#Thinking about maybe Otherworld? But that’s probably taken | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

aggravatetheaxe · 3 years ago

Note

Hi there! I was wondering if I could request an imagine where a victim “escapes” from the slashers and hurts s/o in the process. What would the slashers do during and after? Thank you!!

Hi! I wasn't sure which slashers you wanted for this, so I put my list into a randomizer and went with the first 5!

Walter Sullivan

Thomas Hewitt

Jason Voorhees

Deacon Billings (OC Ghostface)

Erik ("The Phantom")

SLASHERS WHOSE VICTIM HURTS THEIR S/O

cw: mentions of suicide, reader being injured/in mortal peril, mentions of torture and killing etc etc

Walter Sullivan

Oh no. Oh dear.

You are possibly the only good, pure thing in this world or the Otherworld and someone hurt you? Walter is ... not happy, to put it lightly. The only person who should ever hurt you is him, and he won't do that unless it's for your own good.

This only enforces his belief that the world and everyone in it are monstrous. It drives home the truth he's already convinced of - this existence in terrible and torturous and needs to be destroyed if anything holy is ever going to be allowed to blossom again.

Whether The Victim is pre- or post- Walter's suicide, he's already stopping at nothing to go after them. He doesn't view it as personal, he doesn't hold any particular hatred for most (most) of his victims; they're simply links in a chain. But this person, the one who hurt you ... it's personal. They'll die in absolute agony.

If the victim in question is pre-suicide, Walter will bring them down and find somewhere to keep them for later. This will not be a quick death.

While they're bound/gagged or knocked out, he'll check on you. You're special, possibly even the Mother Reborn, and he can't let you die until the time is right. If you're seriously injured, he'll see to it that you're taken to the hospital, and pray to a dead God if he has to that you'll be alright. If you're not seriously injured, he'll do his best to patch you up - he lived on the streets for many years and had to take care of himself, so he knows basic first aid.

Once he's certain you're safe, he will put you somewhere where you won't witness what he's about to do. Even if you want to see it, he'll insist you stay hidden, saying the sinner doesn't deserve to be in your presence. You'll have to really convince him if for some reason you want to watch.

Their torture will depend on what they did to you. If it was just a few scrapes and cuts, he'll let them feel every ounce of pain before they die. If they really hurt you, their torture will be prolonged. In his mind, and according to his religion, death is a sacred sacrament, and this evil being doesn't deserve its release. If they did something to seriously traumatize and/or sully you ... the crime scene he leaves behind is going to be grisly, to put it lightly.

If the victim in question is post-suicide, the results will be similar, but he has absolute control over the Otherworld - and he will utilize that. He will have his creations take care of you and keep you somewhere safe ... they may be terrifying, but they won't hurt you unless he wills it. As for the victim, he can twist them into their worst nightmares over and over again before killing them. He will make them see their wrongdoings and pay for their evil. They will beg for mercy and there will be none.

After it all, he will simply move onto the next one, with you somewhere safe ... until it's time. Until it's time. You are so perfect.

Thomas Hewitt

Dammit. If he'd just been quicker or smarter, he could have caught them before they escaped and hurt you. He immediately blames himself.

There's no time to beat himself up over it, though. He briefly checks to make sure you're not bleeding from anywhere vital and sends you (or locks you up) somewhere safe before going after the victim. You're on your own for first aid for now - unless you're literally dying, he can't let them leave the property.

If you are literally dying, he's staying and doing all he can to help you. But if Hoyt yells, he may have to pawn you off on someone else and hope they do a good job taking care of you. He'll hold your face and give you tender kisses goodbye - whether you want them or not - because this might be the last time he ever sees you.

He chases the victim in a fever, much more erratic than you would expect from him. He's faster, less careful, more inclined to put himself at risk just to get a swing in at them. It's not generally anything personal when he kills someone - it's something he does for the good of his family, and because he was told to. This one he's not interested in saving for meat. They hurt you. You, his special person. He's going to grind them into the mud, and he's not even going to let Hoyt have a go at them.

Sometimes, sometimes, he struggles to see the animals in his victims. But this one ... he doesn't even feel the urge to twist them into an animal. That's a whole human, an evil one, one he wants to kill. It's a different feeling for him.

Once it's all over and everything's calmed down, he's rushing directly to your side. People don't come around all too often, so he's comfortable putting down the chainsaw for now. He neglects any skin projects he planned and lets someone else do the butchering, focusing on taking care of you, especially if you're seriously injured and put up in bed.

If you're not as seriously injured and tell him you're fine, he's still keeping an eye on you ... and making sure you're well-fed. You've been through a lot and it was all his fault. He doesn't want you to be exposed like that again. Next time someone comes around, he'll insist you hide somewhere.

Jason Voorhees

It's a toss up whether or not he'll actually notice you're hurt. Not because he doesn't care or anything, but because Camp Crystal Lake is a lot of ground to cover and there's a low chance he'll be in the same area as you at any given time.

For this imagine, though, let's assume you've found your way to him or he's sensed you're in trouble and has rushed to you.

You were supposed to be safe in the cabin, so he's a little irritated that you wandered out, but that's completely overshadowed when he realizes you're hurt. He stops everything he's doing and clinically and thoroughly pats you down, identifying every solitary injury.

Just like his mother before him, he is a vengeful soul, so he is not letting this go even if you're just scraped or bruised. If you are critically injured, he'll at least get you to the cabin and get a tourniquet on you.

Otherwise, he leaves you behind. Not very mindful, but you should know that he wants you to get back to the cabin or at least stay out of the way. He is no longer thinking of you - he has established his target and knows what he has to do. He's laser focused and decisive as he stalks after them, using anything at his disposal to get to them.

Their death is quick - he doesn't play around - but he has a lingering sense of irony and playfulness. If there's a particularly interesting weapon nearby, he'll take them out with that; or perhaps he'll hurt them in the way they hurt you, just, you know ... more fatal. And a lot gorier.

After that, he'll move onto their friends, until every last one is dead. Once his objective is completed, he is returning to you directly and finishing the job of patching you up.

He can't help but feel a little guilty that you were hurt. You shouldn't have left the cabin, true, but perhaps he should have been watching for you. He should have locked you up. Pamela might say rude things in his head. Then again, she might comfort him. If she doesn't like you, maybe she'll even wish he'd left you to die.

Deacon Billings (OC Ghostface)

Well ... you usually keep him around to scare off other Ghostfaces - something he's very handy at - but you don't usually run into trouble with his victims.

He doesn't really tell you to go anywhere in particular when he's killing. He knows you can take care of yourself. But now he feels stupid for not having a backup plan. Of course some asshole was gonna eventually identify you as his loved one and try to get cute. He should've had something prepared for that.

But, if he's good at anything, it's improvising. He skids into whatever room you're in, drops his weapon, and pulls his mask off right away to check you over. If you're only mildly injured, he's visibly relieved, and tells you to stay put while he deals with whomever hurt you. If you're more seriously injured, he'll grab your phone and shove it in your hand. "Get in the car, get the fuck out of here. Drive to the emergency room if you have to, just leave."

If you're unable to drive, he'll make you call emergency services - or call them for you, if he has to. The game is over, he's done playing; this isn't fun if he's not winning. Everyone in this place is gonna be dead and he'll be long gone by the time the ambulance shows up for you.

The one who hurt you is going to get an extra special surprise. A particularly grisly death, and a bunch of selfies/short videos of Ghostface with the corpse - taken with the victim's own phone, posted to their instagram, tiktok, facebook, sent to any discord groups, and any other social media they have. If he has the time, he'll even make them in meme formats (definitely posting with meme captions, the fucking troll). He'll probably send a copy to you as a "hey, look what I did!"

If there are survivors, especially if that survivor is the one who hurt you, you better believe he is immediately doxxing them. Since he's had a little time to cool down, he might even play the long game, maybe catfishing and blackmailing them. Ruining their pathetic little life even further would be pretty fun. In the end, though, they'll die like all the others.

When all is said and done, he's going to be there for you, helping you recover any way he can. He'd suggest rest (for an amount of time relative to your injury), some movies and candy, maybe some video games. And time spent with your favorite Ghostface, of course, right?

He'll never forget what happened, though. Even though the person is dead, he'll be stewing and pissed off about it for a long, long time. And he won't let something like that happen again, or at least, not without a contingency plan in place.

The hash mark/tally mark he stitches into his costume to symbolize this kill is gonna be twice as long and large as the others, maybe in the place you got hurt as a reminder.

Erik

You already know what's about to happen.

If anyone so much as hurts your feelings they're getting menaced and receiving a strongly worded letter - actually physically harming you? That's suicide.

If he can't immediately kill this person, or if you're seriously injured, his primary objective is helping/comforting you. He has to push down a lot of wrath to do it ... every instinct tells him to immediately dispatch the fiend responsible ... but you are more important to him than anything in this world, even revenge. He will administer any first aid you need and may even drug you with ether to ensure you rest.

Don't think that means your attacker is off the hook, though. As soon as he decides you're well enough, he will put you somewhere safe - lock you away if he has to - and kill them. His preferred method is the Punjab lasso, but if they did something particularly egregious, he'll knock them out and take them to his torture chamber. They have a lesson to learn before they go to Hades.

Another option is, like Deacon, playing the long game ... playing with his food, stalking them, making them live in fear before they die. But he has a lot of wrath in that skinny little body, so it's a toss up as to whether or not he'll actually be able to follow through with that for very long. It depends on his mood, really!

He will keep the killing and torture hidden from you, of course ... unless you express an interest in seeing the vengeance being carried out. He would be worried for you, however, and advise against it. Those sights are not for the faint of heart, and certainly not for someone as beautiful and good as you.

Once all is said and done, it's as if it never happened. As if that person never existed! What a happy thought! Sometimes you even think Erik has completely forgotten the incident ... until he's stalking another victim and he locks you away again, and you remember you are always on his mind. He will never, never let that happen to you again.

#imagines #walter sullivan #walter sullivan x reader #thomas hewitt #thomas hewitt x reader #thomas hewitt x you #jason voorhees #jason voorhees x reader #jason voorhees x you #ghostface #ghostface x reader #ghostface x you #erik the phantom #phantom x reader #slasher imagines #slasher x reader #slasher x you #slasher community

400 notes · View notes

moonlightreal · 2 years ago

Text

Fate season 2-7

It’s the end! And I don’t think the writers knew the end was near so will the story be wrapped up at all?

It’s been a while since I visited the world of Fate, I was swept up in the less pleasant world of school and then the more pleasant world of Christmas, neither of which led to wanting to write long episode recaps.

So when we left Fate: Tales from Elemental Academy, Miss Dowling just visited from the afterlife (and House of the Dragon being her afterlife is 100% my headcanon.) and told the girls the secret of transformation? Is accepting all emotions? Which works emotionally, it feels very Jedi, acceptance and balance. But narratively, it’s an awfully simple secret to be lost for so many years. Maybe every school did like Ms. Dowling and concentrated on positive emotions to avoid people like ragebucket Bloom happening, but it strains credulity that no individual reached enlightenment in thousands of years.

Also Valtor and some lore about the ancient past that I already forgot, and Beatrix is now working with the baddies and I can’t really blame her after how much the plot has been kicking her this season. And she let a bunch of scrapers into the school.

How will it all end? let’s find out!

Last episode: All the Wild Witches

It’s dark. The power has gone out. The general is looking for Bloom, who just busted out of jail remember. She’s on the phone with Silva, who says Bloom isn’t dangerous.

Musa and Flora are returning.

Scrapers attack pretty much everybody!

Flora gets knocked over and there’s Beatrix and Sebastian. They catch Flora, but Musa is hidden in the shadows and Beatrix either can’t sense her or pretends she can’t. Hard to tell with B. So Flora is caught and Musa escapes.

Opening!

Morning! The school has been taken over! All the specialists have been puppeteered, apparently. Bloom is reporting this to Silva, Dale and Riven, Kat, and a few other specialists. The team that went to capture the blood witch lair is safe, but they used all their anti-puppeteering potions. The fairies are locked in the school dungeon so Sebastian can steal their magic one by one. Musa is hiding in the school and sending video and info to Bloom.

Silva says some soldiery things about their plan of attack. Bloom says she’s going after Sebastian and Silva invites her to “walk with me” to discuss more tactics.

Terra, Stella and Aisha are still in the random cottage where they met with Miss Dowling so they are also not captured. Aisha watches a video of Grey and another blood witch hauling Flora off. Aisha can’t believe the nice guy she knew would work for Sebastian. Terra says there must be a reason.

Otherworld bigotry seems to be the reason. Seriously show, why didn’t you go with “Blood Witches are an extremist group, they’re healing fairies who chose to use their magic to control instead of to heal. They chose the name ‘Blood Witches’ to symbolize their hatred for all other fairies.”

Oh, and about Grey? On their date, he made little bugs in the water light up, using his blood witch powers to manipulate life. There was foreshadowing!

Terra’s guess is that maybe Sebastian’s just really persuasive. Stella’s guess: “Or maybe the people we care about are really just shitty people.” Ouch! Also Stella is looking at her phone, a list of unanswered texts to Beatrix. Ending with “of course. you're working with Sebastian.” and “I don’t know why I ever expected more from you.” This show is giving me emotion and it’s anger at the writers for being this unrelentingly cruel to Stella’s character.

Bloom and Silva talk and it’s quite wholesome. Bloom says Sebastian wants the Dragon Flame and Silva says he definitely shouldn’t get it and the one who should have it is Bloom. They’ll have to fight. Together.

Thank you, season 2, for giving Silva at least one good moment!

Then Bloom realizes Sky isn’t there. I had forgotten, but he tried to bust Bloom out last episode and landed himself in the dungeon. Where he probably still is in the taken-over school! Yikes! Silva says, “Before you go nuclear remember, Sky is resourceful. He’ll be fine.”

Sky has managed to sit himself in a corner of his cell that’s not visible from outside. When a female soldier comes in, he’s got himself up hanging from a grate in the ceiling. He smiles hello then drops on her. A brief scuffle later Sky walks out of the cell.

Back with the girls, Aisha doesn’t want Bloom going in alone. “What if you accidentally set someone on fire? I could be there to put them out.” Aisha says. Uh, it’s a battle, setting people on fire is kind of what you’re there for? Yeah I know, don’t hurt innocent people but still, weapon. Battle. Bloom is checking her phone. Sky has not texted back.

The girls don’t want Bloom going alone, and they have good points. Terra is a medic, Stella can do invisibility, and Aisha is on top of extinguishing. But there are scrapers so everyone with magic is in danger, also a good point. Bloom says she’ll be safe because she can transform and be stronger and faster. The other girls say they know how too, but Bloom doesn’tv think they have time.

Bloom also says, “that’s Silva’s plan, not mine.” Bloom, you do know this is supposed to be a friendship show about a team of fairies, right? Not Bloom, Lone Wold and Edgelord of Elemental Academy?

Edgelord Bloom summons a handful of dragonfire and says she has to do it alone because only this power can take down Sebastian. And she says, “I love you, I do.” but she has to do it alone.

Then Bloom… hears a psychic voice calling her name from a mysterious tower.? And faints.

She sees visions. Sebastian doing some yellow colored magic. Burned Ones.

Silva comes in to find the girls helping Bloom up. She says she just passed out from stress and needs a glass of water because heaven forbid the edgelord ask an adult who knows about magic about the strange new magic that just happened to her.

Sigh. I try not to do Fate-hate but it’s hard not to hate Bloom’s character when she acts like this.

Silva helps the girls boost Bloom up and she says she’s ready to go. But the plan is for Silva and the specialists to do the first… tactics… to make the scraper-filled school less dangerous for the fairies. So the girls should wait.

Sky sneaks around the school and has a lucky break! He comes upon the baddies just as Beatrix asks Sebastian what his endgame is. Sebastian says telling her wasn’t part of the deal. But then Beatrix did her bit and can just leave. Sebastian hands her a piece of yellow paper which I guess is the last bit of her payment for letting him in. Sebastian goes off to continue devouring fairies’ magic. Beatrix looks thoughtful. Sky sneaks off in the other direction.

Down in the dungeon many students are unconscious and/or bloody and beaten up. I guess they dump them back after their magic is stolen. Flora sits with a boy I don’t recognize—oh, it’s the fire fairy boy! His name is Nick apparently. He wants to escape! They’re not locked in a cell apparently, they’re just in a par of the dungeon with light shining down, because scrapers stay in the dark so if the fairies leave they’ll get scrapered. Flora says don’t do anything dumb but Nick summons a flame, goes out of the room, and promptly gets scrapered.

Musa is down here too, hiding from some guards by a cell door.

Outside Silva and the specialists, there are like 20 of them now, head for the school. Puppeteered specialists are standing guard outside. So, we’re gonna sneak in and incapacitate them one by one so Bloom and the fairies can go in! Let’s go!

Back at the cabin the girls get a call from Musa, who’s hiding in the suite. Sebastian may be on to them! A bunch of puppeteered specialists are heading outside. If they take down Silva’s team the plan is toast. Musa also knows where Flora is, but can’t get her out. Terra suggests appealing to Grey, and Stella says she can ask Beatrix again but Musa thinks B left. Terra is upset thinking her cousin’s going to become magicless and there’s nothing they can do! But Musa has an idea. That she doesn’t share with her friends, but she does grab her fighting stick.

Stella stands up and walks away, very upset. I swear this show ships Stella/Beatrix and it is weird.

Bloom is drawing… an eye? An eclipse? Aisha asks what it is and Bloom admits she had a vision and this is something she saw. Bloom starts choking up and says she’s really scared, after what happened with Rosalind and having to be strong. Aisha says you aren’t less of a badass if you let your friends take care of you. Aisha learned this because after Grey turned out bad she had her friends to help her get through it. They hug.

Back at school it turns out Dane texted the guy he’s supposed to take down. I guess it was one of his boyfriends? And Riven’s like,. ‘What don’t you understand about the concept of a surprise attack?” and then the guy comes out and he’s big. Swordplay ensues! Dane thinks he can wake his friend up from being puppeteered but it doesn’t work.

Also Riven is using two swords. Cool!

They go down to defeat and Sky jumps in and rescues them. But more puppeteered specialists are coming! The buys grab their target and they all retreat.

In the dungeon Flora’s checking the pockets of her passed-out classmates for a weapon. She finds a fountain pen and then the blood witches come to get her. She seems to be the last one.

Also the blood witches are dressed in olive green and many layers. This show was made before Zelensky made that his signature color but the outfits do not proclaim “villain” they proclaim “rebel fighters.” I can’t tell if this is a deeper message from the design team or just something I’m reading into it from watching, I dunno, Rogue One maybe?

Outside in the graveyard! Sky and the boys return. He’s using the sword that was supposedly his fathers, that Andreas dissed. Sky says it’s fine. Silva says the sword is just old, in fact it belonged to his father, not Sky’s. Andreas was probably angry at the deception. They don’t say any heartfelt words, but it’s clear they have reconciled.

But we can’t talk for long, we have to do strategy! With the blood witches alerted this small group can’t do much. Best bet is to wait for the Solarian army. Riven is not ok with leaving Musa and Flora in the lurch but Silva says it’s not up for debate.

Inside the school Musa attacks the blood witch soldiers transporting Flora! Musa is badass and knocks him down. Unfortunately the other blood witch is holding a knife to Flora’s throat! Musa knocks him down too. Cool! Flora still has her magic and they are loose in the school!

Bloom keeps drawing the… portal? A dark glowing circle. Sky calls so Bloom knows he’s safe. Musa also called so she knows those two are ok hiding in the school. Excpet… oh no! Sky is being puppeteered! He hands the phone off to Sebastian.

Sebastian of course will kill Sky unless Bloom does what he says, which is to sneak out of the cottage where the other girls are and go with Grey to the school. Grey is the escourt for Plot reasons, obviously.

Flora mixes up a potion in the suite. She’s gathered all the possible ingredients in the rooms, Terra’s herbs and Musa brings over what looks like some beauty products. Flora is working on a secret project she doesn’t want to tell Terra about so Terra doesn’t get distracted. Then Musa gets a text that Bloom and Sky have gone missing.

Bloom and Grey go in through the greenhouse and the infirmary.

Stella has gone outside to look for Bloom but instead she gets found by Beatrix. Stella says, “You’re the villain.” and Beatrix pulls out the book with info about scrapers and spills Sebastian’s plan. he’s “obsessed with righting the wrongs of Aster Dell” and his plan involves an “entity in the Realm of Darkness” that can raise the dead. Well that’d right the wrong pretty thoroughly, if you just bring everyone back to life! But of course it’s super dangerous and can destroy the world. Sebastian needs the Dragon Flame to open a portal to the Realm of Darkness, and once the portal’s open you can only close it from the other side. So it’s very important that Bloom stay away from Sebastian, but too late for that!

Stella reams B out, “You think you can play both sides, don’t you” do some good deeds and that’ll make up for letting Sebastian devour every fairy at school. B says she did what she had to to survive and Stella says, “Congratulations, you survived.” and turns away

And B says, “I have two sisters.” which she hadn’t known either. She made the deal Sebastian wanted to make with Bloom, info about her past in exchange for help. Sebastian couldn’t tell her why she was at Aster Dell on the day but he did know about her sisters. Beatrix starts to cry. she’s lost everyone, and now she has newly discovered family.

Stella says, “You had me.” and goes back to looking for her friends.

As they walk through the halls of the school Bloom gives it a try with Grey, the straight “It’s not too late to do the right thing.” But Grey shoots back, what is the right thing? Fairies killed his family at Aster Dell so is it wrong to steal their magic?

Yes, because Rosalind killed your family pretty much single-handedly so don’t be a bigot, Grey. But trying to raise the dead back up, if Grey doesn’t know the spell is dangerous, would be a complicated moral question.

Bloom pulls out a less complicated question. Aisha really liked Grey and he lied to her.

They get to the courtyard and Sebastian sends Grey away and shows off what he’s done to Sky. Poor dude’s all tied up in vines to the balcony with vines around his neck ready to strangle him. And unconscious. Sebastian says it’s a bit dramatic but gets the point across. Heh.

Bloom’s like ok, you can have the Dragon Flame and takes off her coat so a scraper can eat it. But Sebastian says that would make a scraper explode so they’ll use the convergence crystal to transfer the power.

Bold of Sebastian to assume he won’t explode. He’s eaten how much magic lately?

And Bloom starts sending her magic into the crystal.

Back out in the woods the girls are keen to do something to stop the triumph of evil but Silva still wants to wait for the army. Terra gives an impassioned speech about how Bloom, Musa and Flora are all fighting and they need to fight too. She says that’s what Miss Dowling would’ve wanted, all of Alfea fighting together.

That’s what gets through to Silva and he agrees. Time to go battle!

Dane is worrying about his friend Luke who they rescued and who’s still puppeteererd and passed out. Dane worries he’ll wake up and tell the blood witches what’s up, and just that he’ll wake up and be scared being suddenly in a different place. Riven says maybe Dane should stay with him.

Kat tells Terra that speech was very hot. Heh. Terra starts rambling about how she learned about empowerment from a TED talk (so TED talks exist in the Otherworld?) and then they share a romantic kiss. Aaaaw! They are so cute.

Then we go to… big fight! Sky and Silva nod to each other and lead the specialists into battle with a great war cry! They meet their puppeteered comrades in battle!

Inside Flora is working on her potion but needs more solvent. Musa insists she ask Terra for help and calls her. Flora admits her plan is… to attract all the scrapers to her, and poison them. With something that will also poison Flora. Terra of course is very upset! But Flora says this is her home too and she’s going to do her part. Terra tells Flora about other things she can use for a solvent, including Bloom’s art supplies and Stella’s vodka stash.

Swordfighting continues!

Bloom sending her magic into the crystal continues! But they are interrupted when another blood witch comes to report the attack. Sebastian tries to mindgames Bloom, saying she’s relieved to be giving up her power and she should be able to be an ordinary teenager without the pressure of all this destiny. Sebastian says he lost his chance at a normal life too, and “Nobody gets to have a normal life when the Dragon Flame is involved.”

Bloom snaps, “Are you taunting me?” which is a weird phrase but also good point. Sebastian says he didn’t mean to taunt and Bloom says that since he got everything he wanted Sebastian should at least tell Bloom what he knows about her mother.

And Sebastian does. Standing in the courtyard with daylight coming in the glass windows.

Bloom’s mother had the Dragon Flame too. And that was a thousand years ago! Baby Bloom was in stasis all that time. Bloom’s mom was a hero in an ancient war and then she lost control of her power and accidentally killed a bunch of people. Not being able to face the possibility that her child would end up with the same burden and maybe also lose control, she put baby Bloom in stasis when she was born. And she exiled herself to the Realm of Darkness.

...or Sebastian is just saying that to get Bloom to open the portal. Bloom! Your mom is in another castle!~

Sebastian says Bloom’s mother never wanted her to have this burden of power and would basically approve of giving it to him.

And Bloom’s cool with it and goes back to sending her power into the crystal. She is of course pretty upset from learning that her family lived a thousand years ago so none of them are around anymore.

Outside night is falling and the specialists are still fighting. they’re having a rough time and the giurls want vto use their magic to help, but tyhey can’t risk distracting the scrapers from Flora, who can draw them all to her and destroy them.

And Flora’s ready to go! In the hallway she holds up a bottle that I think is scraper-attractant and injects herself with the poison. Musa is horrified, but Flora says there’s stuff to do, there are still fairies in the dungeon that need rescuing. Frightened even in her determination Flora asks if it hurts and Musa says, “Like hell.”

Flora sends Musa off the help the others and makes her final stand against a wave of scrapers.

Outside the fairies from the dungeon make it outside. If they got out that means Flora took care of the scrapers. Silva nods at the girls. They can go in and join Bloom. Musa joins the specialists in their battle and Riven comes to fight beside her.

Stella, Aisha and Terra enter the greenhouse and of course there’s Grey standing guard. He tells Aisha he lost a brother in Aster Dell, making him the replacement kid. Grey says he just wants to be free from all of it, being the replacement kid, doing blood witch stuff. If his brother comes back the pressure will be off him. He says Aisha should be able to understand family pressure. And he says he didn’t lie about his feelings with Aisha.

She says it was only true for him, because he knew the truth the whole time so he gets the memories of a relationship while she gets memories of having been played. Her memories of her first romance are ruined now. Grey looks like he finally realizes that, and the girls push past him and go inside.

Bloom is still sending her magic into the crystal. There must be a lot of Dragon Flame for it to take this long from afternoon into night!

And here comes Beatrix, she didn’t run away like a sensible person, she came back to spill the beans to Bloom about Sebastian’s plan!

Bloom glances up at Sky and asks if it matters what Sebastian’s going to do.,

B says, “Remember you said that.” and zaps the vines with lightning. Sky falls like a sack of flour and as Bloom runs to him the crystal falls and shatters on the floor!

Bloom cries over her dead-seeming boyfriend and Sebastian crouches over the shards of his plan. Then he stands up and faces Beatrix. She grins and says she just saved the world and it felt pretty good, and Sebastian blasts her into a wall. It doesn’t look like a terrible attack but I know from spoilers that B is in fact dead. All her possible future plotlines cut off in an instant.

Bloom has reached the end of her emotional rope. She opens her wings as dramatic music swells…

Sebastian reminds Bloom this is the same thing that happened to her mother and then she killed a bunch of people. Bloom is rather past caring. And oh hey, here’s the other three. Aisha tries to talk Bloom down from going nuclear. Bloom tells them to get away and summons a ball of scary fire in her hands. Stella says they’re not leaving.

Then Sky gasps! Grey is there, using blood witch magic to make his heart beat! See, healing fairies, come on writers seriously…

Bloom’s fire goes out and she runs to Sky. But Sebastian’s still keen to fight-- and now Bloom can’t, well, get her fire up again. She’s used up all her power with that last flame-up!

So Sebastian points out that they’re all still screwed and Beatrix sacrificed herself for nothing. The others hadn’t seen B collapsed in a pool of blood but Stella rushes over—almost to her, and sees she’s dead and turns back with her eyes lighting up.

Aisha calls Sebastian a monster and he says yeah, and he’s stronger than each of them. Terra asks if he’s stronger that all of them and--

And insipid pop music ruins the moment!

But yeah, they all get wings. It’s pretty good. Their eyes light up, they float into the air, magic swirls around their limbs and their wings come out. Aisha’s are made of splashing water, Terra’s look like green glass and Stella’s are just thin beams of rainbow light. It is very pretty but it feels incomplete, maybe because their clothes don’t change, maybe because the lighting in the room and on them doesn’t change. Maybe because seriously, the moment when we need music to catch our emotions and make us feel how epic the moment is, we get this.

Bloom I think pulls some of her power back from the pieces of crystal and summons her wings again and the four of them blast Sebastian from the four directions until he is destroyed.

Appropriately, the way it looks Terra is in the North, Bloom the South, Aisha the West and Stella the East so somebody on the directing team knows their cardinal directions!

In the hallway, Flora isn’t dead! She’s been chewed on by a bunch of scrapers but she’s alive!

In the forest Dane’s boyfriend Luke wakes up and they hug.

On the battlefield Musa’s eyes glow and she knows they won. She’s not happy with her magic back now, hearing the thoughts of everyone who just went through a traumatic experience!

Bloom hugs Sky, who is alive. Stella kneels sobbing beside Beatrix, who isn’t.

And Bloom has a vision! A Burned One? The portal. The tower.

Then we cut to the girls back in the suite, recovering. Bloom passes out pillows. Musa brings snacks. Terra jokes about being sore from flying. The girls say nice things to Flora, making her a full member of the group.

The other Blood Witches are running away. Silva let Grey go back to his family. Beatrix will get a spot in the graveyard. Bloom says she and Beatrix both did things because they wanted answers, and Stella and Musa mention how Beatrix helped them.

Leaving the other girls to their post-battle slumber party Bloom goes to her room and looks through the magic book Beatrix brought back. Then she sneaks out past her sleeping friends to… the portal!

I guess Sebastian already opened it? Anyway it’s somewhere in the dungeon. Sky followed Bloom down and she tells him it’s a conduit to the Realm of Darkness. So it seems Sebastian didn’t need the Dragon Flame to open it, he just wanted the Dragon Flame anyway. Bloom could close it but only from the other side. She wrote goodbye letters to everyone because she’s going through it to close it from the other side. Sky doesn’t want her to go. Bloom says she’s dangerous, the Dragon Flame is dangerous, she doesn’t belong in this world. She says she isn’t scared. This is how she saves the world instead of putting it in danger.

Sky tells Bloom he loves her and they kiss in front of the toxic yellow portal but of course Bloom is going through it, there’s no other way the story could go.

She does, and the portal closes.

Aisha wakes up and finds Bloom’s goodbye letters. The girls hug and cry.

Future montage! Riven brings Musa some magic-blocking bracelets so she doesn’t have to have her powers if she doesn’t want them. that’s very sweet. Kat comes to pick up Terra for a date. Stella puts a lily on Beatrix’s grave. Aisha lounges by the river, watching the hawk. Riven and Musa spar. Aisha is by the river and Grey comes up to her. Flora opens her shirt to reveal terrible scars from the scraper attack, and tears up. Stella unfolds the note that Beatrix carried and… I can’t read it. “Isobel and D’arcy” last name starting with D, hopefully not Dark’ness, and what could be an Otherworld address. As Stella leaves the graveyard an ominous wind blows through and… something appears. A dark humanoid figure. This is what Bloom’s been seeing in her visions, I thought she was seeing Burned Ones but she’s seeing this thing.

And Bloom has been walking through the Realm of Darkness which looks like a slightly less verdant part of Ireland, conveniently enough. It is empty of people but not actually very dark. She reaches the tower from her vision and opons the door.

Inside, a human figure is backlit by a brazier of flames. It could be a woman with red hair.

Bloom asks, “Mom?”

Aaaaand credits! That is the end of Fate! Right on the cliffhanger!

#fate the winx saga

5 notes · View notes

dan-heron · 3 years ago

Text

Owl House story ideas

so, last week I saw a youtube video talking about disney cancelling TOH but it was just repeating what Dana said a while ago; and from a clickbait channel from what people tell me so yeah. For some reason it got me thinking of old ideas I never got to work on, either drawing or writing them, so I thought to share them and have them as a reminder to work on them at some point Hexside students on Earth, basically Willow, Gus, Amity, Boscha and Skara end up in Earth, some time before the beginning of canon, and Eda closes the portal without noticing she stranded the kids on the other side. Mostly slice of life, some character growth, Luz getting closer to her classmates and such. I imagined the first chapter opening with Camila realizing Luz brought friends to the house and hopes Luz tells her about it on her own in case she thinks Camila would say no, cut to earlier on the day with Luz screaming in panic as she's swung on the air by Amity's abomination after a bad first impression A different Earth, I was thinking of something happening on Earth that makes the world become something like what you would see on a Capcom game, with Biocurses, crazy science, super athletic normal humans that punch rocks or casually carry huge weapons and junk, and life just going with the new normal. Like, Luz's school having self defense classes against monsters, Luz carrying expandable batons Azura and Hecate painted in green and purple of course, etc. Mostly just silly ideas Monster High/Camp like, but pg. A year before canon, the school decides to call Camila like they did on the beginning of canon and Luz is signed up for a camp, on the day she's going to take the bus she's a bit dejected but there's no Owlbert that gets her away from the road and Luz climbs on the bus for the camp. Turns out a bus for a supernatural camp was on the area and saw Luz with her stuff and the driver thought "hey, another kid for the monster camp" and just opened the door to let her in. Luz only notices when the big red demon girl sitting next to her asks her if she has watched any new anime this season. Luz is pretty much the straigh man in this one, her monsters friends figure out she's a human pretty quickly but they keep the secret because they take a liking to Luz pretty much from the beginning. It wouldn't be the actual Monster High/Camp crew, maybe expies or different ages, and the humor and situations closer to TOH. The end of the story would probably have Luz texting her monster friends about the her first day in the boiling islands Club friend. The blond cheerleader and Luz arrive earlier to the Romeo and Juliet tryouts and the two start a friendship after a rough start. Cheerleader, remembering all the other stuff Luz has done in other classes, says some unkind things to Luz, immediately regrets it when Luz decides to leave and the two get to talk. Mostly bouncing Luz's ideas to make sure she doesn't freak out the rest of the club. Maybe add the other theater girl, the one people thought as the human version of Willow, have them visit Luz before she leaves for summer camp, get dragged to the Boiling Islands shenanigans, go back to Earth at the end of the day, bring quality junk for Eda as payment to let her use the portal, realize there is a new Luz after they lost contact with their Luz, you know normal human girls things New friends, basically Luz goes to different places earlier on and makes friends. Check the library earlier and find Amity reading to the kids, explore the forest and arrive Hexside to find Boscha playing cool magic sports. Just random ideas of first meetings without any baggage Black Rock Shooter, Yomi and Mato landing in the Boiling Islands after they escape Otherworld in the OVA, caused by Dead Master's last bit of influence. Yomi wanted to get away from the world and Mato wanted to be with Yomi, it doesn't matter if they end up in another world, right? They would arrive some time earlier than Luz, without help from somebody like Eda they manage to make a humble living between the two and get a little hole in

the wall for themselves; Yomi cleaning houses, doing some cooking and growing plants, while Mato is a delivery girl and harvests Trash Slugs if Eda hasn't beaten her to the punch, sometimes playing music on the market for some more snails. They have no idea their Others brought them to the demon realm, and when they meet Luz they think she's trapped there too for awhile Cursed Luz, always a classic. The beasts takes the magic of the witch to transform, since Luz doesn't have a bile sac the curse can't trigger a transformation, at least not quickly. Luz eats, drinks and breathes small particles of magic that are taken by the curse until it finally manages to transforms her, and much less potion is needed to undo the effects but there's still some of the usual angst and feels for the people of the owl house. Mostly an excuse to think of possible cursed forms, there's always the owlet but a wolf puppy was also in the cards That's all for now, tho the reveal of the new BRS anime reminded me of some old BRS ideas too, but it's getting late XD

#dan heron #the owl house #black rock shooter #story ideas #luz noceda

53 notes · View notes

mischiefandspirits · 4 years ago

Text

Are You Sure About That?

((Warning for blood and blood drinking))

The seedy streets of Gotham were filled with whispers about the demons and monsters that roamed the city, and outsiders and Gotham’s lawful scoffed at how superstitious the criminals could be.

Gordon had worked alongside Batman enough to be quite sure there were no demons in Gotham. Sure, the vigilante was a little standoffish, but it was Gotham. Likewise, the Robins and Batgirls were all good kids. Maybe the first Robin’s smiles were a little eerie, but that was likely just the contrast with his mentor. Maybe the second and third liked morbid humor, but that was just how kids were these days. Maybe the fourth Robin was a bit temperamental and harsh, but he was young. Maybe the Batgirls’ movements were a little uncanny, but that was probably just the training. Maybe Nightwing seemed a little too cheerful about the stuff they dealt with, but the kid had been doing this since he was young. He could have a worse coping mechanism. Red Hood was the only one he’d really consider monstrous, but the guy was a former crime lord turned anti-hero and he had been getting better since the Bat had taken him under his wing.

The members of the Justice League rolled their eyes whenever someone brought up the rumors. Batman was grim, overly serious, and secretive, but he was a good man who only wanted the best and always had plan after plan to help the league succeed.

The Titans thought the rumors were hilarious. Sunshine Boy Nightwing? A demon? Who could believe the guy who was always flipping around and laughing at his own bad puns was some dark monster?

The Outlaws didn’t believe it, but they understood why someone might make the mistake of thinking Red Hood was a monster. The guy was vicious and maybe a little messed up in the head, but then again so were they.

Young Justice scoffed at the rumors. Corvid was incredibly intelligent and an incredible fighter, but he was also an absolute mess who couldn’t remember to sleep, eat, or drink on his own.

The Teen Titans stared dumbly when they heard the rumors. Sure, Robin was rude, brutal, and a bit entitled, but calling him a demon was a little much, especially considering the team had a cambion member.

The Birds of Prey ignored the rumors. Oracle was a godsend, even when she had to give up the cowl because of an unknown accident. And Batgirl was a brash spitfire, but she was always willing to lend a hand. Likewise, Huntress mostly stuck to herself, but she could be kind and personable when the time came.

The public, well, as time went on they saw more and more of Batman and his companions working with their teams on the news. It was quite clear to everyone that the group was nothing more than baseline humans with incredible training who were out to make the world a better place.

Yet the rumors persisted.

Because in the shadows of Gotham, where only the darkest of souls and their victims could see you, there was no reason to hide.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nightwing licked the blood off his talons as he listened to Batgirl’s story, idly kicking the unconscious gangster at his feet every so often.

“Why didn’t you just kill him, Fatgirl?” Robin huffed from Nightwing’s side and the imp ruffled the tiefling’s hair, carefully avoiding his horns.

“Killing shouldn’t be your go-to option, hdiiga,” he chirped.

“Don’t do that! You’re getting saliva and common blood in my hair!” Robin snarled, slapping away his hand.

Nightwing smirked and leaned down to lick a speck of blood off his youngest brother’s cheek, pulling back quickly when Robin screeched and tried to punch him.

“I’d say it’s an improvement,” Red Hood teased as he finished tying up the gangster he’d had taken down.

“Mind your place or I will put you back in your grave!”

Wiping some blood off his mouth, Hood smiled at Robin. “Go right ahead. I could use the nap.”

“If you’re counting on me to resurrect you, I’ll remind you that the last time I did that, you tried to banish me,” Red Robin said, not looking up from the laptop he was hacking into as his shadows soaked up the blood on him.

Nightwing and Batgirl groaned as the zombie and demon settled into a familiar argument.

“Well maybe if you’d brought me back properly as you did for your blonds, then I wouldn’t have tried to banish you.”

“That was different! I was less experienced when I brought you back!”

“I should have been easier to bring back! I was already a zombie!”

“EXACTLY! You came with a bunch of extra complications!”

“Are you two ever going to let this go?” Batgirl asked, eyes on the gangster she had knocked out. His face was twitching with distress as she twirled her fingers across his forehead, occasionally pulling them away to see the small moment of peace he got before she began brushing them across his forehead again. The revenant looked up at Robin and winked. “And killing’s boring, Human-Bird. Everything ends way too fast.”

Robin clicked his tongue. “I will never understand why we should waste our time torturing someone who has nothing worth telling? If we’re not going to kill them then why bother attacking them at all?”

“Because it’s fun?” Nightwing and Batgirl said together.

“There’s always something you can get out of someone, even if it’s just sustenance?” Red Robin offered.

Hood shrugged when the tiefling turned to him. “Don’t look at me. I’m the white sheep, remember. The only reason I could give you is that listening to B lecture about maintaining appearances by limiting deaths and going after insignificant criminals gets really annoying after a while, and that’s never stopped me.”

“Are you five done?” Oracle’s hissing voice echoed through the alley as the green mist that had been hovering across the ground began to rise in serpentine forms.

“Just finished downloading the data you wanted,” Red Robin said, closing the laptop and passing a thumb drive to the snake coiling up him.

“Alright, the police are three minutes out so either clean yourselves up or get out of there.”

“I will head in. I need to wash off the common blood and,” Robin glared at Nightwing, “saliva.”

The imp smiled back unrepentantly. “I’ll go with you, hdiiga.”

“I should probably take off as well,” Hood said as the two left. “I still need to check on a few things in my territory. Maybe grab another bite to eat.”

“Please clean up after yourself this time. I don’t exist just to disappear all your bodies.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll behave. Not really in the mood for a lecture from His Majesty anyways,” Hood said with an eye roll and swatted the serpent on him off so he could grapple away.

“Guess it’s just you and me on babysitting duty, Red,” Batgirl said. She stood up and stretched before walking over to Red Robin. “Mind helping a lady freshen up?”

The demon snorted, but his shadows rose to clean the blood off her. As they waited, Red Robin raised his guise to make him appear human and Batgirl pulled up her scarf to hide the part of her pure-white face that wasn’t covered by the cowl.

Once they’d gone through the motions with the humans, Red Robin took off on his bike and Batgirl headed up to the roofs.

“Alright, O. Take me home!”

The green mist that had nearly disappeared in the presence of the humans flared to life and condensed into a large serpent that coiled around the revenant until she couldn’t see anything but green. The mist dispersed after a moment, leaving her standing within a summoning circle at the center of the Clocktower.

Oracle was sitting in front of her at a desk surrounded by computer screens and candles with green flames. A scrying bowl sat in front of her and a laptop was across her lap. As Batgirl stepped out of the circle, the scrying bowl stopped glowing and the candles went out all at once. The otherworlder set her keyboard on her desk and spun her chair around to face Batgirl, the white light fading from her eyes and the light from the screen catching eerily on the cracks across her skin that kept her from glamoring.

As she pulled down her cowl, Stephanie tossed Barbara a pendant glowing with psychic energy. “Brought home dinner!”

“Thanks. Your dinner is in the oven. Tiết canh.”

“You’re the best!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hdiiga is an Impish term. It directly translates to mean an infant imp, but it more generally is used as a term of endearment used by parents for their children or older siblings for their younger siblings.

For the record since they didn't appear:

Bruce is a demon king from the same demonic realm as Tim

Selina is a demigoddess who was granted powers by a cat goddess and, as a result, can reincarnate up to nine times

Helena is a cambion that came about as a result of a shared night between Bruce and one of Selina's past lives

Talia is completely human as was Damian's father (Damian's tiefling traits are a result of Talia and Ra's infusing Damian with Bruce's power during his time in the incubator in hopes of earning Demon!Bruce's favor. They are not aware that Demon!Bruce and Batman!Bruce are the same person)

Bernard is also a revenant (he and Steph were the blonds Jason mentioned)

#dick grayson #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #stephanie brown #damian wayne #batfam #fanfiction

22 notes · View notes

nopefun · 4 years ago

Text

Interview #492: Edra Galzeran

q: Give a short introduction of yourself: a: My name is Edra Galzeran, I am a photographer from Terrassa, a small town near Barcelona. In my teenage years this industrial city had little appeal for an awakened mind; it was just a place to run away from. So It was then that I started my escapades to Barcelona, a place where things happened. I left the calmness of my town, to plunge into the excitement, the madness of the city. At some point Barcelona also began to feel smaller and so began a long journey of ten years during which I had the opportunity to live in ever larger cities such as Berlin, Moscow and Kiev with the exception of Venice.

In the meantime, I studied Translation and Interpreting and began to take photographs and paint. All these cities fascinated me and still do, probably because they are places where the West meets the East. It’s funny how now, some years later, I have changed the excitement by the silence since I now live in a small town. In a way, I have returned to my origins. Now I love the closeness to nature, the Waldeisamkeit, being alone and wonderful in the forest.

q: How has the past year been for you? a: This terrible year was undoubtedly a turning point for me in many ways. On the one hand, the calm caused by the confinement, the slowing down of work, gave me the opportunity to become a de facto photographer, to show my work to the world. I have always photographed, but I could say that the germination of my capacity as a photographer is in Ukraine because there I started to really “see”. I bought my first SRL camera and started to walk and photograph what was around me, what caught my attention even If I did not think about becoming a photographer at that time. Things would start later, a few years after I returned to Barcelona in 2008. I had a lot of material that I had collected over the years, I did a workshop on analog photography and at that time I started to imagine the idea of becoming a photographer. I certainly already was, but it’s always difficult to say it out loud, when you are self-taught. Later it was difficult to find time to make a website, etc, because of my work, because of time constraints. However during the confinement I had to stay at home and had a lot of time to work on my new career.

On the other hand, this year has shown the fragility of human beings and our way of life has changed completely. The Covid has equaled us all more or less in disgrace. I personally was not affected by the disease, nor was anyone around me, although I had to face a family tragedy that kept me on my toes for almost three months.

q: What is your series "Immram" about? a: The word “Immram” is an old Irish word that usually means "journey". At the same time it is the name of a kind of story from Irish literature. These stories are about the sea voyage of a hero to the Otherworld. They were mostly written in the Christian era (8th century), but still preserve elements of Irish mythology.

Immrams focus on the exploits of heroes in their search for the Otherworld, which in these cases is located on the westernmost islands of Ireland. The hero sets out on his journey to experience adventure or fulfill his destiny and usually stops at other fantastic islands before reaching his destination.

My project Immram is a journey into the Otherworld, to my own Otherworld, it is a journey between past and present, between truth and fiction, between paganism and Christianity. It is my winter journey to an old, hostile island in the west of Ireland, where all kinds of beliefs are permeable. It is the smallness of man in the face of a nature steeped in fatalism.

q: In your series “Flor de marge”, you revisited photos you took more than a decade ago in Ukraine. What was the process like for you and what did you rediscover? Do you feel you photograph differently now? a: It was all part of the same process of creating myself as a photographer. During this slow period of confinement, I began to look at the material I had produced over the years, but it also brought to mind all the forgotten photos that I had taken in Ukraine. It was a surprise to discover that I was already a photographer back then. I found some interesting pictures. When I looked at them, it was like seeing the person I was ten years ago. It was very revealing. I saw the gaze I had then; I saw a harsh reality that unfortunately is shaping our days more and more, at least in Spain.

As for photography, things are quite different today. Paradoxically at a time when everyone shamelessly exposes their private lives in the social media, no one wants to be photographed in the street. I do not think that is so terrible. I remember a time when I lived in the middle of Barcelona, in the Gothic quarter, near the Plaça Real, and dozens and dozens of tourists were loitering around. I often heard the click of the camera, and probably I will be seen in many pictures with my always loving red scarf.

Today I photograph differently; I have shifted the street photography of my beginnings in favour of introspective photography. People are becoming more and more inaccessible, at least in Western countries and it is difficult to capture these special moments. When you have to ask for permission, all the magic of the moment disappears. But there is one wonderful exception, I am thinking now of Katty Grannan, a photographer who does great portraits of people on the street who want to be photographed. My new projects are more oriented towards nature, maybe because I now live two minutes away from the forest. They are more introspective, the human presence has become more residual.

q: You mentioned that you are also a painter. Do you see a link between your photography and painting? a: Perhaps in the dominance of strong contrasts and in a certain tendency, especially in more recent works, towards pessimism, in line with the times, although I am a rather cheerful person in my everyday life. In any case, I believe that I am in a phase of experimentation in both photography and painting.

q: Upcoming projects or ideas? a: I have several projects in mind, but the most advanced is "Cal y silencio" (Lime and silence). This project deals with the phenomenon of depopulation of rural areas in Spain. The centre of Spain is a vast plateau that covers most of the national territory, a place with extreme temperatures both in winter and in summer, where only the 15% of the population live in the 53 % of the territory. In recent decades there has been a migration to the major cities of the periphery and to the capital, Madrid. The rural world in Spain is a forgotten world full of dying villages, solitude, isolation, lime and silence.

q: Any music to recommend? a: That is a pretty difficult question, because I listen to very different music from all times, from different styles and from many, many countries. Depending on my mood, I listen to music from Schubert's Winterrreise to Ravi Shankar, from The Doors to Bon Iver, from Chavela Vargas to Mina…I have long Spotify playlists that I like to play randomly. I also enjoy the discoveries of this platform, the last one yesterday, a Turkish version of the Russian song “Podmoskovnie Vechera” (Moscow nights) by Tülay German.

her website and Instagram.

Get more updates on our Facebook page and Instagram.

#Edra Galzeran #nope fun #photographer interview #Artist Interview #Terrassa

57 notes · View notes

canarygirl1017 · 5 years ago

Text

Ghosted Chapter 2

Pairing: Reader / Jungkook, Reader / Taehyung (past relationship, friends to lovers to friends)

Genre: College!au, fluff, angst, supernatural drama, smut, friends to lovers, emotional trauma, hurt/comfort

Length: 9, 806k words

Warnings: language, episodes of anxiety, panic attacks, sexual themes in later chapters.

Summary: Living in a world full of things only you have the ability to see, growing up with Jungkook has been your island amidst the chaos. But when your best friend makes an impossible request, your friendship is fractured, and your sudden decision to cut ties and move abroad changes everything. Three years later, Jungkook is thriving at university as he begins his junior year. He’s a star athlete, member of a popular fraternity, and every girl’s ideal boyfriend. He tells himself that he’s long forgotten you and the friendship he never had a chance to mend – that is, until you show up on campus as a transfer student with new friends in tow. It’s been three years, and everything has changed, but the biggest change is you. Your new found determination to use your abilities to help the ghosts you used to live in fear of, no matter how dangerous it might be, makes Jungkook fear he’ll lose you before he has a chance to fix what he broke. College AU.

Disclaimer: Just for funsies, I don’t believe in real-life shipping. But I like to write, and I like fandom, so here we are. Please do not duplicate this work or repost anywhere else without permission.

Read Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Gettis University, and the surrounding town, were as full of creepy feelings and shadows as you’d expected. The strong presence of the otherworld could be felt as soon as you got within a couple of miles of the city limits, and the hot spots you’d passed as you drove through town would likely test your abilities in ways they’d not been tested before.

You paused in the great room of the old house where you’d be living for the next two years. It was a Victorian style home and though light, bright and newly renovated, you’d already felt the presence of something that you’d need to run out before you all slept that night.

You turned when you heard Yeontan’s little nails tapping on the floor behind you. You scooped him up and buried your face in his soft, black and tan fur. “Hi baby. Did you have a good walk?”

“He did,” Taehyung said as he walked in. “It’s good that we have an enclosed garden out back, but he loves the park down the street, too.”

“This house is way too big for two people, Tae,” you said, your tone admonishing. “What are we even going to do with all this space?”

“Well, we need space to set up an office for Namjoon and Chloe, plus the paranormal group they’ve been in contact with here will probably be over. We need extra bedrooms for when my parents visit because now that we’re back in the country, they probably will. And it was the only house near campus that also has a guest house for Joon and Chloe to have their own space.”

“Well, I’ll leave it to you to figure out what you want to do with all these rooms,” you said, knowing he probably did have some kind of plan for them. He’d need an office for himself since he often worked late on photography and art projects, and he liked having a home gym. “I’m glad your mom arranged to have it furnished before we got here. We just need to move in our personal things.”

“Yeah, Joon is sorting boxes outside.” Taehyung closed his eyes and rolled his shoulders. “I’m kind of sensing something here. Dark spirit?”

“A weaker one, but yes,” you answered. “We’ll deal with it after we get Joon and Chloe set up, and then we’ll hang talismans.”

While Taehyung couldn’t see the things you saw, with the rare exception that a spirit was strong enough to break through the barrier of the otherworld, he was sensitive to their energy. It was something that had wreaked havoc in his life before he met you because he didn’t understand why he had such dark and negative feelings all the time. When he’d started getting into trouble and drinking too much, his parents had sent him to England to attend boarding school with his cousin.

You’d known as soon as you saw him that he could feel the spirits that hung around him even if he didn’t know what they were. And so, one day after classes, you gave him one of your talismans and told him that he’d sleep better if he put it next to his pillow. You could tell by his raised brows that he thought you were kind of crazy, but he’d fallen asleep looking at it that night and finally slept better than he had in years.

At first, it had been weird to talk to someone other than Jungkook and Mrs. Kim about your abilities. You kept expecting him to think you were nuts and exit stage left because even your own mother had never believed you. But Taehyung never thought you were crazy. Even when you started exploring your abilities, looking into the resources you’d gotten from Mrs. Kim, and making contact with others whose work lay in the paranormal realm, he’d never acted like you were a burden, and he’d never abandoned you. His support had given you the strength to keep going on an increasingly scary and dangerous path.

While your academic focus was English literature and linguistics, Taehyung was most interested in art, photography and art history. Taehyung’s parents had expected him to return to California and perhaps study art at Berkeley or apply to NYU’s fine arts program. Instead, he’d followed you to Oxford when you were both accepted.

You had the support of a team now as well. During your Oxford years, you’d met Namjoon, a grad student who had been doing research on paranormal abilities as an unsanctioned side project while also studying experimental psychology. His girlfriend, Chloe, had a background in engineering and computer science and a similar interest in recording paranormal activity.

With their help and that of Mrs. Kim, with whom you’d remained in touch, you’d gradually built a network of contacts – people who were able to see the otherworld as you did, sensitives like Taehyung, and those who sought to understand the paranormal world. One of Mrs. Kim’s contacts, an elderly Chinese man named Mr. Lu, also had the ability to use Taoist amulets to banish spirits.

And not just spirits – you’d been stunned to learn that demons also inhabited the otherworld. You finally had an explanation as to how the ghostly man in the library had hurt you that night. While the strongest of the ghosts in the otherworld could also harm you if they gathered enough energy, burning someone with a touch was the specialty of low-level demons.

You had worked hard for the past couple of years to hone your abilities. It was a surprise to find that many of the spirits who inhabited the otherworld were harmless. They neither sought out human contact nor attempted to cause harm; they merely drifted in the remnants of a world that felt familiar to them, or they sought comfort by occasionally observing loved ones who remained among the living.

Some were nuisance ghosts who enjoyed playing pranks, but they were quite easily dealt with and did little to cause lasting damage. A small percentage fell into the realm of dark spirits – vengeance ghosts who were still angry at their manner of passing were some of the strongest ghosts and could pose real danger to people. Similarly, places that had seen evil acts committed, or mass deaths, were often portals of darkness which attracted demons and dark spirits alike.

Aided by Mr. Lu, you discovered that you had untapped potential to help spirits cross over to the light, as well as the power to harness dark spirits and banish them from the otherworld. Demons were trickier, but you were getting better at dealing with them. It had taken you time to recognize the power you held, but as you got older and it grew stronger, and as you became less afraid, you could feel it inside yourself – a little ball of light that you could coax forward and wield at will.

Learning to wield that power had not come easily. The burn mark on your arm wasn’t the only scar you carried on your body now either; you glanced down and traced the long, jagged mark that ran the length of your left arm from your inner elbow to your wrist. Strong fingers suddenly clasped yours and you looked up to see Taehyung looking at you with worried eyes.

“You can still change your mind about this,” Taehyung said softly. “We both know that being here is dangerous for you. If your friend still cares about you, he wouldn’t want you doing this for him.”

“I’m not just doing this for him, Tae,” you said truthfully. “I’m doing this for me. Because I have regrets about how and why I left, and I can’t keep running away from my past. There’s Jungkook, yes, but also Jin, and Jimin, and Emmie and Robbie. My mom. I ran away from everyone, thinking I was better off alone, and they were better off without me. Now I have to consider how I can merge my old life with my new one, at least enough to repair those relationships.”

“And if you can’t?”

“Then at least I’ll know I tried,” you said with a smile. “I know I can’t go back to how things were, but maybe there’s a way forward.”

Taehyung suddenly pulled you close, wrapping his arms around both you and Yeontan. “You know I’ll help you any way I can.”

Leaning your head against his chest, you nodded. “I know. I just hope your parents don’t hate me for dragging you to yet another university where you never intended to enroll.” It was one of the best universities in the country, and it did have an excellent fine arts program, but it wasn’t even on Taehyung’s radar before you applied for transfer.

“Hey, my parents love you. They credit you for getting me on the straight and narrow path, and even though I told them we’re not dating anymore, I’m certain my mom is still planning our wedding.”

Taehyung’s parents were Hollywood A-listers. His mom had a long film career that had eventually transitioned to television, and she was the popular star of a long running cable drama. His father was an English filmmaker who’d won two Oscars and now spent most of his time on documentaries. Taehyung had no interest in acting or film, but with his fine boned features, dark wavy hair and almond shaped, deep brown eyes, he did a handful of modeling assignments every year that fueled his interest in photography and fashion.

You pulled back and kissed his cheek before lifting Yeontan to give him a lick, making him laugh. “Come on, we should go help Joon and Chloe sort boxes and get things set up. Then I need to have a chat with this little spirit lurking about the place.”

___________________

You woke the next morning feeling refreshed after a deep, dreamless sleep. You and Tae had helped Joon and Chloe set up their equipment in the room designated for their office. Then you’d made up the beds and begun the arduous task of unpacking and organizing personal items. By the time the sun set, you’d been ready to tackle the dark spirit haunting the house.

Like most weak spirits, its energy grew as night fell, and you’d caught it at just the right time before it gathered enough energy to put up a real fight. Still, using your Taoist amulet drained your energy too, and you were exhausted by the time your dinner order arrived. The last task had been to hang talismans at centrally located windows and main entrances, both in the main house and in the guest house, concealing some among the curtains and hiding others behind the artwork that Taehyung’s mother had selected for the house.

Though you still thought the house was too large for you and Taehyung, you couldn’t deny you were happy to have a tranquil bedroom overlooking the garden, and you owed Tae’s mom a phone call to thank her for having it decorated in your favorite colors. The walls were the palest of lavender with cream trim, and the cream, padded headboard of the queen-sized bed dominated the far wall. The light purple of the silk duvet was accented with splashes of cream and sage, and the bed held an array of pillows in similar colors.

Dramatic, arching windows were draped in swathes of delicate cream fabric tied back to let in the light. Comfortable sage armchairs created a cozy reading nook in the corner, and a large area rug in an irregular but complementing color pattern covered the hardwood floor. She’d thoughtfully selected artwork for the walls – an abstract floral design here, a water landscape there. Considering the negative energy that you felt so strongly in town, you knew this space would go a long way towards helping you feel calm, focused and centered.

You’d been too tired the night before to take note of the spa-like retreat that was the adjoining bathroom. Its marble floors and tiles had been warmed up with sage accent colors and a teak wood double vanity, while a claw foot tub sat in front of the large window that faced the far mountains. You eyed the tub longingly before opting for a quick shower, enjoying the rainfall effect.

After drying your hair and applying light makeup, you put on a lemon-yellow sundress, a gossamer thin white cardigan, and clasped your gold locket around your neck. Then you selected the gold watch and earrings Tae had given you for your birthday the week before.

You had one suitcase left to unpack and set it on the bed to sort through its contents – mostly fall and winter clothes that it was still too hot to wear. You paused when you got to the bottom and saw the black hoodie. You’d found two of Jungkook’s hoodies in your room before you left for England. You left one of them in the box that you’d told Emmie to take to him when he returned from camp. The other, you’d thrown into your suitcase a few minutes before you left.

You remembered the night he gave it to you. A few weeks before Christmas during your sophomore year, Jimin’s parents had gone away for the weekend and as he always did when they were away, he threw a party. You were sixteen, and Jungkook had decided it was time to try beer.

Hauling his drunk ass home later that night was quite the experience.

You snorted with laughter as Jungkook stopped beneath a streetlight and did part of a girl group dance that Jimin had dared him to do earlier. But he’d forgotten part of it and had been stopping every few minutes on the way home, trying to remember.

“Damn it,” he said, frustrated as he shook his hips, arms up, and then paused. “Are you sure you don’t remember it?”

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t do it in front of Jimin’s drunk friends or here on the street,” you replied. You tugged his arm. “Come on, if we miss curfew your mom is going to kill us.”

“Nah, as long as we’re together, she doesn’t really worry. She knows we’ll take care of each other.”

“It seems like I’m the one doing the work tonight,” you said with a grunt as he leaned into you. “Geez, you are heavy.” Once he hit his growth spurt, making him nearly a head taller than you, he’d also started putting on muscle.

“But you love meeee,” he sang, spinning you in a circle.

You couldn’t help laughing even as you stumbled sideways again. “I think we need to sit and let you sober up a little. We still have about thirty minutes.” Since you were staying at Jungkook’s tonight, and you were only going to Jimin’s house, his mom had extended the curfew until midnight.

You’d reached the halfway point, a large park that connected your neighborhood to Jimin’s, so it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes to get home. The park was well lit and safe as well, rarely home to any spirits. You guided Jungkook over to the swings and helped him sit before sitting in the one next to him.

“Remember when I fell out of this swing?” Jungkook asked as he started swinging.

“Of course. You just had to get as high as possible and then jump.” He still had the mark on his cheek where he’d hit the ground. “Even when we were kids, you were never afraid of anything.”

“I am scared, sometimes,” he said after a moment.

“Really? Of what?”

“Of things that can hurt you. It’s the only thing I’m really scared of.”

You looked over at him to see him staring up at the sky, a lot more sober than he’d been a few minutes ago. “You never told me you were scared before.”

He scuffed his boots against the ground and then pushed off again. “I have this dream sometimes, or a nightmare, I guess. You’re in the water and something comes for you, and I can’t get to you in time.”

You had that nightmare too, which is why you never went near the water after your encounter with the water ghost. “I’m sorry.” It was the first time you’d realized that he was carrying the weight of your personal horrors, and you felt the guilt creeping in.

“It’s not your fault. I just wish I could take it away, you know? Like, I wish I could be the one to see them and you could be safe.”

“I wouldn’t wish that on you, though.” You twisted your swing sideways, back and forth, and then leaned back to look at the sky. The moon was almost full and very bright, and it reminded you of the moon in the storybook you’d read to Emmie earlier that evening.

“I love you to the moon and back,” you murmured, leaning back further.

“I knew you loved me,” Jungkook said, laughing.

“Funny. The moon made me think of that book I read to Emmie earlier.”

“Well, I love you. To the moon and back, and to Saturn and Jupiter, and back to the moon…”

You rolled your eyes. “Okay, okay. I love you too, to the moon and back.” You shivered as you stood up, holding out your hand. “We should get going.”

Jungkook stood and unzipped his black hoodie. “Here, put this on. I’m getting kind of hot anyway.”

You pulled it on and zipped it up. He laughed at you when you had to roll up the sleeves, his nose crinkling in amusement.

As you started walking again, Jungkook said, “I love you to…. infinity and beyond!”

“Shhh, God you’re loud. Please please be quiet when we get to your house.”

You ran your fingers over the soft material as you thought about that night. You’d worn the hoodie home the next morning and you’d just never given it back. It had become a type of security blanket over the years.

You carefully tucked it in a drawer, slipped on your sandals, and went to look for Taehyung. He wasn’t in the great room or the kitchen. Next you checked the downstairs master suite he’d claimed, but he was already up. Grabbing a cup of coffee, you walked past the guest house and out into the back garden where you spotted him sitting, legs crossed in a meditation pose, on a bench near the far wall.

He opened his eyes and smiled at you as you approached him. “Good morning. Feeling better?”

“Much.” You sat next to him and watched Yeontan nosing around the bushes. “I think I’m going to drive to campus and look around, get a feel for any hot spots. Do you want to come with me?”

“I can’t. The guy is coming to finish the water features.” Since water often served to deter spirits, Taehyung had enlisted a gardening company to install a water feature that ran along the walls of the back garden. The work had begun before you arrived; natural rocks had been carefully placed in a design that would create waterfalls flowing into small pools on either side of the garden. “Once they finish up today and get the water going, I think those pools will be deep enough for koi fish.”

“That will be pretty.” It was a lovely garden. Several trees provided shade, the lawn was expertly manicured, and lush flowerbeds and carefully pruned flowering bushes presented a pop of color among the greenery. “The water will make it cooler back here too. We could add a table and some lanterns and hang out here in the evening.”

“Are you okay going by yourself?” he asked, pushing his wavy hair out of his eyes as he whistled for Yeontan. “You could take Tannie with you.”

“Probably a good idea since they’re coming to finish up back here.”

“Hey.” Taehyung reached for a lock of your hair and tugged it gently. “Don’t confront anything by yourself. If you want to wander around, get your bearings, then fine. Just please don’t follow anything or let anything follow you until the rest of us are with you. This place is… dangerous. We need to be really careful here.”

“I know, don’t worry.” You reached for his hand and threaded your fingers together. “Thank you for coming with me, even though I was afraid to ask you. This would be so much harder without you here.”

You collected Yeontan’s leash and other essentials and drove to the main university parking lot, which was central to the sprawling campus. Yeontan trotted happily next to you as you took note of buildings. The Gothic architecture was a sharp contrast to the bright, late summer sun beating down, and you imagined the campus took on an entirely different aesthetic at night.

There were also plenty of hot spots. Dropping pins as you walked, you wondered exactly what type of spirits you would encounter here. You expected the usual vengeance ghosts, but you occasionally got impressions of something much, much darker as you walked. You dropped yet another pin as you passed the building that housed the pool and athletic departments. Mindful of your promise to Taehyung, you didn’t explore further.

When Yeontan got tired, you picked him up and followed a group of students chattering away with each other about classes beginning soon, upcoming mixers and welcome back activities. Soon you found yourself at a park that abutted a large, sparkling lake. You didn’t need to get too close to sense something in those waters, and so you kept a healthy distance as you turned your attention to the group playing baseball in the field.

And then you saw him. Jungkook wore loose black shorts, a white t-shirt, and a backwards black baseball cap as he stood with a group waiting for their turn at bat. From the people talking around you, you learned that it was just a friendly game between rival fraternities, which explained the number of girls hanging around.

This was your chance to talk to him – to let him know you were here. To explain why you had left. Seeing him again brought a wave of longing, and with it the familiar anxiety you felt when you thought of him.

“Oh, such a cute dog!”

You turned to see a very pretty girl about your age wiggling her fingers at Yeontan. Her dimples flashed when she smiled, and her eyes were such a clear shade of blue that you wondered if they were contact lenses. Her auburn hair was tied up in a ponytail, and she held a sign supporting Pi Kappa Alpha.

“I’m Sera,” she introduced herself. “And who’s this?”

“Yeontan,” you replied. “And I’m y/n. You can pet him if you want. He’s very friendly.”

“Are you new here?” Sera asked, scratching Yeontan’s head. At your surprised look, she nodded at the brochures sticking out of your open bag. “I recognize the welcome package.”

“I’m a transfer student from Oxford,” you confirmed, shifting the wiggling Yeontan in your arms. “We just got here yesterday.”

“Are you off campus? I’m in the Alpha Omicron Pi house.”

“We have a house – the old Victorian on Elmhurst Street.”

“Oh, I noticed they were renovating that house this summer. I grew up here,” she explained. “My parents live three streets over from you. That’s a big house – did you move here with friends?”

“My… friend, Taehyung, came with me,” you said. You weren’t dating anymore, but your relationship with Tae had fallen into something between friend and boyfriend, a kind of ambiguous realm you both were still feeling your way through. “And two other friends, Namjoon and Chloe, are living in the guest house.”

“That’s cool that you all came here together. I guess this will be a big change from Oxford. Hey, so tomorrow there’s a big welcome back picnic happening here around noon. My sorority is co-hosting. Why don’t you and your friends come? I can introduce you around.”

Your eyes drifted back to the field to see Jungkook up at bat. As expected, he hit the ball with a loud crack and took off running around the bases, making it to home before the outfielder had even retrieved the ball. He high fived a guy on his team who you recognized as Jimin when you saw his profile. Someone shouted Jungkook’s name and he suddenly looked in your direction.

Slipping your sunglasses back on, you let your hair fall to cover your profile. “I have to get going, but I’ll ask my friends about it when I get home.” With a wave at Sera, you turned and began walking back to your car as quickly as you could without drawing too much attention to yourself.

“Hope to see you tomorrow!” Sera called after you.

______________________________

Jungkook ran the bases with ease and did a shimmy on home base before high fiving Jimin.

“Such a showoff,” Jimin said with a laugh.

Jungkook grinned and glanced over at the crowd watching when he heard his name called, waving at Jimin’s girlfriend, Ayeong, and her friend Erin, who was waving her Pi Kappa sign enthusiastically. Then a girl in yellow caught his attention. He froze as the girl turned her face away before he could see her clearly. She was holding a small dog as she talked to Sera from the A O Pi sorority. Then she was hurrying away.

Jungkook didn’t realize he’d started walking in her direction until Jimin caught his arm. “Where are you going? You’re pitching.” Jimin followed his gaze, a troubled expression on his face. “I know that girl kind of looks like…”

Jungkook cut him off. “Let’s get back to the game.”

He tried to concentrate on the rest of the game, but he was agitated now, and pissed off. He’d promised himself two years ago that he’d stop looking for you in crowds and chasing the shadows of girls who looked even vaguely like you. That girl might have the same hair, and she might’ve been wearing one of those dumb, useless little sweaters you always liked, but she wasn’t you.

The problem was that now his head was full of you, and he did his best to push you back out like he always did when something reminded him of you. His team won, but he didn’t enjoy the victory, and he was silent in the car as Jimin drove back to the house they’d just moved into with Jin, who was enrolled in the theater program as a grad student.

“I’m glad you finally got permission from your coach to move off campus,” Jimin said. “I guess it helps that you’ll be living with family, so he trusts you not to get too wild or slack off on training.”

Jungkook leaned forward and turned up the radio, a signal that he didn’t want to talk.

Jimin sighed but fell silent. When they pulled up to the house, he jumped out and headed inside to find Jin had started painting the living room. He went straight through to the kitchen, ignoring his brother’s greeting.

“Hey, the least you could do is pick up a brush and help!” he heard Jin yell after him.

Jungkook got a bottle of water from the fridge and took a long drink. He could hear Jimin talking to Jin now.

“There was a girl at the game who looked kind of like y/n,” Jimin said in a low voice. “Plus it’s that time of year – you know how he gets.”

“Her birthday was last week, and his is coming up soon,” Jin said. “Not that he’s ever in the mood to celebrate it anymore anyway.”

Jungkook ignored them as he walked back into the living room and picked up a brush. “Let’s get this finished. Remember we have to go early to pick up the coolers and ice for the picnic.” He and Jimin belonged to the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and they were co-hosting the welcome back picnic with the A O Pi sorority.

He let Jimin and Jin talk and concentrated on painting. He wasn’t going to think of you anymore and that was that. You hadn’t been back to the U.S. in three years – the last he’d heard from his mom, you opted to attend Oxford University. You’d cut everyone out of your life, and he wasn’t going to waste any more of his time thinking about the past.

That night he dreamed of you.

He stood at the edge of the lake, wading in when he saw you drifting further out in front of him. It always happened the same way; you would smile and stretch out a hand to him, and then you disappeared beneath the surface. And no matter how many times he dove under the water looking for you, you were just gone.

Jungkook woke in a cold sweat, gasping, heart pounding. He switched on his bedside lamp and sat up, glancing at the clock to see it was nearly four in the morning. Running his hands through his hair, he breathed deeply and willed his heart rate to slow.

He hated that fucking nightmare. He could tell himself all day long he wasn’t going to think of you, but then this would happen. He told himself that you were fine, wherever you were. If something terrible had happened to you, he would have heard about it from your mom or his mom. Your life wasn’t his business anymore.

Jungkook was sleep deprived and cranky the next day as he helped set up for the picnic. Students were arriving on campus now, and there were a lot of mixers and activities planned for the next week, many of which he was expected to help with because Jimin was a social butterfly who kept volunteering you both.

Ayeong and Erin were there as well, and he did his best to avoid Erin, whose crush on him was starting to make him uncomfortable. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he didn’t want a girlfriend and she definitely wanted a boyfriend. The last person he had seriously liked was Grace, and they’d broken up before senior year started. Since then, he’d kept his relationships casual – maintaining his grades and baseball took up most of his time anyway.

An hour into the picnic, he was sitting in a shaded area with Jimin and Ayeong when a little dog ran up and panted at his feet. He smiled as he leaned over to pet the little ball of black and tan fluff. “Hey, little guy, who do you belong to?”

“That would be me – sorry.” A tall man with dark wavy hair approached holding a leash. He leaned down to clip it on the dog’s collar. “He doesn’t usually run away like that, but I think he’s excited about all the new people.”

“Cute,” Jungkook said with a grin as he scratched the little dog behind the ears. “What’s his name?”

“Yeontan,” the man replied with a smile. He held out his hand. “And I’m Taehyung.”

Jungkook shook his hand. “I’m Jungkook. This is Jimin, and that’s Ayeong.”

Taehyung’s smile faded. “I should get back to my friends.”

He was leaning down to pick up the little dog when Sera joined them. “Hey, it’s Yeontan!” She stroked the dog’s head and looked over at the man holding him. “Let me guess – you must be Taehyung?”

“Have we met?”

“No, but I met Yeontan at the game yesterday when I met your girlfriend.”

“Ah, you must be Sera.”

“So where is y/n? I haven’t seen her yet.”

Jungkook’s head shot up at the name. “Y/n?”

“Oh, there she is!” Sera waved at a girl who walked over to join Taehyung.

Since your eyes were on the dog, you didn’t notice him at first. “Oh, thank God. Bad Tannie!” You reached for the small dog and dropped a kiss on his nose. Behind you were two more people – a tall man with silver blond hair, and a woman with long, brown hair threaded with blue streaks.

It was a surreal moment seeing you again. You were wearing a dark blue, silky sundress and what looked like the same thin white sweater he’d seen you wearing the day before. Your wavy hair was held back from your face with little clips, and your gold locket hung around your neck just as it always had. The little dog yapped and licked your cheek, making you giggle, and you smiled up at Taehyung, who placed an arm around your waist.

“Oh, shit,” he heard Jimin mutter next to him.

That got your attention and when you glanced over to see him, you froze. Your eyes held his for several moments. Then you took a deep breath and said, “Hi, Jungkook.”

Sera was looking between you, her expression curious. “Do you know each other?”

When Jungkook didn’t answer, Jimin said, “We all went to school together until y/n left for boarding school senior year.” He stood up and walked over to give you a hug. “It’s nice to see you again.”

You smiled at him gratefully. “I’m happy to see you, too. I was going to call or something, but we’ve only been here for two days.”

Jungkook felt his jaw clench. He said nothing as Jimin introduced Ayeong, who seemed uncharacteristically shy as she greeted you and Taehyung.

“This is Namjoon,” you said, gesturing to the blond man. “And his girlfriend, Chloe.”

“I heard you guys moved into that big old Victorian house,” Sera said to Taehyung. “I was telling my mom about it when I talked to her last night. She’s an interior designer, so she was interested in how it had been updated.”

“You should come by some time,” Taehyung told her.

The way Taehyung kept looking between you and him told Jungkook that he knew who he was. That meant that you’d known he was here before you came. You’d probably seen him at the game yesterday and you’d still scurried off rather than talk to him.

He watched Sera lead you and Taehyung away, introducing you to other friends. You looked over your shoulder at him, but he averted his eyes rather than meet your gaze.

Jimin cleared his throat and looked at Namjoon and Chloe. “Are you students here too?”

Namjoon shook his head. “I met Tae and y/n at Oxford – I was in a psych grad program there. Chloe and I are researching paranormal activity, so we tagged along when we heard they were coming here.”

Jungkook felt Jimin looking at him again.

“Huh. Well, that’s interesting. It’s supposedly the most haunted campus in the country, so good luck with that,” Jimin said.

Namjoon and Chloe wandered over to join the group of people you were talking to.

“Are you alright?” Jimin asked quietly.

Jungkook tried to swallow down the hot anger he could feel building. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Do you guys know who that is?” Ayeong asked incredulously. “That’s Taehyung Kim. As in, son of actress Jinah Park and Oscar winning director John Kim. He models for big designers a few times a year – he has a verified Instagram account, too.” She tapped on her phone for a minute and held it out to Jimin.

Jimin scrolled silently for a few seconds. “He’s also a photographer?”

“Yeah. I think he’s had at least one showing in New York under the name Vante. It was a photo of your friend that got me interested in photography – about two years ago?” She took the phone back and scrolled for a minute before handing it back to Jimin. “That one. He called it The Sighting, and it still gives me the chills when I look at it.”

Jimin looked at it and then handed the phone to Jungkook. He took it and looked at the photo, a landscape shot of you next to a river. You were in profile, but the angle showed a haunting, pensive expression on your face as you stared across the water, arms folded across your midsection, your hair lifted by a breeze.

The Sighting was a good name for the photo, and he wondered what you had seen that day. After a moment of hesitation, Jungkook went to the thumbnail view of Taehyung’s Instagram page. It was full of you.

Some of the photos were more artistic and some were just little snapshots of happy moments. It was obvious that you had spent most of your time with Taehyung over the past three years, and that anger he’d felt earlier came rushing back. You couldn’t be bothered to let him know you were alive, but you could take cooking classes and adopt a puppy with the perfect Taehyung.

He carefully passed the phone back to Ayeong before he did something crazy like hurl it into the lake.

When Ayeong was distracted by a friend she was talking to, Jimin scooted his chair closer. “Seriously, the level of anger you’re repressing right now can’t be healthy. Can you please just talk to her? Maybe she had a good reason for not coming back until now.”

“I’m not interested,” Jungkook replied.

“You are so full of shit right now,” Jimin said evenly. “You told me that it was your fault she left to begin with. You were going to fix it, you said. Well, here’s your chance.”

“She’s not my fucking problem anymore, and I don’t care,” Jungkook snapped back. “So drop it.”

A quiet gasp made them both look up to see you and Taehyung standing a few feet away. You stared at him, a flush creeping up your neck betraying your emotions. There was something in your eyes that made him feel small in that moment because he knew he’d hurt you.

Without a word, you turned and walked away towards the lake. Taehyung shot a furious look in his direction before following you.

Jungkook spent the remainder of the afternoon battling conflicting emotions. He was mad at you, but he was also mad at himself for still getting angry about something he’d spent two years telling himself was over and done with. He was hurt that you’d just shown up like this with no warning and with new friends, evidence of how you’d replaced him.

He was also confused about why you’d come to this university when you had to know how dangerous it was for you. Jungkook couldn’t see or feel what you saw and felt, but here at Gettis, he occasionally got an uneasy feeling. It was enough that he’d hung a talisman at the window of his dorm, and he’d put up more at the house he shared with Jimin and Jin.

And now you were down by the lake like one of his nightmares come to life. As mad as he was, he was also fighting the urge to physically drag you away from the water. You’d been down there for an hour with Taehyung, Namjoon and Chloe. Thinking about what Namjoon had said – that he and Chloe were interested in paranormal activity – he had to wonder if you’d deliberately chosen to come here because you were looking, too.

He reminded himself again and again that it wasn’t his business, and what you did shouldn’t concern him now. He dredged up his anger to dispel the fear that curled in his stomach when he watched you walk to the end of the pier and lean down to touch the water before looking back at Chloe, who was looking at something on a tablet.

Jungkook guessed he had an answer – you were definitely here looking for something, and you displayed none of the fear that he’d expect, either. And somehow that scared him.

He was still sitting and watching you when Jin arrived.

“I guess Jimin called you,” Jungkook said.

“Where is she?” Jin asked.

He nodded down to the lake.

_____________________________________

“The readings here are insane,” Chloe said. “Look at this, Joon.”

“I see it.”

You closed your eyes and pushed out with your mind, searching. You heard the water ripple a few feet away – it could be mistaken for a fish, but you knew it wasn’t. Taehyung knew it too and crouched behind you to wrap one arm around your waist.

“Even after everything I’ve seen you do, these water ghosts are still the scariest,” he admitted as he anchored you.

They used to be the most terrifying to you as well, but you didn’t feel the same fear you used to feel when standing near the water. You were still scared, at least a little, and very alert to the danger. However, if it hadn’t broken you the night you went down to the lake alone three years ago, you supposed it wouldn’t now.

You could feel that Jungkook was still watching you, too. You didn’t need to look at him to know he must be wondering what you were doing down here. After all, the same fears that haunted you used to haunt him as well.

You’d been so nervous to see him, but once you were standing in front of him, you couldn’t deny the burst of happiness you felt. He looked the same in some ways, but there were little changes you committed to memory; he’d grown a bit taller, and he’d filled out even more. He’d lost the remaining roundness in his face, replaced by defined cheekbones and a sharp jawline. His hair no longer swept across his forehead, hiding his eyes, now replaced by an off-center part that exposed his strong brow.

You’d both grown up during these three years, though it was clear that he’d nursed a deep anger toward you. Maybe you deserved it, but it still hurt to hear him refer to you as a problem – one that he didn’t want to be a part of anymore.

“Y/n?”

You looked over to see Jin standing on the pier next to the lake edge. Taehyung released you as you stood and took a few tentative steps in Jin’s direction, wondering if he was angry, too.

Then he held his arms open, and you felt tears rush into your eyes. You closed the distance and wrapped your arms tightly around him. He just held you for a couple of minutes, petting the back of your head like he used to when he knew you’d had a bad day. His tall, solid presence instantly calmed you.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered.

“I’m maybe a little mad, but I missed you too much to show it right now,” he said. “I’m glad you’re back.”

You finally pulled back and wiped your fingers under your eyes before looking up at him. “I thought you were still in L.A.”

“I was there for a couple of years. I did a couple of commercials, had a few walk-on roles. Mostly I just saved money so I could apply to the theater program here. I finally got in.”

“I’m so glad you’re here,” you said, squeezing his hand.

“What are you doing down here?” Jin asked. He looked concerned as he glanced at the people behind you. “This lake can be dangerous from what I’ve heard.”

You quickly introduced him to Taehyung, Namjoon and Chloe. Jin raised his brows when you mentioned that you were living with Tae, but he didn’t comment.

“Tae and I both transferred from Oxford,” you explained. You debated how much to say, but then added, “Namjoon and Chloe are working on a research project related to paranormal activity. There’s no better place for that than here, so they decided to come with us.”

“I see.” He looked out at the water for a moment and then held out his hand. “Come walk with me.”

As you walked around the perimeter of the lake, you noted that Jin put himself between you and the water.

“Can you really see ghosts?” he finally asked.

You stopped and stared up at him. “Did Jungkook tell you?”

“No,” he said. “You forget how many times over the years you slept over. I can’t even count how many blanket forts I built for you two on the living room floor once you were too old to share a bedroom, and if you remember, I usually slept on the couch. I heard you two talking more than once.”

“And you believed it?” you asked doubtfully.

“No, not at first. I thought you two had overactive imaginations because of what happened to you at the lake that time which, I admit, was hard to explain. But then I saw how you were after the library fire, and after that night we found you at the lake, I guess I wondered.”

You sighed and looked out over the water. “Even my mother doesn’t believe me, Jin. The only people I could talk to were Jungkook and Mrs. Kim.”

“So, it’s true.”

You nodded and met his gaze. “The otherworld is real, though not many people are aware of it. Some people are sensitive to that negative energy – Taehyung, for example. He can’t see them, but he can often feel their presence. And then there are people like me, who can see and interact with them.”

“Then why would you come here?” he asked. “This place even gives me the creeps sometimes. You used to jump at every shadow that crossed your path, and now you’re strolling near the lake looking for what? Water ghosts?”

“More than one,” you replied. “I was trying to feel them out and see how many are out there.”

He looked at you incredulously. “For what purpose? I remember hearing you and Jungkook talk once about how they sometimes followed you. Isn’t this dangerous for you?”

“They recognize me as part of the otherworld, so yes, they often follow me,” you replied. “But I haven’t wasted these last three years, Jin. I’m still learning, but I’m able to use my power in ways now that I couldn’t even comprehend before. And with all the hot spots here, I think this will be a good place for me to test my abilities.”

“So what you’re telling me is that you and your team of ghostbusters over there are here to look for dangerous ghosts,” he said. His laugh turned into a groan, and he wiped a hand down his face. “You and Jungkook are going to give me gray hair before I’m thirty.”

“Please don’t say anything to your mom,” you told him. “I don’t need her or my mom thinking I need a psych admittance.”

“That’s debatable,” Jin muttered. “Jungkook is too mad and stubborn to admit it right now, but he missed you too.”

You looked back over at the water. “He made it clear I’m not his problem anymore, and he’s right. He was kind of trapped in that world with me for ten years. I don’t blame him for opting out.”

“Is that why you left?”

You shrugged but didn’t answer.

“Stubborn, the both of you,” he said with a sigh. “He waited for you to come home that first year and then he tried to forget you. Do you know he hasn’t celebrated his birthday since you left? Like clockwork, August rolls around and Jungkook is a walking wound for a few weeks, snapping at everybody. He can push you out of his head, but he’s never been able to push you out of his heart, y/n, even if he thinks he did.”

Tears blurred your eyes as you stared at the water, and you forced them back. “I can’t force him to listen to what I have to say, Jin. Maybe he’s right and it doesn’t matter anymore.”

________________________________

Jin spent the afternoon trying to reason through everything you’d told him before abandoning reason. That evening he called his mom and asked if she had Mrs. Kim’s contact information. If his mother was curious as to why he needed it, she didn’t say anything. She simply told him that she’d look for it and send it to him later.

When he got off the phone, he saw that Jimin and Jungkook had walked in with the pizzas they’d picked up.

Jimin looked at him curiously. “Why do you want to talk to Mrs. Kim? I don’t think I’ve seen her since before your grandmother’s funeral.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because y/n is here hunting ghosts. From talking to her this afternoon, I think she probably still talks to Mrs. Kim, and I’d like to know exactly how worried I should be.”

Jimin gaped at him. “Wait, what? She really sees ghosts? I thought Hanna and Lily were full of it when they started that rumor back in elementary school.”

Jin looked at Jungkook and then back at Jimin. “You didn’t know?”

“No.” He shot an accusing look at Jungkook. “Did you know?”

Jungkook was staring at Jin. “What do you mean she’s here hunting ghosts?”

“I mean exactly that. There are multiple water ghosts in that lake, by the way, so I’d advise you both to stay out of it.”

Jimin still looked stunned. “Water ghosts.” He visibly started. “Wait, is that what happened to her at the birthday party? And why she wouldn’t go near the lake again?”

“Apparently.” Jin grabbed a plate and loaded three slices of pizza on it.

“But then why would she be down at this lake if she thinks it’s full of water ghosts?”

“See, she seems to think that she can fight them now or something. She said she’s still learning, but it sounds like she’s here to test her learning curve by hunting ghosts in one of the most haunted places in America. And I can’t believe I just said that out loud.”

Jin watched his brother while eating. Jungkook stared at the pizza on his plate, brow creased. He might try to hide it, but Jin could see he was worried.

Jimin was still trying to put all the pieces in place. “That fire at the library was always weird. Was that a ghost? Because it would explain why she stayed locked up in her bedroom if it was. And those lucky talismans? I noticed you hung a few up here, Jungkook. I thought they were just things you got from your grandmother.”

“They’re not lucky talismans,” Jungkook muttered. “They keep away spirits. Things feel weird here sometimes, so I hung them up just in case.”

“I can’t believe you guys didn’t tell me about this,” Jimin said with a reproachful look. “I wouldn’t have told anyone, you know.”

“Can we please talk about something else?” Jungkook pushed his plate away and stood up.

“Hey.” When Jungkook looked at him, Jin said, “I don’t know what happened between you and y/n three years ago, and I get that you’re still mad, but I’m going to need you to pull your head out of your ass and help me out here. Because she’s still family even if you’re mad at her, Jungkook. I need you to help me make sure she doesn’t get hurt or worse doing whatever it is she’s planning on doing here.”

_________________________

Jungkook tried not to think about you, but after Jin’s revelations, your new ghost hunting hobby was damn near all he could think about. Telling himself it wasn’t his problem anymore was one thing when he thought you had the sense to steer clear of the otherworld, but it was harder to convince himself when he was worried you were actively seeking out trouble.

Jin had mentioned that your boyfriend was a sensitive – someone who could feel but not see the spirits. He supposed that explained how you ended up together, and he obviously supported your newfound insanity. He still couldn’t believe you’d gone down to that lake and touched the water, knowing that it was full of water ghosts. As long as he lived, he’d never forget the force with which that ghost had yanked you into the water all those years ago, and that was only one ghost. Even though Taehyung had been anchoring you, he knew that would be useless if multiple ghosts came after you at once.

Jin had called Mrs. Kim and left her a long voicemail, but he hadn’t heard back from her yet. It had been two days since he’d seen you at the picnic; Jin had gone to visit you at your new house, but Jungkook had refused to go. He still felt confused, his emotions too raw to deal with you.

Jungkook wasn’t in the mood to go out, but Jimin dragged him down to the pool in the athletic building that afternoon.

“You need to work off some aggression,” Jimin said. “I’m tired of you snapping at everyone, and so is Jin.”

They hit the locker room first to change and then walked to the pool room. Once classes started, it would be in use more, but it was peaceful at the moment. Jungkook set his bag down on a chair, noting one other bag there, though no one was around. Then he saw your gold locket.

“Is that someone in the water?” Jimin suddenly asked.

Adrenaline rushed through him as he scanned the water and finally saw the dark shape at the bottom of the pool. “No.”

Jungkook hit the water and dove deep, fear giving him the extra push he needed to reach you within seconds. He jerked you into his arms and swam up. When he surfaced and started pulling you to the side, he was relieved to hear you coughing.

You clung to the side and coughed again before wiping your face.

Jungkook was livid as he climbed out and then lifted you out of the pool. “Are you out of your mind?”

You pushed your hair back and looked at him. “I wasn’t drowning – at least, not until you surprised me, and I inhaled water coming up.”

Jungkook barely controlled the urge to shake you. “You were at the bottom of the fucking pool, y/n! Are you fucking crazy?”

“Don’t curse at me,” you suddenly shouted back at him. “I can swim just fine now. I didn’t need you to jump in and play hero.”

“Whoa, okay you two need to calm down,” Jimin suddenly cut in. “If you weren’t drowning then what the hell were you doing at the bottom of the pool? Because the last time we saw you, you were scared to death of water.”

You walked over to your bag and pulled out a towel, wrapping it around yourself as you faced them. “I learned to swim more than two years ago. Sitting at the bottom of the pool is something I do to practice holding my breath. I like to see how long I can stay down there.”

“What if something was down there?” Jungkook asked, jaw clenched.

“I’m not stupid,” you shot back. “There was a water ghost here, but I got rid of it yesterday. It’s perfectly safe to swim here now.”

His attention was suddenly caught by the long, jagged scar on your left arm. He didn’t even have to ask to know you had gotten hurt doing something dangerous. Something like you were trying to do here. Jungkook thought his head was going to explode. “Are you listening to yourself? Are you trying to die on this campus?”

“What’s going on?”

He turned to see Taehyung coming from the direction of the bathrooms. He didn’t look happy to see Jungkook there, and in his current mood, the feeling was mutual.

“Nothing,” you said. “I want to go home.” You slid your shorts on and pulled a t-shirt over your head before fastening your locket around your neck.

Jungkook held out an arm to stop you from walking by him. “I thought Jin had to be wrong when he told me you were here hunting ghosts. Because that’s just crazy any way you want to look at it, and there’s no way you’d be stupid enough to go looking for that kind of trouble. Right?”

You stared up at him, and the stubborn tilt of your chin made his heart sink. “I think I’m not your fucking problem anymore, Jungkook. So whatever I am or am not doing, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Watching you walk out with Taehyung, he wanted to hit something. He settled for kicking his bag off the chair and then sat, raking his hands through his wet hair. “Fuck.”

Jimin sighed and sat next to him. “Maybe yelling at her isn’t the way to go, Jungkook. She’s not a child, and we have no idea what she’s experienced the last few years. It’s obvious that she’s not the same girl we knew who was afraid of everything, and maybe she has reasons for that.”

Elbows propped on his knees, he clasped his hands behind his head and tried to calm down. “You have no idea what kind of danger she’s putting herself in, Jimin, because you found out about this a couple of days ago. I lived with it for ten years. What she’s doing? She could die.”

Jimin stayed quiet for a minute. “I can’t pretend like I understand because I know I don’t. You two have ten years of secrets – that’s a lot. But it doesn’t change the fact that she has her own secrets now. Three years of secrets, to be exact, and the only way you’ll be able to understand who she is now is if she’ll talk to you about them. I’m just saying yelling won’t accomplish anything.”

Jungkook stayed by the pool when Jimin left, thinking over his friend’s words. Talking to you without getting angry seemed an impossible task at the moment. It would require him to dig at the wounds you’d left him with, to forgive you and ask for forgiveness in return. You had years of hurt and issues to hash out, and frankly, he didn’t know if he was ready for that.

His other option was just to stay away from you, but now that you were back, he didn’t know if he could do that either. And beneath it all, there was his deepest concern – how to keep you safe while he was figuring it out.

A/N – Hope you liked the update! I also updated the Ghosted playlist if you want to check that out. I put a link in my Master Fic List. My asks are open if you have any questions about the story, and I’ll work on getting Chapter 3 up as soon as I can. Yoongi and Hobi will be introduced in the next part as the U.S. liaison to y/n’s ghostbusting team, Hobi rather reluctantly lol.

Tag List: @ggukkieland @jikooksgirl19 @waves-and-woods

#college au #jungkook x you #jungkook x reader #jungkook fanfic #bts imagines #jungkook smut #jungkook fluff #jungkook angst #ghosted

108 notes · View notes

cassyapper · 4 years ago

Text

OKAY IVE ACTUALLY PLAYED TWO SESSIONS SINCE MY LAST POST SO IM GONNA COMBINE THEM HERE SORRY FOR THE LENGTH BUT,,IVE COME SO FAR I DONT WANNA STOP NOW

this is gonna be very messy cause i WILL be jumping back and forth as things come back to mind so uhh pls enjoy this absolute ramble <3

anyway. i continued playing omori and boy do i have some Thoughts

so first session; i went through the pyre(something i forgot the full name sob) forest/sprout mole village/sweetheart’s castle in one go and let me TELL YOU. DOING THAT WAS FUCKING INSANE I WENT NUTS holy shit.

so anyway.

pyre forest!!!! the lil race against the big spider coming after u for disturbing the smaller spiders mechanic was very fun i had a lot of fun figuring out the best routes to take. i know normally mechanics like that lead to ppl getting frustrated cause u have to keep retrying but i had a lot of fun!!!! sum annoyance but good natured type, th kind that just makes u try harder u know? i just enjoyed it JKFN;FN; candles in the foggy forest....now That is an aesthetic

the rare bear scared the fuckin shit out of me i remember it didn’t attack me straight away so i was like “aw (:” but then when i press x on him it takes me to a BATTLE SCREEN AND SUDDEN THAT MF IS TERRIFYING I WAS LIKE WHWHWHWHWKJDNJ. very funny i honestly wished i recorded my reaction

also omori is afraid of drowning...................................i am breathing heavily. i think whatever happened to mari is related to at least one of the things omori is scared of. so either heights, spiders, or drowning it seems. spiders doesnt seem super likely as a contributor to her death, and while falling from a height is more realistic, such a senseless way of dying doesnt seem to rlly fit ? with the vibe i get from the kiddos in the real world. which makes me think maybe drowning/otherwise suffocating is how she died...but we’ll see. also due to the forgotten library part, we know omori explicitly feared spiders/drowning before mari died so it’s also probable im jus talking out my ass here but still,,,,thoughts

also this motherfucker?

literally fucking terrifying. IT’S BODY IS MADE OF SUCC’D SPROUT MOLES...i still have no idea what exactly it was doing to them but jesus h christ!!!! evil and fucked up. do not feel bad for curbstomping it

sprout mole village!!!! very cute, im v excited to send that one dude his brother’s care package. i like how, when theyre not lost, sprout moles can be real endearing lil guys,,,theyre not my fav lil enemies but (:

also for some reason omori is the first game ive played where i really care about getting achievements ? so i literally did the back and forth on my save file just to get all the season sprout mole achievements JKDJFJ;. i ended up sticking w spring tho before moving on for real cause spring is my fav season irl (:

also i felt SO BAD for cutting down that one sprout mole’s chistmas tree he was just trying to celebrate but i wanted to see that present and coincidentally becoming a christmas ruiner was an achievement so all’s fair in love and war i suppose

ALSO. th fuckin plant monster thing under the scientist sprout mole’s room. major little shop of horror vibes from the design, absolutely adored it!!!!! originally i did just cut the wire holding the piano over it, ending it in one go, but i was very curious abt it so i reloaded a save file to actually fight it and

i know it only spread that gas to make the kiddos happy cause being happy reduces attack i think ? it decreases attack/defense but seeing the kiddos smile so much was nice (:

however

omori...sunny....son boy.........u good ?

and now. sweetheart

the way the sprout moles completely adore and depend on sweetheart gives me such awful evil vibes and combined with such a luxurious background was fucking incredible

sweetheart herself, speaking of. bitch (sorta affectionately, certainly not derogatory)

i talked to every sprout mole in the audience before taking my seat and i literally dont know why. even when i picked up the pattern of where the unique dialogue could be found (usually the sprout moles farthest right) i still talked to all of them......just in case ? i have no idea. i dont know why i did that. i feel it’s important that i note it tho

LMAO SO WHEN SPROUT MOLE MIKE DID THE MINUTE OF SILENCE FOR YE OLD SPROUT MOLE

I LITERALLY FELT SO FUCKING BAD LMAO I WAS LIKE OH MY GOD NO!!!!!! I DID THAT!!! I KILLED HIM!!! OH MY GOD!!! I WONDER HOW AWKWARD OMORI KEL HERO AND AUBREY FELT IN THE AUDIENCE HOLY SHIT THEY HAD FRONT ROW SEATS TO SPROUT MOLE MIKE’S MOURNING!!! MY GOD FJKFN;;

also sprout mole mike describing 3′7″ inches as ”towering” was the FUNNIEST shit i have ever seen. also i have to wonder, since sweetheart made up the whole show of sweetheart’s quest for hearts in the first place, if she was seriously down to marry a sprout mole if one suited her fancy. jus v funny to me honestly. SPEAKING of sweetheart’s dating patterns I NOTICED THOSE FEM SKELETONS IN THE DUNGEON!!!!! BI SWEETHEART!!!! SHE’S JUST AS DOWN FOR GIRLS AS SHE IS BOYS

i know TECHNICALLY not everyone is in the dungeon for failing to be a good enough suitor but STILL...COME ON. THIS WAS BEFORE WE KNEW THAT. SWEETHEART BI I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL

anyway

when the lights when out and lightning struck the third contestant, i knew Immediately something was gonna go down. and when the mustache sprout mole was like “oh yes!! u!! in the striped pjs!! u absolute beast ur perfect!!!” i KNEW hero had just been selected as the replacement i was goign completely fucking nuts i was like OH MY GODNFNG; HIS HEART IS ALREADY TAKEN BY MARI!!!!!!! STOP

i ended up taking so many screenshots during this part cause i was going feral so here take a glance just cause i love, uh, hero

OUR HERO IN SHINING ARMOR DJLBH;KFJB

also GOD FUCKING DAMMIT IM SHORTER THAN HERO

hero shaking on the stage when he was introduced...oh my HEART....IM SO FOND FOR THIS BOY WTF!!!!! DKJDN;N

this is not really NEWS to me since it’s implied hero is tall but like come ON..... sorry just every time i find out a character is explicitly taller than me i need to huff about it, moving on,

HERO FUCKS

sorry i just have so many screenshorts during this aprt cause i was going fucking crazy but

literally terrifying! sweetheart bathes in that shit!! christ!

is blood good for ur skin? i imagine, so long as like...gore isnt in it and it’s solely blood it cant be BAD necessarily......but good ? regardless very fucked up. besides the fact that well, uh, BLOOD, blood is also sticky as hell. ur telling me sweetheart willinglhy bathed in that shit? disgusting. at least thin it out

anyway I HAD SO MUCH FUN DOING THE PUZZLES AT SWEETHEART’S CASTLE....FROM THE DUNGEONS TO THE KITCHENS TO THE BALLROOM TO THE LIBRARY TO THE GARDENS JUST EVERYTHING!!!! IT WAS SO FUN I ENJOYED FIGURING IT OUT SO MUCH IT WAS LITERALLY DELIGHTFUL...I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH THE GAMEPLAY IS SO FUCKING EPIC I LITERALLY HAVE SO MUJCH FUN.......OH MY GOD I JUST. INCREIDBLE!!!! FUCK

also the lil sir maximus bit.........i honestly felt really awful over having to kill them ): i think i even tried running once but it wouldnt let me...it hurt man ): they were just a family....

um but anyway,

i think it was rlly sweet how aubrey protested to the wedding cause she was worried abt sweetheart,,,like i cant rlly explain it idk how to put it into words,,like sweetheart is clearly not mentally well and having an episode, and aubrey being the only one to say “hey what ur doing is self-destructive and isolating” just mmmh. she cares a lot,,,and *i* care aubrey

also sweetheart’s battle theme fucking SLAPPED...SO GODDAMN HARD IM STILL QUAKING OVER IT....FUCKING BANGER YO!!!!!! INCREDIBLE

ah but alas

BASIL........I NOTICED THAT IT WAS HIS GHOST/SHADOW DURING THE EXIT FROM OTHERWORLD AS WELL BUT JUST FUCK

im so worried about basil ):

and it being so obvious that none of the others can see...........them asking omori if he’s okay.....oh my god. i go nuts

and then...the forgotten library part

i literally cried, again, oh my fucking god

these kids loved each other so much they ADORED the time they spent with each other and im QUAKING to know WHAT HAPPENED TO MARI......HOW DID THE FALLOUT GO. I NEED TO KNOW I NEED TO KNOW I NEED TO KNOW

i know there are multiple endings to this game and on god i am not QUITTING until i get the happiest ending there is for these kids im literally a goddamn fuckign mess oh my god

MARI SHWOING UP IN THE LIBRARY AT ONE POINT AND LEADING OMORI...........IM LTIERALLY GOIGN INSANE OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD HE LOVED HIS SISTER SO MUCH HE’S SO CLEARLY LOST WITHOUT HER I CANT FUCKING DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. I NEED TO KNOW I NEED TO KNOW I NEED TO KNOW

GOD

okay sorry i just. ive said ti before but the grief in this game is so real and palpable and it aches, it aches so bad. also the white egret orchids in the library...i see u

but regardless.... session two real world electric boogaloo

LOVE that kel is like “so i need to run errands but u wanna come with me right? of course u do!” like fuck i rlly do. kel is just so delightful i would literally do anything to spend time with him

ALSO i noticed u can just refuse to open the door both times kel’s knocked now and it makes me wonder....if u could choose to ignore kel ? and then venture out urself or just ? i wonder what would even happen if u chose to not open the door. im CERTAINLY not doing it myself at the very least not this playthrough but i am curious...i bet that’s how u get a bad ending, by not talking w kel

but anyway....

aubrey and her gang not saying anything in the pizza parlor........i jus think abt that is all

ALSO!! pet rocks!!!!!!!!! LOVE this lil thing it’s so cute. jus rock paper scissors it babey

speaking of lil bits, love all the mini quests in the real world...it’s just rlly fun and builds up this cute lil town........it also makes me think that whatever happened to mari cant have been anything except an accident, bc no one comments on what a tragedy it was to omori. like if it was murder, there’s no way such a horrific situation wouldnt engulf the town for a bit and sweep over it for weeks at least, but that just doesnt seem to have happened. this is def me reading too into it tho;; point is neighbors nice (: also i got the seashell necklace and i go apeshit

ALSO......THE FUCKING...........CHURCH. I VISITED WITH KEL ON A COMPLETE WHIM CAUSE I WAS CURIOUS IF THE PASTOR WOULD TALK MORE ABT AUBREY BUT NO. INSTEAD HE TALKS ABT THE WEIRD VIBE FORM THE GRAVEYARD HE’S GETTING!!! AND THE DUDE WHO CHILLS IN THE GRAVEYARD SAYS SHIT ABT THE SPIRITS GETTING READY FOR SOMEONE TO JOIN THEM!!!! BITCH WAHT THE FUCK

THERE’S NOF UCKING WAY THIS ISNT ABOUT BASIL. THERE IS NO!!! WAY!!!! I SWEAR ON GOD IF BASIL DIES I WILL LOSE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ESP CAUSE THERE IS LITERALLY NO OTHER WAY HE COULD DIE EXCEPT SUICIDE THAT’S WHAT IT HAS BEEN IMPLYING OVER AND OVER I GO NUTS I GO APESHIT NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCK

OKAY SORRY I JUST. HHHHHHHHHHH

baby has acquired baby

kel’s family is rlly cute,,,,v heartwarming. i trust them

i do worry abt like...the stark difference between recognizing kel’s accomplishments and hero’s...i just idk. i just keep thinking abt that bit in kel’s story abt hero’s depression when his parents focused on hero and ignored him, and i just. kel’s family is good People but i worry if kel has a good support system...i jus........): i am watching

ahh THE BASIL MISSING PART MADE MY HEART LITERALLY FUCKING DROP..I WAS SO FUCKING PANICKED I WAS LIKE OH MY GOD THIS IS IT BASIL IS DEAD

THANKFULLY HE WASNT BUT HOLY GOD HOW THAT WHOLE SITUATION PANNED OUT MADE ME GO NUTS!!!!!!! BASIL...AUBREY...HER GANG.......FUCK OH M YOGD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

THANK G O D I SNOOPED AROUND KEL’S HOUSE BEFORE LEAVING I WOULD HAVE H A T E D TO FIGHT THEM ALL AT ONCE IM GLAD I WAS ABLE TO JUST PEPPER SPRAY THEM JESUS CHRIST

oh my god kim like asking for aubrey all concerned before deciding to trust her and leaving.....kim i diagnose u with lesbain

the whole fucking. basil almost drowning scene. i seriously feel like ive changed like as a person over it. i am thinking . i am thinking. i am only evee thinking about mari and how omori just loved her so much and how the thought of her gave him strength. th pic of her ghost holding omori’s hand in the water made me cry

MMMM BUT. HERO!!!

I DIE I DIE I DIE HE’S SO PRETTY FUCK ALSO HIM PICKING UP BASIL WOOOOOOOO THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT YEAHHHHHHHH

god i feel so bad about leaving aubrey tho. shes so clearly not okay and she so clearly did not mean to push basil in and oh my GOD I JUST...PLEASE....PLEASE CAN WE JUST TLAK TO HER I NEED TO TLAK TO HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED TO FUCK

the ghosts of omori and aubrey on the swings made me cry out like i had been physically assaulted

AHH BUT THEN TAKING BASIL HOME AND WHILE HE’S IN HIS BED HE JUST SAYS “oh sunny...there’s not way out of this...is there?” I LITERALLY GO BUCKWILD APESHIT INSANE STUPDI!!!!!! BASIL YOURE PUTTING UP A LOT OF ALARMING FLAGS HERE!!! PLEASE DO NOT FUCKING DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCK. CHRIST. HELL. SHIT. THIS GAME IS DRIVING ME FUCKING CRAZY

GOD

oh my god but the day ending with hero and kel sleeping over at omori’s house...im kdnd im jkdim im not uhm okay THEY BUILT A BLANKET FORT PLEASE..I LOVE THEM

goddd hero going into the piano room....playing sum........and then asking omori abt the song he and mari used to play on violin...and then THE TITLE SCREEN MUSIC STARTS PLAYING....HI. HI HELLO HI YOU CANT FUCKIGN DO THAT HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK YOUFBJFGJNGN;EJNE; IM GOIGN NUTS

also the name omori comes from the piano.............interesting...i wonder why sunny likes being called omori in the dreamscape...

god but omori not having a srs hallucination cause he’s w his friends and he feels safe...im gonna sob

However. i did glance into the bathroom mirror. AND INSTEAD OF THE EYE MF IT’S A DISTORTED AS HELL GHOST MARI???IM SO FUCKIGN SCARED. IM SO SCARED. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK? CREEPY AS HELL!!!

ohh my god this GAME

so finally i ended up in whitespace again. do NOT like that omori is completely alone in the world!!! what the FUCK!!!!!!!! I AM SO SCARED AT ALL TIMES. im literally about to go play sum more tho after dinner so i will see what happens. god i jsut......this game is so fucking good it has me by the balls dude. SO glad i decided to play it bruh

anyway thanks for reading all of this if u did, it’s an absolute monster ik and ur a real one

#cass cries #omori #omori spoilers #more like cass goes CRAZY this is so long #also id dint proof read this sorry </3

14 notes · View notes

welllpthisishappening · 4 years ago

Text

Welllp These Are Books: the February 2021 Edition

Most of my last month was spent on deadline and waiting for people to respond to my emails, which meant I did not have the time (or energy) to write much of anything, but had plenty of time to read, quite frankly, an absurd number of books. Some of which were very good, some of which were very cheesy, and some of which I have now told multiple people was quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. As always, though, what are my opinions if I am not sharing them with the internet? Ridiculous headlines, links, and those aforementioned opinions under the cut. As always, part two, feel free to send me any and all recommendations. It cannot possibly be worse than this one book. Seriously, you’ll understand in a second.

———

Quite Possibly the First Book I’ve Gone Out of My Way to Buy On Release Day Since Breaking Dawn, Which Says a lot About Me. As a Person.

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she's struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can't seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.

The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre's Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta's orbit. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.

Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.

Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other's arms.

I’m not kidding when I tell you that I was counting the days until this came out. I was kind of indifferent to Nesta after the original ACOTAR books, but intrigued enough that I was like, I need to read this, and then I did read this and now I care quite a lot about Nesta. And how in love with Cassian she is. And vice versa. Because, let’s be honest, dude is in l o v e. There were some parts of the story I was not super into — namely, Ferye having to die in childbirth. Like, you’re telling me Cassian could have his guts hanging out at one point and we don’t know how to do a c-section? Nah, that ain’t it. Also, pregnancy as a storyline is not always my favorite thing, but more on that in a second. Also, also, here’s a bunch more words about ACOSF.

A “Huh, So That Happened” Sort of Ending. Which Was Disappointing.

A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer

Emberfall is crumbling fast, torn between those who believe Rhen is the rightful prince and those who are eager to begin a new era under Grey, the true heir. Grey has agreed to wait two months before attacking Emberfall, and in that time, Rhen has turned away from everyone--even Harper, as she desperately tries to help him find a path to peace.

Fight the battle, save the kingdom. Meanwhile, Lia Mara struggles to rule Syhl Shallow with a gentler hand than her mother. But after enjoying decades of peace once magic was driven out of their lands, some of her subjects are angry Lia Mara has an enchanted prince and a magical scraver by her side. As Grey's deadline draws nearer, Lia Mara questions if she can be the queen her country needs.

As the two kingdoms come closer to conflict, loyalties are tested, love is threatened, and an old enemy resurfaces who could destroy them all, in this stunning conclusion to bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer's Cursebreaker series.

I loved the first book in this series. Absolutely adored it. So much so that I pretty quickly got the second one and read it. Enjoyed that on its own, but like I said in that one ask, I’m fairly certain A Curse So Dark and Lonely could have very easily been a standalone story. Should have been a standalone story? There was just SO MUCH going on here, and not nearly enough of it was resolved. Plot points just hung by the end of the trilogy, I was not ever entirely convinced Rhen and Harper were actually in love, let alone liked each other, and I thought Rhen got the very short end of an exceptionally cracked stick by the time the whole story wrapped up. Really, I think this tried to do too much in not enough time and there should probably be another book. Also Lia Mara getting pregnant was dumb. There I said it.

Free Books On Amazon Unlimited That Were Better Than Expected, But Also Read Like Fic

The Bargainer Series by Laura Thalassa

Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects.

Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last seven years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear.

But for one of his clients, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now. When Callie finds the fae king of the night in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s just a chaste kiss—a single bead’s worth—and a promise for more.

For the Bargainer, it’s more than just a matter of rekindling an old romance. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one. Only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to their breast. And then there are the whispers among the slaves, whispers of an evil that’s been awoken.

If the Bargainer has any hope to save his people, he’ll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. Only, his foe has a taste for exotic creatures, and Callie just happens to be one.

No one is going to be able to convince me this wasn’t ACOTAR fan fic. I don’t care about timing or dates, or whatever. The similarities just...did not stop. In all three books, even. There were three books in this series, by the way. Most of which I really enjoyed. I read them all in like four days of email waiting, so they must have been doing something right. Des was a good love interest and I really liked the flashbacks in the first book. Also Callie didn’t super annoy me. That being said, whoever edited this book. Oof. Some of the prose was so goddamn cringe, I literally lol’ed. Right out loud. Every now and then it was like we had to be reminded that Des was a BAD GUY ™ but it felt very Edward “I’m a killer, Bella” Cullen, and Callie’s internal monologue was occasionally hysterical. Not in a good way. Also Temper was the worst. She was so annoying. Every time she talked, I was like, oh, her again. The first book was the best one.

HITTING ALL MY ROM COM BOXES! BASEBALL! ROMANCE! PINING! ONLY VAGUELY UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN THEY HAD SEX IN THE PORT JEFF DUGOUT BECAUSE I’VE BEEN IN THE PORT JEFF DUGOUT.

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey

Georgette Castle’s family runs the best home renovation business in town, but she picked balloons instead of blueprints and they haven’t taken her seriously since. Frankly, she’s over it. Georgie loves planning children’s birthday parties and making people laugh, just not at her own expense. She’s determined to fix herself up into a Woman of the World... whatever that means.

Phase one: new framework for her business (a website from this decade, perhaps?)

Phase two: a gut-reno on her wardrobe (fyi, leggings are pants.)

Phase three: updates to her exterior (do people still wax?)

Phase four: put herself on the market (and stop crushing on Travis Ford!)

Travis Ford was major league baseball’s hottest rookie when an injury ended his career. Now he’s flipping houses to keep busy and trying to forget his glory days. But he can’t even cross the street without someone recapping his greatest hits. Or making a joke about his… bat. And then there's Georgie, his best friend’s sister, who is not a kid anymore. When she proposes a wild scheme—that they pretend to date, to shock her family and help him land a new job—he agrees. What’s the harm? It’s not like it’s real. But the girl Travis used to tease is now a funny, full-of-life woman and there’s nothing fake about how much he wants her...

Living her best life means facing the truth: Georgie hasn’t been on a date since, well, ever. Nobody’s asking the town clown out for a night of hot sex, that’s for sure. Maybe if people think she’s having a steamy love affair, they’ll acknowledge she’s not just the “little sister” who paints faces for a living. And who better to help demolish that image than the resident sports star and tabloid favorite.

Legit, I saw the description for this and I was like—did I write this? Kind of. (Shameless plug to read my own rom com, it also has baseball and pining) It didn’t matter, I loved it. Seriously, it hit all my rom com boxes: childhood friends, best friend’s sister, coming back home under duress, FAKE DATING and, let’s be honest, I am not immune to the use of “baby girl” as an endearment. Every time Travis called Georgie “baby girl” I was like, oh, ok, this is cool. It was cool! I only have two quips. One, that the fake dating didn’t last a little longer. The pacing of the story felt very quick, but that’s also this genre’s style. So I kind of get it. And two, that it happened in Port Jefferson, which is a town in Suffolk County that I have not only been to, but have spent significant time in. Meaning I could picture every single thing, knew exactly where they were and have used the exit on the Northern State Parkway that the final moments of the book took place at. The Port Jeff girls basketball team won a Long Island championship last weekend. In real life, not the book.

In Which Spinoffs Continue to be my Kryptonite. Especially Well-Written Ones

Mistletoe and Mr. Right by Sarah Morgenthaler

Lana Montgomery is everything the quirky small town of Moose Springs, Alaska can't stand: a rich socialite with dreams of changing things for the better. But Lana's determined to prove that she belongs...even if it means trading her stilettos for snow boots and tracking one of the town's hairiest Christmas mysteries: the Santa Moose, an antlered Grinch hell-bent on destroying every bit of holiday cheer (and tinsel) it can sink its teeth into.

And really...how hard could it be?

The last few years have been tough on Rick Harding, and it's not getting any easier now that his dream girl's back in town. When Lana accidentally tranquilizes him instead of the Santa Moose, it's clear she needs help, fast...and this could be his chance to finally catch her eye. It's an all-out Christmas war, but if they can nab that darn moose before it destroys the town, Rick and Lana might finally find a place where they both belong...together.

I mentioned The Tourist Attraction in my January list, and this is the second in the Moose Springs trio. And it’s so good! I wish people were all as nice to Lana as Rick was. It’s what she deserved! More small-town antics, more kissing, another moose. This one was just as cute as the original book, especially because it brought back original characters and Zoey and Graham were so goddamn adorable as a committed couple I genuinely feared for the state of my teeth.

Enjoy the View by Sarah Morgenthaler

Former Hollywood darling River Lane's acting career is tanking fast. Determined to start fresh behind the camera, she agrees to film a documentary about the picturesque small town of Moose Springs, Alaska. The assignment should have been easy, but the quirky locals want nothing to do with River. Well, too bad: River's going to make this film and prove herself, no matter what it takes.

Or what (literal) mountain she has to climb.

Easton Lockett may be a gentle giant, but he knows a thing or two about survival. If he can keep everyone in line, he should be able to get River and her crew up and down Mount Veil in one piece. Turns out that's a big if. The wildlife's wilder than usual, the camera crew's determined to wander off a cliff, and the gorgeous actress is fearless. Falling for River only makes Easton's job tougher, but there's only so long he can hold out against her brilliant smile. When bad weather strikes, putting everyone at risk, it'll take all of Easton's skill to get them back home safely...and convince River she should stay in his arms for good.

Wrapping up the Moose Springs trio, this one might have been my least favorite, but that’s not really saying much. Since I loved them all pretty equally. River and Easton’s banter was grade-A, top-notch, which is a one-way ticket to my reading-heart. Maybe part of the problem (I say problem like there really was one) was that most of the story took place on a mountain. I kind of wanted more small-town shenanigans, and updates on the condos and the state of the town and Graham being mayor. Still, this was very cute. I swooned multiple times. I’ll probably read anything Sarah Morgenthaler writes from here on out.

Seriously, What Is YA? Does Anyone Know?

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans is a safe haven after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent in the middle of the carnival season, Celine is quickly enraptured by the vibrant city, from its music to its fancy soirées and even its danger. She becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's enigmatic leader, Sébastien Saint Germain.

When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in Sébastien's own lair--the second dead girl to turn up in recent weeks--Celine battles her attraction to Sébastien and suspicions about his guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

After a third murder, New Orleans becomes gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose--one who has now set Celine in his sights. As the murderer stalks her, Celine finally takes matters into her own hands, only to find herself caught in the midst of an age-old feud between the darkest creatures of the night, where the price of forbidden love is her life.

Like I said last month, I put a hold on pretty much everything Renee Ahdieh had written in my library. And this was just as good as the last series I read. Her world building is just—chef’s kiss, gorgeous. I dream of writing this airy, magical way, that makes you feel like you’re in New Orleans. That being said, I do not know what kid is reading this because apparently this is YA and I had to read every single word to figure out what was going on. Now, I know there are two more books in the series, but this one felt like a lot of set up and I spent most of it being like...will this make sense eventually? It did, but only during a very rushed climax of final few chapters. The sequel isn’t available on Kindle at the library, and I haven’t bought it yet. So, that’s probably kind of telling.

In Which You Cannot Always Depend On Old Favorites

No Judgments by Meg Cabot

When a massive hurricane severs all power and cell service to Little Bridge Island—as well as its connection to the mainland—twenty-five-year-old Bree Beckham isn’t worried . . . at first. She’s already escaped one storm—her emotionally abusive ex—so a hurricane seems like it will be a piece of cake.

But animal-loving Bree does become alarmed when she realizes how many islanders have been cut off from their beloved pets. Now it’s up to her to save as many of Little Bridge’s cats and dogs as she can . . . but to do so, she’s going to need help—help she has no choice but to accept from her boss’s sexy nephew, Drew Hartwell, the Mermaid Café’s most notorious heartbreaker.

But when Bree starts falling for Drew, just as Little Bridge’s power is restored and her penitent ex shows up, she has to ask herself if her island fling was only a result of the stormy weather, or if it could last during clear skies too.

I love Meg Cabot. That should be stated upfront and at the very beginning because for a very long time I have claimed that being Meg Cabot was my dream job. I’ve read pretty much every book Meg Cabot has ever written and was fairly certain I’d be into these once I did read them. Only I was...not. Not really. Everything in this book happened so quickly, I felt like I was the one in the hurricane. People were kissing and then they were having sex and there was a storm and pets and then—it was over? The pacing was all over the place, I had no idea why Drew and Bree liked each other, some guy kicked a dog at one point?? It was weird. Which leads us to—

No Offense by Meg Cabot

A broken engagement only gave Molly Montgomery additional incentive to follow her dream job from the Colorado Rockies to the Florida Keys. Now, as Little Bridge Island Public Library’s head of children’s services, Molly hopes the messiest thing in her life will be her sticky-note covered desk. But fate—in the form of a newborn left in the restroom—has other ideas. So does the sheriff who comes to investigate the “abandonment”. When John Hartwell folds all six-feet-three of himself into a tiny chair and insists that whoever left the baby is a criminal, Molly begs to differ and asks what he’s doing about the Island’s real crime wave (if thefts of items from homes that have been left unlocked could be called that). Not the best of starts, but the man’s arrogance is almost as distracting as his blue eyes. Almost…

John would be pretty irritated if one of his deputies had a desk as disorderly as Molly’s. Good thing she doesn’t work for him, considering how attracted he is to her. Molly’s lilting librarian voice makes even the saltiest remarks go down sweeter, which is bad as long as she’s a witness but might be good once the case is solved—provided he hasn’t gotten on her last nerve by then. Recently divorced, John has been having trouble adjusting to single life as well as single parenthood. But something in Molly’s beautiful smile gives John hope that his old life on Little Bridge might suddenly hold new promise—if only they can get over their differences.

This isn’t a sequel SEQUEL, but another one of those “exists in the same universe,” or same town, as it were, and it was better than No Judgments. Molly and John actually had a few legitimate conversations before they started kissing. The conflict was still weird and sort of forced, this was not Meg’s usual banter (I fell like I can call her Meg at this point, y’know?) and, again, the ending just felt like it...happened. I don’t know guys, maybe I should just reread The Boy Is Back. Or that quasi Persephone-Hades series. It’s been awhile. On that one, at least. I read The Boy Is Back like six months ago.

ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING ROM COM THAT I CANNOT BELIEVE I FINISHED, SOMEONE GIVE ME A PRIZE FOR FINISHING THIS

Fight or Flight by Samantha Young

The universe is conspiring against Ava Breevort. As if flying back to Phoenix to bury a childhood friend wasn't hell enough, a cloud of volcanic ash traveling from overseas delayed her flight back home to Boston. Her last ditch attempt to salvage the trip was thwarted by an arrogant Scotsman, Caleb Scott, who steals a first class seat out from under her. Then over the course of their journey home, their antagonism somehow lands them in bed for the steamiest layover Ava's ever had. And that's all it was--until Caleb shows up on her doorstep.

When pure chance pulls Ava back into Caleb's orbit, he proposes they enjoy their physical connection while he's stranded in Boston. Ava agrees, knowing her heart's in no danger since a) she barely likes Caleb and b) his existence in her life is temporary. Not long thereafter Ava realizes she's made a terrible error because as it turns out Caleb Scott isn't quite so unlikeable after all. When his stay in Boston becomes permanent, Ava must decide whether to fight her feelings for him or give into them. But even if she does decide to risk her heart on Caleb, there is no guarantee her stubborn Scot will want to risk his heart on her...

When I tell you guys that this was the worst book I have read in recent memory, I am not kidding. Might actually be the worst book I have ever read. Bar none. And that’s saying something because one time I had to read Ender’s Game in college and that, like, physically pained me. This was awful. Awful people. Awful plot. Awful resolution. AWFUL. Where to start? Well, I’m not going to apologize for spoilers, because God help us all, do not read this book. Ava has been through so many horrible things in her life it was like someone was trying to set a record. Bad parents, cheating ex-boyfriend, dead former best friend who was former because of the cheating ex-boyfriend. Naturally, this made her a control freak because—of course, or something. And Caleb! Oh my God, fucking Caleb Scott. The dickwad. I’ve never rooted for anyone to not get the girl more. When Ava “broke up” with him (they were never really together) I might have cheered. Shitty things does not give you an excuse to be a dick, and Caleb was a dick. Seriously, he started crying about how his ex-fiance KILLED THEIR BABY and I was like—this cannot possibly be a real book. It was! With lots of abortion opinions out of FUCKING nowhere, and weird possessive behavior from, like, every dude in it. Both Ava AND her best friend (not the dead one, a different one) got assaulted at one point. I kept reading solely because I was desperate to see how they rationalized Ava and Caleb getting back together at the end and they didn’t. He showed up on her flight when her boss came up with a fake work trip so he could sit next to her on the plane. What? WHAT?? It was so dumb. So bad. I can’t believe I read it.

#book recs #fiction rec #rom com recs #fantasy recs #laura reads books #i swear i do other things besides read #really #welllp these are books

13 notes · View notes

lifblogs · 4 years ago

Text

#SPNDBCC | Hunting | @foundfamily4eva

READ ON AO3

“Well, that’ll be our missing girl,” Jody commented, referring to the dead body in front of her and Sam.

Sam grimaced, and then took a step closer.

The body itself was tied to a tree with a thin, but strong, wire around the neck, and the head had been bashed in. The throat had been slit as well. The body had slumped, legs having gone limp, and the head hung forward at a disturbing angle. Blood was everywhere.

He leaned down, examining the head.

“The skull’s cracked,” he noticed.

“Any brain matter?”

He winced. “Yeah.”

She stepped forward now, going to examine the body. She covered her mouth and nose as she leaned in. As sheriff she probably didn’t see as many bodies as forensics did, though Sam knew she liked to get out in the field, especially when it came to hunting.

“This poor girl,” Jody commented. “Someone really wanted her dead. You seen anything like this before, Sam?”

“I was actually going to ask you the same thing.”

Jody just lifted her head and stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief.

“What? This is your jurisdiction,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, but we don’t find dead bodies that look like a serial killer got to them” she argued. She shook her head, and started trekking up the grassy hill. “I gotta call this in.”

Sam searched around the area, looking for hex bags, or anything, testing for EMF. He found nothing, except for a footprint. It was small, probably from a woman.

Jody finished calling a forensics team and a few deputies, and Sam said, “Hey, I think I found something!”

She went back over to him, and Sam pointed out the footprint that was behind the tree.

“So not a ghost,” she said.

“Yeah, they can’t leave that kind of mark.”

“Could we be looking at a person?”

Sam grimaced, and turned to the dead body again. “Maybe.”

~~~

Research. Always research. Sam was having a difficult time with it because he truly hadn’t seen this before. Throat slashed, strangled, head bashed in… It felt like a new kind of messed up, especially since the killer could be a human.

He wondered which wound had killed the girl. All three of them could’ve done the job.

For now, Jody was at the sheriff’s station, searching through case files from before her appointment as sheriff. She’d call him if she found anything.

Sam sat at the rickety table in his motel room, laptop out in front of him. He had a multitude of links open, and at the moment, he was digging deep, using a search engine that wouldn’t alert anyone or be saved on the laptop’s history. Besides, it wasn’t as if Google would give him answers about someone getting violently murdered.

He didn’t have any ideas either. What could this thing even be?

“Human,” he muttered to himself. “Human…”

Could be a sacrifice.

With that in mind, he was able to make his research a little more specific. It took an hour, least, but he managed to find something. It wasn’t much, just a picture tucked away in an online copy of a very old book, a description underneath.

Sam frowned, examining the picture again. The renderings weren’t realistic, of course, having come from a time where the art styles were still being figured out. It was before the Renaissance. The book itself was at least a century old, so Sam wasn’t sure he trusted the source.

He searched the description attached to the image.

His phone started ringing.

“Hello,” he answered after hitting the green arrow and putting the phone to his ear.

“Sam, I found something.”

“I think I did too. You first.”

“So there were deaths like these fifty years ago.”

“Crap, that long?”

“And aside from that, there hasn’t been anything else. There were nine like it, all victims killed in the same way. Of course, the records aren’t as detailed as they would’ve been now, but it’s something. Could we be dealing with a copy cat killer?”

Sam shook his head, bewildered. “It would’ve had to be someone who knew about all this. I kind of doubt it.”

“Alright, what’d you find?”

“So I couldn’t find anything at first,” he explained, going back to the image. “But it looks like we’re dealing with a sacrifice.” Sam thought he could hear Jody wince on the other end of the phone. “Yeah,” he commented. “Um… I’m gonna hit the library, see what I can find.”

“I’ll look into public records.”

“Good idea. Reconvene in an hour?”

“It’s a date.”

Sam smiled, loving that he was working with Jody on this despite the horrors they were dealing with. It had been way too long since he’d seen Jody. Besides, he’d needed to get out. Dean and Castiel were dealing with the Mark, and Sam, who always felt anxious and just a little terrified around his brother now, had desperately needed something to drag him away from all that.

He grabbed his laptop, and his notes, and stuffed them into a satchel, and then he was on his way.

~~~

The first thing Jody did was search through the list of names she’d gotten from the old police file.

“Carter O’Connell,” she mused as she stood on a ladder and dug through a set of old files. She found the manilla folder with his information. There wouldn’t be much since this was before computer records, but it was worth something. It’d have his full name, age, family members, social security number, address, and history of work.

She climbed off the ladder, and brought the file with her. She went to look at the archival cards. The cabinets that stored them were a dark brown, and covered in dust. She blew the dust away, quickly leaning back to avoid breathing it in.

Jody put the file she’d found on top, and started searching.

“Ha!” she cried, as she found where the next previous victim’s file could be found.

It was annoying that she had to do this, but she’d already looked through the file of the girl they’d found, and she couldn’t find anything of note. But maybe with more information she and Sam could make some sort of connection.

Jody went to go get the next file.

~~~

At the library, after taking a lot of books out that led to more books due to the information he found and wrote down, Sam ended up looking at a small shelf in the mythology section. The book he grabbed now was on Celtic mythology, druids and sacrifice.

As he read he realized that druids had committed some human sacrifices, except it had been rare. Searching through the index led him to a part of the thick book on beings called daraich. Sam found the page, right near the end of the book, and started to read.

He frowned as he read.

According to historical evidence, there was a subset of druids known as the daraich (singular: darach). The word druid translates to “knower of the oak,” or “wise oak.” Darach itself does not have a disturbing meaning at the present date, though for centuries it translated to “dark oak,” with the prefix of the word “da-” meaning “dark.”

Sam immediately took notes, underlining the word “DARACH” and then writing underneath it, “dark druid.” The text hadn’t specifically said that, but “wise oak,” being turned into “dark oak” was all the information he needed.

He searched through the book some more, and stopped on a disturbing artist’s rendition of the ritual sacrifice. It wasn’t exact, though the tapestry that the picture in the book was of showed the same injuries as the ones they’d found on that girl. Bruises around the neck from strangulation, blood leaking from the head, and blood coming from the throat.

The description underneath the image described that the dark druids would commit violent sacrifices in order to gain power.

This led Sam to reading the entire page.

While the deaths themselves were thought to grant power as someone’s lifeblood was spilled out, the word “sacrifice” in primary sources suggests that it was an offering to a deity. “Sacrifice,” when looking at the Latin translation as sacrificium, means, “Something of meaning offered up to a deity.” This is relevant due to the many definitions of sacrifice pointing to a relationship between the person committing the sacrifice, and the deity, along with the Roman invasion of Celtic territories at around 1000 BC.

The druids themselves did commit human sacrifices during their Iron Age, but the acts were later condemned. Instead, they would offer up animals, weapons, and food. Due to the nature of druidism having a close connection to the natural energies of the life of the earth, the deities were thought to be in the spirit of the world itself. More specifically, lakes, and trees, and growing things.

This belief falls to the wayside as deities are accepted as beings rather than things or places.

To understand the sacrifices, one must first understand the nature of the Celtic beliefs. Possibly as early as the year 500 BC, the celts believed in sacred beings that could walk the earth, or inhabited what was known as the “Otherworld.” The sacrifice of life was attributed to a triad of these beings, a triad of sacrificial entities: Taranis, Esus, and Toutatis. These were deities of strength and power. Sacrificing to them was thought to create strength in the person committing the sacrifices.

Primarily, the sacrifices were animals, with the druidic idea that the blood would please these gods. Yet when the subset of dark druids came into being, these sacrifices turned gory, with the sacrificial victims being humans. Supposedly, the human sacrifices granted greater strength, and even powers from the Otherworld. Typically, these sacrifices would be committed preceding a war, or a battle. With the creation of the daraich (plural form of the word “darach”), to appease the triad of deities they most closely worshipped and were thought to communicate with, victims were sacrificed with what is called a threefold death. Early accounts describe this as victims being slaughtered violently, the three actions taken against them each having the ability to kill them.

Accounts of the deaths committed by the daraich describe the threefold death to this triad of deities. Evidence from an early translation: “The head must be struck, the throat pierced [slashed or cut], and the breaths must be taken.” This last act suggests strangulation. Victims of this sacrificial ritual would be found with three wounds that could have each been the cause of death: the head bashed in, throat cut, and strangulation, typically done with a garotte.

The druids condemned these acts and sought to—

Sam stopped reading. He’d been steadily taken notes as he’d done so, and now he looked at what he’d compiled, satisfied.

He called Jody.

~~~

Jody sat at a table, the files around her. She was beginning to find a connection the the old victims. They all had had some position of authority. A police officer, teachers, parents, soldiers, even a government official. Perhaps the connection was weak, but it was the only one she could find.

Her phone started ringing, and she answered. “Yep.”

“We’re dealing with a darach,” Sam said, forgoing a greeting.

“A what?”

“A darach. It translates to ‘dark oak,’ and was a subset of druids. The meaning of druid is ‘wise oak,’ so a dark oak—”

“Is a dark druid,” Jody finished.

“Yeah, exactly.”

“So they sacrifice people?” she asked.

“Yes, committing what was known as the threefold death.”

Jody sat and thought. “So that’s what we’re looking at here. All the files I dug up described the deaths as the same, and that poor girl we found…” She shook her head. “Sam, how do we even deal with this? And why would someone do that?”

“Usually the daraich would do this predating a battle.”

“But there’s no battle coming up.”

“There could be,” Sam said. “Who do we know of that’s becoming violent and might turn into a demon again?”

“Shit, that could be related?”

“We’ve run into other creatures who have tried to protect themselves from more powerful beings in the past.”

Jody sighed, taking this information in. Then, she informed Sam, “I found a connection between the victims. All authority figures.”

“Wait, then what about the girl?”

“After asking around, I found out that she was a babysitter. I didn’t think it was important at the time, but—”

“She had power over someone.”

“Exactly. Sam, how do we kill this thing?”

There was pause, and then Sam cleared his throat, explaining, “We have to burn them.”

“Huh, thought it’d be harder.”

“Daraich have powers.”

And… there it was. “Fuck.”

Sam heaved in a breath, and let it out, sounding frustrated, and maybe a little worried. “Yeah.”

Jody’s walkie blinked with a red light, and Jody said, “Hold on, Sam. I gotta go.”

“Come in, Sheriff Mills. Come in. Over.”

She pressed the button to allow herself to talk. “Standby. Go ahead. Over.”

“We got a 187 over here. Over.”

“Say again?” Jody asked, standing. She hadn’t realized there would be another victim so soon.

“187. Body mutilated. Over.”

“Roger that. Where’s the body? Over.”

Jody was given the location. “Affirmative. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Over and out.”

Immediately, she called Sam, “Sam, we got another one.”

~~~

When they got to the crime scene, there were already had a few deputies there, and forensics were showing up to swarm the place, doing their job with vigorous detail.

Sam felt sick as he looked at the body.

“Do we know who it is?” he asked Jody.

“Used to babysit him as a kid,” she let him know. “Heard that he moved back here, and became a high school teacher after college.” Jody was teary-eyed as she looked at Sam. “I don’t want to see any more of my people killed. What do we do?”

“I have an idea.”

“What is it?”

Sam frowned, and then winced. He ran a hand through his hair, and then over his face. He let out a frustrated, and discontented growl.

“Sam, tell me.”

Sam heaved in a deep breath, and then said, voice rough as it came out, “How do you feel about being bait?”

~~~

Rain poured down on Jody, and she raised her hands to grip at the cord that had gone around her neck, securing her to the oak tree, even as it strangled her.

She kicked feebly. The cord cut through her hands. A choked out cry left her, and then she tried to gasp in air. It wouldn’t come in.

Sam. Where was Sam?

He’ll be here. He has to be.

“Your friend won’t be coming,” the darach murmured, the voice of a woman.

No. No.

Jody wanted to ask why, but she couldn’t get air in. Was this how she was going to die?

~~~

Sam groaned, his head aching and throbbing fiercely. Blood had trickled into his right eye, and had nearly made its way inside his air. The cut on his injured head was large, and the blood had even soaked into his air. The darach had hit him with a rock, and now it was all coming back to him.

Rain was cleaning the blood off, even while it soaked Sam all the way down to his skin.

He got up, nearly slipped in the mud, and then leaned against a tree.

“Jody…” he rasped.

Dizzy, he picked up the flamethrower he had with him, and then started to run, slipping a great deal on the wet ground, to where they’d left Jody as bait.

He slid down a hill, having thrown himself down it on his back, giving up on walking down that; he would’ve fallen. Sam clambered to his feet once at the bottom, and he blinked blood out of his eyes.

There she was, tied to that tree with the very weapon being used to kill her.

“Hey!” Sam cried.

The darach hissed in some kind of frustration, and then it released the garotte.

Jody gasped, and coughed, but then collapsed to the ground, mud splattering on her cheek.

She didn’t get up. But he knew she was alive. Just unconscious.

Sam came forward as the darach stepped towards him, and he raised the flamethrower. He could barely see in the dark, but he was sure that shadow was the darach raising its hand. A fierce pain took hold of Sam’s body, even as a choking, poisoned wind swept towards him and into his lungs. It went through his throat, his nose, even as his body felt like his bones were splintering.

Sam fell, screaming in agony.

Fight through it, Sam. Fight it.

Jody groaned and shifted on the ground, and the darach turned its power on her. She screamed herself into unconsciousness.

Sam trembled, body in shock as it remembered the pain, but he clambered to his feet, and he ran, putting himself nearly right in front of the darach.

“Say hi to your gods for me, bitch,” he said, pressing the trigger on the flamethrower.

The darach’s screams and wails as it went up in flames were high-pitched, seeming to pierce his eardrums. Sam didn’t let up until it fell to the ground, its body a charred crisp.

He breathed hard, and almost fell, still hurting from his head. He turned, and saw Jody trying to move again. He went to her, getting on his knees.

“Did you do it?” she croaked out.

He held her, and she held him. Was that blood from her palms seeping into his jacket?

“Yeah, I did it,” he assured. “All thanks to you.”

“Glad you could recognize my hard work.”

Sam clapped her on the back, and pulled her closer. “Anytime, Jody.”

He helped her up, and together they stumbled out of the woods, Jody kicking the body of the darach for good measure as they passed it. They made it to the Impala, then to Sioux Falls General Hospital. As they sat in the waiting room, Sam with a hand on Jody’s knee that she was bouncing up and down, she looked at him, and smiled.

“I’m really glad we were able to save people from dying,” she told him.

“Hey, it’s part of the job.”

She leaned into him, as a mother would a child, and Sam grinned despite how out of it he felt and how much he hurt.

“And it feels damn good.”

“It sure as hell does.”

#SPNDBCC #Day 11. Hunting #Sam Winchester #Jody Mills #spn #Supernatural #Supernatural fanfiction #spn fanfiction #tw: graphic depictions of violence #graphic depictions of violence #tw: gore #gore #fanfiction #writing #my writing

9 notes · View notes

spookyspaghettisundae · 4 years ago

Text

So Even Gods Can Die

Beeping. Revolving metallic sounds. Click. Computerized monitors. The light everywhere, blinding at first, then softening until his vision cleared. Click. Whirr. Click.

Bright light from the fluorescent tube overhead and daylight flooding in from a window. But it was not actually that bright. Click. It was his eyes slowly adjusting. The feeling of needles in his skin, taped down, and the plastic tubes hooked up to his nose to help him breathe.

Lips parched, throat dry. Click. When he swallowed, it felt like forcing down a lump of sand and lava. A woman sat in the room, and he did not recognize her. Click. But she looked at him, expectantly. Whirr.

A white box on the table next to the bed. Like one containing a cake. Click. The woman sitting in the room stared at him. The ominous white box stared at him. Click. Whirr.

It wasn’t his time yet. He refused to accept that. But between the woman and the box, he knew he was going to die.

Grit and sand clung to her clothes. Any spots of exposed skin featured myriads of cuts and scratches. Black rings of exhaustion lined her eyes, and her clothing looked like it had been mangled in a meat grinder.

The woman picked up a chart attached to the end of his bed and idly flipped through its pages. Click.

“Who are you?” he finally asked her.

She flapped the pages back up front and tossed the chart onto the foot of his bed. He watched but was too weak to protest. With delay, he registered that he couldn’t even feel it when the clipboard landed on his legs.

“I’m Kim. Here because we need you,” she said. Her words rolled out and sounded even more tired than she looked. Her eyes had a dull sheen, like she hadn’t slept in days or had taken some drugs, or practically had only caffeine in her veins.

Thump.

The white box on the table thumped again. It had moved half an inch. Although he had only seen it from the corner of his eye, he could have sworn that its walls had bent outwards when something thumped inside of it. Like there was a small animal trapped within.

“What’s in that box?” he asked. He lifted fingers, attached to a drip and some cables. Feeble, trembling softly as he tried to point at the gift box.

“Don’t worry about it; it’s got nothin’ to do with you. Or, well, maybe it doesn’t need to have anything to do with you,” she said.

“Okay,” he said. He had heard the threat implied in there.

He blinked—hard. Blinked again. Blinked so hard that it became painful.

The edges of his vision lost their blurriness. The fuzzy edges on everything straightened out—turned sharp. The clouds cleared from his memories.

His name was Gabriel. Gabriel understood his place in the world again. More powerful than his current state of being revealed. Even though his body had begun to betray him, he contained power beyond what normal mortal man could comprehend. More powerful than most of the wretches working in this hospital, or living in this pathetic city all around them.

A living god.

Or so he believed. Click.

“Cut the shit. What do you think you need? What do you hope to get from me?” Gabriel asked. Ordered. Every word he spoke hurt, as if each syllable rasped over his soft insides like sand paper.

“You don’t know us, but you may know Kevin,” Kim said. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. The plastic squeaked, the metal creaked.

Thump.

The box had moved closer yet again. Like something inside of it was trying to get closer.

“Don’t mind it. If you get upset, it gets more violent,” she commented.

They both peeled their eyes off of the innocuous white box of terror and their gazes met.

Click. Whirr.

Gabriel pondered for a second and then sneered. He knew Kevin, alright. Michael’s protege and worst nemesis.

The person who was going to bring everything down.

“We need to find him, help him return from the House,” she said.

Gabriel chuckled. The chuckle transformed into coughing after a few labored revolutions of the laugh, leading to him hacking and wheezing.

His body had truly reached its end, but he refused to let go. Two hundred years was a long time.

Once he had gathered himself and felt her burning stare on himself, he asked, “How long’s that motherfucker been in there?”

“Three months,” she replied.

Gabriel closed his eyes and mulled it over. Bad number.

THUMP.

He ignored it. Probably just a baby of an entity inside that box.

It was more important to figure out what he was dealing with here.

Click.

How he could kill this woman.

Gabriel uttered a string of profanities; with no power in it because of his failing lungs, but more than enough zeal to express his disgust. She listened to his every odious word. He gave it a rest after a solid half a minute of swearing.

Click. Whirr.

“Fuck him,” he finally concluded. “Can rot in that hellish Otherworld for all I care.”

“No,” Kim said. Resolute, like a cliff standing defiantly against the ocean’s waves.

“No?”

“No,” she repeated. The word crashed like thunder. It fed into a headache growing behind Gabriel’s forehead. She added, “Once he’s out of the House, he can finish his transformation.”

Gabriel glared at her. His eyes simmered with rage and his tear ducts burned, not capable of producing the salty fluid anymore. His flesh was weak. But he still had other means. Other power. Power this woman failed to notice.

She had made a mistake by coming here like this.

THUMP.

He couldn’t be sure about the white box, though. He pondered if he was underestimating it.

Resigned to his fate here, he knew this was going to be a brutal battle. Not quite as uneven as his current state looked.

“Falmaghorr,” he whispered. So feebly that it sounded like nonsense, or like he was having a stroke.

“What?” Kim asked.

Click.

“Nevermind,” he sighed. Either she was stupid or he had snuck that past her. “You know, right? That when he completes that damned transformation, the world ends?” he asked her.

“And a new one is born,” Kim spoke with reverence, incessantly staring into Gabriel’s eyes. Into his soul.

She was convinced. Had chosen a side in this war. Her words just now—a declaration. A war cry, delivered with the eerie calmness that only zealots can produce.

“For every dream that is dying, a new world is born,” Gabriel mused, reciting the old poem that his kind were wont to sing. He broke out into another chuckle, dry and sardonic. Erupting into coughs at the tail end once more.

THUMP.

Kim pulled a small silver box from her jacket pocket and opened it to show him something inside of it. A steel syringe that looked like it came from a different age. Weathered, old, scratched.

“You came for my blood?” he asked. “Ridiculous. You could have just—you didn’t need me to be awake for—”

He stopped choking on those words. It dawned on him.

Blood of a dying hierophant—a potent reagent. One with powerful symbolic tension. And like all things magick, one where the symbolic tension lies in just how literal it was.

“Can’t beat the reaper,” he sighed. “Nobody beats the reaper. All you do is entertain ‘im. And hope you get off easy when it’s time to punch your final card.”

Kim took the syringe into her hands, slipped her fingers into its metal loops, but rested the awful thing on her lap. Waited. She was waiting for the moment during which he died. Had she put something into his IV drip to slowly kill him? Was she going to smother him with a pillow?

“Nice speech, asshole. You’ve lived way past your expiration date. After all you’ve done—after all the things you’ve gone and done to people—I think you’re getting off easy. Real easy.”

“Yeah? How you gonna do me in, bitch?”

Click.

Kim’s tired face contorted. With painful slowness, accentuated by the exhaustion written all over her visage, she formed a wide smile.

Click. Whirr.

“I ain’t gonna do a damned thing. Your time’s up, you Rasputin son of a bitch. I have a friend who—well, let’s just say she just knows these things. You’re about to punch your final card—right about now.”

She checked her wristwatch—whether it was out of genuine curiosity or to emphasize her words did not matter. Gabriel felt the weight of time crushing down on him. In his mind, the clock’s arms ticked away, second by second, ever closer to his doom.

The door to the room opened and both their heads turned to behold the new arrival. Kim had whisked the syringe away into hiding, holding it inside her jacket, her entire fist buried in there in an uncomfortable position.

A nurse entered and walked around the bed. She placed a cup of water on the table next to Gabriel. In contrast to the bright and happy colors of her scrubs, the nurse’s head was just a cloud of shadows and tentacles. Despite her name tag identifying her as Beverly Winters, the demon’s name was Falmaghorr.

Kim couldn’t see it. Its power over human minds held true; the entity looked like a normal nurse to her. She even smiled at Gabriel’s servant before Falmaghorr left the room and left them alone again. He sensed his demonic servant’s presence hovering just outside, waiting for him to summon it to battle inside this tiny room.

To think that he, who had seen the rise and fall of empires, would be fighting for his life in such a tiny, sterile room.

Click.

He had no intention of letting this harlot easily take his blood.

“In one last act of defiance against nature, he hopes to transform into a woman,” Gabriel theorized. “Because only a woman can give birth, and only a woman can birth a new world. Is that the idea?”

Kim said nothing. She checked her wristwatch again. Pulled out the syringe.

“You’re out of your fucking minds,” he growled. He suppressed the urge to cough that came with it.

“Time to go, you old bastard.”

“Now,” he uttered, oozing with contempt.

The room’s door burst open and Falmaghorr stomped inside.

The white box exploded. A black fog roiled out from it, churning like oil on water, spreading like a flood, engulfing everything in a flash, continuing to gush out of what seemed to be a bottomless pit inside that tiny white box.

Not a cake emerged from it, but mouths. Eyes. Things that cackled, and gibbered, and gnashed their tiny little teeth. Falmaghorr was consumed within seconds, blood spraying all over the place.

Kim was bathed in blood and gore from the entity’s body being ripped to shreds, but leaning over Gabriel. He felt the needle only after it had ruptured the skin.

Even through the cacophony of alien voices, he could hear the sounds of the machines.

Click. Whirr.

Blood being drained. Kim getting one step closer to breaking the House wide open.

Gabriel screamed.

Even gods can die.

—Submitted by Wratts

4 notes · View notes

callmearcturus · 6 years ago

Text

Do you ever think about the fact that Cecil is 500% going to want kids? That Aubergine is probably an unspoken test of idea?

Imagine, for a moment, a function hosted by the Last Bank of Night Vale. Steve is the new VP of community outreach at the LBoNV so he probably put something together special. In the summer, even the nights are hot, and everyone is excited to have a place to go out of the heat with little bite-sized foods on silver trays.

Carlos is not great at these events, but Cecil is, as the natural conversationalist of the duo, so they manage. Carlos doesn’t have to do much work during the Official Mingling Portion of the night, and once the bell rings ending it, he can go be a wallflower.

Dana is attending, looking very at peace with herself. Like Cecil, she knows everyone in town, a remnant of her time as mayor, but now that the mantle has been shorn, she seems altogether calmer and happier. Her resting face is a smile of faint relief these days.

She approaches Carlos, always drawn in by another former resident of the Desert Otherworld. It’s a shared experience that few others understand, and there’s kinship there. She does her best to enter his space from a visible angle, not wanting to startle him, but Carlos is not staring idly off into the distance. He’s staring at Cecil, across the room, with his brow slightly furrowed.

Greeting him snaps him out of his observation... for a moment. Then, he’s clearly listening to Dana, but looking at Cecil.

Dana looks, wondering if she’s missing some interesting bit of dramatics from her old boss and best friend. Because Cecil can be very interesting sometimes when he forgets himself. Or when he remembers himself and his influence too well. But Cecil is sitting in a low-slung chair, his legs stretched out in front of him, talking to his niece. Their heads are bent together as they confer over something. Janice frequently shields her mouth with a hand, aware of the high percentage of Night Valeans that can lip read.

Carlos is staring at them like they’re a particularly troublesome sudoku problem.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Dana asks.

Carlos considers this, and holds out his hand. Dana digs a penny out of her pocket and gives it to him. Then, he says, “I’m thinking about the unspoken conversations that are pervasive through a relationship. There is an entire hidden language of inflection and the gaps in discussion. Science is more direct, and learning a new language so late in life has taken considerable effort.” He pauses, tilting his head as if listening to his words in rewind, then sighs. “Dana, I’ve never known you to be anything but relentlessly sensible and wise amid of community that sometimes is super lacking in wisdom. Can I ask you something?”

“You just did, and you complimented me beforehand,” Dana says, her faint smile widening into something genuine. “I think you’re good to ask me several somethings.”

“How many?”

“Probably three to six, depending on how difficult the questions are.”

“The questions are pretty simple. It’s the answers that are difficult.” His handsome face is only more attractive with the depth of concern his frown gives his expression. She admires it, like a nice piece of artwork in someone’s sitting room, while he gathers his thoughts. “Cecil will want to expand our family someday. Probably not in the near future, but near enough it deserves consideration.”

“Oh,” Dana says, and immediately agrees.

Somehow, Carlos picks up on a lot from this one exhaled syllable, nodding rapidly. “Yes, exactly. He spent many years raising Janice and is still eager to be in her life as much as time and circumstance will allow. He functions exceptionally well with children. And he gets personal fulfillment from taking care of people. All the evidence very clearly lines up. If there were journals for accurate assessments of other human beings, I could submit a paper on the topic.”

“Isn’t that what those magazines at the checkout of Ralph’s are?” Dana asked.

“Maybe. I’ve never bought one.”

They both watch Cecil and Janice for a while.

“Is that what you wanted to ask? If I agree with your assessment?”

“Having corroboration is nice, certainly, but no.” Carlos seems to make himself stop staring at Cecil with immense effort. “I’m avoiding phrasing anything as a question because the potential disappointment from your answer makes me nervous.”

Dana squints at him for a moment, taking in the tense set of his shoulders and the worry writ in his body. Sometimes, you had to focus on what was beyond the physical perfection to figure out what was underneath. It’s like a shield constantly enveloping Carlos.

“Carlos,” Dana says, “I don’t know if you have Cecil’s almost supernaturally apt predisposition towards fatherhood, but I know you are the most determined and considerate person in this city, and if you decide to be, you’ll be a very loving parent.”

“Oh,” Carlos says. He looks back at Cecil, like his concentration has snapped and he’s pulled back to his natural state of staring longingly across the room at his husband. “Do you really think so?”

“Yes.”

“But sometimes I don’t like being touched. And sometimes I’m forgetful or avoidant. Sometimes I prioritize things incorrectly and Cecil has to remind me. Sometimes I-- I think I’m not very good...” There feels like there should be an end to that sentence, but he trails off, leaving it.

“I think,” Dana says slowly, “that all those things are already true of your relationship, but here you are, married and making everything work. Cecil already knows all those things about you. He’s not going to expect you to turn into a new person upon the introduction of a small human into your lives.”

“That’s a very good observation.”

“I also think the fact you’re thinking so seriously about this is a good sign. But you should probably ask Cecil.”

He winces. “I want to, but starting that conversation makes me feel like I’m going to pass out or something.”

Dana looks up, and sees Cecil leaning his cheek on his hand, looking at Carlos intently. There is a vague look of worry to his face. Even across an entire room, he seems in tune to Carlos’ mood. Saying something to Janice, he unfolds from the shortish chair and begins to traverse the room.

“We all do things that make us want to pass out and bake in the sun until there’s nothing left but our bones, free of our worries. That’s a cop-out though.”

Carlos shrugs. “I guess. But if he’s serious, he’ll bring it up sometime?”

“You already explained that you know he’s serious. What if he’s afraid to bring it up for fear of upsetting you?” She crosses her arms.

His face pinches unhappily at that. Before he can say anything, Cecil is there, having made incredible time reaching him despite the size of the room and number of people around. His arm slips around Carlos’ waist. “Hello, you two. How’s the wallflowering going?”

“Fine,” Dana says, lifting her eyebrows at Carlos.

Cecil rests his mouth near Carlos’ ear, but the party is not so loud Dana can’t hear him ask, “Are you doing okay, bunny?” Carlos nods and offers a quiet “I’m still good,” in return, so his husband straightens up, smiling again.

“Anything interesting going on?” he asks.

“Yes, actually,” Dana says, ignoring the way Carlos immediately stares wide-eyed at her. “We were talking about how you’ll probably be a staggeringly attentive parent someday. It was all very complimentary.”

“Dana,” Carlos hisses.

“Oh,” Cecil says. She watches the flush run up his neck and over his cheeks. “Wow. We, uh, we hadn’t really talked about that?”

“Huh, really? How strange. Listen, I’m going to go grab myself a drink. And I think Michelle’s leaving soon, and I want to bother her about that Nina Simone album I ordered like two months ago.” She steps back, smiling and toodling her fingers. “Nice talking to you, Carlos.”

“Yeah,” Carlos sighs. “I forgot you could be kind of terrifyingly implacable.”

“Well, that’s your own fault. Talk to you later!”

She hurries away, catching only the bright incredulous tone of Cecil’s voice behind her. She dusts her hands of imaginary dust and expended effort. Desert Otherworlders had to stick together.

#wtnv #carlos the scientist #dana cardinal #cecil palmer #flashfic kind of thing #my fic #wtnv spoilers #cecilos

210 notes · View notes

alchemist-shizun · 5 years ago

Text

A song to fix what’s wrong (Take what’s broken make it whole)

Read on Ao3!

Word Count: 4,525

Taglist: @max-is-tired @bookwormscififan

Characters: Cecil, Carlos, (others briefly or only mentioned)

Pairing(s): Are you even asking. Cecilos

Warning(s): Crying, Negative thoughts (not too deep), Blood mention, Death mention (minor), Kissing, Swearing (once, during narration)

and yours truly, heavily projecting

Summary: A review of a relationship, a retelling of a story already told. You know how it goes, all you need to do is … dive into the symphony and let yourself swim around the sweetest and hardest events.

A/N: Me? Putting 4 songs in a single fic? More likely than my fake originality makes you think. Song lyrics used for the fic is the english cover of Fuyu no Hanashi by Nordex, I recommend you listen to it. (Original can be found here.) Alright so this basically leads up to the 70th episode, there might be some references to the first episodes too, let’s say it’s a very tiny review of a large amount of time. There’s a moment towards that is not chronologically put compared to the scene after it but yeah, just think of the points of view as their own little stories. Also the more I wrote this the more I didn’t realize I was typing down some exact feelings and thoughts I didn’t even remember they had. I’m basically connected, help. Well without any further ado, hope you enjoy~

✾

❝ I’d die for you any day My life’s over anyway Lets go to the empty park And talk ‘til it’s really dark. ❞

✾

Just like the snow that won’t completely melt away

I keep with me these feelings deep inside.

Just let me know the words.

How dare he? How could he have done that to him?

Cecil was pacing down the hall heading towards his workplace, with a hand through his hair and a huff forming on his lips.

There was literally no need for him to be able to do that and yet he still had the audacity to turn his heart into a puddle of overwhelming sensations.

He had to come there, with his perfect hair, perfect coat, and perfect being, claim he was a scientist with his perfectly smart words and arguments and ruin the peace for his and the town’s heartbeats.

But mostly his.

The frequency with which his flow of thoughts constantly derailed from his regular ones to the most admiring observations about the scientist couldn’t help but grow with every week he spent in their town.

Cecil was happy to report any news or confirmed rumors about Carlos, anything would have resulted in creating a joyful aura around the recording room. And the citizens were definitely noticing a smile in his voice whenever they heard him talk about Carlos.

It was like a blow of the wind during a blazing hot day in the middle of the warmest summer day. Not only satisfying, but also you don’t realize how much you had needed it until you notice the way it makes you feel so much better.

And the great amount you miss it when it’s gone.

But how could Cecil express that if he yet had no clue of the other’s considerations of him?

Sure, they had talked more than once, he had even left him his phone number, but … there hadn’t been any significant turns since there.

No talk of weekend plans either, sadly.

Should he have just … shoved it all down? What kind of nonsense was that? There was no way he would have succeeded. With so much increasing appreciation, he was only going to explode.

And then, something finally happened.

The voicemails, the ones he had shared with his listeners. The squealing he may or may not have recorded right onto the mic, too.

Out of all people. Carlos had decided to call him.

It was when time had started to stop. Slow down … restart again? He could not tell.

Furthermore, they had even talked on the phone and agreed to meet up the day after, it all sounded like Cecil was finally getting the shift of his life.

As much as he sounded so ingenuous around Carlos. But hey, he was panicking, okay?

It could happen even to the best of the radio hosts who’s able to talk to a multitude of people at once without failing a beat.

He could do this, he had the words.

Should I just close now the door that guards strongly this love?

You’re my everything and now my soul keeps calling for you

There was something Carlos most definitely didn’t notice.

All he had done until then was partaking into all the experiments and research he could have, studying one of the most scientifically interesting places he’d ever been to.

He thought that was all that it was to him.

And yet …

After that one day, he kept going back to him.

They had met, they had talked, Cecil had been certainly useful in giving him some fundamental information on the town and other important contacts he still didn’t have.

It was also nice because … well, with his team of other valuable scientists, it was easier to get lost in confronting each other’s thoughts and hypothesis. With Cecil, on the other hand, he could have done that for hours, rambling about things he loved and his interlocutor probably didn’t understand and still feel like he was listened to thoroughly.

It was kind of endearing when Cecil kept nodding, but with a confused expression adorning his face.

He kept going back, again.

But, as we mentioned, there was something he didn’t notice about himself.

More than often he called with the excuse of using him as a mean of reaching for all the citizens to get the word of a discovery out, or looking for some of their knowledge.

He liked his excitement when Cecil answered.

He also liked his name, he had thought to himself once. It was like a melody.

Nonetheless, he had no idea where that came from. Did he hear that in a musical? About another town … way down somewhere?

Anytime he confronted his feelings, that was what happened. He involuntarily diverted them; his process of thinking had always been pretty fast, so much that his talking was unstoppable during an epiphany or breakthrough.

Eventually, his subconscious would have arisen, slapped him in the face, and yelled at him to face those feelings for once instead of solely focusing on science.

Which finally happened during the attack of tiny men at the Bowling Alley. He knew he was going to put himself in danger acting that way.

There was nothing to fear, huh?

It would have been grave danger too, if the Apache Tracker hadn’t jumped and taken the hits in his place.

This is something that makes you wonder. About your condition, about how you could have died in a matter of seconds if the projectiles had been that tiny bit more to the left.

About your life and where you are now and how it could have drastically changed. It was like a near-death experience. It fueled his deepest impulsive thoughts to burst at once.

If he had died back then, be wouldn’t have finished his research. He wouldn’t have known anything more about the town, anything more about the bizarre happenings around it. About the citizens. About Cecil.

Cecil. He needed to see Cecil, even if it meant ripping him from his desk, he needed the comfort he was sure he could find in him. He needed to let him know he treasured him.

Not many words came, in the end.

They just stared into the distant nothingness, Cecil’s head resting on his shoulder.

And Carlos, who had imperceptibly sighed, finally found the place to smile.

And now I am completely in love

Just walk right now along with me

Through all the ways that we can go

I ask right now: don’t let me go?

Cecil still couldn’t believe he had had a date with the most stupendous scientist he had ever met. He was still baffled by the fact that he had met him at all.

And yet there they were, filled with pleasant food thanks to the Italian restaurant, walking around town with their arms sometimes linked, fingers sometimes intertwining, eyes going to the sky and smiling as they caught blinking lights or each other’s stare.

Wonderful, a wonderful night indeed that couldn’t have ended better. Or so Cecil thought.

Because when he had driven him home, Carlos had hesitated in his seat. Cecil was about to ask him what was the matter, when the scientist turned to face him and leaned forward, placing a hand on his shoulder that was too soon torn away.

Soft lips were placed on his for a brief moment that didn’t even feel real.

Cecil could only stare in Carlos’s direction as he bid his farewell and disappeared behind closed doors.

All too soon.

Were he to be more lucid, he would have probably begged him not to let go in such a short amount of time. He didn’t even want him to go just yet …

Cecil could have even gotten out of his car and knock on his door, wrap his arms around Carlos and never, ever, leave his side.

Instead, he turned on the engine and shook off those musings from his mind. That was when he had realized he had fallen even deeper in love all over again.

With no goodbyes or moving on

Just stay with me wherever I go

Don’t let me be alone

Carlos knew it was disappointing.

Their relationship had been going wonderfully and having distance separate them was one of the worst things that could have happened, especially now that they were so used to living together.

He couldn’t count the times Cecil had warned him to be careful in that Desert Otherworld where everything seemed to work for a reason he was still working on.

He was by Dana’s side one of the first times he had been able to pay a visit as a hologram.

Such a mess had been going down in Night Vale right then, with all that Strexcorp issue to be solved.

Yet, he was still the one to be reminded of mindfulness.

« Don’t worry Cecil. » he had told him, the ringing of his words still clear in his mind. « A scientist is always fine. »

He firmly believed that was going to be true, in the long run. Not too long would have passed before he could have been back.

Loneliness couldn’t be a thing when they still could call each other and digitally see each other, right?

The spell or maybe curse has not been broken yet

I’m still holding the baggage that I had

Just please relieve this pain

It was so hard. So so hard, on Cecil’s part. He couldn’t help but still feel like Carlos was trapped in that desert, never to find or trust old oak doors again.

The more time he spent away, the more Cecil’s mind wandered about other thoughts than what he should have been focusing on.

Focusing was something impossible, at the time.

Everything seemed impossible, burdening, complicated.

Things he loved doing, forgotten. Uncared for. He felt so off any suggestion wouldn’t have been a good enough distraction.

He couldn’t stop the tension in his body, the lingering feeling of restlessness, waiting for something that never came, disappointing himself for dreaming of things he couldn’t obtain just yet.

Yes, obviously, he should have been happy Carlos was going to make the most important breakthrough in his life, but … not having him by his side every now and then was simply painful.

It was as if some kind of malevolent deity had been watching him and laughing by themselves at his misfortune.

And yet, their love seemed to be growing forevermore, not an inch too little or too much, but the exact amount both of them needed. It was soft and enough and they knew, which was everything that sustained them and told them to carry on and store their strongest feelings for the moment in which they’d have been able to finally see each other again.

If only … if only there could have been an easy way to get rid of all the doubtful and unhappy feelings that stuck to his brain.

He didn’t trust himself to be able to get through the days with the same attitude anymore.

Didn’t trust his mind, most of all.

Wasn’t there a service to get read of his thoughts in the most brutal manner for at least a small amount of days?

Hey, what’s our future?

What should I keep on waiting for?

What am I supposed to find in this cold place, let me know?

It was all going so smoothly.

Sometimes it happened. You think you’re doing just fine and then, one day, the world comes crashing all at once.

A multitude of good days eventually results in one of the worst ones of your life and you’re left to think “Where did I go wrong? Why do I deserve this? Do I even deserve this?”

Carlos had been basically running around all day, chasing Doug and Alisha down with their army of giants, who were continuously charging other beings who dared to wander around the limits of their land.

No moment of peace could be found, no place to rest, no listening to him!

It was insane, they still attacked even when their conditions appeared to be grave and unbearable.

The kitchen counter had already been torn to pieces when the group decided to head for the battle again, Carlos resigned to sigh heavily and not follow this time.

It had been much better when Cecil stayed there. Maybe … he should have stayed even later.

What was even bound to happen there anymore? Could he have carried on with his research when he had to tend to an entire army that was there to protect and help him, in their own ways?

Lately in those days he had felt off. The excitement for his work was still there, of course, but the emptiness from when he had woken up still lingered.

Was taking Cecil there a good idea?

Looking outside, he saw the army retiring to his place, some completely covered in blood, some severely injured.

Doubt came in.

For a moment, he tried to ignore it.

He picked up the phone and got back to Kevin’s reporting.

The tears are falling from my eyes

They’re freezing everything inside

How much could someone fool their mind before the world came crashing down on them altogether, on the verge of falling apart and with nothing and none to stop the feeling of impending doom upon them?

It was a question Cecil had been wondering for quite some time by then, in all its varying forms.

And how much longer until the minimal inconvenience was going to break him apart?

He had been … so proud of that painting. Few were the times in which he took one of his works with him at the radio station, they were mostly things that reminded him of Khoshekh.

But then, yeah. He needed to be reminded of happiness. Joy. Carlos. All the feelings that he brought him and never ceased to twist his insides in a pleasant manner.

And as he looked at the painting while sitting at his desk, the more he felt like he could enter that dimension and reach him if he were to brush the surface of the canvas.

His feet moved by themselves: it was the weather report anyway. He had time for some musing; he held his hand out and stretched to the landscape.

Yet, the colors only warmed under his touch. And nothing else happened.

Except for a loud crash against that same wall as soon as he had stepped away from it.

Wide eyes went over the destruction laid upon them, steps still slowly retreating to the desk.

Cecil gripped its surface tight to steady himself. His mind was emptied for a second as he processed the scene in front of him.

Not only was part of the room demolished, but also his painting had completely and inevitably torn to pieces too.

The one that followed was the longest moment of silence Cecil had ever experienced.

Everything was nothing for even a sole instant.

Then, nothing became all he had ever tried to do, because nothing mattered anymore now that fate wanted to delete all the traces of happiness left in his body.

So the first tear came. Then another. And another, another, another, so much that he fell to his knees and his blurred vision turned away because he couldn’t just bear the sight any longer.

He felt betrayal, but not his own.

It was as if, with the work of art, part of his heart had died. Part of his love, denied. Part of them and their relationship, completely discarded.

He had spent so much time perfectioning the details, so long daydreaming Carlos’s gorgeous figure and stopping to think back at how he was dating the best person in the world.

Now it felt like that didn’t happen at all.

He simply wanted to be confident in his own work again. He only needed a goddamn moment to reassure himself when none else could be there for him.

A way not to disregard it all and look for a way to find his peace again.

It was like a gift. He had been so proud …

An hour or so had passed before he noticed the weather report was about to end.

Cecil got back to his feet and headed towards his seat, ignoring the breeze that tickled his skin.

He sighed deeply, his chest aching with every sob that had escaped his lips in the past minutes.

The last notes of the melody echoed within the room, as he wiped the tears away from his cheeks and regained his composure. Not even reporting made him feel better anymore.

When silence filled the chaos around him, he took a few beats to stabilize his voice. His eyes opened and so did his mouth. And the words started flowing.

But he couldn’t hide his torment any longer.

He told them what had happened. He told them of the debris, of the veiled pain, of the safety.

« It’s fine. Yup. Everything’s fine. »

Cecil? Well, he blatantly lied. To himself and all his listeners.

And maybe, for the time being, that was for the best.

Of course, before, once the recording had finished, he broke down again.

Under this beautiful blue sky

They’re just pretending to be kind

« No. » Carlos’s face fell. « No, no, no. »

His eyes searched his lab for a sign of any single object or the smallest of notes that could have been saved.

Everything had shattered to the ground covered in fur, everything had been crushed to pieces and there was nothing he could have done.

He found none.

Carlos let out the breath he had been holding as he entered the room and was met with that disastrous mess.

He forced himself to approach his workplace, his eyes filled with tears over stress, the frustration and disappointment of having lost an entire year worth of research.

All his sorrow couldn’t fit in his chest.

As a hand flew to his mouth, the other trailed over the papers on the desk, staining with blood with every brush of his fingertips.

He felt sick.

He felt sick of blood, sick of fights, sick of distance and this situation he couldn’t bear anymore.

What was even the point of staying when his discoveries didn’t matter anymore? Just for the clear days and nights above him? When he wondered if Cecil’s stars were the same as his?

Carlos blinked back the tears that didn’t have the time to fall.

He found the only blank sheet of paper, picked up a pen, and started writing.

Time passes by and I can’t stop crying out loud just like a child.

Cecil could say … it only got worse with time.

As the weeks passed, as the air surrounding him only got heavier and heavier with every single second weighing down on his whole body, like as if he could literally feel the aging and passage of time on his shoulders, it only got worse.

He did hope and almost believe his vacation would have been of any kind of help. He resisted the voices in his head telling him it wouldn’t have been of significance, like any other method he had tried.

Cecil had spent time with Janice too before that, to see if he could feel again or if he really just had to give up on it all.

It worked for the few hours they were together. After that, the complete void once again.

It wasn’t like the void wasn’t friendly, but … even the closest of friends could grow excessive if they stuck with you the same way the void was doing.

And the emptiness.

And the sadness.

The one that hit during night, or when you’re craving hugs, the one that makes existing an aching experience because all you’d need is comfort but you can’t have it the way you desire.

Those moments in which you seem to cry for no reason when you’re actually trying to convince yourself you have no idea why this is happening to you, but you know exactly what’s wrong deep inside.

But you don’t give voice to your emotions in fear of hurting someone or concerning someone else. So you keep everything in a little corner of your mind and you let it explode at once.

Maybe with silent crying, maybe in an empty room.

Maybe nowhere at all, just in some indefinite time. Maybe it’s not happening.

Or you’re not realizing.

That you’re falling apart in front of your very own eyes.

The two of us have now been torn apart.

Carlos had stepped into the radio station of the Desert Otherworld when a wave of queasiness hit him yet again just like it had earlier that day, after he had turned off the call to stop the masked giants.

Was that … blood? Bones?

He was so tired, so much the once so-called paradise had become a burden itself.

He couldn’t live like that anymore.

He shouldn’t have lived like that at all.

And he convinced himself of this the more his conversation with Kevin prolonged.

An entire year spent away from where he belonged, from whom he belonged to. He needed to remedy that.

Kevin just kept smiling the same way he always did, too wide and too happy to be real. It made it just that tiny bit harder to deliver the letter.

Being aware you’re going to hurt someone else’s feelings wasn’t exactly the most ideal thought.

But there were others he had been hurting while staying there.

He pretended he didn’t notice all those little different behaviors when Cecil had been there.

His hand held a bit tighter, the hugs a bit longer, lips lingering just that much more both of them needed. How he never left his side, how he insisted on those five more minutes before getting up.

And it wasn’t like Carlos was complaining, he knew Cecil was trying to make the most of his time, but he just knew there was so much more than that underneath his demeanor.

He only didn’t have the heart to ask him.

Sometimes, he did capture Night Vale’s radio-waves, a couple of figments of what Cecil reported about the news, the usual stuff, and … his discomfort.

Everything felt wrong ever since he told him to move to the Desert Otherworld.

Then everything went wrong, like a message from a futile destiny ahead warning him about the wrong possibilities, which are always too many to dwell on them instead of taking action.

Which was why, after so many signs that day, he was there to leave that letter on Kevin’s desk.

«Choose not to be sad, Carlos. » Kevin had said. « In fact, choose to be happy! »

That was probably what fueled him to leave even more. He would’ve understood, once he had read through the letter, as painful as it could have been for him.

It was true, he was doing that for his own happiness. There was nothing left of it in there anymore, if not the ghost of joyful memories that were ripped from his hands the moment they ended.

Memories didn’t make you feel with the same intensity of when you experience something.

A quiet melody sang in the middle of the desert’s silent symphony. « Keep smiling through just like you always do. 'Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away. »

He was going to change everything. Make one final travel to where he was going to stay. That one thing, he was sure it did feel right.

« So will you please say hello to the folks that I know? Tell them I won’t be long. »

Especially the freedom no longer waiting outside of that utopic land …

« They’ll be happy to know that as you saw me go I was singin’ this song. »

… of when his feet almost basically sprinted outside of the dog park.

And now I am completely in love

and nothing else will matter now

through all the ways that we can go

I ask right now: don’t let me go?

The sense of familiarity and liberation dawned on Carlos as soon as he had stepped into Night Vale after so long away.

Along with it, the anticipation of seeing his lover made a buzzing feeling take over his stomach. It wasn’t anxiety, it was what he learnt to name “that one sensation that makes you fully comprehend what 'I can’t wait’ truly means”.

He was late for the opera, fine with him, anything would have made do if it ultimately led to Cecil.

It was when he finally found himself right beside him that he forgot everything he knew apart from the fact that, yes, he had been completely, fully and ineffably in love with him this whole time and he wasn’t going to deny it anytime soon.

In fact, he was going to take that into account and love him even more if possible, nothing else existed other than his absolute admiration.

« We’ll meet again. Don’t know where, don’t know when. But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day. » he heard a quiet voice sing.

And when their eyes met after such a long amount of time that he felt like he was going to turn Cecil’s head himself, there was no space for rational thoughts.

Therefore, none of them were able to form rational arguments either.

So Carlos went for an embrace he honestly never wanted to end.

A single whispered line escaped his thoughts before he gave word to his musings.

« Please, don’t let me go. »

Their hug grew even tighter.

With no goodbyes or moving on

You’ll always be right here with me.

Together forever.

Words upon words flowed in the night between them, so many Cecil had been hardly able to take them all in.

Right then, though, he knew his earlier uncertainty had now a reason. Everything always had a reason when it came to Carlos. Everything started to make sense yet again.

They talked about all and nothing and the entirety of their situation, but briefly and with sweet resolutions.

It was all starting to be back to normal, and his family and friends were there to make sure it would remain that way.

There was no place to leave.

But to stay.

And that was a thing both Cecil and Carlos could do together, the oblivion they had been living in for the past year soon put behind their shoulders.

The certainty of waking up next to their loved one, the motivation of going through the day excitedly because you may never know what waited for you at home, the comforting of a cuddle pile on a rainy day with your favorite person and your favorite pet.

It was all that filled their minds.

And, for the time being, it was also all they needed.

#wtnv #wtnv fanfic #cecil palmer #cecilos #wtnv cecil #wtnv carlos #carlos the scientist #read the warnings #long post #purp's writings

50 notes · View notes