#chappy the witch

[classic-shoujo]

Mahou Tsukai Chappy (1972)

[showamagicalgirls]

I honestly couldn’t love this Cardass card more.

Great Magical Girl Strategy: Little Witch Mischief (魔女っ子大作戦)

[retrosofa]

After I finished Mahou no Mako-chan, I decided I wanted to re-watch some other magical girls shows I haven't seen in awhile. Last weekend I started watching Mahoutsukai Chappy or "Chappy The Witch." I haven't seen it in 10 years and honestly, I barely remember anything about it. Chappy is more or less a ripoff updated retelling of Mahoutsukai Sally.

Chappy and her family live in the magic kingdom. During a royal banquet she decides to flee to the human world with her younger brother, Jun. Her mother, father and "pet" Don soon follow, and thus their adventures in the human world begin.

Chappy is the third majokko series Toei Animation produced, following Mahoutsukai Sally, Himitsu no Akko-chan, Mahou no Mako-chan and Sarutobi Ecchan. While Mahoutsukai Sally and Himitsu-chan no Akko were both extremely successful series, Mahou no Mako-chan and Sarutobi Ecchan were not. Mako made decent ratings but definitely never came close to Sally or Akko's success. The series also failed to keep consistent ratings, which gradually dropped throughout it's 48 episode run. Ecchan tanked in the ratings, which resulted in it ending with a mere 26 episodes. Frantic to get another winner on their hands, Toei Animation decided to make their first "original" magical girl, combining elements from their previous series. Like Sally, Chappy was a witch from another realm. Like Akko and Mako, she had a magical item. Like Ecchan, she had a "pet mascot." The end result exceeded their expectations. Apparently Chappy was only planned for 26 episodes but got extended to 39.

The first episode, "Here Comes the Magical Family," was written by Masaki Tsuji, directed by Yugo Serikawa, and featured animation direction by Shinya Takahashi. These three men previously worked on Akko, Mako, and Ecchan. The first episode does a pretty good setting the tone of the series. There is quite a lot of Disney influences sprinkled around, namely Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. In the magic kingdom, Chappy dresses very similarly to Maleficent. Her father conjures a spell to turn a mouse and pumpkin into a horse and carriage. There's a scene where Chappy's brother and their grandfather have a magical battle that's reminiscent of Flora and Merryweather fighting over Aurora's dress color, etc.

The scenes in the magic kingdom are a lot of fun. They're pretty spooky and the denizen depicted are all eccentric and otherworldly. If you look closely you can see one of the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz, and there's also a demonic character aptly named "Satan King." When Chappy arrives to the human city, things are not as she had hoped for, evoking the social commentary we previously saw in Mako. As with the other series, Chappy and her family must keep their true identities a secret. There's a darker twist this time, as they fear being burned at stake.

I just re-watched the first two episodes, which were both pretty fun. Some of the darker aspects took me off guard - like the paranoia about witch burnings, as well as a scene where a biker thug attempts to assault Chappy's mother. It's not a graphic scene at all but the implication is very clear.

The animation quality is a little rocky, even for an older series. This series was produced in 1972 which was around the time of the Toei Animation Lock Down, so maybe that's why? If I remember correctly, the series has a lot of ups and downs in the animation department. Some episodes look fantastic while others are downright horrendous.

Oh, something I found very amusing: most of the cast would go on to star in Cutie Honey. Check it out:

Chappy: Eiko Masuyama (Honey Kisaragi)

Chappy's mother, Shizuko: Noriko Watanabe (Sister Jill, Mami)

Chappy's father: Koji Yada (Additional voices)

Jun: Sachiko Chijimatsu (Twin Panther)

Don, Chappy's grandpa: Kosei Tomita (Danbei Hayami)

Obaba: Nobuyo Tsuda (Panther Zora, Ms. Miharu)

Ippei: Masako Nozawa (Scorpion Panther)

The fact Eiko Masuyama and Noriko Watanabe play daughter and mother in one series and mortal enemies in another is so freakin' hilarious.

Anyways, I'll post more after I watch the first 13 episodes.

[myngxy-sue]

I began reading the manga version of Sally the Witch and I can't help but wonder if Toei decided to take inspiration from it began to write the beginning of Chappy.

Both have humans noticing the mysterious new house that suddenly appeared seemingly overnight as well as someone breaking into the house only to regret it thanks to the inhabitants in question being witches.

It wouldn't be out of pocket considering that Chappy was intentionally made to be as much like Sally as possible.

[thunderlina]

FOR REAL I am begging on my knees for a magical girl fighting game

The closest I can think of is the doujin game Magical Battle Arena, but that has a lot of non-magical girl characters in it and it's cast is made up of characters from shows targeted towards a shonen or seinen demographic rather than shoujo (with some exceptions, notably Cardcaptor Sakura and the girls from Magic Knight Rayearth)

As for officially licensed stuff the only magical girl crossover game I know of period is Majokko Daisakusen, but that's exclusively focused on the cutesy low-stakes magical girls from the 60s/70s rather than the types of magical girl warriors associated with the genre now.

And also Cutie Honey?

It's so bizarre to me how Toei loves marketing their 60s/70s magical girls together but is utterly terrified of letting their more modern ones be seen together.

Toei needs to stop being stubborn and at least make a crossover anime between Sailor Moon and Precure.

It would literally be a money-printing machine if they did that given the popularity of both series, so it's honestly baffling that Toei hasn't done it yet.

[lemonde-enchante]

Majokkos 1966-1980

[sweetfire01]

Okay but,,,, what if Daddy Howl,,, and little reader,,, and can't escape because moving castle,,, and being dragged to nest-bed by bird form Howl??? Yes? Yes??? YE S?????

Y E S

Y E S

It's too long so I had to divide the fic into two part (for now, if I don't get more ideas 👀)

I'll talk about the nest in the next one!

Baby dove pt.1 (Daddy!Howl)

You couldn't stand staying here anymore. It was all becoming too overwhelming and disturbing, especially with Howl's overly protective behaviors. You didn't know how to describe it, but you had this strange feeling that you needed to get out of here as soon as possible, before things got worse. It was going well the first day he took you in, but the way he started treating you like a fragile little thing made you shiver. that's why today you took advantage of one of his long bath, trying to escape to the capital the moment he closed the door behind him.

You didn't have a specific destination in mind, you would have been chappy to reach the countryside, get on a farmer's cart and reach some remote village. You had only visited the city a couple of times and only the center and the streets around the house, but it wouldn't be too difficult, right? Wrong. Everything was more crowded than you remembered, you had to go around closed streets, squeeze into narrow tunnels, walk between stalls and almost risked getting arrested when you found yourself in the middle of the street during a military parade. The second time you passed the exact same perfume shop, you realized that you were lost. You didn't know how long you had been walking, you hoped that the Wizard hadn't noticed your escape yet. The fear of finding him behind you hadn't left your body since you went out. You forced yourself to walk again. Just in case he was on your trail, it was safer to blend into the crowd than to stay still. You had also tried going into shops to rest, pretending to take a look at the mirrors displayed inside or looking for a new wall clock. And every time you heard the people behind you commenting on your less than elegant appearance and wondering if you really had the money to buy that snakeskin belt. Rich people like them were able to buy expensive things. But you? Oh well, who care, a snakeskin belt wouldn't have improved an outfit as sloppy as yours. You were offended: you were only wearing a white shirt and light blue pants that paired with a vest of the same color. Pretty simple, sure, but not sloppy! When you heard the owner of a jewelry store muttering about how he had to keep an eye on you to prevent you from stealing, you stormed out. You were REALLY tired, running away from a crazy man, starting to get hungry, and you were called a thief? Fuck everyone. Fuck that shopkeeper, fuck this fucking city and its snobbish people, fuck Howl and above all fuck that Witch. And fuck Howl again. Fuck this sudden festival too. You didn't even know what it was for, but if everything hadn't been so chaotic today, you would have been able to get much further than this. How big was this city?? Only when the sun began to set the people head home and you wished you could take refuge in some inn and spend there the night. Unfortunately you had no money, just a few coins with which you hoped to be able to buy dinner for the evening. It had been a very unplanned escape. You sat on a bench. Damn, at least 5 minutes, your feet were starting to hurt. You prayed with all your heart that Howl was still in the bathtub. His baths were always so long, why did today have to be any different? But you couldn't get rid of the anxiety that he was behind you, ready to take you home. And now that there were few people left on the streets, you felt even more vulnerable. “Are you tired, baby dove?”

This was...HIS voice. You jumped up. There he was, off to the side, closer than you expected. You stared at him trembling, frozen in fear. He just chuckled. He didn't seem angry, not even irritated "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Come on, let's go home, it can get cold in the evening." He took off his jacket to wrap it around you. At that moment you recovered from your state of shock and now all you wanted to do was run, escape. But he didn't get upset, no, he simply grabbed your wrist and pressed it to his chest, stroking your hair. It was supposed to be an attempt to calm you down, but you were only getting more agitated, squirming in his hold. “Let me go, let me go!” "Baby dove, it's late, we have to go." "NO!" You gathered all your strength and pushed him away. You caught him by surprise and he almost fell backwards as you ran away. But your escape was short: you made it about ten meters before you felt your leg being pulled back, causing you to fall onto the road. You at least had the readiness to break the fall with your arms, even if your palms started to burn immediately after the impact.

"And that's why we don't throw tantrums and we don't run away." Howl scolded you, this time with a hint of firmness in his voice, though his tone remained condescending. Like a parent scolding a toddler. You wondered if that "don't run away" was meant just for now. Probably not, but you didn't dare to ask. He knelt down to see if you were hurt and, once he noticed that you had only grazed your hands a little, he picked you up. "If you were a good little fledgling, I would have made you walk on air with me. It seems like that will be for another time, hm?" And with that you felt his body change, filling with feathers while two powerful black wings emerged from his back, his legs transformed into bird legs and his arms into claws. If you hadn't already seen him in this form, you would have screamed in terror. It doesn't matter, you screamed anyway as he took flight and you held on for dear life, desperately squeezing your eyes shut. You were high, too high for your liking. "Don't worry, baby dove, Daddy will never let you fall." He whispered in your ear. You didn't processed it, too scared to listen.

It was a relief when you landed in front of the house. And the warmth of Calcifer that hit you when you two entered felt good. You didn't realized how cold it had been outside, despite Howl's jacket. He didn't let you go, taking you directly to his room and placing you in your bed. "Take a nap, baby dove. You're tired. I'll wake you up for dinner, okay?" he planted a kiss on your forehead before leaving the room. You laid there, legs aching, starting to cry silently. All the effort you had put in for nothing. And the fact that Howl didn't even recognize this as an attempt to escape made it worse. It made you feel pathetic. As if it were all a toddler's tantrum.

[the-aprilfools-bitch]

Babe. Infodump. Now

Okay Okay Okay

so i dont know the names for all of the things i know a bunch about but we obviously know the castration device, the chappy chopper

and then there was like a massive pair of pliers that they would heat over a fire till white hot and use to met the tongue to the metal and staight up rip it outta their mouths and then ther was the hook, quite simple, theyd just jam it into the fleshy bit at the back of your neck hooking the sharp point into the base of your skull and use a system of pulleys to hang you by your neck muscle, however the torturer really could do whatever they liked so some would hang them by their eyes or noses or mouths and occasionally they would have the person being tortured turn around face the chair they were being tortured and well jam the hook into another hole

theres also some fun death meathods where like, they would put a basket around someones head, put them in a shallow pool of water and slowly fill th basket with rocks until they physically couldnt hold their head up no more and theyd drown

also random fun fact one of the ways for testing for witchcraft was pricking their skin with somethings sharp and if they didnt bleed they were a witch but the witch catchers had pricks with blades that would retract into the blade and give a mark that looks like its been burried to the hilt but really didnt even prick the skin enough to bleed

also back to torture methods, some popular among prison aurd crowd were thumb screws (much like the name implies, a screw/small drill that is screwed directly through the thumb) and teeth pulling, which i am not explaining

also some fun crimes you could be aressted for/ hung in the gallows include

being drunk on a sunday; owning a black cat; spilling another mans whiskey; nagging; causing mutiny

okay this was more of a random all over the place infodump but i do probably know more i just made this post quite long

[bleach-smashorpass]

A housekeeping post!

As of right now, all the manga character polls have been made! Zommari was last, and the polls should run until mid-April sometime. That's 190 characters roughly, not taking into account secondary forms and the like. That should, in theory, be the last poll, but it won't be. We have some tentative plans, so I'll outline those.

Anime Only — an additional batch of 96 characters have been compiled and alphabetized, ready to be made into polls. These include miscellaneous hollows, shinigami, and of course the bounts (and their dolls) and the zanpakutou spirits. There are also a couple movie characters in there, too.

Beyond Resurrección — this one is mostly selfish, but I'd like to do a quick round of polls going through the Espada's Hōgyoku Resurreccións from Brave Souls because I think the designs rule.

Burn the Witch — a Burn the Witch round? If people wanted?

After that? Who knows! There are probably other things that can be posted from Brave Souls (spirit society, some of the alternate forms, you know.)

Please do reply to this post (or send in an ask) with your thoughts, but that's it for now. I didn't expect this blog to get nearly as much traction as it has, and it's been fun running it, so thank you for participating! — Mod Chappy

[distant--shadow]

chappy 2 of witch and the widow will be going up in the next few hours~

long as my proof reader doesn't declare it a hot mess anyhow

[cerinelle-stellarium]

The Ultimate Magical Girl/Boy Starter Pack

Parodies that make fun of the genre, edgy deconstructions and anything that's problematic (Poorly thought out transformation mechanics, age gap romances, excessive fanservice, incest) will be excluded.

Acro Trip

Akazukin Chacha

Alice 19th

Artiswitch

Classicaloid

Cutie Honey Flash

The Demon Girl Next Door

Earth Maiden Arjuna

Esper Mami

Fairy Idol Kanon

Flip Flappers

Floral Magician Mary Bell

Flying Witch

Full Moon

Hana no Ko Lunlun

Healer Girl

Hime-chan's Ribbon

Himitsu no Akko-chan

Idol Dreams

I. O. N.

Jewel BEM Hunter Lime

Jewelpet (Skip seasons 1 and 3 if you don't want to see surprise incest in your kids' anim)

Kaitou Saint Tail

Kamichama Karin (Personally recommend the manga and its' sequel over the anime)

Lapis Re:LIGHTS

Leda: The Fantastic Adventures of Yohko

A Little Snow Fairy Sugar

Little Witch Academia

Magic Knight Rayearth

Magic Users' Club

Magical Angel Sweet Mint

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies

Magical Meow Meow Taruto

Magical X Miracle

MagiLumiere Co. Ltd.

Mahou no Mako-chan

Mahou Shoujo Lalabel

Mahou Shoujo Taisen

Mahou Tsukai Chappy

Majokko Meg-chan

Majokko Ticle

Mao-chan (aka. Ground Defense Force! Mao-chan)

Marvelous Melmo

Mary and the Witch's Flower

Mashle: Magic and Muscles

Mei Company

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch (Skip both the sequel manga and the anime; both have plot loopholes for the former plus a poorly done ending for the latter)

Mewkledreamy

Miracle Girls

Miracle Shoujo Limit-chan

Mistress Fortune

My Wife Could Be A Magical Girl

Ojamajo Doremi

Onegai My Melody

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

Phamtom Thief Jeanney

Popin Q

Powerpuff Girls Z

Pretty Cure franchise (Avoid both YesPre seasons + the 2nd sequel series, and Hugtto as they have age gap romances in them)

Pretty Sammy (+ its' spinoff Sasami: Magical Girls Club)

Pretty Series franchise

Princess Comet

Princess Tutu

Promise of Wizard

Rilu Filu Fairilu

Sailor Moon (Manga and reboot anime recommended)

Saint October

Sally the Witch

Sarutobi Ecchan

Shy

Someday's Dreamers

Spellbound! Magical Princess LilPri

Star Driver

Studio Pierrot's classic original magical girl lineup

Sugar Sugar Rune

Suicide Girl

Super Doll Licca-chan

Super Pig

Sweet Valerian

Time Stranger Kyoko

Tokyo Mew Mew (Manga + its' two sequels, both anime adaptations recommended)

Tweeny Witches

Twin Princesses of Wonder Planet

Ultra Maniac

Umi Monogatari

Urahara

We Are Magical Boys

Wish Upon the Pleiades

Witch Hat Atelier

Witch Watch

Yadamon

Yume no Crayon Oukoku

[slytherin-paramour]

I've finished the first part of my Garreth x MC x Sebastian oneshot! It literally takes me forever to write things down because of real-life distractions, but today I've had freedom and been able to think a bit more! There is no smut in this mostly Garreth related chappy unfortunately, but it is coming! And I think it's still cute 🥹

You were a tad early to your seventh year Charms class this afternoon, but the almost empty classroom felt like a blessing. You breathed in the cool air of the old room, admiring the way the sun shone through the large windows, illuminating strings of dust that lingered in the air. Taking a preliminary glance of your surroundings, you notice another student at the back of the room and make a beeline for her.

With a frustrated sigh, you sank onto the wooden stool beside your good friend Natsai Onai, a powerful and determined Gryffindor witch with whom you'd formed a lasting bond with over the last few years. You heaved a heavy book from your satchel and dropped it onto the table in front of you, running your fingers across the embossed lettering - Achievements in Charming - before opening the pages with a flick of your wand. You ran a hand through your bangs, letting out a frustrated grumble.

"Good afternoon my disgruntled friend." Nasai chuckled in amusement at your irritated demeanour. "Dare I ask the cause of such a gloomy exterior?"

You grunted and looked up from where your face was now pressed against the parchment of the book.

"It's REALLY not something that I want to get into Natty, I wouldn't want to drag you into the mundane drama that is my life at the moment."

Natty laughed and leaned down to your level, close enough to whisper into your ear.

"Might it have something to do with your...romantic inclinations..."

You witnessed the cheeky smirk that had adorned your friends features as you snapped your head towards her, unable to stop the heat that now surely covered your cheeks. Damn it, this witch was incredibly perceptive.

"Wha...where did you hear that? I swear to Merlin if either of those boys..EITHER?!"

Natty's eyes had widened a fraction, and you could practically see the cogs turning in her head.

"Oh my stars, MC! I was aware that Sebastian was attempting to woo you, but now you tell me that there is another? You must feel very honoured my friend." She said with a smirk.

You sat quietly for a moment, gathering your thoughts and trying to form an explanation for everything that was going on at the moment. Natty had been right about Sebastian Sallow. It was no secret that your freckled friend was attempting to Court you, and it didn't really come as a shock when you'd found out. After everything that you two had been through together, feelings and bonds had formed naturally and you couldn't deny the way your heart lurched whenever you were around each other. Something about him drew you in, his flame trying to burn away your delicate moth.

Your face planted hard against the table once more, ears burning at your silly slip up. You knew it was pointless to deny it, especially to someone as smart as Natsai. And so you resigned yourself into telling her your story.

It should have remained as simple as that, really. A nice, normal situation of friends turned lovers, running away together hand in hand, however fate seemed to absolutely LOVE fucking with you. An unexpected cog had been depulsoed into your intricate clock, so to speak. It came in the form of a broad torso, red trimmed robes and firey hair. The moment that Garreth Weasley had cornered you in the Transfiguration Courtyard and declared his affections (it really was quite endearing to witness the boys face burning as red as his hair) you knew that life was out to get you.

Because that was the crippling moment that you realised that you did, in fact, have feelings for the Gryffindor as well. You had always considered him to be one of your closest friends, him being one of the first to engage with you way back in your fifth year. He was funny and charming, aways up for an adventure and very empathetic whenever your mind was in a particularly dark place.

From there, you had agreed to go on an outing to Hogsmeade with him.

You quickly thought about Sebastian, and how he would feel about you going out with Garreth, but quickly pushed aside your guilt. After all, you weren't exclusively WITH Sebastian, and more often than not you would catch the young cad flirting with other pretty witches about the castle, be it intentionally or not. The Slytherin was a charmer by nature.

And so here you were, strolling casually through the stunning little village that you'd come to know and love. As it was still midsummer, the air was beautifully warm, the suns rays beaming down through the old rafters of the mish-mashed buildings. Flowers of all varieties bloomed from planters and there was a sweet smell in the air mingled with the woodsy smoke of chimney stacks.

Garreth was a perfect gentleman the entire time, holding your hand and making you laugh at every opportunity. He asked you what you wanted to do most of the time, perfectly content to just be in the moment with the object of his affections. You had of course requested a visit to Honeydukes, the confectioners shop had been one of your favourites ever since your first foray into the wizarding village with Sebastian years ago. Garreth purchased you a bag of your favourites - sherbet lemons, and he even tasted some of the shops newest editions, Ice Mice, which you found to be absolutely hilarious when the boys teeth began to chatter and squeak uncontrollably.

After that you visited the Three Broomsticks, Sirona welcoming you both with a smile, albeit a slightly confused one. You didn't fail to notice the way her sharp eyes flickered to yours and Garreths interlinked fingers, and you looked at her sheepishly. The last time you had been in the pub, it was Sebastian who's hand you'd been holding onto. Nevertheless, she simply brushed off whatever she was about to say, sensing your discomfort and lead you both to a table in a quiet corner of the rustic old building. Garreth ordered a couple of ice cold butterbeers which you both proceeded to drink happily, him telling you some funny tales from his childhood which involved the many times that he had nearly driven his aunt Matilda through the doors of St.Mungos because of his pranks. You nearly choked on your butter beer when he mentioned the time when he and his older siblings stole a pair of their aunt's undergarments and managed to enchant them into chasing her around the house and scream profanities at the demented woman.

"Garreth Weasley, your poor Aunt! It's no wonder she doesn't tolerate your hijinks at school!" You reprimanded him with a laugh, smiling from ear to ear. His deep laughter boomed alongside yours as he leaned forward on his chair, both hands wrapped around his cool beverage.

"Yes, well she certainly doesn't put up with any misbehaviours these days. My brothers are the lucky ones, they've already graduated from Hogwarts!"

You chuckled, trying to imagine what his brothers might have been like when they attended Hogwarts. You shivered involuntarily on behalf of Professor Weasley.

Your pondering was interupted by a feeling of warmth enveloping your hand atop the table. Your gaze shot up to the side, a shy smile appearing on your face when you made eye contact with the boy beside you. He was staring at you with such a tenderness that for a moment it felt difficult to breathe, his thumb brushing over yours in a way that sent tingles twisting up your forearm.

"Thank you for coming here with me today, MC. I'm genuinely having the best time with you. You could make any room light up brighter than a jar of a thousand lacewing flies!" You rolled your eyes at the cheesey line.

"It's been wonderful Garreth, I feel utterly spoiled." You replied with a little chuckle, trying to cover up the fact that your heart was currently racing a mile a minute.

He pushed back the chair he was sitting on quite suddenly, rising to his feet but not letting go of your hand. You looked up at him from where you were still sat, confused about his sudden movement.

"What are you doing? Did you want to leave?"

Garreth didn't reply, bringing your hand up to his lips to press a soft kiss across your knuckles, his verdant eyes never leaving yours. The action made your breath catch in your throat, your neck flushing red and a feeling of being lost for words overcame you.

"Would you take a little walk through the Hogsmeade gardens with me, MC? I'd like to discuss something with you. Privately."

Your heart fluttered like a rampant snitch that was intent on not being caught, but you shifted in your seat, gathered up your light robe and satchel and allowed Garreth to pull you to your feet. Smoothing down your skirt, you smiled at the red head.

"Shall we then, Mr.Weasley?" You dipped your upper body in an exaggerated curtsy. He laughed and bowed in return, his crimson locks flopping over his forehead dramatically.

"After you, Mademoiselle!"

[showamagicalgirls]

One fun artifact in my Showa magical girl collection is this PlayStation game from 1999 featuring seven Showa Toei Majokko series stars. It’s called Great Magical Girl Strategy: Little Witching Mischief (魔女っ子大作戦 Little Witching Mischief).

[whumpshaped]

Epilogue – Dusk

there u go :) last chappy...

Dollhouse Masterlist

tw major character death, funeral, aftermath of trauma, paranoia, anxiety, police mention, hospital stay, murder mention, alcohol mention, implied past alcohol problems, implied past noncon, lady whump, implied eye gore, aftermath of surgery, past captivity, divorce, estranged family, again it's a lot i tried to get everything i'm sorry if i didn't

They weren’t supposed to be there that day. “It would be a small ceremony,” they’d told them, “it wouldn’t be appropriate. Or good for you.”

Dusk– no, he wasn’t Dusk anymore. He would never be called Dusk ever again. Diell wasted absolutely no time finding a way to be able to get out of the ward in time and take Ginger with him. They both agreed that just spoken accounts of the funeral wouldn’t be enough. They had to see the body be lowered into the goddamn hole and immediately deface the tombstone. 

He was fairly sure that Grace and Jonathan’s father played a role in them being able to sneak off as easily as they did. He would never thank the guy, not even in some weird, abstract way, but he was definitely pleased to know that he knew that any doll had more of a right to attend the ceremony than even family members.

They had to leave Pepper in the hospital, to all of their dismay. They were more hurt than the two of them, plus they wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyway. They asked for the most gruesomely detailed retelling of the funeral later, which both Diell and Ginger agreed to provide.

“I hope she’s cremated,” Ginger muttered on their way to the cemetery. “No, actually, I hope she’s not. I want to see that it’s her. If she was cremated, they could totally just put whatever in the urn, and no one would ever know.”

“Don’t even say that, holy shit.” The thought of Grace being alive in the world somewhere was a terrifying one. He had managed to kill her one time, and only because she was unconscious, but maybe that luck wouldn’t last a second round. “I’m sure they’ll bury the whole body. Like, intact. I bet it’ll be open-casket as well, with corpse make-up and all that shit.”

“Oh, she would never go six feet under without proper make-up. Never.”

Diell was the first to begin laughing, and Ginger followed soon after. The sounds of their joy felt wildly out of place at the enormous gates of the cemetery, but neither of them could find it in their soul to care. They saw people running around in pink instead of black, pink suits, pink dresses, pink ties to match. It was something out of an absurdist horror movie.

They ducked behind some gravestones when they caught a glimpse of the witch mother herself, their excitement suddenly giving way to fear. If Grace was that unhinged, that could only mean two things: either she had surpassed her mother in unhingedness, going on to become the supreme unhinged demon, or she’d learned everything from the even more unhinged woman who came before her. Diell held his breath, hoping with all his heart that it was the former. 

When he looked at Ginger’s face, he could tell that the same thoughts and fears were playing on her mind. Maybe this had been a bad idea, and maybe the hospital staff had been correct, and maybe it was embarrassing and weird to be hiding behind the markers of others’ final resting places. Diell glanced at the tombstone that was a couple inches away from his face, squinting to be able to read the name through all that moss. 

Sorry, Thomas and Esther Taylor. This is kind of an emergency.

“You think she even knows what we look like?” Ginger whispered.

“No idea. Maybe Grace showed her photos.”

“We should’ve planned further than two sweatshirts with hoods.”

“I’m happy that I even managed to snatch these up. Imagine if we had to come here in dresses or hospital gowns.”

Ginger shivered. “Yeah. Fuck that.”

They spent the entire ceremony huddled behind the headstones, listening to the priest go on about what a loving daughter and sister Grace was, occasionally peeking out to try and get a look at the body. Thankfully, not many people were attending, and Ginger turned to him with a triumphant smile soon enough.

“It’s her. It’s really her!”

“Fucking good. I hope the end to this whole shit isn’t some weird, Jesus-type resurrection.”

“Now you’re just being stupid,” she teased, but placed a dirty hand on top of his, her expression turning deathly serious. “If she moves a muscle, I’ll choke her right back to hell. Yeah?”

She meant it, Diell could tell. There was no condescension in her voice. She wasn’t telling him that he was too paranoid. She sounded exactly like someone who had thought about this before, in excruciating detail, and came to the conclusion that she was willing to risk her own life in exchange for the peace of mind that’d come with feeling Grace’s pulse disappear under her own hands. 

“Thank you,” he said quietly, giving her hand a squeeze.

They watched as the crowd started swarming towards the actual grave, and they followed them from a safe distance, pretending to be taking a leisurely walk or something. Diell didn’t even know what their cover story was, honestly. But no one ended up paying them any mind, instead focusing on the wailing mother. 

From what Diell could tell, there were no other people from Grace’s close family. Maybe her grandmother? It was hard to tell. It didn’t really matter. He was happy to know that her father decided to spend time with Jonathan in the hospital instead of coming to attend this pretentious display of wealth and ridiculousness. 

The casket was slowly lowered into the hole, and both Diell and Ginger were watching it like hawks. No tricks. No ghosts. No vampires, no zombies, no nothing. Grace’s body was dropped down and buried, so deep that there wasn’t a single chance that she could’ve crawled out. Her mother knelt on her grave, weeping like someone out of a tragedy, grabbing handfuls of dirt without a care in whether it’d ruin her expensive-looking, pink gloves.

Diell turned to his friend, briefly pretending he was gonna retch. Ginger had to hide a smile. 

They lingered until after everyone else had already left, only competing with Grace’s mother by that point. She had to eventually be escorted out by the police while she kicked and screamed, claiming that they were disrespecting a mother’s right to stay with her beloved, deceased daughter. Ginger rolled her eyes at the argument, finally sauntering over to the grave with Diell in tow. 

“So… that’s that,” he said. “She’s gone.”

“I really want to grab a hammer and fuck up the headstone.” Ginger looked up at him, tears shining in her eyes. “One of those big sledgehammers. I want to just… go at it. I want to fucking destroy it.”

“I know.” He carefully pulled her closer, slow enough to give her plenty of chances to push him away if she didn’t want to be touched. But instead of pushing him away, she wrapped her arms around him, sobbing into his chest.

“It’s so unfair. It’s so unfair. We were there for years, and she just gets to go out like this? And– and then she gets a fucking funeral? And some disgusting, liar priest kissing her ass? What did any of her victims get? The ones who didn’t make it? What did Belle get? Or Sunny? What did the ones I didn’t even know get? What– what the fuck is wrong with people?” 

He rubbed circles into her back as he listened, survivor’s guilt, sorrow, and the anguish of injustice eating away at him too. Ginger was right, and it was a horrible feeling to know that neither of them could do a thing to right Grace’s wrongs. They especially couldn’t force her to right them herself, now. She was out, just like that, enjoying her vacation in Barbie hell somewhere. 

Ginger took a while to calm down. When she did, Diell gently pushed her away by the shoulders, looking into her puffy, red eyes. “It’s over, Maya,” he whispered, a part of him still scared that he might’ve uttered the magic words too soon.

She couldn’t get a word out before she had to cover her mouth with both hands, attempting to muffle her whimpers. “You fucking asshole,” she choked out, and Diell was worried he might’ve genuinely messed up. “You waited ‘till I was somewhat okay, and then you spring that shit on me? Why are you even bringing up the weird shit I told you during– what’s wrong with you?” She half-heartedly punched his arm, then wiped at her face with the sleeve of her sweater. 

“I– I’m sorry, I–”

She hugged him again, with even more momentum this time, her frail body slamming into his with the power of a three-tonne truck. “I can’t believe you actually remembered something so stupid. You really– you safekept it for me… You really did…”

Diell hesitantly put his arms around her again, waiting for her to change her stance on this again. But she didn’t. The two of them just stood there, right on top of Grace’s grave, in an embrace so tight it probably cracked some ribs. 

They didn’t leave the cemetery until the next morning. They didn’t even sleep, – or at least never at the same time, – they just sat on a nearby bench, watching the pile of dirt for any anomalies or paranormal activity. Hell, they wouldn’t have been surprised if Grace’s mother showed up again with candles and chicken blood. When nothing like that happened, they crawled back to the hospital, allowing themselves to be yelled at and sent for an immediate shower and check-ups. 

-

Messed up. It was entirely messed up that it had already been a year. While Diell had been with Grace each day seemed too long, but they also just blurred together. On the day of his escape, he’d been informed that he’d spent fifteen months in that hellhole. He later counted; exactly 477 days. More than a year. He both thought it had been shorter and longer than that, and honestly, he had no idea what to feel about the actual number.

He knew he was the newest acquisition at the time. No other doll had been added to the collection after his kidnapping, which made him the… luckiest? His one year was absolutely nothing compared to what he’d heard the twins say. Eight years… More than eight, even.

Maya had a more difficult time counting, both mentally and from a memory standpoint. At first, she didn’t want to do anything with the data. Her first order of business was to make an appointment with a hairdresser and get rid of her naturally ginger hair, demanding a deep blue to forest green gradient. She’d come home that day to see Diell on the computer, obsessively counting and recounting his days spent in captivity, and she flipped her hair and told him to enjoy being out.

Later that day, Diell saw her checking the calendar app against old newspaper clippings. “I can’t remember when I was taken. Can’t remember the day. I… I even got the year wrong.” 

Diell couldn’t even imagine. She had counted and counted, eventually coming up with the final numbers: 5 years and seven months, or 67 months, or 2039 days. They had both stared at the numbers for a very long time.

“I’m so much older now,” she’d whispered. “I’m twenty-six now. I… I was celebrating my twentieth that year.”

That wasn’t the only thing she had to reconcile with. Her disappearance had turned out to be the last nail in the coffin of her parents’ crumbling marriage. After she’d been presumed dead, her mother filed for a divorce. Her childhood home had been sold, and her parents were both in another relationship now, ones she wanted nothing to do with. She didn’t even tell them she had come back, dismissing their calls and slamming the door in her mother's face when she tried to visit.

She was living with Diell instead, in an apartment the two of them had bought with the compensation money they’d been awarded. He was now sitting on the couch, bouncing his leg and trying not to think about tomorrow.

“I invited Tai,” Maya said as she entered the living room. “They said yes, like, immediately. They didn’t even give me the whole ‘Oh, I don’t know, do I wanna hang out with losers?’ talk. I think they're stressed out too.”

Pepper had thought long and hard about the name change situation. They wanted something absolutely deadly and dangerous, but also something that sounded cool. They had browsed a long list of venomous snakes for days, finally settling on Taipan. “If I’d had venom back then, aside from just… insults, then I would’ve been fine. Manifesting or whatever.”

“It's weird,” Diell muttered. “Like, the whole anniversary thing. Just weird. I don’t like it.”

Maya sat down next to him, sighing heavily. “You think the others are also this fucked up from it?”

Diell shrugged. “You think it’s fucked that I don’t even text them anymore?” he asked quietly, the ever-present guilt in his heart throbbing a little more as he said the words. This time, it was Maya who shrugged.

“I don’t either. So either we’re both fucked, or neither of us is.”

They sat there in silence, listening to the clock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Each second brought them closer to the dreaded day, increasing their anxiety tenfold. 

“Do you also have these… weird fears about it?” Maya whispered. “Like she’ll bust down the front door at midnight?”

“Yeah. Like, ‘haha, time’s up, you got to be free for a year, but now let’s get back to the–’ you know. Back to all that shit.”

Maya nodded without a word. She looked absolutely haunted, and if Diell had to guess, he probably looked similar. “It’s so stupid. I saw her be buried. It’s not like many people come back from the dead.”

“I know. I can’t logic it away either, though. So we’re just stuck with our weird paranoia.” He put his arm around her shoulders, gently pulling her closer. He’d learned early on that Maya would never ask to be comforted like that, but more often than not, she was very appreciative if someone made the decision for her. “But we have each other, right?”

“Yeah, Captain Cheesy.”

Taipan barged in with such force that both others jumped, flinching away from each other as if they’d been caught red-handed. “Stop doing that!” Diell snapped.

“Absolutely not!” They pointed in his vague direction with their cane. “How else would I prove that I’m still a menace?”

Their doll eyes were taken out almost immediately upon arriving at the hospital. Grace had done the sort of job on them that was expected of an amateur with no surgical knowledge or training, and the doctors worked tirelessly to reverse as much of the damage as possible. But before the operation even started, Taipan had been offered two routes they could go with their new prosthetics. Diell naively thought they’d jump on the opportunity to make it as natural as possible; he’d seen some absolutely amazing work on the wall of the private hospital’s ocularist.

Well… They were now rocking two pitch black orbs with realistic stars painted on them, looking like they held all the secrets of the universe behind them.

Maya laughed, jumping up to go and hug them. Diell watched the two of them with a smile, his fear-based irritation melting away. “I’m so glad you came, I need someone to back me up with the music choices.”

“I would never live with someone who refused to acknowledge that his taste is inferior and I should be the only one with party-music privileges.”

“I’m not gonna be bullied in my own home!” 

Maya stuck her tongue out at him; as did Tai, without even seeing that she was doing it too. Diell couldn’t stifle a grin. 

“Are we ordering pizza?” they asked as they walked over to the couch, plopping down right next to Diell. “There’s this new place that’s just opened, and I’m telling you, neither of you have ever seen cheese with a better pull quality. It’s glorious.”

“I mean, if they have Hawaiian–”

“You’re absolutely disgusting, Diell. I am stealing Maya away.”

Before more insults could’ve been thrown his way, Diell’s phone went off with a notification. Valerie’s name flashed on the screen, and he quickly checked the texts to see if it was something urgent. She probably wasn’t in the best headspace either.

By evening time, all four of them were sitting on the living room floor, eating pepperoni pizza off the coffee table. It was a weird little sleepover, with plenty of laughter and tears both. Sometimes they almost completely forgot about why they had even gathered together like this, and sometimes all they could talk about was Grace and their time spent in her pink little prison.

“When you can actually see, when you can actually get out and see the outside world, and know you’re not there– I imagine that’s different. I’m sure it was so different for Bora.” 

Maya was saying the words out loud, so Tai could also know what the conversation was about. Valerie had an easier time talking to them one on one; when a little group of them were together like this, it was easier to have someone translate as she signed. 

“But for me, all I had for the past years were sounds and scents. And touch. And Bora felt the same out here as he did back there. I just couldn’t stand it. He kept making me feel like I was still there.”

“Are you okay now, though? With us?” Diell asked, and Val nodded.

“Yeah.” She paused a little. “It’s different with everyone else. I don’t even understand how Bora could put aside his trauma to try and help me. It must’ve taken so much. Me leaving was the best decision for both of us, even if he was upset at the time.”

Diell glanced at Maya, wondering whether she felt the same way. Their ‘relationship’ at Grace’s place didn’t last more than maybe a couple months, and never went further than a kiss on the cheek or a peck on the lips. It wasn’t really comparable to what Val had talked about at the hospital. Still, he couldn’t help but hope he wasn’t going to lose his best friend.

“I fully get that. And you gotta put yourself first, right? That’s just how it is.” Tai felt around for another slice, and Diell quickly put one on their plate for them. “I’m sure he has plenty of people’s support from within Jonathan’s little group. And outside of that, too.”

“I’m sure as well.” Maya put a gentle hand on Val’s knee. “It’s not your responsibility to nurse others back to health when you’re still working on yourself. We’ve all been through a lot. You get out, you do the best you can– it’s all you can do.”

The conversations  fizzled out as they inched closer and closer to midnight. They were all either deathly still or fidgeting constantly, no inbetween. Diell and Maya were staring at the clock, giving quiet reminders of time’s passage. It was like the most fucked up New Year’s Eve party. 

“One minute.”

“Thirty seconds.”

“Twenty.”

“Ten.”

“Five.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

Diell held his breath, and with how quiet the room had gotten, he assumed everyone else did too. He thought about that day from exactly a year ago; stabbing Grace, the feeling of blood sticking to his hands, the sun’s blinding light outside, the sirens of the ambulance and police cars, the bumpy road leading to the hospital. The funeral. Jonathan taking in some of his friends, giving them all a second chance at life, the first of which his sister had taken away beforehand.

“Happy anniversary?” Tai tried, half-jokingly, breaking the spell.

“Well, I’m fucking happy,” Maya said confidently, and Diell knew he was the only one who saw the tears shining in her eyes as she did so. He pretended not to. 

Through the open windows, they could hear all the street noise; cars coming and going, groups of intoxicated teenagers having a fun time, dogs barking at nothing. The world didn’t end at midnight. Grace didn’t show up to take them all back. 

“Maybe we should go to sleep,” Diell suggested. “I’m– Okay, I know it’s not very popular with you two to admit to having a shit time, but I’m honestly exhausted from all that stupid anxiety.”

“Maybe we’ll start admitting to it in this new year.” Maya playfully shoved him a little. “Go to sleep, grandpa. We’ll keep it down.”

Diell smiled, then went to take a long, very hot shower after saying his good nights. It was comforting to be able to do it alone, even if he sometimes still felt Grace’s hands on his naked body, scrubbing him down without a care, like he wasn’t even human. He avoided looking in the mirror when he got out, knowing that all he would see in it this late at night were blonde strands of hair and soulless blue eyes. 

He didn’t fall asleep for a long time, still just lying there by the time Maya came to crawl into bed with him. He turned towards her, noting the distinct scent of alcohol. “Maya?”

She hummed. “What?” 

“You didn’t drink too much, did you?”

“No such thing as too much. Not on the anniversary of your kidnapper’s death.” 

He scooted a little closer, pulling her into a hug. “Yeah, there is. And I’m so happy you didn’t overshoot this time.”

A whole year had passed. Instead of Ginger, Maya was now crying in his arms. They had different problems, even if none of them felt less serious than the ones from before. She wasn’t passed out on the floor, only slurring her words a little.

It would be okay. It would all be okay, in the end.

~

taglist: @whumpsday @lonesome--hunter @reblogging-whump @panic-and-chaos @kim-poce @uwu-scraptrappy @mikaelaix @whumpinggrounds @hidden-dreamland @the-scrapegoat @whumplr-reader @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @whumpinthepot @devourerofcheesecake

[sparklingchim]

was gonna post the next chappie of game on today but... bubble witch saga 3 has me on a chokehold i am so sorry n embarrassed to say this </3 😔😔😔

[raven-lane]

It's interesting how my first post is a list of WIPs as asked for by @lavender-long-stories

Anyway, feel free to ask me about them!

WIP Name Game

Key:

✨️ = currently being written

💣 = some content has been written for it

💡 = just random ideas, haven't been expanded on beyond the basics

💣 = BAMF Alec

💣 = Just Another Typical Romance

💡 = (Wo)Manpower

💡 = Bloody Mary

💡 = Kakashi × Dr. STONE

💡 = Older & Animal Kakashi

💡 = Sakumo Snaps and Takes It out on Konoha

💡 = Villain / Vigilante Bakugou

💡 = Kakashi Can See People's Reapers

💡 = Feral Kakashi

💣 = Place Swap - MHA × JJK

💡 = Seven Deadly Sins

💡 = Undead Kakashi / Time-loop Kakashi

✨️ = Monikers (series)

Monikers - Planned/Written/Scrapped Scenes

✨️ = The Silver Demon

✨️ = Doujutsu no Kakashi

✨️ = Parent Orochimau

✨️ = When the Mist Clears / ObiKaka Arranged Marriage

💣 = Kakahsi × MHA

Bonus chappy Kakashi/MHA crossover

💣 = Witch Kakashi / Silver Seer

💣 = Gojo and Reigen Create Chaos

💣 = A Silent Ghost - ObiKaka - A/B/O

✨️ = Silver Linings

💡 = Merlin Rewrite

💡 = SasuHina - To Help the Sun Find Its Place

💡 = Contrary to Popular Faith

💣 = Self-Image

💣 = The Techie

💡 = Fairytale Outline

I hope this was satisfactory @lavender-long-stories Unfortunately, I have no one else to tag, so it ends here with me lol