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skulduggery-pleasant-bp9 · 1 year ago

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Playing with a Coroner and a Detective is not wise - Skulduggery x Male!Reader Universe

WARNING!: Mention of murder, slightly insecure Reader, cursing, mention of name calling AND MORE ! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!

Part 5 – Tailor Bespoke

M/n paid for the repairs and drove home a few hours ago. His Mom called him, a bit angered, that he left Stephanie all alone in the house, until M/n explained that he had to pick up is car from repairs, and that it could have taken him hours, if he wouldn’t have left. That was enough reason for Melissa to stop and apologize to him.

She didn’t know that he had vacation from his work already. He always kept that a secret. He never said anything when he had vacation from his work, because then he worked on other things.

Soon enough, a bit into Midday, Stephanie wrote M/n, while he was in his secret little workshop, that his Uncle Gordon made for him in Grimwood, that she and Skulduggery were coming to pick him up.

M/n: Okay, but be careful and tell him to use the door, like any normal one, this time. I bought a new hinge and set the door back in. I left a key under the welcome mat. Just take it and unlock it. I am in my study, doing some research about something. I will come out as soon as I am finished.

Sassy Sissy: Okay, noted.

With that M/n put away his phone and then continued to tinker in his secret workshop. After a few minutes he heard the door being unlocked and M/n rushed to his study, changed his clothes, took his own car and house keys and then he came out of his study.

He went down the stairs and into the living room, seeing Skulduggery and Stephanie.

“Hey, Steph.”, M/n greeted.

“Hi. You have to stand in front of a full body mirror.”, she said.

“Huh ?”, M/n asked confused.

“Skulduggery pretty much used a spell to make me have a reflection of myself, that will replace me, while I am gone and with him. When I return it goes back into the mirror, I touch it and all its memories get transferred to me. It will act like you and take your place, while you have other things to do.”, she explained.

“Ah...Okay....”

M/n then went to Gordon’s old study and they followed. Skulduggery drew with chalk on it, said a few words and then told M/n to wipe it off and touch the mirror. He did so and jumped back as his reflection stepped out of it.

“Oh fuck me...”, M/n wheezed in shock.

Stephanie snorted.

“What is it ?”, she asked.

M/n pointed at the reflection.

“It looks fucking ugly ! I know for a fact that MY hair isn’t that ugly !”

She frowned and looked at him.

“What do you see ?”, Skulduggery asked worried.

“I see some dark aura around it and it doesn’t look ANYTHING like me !”

“Ah...”

She turned to the Detective.

“What is ‘Ah’ ?”

“He can’t be fooled by reflections. He can see through their façade. Don’t worry, M/n, it looks just like you. You can see through its façade.”

“So he can do magic ?”, Stephanie asked.

“A little bit. He can tell what is a reflection and what is a real person.”, Skulduggery answered.

“Huh...okay then.”, M/n replied hesitantly.

“What do you expect me to do ?”, the reflection of him asked.

“Don’t answer the house phone, besides it is a certain number. And don’t leave the house. Don’t touch my stuff either.”

“Understood.”, it replied.

“Good. Now...can I use my own car to follow ? I don’t want to be in the Bentley again.”, he pouted.

“Believe me, you really don’t want to. He came and picked me up with it, damaged. He said he got ambushed in his car. Everyone stared !”

M/n laughed his ass off at that.

“Okay ! We are taking MY car then and I will look at the Bentley, see what I can fix.”, M/n said with a smile.

“Hah ?! You can fix cars ?!”, Stephanie yelled in shock.

“Well...most of it I can. I am still working on getting parts for certain areas, so I can fix my own car, in the future, myself.”

“You could have fixed Mom’s car ?!”

“No. She said the engine didn’t work and I don’t have any replacement parts for it. Also, she is not allowed to ever know, that I studied for other, more dangerous, things, than marketing.”, M/n replied to his little sister, as they went to his garage.

“And who agreed that we are leaving MY Bentley here ?”, Skulduggery protested.

“Me and Steph, which means that you are outnumbered. I am not going to drive inside a damaged, suffering car, nor will I drive after it. We are taking my Pontiac Firebird. Suck it up, loser.”, M/n said.

Then they entered the garage and Skulduggery stopped still as he saw the Pontiac Firebird.

“Wow. It looks beautiful and very well taken care of.”, Skulduggery said and caressed the cowling.

(Design)

“Who told you, you can touch it ?”, M/n scolded and smacked his gloved hand off of his car, playfully.

Skulduggery chuckled and pulled it away. Just then he saw that M/n wore a black jacket over his other clothes, with a hood on the back of it.

“Now hop in losers. Sis, you are allowed to sit in the passenger seat. But on the way back you have to switch.”

She pouted.

“Fine...”

“Can I have the keys then ?”, Skulduggery asked, stretching his hand out.

“Who said YOU can drive MY car ? NEVER. You will navigate me. My car, my rules.”

Skulduggery was stunned at that.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to let me sit in the front then ?”, he asked M/n.

“Ask my Sister, for permission, not me. She always calls dibs on the front.”, M/n replied, shrugging his shoulders.

The Detective looked at her, with his sunglasses. She grinned mockingly.

“Now...I just want to know some things.”, she started.

“Oh dear...”, Skulduggery sighed.

“When did you two plan to tell me that Gordon was murdered ?”, Stephanie asked the two males darkly.

M/n froze up at that and he looked at her with wide eyes, while Skulduggery tensed up.

“Oh, you found out ?”, M/n asked nervously.

“Yes. And I know that you knew the instant, it was mentioned, that, he had to die for something, someone wanted. Why didn’t you tell me ?”

“Because I am a Coroner and usually I am not allowed to talk about it to anyone, not even family relatives. It is beat into my system. Sorry, little Sis.”, M/n apologized.

“Fine, you are forgiven. And why did YOU not tell me ?”, she asked Skulduggery.

“This is a very dangerous thing. This is a very dangerous world, I live in.”, Skulduggery explained.

The two siblings stared and M/n cursed under his breath, annoyed.

“Listen here, numbskull, we don’t give a flying fuck. We can handle it, we proved that much to you yesterday. This is OUR Uncle, who got murdered. Not just YOUR friend, but OUR Uncle ! This is FAMILY and whoever killed him, found it funny to do so. This is OUR business, now, just as much as it is yours. Family sticks together and you DON’T EVER mess with Family. You mess with one member, you have the whole Family on your ass next.”, M/n started, annoyed.

Skulduggery wanted to open his jaw, but M/n beat him to it.

“To make matters even worse, that person sent some Psycho to my home and was even ready to kill US, which means that we got involved in the most serious way already. We are NOT backing out now. This is a Family matter and I will turn deaf ears on anything else you will try to tell us. Now get in the fucking car and let’s go.”

“Can I at least say something ?”, Skulduggery asked.

“Make it quick. I am annoyed and my mood is soured. Doesn’t help that I didn’t sleep.”

“I only didn’t want you too deep in this, because Gordon was my friend and I felt like I owed him, to not pull his favorite Nephew and Niece into the Danger zone.”, Skulduggery explained.

“We are already inside it. Thanks to someone who was ready to murder us.”, Stephanie told him.

“The decision is not yours, anymore, to make.”, M/n added, voice tired.

“As it seems.”, Skulduggery agreed.

“So, you won’t keep any secrets, from us, in the future ?”, M/n’s sister asked.

“Cross my heart and hope to die. I swear by my life.”, Skulduggery said as he put his hand over his dressed ribcage.

“Okay.”, she replied.

“Great.”, M/n answered.

“Even though you don’t have a heart anymore.”, she said.

“I know.”, Skulduggery replied dryly.

“And technically you also don’t have a life anymore.”, M/n added.

“I know that too.”

“Then we understand each other.”, the siblings replied, satisfied.

“Get in the front seat, Loser. But I will sit in the front, on the way back home.”, Stephanie said.

“Understood.”, Skulduggery answered and got in by the passenger seat.

M/n jumped into the driver’s seat and Stephanie into the back, then M/n started the engine, the garage opened and he drove out. Before they sped off, he halted next to the Bentley.

“Get your car into the garage.”, M/n said.

Skulduggery did as he was told and then they drove off, Skulduggery navigating M/n, where to drive to.

After they were on a very long and straight road, Stephanie asked him stuff.

“What’s he like ?”

“What’s who like ?”, Skulduggery asked.

“The guy we are going to meet. What’s even his name ?”, she asked.

“Ghastly Bespoke.”, the Detective answered.

M/n choked on his own spit and tried not to laugh, thinking it was a joke. Stephanie stared at Skulduggery, trying to see that he was joking, but he wasn’t and when M/n realized he was serious, too, he was shocked.

“Wait, you were serious ? Why would anyone call themselves ‘Ghastly’ ?”, M/n asked in surprise.

“Different names fit the most different people. Ghastly is my tailor and at the same time one of my best friends. He taught me how to box.”

“And what’s he like ?”

“Proper. Honorable. Honest. And most definitely funnier, as it sounds right now. Also he is not a very big Fan of Sorcery.”

“He doesn’t like Sorcery ? Why ?”, Stephanie asked confused.

“It just doesn’t interest him.”, Skulduggery said and looked at M/n.

He seemed to have a face of understanding.

“He probably grew up with Magic and it just...became his normal life. It is not uncommon, to wish for another life and another world, when you grew up in one that is, to many, unusual and to you normal. But honestly...he should be thankful, that he is a Mage instead of a Mortal... I could give him a hundred reasons as to why he should be happy about it.”, M/n admitted.

“Why would he not be interested in Magic ? It can’t only be, because he grew up with it.”, Stephanie asked.

“The world, he reads about in books and that he sees in TV, he likes more, the world with Policemen and Robbers and human dramas and sport. If he could have decided, where he wanted to live, he would have chosen the world without Magic. Then he could have gone to school and learned a job and...he could have been normal. But he never had that Chance, of course. And he might never get one either.”

“Why not ?”, the siblings asked.

Stephanie was confused, while M/n was concerned.

Skulduggery hesitated, as if he thought about, how he should tell them this the best way, then he explained, that Ghastly was hideous since he was a Baby. M/n grew concerned and slightly defensive for the poor man, who wasn’t even present. Was the tailor alright with Skulduggery talking about him like this ?

“Not just ugly”, he said, “not just unflattering looking, but really and truly hideous. His Mother was cursed, as she was pregnant with him, and now his whole face is covered in scars. They tried everything, to undo it – counter spells, miracle cures, incantations, magical formulas, but nothing helped.”

M/n scoffed at Skulduggery and his stare, on the road, turned into a glare.

“Are you fucking serious, Pleasant ?! I thought worse, since you overreacted like this, about Ghastly ! Just some silly scars ?! That’s all ?! God damn ! You made it sound worse than it is ! I thought he was born with half of his face missing, or half rotten meat and the other was normal ! Holy shit, man ! From now on stop exaggerating everything !”, M/n yelled at him in the car.

Skulduggery was a bit taken aback at that information. Stephanie was surprised that M/n had such horrible images in his head, but then again, he was a Coroner. He must have seen stuff like that already.

After that Skulduggery explained that Ghastly always switched the roles of his parents’ jobs, to his class comrades. That he had his love for boxing from his Father and his love for sewing from his Mother. Even though it was the other way around.

He talked more and more about him and at that M/n could see that he was actually friends with the tailor and that he cared about him dearly. He was even glad that he chose clothes making, over boxing, because he made awesome suits.

Stephanie asked him if they were just going there for him to get a new suit, which he replied to with a no. His Family had a lot of historical things, art pieces and literature about the Ancients and the Sceptre. He wanted to talk to him, so they can get his permission to take a look at everything and find out how to protect themselves from it, what there was to know about the Scepter and the Ancients and more.

“I thought you don’t believe in it.”, M/n mocked.

“It doesn’t hurt to do some research about it either.”, Skulduggery only replied.

Then they arrived inside a small town and after a bit, Skulduggery made M/n stop the car.

“We are here.”, he told the siblings.

They got out, M/n locked up his car and then they followed Skulduggery to a certain building.

All the buildings looked terrible and the people hurried past them, without paying them much attention. An elderly Lady nodded at Skulduggery, as she walked past him.

“Is this one of these secret communities, you talked about ?”, Stephanie asked.

“That’s right. We tried, to make the environment as little welcoming as possible. So no one has the urge to snoop around.”

“In that you definitely succeeded.”, she muttered.

“Not really. These buildings look shabby to you, but there are people that love to spray graffiti on the walls, taint it all and then break into houses. It was a dumb idea. No matter what you do, there are always Humans that will do the exact opposite of what you tried to achieve.”, M/n countered.

“From where would you know that ?”, Stephanie asked.

“Little Sister, I had my rebel years as I was 12 years old and the behavior lasted until I was almost 14 years old. I sprayed Graffiti on buildings and walls, I disgraced ugly nowadays cars, I broke into houses, I entered buildings that were close to collapsing, I invaded property, just to steal fruit and vegetables from their backyards...I did a lot of shit a few years ago. The more dangerous it was, the more I wanted to do it. It just gave me the adrenaline I needed from time to time, to feel SOMETHING. It was wrong, but I still did it.”, M/n deadpanned.

“Did Uncle G know ?”, she asked.

“He did. He tried to stop me and at some point he threatened me that he will turn me in by his friend, for a few weeks. To teach me a lesson. I think he meant Skulduggery with that. I got out of my rebel years after I almost got Uncle G in deep trouble. I have no idea how he got out of them, but let’s just say...it gave me a huge scare.”

She stared at her Brother in shock. He chuckled.

“What ? I know I was bad, but you never saw anything, so I wasn’t a bad influence.”

“You are so sweet and caring ! How did I miss that ?!”, she yelled.

M/n laughed and ruffled her hair.

“You missed it, because I hid it well.”, he said.

“That is so NOT fair !”, she complained.

M/n shook his head.

“So, rule number one, don’t judge the outside of the buildings. They are supposed to look like crap. That doesn’t mean that the inside is just as crap. Noted.”, M/n said.

“Very good.”, Skulduggery praised.

Then he started to pull Stephanie’s leg about Octopus humans, which M/n found utterly ridiculous. He laughed as Skulduggery told her that they don’t exist, that would be a nightmare to deal with, which she only glared at the Skeleton.

Before they knew it, they entered through a door and it was warm, smelled nice and it looked cozy. M/n was already feeling like home in there. He thought that the puppets, that stood there, for a second, will act like security, but they stayed puppets and did what puppets did.

Then a man with his face covered in scars, come out from the back room. Ghastly Bespoke. M/n was in awe at all the scars. After two seconds, he looked away, not wanting to seem disrespectful. He smiled at them and shook Skulduggery’s hand, welcomingly. He had broad shoulders too. M/n looked at his Sister, who intensely stared at Ghastly, so he smacked her over the back of her head.

“Ow !”, she yelled and glared at M/n.

“Take a picture, it will last longer. Staring at people is rude.”, M/n scolded.

“I’m used to it.”, Ghastly replied.

M/n looked at the tailor.

“It doesn’t make it right.”, he argued back and then glared at his Sister again.

Ghastly still smiled and looked at Stephanie. M/n felt slightly protective, but for now he suppressed the urge to jump into action. He was nice until now. Stay...calm...

“Do you want to shake my hand or do you want to start with something easier, like wave ?”, the tailor asked, with no malice in his voice.

She suddenly blushed from embarrassment and stretched out her hand quickly. It almost made M/n laugh. He grinned and tried badly to hide his snort with his hand. He never saw her, this shy before. It was so funny.

His hand had no scars. So it was really just the face and head. Poor guy.

“Do you have a name ?”, he asked her.

“Not yet.”, she replied softly.

“Think very carefully, if you really want to have one, before you continue to think about it. This life is not for everyone.”

She nodded slowly. Then he looked at M/n and he stretched his hand out to him. M/n took it and he felt how strong his hand was and how firm his hold was on his hand.

“How about you, hm ?”, Ghastly asked kindly.

“Well, I do have, what you call, a Taken name, but it wasn’t originally for the world of Mages. My Uncle thought it best to use a Taken name, for the work I am doing.”

“May I know your name then ?”, he asked.

“It’s Corrupted. I am still working on the last name...”, M/n answered.

He nodded.

“Nice to meet you, Corrupted.”

“Nice to meet you too, Mr. Bespoke. Skulduggery talked a lot about you while I drove US here.”, M/n said mocking Skulduggery playfully.

Skulduggery muttered under his breath. Ghastly raised an eyebrow at that, his smile turning into a teasing grin.

“Is that so ?”

“You should ask your best friend. By the way, you should punch him in the jaw as hard as you can. He exaggerated about your condition, if you know what I mean. He made me believe that you lost half of your face or something, while you just have scars. He is an asshat.”, M/n snitched on Skulduggery.

Ghastly laughed.

“That bad ?”, he asked M/n and stepped away.

“ ‘He is very hideous. Was born like that as a baby and it was a curse.’ Like...when I hear hideous, I think about crippled people, people that lost their faces or worse. And then he dropped the secret why you are apparently hideous...it was scars... I was ready to punch him, but I was driving, so I just yelled at him.”

Ghastly looked at Skulduggery, who lifted his arms up in the air.

“Now, now, Ghastly ! We can talk about this !”, Skulduggery said.

Not a second later, did the tailor box Skulduggery in the shoulder.

“Ow...”, the Detective said.

“That’s what you get for scaring them so much. Dramatic Skeleton.”

“That’s fair, I suppose.”

Then Ghastly inspected both the siblings and looked at his friend again.

“Where there any problems ?”, he asked.

“A few.”, answered Skulduggery.

“Then I suppose it is time for the right garments.”, the tailor said and got out a small pad, from his pocket, taking notes.

He looked at Stephanie.

“Do you have any favorite colors ?”, he asked her, while he started to write in his pad.

“Pardon ?”, she asked.

M/n face palmed.

“Your clothes. Any preferences ?”

“I don’t really understand...”

“Not all clothes, I am making, are just examples of exquisite tailoring. Occasionally, if the situation demands of it, there have to be special needs taken into account.”

M/n nodded with wide eyes of understanding.

“Ah ! I get where this is going !”, he said happily.

“Ghastly is planning to make you clothes, that will protect you, until this whole thing is over and done with.”, Skulduggery explained, “Ghastly can make you a suit, nothing formal, that can save your life.”

“Fashion.”, Ghastly said, shrugging his shoulders.

“This is about life and death.”, he added after a short silence.

His pencil flew over the paper.

“So now again: Do you have a favorite color for your clothes ?”

“I...I don’t know, if we can afford it...”, she said softly.

Ghastly shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll put it on Skulduggery’s bill. Go crazy.”

M/n smirked and chuckled.

“I like him.”, he said and looked at his Sister.

She only blinked. She wasn’t prepared for this. She only went shopping with her Mom and Brother before.

“I don’t really know...black ?”

Ghastly nodded and wrote something into his notebook.

“With black you can’t go wrong.”, he said.

“Black and white are THE fashion colors. Almost every color suits them.”, M/n agreed.

Ghastly smiled and looked at him, nodding.

“Exactly.”, he confirmed.

Then he looked at him and started to draw into his notebook again.

“What about you ? Any favorite color ?”

“Oof...My good man...you are asking too much of me.”, M/n chuckled.

“He almost loves every color.”, Stephanie joked.

He glared at her.

“Do NOT ! But I can never decide.”

“Name some.”, Ghastly offered.

“Okay...Sapphire blue, night black, cyan, ruby red, blood red, forest green, emerald green, gold, silver, amethyst purple, dark blue, Zaffre, Smalt and Vantablack. I guess, surprise me. I have no idea what would look best on me with clothes in these colors.”

“I might have a few ideas already. Anything else ?”, Ghastly asked.

M/n blushed in shame.

“Was I that obvious that I wanted to ask something ?”, he asked the tailor.

Ghastly chuckled and nodded.

“Well...sometimes, clothes make me sweat, long or short sleeved doesn’t even matter, even though I am always very cold. Can you do ANYTHING about that, so I don’t have to wash my clothes every HOUR ? It tends to get really bad sometimes...And nothing helps either. Deo wears off quickly and the perfume is too much and too little at the same time, no matter the brand.”, M/n asked shyly.

He seemed stressed about it, which he was. He was always cold, but still, his armpits, back and chest sweat a lot, no matter what he did, nothing helped and his scent overthrows everything, which, is supposed to hide it away. Even stuff, that is supposed to stay strong for DAYS, has no chance to cover it up for longer than two hours.

“Hmmm...I think I have a few tricks up my sleeve, to help with that.”, Ghastly replied and noted it down.

“Anything else ? What design should they be ? Suit or something more normal ?”, Ghastly asked.

“Uhmm...Let me think....I think, about any other problems, I am clear. Just the sweating issue. I am unsure, I like wearing suits from time to time, but I also like to wear long sleeved sweatshirts, normal pair of jeans and a jacket. As long as I have a hood on my jacket, I walk around with these.”

“Because you wanna feel cool.”, Stephanie muttered.

M/n looked at her, then away.

“No, it’s because sometimes, I feel insecure and wanna hide away, Sissy. Believe it or not, even smart people, like me, feel unsure of themselves, sometimes. The hood helps me to hide away, but I also have moments where I wear a suit and aren’t afraid to show off. So honestly, whatever ya think is best, Mr. Bespoke. I have no issues with anything.”

“You still hate zoning people in.”, M/n’s sister accused.

“He looks clever and creative. I want him to be creative. He can surely come up with something cool and whatever it will look like, I will like it. I never had issues with clothes. As long as they fit, I will take them.”, M/n argued back to her.

She looked at him skeptical.

“Heck, he could make a potato sack for me to wear and, as long as it would fit me, I would wear it. Clothes are clothes. I never had a certain taste in them.”

Ghastly was surprised at that and looked at his best friend, who seemed a bit saddened. The tailor was determined to make something that will fit M/n perfectly. Stephanie looked at Ghastly.

“My Brother also loves pockets. A LOT of pockets and they have to be deep. The pants and jackets, he likes, have very flat and small pockets, which, not even his phone would fit into. It would always fall out, just like his keys. He also needs belts sometimes, because the rubbers in the waistbands of his pants, tend to not do their job properly. Maybe he also needs an extra large pocket on his pants, because he will need to carry around a knife all day, thanks to his job.”, she added to the list.

M/n looked away and sighed. Why did his Sister know him so well ?

“What is he doing, that he needs to carry around a weapon ?”, Ghastly asked concerned, noting down the infos.

“He works as a Coroner for humans, but he gets ‘special’ victims recently. People, that died from things, which, came from our world. No one wants to investigate it, or seems to find it, but he does. He sent me a few things and gave me the report of someone already, to go over it. We will be working together from time to time, because of this. Better him, Gordon’s Nephew, than anyone else. He can keep this a secret, someone else, probably won’t.”, Skulduggery answered.

“But being a very successful, observant and smart Coroner, like me, draws a lot of attention to you and that is why I always have to be armed. One downside of my job, people trying to murder you and make you shut up. But I wanted to do it and Uncle supported my paths. That is also why I already have a Taken name. I work with the name ‘Corrupted’ as the Coroner, so my Family stays safe. If anyone would look up anything about me or my Given name, they would find nothing that connects us. So my Family is safe.”, M/n explained softly.

Ghastly stared at M/n in shock.

“How old are you again ?”, he asked.

“Sixteen, but I feel way older than I am, thanks to my past. I was very smart too, so I was sent from the first grade, to the tenth in less than 6 months and as I succeeded in all the difficult tests, that, I never really learned in school, but still could answer correctly, they let me graduate earlier and I was instantly in university, then I started scholarships. I raced through College, as Uncle G stated. I was too smart apparently. I started my job as Coroner with 13 years of age.”

Ghastly stared at M/n in utter shock.

“When were you taken into school ?”

“I was adopted with six years of age, by my Sister’s Family and Uncle G instantly suggested, to put, me into a school, because I seemed very smart. I read one of his books and told him that he had a lot of typos, which he never saw. When he asked me math questions, I always had the answers. He saw potential in me and that’s how I enrolled. After two months of me being, very intelligent, they tested my knowledge and made me race through all the other grades. I always came out with the mark one. In every subject. Then I was in tenth grade and I raced through it just as quick with everything. Then I had University, which I finished in a year and then I was supposed to figure out what scholarships I wanted to make. Uncle G helped me and with that I started my three years of learning. After I was finished I started to write applications to different places and nailed an apprenticeship as a Coroner. I got the job two months later.”

Ghastly was impressed and shocked.

“Gordon really wasn’t bluffing then. He talked a lot about you. I am surprised, really. I thought he made that up, to mock people that weren’t really smart.”, the tailor said sheepishly.

“It’s fine. You don’t meet someone, like me, everyday. I am...an abomination. Not normal.”

“Who called you an abomination ?”, Stephanie asked a bit angered.

“School kids, University people, scholar people and even some of my colleagues at work. I am a freak for being so smart and observant. I never leave a stone unturned. I get all of the work, because they all don’t like me very much. Only my Boss does.”

After M/n finished answering his Sister, he pulled his hood over his head, hiding away. They all felt sympathy for him. But Ghastly knew how that felt best.

“I am sorry, that you were treated like this and it goes on. I can relate.”, Ghastly said softly.

“I know you can. I am sorry for you too, that nothing worked out for you. But let us be honest, if you would have been a human and not a Mage, you would have never met some people that are either your friends now or even people you can just turn to, for help. Believe me...the Mortal realm isn’t all that great either. What you read in books and see on the TV, is not reality. The reality is way darker and depressing than what you would expect.”, M/n told Ghastly, with a soft voice.

Ghastly stared at M/n in surprise and confusion.

“It is like the books we Mortals read about Magic. It sounds awesome and all, but it is also very dangerous. We read books and watch TV shows about magical worlds and wish to be there, anywhere, but in the reality, we live in. You do the very same, just reversed. You have no clue what is really going on in our reality.”, M/n explained and then looked away.

“And you do ?”, Stephanie asked.

“Sis, I am a very intelligent kid, with a dangerous job. I help solving a lot of cases and I keep improving with my knowledge about everything. Because I am so young and very smart, I get a lot of requests to work for other people. A few times I was interested and decided to risk a small peak into what I would have to do. You don’t want to know what I’ve seen. It was scarring. I started to ignore such requests and stayed with my job instead. It...was for the better.”

Ghastly grew concerned.

“What did you see ?”, he asked.

M/n turned to him with a small smile.

“Maybe another time, if there ever will be another one. I...don’t want to talk about it.”

They decided to shut up about it. Ghastly left and went for the back room again.

“Does he not have to take measures to make our clothes ?”, Stephanie asked.

“A look is enough to him.”, Skulduggery told her.

“I suppose experience and stuff.”, M/n stated.

“Something like that.”

Skulduggery lead them through a door that was a bit further in the back, it lead to a small living room and it didn’t take long for Ghastly to arrive again. Stephanie and Skulduggery sat down on the small couch, while M/n stayed up, standing straight.

Stephanie looked at her big Brother in concern.

“Do you want to sit down and I sit on your lap ?”, she asked.

She blushed slightly in embarrassment, but she was willing to be a bit embarrassed. Her Brother could never stand for very long. He would start pacing soon enough and not stop for hours to pace. He said, he did that, because his legs otherwise started to either hurt or he wouldn’t feel his blood flow after a while. He bounced his legs a lot too, for the exact same reasons.

“You sure you want that, little Sister ?”, M/n asked.

“Yeah. I know how you get otherwise.”, she answered and got up.

M/n sighed and sat down in her spot and Stephanie sat down on her big Brother’s lap after that. He held her close and looked at Ghastly.

He sat on the armchair that stood in front of them. He had his fingertips laid on top of each other, that his hands formed an A.

“And now I would like to know, what is going on.”, Ghastly said.

Masterlist HERE !

#Playing with a Coroner and a Detective is not wise - Skulduggery x Male!Reader Universe #Part 5 – Tailor Bespoke #skulduggery pleasant #derek landy #male!reader #not the canon au #read warnings above #my au #skulduggery pleasant x reader universe #ghastly bespoke #Stephanie Edgley

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vodrae · 1 year ago

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DC Comics highschool AU where Bruce 18 and Harvey 18 are the golden twins (lovers) of the football team, but after an injury, Harvey is replaced with that nerd from smallville who's in the school's newspaper, and he's able to make Bruce cheer too !

Grrr

So Harvey's integrating the cheerleaders (and debate) team to stay close of the field and his mentor is the girl rumoured to be the great grandgirl of the last Chinese Emperor Talia Al-Ghul.

In this AU, there is an unofficial club of heavily mentally scarred gothamite kids, you know who i'm talking about, and they have been adopted by the Golden Twins (lovers), so better not mess with them.

Everybody knows Dick 17 , he has to settle down in Gotham when his parents died and social services were looking for a solution, Alfred Pennyworth took him in, he was there with Bruce that night. Captain of the gymnastic team, no enemy guy, the only one able to shine brighter than Harvey. Someone tried to mess with his girlfriend once, Kori Anders, apparently he also learnt muay thai on the road.

Jason Todd 16 , Stephanie Brown 15 , Duke Thomas 14, Harper 16 and Cullen Row 14 can't and won't deny coming from Park Row, sorry, crime alley, Duke is actually from Bristol, but you know, nuances are too complicated. They met each other in foster system and Dick too.

One day, when the orphanage was running very low on money, Jason appeared with multiple bags of food. The others thought he was joking when he said he stole the 4 wheels of the mayor's Bentley, when he, Jacob Kane, came with the police they weren't joking so much.

Long story short, they are Kane's wards now, it's was a package deal.

Jay and Duke are making the glorious hours of writing club, Jason would like theater and Duke chemical but Jacob made them pick a sport, Jason was kind of forced to go to the football defensive team, (Jake didn't digest the L against Metropolis in 86) and Duke for the running team. As fast as light.

Steph is Lois Lane's right hand for the school's newspaper, she's running their social medias with great sucess and is the head of gossip departement. Clark is the left hand for the investigation departement. She won against Jason, Harvey, Clark and others *wink wink* the biggest eater contest. She's now a subject for the quantum physics club.

Harper leads the electronics club, the school still remembers when her dog sized spider drone was unleashed. She's also in the kickboxing club.

Cullen is vibing in the theater and art club.

Kate Kane 18 can't stand all the dumbasses above but if she has a dream where you are glaring at them she will break your knees. Her father wanted her to do ballet, she's doing music and kickboxing. Bullying is her love langage.

Tim Drake 15 is a little genius coming in HS at 12, a unique feat until a certain someone from middle east came to school... He's driving Edward Nygma insane by solving all his riddles, photography and and electronic club. His parents are rich but always absent. 7 years ago, Alfred invited him for thanksgiving, never really left since.

Damian Al-Ghul 13 and Cassandra Wu-San 16 are cousins, they are not related but their family have known each other forever and Cass was there the day the demon spawned. Damian is Dusan's Al-Ghul son, who's 30 years older than his little sister Talia, the two are really too much well trained in martial field to be normal. Damian's is leading the escrima club.

Cass, despite being mute, is leading kickboxing club, noboby ever won a round against her. In the entire country. Except for her big sister Sandra Wu-San, also known in professional wrestling as Lady Shiva, who could give her a draw. Also she can't use technology to save her life.

The Wu-San are the adopted daughters of Dinah Drake (second cousin of Tim) and Ted Grant, a former world heavyweight boxing champion and a professional wrestler known as Wildcat. Together they have a bio daughter, Dinah Jr Laurel Drake-Grant.

A girl, Selina Kyle 18 claims she's not related to them but still has a permanent room in their house if she wants to come. Teddy met Jacob Kane in the army and were deployed in middle east together, he found his girls in some destroyed village in the Middle East and resigned right after.

Talia and Damian are from one of the oldest Asian family, and very old money. Some argues that was their family who created the first philosopher's stone. Their grandpa being the only person on Earth from the XIX century still alive is not helping. Ras wife's family helped the Americans in the Middle East that how he met Ted and Jacob.

Talia 18 is in the cheerleading club because of her HUUUUUUUGE crush on Bruce Wayne, best grades ever everywhere. Wants to become a vet.

Nyssa 17 Al-Ghul is in the kickboxing club and write her secret stuff just for her.

Barbara Gordon 17 is the daughter of the commissionner, someone shot her, she's paralysed. She's the captain of wheelchair basketball and in the electronics. She's a godess at armwrestling. For real she's an hydraulic press. She's really close of Dick Grayson and maybe she has adopted Steph, Cass, Harper as hers. Her own pose in school is with Dinah Laurel and Helena Bertinelli.

She's very competitive and will take very badly if Tim is just behind her again at the Olympics of hacking this year.

Diana 18 (who is at least as tall as Clark, i'm right on this) is leading the wrestling team and history club, she's a exchange student from Greece from a monastry where men are forbidden as a diplomatic move with her sisters. (in reality the opposite exists, for real). Her accent makes every boys and girls fall for her. She has a very strong sens of justice. One day she saw Bruce and Clark, not even talking together and..."Your mine now ! We're having tacos tonight !" They knew they couldn't negotiate.

Ollie Queen 18, everybody knows he will go to a board school one of the four (three) true childhood friends of Bruce Wayne. Captain of the archery team. Came with his own crew, all in the team. Desperatly in love with Dinah Jr.

Zatanna Zatara 18, her father was a close friend of Thomas Wayne, she's on a very good way to become a magician herself. One of the four (three) true childhood friends of Bruce Wayne. Leads theater club.

Hal Jordan 18, wants to become a jet fighter, obsessed with construction games. Mathematic club and running team.

Kendra Saunders 18, also known as Hawkgirl, because the week-end she's doing BASE Jump.

John Jones 18 and his half-sister Megan Morse 17, they are refugees from oversea after a coup. They love the special effects in movies and theaters so they are is this club. They came with

Kori Anders 17, princess in exile of Tamara, she's a really sweet girl so the school asked their sweetest student to guide her through her new life : Dick Grayson. Nobody knows how she mastered english in so little time. She had troubles with the differencies beetween the two countries. Everyone's favourite. Hurting, even a little Kori is declaring war to the whole school. She's also taller than anybody and very muscular. She kinda adopted Jason ?

Rachel Roth 14, is the daughter of the King of Azaroth, nobody really knows where it is. She's in the meditation and spiritual club. The only one allowed to hug, kiss, and touch her is Kori. The constant barking with Damian Al-Ghul can't only be hatred.

Donna Troy 17, Cassie Sandmarks 15 and Artemis Grace 16, they came with Diana. They all had a "Oh my god, he's so pathetic, I love him." With a Gotham Boy. They are all very tall and strong and in the weightlifting club.

Clark 18 and Jon 14 come from Smallville and are, 1) the sweetest guys ever, 2) fucking STRONG, there is a video on the differents groupchats of them, lifting the school gargoyle after a storm. Maybe farm strenght isn't the only explanation.

Kon 15 and Bizz 14 are from metropolis, Ma Kent's sister married Papa Luthor and they had Lex and then one rebelious and one albino with a speach impeachement, who is also the size of a polar bear. But, beware, Bizz is Jason Todd and Artemis love child. They haven't really figured yet what they want to do. Bizz is in special class with Cassandra Wu-San so you can regulary see her on his back giggling.

Linda 17 and Karen 18 kent, cousins of Clark by Pa Kent came back in town a few years ago after they lived their whole life in California. Linda is in the well-being club and liked by everyone. Karen is more on the amazonians side of the force and can't help herself but have homoerotic sparring with any strong woman on sight.

Dinah Jr Laurel Drake-Grant 18 embrassed her mom legacy and already took the mantle of Black Canary and can already put stages on fire. Her perfect figure must not makes you forget that she can beat your ass in seconds because she's in the kickboxing club too. Probably why Ollie is so in love. If you ask her if she's single, she would either tell you to fuck off if dhe doesn't like you or tell you she's already married with further explanation. (Could be either the stage, or Barbs and Helena).

Roy Harper 17 is in the archery team and music club with Dinah, nobody can sing the country and blues like him. He kinda adopted Jay with Kori too. Him and Jay made a pact to quit alcohol and drugs after they had a bad trip together on a joint in the toilet at a party together.

Lian Harper 14 is his little sister and will stay single until she's 30, at least. Well, everyone on the Arrow Team would like that. She loves hanging out with Dick and the others. Archery team too.

(I don't actually quite know a thing on the rest of the team, but they are there and well.)

The Allens all have their buddies too and are putting the race tracks on fire. Their father Jay Garrick holds multiple records of speed and gold medals. But not for long to his hapinness.

The Curry family comes from the islands in pacific ocean and are setting new records every years in swimming competition. They are all in bio courses to study marine life.

Harley Quinn 18 went in school with Bruce after his parent's murder, saw him sad, and never left him. One of the four (three) true childhood friend. She won't follow any rules but she's not a bad person. Wants to help everyone with their mental health, got a pretty big tik tok account and instagram on this topic. Her ex boyfriend, Jack, made her do bad things. But her (girl)friends Pamela, Selina and Bruce and a few others (all the people above) quickly talked to him. (Alfred signed a 100 000 dollars check for surgery)

Pamela Isley 18 leads the botanic club, she doesn't like people, like at all, would talk to grass but not you, she only started to like her figure when Harley couldn't stop ranting about her "water melon boobies" and "starship butt" in PE's locker room . Anybody else would be dead, but...It was Harley ? And Selina was laughing her ass off.

Selina Kyle 18, aka Catgirl because she's always wearing stuff with cat, her bagpack, cat ears, cat make up. She has a super model walk and won't accept shit from anyone. She wants to be a vet with Talia.

Jack Napier : still in the coma. AKA Joker, a nickname gained in jail for minors.

Thomas Eliott 18, the minus one true childhood friends of Bruce Wayne, wants him dead. Jealous that he had his inheritance before him.

(I spent 4 hours on this. Why ? BECAUSE I'M BATFAN)

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earthboundguythatlikesmother1 · 8 months ago

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Batman: Wayne Family Adventure is a cute little webcomic series that's just meant to be more relaxed and just overall a slice of life.

I feel like an even more interesting thing about it is that in 2021, at some point it even had a 3 Parter live action mini web series of it that was going to be released on Ismahawks' channel on October in that same year.

They even had the cast which goes as follows:

Jonathan Bentley as Bruce Wayne

Lisa Foiles as Barbara Gordon, aka Oracle

Tim Neff as Jason Todd, aka Red Hood

Peter Sudarso as Tim Drake, aka Red Robin

Meghan Camarena as Stephanie Brown aka Spoiler

Gemma Nguyen as Cassandra Cain aka Orphan

Carter Rockwood as Damien Wayne aka Robin

Du-Shaunt ‘Fik-Shun’ Stegall as Duke Thomas aka Signal

and finally Marcus Weiss as Alfred Pennyworth

Pretty killer cast if I say so myself.

So yeah it honestly seemed like it was already finished and set to go, but there was one problem.

It got cancelled by WB, why? While there's no definite answer there is a theory that this lovely person came up with:

And yeah like it says, any trace of the teaser is all gone, vid is privated most likely will never released, and neither the show will be. I lowkey even feel bad the for the folks working on the show cause it seems like everything that they were working for was all for naught.

While I get that they should've asked for permission, it's lowkey a bummer that it'll never see the light of the day, especially cause I would've been stoked to see a proper Cassandra Cain in live action (looking at you Birds Of Prey).

For now, the most we can look forward about the Batfamily in live action is the upcoming DCU's Brave And The Bold but even I'm not sure about it cause I feel like it's too soon for a batfamily but hey, like I said in my other post, who knows and I might be impressed.

For now tho, let us just continue Wayne Family Adventures as it is, a free webcomic series. Now I feel like drawing Cass ngl.

#wayne family adventures #batman wayne family adventures #dc characters #dccomics #dc

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cagenewman · 2 years ago

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THE INSPIRATION BEHIND... CAGE LUCAS NEWMAN

something in the orange / zach bryan 🎧

burning man / dierks bentley 🎧

duet / penny & sparrow ft. stephanie briggs 🎧

cage is ... an old soul, winding dirt roads in the countryside, striking blue eyes, young love and the deeper meaning that comes with it in time, a cross on a chain tucked under his shirt, the perfect catch on a Friday night, bushels of blueberries, saw dust shavings sticking to plaid shirts, worn out work boots, a father's love.

Cage is a good-looking country boy with a heart of gold. He might not be everyone's first choice of 'gorgeous' or 'sexy' and he's alright with that. Zach Roerig was the perfect face claim to fit that kind of vibe; attractive in both a traditional and non-traditional way. Not your typical six-pack, ripped guy, more of a dad bod and great personality type. A lot of his 'aesthetic' made its way to Cage: some of the fashion choices that he explores, the cross necklace, his deep laugh, those blue eyes, things that just fit for. Of course there are some inspirations dragged from his characters. Matt Donovan's steadfastness and dedication to the town and people he loves. Will Mosley's melancholy and inner turmoil. But there were other inspirations, such as Matt Saracen in Friday Night Lights, and particularly his relationship with Julie Taylor, and how it mirrored Cordelia and Cage, not to mention Matt leaving town despite loving his girlfriend unconditionally. And Jake, from Sweet Home Alabama. A small town guy and his small town girlfriend, and how everyone thought that they would be the ones. Eventually, they were. They just had to find their way back there. The Paul Newman of it all might be more of an inside joke between Lindsey and myself, given how much I adore Paul, but... last name inspiration still counts. That, and those blue, blue eyes. And the importance of family and compassion.

Of all of my characters, Cage probably has the most 'me' in him, in terms of how family and our upbringing has shaped our lives. The deepest foundation of Cage's character is family, from top to bottom, and given how important my family is to me, it only made sense. Cage has a strong relationship with his siblings the same way that my own sibling is my very best friend. Although I am lucky enough to have both of my parents in my life, Cage does not. Lindsey and I purposely didn't delve into the loss of their father (it was previously decided with another player that their mother would have been lost during childbirth) because we never wanted the hows and whys to be the focus; it was about the family, drawing them together, carrying on the legacy left behind. It was less about the grief and more about the growth. But despite them not being in his life anymore, I wanted him to have a strong bond with his parents. Particularly his father. Fatherhood is the most powerful force in Cage's life, tying him to both his own father, and his son, who is the entire world to him. The bond between father and son was a huge thing for me to explore; Cage's own father often seeing a lot of himself in his second eldest son, teaching him the ropes of the blueberry farm, thinking he would be the one to carry on the family name because of their similar trajectory... and of course Cage's bond with his own son, abandoned by his mother before turning a year old, the two boys taking on the world together, learning about life day by day.

There are a lot of other things that I injected into Cage from me and my own interests: old houses, black cats, small town life, John Deere tractors and old Chevy pick-ups, wildflowers, sweet tea, older country music, and he'll definitely get a donkey before I do. Brat. As Lindsey mentioned, the blueberry farm came from... well, Maine. But I also grew up picking blueberries and still watching my aunts and uncles do it every summer when the bushes are ripe.

One thing that Cage did not get from me was wanderlust; that's all his own. He left town when he was younger, which was inspired simply by wanting to embrace the idea that not everyone leaves a small town for good. Eventually, they find that it's home, and they want to be back in it. Even more important than wanderlust and wanting to travel and see the world was for me to be able to explore the concept of coming home. Cage explored the United States and then came home changed. He wasn't just a boy anymore, he was a man with a son on the way and had to make the decisions to grow, to become a better person. To go after more than just working in construction (up until that point, I had him traveling with crews, which was mostly inspired by someone just... wandering around, trying to find a place that called him home), but to maybe someday move towards creating his own pocket in the world. And although he did spend one blissful summer on the road with his boy when he was older, Cage has largely lost that sense of wanderlust, again... inspired by the idea that sometimes you really are happiest at home. I know that I am, so maybe he borrowed that from me, too.

As far as his love life goes, I think I just really wanted to cement the idea that from day one, everyone who knew Cage knew one thing: he was in love with Cordelia. They knew it when he was a kid on the playground, when he swung her around the field after a win on Friday night, and they knew it when he drove away from town, too. And I wanted it to be the kind of thing that no one forgot; people saw them as adults at the football game and could feel it. His family knew it before he had even become friendly with her again, and Cage knew it the moment that he kissed her for the first time in Tumbleweed the December after they reconnected. That just sort of stole inspiration from all those cheesy love stories where two people are just destined to be together. Who could argue it? But I didn't want to play someone who just pined away for that when he didn't have it; he had to try to figure things out without her. He slept around on the road, he got a girl pregnant, he got married to prove that he could, and he still ended up dancing with Cordelia on a dirt road in her gorgeous pink dress. But from day one, it was Cordelia. The concept of fate and destiny and true love inspired that.

Personality wise, Cage was inspired by a lot of the guys you see in a small town. The ones that play football on Friday nights and hang out at the ice cream shop with their friends, but by some miracle, they end up being good guys by the end of it all. He's kind and very compassionate, and he has a good, tender heart that he doesn't show to just anyone. He can be hotheaded and stubborn and determined, but it's because he cares. There is not an evil, mean bone in Cage Newman's body, something his parents made sure of when they raised him right. He carries a lot on his shoulders, and always has, whether it be the pressure of becoming his father, the business he's built from the ground up, the mistakes it has taken him forever to let go of, the crushing worry of being a good brother, a good friend, a good boyfriend, a good businessman and a good father first and foremost, but he has broad shoulders, and he is convinced he can do it.

Owning his own carpentry and construction / restoration business was entirely inspired by my absolute hatred of house flipping gone wrong (you know, faux marble countertops, shiplap, gray walls everywhere, cheap carpeting) and wanting to play someone who cared about historical integrity. I cringe every day, watching a local home be restored and fearing for the day they remove the old, leaded, lattice windows. Cage does, too. I've always admired wood working and what people can do with a simple slab of wood, and I wanted to play someone who could make magic with their hands. Past that, I wanted him to be incredibly successful (he is!), but not let it get to his head. Cage has money in the bank, but he doesn't let it stop him from telling Colton that they have burgers at home, or to wear a t-shirt until it has holes (despite the Ralph Lauren sweater, or Hugo Boss suit tucked away). I think a lot of that was inspired by watching the way wealthy business owners in small towns can be -- sometimes, you wouldn't even know.

Overall, Cage is 'one of the good ones,' inspired by my own family and a lot of the 'good ones' you meet along life's journey.

#merrocktask #all about cage

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ellana-lavellan-rp · 2 years ago

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── top 5 song associations, share the top songs in your playlist that most inspire / represent your muses the most. bonus points if you include lyrics to go along with it.

── ; I WILL SURVIVE . by stephanie bentley i will survive, i will endure, when the goin's rough you can be sure; i'll tough it out, i won't give in; if i'm knocked down i'll get up again, as long as my dream's alive, i will survive.

── ; FIGHTER . by christina aguilera makes me that much stronger, makes me work a little bit harder, it makes me that much wiser; so thanks for making me a fighter.

── ; WHY CAN'T I? . by liz phair what if this is just the beginning? we're already wet, and we're gonna go swimming. why can't i breathe whenever i think about you? why can't i speak whenever i talk about you? ── ; TITANIUM . by david guetta ft. sia you shout it loud, but i can't hear a word you say i'm talking loud, not saying much; i'm criticized, but all your bullets ricochet. you shoot me down, but I get up. i'm bulletproof, nothing to lose; fire away, fire away.

── ; MISTAKE . by owsey confuse me with your words and don't look back, don't look back… come find me in your dreams i will wait for you, i will wait for you, though there's no guarantee. you could be making a big mistake, but I want to make them with you… if this is a mistake, then so be it.

--- ; .

tagged by: @proelio-procusi <3 ty so much hun!! this was so fun!!

tagging: @royalbstrd @dreadwxlf @arsuledin @solstice-muse-collective @kaaras-adaar and anyone else who'd like to do this :D <3

#[.:. ask meme response .:.];#i love these things #[.:. oc inspiration .:.];

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amethystunicorn2727 · 4 months ago

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Unicorn Academy - Honorary Siblings

Chapter 2

September 28 - September 29, 2023

Eqeoneian is a kingdom that resides on an island, far away from the rest of the countries. Since the royal family has had trust issues with the rest of the world for so many years, there's been an unspoken agreement around the world that Eqeoneian is left alone. And in return, Eqeoneian leaves everyone alone as well. As of right now, the royal children of this kingdom are Crown Prince Damian, Prince Jeremiah, Prince Michael, and Princess Talulah Fairchild. King Christopher and Queen Stephanie had the boys rather early into their relationship. Talulah, however, was an unexpected addition to the royal family, having been born by the time the triplets had become young adults. With an age gap of nineteen years, Talulah never got the change to properly bond with her brothers, and their sibling relationship is more distant than Talulah desires. Not getting the attention she wishes she could get from her parents or her brothers, Talulah ended up taking an interest in horseback riding. Currently, her closest friends were the riding instructor her parents had hired, Maxwell Parker, and whichever horse she would take for her lessons.

Mr. Parker - "That was wonderful, Princess Talulah! I haven't seen such talent since I was a boy!"

Talulah - "Haha! Thanks, Mr. Parker! One more time from the top?"

Mr. Parker - "I wish we could, your highness. But your parents have asked me to have you back by 4:00. We'll pick this up tomorrow."

Talulah - "...Alright, Mr. Parker. Come on, Bentley!"

After putting Bentley back in his stall and being escorted by to the castle by Mr. Parker, Talulah gave her parents a quick greeting before heading up to her room. It was clear they were busy with whatever royal duty they'd been given, and Talulah didn't have the energy to fight for their attention. As much as she hated it, Talulah was honestly used to this pattern by now. The most affection she would receive on a daily basis is a glance from her parents, and even then, those moments were rare. Talulah tried spending time with her brothers, but with Damian being the future king, Jeremiah and his wife preparing for their baby, and Michael having his own studies, she was lucky if they had the energy to say her name. Closing the door behind her, Talulah looked around her bedroom, feeling bitter at how it was filled with treasures, but still felt hollow and empty. Christopher and Stephanie felt bad that they couldn't provide the same amount of attention to their daughter as they did with their sons, so they lavish Talulah with expensive gifts and gowns. Jewelry and tiaras made from gold and sapphire, the kingdom's national colors. Her room was littered with whatever a girl her age could ask for, but Talulah wasn't happy. She didn't want the gifts or the clothes, she wanted a hug from her parents, or a smile directed at her from her brothers. Was that too much to ask?

??? - "Your highness? The chef has asked me to inform you that dinner is ready!"

Talulah - "Thank you, Sir. I'm coming."

As per usual, Talulah was the only one at the table. Christopher and Stephanie took their food with them to continue their list of duties, and the boys took theirs to finish their studies. The servants would feel bad, and sit at the table with her, asking her to tell them about her day. Talulah appreciates those people very much, but she still wishes it was her parents that would take the time to ask her if she had learned any new moves while horseback riding. Or if she found any new books in the library she was excited to read. Honestly, she just wants them to ask her if day was even good. Finishing her food and attempting to help with the dishes, to her failure because the servants wouldn't let her, Talulah heads back to her room and sits on the bed.

Taking a journal out from underneath her pillow, Talulah writes down and draws the riding moves she did today, before looking out the window. She knew it was silly, but every night, Talulah would pray and ask to receive affection from her parents and her brothers. Hearing the silence as her answer, as it always was, the young princess switched into a night gown before walking over to her balcony. A place she liked almost as much as the stables was her balcony, where she could do anything she wanted. She could watch the waves crash onto the beach, she could count and draw the birds that flew above the castle. She could even pretend she was having a tea party with her brothers, even if the last time they had done this with her was when she was an infant.

Letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, Talulah turned around to head in for the night, only to hit her foot on something before she made her first step. Looking down, Talulah saw a box that was silver, with golden engravings and horses, with a purple button in the middle. It looked like it was connected to a lock, which kept the box closed. Picking up the box slowly, Talulah looked around cautiously before walking over to her bed and getting a closer look. Pressing the button slowly, Talulah jumped back as the lock began spinning and the sound of gears shifting filled the room. In the box, an invitation and a pamphlet instantly caught Talulah's attention. Holding the invitation in her hands, the princess tried to settle between seeing reason, and hoping for a better life.

Talulah - "'We are pleased to invite you to attend Nuncior Academy. The world's leading school for promising equestrian riders?' Hold on, this isn't real. It's a trap, I know it is. Or some kind of prank. But maybe...No! It's not real, it's a trick!"

Talulah wasn't an idiot by any means. She was a princess of a kingdom that closed itself off from the rest of the world. An invitation to a riding academy she'd never heard of, along with the fact that it had made it onto her balcony without getting caught by the royal guard? This was more than likely a trap. She couldn't trust this invitation. Whatever it was, it couldn't be real...Could it?

Talulah - "I don't get it. This is a trap, right?! But if it's not...maybe it is real. But I can't, right? I mean, my parents would miss me, my brothers would miss me. There's no way they would actually let me go. But if I did go...no, I'm not going...but maybe if I ask my parents about this. Maybe they'll let me go."

Despite saying she wouldn't, Talulah kept pacing around her room, debating whether or not accepting the invitation was a good idea. Talulah told herself over and over that her family would miss her if she went away. But deep down, she knew they wouldn't even notice if she ran away. Nobody would. This is the perfect chance to start a new life. Away from the royal titles and neglectful parenting. But she couldn't, could she? Deciding to give her parents one last chance to notice her, Talulah walked down to the throne room, the invitation shaking between her hands.

Talulah - "Mom? Dad? Can I ask you guys about something?"

Stephanie - "Talulah, darling, we're very busy right now. If you could hold off until tomorrow, we'll see you first thing in the morning."

Talulah - "But I—"

Christopher - "Princess, your mother and I are very busy right now. We're debating whether our kingdom is ready to trade with outside countries. This is a very important deal, darling. We'll talk to you in the morning. In the meantime, ask your brothers if they're interested in playing with you."

Talulah - "I'm not play—"

Christopher, Stephanie - "Goodnight, Talulah."

Talulah - "...Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight, Dad."

Making her way back to her bedroom, Talulah fought back the tears and looked at the box that previously held her invitation. Deciding that enough was enough, Talulah changes out of her nightgown and into a dress that allowed her to run freely. Grabbing the bag she hid in the back of her closet, Talulah put the invitation back in the box and threw it in with the clothes she had already packed. Truth is, Talulah had been planning to run away for a few years now. Since her tenth birthday, when all she had asked for was to spend time with her family. After sitting in the dining room for five hours waiting, Talulah ran up to her room and packed a bag. She wanted to run away that night, but convinced herself to give her parents another chance. But as of right now, Talulah was done giving chances. About to walk over to the balcony, Talulah saw something shining from her vanity. Her tiara, the one she wore everyday. It was golden with sapphires, and a bigger jewel in the middle. Talulah hated being royalty, but she kept this specific crown after finding out her brothers had designed it specifically for her. Deciding to keep it even if she was running away, Talulah snapped the box that kept her crown tucked away safely and packed it in her bag. Finally making her way to the balcony, Talulah climbed down using the engravings on the walls to get to the garden. Talulah had spent her life trying to figure out how to sneak out of the castle, hoping it would make her parents notice her disappearance. But right now, she was grateful her parents never realized she had snuck out of the castle so many times. Having memorized the guards' shifts and patrols, Talulah snuck past them without breaking a sweat. Trying to get through the woods at night would be a daunting and pointless idea, so the young princess slept against a tree once she was sure she was far enough from the kingdom. Waking up with a new sense of determination, the young princess made it to the docks and saw her ride, but became suspicious when she realized nobody was driving it. Still feeling upset from being dismissed so easily, Talulah disregarded the caution she felt and jumped into the boat.

Talulah - "Well, I've seen weirder things than a boat without a driver. Besides, a princess should be able to handle strange situations, as my so called parents would tell me—Woah! Aah!"

With the boat flying into the air, Talulah held onto the seats for dear life. After a few seconds, Talulah got the courage to check below, and saw herself flying over the sea. But before she could comprehend what was going on, Talulah saw an island in the distance, filled with trees, valleys, and mountains. In the middle of the island, there was a giant building that shined in the sunlight, and Talulah could see what looked like barns made of different gemstones and gold. Landing at the docks, Talulah grabbed her bag tightly before taking a moment to take in her surroundings. But before she could breathe, she jumped at the sudden crowd in front of her. It was a crowd of riding students her age, all of them having some portion of their hair colored. The six students at the front had outfits that looked different from the rest of the riding uniforms. But what caught Talulah's attention the most was the fact that the horses weren't horses. They were unicorns.

Talulah - "...What...is going on?"

Ms. Primrose - "Welcome to our humble island, your highness! I am Ms. Primrose, the head teacher at Unicorn Academy!"

Talulah - "...Unicorn Academy?"

Ms. Primrose - "Yes, the invitation you received is disguised as an invitation for a normal riding academy. But this is the school where promising students will learn to defend Unicorn Island from danger. We've seen and heard of your impressive riding skills, and we had a feeling that you would fit in perfectly around here!"

Talulah - "...I...uh..."

Ms. Primrose - "Don't worry, your highness. I know this is a lot to take in right now. Which is why I've assigned my most promising students to show you around!"

Sophia - "Hi there, your majesty! My name is Sophia!"

Ava - "I'm Ava! Don't you worry, you are going to love it here!"

Layla - "My name is Layla, your highness! If you'd like, I'd be happy to help you learn about the history of Unicorn Academy!"

Valentina - "Your highness, I am honored to introduce myself! I am Valentina Furi, and as one of the longest standing legacies at Unicorn Academy, I'd be honored to show you around myself!"

Isabel - "Sup, Dude! I'm Isabel, and trust me, this place is the best!"

Rory - "And I'm Rory! Nice to meet ya! Hope you like pranks!"

Talulah - "...Hi, everyone. I'm Talulah."

Ms. Primrose - "I know this is all very confusing, Princess Talulah. But don't worry, I have a feeling you'll feel right at home here. Unicorn Academy isn't for everyone, but I get the feeling that it is for you."

Ms. Furi - "At Unicorn Academy, your dormitory is chosen off of a gemstone that best suits you. The fate fairies assign all the students to their dorm rooms, and we'll have the students send you along."

A purple fate fairy flew up to Talulah, causing her to jump back. Before she could process it though, the fairy flew above her head, and a sapphire appeared over her. Ava started squealing in excitement and ran over to hug Talulah, while the rest of the gang cheered that the princess was selected to join their dormitory. Rory threw an arm over Talulah's shoulder, and the princess froze at the extra amount of physical touch. The most she had received in her entire life was one of her parents holding her hand at press conferences.

Ava - "Yay! You're gonna be in Sapphire Dorm with us! You'll be our new bestie in no time!"

Rory - "Trust me, kid! You're gonna love Sapphire Dorm, it's got everything! Including the best snacks at the Academy!"

Talulah - "Yeah...I can't wait...I'm sorry, I'm just...not used to getting this much attention."

Rory - "Aren't you a princess?"

Valentina - "Well, don't worry, your highness! At Unicorn Academy, you'll become the bell of the ball in no time!"

Sophia - "Alright, guys. Let's give her a breather. So, your majesty, you wanna head to Sapphire Dorm and get unpacked?"

Talulah - "Yeah, thank you, Sophia. I'm ready."

Layla - "Don't worry, your majesty! I'll make sure your entire room is organized to even the slightest detail!"

Rory - "So, your highness, what's it like being royalty?"

Sophia, Valentina - "Rory!"

Rory - "What? I'm just asking!"

Talulah - "It's...different, but nice, I guess. But if it's alright with you guys, can you just call me Talulah? I really don't like the titles that people use for me."

Ava - "No problem, Talulah! As your official new best friends, we promise we'll make sure you feel comfortable at Unicorn Academy!"

Talulah - "Haha! Thank you, Ava. All of you."

Having made it to the Sapphire Dormitory, Talulah looked around in awe at the living room, with actual sapphires decorating parts of the room and furniture. Following Sophia, Ava, and Rory up the stairs, Talulah opened the door to what would be her bedroom. And to say she was amazed is an understatement. The walls were a calming lilac, while the floor was made of polished marble, reminding her of her bedroom at the castle. She had a canopy bed with purple, coral pink, and magenta bedding and pillows. On the bed sat a leather sketchbook that had a golden spine and chain to it, with Talulah's name written in sapphires on the front. In a corner of the room, there was a vanity and closet that held various pieces of jewelry and clothing, similar to the ones she had back home. In the left corner next to the balcony, was a little reading nook and desk, suitable for reading and studying potions and magic at the same time. In the corner to the right, there was a crystal harp, with strings that looked as if they were gold. The balcony itself was probably Talulah's favorite. It had a perfect view with a golden table and chairs, letting Talulah sit early in the morning for the sunrise. Needless to say, Talulah loved her new room. Unlike her bedroom in the castle that was filled with gifts to replace affection, the items placed in this room had meaning and relation to her personality.

Sophia - "Most of us have a roommate in our dorms, except for Valentina. I'll give you one guess why. But since you started a bit later than us, you get the whole room to yourself!"

Ava - "At Unicorn Academy, your dorm room is decorated based off your personality! What do you think?"

Talulah - "I...I LOVE IT! Hahaha! This is the best thing I've ever seen in my life! This room is all mine?!"

Rory - "Yep! Pretty awesome, right?"

Rory was suddenly jumped as Talulah rushed into his and the girls' arms, bringing them all in for a hug. Talulah wasn't used to affection whatsoever. But she felt like someone put in effort to make her something, and this was first time she had felt this in nine years. Bidding goodnight to her new dorm mates and friends, Talulah decided on a nightgown that was in the newly stocked closet, and fell onto her bed with a giant smile on her face. If she felt any regrets about leaving Eqeoneian before, those thoughts were long gone. For the first time in almost thirteen years, Talulah felt...happy.

#talulah #unicorn academy #rory #sophia #ava #isabel #valentina #layla #uca

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internationalrealestatenews · 8 months ago

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nicstylus · 6 months ago

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Here are the two side by side o/

Sceptre of the Ancients

#skulduggery pleasant art #skulduggery pleasant #book cover #skulduggery pleasant covers #sceptre of the ancients #stephanie edgley #nefarian serpine #serpine #ghastly bespoke #china sorrows #bentley #art #sp covers #nic stylus #valkyrie cain #sota #derek landy

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maccreadysbaby · 1 year ago

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A Hundred Ways to Become a Wayne Masterlist

in which, after falling into bruce wayne’s custody, bentley whittaker endures the struggles of your average ten-year-old-boy: starting school, making friends, solving two dozen missing persons cases, having an anxiety attack in a morgue, playing robin for a single night, and catching the eye of gotham’s newest and most dangerous rising supervillain. (he’ll tell bruce about it soon, he swears.)

first fic of the hundred days series linked here! this is fic number two!

started — nov. 24, 2023

completed — may 15, 2024

one — miracle worker

two — metahuman problems

three — worry yourself sick

four — useless, worthless, and everything in between

five — bristol vs crime alley

six — juvenile delinquent

seven — the secret keeper

eight — safe with me

nine — pity

ten — bludgeoned by a book

eleven — babybird

twelve — targeted

thirteen — acquaintances

fourteen — bird of prey

fifteen — unwelcome memories

sixteen — without a trace seventeen — revelation eighteen — hail the puppeteer nineteen — taking the lead twenty — i‘d give you my lungs (so you could breathe) twenty-one — murder central twenty-two — too close to home twenty-three — boiling twenty-four — breakout twenty-five — hurricane twenty-six — a glimpse into the future(s) twenty-seven — breaking and entering twenty-eight — the truth twenty-nine — the reaper thirty — asphyxiation thirty-one — homebound thirty-two — reunions thirty-three — drowning thirty-four — windstorm thirty-five — arsonist thirty-six — over the edge (almost) thirty-seven — plan b thirty-eight — air and fire and water (oh my) thirty-nine — unlovable forty — the beginning of the end forty-one — robin (by force of will?) forty-two — reality check forty-three — imposter forty-four — aftermath forty-five — awake and alive forty-six — everything is okay?

BOOK ONE! 😆

BOOK THREE! 😚

FACECLAIMS FOR BENTLEY, ASTEN, AND NICO 🥳

BENTLEY’S PORTRAIT! 😭

HOW ASTEN MET NICO (A GLIMPSE INTO HIS HOMELIFE AND MENTAL STATE) 😢

WHERE WAS ASTEN IN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN? (A LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN)😔

BENTLEY’S ROBIN REALITY (AN ALTERNATE REALITY WHERE BENTLEY IS ROBIN AND TIM IS BATMAN)🥸

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skulduggery-pleasant-bp9 · 1 year ago

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Playing with a Coroner and a Detective is not wise - Skulduggery x Male!Reader Universe

WARNING!: Mention of corpses, cursing, mention of murder, insulting AND MORE ! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!

Part 4 – China Sorrows

“Samples ?”, Stephanie asked as they followed Skulduggery to his car.

M/n looked at her and sighed.

“Well, please don’t tell Mom...”, M/n begged.

“Don’t tell her what ?”, she asked suspiciously.

“Sis...I am not working as a Marketer. I am a Coroner. I work with corpses.”, M/n admitted.

She stared at him in shock.

“And Mom doesn’t know ?!”, she yelled.

“No, only Uncle G knew, because he paid the schooling for me.”

She had a wide open mouth at that, gaping at her Brother in utter shock. All this time, her Brother worked on corpses and murder cases !

“That’s so cool ! I will not say anything. But expect blackmail.”, she said then.

“Of course you would use it as blackmail...”, M/n sighed with a grin.

Then they arrived at the Detective’s car and M/n gasped, already starting to gush about the model he saw in front of him.

“No way is that a 1954s Bentley R-Type Continental !”, he yelled in excitement.

“It is.”, Skulduggery said with a smile in his voice.

“What is so special about it ?”, Stephanie asked.

M/n turned to her with big eyes of excitement.

“This model was only made to the number of 208 examples ! It has a six cylinder with a 4,5 liter engine too !”, M/n gushed.

“I let a few things be added into it too. I added a Central locking system, air conditioning, navigation system and other modern amenities.”, Skulduggery told M/n.

He was bouncing on his feet, in excitement.

“I will never understand your craze for cars...”, Stephanie muttered.

“Sissy ! I only am crazy for OLD cars ! I LOVE them ! They look cool and not as stupid as the cars nowadays !”, M/n whined at her.

“What is wrong with the cars nowadays ?”

“Everything ! Even the smallest issue, you can’t fix yourself anymore, you need a garage for that and pay a huge amount of cash, for a small thing ! They all look the fucking same and they all don’t have sharp edges anymore ! All the corners of the cars, nowadays, look like someone licked on them until they were round ! Eww !”, M/n complained.

Then he pointed at the Bentley.

“This car was rare and hard to get, thanks to the limited amount of its kind ! And, to make it even better, it was one of the very FEW cars that looked good with round edges ! Also, the engines had more space in old cars. They had longer snouts not as small as nowadays and nothing was all somehow forced inside there. Everything had space.”, M/n added.

(For people who want to know what that car type looked like...)

“Is that why you begged to have that Firebird ?”, she asked.

M/n looked at her offended.

“ ‘That Firebird’ ?”, he scoffed as he repeated her.

“Firebird ?”, Skulduggery asked interested as he unlocked the car.

“I call dips !”, Stephanie yelled and took the passenger seat.

M/n took the back and Skulduggery got inside in the driver’s seat. M/n buckled up and then pouted.

“What Firebird ?”, Skulduggery asked.

“She meant my 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Y82. MY car, that is currently unavailable.”, M/n answered.

“I haven’t seen one in a long while. I might want to see it one day.”

“Sure. I will probably work with you a few times, for information exchange, so you have a high chance to see it one day.”

Then Skulduggery started the engine and they drove off. It didn’t take long and they were on a road, which M/n and Stephanie didn’t know existed. So M/n asked him how he knew.

“I visited Gordon often, so I drove around here a lot and I know every corner here.”, he answered.

“Huh. That explains it...”, M/n said in thought.

As they drove past a sign that told them the direction to Haggard, Stephanie considered to just ask him to get her home, but she refused and shook the thought away quickly. That would mean that she can forget all of this. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity !

“Where are we going ?”, she asked.

“The City. I have a meeting there with an old friend. Maybe she can shed some light on the recent events.”

“Why were you here ?”, she asked.

“Pardon ?”

“Tonight. Not that we aren’t grateful that you were, but why were you near us ?”, she asked.

“Ah, that question had to come.”

“And will you answer it ? I don’t think you just came for M/n’s reports, for whatever reason you had to get these.”

Now that M/n thought about it, he sounded ready to come over anyways. Stephanie was right, there was more to this...

“I rather not answer that.”, Skulduggery said.

“And why ?”, she pressed.

He turned his head slightly into her direction. It looked like he had them both in his sight, with the street included.

“The less you two know about all of this, the better. You two are very normal children and tomorrow you go back to your very normal lives. It wouldn’t be good, if you two get even deeper involved with this.”

“But we already are deeply involved.”, Stephanie argued back.

“But we can limit the involvement.”, Skulduggery countered.

“But I don’t want to.”, she said.

M/n just watched, amused.

“But it is the best for you and your Brother.”

“But I don’t want that !”

“But it could-“

“No more sentences with ‘buts’ !”

“Okay, I’m sorry.”

M/n laughed at that.

“You two argue like long best friends. It is really funny.”, he chuckled out.

“Hah. Hah.”, she replied in sarcasm.

Then she turned back to Skulduggery.

“You can’t seriously expect us, that we forget all of this, just like that. We saw how magic was used, we saw the fire and YOU ! And we have heard about the war, from which no one taught us in school. We saw a world, from which we didn’t even know, existed.”

“Don’t you want to go back to your normal life ? It is less dangerous.”

M/n scoffed.

“Says who, Pleasant ?”, he asked the Skeleton.

“I don’t belong there.”, Stephanie stated.

“Nor do I. I feel so out of place in my ‘normal’ life. I am just very smart and no one else is. I feel like I never even dug deep enough to discover what else I can learn, that interests me. Magic does. It did since I was a small bean with the age of 6 years. Now I know it is out there, so why not LEARN about it ?”, M/n added.

Skulduggery turned his head completely to her and crooked his head to his side.

“Curious. Your Uncle said the exact same thing as I met him the very first time. Even more curious is that Gordon did tell me, that you, M/n, will want to join the world of mages as soon as you know it exists.”

Then Stephanie asked him if the things, Gordon wrote about, were true about the world of mages, at which M/n only laughed.

“I don’t think he did ! A lot of mages would have came after him, if that were the case. No, no, no. But he told me a few things about the world of mages, I think. I was never allowed to talk to anyone about it and I had to make a pinky promise. Never talked about it.”, M/n said proudly.

“You are probably right...”, she muttered.

“He got inspired by them, but he changed everything so much, so he didn’t embarrass anyone and he didn’t get hunted down or even killed for it. Your Uncle was a very great man, really. We solved many cases together.”, Skulduggery said.

“Really ?”, M/n and Stephanie asked.

M/n was in awe and excitement.

“Oh yes, you can be proud, to have had an Uncle as him. Of course I was involved in many fights, because he dragged me somewhere and just wouldn’t stop to get on other people’s nerves, but...we had fun. A lot of fun.”

M/n smiled saddened at that. He wished he knew.

The drive was very quiet after that, until the lights of the City appeared in front of them. The City was quiet and the streets almost empty. They drove onto a small parking lot, Skulduggery turned off his engine and looked at Stephanie and M/n.

“You two stay here.”, he instructed.

“Okay.”, the two replied.

Skulduggery got out of the car and not even two seconds later did the siblings also get out of the car. They didn’t tag along just to stay in the car. They wanted to see what else the world had to offer for surprises.

“Stephanie, M/n, I’m having doubts, that you respect my authority.”, the Detective said.

“Well, we don’t.”, Stephanie answered.

“You have to earn my respect, like anyone else. And that takes a while.”, M/n replied.

“Oh...well then.”

He put his hat back on and wrapped his scarf around his chin, the wig and sunglasses, he left out though. He pressed on the remote on his keychain, it beeped and the car doors locked themselves.

“That’s all ?”, she asked.

“Steph, not everything can be magical. That would be obvious.”, M/n said softly.

“What your Brother just said.”, Skulduggery agreed and then started to walk away.

They hurried to keep up with him.

“But you do magic from time to time, right ?”, she asked.

“Sometimes. Although, I am trying recently, not to depend on Magic all that much, I’m trying to deal with most of the issues, with what is in there.”, he answered and tapped his skull.

“There is empty space.”

M/n started to laugh at that.

“Yes, but you know what I mean.”, he replied a bit agitated.

“What else can you do ?”, she asked.

“Pardon ?”, the Detective replied.

M/n calmed down with his laughter and looked at them. He liked to be in the background. That way he was rarely noticed and he liked it that way. After all...he had bad memories of the few times he was in the spot light...

Mostly he got bullied, for being smarter, than anyone else in his school and for finishing his scholar ship and for starting work so early and all that. Whenever he was in the spot light, he was mocked, insulted, pushed around and bullied. He liked staying in the back and not draw too much attention to himself.

“Something, that has to do with Magic. Show me something.”, Stephanie said interested.

“What – a living Skeleton isn’t enough for you ? You want more ?”, he asked.

If Skulduggery would have had eyebrows, M/n bet, he would have raised them.

“Yes. Teach me something.”

He shrugged with his shoulders and looked at M/n.

“You too, M/n ?”

The boy was surprised that he was asked and involved too. He wasn’t used to people paying much attention to him. He nodded with a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

“Alright then...I don’t mind. I think it won’t hurt to do that. Two different kinds of Magic exist. The Alchemists do sorcery in one way, the Elemental mages do it differently. The Alchemists are more aggressive, their techniques show faster effects. The Elemental mages in comparison, I am one of them, chose the less spectacular way and make an effort, to control the Elements better.”

“To rule over the Elements ?”, Stephanie asked.

“That is a little bit exaggerated. We don’t rule over them, we manipulate them. We influence them.”

“You mean Earth, Wind-“

“Water and Fire. Exactly.”

“Show me, how.”

Skulduggery crooked his head a bit to his right side and the siblings could hear, that he had fun with this, as he “Fine then” said and he held his open hand out, towards her. She frowned, wondered, why she suddenly was freezing, and only then realized, that a drop of water ran over her face.

She looked to M/n and he was just as much, having small drops of water on himself, but he didn’t seem to freeze.

In the next second were, both of their hair, completely soaking wet, as if they just came out of the water with their head after a dive in it.

“How did you do that ?”, she asked as she shook her head and water drops flew in all directions.

“Hey !”, M/n protested loudly as he got most of them in his face.

He glared at his Sister.

“Biatch, I am standing right BEHIND you ! Stop spraying me even more wet than I already am ! I don’t want water from your greasy hair in my face !”, he yelled childishly.

“To your info, I showered yesterday ! When did you shower, huh ?!”

“Yesterday ! A whole damn stinky, rotting corpse fell on top of me, so I HAD to shower quickly ! It REEKED and had MAGGOTS, YUCK !”

At that Stephanie felt sick and gagged.

“Ewww !”

“Thank you ! Your sympathy is greatly appreciated !”, M/n said with a grin, knowing she didn’t feel bad for him.

Skulduggery chuckled at their playful banters.

“Anyways...I’m gonna guess how he did it. He manipulated the humidity. Which means he did Water.”, M/n said with a smart, know it all, grin.

He looked at M/n.

“Very good. That is correct.”, he praised, impressed.

“The first Element was water. We can’t split the Red Sea or something like that, but we have a little bit of influence about it.”

“Show me that with the fire again.”, Stephanie said.

“I am wet...Couldn’t have anyone told me that I am getting a shower for free ? I would have brought soap, towels and new clothes for that.”, M/n whined playfully.

Skulduggery chuckled. He snapped his gloved hands and sparks flew, he formed a fist and the sparks became a flame and he held the fireball in his hand, while they continued to walk.

The fire burned brighter and she felt, how her hair slowly dried.

“M/n, come over here, I’m drying you off.”, Skulduggery said.

M/n went next to his Sister and sighed as he started to feel himself getting dry.

“Wow.”, Stephanie said.

“Exactly. Wow.”, Skulduggery replied.

“Awesome. Thank you.”, M/n said, relieved.

“Were you cold ?”, she asked.

“Steph...I am a fucking AC no matter the temperature. I don’t sweat in summer and I don’t warm up in the winter, yet barely feel the cold. I wasn’t cold, I was just uncomfortable with my hair sticking to my head, face and neck. It is a disgusting feeling.”

“Ah- I forgot...”, she muttered.

“No shit, Sherlock...”

Skulduggery shook his head in amusement. They like to talk to each other in sarcasm and to roast each other. Gordon really knew them very well.

He threw the fireball into the air, with one quick hand movement and the siblings watched as it started to burn out in the night, until there was nothing to see anymore.

“Nice firework. The boom was missing though.”, M/n said jokingly.

Skulduggery laughed.

“Why thank you, but unfortunately I don’t want to draw attention to us.”, he replied to M/n.

“I had a feeling that was it.”

“What about earth ?”, Stephanie asked.

Skulduggery shook his head.

“You don’t want to see that and hopefully you never will have to see that. The earth power is a pure defensive story and is only allowed to be used at extreme emergencies.”

M/n was confused and concerned at that statement. Was it that big of a deal ?

“So...no stomping with your foot and making an earth quake, to destabilize your enemy ? That doesn’t exist in earth magic ?”, M/n asked.

“No it doesn’t.”, Skulduggery answered.

“Oh man... Earth is supposed to be cool and then you hear that it is the most useless power...”, M/n said saddened.

“It’s not useless-“

“You are not allowed to use it, besides it is an emergency case. Of course it is the most useless then.”, M/n interrupted the Detective with a pout.

Skulduggery was silent at that. He had to agree with M/n at that one. It DID sound the most useless ability. You have it at your disposal, but because of what it can only do, it is forbidden to be used.

“What is the strongest Element ? The fire ?”, Stephanie asked after a while.

“That is the most noticeable, that gets all the ‘Wows’, but you would be surprised what a bit of air can do, if you displace it correctly. Displaced air doesn’t easily disappear, there must be a place, where you can push it to.”

“Can we see it, once ?”

They reached the end of the parking lot and walked past a low wall, which surrounded it. Skulduggery pressed his fingertips on the ball of his hand, spread then his fingers and did a fast movement from his wrist in the wall’s direction. The air shook and the bricks flew onto the sidewalk. Stephanie and M/n stared at the brand new hole in the wall.

“I knew it ! Air is the best Element you can have !”, M/n cheered.

“Man, is that cool.”, Stephanie said in amazement.

As they continued to walk, she turned back around a few times to look at the wall again.

“What about the Alchemists ? What can they do ? Are these those people you watch in Ninjago ? One can do shape shifting, the other copy magical abilities and the other can use nature to his own needs ?”, M/n asked in excitement.

Skulduggery looked at M/n as he asked that.

“Ninjago ?”

“Lego Ninjago is still my favorite Series. I watched all seasons and they also have Magic, but they call it Elemental Powers. And they are all called there Elemental Masters.”, M/n shortly explained.

“Huh. Never heard of it before.”

“It is a great Series. Steph watched it with me a lot too. I guess I am a person that will never grow too old for children series and Movies. I hate news and other stuff. All I like is Comedy, children stuff and some murder series, like Navy CIS, Bones, Castle and Death in Paradise. News are boring and my Mom keeps me updated anyways. The reporters just babble too much in my opinion.”

“That is a lot.”

“Meh, Uncle said it was way too little stuff that I liked. Now, are Alchemists like that ?”, M/n asked.

“Kind of. I met a shape shifter and someone who could read your mind.”

“So cool ! I have decided, I wanna stay here ! This is EXACTLY my world ! I always wanted to be around Magic and work with it !”

‘Oh dear, what have I done ? Gordon you would kill me...’, Skulduggery thought.

Stephanie looked at her Brother and then had a grin on her face.

“Which one is more powerful ? An Alchemist or an Elemental mage ?”, she asked Skulduggery.

M/n scoffed.

“I bet it is Elemental. I mean come on ! They have FOUR different Elements they can use, while Alchemists just have ONE, as it sounds.”

“Actually, it depends on the mage all alone. An Alchemist can have so many tricks up his sleeve, so many different abilities, that he can be stronger in the end than the strongest Elemental mage. That has been proven.”

M/n stared at Skulduggery with a wide open mouth.

“B-but, Elementals have FOUR Elements to control ! FOUR ! How is an Alchemist with just ONE power, better than YOU ?!”

“They concentrate more on their one power and are more aggressive with it than Elementals are. It gives them a slight advantage.”

“Was the sorcerer Mevolent ? The strong Alchemist ?”

“No, Mevolent was an Elemental. It is rather rare, that an Elemental is choosing such deviations, but it happens.”

“How do you know, if you can do sorcery ? Can anyone learn it ?”, Stephanie asked.

M/n knew that she wanted to know it badly, but played it off as if that thought just crossed her mind.

“Not anyone. In fact just very few can learn sorcery.”, Skulduggery answered.

“They usually then gather at one location, so that there are, over the whole world, little groups, of sorcerers. In England and Ireland, as example, exist eighteen districts, in which only sorcerers live.”

“Can you also be a sorcerer, without knowing it ?”

M/n was concerned at that question. Skulduggery told them that it is most definitely possible. And Stephanie was saying it was sad, while he found it amusing. M/n scoffed.

“Sure it is very funny, to know that there are more mages out there, most possibly, and they never knew that they could have helped two worlds, mostly when it is people that just KNOW that they don’t belong and most likely decide to do suicide because of it, because they FEEL that something is missing, but never could find out WHAT was missing. Very funny. To die for.”, he told Skulduggery with a slightly agitated tone.

“Alright, when you put it THAT way, it isn’t that funny anymore.”, Skulduggery said softly.

“Because it isn’t ! Parents lose their own children out there and who knows why ! Many do it because they KNOW something is missing in their life ! What if it was a mage, that never knew, because no one could help them ?! Not every child that killed themselves did it from depression ! Seriously, and mages find it FUNNY ?!”, M/n raged.

“Brother, calm down.”, Stephanie said calmly.

M/n took deep, calming breaths.

“I am calm. But it is WRONG to find it funny, that people take their lives and die, never knowing that they could have changed the world. That they were maybe missing the world of mages. Who knows ? Maybe mages, that don’t know that they are mages, feel a certain emptiness and that means that their world is calling for them. They just can’t pick up on it.”

“I never thought about it in that way.”, Skulduggery admitted.

“Hah. Maybe you should.”

Soon enough they entered a story building and climbed stairs up. They followed Skulduggery until they stopped at a door that read ‘Library’. He knocked on that door and then waited.

“By the way: Even if you want to do it badly, don’t tell her, under any circumstances, your names.”, Skulduggery warned.

They nodded in understanding and then the door opened. They were let in by a man that seemed to be a bodyguard. They went inside and followed behind Skulduggery, who followed the man, for a while, until they spotted a female. The woman had raven black hair and water blue eyes. Then the woman smiled and Stephanie started to feel warm and welcomed, while M/n looked very uncomfortable.

Stephanie wanted nothing more but to be next to this woman, while M/n wanted to be as far away from her as possible.

“Leave it be.”, Skulduggery warned.

The woman looked at him and her smile became mocking. Stephanie stared at her delighted.

“Leave it be.”, Skulduggery repeated, firmer this time.

The woman laughed and shrugged her shoulders, but before she could say anything M/n smacked the back of his little Sister’s head, which she hissed softly at.

“First off: Hell no, little Sis. Second off: She is way too old for you. Third off: You are too young for a relationship. And fourth off: I don’t like her.”, he whispered to her.

“You didn’t fall for it ?”, Skulduggery asked M/n in surprise.

“No. Whatever it was, I didn’t get influenced. And thank fuck for that. She made me VERY uncomfortable though. I do NOT like her. Whatever she tried on me and succeeded to do to my Sister, she better shoves it up her ass for the next time, otherwise I will do something drastic about it.”, M/n said and growled at the woman.

The woman stared at him in shock. M/n put a protective arm around his little Sister, death glaring the woman.

“I’m sorry. I tend to forget, what influence, I have on humans. The first glimpse and all...”, the woman said with a slight bow.

“It seems to me, that you forget that every time, when you meet someone knew.”, Skulduggery accused.

“What can I say ? I am muddle – headed.”

Skulduggery turned to Stephanie.

“Don’t be embarrassed. Everyone, that meets China for the first time, fall for her. But believe me, the effect will wear off, the more you get to know her.”

“It will get weaker, but never fully stop. Right, Skulduggery ?”, the woman, China, asked.

M/n didn’t like what this China was referring to. He didn’t even like her, this close, to them. The Detective took off his hat, but didn’t answer her question.

“If you tell me, that you fucked this woman at some point, I will gag and vomit into your Bentley, Skulduggery. She ain’t even that pretty. She is more creepy than anything.”, M/n whispered to him, so the woman doesn’t hear him.

Skulduggery looked at him. M/n wasn’t sure, but he guessed that he was surprised.

China smiled at Stephanie, which M/n already hated, and she gave her an eggshell colored business card, on which stood a telephone number in elegant handwriting.

“Call me, if you stumble over any books or something, from which you believe, could interest me. In the past Skulduggery did that too. Nowadays not anymore. I fear, too much water has flown down, the proverbial creek. But where are my manners ? I’m China Sorrows, my Dears. Just call me China. And you two are ?”

Before Stephanie could answer, M/n stepped in.

“Her name is ‘non of ya business’, Toots. My name is ‘Joe Mama’. Now step away from me and my Sister. Ever heard about personal space and the five foot distance rule, Miss manners ?”, M/n growled out protectively.

China looked at M/n in shock and then stepped away from them. Five feet, while Skulduggery chuckled at M/n’s attitude. He really hated China.

“He is very overprotective. I rather not provoke him, China.”, Skulduggery said amused.

“I have realized.”, she muttered.

“You look almost, like that one Bitch that tried to sexually assault me, three times, in school. Be glad I just want you five feet away and not in the trash can.”, M/n growled out darkly.

“You were almost assaulted, three times ?”, Skulduggery asked.

“The whore wanted badly into my pants. She even wanted to force my family, to make me marry her, with 10 years of age. I was almost out of school too. Uncle said he took care of her. No idea what happened to her, but she just disappeared after that, luckily. That hoe was at least 7 years older than me too.”

Stephanie looked at her Brother in horror.

“Why didn’t you tell me that ?!”, she yelled.

“Because you were too young to understand. You were only six years old, Sis. You didn’t have to know.”

“What a bad woman...”, China scoffed.

M/n glared at her.

“You were no different near my Sister right now. Just keep your distance.”

Skulduggery sighed and then snapped China’s attention back on him.

“They are witnesses of how someone broke into Gordon Edgley’s estate. The intruder searched for something. What could Gordon have had, that someone wanted badly ?”

“You don’t know who it was ?”, China asked the Skeleton.

“Who the man was, is not important to me. I’m only interested to find out, who his Master is.”

“And who, do you think it is ?”

The Skeleton was silent and China laughed.

“Again Serpine ? Darling, to you, Serpine is practically responsible for every Crime.”

“Because it is exactly that.”

“Then why are you coming to me ?”

“You hear a lot.”

“Really ?”

Skulduggery asked her if China heard anything at all, and she replied that it wouldn’t be anything helpful, just some Bullshit she heard. After he pressed at that matter, she told him that she heard that Serpine was doing research about some Sceptre of the Ancients and that he was actively looking for it, apparently. He said it was just a fairytale, which already made M/n think that he might be wrong.

Then they were talking about what Gordon could have had, that someone wanted to steal. China said that, that is probably not the right question, he should find an answer to and he seemed to understand exactly what she meant. In M/n’s head it clicked, meanwhile Stephanie asked what that meant, on which Skulduggery just said that it isn’t important what they wanted to steal, but what they wanted to have, that Gordon had to die for it first.

China explained then, that there are objects, which, can only be used and taken away from the previous owner, when they are dead.

“So like in Harry Potter and the deathly hallows ? Where Voldemort had a wand that he thought belonged to him only, but that wasn’t the case, the previous owner still was alive and with that its loyalty didn’t belong to him. There was the big rumor that the previous owner had to die for the wand to switch owners, but that was wrong, they just had to deweaponized them, which Voldemort didn’t know, and then he killed the person, he thought killed the previous owner. But it wasn’t Snape who owned the wand’s loyalty, it was Draco Malfoy and after he was deweaponized by Harry Potter, it belonged to Harry. Snape killed Dumbledore, who had the wand first, but Malfoy deweaponized Dumbledore, so he was the next owner. Does this make sense ? In order to get some objects, you have to either kill someone, wait for them to die or even deweaponize them, before you can own it and the loyalty of the said object ?”, M/n asked.

All three of them stared at him.

“What ?”, M/n asked.

“You understood all of this, just from a Movie ?”, China asked.

“Yeah ? I am smart, after all. I was a Potter Fan for a while, until it died out. Can’t stand the Movies anymore.”

“Impressive. But yes, that is how this works.”, Skulduggery said.

“Well, fuck me then. This doesn’t sound like it’s gonna be an easy case.”, M/n said and slumped his shoulders.

Skulduggery turned back to China and asked her to inform him if she knows anything or heard anything that might help. In which she asked what she’d get in return.

“If this all involves my Uncle, and you decide to not say anything, and I will find out about it, I might beat your sorry ass, woman. I might look like a weakling, but I can whoop ass. I will NOT hesitate. I beat a mage tonight already, I am not afraid to do it again. You get in return, a free evening and no ass whooping, how about that ?”, M/n snarled.

She looked at M/n and then at Skulduggery.

“He did that ?”

“Yeah, he was ready to kill.”

“He woke up and chose violence today.”, Stephanie replied.

They all looked at her and M/n scoffed then mumbled stuff under his breath.

After that they left, Stephanie switched and this time she sat in the back and he in the passenger seat, M/n looked at his watch, then choked on his breath.

“SHIT !”, he yelled.

“What is it ?!”, Stephanie yelled in the car, while Skulduggery stayed calm.

“I have to get my car soon ! I can’t come home too ! I will miss the agreed upon timing to get my car and pay for the repairs ! They are always so busy and full ! It will take me hours to get my car, if I come later !”, M/n complained, stressed.

“I can just drive you there.”, Skulduggery offered.

“You’d do that ?”

“Of course.”

“Great ! Thank you !”

“No problem.”

M/n told Skulduggery the address and he drove them there. As they drove, Stephanie asked more questions about Serpine and other things, M/n only listened partly to the conversation. He had a bad feeling.

“Guys ?”, he said softly.

They went silent.

“Yes, M/n ?”, Skulduggery asked.

“I have a VERY bad gut feeling.”

“Why ?”, Stephanie asked.

M/n looked around in the car and waited for something to appear. Then it happened.

“WATCH OUT !”, M/n screamed as he saw the car, without headlights, driving straight at them.

He took the wheel from Skulduggery and forced himself on top of the Skeleton and hit the gas, quickly shifting gears, to avoid getting hit. The headlights were turned on, suddenly, but M/n couldn’t care less if he was blinded, it was a straight road and the fucker came from Skulduggery’s side.

He was quickly in the fourth gear and was out of the way as the car drove down the road and into the mud. M/n’s adrenaline was way too high for him to register, that they weren’t chased anymore. So he continued to drive fast for a while, until he was calm enough to look into the mirrors and see no one following. He halted the car and then carefully went back into his own seat.

He was still pale, but he was calming down. Then he felt sick and slammed open the door of the Bentley, ran a bit away and started to vomit. Skulduggery and Stephanie got out as well. She was worried for her Brother, while Skulduggery was impressed with his reflexes.

“M/n, are you alright ?”, she asked her older Brother.

“Never been-“, he vomited again, “...better....”, he finished bemused.

“Who was that Freak ?”, she asked.

“The same guy, that intruded our house.”, M/n answered softly as he wiped his mouth clean with a tissue.

He looked at his Sister and then he froze.

“This isn’t over yet...”, he muttered in panic.

“What do you mean ? Your gut ?”, Stephanie asked worried.

M/n nodded.

“I feel watched too...”

Then there was a yell and it was the man again, with a few scars. M/n dodged him and punched him in the jaw.

“CAR ! NOW, SIS !”, M/n yelled.

She refused to do so. She tried to find out what she could do to help. Then she looked at Skulduggery.

“He seems to be immune to fire, could that mean he is specifically trained on that element alone ?”

“Yes, why ?”

“Water puts out fire. What if...”

“Water hurts him ?”, Skulduggery asked.

She nodded.

“Worth a try.”, Skulduggery said, shrugging his shoulders.

M/n landed a mean kick against the man’s shin, who screamed in pain at that.

“Just leave us the fuck alone you fucking creep ! Go back to your Master and live out your Master/Slave kink there, won’t you ?! Fucking curl up in a corner and die already !”, M/n screamed in frustration.

“Your Brother has a mouth...”

“No one ever could make him stop from cursing when he was pissed off or protective.”, she replied to Skulduggery.

Skulduggery then manipulated the humidity and water rained onto the attacker and M/n. The man started to scream in pain and, as the water became more and more, the man started to fall into pieces, right in front of M/n. He jumped back and just watched as he died, just like that.

After he was dead and only remains were left, M/n puked again.

“M/n ?!”

“Anxiety kicked in ! I’m fine !”, he replied to his Sister.

Skulduggery turned to Stephanie.

“Good thinking there.”, he praised her.

“Yeah, great thinking, Sis...”

After that, they got back into the car and Skulduggery arrived at the car dealer, whose garage was working on M/n’s car. He got out and said his bye to Skulduggery and Stephanie.

“I will visit a friend later, if you want, you and your sister can tag along.”, Skulduggery offered.

“Are you sure ? As we drove, you were very hell bent, to leave it at a onetime only thing.”, M/n asked.

“I have a feeling you two have a very good feeling, in this kind of work.”, Skulduggery answered.

“Well then, sure !”, M/n replied.

“I will join too !”, Stephanie replied as she took back the passenger seat.

“Alright then. Until later, M/n.”

“Until later, Skulduggery, Steph.”

Then they drove off and M/n waited for the garage and car dealer to open up, which was any minute now.

‘Just pay for the car, take it and drive home, then work on stuff until Skulduggery comes and picks you up.’

Masterlist HERE !

#skulduggery pleasant #derek landy #male!reader #not the canon au #read warnings above #my au #skulduggery pleasant x reader universe #Playing with a Coroner and a Detective is not wise - Skulduggery x Male!Reader Universe #Part 4 – China Sorrows

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