#I’m goth in spirit. I live in a very hot place dressing like that would kill me

[krystaldeath]

Thinking about my mom’s high school friend who was gothic and STILL is apparently (have seen hs pics of her, not of her currently, though I SO want to)

[gravelyhumerus]

Criminal Minds College AU - Chapter 7

Title: “I may just take your breath away”

Relationship: Jemily

Summary:

Hallowe’en chaos.

Slow-burn Jemily college AU where they live across the hall and despite all odds, the universe pushes them together. AKA they’re silly gay babies who pine after each other for months.

Read it on AO3

Tumblr:  One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, (bonus scene), Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Epilogue

After trivia night, Emily Prentiss found her world had shifted slightly. 

For the first time in her life, she had a friend group: a consistent presence of not only just Derek and the occasional Hotch, but also Spencer Reid, Penelope Garcia and most importantly, Jennifer Jareau. 

Emily noticed it most in the dining hall. Most mornings this semester, she would grab coffee and maybe an apple on her way to class. Now, she was invited to breakfast in the caf. And everyone was also invited, so the six of them began eating not only breakfasts together when their schedules lined up, but soon that melded to include dinners and the odd lunch between classes. While Penelope initiated at the beginning, soon this became a routine. 

While they were all busy, and driven people, all with full course loads, extracurriculars and miscellaneous commitments, they managed to get the whole team together multiple times that week. 

A few times, extra faces joined them. Penelope’s friend from class, Kevin… something, joined for a lunch on Wednesday. He sat shyly as Derek stared him down the entire time. On Thursday, somehow Hotch convinced their Criminology TA, David Rossi, who was part time Masters Student and part time weed dealer, to have lunch with the bribe of them using their guest pass so he could get a free meal. He reluctantly acquiesced, but seemed to enjoy himself. On Friday, the day before Halloween, Emily brought Tara Lewis, the MC from the Trivia night that was two years ahead of her in criminology, they ran into each other in the quad, recognizing each other. This open door policy made these dinners fun, with new faces alongside their team.

This was all new for Emily. Not having friends, that is, because Emily could always muddle along with some friends, and when she was younger she shaped herself easily into whatever the popular kids wanted her to be. No, it was new because it was so easy. The team, as they now called themselves as a shorthand, had fallen together so effortlessly. 

Today was Halloween and they had plans at Dave’s student house, the shabby place that she had ran into JJ, Penelope and Spencer all that time ago. Had it only been a month? She felt like she had known them all for lifetimes by now. 

It happened that way with Derek last year, the whole living together thing sped up that connection. Intimacy comes fast when you brush your teeth next to someone. 

Emily was sitting at her desk, finishing up her makeup. She was aiming for a vampire, which wasn’t hard given her previous fashion aesthetic. 

Yes, Emily did have a goth phase. She will admit it. Not to her new friends just yet, and Derek had been sworn to secrecy. She was now a much more toned down goth, more alt than goth, wearing mostly black but significantly less chains and make up. 

Tonight, she wore her fishnets, a short black dress and a cape that was already tied around her shoulders. She had put a slightly too pale foundation on her face, down her neck, and was currently working on her eye liner. She carefully created elegant swoops over her lashes, coming to sharp points. 

Next, she added a deep red lipstick. Blood red. It was all very spooky. 

Finally, she struggled to test out the fake teeth insert that she had ordered online, slipping it over her top teeth. It fit surprisingly well. 

“Happy Halloween,” she said to herself, testing out whether or not she had a lisp. She did. She didn’t care. It was perfect. 

Emily did a couple of spins in the mirror on the back of the door. Turning off the overhead light, she looked at herself in the glowing light of her string lights. 

She was satisfied. She looked like a hot vampire. 

She grabbed her tote bag, which was filled with six miscellaneous beers and coolers that she had leftover from the last few weeks, knowing that she hated the cheap hoppy beer that Rossi would have at his party. 

Emily was picky about her alcohol.

She glanced out the window, considering taking an extra layer. It was dreary outside, with the sky an eerie green and powerful gusts of wind rattling the window. Emily grabbed her leather jacket. 

Hoisting her bag onto her shoulder and draping her coat over her arm, Emily peeked out of her door, looking out into the hall. In both directions were students in costume; she spotted a Frankenstein, a couple of cats and even someone dressed up in an inflatable t-Rex suit. 

She made sure her door was locked and then walked down the hall to Derek’s room, who was at the very end of the hall, as he had lucked out and got a massive room with lots of windows, across from the showers. 

She opened the door, finding just about all of their friends already there, sneakily drinking out of mugs, cups and water bottles. 

Reid was a zombie, wearing tattered, bloody clothes and a full face of makeup that Emily assumed that Penelope did for him. Sitting next to his computer, queueing music for their pre, was Derek, dressed in a baseball jersey and hat, apparently as a baseball player. This was expected, he wasn’t big on Halloween. Hotch was… a devil? He wore all black and simply had devil horns on his head. Low commitment but the spirit was there. 

Emily hoisted herself onto Derek’s bed and greeted her friends. 

Spencer was sneaking up behind Derek, peeking his head over his shoulder. Derek, at that moment, seemed to be texting, squinting down at his phone. 

“I’m going to eat you!” Spencer yelled into Derek’s ear, causing the larger man to jump to his feet, swatting at the boy in his fright. 

Emily laughed at her friend’s distress. He really didn’t like Halloween that much. 

“Are you ready for a spooktacular evening?” Spence asked, making his voice wobbly as he put on a dramatic effect. He shone an orange, pumpkin patterned flashlight under his chin.

“Of course,” Emily lisped, “In fact, I vant to drink your blood!”

She lunged forward, and Spencer hid from her behind Derek. It was silly but she could tell how much he liked Halloween, he had talked about it all week, and she couldn’t help but adopt a lispy vampire voice to go with her costume. Though the boy was only two year younger than them, his thin frame and wide eyed expression made him seem much younger. 

“Your teeth are excellent,” Spencer pointed out, “Very realistic.”

“I don’t get the hype about Halloween,” Derek said, “Disguises? Pass. Horror movies? No thank you.”

“Booooooo,” Emily protested, “Don’t be a buzzkill, Morgan. Let us have a little fun.”

The door opened again, and Penelope, followed by JJ, joined them. 

“Is my statuesque god of sculpted chocolate thunder being lame again?”

“He barely dressed up,” Emily complained.

“Neither did Hotch!” Derek said, gesturing to Hotch’s devil horns. 

“Hey, at least I bought these at the party store,” Hotch said, “I’m sure both of those are items from your own closet.”

Derek did not confirm or deny this. Emily knew he wore the same get up last year.

“So when should we be there?” JJ asked.

She was dressed as a witch, with an oversized pointy hat perched on top of her head, her blonde hair falling around her shoulders in perfect curls. She wore a purple dress and tall boots to go with her witch look. She and Penelope joined Spencer on the floor, sitting with their backs to Derek’s closet and cracking open a beer for JJ and a fruity cooler for Penelope. 

With large wings, glittery make up and an adorable skirt, Penelope was clearly dressed up as a fairy, which was entirely apropos to who she was as a person. In fact, it was not entirely dissimilar from her normal outfits. 

“Rossi said to come by eight,” Hotch said, “So in party talk he means nine-thirty earliest.”

“It’s, what?” Derek checked the time on his laptop, “Eight fifteen now, so we can pre here for an hour or so then start walking over.”

“Yeah,” Hotch said, “His house is just off campus.”

“The weather is crazy out,” Penelope said, looking out the window. The trees were swaying and the leaves were blowing everywhere.

“We could take a cab?” Emily offered, “I’d rather avoid getting leaves in my hair tonight.”

There were some nods, then they got back to preing, playing a few rounds of King’s Cup to ensure that all of them were sufficiently drunk before they left.

Morgan put on his new playlist, not “For The Boys (and emily)” this time, but one titled “Team Vibez” that Emily had seen him make during their lecture on Thursday. It had a lot of his normal songs, some top hits, but a few fun pop songs that Emily knew he added for Penelope, and even some classic rock for Hotch. 

At this point, Emily was feeling buzzed. She had two cans discarded in the bin, both hosting lipstick prints from her dark red vampire lips. 

JJ was currently chatting with Hotch about some student government scandal that was happening at the time. While politics gave Emily the heebie jeebies, she had reluctantly joined the Criminology Academic Society. It would give her a leg up on grad school applications, for one, and so far, even as a low-level member, she found she was actually making a difference for her classmates. This meant that Emily, despite her deepest urges to not touch political scandals with a ten foot pole, knew exactly what they were talking about.

As the two discussed the student politicians—there were some minor accusations of nepotism, embezzlement and coverups by the undergraduate executive—Emily looked at JJ. Her brows were furrowed in concentration and she was gesturing wildly with her hands as she talked about how badly they were handling their crisis communications. 

Suddenly, interrupting this discussion, their phones blasted out a siren, followed by a chorus of the same robot voice announcing an emergency alert.

“National Weather Service: TORNADO WARNING in this area until 10:15PM EST,” the robot announced, “Take shelter now in a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building.”

They looked at Derek’s three, large windows, and watched as large gusts of wind sent leaves barrelling down the street.

“If you are outdoors, in a mobile home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter and protect yourself from flying debris,” it continued. “Check media.”

Then, their phones went silent and Derek’s music continued unheeded. 

“A tornado?!” Penelope said, “Here?”

The window rattled. Derek stood up and hesitantly moved away from it. 

Penelope grabbed Derek’s computer, her hands moving in a flurry.

“Ok so,” she began, “from what I can gather from the good old Internet, we’re in a region of extreme winds and the meteorologists are thinking that funnel clouds and tornados are possible this evening.”

“So much for Halloween,” Spencer whined. 

“Party is definitely off,” Hotch said. “We should probably take shelter. Is there a basement here?”

“There’s the laundry room?” Emily said. 

Adrenaline started pulsing through her veins. She’d been through some severe weather before in her life but never a tornado, nor did she expect one. They were in the north east, nowhere near tornado Alley. 

They all stood, making a move for the basement, when the lights flickered once, twice, then shut off entirely. Rain begin to fall down, hard onto the windows, and the boom of thunder filled their ears. 

“Shit,” Emily said. “Anyone have a candle?”

 ---

Ten minutes later, the six of them were seated in a circle, on the strange carpeted floor of the laundry room, with the severe weather making the wind howl outside. Between JJ’s two candles, which were very against the rules, and Derek’s laptop screen, they had enough ambient light to see, but it was all very spooky. 

The room smelled damp and earthy, with a strange combination of laundry soaps and dryer sheets. They had to move a spare sock to form a circle around the candle. It looked very much like a séance, so that did fit the Halloween spirit. 

“Well,” Hotch said, “At least this is festive.”

Derek was still queuing his music, filling the silence with his DJ skills. 

“Aren’t you worried about your battery life?” JJ asked, “What if the power doesn’t come on in the morning.”

“Then I have a great excuse not to finish my essay,” Derek said with a shrug.

“Fair point.”

“Anyways,” Derek continued, “No sense giving up on our party. We have drinks, we have music and thanks to JJ we have illegal candles.”

“They’re not illegal!” She protested, “Simply very against res rules! I like lighting a candle while I study.”

“It’s lucky that there was no one left in res because of Halloween,” Emily said. “Or we would've had a bunch of party crashers.”

“This is better,” Penelope, “Team bonding!”

“What should we play?” Hotch said, “we don’t really have much to work with.”

“This is all very high school,” Penelope said, “A couple of kids, in a basement, sitting in a circle on the floor…”

“With a tornado tearing through our city…” Emily quipped. 

“Statistically speaking for this region we are more likely to experience dangerous winds rather than an actual tornado. Worst case is that fallen tree branches hit power lines, or fall onto houses or cars.”

“So you’re saying that we’re in the worst case scenario right now?” Hotch said. 

“Yup.”

Hotch frowned. 

“How about we play truth or dare?” Penelope changed the subject.

“I’m down,” Emily said, surprising herself. “If everyone else is.”

“I’ve never played!” Spencer said.

“Never?” JJ asked. “Not at any sleepovers.”

“I didn’t get invited to many sleepovers.”

“Neither did I,” Emily admitted, “Some parties I went to played it too.”

JJ looked at her, there was a brief look of sympathy, and then understanding on her face. Emily made note of that. 

“I guess we’re playing,” Hotch murmured. 

“Derek,” Penelope purred, “Mon cher, truth or dare?”

“Truth,” he said defiantly, bracing himself with a swig of whatever was in his water bottle.

“Who is the prettiest fairy in the basement?”

“You, of course,” he replied with a wink. 

“Gross!” Emily exclaimed, “Truth or dare is not for flirting. Hotch: truth or dare?”

“Dare,” he said with a quirk of his eyebrow. 

“Show us the… most embarrassing photo of you on your phone.” 

He frowned. 

“I don’t take many photos.”

“Try,” Emily urged with a laugh. 

He fumbled in his pockets, grabbing his phone and scrolling through his photo album for a few minutes. 

“It’s from high school,” Hotch said with a sigh. “I was in a play.”

He held up a photo of him in a pirates outfit, he looked smaller, younger than he did now. His hair was shaggy and his face rounder. He was pointing the sword at the camera. 

“Who’s the girl?” JJ asked. 

“My girlfriend Hayley,” Hotch said, “we’re long distance now. I joined the play to get close to her and it seems to have worked.”

“That’s not embarrassing,” Penelope said, “that’s adorable. Try again.”

“Oh I have one!” Emily said, pulling up her Snapchat memories. She had a photo of him conked out in a lecture last year. His mouth was open and his head conked back, fast asleep in a dimly lit lecture hall. Emily had taken a series of these photos before waking him up. 

“Now that’s what i'm talking about,” Derek said. 

“How can you fall asleep during lecture?” Spencer asked in horror. 

Hotch shrugged. 

“I was tired, we had a game the night before,” Hotch said. “Morgan: Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“I don’t know any dares,” Hotch looked around for help. 

“He could play the tinder game?” Emily said. 

“What tinder game?” 

“Oh that’s a good one,” JJ said, “Derek opens tinder and we randomly tell him which way to swipe and see who he matches with.”

Derek groaned. Opening the app and placing it down onto the carpet. 

“Right!” JJ said to start. 

A match.  

“Left?” Hotch said, it came out more like a question. 

“Right,” Emily said. Another match. 

Left, right, left, right. New message from a recent match, left, right, right, right, right. Derek looked on in horror. 

“Ok I think he’s had enough,” Emily said with a laugh. 

“Derek it’s your turn,” Penelope said. 

Derek sighs in relief. 

“Uhhh, Pretty Boy,” he turned to Reid. Thinking for a moment. “Have you ever smoked before?”

“Smoked what? Cannabis, tobacco? Something else. Be specific.”

Emily’s jaw dropped. 

“I dunno man,” Derek said, “I was talking about weed but go off.” 

“I have.”

“How?” JJ said, “You’re like sixteen! I haven’t even smoked weed.”

“Me neither,” Penelope said, sounding outright disappointed. 

“I believe it,” Hotch said. “He has a Juul.”

“Seventeen now,” Spencer said. “Kids in my first degree found it funny when I performed actions that they deemed mature for my young age. 

“What?” Penelope said. “But you were sixteen last week.”

“It was my birthday on Wednesday,” he said. 

“And we missed it?” JJ asked.

Emily decided not to inform them that her birthday had been a few weeks back as well. 

“It’s no big deal,” Spencer said, “I don’t really do birthdays.”

“Well I do birthdays!” Penelope said, “and you’re getting one.”

Emily could see the gears turning in Penelope’s head.

“Wait you haven’t smoked weed?” Emily said. She didn’t mean to sound so surprised, but hell, it was college. 

“I’ve never been offered,” Penelope said with a shrug.

“You have a Juul, Spence?” JJ said. 

He shrugged. 

“Anyways,” Derek said with a laugh. “Reid it’s your turn to ask.”

And the game continued roughly the same for a few more rounds, with some truths, some dares, a lot of drinking and a fair amount of laughter. 

Emily learned that JJ likes some angry rock music when she’s upset, that Penelope has committed several federal crimes, that Reid used to coach basketball in high school, that Derek has been posing nude for art classes on campus for extra cash, and that Hotch has never successfully completed a word search in his life. 

The dares were limited, because frankly they were basically hiding out in a basement during what might actually be a tornado. Emily was dared to do an impression of Hotch, which wasn’t good and involved a lot of eyebrows and frowning. After, JJ was forced to leave her snapchat at Garcia’s mercy for the entire night. Other dares involved dancing, attempting gymnastics, and seeing whether or not Reid fit into the dryer. He did. 

The game finally had played out when it was Hotch’s turn again to ask. 

“JJ, what’s your greatest fear?” Hotch asked.

“Mr. Serious over here,” Derek said with a whistle. 

“Probably the woods,” JJ replied. 

“Why?” Spencer asked, tilting his head. 

JJ grabbed a candle, holding it under her chin much like Reid did earlier. 

“I used to be a camp counselor, when I was a teenager. In the woods up in Vermont.”

She leaned forward. Emily didn’t know she worked at a camp. It made sense. She pictured her in a camp t-shirt making a bracelet. It suited her. 

“I had the night shift. I tucked the girls in, turned off the lights. The typical drill. Everything seemed fine; all the kids were asleep. You know, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.”

Another dramatic pause, both Spencer and Derek had leaned in, invested in the story. 

“Until I noticed there was some blood, on the hallway floor. So, I followed the blood trail out to the camp director’s cabin, walked up to his bed and he was just lying there, underneath his covers. Dead!”

Penelope gasped. The room was silent.

“Someone stabbed him. I ran out of there so fast, out the door, down the hall. I just remember it… being really dark. Once I got to the door, there was another counselor there. I guess she heard me scream.”

JJ set the candle down, looking at the flame flicker. This couldn’t be real, Emily thought, this had to be a joke. 

“They caught the caretaker on his way to town, I guess he still had the knife on him.” 

“Anyway, I guess that’s probably when I decided I didn’t like the woods.”

“You’re serious?!” Derek demanded. 

“No!” JJ said with a laugh. “You bought that! I’m kidding!”

“So are you afraid of the woods?” Emily asked.

“Yeah,” JJ said, “They’re spooky I don’t know.”

They all laughed at that. 

Emily glanced at her phone; they had been down here for almost two hours. According to Penelope’s intermittent checks on the status of the extreme weather, most of the city was experiencing black outs, but there was no sign of an actual tornado. They were still supposed to take shelter for the next hour or so, just in case. 

In this time, Emily was close to five drinks in, with only one left in the basement. A growing pile of empties had built up around them, and Hotch had pulled out a small bottle of whiskey in addition to his beer, passing it around the circle. Having recently turned 17, the group had officially decided to give Spencer a beer, which he nursed slowly, wincing at the bitter taste. 

“Emily,” JJ turned to her and looked mischievous. “Truth or dare?”

She felt her heart flutter.

“Truth.”

“Hmmm…” JJ said, “Where was the weirdest place you’ve ever had sex?”

Emily found herself blushing at the memory.

“Oh god,” Emily buried her face in her hands. “IHOP parking lot.”

“What?”  

Emily nodded, downing the last of her beer. 

“No further questions,” she proclaimed as she opened her next drink.

“I think that should conclude Truth or Dare,” Penelope said, “It’s time for another sleepover classic, since some of you are sleepover virgins.”

She grabbed Derek’s water bottle, plopping it down onto the carpet and spun it. 

“Spin the bottle!”

Emily went pale. What was Penelope doing? She stared into her drunk, not daring to look at anyone else. 

“That doesn’t seem very sanitary,” Spencer said.

“Boo,” Penelope, “You’re no fun. It’s a classic! And we’re all friends, it’ll be fun. Hotch you spin first.”

He looked horrified, but took the bottle. There was no getting in the way of Penelope Garcia’s will.

“The rules are simply: kiss or you have to finish your drink?,” Penelope said, “Got it?

Hotch nodded, he spun the bottle. It went around the circle, once, twice, three times, then landed clearly on himself.

“How do I kiss myself?” he said, deadpan. 

“Drink!” Emily told him. He downed his last beer.

Derek spun next, rubbing his hands together nervously as it went around and around. It landed on Penelope.

“Come here, chocolate thunder!” 

Derek took his baseball cap off, turning it backwards. Penelope pulled his shirt towards her, tugging on him as their lips met. They both closed their eyes, she could hear JJ giggle at the sight.

“Was that the only reason we’re playing this?” Spencer asked, “So that you could kiss Morgan?”

“Maybe?” Penelope, “What’s it to you, boy-genius!” 

He put his hands up in surrender, it was his turn. 

He spun the bottle awkwardly, so that it rocked back and forth in addition to spinning. It went around once before landing on JJ.

Emily wasn’t sure what to think about that. On one hand, he was just a kid and the kiss wouldn't be anything, but on the other hand, Emily was jealous that she didn’t get a kiss. 

“Come here, Spence!” JJ said, making a grabbing motion at the boy and laughing. 

He leaned in with his eyes closed, Emily wouldn’t be surprised if he told them he hadn’t done even this before. JJ put a hand on his face, turned it gently, and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Derek clapped him on the back and made a comment about it being ‘pretty boy’s first kiss,’ and Reid simply sat and blushed as he busied himself with drinking some of his beer. 

Emily’s turn. She tried not to cross her fingers and pray for JJ, but it happened anyways. It landed on Derek. Emily sighed dramatically.

“Ewwww,” Emily mock protested.

“Come on, princess,” Derek jeered, “You know you want some of this!”

He lifted his t-shirt up and rubbed his hands down his abs.

“Put that away sir!” she covered her eyes. 

“Oh come here,” she said, leaning in. They kissed on the lips with a loud ‘mwah!’ noise. 

“That was cute,” Hotch commented.

Emily fake gagged, while Morgan tried to wipe her red lipstick off him. 

Last was JJ in the circle. She spun it casually. Emily tried to read her facial expression, wondering if JJ, too, wanted it to land on Emily.

See, Emily was starting to believe that JJ liked her back. She was single, and for all Emily knew, she was straight, but the more Emily got to know her, she got queer vibes. She played soccer! Her nails were short and- 

Emily couldn’t think of any other things that moment, as she was currently freaking out about the spin the bottle situation that was presently unfolding. 

The moment in the bathroom, Emily thought, that was something! The way she looked at Emily… she was sure that she felt JJ’s eyes on her linger. 

The bottle landed on Emily. They had to kiss. It was part of the game.

Holy shit. 

Penelope squealed and Emily could feel the entire room's eyes on her, except JJ whose eyes were on the ground. 

Emily could hear her heartbeat. She desperately wanted to kiss JJ but did she want to under these circumstances? For a dare? 

JJ looked at her. Blue eyes staring into brown. She could hear her blood rushing in her ears. She found herself leaning forward, only slightly. JJ did the same. Her lips parted, her eyes hungry.

Emily shifted forward, she sat with her legs tucked under her, bracing herself with her arms. JJ was cross legged, her arms free to grab at her face. JJ’s hands tugged her forward.

Their lips met. 

It was uncertain, chaste, soft. Then, JJ’s hands pulled her closer. They were pressed together, heads tilting so that their noses didn’t bump.

Jennifer Jareau was kissing her. They were kissing!

Emily’s brain short circuited. JJ filled her senses; the blonde’s vanilla perfume and soft lips and the taste of alcohol on her tongue. 

Oh god, her tongue. 

Emily did not want it to end. Their mouths opened and their tongues slid against each other, feeling so perfect and sending Emily’s blood racing away from her face and noticeably south. 

JJ was incredibly hot and Emily desperately wanted to do more than kiss her. Or kiss her like this forever. Her ams were caressing her cheek and tangled in Emily’s hair, pulling her closer.

The lights flickered on; they had power, again. JJ pulled away from her, sharply. 

Emily sat back, sitting up straight. The room was luckily too distracted by the lights to notice how out of breath Emily was. Or that they probably shouldn’t have passionately made out on a dare. 

JJ wouldn’t meet her eye, but Emily could see her own lipstick on the other girl’s lips. Emily blinked at the bright light, started by the sudden return of the electricity after she had become accustomed to the dim light of the candle.

“What impressive timing,” Spencer murmured.

Taking the lights as a good sign, Penelope checked on the emergency alert. It was over and they were safe to go back upstairs. She found out that a few downed trees were the cause of the outage and there was never an actual tornado. No one was hurt but there was a bit of property damage throughout the city. 

Without the atmosphere of the candle light, and the likelihood of a RA doing a check of the building, they decided that that was the end of their party. They gathered up their empties, and blew out the candles.

As they finished up cleaning, all making sure not to leave any trace of their illicit affairs, Emily tried to quell her racing heart and blushing face, completely unable to look anyone in the eye. 

The door opened, their RA was there. Erin Strauss. She was a hardass.

“What are you all doing down here?” she demanded. 

They all stood, stock still, jaws dropped, smelling of alcohol and clutching clinking tote bags. 

“Erin,” Emily said, trying to sound as sober as possible despite the five plus drinks in her system, “We were simply following the directions on the emergency alert.”

“Yes! It said to seek shelter from the storm and the basement seemed the best for that,” Penelope said. 

“Uhuh,” Erin said, “What’s in the bag?”

The bag clinked. 

“Oh just some garbage,” Emily said, lying through her teeth. “We had some snacks.”

“Sure,” Erin said, not believing them. 

Emily tried not to sway, but did not feel steady on her feet. She wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or her recent kiss with JJ.

For a second, Emily was sure that their RA would bust their asses, but the girl simply sighed and told them to go to bed, muttering about how dealing with non-existent tornadoes wasn't part of her job.  

The six of them scurried upstairs, all freaked out about their near-miss with a write-up.

Reid disappeared up to his room, then JJ and Penelope walked down the hall to their’s. Emily slipped into Derek’s avoiding Erin Strauss’ watchful eye, helping Derek steady a very drunk Hotch.

Hotch, who had probably had a little too much of that whiskey, stumbled into Derek’s room and decided to sleep on the floor. Emily placed a water bottle next to him, and placed him in recovery position, glad for the distraction from the blush that refused to leave her face or the lingering taste of JJ on her lips. 

She walked slowly down the hall back to her own room, the events of that evening playing back in her mind. She threw herself onto her bed, dazed by her situation. 

Emily fell asleep with vampire make up still on her face that night. 

[jawnjendes]

i’m not usually like this | shawn mendes

university au, shawn x goth gf

if theres anything you wanna see happen in this series, let me know!

masterlist | series playlist

It all started because he asked a simple question. “Do you ever wear anything that isn't black?”

I've heard this question many times in my life, from family members, to coworkers, to strangers in my classes. The context in which Shawn asked me, however, was different than normal; He was pulling off my sweatpants and noticed my dark underwear. I told him to shut up and proceeded to ride him into oblivion.

When I wasn't surrounding myself with a brick wall to keep me safe, when I was not being stone cold and expressionless, I was quite the sex fiend. I'll take it anytime, and just about anywhere. I mean, you already know the story of those three hours Shawn and I spent in my bedroom, knowing that my roommate was home. That's not even the worst of it. We've had sex in his car, my car, outside my car, my living room, his kitchen, a bar bathroom, and a stranger's dorm room.

Listen… Shawn Mendes is a man of many talents. If he wasn't my boyfriend, he would be a fuck buddy.

Anyway, he liked to tease me about my wardrobe choices just as much as he liked to praise me. Sometimes he would ask who I’m about to sacrifice to the dark lord, and other times he would thirst over my black skirt and tights. Even better, sometimes he put on his black floral shirt as an attempt to match my ensemble. But this story is about his teasing.

After going at it for an hour at his apartment (my thighs were incredibly fatigued and shaky), I had to get ready for work. It was easy to get out of Shawn's hold since he was so loose and sleepy. As soon as I was ready, I kissed him goodbye and left his apartment in spirits so high it was considered abnormal for me. How did I know it was abnormal? My manager kept pointing out how chipper I was as I answered phones and helped customers. When people notice, that’s when you know things are changing.

It wasn't until I stopped by Walmart after my shift did Shawn's words sink in. I do wear black all the goddamn time. My closet is 99% black t-shirts, button ups, pants, leggings, and even underwear! The 1% is when I'm slacking on doing my laundry, that's when I would wear white.

That's not to say I don't like other colors. I used to experiment with bleaching my hair and dying it blue or green. I was a sucker for neon eyeshadow, and I was an absolute slut for red lipstick. Things are fluid, nothing is ever set in stone.

I looked through some of the clothing racks, but it’s Walmart, so nothing really stood out to me. Then I found myself in the underwear department. I was trying not to laugh at myself in front of other shoppers, because this was mildly insane. Was I really considering buying Walmart lingerie to prove a point to my boyfriend? There were some decent options after all.

My eye caught a black, sheer nightgown with a matching g-string. I studied it for a minute before deciding that I had a lot of black lace already, and half of it wasn't even intimate apparel. The next set I noticed was a simple sheer bra and underwear, also black. Getting there, but it wasn't enough. There weren't any in my size, anyway. I dug through the racks until I spotted something girly.

The first thing that put me off was that it was pink… baby pink. It was another nightie, but it was made of sheer tulle instead of lace. There were little pink and red hearts all over the skimpy fabric, and it came with a lace thong. It was cute, but it was the least Me thing here. On any other day, I would not be caught dead wearing anything pastel.

That's exactly why I ended up taking it home.

I quickly raced back to my dorm, feeling like I had some dangerous weapon hiding in the bag I was carrying. I didn't stop to speak to anyone I knew, and I was very glad that Shawn wasn't currently on campus. However, he did text me asking me to spend the weekend at his place. It only added to the butterflies in my stomach.

“Stella!” I frantically called once I had shut myself in my room.

She came practically running, bursting through the door. “What happened? Who died? Oh - oh my god.”

I was facing the full body mirror that was leaning against the wall. I tried on the daring piece of lingerie, testing it out on whoever was willing to see me like this. Stella was the only person who had seen me in my underwear apart from my boyfriend. However, I still had the decency to cover my breasts with my hands because the nightgown showed a bit too much.

“You trying to seduce me, ‘cause it's working,” Stella teased, wiggling her perfectly sculpted eyebrows.

“Listen!” I turned to face her, trying to justify my outfit choice. “This was probably a stupid idea! It, it was an impulsive buy!”

“Dude, if he sees you in this, you're gonna end up pregnant.”

“Don't say that!” I looked down and twirled my body from side to side, watching the fabric swirl. I felt and looked a little too nervous.

“Seriously, you look hot. Just, y'know, maybe skip the heavy eyeliner and add more perfume. He'll link the scent to the time he had the best sex of his life.”

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. “I'll do the perfume thing, but I can't skip eyeliner. I need something to make up for all the pink I'm wearing.”

Stella nodded. “Yeah, that's another thing. I know this is something you wear when you wanna get dicked down, but you look so soft and adorable!”

“Shit, if you keep saying things like that I just might spend the night with you instead.”

~

It was night by the time I was at Shawn's apartment. He was in the middle of songwriting, and he wasn't alone. His friend, Teddy, was over. I guess she helped him write sometimes. The two of them were singing to themselves and throwing potential lyrics back and forth at each other. Teddy was frequently writing on a scrap of paper or typing on her laptop. Shawn was strumming his guitar, and sometimes he would glance at me and wink.

I sat silently on the couch and half listened to them brainstorm. I was glad I decided not to leave my Switch at home.

“You're so quiet, is something wrong?” Teddy pointed out. I don't know why I wasn't expecting it.

“Don't wanna bother the artists at work,” I said, keeping my eyes on my intense game of Smash Bros.

“She's like that,” Shawn told his friend. “She'll warm up eventually.”

“That makes me sound like an asshole,” I replied with a chuckle, and then I gasped as my character on screen got knocked out.

Still, I remained quiet as they continued their session. I stayed in the same spot on the couch, curled up and thoroughly entertained. Shawn insisted I sit closer though, considering that I was on the opposite end of the couch from him. He liked my company I suppose, even if I wasn't speaking.

Eventually, Teddy got her things together and left. She gave me a hug, said it was nice to meet me, and then gave Shawn a look that said “have fun you two.”

When we were finally alone, I went into Shawn's room, telling him I wanted to change into my pajamas. It was sort of true, I mean. I grabbed my overnight bag and dashed into the en suite bathroom. Normally, I would have started with taking off whatever makeup I had on, but I only had on some intimidating winged liner and mascara. I needed that tonight.

Fixing up my hair and spritzing on a ridiculous amount of perfume helped keep my nerves at bay. My stomach fluttered when I pulled out the frilly pink item of clothing. This just might be my demise.

Once I was dressed, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and placed my hands on my hips. A wise lady in a hospital drama said standing like a superhero helps increase confidence, so that's what I did. I tried to channel my inner dominatrix, despite the fact that I was probably very far from being just that.

“I'm a strong lady,” I whispered to myself, then I huffed out a breath.

I ruffled my hair one last time before going to the door. I had my hand on the knob, but I could hear the sounds outside this very room. I could hear Shawn's footsteps, I heard the bed creak as he sat down. I heard the sounds of his guitar.

My heart started to race. It was ready to beat out of my chest.

I don't know why the first thing I thought to do when I finally opened the door was to unattractively clear my throat. It's not like Shawn wouldn't notice if I quietly left the bathroom.

He looked up from his guitar, and it took a second for him to process what he was looking at. His eyes lit up, and his jaw went slack.

Awkwardly, I placed one hand on the doorway and the other on my hip. I didn't know what to do with my face, so I slapped on the mock composure. I looked at my boyfriend, unsure if I should say something or not.

“No way,” Shawn finally spoke, a grin forming on his face. He set down his guitar and moved so he was sitting at the foot of the bed. “Come here…”

His eyes were moving up and down my body as I timidly stepped towards him. The look on his face was full of surprise and wonder, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. I mean, I was in skimpy attire and none of it was dark. Anyone who knew me wouldn't believe it.

Shawn took my hands when I was close enough, and he shamelessly checked me out. His eyes stuck on my tits just long enough to raise the tension in the room.

I was still finding my voice. I was probably more flustered than he was.

“You're too cute,” he told me, finally looking at my face. “When did you get this?”

“Today,” I said softly. “I don't know, I looked for something black… this was all I could find in my size.”

“I'm really glad you went with this. You're so cute. The pink makes you look almost innocent. Turn around for me.”

A shy smile crept up on my face as I slowly spun around. I quickly came to realize that I was willing to do just about anything he wanted. Wow, and I thought I was going to have power tonight.

“So adorable,” Shawn mused when I was facing him again. “You're the cutest fucking thing ever, you know that?”

My roommate had said similar things, but it hit me different hearing it from my boyfriend. My face was probably redder than the hearts on this stupid nightie, and Shawn could probably see that.

“I don't wanna be cute,” I mumbled, looking down at our hands. “I wanna be sexy.”

“Trust me, you're very sexy. I, I don't even know what to do. That's why I keep talking. God, you're so pretty.” His hand went up and stroked my cheek.

Stop fucking talking and just take me already!

The only way I could express that was by bringing Shawn's hands to my waist, giving him permission to touch me wherever the fuck he wanted. His breathing picked up a little more as he ran his hands down to my lower hips, reaching around to grab my ass.

I delicately placed my hands on his shoulders, and he leaned in to kiss my collarbones. He kept mumbling about how pretty I was, and it made me feel some kinda way. I could feel just how hot his body was getting being so close to mine, it made me even hotter. His hands moved up to my stomach, moving under the nightie, and running along my skin. My body felt so alive and ablaze.

“Your heart's going fast,” he pointed out, placing a hand on my chest. “You nervous?”

I nodded. “More than I'd like to admit.”

He smiled warmly, and then showed me his hands. Seeing them tremble gave me some kind of relief and an ounce of confidence. I made him feel like that. He was turned on because of me.

Shawn stopped me when I grabbed the ends of my nightie to take it off. “No. Leave it on.”

“Really?” I asked. “Won’t it be in the way or something?”

He shook his head, looking up at me with something like desperation in his eyes.  “I… wanna do unspeakable things to you in this thing. We're leaving it on. Now get your ass on the bed.”

I would have fainted if he hadn't given me an order.

[secondscratch17]

weird asks that say a lot

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans? All of them. I drink tea in coffee mugs and teacups. I love drinking wine. I like that I can recycle soda cans

2. chocolate bars or lollipops? chocolate

3. bubblegum or cotton candy? bubblegum if the flavor lasts long

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you? the stereotypical quiet, obedient, smart, goody-two-shoes kid

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups? somehow I like the aesthetic from soda bottles

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear? hONESTLY I can dO ALL OF THE ABOVE in the span of days. Went to work one day wearing beach-y clothes for spirit day. Returned to pick up a friend to go see a metal concert in VERY metal concert attire. I own short, sweet summery floral dresses and gothic dresses, too

7. earbuds or headphones? Earbuds, they allow me to be more mobile

8. movies or tv shows? movies

9. favorite smell in the summer? Fresh cut grass. The smell of the ocean. Churros at the fair

10. game you were best at in p.e.? Soccer, obvs. Somehow would always last until the end of the game in dodgeball tho because I was small and no one could hit me

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day? Cereal

12. name of your favorite playlist? Don’t have one. 

13. lanyard or key ring?  Key ring

14. favorite non-chocolate candy? Smarties!

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment? I remember re-reading Holes over and over just to make my book reports easier since I knew the boo so well. The Kite Runner was phenomenal and unforgettable

16. most comfortable position to sit in? idk?? I really can’t sit still in one position for too long

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes? Currently my hiking/outdoorsy shoes. Also my black Nikes that I play pickup in and wear to the gym

18. ideal weather? Sunny and 65. Maybe one or two clouds. The tiniest of faint breezes to cool me down. 

19. sleeping position? Any I can get into and fall asleep in quickly

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)? Laptop. I can edit easier.

21. obsession from childhood? Probably any cheesy show on Animal Planet. The Most Extreme, Meerkat Manor, Big Cat Diary, etc

22. role model? I have a lot of different ones. Role models for athletics, role models for career and ambition choices, artistic role models...can’t pick just one

23. strange habits? Spelling words with the tips of my fingers

24. favorite crystal? Aquamarine

25. first song you remember hearing? how in the FUCK am I supposed to remember that. I do remember my parents playing The Beatles for me when I was a toddler

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather? Soccer! (futbol) 

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather? Sledding, making hot chocolate, or playing indoor soccer haha

28. five songs to describe you? Who I am Hates Who I’ve Been by Relient K, Proud by the Icarus Account, Land of the Dead by Voltaire, Always Leaving by Mayday Parade, Wavin’ Flag by K’naan

29. best way to bond with you? Listening to my favorite music with me or watching the US Women’s national soccer team with me

30. places that you find sacred? Belfast, Maine. Gold Camp Road. Newport Beach

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? Tight jeans with holes in them, fishnets, and a crop top

32. top five favorite vines? Vines still exist?

33. most used phrase in your phone? “tbh”

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head? O O O O REILLYYYYYY’S autoparts

35. average time you fall asleep? around 9

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing? I don’t remember

37. suitcase or duffel bag? suitcase

38. lemonade or tea? Is it warm outside? Lemonade. Is it cold outside? tea

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie? PIE!

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school? Zombie hunting or my professor cutting lab a half an hour short to go look at some Cedar waxwings

41. last person you texted? I think it was Robert

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets? Pants pockets

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket? Jean jacket

44. favorite scent for soap? Anything fruity

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero? Fantasy. It depends on how good the sci-fi movie is

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in? as little as possible lmao

47. favorite type of cheese? Parmesan

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be? A raspberry

49. what saying or quote do you live by? A great amount of good is always evened out by a great amount of bad

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have? Honestly Daniel knew how to make me laugh better than anyone. There are a couple of memories with him that I don’t remember entirely but I know that I ended up cry-laughing so hard that my head hurt. There was a time during my orientation camping trip when a bunch of us were playing ultimate Frisbee, and Jesse went to catch the frisbee in the most perfectly lateral horizontal position and the expression of focus just frozen on his face had me laughing so hard that I couldn’t see

51. current stresses? Sam. Jobs that I can apply for starting in May of 2020. Sam. STUDENT LOANS. Bills. Car payments. Wondering how fucked up my car has gotten since I’ve lived here on this ranch. Sam. 

52. favorite font? Anything that looks fancy and sarcastic

53. what is the current state of your hands? Need to be washed. 

54. what did you learn from your first job? The world is cruel and bad things happen without warning

55. favorite fairy tale? Uh....the Pied Piper?

56. favorite tradition? when my family visits for Christmas, eating lots of traditional Chinese food with them

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome? Heartbreak. Staggering rejection from the field I majored in. Probably a lot of body image struggles in there as well

58. four talents you’re proud of having? Writing, futbol, adaptability, flexibility. I think the last two are just traits but I don’t have a lot of talents I can invest in

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be? Let’s make like a baby and head out

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be? No idea

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.? Though we are far apart, our spirits share the same earth and the same sky

62. seven characters you relate to? Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit, Data from The Goonies, Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter, Eliza Thornberry from The Wild Thornberries, Raven from Teen Titans, Isaac from Teen Wolf

63. five songs that would play in your club? ANYTHING by Within Temptation. I wouldn’t be a good club owner. The catchy and pump-up songs from Hamilton.

64. favorite website from your childhood? Wasn’t allowed much computer time. I was allowed to visit educational sites and occasionally the Disney site

65. any permanent scars? some self-harm scars. Probably the one on my right leg that I got from CO parks and wildlife. I stepped on a barbed wire fence that had been plastered to the ground, but the metal sprang up when I stepped on it and ripped through my skin

66. favorite flower(s)? Plumerias

67. good luck charms? I’m not sure if I have any. 

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried? earthworm flavor from Bertie Bott’s every flavor beans

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned? uh...Something about not being able to spray silly string on Halloween in Hollywood

70. left or right handed? Right handed

71. least favorite pattern? wtf

72. worst subject? anything math related, I really struggled in GIS.

73. favorite weird flavor combo? I...have no idea

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen? 2. I’m a baby

75. when did you lose your first tooth? I was 6

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)? chips and fries

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill? a succulent

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store? sushi from a grocery store, the quality can surprise you

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo? Both are terrible

80. earth tones or jewel tones? Jewel tones

81. fireflies or lightning bugs? I hate bugs

82. pc or console? PC

83. writing or drawing? Writing, I’m terrible at drawing

84. podcasts or talk radio? Not into either

84. barbie or polly pocket? I had both

85. fairy tales or mythology? God!!!! Like hearing about both but mythology I guess

86. cookies or cupcakes? Cookies

87. your greatest fear? Being forgotten. I also have a terrible, horrible fear of drowning

88. your greatest wish? In the times I’ve struggled I often find myself wishing for peace. Not only for myself, but for others to easily feel peace with everyone else

89. who would you put before everyone else? Sierra

90. luckiest mistake? Mistake? There’s been lucky accidents but I don’t think any of my mistakes have been lucky

91. boxes or bags? It depends on what I’m packing and where I’m going

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights? Sunlight

93. nicknames? T, Tear, Tear-tear, T-Dog, Miss T..a few of my recent favorites from soccer: Ronaldinha and Thierry Chun

94. favorite season? Fall! Shit, especially in New England

95. favorite app on your phone? I don’t know

96. desktop background? A picture of a simple dock leading out to sea

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized? My parents’ and brother’s

98. favorite historical era? Victorian era, for sure

[dhaturainnoxia]

Do all of them from angel to wobbly :D :D

Omg here we go

angel; do you have a nickname?

Already answered 🖤

awe; how old are you?

A couple centuries

baby; favorite color?

Black and white. dark red. silver. rose pink.

bloop; spirit animal?

Snake or maybe chameleon

blossom; favorite book/movie/song?

I’m not sure about book or song but my favorite movie is The Shining.

blush; what was your stuffed animal as a child?

A kitty named Sam and one named George

breeze; most precious childhood memory?

Oh god I don’t have many of those lol

bright; mermaids or fairies?

Not too into either of them really

bubbles; do you have a best friend?

I think so

buttercup; showers or baths?

Showers but baths are nice too when I want to relax

butterfly; dream destination?

England, always has been.

buttons; are you religious or spiritual?

I consider myself very spiritual.

calm; favorite scent?

Midnight.

candlelight; what did you dream about last night?

I’m not sure something weird and unsettling probably ):

charming; have you ever been in love?

Yeah :/

cozy; eye/hair color?

Grayish blue eyes. My natural is hair light brown but my coloured hair is black n white

cuddly; what’s your favorite time period?

The 1980’s. But I have a love for different eras like the late 60’s and the 70’s too.

cupcake; favorite flower/plant?

I don’t know if I can choose just one, I love flowers and plants they make me so happy.

cute; what did you get on your last birthday?

High & depressed on the floor lol

cutie pie; most precious item you own?

Maybe like my Saint Laurent sunglasses my good friend bought me in NY or lipstick Marilyn Manson gave me

cutsie; what makes you happy?

Plants, psychedelics, the people in my life, concerts, dressing up, clarity, beauty of all things, music, seeing goths in public lol

daisies; describe a moment when you felt free.

Every time I take psychedelics I am pure and free.

daydream; how do you want to be remembered?

As someone eccentric and loving.. beautiful and accomplished and dark... understanding and passionate and interesting...

daylight; favorite album of all time?

Fuck umm... I literally can’t answer this, i have favorite albums but it just depends on what mood I’m in.

dear; zodiac sign?

Virgo sun, Taurus moon, Aqua ascending.

delightful; concerts or museums?

I love both.

dimples; have you ever written a letter?

I believe so.

dobby; dream job?

House wife. Rockstar or artist. Lol

doll; how do you like to dress?

It depends. Goth shit like trad or newer in varying forms, vampire, 1800’s ghost, snake woman, or angel babydoll. I take on different forms.

dovey; any paranormal/magical experiences?

Both. And I believe in them heavily.

dreams; do you want or have any tattoos?

I have two, a double headed snake and a cross. And I do want more, most if not all religiously themed.

drizzle; do you believe in aliens?

Already answered 🖤

euphoric; talk about someone you love.

Already answered 🖤

fairy; do you have a pet?

Not mine but a cat and a dog live here.

fluffy; ocean or mountain?

Already answered 🖤

forever; where do you feel time stop?

I don’t really feel time at all..

froglet; are you a good plant owner?

I used to be 😭😭

garden; how many languages do you know?

Only one ):

gem; who are your favorite tumblrs?

I don’t know anymore lol

giggles; what is your aesthetic of choice?

Dark and sexy and kinda fucked up I guess.

glittery; do you like anons? why/why not?

Yes cause I get bored loll

glow; list the top 5 things you like about yourself

Everything I see could be better.

heart; silk or lace?

Already answered 🖤

honey; coffee or tea? how do you take it?

Love both but drink tea more. I like both with sugar.

hugsy; do you enjoy people watching or bird watching more? why?

Hmmm... I’m not sure I guess I don’t do much of either.

hunnybunch; what sounds help you sleep?

My fluffy blanket 👼🏻

jewel; what’s your favorite kind of weather?

Not too hot, not too cold, light breeze, autumn kind of weather.

jiggly; what do you usually like to do on weekends?

Go out with my friends!

joy; do you laugh loudly or giggle more?

I do both.

kinky; do you blush easily?

I’m not suree.

kisses; what romantic cliché do you wish for most?

Ugh god.. just all of it...

kitty; what’s your favorite time of the day?

Afternoon when it’s more relaxed

ladybug; what’s your favorite artist to listen to when you’re sad?

Fuck um.. again it depends on what type of sad I am...

love; what is your favorite season and why?

Autumn 😍 chilled weather and crunchy leaves and I can wear most of my wardrobe and actually be okay outside

lovey; what is your favorite flavor of macaron and ice cream?

I’m not sure but I like dulce de leche and peanut butter and cookie dough and cheese cake flavors and moree

magic; what are five flaws you have?

Oh god I have more than that

moonlight; do you prefer soft pastels, warm neutrals, or cool darks?

Cool darks

munchkin; what do you look for in your significant other?

Passionate, romantic, understanding, patient, creative, dark, thrives on touch, sex fiend, kinda into some fucked up shit, likes to dress up with me, dominant, makes me laugh, intellectual.

paddywack; how would you describe a perfect date?

Getting picked up with a flower and a hand kiss, we both stuntin LOOKS, maybe go out some place cute to eat, maybe walk along the river and talk for hours.

pebbles; how do you spend free time by yourself?

Self care, cooking, listening to music, cleaning.

precious; what is something valuable that you learned in your life?

Almost everything happens for a reason even when it feels like tragedy at first.

pretty; do you like to cook or bake more?

Cook but I could bake too. ((:

prince; how would you describe your handwriting?

strung together

princess; do you play any instruments? if not, are there any you wish you could play?

Already answered 🖤

prinky; how do you relieve stress?

Inotoxication or getting off really.

pumpkin; what is your favourite kind of fruit/vegetable?

Strawberries or watermelon for fruit and my fav vegetable is probably broccoli.

rainbow; what was the last line of the last book you read?

The grace of the lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

roses; what is the most significant event in your life so far?

Omg I’m not sure

smile; what is one thing that has greatly affected you?

Perception

shine; art or music?

Always both.

shimmer; do animals tend to like you?

They do! Which is weird because they kinda annoy me lmao

smitten; do you collect anything?

I collect CDs, vinyls, art, and all things I can wear.

smoochies; how many pillows do you sleep with?

Five lol

snuggle; what is your favourite candy?

Lollipops!

snuggly; do you have a camera? if so, what kind?

No just on my phone ): I’d like to get a Polaroid camera tho

sparkle; do you wear jewelry?

Always!

spooky; sunrise or sunset?

Both are beautiful.

sprinkles; do you like to listen to music with headphones or no headphones?

Rather listen to it with no headphones

starlight; what was your favourite show as a child?

Courage the cowardly dog or spongebob lol

soft; describe your favourite spot in your house.

MY BED 😂

soothe; digital or vinyl?

Vinyl babyyy

squeezed; who do you miss right now?

My angel

sugary; what traits do you value most in friends?

Funny, understanding, spontaneous friends

sunshine; do you prefer for things to be practical or aesthetically pleasing?

They can be both tho right

sweet; do you find it easy to open up?

Ehhh

sweetie; do you like kids? if so, do you ever want to have any?

Not really and noo

thimble; is there somebody you look up to? who are they?

I look up to Marilyn Manson lol

toot; what is something you find unique about yourself?

My outlook

tootsie; what kind of friend are you?

A good one I hope

treasure; what was something that made you smile today?

Ghostlyy

velvet; are you an early bird or a night owl?

Night owl ):

whiffle; if you could have a magical power, what would it be?

To shapeshift or bend people’s will

whimsical; do you prefer doing stuff at home or going out?

Either really but probably staying at home, it depends on my mood

whiskers; do you usually wear makeup?

Hell ya

wiggly; are you a messy or tidy person?

Ugh.. I’m both if that makes any sense.

wispy; do you like the place where you grew up? do you think you will live there when you get older?

It’s okay but hopefully not lol

wobbly; have you ever wished upon a star?

Of course I have

[theonetrueemo]

Answer all the cute ask questions

HHHHHHHH- THATS SO MANY

angel; do you have a nickname?

On here people just call me Alex but irl people call me Lily even though my name is Lilith

awe; how old are you?

13

baby; favorite color?

BLACK!....Purple....

bloop; spirit animal?

Wolf

blossom; favorite book/movie/song?

Favorite movie is Freddy vs Jason, favorite book is Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, and favorite song is what ever I feel like at that moment.

blush; what was your stuffed animal as a child?

A cute little pupper.

breeze; most precious childhood memory?

Idk......

bright; mermaids or fairies?

Fairies because unlike mermaids I think they do exist

bubbles; do you have a best friend?

@loved-and-i-lost-you @smol-satanist-666 @gay-leader @ihaveapizzzacollection @jokerstrueidentity

buttercup; showers or baths?

Baths but I never take them

butterfly; dream destination?

London

buttons; are you religious or spiritual?

Uh??....

calm; favorite scent?

Haunted Castle look it up its amazing.

candlelight; what did you dream about last night?

Martin Persner...........

charming; have you ever been in love?

@ihaveapizzzacollection

cozy; eye/hair color?

Eye color is blue and my hair is very dark brown. But I am gonna dye is in the near future

cuddly; what’s your favorite time period?

Like....in the day or?....Well midnight and or 1920s-1960s

cupcake; favorite flower/plant?

I like buttercups a lot

cute; what did you get on your last birthday?

Ghost merch

cutie pie; most precious item you own?

.....Ghost merch.....No seriously my favorite thing I own is my Freddy Krueger glove.

cutsie; what makes you happy?

.................

daisies; describe a moment when you felt free.

Never......

daydream; how do you want to be remembered?

“That satanist girl obsessed with Multi”

daylight; favorite album of all time?

OPUS! EPONYMOUS!

dear; zodiac sign?

Aquarius....

delightful; concerts or museums?

Concerts. Museums are so silent....I hate it....

dimples; have you ever written a letter?

Yes many times.

dobby; dream job?

Artist or making all the gore in horror movies or working at a morgue....

doll; how do you like to dress?

Masculine

dovey; any paranormal/magical experiences?

Yes everyday

dreams; do you want or have any tattoos?

No but I want multiple

drizzle; do you believe in aliens?

Yeah duh. Watch Shane Dawson

euphoric; talk about someone you love.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh- No...

fairy; do you have a pet?

I have 6. 5 cats 1 dog.

fluffy; ocean or mountain?

Ocean. For years I have wanted to be a Marine Biologist but I dont think it will work.

forever; where do you feel time stop?

What?.....

froglet; are you a good plant owner?

Idk....

garden; how many languages do you know?

6

gem; who are your favorite tumblrs?

@ anyone I talk to

giggles; what is your aesthetic of choice?

Emo/goth/satanic

glittery; do you like anons? why/why not?

I like all asks

glow; list the top 5 things you like about yourself

Shins, emo/goth, satanic, I am some what good at drawing and I think I am a kind person

heart; silk or lace?

Silk because A) It feels nice and B) Lace is see through so fuck that.

honey; coffee or tea? how do you take it?

Tea. Hot tea once its made you take TWO table spoons of sugar mix it in and just a little bit of milk. Its perfect.

hugsy; do you enjoy people watching or bird watching more? why?

People watching, I’m an Aquarius.

hunnybunch; what sounds help you sleep?

Ghost, Otep, Slipknot, MCC, ect.

jewel; what’s your favorite kind of weather?

Rain. Thunder and lightning.

jiggly; what do you usually like to do on weekends?

Literally nothing.

joy; do you laugh loudly or giggle more?

Giggle....

kinky; do you blush easily?

It depends....

kisses; what romantic cliché do you wish for most?

Pick up lines!!!

kitty; what’s your favorite time of the day?

Midnight or Dusk.

ladybug; what’s your favorite artist to listen to when you’re sad?

Ghost.

love; what is your favorite season and why?

Winter or Spring because its cold

lovey; what is your favorite flavor of macaron and ice cream?

I’ve never had a macaron......But I like vanilla ice cream.

magic; what are five flaws you have?

I could write a book so if I tried we would be here all day.

moonlight; do you prefer soft pastels, warm neutrals, or cool darks?

DARKS

munchkin; what do you look for in your significant other?

Idk.....Loyalty is the most important thing to me.

paddywack; how would you describe a perfect date?

At home on the couch with some Chinese food and a true crime show on netflix.

pebbles; how do you spend free time by yourself?

Reading fanfic about a ship I like.

precious; what is something valuable that you learned in your life?

Life sucks

pretty; do you like to cook or bake more?

Bake.

prince; how would you describe your handwriting?

Better than other 13 year olds. I’m pretty proud of it actually.

princess; do you play any instruments? if not, are there any you wish you could play?

I play the keyboard and a little guitar. I would like to take actual classes for the keyboard but we can’t all have what we want.

prinky; how do you relieve stress?

Listening to Ghost, screaming or just....crying....

pumpkin; what is your favourite kind of fruit/vegetable?

BROCCOLI! EVERY KID HATES IT FOR SOME REASON BUT I’VE LOVED THAT SINCE I WAS 1

rainbow; what was the last line of the last book you read?

“Omega swallowed and Alpha fell on top of Omega and they fell asleep”

roses; what is the most significant event in your life so far?

Idk.....

smile; what is one thing that has greatly affected you?

Idk....OH coming out to my family. It still feels like a dream....

shine; art or music?

DONT MAKE ME CHOOSE!!!

shimmer; do animals tend to like you?

I have 6 what do you think.

smitten; do you collect anything?

Pop funkos...I have 23....

smoochies; how many pillows do you sleep with?

7 are on my bed but I never use them at all. My head is always on the mattress.

snuggle; what is your favourite candy?

Anything really....

snuggly; do you have a camera? if so, what kind?

I have my iPad.

sparkle; do you wear jewelry?

Fuck no. Actually I wear a Harry Potter ring.

spooky; sunrise or sunset?

Sunset!

sprinkles; do you like to listen to music with headphones or no headphones?

Noise cancelling headphones.

starlight; what was your favourite show as a child?

(Just to be clear...I still like these shows to this day) Octonots or Wild Krats!!! I FUCKING LOVE THOSE SHOWS!!! I cried when Captain Barnacles from Octonots got stung my a jellyfish and he was in pain!! I love him *cries*

soft; describe your favourite spot in your house.

My room...its my room....

soothe; digital or vinyl?

Vinyl. Obviously. I may be 13 but I am an 80′s fan for life!

squeezed; who do you miss right now?

everyone.....

sugary; what traits do you value most in friends?

LOYALTY! I am a Slytherin so I am VERY loyal.

sunshine; do you prefer for things to be practical or aesthetically pleasing?

Idk...

sweet; do you find it easy to open up?

Fuck no

sweetie; do you like kids? if so, do you ever want to have any?

Yes and No.

thimble; is there somebody you look up to? who are they?

Tobias Forge, Martin Persner, Simon Soderberg, Per Errikkson, Justin Taylor. idk if I spelled Per’s name right......

toot; what is something you find unique about yourself?

I growl....

tootsie; what kind of friend are you?

Loyal pet.

treasure; what was something that made you smile today?

I was drawing a picture of Thomas in a restaurant and the waitress liked it.

velvet; are you an early bird or a night owl?

Night owl. I have an owl. He doens’t come inside but we feed him. We named him....Dr. Who LOL

whiffle;  if you could have a magical power, what would it be?

Probably to turn invisible

whimsical; do you prefer doing stuff at home or going out?

Home

whiskers; do you usually wear makeup?

No

wiggly; are you a messy or tidy person?

Messy but thats only because I never have time to clean up. I am a clean freak though.

wispy; do you like the place where you grew up? do you think you will live there when you get older?

I dislike it a lot and I plan to move to London when I am older. Fuck Florida.

wobbly; have you ever wished upon a star?

No because nothing happens.

I HOPE THAT WAS IT! ~ A

[dappercritter]

You have been granted the oppurtunity to recast your favorite animated movie! The only catch is that each of the characters in said movie are animated characters from different shows/movies (X from show/movie is Bob, X from show/movie is Larry, ect.)

Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo boi. You have no idea what you’ve just unleashed, my friend!

Once long ago, before the Cringe Ages, I loved recasting my favourite and sometimes least favourite movies with characters from my favourite shows. But then I started taking storytelling more seriously and sentimentally and… art-y, and I started acting as if I was above the stuff somehow. To this day, I still don’t know whether to blame the masses or my own hubris.

But now! Now, the floodgates of my childish, innocent mind are open once more! And I have just the idea: The Nightmare Before Christmas but with Villainous and Batman* characters! (With a few CN villains on the side.) So, I guess you could call it…

The Villainous Nightmare Before Batman! 

(No, wait. Uhhhhh…)

The Dark Knight Before Villainous!

Ok, yeah, that should do.

Now you’re probably asking yourself, “Dapper Critter, what are you doing this? Sure, Batman meets Villainous could work, but why are you bringing The Nightmare Before Christmas into this? It’s not even Halloween or Christmas! What are you thinking?!” Well, first of all, Christmas and Halloween aren’t just holidays, they’re states-of-mind. Second, I think it’s time you guys learned something important: I’m a big ol’ lowkey goth baby, baby! If it’s spooky or gothic, I’ll soak it up like a sponge in sink full of soapy water. And nothing says gothic like the hero of a city literally called “Gotham,” a show with a grotesque monster hiding behind the guise of a well-dressed man, and the classic story of Jack Skellington himself! What’s more, all three of these hold a special place in my heart, as they all played a huge part in helping me develop and realize my interest in gothic culture. Lastly, I can see the worlds of these three stories coming together quite easily. Behold, this plot pitch I just made!

“Another Halloween has come and gone in CN City, and another cheerful Christmas is on its way. Black Hat, unofficial master of all that is dark and evil, is thoroughly disgusted that the multiverse will soon be returning to it’s obnoxiously cheerful and wholesome state. He morosely tears a hole through time and space to talk a walk through reality, miserable that he’s stuck living in such a wonderful place. That is until he stumbles upon the city of Gotham, where no matter what time of year it is, the streets are filled with misery and malicious mayhem. Delighted, he sets out to celebrate Christmas his own way: by taking a certain caped-crusader out of the picture and making Gotham his very own holiday vacation home! Little does he know, there’s one special girl who thinks he can celebrate right where he is, as well as a certain clown who’s got his own sinister Christmas party in mind…”

So now that I’ve convinced you, I think it’s time we got down to the actual recasting! Let’s begin, my darling children of the Hot Topic night…

Black Hat as Jack Skellington: This couldn’t have been easier—they’re both creepy gentlemen with excellent taste in fashion. Yes, I know Black Hat is a lot less nice than our dear Pumpkin King, but let’s just say this story takes the odd liberty here and there. Not to mention, Black Hat could easily match Jack’s enthusiasm, intelligence, style, and obsessive inquisitions. Plus, he could totally pull off an evil Santa suit. (Though to be honest, I’m not sure if his snarling, slimy, cockney-accented voice could match Danny Elfman’s melodious singing.)

Demencia as Sally: A devoted, mildly ghoulish, and totally cute fangirl who’s always pining after their darling idol, and who may or may not have been made in a lab? It’s like this fancast is writing itself! Demencia might be a bit more proactive—and scary—in the plot, but I can see her a lot Sally’s dilemma in her as she tries to get Black Hat to notice her and not to abandon them in pursuit of a crazy dream. (Well, that I’m filthy Lizardhat trash.)

Dr. Flug as Dr. Finklestein: Flug, being the only mad scientist who’s employed by Black Hat, as well as the only to survive this, seems like a good pick. Sure, he’s not in a wheelchair and, no, he’s not as creepy as the bugger, but he could still work as our horrid hero’s right-hand man. Plus, since a big part of his canon character is putting up with Demencia’s BS (tell my family that means “baloney-sandwich”), he’d also do great as the one trying to keep the free-spirited love interest under control. Only here, it would be because he’s trying to keep Dem out of trouble so she doesn’t make his boss mad and try to kill him, as opposed to… whatever Finklestein’s problem is. And of course, he can still be menacing if need be. (Just watch the Lost Cases of Townsville and The Tree House…)

5.0.5. as Zero: A cute animal sidekick is a cute animal sidekick, I always say! And 5.0.5. was basically designed to be the ultimate cutesy animal sidekick. Therefore, he can be basically do anything Zero did. Try to cheer up Black Hat? Check. Pull Black Hate’s sleigh? Why couldn’t he? Yeah, he can’t be a flying ghost dog with a glowing nose, but I could just throw bedsheet on him (it was just after Halloween after all) and maybe say he swallowed that anti-gravity device.

Batman as Santa Claus: For Santa Clause, I needed someone who could be the absolute good guy in a world filled with bad guys and weirdos, much like Santa was in the movie. Likewise, since Jack kidnapped Santa to take over Christmas, Black Hat would need to kidnap the guy in charge of Gotham in order to take it for himself. So, of course he’s going to go after it’s #1 protector. I can also see Batman being the voice of reason in this madcap story. Not to mention that he could pull off a Santa suit even better than Black Hat! (In fact…)

The Joker as Oogie Boogie: This one I had some trouble with. I kept asking myself stuff like, “who would be brave enough to usurp Black Hat?,” “who could match Oogie’s siz—er, presence?” or “who would want to kidnap Santa Claus?,” and “Who would be into gambling and crazy funhouse stuff?” And then it came to me: The Joker. I mean, he’s got charisma, a sense of menace, he’s a cutthroat who loves to play with his enemies, and almost always has a big ol’ amusement park deathtrap on hand. Sure, he wouldn’t have the creepy demise like Oogie, but he could get a good beating and traumatizing from Black Hat and/or Demencia (who’d really hate being a damsel in distress, I imagine).

The Delightful Children from Down the Lane as Lock, Shock, and Barrel: At first, I thought of using other Batman villains or Shannon, Darrell, and Ernesto from OK K.O.!, but then I thought it would make more sense to have child villains from a CN show who could do bad things for slime-balls like Black Hat and Joker with pleasure. I instantly thought of these scheming, little monsters from Codename: Kids Next Door (an old favourite of mine). Although they’re usually talk and act in unison, they could have some comical bickering now and then. (After all, “Lenny is an idiot.”) Likewise, I can see Black Hat using Batman’s affinity for young people to get him while his guard’s down. They could make for great trick r’ treaters as well!

Lord Boxman as The Mayor: The mayor wasn’t a very important character, but he was definitely a memorable one, and the first character I thought of who could match his dual personality was Lord Boxman from OK K.O.! They both act like leaders but are really terrible at their jobs, suck up to better villains, and throw a whimpering tantrum like nobody else. (Also, I get to imagine Jim Cummings singing lines from The Nightmare Before Christmas songs, so that’s nice.)

Various CN Villains as The Citizens of Halloween Town: Like with The Mayor and the Trick R’ Treaters, I like to think that the various CN villains who cameoed in the Villainous Orientation series would show up as the denizens of the seedier side of CN City which—as you probably guessed—would be standing in for Halloween Town. Unfortunately, I do not have an encylcopediac knowledge of either Halloween Town residents, nor CN villains, so I’ll just list the ones I can remember and am the most proud of without offering any real justification.

Nohyas as Mr. Hyde: I couldn’t think of anyone besides Black Hat with a fancy hat or smaller versions of himself. Nohyas just so happens to have a suitable villain’s hat, and Handre (his hand puppet) could work in place of tiny clones living under his hats. (And yes, I like Mighty Magiswords. Deal with it.)

Zombozo as Clown with the Tear-Away Face: I don’t believe all creepy clowns look the same, but a ghoulish clown could easily stand in for another. Plus, I used to be a big Ben 10 fan, so I thought I ought to work something in.

Donny as Behemoth: This grass ogre from Adventure Time was more of an outright jerk than Behemoth, but he has a softer side so that would make him a great candidate for a resident gentle giant.

Loony Toons’ Dracula, Billy and Mandy’s Dracula, and Count Spankula as The Vampire Brothers: Do I really need to explain this one?

The Red Guy as Devil: I sure don’t need to elaborate on this one.

The Gangreen Gang as the Zombie Band: The Gangreens were basically based off edgy bands of the late 90’s, and thanks to Gorillaz, we know Ace can play the bass like a boss. Also, I can totally hear Ace saying, “Nice work, bone-daddy.”

Earl (AKA Dopey Black Hat) as Igor: Earl doesn’t get enough to do, inside or outside of Villainous canon.

The Beast as The Hanging Tree: Yeah, I know, I’m messed-up.

HIM as Harlequin Demon: Seriously, this one cast itself!

The Queen of the Black Puddle as Undersea Gal: I don’t watch Courage the Cowardly Dog much, but I remember seeing this villainess once before and I instantly thought she’d be a dead-ringer!

Morbidia and Gateaux as The Witches: Another natural casting derived from my soft spot for Mighty Magiswords. Although Gateaux is a male and a tall one at that, he’s perfect for being a huge suck-up. (I originally considered Miss Endive from Chowder and Duchess from Fosters’ Home for Imaginary Friends, but then I remembered that no matter what they dressed-up as, they’d be unlikeable.)

Monstrous Black Hat as The Monster Under the Bed: Like Earl and the other Black Hat clones, he doesn’t get enough love. (Though this may be a good thing, since he seems too nasty to receive or return it…)

Rob as The Melting Man: There aren’t a lot of CN villains who are melting, per se, but I figured this poor bad guy from Amazing World of Gumball and his unique media-mixed malformity could work.

Biowolf as The Wolfman: Because they’re both well designed wolfmen and I refuse to forget Generator Rex.

The Robins, Batgirl, and Alfred as the Elves: If Batman’s going to be Santa, then his support staff/family might as well be his helpers. Not to mention, they’d look great in cute little elf outfits happily working on Batman’s gadgets in preparation for the big Christmas crime wave.

The Justice League as The Army: Someone needs to show up to shoot-down Black Hat and his idea of Christmas at the end, and since he’s kidnapped Batman, I think it only makes sense that the Justice League would retaliate and come to clean up Black Hat’s mess. He’d also get a reminder that he isn’t just in Gotham City, he’s in the DC universe.

Unikitty as The Easter Bunny: I have my reasons. Them being, Unikitty is good at being sweet and innocent, the episode “Batkitty,” and her world is one of the few Black Hat has interacted with so far. I like to think that’s because he’s too repulsed by her cuteness to touch it. So imagine his reaction when the Delightful Children bring him to her by accident while she’s cosplaying as LEGO Batman or something.

And there you have it! I had a lot of fun making this recast. It was a great way to step out of my comfort zone and to have some fun. Not to mention, I had an excuse to listen to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack early. I sincerely hope you like it as much as I do, @good-guy-is-alive!

Now I just need to make sure Black Hat himself doesn’t see this, or else he might find me and—

Oh no.

No, please, Mister Black Hat, sir, you don’t understand. I just was doing this for fun. I wasn’t trying to make you look—

OH NO.

NO!

NOOOOOOOOOOjglkajgflkjdshGH;LJF’W abfklghlfuGFARGTADS!!!#%RQ#@!

…

…

…

*Since DC changes their Batman shows like people change their socks, we’ll just say that this is your standard DCAU/Bruce Timmverse Batman.

[jamiebluewind]

The Hidden Rose: Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Ever As Before

Notes

Virgil's perspective

Word Count: 1299

Chapter Warnings: the opposite of angst :P (please message me if I missed any)

Thank you to my wonderful beta readers Sarah and crystrifoglio for catching my mistakes and suggesting tags. You are both amazing!

Links

The Hidden Rose: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7

Virgil was sleeping soundly. He had been so exhausted after getting rid of all that... gunk that he fell asleep on the first soft surface he landed on. That surface just happened to be the living room couch.

He had no idea how long he enjoyed his dreamless sleep, but something pulled him out of it. His eyes fluttered open. He glanced around to get his bearings, only to spot Roman staring at him from his usual spot in front of the TV. He was barefoot and dressed in red and gold pajamas. The bruises and cuts were already starting to fade. Virgil was happy to see him looking more like himself.

As the fog of sleep lifted, he realized how weird this was. “Uh... Roman?” he said as he raised an eyebrow. “Do I even wanna know how long you've been watching me sleep?”

Roman cleared his throat. “I just got here and... you looked so peaceful,” he said as he raised his hand almost pleading. “I didn't want to wake you.”

Virgil yawned and stretched. The nap had helped some, but it wasn't enough. It was good to see Roman was feeling better, but he would probably pass back out as soon as he left. The kitten plush he had used as a pillow was calling his name. “As long as you don't make it a habit,” he said as he stood up and stretched again. “Guess I've woken up worse ways.”

Roman nodded. “Good to know,” he said.

Virgil walked toward him. “You're looking better,” he said, smiling. He automatically moved his hand to cover it, but paused halfway and lowered it back down. Roman smiled back. It seemed genuine.

“Thank you,” Roman replied as he closed the distance between them. From this close, Virgil could see his eyes were once again clear and filled with life and emotion. “I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for a daring rescue from my very own dark knight.” Roman smiled broadly as his eyes grew misty. “You are my hero Virgil.”

Virgil froze, his mouth open in shock as he blinked rapidly trying to process what Roman had just said. He raised his left hand to rub the back of his neck. “Um...” Virgil said as his eyes darted around the room. “Thank you?” He lowered his hand. “I'm sure the others would have done the same. I was just the only one fucked up enough to do it. I'm just glad you're okay or whatever.”

Roman's eyes softened. “I want to do something for you as a thank you,” Roman said.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Seriously Roman. You don't have to-”

“Nonsense!” Roman shouted as he interrupted Virgil. “I am going to help you recover and since you took away my bad energy, it's only fitting that I give you some of my good as well.”

“Whoa, whoa whoa,” Virgil said, holding up both his palms towards Roman. Any thoughts of sleep were thrown out the window. “Pump the breaks Princey. You're gonna do what now?”

Roman put one hand on his hip as he gestured with the other. “Why, I'm going to give you some of my good energy,” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “That way, you can get back to normal much sooner.” Roman was practically beaming. Beaming!

“Nah,” Virgil said, waving his hand. “I'm good. I can rock the goth look for a while.”

“Then I suppose that have no choice,” Roman said with a mischievous smile. “I shall make us even for not asking for my consent earlier!”

Before Virgil could think, Roman had closed the distance, pulled him close, and pressed his lips to his. Virgil felt warm embers that burst into fire. It made every muscle relax in his body. His eyes fluttered close. It was like all of Roman's energy was focused in his lips.

Virgil was lost in the feeling until he realized that some of Roman's energy was seeping through. He concentrated his own energy to his mouth to repel Roman's energy. He expected Roman to feel disgusted. That he would let go and back away. What he didn't expect was Roman's body going slightly limp as he parted his lips and moaned.

That was all it took for Virgil to lose control. The normally cautious side raised his hand to cradle Roman's head as he tipped his own to the side. His tongue slipped past Roman's parted lips and into his mouth. Roman tasted like peaches and hot cinnamon. Virgil let his own cool energy flow into his tongue as it explored Roman's mouth. More moans escaped the prince's lips, spurring Virgil on. His fingers fisted in Roman's hair.

Virgil felt Roman's hand glide down and slip under the back of his shirt. A hand found the small of his back and pulled him closer. It was a strong, almost protective embrace.

Virgil withdrew his tongue from Roman's mouth, only for Roman's to follow behind. His tongue left streaks of fire where it touched. Virgil's eyes shot open before he melted back into the kiss. A sound bubbled up in his throat. He let go and allowed the moan to escape his lips.

Virgil felt weak and powerful at the same time. He wanted to stop and catch his breath. He wanted it to go on forever. His lips and mouth felt like they were on fire. His heart was beating so fast he thought it would break free of his chest. And he loved it.

Virgil let his right hand slip under Roman's shirt to feel the soft skin and powerful muscles hidden underneath. His hand rested on Roman's side as he absentmindedly traced small circles with his thumb.

They broke apart, each leaning on the other for support. Their foreheads pressed together as they tried to catch their breath.

Virgil smirked. “Told you,” he said, out of breath, “I didn't need it.”

Roman raised his head. “I suppose,” he said planting a soft kiss on the right corner of Virgil's mouth, “I'll just have to,” another kiss on the left, “kiss you without it.”

Virgil smiled and leaned into the kiss. It was softer than the first. Roman's energy was still there, but it was less intense. It was like the warmth from sunshine hitting bare skin. It felt relaxing and... safe. He didn't know why it felt so good or what the feelings were that seemed to be bubbling up inside him, but he didn't give a damn. Right now, there was this and that was okay.

When the kiss ended, Virgil opened his eyes to see soft brown eyes staring back. Roman looked so peaceful and happy, like he didn't have a care in the world. As Virgil gazed at the impulsive, brave man standing in front of him, he silently wondered if he could pull a muscle from smiling too much.

Virgil sighed and placed his left hand on Roman's cheek. He slowly rubbed his thumb back and forth under the dusting of eye shadow that was starting to form. “My room is starting to affect you,” he said gently.

“I know,” Roman replied without backing away.

Virgil held his gaze. “You need to get back to your room,” he said. “Recharge a bit.”

“Only if I can come back,” Roman replied as he dipped his head and raised his eyebrows.

Virgil snorted. “Seriously?” he said sarcastically as he shook his head. “You're kinda stuck with me now.”

Roman knit his brows together. “Any clue what this is?” he asked.

“No,” Virgil answered. “You?”

Roman reached out his left hand and laced it with Virgil's right. “Not a clue,” he said, “and I couldn't care less.”

Tags below

@temmiecupcake @bubblycricket @jacedoesuniversalart @sage-sorceress  @anythingabouteverything1 @mmd-ask-italy @andlipstickboys @shattered-raine @champions-of-spirits @sammy-writes-stuff @kristhet-rex @smileydog101​ @vergeoftearsss​  @dreamawkward137​ @a-saltine-in-trying-times​ @jcat225​ @yesmagnificentstudentlight​ @djpurple3 @zerogettie​ @re-ve​ @messrs-howler​ @fungirl99​ @witch197​ @were-all-gay-here-or-not-idc​ @lilspookytea​ @soso1207​ @hells-angel-forever

[rebelsplaygroundsaga]

𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝

(PART ONE)

Camille Monfils

To the ones who stayed in the darkness with me.

I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave you will finally understand, why storms are named after people.

- Caitlyn Siehl

Part I:

 

Sad Eyes☽

ONE

‪October 31st,‬

It’s been said that small towns are like black holes. Nothing changes, it’s impossible to leave and in the end, you’re just a part of it. A popular opinion among the teenagers in this small town. Being born in the same hospital as their parents and graduating from the same high school, that was inevitable. Their biggest fear though, was still living there afterwards and becoming actual victims of the black hole effect like they’d seen their parents do.

Deadwood, a town that supposedly got its name from the dead timber near the town’s creek banks. A place where the population was smaller than the amount of students who attend most universities. Granted, to most people the abundant forests and farmlands it seemed like the ideal place to raise children or to live out the rest of their days. However, for the youths who craved adventure and excitement, the history and splendour of a small town was anything but satisfactory. There were no arcades, malls or movie theatres to keep adolescents busy, but the creative ones always found something to do.

A 100 acres of land graced by a secluded white dutch colonial home with green shutters overlooked the main road. There was little about the house that gave any clue as to the kind of people who lived there.

Inside, Magic’s bedroom wasn’t quite in harmony with the rest of the house’s vintage decor. The glare from the neon pink woman’s body shaped light bounced off the lavender coloured walls covered in erotic drawings and paintings of nude women. The room combined modern trends, a bit of punk rock, goth and festival fashion reflecting her rebellious spirit and attitude. She hadn’t changed it

much over the years, she just kept adding to it as time passed. 

Magic was curled up next to the open casement bow window smoking a joint. Her hair tied in a messy bun in a beautiful undone look that said “I-roll-out-of-bed-cool”. She wore a tank top tied into a lush knot just over her navel with a pair of high waisted retro fleece shorts, fuzzy pink socks and signature tattoo choker. Her style was very much a throwback to when Tumblr was all the rage, and 90s aesthetics were combined with soft pink materials and Lolita-esque doe-eyed attitude.

Her dark gaze focused on the moon. There was a certain drama about her eyes. The colour of hot chocolate on a cold winter night. Those deep pools of chocolaty swirls seized the depth and heaviness of a thousand untold stories. I’ve always been different, she thought reaching for the heart-shaped ashtray next to a collection of vintage horror movies.

Her childhood was pretty normal, maybe even happy at times, but that changed when she grew into her looks as a teenager. By the time Magic was fifteen, she went from being the kind of girl who didn’t get noticed to the kind of girl who got almost too much attention.

Exhaling a large cloud of smoke, she reflected on her past, reminding herself of all the worst things she did and that happened to her. She was pretty and smart, but she had a dark mind with a tendency to romanticized depression and engaged in acts of self-mutilation. Yet, that day something was different. Magic woke up with an incredibly peaceful feeling. Usually, her mind moved at what felt like a million miles a minute. She would remember all the things she had to do, and would just want to hide under the covers. That morning it was as if she had finally woken up well-rested.

Squeezing the joint between her lips, she unraveled her hair tie revealing the most amazing head of hair. Thick strands fell onto her cheeks all the way down to her elbows flourishing into voluminous ringlets in a rich chestnut. She brushed her fingers through her long soft curls radiating an untidy and rebellious style.

She opened the mirrored closet doors and pushed the clothes on the hangers to one side, uncovering a photograph of a misty lake with a large cross emerging from the water pinned to the wall. Wax streamed down to the face of the shelf from a set of melted candles. Each item placed in a precise manner. On the left, there was a cat skull and on the right was a large amethyst crystal. A black dagger was placed horizontally before a calligraphy pentagram painted on the face of the shelf.

Magic slid the doors shut when she heard footsteps coming from the hallway. She made a half-hearted attempt to hide the joint by cupping her palm behind her hip.

Mrs. Jones walked into the bedroom. Her caramel coloured hair pined up in a neat French twist with a fringe that she used to hide the aging lines on her forehead. She waved her hand as if it would push the harsh herbal odour away.

“God, it reeks in here.” A hint of southern accent when she spoke.

Born and raised in Louisiana, she learned all about cooking and Catholicism from her mother’s mother, interests she wasn’t fortund enough to pass down to her own daughter.

“I was just burning some sage,” Magic said. 

Mrs. Jones rolled her eyes while making her way to the vanity cluttered with makeup products. It was beyond disappointing to her that Magic engaged in such acts of witchery, then again there wasn’t much she didn’t find disappointing when it came to her daughter. In retrospect, Magic always thought it was hyporcritical of her mother to go to church every Sunday when she was clearly breaking her vows.

“I thought you’d already left,” Magic said.

Mrs. Jones set her wool trench coat down on the vanity chair. “Where are those earrings you borrowed last week?” Her hands already riffling through the jewellery box. She moved a few things around until she spotted the pair of emerald earrings next to a rack of lipsticks. “Never mind. Here they are.” She looked herself in the lighted makeup mirror and put the earrings on. “I fear they’re too ladylike for you,” she said expressing her well hidden inner cattiness.

Magic didn’t even care what came out of her mother’s mouth anymore. She understood that there came a hard time in life when a child had to realize their parents were not perfect. That they’re human, and humans are barely more than monkeys in shoes. Her mother started seeing another man a few months ago. Either it was an affair or maybe her parents had agreed to an open relationship, but kept it quiet to avoid stigma or talking to her about it. All she knew for sure was that it wasn’t her job to police her parents marriage.

Mrs. Jones fixed the neckline of her wrap dress and smirked. “Do you really think I can’t smell what you’re doing in here?”

“Oh that, must be the sage,” She fretted.

“Mhmm.”

A sudden stinging sensation manifested itself in the palm of Magic’s hand and she let out a small ouch.

 

Mrs. Jones turned, extending her arm. “The entire upstairs reeks of marijuana. You think I don’t know when you smoke.” She brought the joint to her lips and took a long drag, letting the smoke fill her lungs for a moment. “At least you’re not getting cheap shit,” she exhaled.

Magic was relieved her mother wasn’t going to give an hour lecture about the dangers of smoking weed.

“You’re lucky it’s your birthday.” Mrs. Jones spoke through a furrowed brow when a honk came from outside. “Now with that said, I’m already late.” She took one last look at herself in the mirror, tucking in a loose strand of hair. “Your father is downstairs watching tv. There’s leftovers in the refrigerator if you get hungry.” She put her coat over her shoulders, then looked her daughter dead in the eyes. “You do not leave this house,” she said in an uncompromising tone. “I don’t want you hanging out with that homo friend of yours and pulling the same shit as last month.” Mrs. Jones held up her woven clutch, pointing her index finger at her daughter. “No leaving the house. I mean it. I don’t care if it’s your birthday. You don’t know what kind of horrors await a girl like you.”

“Yes, mom.” Magic would say anything to get her mother to leave. “Your ride’s waiting.”

Mrs. Jones slipped out and the door shut behind her. In one quick motion she leapt onto her bed, looking out the window where she saw a strangers vehicle in the driveway. She watched her mom get into the silver Eldorado, keeping an eye on the vehicle until it pulled out of the driveway. A sudden ring pierced the silence and the iPhone on her nightstand lit up with a new text message. 

Magic flipped her hair back and shuffled over to her vanity, facing the mirror and thinking about what colours would work best. She quickly regretted not having tested her make up before. Her friends would surely go all out and she had to look fabulous if she wanted to keep up with them. Fortunately, she had already tweaked her eyebrows to flawlessness. Her face and neck had already been contoured and highlighted, and her clear almond-shaped nails had been filled earlier that week. This was her 18th Birthday after all. Still, there was much to do and little time.

She prepared all of her products and began the makeup process. First, applying black liquid eyeliner, a crucial part of her everyday look. Second, she applied mascara making her eyelashes wispy and cat-like. To really pull her makeup together, she applied a shimmery shade of dusty rose coloured lip stain that made her lips look extra plump and pouty. For her hair, she straightened it with a flat iron for a neater look making the strands even longer.

Magic tossed her clothes on the floor in front of the laundry hamper which was already full of clothes. She slipped into a white mini dress full of whimsy with an intricate paisley lace overlay and nude lining. It had an open scalloped neckline and sheer sleeves. On her feet, she wore Dr. Martens platform boots another critical aspect to her everyday look. Lastly, a set of delicate wings that were so realistic, turning her into a bejewelled angel.

By the time she’d finished taking a few selfies hoping at least one would be profile worthy, the rumbling of a truck engine could be heard outside. Magic looked out the window and saw the old red Chevy pickup. The young man in the driver’s seat smiled and waved.

Ricky was pubescent looking, but tall with black hair long enough to be swept back. That night, he wore a black and white skeleton onesie as a costume with the sleeves pushed back revealing his tattooed arms. He was a well established bad boy known for his tattoos, playing the drums and being a descent skateboarder.

“One minute,” Magic mouthed before shuffling over to her laptop. She put an extensively long playlist on and turned up the volume, making it easier to slip in and out of the house more subtly. Then, she cautiously crawled out of the window and they drove off.

[beautymouth72-blog]

Here’s how to get into the Halloween spirit like Christine McConnell, Netflix’s new horror baking queen

Christine McConnell is like the domestic goddess of Gomez Addams’ dreams come to life undead existence, and, if we’re being honest, all of ours. The self-taught baker and Instagram star not only carves cakes into monstrously macabre sculptures—she bakes chocolate eyeballs into cookies, crafts her own goth tea sets from chocolate, annually transforms her parents’ house into a terrifying, sharp-fanged creature, and somehow manages to design and sew her own vintage-inspired dresses with enough time to look after five puppet monsters and a charming serial-killer boyfriend on her new Netflix show, The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell.

The hostess with the most-ess torture tools and dead friends—including a ghost played by McConnell’s real-life pal, Dita Von Teese—keeps house and more than a few stunning desserts coming over the course of the show’s first six episodes, creating an instant cult classic that feels a little Pee Wee’s Playhouse, a little Martha Stewart, a little Avenue Q. (We can thank the Jim Henson Company for the show’s irreverent puppet monsters.)

We caught up with the goth kitchen legend to learn how to celebrate Halloween in L.A. right—whether we’re strolling through cemeteries, decking out our front decks to scare children or marathoning scary movies—and learn what’s next for McConnell’s creepy clan.

So is Halloween your favorite holiday?

Easily and obviously. I’m so jazzed my parents’ house worked out the way that it did and I’m gonna be there on Halloween night, dressed to the nines and terrifying little children. 

When you visit L.A., what are some of your favorite spooky spots to get into the spirit?

Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary: It’s well known as the burial place of Marilyn Monroe, but it’s a quiet and sleepy cemetery; I’ve always liked to go and sit. And Heritage Square Museum, another L.A. favorite of mine: Old houses and a church from the L.A. area have been moved to this out-of-the-way lot and can be toured. Catching a movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a perfect date night for the ghoul in your life, and on Halloween night, the West Hollywood Costume Carnaval is an amazing way to show off your best costumes with friends or family and enjoy the creativity of others!

What are your favorite non-Halloween spots?

I go to that Westwood cemetery a lot—whenever I’m in L.A. and have a break and I don’t have anything to do for a couple hours, I always go there just because it’s creepy and beautiful and tranquil. And I love the Ace Theater Downtown; it’s so gothic and creepy and it’s a really incredible place to go. And I also love the TCL Chinese Theater on Hollywood: That’s a beautiful place to just walk around and feel like you’re in the past.

Do you have any favorite Halloween movies?

Trick or Treat. It’s a bunch of stories all strung together and it’s probably the most Halloween-y movie I can think of. And then I’m a huge fan of the classic Halloween; I play that almost nonstop during the month of October, and, I mean, all of them. I really kind of binge anything horror. I love Frankenweenie—I know that kind of might be silly, but I love the music, I love all of the little characters—it’s just such a terrific Halloween movie.

Any tips for people who want to get into the spirit at home?

I love to pick up some dry ice, [then] fill a cauldron with punch and sherbet ice-cream; drop a few cubes of the dry ice in and watch it bubble and fog. This is fun to do with for a party or just something delicious and spooky by yourself.

Every year you redecorate your parents’ house for Halloween, and you go all-out with the woodwork, the lighting—what are a few ideas for people who might not be willing to go that all-out with their decorations?

For people who aren’t insane?

Right, maybe just the people who want to show up their neighbors.

You can always go and get some foam core and cut it with a kitchen knife to make some teeth and like, put them around your entry way. And you can put little googly eyes—I mean, really, you can make it as simplistic as you want; you can make it an elementary school craft project or you can get a little crazier with it. But I kind of feel like putting a creepy face up on your house is a fun way to creep out the neighbors and the kids, and I just think it’s exciting for kids to come up to a house like that. 

When it comes to Halloween candy, what are your top and bottom favorites?

Full-size Snickers, full-size Almond Joy, and I like Whatchamacallit bars. I don’t want to put down any companies, but I don’t like those little Dum Dums suckers, and I don’t like candy corn. And this is a personal thing that will probably cause a lot of controversy, but I don’t like Three Musketeers; it’s like a candy bar that’s missing all the good stuff.

What do you think Rose’s [a raccoon puppet in the show] favorite Halloween candy is? 

Everything. Sex? Sex is her favorite Halloween candy. I think the running theme is she has an insatiable lust for everything, and I don’t see her playing favorites. 

And Rankle’s [a mummified cat puppet] and Edgar’s [a sensitive werewolf puppet]?

Maybe dead birds? That seems to be [Rankle’s] thing, like he’d want to hand out dead birds to trick-or-treaters. And I think [Edgar] really loves those chocolate-covered bones, so anything that looks like a human part. 

In a Halloween round of fuck, marry, kill, what’s your pick: Dracula, the Wolf Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon?

Ooh. I would say marrying Dracula would be the way to go, because he’d bite you and you’d live forever. And the Wolf Man’s kind of hot, and I think I’d be OK with killing the Creature from the Black Lagoon; I don’t think he’s very nice. Sorry, those are all kind of creepy answers.

It was kind of a creepy question. In terms of your love life on the show, will we be seeing more of Norman?

I have an opinion about that, and I don’t think I should say. I love him and I love the actor [Adam Mayfield], but I have plans for him, and I can’t say that they're all good.

I’m not sure if you can say whether there are more episodes coming, but is there anything forthcoming we can look forward to?

I don’t know anything, but I’m lighting candles and I’ve got a shrine going. I’m crossing my fingers, basically. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for purposes of clarity and consistency.

Netflix’s “The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell,” a co-production with Wilshire Studios and Henson Alternative, is available to stream now.

Source: https://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/news/heres-how-to-get-into-the-halloween-spirit-like-christine-mcconnell-netflixs-new-horror-baking-queen-102518

[lexxymagnificent]

Song: Teenagers   Artist: My Chemical Romance

“The boys and girls at the clique, the awful names that they stick. You’re never gonna fit in much kid.”

Senior year is supposed to be the best year of high school right? I auditioned to be on the cheer team for the Winnebago Indians at the end of my Junior year of high school. The school was hosting auditions shortly after the Alice In Wonderland Musical was over, and I can remember entering the gym feeling so determined that I would become an official cheerleader if this audition went well. I would be able to travel to places like Rapid City, SD for the Lakota Nation Invitational basketball game, or Lincoln when our Winnebago basketball boys made it to state once again. I was ready to transition from being a fine arts student into a “cool kid,” even though the only sports I did in high school were track and cheerleading. I wasn’t the only one who showed for auditions, there were the cheerleaders and their coach along with many soon-to-be freshmen, a sophomore, and two juniors; I was one of the juniors. I auditioned with a cheer I had learned as a sophomore, “Rock N’ Roll” as a floor cheer, and the typical “Go Big (insert color here)” side cheer that everyone knows. It wouldn’t be the first time I was a cheerleader.

In my sophomore year of high school, I moved to dad’s house in a small town by the name of Whiting, Iowa. The high school had less than fifty students in it at the time. There were no one-act plays, musicals, and no extracurriculars that I would be interested to participate in. During November of 2015, auditions for the cheer team were being held. At the time, there were no cheerleaders whatsoever, and it was more of a “sign your name on this sheet to become a cheerleader” sort of deal. I was in, without an audition or anything. On the team were me and two freshmen: Maria and Kay, who later became some of my closest friends at that school. Combined, we were the Whiting Warrior Cheerleaders. At first, I thought it was a bit weird. The logo for the Whiting Warrior was an Indian head, something I took a bit offense too, seeing as there were no Native American students attending school there other than my family. Regardless, I shook it off. At most of the basketball games only Maria and I would be cheering, and Kay would have some reason to get out of it, which was okay. Together, Maria and I owned the court; Until we were running for our lives as basketballs would come near us during intense games. When the season came to an end, I wouldn’t have a way to have fun. Halfway through the second semester, I transferred back to Winnebago, NE with my mom.

I arrived and made it back to the place I loved and knew as home. I enrolled as a Winnebago Indian in early March 2016. I was back to playing the trumpet and bass guitar for the spring concert, I joined the Jungle Book Musical just before the deadline, and I was back with my old friends. During Spring Break that year, the Winnebago Indians went back to play at state for the second time in a row. I felt so proud to call myself a Winnebago Indian and to be from Winnebago alone. I traveled down to the jam-packed stadiums in Lincoln every day during break with my goth best friend. Watching the cheerleaders give their all on the floor, made me feel so proud even to know them. They were the sorcerers that chanted victory spells to make sure the boys were champions. They twinkled their fingers in the air like wands, putting all their might into the next free-throw. I wanted to be a spell-caster with them as well, a full-on Winnebago Indians Cheerleader.

At the end of my junior year in high school, I made the move to audition for the cheer team, and I got the part. I was no longer Alex The Thespian. I was Alexandrea The Prowess, as I entered a field I had yet to explore: football cheerleading. We opened the season with many girls. Four new cheerleaders: Me, Katie: my childhood best friend, Jos: the junior, and Sara: the freshman. The rest of the team included Seniors: Samantha, Joan, and Deanna, who were all my cousins, Juniors: Alexandria and Amy, and Sophomore: Allie. Together, I thought we all made a pretty amazing team. I was wrong. Unfortunately In the summer, we lost two of our senior cheerleaders. Deanna had just given birth to a baby boy and chose a basketball camp over a mandatory cheer camp. Joan decided to start having her “senior year fun” a bit early before the semester began, not showing up to any practices, earning her kick off of the team. Now we were down to eight cheerleaders, it wasn’t that bad, we could do just as good as ten right? During this period I started having my doubts about being a cheerleader.

I dyed my hair hot pink before the football cheer season had officially started. When I chose to color my hair such a bright, unnatural color, I wasn’t made aware that you couldn’t have your hair a tone that wasn’t “normal”. I was told that I shouldn’t bleach my roots or do touch-ups on it, and that I should dye my hair back to natural brown before basketball season hits. I was a furious, if I would’ve known that then I wouldn’t have chosen to dye it in the first place.

Football season had officially started, and almost every Friday night we were out at football fields cheering in the evening, traveling to places that were ten minutes to three hours away. In the long drives from home to away, I started noticing how different I was from the others. I dressed in black, listened to nothing but rock bands, did fine art things like band and plays, and not to mention my bright pink hair. The other girls were what you imagine as your typical cheerleaders: bright colored clothing, listening to pop/hip-hop music, playing other sports, and hanging out with the football players after games. These girls were your typical “preps.” I was your average “emo” girl, I even skipped a football game to go see Five Finger Death Punch live with some friends. I knew I was different, and even the coach pointed that out.

I arrived in the van of the cheerleaders to the next football game. This game was the Hartington Wildcats vs. Winnebago Indians. Us cheerleaders had gone onto the track where we cheered, getting ready to stretch or warm-up for the game. Right as we were about to start the opening cheer, my coach Sarah pulled me to the side and told me directly “You need to start acting like the other girls. You’re always alone, by yourself and you never talk to anyone in the van on the way out. You don’t have the cheerleading spirit, and you’re not like the other girls.” That hurt. I knew that I wasn’t like the other girls, anyone could see that. But no one had to point it out just like that. I didn’t talk in the van like the other girls because they usually gossiped about other people, something I didn’t want to get involved in. As for cheer spirit, I had a bubbly personality, and a loud voice as a cheerleader should have. I’m a sensitive person. Anyone knows that. I wanted to argue, cry, show some emotion of hurt, but that wouldn’t look very professional in front of a large crowd. I agreed and said that I would try to be like the others: something I’m not.

A week before the homecoming game, Sara was kicked off of the cheer team for smoking in her cheer uniform; something cheerleaders weren’t supposed to do. Now we were down to seven cheerleaders. We were almost to the end of the season anyway, I figure that we could all pull through, which we did. One of the most memorable games of that season was the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) Indians vs. Macy (Umoho) Chiefs, that was fun. Winnebago and Macy are natural enemies because they’re two rival tribes and towns right next to each other. So beating them at their own homecoming game was terrific. We even came up with a new cheer, “Frybread, fry bread, greasy, greasy, we beat your team easy, easy.” It turns out, Native Americans are quite petty when we beat each other at sports. Finally, Katie quit the cheer team when the season was over to work at a job she never got.

I dyed my hair back to its natural brown right before football season ended. Now we were approaching the season that everyone loves and hates at the same time: basketball season. It’s the season that drives the ‘Bago Indian fans crazy because of our state champion name. They treated basketball like it was a god. Which who could blame them? We did win ninety percent of our games. They wore their pride on their sleeves. Cheerleading, for the most part, was very fun. We went out to eat after every game, we all hugged at the end of a basketball game whether, we lost or not, we even did a Secret Santa for Christmas together. My Secret Santa was Jos. She bought me a Monster energy drink, a Tokyo Ghoul t-shirt, and my favorite cookies: Chewy-Chocolate chip. Of course, things weren’t always positive.

At the end of December 2017, I realized that I couldn’t stay on this schedule of not knowing when I had free time or not. Sometimes basketball games would randomly pop out last second, making me cancel plans I had already made. Even during Winter break things were hectic. The school gave us eleven days off, I only had two of those days I had to myself. The rest of the days were used on the Lewis & Clark Basketball Conference Tournament and other basketball games that required travel. I didn’t have time to be my creative self or have time alone in general. Those two days I had, they weren’t enough. I was getting tired of always being around people and not having my own time. I’m an introvert, being around a large crowd all day drained me pretty fast. Then there was being terrified of being hit by a basketball, I didn’t like that. I signed up to be someone with a voice that benefits others, not someone on the battlefield asking to get hit by a basketball.

Quitting wasn’t an option. I knew what would happen if I did, the backlash would strike me very hard, and I was already sensitive as is. Cheerleading would look good on college applications. I could push through, right? I could make it. Speech season had just started and I was co-captain, my grandfather was battling lung cancer at the time, I was the Queen in the next Sleeping Beauty Musical, practicing music to perform on my trumpet at the Lewis & Clark Conference Honor Band, working on a project to present in Anchorage, Alaska, one of the only two senior cheerleaders. I felt exhausted, and I didn’t know what to do. I felt stuck in place. I only had two months left of basketball season, and I didn’t think the Winnebago Basketball Boys would make it to state. If I quit it wouldn’t hurt right?

My head was spiraling in one place. I didn’t know how to feel, and I didn’t want to quit because I knew it would hurt the team. I told my mom how I felt and she told me it’s my choice to make though, I wanted her to make it for me. This choice became so hard for me that one night I hit my breaking point, rock bottom. I was so stressed and fed up with not even being able to have time to think, I did something many would regret. I thought I could handle everything at once, be an expert multi-tasker, but I guess I couldn’t. I swallowed pills thinking it would end everything and choose for me. It didn’t; I took the wrong ones. Now what do I do? I stayed home from school that day, taking time for myself and skipping a basketball game. That was the day I made my grand decision: I quit. I quit being an official Winnebago Indians Cheerleader.

Rumors spread like wildfire when people found out that I quit: “Alex quit because she was pregnant.”, “Alex was kicked off the team because she was caught hooking up with someone in her uniform.”, “Alex isn’t so innocent. She was drinking alcohol, and someone took a picture then sent it to the coach.” These were some of the rumors that were said which were not true in the slightest. They were started by some of the girls on the cheer team and other "preps."  I was angry and furious. They hadn’t known what I just went through when I quit the team. I wanted to scream and tell the world that their dear Alex had attempted suicide, but what good what that do? Word spread around about that incident by someone I trusted and told the day I returned to school.

The deadline of the Buffett scholarship was only hours away on that very day. I had yet to even apply for a single scholarship, and I didn’t know where to start. I took a day off from attending classes and hid in the high school counselor’s office all day writing it a scholarship essay. I didn’t know if I would get the scholarship, but I knew that if I wanted to get out of a place where people were spreading rumors around about me, I better do what I could to leave. I applied for the Buffett Scholarship, and the Johnson O’Malley Scholarship on the same day. The principal and the school counselor both confronted me about the actions I had made just a day earlier. I explained how important it was that I wrote this scholarship essay within the short amount of time.

That same month, The Winnebago Basketball Boys went back to state and played in Lincoln. I didn’t attend any of the games. I didn’t want to be on a basketball court ever again. They came home with a second place championship.

I started to question myself if quitting was worth it. Would I have been able to maintain my sports and scholarships at the same time? Would writing my scholarship essays make up for the time I wasn’t on the team? I had so many questions that would later be answered. Two months later I found out that everything I had done was worth it. I came in first place in the Johnson O’Malley Scholarship competition and that I won the Buffett Scholarship.

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Date with a Dragon

Danny makes a dumbass decision, does the whole being a great date thing, and then has to fight a dragon.

Aside from Jazz’s needling about his date - “She’s not my girlfriend on the first date, Jazz, even I know that.” - and his mother doing her very best to make sure Danny’s suit fit perfectly - “I don’t even know what color dress she’s wearing but probably more vibrant than this, Mom.  No, I am not judging your style, this cinnamon suit just isn’t the right color for the first date.” Danny was feeling pretty good about his date with Paulina.

“Suit and corsage - which is likely the wrong color but whatever - Dad’s indestructible fishing line, the Fenton Thermos™, my Wrist Ray™ aand Tuck how’s my-”

“Your breath smells like you found a bush of mint, put it in a jar of water for two days straight, and just downed all the cold brew tea.”  Tucker wrinkled his nose at Danny and took an exaggerated step back. “Seriously if you reach for another mint I’m stealing it.”

“You have breath spray Tuck,” Danny pointed out.  “Hell, I bet you’ll spritz it in James’ mouth yourself.”

“Anyway, Sam, find anything about the dragon in your edgy goth library?”  Tucker raised a brow. “If not I can head to the internet.”

“Matter of fact, Casanova, I found a website digging into the supernatural history of the world.”  Sam sent a link through the skype chat and Danny recognized the dragon immediately. “The amulets of Arragon, prized treasures of the medieval kingdom’s royal family, had the souls of ancient dragons trapped within them.  When a wearer is overcome with intense anger or duress, they would transform into the raging spirit within, only gaining control of this form over time.”

“That… is the amulet I gave to Paulina…”

“Says here that the records of the two amulets remain but the items themselves were burned with the prince and princess’ bodies as they died.”

“It must’ve fallen in my bag when I shot that dragon with the bazooka- wait.”  Danny pulled at his hair. “I’m going on a date with a dragon?”

“You say this as though that makes her less hot.”  Tucker held up his hands in defense when Danny bore down on him with a glare.  “ Literally hotter.”

Sam groaned and rolled her eyes.  “Like I said, Danny, looks are deceiving.  You two have fun at that shitty dance. I’m gonna look into finding out if there are any more magick things out there to get.”  Danny frowned, looking at the screen through the lens of that second realm. The humming beneath and around Sam sounded bitter over something.  And she’d been sour every time the dance was brought up, even though she brought it up most.

“Fuck, I think Sam wants to go to the dance.”

“Dude,” Tucker shook his head.  “It’s Sam. She would’ve said something if it was important to her.”  A look from Danny and Tucker groaned. “I meant she’d have asked someone out.”

“We’re her best friends, Tuck, we shoulda seen this sooner.  Sam is the one to bring up Paulina and she’s mad about how pretty she is but I think that’s just her feeling jealous that all the guys wanna ask Paulina out for who she is on the surface but not Sam.”  Danny leaned back against the table and scratched his head.

“I guess even Sam can be insecure,” Tuck admitted, “but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Danny hummed, raising a brow at Tucker.  “How attached to James-”

“ No , Méiyǒu, absolutely not.”  Tucker glared at Danny, clearly ready to charge up the Wrist Ray™.  Unfortunately for Tucker, Danny had yet to make his Dumbass Teenager Decision™ of the month.

Tucker woke up to Danny waving goodbye.  Pulling down his suit’s cuff, Tucker took aim at Danny’s backside and, knowing Danny was tougher than an ectopus, zapped him in the back of his hazmat.  Danny rubbed his mildly sore butt and flew off fast as he could, invisibly, and Tucker put the weapon away. “Best punch I can land on him, clearly. Do I tell Sam before or after?”

Sam opened the door and Tucker couldn’t help but stare.  Wild pigtails, purple eyeshadow, a black top with netted sleeves that met with fingerless black gloves, and a lavender bottom half to the dress all seemed to sparkle in the moonlight.  “By the Allspark,” Tucker gasped, not sure how to feel about the entire situation. On one hand, Danny did something fucked up and needed to be taught a lesson. On the other, Sam looked happy to go.  And he could definitely count on her to be cool with him not trying to impress.

“Yeah, dumb I know.  C’mon, let’s go.” Tucker followed as Sam pulled him along to the dance.  “I started looking into like, nature magick and all that, and found some cool stuff on how to make a druidic focus.”

“Sweet!  Tell me more.”  Yeah, Danny was getting off easy this time.

Danny rose out of the ground in front of Paulina’s house, his midnight blue suit reappearing on him in a pop as he dropped from the void.  "Paulina, that I really like you a lot, and I’m sorry, but that necklace is actually my mother’s and I need it back.“ Danny smacked himself after knocking.  "Stars, that’s a horrible pitch.”

The door opened and Danny was reminded that he was unfairly short by the towering figure of Paulina’s father.  Barrel-chested and clearly a man who worked with his hands. He was also glaring balefully at Danny. “If you hurt her,” he said in a deep and gravelly voice, “you and I are going to have a violent talk.”

Well, I’ve never had an adult threaten to assault me before.

Before that could go anywhere Paulina walked out in a form-fitting pink dress that sparkled at the bottom, complimented by the amulet around her neck.  If he listened closely through the second realm Danny could hear the rumbling of a gigantic beast and the crackling of flames. “Papa, you’re scaring him!”  Paulina lightly chastised and strolled past them both down the stairs. “We don’t wanna be late, Danny.”

“Have a wonderful night pumpkin!”  The cheer in the man’s tone was like whiplash for Danny, especially when he added in another growl, “I know where you live.”

“I’m so glad we had this chat.”  Danny turned and followed after Paulina, a smile on his face.  "Uh, you’re beautiful. Which is uh, well you’re always beautiful but stars, that dress looks amazing on you and I’m not sure what you did to your hair but it looks great.“

Paulina paused for a moment and smiled at him.  "Well, you’re pretty cute yourself, Danny. That’s a nice suit.  Did you pick it out yourself?”

“Mom and I fought on the color of it - she wanted to go with burnt cinnamon of all things.”  Paulina made a gagging noise and Danny laughed. “Right? I swear I’m the only one in the house who understands how colors work.  Speaking of,” Danny pointed to Paulina’s gloves. “ The sparkling brown on your nails really works great with your eyes, what color is this ?”

Paulina gave Danny an odd look, eyes wider by a fraction and smile a touch more relaxed.  "It’s hazel. You speak Spanish? “

“ Oh, yeah, my dad’s mom was from Spain, she taught me how to speak Spanish a while ago and Dad and I use it from time to time .”  Danny felt his cheeks heating up, directing the hum of impending intangibility into that heat blossoming in his face.

“ Delightful!  Aren’t you full of surprises? ”  Paulina giggled and hooked her arm in Danny’s.  " Oh, we’re here!  C'mon! “  Danny was pulled along into the crowd of students awkwardly dancing around each other and doing their best not to get in trouble with Lancer and the chaperones.  ” So, are you looking into cosmetics? “

“ Ah, no ,” Danny chuckled. “ I know what I do about colors from my art.  I uh, I draw, and sometimes Tucker convinces me to sell a commission online or to the guys around the school .”

“ That’s amazing, Danny!  I’m planning on becoming either a journalist, an actress or a model myself .”  Paulina’s aura gave off waves of pink and the lilt of bells.  Danny could, frankly, listen to that and Paulina talking about cosmetics and modeling all night.  But, his eyes and ears strayed to the crackling fire within the amulet and Danny sighed.

Handing the cheerleader a cup of punch Danny rubbed the back of his neck.  "Paulina, about that necklace…"

“It’s wonderful Danny!  I haven’t taken it off since you gave it to me.”  She looked so very happy about it, which made the bandage he was about to rip off so much stickier.  Looking around, Danny spotted Sam and Tucker, and the perfect story spun in his mind.

“I gotta be honest with you, cause I really do like you.  That necklace wasn’t mine to give you, and I need it back.  It must’ve fallen in my bag at some point but it belongs to Sam.”  Paulina snarled, sending a shiver down Danny’s spine and her tongue stuck out serpentine and green to slurp up the whole cup of punch in one go before shattering the cup.  Plastic cups don’t break That easily. “I uh, I can get you something better though! I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you so far and if I can get that amulet back maybe I can… draw something for you for free?”

Before Paulina could answer, Danny shivered, and power rippled through that second realm like a wave, appearing on that level of reality like fire sweeping over the dance.  It seemed to ignore everything in its path until it bounced off of the amulet around Paulina’s neck. Cygnus, that’s probably the ghost the amulet is supposed to be with.  Danny sucked in a breath and held up his cup.  “I’m gonna go grab a broom to sweep up the shards of your cup.”  Danny handed Paulina his own cup, and then rushed off into the crowd, drawing the light into himself and hiding in the pocket of unnoticeable shadows midway through.

Finding Tucker and Sam was easy enough, he could find their auras anywhere it seemed.  Slipping back onto terra firma, Danny tapped Sam’s shoulder. “Guys, emergency. I can sense the presence of the ghost who that amulet belongs to, I can see pings of ghost fire covering the place and bouncing off of it.”

“Well fuck, that’s just great.”  Tucker groaned.

“Have you gotten it away from Paulina yet?”  Sam arched a brow at Danny’s shrug, which was fair as it was probably the worst answer.  “Do you have any sort of plan?”

“Uh, you keep an eye on Paulina to keep her safe while Tuck and I search for the ghost?  I can’t tell where it is, exactly, which is ridiculous. There’s just so much energy around here that there’s no way to pin down the source.”  Danny huffed. There was some sort of power that came off of everyone at the party, radiating off of the people like light from a bulb, and Danny could feel himself soaking it in.

Sam snorted, pulling out her phone.  “This dance just gets better and better.  Text on sight?”

“Natch,” Tucker said as he jogged off in one direction.

“Remember Sam, don’t make her angry.”

Sam scoffed as she found Paulina and followed her into the bathroom.   As if I need reminding.  “Hey, Paulina.  Nice dress.”

Paulina turned around with a smile, gloved hand over the gem.  “Yes, and it goes so nice with your amulet, doesn’t it?” Paulina’s smile was getting close to Thinly Veiled Sneer territory.  Sam had a goal, however. Danny opened up an easy grab .

“Right, about that.  My grandma gave me that amulet and-”

“Forget it, sweetie,” Paulina interrupted with a cold frown.  “I’m not giving up this little trinket, or your boyfriend Danny.”

“Boyfriend?”  Sam couldn’t help but laugh at that.  “And they say pretty girls can’t be funny.  Danny is not my boyfriend.”

“He’s not?”  Paulina sounded genuinely surprised, which made it all the funnier.

“No, he’s my best friend.”  Shrugged, Sam relaxed a bit.  “Maybe that’s why I was so hard on you when you made your joke.  I’m sorry for calling you shallow.”

“Huh.”  Paulina looked thoughtful for a moment, undoing the clasp of the amulet on her neck and Sam felt hopeful.  “Well, it’s a shame that I only agreed to come to the dance with him cause I thought he was dating you.” Sam felt her stomach drop as gold settled heavily on her.  “Here, you take this back. I need to go have a talk with your dorky friend.”

Never before had Sam’s blood boiled the way it did then like a match had been lit inside of her chest and the flame was spreading through her veins.  The metal on her skin hummed and warmed as that skin turned blue and scaly, and Sam’s last fully conscious thought was a snarled out, “Shallow little bitch!” And then all she saw was red.

Danny found himself near the girls’ bathroom when he felt and heard a growl, a roar, and a crash.  Running in, he saw a blue dragon, bigger and more terrifying than before with a human in its grasp flying away from a massive hole in the ceiling.  Danny transformed, eyes wide, and flew after her. Coming down hard, he kicked the dragon in the spine, pushing her to the ground, and landed in front of her.  “Paulina, you don’t wanna hurt Saaam is the dragon.” The dragon rising up from the green and white turf of the football field, furrowed brow covered in a plate of thick scales and spikes on her chin tossing dirt in the air as she shook it, held a latina cheerleader in her paws, not a goth with a wrist ray.

Great blue wings spread to their full 10-foot spans and a deafening roar shook the field.  “Shallow girl!”

“Definitely Sam… oh shit !”  Danny dove under the ground as a line of ghostly fire, much bigger than before, burnt the grass he was floating over.  Rising out of the ground, Danny sailed inches away from Sam’s spiky chin with his fist.  “Sam, friendo, breath mints, I got plenty.” Danny shifted into that safe spot beyond the real a second too late and teeth like daggers cut into his torso, nearly bisecting him.  Even as he slipped past, Danny was sure that he would look down and see a mess beneath him so he didn’t look.

Aiming his Wrist Ray ™ at Sam’s claw, Danny fired off a blast and caught Paulina when Sam flinched from the sting.  “Thank the stars you drop what burns instead of squeezing.” He hoped beyond hope that Paulina could handle the lack of air and slipped them through the vibrations of air and ground and light and slipped under the earth, rising up at the fence behind the bleachers before they were solid again..  Faintly, he noted Dash and some girl - tiffany? - were trembling in fear and huffed. “Get her to safety and go!”

Sam raised the bleachers entirely and tossed them behind her, tearing up the football field.  Danny pulled his trigger and groaned when Sam dodged the ray of hot green light. “Oh please, I might as well be throwing paper balls at you and you fuckin dodge it?  Are you afraid of a little gust of wind?” Danny flew to the side of the innocents and dove underground when Sam shot fire at him again. Rising up from the ground, Danny pulled on Sam’s tail and lifted her off the ground, tossing her into the air.  “Alright Phantom, think. How to deal with her?”

Remembering earlier that day, Danny sang, loud and proud, the sunlight song he’d heard.  Six notes in and Sam turned around. Taking aim, Danny pulled the trigger. It felt like he was bracing a rifle on his wrist thanks to the recoil, pushing him back as it struck Sam dead in the chest.  “Sweet beautiful Astrea!”

Sam got real close real fast, launching three jets of fire, the last of which Danny just barely phased through.  Feeling as though his bones were singed, Danny soared higher and higher. “Is that all? You breathe fire like a girl!”  Danny barely dodged the next bout of flames, but he did finally notice something important. Attached to his belt was the Fenton Fisher ™.

Whipping out the capture weapon Danny sang his song to his Wrist Ray ™ and grinned at his friend.  “What’s wrong Sammy, can’t hit me? I thought you were the one with the best aim!” Sam missed him with yet another fireball and Danny fired off another shot, stunning Sam.  Danny tossed the line and zoomed fast as he could in circles around Sam, pulling the line taught. Wings pinned to her back and too enraged to consider ghostly flight, Sam fell to the ground 20 feet below with a thunderous thud.

Danny descended at top speed and unclasped the amulet from Sam’s neck, watching with absolute relief when her body shined with inner light and the ethereal draconian form folded in on itself until only Sam remained.  Transforming back into his human self, Danny stumbled his way down the dragon indent in the turf and knelt next to a waking Sam. “Hey, you ok?”

“I feel like I just had the biggest fight in my life, then cried all the anger out of myself.”  Sam slowly stood up with Danny’s help. “What happened?”

“You had a roaring time it looks like,” Danny said with a chuckle.  “C’mon, let’s get out of here. I think I hear sirens.” Listening closely, Danny did hear the sound of police sirens, and transformed again, turning the pair invisible and flying away from the football field.

Sam looked down, seeing only darkness but definitely hearing the roar and feeling the heat of flames.  “What… did I do?”

“Wasn’t your fault, Sam.  Paulina did something that pissed you off, I dodged around you till I could get the amulet away.”  This would be hard to explain to his parents though. The green of the flames made their ghostly origins rather fucking obvious.

“Yeah, yeah she did, but this is… holy shit Danny.  I just saw red, ya know?” Danny gave a pat to Sam’s back, hoping it didn’t feel condescending or anything like that.  There was a buzz and Sam pulled her phone from the pocket of her dress - where on Earth did she get a dress with pockets?  “The building was evacuated and Tucker says he’s a block away with the ghostly princess who’s looking for her amulet.”

“Thank the stars.  Sooner we get rid of it the better.”  Danny followed Sam’s instructions and dove into the alley where Tucker stood, a woman wearing a fancy blue gown with bright green skin and scarlet eyes floating nearby with her hands held in front of her.  Danny set Sam down and floated closer to the ghost cautiously. “Um. Hello? I believe this is yours?”

The blond ghost’s eyes snapped from Tucker to Danny and she looked incredibly relieved.  “Oh it is! Thank you, kind sir. I found myself having a rather strenuous day and then waking to find myself floating freely in the Astral Plane without my amulet.”  She floated closer, but Danny held the amulet close to his chest.

“You aren’t going to go burning the town down after I give this to you, are you?”

“Oh heavens no!”  The princess looked aghast at the suggestion.  “I have no interest in destroying the living, sir, only in doing my best for my kingdom.”

Danny let out a sigh and handed the amulet back, smiling.  “I sure hope not, you were hard enough to get into the portal with only the front of you through.”  Danny nodded as the princess shot him a worried look, adorning her amulet. “I’m fine, though your concern is appreciated.”  In a wave of light, Danny was in his human skin and dark blue suit again. “Still alive, after all.”

The princess gasped and turned invisible, leaving the group supremely confused.  

“Weird.  Agatha didn’t react that way at all.”  Sam hummed. “Oh well. I think it’s time for us to head home before our parents think we’re hurt.”  Sam held a hand out and Tucker took it.

“Oh shit, you’re right!  I uh I need to go see if Paulina’s alright.”  Danny reached for his inner void, only for it to pull away from him.  Stumbling from the sensation of being dunked underwater and made to stand, Danny leaned on Tucker.  “What in the name of the stars?”

“What exactly happened, Danny?”  Tucker frowned. “I felt the shaking and then everyone got evacuated.”

Danny looked over at Sam, feeling a tad guilty.  “Well, Sam got the amulet off of Paulina, and Paulina probably said something provocative at best and Sam turned into an even bigger dragon than Paulina did and uh.  Well, the worst hit I took was when Sam almost bit me in half but I’m still whole.” Sam winced and Danny shrugged. “Not your fault.”

“Maybe your ghost half needs time to recover?”  Tucker hummed, pulling out his PDA to add to his notes on Danny.  “After all, do you feel the bite marks on you now?” Danny reached under his suit and shook his head.  “Maybe damage doesn’t transfer over to the other form unless it’s enough to force you into it?”

“I guess that makes… some kinda sense?  Like a self-defense mechanism?” Danny tugged on his hair.  “Whatever, I gotta make sure she’s ok. I’ll see you guys later, ok?”  Danny ran off toward the school, searching the crowd for Paulina. After a few more tries at slipping into invisibility, Danny determined that the best he had right now was sensing things on the second realm.  Keeping an eye out for Paulina’s particular shade of magenta, he found her near Dash and Tiffany, running up to her. “Paulina, oh stars, are you ok?”

Paulina looked at Danny with wide eyes and tear marks running down her face, running with her mascara.  Danny pulled a tissue out of his pocket and raised it in silent offer. “ Oh god, Danny !”  She wailed and threw her arms around him in a tight, desperate hug.  “ Oh my god Danny there was there was this this-this thing and I gave your friend her necklace back and I was telling her - oh god I’m so sorry! ”

Danny returned the embrace, rubbing Paulina’s back with a deep frown.  “ Hey, it’s ok Paulina.  Let it out, cry it out and then remember to breathe, ok?  Breathe with me?”  Danny took slow deep breaths, counting his rhythms to try and help Paulina calm down.  Thanks to his counting, Danny knew it was exactly a full minute before Paulina’s hiccuping sobs calmed down to something resembling a steady-ish breathing rate.  “ Think you can tell me what happened? ”

“ Sam.  The necklace.”  Paulina took a shaky breath.  “ I was in the bathroom and Sam came in and asked for her grandmother’s necklace back and I told her that I only agreed to go out with you to get back at her for calling me shallow cause I thought you were her boyfriend- ”

Danny felt like he’d been smacked in the face by his mother, or he would have had that ever happened to him before, and he took a staggering step back.  She thought that he was the kind of person to ask someone else out when he already had a girlfriend? She only came with him to hurt Sam? “ What? ” Danny’s voice was a quiet hiss of hurt and venom.

Paulina shook her head rapidly, and Danny faintly worried that her head might pop off.  “ No no no, I didn’t finish!  That’s why I agreed at first, cause I’m a little shallow I guess, but you were so nice and you’re genuinely interesting and I was going to apologize to you for my bad reasoning and tell you that I was having a wonderful night with you. ”  Danny nodded, still scowling but not moving away.  “ I was gonna say that, but then I heard like, a growl and a snarl, and there was this-this this flash and then I turned around and and, it was so big and scaley and- ”

Danny put a hand on Paulina’s shoulder.  “ Alright, I get it.  I think I know what happened afterward. ”  Danny sighed.  How was he going to do this?  “ Ok, so that amulet wasn’t mine or Sam’s.  It’s something more altogether, and when the person wearing it gets angry or stressed out enough, they turn into a dragon.  A weird rip in the air appeared in the park the other day and I shot the head of the dragon that came through it, knocking it back into the portal.  Its necklace must’ve come off when I did that, cause I seriously didn’t know about it till Sam looked it up.”

“ Wait… what? ”  Paulina blinked and sniffed, taking that offered handkerchief now to dab her mascara.  “ Really?”

Danny nodded.  He could handle this, he could do this, it was basically the truth.  “ Yeah, portals like that open up all the time and sometimes we have to fight the things that come out of them.  Sometimes they’re pretty cool though, once you calm em down. ”  Danny rubbed the back of his head.  “ I’m sorry for not telling you outright what it was when I realized it, but most people, ” Danny jabbed a thumb at Dash, “ Disrespect and ignore my parents’ work on everything cause of what they do publically.  I didn’t think you’d actually believe the truth without seeing it for yourself. ”  Well, that part was the truth anyway.

Paulina stared at him, her breathing mostly evened out and her aura slowly returning to its usual state - if a bit off and dark still.  “Well, where is it now?” She felt comfortable speaking about this in English, which hopefully meant she wasn’t going to tell anyone.

“With the original owner.  She managed to find us after everything and uh, so long as she doesn’t come back I’m glad it’s with her.”  Danny chuckled. “That was distressing.” Paulina let out a sigh, the buzz around her finally a speedy hum again and Danny offered a smile.  “Are you gonna be alright?”

“Yes, I think so.”  Paulina carefully wiped her face clean and pulled her phone out of her pocket.  “I need to call my Papa so he knows I’m ok.”

“Camelopardalis, that’s right .  I need to call my folks too.”  Danny pulled out his phone and turned away.  “Buenos Noches!”

Danny’s parents took his revelation about as bad as he expected.  “You gave a  ghost it’s cursed weapon back?! ”  Dad sounded like hornets again, lovely.  “Danny, that’s the monster that attacked you in the lab isn’t it?”

“The amulet transforms you during moments of anger and duress, Dad.”  Danny sighed. “She clearly was having a bad day, and she opened a portal back to the Zone right after she put it back on.”

“ What? ”  Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned that part.  “A ghost that can make its own portals? That’s gotta be a level 8!”  Dad shook his head and turned to Mom, who was tapping her foot incessantly.  “Mads?”

Mom turned her gaze to them, her aura the building growl of a wolf.  Danny gave her the biggest, widest puppy dog stare he could manage, trying to look as apologetic as possible.  Hold for one, two, three, and look down. “No allowance for two weeks and we’re going to be doing some training in marksmanship over the weekend, young man!”   Thank the stars.  Full on grounding avoided, Danny nodded and sighed.  “Now head on upstairs, your father and I need to discuss how we’re moving forward with this.  And Danny?” Mom pulled him into a tight hug, about the same time that Dad did. “Don’t scare us like that ever again, understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”  On his way up the stairs, Danny turned back to his parents with a sigh.  “She looked pretty scandalized when I implied she might rampage around town.  Pretty sure she’s just going to stay in the Ghost Zone.” And if the princess was telling her handmaiden of a being that shouldn’t exist, Danny didn’t know that.

And if Danny fell asleep unaware of the ghost just outside of his otherworldly earshot, well.  He’d find out later. After all, The Hunt waits for no one.