#cws:

[kuneruru]

ṡ̶̟̠͔̍̍w̶̢̨̜͚̩͙̖̳͒a̵̪̖̳̬̗̹̰̘̾̽͊͗͋̍͠͝ȓ̶̼̫̓͜m̵͇̩̲͗̇̏̈́̽̍

I had the pleasure to collab with Zeta and Bambi for @gsgwreversebang with insect themed horror. 🦋

Go check out Zeta’s wonderfully haunting art and Bambi’s spine-chilling fic!! They both did amazing job, I’m so excited for being to able to share our work finally! cw: emetophobia, entomophobia & body horror. Please be aware of the tags!

[wordsthatbeginwithz]

@wolfstarmicrofic Prompt 5: Escape | Word Count: 522

CW: Contemplation of being murdered (no actual murder)

Remus sits down with a cup of tea on the couch, and unrolls the paper. That old picture, the one he hasn’t seen in years, stares up at him. The headline reads SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPES FROM AZKABAN. 

His hand freezes mid-air, mug halfway to his mouth. They’d said it was impossible to escape from, didn’t they? But then again, didn't Remus remember two boys (much as he’d like to forget) who’d once laughed in the face of impossible magic?

There is a creak and Remus looks up, heart thudding. He is sure it is only like when you read a horror novel and every mouse becomes a murderer. But standing in the doorway is no mouse. There, dead eyed and sallow skinned, is Sirius Black. 

Remus’ wand is on his nightstand in the other room. He knows he will not reach it in time. Sirius will kill him and then he will find Harry, and he will kill him too.

“Hiya, Moony,” Sirius’ voice is a hoarse rasp. “Been awhile.” 

Remus’ hand shakes as he sets the mug down on the coffee table. It's the only part of himself he can’t school into calmness.

“Are you here to kill me?” Remus asks. 

Sirius laughs, cruel and cracking, “Kill you? Now why would I kill my oldest friend?” 

He drops into an armchair, limbs flopping like a rag doll. Everything about him is thin. Thin muscled, thin boned, thin skinned — nearly translucent. His hair is matted as it falls around his face, almost obscuring his eyes. If Remus hadn’t spent a decade staring at that once-handsome face, he might not even recognize him as the same man.

“I’m not going to help you, you know,” Remus says evenly. His eyes flick toward the doorway to his bedroom, then back again.

Sirius grunts. Neither protest or confirmation, just acknowledgement that Remus has spoken. “Hear me out first.” 

“And if I don’t?” 

Sirius contemplates him, “Are you going to try and turn me in?” 

Remus could, he supposes, though he would probably be dead halfway through his attempt. His only saving grace is he is not sure if Sirius has a wand. And then there is the coward in him, that part that wonders if he could watch a dementor lower its head to Sirius’ face, all while knowing that he was the one who had led them there.

“I could try,” is all Remus says. 

Sirius leans forward, intent. “Remus. Peter’s not dead.” 

And there in the dimly lit living room, Sirius explains. 

It feels as if Sirius has taken the model of the world that Remus has built over the last 13 years — the one that knows to love is to lose and to trust is to be betrayed — and has broken it to shards in front of him. Like with a puzzle that’s missing half of its pieces, Remus is left scrounging, unsure of how to fit everything back together again. Faced with impossibilities, he does the only thing left to do. He sits and he listens to a new story of what happened one night so many years ago.

[chaos-plush]

Shout out to the Regressors who…

🌟 who don’t quite understand why or what makes them regress

🌟 who don’t feel comfortable being out as a regressor irl &/or online

🌟 who do find comfort being out as a regressor irl &/or online

🌟 who feel insecure about their regression

🌟 who have been hurt by others while trying to be open about their regression

🌟 who get intrusive thoughts about their regression (ie. “im bad” etc etc)

🌟 who use it to cope w trauma &/or abuse

🌟 who use it to cope w chronic pain, illness, or fatigue

🌟 who use it to cope w health issues in general

🌟 who feel like regressing is their life & entire personality

🌟 who love regressing bcs it makes them feel better

[gorezzly]

wang zhao - anon commission ☁️

[fourwingedwriter]

Elemental: A Short Story

AN: This is the full story of these two! I had an idea for a magic system and these two display it beautifully.

Note: if you read the intro, i have revised it and added a bit more details. Even so, new content starts after the first divider :)

Words: 1.6k

Content warnings in the tags

Tagging: @tildeathiwillwrite @mysticalshadow351 @yassifiedinformation

--

would you walk through fire

to find me

at the hearth?

--

She couldn't break his fever. Helio laid on the tile of his kitchen floor, damp towels over his face and neck, his breath shallow. Bruises dappled his skin, purple on brown, getting darker every hour. He was bleeding through the bandages on his leg, nails digging into whatever he could get his hands on as he struggled to stay awake.

Jade brushed a hand through his sweat slick hair, his head resting in her lap, "I've got you."

His voice carries through the house, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry- I didn't mean to! I- forgive me I didn't mean to hurt them-"

The begging wasn't for her, she knew that, but he was so scared she worried she might've hurt him in some way, "Shh Helio don't waste your energy. You're safe now."

What had he done? What happened here? She hadn't gotten a clear answer from him when he was lucid, and the fever only got worse. It'd become unnaturally high, and far too fast. It wasn't a normal fever, but she feared the truth too much to admit it out loud to him. It'd scare him too much.

When a high level mage becomes gravely injured, they have two options. Heal naturally, meaning they go through a lengthy recovery period and risk their body rejecting magic all together, killing them slowly. Or they become an elemental. Their body taking on certain aspects of their magic, healing them at the price of no longer being fully human.

Jade's hand found Helio's, gently prying his nails from the soft skin of his neck. He groaned in response, death gripping her hand as she swapped the damp cloth on his face.

Her voice shook, reminded of the weeks she'd spent on a cot, blood red stone slowly emerging from what remained of her arm, "You're doing great."

"Just kill me. Please. It hurts- it hurts so much— make it stop—" he screamed. A deep, gutteral scream she could've heard from down the street. He flailed, trying to move away from something she couldn't see.

Jade wrapped her arms around his chest, trying to keep him still, looking for what he was fleeing from. Then she noticed the smoke coming from his bandages, the acrid scent of burning blood filling the room.

Before she could stop him, Helio clawed the bandages from his leg to find his blood dripping out like lava bubbling from a volcano. He retched, covering his mouth until he could throw up onto the floor beside them, shaking violently as what remained of his lunch boiled on the tile flooring.

Jade nearly threw up herself, the scent of vomit mixing with burning flesh was too much to stomach. Helio was barely moving, his head at an awkward angle on her shoulder. His breaths came in shallow gasps as he slumped into her.

She hated what she had to do. She hated the risk she had to take. What it would do to him. Whether he would forgive her.

"This is going to hurt like hell." She whispered, extracting herself from behind him, "You're probably going to pass out. I'm sorry."

She hauled him forward, pulling him into a fireman carry, cringing as his blood began to trickle down her arm, burning her clothes and flowing along the ridges of the stone she called a limb. His core settled just behind her head, the heat nearly unbearable.

Predictably, being flipped sideways made him pass out. His head hung low, tears flowing towards his hair line, the trails they left evaporating quickly.

--

Before he was aware of himself, Helio was already struggling to free himself. He was being held in a pool of ice water, only his injured leg held above water.

"Stop moving or you'll make it worse!" Jade's voice called from somewhere near his legs, "I can't keep your wound dry if you keep struggling."

He was far more lucid than he was before, but he almost wished he'd stayed unconscious. His body wasn't suited for cold anymore. It hurt. Everything hurt. It was as if he was burning, like his skin was blistering and he'd be covered in scars. He could barely think.

As he processed more of his surroundings, he found he was in a creek. There was no ice, and yet he was freezing. Familiar trees towered above, the pines of the woods he'd become fond of in his time in the realm.

Helio clawed at the edge of the creek, his hands finding purchase at the rocky shore. He didn't really question whether it was , too desprate to free himself from the water. Gravel dug into his ribs as he hauled himself to the shore.

A new voice, steeped in annoyance, called after him, "Idiot boy. You're going to open your wound again."

A familiar cloak was wrapped around him as he was lifted carefully into Jade's arms, "Helio, calm down. Please. You're going to give yourself a fever again."

"Where am I?" He asked into the fabric of her shirt, pressing his face into her.

"In the woods. I couldn't take you into town, they'd find you too easily. So I called in a favor." She wrapped the cloak around his bare backside, thankful for his small stature as she easily maneuvered him.

The same unfamiliar voice from before could be heard, now closer, "Now I don't owe you. Take your elemental somewhere else."

Jade tensed, holding him tighter, "He's still human." Jade snapped.

He turned to find a woman made entirely from water, arms crossed over a liquidy chest, "Hmph. Keep telling yourself that, earth ganasi."

Helio's head spun, what was happening? Was he dreaming? "What?"

"You have some explaining to do, soldier." The woman spat, dissappearing into the river he'd just escaped from.

He turned to Jade and found her crying, "Fuck you, Lupi."

--

Helio was bundled up in Jade's extra clothes, her cloak wrapped around his shoulders, the collar wet from his hair. He was thankful to once more cover up the bruises he was painted in. He watched her pull food from her bag, leftovers from the meal they'd shared a few nights before.

She was gently illuminated by a modest campfire they'd built after she pronounced them far enough from the town. Her own clothes were singed, the shirt ruined, a whole sleeve missing, showing a limb of stone beneath.

Helio couldn't help but stare at it. She'd hidden it so well. He knew she had a bad arm— she was discharged for it only a year before —but he hadn't expected a stone prosthetic. She must constantly be casting when it moved, which explained the sling she wore sometimes.

She handed him a warm metal cup and a spoon, the scent of his simple fried rice dissipating into the night. He took it graciously, not daring to break the silence she'd established at the river.

The words they'd used floated around in his mind. He'd been called an elemental. He wasn't. Surely he wasn't. He was still human. Elementals were rabid beasts; people who had gone too far, indulged in their magic too much.

Helio pressed his hand to the covered wound on his thigh, tracing his thumb across the rock-like scab formed. His... blood? (Was it blood anymore?) had hardened into some sort of volcanic rock. It scared him.

Jade sat back, leaning against her bag, head resting on the sleeping bag strapped to the top, "Explain. Why did I find you bleeding out in the middle of the road."

He placed his food to the side, losing his appetite, "It was an accident."

"I got that. You wouldn't stop apologizing earlier." She withheld the details about him begging her to kill him. It was too fresh.

Helio blanched, scared of the lapse in his memory, "I was walking home and these guards who were escorting a young noble boy started to shout at me. I tried to ignore them. It was just the usual harassment." he was spooked by a tear falling onto his hand. He paused, blinking away the tears, wishing he wouldn't be so affected by it after all these years. He'd commited the crime of being a refugee, and he'd paid for it nearly every day.

Jade's expression betrayed her anger, "Did they attack you?"

"It was barely anything." He put a hand to his ribs, gentely probing the bruise they'd left. "I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have done anything. Sometimes they leave me alone if I just walk away."

Jade's grip on her cup was so tight it bent the handle, "That's what that bruise was."

Helio shrunk into the cloak more, "It's fine, really. I've had worse. I've just never fought back before. It- it wasn't intentional. The fire just comes out on its own. I hit the boy they were guarding and they..." he pulled his good leg up, sobbing into the pant leg.

Not realizing she'd moved, he started slightly when Jade sat beside him, a stable presence as she laid her arm protectively over his shoulders, holding back her own tears, "You're not going back there."

He shook, "They left me for dead- If you hadn't— if-"

"You're not going back there." She repeated, kissing the top of his head, the same way she did when they were partners all those years ago. The time before she got drafted.

[a-power-outlet]

tempted to make elodie's nb reveal in the prewar stuff something that only norm knows about. and 100% also dane. since i imagine elodie learns abt nonbinary-ness from dane, and then would feel comfortable enough to be like. hey. uh. help?

i just. i still want to include some sort of societal dislike of nonbinary-ness though, since it's still common in my own life. elodie would know what it's like because of dane, since i imagine they'd tell her about it. so elodie would be reluctant to go public with the change in identity.

she might be willing to start using the pronouns in a work setting, but i struggle with the idea of vault-tec being super accepting. i think dane squeaks by because they're skilled in their job and garner respect bc of that (and because i'm lowkey imagining the other engineers coming to their defense too.)

idk. i fear making prewar vault-tec too "woke" would be not canon compliant because -gestures vaguely at prewar values- but then again they did let vault boy fuck bottle of bottle and cappy. so they might be like "yeah cool idc if you're nonbinary" but i also imagine they wouldn't be super helpful in terms of reprimanding the 'phobes

it's tricky! i might write up a chapter where elodie gets to talk to dane about it, the current one i'm writing does touch on how elodie doesn't really feel like a woman even when she does the whole dressing up act.

[johnfkennedaddy]

Here's a treatment for a Victorious abortion episode because who the fuck cares about anything at all anymore

Jade spends a week trying to get people to physically fight her, when that doesn't work she claims she's method acting for a play about harry Houdini and needs to get punched in the stomach.

Tori pulls her aside privately and asks why she wants to hurt herself. Jade responds its not herself she wants to hurt. She tells Tori some guy at a vocal workshop she attended over a break knocked her up and thats why she spent the week trying to get knocked down. She doesn't think she'll be able to get an abortion.

Tori asks if the problem is money because maybe she could help. Jade cuts her off and yells at her for calling her poor. Jade then explains you can't drive after the procedure and she doesn't want anyone else to know. Tori suggests Cat’s brother as a means of obtaining mifepristone. Jade asks her if she's been smoking crack. Tori offers to drive, but she only has her learners permit and needs a sober liscened driver in the car with her. Cat walks in having just passed her test.

They jump through hoops to try and make sure that Cat doesn't figure out whats going on. Until they drop jade off and Cat starts to recognize the building in a joke made to imply that shes been forcibly sterilized (laugh track)

in a state of panic Tori punches her and knocks her out cold.

(beat)

when jade emerges from the procedure it’s getting late she says she's tired from the valium but Tori knows somethings really wrong. To Jade’s protest Tori pulls off, gets them in and out, and tries to get Jade to open up.

Eventually Jade admits her complicated feelings about the whole thing and she makes Tori laugh when she says “I keep feeling like I lost my virginity for real this time.” they laugh together and Jade earnestly thanks Tori for her help. Just as it seems they're about to kiss. Cat wakes up in the back seat and goes “Oh, Jade, how did the abortion go?” laugh track, cut to black.

And like idk Andre, Beck, and Robbie get really into pro wrestling in the b plot or whatever