#and Big Bird summoned him with Ouija Board

[mage-ical-character-person]

WEEGEE BOARD??! WEGA BOARD?? WIGGY BOARD GAME SESAM STRET? LUIGI BROAD?

FUN GAMES FOR LARGE SIX YEAR OLD PASSERINES??

-hide and seek

-go to the movies

-ouija board???

[crimeculturepodcast]

Hispanic/Latino horror movies

In honor of Hispanic Heritage month, this week we talked about horror movies out of Latin American and Spanish speaking countries. There were some we couldn’t get to so here is the full list:

Spain

The Devil’s Backbone (2001)

Rotten Tomatoes: 92%

Audience Score: 89%

Google Score: 85%

IMDb: 7.4/10

Critics Consensus: Creepily atmospheric and haunting, The Devil's Backbone is both a potent ghost story and an intelligent political allegory.

Description: “Set during the last years of the Spanish Civil War, The Devil's Backbone is a Spanish gothic horror movie that follows Carlos, a young orphan boy who is deposited at Santa Lucia School among several other children who have been displaced by the conflict. Though he finds friends in the professor and the head mistress, he is plagued by a wandering spirit with a link to the violent caretaker's secret past.”

Trivia: The movie, which he wrote in college and was in development for 16 years, is strongly inspired by Del Toro’s personal memories, especially his relationship with his uncle, who supposedly came back as a ghost. It is also included among the "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" edited by Steven Schneider. Although filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is Mexican, this film is set in the Spanish countryside (largely filmed in Madrid) that’s why it’s on the Spanish list. The Devil’s Backbone has all of the impactful elements of spirituality, horror, and the supernatural that come up again and again in Del Toro’s work. This film has been referred to as the “brother film” of one of Del Toro’s best known works, Pan’s Labyrinth. 

[REC] (2007)

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Audience Score: 82%

Google Score: 85%

IMDb: 7.4/10

Critics Consensus: Plunging viewers into the nightmarish hellscape of an apartment complex under siege, [Rec] proves that found footage can still be used as an effective delivery mechanism for sparse, economic horror.

Description: “Late-night TV host Angela and her cinematographer are following the fire service on a call to an apartment building, but the Spanish police seal off the building after an old woman is infected by a virus which gives her inhuman strength.”

Trivia: The movie was filmed chronologically in real locations (no sets were built for the movie). The actor’s were never given the script in its entirety and didn’t know what was going to happen to their characters until the day of filming. The movie is also a big inspiration for the horror survival game Outlast.

Considered The Blair Witch Project of zombie movies, REC had a lot of competition in the found footage style (it came out the same year as George Romero’s Diary of the Dead and the first Paranormal Activity movie). It more than holds its own among them, so much so that an American remake called Quarantine came out the next year. Director Jaume Balagueró keeps the movie disturbingly real and doesn’t fall prey to jump scare after jump scare.

Veronica (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience Score: 49%

Google Score: 80%

IMDb: 6.2/10

Critics Consensus: A scarily effective horror outing, Veronica proves it doesn't take fancy or exotic ingredients to craft skin-crawling genre thrills. 

Description: “During a solar eclipse, a teenage girl and her friends want to summon the spirit of the girl's father using an Ouija board. However, during the session she loses consciousness and soon it becomes clear that evil demons have arrived.”

Trivia: Based on the true story of 18-year-old Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro. I won’t go too far into it because we may do an episode on it in the future but if you want spoilers, watch the movie (if you dare).

Directed by Paco Plaza (same as REC), the possession theme is done over and over again in horror but this movie is a terrifying and fresh take. 

The Bar (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience Score: 55%

Google Score: 75%

IMDb: 6.3/10

Description: “In bustling downtown Madrid, a loud gunshot and two mysterious deaths trap a motley assortment of common urbanites in a decrepit central bar, while paranoia and suspicion force the terrified regulars to turn on each other.”

Directed by Álex de la Iglesia, it’s labeled as a horror-comedy. You can watch it on Netflix.

Who Can Kill A Child? (1976) - Tells the story of a happy couple, two English tourists who decide to vacation on a secluded island in the Mediterranean. There they discover – almost too late- that the island has been taken over by a group of murderous children.

The Baby’s Room (2006) - Featured on Six Films to Keep You Awake at Night. A new family renovates and moves into a grand old house. Nervous first-time mom installs a baby monitor but hears mysterious sounds on the other side. Once they install a high-tech video baby monitor, what they see chills them to the bone.

Sleep Tight (2011) - Apartment concierge Cesar is a miserable person who believes he was born without the ability to be happy. His self-appointed task is to make life hell for everyone around him, a mission in which he has great success. It has big home invasion/stalker vibes. 

Timecrimes (2007) - A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences. It sounds like a “Happy Death Day” type of plot (but proceeding it by a decade).

Thesis (1996) - Angela is doing her thesis on the effect of violence in the media when she discovers a snuff film. This discovery leads her down a dark path where she must confront her greatest fears and question everybody around her.

Witching and Bitching (2013) - One article I read said it perfectly, “What Shaun of the Dead did for zombies and What We Do in the Shadows did for vampires, Witching & Bitching essentially did for the cinematic depiction of witches, albeit on a less visible scale.” Great pick if you’re looking for something a bit more lighthearted.

Mexico

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Audience Score: 91%

Google Score: 90%

IMDb: 8.2/10

Critics Consensus: Pan's Labyrinth is Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups, with the horrors of both reality and fantasy blended together into an extraordinary, spellbinding fable. 

Description: After the Allies invade Nazi-occupied Europe, a sadistic captain sends a troop of Spanish soldiers to flush out rebels,bringing his new wife and her daughter along on his exploits. While his family resides in the countryside, he leads his men on a murderous rampage, much of which is witnessed by his step daughter. In an effort to escape her reality she plunges into Pan's Labyrinth, a mystical world at the border of her own.

Trivia: Guillermo del Toro is famous for compiling books full of notes and drawings about his ideas before turning them into films, something he regards as essential to the process. He left years worth of notes for this film in the back of a cab, and when he discovered them missing, he thought it was the end of the project. However, the cab driver found them and, realizing their importance, tracked him down and returned them at great personal difficulty and expense. Del Toro was convinced that this was a blessing and it made him ever more determined to complete the film. Del Toro also repeatedly refused offers from Hollywood producers, in spite of being offered double the budget, provided the film was made in English. He didn't want any compromise in the storyline to suit the "market needs" (he even did the English subtitles himself). The film received 22 minutes of applause at the Cannes Film Festival and in 2007, it became one of the few fantasy films ever nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars. It’s another on the list "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" edited by Steven Schneider with The Devil’s Backbone. It was on more than 130 top 10 lists in 2006. It is also the 5th highest grossing foreign language film in the US.

The Similars (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Audience Score: 49%

Google Score: 75%

IMDb: 5.9/10

Critics Consensus: A smart homage to genre filmmaking, The Similars is a fun and frightening film that balances socio-political issues with aplomb.

Description: A monstrous, once-in-a-lifetime thunderstorm strands passengers in a remote bus station outside Mexico City in 1968. As they listen to the radio, they realized that the storm has spread all over the world. As they look at each other, they also realize that everyone’s faces are slowly changing, and not for the better. 

Trivia: The film used make-up and special effects techniques never before done in Mexico. Director Isaac Ezban was influenced by B-movies of the 50s and 60s as well as TV shows and movies like “The Twilight Zone”, “The Thing”, and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.

We Are What We Are (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

Audience Score: 48%

Google Score: 77%

IMDb: 5.7/10

Critics Consensus: We Are What We Are is elevated horror that combines family drama and social politics, with plenty of gore on top.

Description: After a family patriarch dies, his survivors are tasked with continuing the rigid family rituals that involve hunting meat, preparing it for consumption, and eating it. The “meat” in question is human flesh, since they’re a family of cannibals. With two detectives hot on their tail, the family of cannibals strains to maintain their family traditions in a modern urban environment.

There was an English language remake in 2013 (86% on Rotten Tomatoes) with Wyatt Russell and Odeya Rush (Lady Bird, Dumplin’, and Goosebumps)

We Are The Flesh (2016) - A joint French-Mexican production released in Spanish as Somos la carne, this post-apocalyptic nightmare involves a brother and sister who roam the land desperately seeking food until a kindly old man takes them in under the condition that they help him renovate an abandoned building. Oh, and they also have to have sex with one another while he watches. And after he breaks their will by getting them to do that, he makes them do all sorts of other things. This film was one of only four in Mexico to receive a “D” rating—which is reserved for subject matter that is considered extremely disturbing and/or pornographic.

The Witch’s Mirror (1962) - An abusive and cheating husband kills his wife so that he can be with his mistress. The woman’s godmother was a witch who originally tried casting a spell on a mirror to protect her from domestic violence, but the spell failed. Still, she is able to bring the woman back from the grave, and the two witches set out to destroy the evil woman-beater.

Here Comes The Devil (2012) - A married couple lose their children while on a family trip near some caves in Tijuana. The kids eventually reappear without explanation, but it becomes clear that they are not who they used to be, that something terrifying has changed them.

Chile

Downhill (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes: 60%

Audience Score: 22%

Google Score: 43%

IMDb: 3.5/10

Description: Deeply upset by the passing of his best friend, a professional BMX rider accepts to partake in a race in Chile. Everything goes as planned until he stumbles upon a man who is infected by a mysterious virus and becomes the target of local assassins.

Trivia: Filmed in 13 days

Post Mortem (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience Score: 61%

Google Score: 70%

IMDb: 6.5/10

Description: In Chile, 1973, during the last days of Salvador Allende’s presidency, an employee at a Morgue’s recording office falls for a burlesque dancer who mysteriously disappears.

Aftershock (2012)

Rotten Tomatoes: 39%

Audience Score: 24%

Google Score: 61%

IMDb: 4.8/10

Critics Consensus: Aftershock hints at an inventive twist on horror tropes, but ultimately settles for another round of mind-numbing depravity that may alternately bore and revolt all but the most ardent gore enthusiasts.

Description: In Chile, a group of travelers who are in an underground nightclub when a massive earthquake hits quickly learn that reaching the surface is just the beginning of their nightmare.

Trivia: Horror icon Eli Roth wrote and stars in this film.

To Kill A Man (2014) - An attack on his daughter leads a mild-mannered family man to take revenge on the vicious street thugs who have tormented him and his family for a long time.

Columbia

Out Of The Dark (2014) This is in English

Rotten Tomatoes: 24%

Audience Score: 22%

Google Score: 77%

IMDb: 4.8/10

Description: A family moves to Colombia to take over the operation of a manufacturing plant, soon they learn their new home is haunted.

Trivia: Starring Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You, Dexter) and Scott Speedman (The Strangers, You) 

The Squad (2011)

Audience Score: 53%

Google Score: 82%

IMDb: 5.3/10

Description: After a secret military base ceases all communications, an anti-guerrilla commando unit is sent to the mountainous location to discover what exactly happened. The squad expects to discover that the base was attacked and taken over by guerrilla units, but instead find only a lone woman wrapped in chains.

Trivia: In one scene where the actors are shooting guns, one actor accidentally picked up a real gun instead of the prop and fired a real shot (no one was hurt).

Cord (2015) - On a post-apocalyptic world of never-ending winter, a sparse cast of outsiders live underground. Due to their unsanitary conditions, sexual contact has become dangerous. Masturbation has become the paradigm of sexual experience and an array of low-tech devices with this purpose has come into existence. In this bleak reality, a dealer of such machines a sex addict make a deal: she will allow him to experiment new devices on her body in exchange of pleasure. Soon however, their relationship goes out of control.

The Hidden Face (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

Audience Score: 72%

Google Score: 86%

IMDb: 7.4/10

Description: Shattered by the unexpected news of their irreversible break-up, an aspiring orchestra conductor is puzzled by his girlfriend's mysterious and seemingly inexplicable case of disappearance. But, can he look beyond the facts?

Trivia: There is a Turkish version of this movie and a 2013 remake out of India called “Murder 3”

At The End Of The Spectra (2006)

Google Score: 83%

IMDb: 6/10

Description: A young woman who has become agoraphobic due to a traumatic incident is holed up in her apartment, she begins to suffer from hallucinations, paranoia and an obsessive neighbour.

Trivia: There is a Mexican remake called “Devil Inside” and there were once rumors of an American remake starring Nicole Kidman but that’s the end of that.

Uruguay

The Silent House (La Casa Muda) (2010) 

Rotten Tomatoes: 68%

Audience Score: 37%

Google Score: 63%

IMDb: 5.4/10

Critics Consensus: Shot in a single take, The Silent House may be a gimmick movie, but it's one that's enough to sustain dread and tension throughout. 

Description: A girl becomes trapped inside a house and becomes unable to contact the outside world as supernatural forces haunt it.

Trivia: The plot is supposedly based on a true story that occurred in the 1940s in a small village in Uruguay. With a budget of just six thousand dollars, it was filmed using a handheld high-definition digital single-lens reflex camera (the Canon EOS 5D Mark II), 2 handheld lamps, and a couple of lightbulbs over a time period of just four days. The claim that the movie was filmed in one continuous take are suspect. The Mark II camera can only record up to 15 minutes of continuous video at a time. Uruguay's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards 2012.

Monos (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% 

Audience Score: 85%

Google Score: 69%

IMDb: 6.9/10

Critics Consensus: As visually splendid as it is thought-provoking, Monos takes an unsettling look at human nature whose grim insights leave a lingering impact.

Description: On a faraway mountaintop, eight teenaged guerillas with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow. Playing games and initiating cult-like rituals, the children run amok in the jungle and disaster strikes when the hostage tries to escape.

Trivia: Moises Arias (Hannah Montana) and Julianne Nicholson (I, Tonya, August: Osage County) most of the other actors had never acted before. The movie draws inspiration from Lord of the Flies. Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. It was selected as the official Colombian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.

Peru

The Entity (2015)

Google Score: 66%

IMDb: 4.3/10

Description: A group of students decide to study 'reaction videos' and are led toward an old film, hidden in the archive room of a cemetery. It appears that everybody who has witnessed the film has met an untimely demise under suspicious circumstances. When the students view the footage, they discover first hand, what the demonic spirit is capable of. Fulfilling the ancient curse of a woman cruelly killed during the Spanish Inquisition.

Trivia: The Entity has been billed as Peru's first 3D horror film and to have been loosely based on true stories. Review websites Flickering Myth and Nerdly commented that the movie suffered from being too overly familiar to pre-existing works (Blair Witch, The Ring).

The Vanished Elephant (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Audience Score: 72%

Google Score: 88%

IMDb: 6.5/10

Description: Crime novelist Edo remains obsessed with what happened to his fiancee Celia after she disappeared during an earthquake. When an enigmatic woman brings him photos that may help him solve the mystery, he senses he is being drawn into a dangerous game.

The Secret Of Evil (2014)

Google Score: 65%

IMDb: 5/10

Description: Video footage depicting a supernatural encounter is all that remains of a filmmaker and his crew who disappeared while exploring a haunted house.

When Two Worlds Collide (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Audience Score: 69%

Google Score: 93%

IMDb: 7.6/10

Description: An indigenous environmental activist takes on the large businesses that are destroying the Amazon.

El Vientre (2014)

Google Score: 81%

IMDb: 6.1/10

Description: Silvia, a beautiful 45-year-old widow, is obsessed with having a child and finds in attractive but naive Mercedes the perfect candidate to bear it. Silvia kindly offers her a job and a room in her house, and then manipulates her into seducing a young man named Jaime. They soon fall in love and Mercedes becomes pregnant. Silvia will do anything in her power to keep the baby, even if it means leaving a couple of bodies behind.

Argentina

Terrified (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes: 77% 

Audience Score: 65%

Google Score: 82%

IMDb: 6.5/10

Description: Paranormal researchers investigate strange events in a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires.

Luciferina (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

Audience Score: 25%

Google Score: 69%

IMDb: 4.6/10

Description: Natalia is a nineteen-year-old novice who reluctantly returns home to say goodbye to her dying father. However, when she meets up with her sister and her friends, she decides instead to travel the jungle in search of mystical plant.

Francesca (2015)

Audience Score: 67%

Google Score: 73%

IMDb: 5.3/10

Description: Two detectives track a serial killer who has been targeting the impure. To catch him, they'll have to solve the case of a girl who went missing 15 years ago.

Cold Sweat (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 75%

Audience Score: 

Google Score: 58%

IMDb: 4.8/10

Description: The movie follows Román, who stumbles upon his ex-girlfriend Jackie, who has somehow gotten caught up in a torture cult run by two sadistic, old men. The aging political radicals have managed to put Jackie’s life in incredible danger. But when Román and his friend try to help Jackie out of her confines, the elderly psychos prove to be more than meets the eye.

Penumbra (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes: 50%

Audience Score: 26%

Google Score: 75%

IMDb: 5.5/10

Description: A woman desperate to find a tenant for her decrepit apartment apparently finds the perfect candidate, unaware of a sinister plot involving an imminent eclipse.

Venezuela

The House At The End of Time (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes: None 

Audience Score: 72%

Google Score: 91%

IMDb: 6.8/10

Description: Dulce encounters apparitions in her house and unleashes a terrible prophecy. Thirty years later, Dulce, now an old woman, returns to unravel the mystery that has terrorized her for years.

Trivia: Winner of the Audience Award at Gävle Horror Film Festival 2016 (Sweden). Not only is it Venezuela’s highest-grossing horror film, it’s also the most distributed film from the country. By August 2016 it was announced that the American studio New Line Cinema acquired the rights of the film to make a remake for the American public. Hidalgo is still at the wheel so its chances of success are high.

Ecuador

Cronicas (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes: 71%

Audience Score: 77%

Google Score: 80%

IMDb: 6.9/10

Critics Consensus: An unsettling and absorbing cautionary tale with John Leguizamo playing an unscrupulous TV reporter who uses the medium to further his own goals.

Description: Reporter Manolo Bonilla (John Leguizamo) goes to a jail in Ecuador to interview Vinicio Cepeda (Damián Alcázar, Narcos, Narnia), a hit-and-run driver whose crime incited a riot. After Cepeda tells him he knows where a murderer called the Monster of Babahoyo buried a young female victim, Bonilla posts bail in the hopes that he'll learn more about the crime. Bonilla finds the girl's body, but, as he nears the scoop of his career, it looks as if Cepeda might be withholding some key details.

Trivia: Inspired by a true story? As well as being both a Cannes and TIFF favourite, Cronicas is the official submission of Ecuador for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 77th Academy Awards in 2005, it was produced by Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) This is John Leguizamo’s first film in Spanish. He said he felt awkward talking in Spanish while acting, like he didn't know the language. 

English Language Horror

The Silent House (2011) This is in English

Rotten Tomatoes: 43%

Audience Score: 

Google Score: 72%

IMDb: 5.3/10

Critics Consensus: Silent House is more technically proficient and ambitious than most fright-fests, but it also suffers from a disappointing payoff.

Description: Sarah is working with her father and uncle to renovate an old family home to prepare it for sale. Long vacant, the house has no utilities, forcing the trio to rely on battery-operated lanterns to light their way. Sarah becomes separated from her relatives and soon finds she is trapped inside the cabin, with no contact with the outside world. Panic turns to real terror as the young woman experiences events that become increasingly ominous.

Trivia: Elizabeth Olsen (Wandavision) The plot is based on a true story that occurred in the 1940s in a small village in Uruguay. Contrary to the marketing's claim that the film was shot in one uninterrupted take, the entire movie was actually shot to mimic one continuous real-time take, with no cuts from start to finish, as a result the time span of the film's plot is exactly 86 minutes. It was shot in roughly 10 minute segments then carefully edited to hide the cuts.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - This along with the rest of the Dead series are the work of George A. Romero, whose father is from Cuba.

Ash vs. Evil Dead - I love the Evil Dead movies and although this series wasn’t perfect (I’m sure die-hard fans will say it's far from it), I still think it kept to the heart of the main story. Bruce Campbell is obviously perfect and the addition of Lucy Lawless is amazing, it’s really Puerto Rican actor Ray Santiago that steals the show.

The Others (2001) - Directed by globally renowned Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar, The Others starring Nicole Kidman is a Spanish gothic horror movie that combines elements of the supernatural, psychological, and mystical. It focuses on the strange events that occur at the estate of a woman and her young children, plagued by spirits in the aftermath of WWII. It has the distinction of being the only English-language Spanish movie to be given the Best Film Award at Spain's national film awards, the Goyas. In total, the movie has seven Goya Awards, including for Best Director. Although it might not read as particularly “Spanish,” it was produced, written and filmed all in Spain, shooting in Cantabria, Northern Spain and Madrid.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Hold the Field

Switch AU

Back at it again with these boys. We last left off with some shocking turns of the plot that left everyone Less Than Alright™, and so how do you follow up from that? With this, apparently. See, I’ve decided to focus on one of the boys for the recent stories. You probably noticed that the last two were focused on Jackie and Anti, and now we’re turning that attention to JJ in this fairly long chapter. Don’t worry, the other two will have their turn ;) Anyway, in this story, JJ makes a very risky decision. Does it come to fruition? Who knows? Let’s find out!

More of this AU found here

We have to have a meeting about all this. In person. Tomorrow at five?

Jameson reread the message again, then glanced at the clock. “They’re all late,” he muttered.

“‘T is only ten minutes, Jems,” Marvin said from his usual chair in the corner of the living room. Looking down at the nearby table, he was concentrating on trying to stack playing cards into some sort of structure—a feat made more difficult while he had Mr. Fluffington asleep on his lap. “They’ll be here.”

“Yeah...you’re right,” JJ nodded, placing his phone down on a nearby table. Still, he couldn’t sit down. Sighing, he picked up a book sitting casually on the table surface, opening it and skimming through the contents. “Do you think I have time to get some practice in before they arrive?”

Marvin looked up, glancing down at the book JJ had picked up, taking in the purple cover edged with gold. He immediately frowned. “If t’at’s the book I think it is, no. No, you don’.”

JJ snapped the slim volume shut. “Well, you sound rather disapproving all of a sudden.”

“The last time you tried t’at sort of spell, you were coughing up feathers for a week,” Marvin reminded him.

“Yes, but if I practice, I’ll be able to actually turn into an animal.” The study of animal transformation was fascinating. It was a complicated magic that you had to be very precise with, lest something go wrong and you get stuck.

“And t’en you’ll get stuck,” Marvin said, placing another two cards on the structure to make a triangle. “And I’ll have t’tell ev’ryone why you’re a bird and feed you little birdseed. And keep Mister from huntin’ you down.”

JJ chuckled. “Mister doesn’t seem like the hunting type. He seems to prefer, you know, sleeping.”

“Hey, you’ve seen him with t’ose little feathered toys on string!” Marvin looked down at the cat on his lap and started petting, running his fingers through Fluffington’s long fur. Soon after, Fluffington opened his eyes and yawned widely. “Oh no, I’ve awoken him! Did I disturb ye, Mister? So sorry.”

Fluffington got to his feet, stretching his back. He turned in place, until his eyes landed on the house of cards Marvin had been making. “Hey, no,” Marvin said warningly. “Don’ you dare.” Of course Fluffington didn’t listen and hopped onto the table, batting at the cards with his front paw. “Mister! No!” Marvin picked up the cat and twisted away. “I trusted you!”

JJ outright laughed at this. “Ah, one of cat’s most primal instincts: smack the thing.”

Marvin sighed, and leaned over to set Fluffington on the ground, where he immediately began wandering. “Now I have t’pick up fifty-four cards.”

“I thought there were only fifty-two cards in a deck.”

“T’is one has two jokers. And a rules card, but t’at’s still in the box.” Marvin began sweeping the fallen cards into a pile. “Some decks have as many as six jokers, which, by the way, were orig’nally made to be the highest level card in the game Euchre.”

“Really?” JJ leaned back against the table. “Never heard of that one. How do you play it?”

Marvin looked up, about to answer, but then the doorbell rang. “Ah. Well, t’at’ll be the others. I’ll explain it t’you later. Can you get t’at?”

 “Sure. Be right back.”

Jameson walked over to the front hall, opening the door. The moment the entrance was wide enough, Anti shoved his way inside. “Okay, we’re all here? Good? Let’s go then, where’s Marvin?” he said. Anti looked a little bedraggled. His hair was a mess and his jacket and shirt rumpled, like he’d slept in them. He was holding a green backpack with a scene of cartoon dinosaurs printed on it.

“Living room,” JJ said, gesturing back towards it.

Anti nodded, hurrying over. JJ threw the door open the rest of the way for the other two.

“Sorry we are late,” Schneep said, walking inside. “We had the idea to pick Anti up, but he’d already gotten on the bus, so he got off and we had to find him—it was a whole thing.” Jackie entered behind him silently, the hood of his hoodie pulled up over his head. He seemed a bit pale.

“It’s fine, let’s just get started,” said JJ. The three of them entered the living room. Schneep and Jackie sat down next to each other on the sofa, while Anti remained standing, clutching the small backpack in his hands. JJ walked in, also still standing. He cleared his throat. “Right. So. We all know why we’re here. Why don’t we just...cut to the chase?”

“Do you guys remember those detectives?” Jackie suddenly asked.

“The ones who keep askin’ you for a lead?” Marvin asked, busying his hands with getting all the cards into a single stack.

Jackie nodded. “I mean, they stopped, but yeah. Anyway, you’re not gonna believe what they’re—”

“Oh my god, those two are the ones looking for the kids?!” Anti scowled. “Hmm, yes, I’m sure they’ll be fucking fantastic at that.”

“Well, for police, they seem to actually do their jobs,” Schneep mumbled.

“Not in a situation like this,” Anti said darkly. “You all saw the photos I sent. We know who’s behind this.”

The room fell silent. Jameson resisted the urge to pick up his phone and look at the group chat again. Anti had sent pictures of what happened to his apartment: the way it had been turned upside down and smiles had been scrawled on the walls. That had been...ominous. And more than that, it felt like a taunt.

Schneep cleared his throat. “Well. Michelle and Will disappeared the night before last. There has been nothing since then, not from normal kid-taking types or from the Distorter. We...have no leads,” he finished quietly.

Another silence. “Quite...grim, isn’t t’at?” Marvin asked tentatively.

“Okay, idea,” Anti said. “We talk about the other thing and come back to this.”

Everyone made various noises of agreement. “So, then...” Jameson coughed awkwardly. “Anti. About this weird...eyeball...thing.”

“Way ahead of you,” Anti said, unzipping the backpack. As soon as it was open, a ball of glowing green shot outward. Jackie and JJ made near-identical shrieks of surprise. The floating eyeball hovered in the middle of the room, twirling as it looked around. “Second item of business: this fucking thing!”

“Jesus,” Marvin breathed. “What...what is it?”

“It is clearly an eyeball,” Schneep pointed out.

“No, I mean—” Marvin sighed. “What...is it? Why is it like...t’is? Alive? And big? And glowing?”

“I’ve been doing some research,” Jameson said, picking up his phone and unlocking it. “There are some magician-run websites online that have been helpful. But I can’t find any references to a living, glowing green eye, so it’s not an established magical creature, and therefore probably unique. And if it’s unique, it’s called a ‘being.’” He shrugged. “Simple, broad term that can cover a lot of different things. Basically, it’s magic, and it’s intelligent, but it probably wasn’t ever human at some point.”

“Very helpful,” Anti remarked.

While the others were talking, the eyeball was flying about, seeming to examine the room. At one point, it crept up close to Mr. Fluffington, who was sitting on the floor by the couch. Fluffington leaned forward to sniff the eyeball, and seemed to accept it as not a threat. He did try to smack it, but the eyeball dodged just in time, flying back over to hover near Anti’s head.

JJ lowered his phone. “Well, look, all I’m saying is that we’ve never seen anything like this before. So to the rest of the world, it doesn’t exist.” He laughed bleakly. “Seems we attract that. Never before have we seen a time traveler, a vigilante with shock abilities, and a zombie-like thing that can hypnotize people.” The laughter died into a disappointed sigh. “Which means we...don’t have any outside help with this.”

Jackie kept watching the eye as it moved. “At least this thing seems friendly,” he pointed out.

Anti nodded in agreement. “Yeah. It can, uh, understand what we’re saying. Right, um...Mr. Eye?” The eyeball looked over at Anti and bounced.

“Why are you assuming it’s a guy eye?” Jackie asked.

“I was thinking it was a girl,” Schneep said. “Do not know why.”

“Okay, gender neutral eye,” Anti said. “Mx. Eye. Anyway, we can talk to them. They can’t talk back, though. Or can they?” He reached into the backpack again, and pulled out a folded board.

Marvin leaned over to get a better look at it. “Oh jesus, Anti...” he said. “Is t'at...a ouija board?”

“Yes, it is,” Anti said defensively. “I bought it for a Halloween video last year and immediately shelved it until now. Figured it could work to communicate with our eye friend, cause it has all the letters and shit. What, are you gonna scold me about summoning ghosts?”

Marvin rolled his eyes. “Ouija boards are toys an’ parlor tricks. I jus’ never thought you woul’ be one to buy one.”

“You mock ghost summoning, but we know magic is real,” Schneep argued. “Who is to say ghosts are not?”

“That’s debatable,” JJ said. “I mean, necromancers can summon spirits, but ghosts are a different thing. And also as far as I’m aware, ouija boards are bullshit.”

Anti made a strangled noise. “Jackson! You swore!”

“Yes, I can swear,” JJ said defensively. “It’s not like I”m incapable, I just don’t like to.”

Marvin chuckled. “Yet ouija boards got you worked up enough to allow it.”

“Alright, let’s move on,” Jackie said. “We have a ouija board. How’re we gonna use it?”

Anti slung the backpack over his shoulder and glanced around the living room. He then pulled one of the end tables over towards the center of the room. In the process, he nearly caused the lamp on said table to fall over. Jameson let out an alarmed, strangled noise, and rushed over to catch the lamp. “Why don’t you have a coffee table, Jackson?” Anti muttered. “That would be easy.”

JJ was too relieved that he’d caught the lamp to answer, so Marvin jumped in. “It doesn’ fit wit’ the style of the room,” he said.

“Fuck style, be practical. You need a central table for moments like this.” Anti put the ouija board down on the table surface. Schneep and Jackie scooted closer to get a better look of it, while Marvin leaned forward for the same purpose. JJ sent the rescued table lamp down on the floor and walked over. “Alright. Mx. Eye,” Anti looked over at the eyeball, hovering nearby. “You can use this to spell out words, okay?” The eyeball bounced. “Okay. That’s a yes. Now...what should we ask?”

“Do you have a name?” JJ asked.

The eyeball darted down, hovering over the ouija board and looking down at it. They landed on the YES square.

“Good. So, can you tell us what it is, then?” JJ prompted.

The eye flew back into the air, circling around the board for a moment. Then they darted about, pointing at letters with the end of their retinal nerve. They spelled out S-A-M.

“Sam?” Schneep repeated. “That is not the name I was expecting. Not very...magical-sounding.”

“Nice name, though,” Jackie muttered. “Gender neutral.”

“Sam,” JJ repeated. “Well, Sam. Is there anything you want? With us?”

Sam bounced, and spelled out H-E-L-P.

“Wait, does t’at mean you need help, or you want t’help us?” Marvin asked.

After a moment’s pause, Sam landed on YES again.

“So...both?” JJ asked.

Again, Sam bounced, landing on YES.

“Well, what do you need help with, then?” Anti asked, a bit impatient. “Cause all you’ve been doing is running around my apartment and sometimes staring at me creepily.”

Sam looked down, almost seeming embarrassed. They shot up and spelled out L-O-S-T.

“You’re lost?” JJ asked. Sam bounced a YES. “Well, I’m not sure how we can help you with that. I suppose we could take you back to where you’re from, but...we’re sort of in the middle of...a situation. Do you know that?” Sam glanced at Anti, then bounced YES again.

“Unless you t'ink you coul' help us with t'at?” Marvin asked.

Sam considered this, then spelled out I L-O-O-K.

“Okay, the flying eyeball’s offering to help us search,” Anti muttered. “Great. Fantastic. What the fuck are our lives?”

“Anti shut the fuck up,” Jackie suddenly snapped. “Our kids are missing and we’re gonna do every-fucking-thing we can to find them, and if the magic eyeball is offering to help we’re going to take it! Okay?”

Anti stared at Jackie, eyes wide. He took a step back. “I...didn’t mean to say that we weren’t going to,” he said slowly. “I just...it’s weird. I don’t know. Sorry.” He folded his arms around himself, shoving his hands underneath his armpits. “I mean, they can help. They managed to follow me all night, so they’re...capable. Never mind. Sorry.”

Jackie exhaled slowly, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. “No, I’m sorry,” he muttered. “Didn’t mean to yell. I’m just...freaking out.” Schneep scooted closer to him, reaching out as if to put an arm around him, but hesitated. Jackie leaned into his side, and Schneep pulled him closer.

“Alright, alright, so Sam’s offering to help look,” Jameson said, redirecting the conversation. “That’s good. We can look, too.”

“Eh...Jems...” Marvin said slowly. “You wouldn’ happen to have...a crystal ball or somet’ing?”

“What?” JJ looked over at him. “Well, there’s one that I use as a prop sometimes, but it’s in storage at Jewett. Why?”

“I was jus’ t’inkin’...” Marvin leaned back in his chair. “T’at...maybe there woul’ be some way to use t’at to look for the kids? Magically? I mean, isn’ t’at what crystal balls are used for in fairs and carnivals? True, it’s usually for seein’ the future, and I’m pretty sure fortune tellers are scams, but...somet’ing like t’at?”

Jameson blinked. “There is scrying. That’s a form of magic. We wouldn’t necessarily need a crystal ball, just something reflective. We could pour water in a bowl, and—oh my god, why hadn’t I thought of that sooner?” He hit his forehead with his hand.

“This is a whole mess, Jamie, we have all been distracted,” Schneep said. “Is not your fault.”

“Can we do that now?” Anti asked. “We’re all already here, might as well—shit!” Sam had flown up and tried to land on Anti’s shoulder, but at the slightest touch, he’d started and instinctively tried to smack them away. Luckily, they jumped off at the right moment. “Don’t...don’t do that,” Anti said to them. “Not from an angle where I can’t see you.” Sam bounced.

“Yes, we could do that now,” JJ said slowly. “I know one of my books have a scrying spell in it...we’d need something that belongs to one of the kids—”

“Got that,” Anti said shortly, clutching the strap of the small backpack he’d brought Sam in.

“Um...right. Then we’d just need a bowl of water, which we definitely have.” JJ headed towards the living room entrance. “Why don’t I find the book I had the spell in, and you guys all move to the dining room? I’ll meet you there.”

Okay a few minutes later, the group had gathered around the dining room table. JJ was sitting in one of the chairs, scanning the instructions for a scrying spell on page 239 of the spellbook he’d found. On the table in front of him were the backpack and a wide bowl full of water. “So I think I understand,” JJ said. “There’s no incantation, but not all magic needs one.” He looked over his shoulder. “It might be easier if you two would stop hovering.”

Anti and Schneep, leaning over his shoulders, immediately backed away in unison. 

“So how does this work?” Jackie asked, sitting in the chair to JJ’s right. 

“Well if this works, there will be an image in the water that’ll tell us where the kids are,” JJ explained, closing the book. “If it doesn’t...well, there won’t be, I guess.”

“Let’s jus’ hurry it up, t’en,” Marvin said, sitting on JJ’s left.

“Right, right.” Jameson exhaled deeply, placing his hands on either side of the bowl. It would just take a little magic push for this to work...

A pressure built up behind his eyes, and he soon felt his fingertips tingle with magic. The water in the bowl slowly turned blue, the color spreading through the water like dye. Then it started swirling on its own, a miniature whirlpool starting to grow in the ceramic bowl. JJ quickly broke one hand away from the bowl and touched two fingers to the edge of the backpack. Pulling them away, he left a trail of teal—not the usual color of his magic, interesting—in the air. He tapped his fingers on the side of the bowl, and a streak of teal found its way into the whirling blue liquid. That was what the instructions said should be happening. And now, he just had to concentrate on the kids.

At this point, Jameson couldn’t have looked away from the water if he tried. He couldn’t even blink, eyes fixed on the whirling water as it began glowing. The water swirled violently, picking up speed and throwing droplets high, yet it never spilled over the edge of the bowl.

And then suddenly, it all stopped. The water suddenly smoothed over into a glassy surface, the blue glow fading. Jameson saw his reflection, as well as the reflection of the others, leaning close. Then the reflections faded, turning into a vignette on a blue background. The scene shown in the water was blurry, oddly out of focus, and in colorless grayscale. It looked like the image was moving, traveling down a suburban street like someone out for a walk. The image picked up speed, homing in on a certain location. Then it stopped. The scene blurred, streaks of gray smearing. And when it cleared, it was rushing forward. The group watched as the scene flew out of the city and into the empty fields that bordered the town on one side. Then, abruptly, it faded away into gray fog. The water turned to solid ice in less than a second, cracking the rim of the bowl.

Silence filled the room. Jameson squeezed his eyes closed and opened them again several times, getting used to moving his eyes again. “What...was that?” Anti asked, a note of...was that fear in his voice?

“Was t’at what the spell was s’posed to do?” Marvin asked.

JJ turned to the scrying spell in the book again. “Well, not exactly. It says that sometimes if you’re trying to lock down something that’s somehow magically protected, the spell might ‘wander’ about looking for it for a while. And if it can’t find anything, it’s supposed to just...fade away? There’s nothing there that says anything about that...change of direction.”

“Maybe that was the wandering the book meant,” Schneep said, though he didn’t sound entirely convinced.

“Why’d it turn into ice?” Anti took a few steps backward. Sam, previously hovering nearby, flew over to him. “That doesn’t seem like something that’s supposed to happen.”

“No, I don’t think it was,” Jameson muttered.

“Do you t’ink...Distorter is outside the city?” Marvin asked hesitantly. “Maybe he took the kids away.”

“It’s a possibility.” JJ bit his thumbnail, anxiety working at his stomach. “I suppose, with his powers, he might be able to somehow interfere with the scrying. If we really wanted, we could find another magician to try again, but I don’t think anything will change.”

“Okay, so what do we do about it?” Anti asked. “Are we supposed to check out that field outside the city or something?”

Jackie, who’d been unusually quiet the whole time, frowned, and mumbled, “That’s not...”

Everyone looked at him. “Is...is there something you want to say, Jackie?” Schneep prompted gently.

Jackie folded his arms, grabbing the fabric of his hoodie and balling it in his fists. “I just...don’t recognize...that place,” he forced out. “I-I thought I...I would.”  He shook his head. “They...they might be somewhere else. Which is...is good, really. It’s good that they’re not...there.”

The air felt heavy. The other four all looked at each other with varying expressions of sympathy. “Right, it’s very good,” Jameson finally said. “So...perhaps if we check this field out, we may find a clue to where they actually are.”

“We might,” Schneep said. “Or it could be a trap.”

“Yeah, if Distorter somehow messed with the spell, I wouldn’t fucking put that past him,” Anti added.

“So what I’m hearin’ is we be more cautious t’an not,” Marvin summarized.

JJ frowned. “Well...I still think we should see if there’s anything there. We don’t know that Distorter was interfering with the scry. Obviously we be careful, but we shouldn’t avoid it altogether.”

Anti rubbed his temples like a headache was beginning to form. “Yeah, I get that, what we just need to do is make a plan for when we go there.”

Jackie laughed dully. “Right yeah. Let’s—can we do that tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?!” Marvin repeated, straightening. “Time is of the essence here! We can’ just sit around—”

“I know we can’t!” Jackie snapped. “I’m not saying we do! I just—we’ve done a lot today—”

“And we shoul’ keep goin’ while we’re here!” Marvin insisted. “Might as well hit him tonight! If we’re lucky we can—”

“If we’re lucky,” Jackie repeated, leaning across the table. “We might not be lucky at all! This could be a trap, remember? We—we’re not losing anyone!”

“If we don’t hurry, who knows what’ll happen?!” Marvin emphasized, leaning forward as well. “They’re kids! Are we leavin’ kids t’ere?!”

“No, we are not doing that!” Jackie slammed his palms on the table surface. “I don’t want to wait, but I don’t want any of you to have to—any of you to be taken, either! It’s a risk, but we can’t afford it if anyone else ends up like—like that! With him!”

“Oh, well, you’re a bit feckin’ late if ye don’ want anyone else to be affected by him!” Marvin drawled. “By about a few years—or a few decades, depending on what actually happened t’ere, I don’ remember! They are children. Will we let them alone in t’is situation?!”

“That’ is not what we’re doing!” Jackie shot to his feet. “What, you can’t wait a day?! So impatient! We need a plan, Marvin! Otherwise everyone else will end up like us! Do you want that?!”

“I don’t want children to end up like t’at, either!” Marvin shouted, standing up and putting his face into Jackie’s.

“None of us here do! But we can’t just go rushing in!”

“We can’ wait, either!”

“Will the two of you just shut up?!” Anti yelled. “Fucking god! You’re wasting time fighting when we could be deciding what to do to save the fucking children in the hands of a nightmare!”

Marvin and Jackie glanced over at him, then back at each other. In almost comical unison, they both sat down.

Schneep sighed. “Well, we may need time to break just so you two can calm down. Anyway, we will take a vote. Who wants to go investigate this field today? Raise your hand.” Marvin’s hand shot in the air, and Jameson’s followed, more slowly. “Who wants to meet up tomorrow to plan and investigate then?” Jackie, Anti, and Schneep raised their hands. “Then it is decided,” Schneep said.

Marvin cried out, frustration evident. He stood up, violently pushing his chair back, and stormed out of the room.

Jackie looked after him. “I didn’t...mean to make him...”

“He’ll be fine,” Jameson said quietly. “I’ll talk to him.”

The remaining four quickly decided to meet again early tomorrow. Then Anti, Schneep, and Jackie left, with Sam following Anti. Jameson waved goodbye to them at the door. The minute they were out of sight, he closed the door and pressed his forehead against it. That...hadn’t ended well. He’d never seen Marvin and Jackie fight like that. Sure, they argued, but never about anything serious. Never did it devolve into shouting at each other.

Speaking of which...JJ took a deep breath, and turned around, heading down the hall towards Marvin’s room. The door was closed. If he listened carefully, he could hear muffled sounds from inside. He knocked. “Marvin? Are you alright? The others are gone.” There was no answer. He knocked again. “Marvin? Are you okay?” When there was still no answer, he said, “Marvin, I’m coming inside, alright?” and pushed the door open.

Marvin was lying on the bed, curled up with his back to the door and his face buried in his pillow. Now with the door open, Jameson realized the muffled sounds he’d been hearing were the sounds of sobs. “Are you okay?” he asked gently. “Do you need anything?”

After a moment, Marvin looked over his shoulder to stare at him with red-rimmed eyes. “No, don’ need anyt’ing,” he mumbled.

Jameson nodded slowly. “Do you...want to talk about it?”

Marvin paused. “It’s...I just don’ want...” He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. “They’re jus’ kids, Jems. A-and after ev’ry...all of...ev’ryt’ing that I...” A shudder wracked his body. “I want them t’be alright, but...they might...”

Jameson waited for more, but soon realized it wouldn’t come. “They will be alright, Marvin,” he reassured. “We’ll be looking out for them. I’m sure one day won’t make too much of a difference.” But, though he said it confidently, he felt doubt in his heart. “Do you want me to stay, or...?”

Marvin shook his head silently.

“Alright, then. Just call me if you need anything.” He started to close the door, but then looked down as something brushed past his leg. “Oh, looks like you have a visitor.”

Mr. Fluffington walked inside the room, stopping next to the bed and looking up at Marvin. After a moment, he hopped up onto the surface and began sniffing at Marvin’s face. Marvin made a small laugh, and reached over to pet the cat. “Y’can leave the door open, Jems,” he said.

“Got it.” Jameson backed away, eventually turning and heading down the hall.

This whole thing was...terrible. Not only for Will and Michelle’s sakes, though that was awful enough on its own. But the group was falling apart because of it. Jameson couldn’t let that happen. He’d always fought so hard to keep them together, to keep everyone alright. Perhaps...perhaps there was something he could do. Something that would make everyone happy.

———————

Later that night, at midnight exactly, Jameson left the house, driving out of the city and following directions he’d looked up online. He’d do a quick scout of the location they’d seen in the scrying spell. It wouldn’t take too long; he just wanted to see if he could detect anything magical. Accordingly, he’d dressed in his stage outfit of a cape and his mask—not necessarily required for magic, but it got him in the right head space.

Empty fields bordered the town on the south side. There wasn’t really a distinct end to the city limits, just the suburbs in the south gradually spreading out, then stopping. The paved roads came to an abrupt end, but at different spots for each road. JJ drove as far as he could on the street, then parked his car and got out, staring out at the empty planes of rough, knee-high grass. It looked kind of...foreboding, in the dark. But he’d had to leave at night, so that Marvin wouldn’t know he was going to check it out. As much as Marvin had pushed for them going to the location immediately, JJ knew he’d be upset that he was going out on his own, without any backup.

Uneasy dread curled up in his stomach. Jameson hesitated. If this was a trap, it wouldn’t really be a good idea to be here...alone...without having told anyone where he’d gone. But no, he’d planned this out. He’d read up on several defensive spells in case he’d forgotten any, and even tried out a light illusion spell that would hide him from view. Besides, he didn’t want any of the others to worry. They were upset enough recently, the events of the last few days taking a toll on all of them. He could do this on his own—in fact, he had to.

Taking a deep breath, Jameson forced himself to step off the familiar asphalt of the dead-end street and into the tall grass. Okay, the scrying spell had gone fairly far into the fields before failing, so he had some way to go. And since there wasn’t a lot of cover out here, might as well try that illusion spell. “Kui me malí ab scomumbrae,” he whispered, hoping he’d remembered the incantation correctly. There was a gentle blue glow, and then he felt suddenly a bit chilly—more so than usual for a November night. When he looked down, he couldn’t see his own body. Seemed to have worked.

He kept walking. There wasn’t much to identify one spot in the fields from any other spot, except for turning around and seeing how far away the city lights were. Jameson tried to remember how far away the buildings had appeared in the scrying spell.

It felt like he’d been walking for a while when he decided to try and run a quick detection spell. If there was anything magical out here, he should be able to find it with that. No incantation for this one, just concentration and listening to your inner voice. And his inner voice said that there was something...something further away from the city.

Jameson glanced back over his shoulder. The city lights really were starting to fade into the background. He could make out the shapes of buildings, but he wouldn’t be able to walk back to them—or at least not quickly. For a moment, he thought that maybe he should turn around.

And then he heard...a voice.

Jameson stiffened, and turned back to look over the empty field. He could hardly see anything now, hardly any light from the city stretching far enough to light up the empty expanse of grass. But that voice...it sounded familiar. Was it crying?

Wrapping his cape around himself, he headed towards the noise. It sounded like it was getting closer, but he couldn’t see what was making it. He didn’t want to risk saying anything in case the wrong party overheard him. Maybe...if he cast a light, the illusion spell would conceal it?

Might as well try. He held up his hand, and a brief flash of blue light lit up the area. The sound of crying stopped. “H-hello?” The voice of a little girl called out. A familiar little girl, in fact.

Jameson’s heart stopped. So, Michelle and Will were out here. Or at least Michelle was. But...perhaps this was part of the trap they’d been worried about earlier? JJ silently cast another detection spell. There was magic here, much closer. It didn’t feel hostile...which was strange enough in itself.

“Who’s there?” Michelle’s voice asked, fear ringing in each word. “I-I’m—my name is Michelle Parker-Diaz, I...I came out here with my friend...I-I don’t know where he is...hello? Is anyone there?”

Jameson slowly walked closer. Unfortunately he’d neglected to pull up more light, and in the darkness, he tripped over something in the grass. “Oof—!” He stumbled, but managed to catch himself.

“Hello?!” Michelle’s voice cried. “I know you’re there! Can you help me find my friend? Th-there’s a monster out here, there’s...” She trailed off. “I-it’s close by...”

Something rustled in the grass nearby.

Jameson cast his eyes about again. By now, it was almost pitch black, only the slightest hint of light coming from the moon and stars above. He bit back a curse, then cast another flash of blue light.

The rustling increased. Michelle screamed. “It’s here! Help! Please, someone help!”

All caution was immediately abandoned. Jameson dropped the illusion spell and cast a more substantial light spell, crystallized bits of blue magic dancing around his fingers. The field lit up in a circle around him. He could see the grass rustling, in the same direction Michelle was screaming from. But it sounded like she was getting farther. “Michelle?!” He called. “Don’t worry, I’m coming!” He ran after the screams.

“Help! Please! It’s coming, it’s coming!” 

“Don’t worry! I’m—” Not looking where he was going, his shoe slammed into something hidden in the grass. There was no time to stop the fall. Jameson merely braced himself as he landed hard on the ground.

“No! No!” Michelle screamed again, the sound piercing Jameson’s ears.

And then the scream changed.

Into...laughter.

“You always seemed clever.” Michelle’s voice began warping, lowering and shifting into something that definitely wasn’t her, but wasn’t definitely anything else. “I guess the heart overrides the brain in your case, huh?”

“Shit,” Jameson whispered, climbing to his feet. So it had been a trap. And out on his own, he didn’t have anyone to stop him from falling for it. Well, only one thing to do now. He turned around and ran back towards the distant city lights.

“Going so soon? Aw, that sucks. It was just starting to get fun.”

The city buildings in the distance shimmered like a heat wave rising off the highway. Then they shifted position, now to Jameson’s right. Then to his left. Then in front again. Then behind. Jameson stopped running, turning in circles trying to catch up with where the city was. He raised his hand higher, the crystal blue lights illuminating a greater area. Though it helped him see, it didn’t stop the location of the city from shifting. And it was then that he remembered Distorter couldn’t actually change his surroundings. It was all an illusion. “What was the point of this?” He called out.

“What was the point of trying to find me?” Distorter snapped back. His voice seemed to be coming from all over, making it difficult to pin down his location behind the illusion. “You didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you? Well, maybe you did, considering you waltzed right out of the city. All on your lonesome, too. Nobody else volunteered to come? Wow. Bad parenting, sending someone else to get your kids.”

“Hey, you shut up,” Jameson snapped. “What do you know about parenting?” After a moment’s hesitation, he started walking in a direction that he thought was the way he’d come. The distant city lights were blurring and wavering, and occasionally disappearing altogether.

“Aw, I bet they’re worried,” Distorter said. “Worried about their little bitty babies. Well, don’t. I know enough to take care of them. They’ll be better off here, anyway, than with a violent asshole and a man who can’t even live in the same house as his daughter.”

“That second one is your fault, don’t deny it,” Jameson said. “And that first one is a wild exaggeration.”

Distorter laughed. “Spoken with the confidence of a man who’s never seen another’s thoughts! Oh by the way, you’re heading in the complete opposite direction.”

Jameson rolled his eyes. “And why should I believe you in that matter?” He kept walking solidly in the direction he was going. “You lured me out here, you pretended to be Michelle, you are not above misleading me.”

A pause. “I lured you out here?” Distorter repeated. “So...then you are on your own. No one else hiding in that invisibility spell? It’s just you?”

Icy fear suddenly splashed through Jameson’s veins. “Would I tell you if there was?” He asked, hiding the tremble in his voice. “Let’s just admit we both have reason to lie to the other and call it a day. Or, uh, night. You do realize we outnumber you, yes? It doesn’t matter how powerful you are, we can overwhelm you all together. So are you willing to risk that?”

“Wow, now you’re just rambling. Nervous, huh?” Distorter’s voice faded away.

Something flickered in the corner of Jameson’s vision. He stopped walking and spun around. His eyes darted around the vast, empty surroundings, all dark beyond his little bubble of light. Perhaps it was time to put those defensive spells to use. He muttered an incantation under his breath, and the blue light weaving around his fingers flared, shooting outward in a circle.

Distorter laughed. “You talk too much.”

Jameson spun back around, the blue light twirling away from his fingers and fading in surprise. There was a shuffling movement in the darkness.

And without any warning, Distorter was right in front of him, grinning and bleeding and tackling him to the ground. Jameson cried out in surprise, mind scrambling for a spell to help. But then something red splashed, and Jameson felt a sharp, sudden pain in his neck. He gasped, and choked as something tasting of copper ran down his throat.

Another laugh, and Distorter backed away, disappearing into the darkness. Jameson’s hands immediately flew for his neck, wincing as they made contact with a wound that instantly drenched his fingers in warm liquid. He pressed against it, choking more as the movement put pressure on his windpipe.

“Wow, that’s a lot of blood.” Distorter’s voice was right in Jameson’s ear. He jumped. Something grabbed his hair and wrenched his head backwards. “Yikes. I think you’re actually going to die, magic man. Way out of the city, nobody nearby to rush to your aid...yeah, you’re going to die tonight.” Distorter sounded delighted by that fact. “All these spells and enchantments you can do, and you’re going to die of blood loss. Not a very magical end. Are you starting to feel dizzy? Maybe your vision is going all out of whack. Eventually you’re going to pass out, though, so at least it’ll be like dying in your sleep. And hey, at least the pain will stop. God, what’ll Marvin think? I bet he’ll be devastated. Oh, well. I’ll give him your regards.”

Jameson tried to push Distorter away, but it was so dark, he couldn’t see where he was. Not the priority right now. He gathered his cape into a ball and pressed it against his neck. It was instantly soaked. He had to at least try to get away, didn’t he? It couldn’t...couldn’t end like this.

Was it always this cold? It didn’t matter. He had to stand up. But when he tried, he just stumbled and fell again. Okay, crawling, then. Pushing past the strands of tall grass and just...just heading forward. Just keep going. Keep...

The field was lit up by a golden yellow light.

“What the fuck?!” A female voice shouted.

Jameson caught movement out of the corner of his eye. And also movement right in front of him. The light was coming closer. Was this...?

“Oh my god, what happened here?! That thing—what—? You’re hurt! Wait a minute, don’t I know you?”

Jameson looked up at the light, and then his eyes rolled back and he passed out.

———————

He didn’t expect to open his eyes again. Or at least, not to something so ordinary as this. It looked almost like a hospital, with the rows of beds and white walls. But there was something more...casual about it. There was wooden paneling on the bottom third of the walls, the beds looking more like they’d belong in a bedroom than a hospital. The weird room was empty, except for him...and a red-headed woman sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed.

The woman looked up. “Oh good, you’re awake. How’re you feeling?”

Jameson frowned. His throat...really hurt. He tried to say something about that, but ended up just making a hoarse wheezing sound and coughing.

The woman winced. “I meant with the whiteboard.” She pointed to Jameson’s side. If he’d tilted his head just a little bit, he’d have seen a nightstand next to the bed, with a whiteboard and dry erase marker on it. But then again, tilting his head hurt.

JJ reached over and grabbed the board, scribbling out My throat hurts.

“Yeah...I expect it would.” The woman inhaled sharply. “There was some...serious damage there. That thing managed to carve deep enough to do damage to your vocal chords. Healers say you should be able to talk again...mostly. With some, um...it’s not good, okay?”

JJ blinked. This woman looked familiar. Who are you? he asked. How did I get here?

“Do you have ninety minutes?” The woman asked, then chuckled. “Sorry. Bad reference. Anyway, we’ve met before, a couple months ago. Your name’s Jameson Jackson, and mine is Aoife Kelley.”

That name did ring a bell. JJ cast his mind back, and then it hit him. You’re that ABIM magician who didn’t help us, he wrote, glaring at her.

“Look, I’m really sorry about that,” Aoife said sincerely. “But the regulations exist for a reason. And, uh...if what I saw last night was real, I am so, so sorry for not stepping in. That thing was...haunting.”

Wait, “last night”? JJ wrote. I have to get home! The others will be worried! He sat up straight, throwing away the blankets.

“Whoa, hey, be careful!” Aoife stood up and pushed him back down as he started to stand up. “You lost a lot of blood. The ABIM healers hooked you up with a replenishing potion, but you’re still not fully up and ready.”

JJ glared at her. I didn’t tell my friends where I was going. I have to let them know I’m okay.

“You didn’t...? Well, don’t you have a phone? Text them or something.” Aoife glanced at a clock on the wall. “It’s about eight. I can drive you to your house.” She paused. “And, uh...if you need help with this...whole...situation you’re in, I’m ready to help.”

You didn’t seem so ready to help when I asked for it a few months ago.

“I was! I just couldn’t.” Aoife sighed. “Look, my magical specialty is divination. Last night, I was woken up in the middle of the night, and just...strongly felt I had to go to that field. And when I saw you there, and that thing, I started wondering...maybe our fates are intertwined.”

JJ blinked. If you’re flirting with me, I must inform you that I am very gay.

Aoife laughed. “No, not like that! I meant just like—like I’m meant to help you.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, rectangular piece of wood, which she then handed to Jameson. “I think I’ve given you this before, but this is my cell phone number. If you need help, call or text me, okay?”

JJ sighed. Yes. Alright. I appreciate the offer. He paused, then added, Now can you please take me home?

———————

Jameson entered the house, slamming the door behind him. Immediately, there was a “Jems?!” from down the hall, followed by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. JJ looked over, and was hit by a sudden hug from a familiar figure. “What happened?!” Marvin asked. “Are you—whoa!” He started listing to the side, and Jameson hurried to help him back to a stable position. “Thanks,” Marvin breathed. “Now. Where have ye been?! When d’you leave?! What happened to your neck?! Are y’alright?”

JJ patiently waited for the onslaught of questions to fade, then he grabbed the whiteboard and marker Aoife had generously given to him, and wrote out, I made a very bad decision.

“Okay, what was t’at?”

I went to the field we saw in the scrying spell.

“On your own?!” Marvin grabbed Jameson by the shoulders. “What were ye t’inkin’?! I know I was all for actin’ quickly, but together! Not by yourself in the night!”

Jameson looked down at the floor, then up again. I just thought this would be the best way, he explained.

Marvin blinked. “Why?!”

It took a while to write out that response. Well, we do need to get the kids back, sooner better than later. But I didn’t want to trouble you or Jackie because you were upset after that fight. And Anti seemed a bit overwhelmed with that Sam eyeball and all the stress. And Henrik has his own plate full.

“Jems,” Marvin said, sounding absolutely stunned. “Okay, yes, t’is is all correct. But did ye really jus’—just t’row yourself into danger so as to not make anyone upset?!”

Jameson paused. Well it sounds bad when you put it like that.

“Oh my god, Jems.” Marvin buried his face in his hand. “Ye can’ look out for ev’ryone all the time and not yourself. You’ll get hurt.”

Figured that one out, Jameson pointed out, resisting the urge to touch the bandages wrapping around his throat.

“I mean you’ll get hurt in your head,” Marvin said. “It’ll run you dry. Look, I didn’ call any of the others yet, but we were s’posed to meet up later t’is mornin’, right? So we still meet up, we tell ev’ryone what happened, and then—then!—you are goin’ to rest up and not worry about anyone other t’an yourself. Alright?”

Well...I’ll probably need that rest, anyway, JJ wrote slowly. He hesitated. Marvin. There might have been some...permanent damage. It’s a long story, but...if I’m lucky, it’ll be difficult to speak. If I’m unlucky...He couldn’t bear to finish writing that sentence.

Marvin nodded. “Well. We’ll deal wit’ t’at when it comes. I’m sure we can tackle it. And for once, I will be the one making sure you are alright. And you are goin’ t’like it!”

Jameson let out a wheezing laugh that he cut off not long after it began. Thanks.

“You’re welcome. Now. Go lie down, I’ll call the others.”

Jameson headed into the living room and lied down on the sofa. Mr. Fluffington, previously towing with a bit of string on the floor, walked on over to see what the fuss was about, and hopped onto Jameson’s stomach. JJ smiled a bit. And despite passing out for about eight hours last night, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

[ren-val]

@fuukonomiko said: How about something about a roomba accidentally summoning a demon while vacuuming a Ouija themed carpet

Senpai has noticed me. Ok this is the product of me thinking too much about the kind of stupid things that could happen if the Primarchs lived in this not so grimdark world. Also magic. And also I am kinda a fan of yours. And wanted to write something fun and very, very silly. Hope I didn’t butcher any characterization.

----------------------

Magnus looked at his study, and saw that it was good. He felt the pride that could only come with the knowledge of well done work and an organized space. Books, crystals, scrying tools, stationery, all kinds of objects laid down with a meticulous, almost zealous sense of place. It was, in many ways, absolutely gorgeous. 

But the best thing on it was the carpet; woven in black and ivory thread in the form of an ouija board. In the beginning he thought it was a joke, and that Jagathai had only sent a picture of it for the sake of laughter, before realizing that his brother was not one for mellifluous mockeries. 

And the amalgam of the beauty of the room and his pride made do something particular and unusual: he took a picture of it and sent it to the group chat he shared with his brothers. 

The first answers were tame and polite: Dorn talking about the architectural characteristics of the room, Lorgar complimenting his literary taste, Vulkan congratulating his efforts, everything was good until he realized he had made a big mistake.

It was the group chat. With his brothers.

All of them.

WHY THE FUCK TO YOU HAVE A OUIJA BOARD ON THE FLOOR?1?! DO YOU WANNA SUMMON SOME WEIRD SHIT?!1 IF SOMETHING HAPPENS I'M GONNA BURN DOWN YOUR PLACE

Magnus groaned for almost a whole minute, scolding himself mentally for even thinking that something good could come from making any part of his existence known to Leman. But even with that painfully gained awareness, he could not let that crass display go unanswered.

Oh here I was, wondering if Leman would ever like something that has actual letters and numbers instead of runic chickenscratch. Pity.

Instead of waiting for a reply, he put his cellphone in a nook of his desk, and tried to forget about the matter. After all, the other rooms needed to be as clean and orderly as his study. However, there was one last matter regarding the state of the finish room, and it was the dust laying in the carpet. A small detail, yet one that annoyed him a lot.

Not because of the words of his brother. No. Not at all. After all, he was wrong, and Magnus needed no proof of how wrong he was. But to prove a bad idea wrong was never a bad action, and besides, the carpet really needed vacuuming.

So, he brought the small robot that served for such a purpose (Perturabo said it was called roomba, but Magnus felt it was a silly name for something not only useful, but also given by his stern brother), and turned it on in the carpet. He saw it was good, and left for the living room to continue the moving.

Things were calm for half an hour, just soft music and the rustle of things being moved to their rightful places. But then the scent of otherworldly smoke started to fill the apartment. And after that a myriad of whispering voices that came out from the study, some even mimicking the mechanical buzz of the little machine. Magnus did not think much of it, until he heard the sizzle of fire, and thought of his books and his treasures being consumed by flame.

He ran to the study, thinking of where had he put the fire extinguisher, the one he thought he would never use. Even if he had thought of many disaster scenarios, no single plan or idea could have prepared him for the sight he encountered in the center of the room. 

Just above the somehow intact ouija carpet floated an inexplicable creature, half man and half bird, covered in everchanging and glittering jewels, its two heads glaring at him, teeth shining within their beaks as if trying to snarl and smile at the same time. It was way too big for the small apartment, and it talked in lies and contradictions in a thousand languages and more. Its mere presence causing Magnus a headache.

Focus. He had to focus. He knew the rituals and the words and the ways to dispel such things quickly to their immaterial plane. He had practiced and honed his abilities to do so. But he may be in the need of some help to subdue the thing that was looking at him. He could call someone, anyone.

But the mere thought of someone thinking that Leman was even a tiny bit right (he was not, by any measure, but he could not count on anyone to see that simple truth) made him doubt for a moment. 

Then he realized he was completely alone. The thing had banished.

“Well, shit”

[iguessihavemore]

Just a little content in these trying times

It’s just audition tapes. A big chunk of it you guys have actually made yourselves that I just wrote over in hopes of them flowing together a bit more. So yeah, credit to the creators of each character! Hope you find these fun!

The scene is set in a luxurious bedroom decked out in pinks. A brunette sits at a vanity with her back facing the camera, twisting a final lock of hair around a curling iron. When she frees it, it falls just above the collar of her white T-shirt. She twists around and flashes a glossy smile. “Pardon me for not being completely ready.” She began, smoothing out her denim skirt as she got closer to the camera.

“I noticed too late that my hair wasn’t perfect, and I can’t have that.” She bounced one lock near her face. “My name is Amelia Delaney. Daughter of Johnathon Delaney. He’s not well-known outside of our town, but he owned quite the successful department store in our local mall.” Her expression falters into a distant gaze for a brief moment, but she snaps out of it in a second. “I say ‘owned’ as unfortunately, my dear old father was killed in a robbery gone wrong not long-”

A car door slammed in the background, and Amelia’s face changed to hollow shock. “Umm… and his passing left me alone with my elder sister, Melissa, who’s only pleasure in life must come from seeing me miserable.” A second, closer slam could be heard next, and Amelia cringed with a whispered swear. She made a swift move toward the camera. “And that’s why I need the money. I have to get away from her please I’m losing my mind.” She said in one breath before turning off the camera.

*III*

A beep sounded off, assumingly letting the auditioner know the recording began, as the honey-blonde girl was looking away, leaning in what looked to be her closet doorway. Handmade steamers and folded paper animals littered the frame. “Alright, listen ‘ere, ‘n listen close.” She brought a blade up cooly, twirling it by the handle. “I know I ain’t the sharpest knife in the drawer-”

She froze. She let herself chuckle, and rolled her one exposed eye. She cocked her knife to the side. “...but I think it’s better if you pick me. Annabelle Dwight. For your sake.” She faced the camera lens, giving the blade a gentle lick. “It’ll hurt a lot more for you that way. I promise.”

*III*

Two girls sharing a shirt sat on a bed in the center of the video. One of the two flinched in surprise, as if she hadn’t expected the camera to begin recording, despite the fact that they were both staring at it. “Erm…” They glanced at each other. It was clear they were related, identical at that. The girl on the right attempted to perk up, her smile quavering. “Did you know that the average person is more likely to be hit by lightning twice than they are to ever meet a conjoined twin?”

“Not that we’re… uh, threatening anyone. Putting us on the show isn’t going to make anyone get struck by lightning.” The girl on the left tapped her fingers nervously. Her sister couldn’t keep up her facade any longer either, and deflated. The left one, the one with longer hair, spoke up again. “We’re really, really shy. We can barely be around people that aren’t from the orphanage. When we are… we fall into an act we’ve inadvertently made, a ‘creepy, conjoined sisters’ thing. We don’t mean to, but, like, it’d be a lie to say it hasn’t saved us a few times by some people who think they can get one over on us.”

“We’re pretty strong, all things considered, but at the end of the day we’re still a kind of crippled. The world is scary, so when we’re scared, we naturally try to make it think we’re scarier!” The shorter-haired sister said. “But it’s basically impossible to make friends like that, eheh. Not unless we’re in an enclosed space with the same people for a long time… like the orphanage.”

“Or an island!” The left exclaimed. “And with the oddballs that Total Drama attracts, we might even be able to get used to them faster than we ever have before! Erika and I- er, Avery, is my name- are really excited and hopeful for this opportunity-”

“So please, PLEEEASE consider us!! We all know we’d be good for ratings! Even if we don’t make past the first vote, you get views, and we had a chance!”

The sisters ended the video by begging ‘please’ until it cut off.

*III*

“Hi! My name is Cameron, and to prove I’m Total Drama material, I’m gonna summon satan.” A girl with plum purple hair in a bob cold-opened, the shot swinging as she was in the process of moving it where she needed. She placed it on a short patio table, the time being after sunset, the sky dim. A loud chatter shouted off-screen, indiscernible in video, but Cameron straightened so her head was out of the shot and yelled back, “It’s just for business, mom!”

She lowered down with a mischievous smile, ready to do something with the ouija board and candles set up on the ground. The harsh voice started up again, and Cameron groaned in irritation. She left the scene for a few moments, their voices going back and forth. She returned with a defeated sigh. “Okay, fine, I’m just gonna summon a normal, lame ghost I guess.”

She lit the candles and began to seat herself, but before she sat down her mother yelled once again, this time something about fire could be heard. “UGH, MOM!” Cameron shot to her feet. “I do this all the time! Why do you only care when I’m actually trying to show people-!?” She stomped away once more. Once that chatter ended, she came back and instantly plopped down in her spot with a huff. “Alright, okay. Here we go!” She closed her eyes. There was a pause, the lighting of the video going unnaturally dark. Her green, choppy bangs waved in a sudden big breeze. A content smile crossed her face, the film glitching at the edges. It switched to night vision just as a pair of legs clad in mom jeans materialized behind Cameron, hand on hips, and then the video cut out entirely.

*III*

A platinum blonde, choppy-haired boy clapped in the lens of the camera, pulling his hands away to reveal his panicked expression. “Total Drama! I’d be the perfect contestant for your new show! Or season! Whatever!” He awkwardly did half of some kinda hand gesture. “And I could just do something cool right now to convince you, but I’ve been ready for this my whole life. You’re about to see a compilation of me proving myself for years!” He leaned back a little, looking above the camera. “Thanks for making the montage, mom-”

The film abruptly switched to a shot of a flock of birds, pecking away at a green field of grass. A bush behind them rustled, and the blonde burst out. The birds erupted upwards, but after the curtain of wings cleared, the boy was triumphantly holding one in his hands. A swarm of beaks began to descend upon him before the scene changed.

The next clip started in the middle of the boy furiously arguing. The camera wasn’t initially focused on him, but started to come up behind him. “It was NOT a foul!! How would you know, I was on the field- you’re just some dumb referee! He kicked me first-!” After a turn, it was revealed that the person he was arguing about was a toddler, both of them with potato sacks pooled around their feet. It cut off when a woman came up beside the film taker to ask her to calm her son down.

A few more clips later, it returned to him as he was auditioning. “So that’s why you should pick Jackson!” He screeched. He brought his fist into view, clutching a lemon. He squeezed it with a battle cry, and a spray of lemon juice shot out in all directions. “AAUG-!!!”

*III*

A latina girl with long dark hair stands at a countertop, tapping a spoonful of dried jasmine flowers into a cup and pouring a stream of steaming water over them. She stirs it with a spoon before glancing at the camera with her dark eyes.

“Hello, Chris.” She begins, a haughty tone etching her words. “Starting another season, hm? And here I thought you’d run out of ideas. I mean, building an entire island after the last one sunk? I don’t know how you’ll top that.”

The girl leans forward on her elbows, letting go of the spoon. It continued to stir around the cup as if guided by an invisible third hand. “But let me get to the point: you need new contestants to traumatize. And lucky for you, I’m going to step into that role.” She straightened, waving her hand in the air. The spoon stopped as a cupboard opened on its own, a box of cookies tumbling out and floating over to her. She opens the top as it rests itself on the counter, taking out a cookie to dunk in her tea. “Now, I can’t promise that I’ll start fights with the other contestants, but I will… work a little magic.”

She chuckled, nibbling at her snack. “Something to really blow them all away. I’ll see you there.” She waved lightly with her free hand, sending the film off with a snap.

*III*

“Okay… alright.” A pasty young adult said as they fidgeted. Their pink eyes darted nervously behind their glasses, but held a determination to them. “Hey there. You gotta pick me, Jupiter! Know why!?” They jolted about, picking up a med’s kit into the frame. “Who else can patch up a kid’s leg one-two-three STAT! Eh?” They chuckled under their quavering breath, the kit shaking in their hands. “Ehhhh?” They let out an involuntary sigh, dropping the white box.

“A-and between me and you…” Their eyes flicked about with purpose this time. “I need to be the one to get this money. I- I need my mom to think-” They sighed with a pleading laugh. “I just want… okay, okay, listen my bro,” They clasped their vibrating hands together and looked into the lens. “C’mon man, please?”

*III*

A pink-clad teenager sat on her bed in a pastel room, the wall behind her adorned with heart-shaped decorations, pressed flowers, and pictures of the Greek coast. She gave a short wave with her ebony hand. “Hello. My name is Marina. I am fifteen years old. I am applying to be considered as a competitor in the newest season of Total Drama.” She stated one-after-the-other, smiling and getting to the point with each thing she said. 

“I am a great team player. I always play fair, no matter who I’m up against. And if I win, I would like to have my Sweet Sixteen in Greece.” She finally let herself get a little off track, her eyes trailing to the side. “I mean… my sister, Stella, would be upset that I didn’t put the money towards our Quinceañera… but I’m sure she’ll understand. Eventually.”

Marina perked up as a door opened off screen. She watches someone get closer to the camera, until another girl’s face is right in front of it, completely blocking the shot of Marina. “Oh, hey Stella. I thought you were outside picking berries?” Her voice said.

“No berries.” The newcomer stated.

“No berries? What about oranges?” Marina suggested.

“Yeah.” The face turned towards her sister.

“Yeah? You want to go pick oranges? We can make orange cake.”

“Yeah!” She moved away, revealing the auditioner once again.

“Okay, let’s go pick some oranges.” Her eyes followed Stella out of her room. She stood up towards the camera, picking it up to her level. “Well, that’s all the time I have. Pick me! Um- please. Thank you.”

*III*

An auditorium is already applauding when the tape begins, a girl in a bright blue hijab coming up to center-stage to take an impressive-looking award.

It cuts to the same girl at a field, standing on her hands and looking forward. Her legs bend backwards but her feet stay placed about her head, with no help beyond her own strength and flexibility. She holds a bow and an arrow with her toes, only showing her strain once or twice, but nowhere near enough to break her steely demeanor while doing such a feat. She pulls back the string with one leg, and releases it. The camera follows the arrow through the air until it sticks its landing just above the bullseye on a target a few yards away.

The scene cuts again to the young woman, now in a completely different outfit and addressing the camera herself. “My name is Nadine, and I’m a winner. As a competitive acrobatic, you know I don’t go for easy wins. Your game show is in a similar boat, but I intend to accomplish it with just as much ease. Observe.” She turns and picks up a new bow ‘n arrow, flicking a lighter and catching the arrow head on fire. She got in the position from earlier, and began to draw back the string. On its way, however, it nicked her head scarf and left a flame- and with the way her eyes widened, she definitely wasn’t oblivious to it.

*III*

“Is this thing even on?” A girl with bright green hair pulled back with a bandana muttered to herself. Her tongue was sticking out as she messed with it, until finally noticing the blinking red light. “Oh! Okay!” She jumped back, revealing that she was standing in a kitchen, dressed in a pink apron. “Hi, I really want to be on Total Drama! I’m really cool and super strong and I bake awesome cookies-”

She reaches for a pan on the counter in front of her bare-handed, and begins to hold up her freshly baked cookies for the camera. Utter pain shoots across her face as she drops the pan, screaming. A bang makes her shout again, pulling up a reddening leg that must have gotten hit by the hot pan.

“OW OW OW!” She chants, hopping around one-footed. “Ugh, I’m so stupid-”

The hopping jostled the camera. The shot suddenly became a blur as it fell to the ground, shattering the lens.

“Oh, dangit!!”

She shuffles towards it on her knees, her chin just cut off. “Uhh… My name is Paulie, by the way-” It cut to black on its own.

*III*

“-But I have my audition tape right here-” The video was trained on a fully clothed boy standing in his room, but the person filming moved the camera around wildly. They briefly settled on a shot of a roll of sticky tape on a desk that the auditioner was gesturing to. “Why are you filming-? To prove that it’s mine-?”

An irritated growl sounded out of frame. “That’s not going to get you into the show, Roger!” There was a quick pan between the boy and a windowpane on the next wall, then back to him. “Show them what you can do or you aren’t going to be picked!”

“What are you talking about!? I want to be on it if YOU want me to be on it, but I already told you I’m not cut out for it! They aren’t going to like me any more than anyone else does!” Roger argued.

A hand materialized from behind the camera and lightly clutched the cloth on his shoulder. “You need to win the MONEY, dunce! They’ll pick you once they see your tricks- now jump out the window!”

The boy gasped in shock, despair filling his eyes. “I can’t believe- you finally want me d- dead…” He whimpered. He tore away and went to pout on his bed. “Leave me alone, then…”

Presumably his sibling yelled in frustration, shaking the camera. “Fine! I’ll just follow you around until you accidentally do something…” They griped before switching off the video.

*III*

Not much can be seen at first except for a silhouette leaning forward, framed by the orange light of a campfire. A flashlight flicks on, and the tall girl in front of it can be seen in full color, plus a few trees of the nighttime forest around her.

“Howdy!” The girl says sweetly and boldly. “The name’s Rosie! I saw your little TV show on forever ago, and I’d like to camp with y’all!” 

She gets to her knees and reaches into a backpack mostly offscreen. “I can do all kinds ‘a knots, I can do them backwards, sideways, inside-out, blindfolded-” She twisted the rope around as needed then tossed it aside. “I can hike to the top of a mountain in a day, swim upstream in a thunderstorm, and know every single berry by heart!” She reached into her pockets and pulled out two handfuls of small blue berries.

“Right now, here’s a little test. Which one do you eat?” In a moment, she flung both behind her. “Neither!” She shouted proudly. “If you snacked on a pokeberry OR a nightshade, you’d be dead in a heartbeat!”

She placed a hand on her chest, grinning wide. “I love to camp. ‘Makes me feel alive.”

She glared at the camera without warning. Her eyes darkened. “”Pity some folk don’t properly enjoy it. I suppose I’ll have to weed those out.”

*III*

Bouncing up and down on her bed, a girl with a yellow ribbon in her hair greets the camera with a wide smile. Her yellow wall behind her was decorated in stars and displayed several pictures of macaroni art smothered in glitter. A light shadow near the frame moved away, the person behind it ready to begin. “Okay, it’s rolling now. Say hi, Stella.”

“Hi.” The latina girl ducked down a bit and gave an enthusiastic wave.

“So, Stella, can you tell the camera why you want to compete on Total Drama?”

Rather than answer, she waves again with no change in expression.

“Yes, hello Stella. Do you want to be on Total Drama?”

“Yeah!” She agrees gleefully.

“Why?”

“Yeah!”

The girl taping the audition giggles and tries a different approach. “Okay, if you won the million dollars, what would you do with it?”

Stella moved her eyes away as she pondered it, her grin stretching from ear to ear. “Party.”

“You want to have a party?” The other pressed.

“Quinceañera.” The auditioner specified. She closed her eyes, brought her hands up, and wiggled in her seat like she was dancing to music.

“That sounds like a great idea, Stella. Back to the show, are you a good team player?” The camera-girl asked. Stella agreed. “Yeah? And do you like to make friends?” Stella agreed again. “Okay, say goodbye to the camera.”

“Bye bye!” Stella slid off the bed as she said this, already wanting to see the playback.

*III*

Tony doesn’t GET an audition tape. I hate this man. I’ve been trying to think of an audition for him forever and it just. Ain’t. happening.

[sammyspreadyourwings]

U said to talk to u about ur AUs so here I come! Let’s do some more world building yeah? *cracks knuckles* I hope you don’t mind the up-coming long but very incoherent and messy rant about the WITCH!AU because I have MANY thoughts so let’s chat?! :DDD My Halloween loving ass is fucking living right now oh yeah.

World building ??? 👀👀👀

Why did they get rid of my Read Mores on Asks???? Anyway, buckle in y’all long post ahead.

🌠🌠🌠 (01) What if Brian’s presence somehow enhances one’s powers? That’s why he’s always being chased by spirits or other beings and bad witches want him for this and when they can’t have him they want to kill him? (you’d appreciated the extra layer of angst? XD Like do you want me because you truly love me or do you want me because of my Gift that would greatly benefit your own power)

That could potentially be a result because witches that work with spirits because they’re opening up liminal spaces. Not that Brian is aware of it, and is doing it mostly incidentally which is how some nastier spirits get attatched to him and cause some of Brian’s problems.

He does have that moment once or twice, once he figures out how all of this workes.

(02) What hex or spell do you think the witch (or the evil coven? For dramatic movie rivalry effect between sides LOL) cast to kill him? Something related to the hepatitis and ulcer? Disease or other stuffs? (I can’t help but think about the CW TV Series Supernatural witches have so many creative ways of killing someone through hexes, spells and curses)

So I don’t have any names yet, because I am Bad at them. The curse that I currently have in mind is that it’s kind of a paralyzation hex? Like when Brian gets hit with it, it moves more central, so he looses the ability to move and then eventually the ability to speak and eventually breathe.

(03) Imagine how distressed Brian would be because he loves Astronomy and stargazing but during night is always the most dangerous to him? However after meeting the other three they’re always with him (or at least one of them) especially at night? Dragging him out for drinks and all the other fun stuffs that Brian seems to be missing out on. (Freddie will ruffle his hair playfully saying something like you’re safe with us darling we’ll look after you and wink at him but he figures they just want to see him blush so yeah all the usual good old oblivious Brian trope LOL)

Bless oblivious Brian. The insomnia as a kid is what half inspired him to love the stars, because that’s all he’d have to stare at during those long nights. It’s also when those Things He Doesn’t See (his mother’s words) circle around him.

The other three naturally realize what Night means, and how it can affect an untrained Witch especially one that has a Gift like Brian’s. Roger is the one that tends to keep near Brian during the night because he’s simply the best at unnoticable protection charms. And he usually makes a big show of getting into disagreements when he senses that something is Wrong. Because Brian suddenly has a mood drop or John actually feels some kind of spirit (which tend to stay away from him because the dead can’t cross running water).

(04) I imagine the three sometimes turn themselves into animals like cats (witches are so often associated with cats and ravens etc. you know all that) to keep Brian company and to warn off evil beings around him like he’s ours back the fuck off?

Close! They actually use their familiars! Roger’s and Freddie’s are both cats (Roger’s is a maine coon, and Freddie’s is a very sleek looking calico), and Brian usually has to pick them up and put them in the house because “no, kitty, you can’t go to class with me!”

Meanwhile they’re like “dude.”

John’s is usually the one that keeps the best eye on Brian given that it’s a kestrel. She also isn’t fond of Brian because he keeps closing her window! How dare he!

John hasn’t quite managed to convinence her that it’s on accident because Brian doesn’t feel that she’s just not another Bird.

(05) Maybe one night Brian’s having “sleep paralysis” only this time the pressure gets heavier and heavier and help now he can’t breath and he’s panicking but can’t do a thing can’t move a muscle when suddenly he heard a low but cold voice speaking some language (Latin? But not quite there’s an extra edge to it) beside his bed but he can’t understand a word and the pressure just vanished like that. He whines low in his throat and struggles to move and tries to open his eyes but he’s suddenly very groggy and tired and then he felt gentle hands caressing his face and carding through his hair effectively soothing him and the voice is now crooning sweetly, calming him by saying things like you’re safe love sleep now and when he’s about to fall asleep the hands left that’s when he heard at least three different voices conversing with each other outside maybe? One sound worried, one sound furious and the last one seems to be thinking about something but they’re all speaking in some kind of language that he doesn’t understand.

Okay, I dig, I see what you’re doing here nonnie. 

So this is probably when Roger, John, and Freddie kind of figure out there’s something out there trying to get Brian because Drudes (nightmare demons from Germanic folklore) don’t just take a walk about on the prime material plane. Much less someone who isn’t having a nightmare.

Roger is furious, because after chasing the damned Drude away he checked his seals and found that his demonic protection one has been inverted and draws demons to them. He’s screaming his head off, because he doesn’t know why or how some one would know.

Freddie is just worried because Brian hadn’t reacted to it the way anyone else should have. Almost like he accepted that this was a thing that happened and not a literal demon eating his life force.

John is trying to figure out how the Drude got in on the first place, after Roger found out the seal, and why it would come for Brian directly. Freddie’s got the most “magic” out of the four of them, Brian’s being so tightly wrapped away. Maybe Brian is just awakening his powers and because of his Gift the Drude noticed. But Roger is right, Drudes don’t just come on this plane without cause.

Meanwhile, Brian is out cold/out of it for the next 16 hours because the Drude did get a good grip on Bri’s life force before the other three noticed. Which naturally makes the others clingy for like the next month. Roger keeps forcing his weird wood crafting hobbies into Brian’s bag, and John is always hanging around the physics building and Freddie is painting a really weird thing on the wall. Which kind of makes them look like satanists.

(06) Following no. (05) do you think witches have their own languages akin to Latin but maybe they’re some kind of variation? Also will there be different dialects based on uses, regions and powers?

They all have different casting languages, yes! Most are based on latin, while eastern witches tend to stick with very old forms of their countries languages (e.g chinese with china, Hindi). Some are actually symbol based, which Freddie is very adept at because it gives the most versatility.

(07) And you know like in horror movies how people are with Ouija boards and summoning rituals? Brian of course never participates he avoids most supernatural related stuffs like plague but maybe growing up his encounters people who do those type of stuff for fun and he’s kind hearted not wanting them to be in danger so he’d try to dissuade or stop them but once the spirits or evil beings were conjured the beings always go for Brian? The most severe incident is the Bloody Mary one she appears in mirrors and Brian almost got pulled in trying to save his classmate but eventually he was saved by another witch?

Brian grows up not believing in ghosts, but he can’t deny that’s weird that things happen every time they do mess with Oujia boards. The Bloody Mary thing left him with a permanent inability to walk through hallways in the dark. But he does have the scar on his arm from when whatever it was tried to pull him through the mirror. It was weird. He thinks his friend’s mom stopped it because she game them a really long lecture while bandaging Brian’s arm.

(08) Following no. (07) that’s where my this idea came from: do you think maybe one of Freddie, Roger or John’s family member saved Brian before (when he was a kid? A teenager?) although Brian doesn’t know it? (perhaps he’s passed out during that? Roger and John’s family are more likely to do so simply because of geographic wise?) And that elder witch recognized that Brian belongs in the coven with Freddie, Roger and John so he/she/they got home, told them about this very special boy (girl? person?) that they have to protect one day and proceed to spend years arranging for them to “casually” meet and hopefully become friends or even more?

Never considered this... but this is strangely in line with what kind of Gift I have planned for John.

It would be John’s mom that steps in. Brian accidentally invokes a vengeful spirit while playing in the park. It knocks him into a tree before she can get to him. She quickly banishes it before going over to Brian. Her hands push back his hair, checking his head (only a tiny little bump thankfully) when she feels her son? of all people on his skin. She knows John is a very strong Sympathic but for him to be on someone’s he’s never met.

And for this boy to attract such powerful spirits but existing? He didn’t even know what it was?

Well, she’s never been one to question the whims of the earth. Instead she tosses her hair back and starts yelling for someone to help. Ruth comes over quickly, and Mrs. Deacon explains that Brian fell from the tree. There’s no magic coming from Ruth, not like Brian.

Oh boy, she thinks. This is trouble.

When she goes home John is teasing Julie with a rattle. She picks him up and she bounces him on her hip, “I’ve met a special boy, one you’re going to have to protect and teach.”

(09) I imagine that the other three were waiting for the right time to reveal the truth to Brian while shielding him from not just the spirits or demons’ harm but from evil witch covens as well and maybe one day they just had a very unfortunate run in with some elders who harbor malicious agenda - news travels fast? Very soon EVERYONE and every beings that has connection to the Supernatural world KNOWS (except Brian ofc lol) hence the even more aggressive and violent attacks and the other three were constantly on high alert around Brian (while having to act casually it’s hard work really).

They were trying to find the right time, and there’s never a good time to go “so the dead like you because you’re a good transfer spot between worlds oh and the rest of the supernatural kind of hates you or wants to use you because of that.”

Brian finds out about this entire thing when the witch hits him with paralyzation curse. Well just before it because she basically does the villian info dump.

But just before that, when the attacks were ramping up, the others took turns being on Brian watch, cutting their nights short, sleeping in shifts, etc. Roger is literally running out of grimories to look for seals and protection spells. John has to pratically spell a moat into existence around their flat and even Freddie can’t find something to shield Brian’s presence without hampering his magical awakening. 

They’re all getting exhausted, Brian thinks it’s just stress of recording their first album and school work. Except he’s getting a little stir crazy, he’s literally not had a moment alone since the Drude attack (not that he knows it). So when all three of them invietably crash (between the shortened hours and magic drain it says a lot that they went as long as the did). Brian sneaks out.

I don’t think I have to explain what happens?

(10) Haha I like the idea of Freddie being the wild card in every sense especially when it comes to witchcraft obviously considering his cultural heritage is different from the ones in England so he/she/they dresses differently and casts his/her/their magic differently and it infuriates their opponent so fucking much. XD

Freddie uses a hand gesture, the other witch ????? what in the literal fuck? It bothers Roger too because he’s like, this isn’t going to work *spell works* HOW? WHY? 

John actually starts mimicking Freddie’s way of performing spells and his spells get that much more powerful and chaotic.

(11) Sammy I love you. <3333 *blows you kisses*

❤❤❤❤ Thank you for letting me ramble about things!!!

[citialiin]

ooc ; thank u for tagging me in fun memes and stuff! ヽ(　･∀･)ﾉ so i dont flood ppls dashes i just wait until i have a few & put them under readmores.

HORROR ARCHETYPE AESTHETICS tagged by: @ betelguide

GOTHIC HORROR.

gaslights.   corsets.   ballrooms.   candlelight.   mist.   starless nights.   full moons.  cobbled streets.   horse-drawn carriages.   mysterious strangers.   bogs.   moors.  forests.   mountains.   castles.   velvet.   silver.   brass.   gold.   jewels.   domino masks.   the opera.  dangerous romances.   tragic romances.   violins.   roses.   lilies.   empty graves.   crosses.   cemeteries.   snow.   ice.   the gallows.   crows.   milk-white skin.  ambiguous illness.  fangs.   pointed nails.   something howling in the night.   capes.   gloves.   top hats.   straight razors.   lightning.   pipe organs.   underground caverns.   bats.   mice.   rats.   ravens.   cats.   pearls.   attics.   talismans.   axes.   wood.  isolation in a room full of people.   vampires.   werewolves.   ghosts.   coffins.   western europe.   eastern europe.   bones.   churches.   catacombs.   mausoleums.   spiders.   books.

CLASSIC HORROR.

black   &   white.   powder puffs.   red lipstick.   winged eyeliner.   white kitten heels.  black lace lingerie.   icy blue eyes.   rain.   abandoned cars.   skeletons.   acid.  poison.   voyeurism.   switchblades.   strangling.   overcoats.   looking over your shoulder.   trans-atlantic accents.   private detectives.   dinner parties.   haunted mansions.   alcohol in glass decanters.   cobwebs.   perfect blonde curls.   kitchen knives.   shock.   cellars.  dust.  dark alleys.   empty streets.   driving at night.   horn-rimmed glasses.   radiation.  zombies.   serial murder.   paranoia.   the city.   witches.  the devil.   cannibalism.  conspiracies.   amulets.   abject terror.   the american south.   the american northeast.    england.   analog cameras.

SLASHERS.

bloodbaths.   massacres.   wanton nudity.   newspapers.   leather jackets.   letterman jackets.   converse sneakers.   obscured faces.   social unrest.   bonfires.   lakes.  babysitters.   suburbia.   high school.   lockers.   dead leaves in the fall.   jack-o’-lanterns.   outdated television sets.   nightmares.   psychiatrists.   hospitals.  unstoppable forces.   gunfire.   police.   landline telephones.   household objects turned into improvised weapons.   halloween.   secrets.   revelations.   character masks.  scrunchies.   queerness.   wild curls.   morbid humor.   jeering children.  parties.   fire.   swearing.  revulsion.   california.   the american midwest.   ambulances.

PARANORMAL HORROR.

malevolent spirits.   seances.   spells.   missing bodies.   hidden graves.   white noise.   static.   flickering lights.   rings of salt.   demons.   poltergeists.   dark histories.   old buildings.  cold air.   mausoleums.   wells.   urban exploration.   a dog barking at something you can’t see.   black ooze.   old photographs.   faces you can swear you’ve seen before  but can’t for the life of you figure out where.   dark bodies of water.   crucifixes.   priests.   possession.   exorcisms.   dolls.   jump scares.

CRYPTID   &   URBAN LEGEND HORROR.

ALIENS.  blinding light.   dark woods.   driving at night.   claw-marks.   bite-marks.   men in black.   memory loss.  dismembered bodies.   sewers.   flashlights.   cell phones.   video cameras.   cars with tinted windows.   abandoned houses.   unlabeled cassette tapes.  bugs.   big cities.   urban crimes.  clowns.   something rustling outside your window. glowing light.   unsolved mysteries.   suburbia.   mirrors.   the american pacific northwest.   the american midwest.   the american east coast.   hiking   /   backpacking.

THRILLERS.

daylight.   fluorescent lighting.   morgues.   asylums.   unwavering eye contact.  tension.   lit rooms with no one inside them.   a dog digging in the newly-planted flower bed.  steely gazes.   paperwork.   anagrams.   codes.   convicted killers.  missing persons.  law enforcement.   federal agents.  small towns.   suspicion.   paranoia.   subdued terror. dimly-lit parking lots.

CLASSIC NOVELIST AESTHETICS tagged by: @ finestprize

JOHN KEATS. the lavender in sunsets, flowers in the rain, sunlight slipping through clouds,  lazy summer afternoons, the heavy scent of musk, flickering candlelight reflecting off the gold titles of books,  fireflies on a cool summer night, being wrapped in fresh bed sheets, the ache of wanting what you can never have, dripping sunlight like gold,  loving someone so exquisite,  soft lips and soft whispers, fingers through hair, names of lovers carved in trees, broken glass,  the insistence of being perpetually dreamy.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD.   crisp winter skies with cold bright stars,  mahogany wood, the solitude of an early autumn morning wrapped in fog,  empty bottles on stacks and stacks of books haphazardly placed in a messy room,  bruised arms reaching out into the darkness,  cigarette smoke just barely hiding the scent of alcohol,  a wall of books all poetry and old and weathered, the way tragedy strikes in your heart but ends up stopping your breathing for a moment,  your favorite sweater, parties spilling into four a.m. with the stars above spinning and dancing, the contrast of blood against snow,  a purple split lip oozing blood,  black eyes fading to blue to pale skin,  the butterflies of falling in love for the first time, the statues falling apart over time in cemeteries,  the romanticization of self-destruction.

FRANZ KAFKA.  the weight of dread that sits heavily in your stomach when thinking about the future,  decrepit houses cloaked in mystery from children telling stories of people who died there,  the way not even light can escape a black hole, the rich smell of old books, delicate veins in the wrist, ghosts filling lungs,  shattered bones,  raindrops on the tongue,  rusting metal, nostalgia that aches,  the way hope feels like a plastic bag over your head.

H.P. LOVECRAFT.   the anxiety felt when staring into an unknown cave,  pouring rain and mud, a child’s fear of the dark,  thinking so many questions about your existence as you stare at the vast expanse of never-ending ocean,  the silence of three a.m.,  ouija boards and urban legends. (WHO WROTE THIS???? HAVE YOU EVER OBSESSIVELY POURED OVER HP LOVECRAFT LIKE I HAVE??? THIS SUCKS!!! THESE ARE NOT HP LOVECRAFT AT ALL WHERE IS THE SECTION ABOUT CLIMBING UP MOUNTAINS TO SUMMON ELDER GODS AND HOWLING AT THE MOON LIKE A MADMAN AND HAVING A WIZARD BEAT YOU TO DEATH IN YOUR OWN HOUSE)

JACK KEROUAC.   the brisk pine air of being on a mountain,  travels without a destination,  those nights where you’re missing three hours of memory,  screaming to a lifeless desert about how you’re so alive,  coffee shops late at night, car rides at night spent speeding and laughing in the dark, naps spent in the sun,  novels highlighted and underlined with notes and epiphanies in the margins, the way uncertainty sits on the shoulders, ignoring flaws and loving life,  wind through hair,  depression as fog in the brain, impossible ideals, a quiet sunrise,  walks alone, when you think about trying to discover all the secrets to the universe, dazzling people, open lands stretching out into infinity, falling in love with being alive.

EDGAR ALLAN POE.   the ocean’s horizon inseparable from fog,  hollow bones,  a preserved heart held in hands,  twinkling stars above an old graveyard,  the way everything turns to dust,  silent black birds with eyes full of wisdom, self-inflicted flames,  perfection depicted as a rotting corpse,  death as bricks in the heart,  lips barely brushing against each other, glassy glazed eyes,  biting into a lemon,  heart-shaped bruises,  rotting flowers on a grave,  dried blood and spilled liquor,  the hush of dusk when it begins raining,  the intimacy of a secret.

LITERARY ARCHETYPE MEME tagged by: @ manenimittliv

HOMERIC EPITHET:  You are THE GREAT TELLER OF TALES

The Greek hero Odysseus had many epithets ascribed to him (others included “much-enduring,” “cunning,” and “man of twists and turns”), and this was one of them, so you’re in good company.

FATAL FLAW: YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH THE IDEA OF A PERSON.

And then I deleted the rest of this because it didn’t really apply to him. Oh well

LITERARY SETTING: GATSBY'S MANSION

You got Gatsby’s mansion! This larger-than-life crib is the perfect place for a party animal like yourself. It’s located on the Long Island Sound (ideal for swimming, lounging, obsessively staring across the water with a LaCroix in your hand and unattainable fantasies on your mind, etc.), but it’s also just a train ride away from New York City (city of dreams and $1 pizza). But let’s not forget the best part: it’s got a library that’ll make you wanna grab a fluffy blanket and a chai latte and literally never see the light of day again.

this is a lot of useless information. steal them if youd like

[joohoneyhoe]

Like an Animal.

info: park jinyoung fratboy!au x reader genre: smut, dirty talk, rough sex, fluff and some humor word count: 2k prompt: “I made the mistake of thinking ‘This can’t get weirder.’ Sorry.”

“And that is game, ladies!!” I shouted, throwing my arms up in the air victoriously, chest bumping my tall yellow haired friend Yugyeom, who happened to be dressed as Big Bird. Youngjae and the pretty girl he’d been flirting with all night both hung their heads in defeat, though not without smiles.

“Okay, I ne-need another drink. I’ll s-see you soon, sexxxy fox lady.” Yugyeom slurred, swaying slightly as he patted the top of my head, successfully knocking my orange fox ears off. I smacked his butt as he left, letting out a laugh when he fell flat on his face. The boy didn’t handle his booze well. I picked up my fox ears and slapped them back on, walking away from the beer pong table, giving Youngjae a wink as I passed.

At this point in the night, it was pretty late and all the people around me were fairly decently drunk. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, laughing and getting along. I had watched Jaebum walk off with a beautiful girl dressed as Daria early in the night, mentally high-fiving him. He had mentioned her before the party and was really hoping she’d show, like, really hoping for it. I was pretty stoked she did, I would have been disappointed if my best friend was upset the whole night. The dude needed to get laid, that was for sure.

Right before the game of pong started, I caught Jackson and his childhood friend, sneaking up to his room. He was helplessly in love with the girl, it was painfully obvious. I just hoped whatever happened tonight, made him happy. All I wanted for my boys was for them to be happy, even the two dumb ones.

“Foxy lady! Have you seen the sexy…I don’t know what she was dressed as, but she hardly had clothes on, girl?” BamBam questioned me, pulling on my fox tail that was hooked into the belt loops of my skinny jeans. I smacked his skinny fingers away when they took perch on the curve of my ass, he was definitely intoxicated at this point. He had done nothing but jump from activity to activity, drinking and entertaining us all with his idiocy. The Elmo head he had been wearing earlier for his costume had long been forgotten when he tried summoning spirits with the Ouija board. So, now he just looked like a really skinny, hairy red monkey.

“There’s like, fifty of those girls walking around here, B. How am I supposed to know which one is the one you wanted to stick it in?” I inquired, taking the shot from his hand as he glanced around, drunk enough to be oblivious to the fact that I had just taken it away from him.

“Well, fuck! I don’t know, Y/N. You’re the responsible one.” he crossed his arms over his chest and began to pout, making me roll my eyes. Drunk BamBam was a fit thrower, and I did not want to deal with that. Suddenly he perked up, eyes landing on Jinyoung as he walked in from the living room. He was dressed as a doctor, which meant he had put on his scrubs and bought a lab coat. A classic Jinyoung thing to do, dress as his actual profession. BamBam nudged me with his elbow, eyebrows wiggling up and down.

“Hey…you’re gonna fuck him tonight finally, right?” my cheeks flushed instantly, making me reach over and begin smacking him without mercy.

“Ow! Hey, hey! I was just asking, fuck!” he cried out, raising his hands to protect his face. I pushed him away from me, him throwing me a wink as he skipped away happily

Fucker.

Of all people, he’s the last one I should have told I had a thing for Jinyoung. He exploited it every single chance he got and it made me crazy. I quickly ducked away from his line of vision and made a b-line for the bathroom. I didn’t think I could face him right now, especially not when I hadn’t been drinking. Liquid courage. That seemed to be one of the few ways I could be around him without getting uncomfortably awkward.

Thankfully, no one was in the bathroom. I let out a deep breath of relief, turning on the cold water so I could pat my face with it a little. Before I could even dip my fingers into the cool water, the door opened and Jinyoung stepped in, my breath hitching in my chest as I turned off the faucet. He swiftly shut the door behind him, then marched over to me and trapped me between him and the counter.

“W-what are you doing, Jinyoung?” I squeaked, his breath fanning over my face and sending chills down my spine. He had a dark look in his eyes, those orbs filled with something I couldn’t quite place. He smirked down at me, his black hair falling into his eyes, making me want to reach up and push them aside.

“You’ve been avoiding me all night, Y/N.” he purred, plump lips ghosting my ear.

“No, I haven’t.” I lied, eyes looking at everything but his face. He gripped my jaw, but not too harshly, directing my face so I had to meet his gaze.

“You have.” I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth, fingers tightening around the edge of the counter. He moved closer to me, pressing his body flush against mine. I sucked in my breath, heart thudding against my chest. I remained silent, his eyes boring into me, that devious smirk getting wider.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I replied boldly, putting a hand on his chest to push him away from me, quickly walking past him. His fingers wrapped around my wrist, yanking me back. My eyes opened wide in surprise, feeling his free hand wrapping around my waist.

“I’ve wanted you since the first time you came over to hang out with Jaebum and Jackson. I know you want me just as much, I can see it all over your face. We don’t have to be a thing after tonight if that’s not what you want, but at least give me just this one chance. It’s all I’m asking for.” he proposed, his fingers leaving my wrist to push the stray hairs that had fallen in my eyes aside. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding, calming myself. 

Shaking away my insecurities, I reached up and connected my lips to his. His hands immediately moved to hold my face, pushing me until my back was against the vanity again. My arms snaked around his waist, pulling him against me, wanting to feel all of him again. He opened his mouth slightly, his tongue tracing over my bottom lip, making me open up to him without question. His hands moved down my front, finding the button to my jeans and expertly undoing it, along with my fly. He grabbed my hips, fingers digging into the flesh there as he left my lips, making me let out a whimper. He spun me around, pressing his hardening cock against my ass as he tugged my jeans and underwear down my thighs.

“Damn, I kind of liked the tail. I wish you could keep it on while I fuck you from behind like an animal.” he snarled, making me let out a whine at his words, my core tightening around nothing. He flicked one of the ears on my headband playfully.

“These will have to do.” I heard his scrubs hit the floor with a thud, his phone obviously in one of the pockets. The sound of a familiar foil packaging being ripped made the butterflies in my abdomen go crazy. I kept my head bent forward, eyes looking down at the sink so I didn’t have to see myself in the mirror, knowing I was probably a wreck already. Jinyoung had a different plan. His digits tangled into my hair, pulling my head back and forcing me to come face to face with myself. The look on his face was nothing short of mischievous, his soft lips pulled back into a devilish smile.

“Nuh-uh, baby. You’re going to watch yourself as I fuck you. I don’t want you to ever forget this.” he rubbed the tip of his cock along my folds, coating it in my arousal, his lips parting as he groaned.

“You’re so wet for me already.” he whispered as he slowly pushed into me, my walls enveloping him eagerly. A moan left my throat as he bottomed out, my hands balling into fist at the amazing feeling. He kept his tight hold on my locks, making sure I remained where he wanted me.

“You feel so amazing around me, baby. I can’t wait to make you scream my name.” he pulled out almost completely, then slammed back into me, my hips banging against the side of the counter. I let out a loud cry of pleasure, clenching around him as he began fucking into me roughly. He pumped in and out at a rapid pace, still holding my hair as he eyed me in the mirror. Moans slipped from my lips like I was reciting a prayer on repeat.

“Look at what a mess you are under me already. You’re absolute putty under my hands, aren’t you?” he probed.

“Yes!” I choked out, reaching back to grab onto his lab coat as he fucked me into the marble counter.

He pulled me up so my back was flush against his hard chest, letting go of my hair so he could grope my breast as the other hand moved down to rub harsh circles around my clit. My body jolted at the stimulation, making me keen into him, head resting on his shoulder. I could feel the burning in my stomach, my orgasm building up like an active volcano, ready to erupt at any given time.

“Fuck-I’m so close, Jinyoung.” I confessed, pulling my arm up behind me to thread my fingers into his soft black hair. I felt his lips against my neck, leaving behind petals of purple and red along my exposed flesh.

“Come on, cum for me, Y/N.” he moaned into my ear, teeth latching onto my lobe and pulling. His fingers picked up their pace, but still kept rhythm with his hips as he thrust into me with force. I could feel myself getting closer and closer with every snap of his hips, fingers tightening their hold in his hair. He applied more pressure to my aching bud, making my climax rush over me, roaring into me like an angry tidal wave. His name left my lips in a shrill scream, my body pulsing as he kept pumping into me to reach his own release.

“Fuck, Y/N!” he exclaimed, letting out a loud moan as he spilled his seed into the condom, hips stuttering a little as he came. He continued, his movements languid, drawing out his pleasure as much as he could as his fingers still worked against me. When he finally stilled, he rested his forehead against my shoulder, the only sound filling the room being our heavy breathing and the muffled bass of the music just beyond the door. He carefully removed his softening member from me, taking the condom off and tossing it into the trash as I pulled my clothes back in place. When I turned around to face him, he was already put back together, a smile on his handsome face. I leaned back against the counter, arms over my chest as he approached me. His fingers brushed along my flushed cheeks, eyes scanning my face.

“I really like you.” he told me, locking eyes. A smile spreading across my lips at his confession, my heart seemingly fluttering in my chest. I placed my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

“I really like you too, Jinyoung.” he returned my smile, bending down until his lips hovered over mine.

“Good.” just as I thought he would kiss me, the bathroom door opened and slammed against the wall, startling us both. Yugyeom and BamBam stood in the doorway, both swaying and giggling uncontrollably as they looked at the two of us.

“Told you t-they’d, that they’d bone. You–you owe me forty bucks, you big yellow dick!” BamBam gloated, smacking his best friend in the chest. Yugyeom scowled, shoving his friend out the door, making him slam against the wall and crumble to the floor.

“I d-don’t owe you shit, you–you redheaded fuck!” he yelled, tripping over BamBam and falling on top of him. They began to wrestle, incoherent words spilling from their drunken lips. I looked up at Jinyoung, shaking my head in disappointment. 

“I made the mistake of thinking ‘This can’t get any weirder.’ Sorry.” I remarked, giving him a shy smile.

“It wouldn’t be a GOT party without a little weird, now would it?” he pointed out, leaning in to plant a soft kiss on my lips.

“Touche.”

[emetkoto]

well i guess to finish it off i should ask about dm, 5d's, and arc-v

hhh sorry this took so long i have a lot of jumbled thoughts here i had to sort out and i got sidetracked a lot but here it is!!

readmore bc its a lot and im actually not on mobile for once

From DM we basically just have the Kaiba bros and Kisara rn,,,

Kaiba is a dragon enthusiast who’s life goal is to see a real one and has the time+money to pour into it, Mokuba is a kid who mocks his brother’s endeavors at school, and Kisara is…dragon lady,,,

OH RIGHT there’s Ryou (Bakura, why are there two Ryous in yugioh) too!! An occult enthusiast who’s captured several monsters on film already and poses a huge threat to Placido and Carly’s jobs,,,,be careful kid, playing with ouija boards can be dangerous,,,,you never know what you might end up summoning B)

we might add Mai in the future but for now thats all we have from DM sorry agjkds

5D’s and Arc-V tho,,,we got the goods

Yuuya and Yuugo are twin elves who live with Rin and go around causing trouble both in the forest and outside of it (since they can blend in with humans pretty well they have no problem sneaking out into the city). Yuugo likes to challenge everyone he meets to races, and Yuuya just likes telling jokes and pulling pranks on people to see them smile.

Yuuto is a zombie! He died in the forest and then a few days later he just kinda….got up like nothing happened??? his reaction and processing times are slower and his skin is all grey but other than that he’s p much just going about his life as usual. He has to eat flesh to survive but since he was a human himself he prefers to eat animals bc the idea of killing a human and eating them is kinda weird to him,,

Yuuri is a naga who lives in the same cave as Johan. He’s got a real long snake tail and really strong venom in his fangs that he’s more than happy to use on anyone who annoys him or who just happens to be passing by while he’s hungry…he’s kind of a jerk honestly but w/e Johan gets along with him well enough to remain cavemates with him

Yuzu is a land-dwelling siren! She goes around the forest singing her songs for fun but unknowingly draws in humans from outside which usually leads to them getting killed by another monster,,,,she doesn’t mean it she just wants to sing she has no ill feelings towards humans really,,,,,her dad was a human but she hasn’t met him

Ruri is ofc a harpy! More specifically, she’s a starling girl bc I love that,,,,she likes to fly around the clearing over the lake with Rin and her brother and lives up in a big ol nest/treehouse thing above Rin’s house…………and yes, there is Swiftshipping that’s the whole reason i started this au

Rin is a witch who’s aligned with the element of wind! She can do all sorts of magic but she’s best at controlling the wind and can fly on her broom. Her house is made from a big hollowed out tree and she has a cute little cat friend named Windy! She mostly uses her magic to help out her friends, including making the wind conditions ideal for Ruri to fly in

Selena is a feline shifter who can take on the form of a blue cat. She’s pretty antisocial so she just kinda hides out on her own and rarely comes out to talk to the others,,,also she doesn’t like humans one bit and attacks any who stumble into her territory. Being a weird blue cat, she’s a pretty popular urban legend among the humans

Shun is also a harpy, but he’s a falcon! He’s v protective of Ruri after their parents were killed by hunters,,,he hates humans and has no trouble killing them even if they mean no harm,,he’s a bird of prey so it’s super easy too bc he’s got sharp ass claws

Reiji is the spirit of a young man who died in the forest but had his body eaten before he had a chance to maybe revive like Yuuto did,,,,his soul latched onto what was left of him which was a beautiful red scarf, and he now possesses it. If the scarf is put onto/by anyone he can take over that body and use it as his own for a while, but it will turn to dust if he stays in it for too long so he’s always changing hosts. He can possess bodies that still have their souls intact but sometimes they can fight back and force him out so he typically choses empty vessels bc it’s just easier. Since he’s literally just a scarf without a body, he relies on Reira to carry him around and find him new hosts. He doesn’t force them to do this, they do it of their own free will

Reira is an otherworldly being that takes the form of a young child with mirror-like eyes, and if you make eye contact with your reflection in them, your soul will be stolen. (They can’t control it, so if there’s someone whose soul they don’t want to steal they’ll close or cover their eyes) They use this power to free up new bodies for Reiji. The two of them really only see humans as vessels so they have no remorse about what they do

Tsukikage and Hikage are the same being technically?? They take the form of a semi-humanoid shadow monster, but at night they’re Tsukikage and during the day they’re Hikage,,,the two don’t share memories and often forget the other exists. They hang around Reiji and Reira most of the time…..and yes this combined with Kaito’s condition means that it’s basically impossible for Tsukikage and Kaito to ever meet

Mieru is a witch who also practices fortune-telling and considers herself Saiyou’s rival in the fortune-telling business (he really doesn’t even acknowledge her tho)….she may or may not have been the witch who cursed Edo

Idk about Hokuto and Masumi yet but Yaiba is a werewolf like that one was obvious lol,,,,maybe they’re a rag-tag group of monster hunters and once a month Yaiba has to run off to the forest for full-moon shenanigans so he doesn’t hurt his friends or smth…yeah I’ll probably go with that

Shingo is the mayor’s son and he’s always riding around town on his bike and he’s Hella Stressed so he goes into the forest a lot for a moment of peace but usually runs into a monster which just stresses him out even more whoops

Ray and Zarc are both angels but Zarc is fallen and was sent away to live with the humans bc he sinned,,,,specifically, his sin was envy and Vector’s is pride but i forgot to mention that in the ZEXAL ask whoops! o yeah and he’s friends with Vector and you can bet they’re upto no good at all times

Shinji is the head of the local newspaper that Carly and Placido work for and he’s like 0% convinced that monsters exist but they get on his nerves so he lets them go out looking for them to get them off his back for a few minutes…ironic bc he’s married to a monster

Sora is a cute half bear boy who is just the cutest damn thing in the whole forest but whoops he’ll kill you if you get too close so don’t be fooled by his cure little face or his toe beans he will end you

and that’s it for Arc-V I think??? as of rn anyway

now 5D’s,,,,my favorite series,,,

feels weird to put him up top but here goes

Placido is our protagonist bc idk….love that weird guy he’s fun to work with and he needs more love!!! too bad all we give him is suffering oh well lmao…anyway ye he’s also a reporter trying to prove monsters are real but he’s like SUPER into it he learned witchcraft to help him and collects cursed artifacts and other magic items and is just an overall Nerd….also he’s Lucciano’s older brother and they bicker all the time just like you’d expect if you forced those two to live together. Also he soul-bound himself to a demon just bc that’s something he can do!!! he just does whatever the hell he wants in the name of discovery and i LOVE him

Yuusei is just a human who runs a little repair shop and went into the forest one day looknig for scrap metal but found Bruno instead and brough him home and fixed him up and now he has a robot bf bc cmon my url is toolshippings

Bruno is an android of unkown origins,,,where’d he come from? Nobody knows really,,,,he used to get mistaken for a human a lot so he got attacked by monsters a bunch until he couldn’t really function anymore and was left to rot away until Yuusei found him and fixed him up. He was so thankful he decided to stay with him and help him out since he’s really smart and now they’re in love

Crow is like,,a semi-shifter? He has these wing markings on his back that can sprout into actual wings but since they just kinda look like sick tattoos while retracted he can just kinda chill among the humans and even managed to get married to one in Shinji the bee man

Jack is our other dragon shifter and he’s a much bigger dragon than Ryoken and surprise they might be half brothers and they’re super competitive about everything,,,,Jack is really good at staying in human form which is something Ryoken is super jealous of so whenever Jack comes to the forest to get a break from being human the two always throw down like the dumb brothers they are,,,oh yeah and Jack is dating Carly bc Scoop is another mimi must-have

Aki is a nymph who can make plants grow! She can’t really control her powers too well so she lives in the forest to avoid being judged even tho she could probably pass as human,,,she’s often mistaken for a witch which makes her mad so…don’t do that if you wanna live

Rua and Ruka are twins who were dumped in the forest when Ruka began to show weird powers (namely regeneration and the ability to heal others) and so they were taken in by older monsters and raised as such,,,even tho Rua is literally just a human kid,,,Ruka has to pretend he’s some kind of monster so that the others don’t like kill him or smth

Carly is a human reporter who’s in a friendly rivalry with Placido to see who can get better proof of the existance of monsters first and despite not knowing the fancy witchcraft he does she usually ends up winning bc unlike him she can take a half decent photograph….shame her eyes suck so they usually come out kinda blurry and unconvincing tho lmao. she’s like partially aware that Jack is a monster??? she has suspicions but she loves him so much she doesn’t bother digging deeper and honestly if she found out he was she wouldn’t even really care it’d be like “cool can i take a photo of you”

Sherry is a soldier who’s stationed outside the gate around the forest! She’s supposed to try and stop people from going in and getting hurt but they fucked up and gave her a patrol on the one side of the fence that nobody ever tries to enter so her job is really easy but also peope still get in and get hurt so…whoops? also only really antisocial monsters live on that side so she’s never seen a monster in her life and is among the majority who believe that there’s just a bunch of animals in there and that’s why ppl die when they go in there

Kiryu is a fuckin,,,immortal bc no i wont let this man rest ever. He’s been alive for thousands of years and he usually lives among the humans since the only thing thats weird about him is the fact that he never ages but once in a while he retreats to the forest to chill for like 200 years when ppl start to get suspicious of him bc by then they’ll all be dead! also even if you shoot him 500 times he wont die so long as theres some of him left he’ll regenerate and keep living the poor guy…let him rest

Paradox is an incubus who uses his good looks and charm to lure humans into a false sense of security so he can devour their souls to lengthen his lifespan and maintain his youthful appearance….he tried this on Placido but that didn’t go well and now they’re soul bound and he can’t kill him or leave or he’ll die so guess he’s gotta help this loser with his quest…he lives around humans for easy access to food and bc his human form is very convincing

Z-One is a humanoid monster with a blank face that’s usually hidden behind a mask! He can wear the face of any dead person he wants, and uses this to lure other humans into the forest to kill so he has more faces to wear

Lucciano is Placido’s little brother and he goes to school with Mokuba and together they just mock their older brothers all day honestly,,,sometimes he gets dragged into Placido’s schemes and has to hold a camera or read a spell or something like god let him do his homework already

Bonus: Kusanagi does exist but I forgot to mention him in the VRAINs ask,,,he lost his brother to the forest so he just kinda sets up his hotdog stand outside of the gate hoping that maybe he’ll help his brother find his way out??? or draw out a monster who’s seen him,,,also he pities monsters so he gives them hotdogs for free if they’re brave enough to approach him and thats how he became friends with Yuusaku

[laresearchette]

Wednesday, April 01, 2020 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: THE CHALLENGE: TOTAL MADNESS (MTV Canada) 8:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT GARTH & TRISHA LIVE! (CBS Feed) DAVID BLAINE: THE MAGIC WAY (ABC Feed) EATING HISTORY (Premiering on April 12 on History Canada at 11:00pm) BERING SEA GOLD (TBD - Discovery Canada) LEGENDS OF THE WILD (TBD - Discovery Canada)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME/CRAVE/NETFLIX CANADA/CBC GEM:

AMAZON PRIME

22 JUMP STREET 30 DAYS OF NIGHT ACROSS THE UNIVERSE A KNIGHT'S TALE ARMED AND DANGEROUS BAD BOYS II BATTLE LOS ANGELES BIRDS OF PARADISE BIRDY BLACK DYNAMITE BLACK HAWK DOWN BLIND FURY THE BLOB (1988) THE BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE BRIAN'S SONG (1971) BY THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA CASUALTIES OF WAR CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS COMEDY WAVE #3 (Season 1) DICK (1999) DRUNKEN MASTER ELYSIUM FALLEN (2017) FORTRESS (1993) GHOST RIDER SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE GO ON GODZILLA 2000 GODZILLA: FINAL WARS GOODNIGHT MOMMY GUERNICA THE HEROES OF TELEMARK HITCH THE HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS JOURNEY TO THE WEST: THE DEMONS STRIKE BACK THE KARATE KID THE KARATE KID PART II THE KARATE KID III KILL 'EM ALL KNOCK OFF KRULL LAKE PLACID (1999) LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (ORIGINAL) LES MISERABLES (1998) LET'S GET HARRY THE LINDA MCCARTNEY STORY THE LINDBERGH KIDNAPPING CASE MASTERMINDS (1997) MEN IN BLACK THE MONUMENTS MEN THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS NO GOOD DEED (2014) NOWHERE TO RUN (1993) OPEN SEASON (2006) RAMBO: LAST BLOOD THE REMAINS OF THE DAY RUNAWAY (1984) SERVING IN SILENCE: THE COLONEL MARGARETHE CAMMERMEYER STORY THE SMURFS (2011) SNIPER (1993) SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE SPIDER-MAN 2 STALINGRAD (2014) STARMAN (1984) STARSHIP TROOPERS: TRAITOR OF MARS THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 (2009) TOY SOLDIERS TROOP BEVERLY HILLS WILD AMERICA XXX YOUNG GUNS YOUNG GUNS II

NETFLIX CANADA

40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE THE AGE OF INNOCENCE ANGER MANAGEMENT BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA CASPER CHARLIE ST. CLOUD COMMUNITY (Seasons 1-6) DAVID BATRA: ELEFANTEN I RUMMET DAWN OF THE DEAD DUNE EUROPA REPORT EVOLUTION FAR FROM HEAVEN GOSFORD PARK HOW TO FIX A DRUG SCANDAL THE ILIZA SHLESINGER SKETCH JONAH: A VEGGIETALES MOVIE JUDY MOODY AND THE NOT BUMMER SUMMER LITTLE CHILDREN MAGIC MIKE MAID IN MANHATTAN NAILED IT!: (Season 4) RESERVOIR DOGS THE SKULLS THE SQUID AND THE WHALE SUNDERLAND 'TIL I DIE: (Season 2) TROY TWINS WAITING... WE OWN THE NIGHT THE WEDDING PLANNER WHITE CHICKS

BIG BROTHER CANADA (Global) 7:00pm (FAREWELL)

DIGGSTOWN (CBC) 8:00pm/9:00pm (SEASON FINALE): Marcie defends a hair salon owner who is charged in connection with the assault of a gang member; Doug's relationship with a former client place him and Pam in the crosshairs of a misconduct complaint. In the Season Finale, Marcie defends Dani Ewing, a white female facing arson and hate crime charges after homes in a predominantly black suburb are set on fire; Reggie mediates between Velma and Austin when they end up on opposite sides of a land ownership dispute.

SPIRIT TALKER (APTN) 8:30pm: Shawn visits the Maliseet community of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick where he learns the story of Malabeam; a young woman is consoled by a connection with her beloved aunt and a brother gone too soon reaches out to his grieving sister.

HAUNTED HOSPITALS (T&E) 8:00pm:  A forensic technician is horrified to discover the dead have followed him home from the morgue. A caretaker develops an unhealthy obsession with an abandoned hospital after a terrifying brush with the paranormal.

THE OTHER GUY (Super Channel Fuse) 9:00pm: AJ's show threatens legal action with his ex-girlfriend, Stevie explores a new use for dating apps.

TRANSPLANT (CTV) 10:00pm (SPECIAL TIME): An incident at work causes Bash to second-guess himself; Mags is inspired by a firefighter devoted to her work, even if it means risking her life on a daily basis, and June must learn to work with others.

EDWARDIAN BRITAIN IN COLOUR (Documentary) 10:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Edwardian Britain was the richest and most powerful country in the world; exploring what that meant for the men, women and children hard at work in the mills and the mines.

PARANORMAL 911 (T&E) 10:00pm: A firefighter unknowingly summons a spirit via an Ouija board; a firefighter responds to two false alarms at the same amusement park; a paramedic and his partner are called to help a cardiac patient down a dangerous and curvy road in Key West, Fla.