#barbara pierce

[rroaddkill]

Barbara Pierce, to Daniel Pierce, in curse of chucky: I'm not gonna let you destroy this family with your sick, paranoid, accusations!

Charles to Sarah, in a flashback, in that same film: why.. would you wanna destroy this family?

[marvelmaniac715]

This isn’t a fanfiction. I actually decided to write that essay I joked about in my last post. I just want to give a word of warning: I am probably not qualified to talk about this, I’m not a psychologist, I just wanted to give this a shot and write my observations on the Chucky franchise through the lens of parental abuse.

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After a long period of examination, I’ve concluded that the Chucky franchise is mainly about Chucky traumatising and interfering with the lives of various children. This could perhaps be an allegory for parental abuse and manipulation. In this essay I will examine Chucky’s relationships with Andy Barclay, Jake Wheeler, Barbara and Nica Pierce and Glen and Glenda Tilly-Ray-Valentine.

It is fair to assume that (before their murders) Chucky’s parents spoiled him. This is evident when they do little to nothing when he smashes his birthday piñata with a bat. The fact that young Charles is comfortable and unafraid of doing this in front of his parents suggests that something similar happened before and was not challenged or corrected. Perhaps overindulgence fed into Chucky’s anger issues to the point where, if denied, Chucky flies into a rage?

As well as parental abuse (which I will discuss shortly) Chucky has frequently engaged in domestic abuse as well as murder. His relationships with Sarah Pierce and Tiffany Valentine display a large amount of entitlement and mental instability, from killing his romantic partners’ loved ones to threatening their lives if not worse, Chucky’s desire for control is evident in his interactions with women. His murders could be seen as an outlet for his fury, he almost always seems happier (if not calmer) when he’s killed someone. In his own words, killing helps him to ‘relax’, and much like the destruction of the piñata, this form of destructive behaviour has been encouraged by people such as Tiffany and Dr. Mixter, who should have endeavoured to correct this behaviour yet refused to due to their own fascinations with Chucky’s insanity.

The first two victims of Chucky’s parental abuse are Barbara and Nica Pierce. Whilst it’s not explicitly implied that Chucky abused Barbara (probably due to a desire to raise her as his own) up until her death it is clear that she has been impacted by the traumatic events of her youth. She struggles to maintain a healthy relationship with her husband (probably recalling what happened to her mother, even subconsciously) and has a nanny raise her child. A reason for this (as well as for social status) could be either an inability to connect with her (not wanting to get attached in case she loses her in a similar incident to what happened to her and her mother when she was young) or a desire to protect her child with additional help, refusing to let Alice go through what she went to. The trauma that Chucky induced at an early age led Barbara to seek distractions or answers in life, through religion and an affair with Alice’s nanny.

Nica is an example of the longterm effects of parental abuse. Before she is even born, one of Chucky’s outbursts leaves her paralysed (years later, Chucky denies responsibility for this and insists that he is the victim). This betrayal makes it harder for Nica to trust people, especially when Chucky possesses her and tries to make her cooperate with him. 

Whereas Nica Pierce is an example of the longterm physical effects of parental abuse, Andy Barclay is an example of the longterm mental effects of parental abuse. He first encounters Chucky as a child, and the doll sends the boy’s life into total upheaval, eventually causing him to be removed from his mother. Along with physical violence, Chucky tries to manipulate Andy into thinking that he was sent from his deceased father to be with him, almost trying to take Andy’s father’s place in his life. To this day, Andy cannot ever feel safe because he always fears that Chucky will hurt him again. If looked at through the lens of parental abuse and not a desire to steal Andy’s body, Chucky’s continuous attempts to hurt Andy could be attributed to a desire to control, cultivated in his youth due to a lack of intervention when Chucky first displayed violent tendencies.

Glen and Glenda are Chucky’s only biological children. His relationship with them contains a continuous cycle of punishment and reward: when they obey him they are praised and rewarded, when they disobey they are attacked and punished (Chucky even threatens to ‘punish’ them in the finale of Season 2). There is also clear favouritism, the child that seems similar to Chucky is praised and the one that favours peace is shunned (this could be attributed to Chucky’s underlying narcissism). One of this is when Chucky thinks that Glen is a murderer like him and calls him a ‘natural’, yet when Glen comes at him with an axe he doesn’t hesitate to attack because Glen is disobeying him (interestingly though, when Glen kills him, he is immensely proud because Glen is exhibiting behaviour that Chucky considers desirable in his offspring). Another example of this is when Chucky refers to Glenda as his ‘favourite kiddo’ when it appears as if they are going to free him: the child that is the most helpful or like him at a certain moment will become his new favourite.

The relationship in which the parental abuse is most apparent is the relationship between Chucky and Jake Wheeler. Following the death of his father, Chucky almost tries to take a parental role in Jake’s life, trying to mould the teenager into a younger version of himself and even snooping through his things. Even though Jake purchasing Chucky was by chance and Chucky needs any innocent person to kill in order to raise his army, I personally believe that Chucky’s narcissistic tendencies once again come into play and he begins to see Jake as a younger version of himself (this is supported by the fact that teenage Chucky looks slightly like Jake). There is yet another endless cycle of punishment and reward, when Jake agrees to kill he is rewarded with a pleasant conversation in which Chucky gives him advice and tells him about his childhood, but when he disobeys Chucky, (it is heavily implied that) he gets beaten. Despite apologising and claiming it will never happen again, Chucky attacks Jake in the finale of Season 1 and throughout Season 2. Another example of Chucky manipulating Jake to try and endear himself to the teenager is that he claims he is (at least) an ally to the LGBTQ+ community by mentioning his gender fluid children Glen and Glenda and insisting that he is not ‘a monster’. This too is proven false when he mockingly says to Jake ‘that is so gay’ in the finale, causing the boy to retaliate. 

In conclusion, the Chucky franchise could very well be an allegory for parental abuse and manipulation, explored through Chucky’s relationships with the various children and teenagers he encounters. The violence that began unchecked in Chucky’s youth developed into murder and a ruthless desire to control anybody even remotely under his care, mentally and physically traumatising people such as Andy Barclay, Nica Pierce, Jake Wheeler and Glen and Glenda.

[nicascurls]

You wanna know something I noticed when rewatching Curse of Chucky?

Just how fucking nervous and uncomfortable Nica is during the dinner scene, and a lot if not all of it is because of Barb.

It gets even worse if you think about it with the context of one of the scenes before when Barb is trying to manipulate Nica to get her to move into a care home so she can sell the house.

As soon as the table is set you can hear everyone complementing Nica (especially Ian who I argue that until Chucky, was a way better sibling to Nica than Barb was) apart from Barb who just makes a passive aggressive comment on how she used the nice china. This being just after Nica asked her to sit next to her, Nica must have been so desperate to convince Barb that she was capable of taking care of herself.

Not to mention, Barb then asks Father Frank to say grace after Nica had said earlier about her and her mother leaving the church a long time ago. You can clearly see how awkward it makes her feel.

The part that I noticed most recently that hurt me was how Nica reacts when everyone starts eating. You can see in the shot that Nica is about to start eating with everyone else before she stops herself and just nervously watches as everyone takes their first bite.

After Barb's attempt to manipulate Nica, she must have known that if even the slightest thing went wrong during that dinner Barb would you that as 'proof' that Nica couldn't cope on her own.

[jokey05]

I genuinely think that by some paradox DC was WAY more inclusive and "woke" in the '90 than now. Like so many POC characters, the firsts queer relationship in comics, many more disabled characters and representation than today. Not all of them were written well, mind you, but at least they were doing something instead of just showing up during Pride moth and then disappearing in limbo forever after a couple of cheesy lines. And we are not talking enough of all the disabilities erasure in the last years.

[snersona]

cons of being a detective

[purty-pumpkin]

More doodles! As promised!!! : P

[joethehoeee]

My last prompt from Stricklake month was a little...Angsty. So now I will give you some fluff.

My sweet babys, I love them so much 😭🩷

For anyone who might ask "but Strickler technically can't walk under the sun- 🤓☝️"...SHUT-

Nooo. Valid Question...

Answere:

There is a small ring on his finger...a certain object that was magically changed to allow him to walk amongst Humans in the sun.

I made it so that Barbara and Walter are bound together, she get's a longer life/his aging while He gets her ability to walk throu the sun/eat more human stuff. I personally didn’t wanna make him have his human form because...

Come on...We all know Troll Walter is supermercy and absolutly more attractive than human Walt...right?

Anyways...this is MY happy ever after AU and YES you will get a writing and possible art for their Wedding as well...and maybe the Wedding night...👀

But for now, enjoy my Art and fanfiction for it.

Fanfiction Link

Other Versions + Closeup:

[nicascurls]

I always saw Nica as pretty maternal but that is far from her only quality.

I also think that specifically with Alice, part of what made Nica so motherly towards her (at least in my opinion) was because of the way Barb borderline neglected her daughter. Nica knew the pain of being treated like a burden by Barb and wanted to protect her niece from that pain.

For fuck sake if we get a s4, I really don’t want Nica to become the three stooges adoptive legal guardian in s4 or something close to it as imma be real that would be a total disservice to her character who I’m pretty sure she is never wanted to be a parent in Curse but a cool aunt. Please Mancini do not do this to Nica if you want to kill her off or something.

[thingsasbarcodes]

Young Justice 3x06 - Rescue Op

[damianbugs]

what are your favorite wlw ships in the dc universe?

anissa pierce and grace choi are recently on my mind because oh my God. they're so important. everyone should read The Outsiders (2003) for some of the most entertaining found family and realistic (or as realistic as superhero comics can get) romance ever. eventhough anissa and grace get together at like the end of the run you can tell from the beginning that theres some intense chemistry there ans they're just sooo cute ☹️

after that it has got to be diana and barbara ann. save me toxic yuri à la Wonder Woman (2016). i think every single hero needs that one relationship with a villain/anti-hero that they just can't give up on no matter what. it makes them so complicated and REAL because the most wonderful thing about love is it's ability to preserve through the impossible AND THAT IS LITERALLY DIANERVA!!!! they are foils and they want to get nasty everytime they lock eyes.

now i can't discuss dc sapphics without mentioning kate and renee. they were my first ever wlw ship i read in comics and i am very happy for it. as a lesbian i find comics can be a very isolating place, with very few characters and ever fewer stories, so reading Batwoman Elegy was quite literally a life changing experience. and while i loved all of the relationships kate had, her one with renee is such an interesting one with all its ups and downs and very real experiences that i love very dearly. my divorced parents, if you will.

[annah-kitathryne]

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

- Maya Angelou

Still I Rise

International Woman's Day

Colaborated with: @val-el @jesamnelovelace @sinhal and others

Part 1 , Part 3

[sawyerconfort]

WELCOME TO MY WORLD!

New era, new masterlist!

Here we go!

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

RULES (I know is pinned as heathers but is the same for every other fandom ;))

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

HEATHERS

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN

YELLOWJACKETS

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

RANDOMS

chiquitita | robin buckley x reader

juliet to your juliet | sarah sanderson x reader

a witch’s fear | sarah sanderson x reader

car’s outside | elizabeth olsen x reader [part 1 | part 2]

i see stars | cady heron (mean girls the musical) x reader

stargirl | wanda maximoff x reader

every breath you take | barbara minerva x reader (ongoing...)

take my breath away | nica pierce (chucky!nica) x reader

enjoy the silence | lorraine broughton x fem! reader

dancing with the devil | verna x reader

[marvelmaniac715]

Remember that essay that I wrote on here about Chucky? Well, it occurred to me that Nica studied psychology, so maybe I could write a fic where Chucky’s trying to annoy her and she just does a full on psychological analysis 😂. I’ll give it a sappy ending because that’s my favourite type to write, and it’s set during Season 2 of the tv series where Chucky/Nica, Kyle and Glenda are hiding out together because I thought it would be fun. Enjoy it :).

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Today, Chucky thought he’d try and play ‘psychologist’. His logic for this is that he spent some time in a mental institution, so he was basically an expert. Nica just rolled her eyes and ignored him as he tried to piece together her (in his words) ‘messed up’ childhood. But then he tried talking about her dad, and that hit a nerve.

“Okay Charles, let’s talk about you.”

This stopped the doll in his tracks.

“…Excuse me?”

Nica smiled sweetly knowing full well he could see her and politely responded:

“You’re excused.”

Chucky seemed flustered now.

“W-what do you know about me?”

Nica scoffed.

“You talk too much. When I get bored of your blabbering I look through your memories to see how you got like this. After months of careful examination, I’m confident I have a full psychological profile that can explain why you are the way you are.”

Now Chucky seemed really nervous.

“I’m like this because I wanna be, there isn’t some touchy feely crap that-‘

“Wanna talk about your mom, Charlie?”

If Chucky could’ve killed her, he would’ve.

“Nobody calls me that.”

Nica smirked knowingly.

“Two important women in your life have.”

Trying to regain control, Chucky retorted:

“Yeah well, I hate to break it to ya, but you ain’t an important woman in my life.”

Nica choked out a bitter laugh.

“I disagree, but I’m going to move on. Shall we begin?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Great, let’s get started! Okay, this is just my best guess, alright- I’m spitballing here. But… little boy kills his mom in a panic and realises that he made a huge mistake. Big strong man that reminds him of his newly dead dad teaches him a valuable lesson and spares his life so the idolising of violence begins… you move to a Boy’s Home and the only person who truly understands you calls you by the nickname your mom called you in moments of extreme fondness and rewarded you with I’m guessing physical affection like hugs and head pats when you committed a destructive act. She treated you like the little boy you still were inside despite having to grow up quickly in the foster system. Oh yeah, and I’m pretty sure she groomed you.”

Chucky seemed outraged by this point.

“Okay, two things. One, how the hell did you know all that? And two, I wasn’t groomed, isn’t that only to do with-‘

“It counts for other things, the thing you’re referring to is just the most common one. In your case I believe she was grooming you to be a killer in order to live out her own twisted fantasies- maybe more, she creeped me out so I didn’t look at those memories too much. But you grew up, and she still treated you like a kid when you were convinced you were an adult. So, craving independence, you distanced yourself from her and began hunting at night clubs, right? That’s where you met Tiffany and began a super toxic, borderline abusive relationship that spanned several decades. But she wasn’t enough, was she?”

After a quiet moment of reflection, Chucky admitted:

“She was just… too much.”

Nica nodded sagely.

“Exactly, and you wanted to be loved, didn’t you? At that point in your life you didn’t want someone who could match or maybe even surpass your level of crazy, you wanted a family, with someone who was (in your eyes at least) innocent and untainted. And what could be more innocent than a pregnant woman who already has a fully potty trained kid ready to go? But she didn’t love you, and my sister didn’t warm to you the way you’d hoped-‘

“I tried everything to get that stubborn brat to like me. She refused to call me Daddy so I settled for Uncle, but that wasn’t enough, oh no. I brought home every toy I could find, I even untied her mother for a few hours a day once I’d locked the door because it made her sad. Hell, I let her keep going to daycare! Why didn’t she like me if you’re so wise in the ways of psychology, Nica?”

“Well, you killed our dad. That doesn’t usually make for a great start. Also, I’ve seen those memories and… you looked sorta creepy. Would a haircut have killed you? You looked like Tommy Wiseau in that really bad movie ‘The Room’. I kept expecting you to ask some one called Lisa ‘Why’ and respond to a man called Mark’s trauma with ‘What a story, Mark’. To a little kid, you probably looked like the boogeyman.”

Chucky’s only response was a quiet and disbelieving:

“My hair wasn’t that long-‘

Nica cut him off with a mocking:

“Maybe he was born with it? Maybe it was L’Oréal?’

She punctuated her last sentence with a dramatic head toss, letting her hair sway from side to side.

‘L’Oréal: Because you’re worth it.”

“We’re getting sidetracked here.”

“Yeah, maybe. Anyway, where was I? Psychopathic tendencies…’

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

‘Classic textbook narcissism…’

“I’m not a narcissist.”

‘It shows in the way you attempted to raise your kids-‘

“Don’t you fucking talk about them. And I’m not a narcissist.”

‘So you don’t believe you’re God- sorry, Damballa’s gift to this world?”

“Well… I am pretty great…”

“I literally want to slap you right now. Anyway, moving on. We’re just gonna skip past most of the doll years, the height perspective makes me dizzy. But I would like to discuss the twins, thanks for bringing them up, by the way. I thought you’d forgotten that they existed-‘

“Why would I forget my own kids’ existences?”

‘-Well you aren’t a great dad, you tried to kill your own six year old-‘

“He started it.”

“That’s very childish logic, but I digress. You traumatised that poor kid because you expected too much. You wanted them to be like you. You made Glen kill when they weren’t ready and Glenda made their first appearance because the kid was so stressed out that their twin probably felt the need to protect them! You were a horrible parent and you still are!-‘

“I’m an amazing parent actually.”

Nica raised an eyebrow.

“Oh really? What were their first words as dolls?”

Chucky thought for a second, then he said:

“Not sure about Glenda, but for Glen it was probably ‘violence is bad’, they said that a lot.”

Nica shook her head.

“Nope. Not even close, and even I don’t know. How about first words as humans?”

“Tiff was raising them, so probably something like ‘Mama’?”

“And you wish it was ‘Dada’, don’t you?”

Chucky didn’t answer, so Nica tried again.

“It’s okay to admit you love your kids and regret not being there-‘

“I don’t regret anything.”

“Okay, strong words for the guy who willingly transferred his soul into a doll.”

“Every move I make is meticulously calculated.”

“Stop changing the subject Charles, we’re talking about your kids here, your flesh and blood. How you failed them.”

“I didn’t fail my children.”

“Glen told me that they don’t feel whole, neither of them do, they were born in one body and they were meant to be together, but you went along with your wife’s batshit surrogacy idea and literally fractured their souls. Don’t you feel guilty about that?”

“…Maybe.”

“Do you tell your children you love them?”

“Hey, I called Glenda beautiful-‘

“You did, but in the same conversation you called them ‘Shitface’ despite knowing about their trauma. And we both know that was just to get them on side so they’d free you. Now answer the question, do you love them?”

Chucky didn’t say anything, so Nica kept talking.

“Your kids- or Glenda is at least- are terrified of you. The poor kid has to constantly be at your beck and call otherwise you scream at them. You haven’t tried to get to know them, you haven’t talked about their interests- your twins like art, did you know that? The twins waited their whole lives to meet their dad and now they’re learning that he’s a tyrannical monster who doesn’t give a crap about them. I mean, what’s your plan in the long run? Have the twins stay by your side to rub your tiny doll feet or some shit as your army rises to the top? Kill them and stuff their souls into any old doll so you have more soldiers for your little army? You aren’t parenting them, Chucky, you’re torturing them.”

Chucky finally spoke, but he wasn’t as defensive as before. He was quiet now, as if he didn’t want to admit this.

“I don’t want them to be scared of me. They’re actually the only people I don’t wanna scare. But… I don’t actually know how to love someone. I failed every time I tried. I couldn’t make it work with anyone, platonically or romantically. Do you know how much it hurt when I had to fight my own kid? I was so proud of them when they used that axe… I think I’m starting to realise that violence is the only way I can properly express myself. Maybe in a way me fighting Glen was like if I was teaching them to ride a bike or something, I don’t know, I’m not a psychologist. I’m getting off topic, but what I meant to say is that I do love my kids deep down, but I don’t know how to show it.”

Nica was taken aback. She hadn’t expected this sort of breakthrough, not when Chucky always seemed so convinced that he did nothing wrong and had zero flaws. Maybe her comments had actually been getting to him? There was no way to know for sure; this could be some sort of act after all, but if it wasn’t, she wanted to try and repair Chucky’s relationship with his children. If only to cheer up the heartbroken twins (after speaking with them a few times, Nica actually really liked them, they were sweet and almost nothing like their dad). With this in mind, she suggested in a soft voice that was barely above a whisper:

“I don’t think you have to do anything… overt, exactly, just tell them the truth, that you love them and feel bad about how you treated them. Do you want me to give you control of the body for an hour so you can tell Glenda?”

Chucky was confused.

“You hate it when I take over, why would you do that?”

There was quiet, then a tired sigh.

“I’ve been in the twins’ shoes. I would do anything to hear my dad say he loves me, even once. And you’re still alive, so you have no excuse not to do it.”

With that, an agreement was made and Nica voluntarily fell asleep so that Chucky could control her body. It was quite late, so Kyle wouldn’t be up. But would Glenda be? Chucky had no idea. Even when he had control of Nica’s body it took him about fifteen minutes to work up the courage to wheel into the small bedroom that his youngest had claimed as their own. He chuckled when he noticed that Glenda slept sprawled out like a starfish - just like he had when he was first human. 

It occurred to him that he had no actual plan from this point onwards. He refused to launch into some sappy speech, he just wouldn’t do it. But he wanted to do this, and Glenda was asleep so there would be no shame or embarrassment on his part unless he woke the kid up (which he wouldn’t, he had experience sneaking around at night). Clearing his throat, Chucky began to whisper:

“Hey kid, you up? No?… Good, because this would be awkward for us both if you were awake. I don’t have much time till Nica wakes up again and bugs me, so here goes… I love you. This isn’t some sort of manipulation tactic or something stupid like that, I actually do. And I’m sorry for pretty much everything. You and Glen didn’t deserve to be dragged into this mess, so my bad.”

It didn’t feel like enough, despite the fact that Chucky’s heart was pounding in his chest with fear and panic with the knowledge that he’d been brave enough to do all that. Extremely unsure, Chucky extended a metal hand (it was so weird to have no sensation in either arm or hand, he’d experimented with his new limbs several times and was still confused) and cupped the side of Glenda’s face.

In their sleep, Glenda smiled and contentedly nuzzled into the cold metal hand. Chucky denied all of this when both Nica and Glenda asked him about it the next morning. 

[nicascurls]

Calm During the Storm

Word count: 1.5K

Summary: December of 2011 and Barb, Ian and Alice have just arrived and are staying over Christmas. Nica is already struggling with the pressure from her sister until her niece knocks on her door that night.

Notes: I was in another one of my 'mourning Alice' phases and remembered the headcannon I had come up with before. Long story short I thought about that headcannon for a long time and ended up with this idea. I also really liked the idea on expanding on Nica's past a little and trying to add a bit more to Daniel's character since we know basically NOTHING about him.

Tags: @streets-in-paradise @losersclubisms

It hadn’t even been a day and Nica was already exhausted. Between Barb's constant critiques and making sure Sarah was still doing alright without letting said sister know, she was truly starting to understand where the analogy of spinning multiple plates came from. She had already come to terms with the fact that it was going to be a long three weeks. It’s not that she wasn’t happy to see her sister, of course she was, unfortunately her sister never seemed as happy to see her.

Nica often prided herself on being able to read people, to understand how they are feeling and pick up on what she can do to make them feel better. Growing up with her mother it had essentially developed into a 6th sense for her, yet it seemed she could never perfect it for Barb. No matter what she did to make things right for her sister, there was always something wrong; if her mom wanted to cook it was reckless of her to leave her unsupervised yet, if she helped Sarah she was controlling and overbearing. If she stayed in she was lazy and needed to do something with her life but if she went out she was selfish for leaving Sarah home alone when it made her uncomfortable and of course, the classic ‘you need to let mom take care of you, you can’t manage on your own’.

Nica loved her sister, there was never any doubt about that but in her mind she just wished that things could be the same as when they were kids every once in a while, before Barb was so focused on finding faults. 

Sarah had insisted on cooking that night, she had wanted to make the first dinner for her family after they had all arrived. Naturally, Nica had joined her in the kitchen, insisting on being the one to cut up the ingredients, Sarah was doing much better but Nica was still wary of her zoning out on occasion. She was happy to see her mom motivated to do things again, she had been eagerly awaiting it since she started painting again the week before. October and November had always been the hardest time of year for Sarah and the sisters had learnt that from a very young age, Nica was used to quiet birthdays because of that. Sarah always did her best and Nica understood that, no matter how bad Sarah was feeling, no matter how often she was zoning out she made sure that Nica got gifts and a cake on her birthday. But the zoning out had been bad this year, there being days where Nica had to stay sat with her mother to make sure she ate, waking up each night to her mother’s screams from her nightmares. The fact that Barb and the rest of the family hadn’t been able to make it for her birthday this year certainly didn’t help, hence why they were there so early for Christmas. 

The dinner went as well as could be expected overall, nothing burnt, nothing broken, a silent apology from Ian for every passive aggressive comment from Barb and of course, Alice being as cheerful as ever.

There was a flash of light from outside, as the storm continued. Nica was honestly grateful for it, she welcomed the sound of the rain and the thunder, if she focused on it enough she could use it to block out Barb’s comments that were constantly replaying in her mind. Nica had just changed and was more than ready to get into bed when she heard a knock on her door.

“Yeah?” she called out to the person on the other side of the door and watched it slowly open before she was met with the hesitant eyes of her 6 year old niece. Alice looked at Nica as she made an expression of mock confusion before speaking, “I could have sworn I read a bedtime story to a girl that looked just like you a couple of hours ago…” Alice’s face broke out into a small grin that Nica quickly mirrored. “Come here, you.” she spoke softly, holding her arms out for a hug. Alice quickly closed the door before rushing over to Nica, climbing into her lap and returning the hug.

“Bad dream?” Nica spoke again as Alice shuffled back slightly to see her face before giving a small shake of her head.��

“I couldn’t get to sleep.” She responded in a small voice, “I don’t like the storm.” Nica continued to hold her niece, her thumb gently stroking the arm her hand was resting on as she gave Alice another smile.

“I see, is it the lightning? Does it scare you?” The little girl shook her head again.

“No, the thunder. I don’t like the loud-” She was cut off by another loud clap of thunder and instantly snuggled further into her aunt's chest. Nica tightened her arms around the girl in response, she knew how this went, it was hardly the first time. 

“It’ll be alright,” She whispered into her hair, “How about a sleepover,  yeah?” Her niece’s response was instant, leaning back to meet her aunt’s eyes with an enormous grin on her face before getting up and running over to Nica’s bed. Nica let out a soft chuckle before wheeling herself over to one side of her bed, Alice having already burrowed under the covers on the other side.

Once Nica had settled on the other side of the bed she heard Alice's voice once again, "Auntie Nica?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Does the storm make you scared?" Instantly Nica knew where this conversation was going, she had overheard Barb arguing with Ian about it multiple times.

"Not really, I quite like listening to it. But it can make me a bit nervous at times."

"Why does it do that?" 

"Boring grown up things, the storm can cut the power sometimes and then Grandma and I have to get it fixed."

"Oh," Alice's face fell a little, "Mommy says I'm too big to sleep in with her and Daddy when there's a storm but it's scary on my own."

"Well, good thing this is a sleepover then." Nica took another breath, "You know, your Mommy and I used to be scared of storms too."

"You did?" Nica gave a nod at her niece’s look of wonder, "When you were my age?"

"About the same, your Mommy was definitely older than you otherwise I wouldn't be able to remember it. Do you know what we did?"

Alice shook her head with a curious smile as she pulled her Teddy closer to her.

"We would count the time between the lightning and the thunder, there's less time between it the closer the storm gets and after that the storm will pass."

"Really?"

"Mm hmm, do you want to try it?"

"Yeah."

Over the next ten minutes the two spent the time counting quietly after each lightning flash as Nica watched Alice's eyes begin to close.

"Goodnight, Sweetie." Nica whispered as she drew the covers over her niece’s shoulder.

"Can you make Grandpa's carousel spin?" She asked through a yawn.

Nica exhaled through her nose and let out a smile before turning over to reach for the object on her bedside table. It was a small antique looking thing with a forest green top and golden patterns decorating the edges, a dark wooden base and three small white horses that moved around to a tune whenever the key at the back was wound. Alice adored it ever since she was a baby just the same as Nica, it was one of her most prized possessions. 

It was a gift her father had bought before she was born, he had given in and taken Barb on a trip to the toy store on the condition of a one toy limit. Whilst that condition appeared to be met, when the two were in line to pay, Daniel had spotted the carousel and ultimately decided that with the baby on the way, it would only be fair to buy something for them too and little Barb had agreed instantly. Daniel had been killed only a few days later and despite laughing at his enthusiastic insistence when he had first returned with Barb, Sarah ended up clinging to the thing like a lifeline. After Nica was born it turned out the tune the carousel played was the easiest way to settle her as a baby and still brought her an enormous amount of comfort to this day. Nica was happy that it seemed to comfort Alice in the same way.

She carefully reached out and wound the key before settling back down as the tune began and she watched the 3 horses start to move. Soon she could sense herself starting to drift off and turned again to see Alice already fast asleep. She let her eyes begin to droop closed with a small smile on her lips as she focused on the faint twinkling tune, revelling in the familiar feeling of calm it brought her.

[pranklinfierce]

Genuinely what did Truman have against pierce? Every once in a while I'll see a new quote insulting him and it'll be sourced to a different Truman book. Why did he do this he's dead Truman chill.

[nefarious-616-necromancer]