Long Slender Fingers

Long Slender Fingers

Turn gnarly and old

Can’t grab, can’t clutch

Can’t go out in the cold

Two active built legs

Now buckle and fold

Never again will they run

Or so they are told

A ‘Special’ bright mind

Turns cloudy and fails

Can’t feel, can’t think

Its intellect pales

Small gifted child

Chained, constrained

Can’t move, can’t make

A body so pained

Once a ‘good time girl’

Lost to time and life

The good with the bad

Like the edge of a knife

List five things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last ten people who liked or reblogged something from you! Get to know your followers, mutuals, and all the wonderful people on here!

1. Long grass that sways in the wind

2. Listening to people rant about things they’re passionate about

3. Music (You will rarely catch me without an AirPod in)

4. Driving/riding in a car (I am like a baby in those car commercials. If you need to calm me down just stick me in a car and drive me around.)

5. Obscure comparisons (ex: she lit up like the inside of an easy-bake oven)

I’m so bad about sending these things on, but I’m happy to answer!

I write for myself, the little word goblin in my head, and my three tumblr followers

Hero and Villain go to Sky Zone

Hero dodged to the left, then quickly to the right. Bright red pillars scattered around them, and they weaved gracefully between them. They grabbed the coarse ropes of a net, and scrambled upwards as fast as their tangled limbs could take them. They risked a glance to their left and caught a glimpse of Villain doing the same. They quickly reached up, using their trained grip strength to traverse a ten foot gap in their path. They had to be faster. They had to work harder. They had to win.

Their feet hit the ground with painful reverberation, but there was no time to stop and rest. Diving forward, they crawled through the darkened tunnel, their knees sliding on the slick material as they pushed forward. Up ahead, they could see the light at the end of the tube illuminating an open plain occupied only by the spinning blades of the final obstacle.

They reached it in record time, wasting not even a second to deliberate. They saw a gap and they lunged for it. A blade came hurtling towards them and they jumped, moving forward a step before the next one came. They leapt over the following blade, clearing it just before something crashed into them from behind. Sprawled out flat, they lifted their head to locate their assailant. Unfortunately, they forgot to calculate for the velocity of the forgotten obstacle. While Villain ducked under the last blade and made it to the gap in the wall, Hero was left behind to get smacked in the head.

Dazed, Hero finally managed to stumble off the padded plain and onto more solid ground.

“That’s the most impressive run I’ve seen today,” a man in a red polo shirt congratulated, but the two finishers were already racing past him.

Seeing an opening, Villain ran past and grabbed a long pole, then dashed onto a long beam and turned to face Hero.

All around the open building, young eyes followed the two enthusiastic players.

Hero, accepting the challenge, grabbed a pole for themselves and followed Villain out onto the beam.

“You picked the wrong section. My balance is unmatched,” Hero taunted, holding up their red weapon with two cushioned ends.

Villain replied, matching Hero’s stance with their blue padded weapon, “Really? How’s your hit absorption?”

Villain swung for the ribs and was blocked, red colliding with blue in a struggle for leverage. Both opponents swayed unsteadily, their feet wobbling and their eyes scanning for possible landing zones below them.

When they inevitably both went tumbling into a sea of primary colors, screams of victory followed them both.

Foam blocks were flying five, then ten feet in the air. Blurs of red, yellow, and blue obscured the views of the children who stood wide-eyed at the edge of the pit. One cube veered far off course, hitting a young girl in the face. She and the others wisely took a step back. Oblivious to the stunned—but unharmed— child, the polyurethane war continued.

Villain was the first to their feet, and they abandoned the pit and headed for where the floor turned black and bouncy, broken by a grid of red padding. They bounced diagonally to the farthest corner where the trampolines covered the walls as well as the floor. Hero, hot on their tail, jumped between the squares at an impressive speed.

Before they could reach Villain, they were caught on the wrist by different man in a red shirt and khaki shorts.

“Hey, it’s time to go,” he said, tapping his wrist at his watch.

“What?” Hero asked in confusion, looking down at their own wrist where a yellow paper band laid.

Beyond them, Villain stopped bouncing to watch the scene unfold.

“I’m sorry, you only paid for an hour,” the attendant explained patiently.

“But- But! What about him!” Hero pointed an accusatory finger towards the villain, who looked nothing short of absolutely overjoyed by Hero’s situation.

“His band is purple. He paid for two hours.”

“What?! Then can’t I just pay for more?”

“Sorry sir, we’re full. You’re going to have to give back the socks and leave,” he spoke politely, but the corners of his mouth were frayed even with the classic customer-service smile, and it was clear he was reaching the end of his shift.

Hero deflated, knowing they couldn’t argue with the poor minimum-wage employee in front of them without compromising their morals and their public image.

“You heard the man,” Villain mocked, moving closer to the hero.

Hero’s jaw remained discarded on the floor as they reached a bench on which they could sit down and start peeling to borrowed socks from their feet.

“This isn’t over,” they called over their shoulder as they walked past a smug Villain who stood with their arms crossed over their chest.

“Sure it isn’t, just like you weren’t knocked off first.”

Hero froze, seething, but wisely chose to keep walking.

The kids were watching, after all.

Vigilante was running.

It’s logical thing to do, really, when the man who is currently trying to take down a seven story building somehow comes to think you ruined his plans. You didn’t-they didn’t-really, they just happened to be inside the building when it happened. Not quite as a coincidence though; they did know that the villain was going to be turning the local office building into a pile of rubble that afternoon and they were there for that reason, they just weren’t going to stop him. Reduce the causality count sure, but Vigilante could do that on their own by pulling the fire alarm-like they did. They did not summon the heroes or publicly humiliate the would-be bomber by switching out the detonator with a children’s toy.

They just happened to be peeking around the corner of the hall when he menacingly pulled out the toddler telephone during a stand off with the responding hero.

And really- who wouldn’t laugh when a man about to flip a dead man’s switch for an explosion instead triggers the cocomelon theme song?

Unfortunately for this vigilante, laughing is a dead give away when spying. They had locked eyes with Villain, nothing but murder in his gaze when he whipped his head back and saw the vigilante crouched in the office. Realizing how this looked and taking the cue, Vigilante had bolted.

Down the hall, around a corner, to the left, through the doors, down six flights of stairs, around the back, through that door-

Oh fuck.

Apparently, there was a faster route to the sidewalk outside and the villain had taken it. There was no time to be impressed, however, nor was there time to be terrified. Vigilante quickly scanned to their left and right. Left looked clearest, and they shifted their weight to-

“Oh no you don’t.”

Suddenly their back was pressed against the rough brick of the still-in-tact offices.

Fuck he was fast.

They were caged within a second, flailing to no avail. They kicked, went for the knees, ankles, crotch. Nothing. They grabbed for a switchblade in their pant’s pocket and got nothing but pinned wrists for their troubles.

“You,” he started, stopping to transfer both wrists to a single-handed hold above the vigilante’s head. He continued after using his free hand to pull out the now-broken toy, “think this is funny?”

The vigilante almost chuckled again when the crushed telephone he held up started to play a rather demonic-sounding rendition of the children’s song. Almost.

They silently swallowed in the spirit of self-preservation instead.

The villain dropped the remains to the ground thoughtlessly, instead using that hand to initiate a grip on Vigilante’s throat.

If they were ever going to say something to their defense, they had better do it now before they lacked the oxygen to form coherent words.

Vigilante took one last look in their peripherals to see if any hero would be coming to their rescue. There was no one.

“Oh we have time. Hero is rather…occupied. A little distraction.” Villain smiled. The vigilante thought they smelled smoke. Well it’s a good thing they already tripped the alarm.

“It wasn’t me,” Vigilante spoke with a touch of all-too-real desperation. The grip on their neck was tight but not yet restrictive.

“Bullshit.”

“I pulled the fire alarm. That’s it.” The vigilante silently begged for the man to believe that they did not, in fact, have a death wish. They did have a cat to feed, after all.

They had only wanted to get the workers out, not get choked to death next to some freshly-planted trees in front of a parking garage.

Occupational hazard, they guessed.

Villain studied them, hand flexing seemingly unconsciously as he weighed their defense. He was hesitant, which was understandable. Vigilante wouldn’t necessarily believe themselves here either.

When he didn’t let go, Vigilante added recklessly in a whisper, “I hate coco melon.”

The vigilante didn’t expect a laugh, but they also didn’t expect their throat to be abruptly released. The villain leaned back slightly to study them a little more. By the grace of someone, he seemed to believe them.

“You were still messing with my shit,” he pointed out, which was true enough.

“Just to get people out. It wasn’t gonna stop you.”

The villain answered only with silence.

“Someone has to pay.”

The vigilante answered with a silence of their own.

“Tell anybody what happened,” he paused for dramatic effect, maintaining harsh eye contact with the vigilante as he continued, “and they’ll find your corpse trapped in a room with a screen playing cocomelon on loop.”

Vigilante shivered. A scary threat indeed.

Villain stepped back, and Vigilante was shocked. Maybe they didn’t need to worry about the fate of their furry friend after all.

“If it was you, don’t think you can hide from me. You’ll wish we had finished this now.” The murderous gleam returned to the villain’s eyes, but it was no longer directed at Vigilante. They immediately felt sorry for whoever was about to incur his wrath next.

They started running again before he could change his mind.

Besides, if they had pulled something so bold, they certainly wouldn’t stick around to be seen and connected to it. They would watch it play out safely, from a distance. Preferably through an untraceable camera. Not that they would do something like that. …definitely not. Vigilante wondered who had, though. No suspects immediately came to mind, or none that made sense, anyway. For now, they just admired the guts it took to pull that off. They had a proper laugh when they got home, away from the danger of being choked or annoyed to death, and close to the now-full silver bowl on the floor.

This is Love (3 hero/villain snippets)

(All based on the song “This is Love” by Air Traffic Controller)

1. Run

“Villain,” Hero acknowledged with a slight inclination of their head. “Back again so soon?”

“What can I say,” Villain grinned back, all teeth. “I just love to pick a fight.”

Hero readies themselves for the inevitable attack, planting their feet wider and placing a hand on one of several throwing knives strapped to their thigh.

“This time, I won’t let you win,” declared Villain.

Hero did not bother to indulge the jab, instead focusing on the move that they intended to distract from. Villain’s own knife sailed past them on the right as they dodged smoothly to the left.

Quick to respond, Hero sent two of their blades into the air in rapid succession. They both narrowly missed the target, one drawing just a single drop of blood from Villain’s ear.

Villain rolled, ducking behind a barrel before popping out the other side while simultaneously loosing their last long range dagger.

Hero tracked them easily, and they were ready to block the blow with a makeshift shield. The knife lodged itself in the wooden board and Hero chucked it back to the side where they had found it.

“Get your blood pumping yet?” Villain called from behind the corner of the brick building they had moved to.

“Not hardly,” Hero replied, palming two more daggers and stalking towards the alley in which they heard the villain’s voice.

“Don’t worry,” Hero turned the corner just in time to see the maniacal grin spread across Villain’s face. “I have just the thing.”

Hero raised their throwing arms just as Villain reached into their back waistband and pulled out a gun.

“Now, let’s see how fast you can run.”

2. Betrayal

(tw: mention of past abuse, mention of suicidal ideation, toxic relationship)

“I’m an idiot for thinking…all those late shifts, God, I just thought you were saving up for us! To think you were out there….doing, doing those…those things,” she spat, and she didn’t stop there. “And the laundry, GOD I praised you for helping out. I didn’t think…why would I ever think! The hydrogen peroxide…the cold cycles!” Her voice carried nothing but despair when she realized, “Everytime I thought you were spoiling me, you were really just destroying evidence! Oh my god, and the gifts-“

“I was going to tell you,” Villain replied evenly, holding his hands up placatingly.

“Don’t you even start with me. Where is this necklace from?” She questioned, looping a finger under the chain and shaking the charm violently, “Did you get it from that heist I heard about? The one two towns over, out that old highway-“ Lover paused to suck in a affronted breath before she renewed, “Where did you get my ring! I swear to god, if you got my engagement ring off some poor dead woman before you got down on one knee-“

“I bought that ring. How could you ever think I could do that to you-“ Villain responded with only the smallest hint of malice in his tone.

“You could kill me! And maybe you should!” Lover shouted, before sinking to their knees on the kitchen floor, body racked with sobs. “God, I’m stupid. I’m so, so STUPID.”

Villain stared at the form of his lover, fallen to the tiles, curled up against a wooden cabinet. His face didn’t change, remaining impassive as he kneeled beside the love of his life.

“I knew it would go like this,” he started with what seemed like calmness, but if you knew him well enough—like Lover did—you would know that this was his true anger. “You say that we are partners, we fall in love, we get married,” something like disdain crept in between his words, “but once you see the darkness, you get uncomfortable and you forget all about who I really am-“

Lover scoffed loudly, a sound Villain would have been pleased to hear from her if directed at anyone else.

“You must love playing the victim. Do you actually believe that? That I couldn’t handle this?”

“I was good once, you know? I could’ve been what you wanted, back then, before my father beat it out of me,” he spoke matter-of-factly, voice devoid of any emotion.

“You know, what you’re doing out there…,” Lover shook her head. “You’re just a part of a pattern. When you make others feel your pain, you’re just continuing the cycle. And you’ve done nothing to get out!” She explained. “God, Villain, what if we had kids?!”

Lover slowly pulled herself up off the ground, clutching the countertop for balance.

“Everyone who’s tried to fix me knows that I can’t change. This is just who I am. I could promise you that I’ll try. Then you’ll forgive me, and then we’ll move on and—like always—nothing will really change. You’ll play house and pretend everything isn’t the exact same-”

“I am not your past lovers, Villain. Do not make assumptions about my decisions,” her words burned with thinly-veiled fury. “I want this to work. I really do. I love you.” She added, some doubt creeping, “It’s pathetic, I know. Especially to someone like you-”

“It’s not pathetic to love me. This is love, and I’m not going to just let you leave like it was nothing. I’m a jealous fool who won’t let go. You know that. I don’t want to see you with someone else,” he admitted, and he spoke it like a true confession.

“Then work with me! Let’s make up for it. All of it. Let’s do good,” she clasped his hands and looked up at his face, trying to catch his eyes.

“What if I don’t want to do good? If I was sorry for my actions, I would have shame. I would never stoop as low as to have pride in what I do. You should be disgusted by me,” he stared past his fiancée towards the window above the sink and watched the evening light filter through.

“You really are a fool. Don’t you understand?” Lover grabbed him by the chin and forced him to meet her gaze. “I would've taken you. Skeletons and all. If you had just told me. You didn’t have to hide. We could've figured it out together. We’re supposed to do this together.” She held up her ring finger to punctuate her point.

“It’s too late now,” he tried to break away, but Lover held strong, “I've got nothing left to give you. Without you I have nothing. No laughs. No joy. No reason to live. This is over.”

“You cannot put that on me. That’s not fair. You’re sick. This kind of love will only make you mad,” Lover defended, but it didn’t seem to Villain like she really believed it. Her face fell, like she could hear the untruth in her words, too.

“I’m sorry, Lover.”

“I know, baby. I know.”

…

Lover had no regrets as she perched on the rooftop with Villain, hiding in the shadows and waiting for the target to pass by. A figure crossed the street below them, and they both smiled.

“Fuck it, this is love.”

3. Bank Robbery

Hero struggled fiercely against the two men at her sides, jerking her arms where they held her and cursing when they didn’t budge. These guys were ridiculously strong, and impassive to any of her attempts to free herself. Both their expressions were hidden behind black ski masks, which naturally made them hard to read. She was actively trying to jam one in the foot when another man approached.

“Ah ah,” tutted the third man, obviously the leader and the only one who had spoken thus far. “Do I really need to say it?” He asked as he rested the butt of the gun against Hero’s forehead.

Hero went still but continued to glare into the mask of the man in front of her. Unfortunately, this only seemed to amuse him.

Outside, the other heroes could be heard arriving. Deafening sirens and the cheer of the crowd gave them away easily. Hero couldn’t see the leader’s face, but she could somehow still swear he grinned and his eyes lit up with glee.

He placed his hands on both of her shoulders as he spoke, “Perfect, now you can actually be of some use.” At the same time, the two burly men released her.

Before Hero had time to start formulating any sort of a plan, the leader used his hands to shove her out in front of him, making her stumble towards the doors. Hero whipped back around to face him, not wanting any of these people to be out of her line of sight for long.

“I think you’d better tell your friends to go,” he suggested, then added casually, “And if you try to talk to someone, well then,” He gestured lazily with his weapon, pointing it towards the cowering mass of civilians across the room, “someone has to die.”

Hero could hear the quiet whimpering of some of the hostages as she walked towards the door. She was shadowed by one of the men that had held her earlier, no doubt so he could listen in on anything she did (or didn’t) say.

Great, so these criminals weren’t quite as dumb as they looked.

With no other reasonable course of action coming to mind, Hero crossed the lobby with a straight back and chin held high.

“I have it handled, guys,” she called out conversationally when she reached the glass entryway. “Seriously, go home.”

Hero threw back a glance to the group of robbers, and she once again found herself with the uncanny feeling of being able to tell the leader’s expression—this time, a sneer.

So definitely not what he was going for. Oh well, he should have been more specific. Hero certainly wasn’t going to go beg. That just wasn’t in the job description.

Confident in her attempt, Hero walked back towards the vault and shrugged her shoulders.

“I tried.”

She could hear the snarl in his voice when he spoke.

“You think that’s funny? I’ll show you what’s funny-“

Except, he never got the chance. You see, all Hero ever really had to do was rile them up. After that, criminals basically do the job for you.

He was too blinded by anger to see her grab for his gun, and his lackeys were too busy underestimating her to bother to point their own weapons in her direction.

When glass shattered and the rest of the heroes busted in, all the soon-to-be-prisoners were already on the ground.

“I told you guys, I had it handled.”