Post by newwwwusername on Dec 17, 2023 20:46:58 GMT
Full title on AO3 : It Came Out of Nowhere! (How am I Supposed to Be Okay???)
Prompt : Astraphobia
Chronology : Post-Movie 2
Headcanons : Astraphobic!Toralei, Autistic!Frankie
Toralei had always been easily freaked out by thunderstorms.
She had a variety of theories as to why this was (the most primary of which was just her feline nature), but she always assumed it was something that would go away when she got older, like how kids are afraid of the dark but it typically goes away when they get older and realize it's just an absence of light.
As she got older, though, it did not go away. She found herself checking the weather nearly every day, dreading when storms would come, and having full-blown panic attacks when the forecast didn't predict it ahead of time.
It was decidedly a bad thing, and it didn't take too much research to figure out she had a phobia.
She felt incredibly silly once she figured this out. She was a werecat. She'd very nearly been prefect. She was a force to be reckoned with and demanded respect wherever she went, but as soon as a little thunderstorm came along, she turned into a pathetic, shaking mess.
After Clawdeen had been elected prefect and Toralei stopped antagonizing her and her friends, she found herself hanging out with Frankie Stein a fair bit, which she certainly didn't expect when she'd first met them.
Their brain worked a little bit differently than most people's, which took some time to adjust to and Toralei would be a liar and a snake if she said she never messed up with them, but they were very understanding, and, soon enough, the two became pretty close friends.
Still, she didn't tell them about her astraphobia because, frankly, it was just embarrassing. She knew they would never make fun of her or look down on her for it, but that thought did little to soothe how self-conscious she was about it.
If it were up to her, she would've kept it a secret forever but, alas, it seemed as though the universe had other plans.
She was going for a bit of a walk with Frankie when, suddenly, a loud boom of thunder snapped across the area. No thunder had been on the forecast that morning and it wasn't even cloudy outside. It honestly felt like the universe was doing that just to mess with her.
Her whole body went rigid as the loud noise shook the Earth beneath her. Frankie flinched at the sudden, loud noise (extreme noise sensitivity was just another one of those things with Frankie), but quickly turned their attention to Toralei, who was completely frozen with fear, her eyes wide as saucers and her shoulders rising and falling at a rapidly increasing pace as her breathing picked up.
"Toralei, are you okay?" Frankie asked, then winced. Clearly, the girl was not okay. "Bad question, sorry" they apologized quickly. Another clap of thunder came down and Toralei's state worsened, which made it click in Frankie's mind what the problem was. "Do you want to go inside? I could sneak you into my dorm room so you don't have to worry about anyone of important social status seeing you like this" they offered. "Except, well, I guess Clawdeen and Draculaura, if they're in there, but they won't-"
"Yes" Toralei cut them off, nodding frantically. Normally, she was careful not to cut them off while they were rambling, but the panic clouded her brain too much to even consider that. Frankie didn't mind. Instead, they just smiled and nodded and led her back into the school.
They took a rather shifty route through the school but eventually were able to get to the dorm room undetected. By some miracle, when Frankie opened the door and walked Toralei inside, neither of their roommates were there, which was probably for the best. Toralei was clearly having an anxiety attack of sorts, so adding more people into the mix of what was happening probably wouldn't have been great.
Frankie led Toralei to their bed and allowed her to sit down, moving their chargers out of the way. They then unplugged everything just in case the lightning made it act up.
Toralei just tried to breathe. Her hands were curled into fists as she tried to calm herself down, so Frankie went through their items for a moment before coming up with a super durable stress ball (they'd gotten in from a monster shop, so it was claw-resistant, which was definitely a good thing given the nature of Toralei's heritage).
Toralei squeezed it and focused on her breathing. Frankie sat next to her and started gently guiding her through some breathing exercises, which were surprisingly helpful. When another clap of thunder came down, Toralei lost track of her breathing for a moment, but she was able to recover pretty quickly.
She eventually calmed down enough to where the occasional snap of thunder didn't send her into complete panic and looked over at her friend gratefully.
"Thank you for helping me with that" she told them. "I didn't mention it before, because it's honestly pretty embarrassing, but thunder and lightning really freak me out"
"Astraphobia" Frankie said, the unfamiliar yet known word popping into their brain at the same time they said it. That happened a lot, and it was weird every time, but they didn't acknowledge it in the moment because it didn't matter. "It has a few other names, but the most common is astraphobia, which is the extreme fear of thunder and lightning"
"Yeah" Toralei nodded, a bit embarrassed. "I don't know what's wrong with me"
"There's nothing wrong with you" Frankie reassured, frowning slightly. "Lots of people have phobias. It's nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, I'm just glad I know now so, if it comes up again, I'll be better equipped to help you"
Toralei smiled at this. "You're a really good friend, Frankie"
"Oh, cool"
Another clap of thunder.
"Oh, shit!" Toralei squeaked, caught off guard. Frankie suppressed a small chuckle as they placed a calming hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay"
Prompt : Astraphobia
Chronology : Post-Movie 2
Headcanons : Astraphobic!Toralei, Autistic!Frankie
Toralei had always been easily freaked out by thunderstorms.
She had a variety of theories as to why this was (the most primary of which was just her feline nature), but she always assumed it was something that would go away when she got older, like how kids are afraid of the dark but it typically goes away when they get older and realize it's just an absence of light.
As she got older, though, it did not go away. She found herself checking the weather nearly every day, dreading when storms would come, and having full-blown panic attacks when the forecast didn't predict it ahead of time.
It was decidedly a bad thing, and it didn't take too much research to figure out she had a phobia.
She felt incredibly silly once she figured this out. She was a werecat. She'd very nearly been prefect. She was a force to be reckoned with and demanded respect wherever she went, but as soon as a little thunderstorm came along, she turned into a pathetic, shaking mess.
After Clawdeen had been elected prefect and Toralei stopped antagonizing her and her friends, she found herself hanging out with Frankie Stein a fair bit, which she certainly didn't expect when she'd first met them.
Their brain worked a little bit differently than most people's, which took some time to adjust to and Toralei would be a liar and a snake if she said she never messed up with them, but they were very understanding, and, soon enough, the two became pretty close friends.
Still, she didn't tell them about her astraphobia because, frankly, it was just embarrassing. She knew they would never make fun of her or look down on her for it, but that thought did little to soothe how self-conscious she was about it.
If it were up to her, she would've kept it a secret forever but, alas, it seemed as though the universe had other plans.
She was going for a bit of a walk with Frankie when, suddenly, a loud boom of thunder snapped across the area. No thunder had been on the forecast that morning and it wasn't even cloudy outside. It honestly felt like the universe was doing that just to mess with her.
Her whole body went rigid as the loud noise shook the Earth beneath her. Frankie flinched at the sudden, loud noise (extreme noise sensitivity was just another one of those things with Frankie), but quickly turned their attention to Toralei, who was completely frozen with fear, her eyes wide as saucers and her shoulders rising and falling at a rapidly increasing pace as her breathing picked up.
"Toralei, are you okay?" Frankie asked, then winced. Clearly, the girl was not okay. "Bad question, sorry" they apologized quickly. Another clap of thunder came down and Toralei's state worsened, which made it click in Frankie's mind what the problem was. "Do you want to go inside? I could sneak you into my dorm room so you don't have to worry about anyone of important social status seeing you like this" they offered. "Except, well, I guess Clawdeen and Draculaura, if they're in there, but they won't-"
"Yes" Toralei cut them off, nodding frantically. Normally, she was careful not to cut them off while they were rambling, but the panic clouded her brain too much to even consider that. Frankie didn't mind. Instead, they just smiled and nodded and led her back into the school.
They took a rather shifty route through the school but eventually were able to get to the dorm room undetected. By some miracle, when Frankie opened the door and walked Toralei inside, neither of their roommates were there, which was probably for the best. Toralei was clearly having an anxiety attack of sorts, so adding more people into the mix of what was happening probably wouldn't have been great.
Frankie led Toralei to their bed and allowed her to sit down, moving their chargers out of the way. They then unplugged everything just in case the lightning made it act up.
Toralei just tried to breathe. Her hands were curled into fists as she tried to calm herself down, so Frankie went through their items for a moment before coming up with a super durable stress ball (they'd gotten in from a monster shop, so it was claw-resistant, which was definitely a good thing given the nature of Toralei's heritage).
Toralei squeezed it and focused on her breathing. Frankie sat next to her and started gently guiding her through some breathing exercises, which were surprisingly helpful. When another clap of thunder came down, Toralei lost track of her breathing for a moment, but she was able to recover pretty quickly.
She eventually calmed down enough to where the occasional snap of thunder didn't send her into complete panic and looked over at her friend gratefully.
"Thank you for helping me with that" she told them. "I didn't mention it before, because it's honestly pretty embarrassing, but thunder and lightning really freak me out"
"Astraphobia" Frankie said, the unfamiliar yet known word popping into their brain at the same time they said it. That happened a lot, and it was weird every time, but they didn't acknowledge it in the moment because it didn't matter. "It has a few other names, but the most common is astraphobia, which is the extreme fear of thunder and lightning"
"Yeah" Toralei nodded, a bit embarrassed. "I don't know what's wrong with me"
"There's nothing wrong with you" Frankie reassured, frowning slightly. "Lots of people have phobias. It's nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, I'm just glad I know now so, if it comes up again, I'll be better equipped to help you"
Toralei smiled at this. "You're a really good friend, Frankie"
"Oh, cool"
Another clap of thunder.
"Oh, shit!" Toralei squeaked, caught off guard. Frankie suppressed a small chuckle as they placed a calming hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay"