#panic cw

[gatorbeast]

anyways. cardboard angel huh. (fic by @beabigshot)

[thegoldenharp]

Ros reaction to Mc jolting awake from a nightmare and slowly getting a panic attack?

tw panic attack mentions under the cut <3

lorcan... doesn’t wake for a few minutes. when he does, his first response is to try and soothe the mc with gentle touches, maybe an embrace. if that’s not welcomed, he isn’t sure what to do, really.

robin... is probably already awake when the mc first jolts awake, and they probably sense pretty quickly that something’s Wrong and try to head it off at the pass, so to speak. they definitely don’t leave mc to spiral.

gray... freezes at first, might even try to pretend they’re asleep as they try to work out what to do - this really isn’t their strong point, and they don’t want to fuck it up. that said, they’re very good at just being a quiet presence - probably the most accepting of constricting touch that they’ll be.

lorelei... panics, to be honest. they might hide it reasonably well, but they’re really not sure what to do, since siren anxiety and human anxiety manifest quite differently? sirens typically shut down when under stress (another way that lorelei has adapted), so they get very Freaked Out when mc’s heart is racing (they’re kind of fascinated, too). tries to sing to mc to soothe them, won’t cope very well themself if mc doesn’t want to be touched, honestly, since it’s the main way they show affection.

grace... is very good at being a comforting presence - probably tries to talk to mc, either tell them a story (maybe a thinly-veiled backstory) or just...tell them random facts? like how old the oak was that made the ceiling beams above them, the curing process for the meats in the hold, that sort of thing. has quite a low voice, which would be quite soothing.

anthony... fusses a little at first (if you’re close enough that he’s sharing a bed with you, he cares very deeply), but calms down relatively quickly - it helps him when he’s panicking to notice what he can see/hear/smell around him, so he encourages you to follow that process.

the other... isn’t above using their abilities to soothe mc from inside their own head, tbh? as a bare minimum, they grow quite fond of their host, and they can grow incredibly close over the course of someone’s life, as you might expect of someone who’s literally your constant companion. when romanced, this impulse to protect/nurture/soothe is heightened.

[foxfirefallout]

♞ - physically pick my muse up and carry them Heron x na!Ell'iandyr - vesuvian-disaster

Some context-- this occurs while Ell'iandyr and Heron are in Zadith (Heron for a buying trip, Ell to find their familiar, Amira.)

~760 words

Content Warnings: panic/anxiety attack

It’s been a little over a week since we first arrived in Zadith, and it has been quite the learning experience for me. My pronunciation of Zadithi has improved (marginally) and watching Heron as he barters is an education unto itself. But as to the reason I asked to be brought along-- to find my familiar-- I’ve made no progress at all.

I am trying very hard to not be weighted down by this, but as each day passes and our time in this place draws closer to an end, I can’t help but worry. Will this trip be justified? Will I find her before we leave? Will I even recognize her, outside the confines of my dream-visions? The questions spiral in my mind, no matter how often I try to set them aside.

Besides these, there are other questions that creep to my mind that have nothing to do with my quest or being in a strange country, namely the attention Heron takes in arranging my scarf before we go out, and in the applying of sunscreen should that be insufficient. I appreciate his efforts, as the last thing I wish is to be burned, but they leave me feeling more than a little confused.

Common sense tells me that it is merely his practicality. But as I lift my face each morning to his touch, my heart can’t help but wish there was more than practicality behind his actions. Practicality is, by far, the safer motive for me to contemplate, so I thank him each morning and spend the rest of the day giving distance to those wishes of my heart.

Today is another marketplace as Heron finds his favorite suppliers, renews old acquaintances and moves on with his purpose for this trip. While I have made some purchases of my own, finding supplies for my own business really isn’t why I’ve come all this way. I spend much of my time trailing slightly behind Heron, trying to stay out of the way and wondering if this is where I might find my familiar.

Periodically, I will reach out to sense the magic of the area, but often it is simply too overwhelming. There are so many people, so many things that have an underlying current of their own that I dare not try often. I have to hope that if Amira is nearby, she will be able to find me… but I keep trying.

Even when I shouldn’t.

I think I sense something, possibly even her, and stretch my perception, carefully, but even then it’s obvious there’s too much here to be filtered out or refined. While I try to close myself off again, I’m jostled by several other shoppers, all intent on their own paths. Now, there are far too many people, the sun is too bright and what had been a usual hum of people seems incredibly loud to my ears.

Worse, I’m sure I’ve lost track of where Heron is, but before that can spiral me further into my panic, I feel a strong arm around me and hear a murmur of “We’re leaving now,” in his familiar voice. I have no time to respond, even if I could, before I feel myself being picked up and carried. The thought ‘of course he can do this,’ flits through my mind as I hold on to him.

As we move away from the press of the crowd, the panic spirals away into nothing, though it is replaced with a vague sense of shame that I should be so frozen in a situation that I need to be removed bodily from it. Heron, however, seems (as always) entirely unphased as he settles me onto a bench under an awning, and keeps an arm around me. As I stare at the tabletop in front of us, I’m distantly aware that he’s holding a conversation with someone, but I can’t bring myself to try to look up to see what’s happening.

“I’m sorry,” I finally murmur, though I don’t move away from him, afraid, perhaps, that I might somehow lose him again.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. We’re just going to sit here for a little while. I’ve ordered some tea.”

I can’t help but quirk a little smile at this. “Tea… the answer to everything.”

“Well, not quite everything,” he admits, still close to me on the bench we share. “But it certainly helps.”

I have to agree, but I know it isn’t the prospect of a cup of tea that has helped calm me so quickly.

[xstrange]

kiss   prompt      —      selective   !

@iorast​ asked: a kiss after being pulled into an alley to have a moment to themselves

PANIC   ENCASED   HIM   in   a   show   of   unexpected   loss   of   control,      the   sorcerer's   breath   a   staccato   of   what   should   be   a   steady   rhythm.      one   moment   he   was   fine   and   the   next   his   mind   was   clouded      —      high   pitched   ringing   in   his   ears   drowning   any   concerned   questioning   thrown   his   way.      something      ——      someone   guided   him   to   rest   upon   a   cold   ground,      broken   hands   shaking   moreso      until   they   were   encased   in   another's   grip.

going   out   tonight   wasn't   a   good   idea      ——      a   NEARBY   CAR   WRECK   taking   him   from   his   surroundings   so   thoroughly   that   he   wondered   if   he   should   just   ——

a   pair   of   soft   lips   ghosted   over   his   own,      his   own   mismatched   eyes   open   and   yet   unseeing   —   slide   closed,      his   breathing   evening   out   after   a   long   while   of   silence.      black   hair   cascaded   around   his   vision,      blocking   his   gaze   from   anything   other   than..      loki   ?   

it   took   time,      soft   kisses   and   cool   magicks   pressed   to   is   forehead   for   longer   than   he'd   care   to   admit,      before   the   sorcerer   supreme   came   back   to   himself.      slowly   his   eyes   focused,      only   now   registering   the   trickster's   hands   CRADLING   HIS   FACE   now,      his   own   scarred   digits   holding   on   to   the   god's   shirt   tight   enough   to   ache.      he   knew   not   why   loki   would..      do   this   for   him,      but   the   warm   embrace   of   their   magicks   entwining   with   his   own   brought   him   back   from   a   place   he'd   never   delved.

[giggle-me-this]

|| no exit || nate + xi + lox

Nate woke up to the most excruciating headache of his entire life. Well—he supposed it wasn’t technically called “waking up,” considering how drunk he’d been last night—it was more like just being unconscious and then, abruptly, painfully conscious. 

But Nate didn’t have time to dwell on semantics—not when it felt like a herd of Erumpent had stampeded on his head. He groaned, and shifted his arm out from underneath Xi, who was still asleep in bed. Her face crinkled with a frown at being subconsciously disturbed, and Nate pulled the duvet up over her shoulders when she rolled over, as he got out of bed and stumbled toward the bedroom door. Fuck, he needed a pot of coffee as strong as rocket fuel and a hangover potion, in that order, immediately.

But when he turned the doorknob and pulled, the door wouldn’t budge. “What the…” Nate muttered under his breath, jiggling the door on the frame unsuccessfully. The thing was, their door didn’t lock. None of the doors in the house locked, besides the front and back doors; it was a constant point of frustration for Xi when there were hedges in the house, and one Nate heard about often. Hastily, Nate backtracked, rubbing at his eyes (which did little to alleviate the pressure that throbbed just behind them) before grabbing glasses and his phone from the nightstand. There was an unread text, from Seth:

{FROM: SETH} heads up: some cooperative magic backfired. attempted camouflaging spells on the safehouse for protection as discussed and someone miscalculated the illusions bit. all doors are unfunctional until further notice. working to fix asap.

Immediately, Nate’s claustrophobic panic instincts kicked in at the thought of being trapped in a room until further notice, and he thought he might be sick. The door to the bathroom had mercifully been left cracked, and Nate barreled in there and retrieved an anti-nausea potion from beneath the sink, and tossed back the whole thing. He splashed some water on his face, willing himself to stop shaking. He was just a bit hungover. The hedges would get them out soon. Nate could handle this.

It was then he noticed that the other door in the bathroom, which connected Harriet’s room to this one, was also slightly ajar. That seemed like a bit of luck—if Harriet was up here, surely she could figure out how to break them out faster without blowing the doors off their hinges, right? Without any hesitation whatsoever, Nate pushed open the door and walked into Harriet’s room. “Thank fucking god, Harriet—the hedges fucked up the cloaking spells and now the doors are all fucked up…do you think you can circumvent whatever they did and get us out of—?”

It was then that Nate noticed that Harriet was not in her room. Loxley Blair and his sleeping dog, however, were. 

“Loxley?” Nate said with alarm, even as the events of the previous night started crashing back through his mind. Loxley had come into the bar, and stayed well after the official “closing time,” drinking shots and watching everyone play Push. Him and his roommates had shown up at the flat several weeks ago, having found out about the FTB hedges without knowing about Nate or Xi’s involvement; Nate had been otherwise occupied at the time, but he’d heard plenty about it from Xiomara: how protocol had dictated she allow them entry, despite her clear disapproval. How they’d successfully performed the magic required to let them stay. How Piper Oliver had cornered Xi in the kitchen and explained their predicament. 

They’d all shown up a few times since then, and it had been awkward. Which Nate had expounded on at length last night, after he’d suffered a brutal Push defeat and subsequently gotten absolutely smashed. Harriet was out getting laid and Nate had insisted that Loxley come back to the flat for the night, and they could get very very high before passing out. And that’s about where Nate’s memories ceased. 

“Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuck…” he said, lowering his voice and glancing back through the bathroom in the direction of his bedroom, where Xi was (hopefully) still asleep. “Okay, I know this is inconvenient, but we’re kind of stuck in here while everyone else sorts out a spell mishap. Do you think you can just, like—chill in here, and be quiet, until we can—?”

And that’s when Xiomara came in. 

@loxley-blair-lockhart @xiomarawinters

[demomansuggests]

Go looking for Daye while trying not to get killed

[calvinandhobbes]

dead serious, how are you guys handling election-related anxiety? im having trouble breathing and my chest is actually exploding ✨💘💅😘

[officialchellportal]

I can't breathe-