feet as he helped and rambled about medical knowledge.

As time rolled around for dinner, you were moving to the kitchen with the others, laughing with Usopp at Luffy's antics, when all of a sudden,

"(NAME)! hol.. hold on." Zoro came running up behind you, with something held in his hands. Nami wasn't far behind, but she maneuvered around the two of you to stand with the others.

"Fuck.. never doin that again." He grumbled, dropping to one knee and staring up at you, chest heaving, as he pulled out a small box.

"..zoro?-"

"You.. you told me to ask again when I'm sober. So I am."

"Marry me."

He opened the box to reveal a beautiful black and gold ring. You froze, staring at it, and then at the swordsman, who was staring up at you, just as still as you.

He..

"...fuckin' hell Zoro. Yes, I'll marry you."

The grin that erupted on Zoro's face was beautiful as tears spilled from your eye, and your crewmates cheered behind you both as Zoro pulled you into his arms, slipping the ring on your finger.

"SUPPPPER! finally!" "Yohohohoho! I should play some music!" "Damn marimo.. You'd better take care of her!" Their congratulations fell on deaf ears as Zoro held you, burying his face into your shoulder. The growing wet feeling on your shoulder told you one thing: he was crying, too.

"..I love you. So much.. please, stay at my side for the rest of eternity." He whispered, voice raspy, and you melted into his hold,

"Always, and forever. I've always been yours, Zoro."

#one piece roronoa zoro #roronoa zoro x reader #one piece zoro #zoro x reader #roronoa zoro #zoro #zoro roronoa x reader #one piece #one piece x reader #straw hats x reader

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soap-ify · 2 months

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neighbour!ghost.

There is a man that always stands in the alley every night somewhere beside your apartment complex, under the streetlight that could be viewed perfectly by the window of your bedroom. Sometimes you just leave it open to look at him, miserably giving yourself excuses that it’s for fresh air.

Simon, if you recall his name correctly, is your neighbour. Though he never greets, barely even acknowledges your presence. An enigma that had begin haunting you with curiousity, like a trap leaving you for more and more. You had to admit that he was fun to watch despite his actions being nothing short of monotonous to many, simply leaning against the brick wall while he’d pull out a pack of cigarette, the street light falling onto him. It’d give him an almost eerie glow, like a lonesome ghost lurking in the quiet of the streets, unnoticed by everyone. You just happened to be observant enough to notice the hidden.

You could sometimes see him stare quietly at that pack of cigarettes, as if trying to not take one out, almost in frustration. Maybe he hated it, maybe not. You were nothing but a silent watcher from afar, content enough with entertaining yourself with the sight of your neighbour, reading more and more into him, to uncover the truth behind that mask of his. Oh, that mask. You found it cheesy the first time you saw it, though now it was nothing but an obstacle.

You wondered if he knew of this routine of yours, if he could feel you looking at him, not with malic but undying curiousity, like a detective trying to uncover the impossible. It had even became a small agreement between you both at this point, not knowing if he was oblivious of it.

Your suspicions were proven true when you saw his eyes meeting yours one night, not even flinching. Both of you just stared at eachother, every fiber of yours begging to look away and not seem like a fool while he appeared to be nothing short of nonchalant, almost uninterested, dark eyes fixed on you intently, studying you.

Puffing out some smoke, he’d torture you with his mask resting above his nose, not letting you uncover the truth you yearned for. You felt mocked, embarrassed even.

If only you were aware of him deliberately standing outside where he could be seen, simply to get some ounce of your attention greedily. If only you knew that he had been watching you the whole time, just like you had been watching him.

#just a little something for a fic i do plan on writing eventually #ghost x reader #simon riley x reader #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley #simon ghost riley #cod x reader #call of duty #rurufic

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lovexdeepspace · 1 month

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Hi ! I hope you’re having a great day! I’ve read that you are open to new ideas regarding LDS and so I thought maybe you’re able to do one where the LDS boys comfort MC when something triggering happen to them? I’m looking forward to reading your posts 💞

“i’ll always be here.”

summary; rafayel, xavier, and zayne are your island in the storm.

warnings; triggering topics (stalking / near-death experiences / [canon] death), sadness

note; thank you anon for requesting & i hope you’re having a day as lovely as you are!! 💕🫶 (will be formatting when i can, just away from my laptop for some time and i wanted to post !!)

rafayel

had your occupation as a hunter not made you to be more aware of your surroundings, you would have never caught onto the man who had been tailing you.

you stopped giving him the benefit of the doubt when he turned the corner of the dark alley many knew to be populated with the homeless and subsequently avoided. as soon as the man thought he had you cornered he picked up speed and that’s when you turned on him, pistol in hand.

“h-hey, let’s put that away,” he stammered, raising his hands up as he skidded to a stop. you didn’t budge, trying your damndest to keep your hands steady.

“turn around,” you hissed, “and walk away.”

the man didn’t waste a second, taking a few steps back before turning on his heel and making a run for it. once he turned the corner you let out a sigh of relief, shaky hands placing the pistol back into the holster at your hip. you headed back onto the main path with a clouded mind, your heartbeat ringing in your ears. without a second thought you followed the sidewalk towards the large white building that overlooked the beach, your steps hurried.

you pushed the gate open and practically ran up the paved path towards the large front doors of rafayel’s studio, grateful to find that he had accidentally left them unlocked once again. as soon as you stepped inside you pulled the doors shut once more, the lingering feeling of being followed making your skin crawl. after locking the doors you kicked off your shoes and shuffled into the main room, finding rafayel sitting on the floor with a canvas propped up in front of him.

he turned at the sound of your approaching footsteps, looking up at you with a raised brow. you clenched and unclenched your fists as you tried to think of something — anything — to say but all that came out was a choked sob. panicked, rafayel pushed himself to his feet and grabbed your shoulders then your face, looking for any injuries.

“what happened?” he asked, checking your arms and torso. “take a breath, i can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”

you swallowed harshly, tears rolling down your cheeks. “a man,” you choked out, “was following me. had to threaten him for him to leave.”

rafayel’s face contorted with some combination of disgust and anger but softened as you sniffled. he held his arms out and you collapsed into his embrace, a feeling of security crashing over you as he held you tight.

“i’ve got you,” he murmured, resting his chin atop your head. “you’re safe here.”

xavier

it wasn’t supposed to be like this.

this mission was supposed to be easier yet, here you were, fighting a god damn elysian cervus. your fill-in partner was unconscious somewhere, leaving you to fight this beast on your lonesome. your shirt was soaked with blood from a gash on your torso and you were pretty sure some ribs were broken but you pressed on until delivering the final blow.

the wanderer fell, motionless on the ground. slowly you move and collect the protocore, stashing it away before searching for your partner. you found her slumped against a tree a little ways away, using your watch to call for help as you slowly settled down next to her. as you talked to the operator you pressed two fingers to the side of her neck, relieved to find a pulse.

help came not too long after you had called, carting you and your partner to the hospital for the both of you to be treated. you ended up with three broken ribs, a fractured ankle, and lots of stitches across your abdomen.

“you got very lucky,” a nurse had informed you the following day as she checked your vitals. “whatever had caused that nasty gash just barely missed some of your organs.”

“lucky me,” you muttered, laying back in the hospital bed. “when will i be able to go home?”

the nurse checked some papers on her clipboard. “the doctor wrote here that he’d like to keep you another couple days. just get some rest, sweetheart.”

she left and you sighed, turning your head to look out the window. the silence was peaceful and you admired the city, thinking of how serene it looked from this angle. a small knock at your door had you flinch and you covered your heart with a sigh of relief when you saw xavier standing there.

“how’re you feeling?” he asked, settling in a chair at your side. the bouquet of flowers he had brought were set gently on your bedside table, his eyes never leaving you. the guilt in his stare was unmistakable and you knew it was eating him up inside that he had been unavailable to accompany you on the mission.

“like shit,” you responded with a low chuckle, “but i’ll be okay. doc says i should be able to head home in a couple days but i’ll be off active duty for some time.”

xavier nodded, reaching out and grabbing one of your hands in both of his as he said your name quietly. “you need to rest. you’ve been pushing yourself so hard and haven’t been giving yourself a break like i’ve suggested.”

you tried to interrupt but xavier squeezed your hand and you noticed the slight tremble in his grip and the tears that were forming in his eyes as he continued.

“i could’ve lost you! so, please, think about yourself for once or — allow me to be selfish — think about me. think about how much losing you would impact my life!”

you stared at him as he swallowed harshly, taking one hand away to wipe at his eyes while he mumbled an apology. you reached out and cupped the side of his face, running your thumb over his cheekbone tenderly.

“i’m sorry,” you murmured. “i’ll rest. i never meant to worry you so much, xav.”

he sighed, leaning into your touch. “i came here to comfort you and look at how the tables turned.”

you smiled. “you did more than enough, xavier. as much as i need rest, you need to be comforted and that’s alright.”

zayne

the last couple hours were no better than a blur to you.

one second you’re standing outside your grandmother’s front door, the next you’re on your stomach, surrounded by flames and the house in front of you was no more than rubble. your body ached and you weakly call out for caleb and your grandmother, trying desperately to pull yourself toward the house. your fingers meet something cool and you glance down to find the chain of caleb’s necklace caught on your pinky.

your heart sinks and you pull the necklace close to your body, sobbing caleb’s name as you curl up on the walkway. your eyes shut and you aren’t sure how much time passed because when you open them again you’re in akso hospital, laid on a bed in a dimly lit room.

you look to your hands and feel panic rise in your chest when you don’t see caleb’s necklace. your heart hammered in your chest as your hands scanned the blanket covering your lower half, hoping it was somewhere on the bed.

“i put it on your bedside table.”

zayne, sitting on a couch near the window of your room, stood and moved to stand by your bedside. he picked up caleb’s necklace from your bedside table and he gingerly placed it in your awaiting hands, grief evident in his expression.

“i’m sorry for your loss,” he murmured, his hand lingering near yours as he spoke. he slowly sat on the edge of your bed and finally grabbed your hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. “i’ve taken the next week off to stay with you, if you’d like. you should be able to leave tomorrow morning and whether you want to stay at your place or mine is up to you entirely.”

your eyes stayed glued to your hands, one clutching caleb’s necklace while the other held zayne’s tightly. you wanted to respond or even show a sliver of gratitude but your mind was weighed down by the heavy loss of caleb and your grandmother. the heat and force of the explosion was still so fresh on your skin and all you could do was grieve. sobs shook your whole body and zayne tentatively moved closer, carefully pulling you into his embrace.

“i’m so sorry,” he whispered, chin resting atop your head as one hand cradled the back of your head and the other gently rubbed up and down your back. tears of his own rolled down his cheeks as he continued to whisper comfort to you while you clung to him and cried.

#love and deepspace #rafayel #lads rafayel #rafayel x reader #lads xavier #lads zayne #xavier #xavier x reader #zayne x reader #zayne #rafayel love and deepspace #xavier love and deepspace #zayne love and deepspace #oracleofstars

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tightjeansjavi · 9 months

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Jail Bird | Joel Miller x smuggler/raider f! reader

A/N: I got inspired by listening to the song “Stay” by Rihanna when I was driving home from Kentucky, and this was the result of it 🫠 you’re either gonna love, or hate the reader in this one.

~word count: 5.9k~

Summary: your relationship with Joel has always been easy up until the point that you make the conscious decision to leave him, and the QZ behind. Years later and you meet again, under violent circumstances.

Warnings: angst, unrequited love, pining, stalking (if you squint) borderline possessive/obsessive behavior, smut (described but not as the main focal point of the story) conning, emotional manipulation, the reader is morally gray and you’ll either love them or hate them, actions on the base of survival, implied consent, unprotected p in v, oral (f receiving) violence (undescribed but marked) possessive! Joel, vulnerable! Joel, protective! Joel, dark! Joel (if you squint) Joel is a hopeless romantic, manhandling, threats, use of firearms, smoking, +18 minors dni!

Jail Bird: ‘a person who is or has been in prison’

Your relationship with Joel Miller, your partner in crime, was as easy as sliced pie. The syrupy sticky sweet warm filling with melted vanilla ice cream drooling down the crust. Joel Miller, however, was anything but sweet. He tasted of smoky bourbon and life-long indescribable grief. Fluttering ashes, tongues tied, teeth clashing. His hands; sculpted by Greek gods in a meticulous manner. Strong, veiny, calloused yet soft. Joel Miller was a perfectly wrapped package with an ash stained bow. A dangerous combination of brooding, pining, and lust. Your partnership consisted of smuggling, sharing rations, and fucking. Joel was a man who knew how to fuck. The first time he took you was in a back alley in the QZ. The air was balmy and ridden with suspense. He caught you sneaking through the shadows past curfew to make a few back door deals with some FEDRA soldiers. A blow job for a trade of a handsome stack of ration cards? No biggie. He never felt jealousy course through his veins till he saw you sink to your knees on command.

Even with the lack of lighting, sans the pale moonlight shimmering above, Joel saw the doe like innocence in your eyes as he peeked his head around the corner. It felt wrong to watch. It weighed heavy like cement around his bones. Filth and sin dripped through his grime stained pores. He had been watching you for a while. You were a new resident to the QZ, a pretty thing that knew her way around the rules like they never even existed to you. He liked that about you. He liked that you were brash, that you outsmarted every lonesome fuck that crossed your path. So he’d observe you from a distance, catching your keen eye every now and then. It turned into an obsession for him and now the last shroud of little morals he possessed, were completely shredded as he palmed himself through his painfully tight jeans. Cursing under his breath as he tried to provide any form of relief to his aching cock. His head tilted back against the brick wall, lower lip taken harshly between his teeth as he took another risky peek around the corner.

You knew Joel was watching you. You caught his familiar, ruggedly handsome features appear from around the corner. How long he had been watching you did not matter. Your cunt ached for him just as much as his cock weeped for you. You had been observing him the day you arrived at the QZ, and you found yourself yearning for his rough caress.

Your eyes stayed locked on the spot behind the wall where Joel was pressed against as you pleasured the FEDRA soldier who lasted all of 30 seconds before he was spilling his filth down your throat and tossing ration cards at your knees. The stray dribble of cum was wiped from your lips with the tip of your thumb as you gathered up the ration cards and shoved them into your pockets as you rose to your feet. You pulled out a freshly rolled cigarette, bringing the tip to your lips as you lit the other end with an old lighter. Your features were illuminated by the warm glow of the flame as you lit the death stick and deeply inhaled. “You can come out from your hiding spot, Joel Miller. I know it’s you behind the wall. Don’t be shy.” Your head tilted to the side as you took another long drag.

Joel sauntered from behind the wall. His tall frame was brooding under the soft glow of the moon. His boots crunched heavily under rubble as he approached. Thunder lowly rumbled in the far distance as a warm breeze kissed your skin. The comforting glow of the moon was casted over in darkness of thick moving clouds as cooling droplets of water began to free fall from the heavens. The pavement was stained in dampness as the sky grumbled above. Bleach-burn hot flashes of lightning illuminated the jet black sky and illuminated Joel’s features in a blink of an eye. The rain didn’t deter him as he stopped a foot from where you stood. His gaze on you burned as brightly as the lit end of your cigarette pursed between your lips.

“You know, you’re worth a hell of a lot more than a blowjob in a back alleyway. How long did the fucker even last? 30 whole fuckin’ seconds?” He was leaning over you now, forearm resting along your head and you could feel the electricity and heat radiating from his body.

“Do you always watch women give blow jobs to FEDRA soldiers in back alleys? Or is this just a new hobby that you have suddenly developed?” You were casual with your question, a smirk playing on your lips as you lightly blew the hazardous smoke off to the side.

“No. You’re the first, darlin.’ It’s filthy of me, I am aware. Bet you liked it though huh? Bet you liked the idea of some dirty old man watching you get down on your knees prettily like that. You don’t seem like the type of gal to beat around the bush. Storms rollin’ in..wanna see if we can give the thunder a run for its money, sugar?” Joel wasn’t one to beat around the bush either and you appreciated a man that knew exactly what he wanted. Joel Miller was exactly what you needed to satiate your desires.

“You want to fuck me Mr. Miller?” You purred, flicking what was left of your cigarette to the ground, listening to the light hiss the extinguished flame gave when a stray rain drop fell upon it.

You felt his lips dip down to the shell of your ear, teeth scraping along the sensitive skin as he whispered, “wanna destroy you in the best fuckin’ way possible. Wanna ruin your sweet cunt. Been s’long for me, n’you’re so fuckin’ pretty, it hurts. Let me take care of ya, and I promise you won’t have to get on your knees for another FEDRA fuck again.” He pressed an open mouth kiss against the spot where your ear met your jaw, licking a hot stripe down your throat with a heavy warm breath.

“Is that a promise you can keep?” You whispered through the steady rainfall, eyes fluttering shut, lips parting.

“I don’t do promises, baby.” He rasped as his strong hands found purchase around your waist, pulling you flush against his chest. “I only fuck. Ain’t gonna find any love from me. Don’t go and lookin’ for it.”

“I don’t do love either. It’s lost all significant meaning for me. I’m just looking for a good consistent fuck, and the means to survive.” You grasped the back of his neck in one swift movement, yanking his head up so you could crash your lips against his in a heated, tongue filled, teeth clashing kiss.

“Well, you’ve come to the right place, doll. You’re mine now.” He mumbled against your swollen lips as he popped the button along your jeans and shoved his hand between the tight fabric and your soaked through panties.

“Yours.” You gasped longingly as his broad fingers teased your sticky, slick folds, gathering up your pooling arousal that oozed just for him.

The pounding rain soaked through your clothes as your thighs were wrapped tightly around Joel Miller’s hips. He was buried to the hilt inside of you as he slammed into you in a rhythmic pattern. The wind howled wildly as thunder cracked dangerously above. His hips would snap forward into you each time the thunder cracked ferociously. You and Joel were like two feral animals, clawing, biting, and moaning through the ever-growing violent tempest.

Your need for one another had grown carnal. Your bodies were constantly drawn to one another, like moth to flame. You spent more time in his apartment on the other side of the QZ than your own. He fucked you into a peaceful slumber everytime. Sometimes he’d fall asleep inside of you when he’d grown exhausted. “G’nna keep you full of my cock all fuckin’ night.” He’d whispered against your sex stained skin as his arm wrapped firmly around your waist.

You’d slip out of his steel grip before the sun would kiss the budding horizon. Sleeping over at Joel’s felt too personal, and you did it for yours and his own good. Of course, it didn’t go unnoticed. He’d confront you about it each time you’d accompany him on a smuggling run. “Why’d you leave in’sucha hurrry? Think I’m ugly or somethin?’” He’d casually ask as he walked alongside you.

“We both agreed to do no sleepovers, Joel.” Was always your reply. It was like clockwork.

“Fuck our stupid rules. I want to wake up to that pretty little cunt squeezing my cock. You gonna deny me that? C’mon. One sleepover won’t kill ya. I like havin’ you in my bed darlin.’” He nudged you against a nearby tree as the early morning birds chirped along the swaying branches.

“Fine. One sleepover.” You grasped him firmly through the tight confines of his jeans as he hissed under his breath. “Just one, baby. I swear on my filthy, lust ridden heart.” He affirmed.

One sleepover turned into five, and five to a dozen, till neither of you could keep track. It’s as if Joel had made a home inside of your flesh where he refused to depart. He built a door between your sternum; strong and sturdy. On either side of your sumptuous breasts laid two crafted windows. Your heart is where his bed laid where he secretly wished he could inhabit there for the rest of his dying days.

You had grown accustomed to the old metal bed frame striking the crumbling wallpaper fiercely. The old creak and groan of the bed springs creating a rhythmic tune in sync with your sweat slick bodies colliding over, and over again. Joel took you in any position imaginable between those 4 cramped walls. He grew fond of the way you’d ride him slowly where he had the pleasure to watch the way your warm walls hugged his cock with each roll and rise of your hips. He reveled in the erotic sight of your cum mixing with his own, like your own personal watercolor painting between your connected bodies. He reveled in smearing your skin with his release, using his fingers as a paintbrush as he streaked your skin in his filth.

When he learned that you were incapable of having children, he’d press his cum back into your tight hole with glint in his darkened eyes as he used his tongue to push his cum further inside of you, humming at the taste. “Gotta keep all of that inside of ya, sweet girl. Love knowin’ I can fill ya up like this. Don’t want any drops to leak out of this cunt. Wanna keep you stained in my cum forever.” He’d kiss your clit lovingly, tenderly with a light flick of his wet muscle. His words were nothing short of filthy. Any existing priest in this shit-hole would proclaim that you and Joel were children of satan for the debauchery that you both willingly partook in.

You liked it that way.

On the evening you made the conscious decision to leave Joel, and the QZ forever. The weather was stormy, just like the night you had first officially met. The rain pounded furiously against the grime stained windows. The tattered curtains casted shadows along the peeling floral wallpaper. Bright hot flashes of lightning illuminated the room you inhabited for what felt like centuries in fluorescent white. Your thighs were deliciously squeezing either side of Joel’s head as his face was buried deeply into your ruined cunt for the fifth time that evening. His tongue worked you in practiced strokes. His hunger for you was that of a ravenous beast that hadn’t experienced the taste of a woman along his tongue in years. He lapped at you like a man starved as if your cunt was that of the holy grail, sweet and life-curing. His hands acted as anchors around your hips, holding you pliant with little strength needed, eyes blissfully closed as he drank and lapped every last drop you could possess for him. Always so willing, always so needy, always such a good, good, girl for him. Only for him.

When he finally detached his mouth from your swollen clit, he looked up at you, grinning like a devil. His beard and chin were freshly coated in your slick that glistened under the bright flashes of lightning. His lips were wet, and appeared like two dew kissed cherries, scarlet and kissable. He rested his cheek along the inside of your sweat thick thigh as he caught his breath, chest rising and falling as he gazed up at you through thick lashes. He pressed an open mouth kiss as his beard scratched your skin gently. He was in love, and yet you had no idea. Or, maybe you knew all along. Maybe you loved him too. Maybe, just maybe. “Do you think maybe we can just stay here forever?..I’ll greet ya with a kiss every mornin.’ We could just stay between these walls and no one would have to know.” He pressed a feather light kiss to your hip bone. “Just you and me, and this sweet cunt. Never have I tasted something so sweet.”

Your fingers found purchase through his sweaty tendrils, twisting them between your digits with a content sigh. “I’m leaving the QZ, Joel. I can’t stay here any longer.” The confession flitted past your lips with a heavy sigh to shortly follow.

He chuckled, the sound vibrated up his chest and through his throat that was coated in your taste like cough syrup. “What do you mean you’re leavin’ the QZ? Don’t be ridiculous, darlin.’ Everywhere behind these fuckin’ walls is a shithole. There ain’t anythin’ good out there. I can’t fuckin’ protect you past those gates.” Another kiss was left along your abdomen.

“I never asked for, nor needed your protection, Joel. I’m perfectly capable on my own. You have to let me go. This has gone on far too long, and it’s for our own good.”

He scoffed as his lips continued to kiss their way up your body. Stopping at every freckle, every scar, every blemish. He traced them gently. “Let you go? How the fuck do you expect me to do that when I’ve learned, and know every fuckin’ inch of ya. Is it really for our own good? Or just yours? Don’t lie to me.” He nipped at the spot just below your ribcage, and your immediate reaction was to arch up closer to his touch. You always felt magnetized to him.

“You and I both know that it’s better off this way. What we had was good, and I have no regrets, but we broke every fuckin’ rule we put in place, Joel. It’ll hurt for a while, but the pain will reside and you’ll forget all about me.”

He was on his knees now, yanking you down by your ankles so you were beneath him. “Don’t fuckin’ tell me how I’ll feel. You know how fuckin’ long it’s takin’ me to finally open myself to someone again? You think you can just leave and suddenly one day I’ll stop thinkin’ about you? You’re fuckin’ out of your goddamn mind if you think that to be true.” The tip of his cock was nudged against your entrance, dragging through your slick folds that parted open for him like a canyon. He pressed himself into your tight wet hole, groaning softly at the feeling of your cunt hugging him already. “Put your thighs up against your chest fo’me.” He gritted out between clenched teeth.

Your thighs moved on command as you brought them up to your chest, bending yourself in half like a folding table as the weight of his own broad chest pushed your back further into the old mattress. “Joel, please.” You mewled. “You have to let me go. You have to.”

“Stop. Tellin’. Me. What. I. Have. To. Do.” He enunciated each symbol in a borderline patronizing way. He sunk further, and further into your warm abyss. Your pussy hugged him tighter and tighter till he had bottomed out. Sweaty strands of curls draped across his forehead like curtains as he snapped his hips forward in an aggressive manner. “You wanna leave me so bad, baby? After everythin’ I have done for you? Everythin’ I have given you? Shelter, food in your belly and a cock that knows how to fuck you stupid? You ain’t goin’ anywhere. I’ll just have to follow you. Care about you too fuckin’ much to just let you leave me like that.”

The old springs in the mattress squeaked with each one of his heavy thrusts. Your eyes rolled back as his tip pressed firmly against your cervix, eliciting stars to be casted behind your eyes. He fucked into you at an impossibly deep angle, his heavy balls hung between his thighs and slapped against your skin with every snap of his hips. “Joel, please.” You pleaded with him between moans.

“Please what, baby? Please fuck you stupid till you forget all about wantin’ to leave me? You’re not the same until you’ve had a well deserved fuck. I’m the only fuckin’ man that can give it to ya. Take it like the good fuckin’ girl that you are fo’me. Your pretty ‘lil fuckin’ pussy is huggin’ my cock so perfectly. S’like she was made ‘jus fo’me.” He was kissing you now, all teeth and tongue to shut you up. You protested words that fell muffled against his addictive lips as he fucked you the way he knew best. Always making sure you felt filled, stretched to your limits, and on cloud nine by the end of it. He always took care of you afterwards. Gently wiping between your thighs, bathing you under a warm stream with the tenderest of touches. Joel Miller loved you, and that’s exactly why you had to leave him.

He kept you anchored against his naked chest all night. Notched together like two puzzle pieces. At the strike of morning, with the soft beams of light trickling in through the wispy curtains, prying yourself from his satiating grasp. If you stayed in his warm embrace any longer, your heart would cave and you’d never leave. Without even delivering a proper goodbye, you left his apartment without looking back. You kept pushing yourself further and further from Joel, from the QZ till it was just a mere speck in the distance.

Joel drove himself mad on his search to find where you went. His anger shrouded his hurt as he scoured the QZ for any sign of your existence. He checked alleyways, the abandoned mall, your own apartment. He tore through your things in a fury, tears burning his vision as he ripped through your belongings like a predator rips apart its prey. No signs. No hidden clues for him to find where you ran off to. He inspected mutilated faces of the infected, praying that none of the once living would resemble you. None of them did. He gave up his search when he and Tess were forced to take a teenage girl across the country to the fireflies. Tess perished and soon it was just Joel and the kid. He never stopped thinking of you, of course. You haunted his dreams and sometimes he’d wake up to see your ghostly face laying beside him.

He thought he’d never see you again until one brutal winter in Jackson while he, Tommy, and a few other men were patrolling on horseback. Ellie was safely back in town, far from harm's way while Joel placed himself on death's doorstep every time he patrolled with his brother. His horses' hooves crunched heavily along the freshly fallen snow. The wind whipped and howled in an ominous tune as the bitter chill tore through his thick jacket and pierced his skin. “There ain’t nothin’ alive here for miles, Tommy. Let’s go back. That rumor we heard about a raiders camp is probably false. Besides, you said it yourself, ain’t no man is stupid enough to try and overthrow the town.” Joel rode up alongside Tommy’s horse.

“The cold botherin’ you or somethin’ brother? Thought you were tougher than that.” The younger Miller brother said with an amused grin as he lightly punched Joel in the shoulder.

The wholesome moment quickly turned to chaos as 3 shots rang through the snow covered evergreens. Your group had been closely stalking Joel and Tommy for hours in the shadow of the forest. It wasn’t your first choice to join a raider group. Why the men spared you that day was beyond you, but they had become your new family, and you’d take whatever protection you could get; good or bad. You were the mastermind behind ambushing the group from Jackson. Driven by greed and bloodlust, you convinced your men that they could take down the patrol group, and overthrow the town. A lack of poor judgment proved to be fatal as you were thrown from your horse and tumbled into the snow. Your gun was kicked violently from your grasp with a heavy boot as you let out a feral scream.

The same boot that disarmed you, kicked your body down into the snow with a heavy thud. Adrenaline coursing through your veins clouded your senses as you held your hands up in defense at your perpetrator. You could only see his eyes as the rest of his face was covered by a thick wool scarf. The barrel of his gun was pressed against your temple as the man’s knee pressed harshly down on your stomach, pinning you at his mercy. “Your men are dead, and now you’re about to fuckin’ join them. How stupid does one person have to be to try and pull off a stunt like that?” The man gruffly spoke, voice muffled through the thick wool disguising his features.

That voice. Could it be? No. You were just imagining things again.

“Go ahead and fucking shoot me then. Better you than the men back at my camp. They’ll do far worse than you can imagine.” You spat.

Joel grasped the back of your head, yanking you up as he kept the barrel of his gun steady against your trembling temple. “How many of ya are there? In your camp, how many? If you tell me where they are, I won’t kill you.” Joel Miller was always a man of his word.

“Twenty..or so. You’ll need more men.” You grinned your teeth together as he roughly yanked you up. Your face was also concealed with a thick scarf, but your eyes held a sense of familiarity that Joel hadn’t felt in years.

“Tommy! Round up what’s left of their horses, and we’ll take her back with us. She’s gonna tell us where the rest of her group is. Ain’t that right, darlin?’”

Tommy was weary of his brother's proposal but ultimately agreed. “Fine. We’ll put her in a cell and then interrogate her for information. Maria isn’t going to take lightly to this, just so you’re aware.” Tommy narrowed his eyes at you before turning on his heel to return to his own horse.

“So, I’m becoming your prisoner? You gonna put me in handcuffs or something, sir?” You couldn’t help but take a tone with this man, despite a literal gun being pressed against your forehead.

He yanked you up to your feet in one swift movement. “You’re going to be my jailbird for as long as I fuckin’ see fit. You wanna live another day? Better get to talkin’, and cut that smartass attitude out. The hell is wrong with you?” Joel shoved you towards your horse with the barrel of his gun now shoved at your back. “Get on.” He demanded.

“You injured my horse.” You flatly stated as you grabbed ahold of the reins and hoisted yourself back into the saddle, and your scarf fell down just the slightest before you quickly scrambled to re-secure it.

“That’s what happens when you ambush heavily armed people, darlin.’ A grazed bullet to the flank ain’t gonna kill your horse. He’ll live.” Joel hoisted himself back up into his own saddle.

“It’s a she, and fuck you.”

“Well, my apologies to her.” Joel held the reins in one hand while the other was firmly wrapped around your bicep, just in case you were going to be stupid enough to try and escape.

You were in fact thrown into Jackson’s makeshift jail like a rag doll. Joel was anything but gentle as he shoved you inside the cell and slammed the door shut with a heavy clank and locked it. “You outta go and make yourself comfortable, cus�� you’re gonna be here awhile.” He pulled up a chair to sit right outside the metal bars. It scraped painfully along the flooring as he sat down.

You sat down in the chair across from him, peering through the metal bars with your arms crossed against your chest. “So, even if I tell you where the rest of my group resides, you aren’t going to let me go?”

Joel mirrored your actions by crossing his broad shoulders over his chest in an intimidating manner. “I never said anythin’ about lettin’ you go. All I said was that I wouldn’t kill ya if you told me where the rest of your group is.”

“Ohh. So you were dead serious on the whole prisoner thing? I thought you were bluffing.” You pressed the weight of your back against the metal chair. “Well, if we’re gonna be here awhile, mind telling me who you are?”

“Those details are not necessary. You ain’t got a reason to know who the hell I am. You’re gonna sit there, and you’re gonna talk and I let you live. You think you get to call the shots, sweetheart? You got another thing comin’ for ya.” Joel stated with a raised brow.

“Alright, how about we make a deal. You seem like a reasonable man. How about we both take these scarves off and reveal our identities, and then I’ll talk. Let’s make this entire transaction personable, it’ll make it way more fun for me to kill you if I see your face.” Your threat was casual, yet all the more serious.

“Kill me? How are you gonna do that? I got you trapped behind these bars and there ain’t nothin’ you can do about it.” He scoffed at your threat, brushing it off like water off a ducks back.

“I have my ways.” You stood up from the chair and sauntered over to the bars, grasping them between your hands with your cheek pressed against the cold metal. “C’mon. Tell me your name, and then I’ll tell you where my camp is. It’s a fair deal.”

Joel let out an annoyed huff. He was sick of your games already and he briefly wondered how someone as incessant as you, survived this long. “Joel. My name is Joel.”

Joel is a common name, right? There’s plenty of Joel’s. There’s no way in fucking hell that this man was your Joel Miller. Not a chance.

The air felt heavy as you stared at him through the bars. Your gaze was heavy on his covered face as if you were trying to see through the wool that covered it.

“The fuck are you starin’ at? Y’know what? Maybe I should just kill you after all. You ain’t gonna tell me what I want to know. You think that you’re gonna fuckin’ weasel your way out of this. Well, guess what? You ain’t.” He stood up from the chair in a fury as he strode to the bars and grasped your chin in one swift movement. You clawed at his hand, but it was too late. Your scarf fell from where it was secured on your face and he stumbled back as if he had seen a ghost, his own scarf falling as his body collapsed into the chair.

“YOU?!” He yelled incredulously as he stared at your recognizable face in disbelief. “YOU TRIED TO FUCKIN’ KILL ME!” He tossed his scarf to the ground as he pulled himself back up from the chair. “All these years, and this is how we meet again?!” His voice echoed off the concrete walls, booming painfully against your eardrums as you cowered from the sound.

“Had I known it was you—”

He didn’t even give you a chance to finish your sentence as his hands slammed down around the bars. His face was flushed red with anger, his eyes narrowed into slits. “Bull fucking shit! You tried to kill me, and my brother! You fuckin’ ambushed us!”

“I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS YOU! I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS YOU, JOEL! I SWEAR!” You tried to plead with him.

“You tried to kill me.” His voice fell flat as he stepped back from the metal bars with a heavy shake of his head. “You fuckin’ bitch.” He whispered under his breath as he strode out of the makeshift jail without looking back.

Three days passed since you had last seen Joel Miller. You were convinced that he, and the people of Jackson would let you rot in here without a care in the world. In your solitude, your mind drifted off to the QZ and your time spent with Joel. Oh, how everything had changed.

A metal tray skidded to your feet below the metal bars along with a mug of coffee. Joel had returned and was once again sitting in the old metal chair as you scarfed down the food he provided you like a ravaged animal.

“Your men are dead. Cordyceps got to them before we could.” He was resting his hands on his knees as he leaned over, observing you.

“Good. I’m glad to hear it.” You spoke between mouthfuls of stew, not even looking up at him.

“Tommy wants to kill you. His wife is pretty fuckin’ pissed that you and your group ambushed us. I’ve convinced him for the time being to spare your life. You’re welcome.”

“I agree that they should kill me. I’m a traitorous killer. If you let me out of this cell, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

“You can quit that whole tough girl act ‘round me. I know exactly who, and what you are, and you darlin’ are not a killer.” Joel retorted with a sigh.

“Stop fucking acting like you know who I am, Joel. You don’t know a goddamn thing about me anymore. You don’t know the people I have killed since I left you. You don’t know what I’m capable of, so stop pretending that you do.” You snapped.

“Oh? I don’t? Just because you went off and joined a group of murderous raiders, doesn’t mean I don’t know you anymore. Are you forgettin’ that I used to be one of them?”

“What exactly are you trying to get out of this, Joel? Are you looking for closure? Are you looking for revenge? What the hell is it that you want?” You kicked the empty tray back under the prison bars.

“I want some fuckin’ answers. I want to know why you just up and left me like that. Do you know how long I spent lookin’ for you? I was forced to give up because a teenage girl, who I now view as my own kid, was thrown into my life, quite literally, and we went on this journey together. I stopped looking for you in mutilated bodies, but I never stopped thinking about you, and where you were.”

“I already told you why I needed to leave. I gave you those answers, and you wouldn’t agree with me. Leaving you was the hardest thing I have ever fucking had to do. I told you it was for our own good.”

His boots were heavy along the floor as he stopped in front of the bars, grasping them tightly between clutched fists. “No. I want a real fuckin’ answer. I deserve that at the very least.”

You were in front of him now, hands grasping the bars just below his own with your eyes boring into his. “I left because I had to. If I stayed any longer, I would have never been able to leave. We would have never worked out, Joel. It was going to come to an end whether we wanted it to or not.”

“You didn’t fuckin’ have to do anythin.’ I provided you anythin’ you fuckin’ wanted. Anythin’ you needed. I let you ruin me, and you just get up and leave? Fuck you. I didn’t ask to feel this way. I didn’t ask to care about you. It just fuckin’ happened. So how dare you say that you had to do anythin.’” His tone dropped an octave as his eyes stayed locked on yours.

“What the fuck else do you want me to say, Joel? Do you want me to say that I hated you? That I never cared about you either? Do you want me to lie to your fucking face and tell you that you never fucking meant anything to me? Is that what you fucking want?!” You responded exasperatedly with your lips nearly touching his between the gaps in the bars. “I’ll lie to you if it means that you’ll finally let me go.”

“I loved you.” He whispered with a clenching heart. “I loved you, and would have done anythin’ to keep you. I’d lasso you the fuckin’ moon if it made you happy.” He confessed.

Your heart fell heavy between strained strings as your palms grew clammy. “No. Take it back. Don’t you dare fucking throw that word around with me, Joel Miller. You’re fucking lying.”

“Am I? Am I fucking lyin’ when I tell you that I searched every goddamn crevice in the QZ looking for you? Am I lyin’ when I tell you that I tore up your fuckin’ apartment to try and find any sign or clue as to where I could find you? Am I lyin’ when I spent sleepless nights cryin’ in my own filth because it felt like a piece of me was ripped away? Just like the way my fuckin’ daughter was ripped from me? I love you, you stupid, stupid girl.”

Suddenly, you were kissing. Magnets drawn together by an impossible force that not even prison bars could keep you apart. He grasped your face delicately between his hands as you kissed one another with desperation, as if you’d slip between one another’s hands like sand on a beach. He detached his lips from yours, a string of spit keeping you connected for a mere moment as he quickly unlocked the cell door with the key in his pocket. You were on each other in an instant, slamming his back into the door before kissing him fervently once more. Joel Miller should have never trusted a jailbird such as you. You felt the coolness of the key in your grasp, having him distracted at your mercy. You shoved him away, slipping through the door and slammed it shut before locking it. He barely had a chance to register that you were no longer in his proximity.

He shook the bars wildly, yelling fiercely as you slipped from his grasp once more. “DON’T LEAVE ME! DON’T LEAVE ME! I LOVE YOU, PLEASE! PLEASE DON’T GO! I LOVE YOU!” He slammed his fists into the bars over and over again, till his knuckles were raw and bleeding, and his throat ran dry.

Tagging people I think will enjoy! @chaotic-mystery @cavillscurls @morning-star-joy @sinsofsummers @cupofjoel @thetriumphantpanda @dinsdjrn @darkroastjoel @korynnekorynne @kirsteng42

Part Two

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darksilvania · 1 year

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CREEP-N-JAX (Dark), JUMP-N-JAX (Dark/Fighting) & RIP-R-JAX (Dark/Steel) The Creeps pokemon

This misterious shadowy figures inhabit the dark alleys and lonely corners of large cities.

CREEP-N-JAX is based on the misterious shadowy figures with hats and trenchcoats popular in Noir detective stories, they can be seen creeping on the back of alleways, often peeking round the corners looking for lonesome passerbys to steal from, but sometimes they form small gangs and start working as a single unit.

When 2 CREEP-N-JAX start working together they will evolve into JUMP-N-JAX.

This pokemon uses its spring-like legs and long cape to swifty jump and glide trough the rooftops, looking for unsuspecting and lonely victims to attack by surprise from above, taking whatever they need and then leaving with a powerful jump, disappearing as fast as they appeared.

JUMP-N-JAX is based on Spring-Heeled Jack, a misterious figure from Victorian London who became popular due to the penny dreadful stories written around it

When 3 CREEP-N-JAX start working together they will evolve into RIP-R-JAX.

This terrifying pokemon moves swiftly through the darkness despite of its size, attacking by suprise from the shadows. Their hands are armed with long sharp blades used to intimidate its victim, demanding they surrender their belongings or risk being harmed. People blame this pokemon for many cases of missing people.

RIP-R-JAX is based on Jack the Ripper, another victorian figure, one of the most famous serial killers, thanks mostly to its presence in popular media.

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starlight727 · 2 months

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Shadow Milk x Reader but it's the Megamind rain scene (I had a vision)

I'm not a fanfic writer, so expect this to be a bit rushed and written badly in some parts 🤷🏻‍♀️😅

Tw violence, stabbing, severing limbs

Shadow Milk Cookie had been terrorizing the city you lived in for as long as you could remember, he either manipulated other Cookies to fight each other or he just made his presence known to random Cookies by playing pranks on them and spreading lies and let chaos ensue.

Sure, he’s a huge menace to society who likes to play God and tortures all Cookiekind for his own entertainment, but there was something about him that made you wonder if he was more than just a dangerously devious trickster. It was the way he interacted with you.

Ever since you two first met, before all hell broke loose, he saw you on the news announcing the latest on the new museum dedicated to the city’s hero. He was so interested in you he wanted to talk to you all day everyday, but he felt too shy to do so, yet he yearned for the day he could fearlessly walk up to you and introduce himself.

After his corruption, his love for you grew so much that it turned into an obsession, he couldn’t bear to be away from you for much longer, so the next best thing was to kidnap you every chance he got to hang out with you, until the city’s Hero eventually saves you and takes you away from him. He absolutely HATES IT when they do that, how dare they take away his favorite Cookie in the world and leave him alone to rot in his lonesome?? He'd rather have that so-called Hero torn limb from limb like ripping a doll's limbs off, so he came up with the brilliant idea to write them off the story by stabbing them 37 times in the chest and leaving their body in the middle of a dark alley, where someone found it and everyone mourned the selfless Hero for days. You even made an announcement for the news about the topic, you were holding back tears, something Shadow Milk Cookie did not like to see. He hated to see you feeling sad, especially since you were sad about the Hero's death because why would you feel that way over someone so weak like them?? You were better off with a much stronger, smarter, extremely more handsome Cookie than some piece of cardboard he called the Hero, he thought to himself.

A few days later, Shadow Milk Cookie decided to disguise himself as a regular Cookie, naming himself "Blueberry Muffin Cookie". He thought that it was finally time to shoot his shot and start hanging out with you again after the whole "dead hero" thing. You first met Blueberry Muffin Cookie while you were revisiting the museum for the third time in the same week. He seemed kind and gentle with you, he didn't talk much but did make the effort to listen to you, so you didn't feel so lonely. You two started hanging out after the museum encounter, you went to an art gallery, had a few picnics in the park and you were just having a wonderful time.

You didn't realize you were in love with him until he complimented your laugh after he told you a really good joke. You always thought your laugh sounded weird, everyone pointed it out constantly and it made you feel annoyed and insecure about it. But once he told you how much he liked your laugh and how cute it was, you swore you felt something burning in your heart, your face was a bright red and your smile was so genuine it made Blueberry Muffin Cookie blush for a moment. Oh, how he loved you so much, he loved everything about you: Your beautiful face, your kind and courageous self, and that sweet laugh of yours.

After many dates, you both wanted to keep seeing each other. You were so excited for the day that you two could hang out again, you wanted to see his adorable face again, you were giggling and kicking your feet from just thinking about him! Shadow Milk Cookie, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about you, he had so many pictures of you, he even had a plushie of you that he made himself for cuddling and playing with. Finally, you arranged a date at a fancy restaurant for both of you and Blueberry Muffin Cookie was SO EXCITED about it that he hugged you and lifted you up in the air, spinning around with you in his arms, both of you laughing heartily. When he stopped spinning, the laughing died down and he put you down next to him, both of you looking at each other and staring into each other's gorgeous eyes. You gave him a kiss on the cheek, a soft smile and left by saying goodbye and see you tomorrow to him, which made him freeze in his place, put his hand on the cheek you kissed, turn as blue as a blueberry and smile so much that it almost made his face hurt. He was so happy to have you by his side, he felt extremely lucky to have you with him.

The next day came and Shadow Milk Cookie was preparing for the night of the restaurant date as fast as he could, when he was reday he tried his best to contain his energy because he was too impatient. He wanted the day to go faster so he could finally see you again. Finally, it was night time at the fancy restaurant, the sky looked like it was gonna rain soon, Cookies were eating and hanging out either outside or in the same restaurant you were in. Some were talking about what they did during their day, others were worried about the next Beast Cookie attack.

But none of that mattered because you were about to eat dinner with the most wonderful Cookie in the world, Blueberry Muffin Cookie. You were waiting patiently for him to show up, he came up to you all dressed up in his finest suit, while you were wearing a beautiful purple dress. You both talked the night away while enjoying the food you ordered. Everything was going great, all the Cookies talking around you ceased to exist, it was just you and your beloved. Things got even better when both of you started to lean in closer to each other, looked at each other, closed your eyes and finally shared a long, soft kiss. You wished this moment could last forever, Blueberry Muffin Cookie Shadow Milk Cookie felt the same way, but something about him was off. Turns out he was using a lot of his magic for the disguise for so long that he was running out of it faster than he thought, he was feeling exhausted from all the energy he spent on keeping the disguise, but now was not the time to think about, now was time to enjoy the rest of the night with your beloved Cookie and... wait... is it just him or did everyone start screaming and crying all of a sudden?

Unfortunately, it wasn't just him hearing all of that, you were hearing it as well. You opened your eyes to see what was going on, and that's when pure, unbridled shock shot through you, you had just realized what everyone was screaming about: you were kissing the monstrous Beast of Deceit, Shadow Milk Cookie! Shadow Milk Cookie opened his eyes and all he saw was true fear in your eyes, he was confused when you shoved him away from you. Your breath was heavy and your mind was rushing through so many thoughts all at once, but the one thought you couldn't shake was the fact that you were hanging out with Shadow Milk Cookie all this time!

"What? What??" He said in a confused yet concerned tone, then his face became pale after he noticed his hands were back to normal, this meant that his disguise wore off! He gasped and exclaimed in a panicked way, saying "DON'T LOOK AT ME!!" while trying to cover your face with his hands being close to his, hoping you wouldn't see him. "It's just a technical glitch! Don't look yet!" he added while trying to gather as much power as he could to change his appearance again, but every time he changed, it would be the other Cookie disguises he's used over the years. Some Cookies were able to recognize the disguises, others were shocked at the fact that he could have been right next to them and they wouldn't have noticed! He changed into a completely different Cookie who wasn't Blueberry Muffin Cookie and said "Where were we?", trying his absolute best to make things go back to normal. But you weren't having it, you quickly grabbed your cup of water and splashed him instantly, making him squirm, revealing his true self.

"You!"

"Now, now hold on!"

"YOU!"

Lighting strikes close by, it started raining a few minutes ago, luckily you were walking under roofs so you wouldn't get soggy. You walked away from the restaurant, avoiding eye contact with any other Cookies you walked past. How could you have been so stupid? It should have been obvious that Blueberry Muffin Cookie was Shadow Milk Cookie from the beginning, but it wasn't! That's how good Shadow Milk Cookie was at disguising himself as another Cookie, he changed his entire personality just to be with you... and that... actually sounds like a big commitment for a common Cookie like yo- WAIT WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! He was clearly using you for one of his evil plans, that had to be it!

Suddenly, a dark mist drifted closer and closer to you, the blue eyes in the shadows gave you a good idea of who it was. "I can explain!" said Shadow Milk Cookie as he came out of the dark mist he created, but you just turned around and growled at this pathetic attempt of redemption. Shadow Milk Cookie got slightly annoyed at this gesture, but he knew he shouldn't feel that way, after all, he's the one who lied to you about everything.

"What about everything you just said? About judging a book by its cover?!" he mentioned something you talked about in the restaurant, something about not judging a book by its cover or a Cookie from the outside. It was something he felt very relieved about because he asked you if you would still enjoy his company if he was blue and unhinged, to which you said yes, which made his heart beat faster and his face shine brighter. One thing you mentioned about the "judging a book" thing tho was... you judge Cookies based on their actions. He said that it seemed kind of petty, which made you laugh, something he enjoyed very much, but the thought of you judging him based on his actions felt like a threat to him, which didn't sit well with him. He would just have to keep the disguise forever until the end of your days (he didn't like to think about that)... until...

"Well, let's take a look at the contents then, shall we?" You started, which made Shadow Milk Cookie's eyes widen by just a bit. "You killed the Hero", you shoved him slightly by tapping his chest, making him stumble backwards, he was not proud of what the situation was turning into, especially since he was the main focus of the drama in a horrible way. "You terrorized the citizens", you shoved him again, his guilt showing on his face. "And then, you actually got me to CARE about you!", you clutched your head for a few seconds before letting go, Shadow Milk Cookie was NOT enjoying this one bit, he loved drama but this was completely different.

"Why are you so evil?? Tricking me?! What could you possibly hope to gain?" you asked and pondered about your question as you looked as Shadow Milk Cookie look down for a moment then look back up again at you with his pupils being a lot bigger than they usually are. He genuinely felt sorry about lying to you, you noticed that by staring into his eyes for a good amount of time and came to a gut-wrenching conclusion: He was in love with you.

Your eyes widened in shock, Shadow Milk Cookie noticed and raised his head with wide eyes as well, what was your final answer? "Wait a minute, oh... I don't believe this..." you began, this made his guts twist in an unpleasant way, he grabbed his full body suit (on the belly area) tightly, making it get wrinkled, he didn't want to hear the next part. "Did you really think that I would ever... be with you?" you finished, SHATTERING Shadow Milk Cookie's evil little heart, it was over, it was so over... he didn't want to let you go, but he had to, he had kept you in the dark for far too long, it would be immoral to drag you into any more problems. Finally, grabbing as much willpower as he could, he responded with "No."

You didn't think he meant that, but you didn't want to stay and find out, so you walked away. As you were getting farther away from him, all Shadow Milk Cookie could do was stare at you, he stretched his hand out to you a bit, but quickly retracted it due to the shame he was feeling. This was the first time he actually felt bad about tricking someone, that someone was you, and he couldn't forgive himself. He turned his gaze down, looking at the floor, he felt something running down his cheeks but can't tell if they're raindrops or teardrops. Either way, it didn't matter, he lost you forever, so he hugged himself to try to fill the void where his heart was, and walked away while still hugging himself, he needed to feel something other than guilt and sorrow.

Something he didn't notice, or even tried to, was you... looking back at him. Even though he lies to you about his true self, you still felt something for him. He put in a lot of effort to talk to you, no one had ever done that for you before. You were usually alone most of the time and not that many Cookies wanted to talk to you, but you felt like Shadow Milk Cookie had made a real connection with you, you never felt so loved by someone else before. He made you laugh, he made you smile, he very much enjoyed your company and you loved him just as much as he loved you. He loved you for who you are, he let you be yourself without judging you, he was all you could ever ask for...

But right now is not the best moment to think about that, so you turned your head and walked away again, straight to the apartment you live in. There, you continued to think about all that just happened and all the times you spent with the blue jester, and you couldn't explain your feelings very well. Meanwhile, Shadow Milk Cookie was sulking in his Spire, regretting lying to you and letting you go, but leaving you was the right thing to do. You two just needed some space to think about stuff, and maybe... just maybe... you two could end up on good terms again. But that depends on the choices you make, so all that can be said is... think about it.

#cookie run kingdom #cookie run #crk #cr kingdom #crk beast yeast #crk fallen heroes #shadow milk cookie #crk shadow milk cookie #shadow milk crk #crk x reader #cookie run x reader #cookie run x you

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cookierunauprompts · 1 month

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I'm not a fanfic writer, so expect this to be a bit rushed and written badly in some parts 🤷🏻‍♀️😅

Tw violence, stabbing, severing limbs

He absolutely HATES IT when they do that, how dare they take away his favorite Cookie in the world and leave him alone to rot in his lonesome?? He'd rather have that so-called Hero torn limb from limb like ripping a doll's limbs off, so he came up with the brilliant idea to write them off the story by stabbing them 37 times in the chest and leaving their body in the middle of a dark alley, where someone found it and everyone mourned the selfless Hero for days. You even made an announcement for the news about the topic, you were holding back tears, something Shadow Milk Cookie did not like to see. He hated to see you feeling sad, especially since you were sad about the Hero's death because why would you feel that way over someone so weak like them?? You were better off with a much stronger, smarter, extremely more handsome Cookie than some piece of cardboard he called the Hero, he thought to himself.

"You!"

"Now, now hold on!"

"YOU!"

#submission #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #crk #cr kingdom #shadow milk cookie #shadow milk crk #shadow milk x reader #crk x reader #cookie run x reader #cookie run x you #crk shadow milk cookie #\\ Mod tags now #Hi op!! i love this so much it sorta reminds me of megamind and i love that #uh. fuck that's all i really had to say #anyways yeah followers come read this it's amazing

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writesick-lover · 4 months

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Jabberjays and Mockingjays

Coriolanus Snow x reader

⤞ My masterlist ⤝

Summary: You meet Coriolanus Snow during his service as a Peacekeeper in the 12th district. The 10th Hunger Games were forgotten, Lucy Gray was gone and Snow is now stuck with someone who promises a fair company. What looks like a happy ending can easily turn into an ugly betrayal. All it takes is a click of a device.

A/N: Happy holidays everyone! Stay safe, lots of love and if you like my work feel free to like reblog and comment! :)

Also if you want to ask me anything -> /ask

♦️ ♦️ ♦️ ♦️

Coriolanus Snow served his time in District 12, mostly bored out of his mind. He tried to accompany other Peacekeepers to the bar every evening in search of at least some fun, just for his eyes to find the podium and fall on the victor of the 10th Hunger Games. He gritted his teeth as Lucy Gray left the podium, performing another of her songs like always. Not a glance spared his way.

Instead, she threw herself onto a nearby chair, stuffing her mouth with a small piece of meat she got for her performance. Her fingers dug into the bone. Her lips were smeared with grease. A wave of disgust rose in him, sending shivers down his whole being. She was a victor. How could she live like this? How could she just come back and live her ordinary and poor life after what she has been through? And how could she treat him like a ghost? After what he had done for her?

While there was disgust in Snow, there was never an ounce of anger. After all, if it wasn't for Highbottom, he would be in Capitol holding his prize, knowing damn well he played the same games as she did. That's just how it was. And if Lucy Gray hadn't known how to play the game, she wouldn't have been a victor. But the game was over, Lucy Gray was rather forgotten and so was he, now stuck in the poorest district, forced to do the dirtiest work, his ego hurting every time he looked around, knowing very well he did not belong here, at least not like Sejanus seemed to.

It was a sunny day when Snow creeped out of the centre of the 12th and towards the flower-covered Meadow. His heart was beating out of his chest as his legs carried him down the hill to a lonesome tree, watching over the rest of the woods down in the alley. It was where he spoke with Lucy Gray for the last time. He came unarmed, relying on the completely abandoned stones under the tree. Yet, they weren't. Not really.

"You can go keep peace where it's actually wanted," a voice from above made him jump up. His right hand immediately reached for the absent belt on his hips. He almost forgot he didn't bring his gun, didn't think he needed it. As his eyes slowly scanned the tree trunk from the roots to the branches, he noticed a sly smirk flashing between the greenery of the tree's leaves. The intruder seemed to be amused by his scare. He couldn't help but frown in confusion as a disobedient smirk already sat on his lips. How did he not notice?

"Got you good, huh?" the person spoke once again, now their voice coming from in front of him, accompanied by an intentionally loud thud that made him jump once again, this time his palm reaching for his heart.

His widened eyes scanned the person that now stood steadily on the ground, already knowing they had to be from the Covey. The pieces of colourful fabric that covered their body, matched with the green of the forest and the occassional bright colour of the flowers. The crown on their head was made of early dandelions. And the fact that no one in their right mind except the Covey would dare to stray so far away from the District's centre, gave Coriolanus a clear answer who this person was.

But Coriolanus knew he was an exception as well. He also dared to stray this far away.

"Do you greet everyone like this?" he breathed out the air he was holding in his lungs up until now.

"No, just lost peacekeepers who seem to get in the way," you shrugged, already taking him in from head to toe. No weapons, but white hair cut into a buzzcut which would sort him into the peacekeeper's family immediately, if his uniform wasn't giving that out already. It made you scoff.

"You shouldn't be here," the peacekeeper's voice broke the silence. "I could call the others if I wanted to," he threatened, but it only made you laugh out loud, your melodic laughter catching the attention of the birds around.

"What's so funny?" you looked back at the man in front of you, only to find his composure completely serious, almost as if he meant everything he said. "You cannot do anything here," you spoke, the giggles still hearable in your voice. "You shouldn't be here as well,"

"But neither should you," the blond repeated once again.. "Covey is way lower in the alley, you barely come here,"

"They barely do. Let's say I come here a bit more, alone," your voice got lost in the breeze around you as your last few words turned into a whisper. Nevertheless, you straightened up your posture, waiting for the peacekeeper's next words, ready to flee if needed.

"Coriolanus Snow," was what came from between his lips. Your eyes widened. "That's my name," Coriolanus felt like he had to explain, based on your confused expression. "Y/n," you let out, not believing your own ears. A mischievous smile painted his lips, "Well, Y/n, what now? I like to come here alone too,"

If someone had told you a peacekeeper would accompany you through your days in the Meadow, you would laugh into their face. There was no way. But Coriolanus turned out to be different. He started to talk to you about how it was in the Capitol. You started to teach him how to survive in the wild.

"Don't eat that!" you scolded him once as you walked through the trees, hiding from the hot flames of the sun's beams. "That's nightlock! You could be dead in a minute," you found yourself screaming, smearing the juice of the berries on his hands, trying to get rid of the deadly fruit.

"I... didn't know. They looked like the berries you showed me the other day," he said, stunned, staring at the dark purple on his hands.

"They do, but they are not. Let's get you cleaned," you grabbed his hand, the paint smearing your hand too. You dragged him deeper into the woods, the trees thickening. But they were no escape from the hotness now, its source coming from your hands intertwined together, his piercing gaze burning the tips of your ears.

You soon found out you were drawn closer to the convicted ex-citizen of Capitol, and he was too, something you never imagined, even in your wildest dreams.

"If you could be anywhere but here, where would you go?" he asked you once, his curious eyes watching you. "I would just disappear to the woods," you hummed. You didn't notice his subtle smile dropping. "What about you?" you asked Coriolanus, taking in his strong features in the setting sun. The orange brought a bit of warmth into his usually cold stare.

"Woods sound nice. But I don't think it's my forte," he mumbled, his eyes already stuck on you. "I will have to be careful about the nightlock. And what would I do when you leave?" his fingers crept up your neck, sending shivers through you, but you let him, wondering how far they would dare to go.

"You could come. I would have shown you everything," you found yourself whispering once again, but he could hear you.

"I think with you I could," he whispered back, the breeze bringing his voice to you before it was locked between your lips, moving against each other, dancing like the leaves in the wind. There was no more Lucy Grey on his mind, and maybe he was actually willing to throw away his Capitol dream for a time in the woods with you. Because he didn't think he had a shot at coming back to the Capitol.

After a while, Coriolanus brought a friend of his, Sejanus. And although you found yourself a bit bitter about it, he started to become your company more and more by day. But he also started to grow closer to your heart.

"What would you do if you could go anywhere you wanted to, Sejanus?" you asked in the middle of the night, hanging from the tree as Sejanus looked up at you.

"I would go see my parents," he spoke softly. And then he added, "I can't visit them and I wish I could. But it's okay. I am fine with where I am right now, as long as I am free from the Capitol,"

Your eyes darted to the blond but Coryo just laughed.

Sejanus didn't.

Coriolanus leaned himself against the wooden cage full of birds they came to catch. You couldn't remember the name, but he told you they were mutts, destroying nature, creating mutations.

"We will run," Sejanus started. A silence fell upon you three. Then a subtle click sounded in the air and Sejanus continued. "I spoke with some people from the district. We will rescue Lil and escape through the loose fence," Again, all of you fell silent. Your heartbeat rose. "What?" you whispered to the night but Coryo cut you off. "You won't survive a minute there, Sejanus, you're from Capitol-"

"I'm a good shot," you watched Sejanus turn to Coriolanus, both their glances determined to convince the other. A good shot. You thought, soon enough realising. The rebels have guns.

"Why are you saying this?" Coriolanus asked out loud, his voice cold.

"It's us, together, remember? You are my friend," you watched Sejanus' lips spread into what looked like a smile in the moonlight. You couldn't help but smile too. This might be your chance.

"There is a new bird in the woods. I think I saw it before, but I don't remember where," you commented on one of your casual walks with Snow a few days later. He arched his eyebrow but didn't act surprised at all. Yet, he still asked. "Really? Which one?" he said, almost uninterested, lost in his thoughts. "That one," you stopped in your tracks, making his stiff body bump into you. He hissed before looking up, his fingers unconsciously wrapping around your wrist.

"Oh, you mean Jabberjays?" he whispered, making you gasp. You found yourself backed up against the tree trunk, your left wrist pinned against the hard bark, Coryo's hand already on your collarbone, slowly sneaking up your neck like a snake. Your right hand automatically fell on his hip.

"Yes, Jabberjays," you repeated, your face brightening, hearing something click. Suddenly, your voice spread through the air, repeating the same word billions of times. "We were here to capture them, remember?" Coryo spoke through the mimic of your voice, so similar, you almost thought your mouth must have kept on going. Your hand travelled to his arm, and down to his fingers, holding something. You hugged his hand in yours slowly picking it up, while withholding eye contact, his bright blue eyes sending cold down your body as usual.

"And this is how you set them off, right?" his fingers let go of the device under the touch of your fingers. "This is what they used during the revolution," your voice was now all quiet as you turned the device off. "They used it to spy on people,"

"On rebels," Coryo nodded, drawing closer.

"Are they spying on us now?" you looked up, stopping him with your gaze. He looked up, staring at you intently, switching between your eyes and lips.

"Could they hear about our escape?" and before you could ask anything else, his lips were on yours once again, their warmth contrasting to his always freezing gaze. His hand around your neck, becoming tighter with every graze, his movements more passionate.

"Coryo," you breathed. He smirked at the nickname but didn't answer and shut you up with more kisses. "Coriolanus," you tried again but to no avail. "Coriolanus Snow," you finally spoke out loud, making him groan.

"You need to go," he frowned at your statement. "Duty calls?" you smiled a bit at his state, his eyes widening as he realised he was about to be late. "See you by the tree," were the words he spoke before he rushed out of the woods. Leaving you alone, with the small device still in your hand.

You waited. You waited for days, but there was no sign of Coriolanus nor Sejanus. You almost forgot how it was to spend your days alone, sitting in the crown of the tree, your only company the birds flying around. Suddenly you took notice of the Jabberjays and Mockingjays, spending your time saying something, making Jabberjays say it back and watching as the Mockingjays repeated the intonation of your voice.

But after a few hours, you couldn't keep on going. You found it foreign and scary, how well the Jabberjays repeated what you wanted them to. Their eyes were empty, looking almost pointless when they didn't have anything to repeat. But one day, there were no Jays to keep you company. There was no sun, no breeze. Just silence. Everywhere.

You found it disturbing. For the first time in your life, you willingly made your way to the centre of District 12. But you found it empty just the same. Except for the square by the hanging tree. And then you realised.

You wanted to run away badly, kept ordering your feet to turn around and flee, knowing you were never the type to digest the hanging. But you didn't stop, no, you kept going until you arrived, standing in the audience on one of the stairs above the crowd, your eyes darting to the boy standing under one of the branches. His dark eyes screamed in fear with dark messy curls falling into them, occasionally silencing his already silent pleads. Your stomach turned. Sejanus.

But why? Why would they hang him? He was a peacekeeper, he did his job well. The only thing you knew was unpopular with the peacekeepers, was befriending the district's citizens. But they all did, they were all poor just the same.

There was a woman on the other side of the tree. You recognised her. Her husband was hanged a while ago, you heard. Her name was Lil? One of the rebels. And you started to understand.

You found Coryo pretty quickly. After all, he was standing right under the tree. Gun in his hand. His eyes trained somewhere in the distance. At you. Coriolanus Snow kept his composure, not an ounce of expression on his face. How could he stand there? Without moving? How could he not protest against the death of his friend? Wasn't he, too, supposed to run away with them? Run away...

You were brought back to the night Sejanus told him about the plan. There was a click, a cage full of birds you couldn't remember, until Coriolanus told you days later, that Jabberjays, they are able to copy exactly what you say if you use the device to record. The device you held in your hand, tied to the birds sitting on the tree.

Peacekeepers keeping peace under it with two rebels about to be hung. Jabberjays and Mockingjays, all together, one created by Capitol, the other by the district. Your fingers moved in your pocket, you heard the click as a thick rope was thrown over Sejanus' throat.

"No!" he yelled out. "Ma! No, please, Ma! Help me Ma!" his screams filled the air, sending shivers of terror down everyone's spine. Except Coriolanus Snow, who didn't move, his eyes stuck on you, your hand, the black device in it. Small tears formed in his eyes as the sound of rope tightening filled the air, the sound of wood falling to the lower platform, Sejanus' screams never falling silent, filling the branches above his head.

The Jabberjays screamed, the Mockingjays mocking them and with the return of the wind, you were gone, away from the district, away from the lonesome tree, away from Coriolanus Snow, away from the device created by Capitol.

♦️ ♦️ ♦️ ♦️

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thee-horny-thicky · 11 months

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So, a night of drinking and my secret obsession with Bunny Izuku combined, to birth what will eventually be the first chapter of a much longer fic. For now, enjoy this snippet :)

Thanks for the encouragement @myprettydarlings 💗

Update: The completed first chapter is now out on Ao3 :)

Bunnies and Vices

You weren’t the best at self-regulation. When you did something, you either did the bare minimum or went all out, with no in-between. A lazy overachiever if you will. Unfortunately, this little quirk applied to your vices, too. You either paid them no mind or indulged in them until you were a wreck.

Most of your vices were safe. Fanfiction, snacking, sleeping in, etc., allowing you to safely humor them. The one harmful vice, however, was your love for parties and alcohol. You were a sucker for a good time, and if free liquor was provided, you were there. The strong, fruity drinks were especially mouthwatering, as they had the winning combo of getting you fucked-up fast while tasting like heaven.

In the heat of the moment, guzzling alcohol with your friends was a ball. You danced like no one was watching, chatted with anyone who’d give you the time of day, and flirted with fine strangers with zero reservations. The stresses of day-to-day life and your self-image issues melted away, being too caught up in the moment to give a damn about them.

However, once the moment passed, all the alcohol you chugged seemed like a poor decision. Nausea and headaches began to set in, the alcoholic munchies you got leaving you bloated. The next morning, you’d be left with a raging hangover and intense regret over every little embarrassing moment you laughed at when liquor was flowing through your veins.

At 3 in the morning, your most dangerous vice had you staggering home, because your dumbass didn’t want to burden your friends when they offered to walk with you. You lived in the opposite direction, after all, and they were in no state to wander around town in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, you didn’t take your advice.

A yelp left you when a loud, high-pitched shriek sounded in the alley ahead of you. Your body tensed as the cries grew in urgency, your steps halting. You looked around and found the streets deserted, the lack of another soul making your heart rate pick up.

Going through the alley was necessary if you wanted to get home soon, but you didn’t know what horrors awaited you. You’d heard stories before of crooks setting up traps for potential victims. You were a drunk woman by her lonesome, making you a perfect target. Your skintight attire didn’t help matters.

You could go the alternative route, but that would add twenty minutes to your walk, and you wanted to get home as soon as possible.

Stealing your nerves, you bent down and removed your high heels. They’d be a hindrance if you had to run, and the platforms would serve as a decent weapon. Taking a shaky step forward, you entered the alleyway, praying to whatever deity up above to spare you. You tried your best to stay quiet, not wanting to catch the attention of whatever was in the alley. But a bundle of fur derailed that plan.

Two things quickly caught your attention. One, the source of that godawful screech was an injured rabbit. And more concerningly, it was green.

You blinked. Then blinked again, and when the creature remained green, you rubbed your eyes. A laugh bubbled out of you, your sense of survival being replaced by bewilderment. Just how much had you drunk?

“Hey, hey,�� you cooed as the poor thing tried to inch backward, another cry leaving it.

Blood was oozing from its back paw, and a broken glass bottle laying feet away quickly revealed what’d caused the injury. Yet, it didn’t explain the uneven patches of fur, or the scars marring the exposed skin that the fur didn’t cover up. Your heart sank. While its coloring may be the result of too many margaritas, the scarring was a clear sign of mistreatment.

You slowly approached, dropping your heels as you tried to make yourself appear smaller. You’d probably have to walk home barefoot but considering those cheap demons had made your feet hurt all night, it was a small price to pay. A trip to your local thrift store would see them replaced.

“It’s okay,” you whispered when it let out a hiss. Briefly, you wondered if it had rabies. If it did, a rabies shot would take care of that, and you’d learn a valuable lesson. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Besides, if it did infect you with some disease, you’d have a fun story to tell, and one more of many examples of poor decisions your brain made when drunk. Because while sober you might’ve exercised caution, drunk you was removing your jacket and wrapping it around the rabbit’s body. It resisted, at first. But once you began to scratch behind its ears, it calmed down.

Your finger grazed across another scar, and you frowned. “You poor baby.”

Your grandmother would be having fits if she saw the scene before her. Luckily for you, she was dead, so you didn’t have to explain anything to her. She might be rolling over in her grave, though, as she looked up at you. The old woman was an unwavering animal hater, which made sense because she was a miserable hog. Hogs were aggressive creatures, after all, who didn’t like others infringing on their territory.

Gently, you wrapped the sleeve of your jacket around the injured foot to staunch the bleeding. Somehow, you simultaneously managed to pull your phone out of your stupidly small purse. You adored Y2K styles, but you wished that the bags were bigger.

You began to walk back to your place with your head buried in your phone, keeping a tight grip on the rabbit who’d begun to relax in your hold. A quick search showed that all 24-hour vets were ridiculously far away, but another showed that you had most of the material needed to take care of the animal’s injuries. Tucking your phone away, you decided to handle it yourself and make a trip to the vet first thing tomorrow. Stupid as it may be to take a random animal home with you after a night of drinking, you couldn’t leave a poor creature to suffer. Besides, the vet would most likely have the resources to rehome it.

A/N: I love my (living) grandmother very much, and the words written here do not reflect my views on her.

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victimeyez · 8 months

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The Aftermath

pt 3 of Professional//Victim x Prev x Next x

VOTE for the next chapter here UPDATE: CLOSED

After an intense "historical reenactment", someone needs to patch up Tommy.

TAGLIST: @suspicious-whumping-egg @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @whumpyourdamnpears @generic-whumperz @lonesome--hunter

CW: Drugged whump, medical whump, captive whumpee

“-dead yet?”

Tommy started to come to, and immediately began to take stock of his body.

He was laid on his front, sideways in the backseat of the car, drooling on Caius’s lap. His memories of Darwin started to come back to him, and he closed his eyes against them sharply, as if to stop them from coming.

Caius replied to the other voice.

“He’s breathing. Looks like he’s waking up, actually.”

Caius’s hand steadied him by his shoulder, which was mercifully numb. Actually, his whole body felt numb, and weak, when he started to stir.

“Don’t move too much. I had to break out the injectables to keep you from fully going into shock.”

“Is he going to bleed all over my car again? Caius, I swear to god-”

“Rory, shut your damn mouth. This isn’t amateur hour anymore.”

“Is he stable?” Michelle asked. Tommy wanted to know that, too.

Caius drummed his fingers absentmindedly on Tommy’s shoulder. He could feel the pressure of it distantly, but without pain or feeling. It felt weird to be so disconnected from his body.

“Stable enough, until we get him to Sam. I packed all the holes in with bleedstop and he’s practically mummified in quickclot. We went through most of the injectables.”

“Sam’s gunna be pissed,” Rory added helpfully.

“He isn’t paid to get pissy. He’ll deal.”

“If this guy wants another session, he’ll have to come to us.” Rory continued to complain.

“No, he can’t. He has a whole…set-up.”

They continued to talk while Tommy drifted in and out.

Caius and Tommy were dropped off outside of Dr. Sam Snow’s hidden office. They had an old wheelchair in the trunk to put him in, but the last of the meds were waning. He was in a considerable amount of pain with the bumps of every little bit of gravel or crack in the road as Caius pushed him along. He grit his teeth and tried to keep his groaning to a minimum.

Caius rapt on an unassuming alley door three times, and waited. Knowing Sam, it would be a few, so he leaned against the bricks and started scrolling through his phone.

They sat in whatever their version of companionable silence was, until there was a familiar grinding sound behind the door. Caius pocketed his phone and stood back behind Tommy’s wheelchair, right as the door opened, thick as a bank vault.

A man leaned out, with dirty blond hair too scruffy to look professional. Sam looked perpetually bedraggled.

“Oh good, my favorites,” He addressed Caius, before turning to eye Tommy in the wheelchair.

“That bad, huh?”

“Even worse,” Caius said with a rueful grin.

Sam stepped out long enough to grab the handles of Tommy’s wheelchair, and popped him onto the back wheels to get him over the entranceway stair. Tommy shrieked in pain, muted somewhat by his instinct to keep his lips closed. He grit his teeth, protective of his wounded mouth.

“Shut up,” Sam said mildly, and pushed him through the doorway down a dimly lit hallway.

This part of the building certainly didn’t feel like a doctor’s office. To the left and right there were rooms long abandoned, filled with broken glass and furniture, painted in old graffiti.

Caius followed, pushing the red button beside the door to make it pull closed and lock behind him.

They took a hard right and came to a metal door that Sam opened with a badge and a code. It always felt so unnecessary, but Tommy could only guess at the value of the contents within.

The door opened and Sam pushed him through, walking him past his office on the right and straight into a wide, square lab that the networks of hallways flanked. It was coldly lit, but bright inside, with a generous strip of window circling the room for open visibility. Tommy was pulled backwards into the familiar glass door, and it felt like the temperature dropped a good five degrees past the threshold.

“You’ll want to put him on his front,” Caius offered, stepping in after them and parting off to the right to find the small group of plastic chairs tucked to the far side.

“Yeah, don’t bother helping me or anything, I’ve got it,” Sam remarked with sarcasm, but he pulled Tommy out of the chair and across his shoulder to lay him awkwardly on the exam table. Tommy didn’t fight, and rolled off of his side onto his stomach and laid face down. The exam table had a little hole in the end that he could comfortably put his face in, like a massage table.

He closed his eyes. At least Sam was usually pretty heavy-handed with the drugs.

He felt a tugging on his pant leg as Sam’s scissors started to work their way up his leg, snipping his clothes off for easy removal. Sam didn’t comment until he was laid bare, the remnants of his clothing cast aside.

“What the fuck is this?!” Sam called to Caius. Tommy knew better than to mistake his anger being over his well-being - he was just pissed about the amount of work his injuries took him to fix.

“Yeah, this guy went medieval on him. Had a whole bunch of like, historical torture implements. He bound him up in some type’a spiky chair, with extra attachments. He hit him with a cattle prod until Tommy pissed himself and blacked out.”

Sam made a sound of revulsion.

“Did he at least pay well?”

“Ehhh,” Caius thought for a moment. “He paid a lot, but still had a first-time discount.”

“I hope he tipped like a motherfucker, because this-” Tommy could imagine Sam waving a hand over his mutilated body in a lazy sweep.

“-Is gonna cost ya.”

Tommy imagined Caius’s stupid shrug at that, too.

Sam’s gloved hands felt warm while he probed him, looking over the injuries to gauge the severity.

“I can’t see shit with all the fuckin’ powder. He’s gonna need a saline rinse.”

Tommy knew it was coming, but shuddered anyways. He heard Sam unwind the hose and open the nozzle without finesse, standing back so he wouldn’t get caught in the spray. The saline was luke-warm at best, and Tommy shivered as the solution washed away the last of his body heat. He gritted his teeth to try to keep them from chattering, and watched as pink water poured off the table and lazily swirled around the drain built into the floor.

It didn’t hurt much at first, but as Sam really started to blast away the dried blood and clotting powder, it became a grueling test of endurance. The pink water beneath the table started to become more clear, and then quickly turned to a red as his wounds started to reopen under the spray. He heard Caius say something from the corner, but he couldn’t make it out over the shower. It seems Sam couldn’t either, because the jet mercifully stopped.

“What?”

“Can’t you give him a numbing gel or something?”

“Oh!” Sam exclaimed, and Tommy saw his feet retreat away from the table.

“I plum forgot, he was being so good - Tommy, why’d you let me do that?” Sam mocked, but he returned and began working a thick ointment across his back. It took only moments for the gel to take effect, bringing blessed relief to every wound it touched. Tommy closed his eyes as the pain finally started to subside, and the paste left his skin feeling warm and completely numb.

“I think you owe Caius a big thank you, don’t you?” Sam pushed, as he saw Tommy start to visibly relax under his hands.

(Actually, I think I owe Caius a big shot to the face,) Tommy mused to himself, but he said nothing.

“His mouth is messed up, you’re not gonna get anything from him.” Caius commented, unamused by Sam’s playful mood.

Sam groaned at the mention of more work, but finished rubbing the numbing ointment in without further comment. Tommy closed his eyes, and without the pain caging him in his body, he was finally able to drift. To go somewhere - anywhere - where he wasn’t ass-up on a table about to be needled over.

He was a little grateful to Caius, but it was…complicated. He remembered when he was first in, and so scared, and thought he might find some help in the other man.

“We all have different roles here to make the business work,” Caius explained. Tommy was curled up in a ball on the sleeping roll Caius had brought him.

“I’m your handler. I’m not your friend - I’m your boss.”

Tommy had sat up, leaning against the wall and hugging his knees.

“What about the other guys?”

Caius sighed and sat down next to him, ignoring when Tommy scooted as far away as he could into the corner.

“Well, they’re your bosses too. But it’s like - I’m like the manager, while they’re in corporate.” Caius seemed to struggle for a better explanation.

“Rory has a fuckin’ mouth on him, sure, but he could sell water to fish. He coordinates appointments, knows a bunch of market research and business shit, so that’s kinda his thing.

“Michelle deals with all the tech stuff, he’s a huge nerd. He uploads all the pictures and videos and stuff to the network, but it’s a hidden network, I don’t know, it’s all beyond me.”

“A network for…this?” Tommy asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Yeah, basically,” Caius replied. “We’re franchise owners, technically. All this - and you-”

He turned to face Tommy fully.

“-Are our business.”

Tommy worried his lip.

“And your job… is to manage me?”

Caius smiled, amused, and adjusted his glasses.

“My job is to make sure you don’t break.”

Caius advocated for him, in a way. And he was nice to him, in a way. But he never wasted breath pretending he did it for Tommy’s good. He managed a balance of keeping Tommy at a low level of stabilization, in spite of everything, to protect his business asset. Abducting people was a huge risk, and not one they could constantly repeat if their other victims died or completely broke down.

He’d heard of other teams with assets like him, sometimes multiple at a time. But if they broke down for good, they weren’t interesting to use anymore and became worthless. Caius afforded him small mercies to maintain a tiny spark of morale, so Tommy continued to be valuable.

Considering he was this far in, Caius seemed to be very good at his job.

Tommy was snapped back to the present when the tip of a needle dug deeper than he was numbed, and he hissed with pain.

“Sorry bud. Just checking to make sure you’re still with us.”

Sam continued poking him with needle after needle, circling every single wound with three triangulating punctures. This batch would take forever.

Tommy suddenly felt a hand on his upper arm, and realized Caius had crossed the room to watch.

“Which ones are these?”

Sam took a break to straighten his back for a moment.

“Well, you haven’t given me a lot to work with. Lucky for you, I just got in this stem cell batch that’s just insane. It’s a more potent combo with extra immunomodulators. Moves weeks of recovery into mere days. I’m also putting our usual pre-scar steroids in, which should also help with the swelling and inflammation.”

“How did you lose your medical license again?”

“I was just too much fun. I’ll top it off with this new wound-food serum I got, it’s supposed to help the body keep up with the crazy-fast healing. I’ll spray him down with a second skin and he’ll need to keep that on for a week. He’ll need lots of rest and lots of food - no starvation punishments and no missed meals.”

“Did you check his mouth yet?”

“Oh fuck,” Sam answered. He started to move Thomas onto his side, but then stopped.

“Ah fuck it. Let me get him patched up here and I’ll take a look.”

It was kind of like getting a tattoo session done, if it were a full-body stick and poke. Sam was methodical and finished the injections before anyone else could have. The serum was applied generously (sloppily) and the second skin sprayed on. A second light with a blue tint was thrown on above the table, and the substance began to dry on across his body.

“Do you know how good you got it? This is cutting-edge stuff, the newest technology that won’t hit the hospitals for decades, if ever. Celebrities pay millions for this stuff.”

Tommy did not respond.

“Luckily for you, everyone likes a blank page, don’t they? Gotta clear the board for the next guy.”

Tommy grimaced at the floor.

(Think about - something else. The feeling of biting into a coffee bean. What it looks like, how it feels in your hand. The crunch, the bitterness. Focus on imagining the sensation. Nothing else. No feeling.)

“I’ll take a look at his mouth and whatever that thing on his jaw was, and I’m sending him home. Come back in a week for the second round of steroids. If it’s going well, we might be able to do the first laser treatment the same day.”

There was a numbed touch to his back, where apparently the second skin had finished curing on him, and he was rolled onto his back. He shut his eyes hard against the blinding overhead light.

“Alright, open up.”

Tommy opened his mouth and Sam grabbed a penlight to examine inside. After a moment, he tsked as if chiding Tommy.

“Don’t you know better than to let strangers put things in your mouth?”

He moved down to do some poking and prodding where the fork had dug into him. He grabbed some now nearly-empty syringes and injected small shots along the edges of the wounds.

“These will be fine. Not even worth a stitch. I’m not going to put on a butterfly just because I want to make sure these heal from the inside out, but I don’t think they’re worth packing.”

Sam applied wound patches over each of the spots, working his fingers into the the edges of the patch until the adhesive melted on.

“Those ones will be fine. As for the mouth, his tongue is punctured in multiple places and pretty swollen. I have steroids that will calm the swelling down and let it start to heal. Mouths actually heal faster than most other parts of the body, and with a little help those will close up fine. However-”

Sam turned, and started sorting through a couple drawers before turning back around holding a bottle.

“Rinse four times a day with this solution. When you run out, switch to saltwater. But…he’s going to need to use a feeding tube for a week.”

At that, Tommy put his face over his hands and turned on his side, curling up to shield himself as best he could. The feeding tube was the worst, and he’d only had to use it once before.

“Yeah, I know bud.” Sam patted him on the shoulder with faux sympathy.

“I’m putting him on a couple oral medications he’ll need to take twice daily AFTER feeding, always after. I’ll make up a care package.”

Sam started pulling various bandages and tubes out of cabinets and stowed them into a bag. Caius had luckily brought Tommy a pair of sweats and a hoodie, which he helped him into while Sam rummaged around.

“What time next week?”

Sam waived a dismissive hand in Caius’s direction without looking at him.

“Whenever - just don’t be late.”

#professional//victim #aftermath #medical whump #captive whumpee

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boredgoon · 7 months

Text

A flashback.

I had been a homeless person. I never really had a home, a place to stay. Then I tightened my grip on my backpack and stepped forth into the wild world of Tumblr. It was a bustling city, towers many times taller than me stretching to the skies.

I was in a small alleyway, the cement clean and empty. It was calm, but it was lonesome. I stayed there for a while, making myself comfortable in the alley. Then I took a chance and entered the street. I felt so small. There were big, important people and then was me. I watched, made a few quiet comments to myself.

Then I saw somebody run past, laughing evilly. I jumped out of the way, and my eyes grew wide as I watched these people. Things seemed more colorful then. A mad scientist, an evil overlord. Heroes and sidekicks. Goons by the handful. They fought each other, the villains and the heroes.

I stalked them for a few days, asked some questions anonymously. Asked if I could be a goon too. Got accepted.

My boss is the best and most wickedly villainous person I’ve ever known. He gave me a sticker and a big cape. Those are my most prized of possessions. I feel welcome, I feel … as if I am one of them.

Maybe I even am one of them.

And now there’s these dang moles everywhere! But whatever. They’re very interesting… and possibly evil! >:D

And while you were distracted by this little story, I’ve taken your wallet. Have fun without it :P

#writblr #small story #short story #villain arc #i did this instead of sleeping #mole interest

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mapping-elysium · 30 days

Text

LONESOME LONG WAY HOME

Heading southwest of Martinaise

Courtyards = the abandoned housing and the fishing village?

Le Domaine Eminent

in North Jamrock, past the motorway

Main and Perdition appears to be the rough address for the Precinct

HEADING "HOME"

Past the 41st [heading east/west]

through the market

Boogie Street Spearhead

I think this means the north end since it stretches all the way to Faubourg in the south

Around meteor lake

turn on Voyager road past the video rental

PROBLEM

Let’s rewind. Let’s trace your drunken steps back home. Jump across the raised channel bridge south-west of here. Fall over. Get up. Get off the asphalt in 20 minutes, shuffle your feet through courtyards, scaring little children. Go under the great raised motor-tract, the 8/81, until you reach le domaine éminent in North Jamrock. The streets are frozen this time of year, caked with ice. Walk down Main, to Perdition -- there’s a side alley there and your footprints in the mud...

SOLUTION

...here we go. Home awaits. Walk past Station 41 and through the market. Past the Boogie Street spearhead to the other side of the lake -- the frozen eye at the center of the district. Then past the video rental store on the corner. There, at the end of a street lined with pine trees: a small house, no larger than a matchbox. 11 Voyager Road. You no longer live there. Those times are gone, and so are those people. Why did you come here? Why are you still here? And where’s the dealer? You have to get back to work. That’s all you have now.

#jamrock #martinaise #boogie street #meteor lake #eminent domain #disco elysium #map project #revachol

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silaslich · 1 month

Text

Where There is Light, a Shadow Appears

Ghoap Hogwarts Professor AU

Part 1/10 - Journeys & Reunions

Wc - 4.5k

Cw - slight gore towards the end

The hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley is exactly how John remembers it.

Teeming with life and noise. Hollering children and chatty witches. Every sense is overwhelmed; theres a street vendor on the corner selling pumpkin pasties and there are owls sitting in cages overhead when John stops outside of the Magical Menagerie for a quick break to give his dodgey knee a rest. The owls hoot and coo at one another loudly - chattering away, some are as white as snow and others as black as the midnight sky, their eyes a medley of bright yellows or burnt oranges.

Every now and then, as he stands observing, Gambol and Japes joke shop explodes with colour. John watches in fond amusement, he deduces there must be some kind of charm within the shops very walls, it explodes like powder fireworks that whir and fizz when activated.

As the man begins to weave his way through the street he spots a lonesome young boy, his nose and palms pressed flatly up against the glass window of a shop. Looking up - John reads the sign above the door, Quality Quidditch Supplies, he guesses the latest broom is out on display. Sure enough as he passes, his eyes catch sight of a magnificent broom; its wood is dark and the design is sleek with silver crossbars and neatly preened bristles. John doesn’t know much about brooms anymore and what makes them good or not, but he can surely agree that it is a handsome broom.

Continuing on his way, he passes another shop. It had been one of his favourites during his youth when he studied at Hogwarts - Flourish and Blotts. Buying textbook after textbook, with whatever bronze knuts and silver sickles his mam could spare, he’d read till his eyes went blurry.

He’d read the entire potioneering section from back to front by the time he was in his Third-year.

John thinks about stopping in, for old times sake, but his level-headedness is in full control today, he’s far too busy to mull around London and shop.

While everything feels so familiar, it still seems very distant in his mind. The layout has been the same for hundreds of years now, albeit some of the shops have moved during John’s lifetime, he still feels a sense of disorientation when it comes to finding the only store he needs. Just when John is about to flag down a sinewy-elderly witch in an emerald cloak to ask her to point him in the right direction - that’s when it hits him.

The smell.

He can smell the foul and putrid stench of the Apothecaries; like bad eggs and rotten cabbages, it drifts over the crowd of witches and wizards and hits him square in the nose.

His eyes follow the direction in which the repulsive smell lingers on the air, he spots the overhead signs quickly as they sway in time with the cool August breeze.

Mr Mulpepper’s Apothecary, alongside Slug & Jiggers.

The wizard is slightly surprised at how little has changed with the two shops over the years, nestled side by side, as competitive as ever with their bright - abundant displays and discount placards hanging in the windows. He remembers how funny it had been back in the day to watch the enchanted placards change every few minutes, depending on what the other corresponding one had written on it. He’d managed to get his hands on a full sized unicorn horn from Mr Mulpepper for a mere seven galleons once, he’d never felt so lucky in all his life, he didn’t even need the bloody unicorn horn.

A little bell jingles above the door when John steps foot inside of Mr Mulpepper’s shop, the wizard smiles, nostalgia seeping in. His eyes rake over the shelves, filled to the brim with glass bottles and vials of varying sizes. Some bubble and some sizzle. Others sit dormant, thick and soupy in viscosity. There are pale powders in jars and plucked feathers and hairs stuffed into cork-stoppered flasks. From floor to ceiling the shelves and units are plentiful, there isn’t a single spare place for anything more. Yet, John notices a cauldron bubbling behind the counter, an earthy - mint-like scent filling the air, coming second only to the obvious smell of a dropped Ashwinder egg. A green smoke plumes from the cauldron and the closer the wizard gets the better he is able to identify it, a Wiggenweld potion is brewing.

John is quick to scan for what he needs, he had memorised his list on the way to London, wanting to be as quick and efficient as possible. He stocks himself up on the essentials, keeping in mind the number of students he’ll be having under his watch.

He purchases more than is necessary, he thinks, but he would rather be prepared.

He picks up a multitude of supplies; flobberworms, pickled murtlap tentacles, valerian root, powdered moonstone, jobberknoll feathers, four ounces worth of dragon liver, lacewing flies and sopophorous beans as well as other lesser important items for his own personal stores for the term.

With his arms full to the point he cannot physically carry anymore, John makes his way over to the counter. The bottles and jars clink as they meet the old wooden surface, chipped and scratched with age. Before he can even ring the small silver bell atop the wooden counter to alert the store owner of his presence, an old wizard peeks from around a corner, his big brown eyes made to look even bigger then they are by his incredibly thick spectacles. The older wizard smiles, “ah- I thought I heard the door go” he says, rounding the corner entirely now and wiping his sullied hands down the front of his apron.

He barely spares John a second glance before he starts eyeing up the jars and bottles, muttering to himself as he tallies up the cost, punching the numbers into an ancient looking register that’s buttons resembled that of a 1900’s typewriter.

The young wizard doesn’t know what to say, watching the man as he counts, noting he loses his place twice and has to start all over again. John bites his tongue.

When the old wizard is finally done totalling up John’s cost and takes his payment, his muddy eyes flit up to John’s very briefly, only to do a double take. His hands still where he had begun wrapping the fragile bottle of doxy eggs in brown paper, he squints his eyes and leans invasively into John’s space. He smacks his dry lips together, “say son-“ he starts, “you look familiar”.

John doesn’t say anything at first, he simply holds the other wizard’s gaze, watching as his eyes focus on John’s left eye specifically, and the scar that runs through it.

Although his jaw is clenched tightly, John retains his composure, feigning any knowledge of what Mr Mullpepper is referring to. He smiles, ever so slightly, “aye I’d hope so, spent enough time in here when I was a lad, spent plenty of sickles too” John tilts his chin up but keeps eye contact with the older wizard, hoping the man’s memory is jogged-back to the image of a lanky-teenage version of John instead of the image of a bloodied-battered and bruised Auror that had been plastered all over the front page of The Daily Prophet just mere months ago.

The older wizard leans even closer, taking in every detail of John’s face with a wry brow, he hums to himself - deep in thought.

He clicks his fingers, “that’s it - knew I recognised you, been a long time since I’ve seen you around here” the man smiles and increases the distance between himself and John, now back to a respectable boundary. It’s unclear if he’s being truthful or if he caught onto John’s want for avoidance on the topic, either way, the younger man is grateful. John’s lips quirk into a half smile, one hand rubbing the back of his neck, “been travelling around for the last few years, it’s my first time back in the England since last year, staying for good this time - I think” he’s giving up more then he probably should, but what could it matter now?

Continuing on with his task of wrapping up the bottles and jars, Mr Mullpepper hums in acknowledgement, focusing on not damaging John’s purchases. “I travelled around myself when I was about your age” he tells, placing the wrapped goods in a bag, “I went as far as Australia mind you, but this place was always in the back of my head, wouldn’t have it any other way now you know” he meets John’s eyes once more with a knowing smile, grey brows raised at him. John nods, flattening his lips, “I felt the same way for a long time, each time I came home to visit I found I didn’t really want to leave again”. Now he really was oversharing, with a sort-of-stranger no less, he’s settling back into civilian life a little too quickly for his liking. “Anyways - that’s enough of my rambling” he cuts off his own train of thought before he gets himself in any deeper, “I better be heading back to Hogwarts” he bites his tongue as soon as the words leave his mouth. Fucks sake.

The old wizard’s eyes practically triple in size at John’s words, the penny drops and John finds himself scrambling on his hands and knees to pick it up. “Hogwarts?” He queries, scratching his chin, “are you teaching there this year?”. As much as he wants to turn on his heel and leave, John knows better, he knows how much he’ll have to rely on this shop from now on and doesn’t want to tarnish this relationship before it’s even started. The younger wizard nods with a smile, “sure am, potions professor” John flicks the bag of goods where it still sits on the counter between the two of them, “if that much wasn’t already obvious”.

For a moment, the older wizard pauses, looking from John’s face to the bag of ingredients on the counter and then back up to meet John’s eyes. “Pardon me for saying this so plainly son, but you’re so young to be a professor” it’s either an insult or a compliment, and at this very moment in time, John can’t decide which it is, but he doesn’t have much time to think it over - he really needs to get back to Hogwarts.

“Not as young as I look I’m afraid” John says, his lips pulled into a thin line, he really should be going.

Mr Mullpepper simply nods, “I could say the same thing about myself” he laughs to himself, scratching his stubbled cheek, “I better let you get off, bet you’ve got lots to do to get ready for the new term next week” he seeks, John wants to sigh but catches himself before he does. He nods, “more than I even have time for, typically” he retrieves his bag and begins to step back, putting the distance between the older wizard and himself. “It was nice seeing you again son, take care now” the older wizard says, finally turning around to stare into the bowl of his cauldron as it bubbles away, the smoke turning from an electric green to a smokey grey. Although he isn’t looking at him, John nods to the old man, “you too, you’ll be seeing me again soon I’m sure of it” the young wizard smiles, the shop owner turns his head to meet John’s gaze and returns the smile. “I’ll look forward to it, you can tell me all about your classes, farewell”.

John uses his spare hand to wave and nods at the man as he leaves, the little bell jingling again as he shuts the door behind himself.

He looks out into the street, the crowds of people move in smooth rhythms and the shops are rammed with last minute school shoppers - they carry books by the arm full and have bags with the uniform shop logo, Madam Malkin’s, etched into it. John thinks back to when that was him, all those years ago, he thinks about how excited he had been to be accepted into Hogwarts; what a path it had put him onto, and it has all led up to this very moment.

He is completely in two minds about all of it.

It’s later on, in the confines of his room at The Leaky Cauldron, that John’s eye begins to burn - seemingly out of nowhere.

He shifts in his bed, it squeaks and groans beneath his weight, but John just can’t seem to get comfortable. With no active wound or injury in itself he can do little more than ride out the pain, his potions would be futile, or at least the ones he has on hand would be.

It feels like there are needles under his skin, poking through and puncturing his flesh, the searing pain is hot to the touch, his fingertips feel as if they’re touching freshly cooked meat - fresh off a skillet and sizzling.

John has felt pain before, pain much worse than this, but it doesn’t make it any easier. His body is tired and his mind seeks rest, but the itch behind his left eye is enough to make him want claw it out of his own head - would the lack of an eye take the pain away?

Who knows? Certainly not John.

When he wakes the next morning, he feels even more tired than he had when he laid his head down for the night. He had been too hot and irritated to sleep, the pain in his head and eye too much to ignore. His muscles feel heavy as he dresses for the day, a crisp three piece suit, purchased for the occasion; it’s a deep navy blue in colour and he pairs it with an indigo tie that has a silky-like finish to it. John feels rigid, too stuffy in all of his layers, as if his necktie is trying to strangle him to death - it’s all a little too formal for his liking.

He knows first impressions mean a great deal, and for that reason and that reason only does he force himself to grin and bear the discomfort. Not only will John be meeting so many new people, most of them faculty, he knows he’ll be back in the presence of some familiar faces, some a damn sight more welcome than others. All the same, he wills himself to hold his tongue and use his manners, he owes it to Price.

John boards the Hogwarts express at ten-to-nine in the morning and is set to arrive at twenty-past-five in the evening.

Yes, he could have used a quicker - more efficient mode of transportation, but he didn’t really want to. It was far too risky to apparate in his current physical condition, the same for riding a broom. He wasn’t the best with the Floo Network systems and he didn’t know of any Portkeys that led directly to Hogwarts, if there even were any.

The long train journey gives John plenty of time to think, maybe too much time, he plays over everything in his head. Rehearsing how he’ll introduce himself, wondering what his living space will be like, weighing up whether or not he’s made the right decision even coming all together.

He tries to ignore the dull pain in his head. It throbs rhythmically, pulsing behind his bad eye, making him blink harshly from the intrusion of pain. He’s hoping it’s his anxieties playing up, that once he’s there and settled that he’ll stop getting the headaches - at least he can brew something stronger there if it doesn’t subside.

The wizard remains productive. Writing up some lesson plans for the first years, coming up with a to-do list for when he actually gets there, already thinking about ways he can keep himself busy until the school year officially starts up. Thanks to the lull of the trains carriage and the lack of other passengers, John manages a few hours of sleep, while not the most comfortable - it definitely does him good to shut his eyes for a little bit.

By the time he’s stirred awake by the jolting of the carriage, the sun has crept down past the horizon and the sky has transformed into a beautiful euphony of buttery-peach and a deep shade of violet. They meld together on the backdrop of the rolling hills, lined with woolly sheep and highland cows, John knows they’re close - he’s made this journey enough times to know.

The train compartment is illuminated in a streaky glow of pale yellow from the lamp that’s fastened to the wall above his head, he’s grateful that it isn’t too bright, it’s just enough for him to read his papers - it’s soothing in a way. It gives him a chance to look over all of his paperwork a final time before he begins to stack it all together neatly, putting it away for safe keeping, making way for a new flurry of nerves that tighten in John’s throat.

By the time he’s departed from Hogsmeade station and is reaching the stretch of a short dirt path that leads toward the school gates, it is already dark enough that John needs to use his wand to cast the lumos charm, the tip of his wand now able guide his way through the evening air. He had sent his tawny owl, Einar, ahead of him; letting him out of the carriage window as they approached the Hogsmeade station, he was sending word to Price of his owners arrival.

Sure enough, as John approaches the Covered Bridge, he’s able to make out the silhouette of a man, one with wide shoulders and sturdy legs. With each step the man takes, the others man’s face is illuminated in a deep amber glow - the familiarity makes John quirk a smile.

“Filthy muggle habit that is” a smile stretches across his lips as he speaks, watching as Price takes a long - final drag of his cigar, shaking his head with the same easy smile John wears. “Shut it you” the older wizard scolds, emptily, stepping forward to greet John with a hand shake - one that leads them to pull each other into one another’s arms, firm hands patting backs as they spare a breathy laugh.

It has been so long, John thinks, he won’t say it out loud, but he’s missed the familiar smell of his old friend - tobacco and fresh parchment, with the sadly recognisable hint of powdered moonstone. Not much has changed at all, he fears.

The two men break away from their embrace and simply look at each other for a few long seconds, despite the years that have passed, nothing but the faint signs of age and wear and tear have changed the two of them. John notices that Price’s eyes linger on his bad eye, a minuscule crease in his old friend’s brow makes John slightly unnerved, but it appears that Price catches himself quickly. Price quirks a slight-smile, “it looks like you’ve healed nicely” he notes, “I was worried when I received word from the Ministry about the incident, as soon as I opened the letter and saw your name my heart fell out of my arse - I can’t lie to you” despite the way Price forces a laugh from his chest, John can tell he is deadly serious.

Price may retain his stone-like composure on the outside, but inside he is probably, if not definitely, the most caring man John has ever met in his entire life.

John smiles, somewhat somber, thinking back to the time in which that letter was sent. “You know me sir, takes a lot more then a severing charm to down me”, John puffs out his chest, a futile attempt to make light of the topic, Price sees straight through him. The statement is true; in part, it would take a damn sight more to deter John Mactavish from something he has firmly set his mind to. He’s had unforgivables hurled at him too many times to count and the amount of dittany that he’s used during his Auror years would put any apothecary to shame, but even so, nothing had stopped him.

Until now, until everything changed.

John knows that Price knows. The physical injury hadn’t been the main detail of the letter, it was merely an afterthought, a by the way. Thats why he’s here now; unfit for fighting, forced into the confines of a classroom to sit behind a desk and drone on and on about the many uses of powdered root of asphodel. He’s grateful, he’s one of the lucky ones, he was able to keep his life, but he had so many more things he planned to do before even thinking about what would come after his career as an Auror.

Price clasps a hand to John’s shoulder, a steady grip as their gazes meet, “how are you feeling?” The older wizard asks, a faint lilt of his scouse accent dripping through his words, he speaks gently.

From the look on John’s face, you’d think he’s been asked to recite a Shakespearian play off by heart, he opens his mouth to answer but takes a moment to reconsider his words.

He thinks deeply, compressing everything that’s happened recently, he’s stacked and folded everything neatly and filed them away in his mind - collecting dust. He’s tried this before, and sooner or later, the filing cabinets overflow and spill, a mess for him to have to clean up. He’s beginning to learn that bottling things up isn’t the right way to deal with things, as much as it is an automatic response for him given his last few years spent in isolation from anyone he felt he could really talk to and open up to, John knows that he’s back in the presence of a man that is there to listen - no matter how big or small the issue seems.

John’s mind seems to come back to him, and with a heavy sigh and closed eyes, he opens his mouth to speak - “not good”.

He opens his eyes and looks toward the dark sky, the delicate blue of his eyes reflecting the fullness of the moon as it sits heavy and round in the sky.

“Not good at all”

It’s dark. So dark that John can’t see his own hands in front of him, it leaves him disoriented, unstable on his feet as he tries to catch his bearings.

He blinks his eyes quickly, willing his eyes to adjust to the dark, he hasn’t got his wand - and he’s never been the best at wandless magic. Too busy of a mind, he was always told.

The sound of his own breathing catches his ears, it’s unsteady, faltering as his heart beats painfully against his ribcage. There’s an uneasy feeling that begins to take root in his chest, spreading throughout his lungs, making it harder and harder to breathe.

His feet patter against the floor, it’s cold and his feet are bare, he’s dazed and confused. The sensations around him feel real, the chill in the air and the way he can feel his breath fog the space before his face, the cold Earth against the bottoms of his feet and the dread that licks its way up his spine. It’s all too vivid to be a dream, a little too real, too close to home.

It’s clumsy, the way John steps forward, arms extended out at his sides to balance himself, to see if there’s anything around him to lean on or anchor himself to. There isn’t. He continues to blink, each time harder than the last, every one of his senses is beyond his reach - not feeling real.

Another step, and then another.

Something warm touches his toes, it makes him still, unsure on whether or not to progress forward. But this is all a dream, there are no consequences here.

He moves ahead, his feet trudging through something warm and wet, viscous in nature.

It’s familiar. It’s foreign. It’s blurred.

John feels dizzy. His head pounds and his eyes sting from strain, the pain feels so real, a little too real. As he takes another step forward, arms still outstretched, his fingers graze something. Something solid. Something real.

For some reason, John’s blood chills, the hairs on his arms and at the nape of his neck stand on end, fight or flight activated.

Suddenly, the darkness evaporates, as if it’s sucked out of the air.

Johns palm flattens against whatever he had bumped into, he can see his hand now, he watches as blood drips between his splayed fingers.

His mouth opens to make a noise but nothing comes out, he’s silenced, unable to cry out for help or mercy.

His eyes quickly trail up, following the blood that drips, directly to the source. From the mangled jaws of a beast; a half man - half creature, sharp blood-coated teeth grind together and John can’t rip his eyes away.

He’s trapped in the pull of it, in the way the creatures chest rattles and the way the stench of copper and decaying flesh fills his nostrils - bile rises in his throat.

John can’t think, he can’t blink, his body isn’t his own. He stares at the beast, looking up, finally realising the creatures eyes are fixed on him, watching with lidded eyes - John knows those eyes.

A hazel tree from somewhere he can’t remember. The way they bleed into a gentle green in the centres. There’s delicate flecks of gold in the brown parts that he remembers, he’d memorised where each fleck was, but it’s out of his reach now.

John screams. He hears it, inside of his head, echoing around him. The beast has its claw in his head, its sharp unguis piercing his eye with a haunting wet squelch.

It’s his bad eye, the one that bears the scars and the curse, the reason for his downfall.

The man can feel the pain, it’s white-hot, it’s agony. It rips through every part of him, the blood and fluid rushes out of his head and down his front, staining his skin. His screams tear from his throat, so much so there is little to no noise anymore, he’s severing his own vocal cords from the strain.

He shuts his remaining eye tightly, he can’t look at the creature any longer, it’s maiming him, it’s killing him.

Then, through the pain and the noise and the darkness, there’s another familiarity that breaks John out of his own mind.

“Johnny?”

#call of duty #simon ghost riley #alternative universe #call of duty fanfic #cod fanfic #hogwarts au #hogwarts professor au #Ghoap #Ghoap fanfic #Ghoap au fanfic #john soap mactavish #ghoap au #ghoap fic #ghoap angst #call of duty fic #Simon ghost Riley x John soap Mactavish #lichwrites

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heartfullofleeches · 2 years

Note

so i read ur doll reader thing i love it sooo fucking much!!! like💞💞 aaaaaa💞!! i immediately got an idea/concept thing i wnna share:

so, like, initially, i thought doll reader was like a lifesize scale of what you would be in real life; so like if u snthn like 5"7 (me), or 6"4, or even 4"11-5"3 in real life, that's how big doll reader would be to scale yk?? does this make sense

so my thought w the above paragraph is like,, can you imagine someone stealing doll reader (regardless of how big/small they are) from the store or the yandere's home? like a giant ass heist for an exquisite doll that most would DREAM of having. imagine a robber seeing how expensive doll reader looks, and then just takes you (it? its technically you) w/out rlly thinking much.

can you also imagine if the robber also became a yandere for doll reader?? like maybe your looks were too good to give up, too gorgeous to sell for a very pretty penny. the robber buys the tools needed to keep you (it?) in mint condition, buying a giant (depending on your size ig) glass case in order to maintain a pristine appearance. strives for a higher paying job to afford the tools. (remember; you're (it's?) something literally few can afford! any price is worth it!) learns sewing in case moths ever somehow eat your clothes, in case stitches ever came loose or frayed, whatever the reason may be.

thats the end of the concept~ ; what're your thoughts? 😀

(It's cute! Reader is really just a doll -for now- and is in fact human sized)

"Okay, Y/n. I'm leaving now. Be good till I get back, okay?"

The shop owner kisses their doll's forehead, straightening out their coat as they prepare to head out. They really didn't want to leave you alone in the toy store all by your lonesome, but carrying around a proportionately accurate doll wouldn't be the best decision and draws more unwanted eyes to you. They normally tried not to go out for lunch, but didn't have time to get anything packed this morning.

"Take care, darling." The shop owner strokes your cheek before they finally take their leave. They lock every door and close every curtain, yet hesitation still plagues them. A rumble from their stomach finally drags them from the front door. Feedback clicks from a radio as they walk down the empty streets.

"Target has left the building. If we hurry, we should be able to get done before they return and avoid any interaction."

"Got it."

Two masked individuals round to the back of the toy store; both taking swings at the heavy duty lock with blunt objects until it finally pops from frame. They rush inside, staying low to the ground as they head to the front floor. The cash register and priceless toys lay about the stores display, but it's all ignored for the single doll sitting behind the counter. One of the robber's holds up a picture to make sure its the correct one; eagering a light smack to their arm from their companion.

"Hey, you see any other life sized dummies in here? Go grab it."

The former massages their sore arm, sneaking behind the counter to retrieve what they came to steal. They pause for a moment to look at it. They could see why the owner loved it so. In the weeks the group had been scouting the place, they nearver parted from it. It really was a beautiful doll and so lifelike too. The seed of guilt grew in their stomach. Their friends were in deep waters and needed the money offered by their employer, but this sorta felt like actual kidnapping. They thought this would be a painless transaction since the money from this doll alone would be enough to cover the debts.

"Hurry up, Kris!"

Kris snaps out it and grabs the doll, throwing it over their shoulder. Their radio chimes as they wall from behind the counter.

"Get outside, they're coming back!"

The duo run outside just as a van pulls into the alley way. They hop in the back, Kris losing balance from their panic. The doll falls over in their lap as they lay on the floor. They look at it, slamming the door shut before pulling it to their chest. As the car speeds off - they swear they can hear a scream.

"Fucking pick up!"

Kris stares into the doll's eyes from across a coffee table. One of their friends paces back and forth, shouting into their phone while the other snacks on chips beside them. The doll blanky stares back. They blush.

"God fucking damn it!"

Kris jumps as a cellular device is hurled into the couch cushion beside them. Their friend crashes down onto it with a defeated sigh,

"The buyer is not answering. Probably sleep or some shit by now, but the deal was supposed to happen tonight. What are we going to do with that thing in my house over night."

"Me neither." A voice chimes.

"I can take them!" Kris blurts out. The other two give them an offhanded glance. The first just blows out another breath of hot air.

"Fine whatever, take it. Use the van so nobody seems you hauling it around and we'll figure things out tomorrow. "

Kris loads the doll into the passenger seat and heads home. They take off their jacket and fit of over the doll to further avoid suspicion. They noticed the doll's head was slightly off centered - likely from the tumble during the escape. They carefully push it back into place.

"Sorry about that... What am I saying- Hm?"

As they turn its head, the see letters tucked under its shirt collar. "Y/n? That's your name? I think I remember that shop owner mentioning something like that.... Let's get you inside."

Kris knows they shouldn't be talking to a doll, but the habit sticks fast. They scoop you up once more and take you up to their house.

The first few hours are spent just examining you. The details are insane. Even small things like birthmarks and blemishes were included. It just added to the wonder of your build. You had full range of mobility with jointed fingers on top of that. Your eyes closed, hair as soft as cotton, and your clothes were fancier than any they'd seen outside of a fairytale or movie.

"You really are beautiful...."

Kris can't imagine a human prettier than you. They wonder what your voice would be like if you had one; what you personality would you have. They wondered if you could've became friends.

"There's got to be something wrong with me..."

They turn off their lights and head to bed; watching you in their computer chair from the street lights that seep beneath their blinds.

Relief is one way to describe how Kris feelings the next morning, even with the gravity of the news they receive.

"Mother fucker's dead."

"What?"

"The buyer. His house caught fire the other night and he was trapped inside. Probably didn't have much longer to live either way.

"Oh...."

"Sorry about getting you caught in this mess. We'll figure out what we do with the doll. Maybe some other rich asshole wants it."

"O-okay. Let me know." Kris hangs up; remorse and excitement heavy on their conscious. The former washes away as they look over at you, still resting in the chair. You were slumped back, eyes had closed from the position. It looked like you were sleeping as well. How cute.

Kris sits you up straight. Your clothes looked more scuffed than they remembered. There was even a tear on your sleeve. They were thankful no harm came to your body or they'd really be in trouble. Sewing was a lesser evil, and they had some pointers from past experiences with relatives. Nothing the internet couldn't improve.

Taking care of you becomes a fun hobby for Kris. After learning to properly sew, they notice your hair becoming tangled. They buy a special brush for it, and comb it every night before bed. They also become more open about speaking with you. Telling you all about their day and scolding you when they put you in a place they forgot, alongside the occasional compliment.

Their friends blew up their phone the following week and even showed up to their house; receiving no response from any of these attempts. They eventually stopped. Kris saw reports of the missing doll and the reward its original owner offered, but they were simply ignored. As many had said, you were priceless afterall.

Returning home from a long day of work, Kris picks you up from the couch and carries you to the bedroom. They lay you down on your side of the bed and crawl beside you; not even bothering you take off their work clothes or shoes as they snuggle up against you. They've been sharing the bed with you since the second night they brought you home. The chair is bad for your posture.

"Ah, I had a long day today, Y/n, but I'm glad to be home with you." They cry into the pillows. They grab your hand and place it over their head, looking at you with lidded eyes. "So please hold me and make me feel better, okay?"

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere oc #yandere scenarios #yandere imagines #yandere x you #yandere insert #yandere headcanons #yandere drabble #yandere x y/n #tw yandere #yandere x darling #yandere writing #Yandere fic

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te-pu-si-ti · 7 months

Text

The Persephone Un-loop

Inspired by:

Sam Booth | Eric Jackson Bradley | Ali Goldsmith | Folu Odimayo | Carl Harrison

The man in the grey suit steps out into the town square, singing. "It's a lonesome old town, when you're not around. I'm lonely as I can be..."

He picks up a bouquet of narcissi from the flower cart. He carefully sets down the flowers one by one on the ground of the Trojan square, then he returns to his office and shuts the door.

Outside, a spotlight is moving slowly across the length of the square, from the office to the flower cart to the department store, finally settling on a well in the corner. You'd hardly notice it, if you didn't know it was there.

The spotlight lingers. The music begins to swell. Just then, a woman bursts out of the water. She looks around, her hair dripping, her eyes large and uncertain, examining her surroundings.

She climbs out and lays her bare feet on the bricks, leaving behind puddles. With inquisitive eyes, she picks up a daffodil, and another, and another, breadcrumbs leading her... somewhere.

She walks by a man dressed in rags who seems to recognise her, but she flinches away from him. She continues following the flowers, and they take her to the office door, underneath the blue light. She knocks.

The man in the suit opens the door and takes her in. "Welcome home, my love," the strange man says.

"Home?" She shakes her head. "I'm sorry, I don't remember..."

"The waters," he says coolly, "It's the waters. Give it time." He wraps her in a blanket and sits her down in a leather armchair.

She looks with consternation at the framed photo on the side table. It's... her. And him. He holds up his hand, showing her the ring on his finger, and pointing to the matching ring on hers.

"What's going on? What is this place?" She stands up, and looks at a painting on the wall, so dark, so terrible, and yet...

She shakes her head. "Where am I?"

"It will come back to you. It will all come back to you."

"The keys to the city," he says, nodding towards the rack of keys on the wall. "Don't rush yourself. You have all the time in the world."

She walks over, examining the keys, and the little wooden puzzle toy on the table. A labyrinth with a tiny metal ball inside. Seven keys, each hanging from their own hook, each on a keyring. A horse, a bull, a flower...

He's grabbing his coat. "Where are you going? Can't you stay?"

"I have to go," he says. "You have to find your own way." The only person she has in this strange city, and he's already leaving her alone.

He shuts the door, and she's alone with her thoughts and the sensory overload of waking up cold and wet in a strange world, with a strange man, who seems to know her even though she does not know him. But he is kind to her, and he shows her love, and somehow, she trusts him.

The more she thinks about this situation, the less it makes sense. The more she looks around this room, the smaller it feels, the more trapped she is. She spins around in the empty office, gasping for air, adrift. Blue lightning flashes outside the windows as the power surges, as if in tune with her. She would scream if she could, but there's not enough air.

Thunder rumbles. Discordant piano. Gasping, spinning, turning, choking, it's too much it's too much it's much too much --

She's exhausting herself. She goes to the desk, sits down, and counts backwards. Grounding. One thing at a time. One foot in front of the other.

She leaves the office, into the city, and finds a fashionable-looking shop. No one is working there, and she has no clothes of her own, so if nobody's looking then nobody can mind... She takes a red jumpsuit that fits her perfectly, and a pair of shoes, and a lovely fur coat. In the pocket, there is a torch...

In the alleys of the city, she finds a map pasted on the wall. Shaped like the wooden toy from the office, an intricate maze - no, a labyrinth. Labelled with strange names.

Hesperides? She sees the sign lit up above her head. She wanders into a beautiful flower shop, with roses and greenery dangling from the ceiling and every type of blossom you could imagine laid out in the corner. Once again, it's empty behind the counter.

So she searches for clues - What is this place? Where, and when? How does she fit in? Did she once belong here? She rifles through drawers, papers, a box full of... feathers? A portrait of a Grecian goddess? It's all so strange.

A man in a yellow velvet suit comes up to the counter. She freezes. Act natural. "Hello," she says, "...How can I help you?"

The man gazes around idly with large, round eyes. "I'd like a bouquet," he says softly.

"Sure!" she says. There's one right on the counter. "Here you go."

He chuckles and shakes his head. "I was hoping for maybe... that one, by the mirror?"

"Of course." She goes over and retrieves it. The flowers are beautiful, but they're all fake. Such a large shop, is there such a high demand for faux flowers?

She lays down the bouquet for him and he smiles. "Actually, could you add something extra for me? Something special. Your choice."

The charade is wearing thin. She doesn't actually know anything about flower arranging. What flower would suit? She looks around at the stems on the counter, and grabs the one that catches her eye. A fluffy pink peony, a splash of colour in the pale bouquet.

She unwraps the bouquet to add in the extra flower. But there's something else inside... a paper parcel falls to the counter as she's unwrapping. She sets it aside so her customer cannot see.

She wraps up the bouquet in some fresh tissue paper, with a green ribbon cut with an unnervingly large pair of scissors. "Here you go," she says, relieved that she has not been found out.

He examines the bouquet and sniffs the flowers. "Oh, uh," the woman says, "You do know they're fake, right?"

The man in the yellow suit, blue neon reflecting off his skin, smiles. He picks a business card up off the counter. "Yes," he says, "The finest." Hesperides: Finest Fake Flowers.

She laughs uneasily. "Right. Of course. Have a good day!"

The man pauses as he leaves. "Have a good night," he corrects.

She lets out a sigh after he walks out. How did she get into this mess? But something about the little paper parcel intrigues her, and she unwraps it. It's some kind of bureaucratic form, SPECIAL PERMIT. Inside, there's a little metal horse figurine. And on the paper, someone has scribbled an address: PEEP BAR, 3rd ~ C / 3rd Division / UW.

She takes her torch back into the alleys, reading the strange names on the posters and flyers and neon signs of the city. Philotas. Sikinnis. Terpsichore. Who are they? HIC HABITAT MINOTAURUS. What?

She emerges into a square, and she can hear pounding music from across the way, and she sees the sign for PEEP. There it is! And she wouldn't mind a drink to settle her nerves. So she goes in.

It's a wild and debauched place, this strange bar draped in velvet. Ghostly faces leer at her and cheer at the dancer on stage. It is a tall, thin creature in a black catsuit, beckoning one of the emcees on stage with a clawed finger. The emcee jumps up eagerly, and the dancer licks their lips, pulling their victim closer and then choking them and shoving them to the ground.

She finds a seat, and gasps at this dark entertainment that is driving the crowd wild. But there's something incredibly alluring about it.

The dancer leaves the stage to raucous applause and gives her a wink as they pass. She sips her drink and wonders if she should leave, when suddenly...

The door opens. The bar host drops their martini glass in surprise. "We have a visitor. A friend? A presence. A gift! A surprise guest has descended upon us!"

It's the man in the grey suit again. He gets on stage, and the bar hosts kiss him on each cheek. Unprompted, the band starts to play.

She decides to stay for a little while longer. Is he a performer too, like that slithering dancer dressed all in black? He doesn't seem the type at all.

"If the sun should lose its light,

and we lived in an endless night,

and there were nothing left that you could feel...

That's what it would be would be,

What my life would seem to me,

If I didn't have your love, to make it real."

He's singing to her. She doesn't know him, not really, but he knows her, and he's serenading her with this strange and beautiful song.

"If the stars were all unpinned,

and a cold and bitter wind swallowed up the world, without a trace,

That's where I would be! That's what my life would seem to me!

If I couldn't lift the veil... and see your face."

The lights swing around to light her face in red and blue. She feels herself blushing. All this for her? Why?

"To make it REAL! ...Real!" During the instrumental break, he fills the time with a cute little shuffling dance. He blows her a kiss - overcome by this whole sweet gesture, she catches it.

"If the sun should lose its light, and we lived in an endless night, and there was nothing left that you could feel...

If the sea were sand alone, and all the flowers made of stone, and no one that you hurt could ever heal! That's how broken I would be, that's what my life would seem to me... if I didn't have your love... to make... it... real..."

"Well. Shoot a speeding arrow through my tiny, tiny heart." The hosts of Peep pop up through a trap door behind him and usher him off the stage.

The man comes down and puts his arm around her shoulder. "That was wonderful," she says, brimming with sincerity. "Nobody's ever done that for me before."

A beat. "...I have," he replies. "Let's go."

He pulls her through the square with an odd sense of urgency. But she wants to see, she wants to know this city that he claims is her home - and why is this young man drawing a circle of chalk in the square?

But there are sirens blaring, it might not be safe, so she turns and heads towards the office. Another man, in a long leather coat, scared, desperate, is turning the corner just then and collides with her. He rushes away with hardly a chance for an apology. She scurries into the office, her makeshift home.

The man in the suit guides her to the desk. He offers her a pair of headphones, which she gratefully accepts. Anything to drown out those terrible sirens.

Take a deep breath and exhale for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

He hands her a papier mâché pomegranate from a wooden bowl, which she clutches as she closes her eyes and sinks to her knees.

Close your eyes and picture yourself in a meadow, on a beautiful May morning. The air is filled with the scent of wildflowers. All around you things are growing, blossoming, bursting with life. Feel the grass between your toes, the sunlight on your skin. Now, open your eyes and know that the sunlight is with you still. Even in the middle of the darkest night, it shines forth from within you, awakening life around you. As the world turns and season follows season, everything is unfolding exactly as it should. You have all the time in the world. All you need is here.

Slowly she opens her eyes and rises up from the floor. The pomegranate in her hand is real, fresh and juicy.

"Did I just...?"

The man claps his hands and has a broad smile on his face. "Yes, my love! You did!" He takes one side of the fruit, and together, they split the pomegranate in two.

"You're... you're my husband."

As she disappears into the cabinet, he smiles dreamily. "That's my wife," he says with affection.

Inside the cabinet, she moves backwards. Time rewinds, and she finds herself at a table, facing a pinboard of clues, speaking into a tape recorder.

"Meditation tape number... 572. Take a deep breath and exhale for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

"Don't panic. Every time you panic, you lose yourself."

Frustrated, she shakes her head. "No, that's not right. You can't just tell someone not to panic. That'll make you panic."

"Take a deep breath, and exhale for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The mind is a maze, isn't it? The mind is a dark, mysterious maze of winding streets that are only seldomly lit by knowledge, and experience, but ultimately, memory. Memory lights our way through this dark maze.

And every time I come back, it's as if the power has gone out. As if I'm drowning in a sea of darkness. It's as if I am dead.

But every once in a while a glimmer of light shines from around the corner. An object, or a song, or a face... Your face. That feeling guides me the most.

I hate that it has to be like this, but show me the light and I will come back to you every time, my love, like a moth to the flame.

I can feel the seasons changing, and I know that I will leave you soon. I hope this tape can be a beacon for you, the way you are for me. Know that I will come back. I always do. Always."

She's not sure where to go next. She wanders back to where she started: Alighieri's department store. As she passes, her husband looks down at her from a balcony - she waves shyly, but hurries on.

Her next clue is the special permit border pass and the tiny pewter horse. She sees a sign - BORDER CROSSING AHEAD, HAVE PAPERS READY. So she crosses over.

She rummages around the border crossing station, finds other border passes like her own - or, the one addressed for Judith Kore. The one she has claimed as her own.

She wanders into some sort of store room, cold and deserted, full of massive wooden crates. In the corner is one covered in horseshoes. This must be the place.

On the floor of the crate is a horse, splayed out, motionless. She sits beside it for a while, looking for signs of life. Instead, she sees a coin resting on its head.

Harsh torchlight shines into the crate.

"You. Out. Papers?"

She slips the coin into her pocket as she marches out, not wanting to cause any trouble. She hands over the only papers she has.

He looks them over with suspicion. "You shouldn't be here. It's not safe. Go, now." The Watchman waves her away.

She heads back to the city - to Troy, judging by the poster plastered over a wall, reading TROY WELCOMES YOU. Troy doesn't feel that welcoming... it's dingy, a bit rough, with all the graffiti on the walls and the yellowing papers wheatpasted one over another. And in the corner of the square is a man, huddled up in his rags: by all appearances, a beggar.

But he looks... familiar. Yes! He was the first face she saw in this place! He takes her hand, spins her round, and... snatches the silver coin from out of her pocket.

"Hey!" She runs after him, chasing him to the doorway of a hotel - The Elysium. He holds out his two fists and nods for her to pick one. When she does, he opens his hand to reveal a key. Another link in this strange chain of events.

Then he stands stock-still, and points her into the hotel. "Rrrrrrring, rrrrriiing," imitating the sound of a telephone. She steps inside the cramped hotel reception area, and picks up the receiver.

She listens for a moment to the voice on the other side.

"Hello? ....I don't know. I can't remember."

"OK, fine. There was this big party, a chandeliers and caviar kind of thing. I felt... out of place. So I got a drink. A martini, I think. And there was this beautiful woman, covered in sequins, and she walks up to me and asks to read my palm."

"She traced her finger along the heart line, and said I was a hard girl to pin down. That I'd find love later down the line."

"Then she reads my head line, and she said I was... I dunno... Forgetful or something."

"And then she read my life line, and that's when things really got weird. She looked at me with her big smiling face, and she said, well the funny thing is, according to this, you're already..."

The line goes dead.

She goes back to her husband's office. He's not around, so she has a chance to search out clues.

She lays her border pass out on the table, and notices some stationery on the desk. His cards and letterheads all say HH, 9th C, 1st D, UW.

H, H? U, W?

She rifles through his papers, finding magazines, punchcards, music scores... Nothing helps.

She looks back to that haunting painting on the wall. Those lost souls, falling into darkness. 9th C, UW... 9th circle...?

The address on her pass matches. "Welcome home, he said... I am Judith Kore?"

Her husband walks in, and she hastily puts away what she's been searching through.

Judith scoots to the edge of the room and changes the music that's playing. She puts her arms around her husband's neck and sways gently. A solitary piano grows into a sultry tango.

And they dance.

Slowly, closely, until they find each other's rhythm. Then it grows. They are a whirlwind together, this tiny office cannot hold them.

They burst out of the door, and the city opens up before them. And though she's never done this before - or maybe she has - she feels like she's always known these steps. It's effortless.

She runs, she jumps, he catches her, they really must have been something, mustn't they? Back before she lost herself. They're so in tune.

Almost in tune. He's under her spell, so she can lead him back in the office, and he's so blinded by her that he doesn't notice her hand slip into the key case. Judith holds the bull key behind her back as he picks up a flower and presents it to her, like a shy little schoolboy.

She accepts it and smiles warmly.

"It's beautiful," she says with sincerity.

"It's fake..."

"I know." She gives him a kiss on the cheek, and turns to leave.

"Come back to me..." he says weakly.

"Sure, I will." She'll find her way back eventually.

But first... find the bull. She hears pounding music up above - something big is happening. She climbs up the stairs into the hotel, down the long, dim hallway, into a terrible scene.

She can see it through a large window, glowing red. A gruesome gang are holding a man down, looking up hungrily at a tall, thin woman in a fur coat. The woman bends down, screams, and claws at the poor man's face. She triumphantly holds up two bloodied eyeballs.

"Shit." Judith backs away, aghast at the horror. But there's the bull, or rather, a golden idol, a man with the head of a bull, with compartments in its chest. She unlocks one to find a tiny plant, inside a glass dome. Small enough to fit into her pocket. It must be another clue.

The blinded man gets dragged into the room by a stone-faced woman. He crawls along the ground, pitiful, sobbing, alone. Crying for help.

"Come here," she beckons. "I can help you. Follow the sound of my voice."

There is a bowl of water and a cloth already there, as if waiting for him. The bloodied weeping man scoots over to her and she wipes his eyes, his injuries seemed so serious but all it takes is a few passes of the rag, and he is restored.

She wanders the halls of the hotel, and there is a strange feeling around her, as if the entire city is moving at once. As if something is dawning.

The next door she opens takes her into a room with a greenhouse inside. I thought we were in a hotel? But anyway, a greenhouse is where plants belong, so she must be on the right track. She retrieves the little plant from her pocket.

As she pokes around in the greenhouse - a strange greenhouse, where there are no plants, only barren trays of soil! - the man in the yellow suit arrives.

"Oh, hello again!" It's good to see a familiar face.

But he cocks his head. "Again?"

He's probably trying to save her the embarassment of their prior encounter...

"Is this your greenhouse? Maybe you can help." She show him her little plant. He smiles, goes to the back of the greenhouse, unlocks a safe. A safe? What does he need to lock away...?

It's another plant. Bigger, stronger, but still a seedling, and clearly precious to him. He hands it to her with reverence, and moves out of the way, as if he knows what's about to happen.

Because when she takes the plant - when she runs her fingers through its soil - she feels a connection that she has never known in her life. Or maybe, has never known since she forgot everything about her life.

Judith feels the earth between her fingers and she knows what she was made for. This is the root of her power, here in the soil. She finds herself, in the roots and the stem and the leaves.

Energy travels through her, electrifying her from toes to spine, and she bends back, taking it in, absorbing it, letting it return to her. It's terrifying and thrilling and yet it feels right. It's overwhelming, but she knows she can handle it - it's part of her. It was just waiting to awaken.

The florist looks on in awe. "Your majesty, welcome home." He bows deeply.

Your... majesty...?

He presses a baggie into her hand. "New life for Troy," he says softly. The bag is full of tiny seeds.

She thanks him, promises she'll keep them safe, and continues on her journey. Somehow, this raised more questions than it answered. But she feels she's on the right path.

She sees the man in the ragged coat, who helped her once - maybe he will guide her again. He takes her by the hand and spins her around, then holds her against the wall. With a piece of chalk, he traces her outline. Draws a pomegranate in her hand, and a crown on her head.

After this, he leads her over to a chair, and pours her a cup of tea. Sure, tea would be nice. The radio is playing; a chipper announcer is speaking.

"Hey! Thanks for tuning in. We're asking for your best party stories, we'd love to hear yours!"

"Hello? ...I dunno... I can't remember..."

Wait.

"There was this beautiful woman, covered in sequins, and she walks up to me and asks to read my palm."

The potter stretches his hand out, asking for hers.

"She said I was... forgetful, or something..."

Judith smiles, rolls her eyes, OK, very funny. Great prank.

But the man continues, tracing his finger over her palm, and she continues hearing her own voice over the radio, "And that's when it got really weird."

"The funny thing is..."

Judith cuts in. "The funny thing is, according to this, you're already dead."

The beggar holds up a candle and looks around. As he brings the light higher, ghostly figures appear out of the darkness. One by one, their pallid, motionless faces emerge from the mist. Judith staggers back.

"It's OK," the man says softly. "They don't do anything. They just watch."

She steps forward and brings a hand up to one, gently touching its face. Have they been here all along?

She takes a step, they take a step. She walks away, but they follow her. She turns a tight corner and ducks into the back entrance of a bar. Still, they pour in after her.

She tucks herself into a corner, finding a stool, and beckons the barman for a drink.

"There's so many of them..." Ghosts fill the bar, cramming themselves in, their eyes fixed on her. "There's so many of them."

"Just the right amount, I think," the barman says, oblivious, admiring his array of bottles on the wall. He pours her a drink.

Judith examines their faces, looking back at her attentively. "Maybe they're just lost," she muses. "Wandering in the darkness."

"We're all a little lost," the bartender says agreeably.

"Cheers to that. The funny thing about darkness, you know... You need the darkness to see the light. From darkness comes light, from night comes morning, from winter comes spring, from death comes rebirth... hopefully." She downs another shot of sake. Zagreus takes the empty cup and spins it on the counter.

"Over and over and over again. Circles and cycles and circles and cycles... they keep going, on and on... but do they ever break?"

The barman shrugs. "Everything breaks eventually." The spinning cup comes to a stop.

"Hey, I remember you!"

He looks back blankly.

"I recognise you, I do. We crashed into each other, remember?"

The bartender looks puzzled. "We've only just met. I've never seen you before."

"C'mon, you must remember... Nevermind. Thanks for the drink."

Judith rushes off, out into the square - outside the entrance to Peep. Familiar music is playing.

"Hey, they just played that song an hour ago! Is it just me, or is everything repeating? Going in circles, round and round?"

"I can see you... and you can see me, right?" The shade nearest to her nods.

"Right, so if this is all happening again, that means he'll be there, in there, and he'll know what to do! He can explain everything! Let's go!"

She rushes into Peep, and sure enough, Kampe is dancing on the stage again.

"Give it up for Kampe! They really glisten when they move, don't they? That reminds me..."

The emcee drops their martini glass. Judith catches it, a smug smile on her face. She nods, assuredly, "And now he'll come in... He'll come in... Where is he...?"

"...We have a visitor. A friend? A presence. A gift!"

The Peep hosts look down at her. They hold their hands out to her and hoist her on stage. They each give her a kiss on the cheek.

"No, this isn't right... It's not supposed to be me..."

The band begins to play.

"I... guess I do know this one. I think I remember the words. I can try, anyway."

"Something about... if the sun should lose its light? And we're in endless night? And a veil lifting up to see a face?"

"And if the sea were sand alone, and the flowers made of stone... Flowers made of stone? And no one that you hurt could ever heal?"

Everyone forgetting. All the flowers fake. All the water dried up. Morning never comes.

"That's... That's what this is. That's where we are. That's what this is!"

The hosts pop up from the trap door. Just like before. "...they're behind me, aren't they? I'm sorry, I have to go..."

"Well, shoot a speeding arrow through my tiny, tiny heart..." But she's already rushing off, back home, back to Hades House, the office where she hopes she will find him.

And she narrowly avoids running into the barman, because she knows he will be passing through at that moment. She swings open the door, where her husband is preparing a game of checkers for them.

A game? When outside, people are risking their lives? In a war that may be artificial, but is so very real to them. She saw the fear on the barman's face.

So they sit down, Judith and her husband, inside Hades House, and prepare to play a game.

"You see them now, don't you?" he says.

She nods.

It's a simple game, checkers, draughts, whatever you like to call it. One move after another, wait for your opponent to give you an opening. Faster and faster they trade moves, until Judith is sick of it all - she throws her keys down on the board. Look what I've accomplished, no thanks to you.

War is screaming outside. She screams with it.

He shrivels, he falls to the floor. She rips open the curtains, forcing him to see the blood that has been split.

What is this horrific place? And how do we figure into it, you and I? We are both a part of it, and not a part of it. They all forget. They all can never heal. You and I persist. What is this?

It's a shock to his system - perhaps he didn't expect her to work it out so quickly. He's frozen, stiff, curling up into a little ball, such a tall proud man now vulnerable. She softens, goes to him, picks him up. She reminds him of their bond, tangoes him to the desk, and finds...

Their pomegranate.

The one that she created. The one she gave life to.

She stands tall over him, pushes him down onto the desk. She takes the juicy fruit and squeezes, drips it down into his mouth and onto his face, the ruby seeds sparkling in the light, feeds him this product of her power until he believes again, until he begs for mercy.

Her demands are simple: "Show me."

"I'll show you," he replies, "I'll show you everything."

They pass through the rubble of the invaded city. A princess laid out, shroud over her head. A Watchman, picking up the pieces. Judith's husband hands her a lantern, and she lights her way.

A domestic worker freezes, caught in the light. Everyone here prefers darkness.

One of the arcade cabinets is full of black sand, with tiny figures inside - figures of her and her husband.

Hades hands her the final key. He points to the stage door.

She chooses a few shades to be her companions. Ones that have been with her on this journey all along, ones that have been paying attention. Ones who will see it through until the end.

They go up the steps, together. They look out onto the city, together.

Judith goes out onto the balcony.

"Is our city not fair and vast? It shines for you, all for you, dear Judith."

"Fair and vast is your city." "Yours, Judith. Yours forever. Here, multitudes reside. They'll be your companions forevermore."

"Fair and vast is your city..."

"Here is a handmaiden, loyal to us both." A young woman in red, barely more than a girl, looks up. "Here, a vial to catch tears of sorrow, tears of joy, dropped from the eyes of time's fleeting shadows."

"The streets of your city are marked with blood. Blood runs down the walls, blood stains the paving stones. The clouds above throw bloody shadows. Who has bled for the sake of your city?"

"See, but ask me nothing. Look, but ask no questions."

"I only remember one thing: I came here because I love you. But I will not have a single door held shut against me."

"Take care Judith, you're ahead of yourself. Why hurry? We have all the time in the world."

"Not a single door held shut against me. I demand it."

"I will show you everything. All in good time."

"All in good time… In a world where time seems to stand still..."

She turns to look behind her. "I was lost when I arrived, just like you. Lost in the labyrinth of these streets. But hedged by gloom, a garden. Our garden. Filled with lifeless flowers. A fallen horse gave me solace and made me rich. Rich with abundance, rich in brain and body. I am the sunlight. So many of you, wandering in the darkness. In a world filled with cruelty, torture and war, I heard your city sighing. I heard your kingdom crying."

"...city sighing, I heard your kingdom crying."

City sighing, your kingdom crying. City sighing, your kingdom crying.

There is a crack in the record. It begins to skip. She wasn't speaking, it was only a recording.

Now... The recording is over. She walks her own path.

There is a display case in this room. It holds a record player needle.

She opens a door and finds an ancient Greek pot in another display case. On one side, a scene of violence she has seen play out in this city. On the other side, a key.

Another dark room, another case of pottery. But there is much more ground that needs to be covered, and not much time.

"Run!" she calls to her ghostly followers. Down the halls, through the strange museum, until she finds a locked door, and a daffodil laid in front of it.

This must be the place.

The last door. The last key. She steps inside, and feels sand under her feet. She walks slowly, the lantern lighting her way. She picks up a stick of chalk.

Nothing but darkness ahead.

"It's the strangest feeling... I can feel it all coming back."

A straight path. One foot in front of the other. Don't panic.

"If the sun should lose its light, and we lived in an endless night..."

She begins to draw on the wall of the long corridor, organising her thoughts.

"and there was nothing left that you could feel... If the sea were sand alone" -- she draws the waves on the wall. Not a drop of water in this place, only sand. "And all the flowers made of stone..."

"And no one that you hurt could ever heal..." She draws an infinity symbol on the wall, tracing it over and over until something breaks in her.

MEM

BER

"I remember..."

She walks on, past more walls with more chalk scribblings, and more, and more, flowers and waves and infinities and labyrinths and I REMEMBER over and over and over and over and over, layered one over top of another.

Proof of the years gone by, proof of the seasonal cycle, proof that she always, always comes back, and she always remembers, and she's always been capable, and she's always been able to find herself again. The power was within her all along.

"My name is Judith Kore, better known as Persephone," she says, to herself and to her lost souls. "Queen of the Underworld. Child of Earth and Starry Skies. My people are heavenly, and yours are too. I grant you safe passage into the land of the shades."

She emerges, with her shades, through a curtain into a sharp dagger of light in the middle of No Man's Land, Mycenae. Iphigenia-turned-Hecate delivers to her the last tears of Patroclus before she murders him. Agamemnon ascends the stairs triumphantly to his doom. Persephone sees it all laid out before her in perfect order, ticking along exactly as it should, as it always has since time immemorial.

She heads back towards Troy - She must find her husband, Hades, and take her place on the throne alongside him. He tried to hide this from her because she had to find it herself. Would she really have believed him if he had told her from the start?

On her way to the border, she crosses paths with the Watchman. He has a talent for making things grow - he holds the last vestiges of new life in this country - she knows this. So she entrusts him with the seeds that Askalaphos gave her.

Something is brewing when she arrives in Troy Square - Hades is setting up a new cycle to begin. Or end. What's the difference, really?

They embrace. He knows that she knows. He points her to the office. One last secret?

She trusts him.

Persephone enters, puts the headphones on, and hears her own voice. She has been guiding herself all along.

"Get up," the voice tells her. "Stand up." More insistently: "Up. Higher. Higher..."

So she climbs up onto the desk.

"Now. Take a deep breath. And look around. This is where you need to be. Where you belong. There is power within you, feel it awakening deep inside you. Growing, flowing, and blossoming in spectacular profusion. You are the sunlight. This world is beautiful. This city is yours. From the highest heights, down to the darkest depths. Yours. All yours."

"When you are ready to go deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper..."

The darkest depths...

A floorboard is loose. She bends down and lifts it up, revealing a cellar, with dozens of vials of tears, exactly like the one she has around her neck.

"The history of the world in teardrops, Judith. Tears of sorrow, tears of joy... Mortal emotions, immortalised. Preserved. For us. Forever."

They kiss, finally reunited, finally themselves. She hugs him close.

"Thank you for coming back to me," he says quietly.

"Always. Always."

She goes to the record player, and lifts the needle.

"I love you..." "I love you too. Are you ready?"

Hand in hand, they emerge from the office. There are a few final orders of business.

He presents Hecuba with her coat; she wipes off her blood-stained hands.

At the end of everything in Mycenae, she finds the last soldier standing, the whole remains of the Greek army. She wipes the sweat from his brow, and points his way to join the rest of the lost souls.

The last of the music starts to fade. She throws down the rag with the sound of a gong.

There they are, the fall of the damned, rolling down the grand staircase to greet her. They are naked, broken, identities fading away, becoming one mass of the Dead, her faceless nameless subjects. She continues upwards, head held high, exuding power. She knows herself now, she is a goddess of two sides: life, yes, plants, yes, but death too. She knows both sides of the cycle. She too has died and been reborn, every six months she resets back to the start, and comes back stronger for it.

So she ascends, to meet her husband Hades, ruler of this underworld, harshly lit on that long, cold stone table.

Hades & Persephone find their spot to watch the proceedings, the last gasp of this world as it dissolves into nothing. The souls race around, Clytemnestra reaches out, desperate for any connection, but she cannot reach them.

What a beautiful piece of theatre he has built for her. She looks out with him, and points, cueing the dust to fall.

They break open a new pomegranate, each bringing a seed to their mouth. They kiss, and the lights fade.

What a beautiful record. Rips your heart out every time.

With thanks to everyone who worked on this show to make it as magical as it was.

#the burnt city #the burnt city spoilers #punchdrunk #persephone #hades #immersive theatre #writeup #tbc oc

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