#Banner: threads

[marvelforged]

Bound for Nowhere

ㅤㅤㅤ...Farmland. Bruce thinks, almost bewildered by the sight, How long has it been since I've seen actual farmland like this?

ㅤㅤㅤStaring out the window of an ancient Greyhound bus, Bruce’s eyelids feel weighted and sandpapery when he blinks. His whole body is heavy with exhaustion and too many nights spent sleeping with one ear turned to the door, piqued for the sounds of incoming danger. It’s taken the scientist over a week to get this far — and wasn’t that telling of how he’d lost his edge? — the effort of slipping S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ever-growing net seeming more difficult now than it had been a few years ago. 

ㅤㅤㅤ…. It hadn’t helped that Tony tried to convince him to stay.

ㅤㅤㅤSighing, Bruce leans his forehead against the bus’s streaked windowpane, the glass made cloudy with road dust and age. He shifts as the potholes jostled his bag against his side, resigned to the discomfort of riding a bus with old springs over poorly tended roads. The air rushing in through the opened windows is hot and dry on Banner’s parched tongue.

ㅤㅤㅤBut. At least this is familiar, this form of suffering. Far preferable to enduring the loaded stare from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s director, or hedging around nervous agents in the field. Better than submitting to the illusion of safety while waiting for the inevitable betrayal to come.

ㅤㅤㅤIt was a small price to pay for one’s freedom. Really.

[immortalmuses]

@mademarveling sent: ❝ Holku... ❞ It is merely the ghost of a whisper. A brief gust of sound carried along the air to caress the shell of his ear. And yet it seems so close, so real even, as if she's right there beside him. Her voice as clear as day, yet upon turning towards the scant hope of beholding a corporeal form, he is met with the brush of wind and nothing more. // just some haunting Caiera for Brucey babe cause ilu 😘

{omg I am so happy and yet so sad right now, Caiera!!! 😭}

          Bruce is standing on the sun-warmed tarmac of a dusty airfield outside Büyükçekmece, Istanbul when he hears... her.

          A Mediterranean breeze stirs the curls at the nape of the physicist's neck (his hair is getting long again, really should cut it) and cools the sweat gathering under the collar of his linen shirt. For a moment, Bruce breathes out and closes his eyes, savoring this moment of freedom...

          Holku...

          He spins around, a sharp inhalation caught in his throat, eyes scanning the barren airfield, its squat buildings and stretch of fencing. This place has nowhere to hide, nothing to obscure the tall, silver-skinned warrior that stole his Hulk's heart, years and worlds away from here. But there's nothing... no one, beyond the heat haze rising off the rocky shoreline, the sea electric-blue in the distance.

          "Caiera..." Bruce breathes, nearly choking on the word, old wounds aching anew. He lets the duffel slide from his shoulder, standing alone (again. always.), and tries not to cry.

[bluedragon138]

You’ve probably noticed by now that people might use these on flightrising.. Well, good new! You have found the creator. I made a series of them for people to use for bios or profiles layouts But only on flightrising. Please don’t use these anywhere else on other sites. 🙏

[xixovart]

i made some of those twitter thread thingies w the sbg guys 🗣🗣

this is my coming out as an sbg fan ily red

[egophiliac]

HOW WE FEELING ABOUT THE UPCOMING NEWSS 👹👹👹

man, it's a good thing they stopped doing the episode 7 SSRs, because I'm really low on keys and gems right now and --

OH NO

[threegoldfish]

A starter for @forevermuses ♥

He's blinking up at the building, squinting because of how fucking bright the damn sun is, taking in the sight of that large circular window, the impressiveness of it...

...While being super disappointing at the same time.

Marc had just expected a building called the Sanctum Sanctorum to be... well. More than this. Granted, the window does look kind of cool and almost a little ominous, but besides that? Just another building situated in fucking New York, where everything happens all the time and god he's glad he's living in London nowadays.

"Well, I certainly think it looks impressive!" Steven chirps, clearly happy to see something new for once that isn't London, despite him loving his home so much. He's already missing it, Marc knows, despite the curious mood he's in. "---I like the style of it!"

"---People say it's more impressive on the inside, bebé." Jake sounds a little less impressed, more casual, as always, but he also seems to be in awe - there's a certain tilt to his spoken syllables that tells as much. "Looks like a normal building from the outside, but there's stuff going on behind the door. Cosas mágicas!"

"Oh my days - we're about to meet Doctor Stephen Strange, THE Stephen Strange, the wizard... erm, magician? Both! Gosh, we even share a name! ---Besides the wrong spelling, but, anyways!"

"Alright alright fanboys - keep your pants on, please."

Marc rolls his eyes. Okay, he has to admit that he's also curious; Thing is, however, he's currently carrying an artifact inside his backpack that he feels truly uncomfortable with, simply because of Khonshu's reaction to the thing.

This is nothing like I have seen before, the vulture had called from that fucking branch he'd perched upon, It's magic feels unfamiliar. I'm afraid to inform that I am not the one who can handle such; You need to seek out Stephen Strange, master of the mystic arts. The object might be otherworldly.

Otherworldly - more otherworldly than however otherworldly an ancient Egyptian god is? Fucking thank you for that, really. Marc does not want to handle dangerous cursed alien shit that could potentially kill them, possess them, whatever - he wants it gone, now.

"You better be home, master of whatever magic.", he mumbles as he climbs the steps leading up to the front door; He knocks against it three times, cocks a brow, and waits.

[windblume-violet]

5 days until Getian arrives.... my account is SO ready

[greatmarvel]

int.    banner's lab, shield hq.    night.

"   i see that the no touching rule has been broken already.   "           bruce says with a sigh, not even looking at them as he makes a beeline to his work station. yes, he knows it's nearly three in the morning. and yes, he knows he is missing sleep. but during this tumultuous time, when the world is yet again in the brink of being destroyed, is he not allowed the luxury of working in peace?

he then gave them a tap on the arm and a raised eyebrow look.    "   now, be a good boy and get off the table, please?   "

open for everyone! @shieldreports.

[thesoulsofthedarned]

So I finally pulled Argus

Over these past few months, Argus quickly became one of my most anticipated characters in Reverse. Great designs, cool ability, very well written as a character, and also happens to do decent damage so I had an excuse not to build Jessica! So I ended up saving over 250+ pulls worth of cleardrops, with an extra 80 Unilogs I got from previous events. Here’s what I got:

Yeah it was pretty straightforward; i did like 4 ten pulls and won with no pity issues. I was so happy to get Argus with so little effort, really makes saving for Shamane and Fatutu so much easier. Not to mention the portraits for Tenant, Kanjira, and X were greatly appreciated.

I also got Sastuki, and uh… the timing was a little awkward considering I literally just got a 6 star plant dps. Might build her later to see what shes got, but for now shes staying on the back burner with Blonney and Click. Sorry, bunny maid.

But anyways, yea! I finally have a plant dps(Jessica is an illusion)! Currently have her at I3 lvl 10 and R10, and Argus can definitely do well with the help of An An Lee and Bkornblume. So for now, I’m happy :)

[marvelforged]

for @mutantmuses, continued from here

ㅤㅤㅤ"Ah" Bruce huffs a laugh, self-deprecating smile curling at his lips, "C'mon, Nat. Did you forget? The Other Guy won't let me die. I might freeze, but--" He shrugs, "I'll Hulk Out before it kills me."

ㅤㅤㅤAs if that's meant to be reassuring. Bruce shoots Natasha an apologetic look as he stands, brushing the lingering rubble-dust from his tattered pants. "--I'm fine, really. Don't you have a communicator hidden somewhere on your person? You're by far the most prepared Avenger I know, and that includes Steve."

[cheemken]

Other people vibing w Tuesday bc they have Sotheby already levelled up and I'm here w my recently i3 Bkornblume taking that 50% chance her debuff could cause poison

[xixovart]

the return of the twitteroonies

part one!! part two??

[sir-adamus]

Ruby using Scarecrow's scythe and Blake using Deathstroke's bo staff and katana (and Weiss possibly using one of Captain Cold's Cold Guns) makes some sense when we see that while in the Hall of Justice they don't have weapons of any kind

they haven't arrived on Earth with their weapons, so they have to make do with stuff the League have in lockup when they're called in to action

which also explains why the weapons don't really match their aesthetics (the scythe looks more like a genuine farming implement than a weapon that fits Ruby's design, the staff has orange accents which don't match with Blake's outfit), they're just using borrowed gear because they don't have time to make their own

[superesque]

ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴅ   sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇʀ.       ғᴇᴀᴛᴜʀɪɴɢ   ʙʀᴜᴄᴇ   ʙᴀɴɴᴇʀ   &   ᴀɴᴅɪ-ᴍᴀʀᴛɪɴᴇ   ᴅᴀʀᴋʜᴏʟᴍᴇ.

⸻                    ❛   ʏᴀ   ᴋɴᴏᴡ   I   ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ   ᴍɪɴᴅ   ʜᴇʟᴘɪɴ'   ʏᴀ   ᴏᴜᴛ,   sᴜɢᴀʜ,   ʙᴜᴛ   ᴛʜɪs   ɪs   ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ   ʙɪᴛ   ᴏᴜᴛ   ᴏғ   ᴍʏ   ʀᴀɴɢᴇ.   ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs   ʙᴇᴇɴ   ᴛʜᴇ   ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀʜᴏᴜsᴇ,   ɴᴏᴛ   ᴛʜᴇ   ʙʀᴀɪɴs.   ❜   then   there   were   folks   like   hank   who   were   basically   both.   as   stated   before,   rogue   often   moonlighted   with   avenger   duties,   something   like   a   little   mutual   swap   to   strengthen   relations   between   the   x-men   &   the   avengers.   and   while   they   did   say   they'd   help   the   gamma   scientist   if   they   needed   it,   andi-martine   didn't   realize   they'd   need   a   lab   coat   for   it.   ❛   can't   even   understand   what   this   says   …   what's   all   these   x's   for   ?   ah'   swear   this   new   math   is   something   serious   …   ❜   rogue   squints   as   they   look   at   several   equations   written   on   one   of   banner's   whiteboards.   yep,   definitely   more   up   mccoy's   lane.   but   regardless,   rogue   said   they'd   help.   so   that's   what   they'd   do   …   just   as   soon   as   they   figured   out   what   this   pink   stuff   in   the   triangle   glass   tube   was.   ❛   it's   smokin,   the   glass   is   smokin'   bruce   is   it   supposed   t'   do   that   -   ❜

@webbedthunder.

[zombiebabysitter]

Location: A Lamoodle's Paradise Timing: Early July Parties: Charlie, Felix (@recoveringdreamer), Thea (@notstinky) & Sai (@saithebatguy) Summary: A lamoodle makes a portal to who knows where! Charie, Felix, Thea, and Sai go through the portal!

“You’re the guy with the ducks,” they murmured, more to themself than to anyone else. Then, a little louder: “Hey! Wait up!”

He hadn’t been in town long, but Charlie had learned to have a certain level of suspended disbelief in things around town in Wicked’s Rest. But when Charlie was walking through the downtown commons, the last thing he expected was something that looked like a Pokemon walking into a fucking portal. Like, an actual portal. A portal. Charlie rubbed his eyes, trying to see if what he was seeing was actually real, and it was. It wasn’t going away. And that funny-looking dude with the paintbrush was finishing the details on it before putting a foot through the portal. This was going to be his only chance to follow the thing. 

A few things went through his mind the moment he realized he could follow the creature. One, he could very easily get trapped in there. Two, the colors that were coming out of that portal? Trippy. Reminded him of Alice in Wonderland, which instantly enticed him for all the wrong reasons. Three? He wasn’t alone in watching this portal. He looked to the others in the commons before wiggling his brows at the familiar face of Felix and stepping into the portal. No way he wasn’t going to go check it out. 

The first thing he realized was that he was much too small for this world. Like, actually mini-sized. Charlie blinked, tempted to rub his eyes again, but he kept his gaze on the lamoodle. He searched the room, looking for something to explain what was going on. He’d stepped into a room, and the table was so high up, he barely came up a few inches on the leg of the table. There was a crumb of something on the ground, and once again thinking back to Alice in Wonderland, he thought about eating it. The crumb, of course, was a full-sized cake to the small Charlie. He continued to ponder on whether or not to eat the fallen food when he noticed someone else walking through the portal and stood up from the small cake on the ground. 

_____

When they were a little kid, Felix’s mother used to read them storybooks. Some were familiar, classic tales — things like Where the Wild Things Are, or Harold and the Purple Crayon — but others were more obscure. There were balam-specific books that Felix figured must have been family heirlooms, things passed down from one generation to the next with such great care to avoid tearing the yellowed pages or smudging the hand-written ink. Felix had adored them, had asked to have them read in place of anything else more often than not. And their mother, more often than not, had complied. They’d had some of them memorized by the time they were old enough to lose interest in bedtime stories.

There had been one in particular that seemed a play on Through the Looking Glass, though Felix’s mother swore that her book predated that one. It had been bright and colorful, and while it hadn’t been Felix’s favorite, their sister had adored it. She’d begged for it to be read nearly every night and Felix, when they shared a bedtime with her, had begged right alongside her just to make her happy. It had been a good story. It had followed the misadventures of a balam who found himself trapped in a fantastical place, stuck in a shift but with his consciousness still at the front of the mind he shared with his jaguar. As time went on, the balam in the story — Chester — had slipped more and more into an in-between state. His human mind and his jaguar’s mind had merged, slipping him into a quiet madness. In retrospect, it was a pretty horrifying story, but told with bright pictures and silly turns of phrase, it had seemed so much more tame. Felix still remembered the illustrations in the book.

They looked an awful lot like that painting on the wall up ahead.

Curiosity drew Felix towards it, their head tilting to the side. Was there someone else who’d read about Chester’s adventures, they wondered? Their mind went immediately to their sister, who they hadn’t seen or heard from since leaving home years ago. On some level, they understood the more popular version of the story was likely what was being referenced here, but… Hope was a dangerous thing. People talked pretty often about the dangerous effects of curiosity on cats, but it was hope that made an easier noose. Felix stepped up to the painting — the portal — without thinking, stepped through it with a quiet sigh. Oh. All right. 

Ahead, they spotted a small creature moving, and they recognized it. “You’re the guy with the ducks,” they murmured, more to themself than to anyone else. Then, a little louder: “Hey! Wait up!”

—

Thea was slightly less bald now. To most people, that meant nothing. To Thea, it meant she coveted the soft strands on her scalp. It was a little more like mowed lawn than luscious locks but she’d take it. It also meant that every few steps, she paused to find any reflective surface and admire her hair, which was hard to do at night, but this too, she would take. She was finally happy enough to not use the strange hair serum; finally happy enough to stop crying about her lack of hair. Finally ready to forgive Cass. When she saw a man with a lot of beautiful, curly hair in the commons, she didn’t think about how she wanted to steal his hair at all. And when he went into a portal, she thought ‘that’s his problem’ and she was ready to leave. With a few strands of hair, she had reached inner peace. 

But nothing—not hair or a lack of it—could change her admiration for Felix. When they went in too, the only natural thing to do was follow. “Felix! Portals are bad! Usually!” Thea turned around, offering the person behind her—Oh my god, that was Sai, wasn’t it? The myth, the legend, the bat enthusiast who faced the end of an admittedly suspicious clinical trial together. Sai was a comforting presence, insofar as she could be confident that he wouldn’t make her bald. Well, that wasn’t the point now; Felix went through a portal following a man—with hair she did want to steal, actually, and she couldn’t pretend otherwise—and the two of them were still standing in the commons and Thea was going in too. Where Felix went, she would go too. She could only offer Sai a shrug before she was off. 

Thea loved stories. In them, she felt the best of humanity's instincts: the need to speak, the need to create, the desire for connection, the ability to listen. There was a reason most stars had real names and stories to go along with them. If given the chance, Thea thought anyone could create their own story. So when she stepped through and found the end was a clear Alice in Wonderland rip-off, she was a little disappointed. All that endless creativity and now Disney would come after them for the costumes. Costumes? “We look weird,” she said. They were weird: that table was definitely not their size and that crumb made her feel like they were ants that needed to carry it off for their queen.

Thea turned around. “Sai? Are you okay?” 

—

Sai was walking across the commons when he caught sight of a familiar face walking up to what looked like a window, showing a completely different world on the other side. One full of colors. “Thea?” He said, but she’d already disappeared into it. He probably should just move along with his day, he thought, and hope for her sake she made it out of wherever she went. But Sai’s curiosity got the best of him. He wasn’t planning on going in or anything, just take a quick look. He poked his head through, but his foot caught on the edge of whatever this thing was, and the next thing knew he was tumbling through the window and out on a tiled floor, patterned in an off-kilter green and red-brown. The papers he’d been holding spilled out in a flurry around him. 

“I’m fine,” he told Thea, picking himself up gingerly. He started to gather his spilled flyers, and glanced around. Above them towered a giant table. The whole room was giant, it looked like, except for two other strangers in the room with them, who were normal sized. So it was just that everything else was abnormally large, then. Somehow that felt more comforting than Sai shrinking himself. “Where are we?”

The whole place rang some distant bell. He’d read Alice in Wonderland, or at least his mother had read it to him, when he was just a kid. But he tried not to think about that sort of thing. That was another time. Another person, really. And Alice in Wonderland and books like that hardly captured his attention now. Except of course, unless he was in it. Sai looked back at the portal behind him, thinking of leaving. Whatever was happening here, it didn’t seem like something worth sticking around to see through. But just as the thought occurred to him, the portal closed with a zap, like an old school TV turning off. “And how do we get out of here?”

__

Blinking owlishly and turning to see Felix and two others follow after him, Charlie waved a hand. “Hey, Felix.” He greeted his friend with a smirk. “See you also like to frequent mysterious, other-worldly portals.” He got up from his crouch next to the cake-sized crumb, then looked to the others he didn’t know. “Name’s Charlie.” He started with, knowing that they should probably start with knowing each other’s identities at the very least. “Thea, we spoke… online!” Charlie finally spoke, nodding his head with a look of recognition in his eyes. “Nice to see you in person, though I’m sorry it’s under strange conditions.” He turned to Sai, having never interacted with the guy before. “Sup,” was what he settled on, then turned back to the crumb. 

“I don’t know about you guys, but it’s giving Alice in Wonderland,” Charlie spoke, pointing to the group, then to the cake that practically screamed at him to eat it. “You think if we eat it we’ll be normal-sized?” He asked, raising a brow before scooping up a peace with his hand. “Momma didn’t raise no bitch,” he muttered before biting into the pastry before anyone could tell him it was a bad idea. As soon as he did, he grew in size, up and up and up until he felt like he fit into the room. He looked down at the smaller people, giving a thumbs up. Nothing deadly had happened. 

Charlie was careful not to tap his foot as he waited, suddenly aware that he was fully capable on stepping on his friends in this moment. So instead, he looked around for the Lamoodle, who was standing in the doorway, watching them with a knowing gaze in its eyes. Charlie pointed to the creature, who quickly walked away as soon as it had noticed that Charlie had seen it. “I think it wants us to follow?” He found himself saying after the others had grown to his size, taking a step in the direction of the door. 

As soon as he walked out of the room they were in, Charlie’s jaw dropped. It was nighttime, but still, the colors of all the plants were vibrant. Things looked like they were drawn instead of real, but Charlie could still reach out and touch them like he was on the page of a real storybook. “I took something crazy, didn’t I?” Charlie found himself saying, blinking rapidly as he tried to get things to make sense to his eyes.

__

“Oh, hi, Charlie.” They shouldn’t feel disappointed. On some level, Felix knew that. It was a stupid thing to think that this otherworldly portal had anything to do with a sister they hadn’t spoken to in years just because the world inside of it looked a lot like her favorite bedtime story from when they were kids, but the brief flicker of hope the sight had brought on had formed the prettiest noose. They glanced back as more people joined the fray, offering Thea a small smile. “Thea,” they greeted. They squinted at the man next to her. “Oh, hey, you’re the bat guy! Hi.” 

Looking to the giant crumb Charlie pointed out, Felix shrugged. Before they could stop themself, they started to correct him. “Actually, I was thinking it looks more like…” They trailed off. No one else had ever read Chester’s nightmare story about slipping into madness with your mind split in two. Not for the first time, Felix felt a little lonely. He wondered if Syd had ever read the book, wondered if she’d remember it if they called to ask. Shaking their head, they offered the group in front of them a small smile. “No, actually, you’re right. It’s like Alice in Wonderland.”

And then, before anyone could stop him, Charlie was eating the crumb. It seemed like a bad idea — hadn’t eating the food been what caused Chester’s shift in the story? — but there was no time to argue. In an instant, Charlie was a giant (or a normal-sized person?) and Felix was expected to eat the crumb just the same. They racked their mind, trying to remember the beginnings of the storybook. Chester fell through a waterfall, landed in a tree, ate… a fruit! It had been a fruit, not a crumb. So… the crumb was probably fine, wasn’t it?

Felix hesitated just a moment longer before taking some of the crumb and sticking it into their mouth. It was sweet. It was good. Before they could make an attempt to pinpoint the flavor, they shot up, hoping that they were growing to normal size and not… giant size. It would suck to step out of the portal again and be a Godzilla-type version of themself. (The Grit Pit would probably love it.)

As everyone else joined them and Charlie pointed out the little painter, Felix nodded adamantly. “I met him before!” They exclaimed excitedly. “He made ducks!” They rushed off to follow the creature, slowing as they exited the room into the cartoonish night. “Um, everybody should — be really careful not to eat any fruit, I think. You know, in case it’s rotten? Also, watch your step! There might be more tiny people. We don’t want to step on anyone!”

—

The guy with the hair was Charlie? The dude she had talked to at length about how she ate people and how he didn’t eat people yet, but would at some point in the future, definitely start eating people? Thea frowned; now she didn’t want his pre-zombie hair. “I don’t really like Alice. People say it’s actually about math, but really it’s just a story about a little girl going through a stressful situation and instead of helping her, people here are just really mean?” Thea looked around for Alice-hating confirmation from the men but Charlie was asserting that he wasn’t a bitch, and Felix seemed enthused. She turned to Sai. “There are no bats in the story,” she said, hoping to convince him at least. 

Alice was a story without logic. Or, was it a story that operated on its own logic? Regardless, they existed in the real world and the real world had rules. For example, no portals. For example, people couldn’t just grow or shrink. Thea tried to parse the science of it but by the time Felix grew full-sized, her brain sizzled like a fried microwave. This was a dream, surely. A strangely vivid dream featuring two men she knew, and one man she actually didn’t know very well and couldn’t have possibly conjured up an appearance for. Thea took a bite out of the crumb and felt herself launched up, skin tingling. Thea sighed; she wanted that dream where she had tea with Roberta Bondar, not this. She didn’t want this. She stumbled behind Charlie and Felix, trying to find the thing they were staring at. It was not Roberta Bondar and so, she quickly lost interest.

“I don’t think you took something,” Thea told Charlie. “Because then, why are we here? I don’t do illegal drugs. I mean, like, I wouldn’t know where to get them, that seems scary.” lt was silly to explain anything to a dream apparition, but she didn’t want him to be stressed about it. She nodded at Felix’s warning not to step on other tiny people. Thea moved forward on slow, careful tip-toes. “Does anyone know what happens next in the story? Does Alice meet the cat now? Or the caterpillar? Is it the tea party scene?” Thea sighed again, finding that she was increasingly disappointed by her surroundings. Yes, her brain was doing a nice job of painting an Alice in Wonderland landscape but she didn’t want Alice in Wonderland. “Do you think we can ask that thing if it’ll do Star Trek instead? Or uh…” She gestured at Sai, wanting to be inclusive to his interests. “Bat Trek? Star Trek but with bats?” 

—

“Uh, hi,” Sai said back to the other person who’d clearly recognized Sai. Although Sai didn’t recognize them. Maybe he’d come to their door about the petition? He’d seen too many faces then to remember them all, but supposed he might have been memorable enough. Especially if he’d managed to sway this person to the cause. 

Why did the answer always have to be eating something, Sai wondered, as the other three took turns eating from the crumb, and grew to match the size of the room. He looked at the scrap of bread with trepidation. But quickly set that aside as soon as one of them – the petition signer – mentioned stepping on someone. Not wanting to end up underneath someone’s shoe, he took a generous bite off one corner and joined them. He left his stack of now-mini flyers on the table. They weren’t the most important thing right then, anyway. 

Sai shrugged when Thea looked to him to weigh in on the story. “I’m not really a fiction sort of person. I’d rather be back in Wicked’s Rest than in any story, Alice in Wonderland or otherwise,” he said. “It’s definitely not drugs, though. I’m pretty sure, anyway,” He didn’t think drugs would have much effect on a vampire, not that he made a habit of testing it. And he definitely didn’t remember anything like that. The doorway seemed the most likely culprit, and it sounded like Thea thought that creature might be somewhat responsible. “You think the creature opened up the door to this place?” He contemplated that. “Do you think we’ll go back to reality if we kill it?” There were four of them and one of it. That could be good odds, but there were its reality-warping powers to consider. “Although maybe that’s too risky to try. At least as a first option.” 

He followed the others out the door, and onto a path. In the distance, there was an odd looking forest. But in the matter of a few quick steps, they were at the outskirts. Sai looked back behind them, but couldn’t see the cottage they’d stepped out of moments before. Hopefully, the way back wasn’t there, because he wasn’t certain they’d be able to find the place again. 

Up close he could see there were no trees in this forest. Giant mushrooms towered over them, while smaller ones lined the path beside them. The scene rang a bell in the back of this head, as clouds of smoke began wafting down from one of them. “The caterpillar, maybe?” He said out loud to the rest of them. Only hadn’t Alice been able to see the thing in the story, talk to it? All Sai could see now was the gilled underside of the brown-capped mushroom above them. 

—

Not drugs, that was clear from the multiple points of view that stated the contrary. Charlie nodded his head slowly. “Alright, fine. This is painfully real,” Charlie muttered. Despite being able to take the weirdness in stride, sometimes it was a lot to deal with. Like right now, it was a lot. He looked toward Felix, then to Thea and Sai. “Felix, if you know more about this world, you should tell us.” Charlie probed, nudging his friend with an encouraging expression. “Seriously, maybe you can help us get out of this mess.” Charlie continued to look around at the world around him, and then… he saw him. The creature that made the portal in the first place. 

“Oh, it definitely wants us to follow it.” Charlie told the others, watching as the lamoodle tapped its foot and pointed to its pocket watch, playing the role of the white rabbit. “See?” Charlie hissed, pointing towards the creature who waited at a distance. 

“Come on, let’s go!” Charlie was more insistent this time, quick to follow after the lamoodle, who only dashed off when Charlie got close enough. He swore the flowers were… talking as he passed them. “Do you see his hair? It’s ridiculous.” One pansy whispered to a rose, who snickered in response. “My hair makes me happy,” Charlie muttered to himself in defense of his hair, though a hand still went up to it, wondering if maybe he should cut it off…

__

“Why — Why would I know more about it? I don’t know any more than you guys do! I just know that fruit is rotten, sometimes! And — And eating rotten fruit can upset your stomach, and I don’t think anyone needs an upset stomach right now!” Or to be stuck in a shift. Felix quietly hoped that whatever was going on here wouldn’t trigger the jaguar or prompt him into forcing his way to the surface. The last thing any of them needed was that. The jaguar would probably eat his way through the others, and then Felix would end up stuck here, and then…

They shook the thought away. Now wasn’t the time to catastrophize. Their head whirled towards Sai the bat fan at his suggestion, eyes widening. “We’re not going to kill him!” They protested loudly. “Why — That’s your first suggestion? He’s just — He just likes to draw!” Belatedly, they remembered that the others might not know about this thing. “I mean, I don’t know what he’s called, but I know he likes to draw. He made ducks once! They were rubber! And alive! I took one home, and it ate my dish sponge and then disappeared out a window a few weeks later. So maybe he just wants to make more ducks. Except, uh, this time instead of ducks, it’s Alice in Wonderland.” Was that a natural next step from ducks? Felix wasn’t really sure.

They also weren’t really sure that the little guy with the paintbrush tail genuinely wanted to be followed, but Charlie seemed pretty insistent and he was already heading in that direction and shouldn’t they try to stick together as a group? Felix scrambled along behind him, turning to usher for Thea and Sai to do the same. As they moved past the flowers, they heard whispers rising up to meet their ears. “Look at how they walk,” one of them murmured. “Like they’re not sure which way is up.” 

“You, uh, you should really try to be nicer,” Felix said, squinting down at the flowers and stepping carefully. Were there more tiny people down there? “We can hear you, you know, and it’s not, like, cool to be rude. But, hey, there’s cake back that way, and if you eat it, you won’t be small anymore! So that’s — a thing you could maybe do. Instead of saying mean things. You get me?”

—

“You’re right. We should totally kill it.” Normally Thea was against murder, except the multiple murders she had (accidentally) committed, but morality didn’t apply in dreams! She could be as mean as she wanted. Not that she wanted to be mean, but she could! “And then we can have our collective StarTrek fever dream. I call dibs on being second in command!” Many would desire the Captain role, but Thea knew the truth of StarTrek was that the second-in-commands were cooler: Spock, Kira (okay, Sisko was pretty cool), Riker (ew), Chakotay, Worf (that one time it was Worf), Annika Hansen (prev. Seven of Nine). Also, leadership seemed scary. 

While it did sound like Felix knew more than they were letting on, Thea didn’t press it. Mostly, she was hoping to manifest the StarTrek dream she was not preoccupied by. Sai would be the doctor, Thea was certain. Felix would be the commander and, even though it meant demoting herself, she thought Charlie would be a slutty second-in-command like Riker. Realistically, Thea knew she’d be one of those background characters that run around the ship doing errands and then gets murdered by evil aliens. She tried to focus back on the Alice dream. She followed Sai’s attention to the mushroom caps above, and the smoke, and then, the mean flowers. “I think we’re out of order,” she said, looking at the impatient creature beckoning them. “Maybe we’re going too slowly for it?” 

The flowers started up, insulting Charlie’s hair, which Thea had a healthy jealousy of. And then Felix, which Thea simply could not tolerate. “Hey! Felix knows which direction is up!” The lilies in the back murmured something about how she was bald, giggling to each other. Even though Felix had advised against it, Thea lifted her foot up, hovering above the flowers. “What if we just, like, killed them?” she asked. She turned to Sai, who seemed—to her—to be the most sensible. “We could just like, bypass everything if we trample the flowers, right? What’s the worst that could happen?” She looked to Charlie. “Don’t you want revenge for the hair comment?” She looked at Felix. “You…actually I can’t justify this to you, but clearly this will have no consequences!” Murder was bad, obviously, unless it was a dream (or you sometimes turned into a hungry, hungry wolf, or if someone tried to kill you in a grocery store). “I wouldn’t do this in real life, to be clear. I would never murder anyone. But…” She looked down at the flowers; were they trembling? 

— 

Sai wasn’t so sure why everyone was so quick to defend the creature. It wasn’t human or anything, and hadn’t talked to them once as far as he could tell. It didn’t make a difference to him either way, but clearly it did to the rest of them. Except for Thea, maybe. “If it just sends us to a different world, I think we definitely shouldn’t kill it,” Sai said, to make sure that was clear. “I’m mostly just concerned with how to get out of this one. We are all trying to get out of here right?” He was starting to wonder if that was the case. For all he knew, some of these people wanted to stay. That didn’t bode well for Sai’s ability to get out.

“Do you have other ideas how to stop… whatever this is,” Sai said Felix, gesturing at the storybook world around them. “Since you know the most about the thing we’re following. Was there something that made the duck disappear or did it just run away?”

Sai shrugged at Thea when she picked up one foot threateningly. “I don’t care either way. If it makes you feel better, but I don’t think it’s going to change the situation,” he said. They were annoying, muttering insults under their breath and tittering to each other. Maybe some of them were directed at them, but he was only half paying attention. “Unless these flowers are important to that creature or something. Then maybe it would help us in exchange for leaving them alone.” He didn’t have a lot of great ideas here, especially with others wanting the pacifist route. And hopefully they were in this together. 

Although he felt like he should clarify. “But I’m pretty sure this is real,” Sai added to Thea. “You’re not hallucinating or anything.” At least as far as he could tell they were all really here. Could vampires hallucinate? Probably not. That sounded like something for the living. 

__

Feeling a bubble of annoyance deep within him rise to the surface, Charlie rolled his eyes. “We’re not killing anything,” Charlie decided then and there. “I mean seriously, he’s just having a fun time. Felix, you know this guy, right? Has he done anything to warrant harming him? I don’t think so.” Charlie shook his head as they kept walking, realizing that Thea clearly thought that she was stuck in some kind of fever dream. 

“Thea, this is real. We’re all awake right now.” Charlie tried to tell her, though wasn’t all that certain he’d be able to get through to her. “These actions have consequences, and I’m not about to fucking find out that the flowers spit fire and become the size of skyscrapers, alright? Stick to the path and don’t fucking kill anything.” Charlie found himself walking a bit closer to Felix, brows furrowing as he tried to find sight of the guy with the paintbrush again. 

“You think we’ll run into the queen?” Charlie found himself asking, eyes darting around at the sights around them with a feeling of fear. “I mean, I like my head attached to my body, is all. And maybe pissing off the flowers is a surefire way to get our heads chopped off!” He hissed, whipping his head around to glare at Thea.

__

At least Charlie agreed that they weren’t killing anything. Felix was a little surprised at Thea’s insistence that killing was probably fine, but… it quickly became clear that Thea thought this was a dream or something, and Felix wasn’t sure they could fault her for being okay with killing a creature in a dream. Turning back to Charlie, they shrugged helplessly. “I mean, I don’t know him personally! I just — I just ran into him one time, because of the ducks! I don’t even know if it’s the same guy. Like, he could have a brother.” 

They rubbed at the back of their neck, a little uncomfortable as Thea, once again, suggested murder. At least it seemed as though everyone else was against it, albeit for different reasons. Sai and Charlie both tried to convince Thea that this was real, but Felix knew well enough to know that that would be a hard sell. After all, she still thought they were a very dedicated furry, despite having seen him shift more than once. 

“Everybody just — You know, take a breath,” they suggested. “It’s gonna be fine! We’ll figure out what’s up, we’ll get out of here, we won’t kill anybody, and then we can just, um, watch Star Trek. Right, Thea?” They offered her what they sincerely hoped was a comforting smile, then turned to Charlie as he walked near them. “I mean, um, the queen isn’t very hard to trick. From what I read. You just have to fool her.” Chester had done it, in his story. Felix remembered the heroic tale fondly, the way the cat camouflaged his body and made his head the only thing visible in order to spark a debate on whether or not a disembodied head could be beheaded. From there, escape had been easy. They could probably replicate that simply enough. 

They pointed at the paintbrush-tailed creature, which continued to beckon them to follow but danced just ahead of the group, putting distance between them each time they got close. “I think he’s trying to show us something. Maybe he just wants to show off his art, you know? He put a lot of effort into all this. Maybe we just need to appreciate it a little.”

—

Disappointment fluttered in Thea’s chest like a swarm of bees. She set her foot down, safely away from the flowers, and buzzed with regret as they perked up and continued to jeer. All of this was just a dream, and sometimes—if she was being honest with herself, which she was always inclined to in a dream—she’d like to know what would happen if she just let it all go for a moment; not the wolf, but her in all her human glory. But Sai was right, it wasn’t going to change the situation. And if he was right about that… Thea looked over at him. Was this real? How could it be? What was the science here? Yes, of course, scientific understanding was constantly evolving and yes, of course, it could be possible—somehow—that they’d end up in some Alice in Wonderland knock-off land but how? It was easier to accept dreams but, of course, she was a man-eating wolf and where did that knowledge go? It was too late to think it was a dream. Sai was right after all. 

Thea slumped as Charlie said it too: this was real; they were all awake. The ever spinning black hole in her chest pulsed with indignation but the wolf that slept inside of it remained there, too beaten to push out of her. “Fine,” she mumbled, wincing at her own petulance. How were they going to get out of this? It seemed so unfair to her that they were subjected to some uninspired game; her desires leaned towards rage and rebellion. She thought, at least, Charlie would understand—okay, maybe that was a musician stereotype. “Hey!” she snarled back at him. “What’s better? Trying something or just like, going along with whatever this is! What if they want to eat us! You can’t just—you can’t just—” Thea slammed her mouth shut. It was important to turn a bad situation around. It was important to fight. It was important to believe there was a cure out there for bald girls who turned into people eating wolves. She thought Charlie would agree; there had to be a cure out there for inevitable zombies too. Thea held that hope for the both of them.

“Fine,” she mumbled again, finding that Charlie’s bouncy hair (it really would make the best wig) was easier to be angry at than Felix’s sad eyes. “If you’re familiar with the story Felix, do you have a plan for getting us out? I mean, like, can you think of anything?” Thea also promised herself she’d hold them to the idea of watching Star Trek. What better entertainment for a boiler room, anyway? “Appreciate it?” Thea glanced at Sai—her only shred of sanity here, embodied by that man who she clung to the sane ideal of—and blinked. Well, it was something. “Paintbrush guy! I really appreciate your artistry! Wow!” Thea brushed a leaf. “So cool! Just like a real leaf! I’d spend VBucks on this in Fortnite, like, for real.” She hoped the queen would show up soon, to end the endless leaves at least. The last thing she’d ever do was spend VBucks on this. 

—

Sai followed the rest of them as they chased after the creature. What they were going to accomplish by following it, Sai wasn’t sure. But letting it out of their sight didn’t seem like a great idea either. That might be the easiest way to get stranded here, wandering lost through giant mushrooms and rude flowers.

He hadn’t contemplated the danger of running into characters like the Mad Queen, before Charlie said something. Sai could only hope the world was free of them. He wasn’t prepared to fight off an unhinged monarchy. Not to mention the possible danger of the creature, Thea had a point there. And all they knew about it so far was something about rubber ducks. Who knew what else it could do? “Thea does bring up a good point, we should probably consider if this is all an elaborate trap or something,” he said.

Flattery though, the others might be onto something there. It had worked on the pizza, so why not a paintbrush monster. “It’s really impressive,” Sai added on, when Thea started to compliment it’s work. “I, for one, love the oversized cottage and all the… talkative flowers. I’d also be impressed, too, if you had the ability to summon another door back out of here. That would be some feat of artistry, right?” He glanced at the others with a shrug. That was the best he had. Maybe the kitsune had been right, that acting really was a life skill. At least in Wicked’s Rest and it’s adjoining worlds.

__

Charlie huffed as Thea and Sai began complimenting the creature’s work, finally getting on board with not murdering the guy who just wanted to flex his creative muscles a little bit. “Well I’ve been impressed since the beginning,” Charlie spoke aloud in order to continue with the compliment train they seemed to be doing. “Say, you think we can learn names? I’m Charlie, and this is Felix, Sai, and Thea.” He pointed to each person as he named them. “What’s yours?” He waited for a moment, watching the creature before it drew out a white rabbit, which quickly hopped away. “I think he wants us to call him the white rabbit. Dude’s in character.” Charlie muttered to the rest of the group.

Charlie decided to walk toward the creature, who scurried further into the world. Charlie looked around, appreciating the attention to detail. The creature was a real fan of this world. It was easy to think up situations that the creature was in to come to loving Alice’s world. What if he had a friend who read the stories to him? What if he was lost in a library once and that was the book they latched onto? There were endless scenarios that Charlie could think of. “I’m so writing a fucking song about this.” Charlie decided aloud, looking around in awe as he came into a fancy garden of white roses dripping with red paint. 

Squinting at the flowers, Charlie wracked his brain to remember what this was all about. He looked into the distance, and that’s when he saw it. A giant gothic castle surrounded by card guards. “Oh, fuck.” He grumbled, falling back in line with the others. “I think he wants to kill us with the mad queen,” he whispered to Felix, not wanting to tip off the other two who were already a bit murder-happy. 

__

Everyone seemed to have given up the idea of killing paintbrush guy, at least for now, and Felix found some relief in that. They dealt with enough violence in their day to day life at the Pit already; the last thing they wanted was to add to it here, to bathe themself in more blood than they had to. They were sure there was a peaceful resolution to this story; they just needed to find it. Thea was asking them for an answer, but Felix was more familiar with the version of Wonderland his mother had read to them than the more popular one. Chester’s story ended only when he accepted himself as both cat and man, allowing him to shift back to himself enough to climb the tallest tree and turn the doorknob at the highest branch to exit. He’d had to be fully jaguar and fully human to manage it, and such a thing was impossible outside of children’s stories. Add to that the fact that Felix was definitely the only balam here, and they’d probably have to find another solution.

Maybe complimenting the paintbrush guy was the way to go. “Uh, also, you — your tail is good,” they added, flashing the little guy a thumbs up when he turned back around. “Very — Very cool tail. Um, ten out of ten, Mr. White Rabbit.” If that was what he wanted to be called, it seemed like common courtesy to allow it. After all, Felix preferred it when people called them what they liked to be called, too. Maybe White Rabbit would be more willing to help if they were kind.

Or… maybe he’d lead them to a big, scary castle. Felix hesitated, glancing to Charlie. They didn’t want to believe that White Rabbit had brought them all this way just to let the Red Queen kill them. If he wanted them dead, couldn’t he have just drawn a bottomless pit for them to fall into? “No…” they mumbled, brow furrowing. “No, this — this whole thing is about the story, right? It’s like you said, he’s really in character. And — and the Red Queen doesn’t succeed in killing anybody in the story, does she?” Not in Chester’s tale. And, considering the more human version was touted as a children’s story, Felix doubted the Red Queen decapitated anyone in that, either. “We’re supposed to defeat her,” they said, feeling strangely confident. “We’re supposed to trick her, like Ch — Like Alice did.”

—

Murder! Now things were making sense to Thea. Wait, no. She was not happy about murder. No way—well, other than the flowers, she was happy to squish those but that was when this was a dream! Now that it wasn’t, now that it was something she couldn’t explain, murder made her stomach flip. Instinctively, she tucked her body behind Sai, as though he could somehow protect her from the uncomfortable truth: she was a murderer, and some part of her really did find the convenience in it and another part really wasn’t all that bothered. It was the horror of murder that churned in her stomach, it was guilt. She watched the green scenery transform as they approached the castle, lined with its playing-card-guards. The lush bushes turned to tangles of pointy red brambles; beautiful white roses, with sharp thrones, dripped with wet red paint; the tall, dark castle ahead snuffed out the painted sun. The Red Queen—or was this the Queen of Hearts? Why did Lewis Carroll think it was a good idea to have a Queen of Hearts and and Red Queen—was unequivocally an evil figure, and if they killed with her, that made them…evil? But if they killed her, then they would be…good? But murder in general was always evil, right? And Thea was…

“Wise white rabbit, thank you for putting a narratively compelling moral conundrum in your knock-off story.” Thea was not thankful at all; she liked Sai’s idea of goading the creature into making a way out instead, but the feeling that they’d have to see this through dug into her skin. It felt inevitable as they were led through the dark halls, dozens of red playing guards marching behind them. The halls echoed with their footsteps against the stone below. “White rabbit, can you give me an antacid? No? Okay.” Her stomach burned and she swallowed back rising bile. “Defeat her how, Felix?” Thea whispered to her friend, weirdly afraid one of the guards would tell the evil queen their plan. Not that they really had one, and not like they hadn’t been talking loudly before. “Like with murder? Do we murder her?” If this wasn’t a dream, but it was clearly created by the White Rabbit thing, did these creations have life? Were these all the White Rabbit’s children? 

What did Alice do? Thea couldn’t remember. Alice in Wonderland had stressed her out so much she never really paid attention to it—the book and the various movie adaptations. “Um, who do they want to behead? Isn’t it, um, the Cheshire Cat?” Did that mean Felix? But Thea liked their head. “O-or was it the Mad Hatter?” Was this one of those things the movies changed? Who amongst them was the Mad Hatter? Asking herself that, her gaze drifted to Charlie. Yes, okay, but maybe the beheading wouldn’t even be one of them! Sure the guards were marching ominously but they probably just did that! The answers were no clearer to her and finally they reached the large red doors of the queen’s throne room which opened with a squeaky wail. “Oh! It was just everybody, right? The queen was always like ‘off with their heads, off with their heads’ because she liked it! I remember now! She hates everyone!” And the red-faced queen, sitting on her playing card throne, did indeed look like she hated everyone. She gripped her heart scepter as if she wanted to snap it. 

“Off with their heads!” She bellowed, bouncing on her throne. 

“See?” Thea whispered. “Like that! She likes killing people.” But perhaps Felix was right, the queen didn’t actually kill anyone…right?

—

The compliments were clearly not working. All they’d gotten out of it was a name. And he didn’t remember the white rabbit ushering Alice into the queen’s castle, which seemed to be what was happening now. Sai slowed as they approached, rethinking the wisdom of following the creature. But as he glanced back, a group of playing card guards folded in behind them. Apparently, they’d found the book characters. 

Thea was rambling about the queen, as the group was ushered into the throne room. It sounded like she was maybe in favor of trying to kill the queen, but Sai wasn’t interested in that. The numbers were definitely not in their favor. Only with the execution directive, maybe they wouldn’t have a lot of choice. 

Sai didn’t remember what part came next. “Is the execution right away, or do they bring us to another location?” He asked, glancing around them for any clue about what might happen next. That might be the time to make their escape. He took a few steps back to stand a bit closer to Felix and Charlie, and lowered his voice to whisper to the other three, “I’m thinking when the time is right, we should make our escape and run. Unless one of you all has a better plan. We might not know how to navigate the world or anything, but I figure being lost is better than losing our heads.” 

__

A surge of panic went through Charlie, suddenly unsure what to do here. Well, he never knew what to do in any given situation, but especially not one where his head could be detached from his fucking body. Charlie took a deep breath, then turned to Felix, who he trusted. “I have no fucking idea what to do, here. And I kinda like my head where it is, you know?” There was an edge of hysteria to Charlie’s voice that wasn’t there before like he was finally in way over his head and he couldn’t handle it anymore. Either the cosplaying lamoodle picked up on this or decided it had had its fun, and waved to the group, then gestured for them to follow it into a side room. “What?” Charlie found himself mumbling before turning to Felix and Sai, then shrugging and following after. It was either this or losing his head, right? 

Once Charlie was in the side room, he nearly collapsed with relief. A portal. The lamoodle gave a mock salute to the group as they entered, then disappeared through the portal it had created. “Fuck, he took pity on my pathetic ass.” Charlie found himself speaking with wonderment before scurrying through the portal. No way he was staying in here a second longer.

As soon as he walked through, he found himself right back where the whole adventure had begun, in a park back in Wicked’s Rest. “Oh thank god,” Charlie exclaimed as he collapsed to the ground and hugged the grass rather dramatically. “There’s no place like home!” 

__

“I don’t think we should kill anyone!” There was a hint of panic to Felix’s tone but, really, when wasn’t there a hint of panic to Felix’s tone? The world kept throwing strange situations like this one in their direction, and Felix could only cope with so much before things started to crack. The Wonderland thing had been almost fun before the threat of beheading came into play, and while they were pretty sure no one was going to lose their head — that wasn’t in the story! This was about the story, it had to be! — it was hard not to feel anxious at the possibility. “And no one is going to lose their head! We just need to…”

The queen was yelling. More specifically, the queen was yelling off with their heads, and Felix didn’t think that kind of command left much up to interpretation. Chester had only survived his tale shifted, and Felix was afraid to try that solution. Chester kept his wits about him in the story, but would Felix? Their jaguar was so volatile, so unpredictable. What if he hurt their friends? It was too risky and, all at once, Felix’s confidence that they’d be fine began to waver. 

When the self-proclaimed white rabbit waved them towards a door, Felix felt that following was the last-ditch effort they had no choice but to make. They scrambled along with the group, rushing through the door behind Charlie and sighing at the sight of the portal. There was every chance that it would take them to yet another strange world — there were plenty of stories with cat protagonists that Felix would like to avoid getting trapped in — but they were willing to gamble that none of those stories would involve a queen ready to immediately remove their heads from their bodies. So they rushed through the portal, though not before pausing to thank the lamoodle for taking pity on them.

On the other side of the portal, the grass was still green and the sky was still dark. Felix had no way of knowing how long they’d been inside, but it didn’t seem that they’d been away long enough for the sun to rise. They sighed, sitting heavily on the ground beside Charlie. “I’m so glad we’re not giants.”

—

Thea was working up the courage—and the internal logic to condone—chopping someone’s head off when the White Rabbit scurried away and opened up a new portal. By the time Charlie and Felix had run through, Thea had decided that beheading someone would be morally okay because this wasn’t real and she was being forced to do it. Nevermind that no one was actually forcing her. If it had to be done, ethically it was okay…right? When she noticed where her compatriots had gone, her exhale of relief threatened to suffocate her. “Come on, Sai!” She called out and sprinted through the portal—accepting for now that she wouldn’t find a satisfactory scientific explanation for all this and would promptly shove this experience into the back of her mind, where all the trauma went. 

Thea flung herself onto the grass beside Felix and Charlie, rolling around in the beautiful, real, not-Alice-in-Wonderland greenery. She flipped onto her back and looked up at the stars; all beautiful, all still in their places. “Eh, I think I give that like…a three out of ten. What do you guys think?” She heaved. “Yeah, being a giant seems scary. But being super tiny seems fun!” Glancing around and comparing their size against the objects around them, she deduced they were pleasantly normal-sized. Above, Polaris winked at them. “Is anyone else, like, super hungry?” She sat up as Sai walked through. “Milkshakes? Donuts? On me!”

—

Sai followed Thea and the others through the new portal. Even if it led to another fictional world, it had to be better than an execution, right? But instead of a fresh novel, he stumbled out onto grass. A glance around confirmed it was the park they’d come from. They were back in Wicked’s Rest. He didn’t embrace the grass like Charlie was doing, or roll around like Thea, but he knew exactly where they were coming from. He’d never been so happy to see a lawn before in his life. 

Sai pulled out his phone to check the time. Barely an hour had passed. Pretending not to eat, with a few strangers he went to another dimension with, wasn’t usually his idea of time well spent. But he was still feeling a little off-kilter from their misadventure. Besides, maybe they’d listen to his pitch for Bat Week volunteers. “I ate before this, but I can come along,” Sai said with a shrug, wondering if Thea had been thinking about donuts since the research study. He didn’t know what she saw in them. “Lead the way”.

[longislandcharm]

TIMING: Early March LOCATION: Winter's House PARTIES: @longislandcharm and @animotoph0bia SUMMARY: Finn wakes up at Winter's house after another long night and Winter decides its time to have a talk. CONTENT WARNINGS: Alcoholism tw, Unsanitary tw (light mentions)

She was starting to feel like a babysitter for this guy and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Last time she met Finn out and he was shitfaced, Winter had put him in an Uber and called it a night but this time she couldn’t in good conscience do that. There was no telling what kind of driver he might get, not to mention she truly did want to ask the man some questions about the crap he kept saying when intoxicated. Something about feeling other people’s emotions and calling out others for said emotions. He was a total mess but her curiosity had definitely peaked.

Now he was fast asleep in the guest room that she was still trying to unpack from her recent move, the medium trying to shake him awake with the promise of aspirin and electrolyte infused water. “Come on shit head, wakey wakey. We need to talk.” She placed her offerings on the bedside table before moving to the window to open the curtains. Despite the snow all over the ground it was a bright sunny day. She hoped that with the light filtering in it would wake him up faster. 

“You were a real peach again last night. This time I let them hit you.” And Winter didn’t feel one ounce of guilt about that. If he wanted to act like a disaster then he deserved the pain the next day. She even considered taking the aspirin away. “You really are determined to piss off this whole town, aren’t you?”

Finn was well aware that alcohol was a shit way to get some sleep - something about sleep quality and whatnot, plus the mornings that followed tended to be rough. What was good about it was the lack of dreams. As well as the meds usually worked to knock him out, they loved to throw some nightmares into the mix for the fuck of it, and where was the sleep quality in that? At least when he was passed the fuck out, there was the benefit of simply not existing for a moment - until existence inevitably turned around and whacked him in the head. 

Like, literally. He was no stranger to hangover headaches but ouch. 

“Shut the fuck up, Ellie,” Finn groaned, becoming more aware of his surroundings and the suffering with every passing moment. And eventually the fact that this wasn’t his sister’s voice, nor was it a room he was familiar with. Hands scrambled for bed sheets as he moved to sit up, way too fast which was a horrible idea, everything spinning and the pain in his head going blinding for a second. The light streaming into the room didn’t help, vision blurry as he blinked at the owner of the voice and the unfiltered annoyance. “Winter?” he finally croaked out, hand reaching out on instinct and actually managing to find his glasses. “What the fuck…” 

They hadn’t… no. No way, he would have remembered that… right? Also, she was way too pissed off for that to be… well, actually… Wait, pants. He was still wearing pants which was a good sign, even as he still clutched the sheets to his bare chest like a lady in a film from the 60s. “Wait, who hit me?” Finn eventually said, now able to distinguish the pain of the headache from what was definitely a bruise forming on the side of his face. 

“Yes, Winter, the one who keeps witnessing your very quick descent into infamy. I don’t know an Ellie.” She turned, hands on her hips, to find the man clutching the fabric of the sheets to himself as if she were trying to get a peek at him. For a brief moment she wondered if he still had his pants on for him to act like that but then a realization came to her. She was almost offended by how terrifying sleeping with her seemed to be. “Oh, you wish.” Rolling her eyes, she grabbed his shirt from an armchair next to the bed and tossed it at him. “I won’t look, princess. I didn’t even see you last night, I just threw you in here and said good luck.” For good measure she turned back towards the window so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable. Even with the biting words, she didn’t want him feeling like that.

“I don’t know. It wasn’t the big guy from last time but this one was pretty big. Muscley, someone I would have actually taken home if you weren’t almost out cold on the ground.” No she wouldn’t have. She would have never touched that guy but she felt like rubbing it in just because it seemed so ludicrous to him that they could have. Winter was petty, there was no denying it.

“There’s water and aspirin on the bedside table. Take it. You’re going to need it because I want to talk to you about something.” Her arms were crossed but she brought one up to inspect her nails as she waited. She wasn’t sure how much time he needed since Winter was sure he was moving slowly. The man was a wreck. “Something about feeling emotions and all. You brought it up again last night and I’m finally curious enough to ask what you mean.”

Everything was still so fuzzy, the process of waking up someplace he had no recollection of arriving at making everything more confusing. And even though he was barely awake enough to say more than a few words, Finn was somehow still managing to piss Winter off further. “We both know you’re way out of my league, hence the confusion,” he did manage to fumble out, hoping it would at least slightly rectify the situation. Whatever the situation was. 

Even though it made the room spin, Finn used the provided opportunity to scramble from the bed, grabbing his discarded sweater from the floor and pulling it on. It smelled how he felt which was in no way helpful. “You really shouldn’t perpetuate the myth that girls only sleep with assholes,” he shot back because everything hurt and Winter’s bad mood was easily rubbing off on him. A ‘thank you’ was definitely due but she was pissy which meant so was he. Although the aspirin did seem like a peace offering, no matter how ominous that ‘something��� sounded. 

Finn didn’t have to wait long for Winter to elaborate and of course this discussion was about some shit his big, dumb mouth had been blurting out. Gulping down the water like a man shipwrecked for weeks, Finn made an attempt to stand before deciding against it. “Right. That. Don’t know what there is to discuss, sounds pretty self-explanatory,” he said dryly, tentatively touching his aching jaw and wincing. Must have been a pretty decent punch. 

Way out of his league? Well, that was enough to simmer her anger down a bit, Winter sighing softly. The people in this town needed to get more self esteem even if Finn was correct. She was out of his league. “You’re not the worst choice of partner out there, have a little more faith in yourself. It might help others like you if you actually liked you.” She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him, still annoyed but clearly losing her edge little by little. For some reason she held a soft spot for the self deprecating people of this world. She didn’t show it in the best way, no, but she only wanted them all to realize the good things about themselves so they could appreciate them all, no matter how little those were in quantity. She wanted the same for him.

Until his next statement, anyway. “I didn’t sleep with you, now did I?” Her arms crossed over her chest, annoyed with him once more for accusing her of perpetuating such a stereotype. It wasn’t even true. After hearing his rustling around in the room, she figured it was safe to turn her head and see if he was dressed now, and thankfully he was so she turned the rest of the way to face him. “So, not perpetuating anything.” 

Her eyes narrowed in on him, not amused with his answer. Why was it so difficult to talk to people around here? “So you can feel the burning desire I have to punch you myself, right?” It was rhetorical, of course, as her curiosity for what he could do outweighed her need to go back and forth with him. Winter uncrossed her arms to take a seat on the opposite side of the bed from him as she continued. “But really…you just feel what everyone else feels? If you wanted to know what I was feeling towards you then you could dig around with your mind or? How does that work?”

It was almost a compliment, but genuine. Mission accomplished in not getting himself thrown out the window, then. A fair point, too - at least he wouldn’t try to eat someone on the first date. Chewed with his mouth closed as well. Probably put him well above a few of the picks in town. “Hey, I’m an oldest child with a dead dad, what do you want from me?” Finn shot back, hoping to discourage any further attempts at a lesson in self love. Which was easy seeing as he was running his mouth and Winter was already on edge. 

“Fine, point Winter.” Finn scooted back on the bed, leaning against the wall with a quiet groan. Counting down the minutes until that aspirin kicked in. This had to be the worst possible moment to be having this conversation but it was either that or standing up so Finn rode the wave of Winter’s annoyance at his nonanswer. Raising an eyebrow, realizing that she actually didn’t crave violence too badly at this moment, he only replied with a slightly smug shrug. 

The bed dipped under her weight and the curiosity grew. It really did seem like she believed him. Pushing back unruly hair, Finn sighed. “Yes and no. It’s not exactly an on or off thing, more like… smelling, I guess. Trust me, I would love to be able to only pry when I wanted to but no dice. It’s just… there. Constantly. Which is great because people totally have emotional regulation and it never gives me a mental breakdown.” Alright, oversharing a bit, back it up. “Aaaand I have no fucking clue how it works or why so there.”

That escalated quickly. Winter raised an eyebrow at him, surprised that he would say that so indelicately, but she couldn’t judge. She had no idea what it was like to lose a parent or how people coped. Still, she was pretty sure his dead dad wouldn’t want him to hate himself so much…right? That’s how parents were, or should be, really. “And I’m an only child with parents who apparently manipulated me my whole life. Doesn’t mean you should think so badly of yourself.” The words might have held the facade of being unsympathetic but her tone was softer this time, almost as if he didn’t annoy the shit out of her. 

Satisfied, a smirk pulled at her lips, the girl taking that as a win. He could rub her the wrong way but at the end of the day she did like somebody who could be as snarky as she was, especially when they gave her credit for comebacks. It was enough to satiate her need to ‘one up’ as her mother had once called it. 

Winter couldn’t imagine having to be in his shoes. The girl didn’t even like her own emotions, or admitting to having them anyway, and this man had to walk around and feel everyone else’s constantly? It was almost violating in a way, knowing that everything she tried to hide from others was readily available to him but at the same time he couldn’t help it, could he? She now understood why he was such a mess. On one hand, she hated this for him, but on the other she was wondering whether or not Finn could feel that sympathy she now held for him. “Wow…it must suck to be you.” It was all she could think to say, fully aware that she couldn’t handle what he had to go through every minute of every day. “No wonder you’re a dick.”

Aw, shit. Was there a way to go back to her being exasperated? Finn would much rather deal with that than the waves of pity currently worming their way into his brain. Probably his fault for prefacing all of this with a dead dad joke - fine, less of a joke, more of a snarky comment - but still. It was glaringly obvious, even with the tendrils of worry he now specifically recognized as people wanting to guard their emotions. It had been there with Milo but to be fair, he’d been high when the bomb had been dropped. If only he had some weed to offer Winter now. 

A saving grace, she didn’t offer her condolences. Instead, she had Finn barking out a laugh that immediately made his head throb. “I know, right? I was actually tolerable right up until puberty. Which applies to a lot of guys but still.” He sighed, letting his head drop back against the wall. Trying for once to focus on the horror of his hangover instead of Winter’s process of working through what this meant, a small attempt at privacy. “It’s almost hilarious how quickly people believe me here,” he pondered out loud, gazing at the ceiling. “You have no idea how many psychiatrists back home have tried to shove me somewhere into the DSM five.”

With no warning except a groan of effort, Finn pulled himself up from the bed. “I need caffeine. And then maybe food, jury’s still out on that one.” Especially now that he was standing, even though his stomach felt extremely hollow. Fuck, had Winter watched him hurl again? The fact that he’d thought for even the briefest of moments that they’d slept together seemed even more ludicrous now. 

She rolled her eyes, knowing damn well that anybody was insufferable after puberty hit. But she didn’t deem the comment worthy of correcting. Maybe his hit different. “Why? Is that when you started feeling everyone else’s moods?” It made sense, right? Puberty meant changing bodies so maybe his ability or whatever he wanted to call it manifested at that point. Winter almost thought that would have been worse though, suddenly having something that had never been there before and having to figure out how to navigate it? Yea, she knew how that felt and it wasn’t the easiest thing to go through. If that’s what he went through anyway…no need to form a kinship if that wasn’t the actual case.

A scoff filled the room, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked directly at the disheveled man currently inhabiting one of her guest rooms. Did he not know what went on around here? “I don’t think the DSM five has a place here. Let's just say, your little gift is the easiest thing I’ve had to believe in this town.” Just then, Henry walked through the closed door, the ghost looking between the two. ‘Am I interrupting something?’ She rolled her eyes again but Winter took the opportunity to explain what she meant. “For example, the shithead that just walked through the door. You know, the ghost you most likely can’t see? I see them everywhere.” 

She watched him pull himself to his feet, unimpressed, but the fact that he had the nerve to ask for anything else after their morning was almost impressive. Winter would have respected it had she not been the one who had to comply with his requests. Now she was just annoyed. Again. “I can make coffee but you’re on your own with food. I don’t really keep much in the house, mostly because I would probably burn it down if I tried to touch the stove.”

“Yeah,” Finn groaned, rubbing at his temples in a pathetic attempt to soothe the headache. “Almost made the voice cracks tolerable. Just like ‘hey, here’s some hormones and also, you’re maybe going insane’.” Winter reminded him once again that the only reason people believed him was that this was a hellscape town and if he’d been in better shape, Finn would have loved a sharing session of what atrocities she had encountered so far. Seriously, a list of places and people to avoid sounded great. Instead, he was focused on caffeine and food, barely registering her statement as he worked on patting himself down in search for his phone, responding with a distracted ‘mm-hmm’ as the search moved to the bedsheets. Bingo. 

“Wait, ghosts?” His brain finally caught up, sort of, and Finn quickly waved off the descriptions of her cooking skills. “Also, yes and thank you on the coffee even though I was totally planning on getting it somewhere else but since you offered- you can see ghosts?” Was Winter keeping up with him. Was he keeping up with himself. Clutching at his phone, Finn’s head swiveled to take in the room, as if he would suddenly see a person there that he’d just somehow missed before. “Where? Who? Are we talking like a Poltergeist deal or are they just… there?” Heaving in a deep breath because this was using up all the energy he really didn’t have, Finn resisted the urge to flop back down onto the bed. 

“That sounds rough.” Her voice was flat though, no sympathy to be shared this time around. She’d already given him that and even if Winter thought feeling everyone’s emotions at once was a fate worse than most she wasn’t someone to feel sorry for one long, especially when that someone brought on a lot of what they got themselves. “I can understand not knowing what to do with it at a young age but have you ever tried to look deeper into it? There’s gotta be some information out there pertaining to your…condition. Maybe even a way to control it? Because you can’t keep getting drunk in bars and starting fights with random strangers or you’re going to end up dead.” And for some reason that wasn’t a fun thought. Sure, he wasn’t her favorite person but she didn’t hate him either. She wouldn’t have brought him to her house if she did.

Why? Well, that she didn’t quite know herself.

There it was. Amusement took over the annoyance when her words finally hit him. She heard Henry snort as Finn started to look around the room, Winter throwing her arms up with a shrug. Oh, she was going to have fun with this. “He’s right next to you. Not a poltergeist…” A shudder ran through her at the thought of her last run in with one of those but the uncomfortable feeling passed as Henry moved closer, waving a hand in front of Finn’s face. “Did you feel the temperature drop? Did it wake you up a little more?” Her smile turned into a smirk. “That’s Henry. He says hi and sorry for your unfortunate circumstances but at least you have both of your arms…unless he takes one from you.” 

Now she was just being an ass but she hoped the entertainment she got would be worth it. Henry gave her a look and she shrugged at him to wave it off. “Alright, coffee it is. Henry will join us….well, he can’t drink it obviously but just a warning that he’ll be there in case you’re chilly.”

“Why do you think I’m here?” Finn admitted, just the tiniest bit annoyed that he was getting brutally called out on the self-destructive behavior. And argument that he never planned on starting a fight seemed fruitless at this point, so he added instead, “I sure as fuck didn’t move here for the affordable housing or career opportunities.”

For a moment, he wondered if she was just messing with him. Finn had been here long enough to not doubt that there were people that could see ghosts but whether Winter was one of them… she was definitely enjoying the look on his face enough for this to just be one, big joke. Wrapping his arms around himself as she looked at something unseen just beside him, Finn figured that if it was a lie, she was a convincing actress. “Hello… Henry.” Was it colder or just the power of suggestion? Shuffling uncertainly across the floor, very aware that he might walk through someone, Finn followed her out of the room. 

“What’s he going to do with one of my arms?” he scoffed, even though the comment only prompted him to clutch both arms closer to his person. “So he just… follows you everywhere? What if you’re, like… y’know, with someone. Or showering?” Taking a seat in her kitchen, still glancing around as if that might suddenly provide him with the sixth sense (seventh?), Finn found that the Advil finally seemed to be doing its job. 

“To start random bar fights and end up in a pretty girl’s house, of course.” She shrugged, as if that was the most obvious answer in the world and her dry humor wasn’t on full display. Winter moved towards the coffee maker, the one appliance in her kitchen that got used more than anything, and started to work on their pick me up that they desperately needed. “Do you want an espresso shot too? You might need one…” She trailed off before finishing her harsh thought of ‘to get out of my house’, not wanting to scare him away. Because as much as she wanted him out of her house there was also an opportunity here to do something that she loved to do; research. “How far have you gotten with your search? Have you discovered anything about it yet?”

The smirk pulled at her lips, deepening, but Finn couldn’t quite see it as her back was turned to him and she let a casual tone slip into her voice. “Oh, you know, ghosts always seem to want what they don’t have. He’s missing one of his. Even if he can’t exactly use your arm his jealousy might get to him so I’d hold on tight.” Henry snorted at that, his head shaking at her antics. “You should leave the poor boy alone.” She just glanced over, showing the ghost how much fun she was having with the look on her face as an answer.

His question was a fair one but it did give Winter pause. The showering thing happened every day obviously but the other part of his question couldn’t be answered. That would have to be figured out at a later time. She could feel her cheeks heating causing her to frown. It wasn’t the fact that he was asking about it but the realization that she hadn’t needed to figure that out with Henry yet that was embarrassing her. Had it been that long? “Not that it’s any of your business, but he can be about twenty feet away from me.” There was a sharpness in her voice that she hadn’t intended on mixing in but that’s what she did when she was embarrassed; she lashed out. The severity depended on how embarrassed she got. “In the house he’s been able to roam freely without being by my side constantly. He gets stronger the more time he’s around so I think that’s helping him be able to pull further away.” 

“That too,” Finn agreed in the same, flat tone, a ghost of a smile on his face. Still just a bit too hungover to enjoy sarcasm at the moment. That coffee, though, that he would enjoy. He didn’t even bother to hide the excitement on his face as Winter went to work, agreeing enthusiastically with her offer for more coffee. Six espresso shots were probably closer to what he really needed but he was already a giant bother to Winter. “Not really. Just mostly been avoiding death and doing dumb shit since I got here. Feel like I’ve basically met and seen everything except something that might help me with this.” What a surprise that his plan of ‘go there and see what happens’ wasn’t working out perfectly. 

If his brain hadn’t been filled with cotton at the moment, Finn probably would have caught on to the smirk in Winter’s voice. In this current scenario however, the fear that an invisible figure would suddenly decide to tear off his arm was very real. “Cool. Very cool,” he mumbled, following Winter’s gaze at nothing, and shivering once more. Fucking ghosts. 

For the first time during their two rather unpleasant meetings, Finn felt his body grow warm with Winter’s embarrassment, followed by immediate guilt from himself. Oops. “Totally right, shutting up now.” She had answered his question though, satiating his curiosity on whether or not ghosts were just inherently pervy. Although the idea of an arm ripping ghost growing stronger wasn’t exactly putting the empath at ease. “Please don’t revoke my coffee privileges.” 

The medium let silence linger for a moment, Finn’s question making her think about her dry spell more than she wanted to. Ultimately, she blamed the town. It was full of weirdos and murderers and who’d want to sleep with those, right? That’s what she kept telling herself because delusion was better than blaming herself and her shitty attitude. Then she wondered why it was so easy to slip into those thoughts without the other interjecting. Winter, surprised that Finn wasn’t pushing this further, looked over her shoulder at him to make sure he hadn’t fallen asleep where he sat. It felt like the only reason he wouldn’t be teasing her but no, he was sitting there just pleading for his coffee. 

And then she realized he’d probably felt how embarrassed she’d gotten and she bristled. That was going to take some getting used to.

She slid the coffee over the counter to him, deciding to give him a break on the ghost stuff since he was dropping the last topic as well. Instead, she would focus on his issue. “It’s called research, Finn. Reading, the internet, tracking down people who know about your abilities…it’s not that hard in Wicked’s Rest. I might know some people who can point us in the right direction.” Winter had used ‘us’ without even realizing it. Now she was curious too and whether she liked it or not she would be doing her own research. She might as well share her discoveries with him as she went. It was his problem after all. 

Even though the totally out of line topic had been dropped, Winter was still pensive and definitely annoyed. Not at Finn so much, he was starting to get a decent feeling for the exact kind of annoyance his presence evoked in her - no, it was an annoyance that he oddly related to. More of an… impatient restlessness that… Oh. Maybe he was way off but the chances of Winter appreciating a line of questioning about how long it had been didn’t seem high, even if Finn was on the same boat. That would definitely get his coffee privileges revoked. 

When Winter finally procured the cup of coffee, it inspired Finn’s first genuine smile this morning. Grabbing the cup did mean releasing the death grip he had across his torso but honestly, it probably wouldn’t even do much if Henry decided he was in the mood for chaos. And Finn really wanted that coffee. As he reveled in the sweet taste of caffeine, Winter started providing advice in a way that was a bit like scolding but beggars couldn’t really be choosers. “Oh, it’s called research, is it?” Didn’t mean he could shut down the hungover urge for sarcasm completely, though. 

“But uh…” Finn took another sip of coffee before continuing, wanting to make sure that the next words weren’t accidentally laced with sarcasm as well. “I’d definitely… appreciate that. Maybe I’ll even try not to be wasted next time you see me, as a thank you.” He glanced over at her, feeling immensely grateful for a moment while also completely undeserving of Winter’s help. Stupid hangover making him extra mushy. “Sorry. For, y’know… me.”

Her smirk returned when she saw Finn’s death grip unravel in favor of the coffee cup, her eyes flicking to Henry who rolled his eyes goodnaturedly. He was enjoying this just as much as her but he didn’t want to show that. No, that would be giving Winter too much credit. This would be a fun gag to keep up for a while, hopefully Finn would still believe it once he was in a better headspace. 

“Yea, asshole, research. Apparently, you don’t know the meaning.” Sarcasm for sarcasm, it was their thing. And then she sighed when she realized they had a thing apparently. Why was it so easy for people like this to get under her skin and burrow there? Their first encounter had ended with him in an Uber so how had that progressed into her giving him a room the next time? She should have left him in a gutter, she really should have, no matter how lost he seemed. As if to answer those questions, Finn’s words pulled at her lips, not able to help the amusement that came with them. “You? Not drunk in my presence? I’ll believe it when I see it.” She took her own cup from where it had just finished brewing and took a sip, Winter looking over the edge of it at him. He had to stop doing that if they were going to look into this together. She wouldn’t be able to handle the self depreciation too long. “Don’t ever apologize for being who you are, Finn. Own it or change it, but don’t apologize.”