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#the rogues are out for a laugh they like playing with phantom and know hes a good kid at heart
flamingpudding · 10 months
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DPxDC Family Week June 24 (Day 7)
Prompts: Distant Relatives | Engrave
A/N: This is what I believe some would call straight up crack :D
AO3 Link: DPxDC Family Week Contributions
How do you tell your great great great great great (how many greats do you add when the child is the x-generation after about… how many years again? Danny had lost count) grand nephew that the ghost king, he just summoned, with an old family heirloom is his granduncle of many generations?
"Batman. Why does the pendant you gave me summon the fucking Ghost King?" Danny heard a familiar man in a trench coat say next to his nephew (he decided he needed to keep it simple there were too many greats to count)
The batman grunted glaring at the man, Danny blinked finally recognising the guy.
"Aren't you the guy who sold like a tenth of your soul to Ellie's spouse? I am sure I also heard Lucifer complaining that Mammon got more parts of your soul than he has." Danny mused as he looked down at them in his eldritch form. Noting how his nephew tensed as he got past that pathetic wall of protection.
Honestly all the protective engravings he had gifted his nephew and nieces through out generations were a hundred times better. How else would a place like Gotham survive on only Lady Gotham as spiritual protection from ghosts of the Ghost Zone and his former rogues that still liked to mess with his children, nephews and nieces? At least Jazz's branch of the family was safe from them this way. He had baby proofed the entire town or better every town a part of his branch family lived in.
"So, trading game, why did you summon me?" He would have liked to stay hidden, you know? The branch family had long forgotten their relation to the Ghost King and Danny had easily accepted that. His own child of chaos had not so much and preferred to play with the earth family branch but that's besides the point. They had used the pendant to summon him, with his own personal engraving. Did that mean they remembered or did his son let something slip to his cousin?
"Trading game." Someone snorted and for the first time since he got summoned Danny noticed the audience around him. His eldritch form did the equivalent to stunt blinking as he straightened up and took count of the children of his nephew. Baby Ghost, Baby Menace, Baby Stalker and Baby Stabby were there.
A gasp left his lips. A Baby Ghost was sick! In a puff of greenish smoke his eldritch form was dismissed and he changed to his favorite 20 years old Phantom form, rushing past his nephew and trading game.
"You poor baby! I didn't realize you were this sick! If I had known I would have done something way sooner!" He fretted as he inspected one of his nephew's babies, hovering around the boy poking and prodding the little guy, well little to him anyway.
"Who are you calling a baby?! Get your fucking hands of me!" Danny only hummed, patting the baby's head, only a little sad that he couldn't look at his face as Baby Ghost was wearing his favorite red explosive helmet and was on duty.
But on second thought seeing their cute little uniforms live was way better than when he had watched them through his ice mirrors. "Don't worry little Red Hood. You will be feeling a whole lot better soon. Your Uncle Danny will make sure of it."
"The fuck?" The sick baby probably looked at Danny like he had gone insane and the ghost king could only laugh. Good had it been long since he interacted with the earth branch family let alone humans. Maybe he should start accompanying his youngest to his visits to earth.
"Constantine! I thought the sigils were supposed to contain him!" He heard his nephew grunt and Danny grinned over his shoulder at them.
"My little nephew. I granted you way better engravings than this pathetic wall of protection." As if to prove a point he flew around the babies, stopping by the youngest and pulling his sword from him. There were gasps of shock as well as complaints and he couldn't help the laugh as little Baby Stabby tried to lunge at him but got held back by the eldest Baby Menace. He just held the sword towards his nephew and trading game as he held his palm against it and let his power flow. Soon the sigils he had placed on the sword as a homecoming present to the youngest baby, when he started living with his nephew, started to appear, glowing and shining.
"You… you engraved your sigils on things the bats own?!" Disbelieve clearly coloring the trench coats' voice as the man paled. His nephew appeared to be close to start brooding like he had seen him do a couple of times through the ice mirrors. Danny returned the sword, huffing amused how little Robin instantly inspected the sword again, the engravings no longer visible.
"Of course I did. I promised my sister a long time ago that I would always protect her children. Though the engravings were certainly hard to hide from one of your babies."
"Sister? Babies?" Baby Stalker aka Red Robin aka little Tim asked and Danny coed. This baby always reminded him of his best friend Tucker and he was glad to have a technology adept child in the family again.
"Yes your great great great uh…" he stopped thinking how many greats he needed to add and ended up sighing compromising with: "...your grandmother many generations ago."
"How many of our things did you engrave?" His nephew finally grunted out, trench coat guy definitely looking like he was having an aneurysm by now.
"Don't remember, decorations, jewelry, toys, weapons, I think I even engraved your belt buckle." The ghost king shrugged, he honestly didn't. Ellie liked to joke that he was way too protective of the earth branch with the amount of protective engravings and sigils he had put up for them without them even knowing. She was still a little cross with them when they started forgetting about their ghostly part of the family after Jazz died.
There was a distinctive frustrated sigh and for a second Danny did feel bad for his nephew. Maybe he should not have just simply spewed everything but he couldn't hold himself back when he saw the sick baby. He was protective of his family, sue him. At least he hadn't given any of his nephews potential mates a shovel talk yet, not like he had with Ellie's spouse anyway. Jazz had banned him from using Fright Knight's Soul Shredder on humans after he had mentally scared and traumatized her first boyfriend with it. Apparently the guy had been too weak to handle it and lay sick in bed for a while after his return from the nightmare realm.
That reminded him! Turning around he flew up to the sick baby again who flinched back from his touch. He ignored that and only made a calming thrilling noise, calling out to the baby's sick core.
"Get the fuck away-"
Poor baby must be suffering badly from uncontrolled anger and ghostly intermittent explosive disorder. No wonder he hadn't developed any of his powers yet. That Disorder tended to be violent, especially the ghostly kind. Carefully letting his power wash over the baby, Danny coaxed out the little underdeveloped core. Usually he would make sure to do these kinds of things for any of his children, nieces and nephews in a safe environment but this was an exception. It was a sick baby core that would receive long lasting damage if not treated.
Gasp resounded as the tiny core came out of the baby's chest, not wasting any time Danny refresh the ectoplasm in it and removed the corrupted one. He then sent the core back into the baby's chest patting him where it sunk back into the body.
"There you go! Should be all good now!" A second after he said it Danny blinked at all the weapons that were pointed at him. He flinched a little as Baby Menace let electricity spark near him.
"WAIT THAT IS THE GHOST KING YOU IDIOTS!" Trading game screamed, apparently finally waking up from whatever stupor he had been in.
"So? He did something to Todd. Who knows what that was." Danny cooed, he knew Baby Stabby cared, his own youngest was similar in that way, just more chaotic in his display of affection, which also earned him his title. Little Damian was also the most intune with ghostly etiquette next to Baby Ghost, considering the reason for the nickname Danny gave him.
"And he can destroy entire dimensions! Do you guys want to doom us all?!" Trench coat countered very much insistent that the babies pull back their weapons.
Danny in return only huffed in annoyance and rolled his eyes. Like he would destroy the home of the earth branch. That man was talking rather rudely to them and he was also stopping him from bonding with his nephews' babies. "Buzz of trading game. This is a family matter and if the babies want to bond then we will bond."
After a moment of consideration he added. "Also don't talk to them like that. They are royalty and I will not have you disrespect them."
With a wave of his hand a green portal opened below the man swallowing him. Being nice Danny decided to drop the man off in his own home. He was the one that taught his nephew how to use the pendant again after all. But he wanted to be left alone with his family. Before his nephew or the babies could panic he smiled brightly and said. "Don't worry I sent him home to his house of mysteries or whatever he calls it. So we can have some family time! Besides, my In-law wouldn't be happy if I harmed his contract even if his soul is a trading game among the demons…"
They all shared a look and seemed to take the ghost king's words for it. Especially as litte Jason finally got out of his shock, patting at his own chest and mentioning that he indeed did feel better. Saying that there was no Pit Madness in his mind anymore, huh so that's what the Disorder got called on earth.
They instantly questioned Danny of what he did to which their ghostly uncle only smiled at the once sick baby without answering. He would have Frostbite to take a second look soon though, just to be safe.
"You mentioned us to be royalty?" The gruff voice his nephew put on when on duty resounded and a warm smile spread across the ghost kings face to the wonder of the bat-clan present.
"I thought that information got passed down through all the generations like the summoning pendant." The ghost king tilted his head. "You do know your part of the Infinite Realms Royalty right?"
"We… are royalty? For real?" One of the babies slowly asked and Danny grinned at them.
"Of course you are. In fact, the little Baby Ghost here-" He flew up to Jason, the once sick baby and placed his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Is the fifth in line should neither my children, nore Ellie or her children want to take over the throne when I don't want it anymore and don't feel like bothering on waiting for someone to beat me in a succession battle."
"Red Hood is? Shouldn't it be like Batman or Robin?" Little Tim asked and Danny sadly shook his head.
"By earth standards, sure. Not by Ghost Zone standards though. They don't have a core, it would be different if they develop a core after death but right now? It's baby Hood here who is in line."
"So… to sum it up." The oldest baby started packing his weapons away and Danny felt just a little bit disappointed but the youngest had his sword out. So maybe a bit of bonding would still happen now that the earth branche knew about their relationship again.
"B is a descendant of your sister which makes him royalty and in turn all his children, blood and adopted equally? And Red Hood is even in line for the throne of another dimension because he has, what you call a core?"
"Yup." Danny popped the 'p', he was about to explain more considering his nephew had adopted quite the stoic look and the babies did appear to become slowly a little too overwhelmed. When a red portal opened and his own son decided to join the family reunion.
"Dad! What is taking you so long? Aunt Ellie is sending me to fetch you cause she thinks you're skipping your meeting with the observants again!"
"KLARION?!" Baby Stalker shouted and Danny blinked. Oh right, his own baby boy liked to bond with his cousin's babies. When was the last time his baby boy visited earth? Oh the babies were taking on fighting stances. How sweet of them! Even his nephew was tensing up and looked ready to fight.
"Baby Spook, are you here to bond with your cousin's again?" Sue him, he couldn't help the excitement. His little chaos was the most interested in playing with his earth branch family compared to everyone else in the ghost branch, including Ellie's children. They liked to mess with entire dimensions though and nearly caused at least three wars in the last ten years. They had also inherited Ellie's ire in regards to the earth branch forgetting their existence. That's why his youngest son had taken it upon himself to teach and bond with the little ones here.
"Bond?" Little Tim questioned while his son sighed.
"Beings of the Infinite Realms bond via fighting. How else are we going to teach babies how to protect themselves and become stronger?" The Lord of Chaos explained in exasperation like he was talking to a toddler. Considering their age differences he kind of was, Danny mused.
"Hold on, does that mean all the times you spent attacking was…?"
"Me bonding with you babies, yes. My siblings as well as older cousins aren't interested so of course that leaves me, the heir and superior cousin, to take care of our earth bound family."
"Even when you messed with the watchtower?"
Klarion arched an eyebrow at Batman. "Just because you are the oldest among the earthly doesn't mean you're any less of a toddler."
"Klarion." Danny warned, his cousins might be babies by ghost terms but that didn't mean he could act all arrogantly with them. Danny might have spoiled the boy since he was his youngest child but he surely had raised him better than that.
"No bonding today, Dad, you do have a meeting scheduled." A sigh left his lips, he guessed it was time to return. The disappointment must have been written all over the ghost king's face as his son huffed in amusement. "Maybe next time, Dad. You can come alone… if you get away from the observants."
"Alright, alright." Agreeing, Danny flew over to the summoning cycle and picked up the pentant before floating to his nephew.
The boy took a step back from him but Danny just smiled and continued forward, placing the pendant around Batman's neck. "My calling card, little nephew. We don't exactly have phones in the Infinite Realms. So use that to call me any time, though now that you guys got reminded about your relation to me I will make sure to come visit more often and not just watch and protect you from the other side."
"See you later Amadillos"
"Bye Bye Baby Bats!"
With that he didn't leave his nephew and the babies time to respond as he opened a portal and he and his son returned to the Infinite Realms, where an angry Ellie was waiting for him. Oh boy…
Meanwhile the bat clan exchanged looks slowly digesting the information dump that had just happened. They had just wanted to have Constantine check on the engraving they had on a family heirloom that happened to be similar to one that was found on an ancient egyptian summon plate and had caused some rather dangerous events.
Who would have thought that the Ghost King himself would tell them that they were apparently related and royalty in another dimension?
"I am so going to rub it in Roy's face that I am Royalty." Red Hood broke the silence.
"I always knew I was of royal descent." Robin added holding himself even prouder than before.
"Am i the only one losing my shit here that B and Robin are apparently blood related to Klarion? Also… just a warning I am going to start digging into the Family tree now." Red Robin informed with a glint in his eyes hidden behind his mask. He was definitely not asking for permission to do so.
"The Ghost King kept calling us babies though." Nightwing sounded amused, watching at how his brothers were taking the news and wondered how the rest of the family would react.
While Batman on the other hand was brooding and appeared to be severely constipated, probably thinking of all the worst case scenarios and most likely trying to figure if he needed a contingency plan for their newly discovered interdimensional family or not.
John Constantine on the other hand awoke back in his home and let out a long and suffering groan with the new knowledge he gained. Apparently the ghost king's in-law had a contract with him and now he also couldn't even be rude to the bats anymore because they were royalty and he would be screwed and potentially risk his entire existence should the Ghost King take offense. He was fucked the next time he had to deal with the bat-clan again.
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wolfjackle-creates · 11 months
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Bring Me Home: Chapter 2 Part 4
Story Summary: Tim and Danny are both neglected by parents who care more about their work than their families. They deal with this by spending too much time online and find each other playing MMORPGs. They keep up their friendship as Tim becomes Robin and Danny becomes Phantom and don't bother keeping secrets from each other.
In this segment, Sam and Tucker join the chaos!
First, Previous
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As they walked to the burger joint, Danny would point out areas of damage and talk about the fight that caused it. Tim kept track of every comment and was already trying to think of methods to minimize it in the future.
His friends were eating the stories up. Bart especially had way too much fun asking about Danny’s crazy rogues. Skulker was his current favorite. “He wants your pelt?”
“I know, right? He’s so extra.” Then Danny pointed up ahead. “We’re almost there. You can see the building from here. And those two people are my friends.” Danny waved a hand in the air and two teens, one dressed all in black and the other in yellow, waved back.
Danny sped up and soon it was Tim’s turn to give introductions. “Hi! You must be Sam and Tucker. I’ve heard so much about you guys from Danny. These are my friends, Conner, Bart, and Cassie.”
Sam shook his hand. “From Gotham, right? I love the vibes there. What I wouldn’t do for a single good gargoyle in Amity.”
Tim laughed. “I think that’s the first time anyone’s ever said that to me. Most people try and say they’re sorry for me growing up there. As if Gotham isn’t my home.”
Tucker elbowed her. “That’s our resident goth for you. I’m the tech guy. I’d go just for a chance to check out Wayne Enterprises. The stuff they produce”—he held his hands to his chest—“I’d be in heaven.”
Conner grinned. “Well I’m sure Tim could pull a few strings to get you a tour, what with being Bruce Wayne’s foster kid and all.”
“Kon!” hissed Tim even as Tucker’s eyes lit up.
“Bruce Wayne is your foster dad? You must always get the newest tech. Can I see your phone? At least check out the specs? What I’ve heard of it is to die for! Wait, Danny, is that the phone you were working on? Is she as beautiful as they say?”
Danny groaned and rushed to slap a hand over Tucker’s mouth. “Licking my hand isn’t gonna work, Tuck! Quit gushing at my friend. Tim is interested in an ectobattery, so we’ll stop by your place before returning to my home to grab some for everyone. Then you can at least see the hardware. But you won’t be looking at the software. Capiche?”
Tim glared at Conner as Danny let go of Tucker’s mouth.
“Fine.” Tucker pouted even as he aquiesed.
Sam rolled her eyes. “Quit your fanboying, Tucker. It’s embarrassing.” Then she greeted everyone else. To Conner, she said, “Cool look. Are you actually punk or just taking the aesthetic?”
Conner’s eyes were wide and he looked over to Tim who just shrugged at him. “I— um, I don’t know. What does it mean to be actually punk?”
Sam grinned and opened her mouth, but before she could start talking, Tucker interrupted. “Let’s go in and order. I want my meat and you can continue this conversation inside.”
“Boys!" Sam threw her hands up in the air. "If you ate something besides meat, you’d have more stamina to keep up!”
Tim bit his lip to hold back a laugh. They really were just like Danny said.
Danny groaned. “Sam! Tuck! It’s fine. Lets go in and place our orders. Then you can lecture Conner all about counterculturalism and punk values.”
Conner looked between them all. “Wait, why am I getting a lecture?”
Tucker shook his head. “Dude, you’re the one who asked Sam about what makes someone punk. You’re not getting out of this one.”
Danny made a noise of agreement. “But don’t worry, Sam makes her lectures interesting at least. Enjoy being radicalized!”
Tim put his arm around Conner. “Let me know if you need to get out of it.”
As they made their way inside, Tucker moved so he was walking next to Cassie. “So, Cassie, right? Where are you from?” His voice was pitched low.
Wow, so Tucker really was as bad at flirting as Danny always said.
Cassie realized something was up, and her tone was wary as she answered, “Um, Gateway City. You ever been?”
Tim looked over his shoulder and raised and eyebrow at her, silently asking if she wanted him to intervene. She shook her head slightly and twitched a finger towards Bart who was on her other side.
“Hey!” called an unfamiliar voice. “Watch it, Fentina!”
Tim turned forward just in time to catch Danny who’d been shoved backwards by a boy as big as Conner.
“Really?” asked Danny. He squeezed Tim’s hand as he got his balance back. “What was that for?”
Tim took a step forward and made a show of sizing the boy up. “You must be Dash. Danny’s told me a lot about you.”
Dash sneered at him. “And who are you? Some other nerd?”
Conner stood taller at his side and he felt Cassie and Bart take up positions just behind him. Cassie was the one to snort and quip, “Nerd? What decade are you from? The eighties wants its insult back. Or was that a seventies thing?”
Tucker snickered. “Yeah, Dash. Nerds rule the world right now.”
“Well you don’t rule high school,” said Dash, crossing his arms.
An equally large Asian boy took position next to him. “Yeah, we’re in charge for now. So move it.”
Danny bristled next to him. “I wasn’t even in your way!”
Tim cleared his throat. “Dash Baxter, right? Oldest child of Zachary and Alice Baxter. Dog named Poo—” Danny slammed a hand over Tim’s mouth and he glared at his friend.
“Oh my god, Secrets! What have you done? I swear to god, if you keep going…”
Behind them, he heard Bart laugh and say, “And that’s Bingo for me!”
“Well, damn,” replied Conner. “And I was so close.” If he wasn’t so pissed off at Dash, he would’ve rolled his eyes at their antics. He was so not at risk of going evil.
Dash was staring at all of them, mouth open. “Who are you?”
So Tim spoke into the hand over his mouth as he glared back at Danny. “He deserves it.”
“Nope, don’t care.” To Dash, Danny said, “This is a friend of mine. He and his friends are visiting from out of town.”
But of course things couldn’t just be left at that. Tucker spoke up to add, “He’s Tim Drake. His foster dad is Bruce Wayne.”
Danny turned his glare on his friend. “Tucker,” he hissed.
“What?” the boy shot back. “It’s true!”
Dash snorted. “Right. I’m just supposed to believe you’re friends with a kid of the Bruce Wayne.”
“You don’t have to believe anything,” retorted Danny. “Just let us go order our food in peace. I’m just trying to have a fun evening with my friends.”
Dash glared at him again, but his eyes flicked to the rest of them, lingering especially long on Conner. “You’ll regret lying to us, losers. Come on, Kwan. I need a shower after touching the twink.”
Tim twisted out of Danny’s hand. “What the fuck did you just call him?”
But the two boys didn’t turn around as they stopped out of the restaurant and Danny gripped his bicep and Conner put a restraining arm around his shoulders.
“It’s fine, Tim,” said Danny. “You know they’re always like that.”
“Say the word, Polaris, and I’ll do it.”
But Danny just shook his head and started pulling him towards the counter. “Let’s just order our food and sit down so Sam can give Conner her lecture on what punk is.”
Tim clenched his teeth, but allowed himself to be pulled to the counter where they ordered an obscene amount of food thanks to the appetite of four metas. He insisted on using B’s card to pay for everyone.
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Next
This scene was a ton of fun to write. And Tim gets to meet Danny's bullies in person for the first time. He has several years of pent up frustration from the stories Danny shared.
Tag List Part 1
@gremlin-bot, @bonebrokebuddy, @britcision, @lady-time-lord-, @welcometosasakiworld, @akikkobara, @phoenixdemonqueen, @dolfay, @skulld3mort-1fan, @we-ezer, @markus209, @sjrose1216, @onyxlightdragon, @dragonsrequiem, @jesus-camp-the-sequel, @spidey29phangirl, @kyrianclawraith, @evilminji, @introvert-even-on-the-internet, @emergentpanda-blog, @lexdamo, @v-inari, @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit, @longlivethefallen, @undead-essence, @xye-chan, @liandrin, @seraphinedemort, @kisatamao, @schalensitzbucket, @caelestisdreamer, @runfromthemedic, @nutcase8691, @channajen, @tonicmii, @ambiguouslyominous, @vythika96, @addie-lover-of-stories, @ironicvixen, @violetfox2, @pickleking8, @mysticalcomputerdetective, @ark12, @mygood-bitch99, @squirrel-wolf, @satisfactionbroughtmeback, @sometimesthingsfallapart, @automaticsoulharmony, @d4ydr34min9, @revnantdpxdclover, @midigeria, @raginblastocyst, @feral-bunny31, @lunaria618, @ghostreblogging, @ace-aro-as-shit, @job-ross-the-second
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phantom-dc · 1 year
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A deal with the Ghost King
First previous next AO3
Duke wasn't sure what was going on. He was about to head back home when he got an message from Dick, calling him to the theathre district. It didn't sound serious, but when Duke found almost the entire family on the roof he grew concerned. 'Hey guys, I'm here. What's going on?' Damian scoffed. 'Dick is being foolish. This is a complete waste of time.' 'Says the one that's been hogging the binoculers, gimme those!' Tim grabbed for the binoculers, making Damian fight for them. Duke was a bit confused. 'Do you guys want to tell me what's going on, or can I head home? Some of us sleep at night, you know.' Cass appeared behind him, startling him: 'Jason's dating.' 'Wait, really? Who?' Duke joined Dick and Stephanie by the roof's edge, hoping to catch a glimpse. He might not talk much with Jason, but he was still curious who would try and date Mr. Dufflebag. Some type of femme fatale maybe? Or maybe someone who was strong? He couldn't imagine someone waltzing up and just asking Jason out. He was very suprised when Jason left the theatre with some twinkish guy.
'So, what did you think? The main actrice really put her everything into her peformance!' Jason had taken Phantom to the theatre after lunch to see a play. 'I loved it! I never liked the book, but this was much better!' Danny had a good time, he had been pleasantly suprised. Jason was suprised. 'Wait, you don't like the book? You could've told me, so we could have gone to a different one.' Danny waved him off. 'It's fine, I didn't want to be rude. Last time I dragged you al across the Astronomy museum, remember? You didn't whine either. Besides, I liked it! Guess reading the book for a grade wasn't helping me enjoy it.' Jadon groaned. 'Reading for a grade. Nothing kills love for books faster!' Danny laughed, admitting one of his rogues was more likely to blame. 'Remind me to tell you about Ghostwriter, now THAT kills love for books!' Jason smiled, and kissed Danny. Suddenly he noticed something above them. It almost looked like... 'Is something wrong?' Danny noticed Jason grew alert. 'Nah, It's nothing. I just noticed the sun had gone down. I... wanted to watch the sunset with you.' Danny smiled at Jason. 'Just like in the play, huh? Never thought the Red Hood was such a romantic!' Jsson grew a bit embarrassed. 'I have an idea!' Danny grabs Jason's hand and pulls him into an alley.
Dick was confused. How could they have lost them! This alley was a dead end, and the whole family (minus Bruce) was here! Damian was pouting. 'If I had been in charge of this operation we wouldn't have lost them!' Duke didn't know how Jason had done this. One second they were here, and gone the next. Even his vision couln't expkain it. Tim, Cass and Stephanie were searching for secret escape routes. It wasn't like they had flown away!
Meanwhile, high above them Danny and Jason flew invisibly, enjoying their own second sunset.
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redrobin-detective · 3 years
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It would be interesting if Danny was just, blissfully unaware of how powerful he was and how he absolutely terrified most of the ghosts he interacted with. Danny’s looking at himself, a fairly young teenager and an even younger ghost whereas some of his enemies have been around for decades if not centuries. He gains his confidence, knows his rogues gallery, knows he can usually come out on top. But he’d always consider himself the underdog.
After awhile, new ghosts just stop coming through the portal to ravage Amity Park. “Hmm the whole ‘terror and pillage must be getting old by now,” Danny muses not realizing most of the more sane ghosts are staying the hell away from Phantom and his chosen haunt. 
Ghosts approach tentatively, reverently, seeking alliances and servitude because it’s much better to be on good terms with such a powerful figure. Danny just grins and welcomes his new spectral friends and completely misses their blatant relief at his generosity. 
His regular rogues, who have known for a while that Phantom is terrifyingly powerful but they also remember when he couldn’t shoot and ectoblast so the effect is lessened somewhat, as always coming up with new ways to mess with him. And Danny rises to every challenge and sends them packing, the ghosts bitterly fix themselves up lamenting on how such a little shrimp could hold so much power. Which of course scares the (un)living daylights out of other ghosts.
One ghost gets lost in Amity and is confronted by Danny and promptly just starts squeaking and crying out of abject fear. Danny has to spend 10 minutes shushing the poor ghost before showing them the way home. He shakes his head, the real world can be scary for ghosts but he just can’t understand what frightens them so.
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asavt · 3 years
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I wanna share more of the squad™ (Madeleine-Espresso-Latte-Almond-Roguefort with the addition of Creampuff and Walnut too) headcanons because.
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-First of all, I gotta say that when I draw them I'll most likely start my music play with either "What's going on?" or "Life goes on" both from the P5 ost, idk, settles a good mood for them. (like right now, as I write this the latter is playing)
-As said before, none of Madeleine, Espresso nor Almond (nor the girls) know that Roguefort is Phantom Bleu, Madeleine and Espresso both see something suspicious about them, and Almond and Walnut, with who Roguefort spends the most time with, might or might not have seen a few similarities between the two, but the idea has never crossed their minds.
The only one that knows, as also said before, is Latte. Although she was a little wary of it at the beginning, is this what made her and Rogue good friends, she is the only one that knows (for now) after all. Roguefort is someone that can trusted it seems.
-As an addition to that, is not uncommon for Roguefort to come into Latte's atelier as Phantom bleu at night if they see she is still awake (is weird to happen, but sometimes it does). In those nights those two just talk, Latte asking about how the place where they all live in is like at night. And sometimes Roguefort might use their shapeshifting abilities to try and copy their friends and do bad impressions of them, both them and Latte laughing a lot afterwards.
-I do headcanon Walnut and Creampuff to be really good friends. For some reason the idea of Walnut asking Creampuff to be her crime-solving-partner when they grow up is cute to me...
-They all share a collective braincell, is Espresso, but it doesn't always works at it's fullest so they are all still idiots.
-Going back to Latte and Roguefort because their friendship is something I love. Latte once, early on when she had just found out about the secret, if they were keeping up an act to take advantage of the other. This Roguefort answered that ''that wouldn't be a fair game now, would it?''. Whatever Roguefort finds about the others that can be deemed as a weakness they don't use it against the others (useless is some kind of urgent scenario where they need one of the others to do something, but they try to avoid that at best). This is what proved to Latte that they can be trusted, as they also shapeshift into any of the others way less (especially espresso, they know they would be killed on sight if they do).
-More with Latte, from what it says in the game I think she helped Espresso in the development of coffee magic, so both have known each other for a long time. People often confuse them as siblings, truth is, they are not, they just act that way. Espresso may say that Latte is a bother, but he really appreciates his friendship with her, as well as he thinks of her as a great mage too.
-Espresso got to meet Creampuff in one of the meetings, before him and Madeleine started to date and before the group got to meet Roguefort. She seemed a little intimidated by him at the beginning, and Espresso had thought some of her movements at the moment to cast spells a bit clumsy, but he still saw some promising future in the young mage. Creampuff eventually started to stop begin intimidated by the coffee mage, she respects him greatly, and she warmed up a bit more after Madeleine was brought one afternoon when she was visiting Latte and Espresso and Madeleine came by.
-Madeleine tends to shower the young girls with gifts when he can (either small things like candy, something one or both of them might have said they wanted, or just take them to a shopping trip). Well, he tends to give gifts to every single one of the group if he has the chance (which is pretty often tbh). Each one of them must have at last ten gifts from him, if not more.
-The group was pretty surprised when once Almond brought with him not only Walnut, who wanted to meet with Creampuff in the atelier to then go walk around, but also Roguefort. It was a few weeks after a pretty bad night after work, the detective had been close to collapsing on the ground on his way home when Roguefort, who had been off work, saw him, approached and offered help, something the detective first rejected but had to accept as he almost tripped and fell face first. The thief was well aware of how tired Almond was half the time he saw him (it wasn't as much as they saw Walnut in the middle of a chase of crime scene, they mostly had seen him when they weren't dressing up in their cape and top hat), and they were also well aware of the danger it was to engage with the detective when in their normal self, but begin honest they were worried of Almond's well begin. The two of them started to see each other more after that small encounter, mostly because Roguefort decided to stop avoiding Almond when they were off work.
-Once, Almond arrived really really late at the meeting, Roguefort behind him saying "he got caught up in various cases today", and the detective looked absolutely exhausted. Just as he sat down his cellphone started to sound with an entering call. Roguefort frowned, Latte sighed, Espresso and Madeleine exchanged looks and just as Almond was about to answer Madeleine snatched his phone and answered the call with "Hello, this is Sir Madeleine Cookie of house Madeleine, Detective Almond was requested to help both me and the renowned coffee mage Espresso Cookie with an issue we have at the borders of the city, so, may I ask for you to not call useless there's a problem as big as a dragon attacking the place, thank you and good evening" and hung. Latte and Roguefort were laughing hard, Espresso was chuckling and Almond was looking at Madeleine in complete disbelief.
"You did not just did that"
"I did, and hey, I got you a day off, enjoy it"
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unmotivatedwrit3r · 3 years
Text
Television and Pastries
damian wayne x reader x jon kent
poly college series - blurb 2
(A/N): I am currently hyperfocusing on the show Julie and the Phantoms and it's taken over my entire brain, so I haven't written much recently, so my posting has been slow but I have gotten so much support recently and I am so thankful for every like and reblog; they make me want to write that much more.
warnings: none? it's mostly fluff and making sure dami knows he's loved
wc: ~1300
~~
Jon unlocks the door with one hand, the other holding a large bag full of various breads and a box containing half a dozen cupcakes. He pushes the door open and immediately toes off his boots, pulls off his face mask and stuffs it in his coat pocket, and drops his keys into his bowl on the table by the door. Before continuing one, Jon takes a second to look in the small mirror beside the door and runs his fingers through his hair. It's a mess, windswept from his flight from Metropolis to Gotham after visiting his parents. He turns just in tine to see you walk out of the bedroom, socked feet making almost no noise as you cross the hallway towards him and give him a quick kiss.
“Hey, how are your parents doing? Or your mom, anyway, I know what your dad’s been up to.”
Jon chuckles. The other night, Superman was on every TV in the country, as he stopped a rogue government agent from setting off a nuclear missile that would have landed close to Metropolis. It was part of the reason Jon went home in the middle of the week instead of waiting for that coming Saturday.
“She’s good, and dad’s fine. It’s raining over there, by the way, which is really backwards because it’s not even windy here.”
You laugh —it’s a running joke that it’s always raining in Gotham— and your eyes widen as they find the bag he’s holding.
“Is that what I think it is?”
Jon hands you both the bag and the box, then pulls off his jacket and hangs it on his chair at the kitchen table. “Fresh cheese bread, bagels, chocolate croissants, and vanilla cupcakes, all from that bakery by my house you guys really like for some reason.” You quickly move to the kitchen and put both things on the counter before looking into the paper bag. Jon washes his hands at the sink beside you.
“Yes, oh my gosh, I’ve seriously been craving a chocolate croissant in the morning. And I could really use a cupcake after the long day of classes today, thank you.”
Jon’s moved to undressing now, stripping down to his boxers and throwing his dirty t-shirt and jeans into the washing machine as he heads to the master bedroom.
“Is Dami still working?” You quickly wash your hands and follow him, watching as he pulls a superman sleep shirt, clean boxers, and snowman pj pants from the bigger dresser to wear after he takes a shower. He makes a quick detour to drop his glasses on his end table before heading towards the bathroom.
“Yeah, his meeting is still going on. It’s already an hour later than it should have been and I’m honestly getting concerned that he’s either going to try to kill one of the board members through the screen or pass out because we both know he probably forgot to eat anything this morning, and he’s been working since before you left this afternoon.” You follow Jon as he drops his clean clothes on the vanity sink. He turns to face you.
“I know, you’re probably right. I wish there was something we could do.”
“You know he wouldn’t want us to even if we could, so I’ll just grab some pastries and set up the TV in the living room for mindless programming and we’ll wait for him.”Jon kisses your nose before turning on the shower.
“Works for me.”
When he gets out of the shower, the door to the second room is still closed, there’s a plate with two cupcakes and three bagels on the coffee table, and the TV is ready to play TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress,” a favorite mindless TV show of both you and Jon. Damian has watched it with you both before, despite the fact that he continues to tell you it’s a waste of time. Your response tends to be somewhere along the lines of "I’m aware, but it’s a fun waste of time," and despite his complaints, Damian will never change the channel. You’re pretty sure he actually doesn’t hate it.
You’re on the second episode when you hear the door to the guest room open and the door to what you assume is the master bedroom close. The plates on the coffee table are empty, save for a buttered bagel you’ve saved for Damian, and you get up to fill a cup of water for him, too. Jon follows you to quickly put away the rest of the pastries, placing the paper bag into a plastic one so the bread doesn’t get rock solid overnight before returning to the couch.
Damian walks into the living room a few minutes later, hair messy and curly in a way that you can tell he’s teased it out of it’s carefully gelled style by repeatedly running his fingers through it. He’s wearing a black undershirt and batman pj pants, and his eyes are tired as they scan the room, and therefore you and Jon. When he gets to the couch, Damian lands heavily next to Jon, who is nestled into your right side. Your left side is close to the armrest of the couch, though there was plenty more space to sit on Jon's right if you wanted to spread out. You didn’t.
As soon as he sits down, Damian collapses sideways, flopping down across both of your laps, his torso in Jon’s and his head in yours. You’re loath to move him, especially because he only does this when he’s exhausted and feeling vulnerable, but you know he hasn’t eaten and he needs to. His eyes flutter shut as you stroke his hair.
“Love, you’ve got to sit up and eat something.” Damian’s eyes stay closed. “Dami, I know you’re tired but we all know you haven’t eaten anything since breakfast if at all.” Jon’s hand moves up towards Damian’s hair, so you switch to stroking his cheek with the pads of your thumb.
“There's even a bagel buttered the way you like it. I’m not sure how I butter a bagel incorrectly, but they did it so you know it’ll be good.” Jon says, smiling softly. You can see the adoration all over his face, and unlike Damian often does, he makes no effort to hide it.
Damian cracks one eye open before sighing softly and attempting to sit upright. Jon’s hand on his back helps him up and you hand him his bagel silently. He takes it with a mumbled expression of thanks and turns his head towards the TV, but you can tell he’s not really watching.
A bride has just said yes to a dress you think looks absolutely hideous when Damian finishes his bagel. Jon hands him the glass of water and he drinks the whole thing in just a few gulps before laying back down across your laps.
You bring your hand back to his hair, watching as his eyes flutter shut. To you, it’s almost impossible to catch when Damian slips into sleep, but you continue running your hand through the black hair—it's getting wavier and wavier the more the hair gel loses its hold—even after Jon informs you that his heart rate has evened out. Jon turns the volume down on the TV and you lean your head against his shoulder, gaze still on the TV. You’re not really watching as much as you're just looking at the screen. Jon’s warmth beside you and Damian’s weight on your lap and the TV playing softly all contribute to a peaceful environment you wish you’d never have to leave.
You do, however, thank your foresight to set alarms on your phone that go off on certain days of the week, because you’re not sure the three of you are going to make it to the bed that night, and, as much as you’d like to live in a bubble, you've to go get up for classes tomorrow morning.
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acourtofsnakes · 3 years
Text
Cabur - Rogue, Chapter 6| The Mandalorian x Force Sensitive! Reader (f)
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Summary: A few weeks have passed and after landing on a small planet to collect a bounty, you and Mando decide to take a little trip to the market to stock up on some things. Nothing will come up here.. right?
Warnings: Angsty angsty annnnngst, (Sorry, I don’t mean to be so horrible to dear reader), Swearing (mild), brief mentions of death, touching on the same things as chapter 4 but not as heavy but I’ll still add the trigger warnings ♥︎ These chapters will get lighter, I promise,
Not beta read, I wanted to get this one out because I love it so apologies for any mistakes, I’ll be going in to edit a little later
Trigger warnings: Anxiety, horrible thoughts/insults, triggering comments maybe, thoughts of not being able to cope. 
Words: About 6210
AN: Okay, okay, so, I was listening to my Rogue playlist on Spotify (link coming soon) and a certain song came on that just fuelled this chapter. SO, I highly recommend listening to Leave A Light On by Tom Walker if you want the vibes for this chapter. Just… honestly, please do it (I may have had tears)
As always, credit to whoever owns the gif. I usually find them on Google or Pinterest, so message me if it’s yours ♥︎
Rogue Taglist:  @snipskixandbeskar   @weirdowithnobeardo @the-bottom-of-the-abyss
Rogue Masterlist | Introduction| 1: Solus| 2: Arir | 3: Tor | 4: Gaa'tayl | 5: Kyr’am | 6: Cabur |
Mando’a translation: Cabur - Protector or Guardian
A few weeks had passed since that night you saved the Mandalorian’s life, since he threw away the bounty puck to keep you safe. 
You’d stayed that night grounded, and then when Mando was able to get up in the morning, he flew you off of that dump of a planet. 
He didn’t ask anymore but how you had managed to save him. Whether he knew you were lying or not, he hadn’t pushed it, choosing instead to respect you. Kind of like how you respected him and his Creed. 
You’d fallen into a sort of routine around the Razor Crest, without either of you realising it. Mando would fly the ship, and you could be found seeing to Grogu and Duru, or tidying things up. Sometimes you would clean the weapons in the cabinet, making sure they stayed in pristine condition. 
Now and then, Mando would head out to get a bounty and when he got back, he would let you help patch him up. You never saw his bare skin, respected that. You would look away or close your eyes, pointing out the best things to use or how to administer them. The man was good at first aid, but his answer to everything was to shove the cauteriser on it. So, when you had been passing through some shops one day, you had stocked up on medical supplies, even found a shop selling the same herbs and plants that your mother had taught you about. 
You’d even been on a few of the hunts with him. 
Of course, you had argued first. When you’d asked him about it one day on the way out of Nevarro, Mando had simply said no. 
Which had immediately riled you. You were not a girl who liked that word. You despised that word. 
Which is how you’d spent the whole night and next two days bickering, over the question of your safety. When he lost that front, (“Seriously, Mando? I’m a fugitive. And after all, I’ve got a big, strong Mandalorian to protect me”) the Mandalorian had moved on to your lack of thinking before throwing yourself into the firefight.
He lost that one too. 
(“Says the man who stole back a child surrounded by Stormtroopers.”
“You’re not coming. End of.”
“Did you want me to bring your pulse rifle over?”
“Are you even listening to me?”
“You’re right. Pulse rifle and an extra blaster.”
“I hate you, you know that?”
“Sure you do, Lori. I’ll see you at the ramp.”)
That nickname had slipped out by accident, and he’d regarded you, for a long time. He’d gone still, and you almost swore you heard a hitch of breath through his helmet and then he just nodded and murmured softly, “See you down there.”
There had been a lot of little moments like that but they were so fleeting that you were almost convinced you’d imagined it. You were imagining a lot of things lately. 
Sometimes, when you were walking through forests or towns, you thought you spotted something lingering at the edges of your vision. 
A tall figure, cloaked in a hood that was embroidered in either silver or gold, depending on the light. 
You’d even asked Mando about it a few times, but he hadn’t seen anything so you simply put it down to a trick of the light or sleeplessness, nightmares still plaguing you now and then. 
Regardless of the nightmares and your vision playing tricks on you, you were doing… okay. You were warm, safe, had a comfy place to sleep. You had things to keep you busy, things that weren’t hunting for food or a good spot to hunker down in for the night. 
Duru was happy too, having become fast friends with Grogu and the two of them ran rings around you and the Mandalorian. Well, mainly Mando, which you found hilarious because he was such an exasperated dad with them both. 
It was a rare reprieve from your life, letting you slow down and… live. Rather than survive. 
~~
“I do not talk in my sleep.” 
“Yes, you do!! Sometimes, I think you’re awake but you’re just having a fully-fledged conversation with your blanket.” 
“Oh, shut up. I know I don’t talk in my sleep, tin can. You were probably just having dreams about me again.” You examined the fruit in front of you, then handed over a few credits to the kind vendor, slipping the fruit in your bag. 
The sound of fabric hitting the floor sounded from behind you, and you turned to see that the Mandalorian had dropped the bag you’d made him carry. “I do NOT have dreams about you!” He stooped to pick up the bag, then rose to see you standing with your hands on your hips, eyebrow raised and that damn smirk on your lips. 
“Mmhm, is that why you always have to pull something over your lap when I wake you up?”
He stared at you, and you had the very correct feeling that he was looking at you in mild shock, too caught out to come up with his usual cocky response. “I -you.. That’s completely..”
You burst out laughing, rolling your eyes at him and then dropping him a wink, “Come get me when you’ve thought of a response, Lori.” You turned and carried on walking through the market. 
The two of you had stopped off on a nearby trading planet, to gather supplies. Mando had recently secured a bounty with your help and it had paid well, giving you enough extra credits to stock up and treat yourselves. Grogu was already half-way through a packet of blue macarons, which would no doubt come back to bite you both later when he was pelting through the ship whilst you tried to catch him. And it would be your fault because you had taken one look at those big ears and eyes, determined not to break but when the little womp rat had cooed at you… Of course, he had gotten his own way. 
It felt good, to wander a market and not be scrounging for things under the cover of a hooded cloak. You still had one on, you couldn’t bear to part with this item, the most beautiful piece of clothing you had ever had. You just didn’t have the hood up disguising you. 
A gift, from Mando. 
The first time you went out with him after the puck was destroyed, Mandalorian had insisted you wear yours. However, it had been covered in his blood from his injury, and you couldn’t get it out, no matter how hard you had tried. It hadn’t bothered you that much, though you were.. not sad as such, but it felt a little strange because it had been one of your few possessions for so long. But, maybe it was a symbol. That things had changed, and that was in the past. 
A couple of days later, you had just walked into the cockpit when you noticed there was a package on your seat. When you picked it up, it was squishy, bound in a sort of thick papery material and tied with a length of string. 
You’d glanced at the Mandalorian, who was watching you, the picture of calm but his hands had been fiddling with something on his belt, a shockingly nervous gesture you weren’t used to. 
That simple, uncertain gesture had risen your pulse and you unwrapped the package, trying not to show how your hands were shaking at the first gift you’d received since being a child. 
A gift from the Mandalorian. 
Pulling away the paper had revealed a mass of fabric, a blue so deep it was almost the same colour as the night sky. You’d lifted it out and it had unfolded and revealed itself to be a new cloak. The material was soft, thick enough to keep out a biting chill. You’d made a noise of awe and surprise, but had immediately fallen in love with it, pulling it on. It fell to about the middle of your calves and secured at the base of your neck with a small silver clasp. 
The inside was lined with a thin layer of heat-reflective material, and when you’d run a hand over it, Mando had finally broken his silence, “I noticed you were always cold, even if you had layers on so I.. wanted to make sure you weren’t cold anymore..” 
You swore you could almost feel the heat creeping up his neck, and that softened you. He was nervous about giving you this cloak, like he didn’t know how you would take it. 
You had smiled at him, a soft smile that made your eyes glitter like the surrounding stars and placed a hand on his knee lightly, “Thank you, Lori. I adore it, I truly do.” Then you’d spent the next minutes admiring it, putting the hood up and realising it shielded your face in shadow. 
So, naturally, you had moved around the cockpit and upper level like a phantom, pretending to be a shadow in the night. 
You’d even earned yourself a laugh from the great wall of beskar that was fast becoming your friend.  It was only a soft chuckle, just picked up by the vocoder, but all the same, it had lit something within you. 
It still echoed in your ears now. 
A few moments later, the Mandalorian was back at your side, Grogu in his little bag and Duru walking next to him. “The point still stands. I thought I might finally get some silence at night, but you talk just as much.” His raspy voice had a softened edge, one of teasing and you might even have heard the hints of a smile playing at his lips. 
You turned to look at him over your shoulder, “You love it when I talk. I have to talk to you, otherwise I’d be worried you had turned to stone. You’re so quiet sometimes.” You stopped at a stall, admiring the fabrics here – not to buy, just to look at the different things in a place you had never seen before. 
The Mandalorian made a soft noise, “No, sweetheart, that’s just called quiet time. You might want to try it sometime.”
You opened your mouth to speak, but something behind Mando caught your eye. Rising up on tiptoe, you peered over his shoulder… but there was nothing there. Weird. You could have sworn you saw someone wearing a hood just… watching you. 
You shrugged, assuming you had imagined it like before and then looked back to the man before you, “I can be quiet. I just choose to fill your hours with my wonderful voice.” You flashed him a grin, eyes dancing. 
A voice cut across before Mando could talk to you, “You.” It was a snarl, tinged with recognition that wasn’t exactly the most positive. It was bitter, aggressive and almost… pained. 
Mando turned quickly, his hand flying toward the blaster on his hip, instinct overriding him. His movement allowed you to see who had just interrupted the conversation. 
A lady stood there, with curly magenta hair twisted up into a braid. She had tattoos along her neck, and her eyes were a shocking green. She was breathing quickly, staring at you with such disdain that it made your neck prickle. 
How did you know this woman? You’d never been to this planet before.
You blinked, holding up your hands as a surrender gesture, “Uh… I’m sorry but I don’t know you. I think you must have me confused with someone else…”
The lady shook her head fiercely, making the whisps of her hair that had escaped bounce wildly. “No. I do not have you confused. I would know you anywhere.” Her eyes were wild with fury, pinning you to the ground with just a stare. 
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t know who you are. Maybe you could tell me your name?” You extended a hand, trying to diffuse this situation and help the woman understand that you aren’t who she thinks. 
She flinched back from your reach, even though she was still a good few feet away. “How dare you. You don’t even know who I am?” She made a noise of disgust, looking you up and down in such a way that you were surprised the skin didn’t flay from your bones, “Typical. I don’t know why I’m surprised. She was probably just another tool to you, wasn’t she? Another person to use and discard like trash.”
You blinked, your hands dropping to your sides. Your skin began to tighten, your blood turning a little frosty. You looked to the side, seeing a few people start to stop and watch this altercation happen. 
The Mandalorian seemed to pick up on this at the same time as you. He turned more toward the lady, his hand still within reach of his blaster, “Why don’t we take this somewhere more private?”
The woman barely even looked at him, “Don’t get involved in this, Mandalorian. You’re just as bad as she is. At least to do what you do, you have to have respect and creed. You have morals, no matter how murky they are.” She jabbed a finger at you, “Unlike this savage monster.”
Your breathing immediately shallowed, getting a little unsteady as she spat out that word, that hateful word that followed you around and hounded at your feet. “I’m sorry? For whatever I’ve done, I’m sorry if it’s hurt you. I didn’t mean it, truly-”
She laughed, a cold and cruel laugh, but her eyes were slowly turning glassy with tears. She took a few steps closer, “You don’t even remember her name, do you? Shall I remind you? Help you distinguish her from your kill list?” 
You didn’t fail to notice the way the Mandalorian’s stance shifted. His body tightened and he stood closer, shielding you slightly with one of those ridiculously broad shoulders. He was going on the defensive, feeling the situation start to spiral. 
The woman barely spared him another glance, “3 years ago, you showed up on Trask. You stumbled around the market for a few days, bleeding from a wound in your leg and you passed out.”
Realisation was beginning to filter through you. It sparked in your mind and you remembered a dark street and rain, your leg heavy and cumbersome beneath you. It had burned like fire and when you went down, you couldn’t get back up again. 
The woman was still talking, “Someone picked you up, took you to their home. My sister. She was there for work, and saw you lying in the street, like some kind of dumped animal. She nursed you back to health, gave you somewhere to stay.” She could see it as it began back to you, “You took her aid, her comfort and then, there was a warning put out in the village. There had been a high-risk fugitive spotted in the village. Anyone with information was to come forward immediately.”
Your hands curled into fists, your chest shuddering as guilt and darkness began to swirl within you, “Stop.” 
She chose not to hear your quiet plea, “I was supposed to meet her. But she sent me a comms message. She would meet me, but she would have someone else with her. Someone who she couldn’t tell me over a comms message. Someone in trouble. People said this girl was dangerous, to be handed over with no hesitation but she didn’t see that. No, she said this girl was terrified, that she just wanted to live.” She tilted her head, walking closer again, “But the next day, this special little girl was gone. And then the Imperials came.” Her voice shook, her expression unreadable. 
You shook your head mutely, not wanting to hear this, memories flooding your brain. 
“Someone had tipped them off that my sister was harbouring a fugitive. They tore through her home, destroyed it and dragged her in for questioning. They demanded she tell them, beat her when she denied it. She never gave it up.” 
The woman was right in front of the Mandalorian now, who extended his arm out, ‘That’s close enough.” 
Nausea roiled your stomach, and you weren’t sure if you were going to pass out or throw up. There were too many eyes on you, too many people watching as this woman revealed you bit by bit. 
The woman lowered her voice, deadly soft and it shook, but carried in the silent square, “My sister was murdered because of you. Because of what you are.” 
Mando froze, his head tilting back to look at you slightly. You still hadn’t told him. 
She wasn’t done. “They told me a few weeks ago that you’d been captured by a Mandalorian. I wept with relief that day, because I knew the Mandalorian wouldn’t fail. You’d be taken to whoever wanted you, and you would finally repent for every single sin you’ve ever committed. Your life is littered with them. My sister, my beloved sister is dead because of you. A killer. A beast. Your hands are stained red, girl, and they will always be stained red. I admit, I’m disappointed that you slithered into his head with your poison too but you will kill him too and then… You deserve everything that will ever come to you. And more.” The woman was breathing almost as quickly as you, her eyes glinting in sick delight at the pain she was causing you. 
My sister is dead because of you. 
A beast.
Her words mingled with that seductively dark voice in your mind and you gasped for a breath, knives feeling like they were digging into your lungs. Your eyes darted around, noted the strangers looking at you with horror and that shared disgust. A father pushed his daughter behind his legs as he caught your stare, hissing at you. 
A flinch ran down your body and without a second thought, you turned tail and bolted. The sunlight was too bright, obscuring your vision harshly and making you stumble every now and then. 
You were distantly aware of a male’s shout, then a harsh thumb and the Mandalorian’s voice snarling, “Stay down.” He stopped to check your pursuer was down and then he was running after you. “Hey, wait.”
You ignored him, boots pounding into the dust as you ran through the market, needing to get out of this place, get away from her and the memories. Where the hell was the ship? It was right here a minute ago. I haven’t gone the wrong way. This is the way we came. 
You could still hear Mando behind you, knew he was hot on your heels. “Drop it, Mando.” You led him around people and stalls, knowing if wanted to be in front of you, he would be. He was letting you flee, stopping anyone coming after you. 
Dodging around a crate of fruit, you almost sobbed. There it was, the Crest, gleaming in the sunlight. You slowed down as you reached it, stopping a little way away to let the ramp come down, let you inside to sanctuary. 
Nothing happened. 
Bastard. 
You took a breath, trying to get past the tightness in your lungs, “Let me in.”
“No. Not until you tell me what’s going on.” His voice was firm, arrogant, in a way like he knew best and you’d listen to him. 
~“A killer. A beast. Your hands are stained red.”~
Your hands curled into fists at your sides, staring at the Crest, at where the ramp was tucked in tight. Your heart was pounding, not from the run, but from the realisation that no matter where you went, there would always be someone you had touched with that curse. “No. I’m not telling you anything. I don’t owe you anything.”
He laughed behind you, but it was a cool laugh, nothing humorous in it, “I’m not saying you owe me anything, princess. But some woman just cornered you in the street and spat abuse at you. I thought I would be prying you off of her, not chasing after you.” 
A wolf. No. A beast.
You spun round, eyebrow raised, “Because I’m some wild animal that would rather fight than talk my way out of a situation?” 
If he had no helmet, you would have seen him blink, “No, I’m not saying that. But, well. You have to admit it, don’t you?”
Something was beginning to prickle up the back of your neck, his words threatening to cut a little close, “Admit what?” Venom laced your tone and you tensed, as if bracing for a punch.
The Mandalorian walked closer, oozing confidence like he somehow knew you better than you knew yourself, “You don’t really think, do you? You never calculate the risks of a fight. You just jump straight in with no regard for your own safety. I mean, when I came for you on Sorgan, anyone smart would have seen a Mandalorian and run.” He wasn’t saying it in an arrogant way, he was saying it as fact. And he was right. A Mandalorian appeared on the street and you turned around and crossed to the other side. You didn’t engage him a fight and flirt with him. 
A cold laugh rocked though you and you tilted your head, “Anyone smart? So you’re calling me stupid now? Is that it? Beast or stupid?” You took a few steps closer to him, ignoring the villagers milling around that had started to look, having heard the fight in the centre of the market. “Don’t you dare tell me I don’t calculate risks. You think I’ve had time to calculate risks in my life? I don’t have time to sit with my little notepad in my ship and jot down the pro’s and con’s of engaging in battle. I didn’t have the luxury of being trained like you.”
Bitter astonishment filled the Mandalorian’s voice, his own body going rigid, “The luxury of training?! You think I chose to become a Mandalorian? That I woke up one morning and skipped along to Mandalorian school?” His voice rose, the rough rasp turning to stone with every word.
You observed him with a steely gaze, something in you needing to push him away, to protect yourself before he got too close. So, you aimed for what you knew would work, his Creed. Your eyebrows rose, looking him up and down as you leaned your weight on one leg, “You’re telling me you weren’t born with that thing already stuck on your head?” Spiteful sarcasm dripped from your voice and you pointed up at his helmet. 
The Mandalorian let out a snarl that no doubt usually sent normal people running. He stalked toward you with predatory grace, a hunter toward his prey.  “Don’t you dare.” Like he read in your eyes where you were going with this. 
Ugly triumph filtered though you as you stood your ground, not afraid of him, “It’s all the same with you Mandalorians, isn’t it. You have all your training, don your shiny armour and suddenly you’re better than anyone. That helmet goes on, you don’t have to face the consequences of what you’ve done. No one knows who you are, so you don’t need to take the blame.” These words were spiteful, beyond cruel and you hated yourself more and more for each one, but he was starting to get into the cracks, starting to see you. You couldn’t see him die. 
Mando was right in front of you now, towering above you with all his broad-shouldered posture, frustration roiling off of him in waves. “You think I don’t feel remorse for what I’ve done?” His voice was so low, barely leashed. 
You nearly purred, tasting the promise of a fight, even if it did twist a knife into your heart. “I’ve never seen it.” You tilted your head back to look up at him, letting every ounce of spoilt, cruel brattiness melt into your expression. 
A soft growl rumbled through the helmet, so muted you barely heard it in the noises of the market behind him. 
Yes. Yes.
And then he relaxed, his shoulders eased and his hands uncurled. 
What? No – Disappointment, maybe even shock registered on your expression. You’d been sure, so sure that aiming for his beloved Creed would get him to fight you. Why hadn’t it worked?
Mando shook his head, the sunlight bouncing off of the shiny metal, “No. I’m not doing this with you. You can’t push me away, no matter how hard you try. You don’t mean anything that you just said, I can see it in your eyes.” He pressed a button on his vambrace, and the ramp opened behind you. 
He saw you. 
That dark beast was starting to awaken, its ears pricking up. You needed to get out of here, away from him, away from this, now. You just shook your head, turning around and walking up the ramp, watching Duru as she ran ahead of you. 
Footsteps sounded from behind you as the Mandalorian followed you. He took Grogu from his little pouch, popping him on a cargo crate and Duru immediately jumped up next to him. “Don’t walk away from me. I’m trying to help you, but you keep shutting me out. Why did that woman say those things about you?” His gloved hand enveloped your wrist, his grip not tight or authoritative, but it began to break something in you. 
“Let me go, Mando. I mean it.” You let ice creep into your tone, trying to disguise the cracking inside you, the darkness that was beginning to stir and whisper. 
And the damn tin can saw it all. Your back was to him, but he still fucking knew, “Please… You know I would never judge you for it, for whatever you did to make her say that.”
Excuse me?
Anger flared through you now, igniting into a blaze and you snarled, “Whatever I did?!” You didn’t give him time to respond, not before you swung around, using his grip on your wrist for leverage. You had spent enough time around him now to become familiar with the plates of his armour, so you knew you aimed correctly when your fist connected with the side of his ribs between the front and back plates. 
He grunted, jolting a little but he still didn’t let go. “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. I only meant-” His voice had softened and, in your rage and hurt, you mistook the pleading tone for a condescending one. 
Before he could finish, you punched him again, harder, “Don’t. Don’t try to start spewing excuses at me. I knew perfectly well what you meant. You thought that she had been hurt by me. That I killed her sister with my own hands. Probably slit her throat and bathed in her blood.”
“No, no, I didn’t. If you would just listen to me and stop shouting, please-“
Your foot connected with his shin, making him stumble backwards. You followed after him, “You didn’t even stop to think that maybe, for once, I didn’t actually do anything. But no. Like always, you looked at me and saw the worst. You assumed that I was a monster.” You chopped down at his inner elbow this time, causing him to let go of you in reflex. 
Mando tilted his head, his voice coming out sharper this time, “I assumed?” He laughed, the bastard laughed, “What else am I supposed to do, sweetheart? You’ve been on this ship for nearly a month now and I still don’t know anything about you. So yes, I was wrong for assuming, but can you blame me?”
Your eyes flashed and you were on him again, “So it’s my fault that you thought I was a monster? You’d met me for all of two seconds on Sorgan and started whispering in my ear like honey, that death followed me wherever I went. There was a bounty over my head and that’s all you saw.” 
Mando went still, his shoulders tightened, and his voice came out lower, “You’re still bringing that up? I told you that you weren’t my bounty anymore.”
Before you could answer him, that velvety voice inside your head started to whisper in your ear, “Oh no, oh my sweet darling. He sees you. The real you.  He knows you’re a monster.” 
You shook your head sharply, lifted your eyes back to the Mandalorian’s stupid face. Helmet. Visor. Whatever. “I’m not your bounty but you believed that woman. So say it.”
His confusion was palpable, “Say what?”
You took a step forward and your chest butted up against his, “Say it! Say that I’m a monster. A murderer. I kill everything I come near.” You laughed, coldly, the words coming out with your voice but in your head, they were being repeated in that cruel, silken whisper. “You regret it, don’t you? Throwing away my puck. You wish you’d kept it, then you could get rid of me, be free of what I’ve done, why I’m being hunted.” Those steel bands were still wrapped round you, crushing you, swallowing you whole again. 
Something broke in him, his composure as the anger rose again and he leaned down to you, “Stop.” The command was a growl and he lifted a finger, pointing at you, “You’re a fucking hypocrite.” 
Yes. Yes, fight back, fight me. Tell me what I know I am. 
You raised your eyebrows, smirking at his finger and then back up at him but your expression was bitter, “Am I? Why’s that, Mando?” You tilted your head and practically purred, “Tell me.” 
The tension in the room was tight, the air almost crackling around you with this outburst of emotion, the threads of your entwined lives pulling taut. 
The light bounced off of the plates on his shoulders, betraying his slightly ragged breathing, “You just screamed at me for assuming the worst about you, yet you did just that to me. How can I want to be free of you, when I don’t even know who you are.” He lifted his hands to your shoulders, to try and calm you down, to push you away maybe. 
The smirk began to slip from your face, “Does it matter who I am?”
His grip tightened, “Of course it does. Because you’re not a bad person. Let me help you, please. Just tell me something. Anything.” His voice turned pleading, and he lifted a hand from your shoulder, like he was going to cup your cheek. 
You’re not a bad person.
Fire blazed within you again, protective and destructive. This was too close. He was getting too close. You had to stop it, now. You had to get away. 
You reached up, grabbing his wrist and using the element of surprise to slam him against the wall behind him, pinning his wrist there and then your blade was at his neck, dull light glinting off of it, “Back off. You can’t help me. I’m not some broken doll to add to your ragtag collection.” Your own breathing was ragged, coming in sharp pants as the room started to spin. 
The Mandalorian flinched, like you’d hit a nerve and his free hand moved. Bingo. 
Yes, you thought, almost begged, Punch me. Fight me, please. 
But he didn’t. He just curled his fingers around your wrist and pushed you away, dislodging your knife and knocking you back a few steps. Like you were weak.
You couldn’t do this, he was starting to slip through the cracks that were forming in you. He was looking at you, seeing you. He always had, from the moment you were nothing but hunter and prey, he knew exactly how to get through your intricately woven net of silver-tongued quips and cocky arrogance. 
No. 
Your voice cracked, echoes of the dark beast’s laughter in your ears “No! Stop pushing me away, stop taking it. Fight me!!” You surged for him again, your hands curling into fists, slamming against the beskar plates again and again. 
You didn’t care that it hurt, that it made pain explode across your knuckles. 
You liked it, you liked the pain. Deserved that and so much more. 
And the Mandalorian… just stood there. He shook his head, just slightly, “No.” He stood there as you hammered your fists against his chest, even when you started to kick him. Just watched as your eyes became glassier, your punches harder but less accurate. 
Why wasn’t he fighting you? 
Your hazy mind began to overwork, searching for something, anything to provoke him, “Why? You don’t want to fight a girl? Too proud are you?” You slammed your knee into his, pulled at the armour plates, honed your pain and fury into him but he just absorbed it. “You’re as weak as I am, you’re running too. You’re the hypocrite, Mandalorian, not me.” Your words were stilted, made no sense as you spat out words as cruel as you could, just needing to provoke him. 
Nothing did. Nothing. There was no noise in the cargo hold but the sounds of the people outside, beeping, the dull thud of your fists, your spiteful words and your own ragged breathing. 
And the whispering in your head that had turned into a full-on symphony of bitter taunts and sniping truths. It rose with memories, flashes of your dead parents, the battered bodies of those that had tried to help you, people who had been caught in the cross-hairs of your life. Innocent people that had turned into nothing more than collateral damage. 
Blood had started to smear on the beskar, your knuckles splitting open with the repeated impact. You could hear Duru meowing, Grogu gurgling in worry but you didn’t care. 
The beast and its army rose, tasting the scent of blood and bringing you visions of the future, of the Mandalorian, dead on the ground. The blood from your fists turned into his own, painting the ground red. Duru, fur soaked in scarlet and Grogu, his tiny little body broken on the floor in a pool. 
And above them, you stood, soaked in the blood of these three. Relishing in the pain and torture that you had caused. You could taste their blood. 
The room began to spin further, the whispering detonated into a roar and it unleashed a heavy roiling cloud within you. It choked you, squeezed fists around your lungs, clouded your eyes and snuck into your head. It whispered to you, such cruel taunts, sucking out the deepest, most vile thoughts you had about yourself and spat them back out, combined with these visions of the future. It leeched the energy out of you and with a choked sob, your knees gave way. 
Duru let out a yowl of concern, springing off of the cargo box. 
I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be confident, or strong. I can’t be brave and cocky, I can’t keep throwing myself into every fight, I can’t run anymore. I can’t do this. I can’t-
And then a pair arms caught you. 
Mando caught you. He didn’t haul you up against him. He didn’t try and pull you up. 
No, he sunk to the floor with you, supporting your weight in his own body, leaning against the wall and letting you collapse against him. 
You froze, your body stiffened as he did. This… people didn’t touch you like this. They didn’t put their arms around you unless they were trying to drag you somewhere. 
You hadn’t been hugged since you were a child, and yet here you were. The Mandalorian was holding you, but loosely. 
Waiting, for your consent. For you to be okay with this. 
And as his gloved hand brushed your back, such a tender warmth broke through you, caressed your pain and you couldn’t resist. You sunk into him, the last saps of energy leaving you as tears flooded your cheeks. The armour was hard, digging into you a little bit, but the feeling of just being held was more than enough. 
He wrapped his arms around you, coaxing you against his chest. His legs were either side of you, one stretched out on the floor and the other resting up to support your back. Distantly, you were aware of four clawed feet padding over your lap, Duru settling into the space between you and Mando’s arm. 
The armour disguised the frantic beating of his heart, your tears and shaking of your body held the trembling of his own hands, but he didn’t mention it. Didn’t mention the fact that this was the first time he had held someone like this that wasn’t the kid… since he was a child himself. He was just as starved of touch as you, even more so because he had no skin-to-skin contact either. He could feel your warmth through the fabric of his clothes that weren’t covered, could feel the weight of you leaning into him. 
He didn’t speak, just held you in the dimness of the cargo hold, keeping you together as you fell apart, kept the promise of death away, just as you had done for him. 
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tokoyamisstuff · 3 years
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Betrothed Ch. 9 - Illumi Zoldyck x Reader
Epilogue: Beauty and the Beast
Summary: Leaving the Zoldyck estate to search for your husband, what will await you once you find him?
Warnings: Angst, Violence.
Words: ~2500
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Story Masterlist
A/N: The plot is connected to the “Phantom Rogue” movie. In case you haven’t watched it yet (no spoilers don’t worry): The antagonist of the movie uses Nen to create puppets taking after real persons, which even possess their personaliy and memories.
All I ever wanted All I ever needed Is here in my arms Words are very Unnecessary They can only do harm
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
People tend to say you should be careful what you wish for. Apparently they were right.
At least it worked...somehow.
The last thing you knew was that you had sneaked into Alluka’s cell, wanting to free her just as much as you wanted to find Illumi. Of course her parents weren’t really fond of the idea, so you waited for an opportune moment and asked for Nanika to appear before the family could realize and act against it.
Your wish was pure and without any ill intend - so there would be no consequences.
“Please: Bring me to Illumi. I need to save him!”
So she did as she was told.
You found yourself having been teleported to an unknown place, at bright day even though it was night at the Zoldyck estate. That means you’d be at least on the other side of the world, gladly far enough away for them to quickly try and retrieve Alluka.
All you could make up in between miles of nature was an old building, almost like a chapel.
And in front of it stood Illumi.
“These eyes are strange” he thought out aloud, taking in his environment. “Everything looks so bright.”
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“Illu-nii-!” You put a finger in front of Alluka’s lips, signalizing her to stay quiet. Gladly you had appeared in somewhat of an hiding, so no one had noticed you up until now.
Something was off. That thing was surely not Illumi - even if it painfully appeared so.
“Gon!” a blonde girl shoutet in visible distress, “Hang in there! Gon!”
And then it dawned to you: A Nen ability.
Cloning? But why and how? It should be impossible to make such a perfect image of another person, which even seems to think and act on it’s own.
“Give gon his eyes back!” Killua demanded, but got shut down by the clone through a proper kick in his guts. “I can’t do that, Kill.”
You were too late to stop the poor Killua from running away, instead of chasing him deciding to follow the spitting image of your husband - but he had detected you earlier than you anticipated.
“Weird...” he spoke with the voice you had missed so much, staring at you with an empty glare. “You don’t look different.”
A surprised “Huh?” was all you managed to get out at his weird assumption, defendingly standing in front of Alluka.
“Those eyes make everything shine so bright. But you look just as always” the clone statet, almost as if amazed by your sheer appearance.
“You’ve always shined to me, Y/N.”
And like that, he was gone.
There wasn’t much time to think about it, since the screams of that unfamiliar girl got you down to earth again.
“Please, Gon!” she encouraged him as he tried to leave after she wrapped a bandage around his empty eyeholes. “Don’t-”
But he was already gone, chasing Killua to god knows where.
“What the hell...” you mumbled, still holding Alluka firmly in your arms.
Now the girl, which appeared like a puppet as well given a second look, turned to both of you. “Just...who are you? And where did you came from?”
“Long story.” Your answer was short, not wanting to tell anyone about Alluka’s powers. “But I’m a friend of those children. And...I need to find the man from earlier.”
“That was just one of Omokage’s puppets” she explained, pointing towards the direction Gon and Killua ran off to. “I can explain anything on the way. But we need to find them!”
It was already night when you found those two, because even with your superhuman speed you still had a child to take care off.
Seemingly, the two had resolved whatever internal trouble they were having, and much to your surprise Leorio and Kurapika had joined them as well.
“You guys...”
“Y/N?!” All of them went into a defensive position, ready to fight you in case you were a puppet as well. You weren’t mad, though. It was the only plausible reason for them to have magically appeared in here.
“Killu-nii!” Alluka cheered, approaching her brother as fast as her small legs could carry her. You wanted to prevent a reunion like that, but well...
Of course the boy broke out in tears as he remembered his sister he was forced to forget about all those years, the weight of his guilt crushing down on him once again. “I’m so sorry, Alluka...I think I was still under Illu-nii’s influence.”
Your lip began to tremble at his words, having to bite it so they wouldn’t notice that you were about to cry.
“Y/N? Is everything alright?” Damn. Of course they noticed the shift in your aura.
“Come to think of it...” Gon said, unusual sharp intellect considering his usual, blunt nature. “How come you accompany Killua’s sister? Doesn’t that mean you would’ve broken in Kurokoo mountain and fight all the Zoldycks for it?”
“I...uh-”
“Wait a second!” Good for Killua that he regains his cool so fast after having been emotional, but you wish it weren’t like that. “Isn’t that my great-grandmother’s ring? Did you stole it?!”
“Wha- no! Of course not!”
That wasn’t his greatest concern: Did you know about Alluka’s powers, and wanted to have them for yourself? Was that the reason? But how could you ever just invade the Zoldyck property and take what’s theirs without dying at their hands?
None of it made sense, no matter how much he racket his brain around the matter.
“Illu-nii gave it to Y/N for their wedding! Isn’t that cute?”
Everyone’s breath hitched at Alluka’s innocent words, and you could feel even those whose eyes were stolen widen in shock.
Before you could even defend yourself, Killua had tackled you down before sharpening his fingernails and pressing them against your neck, drawing blood.
“Why...?” Kurapika spoke the word that went through everyone’s minds, followed by Killua’s disappointed whisper “Traitor....”
“Because I love Illumi. That’s all.”
The boy then grabbed your shirt, shaking you as if to wake you up from a deep trance. “Love? LOVE?!? You know my brother, damn it!”
“Yeah!” Leorio joined the scolding. “You know very well what he forced Killua to do all those years, and that he tried to kill Gon!”
“I know very well what he’s capable of.” Against all resistance by your friends, you still remained calm and cheerful. “But he’s my husband, and I’ll fight for him until my dying breath.”
You’ve never seen Killua so furious and hurt in your life, and you could understand him:
The man responsible for all of his pain - and someone he considered a friend to fall in love with and defend him.
“Don’t give me that bullshit...” he growled as he let go off of you, tears of anger collecting in the rim of his eyes. “He obviously turned Y/N into a needleman!”
The only one to remain silent was Gon, knowing that he shouldn’t intervene until Killua was done having his rage.
Since the truth was simple, yet hard to accept for someone who had suffered under Illumi’s influence for that long.
“Don’t bully Y/N!” Alluka suddenly  blurted out, softly punching her brother’s back.
Killua then refrained from interrogating you any further, turning around to hug his sister once again. You knew the anger he let out was not just against you or your husband, but also out of wdisappointment in himself.
“I’m so sorry, Alluka...I should’ve saved you. Instead, I tried to leave my past behind and also left you alone!”
Alluka was a smart girl, at least emotionally - her mind worked different than the other Zoldycks. She gently put her hand on her brother’s hair, consoling him even though she never really understood how severe the situation at hand was:
“It’s okay! I was’t alone!” she cheered, smiling all innocent from one ear to another. “Big brother Illumi played with me all the time, together with Y/N! We had such fun!”
You smiled gently at the naive girl, knowing everyone would believe her to speak the truth. Picking her up and on your shoulders as she always wanted you to do, you waited for everyone to just process her statement.
“Alluka has spent almost every day at home with us” you proudly declared, as if you were actually her parent. “He’s a bit reserved, of course, but he loves her very much!”
“...that’s so fucked up” Leorio declared as he thought back to the creepy Gittarackur.
Killua was at loss for words, only managing to get out a consensual nod at Leorio.
“Hey!” you snickered mischievously, rumpling up his hair. “I’m your sister in law now. A little more respect!”
“Anyway” Kurapika interrupted, “Where’s Pretz?”
Seems like changing the topic was easier for the group than to keep thinking about that almost impossible constellation.
“She’s a puppet” Gon revealed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, just for you to confirm his thesis.
“And you let Illumi steal your eyes just to follow the nen connected to them?” Giving him a head-butt, you added. “Still the idiot.”
That wasn’t fully true: Those kids sure grew since the last time you’ve met them at the Hunter Exam.
You couldn’t help but laugh at the situation, feeling like a stone was falling off your chest just by being with them.
“I’m glad to meet you again. I’ve missed you so much, guys!”
Leorio had volunteered to take care of Alluka, so she wouldn’t get dragged into the fight, while the others of you headed for Okogame’s hideout.
It was a giant church, so old that it was on the verge of breaking down. 
Fitting place for a showdown, you thought.
“You don’t understand the beauty of my art!” was Okogame’s answer as Kurapika demanded for him to set his dead friend free.
“See?” he yelled dramatically as he revealed his puppets. “Pairo’s beauty together with Kurapika’s passionate eyes.”
To be honest, that wouldn’t revoke a reaction inside of you as your mind was always wandering off.
But then, he revealed his other creation.
“And Illumi’s madness, together with Gon’s pure eyes.”
“...”
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“Still the damsel in distress, I see.” God, even his voice was just like him. “I thought I’ve teached you better than that, Y/N.”
“Here he comes” Gon stated the obviously, but you had something to tell Killua.
"This isn’t completely him” you whispered as the puppet slowly approached you. “I can sense it: He isn’t nearly as strong as the real deal. And do you know what? He’s influenced by our memories of Illumi. They shape this puppet. That’s why he’s so scary to you, do you understand? That’s just how you depicture your brother.”
Killua knew what you really wanted to say: As you were now, you could easily end this - but Killua needed to defeat his fears himself.
The puppet came to a halt in front of his younger brother.
“Emotions are obsolete.” Ironically, it seemed that the puppet couldn’t avert his gaze from you, only making you crave your husband more. “Don’t value any of those pathetic commitments.”
“T-That’s wrong.” You were so proud of Killua, because even though he was almost frozen in place out of fear he was able to talk back to his brother. “I made friends, and it’s a great feeling.”
“You’re being silly, Kill” he declared as he pointed at you. “Do you see Y/N over there? I tried it myself. And guess what: They betrayed me. Ran away from me, scared. And now I’m all alone again.
Ouch. Even the puppet was hurt by your actions back then.
“But killing is something we can always do. It gives us power, makes us feel alive. Fear is the only reliable way of controling someone. We don’t need friends. We can manipulate people. Otherwise they will only hurt and betray you. So if they disobey: Kill them.”
“S-Shut up!” both you and Killua shoutet in unison.
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“Kill me, then” he whispered into Killua’s ear, “Come on. Prove that I’m wrong.”
So that’s the monster Killua saw in Illumi all those years...
“Lumi...” you couldn’t help but sob, “I didn’t want to let you down...”
“Don’t interfere” the puppet spoke, throwing several needles at you at once. “I don’t have any business with you anymore. This is a family matter.”
“I like the outfit!” you laughed it off, avoiding the needles as if it was nothing. “Feels just like sparring back then!”
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“You’ve always been too careless, Y/N. Because I had a soft spot for you. But I’m not going easy on you now - my order is to leave none of you alive.
A few needles pinned you to the wall, making you realize you weren’t fully concentrated.
You didn’t want to fight your husband, even though that’s not really him, so you were unknowingly holding back.
“We knew it would eventually end that way” the puppet spoke, the dark void in his eyes reminding you of the Illumi you got to know before your marriage. “Even though I’m almost sad about it.”
Your head fell in defeat, too hurt to see the love of your life suffering for so long. May as well let him hurt you a bit, to punish yourself and feel what he felt.
“I’m so sorry, Lumi.” Your answer and lack of struggle actually made him taken aback for a second, until the mission that Okogame’s nen imprinted on the puppet forced him to continue.
“Hey!” Killua yelled as he kicked another set of needles out of his hand, “We are your enemies! You said it yourself!”
Of course they had their own intentions: Getting back Kurapika’s eyes, save Pretz, overcome the trauma Illumi had put on Killua...
But you were thankful that your friends tried to avoid you having to end Illumi’s life, even if only in a metaphorical sense.
The real fight didn’t even take a whole minute, with Gon and Killua only taking a few hits until they pierced the puppet’s heart with unified strenght.
Immediately, you rushed to his side, caughting the stiff body before it hit the ground.
“Why do you stay with me, Y/N...?”
You grabbed his hand, feeling honest compassion for the artifical being as you cried out “Because you’re being loved. By me, and Alluka and even Killua! I’ll find the real you, and save you no matter what!”
“I see...” The puppet robotically touched your cheek, movements not really different from the real Illumi at the beginning from your relationship. “Maybe I was wrong about trust after all.”
A small smile played on his face as your lips hesistantly touched, while you simultaneously pressed a knife inside of him to end it all.
“Rest now” you said what Illumi had always told you when you were upset. Okogame’s curse couldn’t force his will onto the puppet now that he wasn’t able to get up ever again.
And Illumi collected the last bit of strenght as his body slowly dissolved into nen.
At least in the end he wasn’t alone - until death does you part.
“I guess dying through your hands doesn’t feel all that bad.”
_____
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missyoumaybank · 4 years
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I lost a friend
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Law of acceptance- I lost  A friend p1.
Not my gif^
Word count- 1.6k
Warnings- mentions of panic attacks, swearing, overall angst
JJ Maybank x Routledge reader!
Ever since John B and Sarah disappeared In the storm, things haven’t been the same for the pogues. They’d still hangout every day and hope that the pair would give some sort of sign or clues that they were still alive, but amongst all the drama circulating with ward and the young teens, things started to fall apart quite easily. It was like a disaster waiting to happen.  
JJ went rogue, his current ways heightening to a point beyond belief. Every second day, you’d be down in the station bailing him out for something stupid. ‘’C’mon, it wasn’t even that bad!’’ He’d say pleadingly, trying to coax you into feeling guilty for him, and you did, every single time. Along the way, your friendship with jj began to fall apart, constantly arguing and avoiding each other when possible, rather than sorting things out. It was getting unbearable and you hated it. The chateau was currently occupied by you and JJ, refusing to go back to his fathers after taking the phantom.
   Although you and J were only friends, there was unacknowledged feelings for one another, you felt a need to care for him and he cared for you more than anything else. It was always you and J against the world. There had been moments between you, such as your firsts, first kiss, first time etc, and some out of the blue moments. It confused you, you didn’t know what you were but every time you asked, it was always ‘’Best friends’’.  John B had encouraged you to shoot your shot, despite jj being your brothers bestfriend.
It was late in the evening, the sun beginning to set and you began getting nervous, taking note of the time and jj still wasn’t back from work. Agonizingly, you sat out on the porch with a blanket wrapped around you, fidgeting at the feeling of the scratchy material.
You didn’t mean to pry, but when you saw jj come home from work with a black eye, and dozens of cuts, questions flew around ‘’Can you please stop being up my ass for 2 seconds? Literally, its like you’ve nothing better to be doing other than being a bitch’’ He huffed, wanting to just shower and sleep, slamming the door behind him. As you stood there in shock, you decided not to follow, settling yourself in the hammocks instead. Tears pooled in your eyes, your heart breaking by the second.  You wanted the old jj to come back , but unless John B came back, there was no way in hell that was happening anytime soon.  
JJ was cursing himself, knowing you hated being called out for caring about others, suffering enough as you grew up with constant worry that one day she might lose someone she loves. She worried too much about others rather than herself and jj would constantly remind her to be selfish once in a while, but she never listened.
In your sleepy state, you felt jj climb in the hammock with you, quiet sniffles coming from the blonde boy. Turning to face him, you saw his blotched face, tears glistening against his skin. You wiped under his eyes, clearing away the tears. Wrapping an arm around him, his face rested in the crook of your neck, cuddling into your side.
‘’Im sorry’’ he mumbled quietly, playing with the string from your top. Nodding without saying anything, you covered the blanket over the two of you and kissed his forehead, soft snores coming from him in an instant.
 As the summer came to an end, one last kegger was thrown and it was deemed to be the best one yet. The gang sat around the fire pit, basking in the ocean breeze and the atmosphere they wouldn’t see until next summer. There were a bunch of kooks who surprisingly weren’t causing any trouble and the last of the remaining tourons as the season came to an end.
J was acting weird with you, not like it was much of a surprise, but none the less , it made you feel uncomfortable. You couldn’t bare his behaviour and outbursts anymore, it took a huge toll on your mental health, but as always, you put JJ and the others before yourself. Kie snapped her fingers in front of you, breaking your train of though. She looked at you with a questionable expression , indirectly asking if you were okay. You nodded at her, but it was a lie. Panic began building up inside of you and you didn’t know what was causing it. JJ gave you a glare, seeing your leg fidgeting and it seemed to annoy him, just like everything seems to nowadays. He knew what was happening but he didn’t seem to give a damn, just as your breath hitched.
You didn’t want to cause a scene in front of the others and you grabbed the person that was closest to you, which happened to be Pope , while you began breathing eratically, feeling as if you couldn’t breathe. Pope was confused as to why you were reacting this way and kept asking what was wrong, but you couldn’t hear him.
For sure, you knew you were having a panic attack, but again you didn’t want pope to worry. ‘’I’m fine nevermind, go back its fine’’ you stuttered, not grasping the feeling in your hands. He sat down beside you, and grabbed your hand, starting to tap his finger tips on yours. As you started to calm down, your breathing regulated itself. ‘’It helps me calm down when I have panic attacks’’ he said sympathetically, wishing everyones pain would disappear. Looking up at him, seeing the sad look on his face, you sobbed and broke down.
The sobbing continued, feeling like the whole world was crumbling around you and awaiting the impact. Pope embraced you, trying to calm you again before getting worked up all over again. Without paying attention to what was going on around you, jj stumbled up to the pair and felt a burning pit in his stomach, seeing you in popes arms.
In that time, jj stormed up and had swung at pope, clearly not in the right head space .’’What the fuck jj? He exclaimed, pushing him, which led to them throwing digs at each other.  ‘’Why are you so loved up around my girl?’’ he slurred, putting extra emphasis on ‘my girl’
You scoffed at his words, him turning to look at you with a narrowed expression.
‘’Your girl?
He nodded at you as if you had said the dumbest thing in the world. Shaking your head, you moved closer to him. ‘’Why are you making ‘your girl’ feel so shit then? ‘’ she pried, finally done with his attitude. He laughed tauntingly. ‘’I’m making you feel shit? Have you seen the way you’ve been treating me y/n?’’
She couldn’t believe the boy in front of her, accusing her of making him feel terrible. ‘’Have you stopped and maybe think for a minute jj, that everything is going to shit because of you?’’ she inquired, genuinely intrigued by what he has to say.  He didn’t answer, but you kept pressing at him, wanting him to own up to his shit.
‘’Fuck you little routledge! It should’ve been you on that boat instead of John B!’’ He screamed, his blood boiling with hatred for the girl he loved.
Everything was quiet, the music was off and a circle had surrounded the 3 of you. JJ’s chest heaved, out of breath from his remark. You looked at him with pure disgust and tears blurring your vision.
‘’I hate you Jesse Jameson Maybank!’’ You roared, rushing towards him to slap him. Kie had grabbed you at your waist, preventing you from making a bigger mistake that you’d regret.
‘’And I fucking hate you too little routledge!’’ Jj smirked, getting the reaction from you that he had expected. Although he had said all that, he didn’t mean it. He did it to protect you.
 The morning after last night’s events, y/n was wallowing in a state of depression, spiralling out of control. She loved jj but by god did she hate him also. She wanted nothing more to be wrapped in his arms, but after that, she doesn’t think she ever would be again.  A loud knock on the door disrupted her thoughts. She pushed herself out of bed to go to the patio door. Immediately, seeing who it was, she turned around not wanting to see him.
‘’Y/n, please im sorry!’’ He pleaded, his voice cracking.
‘’That was the last straw jj, im sick of it and im sick of you’’ she stated, not looking at him. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. ‘’Can I make it up to you somehow?’’ he muttered, knowing full well he could never make it up to her.
‘’The best thing that you could do for me right now is to never speak to me again’’ vocalizing the harsh reality, she felt bad, but she needed to.  His mouth widened in shock, not believing her words.
‘’but what about us? You know? The infamous blondies?’’ His voice wavering at the thought of losing you. He couldn’t believe he was losing you that easy, like a set of keys.
‘’I can’t do this anymore j’’ she cried, wanting things to go back to the way they were at the start of summer. He fidgeted in his spot, not knowing what to do.  ‘’Where am I meant to go?’’ whispering quietly, looking up at you. You could feel the guilt build up but you couldn’t stand down.
‘’I’m sure Ms.Lana would love the company’’
He looked at you, looking for any sign for him to stay, while he saw the pleading look in your eyes for him to stay, he knew he had to do the right thing.
‘’I guess this is it then’’
‘’Bye jj’’.
Taglist!-
@afterglowsb-tch13​ @tomfreakinghollandneedsaoscar​ @lavendersunflower​
 this chapter is a mess im sorry
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renatogpadilla · 3 years
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FFVI as a D&D Campaign:
OK, so I've been watching "Critical Role" (Campaign 1, Episode 31, no spoilers!) a LOT lately and it got me thinking how FFVI (arguably the BEST "Final Fantasy" game out there) is essentialy that. The biggest moments could be atributted to CRAZY rolls! I can see each of the characters being played by one of the people at the table! * Marisha as Terra Branford: Would be phenomenal. Her mentality is kinda in-line with Keyleth's. The "Kill Their Own Emotions" moment in the boat shakes the table as a whole. And when it's time to run an orphanage and protect her kids from Humbaba, the emotion in her voice destroys everyone in the Party. The "Mama?" moment becomes the most fan-arted moment for her character until the final fight. Her Trance ability is agreed to be the coolest looking skill at the table. To say nothing of the way she'd react to the whole Slave Crown bussiness!
Matt: "She killed 50 imperial soldiers in a few minutes." Marisha, and the whole table: *S H A K I N G*
* Taliesin as Locke Cole: "Treasure Hunter!" every single time somebody calls him a thief or a rogue. The "Rachel" story would be absolutely heartbreaking with Taliesin's expressions. The solo-sneak through the town while meeting Celes would be one of the highlights of the Campaign... That and his frienship with Terra would only be accentuated by Taliesin's and Marisha's irl friendship. Not to mention him puking on the ship would serve as some comedic timing straight out of "Critical Role"! Also, "That bow looks good on you" LAUNCHES the ship to heights undreamt of.
* Sam as Edgar Figaro: I mean, COME ON! IT WRITES ITSELF! Besides, it would be enjoyable to see him use his -Artificer- Machinist abilities as creatively as he does! Can you IMAGINE him rolling high enough one day and then he just creates the Noiseblaster? And with that he pulls out the microphone every time he uses it and proceeds to shout some thing Scanlan would be proud of... Not to mention his friendship with Sabin would be amazing if played by Sam! "The little shrimp has become a mighty Lobster!" You can HEAR Sam Riegel's voice come out of that! And the two headed coin? Now THAT's a Scanlan! This without mentioning the violations of the Geneva Convention that the Bioblaster would certainly entail...
* Laura as Celes Chere: I mean, OBVIOUSLY. Meeting Locke in the dungeon? The apparent betrayal? THE OPERA HOUSE?! "I'm a former General, not some... Opera floozy!" TELL ME you don't hear Laura Bailey saying that! And then she rolls a Natural 20 on performance and EVERYONE looses their shit! Her Runic ability is the target of MANY close saves. Also, the way Locke and Celes' interactions happen, she'd be perfect opposite Taliesin. The chat on the bridge in Albrook? HEARTSTOPPING. The attempted suicide? You KNOW Matt would call the sesion there!
* Travis as Sabin Figaro: This one was obvious. Monk/Barb that gets mistaken for a bear, and acts like an absolute teddy bear around Terra? Yes. Gods above, YES. "You think a tiny thing like the end of the world was going to be enough to keep me down?" You heard Grog too, right? The moments would be worth MILLIONS. The Opera house and Travis going "Why is everyone singing?" and then getting more and more into it! Him holding up the house for Celes! "MISTER THOU"... But best of all, and probably the single most famous Sabin moment EVER, The Phantom Train:
Matt: The train tracks suddenly lurch to the side. Even after this long and hard-fought battle it seems *chukles* it seems this train isn't letting you get away with your lives. That brings us to you, Travis! Travis, on his 5000 IQ shit: I grapple the train.
Entire Table: ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS?!?!
Matt: No way in hell are you gonna- You know what? Roll for it. *Picks up dice for the Train* Taliesin: He's dead. He's so fucking dea-
Travis: NATURAL 20.
Entire Table: *Silent disbelief, everyone looks at Matt*.
Matt: *Also in disbelief* ...Rolled a 1.
Entire Table: *Inintelligeble gasping and hyperventilating*
Travis: I'm going to use my last Blitz as Meteor Strike and suplex the Train!
Matt: *Looking at the sheet, knowing damn well what's about to happen* Go ahead and roll for damage...
Travis: *Rolls for damage*
Matt: *Braces for impact* How do you wanna do this?
Entire Table and the Internet: *EXPLODES*
The Fanart keeps coming, even YEARS after the Campaign is done...
* Liam as Setzer Gabbiani: Since he's LITERALY "Mister Steal Your Girl", I think Liam would be PERFECT. Just imagine him getting set up as this suave and smooth rougue who wanted to kidnap a beautiful singer and then gets Laura instead! (Which isn't entirely wrong...) IMAGINE his expresions and his dissapearing under the table laughing as the others barely climb aboard The Blackjack. THE ENTIRE PARTY giving him shit for a low roll on a Wisdom Check (the double-headed coin) and him segwaying that into joining the party, only to find out that he actually knew all along... Priceless. The total and undistilled heartbreak as his ship falls apart, him trying to reach out for Terra and everyone falling on different places. And then meeting Celes a year later and doing the whole Daryll story... Liam would be the one to steal the audience every time he takes the spotlight! Though he would be a little like Percy in the sense that he doesn't get much to do until his arc happens.
"Money, Money, Money!" every time he throws coins to attack, the loaded dice (in character, not at the table?) and the card throws would make him so stylish in a D&D setting I'll be surprised if somebody hasn't done it already.
* Ashley as Relm Arrowny: She takes forever to join because of her constantly being away for filming, but once she's here? HOO BOY, does the fun keep coming! Her paintings coming alive and helping them fight? Her giving Sam shit for Edgar's love life? "Fuddy-Duddy!" becoming A Thing? All of those moments would be hilarious... But probably her most notorious moment comes when they find her a year later, serving a posessed brush, telling her to paint, paint, paint under the Magic House... "Keep painting until I'm complete..." The party snaps her out of it before she finishes the greatest painting she's ever done, her Magnum Opus, and then the painting coming alive prematurely in order to force her to finish... To give her form. And then the Lakshmi boss fight happens... Matt: And with the last of her strength gone, the banshee-like apparition dissipates into mist, and before any of you can react, Relm's magic brush begins to glow, like it had when you first came in here. The glow slowly creeps off the hairs and darts! Off towards the mistified form of it's mistress, enveloping itself into a thicc layer on top of the mist, swirling around... and around and around.
Ashley: Oh god, now what?
Matt: The colors dissipate, and Lakshmi unleashes a terrible wail! *DM monster noises* As it is now joined with this colorful cloud... And it compresses, smaller and smaller... And more solid until it's not mist anymore.
Marisha: *Gets it* ¡WAIT A MINUTE!
Travis: *Exited* ¡OH SHIT, HOLD ON!
Matt: The fog dissipates... And the calm returns to Relm's senses. Ashley you are now holding an innert, ordinary paint brush. However! Floating in the air, you see a crystal with a small glowing core, the particular essence of Life embeded in the middle, Terra you *points at Marisha* feel this and recognize it instantly, as it falls to the ground, and bounces a couple times... A brand new shard of Magicite.
Party: *FERAL LOOTING*
"Lakshmi" becomes the most PAINFUL fanart to make, and it's ALWAYS the one that's valued the most among the fandom.
The rest of the Party (Strago, Umaro, Mog, Cyan, Gau and GoGo) can be the guests that come over every once in a while (I particualrly see Wil Wheaton as Strago Magus, Mary McGlynn as GoGo and Will Friedle as Clyde "Shadow" Arrowny) with Shadow coming and going with the excuse that "His contract is up" (and let's face it, after surviving/witnessing the Phantom Train? My contract would be up too...) and coming back whenever his schedule/the plot allows. Eventually, everyone comes together for one last session and the battle with God Kefka. Setting their affairs in order, the reveal of who Shadow really is during a lone chat with Strago shakes the Critters to their core. Everything makes sense! Why Interceptor went straight to Relm when they met... Why his nightmares kept showing a village of magic users, yet they never mention Shadow in Thamasa! The group is RATTLED and wether or not he survives at the end becomes a HEATED argument between everyone at the table. Only Strago knows the truth...
The sendoff on The Falcon with everyone saying goodbye and seeing what the World will bring next is regarded as one of the most emotional scenes in "Critical Role" history... But the most completely DESTRUCTIVE force in this entire cast is Matt Mercer as Kefka Palazzo:
The personality... the narrative... The absolute slime in his voice when he poisons Doma. When he kills Leo and brings forth the Light of Judgement. Matt definitely has his moments playing Ultros. He's fun! And Emperor Ghestal was more of a political "Darth Sidious" villain. But Kefka? OH, LORD. NOBODY was ready for Kefka. "Enjoy the barbicue!" gets memed to no end, while also sending a horrible shiver down people's spine whenever somebody brings it up. Truly, the villain to end all villains. I can see it happen so vividly... If anybody wants to talk about this more, PLEASE hit me up! This just feels too good! Until off course the party moves on to their next Campaign in the setting for "Final Fantasy 5" but that's a whole OTHER can of worms!
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wolfjackle-creates · 1 year
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Bring Me Home: Chapter 2 Part 2
It's Wednesday! Time for another WIP Wednesday. No Ghost!Robin today. I've been focusing more on this fic. I think I'm going to try and start alternating weeks, but there's no set schedule or plan and it's liable to change at a moment's notice.
Fic Summary: Tim and Danny are both neglected by parents who care more about their work than their families. They deal with this by spending too much time online and find each other playing MMORPGs. They keep up their friendship as Tim becomes Robin and Danny becomes Phantom and don't bother keeping secrets from each other.
First, Previous
1.3k words
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Cassie hissed, “What the fuck, Tim!”
“I know!” whispered Tim back. “Danny mentioned home security, but I had no idea it was like that!”
Bart shook his head. “Want help with that kidnapping scheme? I’ll join you on your road to villainy.”
“That’s the problem with Tim,” agreed Conner. “He makes the road to evil look like it’s really the best option. Count me in, too.”
Cassie groaned. “Damn it, you guys are right. I’m in.”
Before Tim could do more than flip them off, Danny was back. “The pop express has returned!”
Cassie was closest to the door and Danny passed over her drink first. Only to freeze as their fingers brushed.
“Oh,” said Danny who looked at their hands then up at Cassie and back to their hands. “Huh.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Cassie and Tim started to get a bad feeling.
Which was only worsened by Danny looking at him with a grin forming on his face. “Sooooo, Tim—”
“No!” Tim shook a finger at him. “You’d better not tell me what I think you’re about to tell me! You’re OP enough! No more!”
Danny raised an eyebrow. “You done?”
Tim sighed and decided to just collapse backwards onto Danny’s bed. He stared at the ceiling and waved a hand in the air. “Yeah. Go ahead.”
Danny, apparently, loved making him suffer and continued passing out the drinks without telling him what he discovered. Then the mattress dipped next to him and Danny was above him with a grin that wouldn’t melt butter.
“So, Tii-iim,” Danny sing-songed.
“Daaan-ny,” replied Tim in the same tone.
“Apparently I can sense metas. And aliens. Which is so cool. They feel so different to humans! I knew about my ghost sense, but didn’t realize that applied to other species.”
Tim just sighed and closed his eyes. “Of course you can.”
“Conner!” The mattress shifted again as Danny moved. “You feel like warm sunshine and it’s so cool. Bart, you feel like static. Which… little awkward for me, but it’ll be good. I should try and get over my fear of electricity. Cassie, you also feel like static, but in a totally different way. Can’t explain it any better than that.”
“Why is static a problem?” asked Bart.
At the same time, Tim said, “I’ll add it to the list. And the descriptions.” He cracked one eye open to look at Danny. “Will you promise to stop developing more powers for me?”
Danny laughed and nudged his knee. “No promises.”
Cassie looked between them. “Does this mean you know?” she asked Danny.
“Wonder Girl, right? And Superboy and Impulse?”
Cassie nodded. “And Tim told us about you.”
“My lips are sealed,” Danny promised.
Tim rolled his eyes and pushed himself up. “Just gimme my water and fix my phone.”
“Wow, Tim,” said Cassie. “Rude much?”
“No. Look, you’ve no idea how ridiculously OP Danny is. Almost every week he calls me saying he discovered something else he can do.”
“If you think that was rude,” added Danny with a laugh, “you should’ve seen the things he said to me when I got him killed in Elf Night.”
“Ugh,” Tim feigned annoyance. “Don’t remind me. Honestly, what were you thinking? You were a rogue! Why did you attack the boss head on like a barbarian? We lost weeks of game progress! Weeks, Danny!”
Danny just laughed and threw the water bottle at his face. Tim caught it easily.
“Just give me your phone, Slim-Slam.”
“Slim-Slam?” asked Conner.
“He tried to object to Tim-Tam. I made him regret it.”
Tim shook his head. “This was a mistake. Why the hell did I ever think it’d be a good idea to let you guys meet.” To hopefully get them to change the subject, he shoved his phone in Danny’s direction. “What do you need to do to this anyway?”
“We just need to make it compatible with ectoplasm. There’s enough ambient ecto in Amity that waiting a few weeks allows it to happen naturally, but that’s not an option for you guys. Tuck and I went through, like, fifty devices figuring out the exact quantities and locations to add ectoplasm to force the process without destroying the device. It took us ages, but we figured it out. Now Tuck and I get extra money from the tech geeks in town who don’t want to wait the month or so it usually takes for new devices to start working.”
“Speaking of Tucker, will I be able to meet him? And Sam? You’re meeting my friends, I want to meet yours.”
Danny shrugged. “Sure. I’ll text them to meet us at Nasty Burger in forty minutes.” He sat at his desk and set down Tim’s phone to do so. Then, he opened a drawer and pulled out a set of micropipettes and disposable tips in a variety of sizes along with an empty glass beaker. Then came out an electronics tool kit. Tim had a similar one, though Danny’s looked like it had been obtained piecemeal as nothing matched. Finally, he opened a different drawer and pulled out a vial of a glowing green liquid.
Tim pushed himself off the bed and moved to stand over Danny’s shoulder. His friends joined him.
Bart asked, “So what will you be doing? What’s that green stuff?”
“It’s ectoplasm. The stuff ghosts and their dimension are made of. Ectoplasm is… complicated. This is unshaped ectoplasm, also called pure ectoplasm. A ghost or sentient creature can impose their will on it and make it function in a specific way. Since I’ve died, I have an easier time shaping it than most humans. I’ll send ‘tech’ vibes at it to get it to fuse to the phone more easily and apply carefully determined quantities to the different parts of the phone.”
“‘Tech vibes.’” Tim couldn’t hold back the groan. “It’s like magic. I hate it.”
Cassie bumped her shoulder against his. “You get that from Bruce.”
“Damn right, I do.”
Tim watched as Danny popped out the sim card. “First thing I’ll do is add a hundred microliters to the sim card. Then I’ll take the screen off and get to work on the innards. Do you guys want new batteries, by the way? Tuck’s got a bunch of ecto-batteries. Could have him bring them along when we meet up. You’d never have to charge your phone again.”
“Hell yeah!” said Conner. “Sign me right up.”
Tim shook his head, but couldn’t hold back the smile. “What do you mean by never have to charge it again?”
“I mean an ecto-battery will power the phone longer than the computer in the phone will last. I’ve switched over all my electronics. Nothing in this house is hooked up to the electricity grid anymore. I haven’t used a wall plug in four months. Not since Tucker and I fixed the batteries my parents designed.”
Tim didn’t like the sound of that. “Two questions. First, if the battery outlasts the phone, how should we dispose of it. And two, more importantly, ‘fixed’? What the hell does that mean?”
Danny had finished with the sim card and discarded the pipette tip in the beaker. Then he set about removing the screen from the phone. “Just bring the phones back to me when you’re done with them. I’ll upgrade your new ones, too. And their designs were liable to explode, overload the device, or bring it to life so it attacked. But Tuck and I took care of all that. Now devices only attack if Technus manages to get through the portal.”
Tim could sense Conner trying to look at him, but he resolutely refused to look away from Danny’s hands. He was removing the cameras and adding more ectoplasm to them, though much less than the sim card needed.
Unable to get Tim’s attention, Conner asked, “Who’s Technus?”
Danny shrugged. “One of my rogues. Tuck thinks he’s the ghost of Nikolai Tesla. He’s interested in controlling all technology and will make himself a giant mechasuit cannibalized from any electronic he can find in, like, a half mile radius. Super annoying.”
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Next
So I've decided which episode of the show this will take place during! It's mid season 1, so Jazz knows about Danny but Danny doesn't know she knows. I don't think that contradicts anything I've written (need to reread it), but if it does, no it doesn't. I dunno if most of you know what micropipettes look like, but if there's any interest I can take pics at work tomorrow and post them so you can see what I mean when I talk about the tips and stuff. I meant to do that today and then I didn't.
Tag List
@gremlin-bot, @bonebrokebuddy, @britcision, @lady-time-lord-, @welcometosasakiworld, @akikkobara, @phoenixdemonqueen, @dolfay, @skulld3mort-1fan, @we-ezer, @markus209, @sjrose1216, @onyxlightdragon, @dragonsrequiem, @jesus-camp-the-sequel, @spidey29phangirl, @kyrianclawraith, @evilminji, @introvert-even-on-the-internet, @emergentpanda-blog, @lexdamo, @v-inari, @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit, @longlivethefallen, @undead-essence, @xye-chan, @liandrin, @seraphinedemort, @kisatamao, @schalensitzbucket, @caelestisdreamer, @runfromthemedic, @nutcase8691, @channajen, @tonicmii, @ambiguouslyominous, @vythika96, @addie-lover-of-stories, @ironicvixen, @violetfox2, @pickleking8, @mysticalcomputerdetective, @ark12, @mygood-bitch99, @squirrel-wolf
Getting close to the point where I'll have to split the tag list in two! (I'll still add anyone who is interested.)
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The Dread Lands of Ravenloft - Mod Van Richten’s New England In-Table Campaign [Session 6]
Session Highlights
Did you know that this is technically the party’s third official combat? We’re a pretty role-play heavy group.
They’ve angered six very hungry vampire spawn last time! During the lead-up to this session, my players were so scared of TPK. But, spoiler alert, I’m not that cruel. I planned this out to a T!
Side Note: Any art that I share of NPCs within these highlight posts is my (Mod Van Richten’s) original and fan art. Any art that I use for my players that wasn’t created by myself but by other artists is kept private and within our friend circle.
Abrascus Barbarian (4) Path of the Ancestral Guardian Race: Tortle Background: Haunted One
Direthorn Rogue (4) Swashbuckler Race: Drow Background: Urchin
Flopsy Barbarian (4) Path of Wild Magic Race: Rabbit Man Background: Experiment
Mangus Monk (4) Way of the Open Hand Race: Half Elf Background: Urchin
Neracahne Wizard (4) School of Evocation Race: Eladrin Background: Noble
Nyra Rogue (4) Phantom Race: Fairy Background: Noble
CW: decapitation, sensual themes, gender dysphoria
Let’s see how the battle went under the cut!
I made a grave error when writing session 5's recap. I missed a lot of details! Good thing my players don't read these bc they would laugh at me for missing this!
Nyra made two discoveries during the day. While inside the Blue Water Inn, she notices something while Ismark is flirting with Rudy. There's a spirit hovering near the half elf. He looks like a young human boy, and he seems slightly surprised when Nyra suddenly tries to talk to him aloud. After the spirit fades, she hears a voice telepathically:
"I wonder if she can't hear me either."
At the dinner, Nyra can't help but notice the same phenomena again. Instead, she sees multiple tortured spirits around the dinner table and throughout the mansion. It appears that they're all in agony.
The session begins back on Direthorn, who was away from the other adventurers most of the day. They’ve been trying to scavenge for where they can find more pie, without realizing that Flopsy still had pie left despite not being addicted anymore. They’ve gone through garbage cans and different alleyways in vain, scaring townspeople all the while with feral noises.
They’d been so caught up in trying to find pie that they’d completely forgotten about the Baron’s dinner. The only thing that snaps them out of it is Vasili, who catches them scavenging through garbage in the noble district. He snaps them out of it by asking where their friends are. They have no idea, for they weren’t with all of them when they went to the coffin shop earlier that day. Shortly after the conversation starts, however, Adelaide rushes out of the manor and comes up to Vasili to exclaim her worries. She was worried about Escher, but she was also able to tell Vasili and Direthorn where they were. With that, they head straight to the shop.
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By the time that the official combat begins, Direthorn, Vasili, and Adelaide are at the entrance. Here are some very notable highlights:
(A/N: Nyra’s player wasn’t able to play for the encounter, but she allowed me to use Nyra’s stats to run her on autopilot during the fight. Unfortunately, I had shit dice rolls)
We had two critical hits: One from Mangus and the other from Abrascus.
Vasili was able to very quickly join the fight, and he had a very powerful rapier. Its blade was pure black, and a lot of its damage was necrotic.
This is the first time that Adelaide shows off her spellcasting to her new friends, but unfortunately it’s not as effective as she’d want it to be.
Izek and four guards arrive at the scene a couple rounds into the fight to help.
Mangus got the first kill of the fight.
Flopsy dealt the most damage in the fight.
Direthorn spent most of the fight antagonizing one vampire spawn in the back corner of the shop. They have spiderclimbing ability and were able to climb up to the window right above the door. Afterwards, they proceeded to mess with this one spawn until it got bored of them (aka: Izek hit them with his hurl flame ability)
We had four critical failures:
Vasili accidentally stabbed Flopsy with his ridiculously powerful rapier.
Mangus lost his quarterstaff by throwing it across the room.
Nyra accidentally pierced Neracahne with one of her arrows.
Abrascus accidentally strikes Adelaide with his greataxe, which leads to major consequences.
After Abrascus hits Adelaide with his greataxe, she looks so angry as she tries to cast a spell on him with little success. However, Escher also saw what happened, and he then cast the same spell on Abrascus, which did success. Abrascus ended up going unconscious because of seeing horrific images.
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After the fight was over, Henrik was under arrest. Henrik was terrified and constantly tried to say that he was innocent and was framed. Izek did let the party briefly talk to him, but that ended up being inconclusive. Henrik said he couldn’t say the name of the person that made him do it. Aloud, Flopsy simply said, “It was daddy,” which made everyone very uncomfortable. Again. Henrik was crying out that he was innocent as he was being dragged out of the shop. Vasili left shortly after.
Because the investigation was a success, the adventurers are all considered “guests of honor” during the Festival of the Blazing Sun. What this means for them is that food expenses are all paid for during the festival, and they’re allowed to spend the festival with the baron at his table whenever they wish to.
Ismark arrived with Rudy during the aftermath. One of the vampire spawn was burnt to a crisp by Izek, and Rudy proceeded to decapitate the body. After this, Rudy looked at everyone in confusion, claiming that they needed to decapitate the corpses and then burn the bodies in order for them to die. Flopsy looked confused and told him about how he killed Doru. Even though Doru’s head was bashed in, Rudy tells Flopsy that because he wasn’t decapitated, then he’s technically still active and can eventually regenerate from that.
Rudy is dumbfounded by the party’s lack of knowledge, until he realizes that they’re not really from here. He explains to them that because Barovia is run by a vampire, then vampires that live here are stronger than vampires that would typically be found in the Material Plane. So, it takes more effort to kill them. However, after seeing that Flopsy has Van Richten’s Guide to Vampires, he seems really disappointed that he doesn’t know more about vampires. That is, until he’s given the book and sees that many pages on how to kill vampires are missing. Flopsy tells him that he’d gotten the book like this from Vasili.
When Abrascus wakes up, he’s suffering from an effect of longterm madness, experiencing tremors and feeling shaken up. Rudy quickly takes care of it before it gets too out of hand, and he and Ismark work together to heal the adventurers. When Rudy does this, he holds onto his pan flute while Ismark plays his balalaika to cast his healing spells.
More Content Warnings: Misgendering, trans pregnancy mentioned
Before resting…
Abrascus ended up staying behind at the coffin shop to sleep in one of the coffins. Rudy took exception to this, and he told Flopsy to place a holy symbol on top of the coffin. Just in case. Ismark stays the night with Rudy when they all part ways.
When the rest of the adventurers return to the manor, Flopsy goes inside and can hear Adelaide crying while Escher is tending to the wound caused by Abrascus’ greataxe. She’s devastated that someone she thought was her friend would hurt her like that. Escher tries to assure that things like that happen sometimes, but he will do anything to defend her. Adelaide then asks him, “Is Father going to do something to him?” His answer to her is to not worry about that, for that’s his business.
Flopsy soon makes his presence known, or rather, Escher begins to notice him. He stops talking with Adelaide, and she decides to go see what the girls are up to at the guest house. This leaves Flopsy to continue the conversation he had with Escher earlier that day.
Flopsy insists that Escher needs to tell him who his host was so that he could become a vampire too. Escher refuses to give the name, for it’s too dangerous, but Flopsy can conclude that Strahd is Escher’s host. To challenge that, Flopsy asks, “What if I ask her other dad?” That makes Escher go from deflective to immediate defensive, now that he knows how much Flopsy heard. It’s then that he tells Flopsy that Adelaide having two fathers was supposed to be kept a secret. Escher is transgender, and he left his old life to escape a forced marriage. How that led to him being in Barovia and being one of Strahd’s consorts is unknown.
Escher makes a promise to Flopsy. If he were to tell anyone that Escher was a vampire and that Adelaide is a dhampir, he would know that it was Flopsy that did it. Essentially, he was going to kill him if he told.
Direthorn, Nyra, and Neracahne all go back to the guest house when everything was cleaned up. Some time later is when Adelaide comes over to see them for comfort. They all decide to have a girls’ night where they drink wine and get to know each other. Adelaide quickly starts getting tipsy, and Neracahne and Direthorn immediately pounce on that as a way to get information out of her. They ask her about her papa, and she tells them that he had raised her mostly on his own and that she’s her favorite person. They then ask about her mom. She seems confused, and after some explaining, she tells them, “I don’t have a mom.” They ask if she’s adopted, but that also needs to be explained to her. She says no, and then she explains how Escher came out to her when she was a child.
Even though Escher had said that her body is similar to hers, that doesn’t change the fact that he is a man. Even if he gave birth to her, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s her father. She’s very adamant about that, but she’s relieved that Neracahne and Direthorn respect that. The conversation gets a little more personal when they start asking about who her other dad is. They’d noticed that when she laughed, Adelaide had fangs. She gets scared when trying to explain herself, and it eventually comes out that her other father is Strahd.
When Escher came to Barovia, he was with his party of adventurers in Vallaki. The way that Adelaide described their union was that it was… not exactly a conventional one. But in the end, they’d “married,” but before Escher could be turned, they found out that he was pregnant with Adelaide. They had to wait until after she was born, or else risk her dying in the process. Escher had almost died when she was born, but Adelaide perceives that her papa turning into a vampire saved him. She also tells them that although Strahd hasn’t really been in her life during her childhood, she knows that he cares about her.
She begs them not to tell and makes them promise. Even though they promised her that they wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, Adelaide knows that people will kill her if they find out. They will also kill Escher, and even though it seems like she knows a lot of people hate Strahd, she doesn’t want him to get killed, either. She soon relaxes once she’s reassured, and they’re all able to open up about their personal lives and experiences.
Direthorn talks about being orphaned and running away from the orphanage at thirteen. They’d been alone for the longest time, after they’d lost their best friend. That makes Adelaide feel a little sad as she expresses her sympathy. Neracahne then talks about how she ran away from an arranged marriage. As she’s explaining her story, Adelaide perks up. She exclaims, “That sounds a lot like my papa!”
She then tells Escher’s story to them, or at least, what she knows of it. Escher was a student at a wizarding school before he came out, and he excelled in his studies. Something happened, however, that made him earn his teachers’ ire. He had crafted his very own spell, which was the spell demonstrated at the coffin shop against Abrascus. In response, the teachers lambasted him and told him to stick to his studies. Escher was angered by this and felt like he was being held back.
That story felt so familiar to Neracahne. She’s heard something similar to this in the past.
Adelaide continues the story. After Escher dropped out of school and took up apprenticeship with a necromancer, he started his transition. It was shortly after this that Escher was forced into a marriage. She didn’t quite remember the name of his husband. “...Reginald?” It was their wedding night that Escher used his spell against someone for the very first time. After his husband was knocked unconscious, Escher escaped and became an adventurer.
Now this was too familiar to Neracahne. It’s then that she remembers a story that she overheard when walking through town one day. That person’s name wasn’t Reginald. It was Roland, who was a middle-aged elf that was a well-respected noble. He’d just stepped out of a chapel holding his head. Different people asked what happened to him, and he started talking about his wedding that was roughly a week earlier. He took a young wife and thought that the union was a success. But then, “that crazy bitch stabbed me in the shoulder,” and she then had cast a spell on him that made him go crazy. She then disappeared without a trace.
It’s then that recognition spread across Neracahne’s face. She realizes in that moment that her old friend is Escher.
After the revelation, the night between the girls continues as normal until they all fall asleep together.
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There’s one unfortunate problem that night. Mangus was left alone to wander. He didn’t know where to meet everyone, so he ended up in the dark manor while everyone else was at the guest house. Not a single light was on inside the manor, except for in the closed off study. He checks the door and sees that it’s locked, annoyed that he didn’t have any thieves’ tools on him to try and break in. He doesn’t dwell on that thought for long. When he realizes that whoever’s in there is coming out, he hurries to hide so that he’s not noticed.
From his hiding spot, he can hear Vasili walking out of the study, lightly beating something against his hand. He didn’t see what it was, but it was something with a bit of weight to it. Mangus then hears Vasili go back into the room and douse the fire before leaving it with the door locked shut behind him. In the pitch black manor, Mangus hears Vasili walk up the stairs. Mangus tries to go back towards the study to check the door, but in the process, he hears Vasili call, “I know you’re down there.”
Vasili then walks down the stairs in the pitch black manor, appearing to navigate fine despite being a human. Mangus is a little perplexed and tells him that he was trying to find the others, to which Vasili laughs and tells him that he’s in the completely wrong build. But Vasili does offer to take him back to the guest house.
On the way there, Vasili engages in small talk with Mangus in the dark. He asks about Adelaide, but Mangus can’t seem to get his words out. During his fumbling, Vasili asks Mangus to look at him. It’s here that suddenly Mangus finds himself to be charmed. He sees Vasili as a trusted friend to be protected. He can tell him anything, so he does. He’s able to get his words out that he’s interested in Adelaide in a romantic sense, but he’s still trying to process his feelings. It’s what Vasili says that causes the air around them to still.
“You better be careful with that. You do not want to get on Escher’s bad side. Or mine.”
It’s then that Mangus let’s Vasili bite him, revealing himself to be a vampire. After a considerable amount of damage, he says this to Mangus:
“You will not speak of what happened here, you will not tell anyone I spoke with you, and, if I can help it, you will not remember what happened here.”
Flopsy soon comes to the door to the guest house after they’re done, and Vasili briefly engages in pleasantries before going back to the manor. Flopsy drags Mangus into bed to sleep, and from the other room it sounds a little bit awkward. But the session ends there, as the adventurers take their rest.
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acdeaky · 4 years
Text
bad liar | III
warning: angst, little bit of fluff, strong language
note: there is a part at the beginning about star wars, but even if you’ve never seen it, please don’t skip it bc it’s important to the story! thanks and enjoy :))
word count: 1.4k
black lives matter
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“so you’re telling me that you’ve never watched star wars?”
“no, i haven’t,” ben laughed, watching as you face turned from excitement to completely shock. “why’s it such a big deal?”
“why’s it such a big deal? star wars has given us, like, four cultural resets in the past 50 years, and is just an amazing film series.” you argued as you got up off of the sofa, heading towards ben’s kitchen to grab a bag of popcorn.
“four cultural resets? really? that many?” he teased, turning his body to the side to watch you over the back of the sofa.
“yes, ben, that many. there’s the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, the sequel trilogy and the mandalorian.”
“the mandalorian?”
“the mandalorian,” you sighed, sitting back down next to ben while grabbing the remote. he took the bowl of popcorn from off your lap and into his as you found disney plus. “you know, the one with pedro pascal? that series?”
“oh, yeh,” came his muffled reply. “i think i remember hearing about it.”
“well, you won’t be able to watch it until after return of the jedi.” was all you said as you found the phantom menace and pressed play.
“and which trilogy is that in?”
“the original.”
“so i won’t have to wait too long to watch it.” only if he knew.
“yeh, you do,” you giggle, turning to face him completely as his face dropped. “it’s the original trilogy, but we’re watching them in chronological order of the story.”
“so how many films is there between the beginning and the mandalorian?”
“about eight.”
“eight?” ben asked in disbelief, watching your face for any tell-tale signs of you lying.
“yeh, eight. there’s the prequel and the original triology and then there’s solo and rogue one.”
“i cannot believe i agreed to this.” he huffed, completely leaning back into the cushions of the sofa.
“but you did, so let’s go.” just as you said that, the iconic orchestral piece of the star wars theme played through the speakers. you leaned back and moved slightly closer to ben, moving so you were comfortable before grabbing a handful of popcorn.
without you knowing, ben watched you as the credits rolled, seeing your eyes flick over the written synopsis of the movie like you haven’t seen it hundreds of times. he smiled subconsciously, his brain choosing that now would be the best time for his heart to thud against his chest and send a light blush up his neck and cheeks.
seeing you here and like this, in your element, was something ben loved. god, he would do anything, watch anything, listen to anything, if it meant that he would be with you and it would make you happy.
without realising, ben was falling in love with you, but he never knew that he would have a chance.
***
it wasn’t the pounding on the door that scared you, nor was it the coolness of the floor beneath you, but the reminder of last night. the tears, the sobs, more like. ben showing up unannounced. the emotion, the overwhelming nature of the situation. the half eaten tub of ice cream. the TV.
the TV.
surely enough, it was still playing in the near distance, but that wasn’t the biggest thought inside your mind as a second knock brought you back to the wooden floor beneath you.
you used the wall to help you up, looking at the mirror hanging on the wall to check how awful you looked; at least nothing was fresh, except for the pain.
just as the person on the other side rised their knuckle to rap against the door again, you clicked the lock, opening the door to be greeted by a hand in your face.
“oh, gosh, i’m sorry, miss. here’s your parcel.” right. the parcel you ordered yesterday as a ‘feeling sorry for yourself’ purchase. as you took the box out of the person’s hands and signed the tablet, shutting the door before they had even turned away, you felt shitter than you did when you woke up.
just the thought of what was in the box brought back last night and everything about it. but as you threw it onto your sofa with little care, it reminded you of one of the good nights. a good night with ben. the day you invited yourself over to his and forced him to watch every single star wars film, which was also the day you realised you were falling in love with him.
all that was in the box was a stupid figurine of ben’s favourite character (one you had (sub)consciously choosen to buy) and you couldn’t find it in yourself to open it. you couldn’t find it in yourself to open the box and be reminded of a time when things weren’t complicated. a time when your feelings were submerged by other things.
a time when you were certain with yourself and your feelings that you let your heart control everything.
but none of that mattered now. you ignored the glares you felt from the box, leaving it be where it landed. you switched off the TV, threw away the ice cream (tub and all) and decided the best thing to do to shower.
yes; a nice, warm shower would wash away the bad night. well, it would wash away the tears, the sweat and, hopefully, the backache from sleeping on the floor all night.
the first thing you noticed (after your shower) was your phone was dead. what you dreaded the most was the many missed calls and texts from ben, or anyone, which you would inevitably have to reply to. you found there was a few: a couple of texts saying sorry, a few voicemails which you debated listening to; you weren’t sure if you could handle another heartbreak.
so you didn’t. you left them unopened, as you did the texts, and got dressed, throwing on whatever felt the most comfy for another day of wallowing in self-pity.
you debated calling joe, or gwil, just to have someone to talk to about all this. but you decided against it, not wanting to pull other people into the breaking of two hearts. it didn’t matter to then. well, not personally anyway, but both joe and gwil would have been there for you, and for ben, if you had let them.
but you didn’t, and that’s how it stayed. you opened a new tub of ice cream (only after eating something that would be classed as a meal) and sat in the same position as the night before, the same crappy TV playing in front of you.
you were about three episodes in when the phone began to ring. you didn’t even bother looking at the caller-ID, knowing that you would just be ignoring them anyway. the phone completed it’s ring before the automated voicemail began to speak. when it beeped, you paused the TV.
“hi, Y/N, it’s me, ben. i’m guessing you didn’t answering because you saw it was me... or your phone’s dead... or you just aren’t answering any calls - which is understandable. i just wanted to apologise for last night; me coming over was stupid and greedy and selfish, but i had to see you. i had to see if you were hurting as much as i was when you ended this ‘relationship’.
“i’m sorry i put you under so much pressure, but i hoped that if you felt that way, that you’d talk to me... obviously i was wrong. and i want to apologise for everything: the relationship, the press, the unwanted feelings; i felt them, too. hell, i’ve felt a lot of things for you over the past few months, but i’ve been too afraid to say anything. and yet, here i am, pouring my heart out on voicemail.
“god, you’re probably not even gonna listen to this. your phone’s probably in your room on silent while you watch crappy TV and eat your weight in ice cream. which is fine, i’d do the same if i was with you. but i’m not with you, and that’s the hardest part. if, by some chance you’re hearing this, please pick up. i want to make things right, i want to tell you things i’ve been wanting to say for months, i want to-”
“hello? ben?” you picked up to silence. as soon as you answered, ben stood still, thinking this wasn’t going to happen, that you wouldn’t have answered.
but you did.
“ben? you okay?”
“i-”
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plumwordies · 4 years
Text
hello, everyone. i’ve been mulling over this piece for a while now. guess i finally put the time to write it down and hurt myself in the process lmao. this was originally supposed to be a readerxbakugou smut piece, but i got carried away (extremely) and ended up writing a whole angsty backstory to it inspired by the latest bnha chaps. what do you think? should i continue writing?
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BURN
PART ONE
Dust.
The word was a relentless thrumming inside Bakugou’s head. He scrubbed some shampoo on his hair until it lathered, some of the substance pouring down his face. In front of him, the shower head was left open, steaming hot water raining down the cold tiles below.
When is the end?
Bakugou leaned his arm to the wall, the water from the shower falling down his body in cascades. His breathing was rough, each exhale emitting a puff of steam inside his small shower. Their small shower.
He thought about his mentors. Best Jeanist was missing. Hawks is wanted after escaping from his imprisonment sentence. Word around says he conspired with the League of Villains — now called the The Paranormal Liberation Front. Eraser Head is confined at the hospital in a comatose state, brought by an intense fight with Shigaraki Tomura, and Endeavor —
Bakugou stopped that train of thought. He turned his head down, teeth gritting hard. The villains were worthless, the whole lot of them. Probably thought everything was just a game. Lives lost, a fun activity. Cities damaged, people drowning in poverty — an entertaining past time. It’s been five months from the devastation already, and Bakugou couldn’t count the amount of heroes found dead. Murdered on the streets by villains or even the angry citizens of Mustafa. Gone were the days of systematic governance and disciplined living. Now, it was a hellhole. The rules were simple: it was a survival game of the fittest.
He guessed Endeavor wasn’t the fittest after all.
The day the number one hero fell was as clear in Bakugou’s mind like it just happened yesterday. Five months ago, him and Deku rushed to the disaster scene like the dumb fucks they were, and ended up being pushed away by Gran Torino.
“Run away, you fools!” Gran Torino yelled.
Little did they know, those would be his last words. Five months later, and his body still hasn’t been found.
Eraser Head rushed to the scene and engaged in an intense battle with Shigaraki Tomura. From the sidelines, Bakugou could do nothing but watch as his teacher fell to the ground from a strong blow by the monster. He fell so hard that the ground beneath him cracked. Bakugou never saw him breathe, and despite the hot anger that was building up in his core, the cold feeling in his hands were evident.
Still, he didn’t stop staring at staring at Eraser Head’s chest. No movement.
“Kacchan, we have to go.” It was Deku, pulling him away. This was unlike him. Deku was usually the type of person to act idiotic and go rogue, but it seems like Gran Torino’s words got to him. They must know something Bakugou didn’t. He saw Deku’s eyes tearing up from the sight of their teacher, yet he still wanted to flee?
Coward.
“Fuck off.” Bakugou violently shrugged his hand off before heading towards their teacher. Suddenly, Shigaraki Tomura landed on Eraser Head’s stomach, giving one final kick to his face. Bakugou saw their teacher’s head jerk to the side, seemingly lifeless.
Deku’s screaming in the background was nothing more than a whisper to Bakugou’s ears as he ran towards Shigaraki Tomura, seeing red. His mouth opened, letting out an angry shout as all the events rushed back to him: the kidnapping, the Nomus —
All Might.
Bakugou lunged for Shigaraki Tomura, right arm pulled pack and poised for a strong explosive blow. The latter merely stared up at him, face morphing into his signature smile.
And then it came.
Numbness. Pure, undiluted numbness, like a part of Bakugou’s body was submerged in deep water — and then nothing.
Pain.
An onslaught of white-hot searing pain wrenched over his body, literally ripping and cracking him apart. It came too fast that Bakugou couldn’t even make a sound. He only stared wide-eyed at his opponent’s face, the last thing he would see before the void.
“When I come back, everything turns to dust. It ends then.” Those were Shigaraki’s final words.
It ends then. It ends now.
This —
Bakugou remembered thinking.
— is Decay.
PART TWO
Bakugou woke up a few hours later in an abandoned building. He was propped up on the coarse wall, sitting. His body was so heavy, and somehow his eyesight was worse. Squinting, he made out a figure — Deku — sitting squat on the ground, facing the opposite way.
“Oi.” Bakugou grunted. He noticed the weakling’s shouders were shaking. “Are you deaf or something? Oi, Deku!” He kicked him in the back, forcing him to look his way.
“What the hell happened?” Bakugou groaned. Speaking hurt him so bad.
Deku’s lower lip quivered, not replying. It took all Bakugou had not to punch him. He was about to shout again at him when the latter spoke in a whisper.
“I’m sorry.”
It was so soft that it was hard to catch.

“What are you on about?” Bakugou began. He saw Deku hitch his breath. “Sorry about what?” He shouted, making him flinch.
“Your arm, Kacchan. Your arm—“ Deku was crying so much that snot and saliva were dribbling down his chin. He scrambled to his knees and put his forehead to the ground.
“I’m so sorry.”
Bakugou then realized he couldn’t feel his arm — the right one, to be exact. He had just dismissed it earlier when he woke up, because his whole body was hurting so bad there wasn’t much distinction. A hollow, tingling feeling was running from his shoulder onwards.
With a sharp intake of breath, he looked down.
It was gone. His arm was gone. Nothing left but a rotten, cracking dry stump.
In all of his existence, Bakugou never doubted his quirk. It helped him immensely. It was strong, and its raw power gave him the comfort he needed as a young boy. It told him what he had was something the world needed.
But for Bakugou’s quirk to work, arms were required. Looks like the world will have to make do with just one.
Bakugou leaned his head on the wall behind him, looking up at the grey cement roof of the building. He didn’t breathe. Breathing felt too much like living.
“After you rushed over to Shigaraki, I used my quirk to get you out of the way.” It was Deku. He stuttered along his sentences. “It wasn’t enough. I’m so sorry. It wasn’t enough.”
“How bad is it?” Deku looked up and saw Bakugou staring down at him. An extended silence passed between them.
Why didn’t it end then?
“I couldn’t stop it... before it reached your face.”
Maybe it could still end now.
With Deku’s statement, Bakugou collapsed to the ground, slowly breathing again. Wisps of dust floated around him as he grinned, staring at the blank cement roof. He thought he was crying, but he felt no wetness down his cheeks. Maybe the decay got to his eyes and he couldn’t cry anymore. Maybe he was, deep inside, but who knows.
So he laughed.
Bakugou laughed while Deku screamed. Laughed as his friend stood up screaming, flailing and kicking rocks around them as he wailed like the crybaby he was. A piece of rubble flew and hit Bakugou in the face.
That’s what they were now: pieces of rubble in this crumbling society.
PART THREE
Bakugou turned the shower faucet until the water slowly dissipated, leaving arrhythmic drips on the floor and the occasional wisp of steam due to the heat. He stepped out of the wet floor, grabbed his towel and hung it around his waist with difficulty. He walked to the mirror, sliding his palm over it to remove the fog.
His image stared back at him, disoriented. The mirror they had was cheap but it was the only one they could afford. Nevertheless, it still served its purpose. Bakugou picked up his toothbrush and laid it on the sink, squeezing some toothpaste on it. He ran it under water and started brushing his teeth.
He was evidently getting skinnier as the days passed. The huge scar on the right sight of his face was turning an ugly grey color, and he was now half blind. His hair was a bit longer and quite dead, and of course the absence of his right arm brought an odd feeling to his body. A phantom limb.
He spit froth on the sink. He was past the stage of wishing it grew back now.
After him and Deku left the building five months ago, they passed by a local convenience store that played live news on their old television. A bunch of people were gathered around it, a nervous chatter among them. He remembered Deku who stopped in his tracks, eyes wide at the broadcast.
“It’s Endeavor!” He shouted. Bakugou looked over his shoulder and saw that it was, indeed, Endeavor. But he was in bad shape.
“Citizens of Mustafa, as of now you can see our number one hero fighting it out with the head of the League of Villains!” The announcer spoke. “He is in critical condition — numerous injuries can be seen in his body and his movements have been slowing down since earlier, but we still hold high hope for our new symbol of peace! Everyone, let’s support him!”
The people around them had mixed emotions. Some were cheering and some were muttering. Bakugou couldn’t help but frown as he stared at the ongoing fight. It was hard to believe that he was the one there earlier, almost dead. He saw Endeavor avoiding a fatal blow from Shigaraki Tomura, and furrowed his eyebrows.
Don’t make the same mistake I did.
The fight went on for a long time, and things weren’t looking good for the hero. Bakugou knew that if he looked at Deku right now the green-haired boy would be standing rigid, chest taut, and fists clenched. His eyes would be shining with hope.
The same hope that Bakugou still holds stupidly.
As always, death comes at an unexpected time. Bakugou knew that firsthand. He knew, yet couldn’t predict it. Nobody in the city could. That’s what made the system so fragile, so easy to break at any given moment.
All it took was a rock.
As Endeavor stepped back, ready to deliver another strong blow, he stepped on a particularly odd shaped rock and threw off his balance. With baited breath, Bakugou saw his own self in the number one hero, who held pride in their own self and quirk, get snuffed out by the waiting hands of injustice.
Bakugou and Deku were stuck on their feet. They weren’t the only ones. Everyone in the whole city were probably the same at that moment — standing, dreaming —
Hoping.
Shigaraki Tomura smiled, and grabbed Endeavor by the wrist.
Bakugou could feel exactly what the number one hero felt at that moment. As he stilled, not able to do anything but watch as decay ran in a current from his arms, to his shoulders, to his throat, and to his head.
In just a second, Shigaraki Tomura managed to destroy a whole nation.
PART FOUR
A few minutes after the broadcast shut down suddenly, the news switched to a live press conference. All Might was there in the center, holding a microphone. Numerous journalists were around the room, clicks and flashes of their cameras in a frenzy.
“We declare a nationwide surrender.” He began. “The villains have managed to dominate the heroes in such a short amount of time, and with the fall of our current number one hero—“ His voice cracked. “We cannot ensure that the heroes have the capability to ensure safety of the citizens. We don’t know what they are planning, or what they will do next.”
An onslaught of questions were shouted in his way, but he held up a hand to them, silencing the room immediately.
“All we are asking for is for the people to fend for themselves momentarily until the heroes can establish a new system to follow. That’s all. Thank you.” The statement was so absurd, so stupid that it left more questions than answers. The whole room erupted in chaos, but All Might calmly put the microphone down on the podium, and walked out.
Two symbols of hope down in one day.
This was it? Was this what Bakugou’s whole life led to? War?
Bakugou eyed Deku who was right beside him. His head was hung down, and no emotion could be deduced on his face. He just saw All Might — his god, his father figure, and his mentor, selling all of them to the villains like pig meat and running away.
It ends then.
By the time the tears fell from Deku’s eyes, Bakugou was gone.
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h-e-l-l-b-r-o-k-e · 4 years
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In So Deep [B.H. x you]
Series: part 2 of Without a Doubt
Summary: It’s Halloween, yet old wounds are peeled open.
Inspiration: What About Love by 'Til Tuesday
Word Count: 1721 Warnings: profanity.
Written Date: 11/20-22/2019 Posted Date: 11/27/2019
Parts: [1] [2] [3] [4] [MASTERLIST]
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Every teenager in town could only be found at one place on this special night of the year, and that was at Tina’s dazzling abode where being “sheet-faced” is an absolute right to its underage attendees. That year’s Top 40s hits raged through her father’s beloved speakers while the spiked punch was made from her mother’s not-so-secret stash. Yet, Tina, who surprisingly got along with everybody, was nowhere to be found.
“She’s upstairs boning her second college honey,” Samantha closed her compact mirror with a click after checking on her Siouxsie Sioux styled make-up. “It’s like slutty witchcraft or something. I’m kind of jealous.”
“Way to go, Tina,” Y/n, dressed as a less revealing Mistress of the Dark, replied sarcastically. She didn’t even want to be at this stupid party, but Samantha, yet again, had somehow managed to drag her along.
Concerned, Samantha crossed her fish-net covered arms beneath her chest. “Hey, come on, now. None of that debbie downer crap, it’s Halloween.”
And it clearly was. Nearly everyone was donning at least some resemblance of a costume even if most were half-assed. A couple fake spiderwebs occupied the corners of the living room and white streamers hung down from the ceiling. It was minimal effort, but it didn’t matter once heavy liquor coursed through everyone’s veins and clouded their vision. Many were only here for two things: free booze and a hookup.
“I’m gonna go get us some drinks, loosen ourselves up a bit.” Samantha laughed as a thought popped up in her head, “Who knows, maybe one of us will get lucky with one of ‘em college boys.” And, she walked off chuckling to herself, leaving Y/n to stand by herself beside the banister.
Among the dense crowd of familiar and not-so-familiar people, and in-between drinking and basking in the presence of their respective company, two men have had their eyes on the unassuming girl from opposite ends of the house.
Billy Hargrove took turns chugging kegs in the backyard and making rounds inside the house so no one would forget who the new crowned kings was. This routine he established was ordinary; no one would suspect that the grin that would creep up his lips were because of the thought and sight of one girl in black. Even on a night like Halloween, Y/n was a fly among white china.
He has yet to see her tense muscles flail around the makeshift dance-floor without a care. At least she wasn’t glued to a window this time, though a railing that leads up to the less than innocent affairs wasn’t any better.
And then there was Steve Harrington whose sunglasses obscured the obvious staring from his end. He kept a close eye on Billy, whenever he got too close to Y/n for his comfort, making sure he wasn’t shoving some drink into her hand or getting her to venture up the stairs with him. But, then, his eyes would land on her and he’d stop what he was doing.
Guilt would wash over him like a bucket of cold water, and he’d stay like that until Nancy would either drag him out to dance when one o her favorite pop songs came on or sucker him in some conversation about college apps or the party. He couldn’t immerse himself into any of his girlfriend’s topics for he was a guy on a mission.
When Nancy went to get herself something to drink, Steve once again found himself looking across the room at the spot Y/n had been occupying for the past half hour but Samantha was nowhere to be found. This was all almost too good to be true.
Steve had promised himself that he’d just warn his ex-girlfriend about the son of a bitch and then back off. That’s it.
And before his mind could even second guess itself, his long legs strolled over to her on autopilot. Steve never thought he’d ever see Y/n in this light again, but the nostalgic sensation is over too soon when painted eyes land on him.
“What the fuck do you want?”
The sunglasses slid down the tip of his nose as he gazed down at her, and his fingers reached to pluck them off and hook a leg over the crew of his T-shirt. He was an idiot for not expecting Y/n’s hostility, but he tried anyways. “It’s been a while.”
A veil of wariness tightened around her features as she searched around the setting of the party for Carol’s smirking face, Tommy’s obviously feigned oblivion or others glancing over their shoulders, watching this screwed up encounter but she couldn’t even spot one of Nancy’s glossy brunette strands in the pack.
“What are you suppose to be? A vampire?”
Her eyes cut back to him as if he’s a carrot on a chopping block, narrowing down on his moving lips.
Steve sighed, “I guess there’s no beating around the bush, huh?”
The threat wasn’t anyone else, Y/n observed, but Steve. He has gone rogue.
“There’s something I should tell you…” her eyebrows knitted together as the boy she wished to never speak to again spoke, “How do I even go about this?”
“Easy. Don’t,” the wooden banister had begun to dig into her spine, “Ignore whatever thought is snaking through your head like you did with everything else.”
Samantha’s saving grace was nowhere to be found and everyone was either too high on coke or too drunk from too many shots to notice this tension between the once “it” couple of Hawkins. It was as if nothing had changed, as if she was still sixteen wearing corduroy skirts. This only made the suffocation worse.
Steve’s always been stubborn, and if it wasn’t for his longer hair Y/n would have been hook, line, and sinker back to those intimate moments of the past.  “Look—”
“I don’t want to hear it, Steve!” thousands of phantom pins pricked her nerves, “If it’s some bullshit from a year ago—”
“Okay. Okay,” Steve ran his fingers through his voluminous locks, “I get it. The past is in the past, but…”
As he peered into her eyes, time became nonlinear even though she no longer resembled the soft girl who’d be wrapped under his arms. His dimension warped, transcending back to 1982 when most of what he knew was her. But, Y/n wasn’t caressed nor suckled in by these old sensations. She was over the effects they had had on her, but to Steve, they were now almost pined for.
He blinked a couple times and took her silence as a means to continue. “There’s this guy. I think he has a thing for you; he had that band, you know, the one you’d sometimes play in my car, written on his hand,” Steve swallows the saliva on his tongue, “Billy’s not good news.”
“Billy?” Y/n asked incredulously. “The new kid? The guy who struts down the halls like he owns them like..like you once did?” Y/n scoffed, “You’re just playing me.”
“This isn’t a joke,” the desperation that laced his words tasted bitter, “Y/n, I just don’t want to see you hurt…”
“What? You mean—” she held back a sob and shook her head “—you mean, like you hurt me?”
Nothing else existed during this meeting between old lovers, only emotions that have been deeply suppressed under forced blindness and deafness. Like lava bursting out of a volcano, old emotions crumbled through the walls Y/n had spent months building around herself. She was pissed. Beyond pissed that Steve still had the power to make her cry.
But, then a soft whisper broke through the smothering music, swishing through her crumbling dam. “I never thought it was bullshit, Y/n,” his fist were kept clenched by his sides, oppressing their natural instinct to wipe away her tears, “even when I was acting like a dick, it’s not bullshit.”
Steve then realized he hadn’t done what he told himself he’d do—warn her, then go back to a thoughtless night with Nancy. His sneakers were glued onto the floor before Y/n and a part of him needed to know how this thing with the girl he had soiled would end. He was tipsy under Y/n’s teary gaze, though he had yet to enjoy a sip of alcohol, hoping for some deeper reconciliation between the two of them. Perhaps, involving the innocent molding of lips. However, he knew he’d be ashamed tomorrow if he did the same thing to Nancy tonight that he had once done to Y/n.
Y/n sniffled. “Go back to Nancy, Steve.”
Steve watched her go. Watched as she ran away before the cracks of her makeshift wall could lead to a bigger spill. Cutting and shoving through people who stared after her either in confusion or annoyance, Y/n didn’t care. She was alone in a house full of people she had grown up with in this town, and Samantha never came back to her with the drinks she had promised.
A beer can held up near his lips, Billy caught the pain on your features as you ran past him and out Tina’s front door. He didn’t know what was going on, but he soon found himself following Y/n’s tracks.
A/N: And then of course, the moment you walked away from Steve was followed by the scene in which drunk Nancy confesses that their relationship is bullshit, but hey, things will be looking up for you! ANYWAYS, there’s for sure gonna be another part to this. I had to stop here because I didn’t want this to be too long.
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Psycho Analysis: The Rogues Gallery of the Powerpuff Girls
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(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)
There are few rogues galleries I hold in higher esteem than that of the Powerpuff Girls. Aside from Spider-Man, Batman, and Danny Phantom, there are few heroes who can claim to have a more colorful and creative set of foes than the crimefighting superheroines of the city of Townsville. Previously I’ve talked about their archenemy, the wonderfully devilish Mojo Jojo, but they have a lot of other great villains worth talking about… so, why not just talk about all of them at once?
This one’s gonna be a little different, and will be divided into two sections: MAJOR ANTAGONISTS and MINOR ANTAGONISTS. Major antagonists will be villains that the girls fought most frequently, while minor antagonists will be notable one shot villains and lesser foes.
MAJOR ANTAGONISTS
These are the foes that the girls face most frequently in the series, and the ones that will likely come to mind when you think of the show’s rogues gallery. Aside from Mojo Jojo, and according to TVTropes, the major antagonists from the series are Him, Fuzzy Lumpkins, the Gangreen Gang, Princess Morbucks, the Amoeba Boys, Sedusa, and the Rowdyruff Boys.
Motivation/Goals: The major antagonists all tend to vary in what exactly they want to do, but they all have one thing in common: their motivations are broad enough that they can fit into a wide variety of plots. Him is the best example, because his goal tends to be a vague mix of “take over the city/world” and “be an absolute dick,” which leads to all sorts of battles such as the bad future where he rules the Earth or the episode where he sends the girls out on a series of ridiculous riddles as part of a bet with Professor Utonium to see if he has to pay his full tab at Him’s pancake restaurant. Considering Him is supposed to be a stand in for Satan himself and is the ultimate evil of the show (even if his power level doesn’t always reflect that), it makes sense he’d constantly be doing crazy, tricky schemes like this.
Of course, not all of these villains are massive threats like Him; others are simply nuisances, like the Gangreen Gang, who just love going out and committing crimes for the fun of it in between their leader Ace moonlighting as a member of the Gorillaz. While they are still dangerous, they tend to be motivated to do things just because they find it amusing, like when they snuck into the mayor’s office and crank called the girls into repeatedly harassing the other villains. Then there’s Princess, who is basically just a snotty superpowered bully who decided to turn to a life of crime because the girls wouldn’t let her become a Powerpuff Girl. She’s motivated entirely out of jealousy and spite, but she never really rises to the level of a truly world-threatening threat, though she did almost screw up Christmas one time to the point Santa decided to slap her on the permanent Naughty List. The final major antagonist who falls into this category is Sedusa, who true to her name, seduces men. That’s… about it. She also has prehensile hair.
The Rowdyruff Boys are kind of a mix of being super serious dangers and just being jerks, as they were created by Mojo to be the opposite of the girls and so have all of their powers but none of their good qualities aside from maybe their love for each other (which they rarely show, but it’s there). They’re mostly just jerks and love to cause chaos, but sicne they have all the same sort of abilities as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, they’re a lot more dangerous than the typical foe would be, and that’s not even counting the fact that their two “dads” are Him and Mojo, which means they have the cream of the crop when it comes to bad role models.
The last type of major villain is perhaps the funniest, because these are the villains who are just so bad at being evil that it’s comical. Fuzzy is a lighter example, as he’s not exactly bad at being evil; he’s just more not evil to begin with unless provoked or manipulated by other villains. He’s entirely content to just sit about at his shack, strumming his banjo, but if you piss him off he’s gonna grab his gun or a big old rock and cause some mayhem. The crown emperors of being failure villains, however, are the Amoeba Boys. These guys are the most utterly inept dumbasses you will ever see, a group so utterly bad at being bad that no one in the show is able to take them seriously. Since they are amoebas, albeit rather large ones, they don’t have the mental capacity to do much more than the most petty of crimes such as – GASP! - standing on grass when there’s a sign that says not to! Or even… LITTERING! Those fiends!
Performance: Tom Kane portrays Him, and alternately is able to make him hilarious and terrifying. It’s pretty amusing to think that the guy who played Professor Utonium and Mr. Herriman is capable of playing such a messed-up villain (ok, maybe not so much for the latter, Mr. Herriman was wack).
Fuzzy is portrayed by everyone’s favorite Trump supporting Pooh bear, Jim Cummings, and that good ol’ ragin’ Cajun accent he’d use in The Princess and the Frog and Zombie Island fits this southern hick quite well.
Ace, Big Billy, and Grubber of the Gangreen Gang are voiced by series MVP Jeff Bennet, who manages to make all three characters very distinct and unqiue in their voices, capturing the lovable oafishness of Billy and the smug leadership of Ace very well, and obviously whatever it is Grubber is doing. Lil’ Arturo and Snake are Tom Kenny, though the former was in his first appearance voiced by Carlos Alazraqui, which means twice now Tom Kenny has usurped Alazraqui in a voice role (the other time being the title character of the Spyro the Dragon franchise). Tom Kenny, being Tom Kenny, does a great job.
Princess and Sedusa are both voiced by Jennifer Hale, but I’m gonna be honest, neither of them are my favorite roles. Princess just has a really shrill and unpleasant voice - which is the point, mind you, I just don’t love it. Meanwhile, Sedusa is just forgettable.
The Amoeba Boys are Chuck McCann, and he gives all of them the exact sort of goofy, cartoonish Chicago gangster accent you could hope for, though each boy has a distinct voice. The other boy group, the Rowdyruffs, are voiced by Rob Paulsen for Brick and Boomer (the man behind the legend that is Carl Wheezer) and Butch is Roger L. Jackson (Mojo Jojo himself). As can be expected, the RRBs have very distinct voices, though I can’t say they’re quite as memorable as the characters they’re directly copying. 
Best Episode: So yeah, this time instead of individuals scenes, I’m highlighting the very best episodes of the various foes of the Girls. First, let’s get the obvious one out of the way: if we’re talking altogether for Him, Fuzzy, and Princess, their appearance alongside Mojo in “Meet the Beat Alls” is just utterly hilarious, ESPECIALLY Fuzzy’s rock, their breakup bickering, and just how they decide to come together and cause chaos. As far as villain teamups go, you can’t get better than one that is nothing but a constant string of Beatles references (though they lose some points for not drawing attention to the fact that Him is based on the Blue Meanie from Yellow Submarine).
Individually, for Him, it really depends on what you’re looking for, since he’s a very versatile villain. If you want him at his best and most serious, “Speed Demon” is the way to go, as it shows a bad future where he has completely won, which goes a long way towards establishing him as the single most dangerous enemy of the girls. But if you want funny Him, well, “Him Diddle Riddle” is an absolute riot which leads to one of the most shockingly ridiculous punchlines in the show. It’s a real treat.
For Fuzzy, I’d say his main series debut “Fuzzy Logic” is a great solo showing, firmly establishing the character and how he has changed from the initial pilot. Fuzzy is an amusing character to be sure, but I feel his best showings are in ensemble pieces, which is why I say his debut is his best work.
For the Gangreen Gang, the obvious answer is, of course, “Telephonies,” because this is them at their most hilariously petty. They just sneak into the mayor’s office and crank call the other villains, and in the end, the day is saved! ...By Mojo, Fuzzy, and Him. Even the narrator is baffled at this one, but you’ll probably be laughing too hard to care about that.
Princess gets one of the best Christmas specials ever with “’Twas the Fight Before Christmas,” where she scams Santa into giving her superpowers while every other kid in the world gets coal. Of course, the Girls don’t take this lying down, and Princess gets the most awesome comeuppance ever, courtesy of Santa: she gets her name carved into the Permanent Naughty Plaque which has such notable figures as Adolph Shicklgruber, who you may know better as fucking Hitler. That’s right, Santa came right out and said Princess Morbucks is as naughty as Hitler is.
The Amoeba Boys have their main series debut, “Geshundfight,” which does a firm job of establishing these guys as such utterly incompetent morons that you can’t help but love them. It also establishes that these guys could only ever be a threat by complete accident. It’s good to see the boys got better after the girls threw them into the sun in the “Whoopass Stew” pilot!
Sedusa has “Something’s a Ms.” While Sedusa herself tends to be a rather dull antagonist, this episode rules and is her best appearance for one reason and one reason alone: we get to see Ms. Bellum kick ass. Hell yeah!
“Custody Battle” is the best appearance of the Boys because, let’s face it, having Mojo and Him argue over who has the right to be called their dad (Mojo Created them, Him resurrected them) is absolutely hilarious, and a great use of the characters.
Final Thoughts & Score: Alright, let’s go one by one here:
Him
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Him is easily the best of the bunch and, aside from Mojo, is the definitive Powerpuff villain. I think part of it is, much like Mojo, Him is capable of being a hilarious jerk or a genuinely intimidating threat in equal measure. You get showings where all he does is try and make the Professor pay a full tab on his breakfast or give everyone tooth decay or even just hang out in his house and do some aerobics, and then you have episodes where he decimates the earth in the future or torments the girls in their dreams. He kind of really fits a lot of the old folkloric tales of the devil, where he could be anything from a prankster to outright malicious, for all it’s worth, and being based on the Blue Meanie certainly doesn’t hurt either. He’s just a very fun character who fits into so many different situations, and so he easily gets a 10/10.
Fuzzy Lumpkins
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Fuzzy is an odd one, because as I mentioned earlier, he’s not really a true villain in the sense that he goes out and commits crimes for the sake of it like the others. He’s more of a chaotic neutral force than anything, who goes on angry rampages or gets swayed over to the dark side whenever the mood suits him. It’s kind of interesting how he was a smarter and calmer character in the pilot, where he invented a gun that could turn things into meat… but in the show proper, he’s just a dumb, irritable hick. While he’s certainly not the best member of the rogues gallery, there’s something charming about Fuzzy, and I definitely love his design and voice; I think he gets a 7/10.
The Gangreen Gang
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These guys are some of the more enjoyable antagonists in the rogues gallery despite typically not being a huge threat. I think, really, that’s what makes them so fun; they’re a lot more low-key and just in general more prone to just being dicks than doing anything on the level of Him or Mojo. They’re the fun kind of villains where you don’t ever really need to take them seriously, to the point you can fully accept their leader Ace joining the Gorillaz, which is a thing that actually happened in real life and it’s amazing. I think that alone is enough to edge these guys into a 9/10.
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Princess Morbucks
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So out of all the major antagonists, I think Princess is probably my least favorite, mostly because she’s just a snotty, entitled, rich little brat. That being said, I’m not overly opposed to her, nor do I hate her; I really can’t hate a character that Santa Claus deemed is the moral equivalent of Hitler. I can’t stress enough how much I love Santa came right out and said “Rich lives don’t matter” and just slapped this little girl with the most grievous punishment you could give. Overall, Princess functions as a casual reminder rich people suck, and I’m okay with that, even if she’s not particularly high on my favorites. 7/10 is a solid score for her, I feel.
The Amoeba Boys
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Idiot villains wish they could be these guys. Literally, as far as idiotic harmless villains go, these lads are the absolute cream of the crop. The fact these are giant amoebas wearing fedoras and talking like stereotypical gangsters and yet are so incompetent they don’t even know how voodoo dolls work and think that littering and standing on grass is the greatest crime of all is just… amazing. These guys are perfect. And yet they are so incompetent and harmless that it’s almost unfair to call them villains, despite how desperately they want to be villains. The fact everyone in the show treats them as a mild annoyance at best really goes a long way to making these guys endearing. They’re certainly not the best foes in the rogues gallery, but I think an 8/10 is a good score for these single-celled suckers.
Sedusa
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I’m frankly not sure why she’s considered a “main antagonist” on TVTropes; when I think of PPG villains, she really doesn’t come to mind. Frankly, if she is a “main” antagonist, she’s one of the most boring and forgettable ones there is. Sure, she has a couple of decent episodes, and of course the one where Ms. Bellum gets her time to shine is a classic, but overall Sedusa is just a mediocre villain who doesn’t do enough to stand out among the crowd. I’d say she’s a 4/10. I think if they had gone with the concept from her third appearance where she had all those cool Egyptian powers from the start she would have been a far more engaging and fun antagonist. But hey, she gave Ms. Bellum her time to shine, so I can’t really say she’s all too abysmal.
The Rowdyruff Boys
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So… these guys. I’m not particularly sure what to really say about these guys. They’re some of the most popular antagonists the PPG have, and they have great interactions with Him and Mojo. But they’ve never quite struck me as being as amazing as others have hyped them up to be. Maybe I just don’t quite vibe with their concept. All that being said, though, they’re not bad antagonists in the slightest, I just kind of find them uninspired as a concept. It won’t keep me from giving them an 8/10, so don’t worry about that, I just don’t find the idea of evil versions of the PPG to be particularly interesting.
And now we go on to the lesser rogues, the one-shot or minor antagonists! They don’t have the major presence the villains above do, but remember, you don’t have to be a major reoccurring villain just to make an impact; sometimes you just gotta be good at what you do.
Also, this is by no means an exhaustive list; I’ve left off some minor antagonists and probably forgot some, and then there’s some that just don’t have enough info to talk about. Like, I would love to tell you all the wonders of Salami Swami, but there’s just not enough… oh well… let’s talk about these guys. And they aren’t going to have a best episode listed, because… well, they’re minor one-shot characters. By default their best appearance is their only appearance.
Motivation/Goals: Unlike with the major villains, there’s a lot more variety in the one-shot characters, with their goals ranging from simple robbery to revenge to chaos for the sake of it. And yes, sure, their major villains do that stuff too, but they tend to have a solid theme, whereas these folk tend to have one gimmick that they run with for a whole episode before vanishing, never to be seen again. For instance, Femme Fatale is a raging radical feminist; Abracadaver is a lich who seeks revenge for his violent, untimely death; the Gnome is a cult leader who commits mass genocide of other villains so that he can create a utopian society; and Mr. Mime is a mime.
What I think separates them from the major foes is that they have a singular gimmick and they need to really excel at it, because if they screw it up, they’re gonna go down in infamy. Femme Fatale is not a villain who is recalled fondly, for instance, because her gimmick was horribly botched. Meanwhile, characters like the Boogie Man or the Gnome are looked at more fondly because of their silly and cool gimmicks that make them stand out (being a disco-themed monster under the bed and being a gnome with a beautiful singing voice that sounds like a certain lead singer of Tenacious D, respectively).
Performance: Let’s go one by one on these:
The Gnome is voiced by none other than Jess Harnell, who you may know as Wakko Warner or the current (as of 2020) voice of numerous Crash Bandicoot characters, including everyone’s favorite Wumpa-loving title character. They couldn’t afford the real Jack Black, but I think that Harnell does a very impressive vocal imitation of JB, to the point where you’d be forgiven for assuming that it was JB in the first place. The fantastic singing voice is no shock if you’ve ever watched Animaniacs, but boy is it good to hear.
Jeff Bennet may be the MVP of the lesser rogues, as he voices Major Man, Dick Hardly, and Harold Smith. This is quite a variety of characters each with different personalities and goals, so it’s pretty great he was able to give them all the exact sort of vocal characterization they needed to be distinct. On the subject of the Smiths, though,
Femme Fatale is Grey DeLisle doing a very generic voice. Like, it sounds like a less cheerful Daphne or a less evil Azula. I think she may have just been talking in her normal voice for this one? It just doesn’t really have anything to it to make it stand out among her more notable roles.
Boogie Man is voice acting god Kevin Michael Richardson, who has voiced numerous characters I really should do a Psycho Analysis on such as Chairman Drek and Gantu. There’s really nothing else to say here, really; Richardson gives exactly the sort of glorious performance you’d expect for a funky blaxploitation pastiche boogeyman. Talk about black excellence!
Lenny is Tom Kenny. Tom Kenny really does a good job with weird geeks like this, and so what else can I say but he did a good job with this creepy neckbeard. Abracadaver is played by legendary voice actor Frank Welker, who is in literally everything, but who you mostly know as Fred from Scooby-Doo. Much like with Kenny, he kills it in the role.
Finally, our last speaking villain is Roach Coach, and he’s most notable because he is voiced by Roger L. Jackson, who would graduate from this starter one-shot to become none other than Mojo Jojo. I don’t find Roach Coach quite as memorable a performance, but Jackson certainly doesn’t half-ass it.
Final Thoughts & Score:
The Gnome
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I think the Gnome is one of the single most fascinating one-shot villains in the series, and not just because “See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey” is a gloriously cheesy rock opera where he gets to be the villain. His philosophies are incredibly intriguing and are sort of the focus of the episode, and his effectiveness is frankly unmatched as a villain; he succeeds in killing every villain in the series for a time. And while he is a bit hypocritical in that he too wanted to rule over Townsville and transforms it into a cult, he does ultimately realize that he was in the wrong and not only graciously accepts his defeat, but allows himself to die to return the world to its natural order, stating:
“"As I descend to the earth and I view the universe above me, I realize that life evolves, revolves, and dissolves completely around the opposites. Therefore, I conclude that I cannot exist in my...utopian...mind."
That’s a low 9/10 if I ever saw one. They didn’t need to go and make this Jack Black gnome in a rock opera such a fascinating character, but there we have it.
Dick Hardly
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Dick Hardly is one of the most “love to hate” characters in the show’s entire run, and it’s not hard to see why; he is the lowest of the low, the scummiest scum there ever was. Look at this excerpt from the PPG Wiki, which was a godsend when writing all this up:
“Despite appearing only once in the 1998 series and never in the various spin-offs or the 2016 series, Dick Hardly is among the franchise's most memorable villans [sic]. This is because he's the only member of the PPG Rogues Gallery who has absolutely no redeeming or comedic qualities. Most villains have lines they will never cross. However, Dick is ruthless enough to kill anyone in order to achieve his goals, even his own ex-friends. In fact, he actually manages to make HIM (who is nastier than Mojo Jojo) look like a saint in comparison.”
He’s a slimy, ruthless, unrepentant bastard, and the fact he’s one of the few villains to bite the big one just helps him stand out even more. Throw in his incredibly cool monstrous transformation, and despite his single episode it’s not hard to give this Dick a 9/10.
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Femme Fatale
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So not to be lazy, but I did kind of do a Psycho Analysis on Femme Fatale back when I did an Episodyssey on her sole appearance. And yeah, I stand by what I gave her there; she’s a 2/10. She’s just a really preachy, obnoxious, and poorly executed moralizing villain. I’m also gonna go out on a limb here and say that she probably hates trans people. I suppose that’s just a headcanon but… come on. Look at her. If this show was TV-14 and came out today, she’d be even less subtle in her contempt for trans people than every episode of South Park that featured Mrs. Garrison. Enough headcanons though; she doesn’t get the lowest marks possible because, quite simply, she has a pretty nice design and her voice acting is good enough since it is Jennifer Hale.
Mr. Mime
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Oops, wrong picture.
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There we go! Anyway, Mr. Mime is a really cool character with a frustrating resolution. Through no fault of his own, Rainbow the clown accidentally gets hit by a bleach truck and loses his color, becoming the evil Mr. Mime, gaining the ability to sap the color and sound from the world with a touch. He’s actually a seriously awesome concept, and the episode itself is good… and then comes the ending where, despite turning back to normal, Rainbow gets the crap kicked out of him and sent to jail, which is strangely cruel for the Girls to do. Apparently they later made amends, because Rainbow shows up at their birthday, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. A 7/10 is a good score for this guy.
Boogie Man
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The Boogie Man is arguably the greatest villain in anything ever. He is entirely built around one of the most groan-worthy puns imaginable and plays that pun up for all its worth, being a monster under the bed who utilizes a disco theme to the point he blocks out the sun with a gigantic disco ball. The dude has funky style and if that’s not enough, he’s voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, who gives him the exact sort of voice he needs. The dude is just like something out of the craziest blaxploitation film ever, and he certainly brings the funk to the point where even though he only got one appearance in the series, I wouldn’t hate to bump this guy to an 8/10. What else is there to say but “Blame it on the boogie!”
The Smiths
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These guys are just a very funny concept. I kind of like villains who do stuff for the pettiest, mundane reasons, and these guys take it all to the logical extreme. The patriarch of the family decides to dress up in a tacky supervillain outfit to get “revenge” on Professor Utonium because… he envies his perfect life. The rest of his family turn to villainy to avenge him, and are just as pathetic and ineffectual as he is. It’s so funny in a sad kind of way. I think a 6/10 is what they deserve, because while they aren’t particularly effective or groundbreaking, they’re at least good for a chuckle or two. Ultimately though they are a less impressive version of the Nelsons from Minions.
Major Man
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Major Man is very interesting because he is very clearly an homage to Johnny Bravo; they’ve got the same hair, the same muscular body type (though Major Man is certainly beefier), the same voice actor! And yet, they couldn’t be any more different. Johnny, as much of a dense womanizer as he is, does have a hidden heart of gold beneath it all and usually means well; meanwhile, Major Man is a self-serving jerk who wants to play superhero. You know, he kind of reminds me of Homelander from The Boys in some ways. Anyway, I think a 6/10 is fair enough for him; he’d get higher if he wasn’t such an interesting concept for a major villain relegated only to a one-shot appearance. He’d have been a better entry in the rogues gallery than freaking Sedusa, for instance.
Abracadaver
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So I wanna know how exactly this one got by the censors. This guy is unrelentingly dark, from his origin (he died onstage in front of a crowd which included children) to his absolutely ghastly appearance in which it is very much clear he is decaying and rotten. I honestly kind of love him, despite the fact he only ever appeared once, mostly because I can totally understand why they never used him again. This dude might actually be too scary. I’m giving him a solid 8/10, because I just love how unrelentingly dark he is. It’s definitely a low 8 since he never appeared after his initial appearance (for good reason!), but damn if he isn’t effective and memorable.
Lenny Baxter
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Lenny is actually kind of impressive. On the surface, he’s just a gross, exaggerated take on Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons and loony dudebro manchild fans, which is all well and good, he’s pretty effective at being a “take that” and has stood the test of time pretty well/. But, I think what truly makes him memorable is the fact that he actually did manage to capture the Girls and would have won if not for the meddling townsfolk. Then of course there’s the Professor’s wonderfully tranquil takedown of Lenny’s ideology:
"Let me tell you something, Lenny. You may have all of the toys, all of the merchandise, all of the so-called “collector’s value.” But one thing you don’t have, Lenny, is true fandom. For a true fan wouldn't want to selfishly keep the girls to himself. A true fan would want them to be free."
I think that for a disposable one-shot villain, Lenny is surprisingly relevant even today. I think he deserves a 7/10, though obviously he’s not a very high one because ultimately he is just still a normal (albeit very greasy) guy.
Roach Coach
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Look, not all villains are created equal. This guy? He’s not too impressive. Sure, he predicted the ending to Team America, and sure, he made a Papa Roach reference, but frankly I don’t think that’s enough to really elevate him into being an impressive one-shot villain. I’d say he’s a 4/10. He’s not lower because he is the starter villain, and his voice actor would go on to bring us the much better and more memorable Mojo Jojo. We all have to start somewhere, right?
The Robbing Leech
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This guy is probably one of the freakiest one-shot villains in the series. Unlike Abracadaver, there’s literally nothing explained about this guy. There’s no origin, no explanation, he doesn’t even talk, and hell, the guy might not even be human at all! We the audience are never clued in, and the guy is never seen again, so we’re only left to ponder what exactly this guy is up to. I don’t think he’s quite as disturbing as Abracadaver, but he’s certainly got something going for him in terms of mystery; a 5/10 is fair enough. It would have been neat if they explained something, but I guess he’ll just have to be one of those riddles for the ages. We will never truly know how and why this man was capable of giving people the succ.
And just when you thought it would end...
Salami Swami
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Ok, did you honestly think I was going to miss the opportunity to talk about this guy? His name is SALAMI SWAMI. And look at him! He controls MEAT! He only ever appeared once in the episode “Slave the Day,” where his mighty meat powers are no match for the appetites of the reformed Big Billy (formerly of the Gangreen Gang). But like… LOOK AT HIM. The idea and concept and literally everything about him is just so patently absurd and creative that I’m legitimately angry I didn’t come up with it first. He never spoke a single word, but he still managed to find a way into my heart and mind. Can I legitimately rate this guy who had a single joke appearance in the show? Damn right I can! 6/10, baby! If he appeared more or defined his personality a bit better I’d rank him higher but, come on. SALAMI SWAMI. Sometimes all you need to be great is a really incredible, stupid gimmick. And Salami Swami has that in droves; hopefully we can meat him again someday, and he can reignite his beef with the girls while remaining inextricably linked with sausage. 
Ok, I’m done. Goodnight everybody!
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