#GART OVER HERE WAS JUST LIKE ''YEAH. YEAH THIS IS FINE''

[starhvney]

mys!vylad x fem!reader, spending the night together and talking about everything in life ? pretty plz 🙏

𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: mys vylad x fem!reader

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: you and your best friend are always able to talk about everything, and you're always able to enjoy each other's silence. isn't it obvious he'd want to spend the rest of his life with you, just like this?

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐒: fluff, best friends to more? very obvious mutual pining, vylad is a sweetheart, he loves you hehehehe

𝐂𝐖: none?

𝐀/𝐍: I LOVE VYLAD I LOVE HIM! also i did nawt proof read this so i'm sorry for any typos guys :c

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

oh, vylad. the youngest sibling of the ro’meave family, overlooked by his father and quietly forgotten by everyone else. he’s said over and over that he doesn’t mind, that the handful of people he holds close to his heart—including you—are enough for him to feel like he’s enough.

and you know he means it. he has always been mature and open about his feelings, even when he was a kid, and you know he had grown even more since then. but despite all the meditation and journaling and talking, those moments when you’re pushed aside like nothing as a kid can stick with you. he handled that internal angst much better than zane, that was for sure.

at least garte had cared enough about him to help finance such a nice place to live. a small and cozy house at the edge of town, private with a backyard leading into the woods. it was so vylad. from the warm interior to the well decorated back porch, which was where you found yourself now, a couple of hours deep in conversation.

“i mean, it’s not like i was necessarily neglected or anything. but sometimes i just felt so… different. and far away.”

his voice is hushed and quiet, keeping the scene serene and light despite the heavy turn of your conversation. one of his arms props up your head, snugly creating a comfortable pillow for your neck as his hand lightly traced shapes into your arm. 

it had been a while since you’d last seen your best friend, and best friend is a label between the two of you that hadn’t questioned or changed for years despite the quite obvious feelings you both shared. that line that led you both to being something more hadn’t yet been crossed, but the lack of space between you as you laid together in his hammock dangerously teetered that line.

it wasn’t because you were scared, you don’t think. no, not with vylad. in fact you’re sure it’s because you were the least bit scared with him. even if you weren’t official, you knew he’d always be there, and you’d be waiting for him. there was something comforting about the slow burn you had with him, because you weren’t all that afraid that you’d lose him.

“i’m at peace with it though. i mean, i was as fine as i could be about it even as a kid and when i made it to high school, but in a way it still kinda hurt. you know?”

you turn your head to him, observing at how soft his side profile looked in the dim lighting of twilight. the sun has just disappeared beyond the tree line and horizon, waking the crickets up for their nightly concert and casting a dim blue light over the sky. the stars hadn’t quite begun to show themselves, but you’re sure the both of you would talk here well until every constellation could be seen hanging above your heads.

“it was emotional neglect, vylad. you had every right to feel upset and left out. even though garroth and zianna treated you with so much love, zane and garte acted like you didn’t even exist. that’s hurtful.”

he’s quiet for a moment. not from anger, or sadness. he’s just thinking, and you give him that time to, comforted by the slow sway of the hammock and his fingers on your skin. when he gathers his thoughts he turns to look at you, your noses nearly brushing against the other.

“yeah, i guess so. but zane is better, and… i think dad has started to care more in his old age. it’s kinda late to really bond with him like he did with garroth and even zane, but… i still want to try.”

you don’t need to say anything, and he doesn’t expect you to either. it’s the smile and the slow nod of encouragement you give him that satisfies him, sending a peaceful quiet over the two of you as he looks back up to the sky.

the quiet between you stretches on until the constant soothing rocking and the warmth of vylad’s body by your side lulls you until your eyelids feel heavy against your face. you don’t realize you’ve nearly completely passed out until vylad nudges you with his hand, his voice muffled in your ears.

“hm?”

“let’s go inside.”

“why?” you draw out the question, stretching your limbs.

“cause you’re falling asleep, silly.” he quietly laughs.

you nearly roll over in the hammock as he gets up, the jostle bringing you to your senses a bit as you catch yourself. warm large hands encase yours, tugging them up and pulling the rest of your body up after. you try to not be completely dead weight with your legs, but end up creating too much momentum, your body crashing into his as you practically fly into him.

“woah!” he laughs, steadying you by your shoulders.

you nod, most definitely awake now as he rests his hand on your back, guiding you back up the stairs through his screened off porch and into his back door.

“wanna watch a movie?” he suggests, pointing you to the couch as he pulls a blanket from the closet.

“sure.” you concede, the soft cushions and throw pillows looking unbelievably inviting.

you plop yourself right down into the seat, and you were not wrong about the comfort of the couch. you practically sink down into the worn in cushions, a satisfied sigh leaving your lips as your eyes drift closed again. the blanket is draped over you and you feel the couch dip down next you, the light from the tv flashing behind your eyelids.

“already asleep again?” vylad questions, making you force your eyelids open again, looking over to him.

“sorry, i’m not trying to be lame on you.”

“you could never be lame to me.” he quickly returns, voice hushed and soft.

his eyes are wide, pupils blown as he looks around the features on your face.

“it’s okay,” he continues. “you’re gonna stay over anyways, right? we can talk more in the morning. if you’re tired, then just sleep.”

you can’t help the small smile that forms on your face, the warmth settling into your chest. it’s as if his words were laced with a sleeping agent, your head falling to his shoulder while the faint sound of the show he played turn into white noise in your ears.

your eyes barely crack open again, but this time you don’t find yourself curled up on the couch or squished into the hammock. instead you’re so… comfortable. your limbs stretch into the warm quilt that drapes across you, head sinking down into your pillow.

…your pillow?

eyelids that were heavy just a second before snap open, your eyes drifting around vylad’s bedroom with realization of where you were. your feet meet the cool wooden floor, your arms wrapping around yourself from the cold as you step out into the hall, catching faint noises from the kitchen.

vylad is there, sun shining into his hair from the window and casting a reddish tint in his hair. he’s over the stove, scrambling some eggs and glancing over to the toaster where two slices of bread poke out. there’s a plate with sausage, too, next to butter and what looked like a few different options for jams.

he jumps a little when you sneak up on his side, shooting you a small smile as you pick them up to debate your options.

“of course you have blackberry jam from o’khasis and… tu’la mountain wildberry jam? when’d you get these?”

“you meet some cool people when you go on hike excursions. you should try a little of each of those, they’re really good.”

you hum, setting the glass jars down.

“you moved me to your bed last night?”

“yep,” he nods, leaning his arm into your shoulder. “i slept on the couch, by the way.”

“you didn’t have to do that, i wouldn’t have minded sharing with you.”

“well, it’s fine. my couch is comfortable and i wasn’t gonna wake you up to bother you about it.”

you huff. “i can’t believe i was so tired i didn’t even wake up to you moving me.”

“well i’m glad you got some good sleep.”

you shake your head, leaning into vylad’s side and holding onto his waist for a tight hug. he turns the heat off, sliding the pan of freshly made eggs off the stove burner as he wholeheartedly returns the gesture. his cheek rests against the top of your head, a relaxed sigh leaving his lips.

“thank you for breakfast.”

“of course.” he whispers, voice rustling your bed hair. “i’d make you breakfast every morning, if i could.”

your brain is still too foggy with the early morning, vylad’s warm chest against your ear and the sun shining in against your closed eyelids distracting you from the stutter of both of your heartbeats at his words. maybe when you’ve woken up, and the two of you chat over breakfast, you can gain the courage to ask what he means.

©starhvney, 2024. please do not steal or repost my works as your own.

[meowstix]

i know i've said this before but i really keep thinking about it. fucking wild how nobody ever found out about zagart's connection to psykick iirc. like i know gideon was in direct contact obviously but that guy's fuckin dead so

[stxleslyds]

MY THOUGHTS ON TITANS’ RED HOOD,

BEFORE WATCHING THE LAST EPISODE.

I will start by saying that I haven’t been able to watch the show, these are my thoughts after reading a very well-written and detailed review of the last episode. The review is also written by someone that enjoys the show, this is important because my thoughts don’t align with theirs.

I understand that Titans is known for being garbage, I know their writing is messed up, and I had no hope whatsoever for them to actually write a good Jason Todd/Red Hood story. I would also like to make clear that this post is in no way hate towards the actor playing Jason, this post is just my thoughts on Jason’s characterization.

What I really don’t like is these shows/movies taking the names of loved characters and making an “original character” out of them. Yes, there are different takes of the character and you can build their story differently but I do feel that what they did with Jason is beyond all that. They twisted every concept from his origin and his story, nothing really fits, but someway, somehow, they still managed to push all the wrong narratives when it comes to Robin Jason.

Two of the most horrible narratives that DC has decided to push are “Robin Jason was reckless and a troubled kid that never did what he was told” and “Jason Todd is to blame for his death”.

The show does push the one where Jason is reckless. Jason is consumed by fear, and Bruce Wayne pays attention to that but he doesn’t only do that, he also offers comfort and help, he tries to make Robin Jason go to therapy.

This is huge, they build up the perfect scenario for Jason to not become the Red Hood. But for some reason, they decided to make Jason reckless and too eager to prove that he didn’t need that kind of help. And then they didn’t help Jason’s case because they wrote their Bruce as a caring father that does not want to see his son get hurt or end up dead.

This Bruce Wayne is doing everything that comics Bruce Wayne didn’t. This Bruce cares, so once more, one would think that this Jason wouldn’t become the Red Hood. But, surprise! Jason Todd doesn’t take well the news of him not being able to be Robin anymore.

Here is the thing, if you were Bruce in this situation, would you let this Jason continue to be Robin when he is a danger to himself? I know I wouldn’t.

Here is where Titans’ terrible writing reaches its peak. They have a vulnerable and reckless Jason try to prove that he can still be Robin by working on *something* that can take his fears away. Jason Todd wants to make a drug, let that one sink in.

Jason Todd wants to make something that is basically a drug. Did Titans really erase the fact that Jason’s mother overdosed? Because that’s one of the most important things in Jason’s life and that built up his hate for drugs and what they do to people. His mother was in an abusive relationship and that led her to do drugs and later led her to her own death.

This might not sound too important to other people but to me, it’s something that has always been important to Jason’s character before and after his death.

Going back to the actual show, Jason goes to Scarecrow, willingly, and asks him to make him a drug that will make him don’t feel fear. I know that this Jason is vulnerable and that he probably thinks that therapy isn’t working for him, but why on earth would Jason think that making Scarecrow make a drug for him would be a good idea?

How does that make sense? The show is basically telling us that Jason had a support system and that he was going to therapy because Bruce wouldn’t want to lose his SON. Why does this show go far and beyond to make Jason look reckless and dumb?

This is not me comparing Comics Jason to Titans Jason anymore, this is me finding Titans’ logic unnecessarily stupid, they really went out of their way to write pure stupidity.

Why would they write Bruce as a caring father and as actively working so Jason can be in a better mental state so he won’t lose him as his son if they are also going to write Jason as an incredibly reckless man? Are we supposed to be on Bruce’s side? Because as of now, Bruce is the only one with brain cells.

There is absolutely no way to compare that to comics because in comics Bruce neglected Jason’s needs and refused to see that Jason had different morals even back then, and that neglect was key in Jason jumping onto the idea that he needed someone that he could call family and actually care for him. He wanted love and attention from a parental figure because he didn’t feel like he had one. Robin wasn’t everything that Jason was, he was also a kid with normal needs.

So, you build that completely different and actually give Jason the support that he also wanted in the show but for some reason, he is fiercely attached to Robin even though his fear comes from the fact that he almost died for being Robin. There is no logic to this Jason’s actions and that isn’t on Jason it's on the writers’ incredibly garbage writing. It is like they come up with ten different ideas and they put all of them but none of them are actually solid and well-developed concepts.

And you can’t tell me to get over it because “Titans has always had bad writing, there were two seasons of bad writing”. Listen, if you are happy to consume media that is badly written then that’s on you, Jason is one of my favorite characters, I don’t want him to be written badly just because that’s the show’s style. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with me wanting writers to actually care about the characters they are writing for, all three seasons have had different writers, is it really so far-fetched for me to want one of these people to write something that makes sense?

Jason's death was tragic in both comics and the show, and he was a victim in both of them, yes. But the show really pushes the limits of that, Jason wanted to take something to make him not fear, he looked for Scarecrow (not Dr. Jonathan Crane, Scarecrow, and he was an already established villain) to make him this drug when he couldn’t make it himself. He trusted Scarecrow (for some weird reason) and then as a test he went to fight Joker? It’s tragic because it ended with Jason dying but it's also tragic because the writing is just bad. It just is, and that is a problem for me.

From then on, we have the “big connection” to comics, the Lazarus Pit! Wow, you guys did it, yeah, everyone loves the Lazarus Pit, every time I think about Jason, I only think about that one time in which he was thrown in a Lazarus Pit to recover his mental injuries or all of his injuries after he came back from the dead.

This Jason has no training, there is no Talia, no League of Assassins, no Ducra or All-Castle, there is only Scarecrow and his new puppet, the Red Hood.

It changes everything and I don’t like it. Once again, I understand and know the concept of the multiverse, the various earths, and the Elseworlds, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like this take on Jason Todd/Red Hood along with its horrendous writing.

I don’t have to like it, just like I understand that others do like it because it is their first contact with the character or because they are fine, as fans of the character, with a new take. I am not gatekeeping Jason Todd or Red Hood; I am just saying that my being angry at this version and absolutely hating it is just as valid as liking this version of Jason.

Red Hood in Titans is just Scarecrow’s puppet, that’s how things are, and I just think that it is too big of a change from the original reasons for Jason to become Red Hood. And I will never get tired of saying this, Red Hood wasn’t only all about the Joker killing him and Batman not killing the Joker. The Red Hood was Jason’s way to make things work, to prove to Bruce that Batman wasn’t enough for Gotham. Red Hood came back to Gotham to stop bad people from introducing children to drugs and to make Gotham’s people feel safe.

He thought that Red Hood was the better version of Batman for Gotham and its people.

But I am not blind, I can see how Titans can twist it again to give us Red Hood as a protector of children and Gotham in general. I can see the “I used to do drugs and now I will fight so no other person goes through the same”, I see it and I am aware of it but it does also bring me to my other problem with Titans and DC in general: story swapping.

Story Swapping is something that DC loves to do, they thrive when they make change people’s origins for others and when they take character traits from one character to another.

And Titans’ Jason Todd is just that, he has characteristics and plot concepts from Dick Grayson and if what I just predicted happens then he will have some of Roy Harper's characteristics. And that is exactly what Lobdell did, but somehow, they managed to get different results. I cannot praise Titans for giving us a new Red Hood origin because they made his characterization with the help of other character’s origins and/or stories.

This is the first time that we see a live-action Jason Todd/Red Hood, was it really that hard to just stick to his origins as both Robin and Red Hood? There is so much to explore from Jason, there is so much between his death and him becoming Red Hood, from both before and after New 52.

Jason becoming Red Hood under the influence of Scarecrow in moths is lazy, bland and an insult to Jason’s character. They could have done things by the book and then explore things that we have never seen before in a show or movie.

Jason has had so much training outside of Gotham, why did Titans think that they could do acceptable work at bringing this amazingly complex character in a show that has nothing to do with him.

They could have had him killed in the Titans show and then wait and make a Red Hood show to actually tell a good story. What is Jason Todd doing in a show that is called Titans? Where are the Titans? They chose the most recognizable Titans’ line-up and they are not using it. They butchered Garth and Donna and for what?

DC gets away way too much with selling their stupid shows and movies by telling us that x character will appear but then when you watch the thing for that x character, they are nowhere to be seen. That’s exactly what they did with Cassandra Cain and what they are doing with Red Hood.

I don’t know how this tv show is doing, I only know that as a non-American that pays the same money for an HBO Max subscription, I don’t get to see any Titans content, not even a miserable trailer.

But I know that if non-comic readers are watching it, they will love it and if they actually were to start reading comics because of the show, then they wouldn’t find that Jason there. So, either that leads to Jason’s characterization being messed up even more within comics or it does nothing for Jason or comics.

To end this post, I just want to bring up the animated movie Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010).

That movie was widely praised and loved by critics, comic readers, and non-comic readers. It was fantastic, the story was amazing (even though it had differences with the comic, one might say that the differences improved the story), the voice acting was phenomenal, everything was done beautifully. Do you know what made it that way? The writing.

And you know who wrote the animated movie? The same person who wrote the comic the movie is based on, Judd Winick.

With that I am not saying that Titans should have had Judd write for them, what I am saying is that given the fact that they are using a pre-existing character they should chat with the Red Hood’s creator or even the writer that wrote for him for ten years after the character came back to comics.

This show obviously didn’t do that though, they preferred to write Jason Todd/Red Hood as if he were a Titans original character, but the thing is, from where I see it Titans didn’t give us an OC, they gave us an OOC.

-

So, to sum it all up, I hate Titans’ version of Jason Todd/Red Hood, I think that it is not only badly written but there is also no real logic to what they are trying to do so far. I am also tired of their bad and lazy writing in general. And I would have liked the Titans’ writers to actually respect the Red Hood lore because if they had I would have actually been excited about a Red Hood spin-off show.

Using the material that is available to you isn’t a crime, building from that material is the best thing that they could have done, but all they really wanted to do was use Red Hood’s name to get more money from a dying show.

It makes the show look cheap and actually not interested in giving us good stories, and no, I wasn’t expecting Captain America: The Winter Soldier levels of good writing or good changes to a very loved story/characters, I was actually expecting some Lobdell writing level and the way I see it we ended up getting something worse.

These are all my opinions. You can like, love, or dislike this version of Jason and the show as much as you want but you won’t find any form of love towards the show in this blog, at least not right now.

-

MY THOUGHTS ON TITANS’ RED HOOD,

AFTER WATCHING THE LAST EPISODE.

Well, I will start this part by saying: Sorry. I am sorry that I believed that Titans’ Red Hood was bad, it is actually worse than bad.

I was so wrong on many things, that review really made me think that things weren’t that bad but I still hated what I read. Now that I have watched the episode because I wanted this post to be extra honest and to stop myself from saying stupid stuff, I can also say that I hated what I watched.

This show really validates the two most horrible narratives that DC has been pushing for Jason: “he was a reckless Robin that didn’t think about his actions” and “he was to blame for his own death”

Jason Todd wasn’t a victim of Scarecrow, this Jason Todd took every single bad decision that he could, and those decisions led him to his death. No sympathy for this man.

Also, this Jason is like 19? He doesn’t look younger than that, but that’s not the point, what I am trying to point out is that this Robin is extremely underprepared, he lacks training and the mental capacity to stop acting like an edge lord every time he opens his mouth. He is annoying.

And I was wrong about Titans erasing the plotline of Jason’s mother dying of an overdose, she did die that way and this Jason spoke of her as if he hated her. What is going on? This Jason really doesn’t make me feel an ounce of sympathy for him. This attitude of “no one understands my pain” when everybody is trying to help you doesn’t make you look cool or anything of the sort, it makes you look annoying.

It is even worse because this Jason is so immature and reckless that he made his friend Molly (that is just a normal teen with no training) go after a thug with him, while he was not mentally well. He made that decision for them and put himself and her in danger. If that scene had gone any other way, then Jason could have been guilty of getting his friend injured or killed.

Jason Todd is so incredibly dumb; he is not a child but he acts like one every step of the way.

Nothing makes sense in his whole ass interaction with Bruce in front of the theatre, it’s like Jason refuses to listen to what Bruce tells him, well not that he refuses to listen it is more like a “Telefono descompuesto” I don’t know if you guys have that game but you basically have to tell something in someone’s ear and then the person repeats what they understood to the next and so on, what you said is heavily distorted by the end of the game. In this scene that is exactly what happens but it’s between two people.

When Jason accuses Bruce of not taking away Robin from Dick, Bruce says something along the lines of “I learned from my mistakes” and Jason says “so, I am a mistake now?”. Jason, use your ears, if Bruce says that he learned from his mistakes when talking about Dick, then his mistake was what he did with Dick. The writing is so bad, it's actually painful and it is even worse because the acting is bad, but I can’t blame the actors, it must really be hard to make a scene work when the writing is that bad. (Also, the unnecessary pauses, and the sounds that they play after they say something stupid, it is too funny).

Do you know what made me cringe? When they were having the chat in the theatre, in my mind all I could hear was “if you are nothing without the suit then you shouldn’t have it”, not me quoting Tony Stark in my head! I haven’t even watched that movie! But it fits perfectly for that scene.

The interaction with Scarecrow was more than dumb, if Jason was already acting like a child, now, he is basically acting like a toddler. Scarecrow saw right through him in seconds and just as fast decided that he was going to have fun with his new toy. He gave him a formula that wasn’t quite correct even though it looked like he knew exactly how to make the reverse version of his fear gas. This Jason has zero detective or survival skills but we already knew that when he made himself get captured and tortured by Deathstroke.

Anyway, all the interactions with Scarecrow were allowed to happen because this Jason can’t put two and two together. He convinces himself that everyone is out to get him, dude, Bruce is a detective and he also has eyes, Leslie didn’t tell him anything. If I were Bruce, you wouldn’t be able to be Robin anymore either.

I understand that Jason is not in a good mental place and that he wants to make his fears go away, but he had support, people around him were trying to get him help, trying to make him understand that he was hurting himself. His over-the-top anger and recklessness are unjustified when you refuse to take the help that is being offered to you.

He made terrible decisions for selfish purposes and that got him killed.

This is one of the last things I want to say, Scarecrow either didn’t need Jason at all to get out of Arkham or the writers made an oopsie because at the end of the episode he had someone helping him put Jason in the Lazarus Pit and then he was out of Arkham and he had a suit ready for Jason and everything. How did he manage all that? No idea.

The Lazarus Pit, yeah, I am sorry to be that person but the Pit can’t bring back people from the dead, it can only restore or heal physical and mental injuries (however grave they were), but Lobdell messed that one up already and Titans really didn’t have time to write a single good scene so what was I expecting?

Anyway, the last thing I wanted to say is that I know why Jason or Red Hood seems to not be affected by the drug when he sees Molly at the end of the episode, it is because the executive producer of the show is Geoff Johns! He loves making Jason fall for girls and get all mushy and dumb, do you guys remember how dumb he got when he left with Rose?

Jason being written as the kind of guy that acts like a love-sick puppy with a girl but also screams at her when he gets mad is peak Geoff Johns. So, if you were wondering where that came from, well, there it is.

Yeah, that is all I had to say, honestly if you have read this whole post then you are one strong individual, I am sorry I put you through all my thinking and rambling. You didn’t really deserve that.

I didn’t want to delete the first part of the post because I talked about so much more than the show and my thoughts before watching the episode still stand. I hope this post isn’t too confusing. As always you can think the complete opposite of me about the show or anything, I am just writing my thoughts.

Having said all that, I hope all of you, Titans’ lovers, haters, and people that simply do not care, have a wonderful week!

[inkspiots]

i think i might push my luck with you

i think i might push my luck with you

 

/

 

Laurence Zhval is an idiot. There’s no other explanation for the actual atrocity going on in his head right now. He does not -- he can not, actually -- have a crush on his best friend’s youngest brother. Besides, Vylad wasn’t cute. 

Sure, he might have been cute when they were kids -- but, to be completely fair, Laurence had barely been twelve the last time he’d seen him, a year before Garte had sent the green-eyed boy to boarding school on the other side of the country.

Vylad was sixteen now, or so he assumes; he remembers Garroth getting him to sign a card for his brother a few weeks ago, but he’s not completely sure if it was a birthday card or not. . . maybe it was just a random card, his friend does tend to be sort of random at times. Yeah, it probably wasn’t even a birthday card, knowing Garroth.

 

“Laur, if you don’t come eat dinner I think Mom might give your plate to --” A pause; he doesn’t move from his bed, and his sister doesn’t move from the doorway. “Whoa, bro, you having a crisis?”

He lets out a soft groan and shoves his pillow onto the floor in protest of his emotions, and he hears Cadenza laugh and drop down into his computer chair. “What happened? Tell Dr. Cadenza all about it.”

“You’re not a therapist yet, Denza. Get out of my room.” His sister laughs again, and leans back, propping her feet up on his desk.

“Who did you meet? Cute girl? Cute guy? Cute genderless and/or genderfluid person?”

“Vylad.”

“You met Vylad? Honey, I don’t know if you know this, but you already knew Vylad. When you were like, two.”

“Irene, Cadenza, you don’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“Vylad, he’s hot now!”

She starts to laugh, and Laurence leans over the side of his bed to pick up his pillow and throw it at her -- she ducks, and it knocks over a pile of game cartridges instead. He curses.

“Laurence Micheal and Cadenza Jade, if you two don’t get down here and eat your dinner right now --”

The siblings look at each other for half of a second, and then dash for the door at the same time. “Yes ma’am!”

He’s on the field after school, for some one-on-one practice against Dante (if his blue-haired other best friend would ever show up), when he spots Vylad walking towards him at an alarming speed and he drops his soccer ball in order to run over to him. “Whoa, dude.” Dude? Did I just call him dude ? “You okay?”

He holds up a hand, catching his breath. “Um, yeah. Yeah, everything’s fine!” Vylad seems to be saying this more to himself than to Laurence, but he doesn’t particularly care all that much -- at least he has an excuse to talk to him. “What are you doing out here? You don’t have practice today.”

Laurence cocks an eyebrow, ignores the feeling in his chest that might have been his heartbeat stopping for a few seconds, and lets a slow smirk spread along his lips. He tilts forward on his heels. “You know my practice schedule?”

Vlyad’s eyes get wide, and the shorter brunette ducks his head down, running a hand through his long-ish hair. “Uh, well, Garroth has it pinned on the fridge at the house. He’s really good at keeping up with it, and I haven’t been to watch a game or anything in years, so I was seeing when your next practice is and --”

Cutting him off with a laugh, Laurence grins down at him as Vylad lifts his eyes again. He’s frowning. “Calm down, V. I’m just playing with you.” He glances back at the discarded ball in the middle of the field, and then to the boy in front of him. “I was supposed to practice with Dante, but the idiot hasn’t shown up yet and I doubt he will.” A pause. “I have half a mind to kick him off the team, but I love him too much.”

“I could, uh, practice with you, if you want?” It’s more of a question than an offer, really, but he’ll take what he can get.

“You think you can keep up with me, Ro’Meave?” There’s half a challenge in his voice, and -- just like he expected, Vylad takes the bait -- the younger boy rushes past him and immediately kicks the ball into the goal.

“I think, Zhval” he says, and tilts his head back to grin at Laurence (he does not swoon over it; he really, really doesn’t ), “the real question is whether or not you can keep up with me .”

He is going to die. He’s actually, seriously, really going to die. Garroth’s going to kill him, or maybe he’s just going to unfriend him; but, honestly, they’ve been best friends since middle school so that might as well be the same damn thing. Maybe he can run away. . .

Yeah, he’ll just run away from his life and his problems and his stupid, stupid feelings for his best friend’s youngest brother. Yeah, that’ll totally work, won’t it?

Oh, who is he kidding? He might as well have slapped Vylad instead of kissing him, but really, who could blame him? It wasn’t like he had any actual self-control in his body, because otherwise he wouldn’t be where he was: standing in the middle of the soccer field and watching the way the sun made Vlyad’s dark hair look like some sort of chocolate and leaning over to kiss him before either of them can make another snide comment about the game they’re playing (the game that Vylad is very obviously winning and Laurence can’t find it in himself to care).

“Oh, fuck, oh shit, I’m so sorry.” And now he’s rambling and trying to apologize and then, Vylad is laughing. Vylad is fucking laughing at him. “Why. . . why are you laughing?”

He just keeps laughing, and then Vylad jerks forward and kisses him again and this time, Laurence definaitly swoons -- he won’t try and deny it, because he felt his legs give out for half a second before he stood up straight and tried to deepen the kiss -- and blinks rapidly as the younger boy pulls away. “Because I’m not.”

[blog-in-a-corner]

TSOTBL - Morning Haziness

In a few more days Garte would finally arrive to the lodge and everyone would get to come back home, they can handle a few more days at the lodge right?

Lucinda walked into the kitchen, her hair was a mess and she was sloppily dressed. Kim happened to be in the kitchen as well.

“Hey Lucinda are you alright? You look like a bird flew into your hair and you fell face first onto the pavement.” Kim asked, surprised at her friends appearance. “No, I'm not. I haven't been able to get any sleep these past few days.” Lucinda responded, cranky with the lack of sleep. “Why is that?” “I don't know! I keep feeling this weird, static feeling and every night it gets worse! It keeps me up all. Night. Long.” “Geez that sounds awful, do you know what's causing it?” “No! And it's driving me crazy!” Lucinda shouted, slamming her head onto the countertop.” “Hmm that's weird….” Kim muttered. “Not the only weird thing about this whole damn lodge anyway….” “Yeah… I can definitely agree with you on that….” “Anyways, how have you been holding up?” “I've...been fine! I guess….” “Good for you.” “I've been... reading and uh, napping….a lot.” “Irene I wish that were me.” “It's been so horrendously boring around here though, we're almost done cleaning the lodge and there's less and less things to do! With nothing to do I have to be alone with my thoughts, and I hate being alone with my thoughts!” “At least we'll be gone soon, just seven more days…” “Feels....like forever….” Kim trailed off. “Remember, we just have to be patient Kim.” Lucinda assured Kim. “Yeah. I…just...” “Uh Kim, you alright?” “Yeah….yeah-um, it’s nothing! Bye now!” Kim uttered, speed walking out of the kitchen. “Dammit! There she goes acting weird as shit again!” Lucinda slammed her head against the counter once more, in frustration. “I need to find out what's wrong with her and soon!

As Lucinda screamed internally, slouched over the kitchen counter. Aaron walked in to grab something to eat and noticed Lucinda slouched over..

“Uhh...Lucinda are you okay?” Aaron asked awkwardly yet somewhat concerned, looking at Lucinda, poking her shoulder. “No…” Lucinda groaned, picking herself up from the counter. “What happened?” “Everything…” “I see…” Aaron said, setting some water to heat. “Doesn't seem like you got a good night's sleep, you look like if a bird sold their run-down nest to an all too sentimental-bordering-on-hoarding frog.” “Gee, thanks.” “H-Heh um, h-hows Kim doing?” Aaron stuttered, quickly changing the subject. “Nope. She was fine before she left but then she started acting weird again.” “Again? Have you figured out what it is that's wrong with her?” “No, because I haven't been able to focus with everything that's been happening with this stupid lodge!” Lucinda snapped in frustration. “There was the whole boiler thing, and then our cars broke down, and then there's that weird cave full of bad energies LITERALLY behind the wall of the library in this lodge that we STILL haven't figured out how to close up, I can't sleep, and all the food we have is crap! Sorry if I can't detect anything right now!” “Hey calm down! I understand that this whole situation has been stressful, but we have to take a moment to breathe alright?” “I know it's just!....look I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, it's just frustrating not being able to do anything about a situation like this….I’m a prodigy! This shouldn’t be any problem at all..” Lucinda sighed. “It’s fine Lucinda, the situation has been rather...difficult, to say the least.” “Hey, do you happen to know anything about the lodge and it's specifics of being built?” Lucinda asked, hoping Aaron might know something. “Not really, although when we went to that liquor store the other day, the really jolly guy told me that BunnyHill has one of the largest burial sites in the country.” “Really? There being a lot of ghosts would make sense if that's the case, but why would there be so many upset spirits?” “I'm not sure…” “Do you know anything else?” “No, that's all he told me.” “Hmm, maybe we should try asking Zane or Garroth, they know a bit about the lodge. Actually speaking of Garroth, he didn't come down for breakfast this morning.” “Odd. I'll go check on Garroth and try my luck with him to see if he knows anything, he won't snap at me like Zane probably would.” “Alright, thanks.”

Aaron headed over to Garroth's room, he needed to talk to him.

“Garroth? Are you there? I wanted to talk to you about something….” Aaron asked, knocking on Garroth's door.

No answer.

“Garroth?” Aaron tried opening the door but it was locked.”Hm maybe he's somewhere else? But I haven't seen him leave his room…”

Before Aaron could step back to leave Garroth's door flung open. It nearly hit Aaron's face.

“What is it?” Garroth asked somewhat annoyed, his hair was a mess and he looked incredibly tired. “Oh hey! For a second I didn't think you were there, it was so quiet and-” “What is it that you want Aaron?” Garroth cut Aaron off, more annoyed than the first time. “Oh right, I just needed to talk to you, can I come in…?” “Fine, just make it quick.”

Garroth's room was in disarray, the blankets were sloppily piled over the bed and some of Garroth's possessions we're scattered around the room.

“Geez Garroth this place is a mess! We've got to have this place clean before your dad gets here y'know!” Aaron commented, looking around the room in shock. Garroth was usually more organized. “Is that all you wanted to lecture me about? Because I have other things to do.” Garroth asked, tapping his foot impatiently. “What? No, no! I wanted to talk to you about lodge, since you seem to know a lot about it.” Aaron insisted. “Alright, what do you want to know?” “Do you know the specifics of this land? You know the very spot the lodge was built?” “Not really, I know more about the scaling, the worth, foot traffic, and a bit of the history, but not really anything to do with the lodge grounds itself.” Garroth explained. “Hmm I see….” Aaron muttered. “All I can tell you is that this particular spot of land in BunnyHill apparently never grew anything, that's why they chose to a building of its structure here. My father probably knows more about it, seeing as he bought the place n’ all, maybe you can ask him when he gets here!” Garroth advised. “Yeah that's right! Thanks Garroth.” Aaron thanked Garroth, walking towards the exit of the room.”By the way, or you feeling alright? I don't wanna sound rude but you seem a bit uh, off this morning.” “Oh..oh it's nothing I'm just...a bit tired I guess…” Garroth mumbled, looking to the floor. “You look tired, get some more sleep. We're almost done cleaning the lodge anyway time isn't too important right now.” “Yeah...yeah I'll probably get myself some more shut eye right now…” “That's good, take care alright?” “You too.”

Aaron exited Garroth's room and went down the stairs, Kim was standing at the end of them.

“Hey Kim, whats up?”

Kim said nothing, she just stared.

“Uh Kim? Did you hear me?”

Kim shook her head and blinked a couple of times before looking back to Aaron.

“Oh hey Aaron, sorry I think I was spacing out…what did you tell me?” “Oh, I just asked you what's up.” “From this side of the stairs, you apparently.” “Okay, I set myself up for that one, that I'll admit.” “Haha!” Kim laughed. “I swear Garroth's rubbing off on you too much…” “Probably, but it could be worse, I could be body slamming into windows.” “GARROTH DOES THAT?” Aaron asked in complete shock and confusion. “No, you do. Aphmau told me you've done that like, four or five times in the past.” Kim elaborated. “FIRST I'VE ONLY DONE IT THREE TIMES, SECOND I BET SHE DIDN'T EVEN GIVE YOU THE CONTEXT.” “Nope! She didn't give me any context whatsoever.” “Just when I thought I would never have to explain that story to anyone ever again….oh, before I forget, today we all have to touch up the last few rooms in the third floor and I think we should be done with the lodge once and for all.” “Really?” “Yup! We'll all get together in about two hours.” “Alright then!”

The two went off to tell the others.

//Howdy y'all! I'm going to be on a vacation with my family next week and won't be able to post. Regular posting will return June 17th!//

[minecraftdiarieswho]

A Study in Love & Fame || Chapter One || Celebrity AU

Title: Aperture

Character/s: Lucinda, Vylad, Aaron, Melissa

Summary: Aperture - an opening, hole, or gap - a space through which light passes in an optical or photographic instrument, especially the variable opening by which light enters a camera. The story Begins, Lucinda and Vylad have a common conversation.

A/N: And so it begins!

-

-

-

Vylad always thought Lucinda made the hallway before her office ridiculously long on purpose. It game people time to stew on what they’d done wrong as they did a walk of shame, or think about their proposal to her before they made it. It was both merciful and cunning, just like her. But Vylad wasn't performing the walk of shame, nor the nervous walk of small fish to the shark tank. No, he was waking to Lucinda's office so he could pick his friend up for after work drinks.

Lucinda and Vylad had been friends for a while now. Ever since Vylad had started working here, in fact. They had a relationship that just clicked, like a big scarf and the perfect jacket in cold weather. Lucinda called it the optimal example for gay/lesbian solidarity, and, while Vylad was inclined to agree, he thought his description was much better. Vylad was barely in the photography business when they met, although he still remembered that first meeting well.

-

Divine was the Fifth magazine company he went in for an interview with. The others before had all said the same thing;

“Your photos are good, but they're just not what just not what we're looking for.”

When he walked into Lucinda’s Office for the first time, it was an out of body experience, her desk was huge and made out of purple glass, and the window behind her overlooked the whole city. Her chair was black and plush, but perhaps the strangest thing was an antique bookcase in the corner, with two huge old ugly red armchairs in front of it. It didn't fit in with anything else in the room, and yet, felt so in place. As soon as Lucinda looked up, she spoke in a voice so dramatic it was obviously put on.

“Take a seat” She gestured to the armchairs.

Vylad sat down and Lucinda stood and joined him. She took his portfolio from him and looked through it, then eyed him over.

“These are nice,” She said, closing the binder. “Dynamic shots, good colour balance, you've got quite the eye. You know with your talent you could probably skip the runt stages and open up a gallery. Why do you want to work at Divine”?

Vylad took his folder back from her. “Well, If I’m honest Ms. Belvoir-”

Lucinda held her hand out to stop him. “Lucinda.”

“Lucinda?” he asked, confused.

“Yes. Lucinda. Ms. Belvoir is so… Gross? I don't know, Lucinda is just, Better. Okay?” she said, Nodding.

“Well okay, Lucinda,” Vylad Said, “If I’m Honest, I want to stay in the business. Photography interests me sure, but fame does as well, and I'm sure my mother would cry if I distanced myself from it completely, no matter how evident I've made it that I want no part in the family side of fame.”

Lucinda gave him a puzzled look. “Family side of fame? Hell does that mean?”

“The Ro’Meave Thing isn't a coincidence, My father really is the dickwad himself.” Said Vylad, almost wincing.

“Oh… OH! Wait… did you just call Garte Ro’Meave a Dickwad? My God,” She burst into giggles, losing her elegance that, up until now had been her most intimidating feature, completely.

Vylad couldn't help but catch her smile, it was infectious. And just like that, they were friends.

“You’re hired. It's obvious you've got the guts and the style. Welcome to Divine” Lucinda Reached out to shake his hand.

He took it.

-

He reached the end of the long hall and knocked on the office door.

“Come in~” Came Lucinda’s Cheerful voice.

Vylad opened the door and plopped down on one of the armchairs. “Hey Luci, how’s your day been?” he said, hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Lucinda smiled as she sat opposite him. “Oh you know, this and that, people to see places to go and all.” She beamed at him. “How about you, my bestest photographer?”

Vylad gave her a glare. “Well, I don't know Ms. Belvoir, but it was somebody's idea to send me all the way out to my father's company to take photos of the famed Ro’Meave brothers, and that meant I’d have to spend four hours in a car, and then an extra three waiting them out. So I’d say it went Great.”

“Well,” Said Lucinda, annoyingly happy grin still on her face, “Didya get the shots?”

Vylad rolled his eyes. “Yes. and a pigeon pooped on me.”

“Splendid! You really are my best.” She stood up. “So, we still on? Or did you walk all the way to my office to be sour?”

Vylad stood as well. “Mhm, Don’t you forget it. And yes. trust me, Luci, nobody would bother walking all the way up her just to sass you. It Just isn't worth the effort.”

“Good, that means it achieves its purpose. Let's go!”

Soon enough they arrived at the bar. It was the same dingy old thing they often visited after work, it wasn't falling apart by any means, but Vylad knew that Lucinda had access to every ritzy nightclub there was, so why she chose to frequent ‘The Moon's Curse’ was beyond him, but the bar felt homely. Old posters hang from the walls, yellow light streaming from odd places in the roof. The bar itself was cramped, and filled with more liquor than you could imagine, an obvious show of a years-old collection.

Lucinda strolled up to the bar with Vylad like she owned the place. An honestly, it was deserved, given how often they came here.

The Man behind the bar smiled as he saw them come in. “Well well, if it isn't my favourite customers. What’ll it be today guys?”

“Just the usual Aaron. A Caldron and a Blood Oath.” Said Lucinda, before pausing for a moment, “And tell Melissa back there that I said hi.” She added, Winking towards the kitchens out back.

Aaron rolled his eyes. “You guys aren't even dating anymore! Why can't I be spared from your relentless flirting.”

“Just because we broke it off doesn't mean we hate each other. Besides, we share a common goal in driving you mad.” Lucinda Shrugged.

Aaron chuckled, Shook his head and then got back to making their drinks. It was almost routine at this point, how they would come in, tease him, drink, talk, play darts and then leave. But that isn't to say Vylad found it boring. Quite the opposite actually, it was nice to have a regular thing with his friends.

Yeah. Vylad liked his friends, few as they were. He was always terrible at making friends, his father taught him that he should be better than everybody else, and while that rhetoric was easy enough to shake, the pressure to get perfect grades and do well in his extracurriculars put him in isolation. Vylad was learning piano as soon as he had a basic motor function, and many other instruments followed. So the only real friends he had were his band friends, and nobody else. Come high school, he’d immersed himself in the arts completely, with the exception of acting. Photography, Visual Arts, Music, and Band were where he thrived. And coincidentally, they were all subjects where you hardly talked to people. So maybe that had something to do with it, that, and the constant and stubborn refusal to make powerful connections because of his father.

Huh. Maybe Garte was the reason he never made friends. He was always being told to make powerful allies by his stepfather, and Vylad was the stubborn little kid who refused. He always refused. When his father offered to put him in a movie, Vylads answer was a firm no. He didn't want to take handouts from him, especially when they were made so he could keep up his image of loving Vylad despite his “Circumstance”. Honestly, if not being in a stupid movie was what it took for Garte to be outed as an egotistical lunatic who cared for nothing but his finance, then Vylad was more than happy to leave his families fame behind.

“Ey Vylad!” Came the familiar voice of Melissa.

“What is it, Mel?” He answered, snapping out of it.

“I heard the love of your life is in a new movie~. Luci Sending you to the Red Carpet?” She asked teasingly.

“Love of my life? I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

Aaron chimed in. “Bullshit you don’t, just yesterday you were fawning over Laurance Zvahl and how excited you were for this movie”

Lucinda snorted at Aarons comment. “He’s Right, And yeah. You’re going, I mean you get the best photos of him, better than anyone else at divine in fact. But I need you back that day as well, we've got Katelyn to shoot at Four and I want you there because we need your lighting skills”

“Really?! Thanks, Lucinda!” He Clasped her hands in his excitedly. “Oh yeah, and I'll be back by Four, don't worry about it.”

“Mhm, And he maintains the idea that he isn't absolutely smitten” Said Aaron.

Melissa giggled, and then her face fell a bit. “Hey, how is Katelyn anyway?”

Lucinda sighed and traced the rim of her glass. “She's doing fine. Heads above water and all that, there's no way she's plummeting into obscurity or anything… but paparazzi won't leave her be, and with Garte controlling all the stories except ours…”

“She's either a devil or she’s non-existent.” Vylad finished.

Aaron Winced “Rough”

Lucinda nodded. “Yeah.”

“But you guys are doing you’re best to keep her, that so sweet,” Melissa said, smiling at Vylad and Lucinda.

Lucinda shook her head and smiled. “Sweet has nothing to do with it, garte may have paid off everybody to fuck her over, but the public still likes her, especially those who hate Zane. We’re turning a profit from having her give us exclusives, and helping her out as a friend is just a huge bonus.”

“Ever the entrepreneur Luci” Vylad Laughed and Finished his drink. “But she's right, it really is Garte’s Loss.”

“Well alright, but give her my love ok?” Melissa walked over to the bar and took their glasses.

Lucinda Put a few notes on the table “Will do, thanks for the night, you guys.”

As they left the bar, Vylad thought about the jests at his expense.

Laurance.

As much as Vylad might deny it, he really was enamoured with him. Should it surprise anybody? After all, he was a celebrity. It was normal to like celebrities. Normal to crush on celebrities. Normal to want to date them and- oh god what was he thinking?! He was obsessed! Maybe that's why all of his friends tease him about it, and why Lucinda kept giving him assignments where Laurance was present. He did take the best photos of him, that was no secret. Something about him was just so… Inspiring. But it didn’t matter how huge his crush on the famous Mr. Zvahl was. Vylad was a realist at heart, and he knew that there was no possible future in which he actually met, let alone loved, Laurance Zvahl.

Yeah.

Impossible.

[carp0nastick]

How Liel Saved Krissmas Pt.24

C-24 The sunlight streaming through your window wakes you up… at least you thought it was your window.  Turns out you are sleeping in one of the hospital beds in the Crusader barracks.  Lyrrica is asleep on a chair next to you, holding your hand as she drools into the sheets.  Just as you think that she would die if Mal were to see her like this, you hear a snore echoing as if someone was sleeping in a can.  Mal is in a chair by the rooms fireplace, poker hanging from his hands as he fell asleep tending the fire.  Horton is nodded off in the chair next to him, as you see the sun is only just peeking over the horizon.  You are about to sit up when you notice a note left next to your head on the pillow.

Extracting your hand from Lyrrica’s you see the letter is from Santa.

Dear Liel,

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to you and your friends for your help last night.  Thanks to your help, Krissmas will come easier to the people of Gruend.  I hope you like the gift i’ve chosen for you this year.  It will definitely come in handy on your adventures.  Take care!  I’ll be sure to ask for you again if I need help with the new nexus’ forming next year.

Santa

The letter disappears as you finish reading it, leaving behind a slightly jolly feeling as you wonder what Santa knows about how the leylines in the wilderness are moving.  You grunt as you sit up in bed.  You feel sore all over, but nothing impedes you from moving like normal.  Your memories of last night are still in place for a change.  You smile at all the good memories from the tree and the Kringle challenge.  Your memories of the fight with Jack remind you of why you feel like every one of your bones has a funny bone and then some jerk hit each individual funny bone this morning.  You wonder about the gold from last night.  Could you really have shown your true colors?

A mage showing their colors was a feat talked about in the legends of multiple cultures.  Sometimes even non-mages were said to have shown their true colors when they performed great feats of heroism in some legends.  It had been the subject of one of your first papers when you had shown up as a bright-eyed novice dreaming of tales being told about you someday.  The professors you had interviewed were evenly split as to whether such a phenomenon even existed.  Professors from Novem and your home region of the Crescent were adamant that it was not only possible, but had precedent in their accepted histories.  The other half of foreign professors all believed that it was definitely possible for enough magic to be generated to be seen, but an amplifier of some sort was required.  There was only one thing that was agreed upon.  If anyone had truly generated enough magical power to be seen with the naked eye, they truly were the stuff of legend.

Your heart is hammering as you ponder this.  Could you really have that much power?  Could you truly have the makings of a legendary hero?  Your Father’s words pop into your head as you stare at the hands that defeated a being of ancient magic last night.

Heroes are never chosen, destined, or even intentional.  A hero is someone that does the right thing, when it has to be done, because to do less would be cowardice.

Swallowing hard, you realize that your father was right.  You try channeling your magic a little to see if you can call on that kind of power again, but wince as it feels like you’re using a muscle that has no strength left in it.

“Liel!”  Lyrrica wakes up at the sound of your voice and immediately wraps you in a big hug.  “That was amazing!  You were so cool yesterday!”  Your best friend begins gushing about your display of power as you complain that you don’t think you can do it again.

“Of course you can’t!”  Horton says angrily.  “I told you to stay down, not pull every muscle in your body and strain your magical stamina to its limits!  Why do you even have a Crusader along if you’re not even going to listen to him?”  You are bashfully silent against his tirade, mostly because the soreness you are feeling does indicate that you came close to hurting yourself last night.  After venting, the haggard halfling’s face breaks into a wide grin.  “But oh boy did you thrash that twit!”

“Ha!  Yeah you did!  I bet I don’t see him for the rest of the winter after that beating.”  Mal joins in, the smile on his face somehow apparent behind his helm.  Your trusted comrades gather around you and reminisce about the fun you had last night.  Dela comes in with breakfast as Master Root comes in to talk.  He listens to your report of the state of each nexus, frowning with concern at the traitor legions attempts to move on the nexus during the winter.  He takes a look at your injuries, complimenting Horton’s fine treatment before holding your hand and channeling his magic into you.  It feels odd, nothing like the checks you’ve had before now after training.

“Hmm, you may have needed that kind of power last night, but forcing your potential out in a burst always taxes the body.  Of course, i’ve never seen anyone show their colors without a crisis.”  Master Root muses.  Your eyebrows rise at the elder clerics casual confirmation of the theoretical phenomena.

You’re made to spend Krissmas in the hospital room, Horton and Master Root both insisting that your body absolutely must rest for a day.  Even confined to your room as you are, you don’t lack for company.  Your party members stay with you, only leaving to come back with food and traditional Krissmas games.  Iitria and Rip come by with a small keg of wassail.  Gart and Kyiah drop by from the orc village.  The big orc plays a Krissmas carol for you on his guitar as Kyiah’s direwolf sticks its head through the window for headpats.  The leprechauns must have snuck in at some point and left behind a shot of their golden whiskey for everyone to enjoy (memory enchantment free this time).  Dela frequents the room, and you even convince the pretty Crusader to quietly place a sprig of mistletoe in the spot Mal is usually sitting while the Nekon is off grabbing his gifts for everyone.  

With only trusted friends in the room, Horton and Dela allow the nekon’s helmet to be raised enough for Lyrrica’s nervous kiss on his cheek.  Before anyone can even finish groaning, Mal sneaks a quick peck on Lyrrica’s lips.  The groans turn to cheers as Mal bashfully pulls his helmet back down.  The hair on Mal’s long rabbit ears is standing on end while Lyrrica hugs onto his arm, face blushing redder than her hair.  

As the party dies down and everyone leaves to allow you another night’s rest, you look up at the ceiling, holding your hand up towards the sky beyond.  When the spring comes, It will only have been one year since you started adventuring.  You’ve found good friends, and mortal danger in equal measure.  You clutch your fist with a devil may care smile and hope that the trend continues.

After all, what’s an adventurer without an adventure to be had?

***

Thank you so much to everyone who played along with this as I wrote it!  If you missed the votes but want to play along, don’t worry!  This story isn’t over.  Liel and the gang will be back for another adventure sometime in the new year.  In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this last vote:  What did Santa give Liel for Christmas?  This will become part of Liel’s adventuring equipment permanently, so choose appropriate to how you’d like your budding hero to meet her adventures going forward.

VOTE HERE:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RYTBFBS

[manicfangirlsyndrome]

Over Time, Chapter 4 - A Hand to Hold

About: A year and a half. 18 months. More than 550 days. Enough time to change your mind about the people you call your friends. Enough time to change your mind about the ones you don’t. And in a blink of an eye, it  all disappeared.

Rated: M for mature themes.

Previous Chapter: One | Two | Three

Word Count:  4,181

Zane hated the smell of hospitals. The deep breaths he always seems to take after getting off the elevator filled his nostrils and left a disgusted look on his face. He couldn’t understand why they didn’t give the hallways a small scent of a fruit to help make it a little less depressing.

The comfortable scowl he had perfected his whole life was once again gracing his facial features. The nurses and doctors around him paid him no mind, having grown used to his daily presence in their halls.

He didn’t want to be here. Not like this. However, he couldn’t but think back to the last time they were this formal with each other. Kawaii-Chan had just been fired from her job and was down on her luck getting a new one. She had been so cute coming to him for help. Zane had almost agreed to it at first, too. As much as it had annoyed him to endure her running them to Aphmau to make her force him to help, he was surprised that the sugary sweet Meif’wa even had it in her to be that determined.

He round the corner to the same familiar side hallway where they kept the head trauma patients. Hearing the same noises coming from many of the disturbed patients she shared her hallway with upset him. When Kawaii-Chan had originally been brought in, she was in an older room with another patient who couldn’t remain quiet. The doctor that had been assigned to her at the time seemed too aloof for his liking.

After a call to his mother, Zianna, he was able to pull strings to get her moved into the more exclusive area of the hallway for patients that required private rooms and peaceful environments. She was the only coma patient in the section. Garroth and their father, Garte, had negotiated with the staff to give her one of the larger corner rooms, making sure she had plenty of space for her friends to visit her.

He approached the secured double doors at the end of the hallway and entered the entrance code into the keypad. Growing tired of having to let him in 3-4 times a day, the staff gave him the code and permitted the others to use it as well.

“Mr. Ro’Meave! Good morning!”

Doctor Flora appeared from out of the nurses’ station to greet him. The scowl on his face never weavering. Flora seemed to be unphased by his behavior.

“Doctor Flora,” he nodded.

“I trust you’ll be accompanying Miss Chan during her MRI scan this morning?”

“Yes, will that be an issue?”

“Oh, no⎼”

“Good. If that’s all, Doctor Flora, I’ll be on my way.”

He knew he was more short with her than she should have been. He could feel the ghost of who Kawaii-Chan was reprimand him for treating her that way.

“Yes, of course, Mr. Ro’Meave. Miss Chan is still asleep. You don’t need to wake her until 30 minutes before her appointment. I will be in there to retrieve her for her appointment.”

Zane resumed his path to the far left corner room. Ghee coils feel his heart beating harder in his chest as he walked through the doors and saw her peacefully sleeping on her bed. It wasn’t like before when she had laid stiffly on her back. She had seemed so uncomfortable and unnatural laying like that, that he would occasionally move her head to one side or the other to make her seem more alive than she acted.

No, this time she was curled into herself on her side. Her black fur ears relaxed on top of her head. They gave a twitch or two whenever he stepped too hard on the ground on his way to the chair beside her bed, but she remained otherwise asleep.

Zane let out a heavy sigh as he relaxed into the chair. He pulled out his cell phone from his back pocket and checked the time before placing it on the side table. He had another 45 minutes until he needed to wake her up. Remembering how greatly she cherished her beauty sleep, he allowed himself to arrive only slightly early so he could rest his eyes in this very chair.

He had forgotten how easy he found it to drift off when around her. Hearing the steady rise and fall of her breathing gave him peace. Her breathing meant she was still alive. Zane thought about his dream from this morning. The events that had unfolded thereafter provided him a friendship in which he would come to depend on and cherish.

At times like these, when the comfort of her conscious presence was unable to console him no matter how big or small the issue, the memory of the first time she was there for him rang like a bell throughout his entire being. He couldn't help the upward curvature of his lips and he reminisced on that evening.

Zane jolted awake, sweat soaking his hair and tears slipping from his eyes. ‘It was just a dream,’ he tried telling himself. ‘Everyone’s home and safe. It was just a dream.’ Zane brought the bed sheet to his face to wipe away as many tears and sweat drops as he could.

His movements were filled with frustration as he struggled to rip the comforter and sheets off his body. He was so close to having made it a full week without a nightmare this time. He inwardly cursed his brain.

His legs were already swung over the edge of his bed. The street outside his window was dark except for the streetlights glowing in the distance. He was fully prepared to make his way to Garroth’s room when he remembered the lack of sleep Garroth had gotten himself the night before. One would quietly sneak into the other’s room and bunk there for the night when they had nightmares. They knew they were building unhealthy habits by relying on each other so much, but they didn’t really care.

No, tonight he would let Garroth get the rest he knew his big brother desperately needed. Garroth’s nightmares didn’t come nearly as frequent as Zane’s. The feeling of loneliness started to weigh on him as he realized he would have to deal with this alone. ‘Crap.’

“If you need to talk, Kawaii-Chan is here,” her voice echoed in his head. “Please promise Kawaii-Chan that you’ll call or text her if you need to talk.

Zane took a deep breath and glanced at his phone on his nightstand. He grabbed his phone and selected Kawaii-Chan’s number from his contact list before he had a chance to talk himself out, excuses of it being too early in the morning or his fear of talking about anything starting their fluttering in the back of his mind.

It only took three rings before an adorably groggy girl answered the other end of the line.

“H-hello?”

“Kawaii-Chan, it’s me,” his own voice was harsh and deep from sleep. “I-I’m sorry to bother⎼”

“Zane-kun? Is everything ok?” Her voice gained a tone of alertness and concern.

“Yes! I-I mean, no! Sorry, I,” he hesitated. “I had a nightmare.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Zane-kun. Did you want to tell Kawaii-Chan about it?” Her tone softened and quieted, making him relax as the sound floated into his ear.

Zane’s eyes glanced out his window again, his car slightly in view giving him an idea.

“Actually, I was wondering if you’d like to go for a drive.”

His own suggestion surprised him, but it felt like a good idea. A nice night drive with the company of someone outside the Emerald Street group felt like it was just what he needed.

“Right now?”

“Y-yeah, unless you’d rather not⎼”

“No! No, I want to,” she gently reassured him. “Kawaii-Chan will meet you at your car in just a minute, ok?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll see you then.”

Zane ran his fingers through his hair as he ended the call on his phone and reached for his face mask. He was excited to get out of his room, suddenly feeling slightly closed in. He slipped his feet into the slipper shoes his mom had given him for Christmas. Zane took a deep breath before standing up. His need to escape grew by the second. Light, gentle steps down the staircase turned urgent as he rounded to the front door. He grabbed his keys and zip-up hoodie as he exited his shared home, locking the door behind him.

Another deep breath. He was out. Zane slipped his hoodie on as he shuffled down the two front door steps and passed the hedges. His car hadn’t been pulled fully into the carport that day and he was slightly grateful for this. Garroth’s room sat in just the perfect location to hear all the noise that reverberated throughout the carport and he wanted as quiet an exit as possible. A flash of pink caught his eye as he looked down for the right key.

Zane glanced up at her as he moved around his car. She had a sleepy look about her, but her gentle smile said more than she needed to at that moment. He blushed behind his mask at the sight of her clad with her pajama shorts and tank top, a zip-up hoodie the only thing to keep her warm. It made him smile to think about the little adventure they were both going on, both of them dressed in nothing more than their pajamas and slippers. It seemed absolutely ridiculous to Zane, but he couldn’t help but think that ridiculous was what he needed right now.

They both wordlessly climbed into the car and buckled themselves. Zane moved the gear to Reverse, but halted his actions as he felt a small hand sit upon his own. His blush returned as he turned to look at her.

“Kawaii-Chan is really happy you called her,” her smile as gentle as the words she spoke to him.

“I am, too, Kawaii-Chan. Now, let’s get out of here before anyone notices we left.”

The ride out of Lover’s Lane was quiet. Neither occupants of the car spoke as Zane drove through the quiet streets of Phoenix Drop. The radio had remained off the entire drive. The sky was still dark and filled with stars and the streets lightly illuminated with streetlights and porch lights. It wasn’t until they had found themselves in the shopping district, passing near where Kawaii-Chan and Aphmau’s maid cafe had once stood, had she finally broken the silence.

“Zane-kun?” Her voice was still gentle, but no longer heavy with sleep.

“Hmm?”

“Where are we going?”

Zane slowed the car for a four-way stop sign. With no other cars in sight, he figured it wouldn’t be too problematic if he sat there idyl for a moment.

“Honestly, I’m not sure, Kawaii-Chan.”

“That’s ok,” she assured him, resting her small hand on his upper arm. “Just drive until you feel like stopping, ok? It’ll be like a surprise for us both that way!”

‘Ever the optimist.‘

Zane merely nodded and trekked forward.

No longer able to handle all the silence, Kawaii-Chan finally reached for the radio and turned it on. Zane smirked behind his mask knowing what he had been playing and how loud he was playing when he drove his car last.

The loud screaming and violent guitar assaulted both of their ears making Kawaii-Chan jump and scream in surprise. She scrambled to turn it down or off or anything other than what it was now as Zane tried as hard as he could to contain enough of his laughter to drive straight.

“Zane! Help me!” She cried, dropping her formalities and third-person speech as she desperately tried to figure out the old radio dials in his beat-up sedan.

Finally controlling his laughter enough to help her, he turned the radio down to a low volume and decided it was time to pull into the nearest parking lot he could find.

“That wasn’t funny, Zane-kun! That really hurt Kawaii-Chan’s ears!” Unfortunately for her, his laughter only increased as he pulled into a space and parked.

“Well,” she resigned, “I guess it was a little funny.” She smiled and giggled a bit at him before looking at their surroundings, curious as to where he had ended up placing them.

“Oh!”

Her surprise gave him pause and slowed his laughter into chuckles. Zane followed her line of sight and was shocked to see Phoenix Drop Academy’s dilapidated building before them. Most of the windows of their former high school had been boarded or broken, the paint worn to weathering and lack of upkeep.

“Kawaii-Chan hasn’t been here in so long.”

“Yeah, me neither. I’ve tried pretty hard to forget about this place, to be honest.”

A slower, calmer song played softly from the speakers. The pair sat back in comfortable silence, once again lost in their thoughts. Memories of somewhat simpler times flooding the back of their minds. He heard the scratching of fabric on fabric as Kawaii-Chan shifted in her seat to look at Zane.

“So,” she started, unsure of how to continue. “A-are you ready to talk to Kawaii-Chan yet about your nightmare?”

Zane took a deep breath. He learned a while back that pausing to breathe gave him just the right amount of time to collect himself and his thoughts.

“I just keep hearing her screams. I keep reliving that moment over and over again.” He knew Kawaii-Chan would be confused by his words, but Zane knew she wouldn’t mind. “She had just snapped out of the potion, but Aaron was already out cold on ground. A-and she just, s-she just kept screaming.”

It wasn’t until he felt her hand on his that he realized just how hard he was gripping the steering wheel in front of him. He couldn’t let go, though. It was the only control he felt he had left.

“I try closing my eyes, but I’m just frozen there and there’s nothing I can do to help them. S-she just keeps screaming. She’s my best friend and t-there was nothing I could do to help her. I-I just stood there and watched. And she just kept screaming.”

For the first time, Zane finally let go of his control and cried. He cried for Aaron and the suffering he knew he must be enduring if Zane himself is suffering this much. He cried for Aphmau and Lucinda, and the guilt he knew they unnecessarily carried on their shoulders things they couldn’t prevent. He cried for poor, innocent Kim who was unwillingly dragged into all of this and continues to host a ghost she’s convinced she can help.

And he cried for he and his brother, for the pain he knew they're both in having to endure watching their friends suffer so much with no end in near sight, and for the guilt he carried for not being able to save his best friend from all of this in the first place. If not for him, Aphmau would have never been at the lodge on Emerald Street and would never have had to go through this pain in the first place.

“No, Zane,” he heard her exclaim through her tears. “You can’t think like that. None of this was your fault! There’s no way you could have known that any of this would have happened.”

Zane had realized that he hadn’t just thought those feelings, he had cried them out loud. His throat felt harsh from the screaming and crying he hadn’t realized he had just done.

Kawaii-Chan wrapped her arms around Zane’s neck, holding him in a tight hug. Zane wrapped his arms around her and tried to slow his tears. The scent of her berry shampoo tickled his nose as he buried his face into her neck. He didn’t want to let go. She was safety and warmth and love and happiness. He prayed to the gods that she would never go through anything like what they went through, if anything so he could be selfish and have this one good and unbroken human in the world that he could turn to.

Zane caught a brief glimpse of himself in his rearview mirror. His eyes were puffy and red with emotion, and the dark circles under his eyes were darker than normal. He knew she could tell that these nightmares were happening more often than he led on.

His face mask was an uneven color of black. His tears had soaked most of the fabric up. He watched unmoving and willing as she moved her hands to the sides of his face to unhook the mask from his ears.

“You shouldn’t keep these kinds of emotions bottled up, Zane. It’s not good for your health.”

Her voice seemed like a whisper to him. He didn’t respond, instead he just continued to look at her. He was tired, and a little afraid of what else he’d say if he opened his mouth. He’d already said so much today.

Even when she grabbed his hands to hold it and smiled her big, bright smile, he remained eerily still.

“It’s alright, though. Zane-kun has Kawaii-Chan now to come to when he’s feeling sad! Zane-kun isn’t alone anymore!”

‘Isn’t alone anymore!’ Her words echoed in his mind. He had felt so alone with his emotions, so scared to share them with the others because they had all been through so much and their focus this whole time had been on Aphmau.

“Not… alone…” The words felt weird rolling off his tongue.

“That’s right! You will never be alone again if Kawaii-Chan has anything to say about it, nya!”

Zane watched as her ears perked up at her own notion and a smile tugged a corner of his mouth. Her head shifted around to take in her surroundings once again.

“Would Zane-kun like to go for a walk outside? Kawaii-Chan thinks it would be good for her and Zane-kun to get out of the car for a little bit.”

“I think I would like that.”

The pair didn’t arrived home from their late night adventure until close to 4 o’clock in the morning. Their walk around the school hadn’t been too long, and their constant yawning forced them to admit defeat to their own exhaustion. Zane killed the lights to his car before pulling into his own driveway. He had insisted on walking Kawaii-Chan back to her home across the street, but she had made him go inside his own home and get some rest. Truth was Zane just wasn’t ready to leave her presence.

“It’s just across the street, Zane-kun,” she quietly giggled. “You’re a gentlemen, but Kawaii-Chan prefers you just go get some sleep and not worry about her.”

Zane had taken extra care to be as silent as mouse as he navigated through his dark home back up the stairs to his room. Unfortunately, Garroth still managed to scare him half to death when Zane found him staring out his bedroom window at Kawaii-Chan’s retreating form.

“I’m glad you’ve made a friend with Kawaii-Chan, baby brother,” he said, his voice low and serious. “But I hope you didn’t tell her too much.”

Zane could feel his fists clench at his side. Deciding it wasn’t worth a fight, he simply stepped out of the doorway and held the door open.

“If there’s anyone I trust as much as Aphmau, it’s Kawaii-Chan,” he replied with gritted teeth. “Goodnight, brother.”

Garroth nodded and made his way out of Zane’s room, leaving him alone in his room to watch as the light in the pink window across the street went dark.

Kawaii-Chan’s featherlight touch to wake him up for her appointment had terrified him so much he yelped and promptly fell out of his chair onto the hard tile floor below him.

“Ow,” he groaned.

Her giggles lit the fire back inside his chest.

“Are you alright, Mr. Zane?”

And in one sentence, she had the ability to take that flame and burn his insides with her words.

Zane stood from his spot on the floor and turned towards her. He had to put this to an end now. He couldn’t recall exactly how he and Kawaii-Chan came to the agreement to end their formalities towards each other, but he knew it had been simple. Of everyone, her lost of memories had effected the two of them the most. Garroth was right. It was up to him to help her.

“Kawaii-Chan,” he said as he straightened his shirt and jeans. “Look, I know that there's quite a bit you don't remember, but we were… “

Zane stumbled on his words. How could he describe to her what they were? So much context missing behind words.

“Close…” is what he settled for. “And it would mean a lot if you would just called me Zane.”

He looked back up as her surprised look merged back into it's usual smiling state. He could have sworn her golden-hued eyes sparkled the way they used to…

“Of course, Zane! I’m happy to hear that we became close friends!”

Doctor Flora entered into the room, knocking only as she was entering and had her head buried deep in Kawaii-Chan’s charts.

“Good morning, Miss Chan!”

“Good morning, Doctor!”

“Let's get you down for your MRI, then, shall we?”

Another nurse followed in behind the doctor with a wheelchair. Zane watched as Kawaii-Chan. She was already sitting up and had moved the covers off her pale, bare legs. He reached has hands out to her, offering them up as means of support. He could see the hint of a shy smile on her lips and a blush forming on her cheeks as she placed her tentative hands in his.

Zane was patient with her. Standing up was something she needed to do on her own and at her own pace. She was still a bit unsteady on her feet, but shifting of her legs on her bed had helped rebuild a small amount of strength in them over the last 24 hours and it showed. Her cat-like grace on her toes was still evident even if there were small shakes in her step.

He did his best to guide her slowly towards her wheelchair and help her lower down into the seat. Once she was perfectly situated, her nurse took her position behind her chair and started their journey out of the room.

Once out of the room, Zane made sure he stood directly next to Kawaii-Chan the entire way. He checked on her occasionally, suspicious of her silence. He knew doctors made her uneasy, and that having people fuss and worry over her made her uncomfortable. Her fingers fidgeted more and more with her hair, twirling it at times around her finger so much he saw the color begin to drain, that she had moved to braiding the very ends of it.

Instinctively, Zane reached over and grabbed her hand, locking it into his own. Her eyes went wide and the blush began to creep onto her cheeks again. He could feel her watching him as they went on. He refused to look at her though. She was able to read him so well back then, and he was sure she’d see it in his eyes if he looked now. Eventually, Kawaii-Chan’s hand relaxed into his, only to tighten its grip as more and more signs appeared for the MRI room.

The nurse slowed her pace in front of a large, blank door at the end of the last hallway. Zane let go of Kawaii-Chan’s hand as the nurse parked her wheelchair against the wall. Doctor Flora used her keycard to open the door for the nurse and held it open for her.

“We’re going to go ahead and get everything set up for her inside,” she directed at Zane. “Unfortunately, you’ll need to wait out here, Mr. Ro’Meave. We’ll bring her back out shortly, though.”

The pair watched as the medical duo disappeared into the room.

“You’re going to be fine, Kawaii-Chan.”

His words had been meant to aim themselves at her to help reassure her that everything would be fine, but he knew they were more for him. He forced himself to not think about what they could possibly find in the results. Her head injury had been so bad. Zane could still recall the sound of her skull cracking and it made his stomach churn.

“Thank you for coming with me, Zane. I know you were probably busy⎼”

“N-no, Kawaii-Chan. I’m happy I could be here for you,” he interrupted.

Her smile was large, but didn’t quite reach her eyes. Though she tried to put on a brave face, the alert twitching of her ears gave her away without her even noticing.

The door before them swung open suddenly, diverting their attention from each other. Doctor Flora stood in the doorway wearing a different coat and had a new chart in her hands.

“Alright, Kawaii-Chan! We’re ready for you now.”

Follow on Wattpad, too: https://www.wattpad.com/story/111727148-over-time

Disclaimer: Characters and some quotes used by Aphmau. Most of the situations the characters find themselves in all my fault.

[blog-in-a-corner]

TSOTBL - Missing

Anyways here’s page 4!

Kim is missing. But where could she have gone?

It was a particularly cold, snowy morning; one would opt to stay inside and try to be as warm as possible. Who would want to be anywhere else in this kind of weather?

“Oh no-oh IRENE what if she’s hurt?!” Garroth panicked, springing up from his chair.

“Hey let’s not start panicking. For all we know she just got a headstart on cleaning the lodge, and she’s just in one of these rooms.” Aaron reassured the panicked blonde.

“Yeah...yeah that could be it….” Garroth mumbled, relaxing his right shoulder and caressing the other.

“Then let’s go look for her and make sure she’s okay” Lucinda said

“Alright then, let’s-”

“Oh no you don’t.” Lucinda cut off Garroth, sitting him back down. “You’re staying here. You’re already badly injured, we can’t have another bad thing happening like the floor caving in or some old painting falling on top of you.”

“Besides, Garte would probably find some way to sue us if you got anymore injured.” Aaron muttered.

“But-”

“No buts! You’re staying here.” Lucinda stressed, glaring at Garroth.

“Fine…” Garroth grumbled.

“Then let’s get ready Lucinda.” Aaron said, motioning to their luggage.

Aaron and Lucinda went upstairs and into seperate rooms to get dressed. Aaron began to think to himself as he dressed into his clothes for the evening.

“I really do hope Kim is alright.” Aaron thought. “I’m sure she can take care of herself, but she seems to be more the type of person to get frozen in their tracks in the face of danger.”

“......”

“I wonder…..I wonder how Aphmau is doing…”

“Probably hanging out with Zane, or Laurance or anyone of her friends right now.”

“I wonder if she misses me…”

“I miss her but….is she the right person for me?”

“I love her, but after everything that's happened….I don’t know.”

“........”

“No, I have to concentrate on the matter at hand right now. I can think about my personal problems later.”

He finished dressing up and left the room.

Lucinda had finished dressing up a while ago, but she was busy finicking with her wand.

“Hm. It seems to be working fine.” Lucinda said to herself. She looked around the room she was in. Everything covered with layers of dust, the bedsheets were stained, the curtains were torn, so many unpleasing things  “Ugh this room is so gross, how safe is this damn lodge? I mean, it’s been abandoned for twenty years, so….” Lucinda thought to herself.

“I sure hope Kim is okay, and Garroth…Kim mentioned that Garroth should be more injured than he is, and to be honest? I wonder why he wasn’t nearly dead after the boiler exploded. Is he going to be fine without any professional medical help? Then again, if Garroth were really badly injured he’d have probably been dead by now….well, all I can do is hope nothing worse happens for the rest of the trip.”

Lucinda walked out of the room with her wand in hand, prepared to find Kim.

“You all set?” Aaron asked.

“Yup.” Lucinda replied.

“Then let’s go. Garroth be sure to give us a call if Kim comes while we’re gone.”

“Will do.” Garroth muttered, raising his hand slightly.

“Wait.” Lucinda paused.

“Huh? What is it?” Aaron asked in confusion. “Aren’t we ready?”

“Instead of wasting our time looking all over the place like squirrels, let’s make things easy with a little dose of magic.” Lucinda explained, pulling out her wand. “Ichnotigo”

With a breath, Lucinda casted a spell. Glowing red footprints instantly appeared before them, leading off into one of the hallways beside the stairs.

“Woah! What did you do?” Garroth asked, amazed by Lucinda's magic.

“I casted a tracking spell, specifically one to find Kim, so we don’t have waste all day looking for her.” Lucinda elaborated.

“You don’t need one of Kim’s belongings or anything?” Garroth asked. “If you’re a young or mediocre witch then maybe, but with my skill, you really just need your memory of them.” “Nice. I didn’t even know you had brought your wand.” Aaron commented.

“Yeah I brought it before we left in case we needed it. I can alter the size of my wand for easier travel, that’s why you didn’t see it.” Lucinda explained, demonstrating her statements by altering her wand back to a small, travel-convenient size. “See?”

Aaron and Lucinda set off and followed the trail of footprints, the footsteps had been coming in and out of rooms repeatedly, making them unsure as to whether or not she was still in a room.

“So much for saving us from looking like stupid squirrels.”

“Oh shut up.”

As they went through the corridors they looked through many rooms; All of which were dusty, old and unkept. The paintings on the halls were faded and dusty, the furniture torn and old. The harsh, cold winter air could pass through the wood, as the wood had shrunk after the snow would melt into it for so many summers.The silence in the lodge had become unsettling, the only noise being their footsteps and the old, rugged wood creaking beneath them every now and then.

“So, uh, Aaron...” Lucinda spoke, breaking the eerie silence. “Why did you decide to help fix this place? I wouldn’t exactly jump at the offer of having to clean up an old, dinged up lodge.”

“I just....” Aaron opened a room door. “...needed some time for myself.” He peeped his head in and looked around. He closed the door and sighed.

“Why?”

“You know about what happened with me and Aph, don’t you?”

“Well I know you guys broke up, but other than that Aphmau never actually told me why.”

“Ah, I see. Well, after some….trust issues she had with me that marked the start of our falling out. I had some time to think about myself and what I wanted.”

“Er-trust issues?”

“Ehhh. It’s a...long story. All you need to know is that she apologized for not believing me.”

“Ah okay.”

“Yeah.” Aaron looked into another room. Nothing, again.

“So we agreed to take some time apart and well…” “No need to explain. No one would exactly want to be where their ex is when they’re trying to take some time for themselves.”

“Ex? We’re not broken up,we’re just taking a break.”

“Ah,sorry...i used to say that too..” Lucinda muttered.

“What was that last part?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing.”

They saw a large shadow in the distance.

“Hey, is that Kim?” Aaron said, pointing at the shadow.

“Kim! Is that you?” Lucinda called out.

The shadow suddenly sprinted away.

“Look, the footprints are following the shadow!” Aaron hollered.

“Quick! We gotta find her!” Lucinda yelled, pursuing the shadow.

They both began to follow the footprints, they were led into a security room at the end of the hallway.

“Kim!” Aaron shouted as he and Lucinda busted open the door and ran into the room.

Kim was standing in the middle of the room, staring at the wall.

“Kim,” Lucinda said, gasping for air. “There you are!”

Kim stayed silent.

“Um, Kim?” Aaron asked in concern. “You okay?”

Kim turned around,her and Aaron’s eyes met.

“LEAVE!” Kim screamed.

“Wha-?”

“NOW!” She screamed, lunging at Aaron.

Aaron dodged Kim’s attack almost a second too late.

“Kim what the hell has gotten into you?!” Aaron yelled in shock.

“YOU-YOU CAN’T BE HERE!” She screamed, lunging at Aaron once more.

Aaron grabbed her by the arms as she crashed into him.

“Kim-KIM! Listen to me!”

“NO YOU HAVE TO GO, BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! PLEASE-”

Lucinda struck Kim with a spell before she could say anything else.

“Wh-Lucinda, what did you do?” Aaron said, frazzled about what had just happened.

“A simple sleeping spell, it won’t last very long so don’t worry too much about it.”

“….Why…..she was acting like that?”

“I...don’t know. Not for sure anyway.”

“Well at least she isn’t hurt right?”

“Yeah...I think..”

“Let’s just get back to the lobby.”

“Yeah, before Garroth does anything stupid and accidently kills himself.”

Aaron slung Kim over his shoulder. They had already spent an hour searching for Kim. All they wanted to do was relax, but their day was far from over. They finally got back to the lobby.

“Hey Garroth,we’re back.” Lucinda stated out loud.

Garroth wasn’t in his recliner.

“Garroth? Where the hell are you?” Aaron asked, as he and Lucinda spread out through the lobby.

“Look!” Lucinda shouted, pointing to the kitchen inside the diner.

There was a deep red substance on the floor next to a counter and what appeared to be…...a hand resting in it.

“GARROTH-” Aaron screamed at the top of his lungs.

[blog-in-a-corner]

TSOTBL - The Unseen Catacombs

“So what are today’s plans?” Zane asked.

“Well today is going to be a little bit different, today we’re all going to look through the library.” Aaron elaborated. “The library? Why?” Aphmau asked, tilting her head. “Because they're ended up being a LOT more books than I thought there was going to be, besides we're almost done with the rooms anyway and Garroth and Kim are going to need a lot more help.” Aaron explained. “Yeah you wouldn't BELIEVE the amount of books there is! They pretty much left the library untouched when they closed this place down.” Kim stated in an excited manner. “It’s...pretty grand...” Garroth added. “Enough chit-chat, let's get this over with because it sounds like we're going to be here for a loooong while.” Lucinda said, proceeding to open the doors to the library.

The inside of the library wasn't much different since Zane had last seen it, except for the fact that there were various stacks of books of different sizes on many of the tables.

“Holy crap this is a huge library!” Aphmau commented in awe. “Ireeeene this going to take forever to clean…” Lucinda groaned. “Well hey, on the bright side this place isn't anywhere near as filthy as the rest of the lodge.” Aaron assured Lucinda. “Next time we go on some kind of vacation I'M picking the place.” Lucinda stated, somewhat grumpy. “You chose to come!” Aaron reminded her. “At least my idea of a vacation isn't cleaning up a run down lodge!” “Guys, guys! Come on we have a library to clean!” Zane scolded them. “Yeah, yeah!” Lucinda rolled her eyes.

Aaron and Lucinda took down books from the bookshelves, and Aphmau would take the books from them and make piles so that Kim and Zane could evaluate the books. Garroth would sweep all of the paper on the floor and see what was trash and what was just torn book pages.

“What the hell does a library need so many copies of “Shakespeare Classics” for?” Zane remarked, throwing the book into a trash pile. “I dunno, people who want to read and get bored halfway through the first page because they can't really read it?” Kim wondered. “Probably.” Zane said, as he set aside another book. “Man, some of these books are real hidden treasures but half of their pages are missing or torn!” Kim complained. “How did they even end up like this anyway?” “Robbers? Asshole people? Racoons? Bees?” “I mean probabl-wait did you just say bee-” “AHHH!” Aphmau shrieked, cutting Zane off. “What's wrong?!” Aaron asked, alarmed at Aphmau's scream. “This gross looking spider crawled out of the book and onto on my arm!” Aphmau explained, shaking herself off. “Really Aphmau? You had us all think you like, died, over a spider?” Lucinda remarked, glaring at Aphmau. “They're scary!” Aphmau said, trying to justify herself. “Aph!” Lucinda scolded. “Seriously..?” Kim muttered. “C’mon guys cut Aphmau some slack, bugs can be icky and creepy.” Garroth defended, from across the room. “No they're not, you guys are just 'fraidy cats.” Aaron claimed. “They are creepy! I remember seeing this huge, horrible spider, and I killed it with a broom, like this-” “Wait Garroth nO-” “HYAAH!” Garroth yelled, slamming the broom against one of the bookcases, causing it to fall.

The bookcase fell over and hit the end of the room wall.

“Garroth!” Aaron scolded. “Sorry!” Garroth apologized nervously.

But before anyone else could say anything, the wall the bookcase has hit began to open. It creaked and it cracked until it revealed the entrance to what appeared to be a cave system.

“Woah what the hell?” Aaron said in awe. “A cave? So this is where it was….” Garroth stated in confusion. “You knew there was a cave around here and didn't say anything?!” Lucinda snapped at Garroth. “Er, um, I mean- I didn't know the lodge was literally built on it!” Garroth defended himself. “Pretty stupid place to build a lodge on.” Lucinda remarked. “Maybe it's a mine?” Kim thought aloud in wonder. “Why don't we check it out? Until we can find a way to close this back up this'll be free to explore!” Kim asked, gazing upon the cave system. “I don't know, what if one of us get hurt? We don't know how stable the cave is.” Lucinda thought aloud in concern. “I'm sure if it were really unstable it would have collapsed by now, we just gotta watch our step!” Kim explained, walking a bit into the cave. “Hmm….” Aaron uttered. “Pleeeaaaasssse?” Kim begged, turning to Aaron. “Fine, we'll check it out for a minute or so.” “Yay!!!” “Hmm….” Lucinda uttered to herself.

Everyone entered the cave and looked around, the cave hadn't been excavated by man, the paths seemed natural. There were stalagmites littered throughout the cave, and a lot of rocks of different sizes and colors lying in piles around the floor.

“This is so cool! It's not everyday you get to walk into a cave like this!” Kim said in excitement, curious about everything around her. “I wonder why they would build a lodge over a cave like this, couldn't they have just started a mine from here? Or maybe just put a block over it if you want to keep morons from getting hurt.” Zane commented, thinking about the peculiarity of the cave. “Well, there isn't really any other land in BunnyHill to actually build a lodge like this.” Garroth stated. “Just sounds like poor design to me, no wonder this place closed down. With the kind of people who managed the construction of this lodge, I don’t imagine the management of the lodge itself was any better.” Aaron added. “Hey look!” Lucinda shouted, pointing at an intersection in the cave. “Woah, four different pathways?” Aphmau pointed out. “Cool! I wonder where the all lead to!” Kim said in excitement. “I can tell you where they lead to: nowhere land. We have to go back to the inside of the lodge now.” Lucinda insisted. “Awwww why?” Kim whined.

“This place is probably dangerous! Last thing we need is one of falling off a cliff or something! Besides we have work to do remember?” Lucinda claimed.

“But at this rate we’ll be done before Garte gets here anyway! Can we just go through one of the pathways…?” Kim asked in a sad tone, lip trembling, and giving Lucinda the biggest googly eyes Kim could possibly muster. “No!” “Pleeeaaaasssse!!!” “Nuh-uh!” “Pleasepleasepleaseplea-” “No Kim! And that's final!” Lucinda snapped. “Okay…” Kim muttered, disappointed she couldn't go through. “Alright everyone let's get out of here!” Lucinda announced.

Everyone retraced their steps and returned to the library. They resumed work as usual.

“Hey Kim…!” Garroth whisper-shouted, walking by Kim and tugging her slightly. “Huh? What is it Garroth…?” Kim replied, still a bit bummed out. “Look at this cool rock I found before we left the cave.” Garroth whispered.

It was a gemstone rough, a sparkling red gem with patches of the rock it once grew in.

“It's so pretty..!” Kim whispered shouted. “You can have it! As a little souvenir from the cave.” “Aw thanks Garroth!”

Kim felt a bit better now, having an interesting rock to keep.

While everyone was about their business, Aaron talked to Lucinda.

“Hey Lucinda…?” Aaron asked, grabbing a book and passing it down. “Yeah?” She responded, keeping her focus on the bookshelf. “I don't wanna pry, but why'd you get so snappy with Kim back in the cave? It's not really like you to snap like that.” “Ehh..I didn't mean to be so rude to Kim, that cave it just..gave me a lot of bad vibes.” Lucinda admitted. “Same here, but it is just a cave.” “I know but, it wasn't just me being afraid someone was going to get hurt, it was like...a menacing energy? Something restless and without peace…” “Hmm.. well you are a witch after all, you can sense certain things that us humans can't, so I guess I'll just have to take your word for it. “I still feel bad for yelling at Kim though, I'll apologize to her when our work here is done for the day.” “That's good, I wouldn't want there to be drama between anyone during our stay here, because we're all going to be here a while and it's already enough me and Aph have problems.” “Yup. That’s the last thing we need of all things right now.”

[blog-in-a-corner]

TSOTBL - Reawakening

A new morning came about. It wasn’t snowing, but it was still rather cloudy, and definitely still cold.

Luckily, it was one of the warmer days. The winter was a cruel time of year; most plants were dead and many animals were asleep, awaiting spring, the much warmer and livelier season of harvest, to awake once more. That being said, there are still many creatures of all sorts that are awake and alive during the harsh and ruthless winter; such as humans, for example.

It was nine o'clock in the morning, everyone was up and about, sitting around the kitchen counter. In the kitchen Lucinda had prepared a small breakfast for everyone to start their morning. Eggs with bread and….beef jerky?

“.....Lucinda?” Aphmau asked, poking at her beef jerky with a fork. “Yeah?” Lucinda said, setting her plate down on the table, sitting down across from Aphmau. “Why...is there beef jerky next to my eggs.” Aphmau questioned, picking up the piece of beef jerky and raising an eyebrow. “Yeah,” Aaron said, taking a bite out of his toast. “I was actually wondering that too.” “Because the liquor store didn’t have any other kind of meat product is why, and don’t think for a second I was just going to feed everyone just EGGS and BREAD with nothing else! What kind of breakfast is that?” Lucinda answered. “True, it’s still kinda bizarre to me though….” Aphmau stated, grabbing her beef jerky and chewing on it. “This whole place is bizarre….” Lucinda thought to herself. “Too bad the liquor store wasn’t one of those weird ones that sell like, sausages in a can or something.” Garroth added. “Actually you know what that’s a thousand times worse than beef jerky.” Aphmau responded, disgusted at the thought of eating canned sausages from a liquor store. Who knows how long they’ve been sitting there. “So Aaron,” Zane interrupted, getting up from his seat and going to put his plate in the kitchen sink. “What’s the plan for today?” “Well, today we’re going to split up a little bit to get some more down around the lodge.” Aaron answered, pushing his plate away, as he had finished eating. “Garroth and Kim are going to get a headstart on cleaning the library, and the rest of us are going to continue to clean the rooms on floor three.” “Why would a lodge have a library of all things?” Kim wondered aloud. “A form of entertainment I guess? With how bad the winters are here, I don’t think they’d want to add a pool of all things. This place was only a hotspot during spring anyways…” Aaron replied. “Ughhhh….I wouldn’t mind having to clean up any of those rooms if there weren’t so many…” Zane whined. “Trust me Zane, everyone here doesn’t want to clean up all of those rooms either, but we have to do it. We might as well help out everybody else while we’re stuck here.” Aphmau said, picking up everyone’s dirty dishes and took them to the sink. “Hmph…” “Everybody get ready, because once Aphmau is done washing the dishes we’re all going back to work.” Aaron announced, getting up from his seat and walked out of the kitchen. “Well Kim, looks like it’s you and me today! The dynamic duo!” Garroth said in glee. “Sweet! But I’ve got to take off all of your bandages before we head out, your burns and any small cuts have pretty much healed! You’re shoulder still needs some time though, but it’s getting better to say the least.” Kim stated. “Aww darn….well, at least it’s the last time I gotta wear these itchy bandages.” Garroth mumbled, walking out of the kitchen with Kim. “Tch, I wish I wasn’t surprised that idiot got himself injured like that.” Zane rolled his eyes, wondering just how dumb his brother could be. “C’mon Zane, cut him some slack. Accidents happen no matter how dumb or smart you are.” Aphmau said, grabbing a rag and drying her hands. “True, but it’s sorta common sense to not immediately start up a boiler that hasn’t been touched for twenty years.” Lucinda said. “Yeahhh…..” Aphmau reluctantly agreed. “I swear that dumbass is going to get himself killed one of these days.” Zane shook his head at the mere stupidity of his brother. “Hm, well, I just finished the dishes, so we should probably get going now.” Aphmau advised. “Right.” Lucinda and Zane replied in unison.

______________________________________________________________________________

Kim went to the waiting room to remove Garroth’s bandages, as it was the most convenient place to be in case either of the two needed anything.

“Alright so let’s start with the ones on your hands since those will be the easiest.” Kim said, beginning to unwrap the bandages one by one. “Aaand there! Let’s take a look at your hand.” she inquired, throwing the bandages on the floor. “Hmm...the burn should heal a bit more over time, though it looks like the burn was bad enough to leave a scar, unfortunately.” Kim stated. “As long as nothing is getting any worse, I guess it’s not so bad…” Garroth said, trying to be positive about the situation, at hand. “Don’t forget to get to cleaning the library as soon as you guys are done.” Aaron reminded them, as he and the others headed upstairs to clean the third floor. “Don’t worry we will!” Kim shouted after them.

As soon as everyone got to the third floor, they began to get to work, unfortunately for them they weren’t anywhere near finished cleaning all of the rooms on the third floor., and probably wouldn’t be for another week or so.

“So Zane, what was it like being stuck inside an elevator? It must’ve been horrifying….” Aphmau asked, trying to make conversation. “It was horrifying! It was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life!” Zane raised his voice slightly, expressing the true terror of the situation. “Thank Irene the elevator even started up again…” “If we’re talking about that right now,” Lucinda, dusting the nightstand. “What was inside the attic?” “Just a lot of boxes and old extra blankets for the rooms, it seems they were in such a rush to close this place they ended up forgetting to take a lot of stuff...however there was this, one thing that stood out….” Zane replied, recalling the events in his head. “Really? What was it?” Lucinda questioned. “It was...a kids toy chest.” “A kids toy chest? What would something like that of all things be doing in a lodge attic of all places?” Lucinda wondered aloud. “Maybe the family left it here by accident?” Aphmau proposed, yanking the blankets off the bed. “Possibly, but how could you forget something as big and obvious as a toy chest?” Zane argued. “Good point...what was inside the chest?” Aphmau asked, shaking the blankets up and down. “I don’t know, the thing wouldn’t budge no matter how much I tried to open it. It was pretty heavy though, so there definitely was something still inside it.” Zane answered, grabbing one of the blankets Aphmau shook and began to fold it. “How odd…” Lucinda muttered, wondering why and how a toy chest was even in the lodge. “We’ll be visiting the attic soon so maybe we crack that mystery then!” Aphmau said, grabbing the pillows from the bed. “Speaking of which, how much of this place are going to clean? There’s only so much we can do for this shithole, with it’s broken windows and dingy, torn up furniture.” Zane asked, as he gestured to the whole room. “Just all of the rooms and the library is what we have left, Garte and his company are going to be the ones repairing the windows, furniture, walls, so on and so forth. That’s why he’s even coming to begin with.” Aaron explained, as he entered the room with some cleaning supplies in hand. “Ah, part of the deal between our fathers I assume?” Zane questioned. “Yup.” “Well, the sooner my father comes the sooner me and Aph are out of here…” Zane grumbled, grabbing some of the dirty rags and throwing them into a bin. “I can’t wait to go back home. As much as I love the snow it gets kinda sickening to be honest..” Aphmau mumbled, stacking all of the folded blankets neatly. “Next time you guys should clean a summer resort or something.” “I didn’t really think the trip here would be so horrible but hey, you live you learn.” Lucinda commented, checking under the bed. “Hey, should one of us go check on Garroth and Kim right now? Last thing we need is one of them somehow getting hurt...again” “Yeah we should. Zane, could you go downstairs and check on Garroth and Kim? Make sure they’re both alright?” Aaron asked, grabbing the bin. “Why me?!” Zane whined. “Just go do it Zane…” “No!” “C’mon Zane pleeeaaaseeee?” Aphmau implored. “Ugh fiiiiine...” Zane groaned.

Zane walked to the elevator and went to the second floor, he then walked downstairs to the library. As the library was under the second floor, between both staircases.

“This is an odd place to put a library...but I guess it makes sense...sorta.” Zane muttered to himself, opening the doors and walking into the library.

The inside of the library was filled with aisles of tall bookshelves, with tables for people to study or read. However it was in slight disarray, there was holes and cracks in the wall, books and torn out pages on the floor, and a few bugs on the floor here and there, but bugs weren’t an uncommon sight in the lodge. Zane had a feeling of déjà vu. The place felt familiar somehow but he couldn’t remember why. He walked through the library in search of Garroth and Kim.

“Garroth!” He yelled, hearing his own voice bouncing off the walls, each echo quieter than the first. “Zane?” Garroth responded, poking his head out from one of the aisles. “Oh, there you are. Aaron wanted me to see how you and Kim were doing.” Zane said, as he walked towards Garroth. “Ah! Well, me and Kim are doing just fine. We’re just looking through the books to see if they’re alright.” Garroth explained, carrying a stack of books. “Yup! It’s amazing! There’s so many books I’ve never even see before! I can’t wait to check all of them out as soon as we’re done!” Kim shouted in glee, poking her head out from the same aisle, just a little higher up as she was on a ladder. “Hm. I see. Well, you guys go on with that, I’m going back upstairs.” Zane said, as he began to walk away. “Baby brother wait! I wanted to ask if-woOAHH!” Garroth attempted to walk to Zane but accidently slipped on one of the papers on the floor and fell. “Ah! Garroth!” Kim yelled, as she frantically, but carefully, climbed down the ladder. “Are you alright!?” “I’m fine! I just got a whole lotta books on me now, but I’ve had worse.” Garroth responded. “Ugh can’t you go thirty seconds without doing anything stupid?” Zane commented in annoyance, continuing to walk out of the library. “Uh, well, let’s pick up these books.” Kim said, grabbing two of the books off the floor and putting them on a table. “Don’t worry I’ll do it! It’s my mess anyway, you just focus on getting the books down.” Garroth insisted, grabbing multiple books and putting them under his arm. “Are you sure?” Kim asked. “I’m positive!” Garroth replied. “Alright then...be more careful next time okay?” Kim said, climbing back onto the ladder. “I will. I promise. “ Garroth reassured Kim. “Okay c’mon….four at a time…” Garroth muttered to himself, placing the books on the table. “Huh? What’s this?” Garroth wondered, as he picked up the book from the floor.

“What an interesting book….I’ll keep this one and check it out later.” Garroth said, placing the book aside from the other ones.

//hEY SORRY FOR THE LATE UPLOAD SHGDHBSHDB THE DRAWING NEEDED A FEW FINISHING TOUCHES I HAD FORGOTTEN DHGHS THANKS FOR READING Y’ALL!//