#Thread: Lil

[dirtwatchman]

PARTIES: Caleb/Aesil (@dirtwatchman), Emilio (@mortemoppetere), Erin (@corpse-a-diem), Lil (@the-lil-exorcist) and Father Liam TIME: Current (July 7th) SUMMARY: Aesil wants to attempt the ritual again and thinks using Emilio is the best way to go. Erin, Lil, and Father Liam have other plans. WARNINGS: Surprisingly none.

A ritual was a finicky thing but Aesil had been so certain that they had what they needed the first time around. The words were said perfectly, everything was set up the way it should have been in Caleb’s janky basement of refrigerators, but when they’d performed it all with no results they realized that one of the ingredients hadn’t been quite right. The blood of the damned hadn’t been strong enough. The victim chosen must have been a better person then they’d thought but there was a quick fix to that. 

And it had to be quick now that the annoying sister was in the way. 

Looking back on it, the demon had chosen Caleb because they’d thought he was a loner. The few days they had spent following him around hadn’t been enough though, that was clear now. This man had more people in his life that cared about him than even the zombie realized and they’d met one of the fiercest after that failed ritual. Her love for Caleb could be Aesil’s downfall.

The quick fix was currently tied to a chair that Aesil had brought down with them, his head lulled while he slept off that blow to the head they had given him. They had to get him here somehow and they were sick and tired of things going wrong. Besides, the small conversation they’d had at the bizarre was enough to tell Aesil that this one had too much fight to not take precautions. It had also told them that he might just be damned enough for this to work. There was a certain look these people held, a certain glint in their eye. This man had it in folds.

“Wake up.” It might have been a weakness of theirs but Aesil did enjoy the games they could play with these people before they took what they needed. Their foot launched forward, kicking the man hard in the shin to rouse them even further. “I need you awake for this. Open your eyes.”

Most days, Emilio was a difficult man to catch off guard. He was beyond paranoid, always looking for trouble even when there was none to be found. In his mind, the idea of the world being out to get him was more certainty than it was fear, and he tended to be guarded as a result. But no one was impossible to surprise. That was an unfortunate fact that he’d learned time and time again, from many different teachers. Catch him after a bad night, when sleep was a distant thing and alcohol coursed through his veins, and you might just get lucky. Knock him on the back of the head before he had time to turn around, and there wasn’t much fighting back he could do.

His only real warning before the blow had come with that familiar twisting in his gut that signified something undead nearby. He’d assumed it was the spawn he was tracking — a stupid mistake, he realized now. He listened as someone moved around the room, feigning unconsciousness as he took stock of himself. His most obvious weapons had been removed, his more hidden ones impossible to reach with the binds holding him to the chair. It was rope he was tied with — no locks to pick. The knots were tight enough that simply dislocating a few fingers wouldn’t get him loose. The chair didn’t seem like one he could break without drawing attention to himself, especially not while whoever had grabbed him was in the room. And whoever had grabbed him was undead, meaning there was likely additional strength to account for on their end, too. The only stroke of luck seemed to be in the fact that his head was the only obvious injury, and it wasn’t bad. A dull ache was easy to ignore; he was used to that.

Emilio tried not to tense as he heard the footsteps approaching his chair, tried to pretend he was still out cold. Whatever this undead person wanted with him, they seemed to want him awake for it. If he could keep pretending he was out, he could buy himself more time. Unfortunately, there were certain responses that were… a little more involuntary than he’d like to admit. A foot made harsh contact with his leg, and the pain that shot through the limb forced a grunt from between his clenched teeth. He knew his captor wouldn’t miss it.

With the illusion shattered, he allowed his eyes to open slowly, darting around the room. Basement. Underground. His heart ticked up a beat at the thought, and he tried to ignore the feeling of the walls closing in by gathering more information. Residential, from the looks of it. Probably still in Wicked’s Rest. His eyes darted up to his captor’s, head tilting slightly in familiarity. “If this is about the jar from the market,” he said dryly, “I already threw it out. You can go through my garbage, if you want, but this seems like overkill to me.” 

His mind was spinning as he tried to work out the reason behind this particular brand of bullshit. Was it to do with that missing man in the graveyard, the one he was sure would lead back to the groundskeeper if he followed it closely enough? Or was it related more to the encounter in the market, when the stranger seemed an entirely different man than the one he’d met that first night? Usually, when someone went through all the trouble of tying Emilio to a chair, he at least had some idea about the reasoning behind it. In this particular situation, he felt a little lost. And he didn’t particularly like feeling lost.

They ignored the question, Aesil not wanting to give the man the satisfaction of knowing how much he’d gotten under their skin that day. Yes, the demon had ignored him for the most part since they had better things to do but he’d always been in the back of their mind lying in wait for an opportunity. They figured it wouldn’t come until Andras had made his way to the surface and taken over but this had been too good to pass up. A slow death, maybe not as painful as they’d been hoping, but one where the man could have time to think of everything they were leaving behind. They only wished they could have taken those things away from him before taking his life. They liked to think that Caleb would have wanted that too.

Crouching down in front of him, they tilted their head as they studied him. Gruff in appearance and personality, obviously a fighter able to take care of himself, but there was an undercurrent that flowed with those unfortunate personality traits of his. Aesil could see it, something that showed the teeniest soft side of desperation. They’d seen it in every person that they had killed since coming to this plane of existence making it so easily recognizable. It was in the eyes mostly. Yea, he had at least one person that would miss him. 

Good.

“You are not an easy man to take down.” Out of everyone they had encountered, even Caleb’s sister and her affinity for eyes, this man had been the hardest to get the better of. Sneak attacks weren’t usually their thing, they liked when people saw the face of who was coming after them, but this one would have been tough to defeat as much as they hated to admit it. “I’ll give you credit for that one. Most humans are easy but you…you have too much fight in you. I almost want to let you live.”

Still, the demon pulled out the sharpfinger knife they’d been relying on,pressing the tip of their finger to the sharp edge as they showed it off. “I need you for something much bigger than a jar of fur, though.” They gestured all around them with the knife. The work table to their side had been redecorated with all the collected ingredients, the new heart they’d acquired the night before placed in a tiny bowl in the middle. Candles were lit, wax spilling over the sides as they waited to do their jobs. The floor beneath had been decorated with new sigils with a makeshift drain that led all around it so that the blood they needed from this man could get to every nook and cranny of the drawn shapes. Last time they’d thought just having the blood near would be enough but this time they knew it needed closer contact. Everything was ready for this new chapter to start. “You get to be a part of something so big tonight. You should feel honored. I bet Andras would even agree to give you a dying wish for your sacrifice…like maybe keeping anyone you love safe?”

He hadn’t expected a response to the taunt, but he scowled at the lack of one, anyway. Reading people was a big part of what Emilio did, as both a hunter and a private investigator. It was a shared aspect of both ‘jobs,’ a thing they had in common. Getting under someone’s skin could pull down their defenses, trick them into saying more than they meant to say. You could get good information just by pissing someone off, even if that information was often punctuated by a punch to the face. This, though? This stony silence, this look on the groundskeeper’s face as he knelt down to study Emilio? This told him next to nothing.

His nostrils flared, his chin tilting up in some useless show of defiance. He knew he didn’t have the upper hand here. Given enough time, he could probably gain it — he’d been in plenty of tough scrapes, even woken up tied to chairs far more than once now — but he wasn’t sure he’d get the chance. Most of Emilio’s strategies involved being allowed to run his mouth in a way that encouraged enough anger to make a person sloppy, but the undead groundskeeper didn’t seem like he’d go for that. 

He might die here. It was an absent sort of thought, one only half-considered. He searched the groundskeeper’s eyes carefully, trying to determine the motive behind it. Was he getting too close in his investigation? Did the man know he was a hunter? Which of his jobs was getting him killed here? His eyes studied the other man’s face for answers, though there was no fear in his expression. Though… he felt a little more regret than he’d thought he would. 

And he was pissed off. That one was a little more expected, though.

“Tell you what,” he said, leaning forward as far as his binds would allow. “You cut me loose, I’ll go home, and we can pretend none of this happened.” It was a bluff; the groundskeeper would probably know that. Emilio wasn’t the type to let things go. But, hey, a guy had to try, didn’t he? Leaning back again, he added, “Or I’ll cut myself loose and take your head off. Both of these things are fine with me.” 

His eyes slid to the knife as the groundskeeper pulled it out, expression shifting to one that looked more like a mild interest than any real concern. Double-blade. Old style. Won’t feel great slicing you open, but what does? He glanced to the table, to the things spread out on it. Candles. Sigils. A human heart. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was some kind of a ritual. Emilio let out a quiet laugh, shaking his head. Christ. Teddy would get a real kick out of this one, wouldn’t they? 

Looking back to the groundskeeper, Emilio tilted his head. “Ah, tonight is not good for me. Got other plans. Maybe we pencil this in for next week.” At the mention of people he loved, the feigned amusement melted off his face, replaced with stormy rage. He leaned forward again, straining against the ropes. “If you think I will tell you anything about anyone I love,” he said lowly, “you’re a lot stupider than you look. And you already look pretty stupid. Seen plenty of people get big heads, think they can pull shit like this off. Most of them get eaten.”

If this had been any other day, Aesil might have lost their cool. They’d done it already. They’d let countless people slip through death’s fingertips because they weren’t thinking straight. Their excitement had gone to their head, their anger had blinded them to their own weaknesses. That night things were different though. The demon knew they’d already won. There was a quiet confidence buzzing through Caleb’s veins in place of the blood that should have been flowing. The zombie was gone, the ritual was ready, and this man was stuck. 

A slow smirk pulled at their lips as they used the knife to start ripping away useless fabric. The clothing would have only made the blood flow too slow and they needed all of it. Every last drop of the damned had to be spilled just in case Aesil was wrong again. They had a feeling they weren’t after kidnapping yet another spellcaster for information. “Actually, none of those work for me. I have a deal for you though.” Bright eyes met dark ones, that confidence the demon was feeling slipping through more and more. “Stop saying stupid shit and I won’t eat your lungs as you're desperately trying to breathe through them.” A deal they most likely wouldn’t keep. They still wanted to see this one suffer after all. 

They stopped tearing the clothes as soon the man’s act dropped, amusement joining Caleb’s features. “I hit a nerve with that one. Jeeze, you would think I had all of them locked down here with you.” They grinned up at him, now knowing something they hadn’t before. “Good to know you have more than one in your life. I couldn’t find a license but I’m sure circulating your picture around will get some bites online. You should have just taken the gratitude.” They reached up, patting the man’s face a few times, eyes blazing with more of the confidence. “I’m not most people. A foot soldier, maybe, but I know my master. They’ll be so grateful to get away from that plane of existence they’ll reward me.” 

The knife ripped at his clothes, the sound of tearing fabric seeming louder than it should have been in a basement that was otherwise far too quiet. Emilio could feel the coolness of the blade getting closer and closer to his skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake as his body anticipated the all-too familiar feeling that would come with the knife ripping through more than just his clothes. “This was one of my nicest shirts,” he said, clinging to the dry humor as he kept searching for buttons to press, kept looking for a way under the groundskeeper’s skin. He was running out of time, and he knew it. If he didn’t find some way to pause this process soon, he’d have more than just rope preventing him from putting up a fight.

He raised his brow as the man who’d brought him here offered up his own ‘deal,’ unsurprised that it was just as undesirable to him as his deal had been to his captor. “Not sure you’d like the taste,” he replied. “Been smoking more than a decade now. Probably doesn’t do much for the flavor.” His fingers twitched, desperately searching for any kind of weakness in the binds with a quiet subtlety. Emilio wouldn’t give this man the satisfaction of knowing just how badly he wanted out of this chair, wouldn’t risk letting him know that this wasn’t how he’d been hoping to spend his evening. The groundskeeper was looking for a reaction. Emilio was trying very hard not to give him one.

It was so much easier said than done.

The slip had been unintentional, and his jaw twitched at the realization that he’d offered up information not previously available. Most people had more than one person they gave a shit about, but Emilio had needed any upper hand he could get, and he’d just lost one of the last ones available to him. For once, his lack of any kind of legal identification served in his favor — no license meant there was no way for this man to know his address — but there were still ways for him to find out who Emilio gave a shit about. Would he really go after them, even after he finished carving Emilio up here? Based on his expression, the detective was inclined to think he would. 

“I’m going to kill you,” he said lowly, eyes dark. “I’m going to get out of this chair, and your reward is going to be your own goddamn blade taking your head off your body. I want you to know that.” It wasn’t much of a threat, coming from a man thoroughly bound to a chair, and Emilio knew it. Still, the storm brewing behind his eyes spoke to how much he believed what he was saying. He’d never been one to go down easy, after all.

“The act that you all put on is so tiring, is it not? I did it for a few weeks and it was so much worse than I imagined. Had to drop it halfway through.” They shook their head, Aesil tired of the pretenses. Nobody was real, nobody showed who they truly were, not even to who they were supposed to trust the most. They knew this whole journey wasn’t going to be easy but they’d never expected all the lies from humans. It slipped easily from their mouths like it was second nature. They didn’t even have to think about it.

And they called demons the bad ones.

That was one thing about where they were from that they would miss; there was no hiding who you were. Demons were mean but they were real. The more time that they spent around the fakeness that humans produced the more they realized how right their master was for hating them all. “You’re allowed to be scared in the face of death, you know? No need to hide it.” But, as always, they did appreciate the fight. 

Then they looked up into the eyes of a man who was no longer playing games. This. This was the real human lurking beneath the snarky comments. It was always when a loved one was threatened when they showed their true nature. Half the time they didn’t care about themselves but talk about hurting someone they loved and the true nature of who they were bled into their words. And this was a true fighter. It was just too bad that all that fight was wasted on a man who couldn’t break through a simple knot. “Sure thing, buddy.”

Something caught Aesil’s attention. After the incident with the sister they had placed something called a Ring on the front porch so they wouldn’t get any more surprises and it was going off in the corner of the room. Fuck whoever that was. They were so close to getting this done that they didn’t bother getting up to check. If they came to the basement they would just join this poor sap in his fate. “Time to die.”

The knife sliced through the man’s bound wrists, just above where the ropes were. One, two slashes to let the blood drain to the floor and start curling through the sigils. Aesil moved the blade to the back of his thighs and made two more cuts, one on each, hoping they had gotten a good vein or two. They watched the blood pouring down into the markings on the floor impatiently, willing it to move faster to fill in quicker so they could start the Latin that needed to be said. The last thing they needed was this interruption. 

“Mark it down as another thing you’re bad at,” Emilio replied, eyes narrowing. A few weeks. Had he been putting on an act when Emilio met him the first time, then? Was this the real man, and the bumbling, nervous one in that graveyard had been playing pretend? But what for, if he was so willing to kill, anyway? People who made ritualistic sacrifices to demons didn’t tend to bother trying to convince strangers in graveyards late at night of their innocence; it would have been far simpler for him to kill Emilio the first night and have no one be the wiser. 

There were still too many pieces missing for Emilio to solve the puzzle in its entirety. He could make guesses here and there, but there was nothing concrete to cling to. Emilio wasn’t sure how much it mattered, anyway. Understanding the man holding him captive wouldn’t get him out of this chair. He was beginning to think nothing would. And even still, he refused to give this man what he wanted. He refused to let even a sliver of fear grip his chest. He let his gaze burn through the groundskeeper, shaking his head. “I haven’t been afraid of death in a very long time. You’ll have to try much harder than this if fear is what you’re after.”

Threatening Emilio did little to upset him. Threatening the people he cared about had a far different effect. The slayer was all the more determined to break his binds now, unwilling to let any of the people he loved suffer because he’d pissed off the wrong person. There had been enough of that already, hadn’t there? Emilio yanked against the rope, no longer interested in a subtle escape attempt. If this was his last chance, he’d give it all the strength he had.

There was a sound from the corner — a proximity alarm, maybe? Emilio prepared to use it as a distraction, hoping he might be able to use brute strength to break through the binds and take the groundskeeper by surprise well enough to knock the blade from his hand. But the alarm seemed to spur his captor into action more than distract him. 

The knife sliced through his skin, eliciting a small grunt from the slayer. The process repeated, and he bit his tongue hard enough to taste blood, clenching his teeth to keep any sound from escaping. Blood flowed down towards the floor, towards the sigils drawn there. It was slow-moving, but still quick enough to leave Emilio a little dizzy. He’d bleed out slow, this way… but he’d still bleed out. Sooner than he’d like, too. Straining, he tried to angle his bleeding wrists in a way that would allow the blood to soak through the ropes, a last-ditch effort to allow him to pull them free.

Distantly, he thought he heard the sound of footsteps above them. He resisted the urge to glance up, hoping that it was someone who meant well and not just someone come to watch the show.

Erin could still feel Caleb’s hands around her neck. She watched his house, safely hidden away in her car just a little bit down the road so that it was out of eyesight. She’d wanted to get here early. Alone. She needed time to reacclimate herself to the idea that Caleb’s face did not belong to Caleb right now. That the hands that bruised her skin weren’t the same ones that happily fixed every loose cabinet the funeral home had seen for the last decade. He was as instrumental to the place as she was. As any of them were. More importantly, he was family. 

The house was quiet. No one in or out for a while now. Erin couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. Didn’t stop her stomach from incessantly folding in itself when she thought too hard about it. Made sense that he’d go back to the heart–and brains, apparently–of the home. When she saw Lilian and her acquaintance pulling up, she took one last look at the house–no face in the window, no sign that he knew anything yet–and stepped out. Her eyes went to the man with her. Taller than most priests she knew and with a stoic look that gave her more confidence than she had five minutes ago. 

“He’s here,” she greeted them, too anxious to be polite and too worried to care. Lil said this would work and the priest looked ready for a reckoning. This would be fine. Caleb would be fine. She glanced back at the house, resisting the urge to touch the knife hidden under her jacket for comfort. An old hunting knife her grandfather had left her father, abandoned in a drawer until last night. Just in case.“We go in, I distract, and you guys do your thing,” she summarized the already laid out plan. She just needed to say it outloud again. It helped somehow. There was a long pause as she looked between the both of them, her nervous gaze steeling slowly into a hard set stare. She swallowed hard. “We’re going to to get him back. I’m going to get him back.” That was the only outcome she could entertain in that moment.

Lil’s hand stung as she wrapped it up carefully moving quickly with what was the weirdest team she’d ever been a part of. When Erin had said something was happening to her friend - brother and that it felt off. It didn’t take too long to figure out what it might be. With the town the way it was, and the whispers of demons all around, Lil would have been a fool not to know. 

Perhaps Lil really did need to get out of this town one day. She was getting way to comfortable slicing her hand open and performing the one ritual that she knew. Still, unlike the last ritual there was no demon on their side - or whatever Levi had turned out to be. So she forced Jamie to call in a favor with a demonologist he knew. It was - tense Father Liam wasn’t at all fond of Lil - her name preceding her. If it mattered, Lil wasn’t at all fond of him either. Still, she had to hand it to the priest; he wasn't one to wait around and let things happen. He had readily accepted Lil’s stupid plan and she wondered idly if Jamie’s reputation had saved hers. 

Standing in front of the door with her hand prepared, Lil nodded looking at Erin and the Priest. “Right, Erin you distract us and we’ll bum rush him okay? Father, you got your sword or whatever?” 

It was perhaps the only cool thing Lil thought demonologists had - a physical weapon from their soul to use. She wondered idly what happened to it once they died - where her sister’s weapon was - before going back to present. “If you get him still enough I can make the barrier.” 

With a nod from the priest and him pulling out a sword that seemed obsidian black, Lil tried to relax the almost screaming worry in her soul. With a look to Erin she nodded holding the door handle ready to go in front of her if needed. 

Demonologists. Exorcisms. Swords. Erin’s eyes jumped to the priest again, wider this time. She’d never felt more out of her element, even with Lil’s game plan fresh in mind. This was her new normal, she realized suddenly. Whatever this was. It shouldn’t have felt sudden (things had been weird for a long time now) and it shouldn’t have been this moment, but preparing to barge in on her demon-possessed brother with a sword wielding priest and a fellow medium was it. Lil nodded and she looked at the door, the world a little different than it had been before. She’d figure out what that feeling meant later. She pulled out the knife, clutching it tightly. Just in case.  “You know, you could have brought a sword for everyone,” she teased flatly, trying to quell her nerves. But she’d heard the doorbell go off–that was new–and time felt like it snapped into overdrive. They’d lost their element of surprise. Caleb knew someone was here. 

Erin took one last glance back at the priest, then at Lil, a note of gratitude prominently featured amongst her fear. If she lived through this, she owed Lil and Liam more than she could truly explain. “Let’s get this fucker,” she spat bitterly and finally pressed into the dark house. 

That same smell hit her, worsened by time and hot summer heat. She could only charge forward, expecting Caleb to come at her from each and every corner leading to the basement. There was nothing but maybe what sounded like muffled voices. Alright. Well. She was the distraction. Time to distract. She didn’t think about it–just pulled open the basement door and ascended quickly, like this was a casual trip. She nearly gagged at the smell down here. “Do all demons live like pigs or is that just your speciality? Because–” she started, a taunt to get his attention on her, but there was a second figure in a chair. All the ropes and blood told her that he probably wasn’t here by choice. She stopped two-thirds of the way down, thrown briefly at the poor sight of him. Lil had mentioned some of the things that she’d likely see when they’d concocted this initial plan but–fuck. “You’re, uh… well, you’re not Caleb.”

Aesil leaned down closer to the man’s ear, that same shit eating grin that seemed permanently plastered to their face now that they were sure they had won pulling at Caleb’s lips. “I may be bad at acting like a walking shithole of depression and anxiety but you’re still the one tied to this chair…bleeding out, might I add.” Their eyes fixed to the blood running along the floor filling in the empty spaces as they stayed in that position behind the man. “I don’t need your fear, I have plenty of that coming to me. I just need your death to move along here. I know that bitch is probably back.” That was partially due to them if they thought about it. Taunting the woman online was a bad idea and only provoked her more but if she was here then Andras could have a little snack upon his arrival. 

As soon as the words were out of their mouth they heard the unmistakable sound of her throwing the basement door open and bounding down the steps. Aesil twirled the knife in hand before catching the hilt, pressing the blade to the hunter’s neck while they prepared to do what it took to keep her at a distance. She seemed like the type that wouldn’t let a man die just to bring Caleb back. She didn’t have to know that he was going to die anyway. “Erin! Nice of you to join us. I would have hated for you to miss this. I wouldn’t come too much closer though, you wouldn’t want this poor man’s death on your hands.” 

The sound of more footsteps threw them off, brows furrowing together. Shit, had she come more prepared this time? The demon couldn’t even blame her. They were more prepared this time as well and seeing as she’d narrowly escaped them during their last encounter it was smart of her to bring some friends. It didn't matter. None of them could stop this. “I’m always up for a party but it would have been nice if you’d let me know to expect more company. It’s alright, I’ll forgive you this time. But only because you’re not going to be around too much longer.” 

They pressed the blade further into the man’s skin, eyes flicking over to the floor. He wasn’t fully drained but all the etchings in the floor were full so this would have to be enough. A foreign language started to spill from their lips, one that the demon was sure had never been spoken on this plane of existence before, and they concentrated as hard as they could on their main goal. Andras would rise. He would take over this town and skin every person alive until it was time to move on to the next and Aesil would be right there by his side. 

It was strange, in a distant sort of way; Emilio could feel the presence of the groundskeeper behind him, but there was no breath in his ear as the demon spoke. Had they possessed an undead man on purpose, he wondered? He didn’t know enough about demons to know the answer. He might have made a mental note to ask Teddy if he weren’t reasonably sure he was going to die here. He grit his teeth against the thought, angry at the mere concept of giving this demon the satisfaction of killing him. “Been in worse spots,” he ground out, unsure if it was a lie. He’d been certain he was going to die before; it wasn’t a new feeling. But this? There was a helplessness to this that he didn’t enjoy. The blood rushing in his ears was a deafening thing, the pain in his extremities as he tried to keep the twisting of his wrists subtle enough not to be recognized nauseating. 

And then, the door opened.

He registered the feeling of the blade pressed against his neck, scowled at the coolness of it. Emilio disliked the idea of being a hostage almost as much as he disliked the idea of being a sacrifice. His eyes darted to the woman who’d just entered the room, making note of the shock on her face. She definitely wasn’t here for the show. She mentioned Caleb, and his eyes darted down quickly, as if trying to catch a glimpse of the hand holding the knife against his throat without moving his head enough to allow the metal to dig in deeper. “Guessing that’s not Caleb right now, either,” he replied flatly. The act of speaking moved his throat enough for the blade to nick the skin; privately, he thought it was worth it. Maybe he would die here, but he certainly wouldn’t die quietly. It wasn’t much, but it was all he really had right now.

The demon behind him was spitting threats, and Emilio made eye contact with the woman. “They’re going to kill me either way,” he told her. That had been the plan from the beginning. He knew that. “If you’ve got a way of ending this, you end it.” 

More footsteps joined the fray, and Emilio blinked as a pair of figures entered the room. One of them was familiar enough to bring some relief. Lil might not deal with demons often, but she knew a lot more about them than Emilio did. And, if he had to guess, the guy she’d brought trailing in behind her was some kind of an expert. If this woman, Caleb’s friend, Erin had known to call Lil, it meant she came prepared. 

The relief was a little short lived, the blade pressing harder against his throat as his blood continued to drip onto the floor. He was starting to get woozy; blood loss was always a bitch. Behind him, the demon started chanting, and — and chanting was bad. Emilio knew chanting was bad. Desperately, his eyes found Lil’s, darting between her, Erin, and the third figure they’d brought along. “Whatever you’re here to do,” he yelled over the chanting, “you do it quick. Don’t stop on my account.” 

Lil knew that hesitation was akin to stalling in life. As she rushed forward there was nothing in her movement that stopped her - moving to hold the man that she knew was influenced by a demon. Her hand screamed as she wrestled him still - part pure objective fury and part hope holding him still for the briefest of moments as she felt the Father move around him saying some sacred sacrament that didn’t register to her. 

“Hey man - I got you. Don’t worry, ” Lil said softly looking at Emilio in as she pinned a man that could have been called Caleb. In her determination Erin was at least a distraction as she kept on the other the salt laid. Father Liam pouring the salt that was necessary for her to do her job and without much fan fair she stuck her hand in the salt slowly saying the ritual that Jane had taught her. 

“Demon - I beseech Sancte Michael,defende nos in proeliout non pereamus

in tremendo iudicio. -” the words of the air  by Father Liam in the area as Lil muttered her own ritual putting down an area that would keep the demon contained. The father’s sword kept steady at the zombie, a focus that Lil couldn’t conceive of a continuation of Latin similar to any that she knew. It was more direct and harsh then anything she would have performed. 

It was taking everything in Erin’s concentration not to focus in on Caleb’s figure standing behind the profusely bleeding man. They had a job to do. And it seemed that the man bleeding out before their eyes knew the severity of this situation, even outside of his very dire one. This ritual could not be completed. And for all of Erin’s words earlier, it was becoming clear that getting Caleb out of this alive was going to be a mountain of a mission in itself. She nodded solemnly, understanding. 

She ignored the demon’s words, ignored the way they burned in Caleb’s voice and got to work. “You can party all you want when you get home, huh?” She murmured, moving further into the disgusting basement. Lil, to her surprise, was fiestier than she would have guessed and was already attacking the demon. The Father was laying down salt and Erin ran to the bleeding man’s side. Lil seemed to have Caleb distracted enough for right now. And if this man was important to the ritual, it was equally important to get him the hell out of here. 

The rope was tied impossibly tight and she was glad for the knife she’d brought and started to slice through his confines, though it was going to take a minute. “Hey–looking a little pale over here. Stay with me, okay?” She nudged the man gently, watching Lil struggle with Caleb still. “How are we doing Lil?” She called out a little over the Latin filling the room. 

The man bleeding out had served his purpose so the demon abandoned the knife that was to his throat when it became clear threatening him wouldn’t stop them. Someone was on them anyway, hands making an attempt to stop what was happening. It was cute the way this girl thought she could make any kind of difference. Sure, she was putting up a good fight but Aesil was well versed in struggle. Multitasking came easy, their words still slipping through Caleb’s lips as they brought their hand up to wrap around her neck to try and keep her at bay. Laughter started to lace their words when the man’s blood started to rise an inch off the ground, swirling in a circle, flickers of another world coming into view. 

Words faltered as the Latin mixed in with their voice, catching in their throat and causing droplets of the blood to fall back to the ground. Aesil’s eyes burned as they fell on The Father, realizing the circle wasn’t flickering into view as much anymore. The pain was barely noticeable but the more that both the priest and the girl uttered those wretched words the more they could feel themself being pulled away, feel Caleb rising back to the surface.

The bastard was fighting with them. 

It was just like the pathetic excuse of a man to give up until he thought he could win. But Caleb should have known better. He should have known that Aesil had a lot more fight left in them even as they faltered that much more. Whole sentences of their chant were now being dropped, each word the two of them muttered digging deeper into the pale skin of the zombie, fighting to dig out the shadow that had taken over. Their grip on the girl’s neck tightened, the demon trying to stop the flow of her words while they struggled to remember their own. “Fuck. You.”

The circle formed by the blood was still flickering, their words having been repeated enough to keep it struggling to fully form despite Aesil not being able to continue but their confidence in this was starting to plunge. They couldn’t fail again. Andras would not be happy if they had screwed up twice but how were they supposed to know that the fucking sister knew an exorcist? They started to sputter out the words again which only made The Father work harder, Aesil letting out a roar of anger. It was easy to hear the amplified pain they were starting to experience. That happened when an entity was literally being ripped away. Their knees were growing weak as tendrils of their shadow started to slowly seep out of the zombies skin, being pulled towards the blood circle. It wasn’t intended for this use but too much was against the demon now. It was then that they knew they weren’t getting out of this one. 

‘You’ve lost, you bastard. Stop fighting it.’

Caleb’s voice broke through, stronger than it had ever been in Aesil’s mind. He was taking over again but the fear that was in the zombie’s eyes belonged solely to the demon. The Father’s words intensified in meaning and in the next moment, all at once, that shadow of Aesil burst through the zombie’s skin. With the last flicking of the blood circle they disappeared back into their own world and the blood fell back to the floor.

Caleb was free.

The zombie blinked once, twice, swallowing the bile rising in his throat when he took in the whole scene before him. Eyes wide with horror, he wrenched his hand from Lil’s neck, the force of his quick retreat throwing him back into one of the freezers. 

It was nice of Lil to bring a priest with her, Emilio thought. He wondered if the guy could be convinced to take a break from exorcising long enough to give him his last rites… or if he was still Catholic enough to want that. There was something almost funny about the thought, eliciting an amused snort from the man as the knife at his throat disappeared and the presence of the groundskeeper — Caleb, or not-Caleb, or whoever the fuck — disappeared with it. With the immediate threat of the knife gone, Emilio went back to working the binds, the blood on his wrists doing him the favor of making his skin a little more slippery. It was the only favor it was doing him. He was pretty sure the half-hysterical laugh bubbling up in his chest at the sight of the priest mid-exorcism was a blood loss thing. 

The blood on the ground seemed to be moving, somehow, and Emilio wondered if that was real or if he was a little farther along in the stages of blood loss than he’d like to be. He paused for a moment to blink down at it, head tilting to the side. There were flashes of something else, something strange that reminded him a little too much of what he’d seen in Wynne’s compound when Levi went up against the demon Wynne’s family worshiped. Whatever the groundskeeper was summoning, Emilio knew it couldn’t succeed. Someone needed to stop it. And, despite his martyr complex screaming that it ought to be, he didn’t think that ‘someone’ was going to be him this time. 

A new presence joined him as he did so, and he tensed momentarily at the sight of a knife. But rather than add any new injuries to his body (which, in his humble opinion, would’ve been overkill, anyway), this knife began slicing through the ropes he was struggling to slip out of. He had enough sense to still in his efforts to avoid any accidental injury as the woman — Erin, the demon called her Erin — freed him from his binds.

“Doing the best I can,” he ground out, yanking his wrist to his chest the moment the rope dropped from around it. The second one joined it when it was free, and Emilio pressed his bleeding wrists against his bare chest in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. He wished the demon had let him keep his clothes, at least. Fabric was a lot better for stopping the bleeding than skin. 

As Erin finished severing the binds, Emilio turned his attention towards the rest of the room. The blood on the ground — his blood, which he’d like to get back, actually — was still moving, though it seemed to be struggling against something now. It wasn’t the only thing struggling. The demon and the priest were locked in some kind of something, the former’s hand wrapped tightly around Lil’s throat. 

It was a new feeling of helplessness, sitting and watching. For a moment, he wasn’t sure which side was going to win, but… he probably should have known better. He might not have known the priest doing the chanting, but he knew Lil. He knew she knew her shit, knew she wouldn’t bring in anyone but the best to help with this kind of thing. The blood in the circle served a new purpose as shadowy tendrils were drawn from the groundskeeper to the ground. Then, all at once, it was over. The blood stilled. The groundskeeper came back to himself, releasing his grip on Lil’s throat and scrambling backwards. Emilio let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, slumping back into the chair and closing his eyes for a moment. No one was dead. It was a pleasant surprise. 

For a moment, he was silent. There was a buzzing in his ears, adrenaline thrumming as his body tried to catch up to his mind’s knowledge that the threat was over. He took a deep breath, trying to ease his addled mind. Then, opening his eyes, he glanced around the room. “Anybody have an extra shirt?”

Lil hadn’t quite expected the hand around her neck as the Priest did his thing, the blood on her hand was after all for a circle ritual to keep the demon in, but like most things in her life things rarely went to plan. Even so as she scrambled to keep his attention she could tell the Father was getting close to the end of the ritual, her own only working in as far as it kept her body as a barrier, her palm pressed to his back. It meant it was incredibly dangerous now. 

And stupid, but luckily only the Priest knew that and he didn’t seem to be complaining. Still,It was getting hard to mouth the words though as he choked her, her hands changing to finger signing the ritual behind his back until it was up. It meant that she couldn’t stop him from choking her.

Sometimes in life it’s just about outlasting and making a very stupid bet. Feeling the ritual about to end she could feel Father Liam’s power as she started to pass out. Oddly her thoughts went to her sister - had she done something like this when she started out? She never really knew how demonologist training started. Would she get to breathe again? It didn’t look good as she rapidly kept her concentration on the barrier. She wanted to respond to Erin at the very least. Tell her to get Emilio and run - but she couldn’t breathe. 

It would be ironic at least. Fighting so long to not deal with demons and ending up dying to one she didn’t even know the name of. She’d call it fate if Lil could believe in that. 

Father Liam didn’t go to Lil’s aid and focused on pushing the demon out before anything else his sword flashing with an indomitable soul finally slashing the circle dropping to a knee after a moment. “Lilian are you still alive?” He said not looking up. The girl should be fine after all, she had a lot of audacity. 

Dropping to the floor Lil gasped out loud for a moment coughing. “God damn - yeah Father I’m fine. Not the first time -” She coughed her voice a little raspy. “Also it’s fucking Lil you -” 

“Language,” The priest said getting up and pulling up the younger Exorcist who scrambled away looking to make sure her friends were okay going to grab her bag to start helping to stop Emilio from bleeding out. “I have extra shirts in my bag. Young man, I assume you aren’t possessed anymore?” Father Liam said his eyes went to Caleb. 

Lil instead put a hand on Erin’s shoulder. “We gotta get him patched up - and Emilio we gotta stop meeting like this.” 

It was all happening faster than Erin could comprehend. Lil was fighting a possessed Caleb. Caleb was squeezing the life out of Lil. There was a man bleeding out in a chair beside her and the flash of the priest's sword ominously swinging about was more than distracting in itself. She felt helpless watching it happen, though that’s why she’d brought along Lil to begin with. This was always bigger than she could reckon with herself. 

And then it stilled. Caleb’s eyes were no longer the hardened, empty spots they’d been even moments before when they’d charged in. They were afraid. They were full of remorse, of feelings other than hatred and violence. They were Caleb’s. Tentatively, Erin stood by Lil, nearly forgetting the man bleeding beside her–the Emilio she’d heard so much about from Van and Nora, apparently. The one with the 3-in-1 shampoo and the disgusting couch. Funny how worlds collided sometimes. She’d have to ask him how he got caught up in this mess some day. Right now didn’t seem like the time. 

“Are you okay?” She asked, Lil, who was by her side now. Thankfully still breathing. She sent a tentative glance Lil’s way, giving the hand on her shoulder a squeeze in return, before taking steps his way. The priest seemed confident and his eyes alone could almost convince her, but she’d been fooled long enough by the demon possessing him that she still questioned her judgment even now.

“Caleb?” Her voice felt loud now that a majority of the action had calmed down. She stepped closer–but stopped, eyes on the freezer that was behind him. A staunch reminder of what had been here before the demon ever took possession. Of the things he’d done without any help from outside forces, if the word of the demon was to be believed. Hesitance stiffened her muscles. This wasn’t how this was supposed to feel. She was supposed to feel overjoyed, relieved, that they’d come out of this relatively unscathed. But that wasn’t the case. She knew it in her bones. “Are you–is that you?” She asked, holding a hand out, then dropped it slowly to her side, eyes glued to him the whole time.

He could hear the distant voices of the others around him as they stirred back to life. He could smell the thick copper scent wafting through the room. He could feel the hard casing of the freezer as it dug into his hip, the zombie cowering into it. He could even taste the regret that was already starting to build in every inch of his being. But Caleb refused to look at any of them. He wouldn’t meet the eye of anyone in that room, his gaze stuck to the cement floor beneath him, because the memories of the last few months were playing out for him. His mind was gracious enough to bring on the images of every person he had terrified, maimed, and killed while Aesil was in control. Tears were brimming the edge of his vision, threatening to spill over at any moment, but none of those images would break the dam.

No…nothing broke him the way Erin’s voice did. As soon as his name slipped from her lips the horrific images started to fade into the back of his mind. With the relief she brought came those tears that had been threatening to fall, streaking down his cheeks. Caleb’s eyes lifted to hers, watching carefully as she stepped forward. The questions in that simple gesture were endless. Is it you? Are you really back? Are you going to threaten me again? Lay hands on me? Is everything that demon told me true? Are you what you are? He could hear them all so clearly echoing in his mind as she looked towards the freezer he was pressed against, and with those questions the fear, sadness, and anxiety returned. 

He imagined that this would be the new normal. Anyone who had been involved with Aesil’s actions would give him this look from now on. Why wouldn’t they? It was his face they saw, his hands that had hurt them, so seeing him would definitely bring out a wariness that he knew would be well deserved. It still hurt. Her fearful eyes gazing at him stung like nothing ever had and nothing ever will. He refused her outstretched hand just as she seemed to think better of it and lowered it to her side. That was good. She should be afraid of him no matter how much it killed him.

“It’s me.” The zombie finally tore his gaze away from her, pressing further into the metal to relish the sting of it digging into his hip, and looked at the other three. One bleeding man who might need a hospital, one priest who seemed to be no nonsense, and one very brave girl whose neck was starting to bruise just so. The five of them, all seemingly normal in their day to day (or maybe not in this town) now very much interconnected by the most horrific event that had ever happened in Caleb’s life. And he was so sorry that this is what had brought them all together. 

But at least he was back, right? It was him. Or…a version of himself. A new version, one that would never again be the same. He didn’t know or understand the impact that this would have on him, not yet, but he knew that the very fabric of who he was was now tattered and soiled. It was him, but at the same time it wasn’t.

And suddenly, he wondered why so many were desperate to be reborn.

[youllalwaysbemyporcelain]

@hiddenpxpercuts

Bram smiled at Lil, handing her a water bottle. They had just finished practicing soccer, and were taking a break. "Should we go get some food? I definitely worked up an appetite."

[longislandcharm]

TIMING: Mid March LOCATION: Thea's house/Worm Row, directly after this thread. PARTIES:@longislandcharm and @notstinky and @the-lil-exorcist SUMMARY: A poltergeist is discovered in Thea's house. Winter calls Lil for help. CONTENT WARNINGS: None!

Lil had gotten the call and almost immediately took off to where Winter was, slightly annoyed and more so worried for the other. Mediums were often the targets of poltergeists and it sounded bad. Scary bad, and something that Lil needed to deal with now, before the other got hurt. So, with her socks half on and her shoes heelie-less, Lil had rushed out of the house to go get Winter and whatever was happening. 

Arriving where the other had said, Lil couldn’t quite make sense of what was happening. Figuring that this was not the time to look around and not thinking that the owners of the place were going to fight her specifically, Lil kicked down the door, rushing in worried. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Lil asked her eyes trying to take in the scene and find the other. Fuck maybe she shouldn't be a teacher, if this was the result. Still, she was probably the closest person that could do something. “Winter, where are you?” 

It was utter chaos at Thea's house. Winter had tried to do something good for once in her life and look where it had gotten her: in the middle of a poltergeist tantrum that she knew wouldn't end anytime soon. The medium was huddled with the owner of the house inside of a closet in Thea's room after calling Lil to come meet them, Henry crouched down next to them if only to be a source of comfort while the ghost outside continued to throw things around. Loud thumps sounded against the door, the wood cracking under the weight of whatever objects were being thrown their way, when she heard another thud join in followed by the sound of her mentor's voice calling out for her.

“Oh, thank god.” Or...thank Lil, anyway. “Do you think we can slip out while it's on a rampage?” She wasn't sure who her question was directed towards, Thea or Henry, but she knew that there was only one answer for it. Either Winter had to yell loud enough for Lil to hear her above the racket the ghost was making or she had to face the thing that was outside trying desperately to get its claws into her...or whatever it was that ghosts did to harm others. 

“I don't think there's any way to distract it?” Henry finally said it out loud and Winter let out a guttural sound, knowing this wasn't going to go her way no matter what she did. “Hopefully Lil will hear us if we both yell.” Her gaze turned to Thea, Winter not wanting to risk letting her go out there as much as she didn't want to risk herself. Thea couldn't even see it, she would be at a complete disadvantage. “On three we both yell for her. Maybe this thing will be concentrating on trying to get to us hard enough to allow her to stop it?” 

She didn't know if that would work but they had to try. If they didn't do something soon the damage to Thea's house would be too much to repair. She'd already seen a huge chunk missing from the girl's bedroom wall before they locked themselves in with her clothes. “Alright...1,2, 3.” She took in a deep breath before screaming the other medium's name at the top of her lungs, making the poltergeist even angrier. The door started to rattle even harder, Winter knowing it didn't have long before the wood splintered completely and exposed them both.

Thea held her hands over her ears, rocking back and forth. She’d tried Wizard of Oz—knocking her feet together, mumbling that there’s no place like home—but that hadn’t worked. And why would it have? This was her home. Well, if the sorry state of her bedroom was any indication, it wouldn’t be her home for long. Tears streamed down her blotchy red cheeks. What was the name of the person Winter had called? It was something like Lola? Fuck. “Uh, okay. Fuck. Okay. On three? Okay…” Thea counted along with winter and bellowed in tandem, “Lauren!” Thea winced at the shrillness of their voices. Outside the closet they were huddled in, which was thankfully quite spacious, the thing—ghost, poltergeist, extremely elaborate and kinda mean prank—raged, throwing her furniture around like a tornado, taking chunks of her house with every loud clang and shuddering crack. “Lettuce! Little! I don’t know, whoever the fuck…” A crack splintered through the wood of the closet and Thea shrekied, flattening herself against her sweaters. “Help me Obi Lil Kenobi, you’re my only ho!” Humor was great for mitigating the horror that quivered through her. 

“Winter…” Thea turned to her companion. “I-If we die I just want to say that I’m really sorry. For inviting you here…and, uh, also that your parents named you after a season. At least you’re not ‘Summer’, right?” She offered a thin smile, eyes watery. She really hoped Luna would be coming soon. 

Lil, ironically, couldn't hear the ghost much. Sure the whooshing sounds were loud as it shook the door her eyes focused on hearing two people screaming - well one was Winter saying her name at least. If she hadn’t been so focused she would have laughed as the other seemed to not know who she was. It was easy to locate them and she moved through the house to where the screaming was happening.  It wasn’t hard, the ghost throwing everything that the owner had around the room. It was pissed - and she wondered what the fuck Winter had done. 

That was for later Lil to figure out. Now she had to make sure that the two screaming for her were okay. When it was between a teachable moment and safety, she was always going to choose the safe one. 

Turning the corner and hearing a crash she realized what was going on. Cursing under her breath for a moment she turned back ground the corner dropping her back and pulling the chalk and salt she had she sighed knowing that this was going to suck and she was about to get thrown by a ghost again before she leaned over to draw a circle on the ground hoping whoever owned the house wouldn’t mind. If she annoyed it right she could get it to push her back to the circle and trap it. 

Hearing the crash and knowing that she had to move quick Lil moved quickly calling out, “ I’m here. Sit tight guys. I’m going to get it.  Ghost in there with Winter - get away from the door I don’t want you caught in what I’m about to do. Winter this fucker’s going to try to body hop ask your  ghost friend in there to stop it from trying please!” She knew it was dumb but her handful of salt was going to at least stop the poltergeist from getting through that door. Still, if she asked the ghost who was attached to her to help, she might also be able to protect the not medium friend from getting jumped. 

“Hey asshole! Get away from the fucking door idiot I’m the exorcist. You'd better pay attention to me. Cause I’m the one that’s going to hurt you,” Lil bellowed, moving towards the door, moving to spread the salt in a line before facing a very pissed off poltergeist. Good. She was better at handling an annoyed ghost than anything else and she wasn’t in the mood.  

“Thea, we’re not going to die, get that out of your head right now.” Winter decided to ignore the comments about her name, now was not the time to go into her regular spiel about it. She knew she had pissed off this poltergeist but with Lil’s warning she now realized it was trying to get to the other girl for more nefarious purposes. Her eyes cut to Henry who shrugged, obviously not sure how to go about keeping the poltergeist at bay. “I don’t know! Just get in front of her and try not to let it through you!” Poor Henry looked exasperated but did as he was told, standing in front of the cowering girls and directly behind the door that was now opening wider from the split with each blow from the other ghost. It was ignoring Lil altogether, not surprising considering the goal. 

She started to scan the contents of the closet, trying to find anything she could use to deter the ghost but it was highly unlikely she would be able to put the contents of the small space to use. Why hadn’t she bought her iron bracelet yet? She’d only wanted it to keep Henry away but she should have known coming into something like this she might need something other than the salt. “Thea, you don’t have anything that’s made of iron in here, do you?” It was a long shot but Winter was desperate. After seeing the state of the other’s room before shutting themselves in here she knew this was no ghost to tussle with and who knew how long it could take Lil to get inside. 

“We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die…” Thea repeated as she rocked back and forth; the thought was not getting out of her head. Was the afterlife nice? Would she still be lactose intolerant in the afterlife? She hoped not; she’d really love heaven mac and cheese. Oh, who was she kidding? She was not going to heaven. She didn’t know the girl on the outside; Loba, Lora, Lasagna, whoever she was. She didn’t know if she could trust her or what she looked like or she was the one that facilitated the strange prank, but Thea realized quickly that she didn’t have a choice. She had to trust Laryngitis. “Body hop?” Thea turned to Winter. “Is that--that doesn’t sound fun.” 

Her ears burned at the suggestion of iron. Quickly, she reached up into her small assortment of coats. “Yes, actually, I went to this vintage shop and…” She trailed off, deciding that Winter didn’t need the history. She’d found something with the cutest little buttons: iron, as she’d later found out. She ripped them all off, thrusting two towards Winter as she shoved the rest under the closet doors. “Those are iron buttons, Lactose!” she called out. 

She didn’t know what they would be good for, but now wasn’t the time to question anything. 

Lil realized after a moment it still wasn’t really noticing her the anger still not directed at her. Fuck. She’d have to do a backup plan - and she’d have to ask Winter what the hell they’d done to make it so angry that Lil couldn’t automatically pose a threat. Still, she moved into the swirling hurricane of a spirit. Figuring it might just be easier to get it trapped when she wasn’t the main object. It was harder to make a circle, the spirit’s motion closer to a hurricane then something Lil should reasonably get closer too. 

Still, she gritted her teeth and pushed on dropping to the floor to do so and trying to not pay attention to the screams of the other two. Sighing and knowing that there was a chance she was about to get thrown she moved in front of the ghost completing the circle as it suddenly realized Lil was there. 

“Oh fuck you man I gave you a warning -” Lil said suddenly being pushed away as it realized the circle was there, an object hitting her as she yelped ducking again before putting her hand on her necklace, starting to chant as the ghost now realized what Lil was. She was just glad she couldn’t hear what the hell the spirit was saying, curling into a ball and speaking as clearly as she could. 

The question of body hopping momentarily had Winter stumped, not really sure what to say to the already terrified girl next to her. She could make it worse if she tried to explain so she just shook her head as the ghost kept crashing into the door. “I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s nothing really, just keep coming up with weird names for Lil. Lettuce…was pretty?” How the hell did someone comfort another during this situation? Or at all? Henry looked back at her, clearly wondering what the hell Winter was on about, but turned his attention to the door as it finally cracked completely open. 

His hands were up in an instant, doing his best to hold back the furious poltergeist as it fought to get to Thea, but he wasn’t as strong as the other ghost. Shockingly, the other girl came through with the iron, Winter grateful as the cold hit her hands. She scooted so that she was in front of Thea and held out the buttons towards the two ghosts knowing that Henry was seconds from losing his grip on the other. 

But Lil, sweet beautiful Lil, finished the circle around the ghost just before Henry got thrown to the other side of it slamming against the wall that was containing both of the girls. She watched through the cracks as the medium got thrown, Winter yelping the girl’s name in hopes of getting an answer. Luckily, her answer came in the form of chanting that the other medium didn’t understand but knew had to be some sort of saving grace for them all. 

That was when the room started to shake. Her eyes widened as the poltergeist’s anger really started to manifest around them, clearly not enjoying the fact that it was trapped and close to being taken out. Lamps exploding, furniture being thrown through the plaster of the walls, a curtain now on fire from the sparks of electricity, it was turning into hell in that bedroom and if they didn’t get out soon it would end in tragedy. “Lil, please hurry!” 

“I’m kinda out of words that start with L!” Thea admitted with a slight embarrassment. “What did you say? Lil? Is it because she’s little? That’s kinda mean, Winter.” It was worse than Lettuce, in her opinion. But Thea shut her eyes, recognizing that she had nothing to really offer her but her company—which wasn’t much. Winter moved closer to her, holding up the buttons, and Thea tried not to think (which was something she’d never been very good at). 

If she died here, would she have lived a good life? Probably not. If the roof fell in on her, could she say she was happy? No, absolutely not. In her youth, Thea penned a list of her aspirations: go to university, get a degree, have a wife, be an astronaut. How could she quantify her life? She hadn’t done anything; she hadn’t become anyone. She was just Thea, in a closet, trying not to cry and having already failed at that. “Lady! Location! Loaf! Lion! Lamp!” She screeched the words, summoning them from the depths; that part of her that had really loved Scrabble. “I want to live,” Thea yelled, “I want to get out of here! End it! Finish it! Save us!” Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. 

Lil concentrated on the words, keeping the chant up as the house shook ignoring the other’s who were asking her to finish it. It wasn’t out of malice or that she didn’t care - Lil cared a lot but at the moment the chant was more important. A sudden glow happened as she pulled herself back up looking at the poltergeist a focus that in day-to-day life Lil never had. 

In the middle of chaos Lil often found some sort of peace, something she wasn’t particularly found in exploring as she watched from the ground her hand gripping her necklace she looked absolutely calm in the moment as she reached the end of the chant seeing the poltergeist looking screaming mad. 

The floor shook the weird tornado of things swirling around trying to hit Lil and then suddenly there was a light - and like everything else in her life things crashed down. 

Then suddenly it was quiet - at least for Lil, she didn’t know what the poltergeist said looking at her and disappearing. For a moment she said nothing until she called out “You two okay - You can come out now.” 

Lil’s voice was a little weaker than she liked it to be and there was a bruise forming where a lamp hit her, but other than that she was pretty sure the living room took most of the beating. “And my name Is Lil - Winter what the hell happened here?” 

“It’s because that’s her name!” Why was this girl so insistent on yelling out everything that started with an L? They were kind of busy trying not to die! But it didn’t help that she was starting to lose it too so Winter took a breath to try and calm her nerves. Thea had no idea what was going on here, she couldn’t blame her for trying to concentrate on something else entirely. 

She could hear commotion outside the door and she peaked through the crack again to see what was going on. The poltergeist was angry as Lil continued to chant but then there was a light and the crash of all of the belongings floating through the air. The ghost was gone with a simple “But it’s my house…” Everything was calm with the exception of the fire that had started the flicker of the flames glowing through the crack in the door, which prompted Winter to crawl out of the enclosed space as quickly as she could.

Standing, the girl tried her best to look composed as she smoothed over her shirt but she wouldn’t meet Lil’s eyes. “I thought I could handle it. I didn’t know it was a poltergeist.” There was no shame lacing her words, more like defiance, but she sure as hell felt it along with the relief that had taken over her panic. A headache was forming as her adrenaline started to rush out of her body but there was something else to worry about here. “I think we’re okay though…Thea, are you okay?” 

She looked back at the open closet door, watching Henry as he got to his feet and moved out. Then her eyes went to the person who actually lived in this house. “We might want to get out of here and call the fire department…”

Smoke was all Thea could smell. It was almost comforting, like autumn nights by a crackling fire, almost. She burst out of the closet, crawling around the floor. After going around another torn floorboard, Thea pushed herself up. Her room was a mess; as if a localized tornado had run through, splintering and pulling everything in its path. “I’m sorry I called you ‘lettuce’,” Thea said to the woman who’d saved them—Lil. She wiped the tears off her cheeks and hoped neither woman noticed, but knew that they had. Winter and Lil couldn’t have been that much older than her and still, somehow, she felt like a kid. Still, somehow, she felt like this was her fault. “Winter was trying to help me,” Thea said; she wasn’t going to dissect the ‘poltergeist’ part of Winter’s sentence. “And she did! I probably would’ve been crushed, since she’s the one who insisted it might be ghosts. And I guess it was ghosts. So, yeah, Winter helped me.” Thea felt the need to defend Winter to Lil, it didn’t sound like Lil was scolding Winter, but there was some sort of dynamic between them that pushed up her need to soothe turbulence. 

“Am I okay?” Thea pointed to herself, incredulous. “Is she okay?” She pointed at Lil, and the bruise forming. “Are you okay?” she asked Winter, expecting that the answer for all of them was a ‘no’ that they’d lie about and call a ‘yes, I am okay’. “Do you think I’ll get my deposit back?” As Thea asked, the ceiling cracked and a small section of drywall and insulation fell into the flames. “Okay, maybe not.” She turned her attention back to them. It was a small miracle that her important documents were with Van—now who was being financially irresponsible by renting out a room she didn’t need? It was less of a miracle that some things she loved were still here: the coat she’d come into Maine with, bits of jewelry, shoes and memories. Despite all its faults, she’d loved this house. It was the place that had made her feel normal. Now, it was anything but. She was cursed; this was all her fault. 

“Yeah,” she mumbled, pushing out of the room. The door had been ripped from the wall, thrown into one of her roommate’s rooms—who wasn’t here, because they were never here. “Let’s get out of here.”

[quiddie]

Just had a friend show me a conversation in a fan discord about Suvi as a Black American woman in the context of the fallout from the election. And honestly? Yeah. The blueprint is simple: Black women are expected to put their own priorities and emotions on hold to show up for everyone else's battles and hold endless space for everyone's feelings while simultaneously weathering attacks on our character (oh she's so angry/aggressive/violent/rude) and authority (she's a woke hire/affirmative action quota/nepobaby) without complaint. We're expected to save the day under nigh-impossible circumstance, and with fewer resources and support that is AT BEST, conditional.

So yeah, relistening to Suvi's speech in The Witness hurts now. Because that's exactly the feeling I'm wrestling with, and what I see mirrored in the Black women around me. We are exhausted and angry and sad. Those voter percentages are a betrayal of "we" that was promised by other marginalized groups when speaking of the interconnectedness of our liberation. And the unexamined expectation that we immediately rise from the depths of our despair to prepare for the next fight is a cruelty. Suvi isn't real, but if this helps lend empathy toward actual Black women in the world, then I'm glad.

[youllalwaysbemyporcelain]

King nods. "Sometimes I feel like I'm not actually from here, but I usually ignore that feeling." They don't like to think about it. "It does though. I've heard people come from a lot of different places in the world. It's weird, but cool."

"Well, I guess that makes sense, right? I would assume if people had children here, that they would be born in D.C. I wonder how long people have been in this strange, world. It makes you think, doesn't it?" lil asked curiously.

[tatretot]

hellooo danandphilgames buddies!! happy belated 10 year (more like 5 but shhh) anniversary :-)

[felassan]

Compilation of snippets from the DA:TV acting talent panel at SDCC (Dragon Age: Meet the Heroic Companions of Thedas) today (July 26th). DA:TV spoilers under cut.

Huge props and tysm to the users who live-tweeted and clipped this panel, you are heroes 🙏💜!!

The panel was moderated. In attendance were John Epler, creative performance director Ashley Barlow, and the actors of Lucanis, Neve, Emmrich, and Harding - Zach Mendez, Jessica Clark, Nick Boraine, and Ali Hillis respectively.

The panel ended with a Q&A session.

(BioWare have stated that a recording of the panel will be made available at a later date.)

Edit/update: I've now been through this post and tidied it up :)

---

Here are some pictures from the panel [source]

Here are some more pictures from the panel [source]

In this Twitter thread there are also some video clips of parts of the panel [source]

BioWare tried to avoid spoilers in the panel [source]

Key points/summary of DA:TV: hunting Solas, found family companions, stop the elven gods [source]

When auditioning the companions, BW were specifically looking for character chemistry [source]

BW used motion capture for the game [source]. Mo-cap was mentioned a lot in the panel [source]

Lucanis sees assassination as a job. His mind is as dangerous as his knives and he is also "kinda hilarious" [source]

There was mention of other Crows [source]

Zach Mendez read Tevinter Nights like three times [source]

A clip of the actors doing mo-cap was shown [source]. Photos of Zach mo-capping for other characters was shown [source]

BioWare said that Zach brought a certain darkness to Lucanis [source]

Zach is excited for the romance and is looking forward to the stats [source]

Zach mentioned that he used his own relationship with his brother in his portrayal of Lucanis [source] (surely this means ILLARIO.. ?👀)

Zach played a lot of darkspawn originally while auditioning [source]

Ali Hillis really welcomed Zach into the DA family [source]

Neve is from Minrathous. She has fun banter and is a cynical detective with a heart of gold. They want to show a rebellious side of Tevinter [source]

Jessica Clark loves Neve's loyalty, dedication, and different vision of Tevinter

Neve is fighting for the people [source]. Jessica: "She is really really fighting for those people, and she loves those people. So, yes, she's cynical, and yes she's kind of tough and brusque and all these other things, but when they say there's a heart of gold, there really, like, to have that kind of a passion and dedicate your life to something like that, I think that's definitely my favorite part about her" [source]

Jessica loves how much Neve loves Docktown and its people [source]

Neve sees a different vision for Tevinter than what has previously been depicted in the series [source]

The actors were separate from one another while recording lines but still bonded really well and organically [source]

There are several Veilguard gc [source] (groupchats?)

Ali is an angel and very supportive of the new cast [source]

Emmrich is a "stone cold silver fox" (this is a quote from the panel moderator) [source]

BioWare knew the reaction they would get about Emmrich from the fandom [source]

Nick Boraine feels like he's been preparing for Emmrich all his life. He's obsessed with death (as a comfort and not scary) and enabling people to transition into death. He is attracted to this aspect of the character [source]

"You're gonna need a dictionary for Emmrich" for all the magic spells [source]

"Interesting how this character caught fire compared to the other sexy characters" [source] (I think this was said wrt Emmrich?)

BW had a great time recording with Nick, he is a very consistent actor [source]

Nick and Matt Mercer have never met [source]

Manfred plays off of Emmrich. "I set the tone" [source]

What has Harding been doing in-between DA:I and DA:TV? She's been working closely with Varric and the Inquisition remnants. She and Neve already met in the comics [source]

Ali vividly remembers the beginning of voicing Harding, she says it's brilliant writing. She really thought of Harding's personality and traits. She's so happy to be back [source]

wrt the Covid-19 pandemic and the year 2020, BW had to pivot with working remotely and were able to push through their projects. [source]

"[Harding] chasing Solas for a decade..." "that was a great relationship that [you] developed... and now I'll stop talking now". Ali was excited [source]

John Epler talked about how companions may but heads, and won't be predictable [source]

There are thousands and thousands of lines and so many characters to meet [source]

Zach "unfortunately has been around the DA Reddit before recording as Lucanis" [source]. He feels inspired by all the fans and cannot wait for us to play it [source]

[new textblock due to character limit!]

John Epler on Emmrich: "I mean honestly, I will say, like, we expected a great reaction to Emmrich. Went beyond what we expected for sure. But it’s been fascinating to see, because again, Emmrich is this character, he’s more of the professorial, more, he brings a wisdom and kind of a calmness to the group, so even when things are at their worst, there’s that one person in the group who is kinda like, ‘okay, y’know, we've got, let's figure it out, let’s take a deep breath’. And just his journey through his character arc, and his interactions with the others, it’s been fantastic to see. Even just finding opportunities for him to bounce off the other characters, you know, the way he talks to Bellara, the way he talks to Neve, it’s all so different, but it’s also just, again, based around this core of this warm, kind-hearted, professorial necromancer. Which, again, is not something you see a lot of in media. I mean, usually, necromancers are depicted in a very specific way. But it’s been, it's awesome to see how Emmrich has grown and just, really one of the most, one of my favorite experiences has been just working with Emmrich’s writer, working with Emmrich as a character." [source]

All the actors are excited about the dialogue and narrative, and for us to explore DA:TV [source]

Ali says that we will really find ourselves in this game [source]

During the recording process, the actors all hear the previous person's recording and react or respond to it [source]

Due to Covid-related lockdown, a lot of recording was done over Zoom, and the writers besides Ashley Barlow (creative performance director) would jump in on the call to talk about the previous person’s lines [source]

A question was asked about the background factions. "Characters not causes". [source]

You can work with the Grey Wardens in the game (for example) [source]

The actors all met this weekend. They are an "un-chosen" family [source]

Zach stood in for multiple characters for mo-cap, for example he was Assan [source]

Lucanis has a heart but is stubborn and stuck in his ways. Zach is excited for fans to help his character open up as the story progresses [source]

Jessica is incredibly honored to join the DA universe. She is new to voice acting for video games. “This is play pretend. Playing Neve allowed her to step into her power.” [source]

A question was asked on what their first exposure to fantasy was, and do they implement this into the acting? John talked about Lord of the Rings and how every media you experience will seep out into your work [source]

Ashley didn't want the dialogue to sound modern [source]

Zach loves Theseus and talked about the symbolism in DA [source]

Jessica loves Greek mythology and lore [source]

Nick talked about The Hobbit and how he would dress up in big boots and a cape when his mother would read to him [source]

Ali recently went to Greece and felt like she saw DA everywhere [source]

A question was asked - "From your companion's perspective, which previous companion would you romance?" Zach kind of has a thing for The Iron Bull, saying "oh that awakened something inside of me". He also likes Dorian. Jessica was too overwhelmed to answer. Nick was also overwhelmed by the question, but thinks Solas is sexy [source] [source]

Ali fangirled over Lucanis and Emmrich [source], prefers Emmrich [source]

A question was asked - "Is DA:TV and DA:I streamlined together?" [paraphrased]. Answer: DA games are not as streamlined as Mass Effect and act almost as standalones [source]

The cast were asked about which aspect of their character is their favorite. Ali loves the little quirks about Harding. "Lucanis is a good cook!?" ** Neve is very dry and pretty closed off about it. For Emmrich, it's the "exploration of the idea of death and necromancy" [source] (** FINALLY CITATION for this? :D)

A question was asked: "How do you decide to introduce the lore in each game?" BioWare answered that it depends as they build each game. They always know the base lore, and see opportunities through game mechanics and characters. They try not to infodump [source]

A question was asked: "Any favorite party banter?" Ashley Barlow said to listen for "hand to bone combat" [source]

The game takes place approximately 10 years after the end of DA:I. You start the game hunting for Solas. The game is built on some core principles: be who you want to be in a world worth saving and with characters that matter. The companions are always at the heart of DA and they are at the heart of this game too. [source]

The moderator asked John Epler about what is bringing this party of people ("this rogues' gallery") together. John: "I mean, it's the end of the world, and each character that you bring into your party understands that the world is ending, that they need to stop that, and you're really building, what I would say is, more of a found family. These are characters who may not start off liking each other, may not even start off liking you, but over time they grow to understand the importance of what they're doing and just, how critical it is to stop the elven gods" [source]

"He is kind and has some spectacular lines. He is a natural nerdy scientist. He loves learning." [source] (Emmrich? ^^)

Ali didn't realize that Harding was such a beloved character. She thanked fans for bringing this character back [source]

Ali is super excited that the game is releasing. She said that there has been an evolution to Harding's character and that she's been chasing Solas for like a decade at this point [source]

Jessica loves the writing in the game [source]

Nick loves its narrative [source]

Ali said that this game is going to take you into a world that will blow your minds [source]

On Manfred: Nick was asked what it was like having another character to bounce off of. He said "Oh man! I mean, that is such a hard question, because Matt and I have never met, and we worked completely separately, and, I, I mean I know that the rapport is really great, but it's in the ether, I mean it is just, the magic that these guys create, telling us how to respond, how to do that, but it's, I can't wait to meet Matt" [source]

BW still said that the game's release window is Fall 2024 [source]. Nothing more specific was given [source]

There are also more snippets here in this Tumblr post, go check it out!

[source, two]

[sunnyirry]

still a Till is alive truther (crazy ik) but god do I have so many comic ideas of him in heaven

[pinkpastels113]

this feels like something beca would say to chloe bc ofc she has an android with shitty signal when she needs to send a text to her gf wife friend

[earth4angels]

the stylists giving him little pearls… they ate me thinks

[manofbeskar]

i always think about how interesting it is for mihawk to keep saying he wants to live a peaceful life, but he has never once passed up an opportunity to run into danger. like his past of hunting marines, and then getting excited when he was getting hunted by marines again after marineford. he moved to a war-torn island inhabited by violent humandrills. he sought out shanks daily for at least a decade for duels. sure he has calming hobbies like gardening, but his actions show him as a man who lives for exciting places and people

i also think sometimes about the possibility that mihawk thought of (and still thinks) of shanks as the only real option for the pirate king. mihawk doesn't care to have the title himself despite being one of the leading pirates at the time (since the golden pirate age had barely started) and standing quite a good chance. compared to shanks, mihawk has more experience leading a grand line voyage. shanks then would have no experience leading a crew or successfully charting a voyage to the grand line himself. mihawk saw shanks's potential for greatness and believed in it, duelled him every day and watched his power grow stronger—to the point of shanks even developing a haki that directly opposes his own (and being the only known user of it so far, so there's a possibility he invented it from how much time he was spending with mihawk?) as roger's son, maybe mihawk expected that, while shanks wasn't ready at the time to find the one piece, that he will be in the future. he's helped shanks grow a reputation (since shanks got famous from how often he was fighting mihawk), grow in power (anti-observation haki and improved swordsmanship over the years). he's watched shanks's crew grow over the years (since there's a chance he might've known shanks before he even recruited his first crewmate)

the big betrayal comes when shanks gave up his arm because of his belief in luffy being able to be pirate king someday. because to mihawk, the title has always belonged to shanks. he's bet everything on him. he's the one who sought him out daily for a decade. he's the one who's helped him hone his skills. he's the one who believed in him when most of the world didn't even know who he was. and now shanks threw away all of that for a little boy? so mihawk stopped duelling him because there's no point if shanks isn't as invested in this as he is. but shanks still had hope mihawk would eventually return, possibly because he may not be aware of how much mihawk believed in his potential >> when mihawk came back with luffy's poster, shanks for some reason still thinks mihawk wants to fight him, even though mihawk just says he lost interest many years ago

mihawk also refuses to fight shanks on other people's orders. and even when he was fighting shanks regularly, despite their duels being so wracked with power that whitebeard said the grand line would shake, somehow shanks never leaves with so much as a scratch on his person. didn't whitebeard even say he thought his scars were given by mihawk? and yet as far as we know, mihawk and shanks have never had any real intention to hurt each other, and have never done so. mihawk left marineford after being ordered to attack shanks, and then questioned buggy for thinking he would attack shanks (and the other emperors) for him >> if even a little part of him still believes in shanks's potential to be pirate king, there's really no reason for him to hinder his progress. adding on that, as shanks doesn't seem to have any interest in competing for mihawk's title of greatest swordsman, mihawk also has no interest in competing for his as the pirate king. they've avoided each other's goals the whole time

mihawk also tells zoro "when a man like you throws away his pride, it is always for someone else" (when he begs mihawk to train him so he can protect luffy). maybe i'm reading too much into this one, but i always thought it was an interesting detail to throw in that mihawk apologises to shanks when he decides to attack luffy. he apologises even though shanks is not there yet, and specifically apologises because he is not going to hold back. it almost implies he has promised shanks to hold back on luffy and his crew—more likely that shanks might've requested this of mihawk when they celebrated his bounty than mihawk volunteering to do so lol. mihawk cares a lot about pride. when he first fights zoro, he humiliates him by not going all out and using kogatana. he apologises to mock zoro. he's cocky and prideful. mihawk doesn't apologise for doing anything because he feels he has nothing to be sorry for. he does whatever he wants, and everyone lets him because he's strong. yet his apology to shanks at marineford could imply he agreed to stand back. and his sincere apology to a man who isn't there, about being unable to continue holding back his power... idk to me that reads as something mihawk would consider shameful. mihawk enjoys being powerful and unstoppable, yet here he is apologising for that because of shanks —who again isn't even there to hear it!

this even ties into my "theory" (i say theory in quotation marks bc honestly it's more of a hope than something i seriously believe in) that mihawk may eventually leave the cross guild and join up with the red hair pirates—either because he's secretly been their swordsman the whole time, and why the RHP has never had a swordsman on the crew (in terms of rank like zoro, not just people who wield swords) or he feels this is his best option—to find the one piece. because if he stays with the cross guild, he'll have to find the OP for buggy who he thinks is a fucking idiot. if he has to find the OP no matter what, mihawk might prefer to spend his efforts on the same man he's believed in from the very start. also just think about how everything we know about mishanks's rivalry is all hearsay from other characters and behind-the-scenes stuff, and we haven't seen either of them go all out yet. just imagine when we finally get that, it's them teaming up. the world's most legendary rivalry teaming up to find the most coveted treasure. i think that'd scare everyone, pirate and marine alike (and not to throw in non-canon stuff here but i mean... mishanks vs the straw hats is already a battle that exists in one of the games 👀 )

and to tie it back to the first paragraph here. because mihawk can't run in the opposite direction of what excites him. and he has spent the past decade trying to find someone who excites him more than shanks. and he has very clearly failed. marineford ended with mihawk being excited to return to his past of when marines used to chase him, and maybe he could be excited too at the prospect of returning to the only man who ever made him feel alive

idk idk i have a lot of thoughts about them!!!! you can tell i'm very brainrotful about them!!!

[youllalwaysbemyporcelain]

@hiddenpxpercuts

Tommy met Lil at the park, having texted her to find out where she was. He grins when she sees her, giving her a hug. "Lil. I have some really big news to tell you!"

[longislandcharm]

PARTIES:@longislandcharm @the-lil-exorcist TIMING: Mid-August, right before this thread. SUMMARY: After being told the Ballards were the ones to go to for ghostly advice, Winter goes to the Bread Cemetery to talk to them. She finds Lil and a deal is made. WARNINGS: I don't think there are any other than death talk concerning ghosts.

Information seemed to be easier to come by in this little town than she had previously thought. It was a little strange that most of the people Winter had spoken to about her search didn’t seem to bat an eye at the idea of her researching ghosts but then again none of them knew she was trying to get rid of an actual entity that was following her around. Still, the fact that she didn’t have to go far for someone who was supposedly knowledgeable on the subject, much less a whole family, was something that kept puzzling her. She was about to find out if the person online was pulling her leg or not though. For all she knew, she was involved in an elaborate prank.

It was warm as she stepped into the Bread Cemetery, Winter shrugging off the thin lace cardigan she had thrown on at the hotel. She took in the beautiful pastries that she passed on her way to the counter and made a mental note to grab a few on her way out. But something more important was at hand and she turned her head back to the person who was manning the front end, only pausing to glance at the ethereal man who had entered the store with her. He kept staring at her with the hard gaze he’d been giving her since he first appeared. Winter let out a huff directed towards him as she walked up, not realizing the person she was about to address might think it was towards her.

“Hi…I don’t know if you can help me but I’m looking for someone by the name of Ballard.” 

Lilian tried to stop a yawn as she opened up another monster sitting idly behind the counter on a stool. Despite herself, she had gotten used to her shifts, and this was admittedly the slow period of the day. She should be doing something, maybe restocking or asking if she can get food for the others - but Lil was exhausted most of the time. She would do it in a little when her bones didn’t feel so heavy. 

She was going to take a little break and read her book   and drink her monster instead until the door opened. Moving the can to behind the register she waited for the other to approach closer, trying not to look too terribly tired. Instead of speaking right away though Lil decided to wait, noticing the ghost behind the other. It wasn’t uncommon for ghosts to be in the front of the shop, although Lil had a habit of ignoring them when they came. After all, most were waiting for Jonas not her - and she didn’t exactly know what they wanted anyway. Still, her eyes glanced over to the man that seemed to be annoying the woman who was coming up to her now. In any case she didn’t think she was here to buy pastries. 

Which was confirmed pretty quickly. “Hello,” Lil said, her head tilting slightly at her last name. It wasn’t particularly odd for people to not know individuals in her family, after all the last name was famous.  “I think I can. You’re talking to one at least. I’m Lil. What can I do for you?” 

For some reason, Winter had been expecting a grizzled old woman or a gruff man who had no concept of manners, much like her, when she found whoever the Ballards were not a pretty young woman who seemed to be around her age. She wasn’t sure if the surprise was written on her face or not but she quickly gained her composure as she cleared her throat. “Lil, nice to meet you. I’m Winter.” Winter took a second to look around the store and make sure no one else was there. Sure, she went on television and claimed to talk to ghosts and she wrote about it online but this was different. She could actually see this one and he scared her. That type of information didn’t need to get out, not with her career and the image she tried to keep. “I was told that your family could help me with some research. I’m looking into ghosts and was curious about a few things.” 

Eyes landing back on Lil, for once a hopeful expression was clear. From what she’d seen of this town so far it seemed like someone could help her with her very strange problem but for all Winter knew she was given bad intel. But she had brought her great grandmother’s book just in case this tip had been legit so she pulled it out of her bag but hesitated to show it to Lil. She would wait to hand it over until she knew this person was who she was looking for. 

“Since someone told me to check in with you, I’m assuming you believe in spirits. Do you think a lot of people are able to see them?” Winter should have come with a list of questions in mind because she was failing to think of a good way to start this conversation. Her mind kept telling her that she was going to be laughed out of town for believing this stuff or once someone found out that she thought she was being followed by a spirit then they would send her to a shrink but she had to start somewhere, right? And she was never one to be shy about anything ever so it was time to bite the bullet. “Because one is following me around and I don’t know why.”

Lil tilted her head examining the other in front of her, wondering exactly what was happening. It wasn’t that she was necessarily weary - Lil was actually pretty good at talking too and sympathizing with clients which was what she felt Winter might be. Still, it was always good to be cautious. Which was proven right when the other asked about ghost research, causing Lil’s face to stiffen for a second before returning neutral. 

She didn’t like ghost researchers - or whatever they called themselves. Most of the time they ended up getting themselves in trouble, and didn’t have any sort of mediumship to speak of. They made her look worse - and while she had given up the anger with that, it was at least a little against the usual code with supernaturals to give information on them. Lil made plenty of exceptions to that rule - she figured people knowing where to get help when there’s ghosts around was never a bad thing - but she was a little put off by how it was asked until the other mentioned being followed around by a ghost. Then she realized what it might actually be about. 

While Lil wasn’t about to tell people how to exorcize ghost - mostly for their own safety as they wouldn’t work without the proper training - she was more than willing to help someone who had a problem and making sure they weren’t scared through the process. 

So, Lil didn’t want to not help, in case it was more of a question about the ghost behind Winter than seeking out a dangerous path.  She was at least more honest than the fake mediums, so with a sigh and a bit of a nod she finally spoke, “I mean if you're asking if I believe in them I’d have to say I don’t believe in air it’s just that they exist. I can see your guy and also the old lady sitting outside on the bench that died I think in 1975?” She could see others around of course, but it was something Lil easily ignored. Unlike her brother she couldn’t hear them, and if they didn’t want to bother her it was pretty easy to let them be.

“Most people can’t see them no,” Lil said softer, trying at least to be a little bit comforting. “Mediums are pretty rare and exorcists are even rarer.  Is this the first ghost you’ve seen? Do you know him?” She nodded to the ghost, not bothering to ask him. It was probably rude of Lil, but she didn’t want to terrify Winter more. “Because sometimes they stick around people that they know. Although, if you can see him you should be able to hear him so you can always ask why he’s following you.” Lil couldn’t hear him in any case - something she didn’t really want to tell the other at this point. “I can answer some of your questions too, but do you want to come back? The Iron and the salt back here will keep him out here - Sorry man but sometimes it’s private business.” Lil said, focusing on the ghost again with a shrug hopping off her stool.

Winter whipped her head around to look outside, now seeing the slight outline of the older lady that Lil was talking about. She couldn’t see too many more than the one following her around and the ones she could see were blurry most of the time but the more she was around her favorite ghost the stronger the outlines were getting. It seemed being a medium was a skill to be worked at when it came to her and the more she interacted with them the more clearly they started to form. “I…hadn’t noticed her.”

The one thing that came with Lil’s answer other than a little embarrassment was the reassurance that Winter was definitely in the right place. This girl could help her. She looked back to who Winter hoped would be a mentor as her eyes widened with the amount of information that was being hurtled towards her. “What is an exorcist? You mean like a priest who takes care of demons?” So demons were real too? What the hell had she gotten herself into with that stupid ritual? “He’s the first one…I think. Is it possible that I’ve seen them before and never knew it? And I don’t know him. That’s the main reason I’m trying to figure out why he’s following me around.” 

Sighing softly, Winter picked the book up from the counter and brought it into her chest. Why wasn’t any of this information in her ancestral book? It was mostly diary entries from her great grandmother but the one page she’d found that explicitly stated the symbols and the chant she’d performed the night this ghost showed up. “He won’t talk to me. I can hear him when he grunts my way, or when he laughs at me or something but he refuses to talk to me. I thought I was stubborn until I met this ass.” She glanced over toward the ghost who was rolling his eyes until Lil mentioned the back room. His head tilted in her direction and Winter once again felt her eyes widen. “There’s ways to keep them away?” Salt and Iron, she definitely had to remember that. Especially when it came to her hotel room. Maybe she could start locking him out so she could get a good night's sleep for once. 

Yes, she was definitely in the right place now and more information could be provided. As long as this girl didn’t go onto any message boards for her show and start blabbing about everything they spoke of today, Winter felt like this would be a huge success. It was a definite breakthrough after falling short so many times before. “I think I was definitely reading the wrong books about all of this. I would love to come back and talk more about this with you.” Being the assertive person she was, she waited for no more invitation before she made her way back behind the counter. Good riddance to the man who hadn’t left her side in months.

Lil nodded slightly that the other hadn’t seen the woman, watching lightly to see if she did focus her attention to where the woman was - and confirming that she did Lil couldn’t help but tick a box. It wasn’t unheard of, that people didn’t know that they were mediums for most of their lives if they were lucky, but just seeing one ghost didn’t mean you had the gift either. It had been more likely that Winter had just messed with something that got a Ghost to cling to her. 

Lil blinked at the question, wondering exactly why the other had come if she hadn’t known she was an exorcist and couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea. “Do I look like a priest to you? No, I deal with ghosts.” Lil was pretty sure the answer was no, most people hardly found her professional let alone Godly. She had to admit it wasn’t the first time she heard that, and she didn’t answer the implied question about demons. “Hm. Have you always seen blurry things out of the corner of your eye? Heard whisperings by people you couldn’t match?” 

At the idea of the fact she wanted to know why he was following her Lil nodded lightly, willing enough to help with that at least. Listening carefully she did wonder what the guy was trying for. Most ghosts were cryptic, but hell Lil would have been annoyed by it too. Before she could say much about that though the conversation - and the person started moving quickly.

“Not indefinitely,” Lil said, not bothering to stop the other moving across the counter and shrugging to the ghost. “He’ll probably be waiting for you after you leave.” Still she moved to let the other into the backroom, not bothering to flip the sign that they were closed. She would hear if anyone came in and she said softly, “If he gets stronger it’ll be harder to keep him out. So I wouldn’t say you should get too comfortable with either. Still, yeah if you wanted a few hours alone a salt line in an unbroken line with any opening will keep you from seeing him for awhile.  Here, take a seat probably not by the oven.” Lil pointed to one of the many stools around for the other. “What book are you talking about? Did you read something before all of this started? Do you mind if I ask you some things to see what’s going on?”

The little quip about looking like a priest only served to make Winter feel more comfortable around this girl. Her lip rose on one side, amused by the tiny amount of attitude behind the rhetorical question. Maybe they had more in common than she had initially thought as she would have reacted the same way. She decided not to comment though, still reeling in her own personality. If Lil was anything like her, that attitude came with a temper as well and there was no reason to test that theory just yet. “Not really whispering but maybe the corner of my eye thing. When I was a kid mostly. A lot of strange things happened when I was a kid but they sort of stopped.”

Of course he would be waiting for her. After trying to ditch him for so long, the girl knew that there was no getting rid of him easily, if at all. It seemed he was destined to be the thorn in her side for as long as she was breathing. Taking a seat on one of the stools farthest from the oven that Lil had pointed out, she situated herself as she listened to the other girl speak about the salt lines. That was definitely useful information for sure. Sometimes a girl needed some alone time. But something did catch her attention, Winter letting a groan die in her throat. “What do you mean by ‘gets stronger’? Is he not already annoying enough?”

For some reason, Winter wasn’t quite ready to give up her great grandmother’s book even if she had it in her hands so she held it tighter to herself when Lil’s string of questions reached her ears. She knew that if she wanted answers then she would have to show the journal to this girl but not yet, not immediately. Winter had other questions she could focus on. “I was reading anything I could get my hands on that claimed to know about real paranormal situations and how to solve them. Not until he showed up though…” She trailed off, her fingers running absentmindedly over the spine of the text in hand. “At least not as intensely as I am now. But none of it is really helpful.” 

If she skipped over the second question then Lil would definitely know that Winter had done something. She wasn’t ashamed of doing a ritual without knowing about it per se, and she really didn’t care what Lil had to say about it in the long run, but something was nagging at her. This book was the only thing that Winter had of her great grandmother and reading through it over the years made her feel close to the woman even if she had never met her. Maybe something inside of her was afraid that Lil would want her to get rid of it. Not that she could make Winter do anything, but even the idea of such a thing tore her apart inside. “Ask away.” Ultimately, she wanted to put it off just a little longer even if she knew it wouldn’t last. 

Lil hummed slightly at the answer, thinking that it did add up that the other might be a medium after all and not just haunted. It wasn’t a sure fire way to know - combing through someone who obviously now believed in ghosts about their childhood and what signs were there- but well hardly anything Lil did was an exact science. “Did it stop or did you stop looking?” She said lightly, knowing that there was a difference. It wasn’t uncommon for Mediums without others around them to want to push out the ghosts - even if it wouldn’t ultimately work. 

At the question and grown Lil shook her head, a little more serious then she had been. “No. He’s not as annoying as he could be,” She said, glancing back to the lobby before shutting the door. She wasn’t sure how far ghosts could hear, so she didn’t exactly want to give him the idea of becoming a poltergeist. She wasn’t sure that ghosts could choose it - something more philosophical than she had ever bothered to learn - but she wasn’t about to risk it either. 

At the information Lil nodded, sitting on her own stool carefully considering what the other was saying without showing too much on anything. “I’m not surprised, although I’m sure there are some books out there that most people could get their hands on that do have facts right - most mediumship things aren’t written down like that. It gets all smashed with what people think it is, you know?” Not that most of the rituals would be helpful to most people. As far as Lil knew, if you weren't Medium rituals wouldn’t work for you. Just like she couldn’t create a potion or shapeshift, you had to be specifically touched by death to tap into anything. 

Still didn’t mean that nothing would come through with a ritual though, it just meant that the chanting wasn’t what brought the spirit - but the fact that someone was opening themselves to them. At confirmation that she could ask questions she started, “Have you had times where you don’t remember where you were? Did you ever feel like the ghost out there was in your head, not right next to you?” 

If she wasn’t a medium, Lil was certain that the ghost would have at least tried to possess her at some point if he was insisting on following her around. “Do you ever feel cold even if it’s warm out? Feel like there’s more voices in a crowded room then there should be? Seen flickers of light in a fully lit room? ” Those would be less commonly known mediumship questions. 

The question stunned her. It was like the girl knew the happenings of her past already and was just trying to confirm. Winter hadn’t exactly been frightened as a child but more pushed into letting things go by her father. “More like…I was forced to stop looking. My father sent me to therapy as a kid and I didn’t like it so I pushed it all away.” With no plans to elaborate on the why’s of why she went, she sighed as she looked away from Lil. Forgotten memories were threatening to invade her mind, memories that she didn’t want to think about considering she was about to be forced into therapy again by her production team and she was sure they would go over them then no matter how much WInter resisted. Right now she was here for the present.

“You’re not someone who elaborates very often, are you?” Pot calling the kettle black there. But Winter didn’t miss the way Lil had shut the door as she answered and she really wanted to know what the other had meant. “How exactly can he get stronger? Should I be worried?” Did ghosts touch people or something? This man had yet to come into contact with her but could he in the long run? 

That seemed to explain why her great grandmother didn’t write much about her own abilities. If it wasn’t common for a medium to do so then how was all of this learned over time? “So, I’m guessing that means a lot of mediums have to figure things out on their own? Is this not a hereditary thing?” That would also explain why her mother never showed signs of actually seeing ghosts. Winter knew that the woman had been faking her abilities since she was old enough to understand but how had this gotten passed to her and not the two generations before her? 

When she’d agreed to let Lil ask questions she hadn’t expected the ones that came out of her mouth. Her eyebrows knitted as confusion took over, Winter not exactly sure what Lil meant. “No, why wouldn’t I remember where I was?” Thinking about her other question, she shook her head to indicate another no. “There’s not a single time where he didn’t seem like just another person standing next to me if that’s what you mean. And no voices in my head or anything, he won’t even talk. Is that like a different ability or something?”

“You saw the shrug I was wearing when I came in, right? It’s not exactly chilly outside. I never really noticed other voices though, not until he showed up. But they’re not all the time and they’re not always very loud. Kind of like they’re whispering.” Why did this conversation seem like it was producing more questions than answers. With the natural curiosity that flowed through her, Winter felt like she could counter each of Lil’s questions with five of her own and she had to resist doing so. “The light thing has happened since I was a kid. I always thought our electrician at home sucked.”

Lil’s jaw twitched slightly when she heard that the other had been forced to stop looking. That wasn’t uncommon either, but it nevertheless pissed Lil off. While she’d never experienced it - quite the opposite type of treatment had happened to her if she was being honest being forced to look into the shadows - she knew that it could mess a kid up. It wasn’t the others fault though so she said softly, “Yeah, It can be scary if you don’t know what's happening. Sorry if I touched something personal.”

Lil raised her eyebrow at that, but it was fair enough to say. She wasn’t used to telling someone more than what was necessary - not because she particularly cared about the secrecy of ghosts or supernaturals- but because once you knew something it stuck with you forever. It was something that could easily worry someone to death and she wasn’t quite sure where on the scale that the woman across from her could handle.  “Worried? No. You’ll be fine.” Lil would make sure of that at the very least. 

At the other questions Lil decided it wasn’t too much at once to talk about them and said, “ It can be a hereditary thing. Most of my family is Mediums, but it’s not only a hereditary thing. Sometimes people are just Mediums out of nowhere. It can also skip around generations.” It was frustrating to not have clear answers on that, but it wasn’t something most Mediums thought to really experiment on. “So if you were born into a family - one that actively practices you probably would have known, but sometimes that doesn’t happen and people have to figure it out on their own or find other Mediums.” 

At her confusion Lil felt a bit of relief and said, “No not a different ability. I was making sure you hadn’t been possessed. It doesn’t sound like you have, and I don’t think he’s capable of that to be fair.” At least for the moment, but she really didn’t want to say that and freak out the already probably on the edge Winter. 

“Yeah you’re a Medium,” Lil said softly mostly to herself and sighed after a moment realizing she was going to have to say more and not just leave it vague. These talks always sucked. “Well Your electricity might have sucked. I don't know that for sure but those are all pointing to the fact that you have mediumship and were just repressing it to - well have less problems in society probably. I’m guessing someone else in your family saw ghosts because you keep asking about hereditary but yeah. That’s probably one of the reasons he’s following you around, ghosts are able to sense us like we can sense them and they - well get attached. Now that its happened though, you’re going to have to learn at least some stuff to keep them from causing havoc around you. I’m sure you have questions, so I’ll try to answer as many as you have. But yeah you’re not being haunted.” It wasn’t a congratulations, not at all. While Lil liked her job mostly, being a Medium wasn’t exactly easy or filled with the glamor that people seemed to think it had. It was limiting and at times awfully scary. Still, she wasn’t trying to imply that Winter was doomed or broken either. 

She shrugged the apology off, not even wanting to confirm or deny if it was too personal or not but knowing she probably did so by staying silent. Those memories were still trying to creep their way in and Winter had to shake her head when the face of a little girl popped into her mind clear as day. She didn’t want to remember her, didn’t want to remember what had her dad pushing her towards something she hated. It was a sore spot and if it had been anyone else who had brought up that part of her past she would not be sitting there being nice about it.

Vague again. This was going to be a challenge in itself. Trying to get information from this girl was a torture in itself and she had half a mind to go grab the ghost she was currently hiding from. But she liked the reprieve from his cold glare as well so Winter was inclined to try and weasel what she could from Lil for as long as she could. She was throwing things at her like possessed and it could be hereditary but could also just show up out of the blue and it was only causing more frustration in the long run.

But it was the confirmation of being a medium that caught Winter’s attention the most. “I didn’t know there was any doubt.” She was almost offended, her tone saying as much, but she had to remind herself that Lil didn’t know her. She could have been that fake medium from months ago just trying to get information for her show so that she could exploit this that much more. Hell, the girl could have seen her show before and known she was bullshitting the whole time. 

She only confirmed that her dad had something to do with why Winter hadn’t been able to do this her whole life. Well, at least by the time she was ten. It made her angry knowing that she could have had this stuff figured out by now, could have actually been helping the people on her show, but she also knew that her father had probably just been scared as well. In the same breath though, Lil confirmed that she would start answering whatever questions Winter had and she suddenly felt like she’d just been let loose in a candy store. This rollercoaster of emotions culminated as she looked back at the book in her hands. It was time to bring it up.

“In that case, I think it’s time I told you about this.” So, maybe he was following her around because he could sense what Winter was but something deep down told her that it had more to do with this ritual. She didn’t know what it was when she had touched it, thought it was a fake incantation that her great grandmother had made up, but after that night Winter had become a believer. She turned to the page she’d used the night her friend had showed up and turned the book to show Lil. “This was my great grandmother’s. It’s mostly journal entries but I found this incantation or ritual or something one day and when I performed it with the symbols drawn on the ground…he showed up. He hasn’t left my side since.”

Lil sighed and said, “If you were being haunted, you might have seen him because of that. It’s not that I doubted what you saw but possession and haunting is different than being a medium.” It would have been easier too. If she was being haunted, well Lil could have solved that. Now she had to be careful not to just get the other on a blacklist like she was. She couldn’t just exorcize the man outside, because well Winter would be on the hook too. 

Lil paused as she moved to show the book she had been lightly guarding away from Lil. Moving so she could look at it and not touch the book she was careful not to read the page out loud. “Yeah that’s a ritual alright, but - huh,” Lil said softly looking at the symbols not quite knowing how the other had done it with no training. It was reckless for sure, but - well she wasn’t exactly going to blame Winter for it. 

“You read this and he came? You’ve never done this before?” Lil asked her eyes looking up from the page to look at the other, a little startled it had worked. “I can’t read all of it, but this is fairly advanced for your first ritual. I also got a couple ideas of what it might have been, and if I’m right - well you got lucky.” After all, rituals could be dangerous and could have disastrous effects. 

She also wasn’t sure how much she could help Winter. Sitting back on her seat Lil said, “Do you want to practice then?” 

That made sense actually, Winter’s bravado dying down a smidge when Lil confirmed that there were other possibilities here. She hadn’t thought she was faking this after all and she needed to remember that Lil was the expert here.. “Do ghosts usually haunt people they didn’t know when they were alive? And do you mind explaining possession because I don’t like the sound of it.” What had she gotten into? This was starting to turn into the plot of a very weird paranormal movie and it was making her uneasy. 

Advanced? Well damn, her thoroughness towards the material she used on her show was coming back to bite her in the ass wasn’t it? She shook her head when asked if she’d performed this ritual before, Winter starting to feel as if she would be in trouble if she told this girl the whole truth. But she wasn’t going to hide things if it would do any harm to herself. She needed to understand what happened that night. “I have a show…it used to be my mom’s but I took it over about three years ago. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Spirit Speak…” The medium paused to let the name sink in. Never in her life had she been ashamed of being part of the production but now that it was affecting her she couldn’t help it.

“Anyway, um, when I found this I decided that I was going to include it in the show. One thing you need to know about me is I am a sucker for details and I want to make sure I’m doing things right.” When she wasn’t overconfident in what she was doing and she was dedicated in fooling others into thinking that Winter was the expert. “So, I researched how to say everything correctly, copied the symbols exactly…what do you think it is?”

Practice? That one threw her. Winter had not expected Lil to offer to help her further than giving her information. It was a pleasant surprise and she felt her nervous energy start to shift into an excitable nod of her head. “Yes, yes I would like to.”

“Ghosts aren’t known to be any more rational than people. They pick people to haunt for reasons you might or might not, you know,” Lil said with a shrug. She’d honestly not considered why ghosts did anything, in the same way she didn’t really think about why people did anything. It seemed like a pretty useless thought experiment. At the question she sighed and said, “Exactly what it sounds like. Poltergeists - corrupted spirits -  can possess people. What I actually do for a living is destroy poltergeists in a ritual commonly known as an exorcism. He didn’t look like one, but I still wanted to make sure. I’d have exorcized him for you if he was.” 

Lil hadn’t been expecting this as she froze a little on her stool realizing why the other was probably familiar to her. She also really didn’t know what to say for a moment, realizing that she probably shouldn’t be involved in this anymore. After all, her reputation had been in the gutter for this long, and working with someone who was famously a fraud wouldn’t exactly put her back into a good light with people. She was cashing in a lot of favors at the moment just to try to find her family after all, and she wasn’t particularly interested in jeopardizing that. 

Still as all the reason came to her on why she shouldn’t help the other and instead tell her to leave, Lil knew she wouldn’t do it. While she didn’t have any notion that she’d be any better then the people that had kicked her out, she at least wasn’t going to do the same to someone who needed help - and the other needed help. Specifically, she needed to know what she did and that the ghost was going to be stuck to her before she did something stupid to end up blacklisted like Lil was. 

 “Yeah that’s - you got really lucky then,” Lil said softly, considering her words carefully before she said them knowing that there were going to be a lot of questions. “I can’t tell exactly what you said, but it seems like you made a pact with the ghost outside. I’m pretty well read and I’m not exactly sure what she did here but - my best guess is she might have made her own ritual to do it. Essentially you made a contract with the ghost there - and he gave something up and now he’s bound to you. He won’t turn into a poltergeist which is good but -” Lil let her fill in the rest. It wasn’t uncommon for ghost to be bound to mediums, something she knew well enough as Blue was technically bound to her brother, but this was a stranger case.  “If you want more answers, I’ll have to get a scan or something of that page and try to translate it properly.” 

Lil paused for a moment, and realized that this was probably going to be more complicated than writing down the number to the ghostbusters. “I - so there is a group that you can go to learn, but I’m not sure how much they will like your show,” Lil tried to say amicably, “Not judging on my part just trying to let you know the dynamic. They can pair you up with someone who can help you with mediumship though if you follow their rules. You also probably shouldn’t mention that you’ve talked to me.” After a beat she continued, “They also won’t let you get rid of the guy out there, and to be honest if you want to be a practicing medium no one will. But - I can at least look into the ritual and see how strong the contract is, you might be able to get out of the pact if you really want or learn to communicate with him.” 

Looking at Winter she said softly, “Normally I would offer to exorcize him, but it wouldn’t be fair to either of you to do so. So the two things I can do is help you figure out what exactly you did in your ritual to understand it and teach you some things I know, or send you on to the ghostbusters. If you go onto the ghostbusters, it would be best not to associate with me though.” After all, Lilian Ballard was the Reaper, and probably on a wall of ‘do not associate’ with.

As expected, Lil’s reaction to her show wasn’t particularly a good one. It didn’t seem like it was wise to bring it up to any mediums with the she was talking about this so called group that could help Winter but it was out there and there was nothing she could do about it. They probably saw it as Winter mocking them but she liked to look at it as paying homage in a way even if she had no clue something like it had existed. Hell, she hadn’t even been sure that mediums were real until she was able to see the man currently locked out of this room.

All of the new information continued to bring questions to mind. So, ghosts could be malicious in nature, they didn’t need reasons for anything that they did, and there actually were exorcizing rituals that could be done that could get rid of them. This definitely was turning into a movie. There were still so many things Winter didn’t understand, so many questions that she wanted to ask but she really didn’t know where to start. She would be at this bakery for days if she asked them all right now. It was overwhelming to say the least. “Maybe, um…maybe we should take  this slower? This is a lot to process and I’m not sure everything can be explained today. I could write down more questions in a notebook and we can take them one at a time, if that would make things easier? And you’re willing, of course.”

She noticed that the other had gotten more uncomfortable after Winter had mentioned Spirit Speak but she hoped it wouldn’t deter her from wanting to help. She was talking about that group, saying something about sending Winter to them, but she shook her head each time Lil mentioned that. “I’d actually feel more comfortable if you taught me what I needed to know. I don’t know you but…you know everything now and they don’t. From what you’re telling me they wouldn’t like that I was doing the show and that’s something I’m not willing to give up so they probably wouldn’t want to help me anyway. Besides, I’ve never been great with rules. I get the feeling that’s why you think I shouldn’t mention you to them…because you’re the same, right?” 

What would happen to her great grandmother’s book if she went to these people anyway? The ritual was apparently an original one that the girl in front of her couldn’t quite understand yet. For all she knew, this group would try to take it away from her to be able to study it or something. “And I would like you to try and understand the ritual more if you don’t mind. But the book stays with me.” That was non-negotiable. Winter valued it more than most things in her life. 

At the fact that Winter wasn’t sure what was going on, Lil nodded and for the first time in a while smiled and laughed lightly, “Yeah, I am just throwing stuff at you. Sorry, I’ve grown up this way so I don’t know what you don’t know. I also haven't, you know, been asked so much.” It was true enough. She didn’t usually talk about mediumship in any sort of way that would make someone a mentee. Only the odd question here and there from someone who didn’t want to deal with ghosts. “Sure, I don’t mind answering things.” 

At Winter’s explanation, Lil wasn’t quite sure what the right thing would have been to do. She probably should insist the medium go through the Ghostbusters and get proper training, but at the end of the day Lil was a pragmatist. If Winter wouldn’t stop doing her show, then the Ghostbusters probably wouldn’t take her. Then she might be stubborn enough to continue to do rituals and not know what their effects were. So, while Lil might not be the best qualified - hell Jonas probably would be better although she didn’t want him to lose his license if she could help it- she was probably the only one in the area that would or could help. “Yeah, I got kicked out actually. What the hell, sure. I will say though, you’ll have to keep me on track cause I might think you know something you don’t. I’ve never mentored someone who’s starting out. You’ll have to tell me when you don’t understand, or I might not realize you don’t, you know?” 

That was true as well, Lil had helped other mediums at times, but normally they were trying to become exorcists - not starting out. At the request Lil nodded and said, “Sure I just need a picture of it. I would just suggest not doing any more rituals out of it until you know what they're doing. For most people they won’t work so you don’t have to keep it under lock and key like it's the necronomicon or something like that, but well if it’s a ritual it’s going to work if you do it. Does that make sense?”

Winter being mentored by someone who’d gotten kicked out of some secret organization for ghosts just felt right in her mind. It was exactly the type of thing that she gravitated towards on most days and she was thankful that Lil was willing to do this for her. And to be her first? That was special on it’s own. She could feel the unease of this whole situation starting to ebb away, her smile only growing as that feeling of discomfort became non-existent. Ghostbusters be damned, she had a Lil on her side now. 

“Trust me, I’ll have no issues in asking questions. You’re probably going to get sick of them actually, so fair warning. I’m a nuisance.” The fact that she was grinning at Lil as she said that should have been a clue to the other that Winter enjoyed being as such as well. By the time she met Lil again she’d have a whole notebook full of things she wanted to know and she was sure once the ritual was translated properly she’d be able to fill another. It occurred to her that Lil had no idea what she’d just gotten herself into. Oh well.

“I'll have copies to you as soon as possible. Or if you just want to take one on your phone I’m fine with that too.” She was eager, ready to know everything about this new part of herself and ready to learn more about why Lil was not connected to the ghostbusters anymore. She closed the book in her lap, leaning onto her arms as Winter draped them across the object, and spoke. 

“First question: How do you tell whether it’s a regular ghost or a poltergeist?”

[rosebridal]

narrative foil antagonism at its best

[youllalwaysbemyporcelain]

Tommy laughs. "To be fair, we both did a lot of questionable things as kids." He smiles at her. "It does. I am just so happy to be home with you now."

"I appreciate that, although you did see me at my worst with eating worms, so I guess dirt isn't bad." Lillian teased, chuckling softly. "busy is always good. makes the day go by faster."

[starrystevie]

experiment on me | written by rogersharringtons on ao3

eddie's been an experiment before. too many times to count, if he’s being honest. he’s been the secret, the thing that goes bump in the night in a stuffed full closet when the parents came home. he’s been the drunken night, the fumbling hands in a bathroom stall that only give and never get anything in return. he’s been the split lip, torn up knees, bruised ribs in an alleyway getting insults thrown at him when he wanted more. needed more. needed hands out in public and lips cherry red from soft kisses and meeting the parents over goddamn pork chops in the dining room. so when steve comes to him in that same way the other guys before him did with ducked heads and flushed cheeks, toes pointed together like they’re shy, it’s easy to say no.

explicit | 3.9k

tags: au - modern, au - college/university, original male character, top steve harrington, phone sex, video sex, oral sex, anal sex, one night stands, getting together