#gen is dead

[reasonsforhope]

Sometimes you just have one of those moments where the progress we've made as a culture get thrown into stark relief. You look at something and go "Holy shit, that would never have happened when I was a kid."

Today, I had one of those moments when I realized that the teenage boys I'm working with are just. genuinely, openly enthusiastic about going to Build-a-Bear for their outing.

These are sixteen and seventeen year old boys! They just had a whole conversation about what to name their "cute", mostly new squishmallows! They're genuinely excited that they're going to Build-a-Bear this weekend and asking other kids to pick up specific accessories for them!!

Holy shit, that never would've happened when I was 16. None of the boys would have dared to be visibly interested - and neither would most of the girls! There would have been a million gay jokes and "Haha, you're a girl" jokes and "What are you, a baby?" jokes. Teenagers weren't even supposed to care about anything back then!

Less than 15 years later, and I'm watching three 17 year old boys treat all that as not even worthy of comment.

So let's call that a reason for hope. Even when the kids aren't alright, in some ways apparently they are alright. Go Gen Z, honestly. It's so lovely to watch you guys just openly doing and saying stuff that, when I was a teen, would've been a social death sentence.

[0xycod0ne]

neil josten,, my muse,, my favourite blood soaked pathetic cat

[vaperarmand]

started imagining rpf discourse in the rockstar lestat universe (part 1)

[barblaz-arts]

Barblaz's Wenclair AU's masterpost

*NOTE: This is sorted by order of chronological events. If you want to see them by date posted, make sure you're in my blog before clicking on the name of the AU in the tags if ur on mobile. If ur on desktop, click on my blog's name first then click on the tag for the AU. Have fun backreading mwah!

Inuyasha AU - AU based on the anime Inusyasha. For the youngsters unfamiliar with it, it's an old anime about a modern Japanese teenager named Kagome who gets magicked to a feudal Japan that is terrorized by demons. She accidentally awakens a half-demon named Inuyasha(literally means demon dog) who was sealed frozen in time by Kagome's ancestor and Inuyasha's first love, Kikyo

Wednesday meets the half-demon Enid

Familiar faces

Kitty the Manticore

Pokemon AU - name speaks for itself i think.

Hex Maniac Wednesday and Cute Trainer Enid want to battle!(over a Mimikyu?)

Cover art

Getting to know Wednesday and Enid's Pokemons

List of Gym Leaders, Elite Four and the Champions

The Balcony Talk: Pokemon AU Edition

The boys awakening some "green-eyed monsters"

Challenging Champions Morticia and Gomez Addams(warning: it's still a WIP)

When you're part of their team...

Fanart by @enidtendo64

"Wenclair in my moot's styles" drawing meme by @kris-6758

Fanfics inspired by this AU by IntrusiveCreativity on AO3

Next Gen Nevermore AU - Wednesday and Enid as wives with a daughter named Vega

Meet Vega Addams

She has (both) her mothers' eyes

Mothers and daughter

Enid the wildlife rescuer

Baby's first wolf out

Vega's love for the extraterrestrial

Domestic Addamses

Full Moon nights are Family Nights

Finding the right 'do

The Heroes of Nevermore

Height Difference

Enrollment

SkyWolf

SkyWolf Meet Cute

Meet Sora Toriyama

Clowning each other like an old married couple

Principal Barclay

Clingy wolf

Family Day

Meeting Mrs. and Mrs. Addams

Full Moon Nights are Family Nights(ft. Sora)

Vega's favorite place: Sora's shoulder

Vega's Uncle Pugsley and his diverse children

Vega's Uncle Pubert, bane of her existence

Pubert fucks around and finds out

Happy Halloween

Regine Ottinger

Voices for Vega, Sora, Regine, and Pubert(ask)

The Mystery Missfits

Get to know Vega's cousins

Sora and Regine's parents

Bonus Vega fanfics by other authors:

Enid and Wednesday have a very important conversation with their daughter (by @eggplant-crusader)

Sora visits the Addamses (by TheVeryGayLouvio on AO3)

The aftermath of Vega's first wolf out by @whitebeltwriter

Vega and Sora's misadventures by @whitebeltwriter

Meet the Addamses AU - based on the movie Meet the Robinsons. Due a magical mishap, Vega Addams accidentally brings teen Enid Sinclair into the future and desperately tries to hide from Enid that the Addamses are the family she will eventually marry into.

Wednesday's daughter is full of woe(and stressed as FUCKK)

Addamses of the future

Enid Addams

See you later

Witchcraft Baby AU - loosely inspired by Lilo and Stitch. Wednesday is a witch who used Enid's blood to make a homunculus. The consequences are dire as their creation is taboo and Wednesday used the blood of a Sinclair to do it. Wednesday wants everyone to leave her and her creation alone, meanwhile all Enid sees is a chance for family.

A deal is made(fic)

Wednesday backstory(fic)

Vega the Homunculus (art)

Jailbreak (art)

[birrdify]

what if 4 just went so coo coo crazy once that even mr puzzles would catch onto his weird ass behaviour<3

[person4924]

is this anything ?

[starry-bi-sky]

jason and danny childhood friends au memes (mild spoilers)

[yupekosi]

dp x dc prompt again bc i am plagued with blorbo thoughts. should i make this a series?? anyway

so we all know that Jason 'Pride and Prejudice' Todd-Wayne is a nerd, right? no amount of muscle can hide that this fridge of a man was once the dorky little kid that was so excited to go to school he skipped out on Robin patrols to do homework.

I propose that Danny 'I Wanna Be an Astronaut' Fenton Phantom is also a fucking nerd. he gets good grades, when he's not having to juggle school, sleep, and secret ghost fighting, and he takes to engineering like a ghost to ectoplasm. he's also the exact kind of space-obsessed geeky kid that would absolutely devour every sci-fi show and book he could get, and I say that as someone who was that space-obsessed geeky kid.

so, as young teens, both boys spent a lot of time in online fandom spaces, and eventually become internet friends. Jason's into classic lit and Lord of the Rings while Danny's into comic books and Star Trek, but they get on surprisingly well. They're chatting on forums and beta-ing each other's fanfiction, that sort of thing... and then Jason vanishes.

he just stops responding to messages, he stops posting, all his accounts are abandoned. Danny is very concerned, of course, but this happens right around the time of his accident, so he has more city-destroying things to worry about than an online friend going MIA. and eventually, as he gets older, he sort of forgets about Jason, only occasionally thinking back to the kid he used to talk to, wondering whatever happened to him.

so time passes, and Danny, now a young adult, ends up meeting the Batfam for whatever reason. is he part of the Justice League? in Gotham for a Wayne Enterprises internship? superhero shenanigans? Ghost King Summoning? secret twin/son/clone bullshit? up to you!

any way, he's hitting it off with the Batkids, and at some point Jason subconsciously quotes something from one of his old, unpublished fanfics from his Tumblr days.

and Danny's jaw drops. the Batkids stare at him; you can see the gears turning in his head before he blurts out;

"You're WingingIt02???"

and something deep in Jason's brain, buried under layers of death-trauma and Pit Rage clicks.

"Holy shit, AstroloGhost??"

[once again, not planning to make this a fic, but feel free to run wild with the prompt! just give credit if you do, please! :3]

[marioclash]

you could reblog for a bigger sample size or not who do i look like the freakin queen of england

[genevievefangirl]

Master Post - Gen's Top 100 DBDA Fics!

It is finally here! My personal top 100 DBDA fics!

My friends in the DBDA Haunt Discord server know that I am an avid fic reader. I read multiple hours every day and have read a very large chunk of all the DBDA fics out there (that are tagged Payneland). I constantly recommend fics in our fanfic channel and thought, "Well, why don't I make a huge rec list in recognition of how wonderful the fic writers of this fandom are?" And thus the idea for this list was born!

I have been working on this since the cancellation announcement almost 2 months ago. It has taken me that long to go back through my over 350+ DBDA bookmarks and select only the best of the best to be featured here.

Thank you to every fic writer in this fandom! You are all amazing and I love your work! Your creations are what keep the fandom alive and healthy!

Some caveats before we begin:

These fics are in alphabetical order by title.

I have a Payneland bias. All of these are Payneland fics. Maybe I will make a list sometime that has more ship variety, but for now, that is what is on the list.

I also have a very strong hurt/comfort & angst bias, so there will be a lot of that on here as well! But there are a few fluffy fics too!

There is no smut on this list. Sorry, smut just isn't my thing. There is exactly one fic rated E on here.

Not all tags are listed! I have selected the ones that I feel are the most important and in some cases added some that I felt were missing. But please read the full tag list on the fic itself!

I will be releasing 10 fics a day for 10 days, to make the posts more readable and to have some fun!

And now... THE LIST!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11 - WIPs

(and yes I will link a google sheets version once all the parts are out)

[demonic0angel]

PhantomBat Next Gen 2.0

I remade this post bc I’ve been thinking about it for awhile lmao (click for clarity)

The numbers symbolize age, so 1 is the oldest, and 12 is the youngest. Each square also separates each family. And ofc, these are my preferred ships so maybe your idea of the PhantomBat next gen is different.

Details are always susceptible to change, but notes and details (very long) are below:

1) Abigail “Abby” Crystal Weston: (31 years old) the adopted daughter of Stephanie and Wes. She is Stephanie’s biological daughter that she gave up for adoption when she was 15. When Stephanie got pregnant for the 2nd time with her son, she felt depressed and guilty for her first child. Wes used his investigative abilities and connections to find her daughter and they discovered that she was still unadopted. They quickly adopted her and only years later did they tell her the truth. She is a civilian, but is aware of her family’s activities and acts as an alibi. Fun fact: she is married and has a daughter!

2) Jove Dillon Gordon: (24 years old) He is the adopted child of Barbara Gordon and Valerie Gray. Originally part of the DP universe, he became a liminal through contamination and accidentally transported himself into the DC universe. He was adopted by Barbara and when his origins were revealed, Valerie stepped in to help (and then they fell in love). He’s a hero named Rabbit and has teleportation and time/matter manipulation abilities that he hasn’t fully discovered yet. Fun fact: he is albino!

3) Marillyn “Mari” Maddy Grayson: (24 years old) Dick and Dan’s only child. Her conception was an accident because Dan didn’t think he could get pregnant, but when it happened, they were overjoyed. She is extremely mischievous, free-spirited, and a bit arrogant, but she is brave and bold, often the first one to defend her family. She is a hero who takes on the name Flamebird to fight alongside Dick. She has pretty strong halfa powers and can switch between forms as a hero. Fun fact: She is best friends with Elinor and the two usually travel together.

4) Elinor “Ella” Catherine Nightingale: (24 years old) Jason and Jazz’s oldest daughter. She is tall and very intelligent, having gained both of her parents’ literature loving habits. Compared to Mari, she is more mature and responsible, but she still enjoys a fun time. She has no powers, and takes on the name of Romola as a hero with wolf motifs like Jazz. Fun fact: Her face is a female version of Jason’s!

5) Seth Austin Weston: (24 years old) Wes and Stephanie’s oldest son. He is a great investigator and brawler like Steph. He works as a hero by the name of Warning, since he wanted to have a somewhat similar name to Spoiler. He can be abrasive and he focuses on the big picture rather than details, but he is protective and very loyal. Fun fact: He is considered a player by his cousins.

6) Thomas “Tommy” Bruce Drake-Kent: (20 years old) Tim, Kon, and Dani’s oldest son. When he was young, his dream was to take over the world. He still has that dream as he’s older, and he is extremely successful in taking the steps necessary to recreate the world into a utopia. He is a civilian with no powers, but he uses his money and skills to support and provide for his brother and cousins. He has a bit of brother-complex, but he just really loves his family. Fun fact: He takes advantage of the fact that he has Vlad, Lex, and Bruce as grandparents to further his goals.

7) Alfonso “Alfie” B Nightingale: (20 years old) Jason and Jazz’s only son. He is the twin of Marianne and is the middle child. He has no powers and takes on the name of Remus as a hero with wolf motifs like his mom. He and Elinor are the wolves to Marianne’s Little Red Riding Hood. He is quiet and serious, but he has a soft side. It’s also said that he looks a lot like Bruce. Fun fact: He used to have a very long emo phase!

8) Marianne “Annie” Talia Nightingale: (20 years old) Jason and Jazz’s youngest daughter. She is the twin of Alfonso and is the youngest. She has no powers and takes on the mantle of Little Red in replacement of Jason (he is alive, just mostly retired). She is cheerful and air headed, but she can be a bit trigger happy and has a temper. However, out of her entire family, her strength is extremely strong. Fun fact: She got her blonde hair from her paternal grandmother! (Sheila Haywood)

9) Melia “Mel” Misty Wayne: (18 years old) Danny and Cass’ oldest daughter. She is the twin of Daphne. She is rowdy, mischievous and careless, but also very empathetic and compassionate. She has halfa powers and uses them as a hero named Omen. Like Marillyn, she can also switch between forms as a hero. Her core is one of water. Fun fact: Both she and her sister are extremely talkative, which Cass loves.

10) Daphne “Daph” Rain Wayne: (18 years old) Danny and Cass’ youngest daughter. She is the twin of Melia. She is quiet and shy, but also very brave and excitable when comfortable. She has halfa powers and uses them as a hero named Herald. Like Marillyn, she can also switch between forms as a hero. Her core is one of ice. Fun fact: She has a secret girlfriend that no one knows about.

11) Sean Kyler Weston: (18 years old) Wes and Stephanie’s youngest son. He is a basketball player like his dad and has no powers. He wants to live a normal life, but like Abigail, is aware of their family’s identities and helps as an alibi. Fun fact: He used to want to be a hero, but after watching his family get hurt constantly, he decided to stay a civilian and help in other ways.

12) Kenneth “Kenny” Clark Drake-Kent: (17 years old) Tim, Kon, and Dani’s youngest son. He is extremely bold, cheerful, and adventurous. As a child of both a Kryptonian and a halfa, he is extremely powerful and has abilities of both races. As such, he is considered the next “Superman”. Even at 17, his powers are not far from rivaling Clark’s and Danny’s. Fun fact: He is out and very gay, with a boyfriend that he lets no one meet.

Notes:

+ Most of the OG Batfam and Phantoms are semi-retired. They still patrol and check on things, but since their kids reached the age of 21, they’ve been drastically lessening their heroics. Bruce is fully retired tho and mentors the kids.

+ There are 2 hero teams, one with the older kids (Jove, Marillyn, Elinor, and Seth) and the younger kids (Marianne, Alfonso, Melia, Daphne, and Kenneth). They split up for their hero teams out of Gotham, but when inside of Gotham City, these are the teams they usually regroup in.

+ The only ones with powers are Jove, Marillyn, Melia, Daphne, and Kenneth. The others have no powers, but are varying degrees of liminal.

+ Elinor is considered the de facto leader of the PhantomBat kids, with Marillyn as her right hand due to their efficiency and skill on the field.

+ If I had to powerscale the hero kids, it would look like: Kenneth >>> Jove > Daphne ≥ Melia > Marillyn > Marianne > Seth ≥ Elinor > Alfonso.

+ Melia and Daphne are named after water nymphs associated with Apollo, the god of prophecies, within Greek mythology. Melia means “ash tree” and Daphne means “laurel tree”. Both were consorts or desired lovers of Apollo.

+ Seth and Sean have middle names that are somewhat related to their uncles (Easton and Kyle).

+ I assume that in this AU, the Phantoms have cut off Maddie and Jack and don’t share their name anymore. As such, they either take the last name of their spouse or just use the last name Nightingale.

+ Any other notes on names can probably be found in the OG post that is linked above.

+ Bruce cried like a baby at every birth of his grandkids. He cried harder whenever they have names that relate back to him. At the rate that he kept crying at every birth, his kids just let him cry all over their newborns while the Phantoms were like ???? every single time. He is a grandfather of 12 and very, very proud of it.

+ Yes, it was also very weird when people were pregnant around the same time. There were months in between (ofc), but they definitely gave each other awkward laughs whenever they started showing. Danny and Jazz were especially baffled to be having twins one after another.

+ Dani had the most difficult birth because she couldn’t create her own DNA, so she had to drink blood (from Kon and Tim) and eat a lot in order to have a somewhat stable birth. There are lots of science shenanigans I kind of want to get into, but I think it’ll be awkward to talk about here, so maybe I’ll write about it one day. (I love science stuff and world building :3)

+ Damian and Duke are either married/dating their own partners, but Damian has no kids while I don’t really know Isabella that well?? But Duke and Izzie probably have 2 kids as well. Idk what to decide with Sam and Tucker, but they help Danny with his stuff and the kids.

[no1ryomafan]

I love it when I’m into male orientated series that lack a lot of females only for them to introduce new female characters but then they never get fucking used again- and yes this slightly regards my last post lol.

[orbitsuns]

[sacrifical-lamb-core]

Hazel, who grew up in the 1940s and Jason who had no access to a phone and lived in Camp Jupiter his entire life.

They both do not understand meme culture one bit.

Piper: omg hazel you ate and left not a single crumb.

Hazel: I... I'm not eating anything?

Leo, making tacos: girl dinner, girl dinner

Jason: we're both boys?

Percy: no but i was literally serving in that toga.

Hazel: stop.

[strawberry-eden]

violence solves (most) problems — danny johnson x reader

↪ summary — you're relatively new in the fog, having been here just long enough to get a hold on the working order of this place when you catch the unfortunate eye of the most obsessive man on the planet, who decides that you're going to be his newest plaything.

or, your first encounter with the notorious ghostface killer goes very poorly.

↪ tags — canon typical violence, swearing, crack treated seriously, blood & injury, obsession at first sight, gender neutral pronouns/description for reader, no use of y/n, and danny's weird way of flirting

↪ word count — 2.4k

a/n: i wrote this originally way back in february but i found it again and figured i would share with the class. inspired by a cool piece of art i saw on twitter that ended up spiraling from there. enjoy!

The cold air of Mount Ormond ski resort bites angrily at your bare face, your shallow breaths manifesting in puffs of white fog as you fight to keep giant spidery talons from spearing through your torso. A low, guttural growl sounds from all around you and nowhere all at once, your arms shaking from effort as a particularly hard shove from the entity forces your hooked shoulder to shift, sending a ripple of white-hot agony through your body. “Fuck!”

This is your first match of the day. Not a single generator has been done and none of your teammates have been hooked yet. If anybody is coming for you, you can’t see through the cage the entity’s talons have created around you, itching to close in and take you back the campfire. You’re half tempted to let her do it.

You barely register the second pair of hands that appears and bats her away until they’re gently pulling you down from the hook by your armpits, holding you up until you’re steady on your feet. You blink away a few stray tears to look up at the face of your savior. “No offense, kiddo, but you look like shit,” says Bill.

You almost shrug instinctively but stop yourself last second. “A little bit taken. I feel like shit,” you mutter. He shoots a cautious glance over his shoulder, then takes you by the arm and leads you away from the hook towards a safer spot to patch you up. You can’t help but flit your gaze all around the area, searching for that haunting white mask or floating strips of leather, wondering if you’re being watched from somewhere.

Bill catches your paranoid expression and frowns. “Christ, what’d you do to him?”

Unable to hide your frustration, you round on Bill with an exasperated cry, “I don’t know! He just—” You make a vague gesture. “Set his eyes on me and decided he wanted me dead! I haven’t even touched a gen yet, for fuck’s sake.”

Bill pulls you behind a boulder secluded somewhere in a corner of the resort. You squint at the shape of the killer shack some ways away, trying to get your bearings. Bill whistles lowly. “Maybe he’s just trying to get an easy win, then. Lord knows it’s working. The rest of us are struggling to keep up.”

You collapse into a bloody pile into the snow, leaning against the rock and pressing a hand against your wounded shoulder while he pops open his medkit. “Yeah, well. I’m still pissed about it.”

“Oh, we all are,” he replies. “Nobody likes being down a teammate this early on. You got anything to help you out?”

Your face scrunches in confusion. “What?”

He raises a grayed eyebrow. “You know, like that trick David pulls to endure pain, or how that girl Laurie hides glass in her sleeves. They teach you any of that?”

“Uhh… No?”

Bill curses under his breath. “You’re kidding, right?” He curses again, louder this time when you shake your head. He digs into one of his many pockets, pulling out something that he clutches tightly in his palm, then motions for you to extend your hand. He places something smooth and warm into it, closing your fingers around the object. “Hide it well, okay? If he sees it, it’s game over. And make sure you don’t. Miss. That was my second chance, and I’m giving it up so you a better shot. If you end up fumbling, I’m never gonna let you live it down.”

Bill holds your gaze until you give a slow nod, retracting his hands as he returns to rustling around the supplies in his medkit. When you open up your fingers, you are greeted by your own reflection looking back at you from a small, sharp piece of glass. It’s almost shaped like a knife if you turn it right. “What do I do with it?” You ask curiously.

Bill wheezes out a laugh. “Stab him with it, obviously.” You bite back a painful hiss when he begins stitching your wounds back together, which he apologizes for under his breath. “But don’t just swing it around all willy-nilly, you gotta wait until he isn’t expecting it—like when he’s got you slung over his shoulder like a sack of meat thinking you’re gonna be an easy kill. Then, you take your opportunity to prove him wrong and stab it right into his shoulder. Always shocks ‘em so bad they drop you then and there. Gives 'em a taste of their own medicine, which they don’t like too much, y’know?”

You stare thoughtfully at the shard. If it’s such an effective tactic, then why in the world hasn’t anybody told you about it? You can’t help but feel a bit betrayed.

“Doesn’t always work, though,” he says, pulling the question straight from your mind. “After a while, they start to expect it, which means you gotta change it up. Start playing stealthier, like Zarina or Jake—the guy’s got an iron will. Real impressive. I have no idea he’s even hurt until I realize he’s left a streak of blood halfway across the map.”

This is all too much information to ingest when you feel about five seconds away from dying via blood loss. “Got it,” you mumble breathlessly.

Bill blanks at you. “You didn’t retain a thing I just said.”

"I got all the important parts."

“Sure you did,” he huffs. He starts opening up some gauze, when all of a sudden, his head shoots up and his whole body goes rigid. Bill’s wide eyes find your alarmed ones, and all that he’s able to get out before all hell breaks loose is, “Run.”

There’s an almost imperceptible rustle of clothing that doesn’t reach your ears. You’re frozen in place, barely given enough time to register the command as you watch him jump to his feet. “What?”

“God damnit, kid, I said run—!”

“There you are,” a third voice purrs, and you barely get a glimpse of the knife that glints maliciously at you just before it’s buried in Bill’s back. The hoarse scream that’s torn from the older man’s throat echoes hauntingly in your ears as it digs in deeper, forcing him against the ground. Dark red splatters across the snow when Ghostface violently wrenches it out of him.

Your shoulder cries out as you feebly scramble backwards, every little cut and bruise on your body flaring in pain as you awkwardly clamber back to your feet. Ghostface steps clean over Bill, who groans in pain on the ground, and the shard in your sweaty hand suddenly feels a thousand times heavier.

You can hear the simper in his voice when he says, “You didn’t forget about little old me, did you?” He wraps his gloved fingers around the bloody knife, wiping it clean with one swipe. “Oh, darling, I’m hurt.”

You’re running before you even know it. The cold air stings your lungs with each intake, your muscles burning with every step. You don't have a clue where you’re headed until you’re tearing through the killer shack, narrowly avoiding crashing into the generator that sits in the middle. You don’t need to look to know that he’s right behind you if the sounds of crunching snow and throaty laughter are anything to go by, and when your bare fingers find the splintered slab of wood sitting against the doorway, you waste no time throwing it down behind you.

You stop and turn to shout obscenities towards your assailant, but he’s nowhere to be found. You blink, and a knife is suddenly jammed between your ribs. “You should really look behind you sometimes,” Ghostface says coolly, pressing the blade deeper in emphasis and relishing in the way you whimper in pain. “Maybe you would have actually seen me go around the side of shack. Kind of embarrassing to fall for that, you know.”

“Fuck you.”

He tsks, ripping the knife out of your side and effectively taking away the only thing keeping you upright, letting you fall to the ground in a bloody heap. You look up at him through hazy eyes, looking like a dark mist against the pale gray sky, the screaming white mask being the only thing to come into focus. “You know, I don’t usually do this—”

You watch as one of his hands dives underneath his cloak, searching around for something for a solid five seconds until he pulls out a small handheld camera with a muted A-ha!

“—but I like you, so I’m willing to make an exception.”

“An exception?" You spit out a wad of blood and saliva. "What the hell are you—”

The air is unceremoniously knocked out of your lungs when he plops himself down on your stomach, knees caging you in and pinning your hands against the snow. You flinch when the glass shard hidden in your sleeve pinches the skin of your wrist.

Gloved fingers firmly grip your jaw and force you to turn toward the camera lens as he leans in close, the scent of cheap cologne assaulting your senses and filling up your head. You swear the smell alone would kill you before he ever could.

“Smile,” he breathes into your ear, and you’re blinded by the flash that goes off when he clicks the camera. You’re busy recoiling in the aftermath while he gazes quietly at the picture in the viewfinder, blinking away the green and purple splotches in your vision. Still gripping your jaw, he forcefully turns your head to show it to you.

The picture looks about exactly how you’d expect it to turn out. You're staring wide-eyed at the camera in shock and fear, blood seeping from your various wounds and soaking into your clothes. His mask takes up the entire left side of the photo, but if you look hard enough, you think you can spot a pair of dark eyes staring into the lens—they’re squinted at the edges, like he’s actually smiling underneath it as he casually holds up a peace sign.

"Say, you weren't a model or anything before this, were you? 'Cause damn." He lets out a low whistle. "This one’s definitely going in my collection.”

He takes one last, long look at the picture before tucking the camera back into his coat and stands, allowing the blood to resume flowing through the veins in both of your arms again as they’re overcome by that numb, prickly feeling. Too hurt and exhausted to resist, you limply allow him to maneuver you into a sitting position, his arms wrapping tightly around your waist as he effortlessly hauls you up onto his shoulder.

"Alright, playtime's over," he huffs. "Duty calls, blah blah blah, you know how it is. Ain't no rest for the wicked."

Something smooth and sharp slides into your palm from the depths of your sleeve. Catching a glimpse of your reflection in it’s surface, you let out a gasp that Ghostface assumes must be from the sight of the giant meat hook that appears at the corner of the shack, because he gently pats the backs of your thighs in what you assume is meant to be reassurance.

"Now, don't you worry, sweet-pea," he says, “the next time you and I get matched up, I promise I’ll play nice. Maybe if you’re good, I’ll even let you escape, yeah?” He laughs, and you can feel it vibrating through your ribcage. “After I kill your friends, of course.”

You grip the glass so tight in your palm, it digs into your fingers, drawing blood. You see your own eyes staring back at you through a thin stream of red, wild and angry and terrified, Bill’s words bouncing around in your skull as you raise the shard and slam it hard into the back of his shoulder, digging in viciously and twisting.

He inhales sharply, hands immediately losing their grip on you as he drops down to one knee, letting you slide off of his shoulder and land face-first in the snow. You push yourself up to your hands and knees, then to your feet, and glance nervously over your shoulder.

You meet those same eyes that had peered gleefully at you in the picture, no longer hiding behind that wretched mask as it lays by your feet in the snow, but they’re not squinting like they were before. They’re wide, pupils shrunken into tiny pinpricks as they bore into you, nostrils flaring and lips curling into a grimace as he reaches behind him and rips out the glass. Blood sprays from the wound in an arc, a fury so deep and animalistic roiling in his guttural tone as he ...

... Laughs.

Something dangerous glitters within his irises as he turns to face you. What catches you most off-guard, though, is that he's actually handsome underneath the mask—he's younger than you thought, with long lashes and full lips. A tiny scar marks the corner of his mouth, and it stretches slightly as he bares his teeth in a wide, manic grin.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" He drops the glass shard and stands, and you're screaming at your body to move, but you can't. You just watch as he slowly reaches out to collect his mask and knife, refusing to take his eyes off of you even once. It's like it's just his gaze keeping you pinned. "The gift that keeps on giving?"

A loud buzzer sounds from somewhere in the distance. You flick your gaze away for just a moment to check which direction it came from, and by the time you look back, he's already secured the mask back in place.

"I'll tell you what," he begins, tilting his head at you curiously. "Let's make a bet. If you can last until your friends get alll the gens done, I'll let you go."

You swallow thickly. "And if I can't?"

Silence. You don't need to see his face to know that he's smiling. "You wanna find out?"

Strangely enough, a part of you almost does.

He lunges then, but you’re already on the move, adrenaline as well as an odd cocktail blend of terror and exhilaration pushing your body past its limits in a last-ditch effort at escaping this trial with your life.

You probably won’t, but you’re definitely gonna give him a run for his money—you figure that you've earned at least that much.

[edwinisms]

was looking at that list of edwardian vocabulary and im fucking losing my mind at the implications of edwin saying this anywhere near crystal or niko