#he does not appreciate Micheal the mouse

[maxa1m]

Not sure what that last part is supposed to mean but

They’re making snow angels!

An assortment of Christmas profile pictures. Send in any requests these are fun to make!

[ajdrawshq]

ztd crossover with kh but it's just Carlos meeting Terra, Diana meeting Aqua and Sean meeting Ven. Cursed or blessed concept. Go

HM. WELL. i immediately leaned toward cursed bc like (gestures vaguely at ztd) but that feels mean so im gonna try putting some thought into this

Carlos and Terra :] very good pair for the most part i think. just 2 big older bros doing what they do to try to help people.. but it all goes to shit kupo. i can see them getting along pretty well, both due to their personal experiences and bc of who they are in general. also now that i think abt it its kinda funny that both of them happen to be plagued by visions but only Carlos' have an actual explanation?? Terra morphogenetic field moment?? even funnier is that both of them have the same "welp. anyway" reaction to it like yeah this just happens sometimes 👍 kind of unfortunate Terra couldnt use his to prevent bad things from happening too but oh well. its not like hopping timelines is that easy in his universe anyway. Terra still gets bonus points on an individual level bc while there was very little he couldve done differently there Are things Carlos couldve just uh. not done. yknow. things that i think Terra would kick his ass over tbh

Diana and Aqua.... oof. on god we're gonna get u girls some therapy. they were both so severely fucked over by like. literally everything from ingame events to the narrative itself. trapped in two different but absolute hellholes of sitautions for Very Long Amounts of Time and only called upon as a pawn in a game that both defines and ruins their lives and their entire world, and they barely even know it. and the only people they get to talk to at some point in their respective hells are Sigma and Micheal Mouse (and Terra sort of).. yea i think id lose it too tbh. its interesting that Diana was a 100% crucial part of why ztd happened while Aqua's role in Xehanorts plan wasnt really until ddd/kh3 unless u count him planning the whole end of bbs.. before that she was more of an outside force? not that taking her out wouldnt change anything ofc but her direct actions were more harmful to the overall plan than going according to it. i might need to play bbs again to confirm that more but uhh i forgot where i was going with this. i could see them getting along but i dont really remember enough about Diana as a person to know just how well they would? i guess itd at least be nice to have someone else who knows what their oddly specific and horrific situations are like, more or less

finally Sean n Ven.. Man. talk abt kids who cant catch a break for their entire lives no matter how outragously short OR long. they both just have a Lot going on and play some of the most major roles in their respective stories and god knows they didnt ask for any of it!! tho weirdly enough i dont feel much for Sean considering how he fits into the kinda characters i usually get attached to. but maybe thats just bc it was ztd. anyway !! out of the 3 duos here i think these two are most likely to become actual friends. from the memory fuckery to having a greater role in everything than they couldve imagined (both of them essentially being a key at some point..) to even just. having a very limited world in some way. and not having full control over their bodies. and several other major things im probably forgetting they both have. lots and lots and lots of things. they are friends to me

and just some general other thoughts - while im. not entirely sure how to feel abt what ztd does with the morphogenetic field i can at least appreciate the weird memory stuff that comes with body hopping and the possibilities that has when tied to all the other weird memory stuff that already happens in kh for similar or different reasons. like the way ztd (and vlr to some extent) went about it didnt quite hit the way i wanted it to but the concept is cool to me? itd be fun to play around with it in the context of kh i think. or vice versa. altho maybe introducing multiple timelines to the kh universe isnt the best idea.. hm. much to think about

but yeah!!!! overall verdict: mostly blessed with some underlying hints of cursed. like a weird aftertaste

[theotherbackgrounder]

Can you summarize the Class of Classics, please?

Story One: 

Students are in the Castleteria, talking about how excited they are about their parents coming for the reunion, these students are:Raven, Apple, Maddie, Darling, Cerise, Dexter, Daring and Melody. Some are really excited, but others like Dexter and Darling are nervous.

That night Raven and Apple talk about their thoughts and opinions regarding what their mothers were like in highschool and they get the the idea of visting the yearbook orchid.

Using a spell to get into the orchid, Raven and Apple starts searching for their mother’s books. But as every book they find the corresponding student disappears (Raven’s spell states “All I desire is for this gate (Book) to open and let us in!”), Everyone that disappears is of course part of the list I gave, all save Daring…They theorize that it may be because that Daring already understands his father, but may be more along the line that since each book is connected to their parent/child bonds, as Daring is The Beast, he isn’t a generic charming like his father (my theory of course)

Raven and Apple grabs the pied piper book again and they disappear into the book.

Story Two: Pied Piper

Raven and Apple soon find themselves in a void of nothingness, only to find Kitty and Melody there as well. The void begins to fill out and they see a young man, Pied Piper. Raven tries to interact but realizes they can’t (Apple: I guess this is a Show-Don’t-Tell sort of scenario.)

Pied Piper is looking through the intruments figuring what he wants to play when an old man with a horn appears (His style is very much older pied piper, I believe this is his father, Melody’s grandfather)

Pied chooses a flute and rats come out and surrond him (Apple: Well, I think they’re adorable.) The rats won’t leave him alone and so he asks Charming and Goldilocks to help as he wants to ask out Rose Red. Goldilocks suggests asking Cheshire Cat.

Cheshire Cat agrees but only if Pied agrees for one favor. Pied says “Okay. That’s fine with me. I always repay my debts” and with that Chshire went “Boo!” and all the rats ran away (Raven: That’s all it took?/Kitty: What? It worked didn’t it?)

Meldoy has a bad feeling about this…

The Next Day:

Cheshire Cat appears and gives Pied a near heart attack. Cheshire has appeared for that “favor” from yester day.

“I want to name your first child!”

“Go, Mom!”

Pied was surprised, thinking it was going to be something about doing homework for her (”Nope. That’s what I want.”) Pied agrees to it, saying it won’t be for a long time, but sure. Cheshire says she is going to choose the weirdest, bestest, most wonderlandian name of all time.

“Maybe (mom)’ll pick Brillig!”

“I want your child to be named Frumious! or Gree! or Manxome!”

Melody is afraid, she is thinking that Melody isn’t her real name. Pied is nervous and Cheshire asks if one in particular speaks to him.

Before Pied can answer, Cheshire laughs and just says she is just pulling his whiskers! (Melody lets out a sigh of relief). Cheshire mentions that if she would name Pied’s kid, she would pick something like Melody. She always loved names that ends in “Y.”

“Melody! I like that! I like that a lot!”

Raven, Apple, Melody, and Kitty all smile saying that Melody has Cheshire to thank for her name.

“I do love my name.”

“And your dad does, too!”

“I guess we are in sync after all!”

and with that, Melody and Kitty disappears and things get mad.

Story Three: Mad Hatter!

Now we are here with Maddie, Apple, and Raven and another story unfolds.

It’s a boring day in the castle-teria and no one is really feeling it. Mad Hatter has the best idea and turnes everything mad and woder-riffic. Milton storms in and asks for Mad to come to his office.

Milton gets onto Mad for being “disruptive” and Mad Hatter says no one is happy unless there is a big of chaos. Milton appreciates it and asks if he could tone it down a bit, Mad says he will be true to his nature but he’ll put a mouse hat onthe bandersnatch’s wig…er… i’ll try my best. Even mentions his one day of school in wonderland.

Mad asks why not consider a more wonderlandian way of doing things. Milton says he will take it under advisment, but just asks at least a day’s notice if he plans on throwning another tea party.

“I think I can manage.” and then proceeds to let Milton know about another tea party he plans for the next week. A bit of organized chaos if you will..

Maddie and Apple both fade and Raven is alone.

Story Four: Red Riding Hood

Cerise appears with Raven and it is there time together. Apple appears back in the orchiad, but can’t move (“Oh for crying out wolf!”)

The Story begins and Cerise and Raven sees Little Red Riding Hood eating lucnh (”Wow, my grandparents are right - I really do look like mom!”)

Big Badwolf appears and starts showing off, standing ontop of a chair on it’s hind legs and beats his chest - and almost instantly the legs break and falls. Students laughs and Big takes a bow.

“Thank you, thank you! I’ll be here all week!” he looks at Red with a grin, she rolls her eyes in irritation and returns to sandwhich (Sad Badwolf face #1)

Later back in class, an assignment starts and students have to partner up. These are the groups. Groups have to create their own “Tall Tales!”

Cheshire + PiedCharming + GoldieBadwolf + Red R. HoodCinderella + Sleeping BeautyBeast + Blue Fairy

Sadly, none of the characters in the room seem to stick out on which one would be the last four, if anyone was wanting to know.

Big is excited, but Red is nervous (Sad Badwolf face #2)

At the library Red and Big meets up and Big makes a joke about all the books that Red carried to their table. Red gets onto him and tells him to be serious as this project is 50% of their grade. Big says he wants a good grade as well and if she is so worried, than she needs to remember that a “fairy-fail” on this assignment will ruin his reputation as a performer. Red sighs 

“So…do you have any ideas?”

“I’m so glad you asked. One idea I have is to do a play about a giant who grows to be taller than all the other giants he knows. Or maybe it could be about a princess who comes up with all these hexcellent ideas aof how she can spend her time locked away in a tower. Or I have this other idea…”

“Both of those sound interesting! What abou-”

“Oh, there are more ideas where those came from! I have another oidea about a troll-”

But Bad Wolf stops her and tells her one i idea at a time, Red blushes slightly and apologieses for getting carried away. Badwolf says that it was cool she had alot of ideas and that he wished he had that problem. He mentions that he knows that most don’t take him seriously and he thinks it’s neat that Red got so excited about thronework.

Red frowns and tries to comfort him, saying that the trick with the chair was pretty neat.

“You mean until chair broke and I fell head over tail?”

and they both laugh.

Badwolf says his ending there wasn’t the best, but Red said it was great he bounced back…And sometimes you have to be spontaneous (Forshadowing for night of the red rocket? *wink wink, nudge nudge*

Raven: Awwwww…Cerise, your parents are so cute.

Red asks Badwolf about his ideas for their assignment. Bad wolf says he is bad with words and only get this across through actions, Red says that perhaps that was something she could help with

They both smile.

So they practice together and pass their assignment. both look at one another and looks away, both blushing.

Cerise thanks Raven for letting her see this before she fades away and Apple Returns in her place, missing Badwolf.

and soon Dexter and Darling appears.

Story Five: King Charming

All four appear on a bookball field and trying to figure out where Prince charming is, but no matter how hard they look they can’t find him

“Charming Go Long!” the coach throws the book ball and the young man chases it, but trips literally over nothing and hits the ground missing the book.

“I can’t believe that’s dad.”

“Well, did he tell you that he was a hexcellent bookball player?”

“Now that you mention it, He didn’t… I guess I assumed he must’ve been at it because of the way he talks about it with Daring.”

Turns out that Charming isn’t good with chemistry either as he blows up the science room. We also find out Charming was crushing on Goldilocks bad.

Defeated, he heads off to have lunch with micheal jackson Pinocchio

“It could be worse, Charming. At least you didn’t throw up.”

Pinoccho tells Charming to not torture himself over it and just ask her out.

“What if I ask her out and she says no?” Dexter glances over at Raven. Pinocchio continues pushing until Milton gives an announcement. There is a pig in the back ground…so Three pig’s father and or one of their uncles.

Apparently Goldilocks says that Little Bo Peep and Sleeping Beauty aren’t going to be able to turn in their articles for the school paper and if anyone’s got the inclination to help her with the layout and the editing…

And just like the man Charming is, Pinocchio calls out that Charming himself would do it. Goldilocks agrees.

“You can thank me later,” Pinocchio winks at Charming.

Shenanigans happen at the newspaper room and Charming asks Goldilocks to the Spellebration Formal and they have awonderful time. Goldilocks kisses him on the cheeks and Charming blushes. (”Awwwwwwwwwww!!)

Darling and Dexter both feels like they understand their father just a little bit better now, and that even though he makes everything look so easy but he wasn’t always like that.

Dexter and Darling fade and Raven and Apple were able to find the Evil Queen year book

Story Six: Snow White and Evil Queen

The teacher asks a question and Snow White gets it correct.

“Exactly right, Snow! Well done.” It’s nice to see that someone is paying attention.” She says eyeing Evil Queen and her platinum blond hair. Here, fans only the theory of “Apple and Raven switched at birth” as here we now know that indeed Evil had platinum Blond hair.

Next thing we see is that Evil Queen causes everything around the room to fly around,

Milton Grimm gets onto Evil queen for disrupting class (seriously, you could get away with murder in this world I bet). Milton Grimm asks her why she doesn’t apply herself more, her grades are maginal at best.

“I already know everything I need to know. This place is just where I need to bide my time until I can cut loose and start evilling it up properly after I graduate!”

Apple: I see where you got your boldness from!

and Evil Storms out of Grimm’s office.

Later Evil finds Snow White staring at a dragonsport poster. 

“Snow white? Playing dragon sport? That’s a laugh! She is too afraid to try out!” Then she had an evil plan.

At the library in the section for “Future Villains only” Evil finds herself a book for her evil prank, and laughs evilly…and then nearly chokes on her gum.

Then we cut to activity sign up (here we see a female white rabbit. Perhaps the March Hare?) Snow White is looking at all the activity booths but Evil comes up and uses her spell. Snow is possessed and signs her name on the Dragonsport sign-up sheet. Everyone gasps.

Later goldilocks talks to evil going on about how the school is buzzing about Snow trying out dragonsport! and what I love is that she just up and tells Goldilocks about her entire plan and how the spell will wear off just right before her performance.

Snow goes to the dragon games, what is neat is that the lady incharge of the try out has the same hair style as Dragongames Raven. Anow is first and heads for her dragon and Evil can’t wait to see snow just ruin her life. and just as snow gets on her dragon, the spell breaks and she is overcome with fear, but of course she tries to fight it  and gets on. and the dragon takes off.

It was a success. as she lands the audience cheers. And Evil Grumbles to herself as Goldie tries to comfort her.

The story comes to a close as Apple and Raven returns to the orchid. Raven offers that she teleports them back to their room. Apple smiles as she closes the year book.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’ve had enough magic for one night. Let’s walk”

and the two of them walk back to the school together arm-in-arm.

Chapter Seven: Reunion

Class of Classics reunion night has arrived and students are with their parents.

Cerise asks red that they just blow the activities off and just spend time together

Melody tells Pied she wants to record some of his music and mix it with some of her beats.

Dexter wants to talk to his father about a girl he likes…Darling wants to run some stuff by him.

Apple wants Snow to tell her a bit of dragon sports (This story is probably placed right there between Evil Queen being re-sealed in the mirror and the ending of Dragon Games when the arena is reopened)

Maddie wants Mad to give her some party tips.

Raven tells Evil Queen that she knows that she is the reason Snow joined dragon sport!

“That reminds me, I must impress upon you the importance of really thinking through your spells.There’s nothing worse than an evil spell that doesn’t work out the way you intended.”

“Okay, mom. But I’m not going to let you forget you did something good once, even if you won’t admit it. Maybe there is a little bit of you in me, ever after all.”

[xluciferrisingxworld-blog]

Pebble in Water - Part 2

         Kira ran her arm across her forehead, before grabbing the dishes for table twelve. They were a group of college boys, and she hated serving them. They tipped well, but they always flirted with her, as if she owed them for the courtesy. She placed the food on the table: burger for Trevor; chicken tenders for Dylan; and a tuna melt for Nathan. It was always the same. Dylan reached towards Kira’s bottom, but she swerved out of the way.        “You have to be faster than that,” she chocked out through a fake chuckle.        “I’ll get you one of these days,” he said, with a smirk.         Kira marched away, and murmured, “No you won’t.”         Kira was only five foot two, and she’d fight anyone who called her five foot.       Jezzica worried that these boys would get out of hand one day, but Kira knew she could handle them.         Kira cleared table ten, and glanced at Jezzica’s booth. She brushed her blonde hair out of her blue eyes as she headed back to the kitchen. Jezzica was an hour late, and Kira had already taken her break to message her. She glanced at the locker, which held her cell phone.        “Oh, no you don’t,” Sam said, “You’ve already taken two breaks tonight, and we have a full house out there.”        Kira nodded, picked up the two plates for table nine, and hurried back into the fray.       “Kira, if you’re friend doesn’t show up in five minutes, we’ll have to give that booth away,” Darla said.        Kira grinned and shrugged. She placed the food down, and began to walk away.       “Excuse me, miss,” the man at table nine said.       “Yes?” Kira asked.       “First of all, this took twenty minutes to come out. Second, I specifically ordered it without ketchup. And what is this right here?” The man paused, for a second, but started up again before Kira could speak. “It’s ketchup! How hard is it not to put something on a sandwich? I mean it requires doing one less step. Am I really asking for too much?” He glanced over to the woman, who—red-faced—shook her head. “Now take this back. And if I have to do this again, I will be speaking to your manager.”        “I-I’m sorry, sir. I’ll fix that for you right away,” Kira said.        She picked up the plate, and carried it back to Sam. He raised an eyebrow at her.       “How dare you put ketchup on it?” She scoffed.       Sam rolled his eyes. He took the patty, scrapped off the toppings until the burger looked clean, spit on it and slapped it down on the bun.      “There, no ketchup,” he said.      “I wish you wouldn’t do that in front of me. I could testify against you, you know?”      “How many times have I seen you put hair in someone’s food?”     “Shh,” Kira hissed.      She grabbed the plate, and went back to table nine.      “Ah, much better. You might have saved your tip,” the man said.      When her back was turned to the man, Kira rolled her eyes. She caught a glimpse of Jezzica, sitting in booth thirteen. Kira rushed over.      “Oh my god! You will not believe the day I have had! First of all I woke up thirty minutes late for my audition, thirty! Then…”       “You’re still on shift,” Jezzica reminded her with a warm smile.       “Oh right, right. I’ll get your diet coke, and put your order in.”       “Thank you, but that’s not what I meant.”       Kira nodded; both hands, parallel, palms inwards, made a short line from the side of her head to in front of her eyes. “Focus!”       Kira marched dutifully towards the kitchen, but glanced back to examine Jezzica. She was poking at her stomach more than usual, and staring into the blade of the knife. Kira hurried to get Jezzica’s drink, and place her order. ***        Michael buttoned his shirt, straightened his badge, and holstered his gun. The dark blue of the uniform brought out his eyes, and he grinned at himself in the mirror. He flexed, showing off his muscles to a cold piece of glass. He shook his head.       “My body is merely an instrument to do God’s work. I shall not take pride in it, or succumb to vanity,” he recited.       Michael coughed, turned off the light, and left the bedroom. The entire apartment had been decorated in antiques and imported furniture, all to Calli’s taste. Michael did not overly care how their home was decorated, but he did appreciate Calli’s efforts to make it look nice. He never ate in the bedrooms or the living room, he paid the extra two hundred dollars for the expert maid service, and he drove three hours to that antique shop, Calli was dying to visit.   He stopped at the door, took his black lace-up shoes from the rack, and put them on.         “God I know my duty, I protect people; but sometimes, I would like more guidance. Sometimes, I think you have forgotten about us. If you haven’t noticed things have gotten pretty rough down here. Sometimes, it seems like you don’t even care.”         Micheal turned out the lights, leaving the apartments in darkness, and left for work at eight o’clock, as he did every night. ***       Jezzica stared at the lines around her eyes, there were more of them than a month ago. The dark circles under her eyes had gotten so big, they almost looked like bruises.       “You’re eyes are the color of shit because you are shit,” the creature hissed into her ear. “Kira only hangs out with you because you make her look young and pretty.”        The knife slid across Jezzica’s wrists, blood beaded on the surface of her skin. Her thumb pressed the skin around the cut, and the red liquid ran down her hand. It dripped onto the table, staining the white cloth. People around her started laughing and pointing.       Jezzica shook her head, and the blood disappeared. Everyone was focused on their own table, and the laughing was coming from her monster. She put the knife down.       “Kira is pretty, and I am happy for her,” Jezzica whispered.        Kira came out of the kitchen with a tray of drinks, she handed them out to the tables as she made her way to Jezzica’s booth. She peered down at her own stomach and compared it to Kira’s tiny waist.       “This is why no man will ever love you. They all want pretty little girls like her.”       Jezzica pushed in her stomach, and it bounced out again, slightly spilling onto the table. She crossed her arms, and pressed against the back of the seat. She pulled out her phone, and started looking at her Facebook feed. There were a couple weddings, three births, one pregnancy announcement, and her cousin was moving to Hawaii. She locked her phone, and glanced up. Kira was stopped at another table, and she had the fake smile she used when on stage or dealing with annoying customers.       “Sorry for the inconvenience, sir, I’ll try to fix that right away,” Kira said. She rushed over to Jezzica, and placed her drink on the table.        “Tha…” Jezzica was cut off by the man.         “The kitchen is the other way, miss.”         Jezzica saw Kira's little black monster poof onto her shoulder. It was small, roughly the size of a mouse, but it was scaly not furry. It had arms with tiny hands, and appeared to be trying to bore its way into Kira’s head.         “One minute please, I do have other tables,” Kira said.         “I’m taking one percent off every second I have to wait.”         “Sorry,” Kira mouthed.         “One sec,” Jezzica said, and motioned her to bend down.         Kira squinched her eyebrows, but obeyed. Jezzica brushed the creature off of her shoulder, as if swiping something out of her hair. It went flying across the room with a tiny “Aaagghhh!”        “Ok, you’re good to go,” Jezzica said.        “Thanks?”        Kira rushed back into the kitchen, and Jezzica took a sip. She felt the bench shift as her monster moved.        “You can’t get rid of us that easily,” it said, “You’re so pathetic, you can’t help her. You can’t even help yourself.”       Jezzica took a gulp of soda. Kira refilled her drink twice before her food came out. The man finally left, giving Kira a two percent tip, and a nasty comment on the receipt. Her shift ended, and she sat down on the other side of Jezzica’s booth. She sighed, and stole a fry.         “It has been one thing after another today,” Kira said.         “Did the audition not go well?” Jezzica asked.         “No the audition was, fine. It’s just everything else today was pretty shit.”         “That’s because acting is the only thing you care about.”         “Not true, I also care about shopping, my hair, my nails, my makeup. You know the important things.”        “And don’t forget Mr. Puggles,” Jezzica said.        “Of course not!”        “How’s the PugButt doing?”        “Just dying for you to come visit,” Kira said.        “I’ll make sure to bring some treats.”        Kira stole another fry. Jezzica finished the last of her food. One of the newer waitresses came over, and cleared the table, glaring at them the whole time.       “Don’t worry, she’s already paid her bill,” Kira said.        The girl, barely eighteen, sauntered to the kitchen.       “So, how was your day? Why were you so late?” Kira asked.       “Ok, I guess. You know, boring office stuff. Numbers, charts, filing.”       “Is that all?” Kira asked.       “The usual. My life isn’t as exciting as yours,” Jezzica sighed.        “If you call being harassed by customers exciting. But you seem down, even for you.”        Jezzica inhaled loudly.        “It’s just, Adam has really been on my case lately. I think he’s trying to get me fired.”        “That son of a bitch!”       “He might not be, but I’m pretty sure he’s giving me Linda’s work.”        “I hate when coworkers don’t pull their weight. There’s a few of them here.” Kira glanced at the new waitress, who was flirting with one of the customers.       “So, really tell me how the audition went,” Jezzica said.       Kira sighed, “They said I did good, but…”      “But?” Jezzica asked.      “Don’t you just love to see her fail?” The monster’s hot, moist breath filled Jezzica’s ear.      “They also said I didn’t look right for the part.”      “What does that mean?” Jezzica swatted at the creature, as if it were a fly.      “Given the role, it most likely means I don’t look like the other girls in the assemble. But it could just mean that I’m ugly,” Kira said.      Jezzica’s creature howled with laughter and delight.      “You’re not ugly. Maybe you’re too short?”       Kira glared at her for a second, then laughed. “Maybe that’s it.”      “Also, you do have a young face. Maybe they think you look too young for the part?”     “Yeah, actually that could be it. The role is meant for a twenty-something.”     “Then that’s definitely it. You don’t even look eighteen!”     “Oh, stop it, you.”     Jezzica gathered her purse, and Kira followed suit.     “I think we should go, or Darla will forcefully evict us,” Jezzica said.     “She’s bit of a sourpuss, but she’s pretty fair at dividing up the good tippers.”   Kira waved goodbye to Darla as they left the diner.      Jezzica and Kira walked along the busy street in silence. Cars honked at each other, kids screamed, people yelled into their phones, and someone blasted Spanish rap. The sky was dark blue, and there were no stars out. There were never any stars, just the orange glow of the street lamps. The monsters, that followed people, created black voids which swallowed up the light and sound. Jezzica’s own creature followed behind a step or two. It interacted with the others: sometimes hissing or growling at them, and sometimes nodding.  The people rushing along the street walked pass, and through, the creatures without so much of a glance.       “You know it really makes me feel better to talk to you,” Kira said.       “How so?”      “You always make me laugh, or look at things from a different angle.”      “Well at least someone is laughing at me.”     “Not at you…you always avoid or deflect. Even when I know something is going on. And trust me I can tell something is up. You’re eyes are even more distant than normal. So please tell me what is wrong. I want to help.”      A woman, pushing a baby-carriage, strolled pass Kira. The mother had a similar creature to Jezzica; it was black, oozing, with clawed hands, and sharp teeth; but it lacked legs. It clung to the woman’s shoulders, and left behind black globs on the sidewalk. Someone stepped into the slime, and it started crawling up their leg.      It whispered into the woman’s ear, “You’re a bad mother. You should just kill yourself. You should just kill your baby, and then yourself. Push in front of the truck.”      “She’ll never believe you,” Jezzica’s creature hissed.      “It’s nothing really,” Jezzica said, “I’m just stressed from work.”      “Is that really all?”       Jezzica met Kira’s eyes, and nodded.      “Then we should have a girls day this weekend. I’m not working on Sunday. We can order some pizza, have some wine, watch bad movies,” Kira said.       “I-I’m not sure. I might be doing laundry.”       “Oh, ok. Let me know, ok?”      “Yeah, I’ll let you know.”       Kira went into her apartment building, leaving Jezzica alone in the sea of monsters. ***      Lucifer dragged himself up another few inches, and the force which had been pulling him down released. The beating of his wings lifted him, and he let go of the Pit’s wall. His back wings pumped, and he soared higher with every movement of his wings, until he reached the mouth of the Pit. He landed on the floor of Hell, and took in his surroundings.      The area closest to the Pit was a desert of black sand, mountains loomed down to the right; a dark unfriendly, unsettled ocean raged behind him; far off to theft was a dilapidated city. The city was a series of high rises, towers, and castles; and appeared to be an amalgamation of metropolitan and ancient ruins. Metal clashed with wood; glass cut through thatched roofs; asphalt dripped onto stone. In the middle of the maze like streets, there was a large edifice made from different styles of buildings stacked on top of each other.  Despite the haphazard construction, the building held still. A stream of red fire spewed from the apex of the tower. A thick smog hung about twenty feet in the air, meaning Satan could not be too far.       A pack of Hell Hounds prowled the desert; there blood-red eyes locked onto Lucifer as he emerged from the Pit. He stretched his arms and wings, then ran towards the beasts. They snarled and charged at him, baring their sharp white teeth. He collided with the creatures, who jumped on him eagerly. Each pushing the other to get to Lucifer.        “Calm down boys. There’s plenty of me to go around.”        Lucifer scratched the belly of the hound as it rolled on its back, and kicked its hind-leg. Several others were licking him. He petted them for a few minutes, before standing up, and putting his hand out for them to stop.       “Good boys, now where is that traitor Satan?”        The dogs put their noses in the air, and sniffed; then, turned toward the tall black tower, with the red flames coming out of the top. Lucifer unfurled his wings like two black feathery sails. He took flight, rising above the black fog. His eyes fixed on the highest room in Satan’s tower. The Hell Hounds howled, and barked, chasing after Lucifer until they could no longer see him.