#ghost quartet aus

[ghostjustliketherest]

ghost quartet australia press photos are now out and oh isn't she beautiful.....

[puppetmaster13u]

Hear Me Out

Yokai Amity. What are yokai? Japanese spirits. And not just ghosts, a majority of mythical creatures? Yokai.

So how did this happen? Well, like most things, it can be blamed on the ghost portal in the Fenton Basement. And a lot of ecto contamination. Because while they're a small city? They're also in the middle of nowhere, meaning a lot of their foods and crops, they grow themselves. And the ectoplasm? Started sinking into the ground first. Y'know, where every plant grows and then both humans and animals proceed to eat it? Made even worse when those like Overgrowth or Vortex came through? Yeaah, it'd be a miracle if they didn't get contaminated and no surprise that most don't notice their humanity slipping with time with how it's happening to everyone.

Which kind of makes the situation Danny has found himself kind of hilarious? At least to him. The trenchcoat dude seems to be having an aneurism or something similar.

"So... not a meta?" the tiny vigilante child clarified again, head tilting from where he stood at the head of his group. Honestly Danny was enjoying this from his place sprawled across the park bench Honestly Amity had spoiled him with benches designed for extra limbs.

The blonde man seemed absolutely done with everything, hands twitching as though about to cradle his head in his hands or grab something. "No," he wasn't shouting but it was close. "For fuck's sake- your all lucky not to be cursed or worse-" He turned towards Danny. "Why the fuck didn't you?"

The hainu shrugged, wings doing more of the motion than the rest of him. "They're babies-" Or at least one of them was, borderline liminal as they were. "You play along with toddlers." Honestly he saw why his old rogues found this fun, even if he'd never go as far as they did.

The entire team of vigilante children bristled, one opening their mouth to protest before trenchcoat-soul-dude glared at them all before turning back towards him.

"Though what the fuck do you need that for that you'd steal it- not that any artifact like that should be in a bloody museum and not locked away where idiots can't get to it."

He snorted, the sound more dog-like. Or really more yeti-like, what with how he was taking lessons from Frostbite which meant large chunks of time in the Far Frozen.

"Technically I don't need it, my kid does," Danny held up a finger, marveling slightly at the clouds. It was quite different compared to Amity, what with how everywhere was so ecto-infused that the sky was effected.

"And what does a hainu need with-" the trenchcoat man motioned to the cursed object, which honestly wasn't that bad. But...

"Oh no, he's not a hainu, he's furaribi." Danny honestly wasn't surprised that Jordan wouldn't turn out the same as he, de-aged or not. Not that he was memory-less or anything, cores didn't lose that easily, but he did still have the physical brain of a child.

"Adopted?"

"Nope," he hummed, going over the list of things he still had to do today before returning to Amity. Sam had asked him to get a few more flowers to test how ecto would effect them and he had to pick up some computer parts for Tuck.

"How the fuck."

"My sister's a kitsune, my other sister is a shirouneri, my mom is a shishi, my dad a baku, godfather's an itachi, my boyfriend a raiju, my girlfriend a kirin, and my other girlfriend a yosuzume," he ticked off his fingers, not seeing anything wrong with it. Not like people could get into Amity easily after the whole GIW thing.

"... what the fuck does your family tree look like, mate, because that should be bloody impossible."

Danny shrugged, giving a sharp toothed smile. Yeah, the realms didn't care about that with how malleable ecto was.

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

(In case it's not clear: Hainu Danny, Furaribi Dan, Kitsune Jazz, Shirouneri Danny, Lion Dog Maddie, Baku Jack, Itachi Vlad, Raiju Tucker, Kirin Sam & Yosuzume Valerie) (Also feel free to come up with what everyone else might be) (Highly recommend yokai.com for a quick summary of each creature)

[twistedappletree]

lan sizhui: *hanging out with the other juniors* hey guys, do you mind if i invite a few more friends?

lan jingyi, jin ling, ouyang zizhen: sure, why not?

lan sizhui: great! *pulls out a ouija board*

[unlocked-doors-verse]

Origins: Character Headcanons + Lore Thoughts

Good timezone!

So, here's some added development to the AU! Of course, Mystery Kids is still happening but again, I have a lot of prompts to get through

For starters, the readers are not immediately introduced to all of the characters at once; this will be split in about 4-5 one-shots (certain characters will meet the others beforehand and then do a big meet toward the end- that is all i'm going to say for now). Part 1 is actively being worked on - ft. a cross between Danny Phantom and Miraculous Ladybug, but for now- I plan on focusing with character headcanons and some additional lore elements everyone can be privy too!

On one hand, we have Danny Phantom and Miraculous Ladybug where we have Danny Fenton, Adrien Agreste, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng - and their initial first meeting during Secret Origins

Danny Phantom / Miraculous Ladybug Headcanons

~ Out of the trio, Danny is the oldest; Adrien and Marinette are the youngest (there's a year of difference between them and Danny) [author's cut: I based this on when the respective shows came out. Danny Phantom aired in the early 2000's with Miraculous Ladybug getting released sometime in 2014/2015]

~ This isn't spoilers per se, but there's going to be a case of mistaken identity when Danny meets Adrien and Mari for the first time. The rest is spoilers, and I will leave you to try and figure it out! The only thing I'm going to say is that ghosts aren't a common thing in Paris-

~ This is set in an ambiguous timeline- the only thing I will say for certain is that Phantom Planet has yet to happen. A lot of the current canon for Miraculous Ladybug has been completely disregarded- partially because I never got past... I'd say season five? (and what I've heard about the newer seasons sounds like entering the Twilight Zone-)

~ Danny is auDHD because it just makes sense- (he has dual special interests on space and inventions; not to mention his ghostly obsession)

~ Adrien and Mari are definitely some breed of neurodivergent (autistic! Adrien, at least and I thought Mari is ADHD or something- this is canon now you can't tell me I'm wrong /lh)

~ Danny and his family end up in Paris, France during the summer due to reasons

~ so far, no identity reveals beyond the obvious have happened. For Danny, it only applies to Sam and Tucker; in Miraculous Ladybug, Mari isn't willing to share her identity with Adrien (this is done on purpose as this is still early into the character introductions)

~ this is no way a spoiler, but Adrien and Danny are so going to bond over puns and jokes- (and other reasons but shhh)

~ unresolved traumas? oh, absolutely- like on one hand, you have Danny who has definitely been going through the burner with protecting his own identity not from his enemies but his parents; Mari definitely has a savior complex and is so set on saving everyone, she barely puts herself first- and Adrien, my sweet summer child- how do I explain what this kid is going through when it comes to Gabriel fucking Agreste? (author's cut: Gabriel is not a good parent lol- I'm not doing a full meta-analysis on him but he doesn't really have Adrien's best interests at heart)

~ Adrien does try to see the best in everyone, but he is wearing down from certain things- i am not going to sugarcoat things, because this is going to a different level of mature and Adrien does try and cover how he feels

Lore Thoughts + Elements

~ As mentioned before, ghosts are not a common thing within Paris. Danny would be an outlier in the equation because this isn't something the citizens have seen before, and it might take some time for them to adjust further into the first arc of the SQ AU

~ If this somehow isn't obvious, Akuma attacks do not occur inside Amity Park (as for one thing, Hawk Moth has never once stepped foot inside the city and for another- ghosts and Kwamis do not mix, it's just not possible)

~ however, citizens from Amity Park can be Akumatized should they leave or if, say, somehow- they were brought into the city but for now, do what you will with this information. Good luck

~ (implied plot elements) "In the purple smoke lies what you hold most dear; to undo what has been done, break the cycle and rewind the masked's design". (author's cut: i'm sure you can figure this one out, but honestly there is so much more coming, so keep an eye out!)

~ Secret Origins Lore / Teen Heroes AU (the name is still subject to change): as mentioned before, there will be about 4-5 one-shots before the main story releases- this may have a little bit of major plot arcs so read at your own discretion - due to the overlapping themes within the four fandoms, there are multiple sectors throughout the world that are specifically for the current growing number of teen superheroes (author's cut: the Dragon Council, for instance- among others, take with this what you will. of course there's more to come)

~ since this is only the first in the Secret Origins background- character introductions are fairly limited; and honestly, I was going to use one of the specials to push forth the lore but ultimately, I scrapped that version (but I could rewrite the version of events that could have happened: especially since I had tied it back to the New York special-) though the alternate version aside, going back to the introductions- the point is for the sectors to slowly become part of... well, let's just say that certain alliances within this piece are going to be only one part of what's to come-

(Author's Cut: As of right now, this project continues to remain a Work in Progress and of course, I'm trying to limit myself with the spoilers- currently the early stages of the Miraculous Ladybug x Danny Phantom fanfic are being worked on, and I am considering writing a small snippet of it! Without spoilers, of course!

You’re going to see a lot more for this and the Unlocked Doors AU soon. These poor kids are definitely going to through it.)

~ Mod Danny

[wewerebornsextuplets]

tfw you accidentally send a gay teenager on a quest for revenge that transcends lifetimes and the concept of death itself for the bit

[ghoulitahhh]

Warm up with the skele’s-

Why you make the quality dog shit tumblrrrrr :’(

[bogwallows]

hello warrior cats community. hello gay little people. hello obscure musical fandom. i gather you all here to bestow upon you…

maplerose. a combination of wc and ‘ghost quartet,’ the song cycle written by dave malloy !

tag for this will be #maplerose au, just #maplerose will likely be used for miss rose red herself <3 rb with design notes !

[oughtnots]

have long wanted to create an incomprehensible page based on rose's monologue from "bad men", but for crozier speaking to jcr in the ghost quartet au... so here it is

[lucimiir]

I can’t think of who else to send this to so you’re getting my unsolicited brainrots. TLT ghost quartet AU

Harrow is generally Rose, and specifically the photographer

Gideon is generally Pearl, and specifically the Soldier and the victim

Jod is the astronomer who sings the song and seduces Roxie Usher. Separately, Ianthe is also the astronomer involved with the sisters and specifically the driver

I think The Body has to be the bear but I really don’t know. She could totally be the pusher though, especially with photographer Harrow

The Ushers are the Lyctors- Augustine is Edgar Usher and Mercy is Lady Usher and G1deon is the brother, Cytherea is Roxie and Loveday is Rose and Dulcie is the Starchild

Four Friends is Marta, Camilla, Judith and Corona respectively

Any Kind of Dead Person is Abigail with Magnus and the teens backing her up

Palamedes is Sheherazade, Camilla is Dunyazad (could swap this, idk who it would make more sense to have do Tango Dancer but I like it for them)

My favorite parts are Soldier!Gideon, Starchild!Dulcie and Abigail singing any kind of dead person. It’s completely incoherent and I love it so much

Oh I’m soooo insane about this actually

Particularly photographer! Harrow and victim! Gideon, it’s Gideon dying so harrow can succeed and reach her goals, it’s harrow doing everything right up to that point and then regretting the final piece of the puzzle, it’s harrow smashing the camera and erasing any piece of Gideon’s sacrifice

(Thanks soph, I appreciate being the place where tlt and gq overlap)

[truly-morgan]

[Haunted house (w.i.p)]

Jiang Cheng + Juniors | Mo Dao Zu Shi Modern AU + Ghost AU 06-02-2022

[300 Followers prompt winner: #JiangCheng & #JuniorQuartet, haunted house]

The group of friends had decided to go to Ouyang Zizhen’s house for the summer break, to see a bit of the more rural regions of Yunmeng.

“I am curious about where my mom is coming from,” admitted Jin Ling when his friend asked why the sudden request to spend a part of the summer with him (not that he was complaining about the suggestion). Of course, Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui decided to tag along.

The train ride was pretty uneventful, Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen sleeping through a big part of it. It was to be expected, they did take one of the earliest trains.

They were picked up by the young man's mother, three of them squeezing at the back (Lan Sizhui in the middle to avoid a fight between Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling). Thankfully no fight happened, as they were more occupied with talking with their friend's mother.

Truly a nice lady she was, asking how college was going for everyone.

Once they were at their friend's house they took the rest of the day to settle in their rooms and visit Baling. It was truly a different atmosphere from the big city Jin Ling had grown up in.

It was only the next day that Lan Jingyi came up to them with an idea.

"I found some old abandoned house that is said to be haunted," Lan Jingyi said, "although the outside picture gives more mansion vibes than a house".

It had already been a couple of years since the group of friends had gotten into visiting an old abandoned building, it was a bonus if it was thought to be haunted.

They always went the four of them, as to make it safer in case something happened, thankfully nothing serious ever happened before.

“Do you know since when it has been abandoned?” Oyang Zizhen asked out of curiosity, scooting over closer to look at his friend’s phone.

“It says the fire happened nearly three decades ago!” Lan Jingyi informed, making his friends all surprised.

“So long ago? Are you sure the place is still up?” Lan Sizhui asked, looking over his shoulders at the faraway picture that did look recent.

“after so long I am surprised no one did anything with the land, it does look pretty big,” he remarked.

Jin Ling nodded at his friend’s comments, it was indeed pretty peculiar that the place was still up after so long.

No one ever brought the land? No one ever tried to put everything to the ground and rebuilt over it?

From what Lan Jingyi had told them, the mansion was on the border of Lotus Pier, which was one of the bigger cities close to Baling.

It was probably a good twenty minute drive to this place from here. “Are there any buses with a stop nearby?” Lan Sizhui asked, everyone, looking clearly interesting to go check out this place.

“I could drive us here” Ouyang Zizhen mentioned, getting everyone’s attention.

“You have a driver's licence?!” Lan Jingyi asked, surprised by the news.

The young man only smiled at them, unsure why this was such a surprise. “Well, it can be useful and my dad made me take the lesson” he explained.

"It would be easier and faster if we did this, I am sure I can borrow my mother’s car for it”.

They all decided this would indeed be a pretty good idea, so they took the day to prepare for their little expedition. It was not every day they found such a big abandoned house, even less with such a large land around it that no neighbour could see them snooping around for fun. It wasn’t like they were going there to steal anything or break things up, they were just curious as to what was still there.

It wasn’t hard to convince their friend’s mother to let them borrow the car, pretending they would go visit Lotus Pier. They were all pretty excited, trying to guess what they might find in the house.

The previous owners had probably taken some of the things that could be salvaged, maybe some people came to steal, but they still wonder if some of the old furniture would be left behind.

“Did you manage to find out why the house is said to be haunted?” Ouyang Zizhen asked Lan Jingyi who had been searching about the history of the house with Jin Ling throughout the previous day.

“Some passersby said having seen the figure of a man inside despite the house being vacant for so long,” Jin Ling said, “Some people who went inside the house were scared away by a ghost, everyone’s description seems to be the same man”.

“Apparently someone died in the fire of thirty years ago” Lan Jingyi added, “So people assumed it’s the same person now haunting the place”.

They had often gone to supposed haunted houses and had yet to see any of these. It was pretty weird that people always seemed to see the same man, but they could also have been tricked by their own beliefs about the house.

They nearly missed the entrance to the driveway, the place being so unkempt that plants were taking over the original entry. They tried parking more behind a large bush, not wanting for people to notice the car too easily and call the cops on them either.

“Let’s check out the outside first, see if any doors are unlocked or opened” Jin Ling suggested. Plus, since the house had been abandoned for so long after a fire, it would let them see which part of the house was really damaged and to be more careful around.

They looked around the front for a while, seeing many of the windows which had been broken over the years. The front door was unlocked, which wasn't that surprising. The place has had people coming inside in the past decades, it was bound to not be locked.

It was to wonder if the place even had any owner anymore and if that owner has even stepped foot here in the past years.

Despite all the crawling plants blocking the view they still determined the house was a little old-style.

Well, it was three decades old already and the place had probably not been constructed only three decades ago.

"Such a nice house" Lan Sizhui commented, "what a shame the place had such a terrible accident".

"I wonder why the owner did not try to salvage it, '' Ouyang Zizhen added.

"Maybe the fire caused too much damage to it and it needed to be destroyed," Jin Ling suggested as he made his way around the house.

"But you heard Lan Jingyi earlier, someone died in the house, maybe the family couldn't stand living where one of them died so terribly".

They did not argue, their friend had a good point.

It was understandable if someone couldn't stand living in the house after what had happened, especially if the spirit of this person was still trapped there.

"Did you find out if it was a child?" Lan Sizhui asked, frowning a bit at the idea.

It seemed even more tragic if it was indeed the case. It would be even more understandable to not want to live there anymore, although it was already understandable in any case.

“People who said having seen the ghost describe it to be a young man, or at the very least a teenager” Lan Jingyi replied. No report seemed to be talking about a young child.

They entered the courtyard of the house, more crawling plants covering the walls just like the front. The windows were a little less bad here, although many were still broken.

The courtyard looked good, despite its overgrown grass. It was pretty big, enough to have a small pond with a platform in the middle. It looks like a set of chairs and a table was there in the past, where one could enjoy the weather under the shade made by the structure.

“They have Lotus here too” commented Ouyang Zizhen after checking out the pond more closely. This made Jin Ling walk over, only to note that it did look like what they had in the garden of their house and where his mother would often enjoy some tea. It looked too similar even.

“This is so nice, their courtyard even connects to a lake!” Lan Jingyi commented as he followed a small ditch connecting the pond to the lake. “It looks perfect for hot summer days, they even have a pier”.

Despite the yard connecting to a lake, it still had a pool too. Although none of them would even dare set foot in it. Even though the pond was looking alright since it was connected to the lake, this pool was just the worst.

Algas had clearly grown at the bottom of it, the stagnant water looking green with many debris floating in it. They all made a face when they even found a dead toad floating in the water. They quickly left that alone.

At the back near the lake was a small building, most likely where all the gardening tools were stored. They did check it out, but the place was pretty much empty, aside from some old-looking gardening tools.

Clearly, no one had touched these in years, even the door was a bit hard to open.

These were really the highlights of the courtyard really. They could guess that the patio had a table and some chairs before too, but it was now only a wooden platform.

If anything had been left behind, it was already taken away now.

“Guys look at this,” Oyang Zizhen called out as they were standing in the gazebo in the middle of the lotus pond.

“It looks like a part of the roof caved in” he pointed out when they all looked towards where he was pointing.

“I guess we will need to be careful around that place of the house” Jin Ling mentioned.

This was partly why they usually tried to check out the place beforehand if it wasn’t too big. It was better to know this before getting inside the place. “Let’s get in now, I don’t think we’ll find anything more out here” he suggested.

They all agreed, going back to the front of the house to get back to the door. They checked quickly to make sure no one seemed to have seen them and had parked near the house, before finally going inside the house.

"It sure doesn't smell like roses" Lan Jingyi commented, only for Jin Ling to roll his eyes at this.

"When have we ever found somewhere that does smell good?" asked Jin Ling with a click of his tongue. He ignored the reply his friend was giving him, fishing around in his bag for a flashlight.

The inside was surprisingly dark despite it being the middle of the day and sunny. Maybe the crawling plants outside weren't helping by blocking the view.

The place looked clearly abandoned, old furniture looking dirty and about to fall apart from all the years that passed and the tragedy it went through. The couple hint here and there of things having been moved around throughout more recent years of the house’s vacancy.

“The furniture still looks good though, although it is a bit dated” Lan Jingyi commented next, letting himself fall on a couch that squeaked under his weight. Jin Ling made a face at his action, looking at the armchair next to him.

“I swear I will never understand how you never caught anything when you touch everything that is most likely mouldy, I bet some wild animal peed on this couch” he commented, his nose scrunched up in disgust at the thought of sitting on this couch.

This sure made his friend stand up quickly, looking down at the couch. It was a bit hard to tell exactly if it was truly that bad or not.

Their friend laughed a bit at their usual bickering, moving around the room to see if there was anything left to see about the family.

All Lan Sizhui and Oyang Zizhen managed to really find were already pretty damaged by the years and the fire. Old framed pictures barely allow you to see clearly who was on them with all the dust, ashes and water damage.

Still, they found a couple of them that were still vaguely alright.

“Guys I think we found a picture of the old owners” Oyang Zizhen smiled as he turned back towards the two other friends who were still arguing while trying to lift up an old heavy cabinet that had fallen down.

They quickly finished pulling up the heavy hardwood cabinet before coming over, looking at the picture.

“They sure look like people who would live in such a big house” Lan Jingyi commented. Jin Ling took the picture to look at it more closely, but it was a bit hard to see the faces, especially with the quality of the picture. Yet, from the little he could see, he felt like some trait looked familiar, but he couldn’t say what it was.

He gave back the picture to his friend so he could put it back above the fireplace, turning back to look at the cabinet. Suddenly something caught his attention in the corner of his eye, the beam of his light quickly moving to the top of the stairs.

The young man couldn’t help but frown a bit, eyes darting around a little bit.

“Something’s wrong?” Oyang Zizhen asked, also looking in the direction of the light, shining his in the same spot.

“...Nothing, I thought I saw something moving, maybe it was just a squirrel or my imagination” Jin Ling answered, turning back towards his friend.

“Is our young mistress scared now?” Lan Jingyi teased, gaining a roll of eyes from said ‘young mistress’. Soon the friend moved on, going back to the cabinet the two of them had lifted up, curious to see if there was anything interesting in it.

Jin Ling couldn’t but look back up at the stairs. He simply couldn’t shake off this feeling he had earlier. He was certain he had seen someone up there. He bite his lips a little, wondering if he should tell his friend, after all, it could be dangerous meeting other people in the middle of nowhere like this.

Still, he felt like it was probably just his imagination. No one could move around so quickly without being noticed or making any sounds, especially with all the things on the ground that would have surely made a little bit of sound in this weirdly silent house.

He was taken out of his observation by his name being called out again, quickly joining his friend after one last look.

Yeah, he was just imagining things.

(tbc)

Original

[ghostjustliketherest]

you're listening to prayer from ghost quartet performed in a lovely echoey space in pitch dark, a storm has just rolled in and you can hear thunder and the rain on the tin roof <3

[hazellvsq]

ghost quartet au: hazel as rose red and nico as pearl white and leo as the astronomer and frank as the bear

[jojotier]

Tracklist:

crocker

Monk (unheard)

Subway

lalonde

Lights Out

Starchild

Four Friends

strider

Fathers and Sons

The Camera Shop

I Don't Know

english

Telescope

Any Kind of Dead Person

(there's a man on the platform)

Monk

[magictacofairy]

Wow very cool

I love the designs😍

CANDYSHOP CREEPYS

Besides to draw my candy man quartet in @magictacofairy's ghost hunter au :]

Doodles⬇️

[wynnyfryd]

Trailer park Steve AU part 54 (12.1)

part 1 | part 53 | ao3

cw: angst

Chapter 12

Steve drives to Chicago.

He wakes up to an empty bed and a sticky note by the kitchen phone, words scribbled over so the only legible thing left is the word sorry underlined in jagged black, and his breath sticks in his chest and he can't be here anymore. Epiphany ringing like a gong, sending ripples through his marrow, because the walls are closing in and Eddie decorated those walls — splattered himself over every inch of this place, and now he's just the newest haunt in a line of ghosts that Steve can't shake. He thought he’d gotten rid of them, but now he hears them louder than ever. In the hiss of the faucet, in the buzz of the fridge; they’re moaning in his bad ear and rattling his bones, and he can't be here alone with them he can't be here he can't—

So he drives.

Gets in his car with nothing but a spare jacket and a crumpled pack of cigs. If ever there was a time to pick the habit up in earnest. Eddie’s van is gone, and Steve’s heart is bruised; it's bleeding out inside him, pumping fresh hurt with every beat, so he lights a cigarette with shaking hands and heads north. Takes the back roads to the on-ramp of I-65, drives for hours; drives for years, speeding down empty stretches of highway with nothing but roadkill for company.

At some point he rolls the windows down until the icy wind makes his cheeks burn, but he can't really feel them. Can't feel his face, or his fingers, or his heart.

All the world is snow and asphalt, and Steve Harrington is alone.

He tries to drown it out with music. The radio mocks him with swooning quartets love songs — 'put your head on my shoulder' and 'life could be a dream' — and all the tapes he can reach belong to Eddie, so he pulls over on the narrow shoulder of an overpass bridge and screams and screams and screams while he chucks the cassettes over the edge.

Fuck Eddie.

Fuck him.

"FUCK YOU!!" he shouts to the foggy nothingness.

The words dig in sharp; pocket knife twisting in the space below his kidneys.

The fog doesn't respond.

Back in the car, his thoughts turn to his mom. Because he's driving to her, he knows — knew it in his splintering bones and haunted blood the moment he left town. He's driving back to his first ghost, as if confronting the original will somehow exorcise the rest.

Miles pass in silence, and Steve paints over the canvas of what-ifs again and again, oily streaks in the underpainting as he tries to set the scenes just right: quiet, tearful confrontations in his aunt's formal living room, graceless screaming matches out on the front lawn. In one version he never makes it past the guard at the front gate, and in another he just eggs the stupid lion statues leading up to the house while his mom silently weeps from the top of the stairs.

He doesn't know if his mom would laugh at that.

He doesn't know her much at all.

And that fucking hurts; that sits like acid in his lungs, because his mom was his first friend. When he was little — before the housekeepers and nannies, before his mom started tailing his dad on business trips like a trained dog on a leash — they spent so much time together. Trips to the playground, to the library, to the pool. He'd perch himself on her vanity when she got ready in the mornings, use her hairbrush as a microphone to sing along to 50s doo-wop, and she'd giggle and call him her little superstar, so he'd come up with stupid dance moves just to make her smile more.

He misses that. The script, the routine. How he'd spin around in his socks on the slippery bathroom tile and look up at her with her big hair full of rollers and her big eyes full of stars, and he'd say, "Hey! How come your eyes are all twinkly?"

And she'd grin and pinch his cheek and give the same answer every time: "Because you're the light of my life."

"I wish I knew what you'd say now," he whispers to the empty car.

For a moment he envisions that she's sitting there with him, that she's filling the blank space where the boy who broke his heart should be, but he can't remember her cadence well enough to mimic it; can't put words in her mouth when he no longer knows her lines, and with something a bit like horror and a lot like despair it occurs to him that he can't remember what she looks like. There's an apparition in his blind spot, but it's formless and unstable. The shade of its hair keeps changing; the texture, the length.

When he tries to make it speak, it shrugs and dissipates.

—

part 55

tag list in separate reblogs under '#trailer park steve au taglist' if you'd like to filter that content. if you want to be added please comment and let me know (must be over 21; please either verify in the comment or have your age visible on your blog)

[bogwallows]

maplerose / ghost quartet version of crookedstar. meet crookedthorn <3 designed originally [and slightly visible in the corner there] by my wonderful partner in gq crime and almost-twin @kamordah hello owl >:3

also fuck you this cat is transginger now !!!!!