#they were children once.

[crimsonlyinglilly]

Mikaelson fluff

some small bright spots of joy to combat the sad I keep writing.

---

The first time Kol realised he was taller than Elijah he couldn’t help but crow about it, pleased and proud, Klaus and Finn had joined him in his mocking by asking if it was hard, Elijah had been good about it, letting out loud put-upon sighs, and reminded them all the things he was better at. 

The teasing had died down after that until Rebekah had earnestly promised Elijah she would be kinder to him when she also got taller than him. 

Elijah had quickly declared Henrik his favourite when he had sworn never to outgrow him, which Henrik had taken in seriousness, stuck his tongue out at them and pulled his ‘best brother’ away.

For the next couple of weeks, all of them kept finding their belongings out of their reach, it only stopped when they discovered Henrik on Elijah’s shoulders red-handed, tying Finn's favourite belt on a branch high above on the tree closest to his hut.

#Henrik kept his promise #he never did outgrow Elijah. #the originals #the vampire diaries #mikaelson family #kol mikaelson #elijah mikaelson #finn mikaelson #klaus mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson #henrik mikaelson #mikaelson siblings #mikaelson head canon #they were children once.

[nell0-0]

Just a bit more about my HC for this lil' guy

#linked universe #lu mask #oot link #mm link #young link #time travel shenanigans #mask got a growth spurt (has conflicted feelings about it) #growing up with eternal children and fairies was not good for his diet #also funny bc his saving grace was probably the marrow. some people eat it. i'm people #trees will devour bones btw so that tracks too #tbh the hw people didn't notice at first bc they were focusing on the war #but once Mask moved into captain Link's tent it was a matter of time for them to notice how badly Mask's diet is #tloz #tloz fanart #my art #the bone marrow is from the wolfos. which is funny if you think about Twilight

[queenlucythevaliant]

See, I don't think that the Pevensie kids were uncanny and dangerous upon returning to England so much as just like. Cool weirdos.

Lucy talks to animals sometimes. She doesn't expect responses or anything; it has the same energy as a person talking to their dog, except it's the squirrel she spotted on the quad or the racoon in the garbage. But she's super friendly in general so after the initial "what the heck" everyone shrugs it off because like, yeah, of course she does. She also went with me to a scary doctor's appointment having known me for like five minutes and gave me an incredible pep talk. She's cool like that.

Peter joins the fencing club and day one it's like he's never held a foil in his life and day two he loses to a kid half his size but then after like a month he just absolutely annihilates the instructor. But he's super humble about it and afterwards he helps everyone else out without being condescending at all. And while it's a little weird that he's just Suddenly an expert, people are like, "he's a fast learner, that's cool." He's really industrious in class too, just Peter being Peter. He probably practiced a whole bunch after hours.

Edmund gets extremely weird food cravings sometimes, like "wow, I could really go for chicken liver with raisins right about now" or "you guys know what's great? Gooseberry trifles." And his friends say, "I've never heard of that before but it sounds weird." So Edmund learns to cook and starts making all these vaguely antiquated fancy dishes with weird berries and organ meats and things and shares them around during study breaks and everyone's like "Yo! Pevensie brought food. Cool, thanks Pevensie." And he shares it with everyone, even the kids nobody likes, and it kinda brings people together.

Susan, who was always the Mom Friend, seems to have gotten a power-up because now she Everyone's mom and weirdly people actually listen to her? But she only uses those powers for good. Girl in her dorm not eating enough? Susan's here with snacks and look at that now she's eating. Those guys arguing look like they're about to throw down? Susan says "knock it off" and glares and they do. And her friends are like, "how do you do it???" and she says "You just have to act like you expect to be obeyed." It's very cool, though it can be a bit Much sometimes.

And they're all into mythology now? Like ancient Rome and King Arthur and stuff? That's kinda weird, but not off-putting; lots of kids have mythology phases. And Peter named the tree outside his dorm, but everyone kinda laughs and says "yeah okay." Edmund is adamantly anti-bullying now, it's nice. Susan and Lucy wear a lot of lion-themed jewelry and people definitely Notice, but that just means that they start getting more of it for Christmas/birthdays.

And of course whenever two or more of them are together it's like they've got a conspiracy going on. They're always fervently whispering back and forth, giggling an the million inside jokes they've got, giving each other Looks. And onlookers are mostly just like, "Man, it's cool that those Pevensie kids are all so tight; I wish I was that close with my siblings."

#*banging cymbals together* THE PEVENSIE KIDS ARE NOT MAGIC #they lived in a magical world but fundementally they're Just Kids #every time i see a Narnia post i don't like i feel the compelling need to make a counter -post #sometimes i resist sometimes i don't #pontifications and creations #narnia #once there were four children

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 142

Dan came from the Flashpoint timeline, which was destroyed. Well, mostly destroyed. There were a few things that slipped through, which would be concerning if it was anything else. Honestly Danny has no clue what to think about the murder-grandpa Batman ghost, but honestly, he’s happy to get proper training and- holy fuck the murder-batman just oneshot Vlad away this is his new favorite person. 

#dcxdp #dpxdc #prompts #Danny reminds Thomas of Bruce #And Vlad reminds him of Martha’s side of the family (the ones who were assholes) #Sure hope the GIW won’t try to pull something because Thomas was a surgeon #He knows how to put someone back together and knows how to take them apart #He is gently holding all of Team Phantom including Ellie & Jazz #The adoption instinct is genetic #flashpoint #Thomas: I have only had these tiny vigilante children for an hour #Thomas: But if anything happened to them I would obliterate everything in this timeline and then myself once more #Ghost murder grandpa batman who gets Powers #those poor goons who thought they escaped batman when they died #Now they get to deal with Double

[nikoisme]

y'know what makes me sad?

this.

and this.

#niko rambles #like holy shit. #they were children once. they didn't know what their lives had in store. #it's too late for me to have these feelings. i'm so tired

[hylialeia]

you don't get it. she loved him once. she didn't have a maester, she had a brother. he sold their mother's crown to keep them fed. he said Dany, please. she loved him, once.

#I feel like the tragedy of viserys and dany is they really might have been close and loved each other normally of they'd been allowed to #barristan says viserys always seemed aerys's son but when has westeros had any sort of developed understanding of mental illness #dany knew him best and she said the last kindness left him when he sold their mother's crown #it begs the question how much kindness there would have been if they hadn't been children forced out on the streets #a brother dany says never forgave her for their mother's death giving her birth. #but who told her stories and brought her up while his own mental faculties were wearing thin #it doesn't feel like tywin keeping tyrion based on lannister name and blood alone #she loved him once. #that viserys had some inherent lecherous evil in him doesn't feel in line with that to me #it doesn't feel in line with dany please #if ned is the good guardian to tywin's bad one viserys was just a boy who found himself in that role under the worst possible circumstances #and who under duress of those awful circumstances and his own undiagnosed mental illness #(for which he never got any help or support) #failed his sister very very badly #leaving daenerys to feel the hole of his absence even when he was still alive #because she loved him. once #lol anyway! #asoiaf #daenerys targaryen #viserys targaryen

[dindjarindiaries]

Don't you ever let "Is that a bench?" and "Does this look Jedi to you?" make you forget that Din "Our people are scattered like stars in the galaxy" Djarin is a POET!!!

#SO OUR CHILDREN CAN FEEL WHAT IT IS TO PLAY IN THE SUNLIGHT. #IT WAS ONCE GREEN AND BEAUTIFUL WHEN THE SONGS WERE WRITTEN. #these are rough quotes drawn from my brain but my goodness din djarin. #din djarin #the mandalorian

[willowbyte]

feeling sad about springbonnie

#willow's art station #fnaf #spring bonnie #five nights at freddy's #do you think they were repulsed by william's actions? #how do you think they would have felt after william used their skin as a tool for hiding and committing his crimes? #a character once meant to bring joy to children now forever tied to a cold blooded murderer. their very own creator #blood dripping from hands that are not yours. you did not do this. you did not want this to happen #but the stained golden faux fur says otherwise #and the vessel. cold and unmoving as always. begins to wonder #where does the man end? and where does the rabbit begin? #was there ever a distinction to begin with? #... #god i Need to be sedated immediatel

[lainalit]

#should be grateful that they weren't killed by an EVIL man but just by a man who pretended to be evil #don't worry guys they ALL were bad people who deserved to be killed by a flying rodent #Claire beddor deserved to be killed cause she pushed feyre once when their were children #acotar critical #sjm critical #anti sjm #anti acotar #anti rhysand #anti ic #anti inner circle

[crimsonlyinglilly]

More Mikaelson sort of fluff

Even less sad in this, I hope.

Biting issue within the family, Klaus wasn't always the worst when it came to that.

----

It's only after Rebekah is born that Klaus learns the responsibilities of being an older brother.

Shortly after this he realises that Kol is also his younger brother and not just his constant playmate.

Kol doesn't take Klaus's sudden change to protective bossiness well, like the toddler he is, and starts to react in two ways, throwing things with his powers, which would be punished more if their mother wasn't so happy at the signs of Kol being a prodigy in her craft.

Instead Finn adapted to stopping any true harm befalling Niklaus from Kol's magic and smothered the tiny spark on envy over it.

The second way he showed his anger at Klaus's new behaviour was biting, this may have been dealt with quickly if Kol learned from being bitten back and stopped.

He didn't.

So Finn and Elijah were quickly stuck pulling apart a pair of snapping children. While Finn attempted to tell them off he normally ended up gaining few bites himself before the tears started.

Elijah gets used to ending up with a pair of younger brothers sitting on him yet refusing to acknowledge each other as they cried and grizzled and an older brother fuming in the background nursing either a bruise or bitemark or two.

Kol does eventually outgrow biting but not before biting Rebekah and Henrik at least once, the latter was to teach Henrik not to bite.

somehow Elijah escaped his brother's teeth their whole life. That changes in what came after.

---

In the days after they had returned across the sea, Finn had sent Elijah a look as Kol and Rebekah's latest argument grew more violent.

He was almost relieved that at least this hadn't changed as he stepped in the middle of them.

He knew they were both angry at what they had lost- their parents had taken from them- a future and family of her own from Rebekah and his magic and connection to the world from Kol.

They were all lost and angry but they only had each other.

Elijah managed to talked them down and was watching as Rebekah stormed away with regret at his sister's unhappiness, thinking it was over he was surprised, when Kol had grabbed his arm from behind and pulled it up to bite down.

He hadn't thought to stop himself as he left out a yelp of shock and pulled his arm back to get a glimpse of the deep bit on his forearm before it healed, leaving a ring of blood in the place of bruised teeth marks.

Kol swallowed the blood before he broke out laughing apparently at Elijah's expression.

Elijah watched as he sunk to his knees, with a mix of annoyance and fondness, it had been too long since Kol had laughed.

“I thought you had outgrown this.” Elijah still commented as the laughter dimed.

“Not so funny when’s it you.” Finn voice reminded them he was there and Elijah turned to see him smirking, the look of displeasure he send his older brother just caused Kol to break out in laughter again.

Elijah learns to expects bites from Kol in the future.

---

(sorry for whatever canon said but my head canon is both Finn and Kol was actual trained witches, with Kol being unnaturally strong and gifted, Elijah also had some talent but it was never noticed or trained. Klaus was so desperate for Mikael's attention that he had no interest in it and while Rebekah tried, she quickly grew bored and preferred to follow Klaus and Elijah's apparent lead.)

#the originals #the vampire diaries #mikaelson family #kol mikaelson #elijah mikaelson #finn mikaelson #klaus mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson #mikaelson siblings #mikaelson head canon #they were children once.

[civilization-illstayrighthere]

Hey so I’ve mentioned this a lot of times on my main blog, but I wanted to put this out over here since it is Hallow’s Eve. I always give out little tchotchkes on Halloween along with candy. This year, I’ve completely switched over to 100% doohickeys and doodads— think mechanical pencils, shaped erasers, little notebooks, squishes, vampire teeth and spiders rings and all. It started years ago in college when I signed up for a dorm Halloween event where kids from an area that was too dangerous to really trick or treat through got bussed in to trick or treat at our dorm. I bought some candy and dollar store Halloween themed stuff with what i had. And you know what the kids went ape shit over?

Motherfucking. Mechanical. PENCILS!!

These kids could not get enough of them. They literally went “PENCILS??!” I had never seen kids get so hyped up for pencils lmao. They were the first things to go. Candy is fleeting; the little pencils you can bring to school to flex are eternal, until you inevitably lose one of the refill parts and then they aren’t but listen, in that one moment they are infinite. And its nice thinking that maybe some kids who don’t always have access to school supplies not only get them, but get them in fun shapes and designs.

Anyway. I recommend people to give out fun stuff like this not just because kids seem to genuinely enjoy them, but also because there’s this thing called the Teal Pumpkin Project here in America. You can put out a teal pumpkin to show that you are giving away non-candy items and sign your address up so parents of children with allergies know that there are houses their kids can safely and happily trick or treat at! It’s a win-win! Plus, if you accidentally bought too much, it’s not like candy— just pack it away, pencils and fidget spinners will be good next year, too! :)

#its such an easy and fun thing to do #and it helps make Halloween accessible for some kids who might otherwise not be able to participate #i always think about stuff like that #my step-grandparents had a ramp built at their house for them #but one great unintended side effect is that they always got a lot of children in wheelchairs to their house on Halloween #who were so so excited they could go up to the door and ring the bell for once :’) #so like i always try to think of ways to maybe include people who might have trouble otherwise when i can! #and this is such a little but easy to do change #i like to source my stuff from the dollar store targets dollar area and amazon #i bet party supply stores (think party favor bag stuff) would work great too #so. if you have time tomorrow maybe run on over to the dollar store during your lunch hour #grab some random little things. kids will go crazy. maybe you’ll brighten someone’s day

[queenlucythevaliant]

In Narnia, Right was right and courage came with clarity. Beauty abounded and Aslan, even across the sea, never felt so very far away.

That’s how they remembered it in England, at least. Three months gone and the edges were sanded down. Their children’s hearts remembered beauty and clung to victory. If you’re not an idealist when you’re young, there’s something wrong with you.

Peter said, and they all agreed, that their memories of Narnia were like books on a shelf. It was all still there, but filed away. To think of a particular summer dance or ship’s voyage, you had to pull the proper book from its shelf and turn the pages until you found the story you wanted. You could recall the events that way and it would be like any other memory: vivid but imperfect, bathed in old feelings and new, details intact but a fine mist of nostalgia covering the scene.

Their old skills were gone, but what use was swordsmanship in Britain? Most of the time, the Pevensie children scarcely noticed what they had lost. They played in forests and swam in ponds, went to the grocer’s and prepared for school to resume. They were children.

They thought of Narnia often, but it was as one remembers a glorious holiday by the seashore, or the most important novel you’ve ever read. It had changed their lives, but it was past, and memory; a secret language, and daydreams and play-battles out in the Professor’s woods.

Because they were children, the edges of their memories softened, they forgot the things that would have given them nightmares. Right was right in Narnia, after all. They did not remember the sticky, congealing mess of the Witch’s blood that clung to Aslan’s mouth after Beruna, when he had ripped her throat out and devoured her body. They forgot the visceral fear that Rabadash would manage to take Susan to wife by force, and what he would do to her if he did. They forgot the awful chaos of battle, the sickening stench of bellies hewn open and intestines spilling onto the sodden earth. They did not remember living to be twenty, thirty, fifty, sixty, growing old and aching with it, burying friends, and worrying about the succession. The burden of all those years would have broken any children so young.

After they were sent home for the last time, each of the Pevensie children found ways of remembering. Peter joined a fencing league, and soon found that old broadsword techniques would often flutter out of his memory’s pages and into his hands. Susan sketched until she didn’t, until she put away her pad full of fauns and castles and lions in a box of childhood nonsense—but it was many years before that happened. Edmund wrote pages and pages of reminiscences down, trying to externalize the books of his memory. Lucy daydreamed, and she dressed in bright Narnian colors, and sang Narnian songs, and a million other tiny things that scarcely anyone noticed. The Pevensie children found ways to remember. Narnia remained in their minds: a little distant, perhaps, but the ink never faded.

And one day, when he was ready, Edmund was trying to calm his father through the soldier’s panic that followed a car backfiring and he began to remember the feeling of having seen war. The book in his mind opened where the pages had been stuck together, and suddenly he knew how to help.

Lucy began to recall snatches of what it was like to grow old. She looked in on her grandparents more and more. “I know your knee isn’t what it used to be,” she smiled as she went to get the stepstool.

Susan held a classmate tight after a terrible, terrible night and trembled, remembering Rabadash’s hot breath on her face, the way he’d grabbed her forearms with bruising strength and demanded to kiss her. I understand, she whispered. It wasn’t your fault.

Peter, sitting in theology class, remembered the viscera around Aslan’s mouth and began to understand what justice meant.

The terrible parts came back in flashes as the children grew into young men and women. Memories of Narnia expanded to fit their older selves, old horrors and heartaches now many years past. Little by little, the Pevensie children grew back into themselves.

Two Lucys existed, one long past and one in the mirror. Two Edmunds, two Susans, two Peters. The present Lucy did not miss the woman she had grown to be in Narnia, except in rare instances. She had what she needed from her old self. She still had so much growing left to do.

#my prose response to Maria's question that i just answered #comnination headcanon and textual 'this is how Narnia memories work' #Leah stories #once there were four children #narnia #pontifications and creations

[bonefall]

Is there a cat in cannon who got a good death who you think didn't deserve it? Especially if they committed crimes?

Tom the Wifebeater and his redemption death. No question. It's not even close.

Not only do I reject to the "redemption death" on the grounds of it being Tom the Wifebeater who is bullying others until his dying breath, even taunting Thunder about Turtle Tail is dead and the kits must be very torn up about it, but I reject "redemption through death" entirely. I don't like it in stories. It's a theme I deeply object to.

And again it's fucking wild that every time a character is a father, even if they are a wifebeater or a child abuser, the writers think that it bestows a glimmer of goodness into them which every abused child is forced to appreciate and cry about. Breezepelt, Thunder, Tallstar, Tom's children, all of them forced to reconcile and admit how much they wuv their papa.

Abusive dads in WC regularly get redemption deaths, too. Clear Sky dies saving his grandchild, Sandgorse died saving a rando in a tunnel, Tom the Wifebeater saving his daughter.

But Tom the Wifebeater is the worst example of it. Hands down.

#Though I will say it's not exactly a matter of a crime being 'too bad to come back from' #ANYONE can change. #But these ones DONT. #These fathers are *recontextualized* by their deaths and their victim is pushed into rethinking their anger towards them #IF they even had anger towards them at all. All of Tom's victims were too dead to have those feelings because DOTC hates women #And his children are destroyed when they learn that the guy they met once who kidnapped them and got their mom killed died #And that's why I generally hate redemption deaths. By their very nature they don't display what's so HARD about accountability #The changing of your behavior. Checking yourself. Admitting that your victims dont have to forgive you. #It's hard work! #It's painful sometimes! It's worth it but it's not always easy! #It's also its own reward. Your relationships improve. You feel better. You understand yourself. #but no. a redemption death is the end. You never really have to face what you did. #And I hate the way that lots of storytellers think it means it undoes the violence they did #IT does nothing. They're gone. The victims continue. #Where are my stories with RESENTMENT for that? How DARE you die for me?? How dare you run away from the hole you cut into my flesh??? #You think the end of you becomes the missing piece of me? #Awful. No thankz #Bone babble #Tom the Wifebeater #child abuse #cw child abuse #tw child abuse

[findafight]

Au idea I'll probably never write:

Steve as seven au, BUT he escapes at the same time as El in season 1. They get separated after Benny's, when seven tells eleven to run and definitely kills a couple government agents to give her more time.

So the a plot of will being missing and Mike finding El? Standard canon except El is ALSO looking for her brother and is worried about him. She sees that he's mostly safe and tries to help find will but also insists she go to her brother soon.

B plot of barb and Nancy...idk I haven't really thought about how that'd work without Steve's kickback. Maybe they go to a party (like actual party not the five person hangout) together and get separated and no one notices barb disappear from the edge of the lawn. Idk

The C plot is seven, kinda bloody and definitely cold, wandering out into the middle of the street, and one Robin Buckley almost running him over with her bike. She immediately clocks "guy who seems pretty fucked up" about him, and offers him a ride to her house. But Robin has never been the most coordinated of people and biking with a(admittedly probably too skinny) teenage boy sitting in her package rack is hard, and combine that with a guy driving like the devil's after him, they end up swerving of the road.

Eddie steps out, apologizes profusely, and offers them a ride. seven is sceptical, especially when both of them pause when he tells them his name, but does end up in the van. He finally gets a chance to breathe once they get to the Buckleys', and Robin gets him some leftovers.

He sits in front of the tv set to a blank station, tucks his head into his shirt instead of blindfolds, and tries to see El.

He sees her older, with flowers braided through long hair, laughing. Too far. He sees her with short curls, a patterned button down, eating something in a cone beside a mustachioed man. Too far again. He sees her tiny, scared, holding his own small hand. Not far enough.

Finally, finally, he sees her as she knows her now, mostly, standing beside a group of children and in front of a monster in a large room.

Eddie and Robin have no idea why their new friend? Has turned the tv on to static and is hiding in his shirt, but figure he's had a rough day. He pops his head back out, blood dripping from his nose, and grins, telling them he knows where his sister will be.

Anyways blah blah blah El sees where people ARE Steve sees where people have been/will be (based on where/who they are right now. Futura is constantly in motion etc).

Idk season 2 would happen very similar as canon minus stancy break up (they never date and are just friends) (also Steve tells Robin and Eddie he and El are safe and they pass it on to the kids) El finds Kali, Steve fights demodogs, etc etc.

But I want a (pre?) season 3 scene where Robin and Steve are hanging out as soulmates do, door closed because they are discussing Sensitive Subjects (gay shit) and giggling like schoolgirls. Hopper, in all his disappointed dad glory, opens the door and starts in on a rant about keeping the door open three inches.

Steve, bitch that he is, just tilts his head to the side and says "but that is for when we are with people we date. I am not dating Robin."

Hopper, not yet picking up what's happening, sighs. "Kid. It's about propriety. You can't be alone with Robin, because what if you do start dating. Then it's. You have to set an example for El!"(it would be a nice move bringing up Older Brother Responsibility, except...well.)

"but we aren't. I am dating someone else?"

"still need the door open three inches, pal. When El is home, at least"(El is almost always home)

"we do! And you complain about the loud music!"

"wait. Who are you dating? I thought Nancy was dating Jonathan still. She barely comes over." Hopper please pick up what Steve is putting down oh my god.

(hop has forgotten Robin is there and she is trying very hard not to make noise but Steve keeps meeting her eye sometimes because dear god. truly an iconic moment in friendship history.)

"yeah obviously. Eddie comes over all the time, though."

"what does Ed- oooh. Ah. I see. That's why you keep the door open even though he complains."

Steve nods like Hopper is the dumbest man on the planet. He might just be. "Yes. Because you said El had to and she asked why I didn't have to so then I started to leave it open when Eddie was over. At least Eddie doesn't laugh at you to your face"

"Eddie laughs behind my back?"

"he said you didn't know we were dating but I told him of course you knew, the door is open three inches."

Hopper clasps Steve's shoulders and looks him in the eye. "Steve, I need you to keep telling him that. And not mention this very awkward conversation we had."

"because he was right."

"he doesn't need to know that."

That's all I got lmao (also check the tag ramble I added lol)

#steve Harrington #robin buckley #eddie munson #el hopper #platonic stobin #steddie #steve and el #steve and hopper #steve is seven #finda writes stuff #hopper versus his childrens' boyfriends and his ongoing mission to have SOME authority over them #but anyway i love steve is seven aus but only really see ones where he escapes before el so thought this would be nest #*neat. also i love hopper adopting steve fics hehe #hop goes to joyce after this and is like. okay so he didnt tell me but thats because he thought i knew am i a bad dad #'hop. what are you talking about' 'steve and eddie are dating' 'yeah. what about it' 'i didnt know' #'theyre all over each other' 'so are him and robin! i thought they were just affectionate!' 'oh my god' 'no one else can ever know joyce' #'eddie sleeps over all the time' 'robin does too' 'the nicknames' 'robin calls steve babe' 'the whispering?' #'once AGAIN he and robin ALSO do that. how was i supposed to know he was dating eddie when he and his best friend also do that stuff?!' #'okay. thats fair jim. but what about the kissing' 'joyce.look into my eyes. he also. kisses. robin.' 'are all three of them dating?' 'no' #'huh. on the lips?' 'sometimes. its a playful smack.' 'and eddie?' 'okay admittedly. now that i think about it. very different than Robin

[batarangsoundsdumb]

damian's characterisation really only makes sense if he's the youngest child. this is why reverse robin aus do not make sense to me, if he was the oldest he would not be Like That

#youngest children have the devil in them #its why he is that way #damian wayne #<3 beloved boy #i am a middle child AND this gives me the perspective of what it's like to be the older child but i was also the youngest once #my younger sibling is batshit crazy and reminds me of damian in that if it were not for the laws of this land i would have been murdered

[factorialsotherfandoms]

Philza looks better in his usual clothes, Bad thinks, but still terrible. Perched on a lamp between his children's beds, a blanket pulled tight across his shoulders, sleep deprivation in his eyes... Bad is not really surprised he has called someone to speak to, just is confused as to why its him.

Bad has better things to do. Like look for the eggs. And search for the eggs. And interrogate Federation Workers about the eggs.

But then, Philza also has better things to do than just sit there and stare at him.

So Bad stares back.

Eventually, eventually, Philza breaks the stalemate and speaks.

"What do you know of dreams?"

Bad raises an eyebrow at the comment, unsure what that could lead to, and even more confused as to why it was him called here to handle this.

In the end, he settles for the simplest answer. "People have them when they sleep."

Philza hums in return, eyes skittering a little frantically. He adjusts his position to be a little higher, but holds himself lower, peering down, "… you know my wife, yes?"

Now there is a loaded question. Bad tilts his head to one side.

"Kristin."

"Yes," Bad answers, seeing no reason to hide it now. Part-time grim reaper, Goddess of Death... Of course her husband knows something. "I work for her, on occasion."

"And you would kill anyone - myself, yourself - if we were a threat to the eggs?"

"Yes."

"Even Skeppy?"

Bad's nose twitches, warning in his tone. "He's not /here/, Philza."

Philza gives Bad an unimpressed look.

"If he was /somehow/ a threat to Dapper? Yes. Happy?"

Somehow Philza looks like he both tenses and relaxes at that answer. He moves as though to sit on the lamp he is perching on, before realising what he is doing and slipping onto the mossy floor.

"I had a dream while I was asleep," Philza says instead of answering the question. "But, the longer I am awake, the less like a dream it seems."

"Dreams usually work the other way," Bad frowns, checking his evidence in his mind. He does not really know much - Philza was missing for nine days, claims to have been asleep and woke up in his basement, and a potato and a poppy appeared on his person in that time. Bad suspects the Federation has done something to the old crow, probably made him some sort of sleeper agent, but… If Philza is willing to trust him, Bad supposes he can give him the benefit of the doubt and assume any betrayal is unwilling.

"I remember it too well," Philza replies, and Bad frowns some more - it is the opposite reaction most people have to the Federation. "I don't usually remember my dreams, or have them that vivid, or have space so perfect in them. I laughed it off to Tubbo, pretended I usually have dreams like that, but… Even my dreams of my world are not as clear as that."

"And you were left with the potato and the poppy after," Bad keeps his voice level. He tries very hard to keep his voice level as his mind runs away, wondering what is up. "You don't usually wake up in the basement either?"

"I should wake up where I fall asleep," Philza points at the chair. "I sat down, I told myself I wouldn't spend a night anywhere else until the eggs were back. I dreamt. I woke up in the basement."

There's something a bit distant to Philza's voice which Bad does not like, but does not like in the way of children crying in their rooms, or the thought of Baghera alone in the Federation's hands, or the silence which now reigns over his dungeon-home. He does not like it in ways of betrayal and pain and fire, either, but he is old. He knows better how to deal with those.

"… Are you not going to ask me?" Philza asks.

"Do I need to?" Bad asks back.

It must be the correct answer, as Philza gives a laugh.

"In the maybe-dream, I woke up in the chair," Philza says, pointing towards it. "The trapdoor was gone - it might have been when I went to bed, too, but the memory is hazy."

Interesting, Bad would say. He half remembers the trap door being missing on Monday as well, when he went to check on Chayanne and Tallulah's beds, but in not paying attention… It was there by Saturday, so Bad really is not sure either if he made that up.

"I thought I heard a sound in the basement, so I went to look. There was a box with two new pot plants, one on each side. The box was… one of those new ones, like Toby has on his burnt up platform? The dyeable ones - it was Tallulah's purple. Inside were a lot of poppies, and a book."

"A book?"

"Right," Philza frowns as he talks, sinking deeper into the mossy floor. "I don't remember exactly what it said, but it was about an old crow whose children were missing. I thought… I think I thought it was Tallulah sassing me - you know how it is - for not being here when they hurt… At the end was an instruction to travel light, and a set of coordinates."

It sounds like a trap. Bad doesn't say that - he knows Philza must know that, but he also knows that if he saw something written maybe by Dapper… Bad wouldn't hesitate to do what it said. Not a chance, not when his child might need him. So, Bad doesn't say anything, he just nods.

"Do you know my nest?" Philza asks, almost out of the blue.

"Your nest?" Bad blinks, trying to string it together.

Philza is already moving for the nearby warp access. "I'll leave a red sharestone. If you walk to spawn, it'll be ready by the time you get there. You should probably have it, just… bring anyone else. Not even Dapper - the eggs bought Tubbo, but nobody else knows. It's our safe place. But… nowhere's really safe. And I can't always be there to save them."

It's a branch of trust that Bad has been offered, one he isn't sure he deserves but is absolutely not going to turn down. If Philza's children like it then, yes, he needs to know. In case they are ever hurt there, in case one of the children needs their uncle Bad.

He walks the shirt distance to spawn, chewing over so far. It's not hard to work out why Philza is in a spin, but Bad is missing some of the puzzle. He hates having half of an answer more than none at all, but at least he seems to be getting everything about /this/ question the old bird knows.

Sure enough, by the time he has worked out which of the sharestones Philza meant by the red one, there's another option just reading 'bad uppies?'.

It's kinda funny, and funnier still when he takes it and ends up… up. High in the sky, so high he can see the peaks of great pillars of stone, and the top of a fortress-dungeon, but not the floor.

"Take the warpstone," Philza gestures to the centre as he puts the sharestone away. "Just in case."

"Just in case," Bad repeats.

The warpstone is itself called 'uppies', and it is a nest that is not quite a nest. It is suspended in the air, not in a tree, and made of harsh stone not twigs. A few bits of furniture are scattered about, however, and a brightly coloured rug. Signs from the children learning new words, and a lip at the edge to stop anyone tripping to their demise. If Bad's timeline is correct about the word learning task, it must have been the last place Philza took his children before he left for a week - and they vanished.

"The coordinates were near here," Philza says, then pauses. "Not super close, but closer than anything else. About another thousand south, if you have your glider?"

"Not grapples?"

"I remember the exact route I took in the dream, not the numbers," Philza shrugs a little, smiles self-depreciatingly. "Never was any good with numbers or words. If I do it differently, we might not get there." Bad hums, and nods - to know the entire route in a dream? Very strange - and follows as Philza jumps from the southern edge. Follows him to one snowy peak.

"I stopped here to get my stamina back," Philza explains when Bad also lands. "I was in a rush for my eggs, but I know how bad that fall can be."

Bad nods again; they continue.

They land at the edge of some water and a village, then walk the rest of the way in silence. Philza's steps are very certain, too certain to have only walked it once in a dream and a second time guided by one, and Bad checks over his inventory.

Just in case it is a trap. He doesn't think Philza could fake this confusion enough to willingly lead him into a trap, but that only stops it happening if he knows what he's doing.

Philza leads Bad to a patch of hill where the trees are strangely cut. A couple of hummingbirds sit, tame, on the floor.

"There was a giant birdhouse here," Philza says. "It was cute - I remember thinking Chayanne and Tallulah had built it. Should really have noticed the windows were made of reinforced concrete," another, self-hating chuckle. "Inside… so many hummingbirds. And… And Chayanne's floaty, and Tallulah's hat. Next to them was a book. I explored a little, looking to see if the eggs, were there, before going back for it - 'A Cage for a Cage' the book read."

From Philza's flinch that means something - Bad isn't sure what, but he can make a few guesses.

"Then Cucurucho was behind me, laughing. I begged him, threatened him, asked for the eggs. But he just kept laughing as he ran out of the door. Sealed me in with reinforced something or other 'I hope you enjoy the island' my ass."

Philza seethes, and Bad expects him done. He still gives him a moment before asking, "and then you woke up?"

"No," Philza frowns further. "That's the strange part. I cried myself to sleep wrapped around their items. I dreamt… more like I usually dream - of my home, of my hardcore world, small glimpses. /Then/ I woke up. Still in the birdhouse. I knew it had been a long time, then, days at least - I was hungry despite all the golden apples. The hummingbirds were sat on me, but the book and the eggs' things? Gone."

Dreams inside dreams? A continuious narrative broken by another sleep? A walk remembered fully and that maps onto reality one to one? Bad can see why Philza is suspicious.

"The door was different, too, no longer a security door but this cute flower covered thing. When I opened it, it just… lead me out. And there was a path over… this way?" Philza leads Bad along, maybe a minute's walk through the trees at most.

"You remember in the nether there were the half destroyed Federation booths?"

Bad nods; he does.

"There was… kinda like one of those, just here. Two partial walls, a bit of a roof, some floor. A table with two chairs - Cucurucho at one, watching me. I screamed for him to give my eggs back. He gave me a book. It…" Philza takes a deep breath. "It teased me for falling for the trap so easily, then it told me I had to wake up - if I didn't wake up soon, I never would."

Dream fudgery, maybe? Bad already suspects memory alteration, so the Federation implanting dreams, or otherwise messing with them, is not impossible. Or, perhaps, making reality into something dreamlike.

Bad knows Philza was neither in his chair nor in his basement last night, but Philza doesn't seem to.

"I was confused, then I woke up in the basement, right by where the box had been. But no box, all my items from before back… just with the extra poppy and potato in my inventory. And Pierre yelling outside asking if I was okay. Wasn't really time not to be, what with the Duck's messgae starting right after he dragged me down to spawn."

Bad hmms to himself and watches Philza check the floor again, looking for quartz that very definitely isn't there. He is not really sure what the angel wants from him. It certainly doesn't make Bad less suspicious - the Federation could easily have implanted other orders into his dreams, ones Philza won't know about until they are triggered - but maybe that's the point.

"I don't sleep like that, either. Never that long. Too easy for someone to sneak up on you," Philza frowns. "Tubbo suggested the food at the party was drugged, but for all I took I barely ate any. Why wouldn't someone else have passed out too?"

"Tubbo's… interesting," Bad offers, not even sure what he means by that himself.

Philza laughs, and its something a little manic, "I was asleep a week and despite Fit and Pac's best efforts he broke into the Federation twice, found the room the happy pills were forced on people, and got shot. And made enough factories I pass out from the air quality if I walk too fast through his base. Interesting's a word for it, mate."

"The Federation is messing with your brain," Bad says, rather than address the imploding disaster which is Tubbo. "I don't know what exactly, but… while you were asleep, people loosing memories was talk of the island."

"I /know/," Philza snaps. "How do you think I don't know they've done something to me? Who the fudge else would be able to break my reinforced trap door entirely? One way or another that was gone when I woke up that Saturday, and the party was real, and the maze? But it was there when I woke up for Carre. But it was a dream, it was just a dream, but now I have a flower and a potato and that can't have been a dream, but it has to have been. I had dreams inside that dream, Bad! How do I even know this is real? That I'm talking to you now? That I'm not still trapped in that stupid birdhouse? That the island is even real? That any of you are real? That this isn't some… Isn't some fevered dream as I die of some ancient illness I picked up from the sniffers. What if- What is even real, Bad? Is there even a reality? Do our eggs- I don't- I don't know any more."

It's then that Bad thinks that, maybe, he has worked it out - the illusive thing which Philza wants from him. He thinks of how, as soon as he saw him after the eggs went missing, Philza just stepped up and offered him a hug. How, for a moment, the world was real and for a few seconds Bad felt safe and like his skin was his own. Neither of them have any answers, Bad can't even promise this is real in the end.

But he can open up his arms, so he does.

Philza collapses into them, gripping onto his hoodie as he lets out an ear-splitting shriek. Once, twice, and then it calms slightly into choked off sobs and half-chirped phrases both apologising and doubting and Philza cursing himself.

Some birds scatter, others peer down from the nearby, fudged up trees.

"I'm here," is all Bad can offer to the man in his arms. "You didn't do anything wrong," it tastes like a lie and yet Bad can't tell where the mistake was.

"I'm real, and I've got you."

Nearby one of the blue hummingbirds starts flying away. Bad does not trust it; he leans close and whispers, "where's your closest warp to mine? Let's go there where we can sit down."

Philza gives him the name, and Bad encourages him to warp - promises to follow. He watches for Philza's name disappearing and then reappearing on the map.

And then he grins a little sharp, turning his face out into the woods. "I don't appreciate spies."

Something atarts running; Bad lights a match, and starts a forest fire.

Surrounded by flames, he warps after Philza.

He has muffins at home. Muffins will cheer Philza up a bit, yes? They can have muffins, and coffee, and hug on the couch, and work out who they need to kill.

#qsmp fanfic #qsmp philza #qsmp bbh #what is this? it is what it is #hurt/comfort #I think #Philza's doing his best to cope so hard but its a bit flexible #something something he seemed pretty convinced it was a dream to tubbo but not so much once he was alone... #'would you kill me/yourself/your off island boyfriend if they were threats to our children' as a trust test #bbh and philza are both going through it