#i mean he COULD be called cain secretly but it would be a bit too obvious if they introduced him with the name cain from the start

[abelflints]

me, vibing, listening to a random song about pushing your sibling off a cliff: hehehe. this reminds me of the bible story cain and abel, where cain betrays his brother abel by murdering him. 

me:....wait hold up--

I DON’T THINK THAT ABEL (flint) IS SOME KIND OF REINCARNATION OF MATTHIAS’S BROTHER THAT HE KILLED because that would really be a crack theory. 

but uhm.. hey guys i’m worried! i’m worried! 

[shepherds-of-haven]

I hope you’re having a great day Lena! I was just wondering if we could have any fluff facts about the shepherds as a whole! Like fun tidbits of how they interact with each other, what some of them do if they have the same day off, does anyone host weekly game nights?? I hope that makes sense! Reading the recent short story on Patreon I love seeing how the characters interact with one another and now I need moreeeeeee🙏

Ooh, great question! I’m feeling curiously tapped dry at the moment, so I’ll probably have to reblog this as more ideas come to me; I’m so happy you’re enjoying the short story, btw!! 💖

Some group dynamic headcanons:

Many of them steal clothes from each other. Briony wears a cute sweater of Shery's (she asked), Ayla gets cold so she just takes one of Red's jackets from a chair (she didn't ask), Chase gives Tallys his scarf one day and Riel corders Trouble a pair of gloves from a fashion line he favors because his old ones are holey and they get into an argument about it... This leads to some recruits mistakenly thinking that the captains are all involved in some sort of mass relationship because they keep walking out of each other's rooms wearing each other's clothes. (The recruits believe a lot of really dumb stuff, if you couldn't tell. They LOVE gossip. It's like a competitive sport in the compound)

There is a weekly card game night, initiated and organized first by Chase, but it grows bigger over time, with snacks, cakes, drinks, and new games being procured! I'd actually say it's more like every ten-fourteen days or so than on any set weekday, and is typically proposed by anyone who senses that they or others need to blow off some steam. They all tend to meet in a private common room and either just chill and play some card games and casually drink and listen to music, or they get LOUD and raucous and play more risque non-card games (like Question or Command/Truth or Dare). The loud nights are more like once a month or bi-monthly, though! They take place in the captains' lounge so dumb recruits don't get to join! It's rare that they're in there all doing the same thing, though: maybe half will be at the table playing card games while others will be broken up into smaller groups, say arm-wrestling in the corner or playing chess at the smaller table or reading, but they're all there! Game nights are almost never held unless everyone is there, which is extraordinarily difficult to schedule, but they all make an effort to make it happen--even those who first had to be dragged into it, like Blade or Riel!

Speaking of chess games, Red and Riel have a standing game where they complete at least four more moves every night that they're around and able to meet up after dinner. Planning their next move helps them both break up the monotony of the day, and it's something they enjoy immensely. However, whenever he gets called away on a mission, Red gets sick with worry that Riel's been cooking up all sorts of schemes while he's been gone, so sometimes on the road he has, like, a schematic that he doodles on trying to anticipate Riel's next move, and it's very nerdy and ramps up in joking Anxiety. Riel, graciously, goes easier on him on nights after he comes back from long trips, though he denies it

Similarly, Blade and Trouble have a standing training session once a week where they just beat the crap out of each other. This is generally where they do the majority of their talking

Briony and Ayla first had an agreement that they would get the other one up if they overslept (Briony tends to be the one who oversleeps while Ayla is better about being up at dawn, but Ayla is really grouchy if she went to bed late and Briony is the only one who can handle her), which morphed into doing runs and sparring together at dawn and having breakfast frequently!

The girls have a standing spa night once a month where they all get together in a room (usually Shery’s) and basically do sleepover stuff and relax and chat and catch up for a few hours. This also sometimes involves showing each other new outfits that they bought that month! Sometimes there are even group baths in the big common bath, but these are rarer because Shery is shy and Tallys doesn’t like sitting in hot water getting pruny

Chase and Trouble drag Red and Halek to go drinking with them around once a month; sometimes Blade is persuaded to go if Trouble can get the drop on him and punch him hard enough to wind him. It’s complicated

Riel and Shery, of course, have tea together once a week! You’re not allowed if you can’t bring a chill vibe (Riel’s rules). Tallys, Lavinet, Halek, and Red are occasional visitors; Briony is allowed on a good day. Blade would be allowed but he has 0 interest

Similarly, Lavinet hosts a weekly brunch, either in a courtyard or at some restaurant in town! Typically it’s a girl thing and Ayla, Briony, and Shery are the most consistent attendees, but Chase has snuck his way in there often, and Riel, Halek, or Red pop up occasionally!

Tallys and Halek cook together! It’s not all that often and doesn’t seem to have any set way of materializing--it just happens somehow--but they both very much enjoy it! Sometimes they cook dinner for the whole group and have a little dinner party that they both secretly get excited for! Sometimes Shery bakes the dessert!

Riel noticed that Tallys has a little garden that she spends time weeding, so he sends gardening tools or special seeds when he thinks she needs them and she leaves baskets of vegetables or vases of flowers in his office. All of this is done without exchanging a word

Chase sporadically teaches Briony acrobatics and things like tightrope walking, just randomly whenever they’re both idle. She teaches him how to gut people with bare fists and also sometimes they paint! 

Caine caught Red grazing in the pantry late one night and now it’s like a Thing where they pass each other in the kitchen and Red sort of just looks the other way re: Caine’s bedtime and what on earth he’s doing up so late and Caine doesn’t tell anybody that Red is just absent-mindedly eating a loaf of bread at 2 AM because he was too busy working to remember to eat dinner. It’ll be like, “there’s some turkey leftover from dinner in the cold box” “oh hey, Caine. thanks. ...so, what’s the news from the midnight watch tonight?” “i’m going to go hunt ghosts on the seventh floor with my friends!” “...okay! have fun!”

Lavinet has a monthly shopping trip where she updates her wardrobe, and it is very common for others to accompany her around the city and just shop while they drop! Common partners are Shery, Briony, Riel, Chase, and once memorably Blade, who didn’t know what he was in for!

Trouble and Ayla are wildly competitive and keep arm-wrestling each other for money; this becomes a bi-weekly sporting event that is eagerly attended and bet upon by third parties

There was ONE group karaoke night. ONE. Most of them got so blackout drunk that they swore to never do it again. Even now, several of them go green whenever they hear a popular bar song (“Don’t Piss Where You Plant Your Flowers”) being sung, especially badly

The game of "telephone" gets really bad in their group. It's like, Shery will say to Briony that she's worried because she thought Riel looked a bit peaky and feverish. Briony will say in passing to Trouble that Riel is getting sick and Shery is worried. Trouble will say to Tallys that Shery is worried sick because Riel is bedridden. Tallys will be mixing herbs and Chase will ask what for and Tallys will reply that Riel is sick, but because she's mixing herbs, Chase will surmise that the sickness must be quite advanced, and will later say, "Damn, have you seen Riel? Seems like he's really sick." Red will interpret this as "I have seen Riel for myself and have determined that he's extremely ill." At least four people will bust into Riel's room, expecting him to be on the verge of death, despite the fact that they saw Riel that morning. Riel will be fine and very annoyed at the intrusion.

They rarely go out as a group to bars and establishments outside of the compound (too chaotic as well as risky, for one thing, and also, recruits don't need to see their superiors like hanging out of bushes and dancing on tabletops drunk out of their minds, and also, "Mages can't drink" (lol)), but when they do deem it a worthy occasion (Trouble's birthday, say), the girls are very punctual when getting ready, and the boys are almost always extremely late due to various shenanigans (Chase forgot that he put a booby trap on Red’s door, covering Red with flour, or a cat somehow slips into Trouble’s room and steals, like, a detonator or an important key, and they have to go chasing it across the city). This has led to the girls coming late on purpose in order to even out their arrival, but mysteriously, this has only led to even later start times, meaning they often don’t get started until like 10 or 11 PM when the most well-intentioned souls meant to be in bed by midnight... that never happens, either!

One such night once led to them ending up on a ridge in the Sun’s Embrace, like a mile outside of the city, in order to watch the sun rise together, because hiking in the dark while blasted out of their minds sounded like a really good idea. They all made it, and the dawn was spectacular, but the moment was ruined when Tallys said softly, “It’s the beginning of a beautiful new day--” punctuated by Trouble abruptly throwing up in a bush and Riel just flat-out passing out

[princessamericachavez]

Fuck it. Today I get to be self-indulgent and tell you about the entire Fjorester Hallmark Christmas Fanfic that is way too long for me to write these days but I have entirely laid down in my head so instead I’m going to write about it as a bulletpoint fic.... sort of... you’ll get the grasp. Just strap along for the ride. 

(This is obvious and shamelessly based on Tis The Damn Season by Taylor Swift, you can fight me. I said it was self-indulgent)

Okay, so first of all, the group are all friends and knew each other all through college, right? 

Jester studied psychology (she’s an emotional healer, you know?) and especialices in art therapy. 

Fjord did a marine biology major with an acting minor, because deep down he’s a theater nerd but doesn’t dare admit it because he needs to want a “real” career, you know? Also, he paid for his studies with a full swimming team scholarship. 

I legit don’t know what everyone else studied —this is the kinda stuff I would figure out while actually writing the fic— so you get to fill those blanks! 

ANYWAY, basically during college Jester had this art teacher, Artagan, who she became weirdly friendly with (you sometimes become friends with your college teachers, they aren’t even that much older than you and half the time are just as tired)

So this art teacher is delighted by her, right? Keeps telling her how talented an artist she is and how she should definitely come with him to LA after this year is over. He’ll get her into a gallery! She’ll be famous and amazing! 

So Jester goes. And her heart aches. And maybe leaving her mama is so damn hard. And maybe, maybe, she doesn’t want to say goodbye to Fjord but she’s been in love with him for so so so long and he never seemed to see her in that way, so she can’t put her life on pause for him. She can’t. Even if the night before she leaves it looks like he’s trying to tell her something, to half confess something that he never quite does say out loud and her heart falls and she leaves. 

ANYWAY here is where our story begins. 

Jester comes back for christmas after six months away and she is EXCITED to be home! 

(maybe a little too much, maybe things aren’t going as great in LA as she expected) (and mayyyybe she’s a little nervous to see a certain someone but it’s ok)

Fjord picks her up at the airport. He knows her mama doesn’t like going out much and he really, really, really insists that it’s no big deal. His car is old and shitty and there was an incident once that made Jester start calling it “The Ball Eater” to Fjord’s endless dismay (and bemusement). 

Anyway the ride home is light hearted, they make small talk and laugh about old times and Jester talks so much about how amazing everything in LA is but Fjord can’t shake the feeling that something about her, despite her smile, seems sad. 

He also can’t help the desire to hold her hand, or kiss her, or at the very least confess how uselessly in love he’s been with her for years, but she’s only here for like four days because she needs to go back to LA for her big New Years gallery show that Artagan put together and he can’t ask much from her without getting in the way of her dreams, so he doesn’t. 

So they get home and Marion is as delightful as ever and Jester finds out that Fjord has been helping her fix some things around the house (oh so you’re a very handy man, Fjord! *wiggles eyebrows*) and he’s been buying her groceries because he knows Jester used to do it because Marion is always so busy performing at the Chateau (and doing other things for her fancier clients, but Fjord would rather not bring that subject up too often) and he just thought it would be important for someone to look after her from time to time. 

Jester has to choke back tears because she is so moved that he is so wonderful with her mama even when she’s gone. Her heart flutters and it’s terrifying. 

So Fjord leaves and Jester and her mama spend the whole afternoon together, catching up and baking cupcakes and watching christmas movies until Marion has to go to work.

Meanwhile, Fjord is trying to figure out what to do with himself and with Jester —nothing, he decides, he shouldn’t really say anything— and keeps pacing around his apartment to the endless bemusement of his roomate. 

Caduceus was MEANT to go home for the holidays, but there was some kind of change of plans with his family at the last minute (or so he says, he hasn’t been very forthcoming about it and Fjord suspects they might have had an argument or something or maybe Cad just decided not to go home, but how is he supposed to know? He never knew the first thing about families) so now Caduceus is here and for the first time in his life Fjord is not spending Christmas alone. 

Caduceus suggests honesty is the best course of action, that he should just tell Jester how he feels. Yeah. Right. 

Anywayyy

Jester gets together with the rest of her friends “The Nein” they call each other, though they have never been nine, just to mess with people who keep asking and getting weirder and weirder answers. They get some drinks. 

While Fjord is away getting drinks, Beau mentions what a shitty year she’s had and Jester’s brow furrows and Beau says it was just a lot of shit, you know? Vandran just up and leaving town, handing in his thesis (though his tutor, Mrs. Melora was delightful and supportive). She doesn’t mention how depressed Fjord was over Jester leaving, though, but she does say that the cherry on top was his fucking ex showing up again. 

“Avantika came back?!”

Jester’s chest twists with the painful memory of jealousy and anger and worry over how unhealthy the whole thing was and how sick and sleepless and exhausted and sad Fjord seemed though the entire relationship before he finally gathered the courage to break things up. 

Veth knows that, so she brushes it off with a quick “it’s fine, he told her to go fuck herself” and Jester feels maybe a little better —even though she totally has no right because she and Fjord aren’t a thing and he can do whatever he wants ok? she totally doesn’t care, totally. 

Still, maybe, on the way back home she asks if he’s okay and she’s so worried and hesitant and Fjord just melts and assures her he’s alright, that he already knew when Avantika came back that she was not what he wanted, that he deserved more... that he wanted more... and he’s so earnest and breathless that Jester thinks he might really be in love with someone else, then... it doesn’t occur to her that all he can think about is kissing her in that moment, parked outside her mama’s house. 

The porch’s front light turns on, the moment passes, they say goodbye. 

Fjord comes over on the 24th to hang out. Apparently, Caduceus is a little bit more homesick than he is willing to admit and decided to unload all of his Cain Instincts on Fjord. Jester is delighted by the idea of Cad secretly being a prankster, but she lets Fjord hide out with her and her mama as they decorate the house (Marion didn’t have time to before between shifts) and make cookies and watch movies. 

And it’s so easy, so sweet and comfortable, that Jester can’t help but feel like this is what life is meant to be, she can’t help but fantasize about what things could have been like... 

Fjord finally asks what’s wrong. She tries to dodge the question first, assuring him she’s alright, but Fjord has known Jester long enough to figure out that something is weighing on her and he insists that she can tell him anything. 

Jester finally breaks and admits LA isn’t everything she dreamed. It’s pretty great, sure, and she got a job as an art therapist in a nearby clinic and the gallery is going to be great and fun but she feels so lonely, she’s tried to make new friends but everyone is too busy or stuck on their own road to success to really get to know them, she misses the Nein, she misses her mama, she misses her home and Fjord. Besides, Artagan has been so busy with planing the gallery (and all of the other cool artists he has been collecting to showcase there and she didn’t know about before) and he’s just not as focused on being her artistic mentor has before. It’s just a lot. 

And Fjord listens and nods and assures her that she’s brilliant and amazing and she will be alright, but she can always come back home if she wants (god, he wishes she would return). 

instead, Jester says he should come to LA because they used to talk about this, about both going there and trying their luck as artists. “You are such an amazing actor, Fjord!” She insists but Fjord is too anxious. Dreams don’t pay the bills. He can’t just drop everything just to follow a dream... just to follow her. 

It gets quiet after that. 

On the way out, Marion overhears that Fjord is planing to spend christmas alone with Cad on their apartment and insists they should come over for diner instead. 

Jester is delighted! It’s usually just her and her mama (who usually has to leave early because she works christmas night at the hotel) but now Cad and Fjord can come too! And the others should too! Beau and Yasha are here alone too and Veth can bring Yeza and Luke and Caleb will definitely want to spend it here instead of the library right?

So the Nein end up all invited to Jester’s christmas party. 

Which, of course, means they HAVE to do a secret santa. 

Jester gets Caleb, so she enlists Veth and Beau to go shopping for his gift to make it extra especial. 

While they are out doing chores, Caleb texts Jester and asks if he could talk to her later that afternoon. She wonders out loud why that would be and Veth blurts out: “he’s probably finally gonna tell you he’s in love with you” 

And Jester would brush it off with a flirty joke if it wasn’t by the way Beau slaps the back of Veth’s head and tells her “you said you wouldn’t tell on him!” 

So Jester is shocked and confused and thrown off balance because she never even considered Caleb like that. Does Caleb like her? Is he in love with her? Is she supposed to know that? To like him back? Oh no, he’s going to tell her this afternoon isn’t he? 

And she has to give him a christmas gift for the secret santa!

Caos and overthinking ensue and finally Jester buys Caleb a big thick book he’d been eyeing for a while but that he’d deemed too expensive to get and a very long scarf with lots of tiny cats and there’s nothing romantic about it but she’s still worried about it. 

So, either way, Caleb and Jester meet up for a late coffee (Caleb is basically immune to caffeine at this point so it’s fine and Jester only drinks hot coco so it’s alright). 

And Jester jumps the gun, she goes on and on and on about how she had no idea and she’s so sorry and she’s not sure about how to feel with this but she doesn’t want to hurt Caleb because he’s such a good friend and she really does care about him a lot but-

Caleb cuts her off with a laugh. He already knew she’s not in love with him, which is why he never brought the subject up. He’s fine, he’s moved on. 

Oh?

Actually, he wanted to talk with her because he is seeing someone else (ESSEK) and he wanted to know if it would be alright to bring him over for christmas tomorrow. He thinks he’s ready to introduce them to his friends and a party seems like a good idea. 

Jester is delighted again and assures him he totally can come and not to worry about the extra space or work or food because Caduceus and Fjord promised to come help her prepare everything for the party. 

She grabs his hands and assures him with a bright smile that she’s incredibly happy for him and hopes this is the good kinda love that makes him feel warm and fuzzy and smile. And Caleb blushes and nods and mumbles that maybe it is. 

CUT TO: Fjord is totally accidentally watching this from outside the coffeeshop because he was out buying gifts too (for his secret friend, Beau, a dope set of weights... and for Jester, a tiny unicorn that he just saw and had to get for her because he knew it would make her so happy). 

Either way, as you can imagine, what Fjord sees is easily misunderstood. 

Cue: heartbreak. 

Which gets us to christmas morning filled with excitement and presents and hugs. 

Fjord and Caduceus come over to help the Lavorre women cook (Fjord feels a little responsible over turning their little yearly diner into a fully blown party because he mentioned they were spending it alone at home). 

And Fjord is sad. He isn’t angry, or rude, or jealous... okay, maybe a little jealous, but mostly he’s just heart-broken and Jester can tell something is off, but Fjord makes an effort to smile and pretend like everything is fine and –wow, whoever he is in love with (that person he said he now new he wanted) might have broken his heart and Jester is so confused and at a lost. 

Anyway, it’s Caduceus who finally has enough of the mopping around and pulls Fjord aside to figure out what’s wrong and Fjord just blurts everything out: Jester and the feelings and the almost kiss in his car and the hanging out and the stupid little unicorn he has back at home and now doesn’t dare give her and Jester holding Caleb’s hands and how stupid he feels and how he had no right to feel that way anyway...

Cad lets him ramble and in the end just sighs and puts a hand on his shoulder and says: you should give her the gift. Did you get it so she would love you? Did you get it to get something in return? 

No, Fjord says, he just wanted to make her happy. 

Well, it will still make her happy, right? Isn’t that what you want?

And Fjord nods despite the hurt and Cad thinks he is so clever because of course he knows that Jester is in love with Fjord and that Caleb has moved on but he figures his roommate needs to figure it out himself this time. 

And so, the party comes. 

They do the secret santa early, because everyone is too chaotic and excited to wait to figure out what gifts they will get and they all want their friends to see the awesome gifts they got them already. 

Fjord nearly bites through his cheek while he sees Jester give Caleb her secret santa gift. 

Yasha gives Jester a beautiful dress, dark but artistic, that everyone insists she must try on and model for them at once because the world really hates Fjord and wants to make him blush and squirm as much as possible over the girl of his dreams. 

Caduceus gets Fjord an amazing movie collection with all the western classics he loves and it’s probably one of the nicest gifts he’s ever gotten. 

The tiny unicorn weights like a fucking ton inside Fjord’s pocket through most of the night. He convinces himself that he can’t give it to Jester, it would be overstepping. If she loves someone else, he needs to respect that. 

And then Essek shows up, and Fjord understands many things at once, and he’s so stupid he wants to laugh and hit himself at the same time. 

And yeah, just because Jester isn’t in love with someone else it doesn’t mean that she will like him now... of course not... but he feels a little bit less like a terrible friend and person for wanting her to. 

He pulls her out to the porch with some dumb excuse and after a lot of awkward small talk he finally brings out the tiny unicorn. 

Jester is delighted. What? Why? When? And Fjord just tells her the truth, that he saw it and thought of her and how happy it would make her and he had to... 

So Jester kisses his cheek and he blushes furiously and just as the moment is about to die down Veth shouts from inside that someone hid a lot of mistletoe around the house and that she is not kissing any of her friends thank you very much. 

So the two of them look up just in time to see GUESS WHAT hanging over their heads. Because of course. 

Blushing. Awkwardness. I mean, we don’t have to if you don’t- I mean if you- I mean I do- Do you? Yeah. Wait. Really? I mean, do you want to? Y-yes! 

They kiss. 

And it’s quick and shy and not really a big romantic kiss, barely a peck between two friends terrified of fucking everything up. 

The night goes on and neither of them can stop thinking about it... but other than that, it’s just a fun party. 

Fjord doesn’t sleep much, he’s up early and pacing around the house until he decides he needs to try that again. Just once more. One more kiss. And maybe then... and, yes, she will leave, but maybe one more kiss wouldn’t be so terrible before that?

So Fjord runs. He runs over to her home, heart in his throat. 

He knocks on the door, rushed and breathless... and finds Marion looking sad. 

Jester got a call that very morning saying Artagan needed her ASAP back in LA because the gallery is apparently a mess and he needs her help to organize the big night. 

Fjord does his best to cheer Marion up but he also knows, he knows, how upset Jester must have been to lose the last few days home. 

Meanwhile, Jester is doing her best to help Artagan (after finding out her mentor might be an amazingly talented artist but a terrible event organizer) and basically runs herself thin, going crazy and barely sleeping for a couple days. 

Two days before the big exhibit everything is still a mess and it’s too much for her to handle alone... and then the Nein arrive. 

What are you doing here? What is going on? How are you here? 

And they just shrug and smile and say they missed her and ‘hey, do you need a little help with that?’ and before she knows it everyone is helping her up and putting together everything that’d been falling apart. 

Beau basically intimidates the catering service into actually delivering on time by reviewing their contract and finding how much money they could lose if they don’t. Yasha, turns out, has a fantastic eye for art and helps pick where and how each piece should be hanged. Veth goes nuts with the decoration, making it way fancier than anyone expected this little art show to be —she demands black tie for everyone who is coming, too. Caleb and Essek result amazing with lights and music and manage got connect the whole audio system by some sort of magical miracle because it hasn’t worked properly since the 8s. Caduceus and Fjord offer to serve drinks when the barman calls in sick. 

In the end, after a few hectic days, it all works out. 

Jester finds out from Beau that Fjord basically knocked on their doors as soon as he found out she had to come back and talked everyone into coming and drove all the way here in his cheap shitty Ball Eater car (it broke down halfway through and Fjord and Caleb had to fix it themselves which is also why it took them two whole days to get to LA). 

The night of the gallery everything is perfect and beautiful and Jester could cry because she has the best friends in the world —but, really, she could cry because she’s missed them so much and having them here with her has made LA seem like a true city of stars again. 

And so, she takes a moment in between smiling and shaking hands and posing for pictures with Artagan (who is sort of taking all the credit for their work but it’s alright because he’s already hooked her and two others up with a bunch of interested agents and it seems like he really just wants to help this small artists have their big break) and Jester steps outside to take some air. 

Fjord follows. 

And she starts to thank him, earnestly, for all his help and support and she has no idea how she could’ve done any of this without them —without him. She can’t believe he followed her all the way here (as if Fjord has done anything else since the day they met on their college’s induction day... he always follows her)

Fjord, a little coyly, says that he could pay her back by lending him a couch while he looks for a place... and that’s how Jester finds out Fjord’s moving to the city to try and pursue acting. 

“Job hunting wasn’t going too well either, so I figured I might as well give my dreams a chance... I would also really like to be closer to you,” he admits, in a moment of boldness. 

And Jester understands. Finally. She sees what she was too afraid of admitting to herself out of fear of heartbreak and disappointment. 

“I can lend you a couch,” she smiles, playfully, “but it will cost you... a movie, maybe diner later” 

And his eyes sparkle as he steps closer and says, “I think I can manage that” and he asks if he can kiss her, following a hunch, and she nods. 

Just as everyone shouts HAPPY NEW YEAR inside the building. 

THE END

ok that’s all, i cannot bring myself to actually write this multichapter, but I hope anyone who is still here after ALL THAT enjoyed the ride. 

Happy holidays!! 

[gone-series-orchid]

i’ve been thinking about something like a ‘reverse’ au, but rather than something like sam goes to coates instead of caine or something, it’s more like their roles or arcs are switched? so it ends up being that the perdido beach kids are the ‘bad side’ and the coates kids are the ‘good side’. it’s obviously hard to work out because most of the characters fall into some grey morality but it’s still an idea. it would also mean some characters’ personalities are changed as well.

that sounds so interesting, anon! it sounds to me like your au would traffic in lots of class tropes—instead of the coates kids being troubled rich snobs and the townies being essentially your normal, relatable public high school kids, the coates kids would probably be the spoiled-but-sweet neglected children of perdido beach’s rich couples and the townies would be “from the wrong side of the tracks”—public school-educated (meaning, of course, not educated at all) latchkey kids who roam around and stir up trouble while their white-collar parents work menial jobs all day. they’d be jaded and toughened-up due to childhoods spent in underfunded schools, brought up on cable tv and kraft mac ‘n’ cheese (the horror!), dissatisfied with their lives but lacking the imagination needed to think of anything different.

here’s how i think the kids might be changed by this switch:

caine - a kid who’s considered a bit of an arrogant snob even by his peers. still ambitious but more in a “i have to lead these kids because they’re too dumb to lead themselves” kind of way. his backstory of neglect is probably milked for all the sympathy it’s worth to explain his more unsavory traits

diana - is still a bully with a promiscuous reputation, but her backstory of assault and mistreatment is emphasized right away to explain her antisocial behavior. sort of like a “you love to hate her” character, like regina george of mean girls or something; she’s mean, but in kind of a cool way. probably has genuine love of caine right off the bat but doesn’t want to get with him because of her own insecurity/feeling that she’s “damaged goods” (☹️) because of her promiscuity or the abuse she suffered. painted in a “wounded bird w/ hard exterior and soft center” way, maybe similar to lana after her experience with the gaiaphage. her family’s wealth means she gets the best clothes and is thus sort of revered at coates for her fashion sense and intimidating aura.

drake - the wild card extremist and devil on caine’s shoulder. probably the darkest of the already morally gray coates trio but not a bad guy deep down, he’s just more willing to go to some dark places morality-wise and play devil’s advocate. still devilishly handsome as in canon. probably has mommy issues and problems with intimacy because of them. has a “woman-hater” reputation and spouts some Obnoxious but Endearing Misogyny™ (🙄) throughout the series.

sam - tries to stick to the sidelines to avoid sticking out as in canon, but in this au it’s because sticking out almost inevitably means getting bullied by rougher and tougher kids. tries to rule perdido beach despite being wildly unsuited for it because he has a persecution complex with regard to the coates kids, believing them to be elitist slobs just because they’re wealthy. insecure because of his mother’s position as the coates school nurse and his family’s own lack of financial security. when pushed into a position of power, he tries to compensate wildly for it by acting like living in town means he knows best for all the kids, as he knows what it’s like to struggle compared to the coates kids who were born with silver spoons in their mouths. the coates kids don’t like him because of his richist views and the perdido beach kids only tolerate him because of his power and—grudgingly—because of his school bus sam reputation, as well as because he’s a townie.

astrid - desperate to gain a real education among like-minded intellectuals, she’s just biding her time before she can graduate high school and leave. her high iq and devout christianity make her an outsider to the usual riff-raff of the town, making her a marked threat to caine’s plans. more calculating from the start, astrid has plans to rule perdido beach through uniting sam’s scrappy group of kids (quinn, edilio, other kids who aren’t super good in a fight) with the larger community of thugs and bullies ruled by orc. finds the coates kids to be snide and classist, though secretly she longs for the same educational opportunities they received. deeply protective of little pete as in canon, feeling that he’d have better support in an environment more conducive to helping kids with special needs instead of in the town’s lackluster special education classes. tutored orc with the motive of trying to prove to herself that she could get the town’s biggest thug to change his ways through educating him in algebra, with mixed results. orc still appreciates her efforts though because of course he does. she’s probably a bit more high-minded and openly judgmental than in canon due to her insecurity over her less intellectual peers, disliking diana immediately for her “slutty” ways and conflating the way she dresses with a wasted education. cold and practical without any of the relatability or “people skills” needed to connect with either the coates kids or the townies, hence why she uses sam and orc, playing on their feelings for her to manipulate them more easily (adding on a layer of hypocrisy for calling diana a tease/flirt).

i can’t think of anything else right now, but i really like this au, anon!! idk if these suggestions are what you were thinking, but maybe they’ll lend you some inspiration?

thank you for the ask! feel free to send more!

[preciousthingsareprecious]

Finding Us Chapter 20

Insert Mushu’s I liiiiive gif here because Finding Us is back! My goal for this year is to get this fic finished, because as surprising as it may seem I don’t think there are that many chapters left waiting to be written. 

I hope you guys enjoy it, and I am so sorry for the just wildly long delay between chapters. 

AO3 Link

~

Titus moved at a faster pace than Damian was willing to run. He watched as his dog scampered ahead on the sidewalk, pausing here and there to sniff at trees or examine bushes and flowers, but always darting forward to something new and interesting. Still, he stayed within Damian’s line of sight, and even paused to look back at him every so often with an inquisitive tilt of his head.

Damian had allowed the dog off his leash after Titus’s excitement had almost pulled him off his feet. It had been a few days since he’d been able to take him out for a proper walk, and the dog was eager to stretch his legs and explore. Damian wasn’t worried about Titus getting into trouble, he was well trained and the chance of meeting someone else was slim, especially since they were walking the path between home and Drake Manor. It was private property, and far enough from most civilization that few bothered to wander out here for fun.

He was happy to follow the animal at a slower pace. He refused to admit that Pennyworth’s reminder that he was not fully recovered yet had been accurate. His inability to balance properly earlier, had nothing to do with his head. Neither did his lethargy. He was simply tired from the stress of having to worry about Drake.

Everything was Drake’s fault, even Damian’s escape outside. Damian had needed to get away from the tense atmosphere filling the house, and the tension there. So he’d claimed Titus needed a walk, promised to return soon, and scurried away from Father and Grayson’s grumpy voices, irritated with their lack of progress. Damian was frustrated himself, having worked from the early morning and past lunch alongside everyone.

Damian bit his lip before huffing, Drake was an imbecile.

Honestly, did he not realize this was an issue he should have spoken of before now? It was as if he thought he could ignore weirder than normal stalking and it would simply go away.

He kicked at a pebble, sending it arcing through the air to thump against a tree trunk. Drake had not learned anything apparently. It was one thing to hide it from Damian, he could understand that. They still did not have the best relationship (little relationship at all if Drake could have his way and Damian did not want that), but he would have expected his brother to have spoken to Grayson or Father at the very least. But no, Timothy had not even considered how his family would see the situation, had not thought of what allowing that psychopath to get close to him would do to any of them.

“The fool.” Damian mumbled.

At his voice, Titus stopped his examination of a stump and ran back to him to butt his leg for a moment. When Damian did little more than give him a quick pat to the head, Titus ran forward again.

Damian wished he were still home, digging through information. Part of the reason he’d taken his walk was because he’d been banned from doing just that. He had been outvoted. Father, Grayson, and even Todd had insisted it was time for Damian to take a break and see to his growing headache. As if any of them were resting. It was too much fuss over injuries that were paltry. He might not be as irritated if Grayson had been forced to rest as well.

The man was as stubborn as Father. While he had been partnered with Grayson, Damian had been told of his brother’s famous hard head, but he had not truly realized it until he began to work with the man. He wondered how the two ever worked together when disagreeing, their attitudes were so similar. When they got it in their heads to do something, they were almost unmovable. Like Titus when he refused to give Damian his favorite stuffed toy.

Damian could be that stubborn. He had many times, but when faced with not one but two people wielding such power, well he’d much rather find an alternate means of helping. He did make a mental note to sway Father to his side in forcing Grayson to rest later. He would not be the only one bullied into a break.

Drake Manor came into sight as Damian and Titus moved out of a tree line. The building was not as stately as Wayne Manor, but it was kept up well, even with Drake spending hardly any time there anymore. Damian liked to think that if he had a whole mansion to himself he’d use it more than Drake did. Though that might get lonely. Perhaps he would use it the same way his brother did: as more of an escape than anything.

Now that he was here, Damian’s reasons for coming felt shaky at best. He had been so sure of himself when he’d snatched the keys to the estate from Drake’s room and decided to secretly investigate. He’d hoped that-- well Damian wasn’t sure what he’d hoped. To find the stalker here? Camped out at Drake’s childhood home sifting through his mail or something? It felt silly. Like he was grasping at straws.

It would be even sillier to turn on his heel and leave, so Damian stomped ahead. He turned the gate key in his hands, Drake had probably already been out here, searching the grounds for any signs of his stalker. Father too would have come to look. And Todd and Cain and Grayson and the whole lot of his family. Damian was simply last to come up with the idea.

“Tt,” he said, and put the key into the lock, turning it until he heard a click.

The gate swung inwards, giving Damian access to a spot he was sure would lead to nothing. But he would not give up. Grayson used to-- and sometimes still did -- give him cases to read over that he thought he’d solved but wanted ‘fresh eyes on’. When Damian had asked why, when they were already solved, Grayson had said that everyone saw things differently, and a new perspective could reveal things everyone else missed.

Damian was going to be the new perspective.

He decided to check the inside first, and circle around the grounds after. That way if he took too long and someone came looking for him Damian would have managed to explore most of the spot he was most curious about.

Titus darted through the open gate off to explore the new area. Damian let him frolic for the time it took him to approach the house then called the dog over to him. He’d rather have his friend close by through the exploration.

Only his whistle didn’t catch Titus’s attention, and when Damian didn’t see the dog coming close, he looked up to search for him, the keys dangling in his fingers.

Titus stood close to the front gate to the driveway, growling, with his ears pulled back, at a man. The man stood very still, even separated by wrought iron.

Damian hurried over to stand near Titus, “Hey boy, it’s okay.” he said, resting a hand on the dog’s head and frowning at the person Titus had decided was no good.

The man looked to be in his late forties, with dark hair speckled with some grey, and deep lines on his face. He was dressed plainly, and in a coat and gloves that were appropriate for the weather only if he’d planned to stay out late. Everything was done in dark tones, with nothing that really stood out. What was most interesting was the fact that a small envelope was held tightly to his side in one of his hands.

Damian did not glare at the man since he did not wish to make him bolt, but every fiber of his being said there was something very wrong about this guy.

“Can I help you?” Damian asked, raising himself up and filling his tone with as much authority as he might have in addressing one of Grandfather’s men who’d stepped out of line.

“Hi, you wouldn’t happen to be Tim Drake would you?”

Damian’s heart sped up, and he squeezed his hand around Titus’s collar, “I do not think I should tell you. I don’t know you, and so far you have not introduced yourself.”

“Oh, sorry, I’m Joe, I’m an old acquaintance of your dad’s.” The man gave Damian a smile that felt a little too bright, “Listen, I’ve been out of town for a couple years, and well I came by to give my condolences and just say hi. We used to be pretty close back in the day.”

He thought Damian was Timothy. Well then he couldn’t have been that close a friend. Damian shared a hair color with his brother, that was it. It should be obvious he was not the son of a supposed ‘old friend’.  

“Timothy is my brother, and he would not appreciate you snooping around. Now I would kindly ask you to leave.”

Titus’ growl turned into a bark, and he tried to pull away from Damian to lurch at the man. Damian held firm, but did not hush his loyal friend.

The man glanced down at Titus and back up at Damian, “Alright, okay, I’ll try calling ahead next time. Have a nice day.”

“Wait--” Damian called, as the man turned, “Did you not have a letter you wished delivered?” he pointed to the envelope clasped close to the man’s side.

“Oh! Yeah.” The man smiled, “Will you give this to your brother? I wasn’t sure if I’d catch him or not, so I thought I’d say hi with it.”

Damian stepped a little closer to the gate and took the offered letter. It did not seem to weigh much, and might have been what the man said. He gave him a sharp nod of dismissal.  

Once the man was gone, Damian turned and hurried back to the manor at an almost sprint. He would have run, but moving quickly was making his headache return and he was not certain the man he’d just run into was Drake’s stalker or not. It could be a false alarm.

When he returned home he came in the back he quickly examined Titus’ paws for mud or any pebbles he might have picked up on the walk then let him run into the house. He paused in the kitchen where Pennyworth was enjoying a cup of tea.

“Back so soon?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I have brought news.” Damian told him, “Where are Father and Timothy?”

“Downstairs with the others. Might I ask what this news is?”

“I ran into a strange man on my walk. He was attempting to enter Drake Manor.”

Pennyworth straightened at this, and looked Damian over. “That is news.”

Something told Damian that the butler was not just reacting to the man, but Damian’s involvement. He seemed concerned, but in that way that said he was trying to hide it.

“I was perfectly safe.” Damian said, “Titus was there and the gate was between us. I had planned to examine the house for clues to help the search.”

Now Pennyworth’s lips turned up in a smile, “I see. Well then, head downstairs. I’m sure the others will be interested to hear of your news. And I expect you back up here in a reasonable amount of time. Breakthrough or not, you are still recovering, and I could use a hand with dinner.”

Damian nodded, “Of course.”

He made his way out of the kitchen and down to the cave at a more sedate pace, knowing Pennyworth’s eyes and ears were on him, alert for any sounds of Damian “exerting” himself. Thankfully it was not long before he was exiting the elevator and moving into the cave proper.

There, he found Father at the computer, with Richard leaning over his shoulder as they both read something. Todd and Drake were sparring on the mats while Cain watched, and Brown did handstands. Damian stopped just between the practice mats and computer to watch them all.

Upon seeing him, Brown dropped from her handstand to wave, “Back from your walk?”

Richard turned to frown at Damian, but before he could send him back upstairs Todd spoke up, ducking under Drake’s fist.

“Nope, you are not supposed to be down here, Squirt. Upstairs before Alfred figures out you’ve snuck down.”

Damian huffed, “I did not sneak anywhere, Pennyworth is aware of my location. While you all have been dallying I have made a breakthrough in Drake’s case.”

Todd froze, and took a kick directly to his stomach for it. He oofed and doubled over while Drake scrambled to make sure he was fine. Father and Richard both turned fully in Damian’s direction.

“What do you mean, Dames?” Richard asked.

“You weren’t supposed to be doing case work upstairs either.” Father reprimanded.

“I was taking Titus on a walk.” Damian defended.

Yes he had been planning on sneaking case work into the walk, but it really hadn’t come up, so technically he was still telling the truth. He had only really managed the walk before he’d run into “Joe”. It was pure luck he’d come across the man at that time. If he had been any slower or faster he might have missed him altogether. Or perhaps even been mistaken for Timothy inside the house. That might not have gone over nearly as well as the meeting at the gate had.

“Well what did you find?” Drake asked.

He and Todd had straightened and were moving closer. Cain and Brown kept back, they were interested, but leaving things up to those who’d been closest to the investigation so far.

Damian held up the letter, “A man gave this to me outside Drake Manor. He initially mistook me for Drake despite claiming to be an old family friend. From his manner and way of speaking I suspect he is either Drake’s stalker, or someone hired by them to drop off the latest threat. In either case he was a terrible actor.”

Drake snatched the envelope from Damian’s hands and tore it open before anyone could stop him. He removed a single sheet from within, stared at it for a moment, then silently handed it over to Father.

Father read it, his face darkening with every line he scanned. Damian resisted the urge to stand up on his tiptoes to peer over the sheet and read what was on it. Whatever it contained, he was certain it was more of the same creepy and unsettling information Drake had been receiving for a while now.

Part of him thought he should have opened the letter himself before presenting it to the family. It had been an oversight to just hold it out as he had done. What if there had been something dangerous inside? And to have put more threats upon Drake like this, after they were trying to stop everything--it was embarrassing. He should have checked.

But then again, Drake would have insisted on reading it. Everyone would probably insist. Still, it wasn’t the letter that was important. It was the person who had delivered it.

“Damian, you said you saw the person who delivered this?” Richard asked, looking up, concern on his face.

He nodded, “Yes, I can sketch him, and we should be able to use it to identify him.”

Todd moved over beside Damian, and ruffled his hair, “That’s great! Even if he’s not the guy, he’s connected with him, this is a good lead.”

Damian scowled, and ducked away from him, “It was simply luck. I was in the right place at the right time. If not, we would only have another creepy letter.”

“And boy is it creepy.” Todd said, yanking the letter away with a whistle, “He said he likes the smell of your shampoo on your pillow? Ew, and also totally false unless he somehow got in here.” Todd looked up with a frown, “He couldn’t have gotten in here right?”

“It is most likely a lie intended to be built upon a truth. Either he believed Timothy was still staying at Drake Manor or it was supposed to come here and the hired hand chose the wrong home.” Damian said.

Both Richard and Drake’s attention shot up to look at Damian. He frowned at them confused for a moment, then realized his mistake. He turned the frown into a glare.

“Pennyworth asked me not to be too long. I will return upstairs to aid him then draw the picture of your stalker.”  

With that he turned on his heel and left them to glean whatever they could from the letter

[robotslenderman]

 Hi, this quote is about the nosferatu elder Reremouse in Vampire the masquerade night road.

“You have stared into the eyes of wights and seen only madness there, a howling void that threatens to pull you down into the psychic wasteland that awaits all vampires who lose their souls to the Beast.

But in Reremouse’s blank gaze you detect something different: alien consciousness, alien geometries, a landscape fertile and teeming, for all its seeming sterility on the exterior. Reremouse was not transformed by his slumber beneath the sands; he transformed himself, atom by atom and thought by thought, becoming…”

judging by the quote, he is not a wight. So what on earth is he?

normal elders aren’t like that.

I know he descended from Nictuku, could that be it?

What do you think he “became”?

So like, at some point – either the Reremouse chapter or Halfway to Dawn – someone (Dove?) says, “Isn’t Reremouse technically a Methuselah?”

Lettow says, “No, he’s seventh generation” and then we hear about Reremouse’s lineage.

Lettow is both right and wrong. He’s right that Reremouse isn’t fourth or fifth generation – the Methuselah generation – but I think he’s wrong that Reremouse isn’t a Methuselah.

From the wiki:

The term [Methuselah] is also used to refer to elders who have very little to do with the Camarilla or Sabbat: their machinations are far deeper, subtler, and more terrifying.

TLDR – Reremouse is a Methuselah. I don’t know if Kyle Marquis meant for this to be the answer as to why Reremouse is the way he is (nobody argues with Lettow, but then again they might simply have elected not to), but it’s the only explanation I can think of.

Long version:

(Yay Tumblr finally let me cut this!)

Okay, so –

Methuselah isn’t just a generation, but also a life stage. The life stages went like this:

Years – Life stage

1-15 – Fledgling

15-100 – Neonate

100-300 – Ancilla

300-1000 – Elder

1000 + – Methuselah

It gets confusing because generations are also titled in a similar way, according to V5 corebook:

Generation – Life stage

14/15 – Fledglings

12/13 – Fledglings, neonates

10/11 – Ancilla

So from that information we can assume that 6/7/8/9 is “elder”, 4/5 is “methuselah”, 3 is “antediluvian”, 2 is “whatever gen 2 is called” and gen 1 is, well, Caine.

Tying this back to what Reremouse is –

Reremouse is clearly not a wight. As you point out, there’s something in there. Whatever it is that seems to have taken over him, it’s not the Beast.

The “alien” remarks could be referring to his nature as Nictuku, but I can’t say for sure.

While Nictuku tend to get uglier with each century they’re alive, there’s nothing I can find that suggests their personality gets kookier too. Reremouse also hunts whatever and whoever he wants and is never stated to be going after only Nosferatu like other Nictuku. And much like Dove, a Nosferatu Courier, and (presumably) Modian, he can be sated on human blood just fine, where Nictuku aren’t supposed to be able to do that.

But when vampires reach the Methuselah life stage, they tend to get a bit… kooky. Few Kindred who live that long tend to stay mentally or physically healthy. They can succumb to a severe depression and go into torpor (like Aila, who was entering the Methuselah life stage; Dove says she was a thousand years old when Lettow met her). They can end up no longer sated by mortal blood and become diablerists (the thirst of ages). Their mannerisms also change –

Their unconscious body movement has completely stopped, and many could be confused with statues when they do not move. 

– and I presume that one of the other options of “things that can happen to a Methuselah” is “goes batshit.” Hence, Reremouse.

The line between Methuselah and elder is very blurred. Sascha Vykos is over a thousand years old, but they’re perfectly sane (or at least, their lack of sanity has nothing to do with their age) and they’re not referred to as a Methuselah; it could be that to be a Methuselah that isn’t 4th or 5th gen, certain changes in the personality/body have to take place. Sort of like how a 13YO can be going through puberty, be prepubescent, or have already gone through puberty, but still be 13 years old. Sascha hasn’t taken a super long depression nap, gone on a non-beasty rampage or turned into a statue, so they’re still thought of as an elder.

Likewise, even the other life stages are flexible – New York’s secretly run by a forty year old vampire but nobody would call him a Neonate, and the Prince is also less than a century. I’ve also heard that “Methuselah” can just refer to any 1000+ year old vampire who’s solitary and considered to be bad news; that “Methuselah” more means “Stay away” than anything measurable like years or generation.

TL;DR – I think Reremouse is just crazy ‘cause he’s old.

[lynelovespopculture]

The Chilling Adventures of Zelda Chapter 5-ROAD TO RECOVERY PLEASE REMEMBER TO COMMENT!

CHAPTER 5-THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

WARNING: Talk of suicide

 Zelda couldn’t sleep. She sighed as she turned to look at the clock, 2:45 AM. Zelda looked upper still to Hilda 3 feet away, lightly snoring. Zelda removed her blankets and put her feet into her slippers. She exited the bedroom before conjuring a little ball of light to accompany her down the dark hallway. It had been 2 and a half weeks since Zelda’s husband had been separated from his insanity curse and things were not going all that well. The plan had been to free Faustus and then kill the curse and they had tried their best. Zelda had been literally in hell as Prudence tried to stab it and Hilda came from behind with a heavy rock. However, the stab wound made no difference and the rock that broke in 2. It fell to Zelda to tell her family that the curse bore the mark of Cain, which made it immortal. Somehow, the curse got away. So, Blackwood, (to help avoid confusion, the family decided to call the curse Blackwood and the real man Faustus,) was on the run again but not for long. A week later, when all the coven was in the church to hear mass, a bloody Dorcas stormed in to tearfully inform the others that Blackwood stormed the nearly empty academy. Dorcas tried hard but Blackwood did manage to reclaim the twins before disappearing again. Poor Dorcas blamed herself, but Zelda tried her best to comfort the distraught girl. Secretly, Zelda herself wanted to cry. How could they lose the twins yet again, after a mere 8 days! Late at night on all 7 nights, Zelda would take care not to be caught as she sneaked into where the twins slept. She would tuck them in if needed, kiss them and just stay with them for a while. Wondering how Judas and Letitia, she knew the girl twin was calling herself Judith, but she would always be Letitia to Zelda, could possibly be teenagers, when their 1st birthday was still weeks away.  Agatha, who was already pretty hostile, grew even more violent and wild when she learned that Blackwood came to get the twins but not her. Knowing that Agatha was a danger not only to herself but to the other students and teachers, Zelda made the decision to put Agatha in the dungeon, for now.

“I’m really sorry girls,” Zelda told the other weird sisters about her decision. “I wish there was another way, but I need to put the safety of the coven first, plus if Blackwood comes back for her, it won’t be so easy.”

“We  understand, Sister Zelda.”  Prudence soothed.

Dorcas nodded. “Agatha’s in good hands. We trust you, Mistress  Spellman.”

Zelda smiled, she needed to hear that right now.

Zelda briefly considered getting in touch with their mysterious new ally, Gloria Rose but the idea was quickly dismissed for 2 reasons. First, Zelda had no idea where Gloria lived or how to get in touch with her and had a funny feeling that Gloria wouldn’t pop up again it was time for Lilith’s next appointment. Also, was the fact that Gloria had betrayed Blackwood by giving him to the Spellmans so it was unlikely Blackwood would go back to her.

 The cold hallway gave Zelda a chill, sending her back to the present. Zelda went to the end of the hall and opened the linen closet, grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around herself.  In addition to worrying about Blackwood, the twins, and Agatha, Zelda was extremely concerned about Faustus, only in a completely different way. Agatha’s behavior was violent and dangerous. Faustus was a danger to no one but himself. Zelda was with her husband when he asked the dark lord to put him under house arrest and stripped him of all his magical powers. Boy, Faustus was not kidding. He asked for house arrest but it was more like room arrest. Shortly after returning from hell, Faustus went down to the morgue and stayed there for 2 and a half weeks. The morgue was the lowest, coldest room in the Spellman house. Zelda suspected if Faustus could go lower, he would. He also absolutely wouldn’t hear of going near the church or school.

“I am no longer a high priest,” he said when Sabrina addressed as Father  Blackwood, “nor should I be. I betrayed a sacred trust when I poisoned the entire coven.” His head turned as his eyes grew misty.

 Faustus also insisted on being punished.  He even asked Ambrose to chain him up. Zelda quickly overruled that request. There was no self-torture Faustus wouldn’t inflict on himself. One day, he found a rope that he used as a  whip. By the time someone found him, his back was red, bruised and bleeding. He wouldn’t allow anyone to heal him but a sneaky Zelda did it while he was asleep. Zelda feared she wouldn’t be attracted to a powerless Faustus but she was wrong. I love him, she thought. I truly love him, more and more each day. People made sure that trays of Hilda’s famous cooking was brought down to him at least 3 times a day,  but Faustus barely touched any of it. Zelda spent hours and hours with him, begging him to eat, if only for her. It kind of reminded Zelda when she and  Hilda would do a good cop/bad cop routine when a 4-year-old Sabrina refused to eat her peas. On the days that were really bad, Zelda would take her own dinner to the morgue and refused to eat until Faustus did. Of course, her pregnancy and the fact that the baby needed to be fed, was her ace in the hole and soon found Faustus cleaning his plate.

 Zelda dismissed the ball of light as she went down the spiral steps to the morgue. There was a  full moon tonight and its light filled the room. Zelda sighed as she saw Faustus was, yet again, not sleeping in the cot that had been prepared for him but instead, sitting against the wall, wearing only his pants, trying to keep himself from nodding off. Why? Because sleep deprivation was a form of torture too.

“It’s like he’s broken, Aunt Hilda.” Zelda overheard Ambrose said one morning. Zelda said nothing as she entered the room but she knew whatever was ‘broken’ in Faustus, could be fixed.

“What are you doing here?” Faustus asked when he finally noticed Zelda standing on the last stair. “It’s late. You should be asleep.”

“So should you.” She returned firmly.

He shook his head. “I don’t matter, you do.”

“Yes, you do.” You matter to me. Zelda thought silently to herself. Zelda wanted to tell Faustus she loved him a thousand times since he been back but it never seemed to be the right moment. Sighing, she went over to him. “Oh, Faustus! Your hands are like ice! Here.” Zelda took off the blanket that was wrapped around her and gave it to him before going to the cot to pick up the rest of the blankets.

“No, I  don’t want it. I deserve to be cold!” Faustus whined like a child while pushing away the blankets. However, the blankets were tucked tightly around him once Zelda spelled it.

Then she sat down and snuggled next to him. “You know, Faustus,” Zelda said  before they both fell asleep, “you can’t go on like this much longer.”

  Zelda was right, of course, and Faustus knew it. It was Wednesday morning when it was when Faustus sneaked into the kitchen before anyone had come down. It was a lot harder to switch 2 bottles without powers.

“Well, Father Blackwood! It’s good  to  see you above ground level.” Faustus turned sharply around, keeping the bottle behind his back as he saw Hilda smiling at him. “Are you feeling better this morning?”

“A little.” He lied. “And call me Faustus.”

“Well, good! Fancy a bit of breakfast? The others should be right down.”

“No, thank you, Hilda. I’m not hungry.” That was true. It took a few more lines of small talk before Faustus was able to leave the kitchen without letting Hilda see the bottle he switched.  Out in the hallway, Faustus recognized a book on a bench that as headmistress,  Zelda would use. He picked it up and tucked it under his arm. Turning, Faustus almost ran into Sabrina.

“Oh, Miss Spellman, um, Sabrina, I’m glad I bumped into you. I just wanted to say that I am very ashamed of my behavior towards you when we first meet. I know now that I was just taking my anger toward your father out  on you and  that’s not fair to you.”

Sabrina was stunned. “T-Thank you, Fath, Mr. Blackwood. Perhaps we can start fresh going forward.”

Faustus smiled at the girl. He was back downstairs when he heard footsteps on the steps and Ambrose then came into view with a cardboard box.

 “I got you what you asked for from the academy.”

“Thank you, Ambrose. You’re a fine young man. My daughter could do a lot worse.”

Ambrose turned bright red.  “We aren’t back together or anything, not yet, I mean, not officially.”

“Nevertheless, I approve. Whatever you and Prudence decide to do.”

“Someone say my name? My ears are burning.” Prudence smiled as she entered.

“Hey, Prudence! What are you doing here?” Asked a friendly Ambrose.

“I just thought I would come round,  check on things here. Good morning, Father.”

Faustus returned his daughter’s smile. “Good morning, Prudence.”

“Do you want some company back to school?” Prudence asked Ambrose.

“Sure.”

They both turned to go until Faustus called his daughter back. Prudence turned and Faustus went up to his daughter, caressed her cheek before kissing her and giving her a big hug.

Prudence smiled. “What was that for?”

Faustus smiled back. “I just wanted to kiss and hug you just for no special reason, just once.”

Prudence’s smile grew bigger and she hugged him back. “Thank you,  Father.” She whispered in his ear.

She and Ambrose left then, passing Zelda on the stairs.

“Hello, Sister Zelda.”

“Morning, Aunt Z.”

Zelda came downstairs in a rush. “I can’t believe I’m going to be late again.” Zelda seemed to be  searching for something.”

“Lost something?” Faustus asked.

“Yes,” Zelda answered. “I   need a certain book for my 1st  class and I can’t  find it anywhere.”

Faustus held up the book he took from the hall. “Is it this one?”

Zelda looked up and immediately lit up. “Yes!” She took it from him and turned to leave.

My beautiful Zelda, Faustus thought. But I need 1 more look, just  1 more.

“Zelda?”

“Yes?”   She turned to him again and he drunk her in before he shrugged. “I forgot my thought.”

  It was half an hour before Faustus knew he was alone in the house.  It was only then that Faustus opened the cardboard box that Ambrose brought him to check if it had all the contents in it. Yep, it was all there. Every stomach-churning item. With 1 look, Faustus could tell that the old-fashioned potbelly stove was not going to be big enough to burn all this stuff. So, Faustus went upstairs to find something bigger. The fireplace in the living room seemed big enough but Faustus simply couldn’t do it.  It was on this exact spot, almost a year ago, that he kissed Zelda. It was by far, the very best kiss of his entire existence and that was the night that Faustus and Zelda started the affair that led to their marriage, 6 months later. Faustus continued his search combing all the upstairs but didn’t find anything that he needed.  Faustus was on the stairs when a stranger came through the door.

“Zelda?”  The stranger called.  “Prudence?”

“There’s no one here but me,”  Faustus said. “I think they’re at the academy.”

The strange woman looked up at him. “Who are you?”

I could ask the same thing of you. Faustus thought but he actually said “I’m an old friend of the Spellmans. I’m staying here for a few  days.”

“Oh, okay, nice to meet you. I’m Mambo Marie and I was just looking for Zelda. She’s been late a lot lately. I think she’s been avoiding me since we broke up.”

Faustus couldn’t stop himself. “Broke up?! You mean, the 2 of you used to be together?” You have no right to feel jealous. Faustus silently scolded himself. You have no right to feel anything but guilt and shame.

“Yes, we went out for a couple of months last spring,” Marie answered and sighed. “I still miss her sometimes. Zelda Spellman is proving a hard woman to get over.”

Try impossible, Faustus thought. Outloud, he said, “Would you like to get back together with  Zelda?”

Marie half-smiled and shook her head. “Not going to happen, even if I wanted it to. Our last conversation made that perfectly clear.”

“Oh, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

“Oh no?”  Marie challenged. “The last time Zelda and I were alone together, I tried to get her to take…an abortion potion.” She looked down at her feet.

“You tried to get Zelda to kill ou, her baby?”

“I do regret it,” Marie said quickly. “I got hurt that Zelda didn’t tell me herself and I got mad when she told me that the father was that bastard who wants to kill the whole coven.”

Faustus closed his eyes at the word ‘bastard’ but he forced himself to go on. “Have you told Zelda that you’re sorry?”

Marie shrugged. “No, I mean, what would be the point? Zelda would never forgive me.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Zelda can be very forgiving, perhaps too forgiving.”

“What?” asked Marie.

“Nothing,” Faustus dismissed. “You know if you act now you  could surprise Zelda with a romantic lunch.”

“You think that will work?”

“Can’t hurt.”

“Well, okay. I’ll try.” Marie smiled.

“Try giving her purple Primroses. They’s are Zelda’s favorites.”

“Thank you.”

“Bye,” Faustus waved until Marie closed the door. “Please take good care of all I love.”

 Half an hour later, Zelda walked into her office, studying some papers and looked up to see a set table and Mambo Marie was smiling and holding flowers. “Hello, ma Cherie.”

“Hi, what are you doing?”

“I know it’s been a while,” Marie started. “But I thought we could have lunch together so I could apologize for my behavior from last time.”

Zelda smiled. “I appreciate that.” Zelda closed the folder, tossed it on her desk and sat down on the chair Marie had pulled out for her. Then Marie sat down herself.

“I am sorry Zelda.” Said Marie. “I had no right to tell  you what to do with your  baby, it is your  body, after all.”

“Yes, Marie, it is,” Zelda said firmly.

“But that’s  not all.”  Marie put her hand on top of Zelda’s and smiled. “Ma Cherie, I think we should give us  another chance.” When Zelda said nothing, Marie said jokingly. “What? There’s not somebody else, is there?” Zelda looked at her guiltily.

“Unbelieve!” Marie snapped.

Before a fight could break out, Hilda ran into the office. “Zelda! Zelda!”

Zelda stood up. “Hilda, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I was just in my herbalism class, showing how nightshade is poison in liquid form but when I opened the bottle, it was only dirt. Then I remember that I saw Father Blackwood in  the kitchen, near my purse and since this is the 1st  day he’s alone in  the house-“

“Faustus is going to kill himself.” Zelda finished for her sister.

Marie was utterly confused. “Wait, isn’t a good thing if Blackwood dies?”

“Blackwood and Faustus are not the same people anymore.”

“What?!”

“Hilda, you explain it to her. I got to go save Faustus.”

But Marie wouldn’t be put off. “Damn it, Zelda Spellman, if you walk out on me now, we are over! I mean it. I’m going back to New Orleans and I won’t be coming back!”

Zelda wasn’t one easily threaten but more than that, Marie didn’t seem to care about a potential suicide. “Have a safe trip,” Zelda said before teleporting home.

  Meanwhile, back in the morgue of the Spellman house, Faustus sat in a corner on the floor.  He held a picture of Zelda that he swiped from the mantle. “Goodbye, my love.” Faustus lifted the bottle to his lips but before he could drink anything, the bottle flew out of his palm and smashed against the opposite wall.

“What the heaven are you doing, Faustus?!” Zelda demanded, coming more into the room and gently shoved him. “You cannot leave me! You cannot leave me! You cannot leave me!” Zelda turned, covering her eyes to catch the fresh tears.  “What are you thinking of?”

“I was thinking of how you and everyone else would be better off without me.”

Zelda shook her head and crossed her arms. “That is so not true! You are needed, Faustus.”

“By  who?”

“By your children, by me!” Zelda returned. Faustus shook his head so Zelda went forward and held Faustus’s head so he had no choice but to look at her. “You are loved,” Faustus shook his head. “Yes, you are!” Zelda insisted. “Prudence love you, the twins love you, our new baby will love you and I love you.”

Faustus’s eyes widened. “In all our years, the centuries  we’ve known each other, that’s the 1 thing you’re never said to me, never.”

 “Well, I do, truly I do. I’m only sorry it took me so long to realize it.”

“What  about your girlfriend, Mambo Marie?”

“How do you  know about her?” Zelda asked. “Was she here? What am I even talking about? Of course, she was! She would never know to bring me purple primroses all by herself.  I won’t lie to you, Faustus. I did have a crush on Marie when we first met but crushes fade and in reality, we don’t know each other and lately, all we do is fight. Even now, when Hilda told me what you had  planned, she wanted me to stay and finish lunch with her but all I could think of was you and how I couldn’t bear to lose you, again.” Faustus stayed silent and Zelda got an awful,  horrible idea. “Have I gotten this all wrong? I know it’s only been a few months for us but it’s been 15 years for you. Do you no longer love me, Faustus?”

Faustus put an arm around her waist and for a second it looked like he was going to kiss her but forced himself to stop. “I love you so much, Zelda. Other than my children, I’ve never loved anyone else,  not for a second. Yet the fact remains that I don’t deserve you.”

“Deserve me or not, you have me!” Zelda said before she kissed him. Faustus tried to resist   but Zelda held him close and soon their bodies melted into each other. It wasn’t long before Faustus’s fingers found the zipper on the side of Zelda’s skirt. She stepped out of it and rolled her hosiery and panties down as far as they would go without breaking the kiss. Faustus, meanwhile, unbuttoned his shirt and let it fall off him before he scooped her up and gently laid her on the exam table. Carefully, he lowered himself over her. He began to kiss her, slowly. Beginning with the very top of her head and worked his way down to her forehead,  one cheek then the other and on to those sweet, sweet lips. As Faustus moved to kiss her neck, his fingers went to work, unbuttoning her blouse. Zelda’s view was blurry as he caressed her neck but when he skillfully took off her bra and embraced her breasts, Zelda saw nothing at all. Her sight returned when she realized that his kisses had stopped completely. Zelda looked up to see Faustus staring down at her swollen belly. Oh no, Zelda thought, the insecurity creeping in. Faustus wasn’t attracted to a heavyset woman. It was just a fact Zelda knew. Personally, Zelda never had to worry about it, until now. Does he find me disgusting, is that why he stopped.

Yet Faustus’s eyes were filled with wonder as he touched the mount of flesh that housed their child. “That’s our baby in there.” He kissed all around her stomach. “How far along are you?”

“I’m currently 9 and a half months pregnant.”

“It’s odd, isn’t it?” Faustus asked while he continued kissing. “It’s been 15 years for me but only a  few months for you, dearest. Hey! What is this?!”

“Oh, that’s just the wound from the gunshot.”

“What?! Who shot you?” Faustus demanded, instantly protective of his wife.

“It doesn’t matter.”  When  Zelda finally reached for his belt, Faustus grew nervous again.

“Zelda? Maybe we shouldn’t do  this.”

“Shh,” Zelda hushed. “You’re safe here. You’re safe with me, I promise.”

“Yes, but are you safe with me?” Faustus questioned.

Zelda only responded by kissing him and gently got on top of him. Now, it was Zelda’s turn to seduce. She kissed his chest, his hips and once she finally removed his pants, she went even lower. Faustus shivered with pleasure. When he couldn’t take it anymore so he rolled himself on top again and entered  Zelda. The couple was used to rough sex, but this wasn’t that. This was lovemaking, comforting and soothing lovemaking. The kind outlawed by the dark lord, but they didn’t follow him anymore. Zelda fell asleep in Faustus’s arms.

 When Zelda awoke, someone had covered her with a blanket, so she felt warm and safe. Without opening her eyes, Zelda reached out for Faustus but her hand couldn’t find him. Opening her eyes, Zelda discovered that he wasn’t beside her at all. With growing worry, Zelda prompted herself up on her elbow and scanned the room for her husband and found nothing.

“Faustus? Faustus!” Zelda cried out. Why did I fall asleep? She thought, panicking. Why did I leave him alone?

“I’m right here.” Came the calm reply. Zelda looked around and finally found him sitting on the floor, his back resting against the exam table. With a sigh of relief, Zelda wrapped the blanket around herself so she was at least semi-decent should anyone decide to come in before she climbed down to him.

“It seems that I’m always finding you on the floor.  We do have chairs, you know.” Zelda snuggled beside him but he made no move to embrace her nor did he push her away.

Finally, Faustus spoke. “We shouldn’t have done that.”        

“It’s okay,” Zelda soothed. “We don’t follow the dark lord anymore. Lovemaking should be fine.”

“I don’t give a flying fig about the dark lord!” Faustus cried, getting to his feet. “We shouldn’t have sex at all. Why can I never resist you, Zelda? Now it’s going to be next to impossible to go back.”

Zelda was confused. “I don’t understand, Faustus. Go back wh- OH!” Zelda instantly forgot what she was saying as her hand flew to her mid-section.

Faustus, too, briefly forgot whatever was troubling him as he went to his knees back to his wife. “Zelda? Zelda, what’s wrong?”

However, when  Zelda looked up,  she was smiling. “The baby,” she explained. “It just kicked.”

An odd expression came across Faustus’s face, one that was half horror, half awe. “Really?”

“Yes!” Zelda took Faustus’s hand and placed it on her stomach. “There,” she said after a moment. “Did you feel that?”

Faustus nodded. “Yes.” A tear fell from his eye as he stood, his head in his hands as he walked away. “This can’t be happening! Not now!” Faustus turned back to Zelda. “We’re finally married. You’re pregnant with my child. It’s all I ever wanted and I have to go back to him!”

Zelda was still completely lost. “Him? Him who?”

“My other half, of course,” Faustus answered. “I can’t thank you enough for…my little break, dearest but we both know that it could affect space and time if I’m not made whole soon. I just, I just can’t believe Edward was right. I’m, I’m just like my father.”

The mention of her brother made Zelda angry. “You are nothing like your father!”

“Oh no?”  Faustus challenged. “’ You forget yourself, my dear. A wife walks behind  her husband.’ I said that to you not even an hour after we were married. I cannot tell you how many times my father said exactly those words to my mother and my stepmother. I cringed every single time I heard it. I cringed twice as hard when those very words came out my own mouth. That moment I wanted to kick my own ass!”

“But Faustus, that was the curse  talking,  not you.” Zelda reminded him. 

“Curse? What curse?!”

Zelda’s eyes widened and put her hand over her mouth as the realization dawned on her.  “You don’t know, do you? Faustus do you what an insaniam maledictum spell is?”

Faustus didn’t need to think about it. “An insanity curse?  What’s that got to do with me?”

Everything! Zelda wanted to yell but instead, she said, “It’s getting cold. Let’s get dressed, there’s much to talk about.”

So the couple got dressed and sat side by side on Faustus’s cot.  That’s when Zelda told him everything. How Lucifer asked her to be Lilith’s midwife, how her payment was learning how Edward’s cursed their marriage, how she found his journals, the memory spell, how she confronted Edward and finally how she divided him from the curse.

Faustus, understandingly, was shocked for several moments before he spoke. “Do you mean even 16 years after his death, Edward was still trying to keep us apart?”

Zelda frowned but nodded.

“Why that little control freak! How dare he-“ Faustus stopped himself as he hung his head and his shoulders began to shake with heavy sobs. “For 15 long years, I  heard my voice use words I didn’t want to say and saw my body do things I didn’t want to do! I thought it  was my dark side was taking over completely but I never heard of such a thing!”

A  shiver ran down Zelda’s spine.  “You knew?” She whispered. “You knew but you couldn’t stop it.”

“Mostly. I  was only able to overpower his will when he tried to hit the twins and when he tried to murder you.”

“Faustus, from what I’m hearing,  you  were trapped in a curse that works like a cargarli spell.”

Faustus froze before he stood up and walked a few feet to distance himself from his wife.  “Oh heaven, the cargarli spell! How could I do that to you? I’m so, so sorry Zelda!”

She went to him. “It’s alright, Faustus. You were not responsible for anything you did under the curse. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry too.”

“What? Zelda, what on earth do you have to be sorry for?”

“I remember thinking  after our wedding that it couldn’t be you but I let my anger and hurt cloud  my judgment.” She put her arms around his neck. “Plus, I’m sorry it took  me so long to realize that I love you.”

Faustus looked pained. “Zelda, I love you so much but we both know you don’t love me.”

Zelda felt like she had been punched in the gut. “But I do love you, Faustus, truly I do.”

He sighed. “Zelda, you yourself told me that you realized your feeling after reading my journals and performed the memory spell, I think those feelings are just pity.”

“No, Faustus, you’re wrong. Yes, I felt bad for the boy you were but I also realized how much I missed you. I lost count of how many times I want to inferred during the memory spell. I’m in love with you, Faustus and if takes me another 300 years to convince you of that, so  be it!”  She could see that he wasn’t convinced so she tried again. “You were right all along, Faustus, we do belong together. Think of all we’ve through already. Edward denies us permission to marry so you vow never take a wife. Edward tricks you into marriage with Constance,  but it doesn’t kill our feelings for each other or even slow them down. We finally marry and we defeat this insanity curse.  I’ve only forgotten my berries once in my life, barely a month after our marriage and that’s the very night I conceive our child. It all means something Faustus.”

He bit his lip. “Are you sure the curse is gone? I mean, just  because it’s not  in my body anymore doesn’t  mean it didn’t creep into other things.”

“Like what?”

Faustus sighed. “Like the baby. You just said you conceived 1 month after our marriage.  When the curse was on me. So did you even think the baby was fathered by the curse, not by me?”

“I did think of that, actually,” Zelda said. “Then I thought about how before every time we made love as husband and wife, your eyes would grow soft or you would get a nosebleed. I  didn’t know it then but it was you breaking through. Even if you knew it or not, you never let the curse touch me that way and when I realized that, I loved you even more. Secondly, it’s a curse.  We have to stop thinking of it as a real person. It may be wearing your skin and speak with your  voice but it’s only a spell, a parasite we will be well rid of.”

Faustus lowered his eyes. “How can you be so sure that I’m not the curse? You told me yourself that the light was too bright to see when we separated. What if you brought home  the  wrong Blackwood?”

Zelda shook her head. “You’re the real Faustus. I know it  and I can prove it!” Zelda poked around in some drawers and took out something, held it in her hand and went back to Faustus. “One of the things the curse wanted most is to end the Spellman bloodline. We both know I have Spellman blood. So if you are the curse,” Zelda pressed the knife into his hand and even guided his hand up to her throat. “Kill me.”

They silently eyed each other as Zelda let go of the knife and Faustus did nothing either way. Unafraid, Zelda leaned slightly, just enough so the knife bit into her skin and produced a single drop of blood. Faustus’s lip quivered before he threw down the knife and hugged Zelda to him with all his might.

Zelda kissed his cheek before whispering,  “See, darling? You’re not the curse or your father or Edward. You’re you. Faustus. My husband, the father of my unborn baby and the man I love.” Her comments only made him squeezed her tighter.

  Zelda was still holding Faustus when she looked up and saw a cardboard box. It felt oddly out of place because Zelda knew they didn’t keep deliveries down here. She was right; for this was the box Ambrose brought Faustus this morning.

“What  is that?” Zelda asked. Faustus turned, saw it  and moaned.

Faustus, you idiot! He thought. He saw Zelda go over to it but he held her back before she could open it. “No, no, no! I’m sorry Zelda, I meant to burn the contents of that  box before..” Faustus’s voice died out.

“Well, what’s in it?”

Faustus sighed and hung his head. “All your things from when you were Lady  Blackwood. As I said, I meant to burn everything before you got home but then Mambo Marie showed up and I got sidetracked and forgot. You were never supposed to see them again.”

Zelda was touched. Faustus felt so much shame and guilt that he refused to leave the lowest point of the house for weeks and would have killed himself if Zelda hadn’t stopped him. Yet,  somehow, he still had the presence of mind to want to destroy what he knew had been harmful to her. “Well, I’m here now so how about we burn these things together?” She suggested.

Faustus shook his head sadly. “Can’t. I looked all around the house but the only fireplace large  to do this in the living room.”

“So? Let’s go.”

“No!” He objected. “I don’t want to ruin the memory of where we had the most perfect kiss of my life.”

Zelda flashed him a smile. “Faustus, my darling, we have a million kisses ahead of us, possibly in every room in this house.” To prove her point, Zelda kissed him right there.

So, with Faustus carrying the box, they made their way to the living room. The box mainly contained those big, bright, colorful  50’s style dresses Zelda wore as Lady Blackwood. Faustus would just roll them up and toss them into the fire but he couldn’t help but notice that Zelda liked to rip up the dresses before feeding them to the fire. Then, at the very bottom of the box, they found it. The music box.

“I’ll take care of it,” Faustus offered.

“No, I’m okay.” Zelda reached into the box and put the music box on the coffee table and checked the drawers for a picture of herself, just in case. Then Zelda looked up at her husband. “Play it.”

Faustus’s eyes bugged out. “What?! No! I don’t want to!”

“Darling, it’s alright. I asked you to. Play the music.”

Unsure and with a deep sigh,  Faustus winded up the music box. The tune started to play and then Zelda smashed it all to bits with a poker iron. Faustus smiled and joined it with another poker. Then he helped pick up the wooden pieces and threw them into the fire before gathering his wife into his arms. “I don’t know what I was thinking. You look so much better in black anyway.”

“You weren’t  thinking anything, the  curse was.” Zelda reminded him.

  Despite now knowing about the curse, Faustus still had massive feelings of guilt and shame. He still refused to live anywhere but the morgue, but something had changed. For the next 11 nights, Zelda, without fail, would slip into the cot next to Faustus and stay with him all night. On  9 of those 11 nights, they made love.  Faustus had almost forgotten how Zelda’s sexual drive matched so perfectly with his own. On 7 of the nights, Faustus would awaken in a cold swear frightened by harsh nightmares and cruel memories. Sometimes, it took all of Zelda’s soft words and her soft hands to soothed and lull him back to sleep. Despite his promise to her never to try to commit suicide again, Zelda made sure there was at least 1 other person in the house with Faustus at all times since Zelda’s duties during the day were many and growing as this season would be her 1st feast of feast as high priestess. To curb his depression, the other Spellmans tried to interact with him more. Ambrose bought down piles and piles of books and remembered how much he liked to talk about magic and life with the older, more experienced warlock. Sabrina and Faustus struck a deal, to forget their ugly past and try to start anew.  Hilda often went to Faustus for help with schoolwork corrections and advice for the 1st time teacher from the man who had done it for centuries.

 On the 12th night, Zelda came downstairs with a piece of pumpkin pie. “Faustus, I  bought you something.”

Her husband looked up from the book he was reading. “It’s nearly 10,  you’re almost never this late.”

“Oh, Faustus. You see what happens when you live in a morgue. The days’ blends into each other. Today  was Feast of Feast.”

“Yes, and as if it wasn’t chaotic enough with  this being my 1st as high priestess, Hilda was chosen  as queen during the lottery.”

“Zelda, I’m so  sorry.” Faustus frowned.

However, Zelda smiled. “Don’t be, Hilda’s fine.”

“But you just said your sister was the queen of the  feast.”

Zelda nodded.   “I did, but as high priestess you know, it’s my right to change the rules which I did. Now the queen and the handmaiden prepares the meal rather than be the meal.  Then the coven sups together before hearing mass in Freyda’s name. I remember when the elders of the coven  would become enraged when Edward would outlaw things and replace it  with nothing.”

“So do I.  That’s why I put most of them back.”

“But with  my slight  changes, I made most of the coven happy plus we get to enjoy  the queen’s famous pie.” She handed him the pie and sat down next to him. “Blessed feast.”

Faustus kissed her. “Blessed feast, dearest.”

 “Father Blackwood,  I need a favor.”

“Hilda, if I have told you once if I have told you a 100  times, I’m no longer a high priest, it’s okay for you to call me Faustus.”

It was the following afternoon and Hilda rushed into the morgue.

“Okay, well, Fath-um, Faustus, I find myself in a bit of a jam. Zelda just called and with Mambo Marie leaving us in the lurch, there’s nobody to teach the next class but me. Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem but today is Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year for mortals and I already promised Dr. C that I  would help at the bookshop.”

Faustus frowned. “Normally, I would love to help you out but Zelda knows I just can’t look at those students after what  I’ve done. Zelda talks about telling them the truth about  me being here at one point and then try to slowly ease me  back into the coven but I  just don’t see it happening.”

Hilda bit her lip. “I know you don’t want to be seen at the academy and totally understand why. So, um, I was actually asking you if you might go lend Dr. C a hand.”

Faustus’s jaw hit the floor. “Go work at a mortal bookstore, me?  Certainly not! I wouldn’t know what to do. Besides, I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I’m under house arrest.”

“Are you?” Questioned Hilda. “Zelda had told me about you trying your powers to make sure they’re gone but you’ve been here nearly a month now  and you’ve rarely left this room, let alone this house. Plus you made that deal with the dark lord that no one serves anymore. It may not be valid. Please, just try, I’m desperate!”

“How?”

Hilda thought for a moment. “Well, when Ambrose was housebound, he couldn’t go past the driveway. We could try that.”

So, they did and  Faustus crossed the Spellman driveway and into the public street with ease.

“I don’t get it,” Faustus said, puzzled. “Why would the dark lord take my power but let me roam free?”

“Maybe he forgot,” Hilda offered. “Anyway, I’ll go call Dr. C and tell him you’re on your way!” She was gone before Faustus could remind her that he hadn’t officially agreed to do anything.

 The walk into town took 20 minutes. Despite everything, even Faustus had to admit that the fresh air and the change of scenery did him a  world of good. What did Hilda say? That it was the biggest shopping day of the year for mortals? Boy, she wasn’t kidding! From the moment he arrived, the place was packed! Apparently, it was a teenage hangout as well as a bookstore. Somehow, Faustus made his way to the check-out counter where Dr. C, who was expecting him, greeted him and gave him a vampire cape to wear. Despite the cape, despite the mortals,  Faustus actually had a pleasant afternoon. It was a very nice afternoon.  It was nice to be busy and have something to do other than just dwell on his own guilt and sadness. Secondly,  Faustus learned the ropes of working retail fairly quickly. Thirdly and perhaps most surprisingly of all, despite the fact that they only met that day, Dr. C and Faustus had an almost instant connection. They say that opposites attract in love but maybe it’s true in friendship as well. The shop was so busy that it was 6:30 that evening before the men could stop to eat.

“Thank you,” Faustus said as he reached for the mug of coffee.

Dr. C smiled. “I’m delighted to meet you,  Faustus. I have heard a lot about you.”

“Not all good, I bet,” Faustus muttered.

Dr. C ignored that comment. “I have a question for you, actually. When Hilda’s brother married a mortal, they got major hassle but it wasn’t a big deal when  Hilda and I got engaged. I’m not complaining or anything just wondering why.”

Faustus raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you an incubus? That’s what Zelda told me.”

“Yeah. I mean, I am now but I  was born mortal. The demon stuff didn’t happen until college.”

“Doesn’t matter. The demon is a part of you and abled you to marry a full-blooded witch, like Hilda. Consider it a marriage loophole.”

Both men heard the chime of the bell above the door which meant more customers.

Dr. C  stood up. “I’ll go. Can you clean up?”

Faustus nodded and  cleaned up until he heard “Come on, old man, give us the money!” Faustus sneaked up to the storefront to see that Dr. C was being robbed at gunpoint.

Damn! Faustus didn’t know what to do. He no longer had magic to save him so  Faustus looked around and smiled.

Meanwhile, Dr. C was in trouble. “Let’s go, old man!” Ordered Punk #1. “This money  better be more real than your attempt to look like a vampire.”

Punks #2 & 3 laughed. “Good one, man,” Punk #2 said. “A fake vampire.”

“You’re right, he is a fake vampire,” Faustus came from the backroom, his hands behind his back. “Unluckily for  you 3, I am a real warlock.”

Punk #3 was in awe. “Cool! So you conquer lands and stuff?”

Faustus sighed.  “No, you idiots, not a warlord. A warlock, a male witch.”

“Right,” sneered Punk #1. “He’s a vampire and now you’re a witch. So,  what are you going to do? Hocus pocus us to death?”

“No. That term is utterly useless. Besides, everyone knows that the really strong spells are in Latin. Like”  Faustus shrugged and spoke some Latin words.

The punks sloppily repeated the words  back then asked, “What does that mean?”

“A  big, honking baseball bat!” Then, and only then did Faustus produce the Louisville slugger from behind his back. He chased the punks around the shop and finally,  out the door. He was so pumped up that he barely heard the gunshot. A moment later, Faustus came back in, the bat resting on his shoulder and he was laughing. “Well, we showed them didn’t we?” Silence. “Dr. C?”

 Zelda and Hilda ran into the ER entrance of the hospital.

“My fiancée has been shot! Where is he?” Hilda demanded of the woman at the nurse’s station. They got the room number and rushed to where Dr. C was with a doctor.

Hilda rushed to him with a hug and kiss. “Oh, love, are you okay?”

“He’ll be fine,” the doctor answered, “It’s just a flesh wound.”

“So, what happened?” Zelda asked, in a tone calmer than her sister.

“I was robbed,” Dr. C explained, “ladies, Faustus was amazing. He distracted the robbers long enough to activate the silent alarm, he chased them off with a bat. One must have gotten scared for the gun went off and glazed my shoulder. When I came back around, I was in the ambulance and Faustus was right there with me. The paramedic told me that Faustus applied pressure to the bleeding and saved my life.”

Hilda closed her eyes and sighed. “Thank Hecate, he was there.”

“Where’s my husband now?” asked Zelda.

“I don’t know.  He was here a second ago.”

In the next room, Faustus looked up at the silvery half-moon. “Hecate, mother, let him be alright. For  he feels one-tenth for Hilda what I feel for Zelda, they’ll be very happy together.”

“You’re praying to Hecate.” Faustus barely saw Zelda in the doorway before his wife was in his arms and kissing him deeply. “What was that for?”

“Are  you kidding?” She replied. “You saved Dr. Cereberus.”

“Saved him? I got him  shot.”

“Don’t be daft,” Zelda dismissed. “You saved him and without having magic, you were in just as much in danger as he was but you didn’t even think of that, did you? That’s what made you a hero tonight.”

“I don’t want to be a hero! I want to be perfect! For only a perfect man could ever be worthy of you.”

She kissed him again. “I love you so much, Faustus even if you are talking nonsense.”

 Hilda stayed overnight at the hospital so Zelda and Faustus took a cab home. Faustus immediately headed for the morgue but Zelda stopped him.

“No, I have a surprise for you and it’s upstairs.” 

So they went upstairs with Zelda explaining she had already planned to give him the surprise tonight but now he truly earned it. Zelda opened a door that led to a cozy bedroom with a double bed and an attached bathroom suite.

Zelda smiled. “Welcome home.”

“This is a whole new room. When did you do this?”

“I started the night after we first made love.”

His eyes bugged out. “You made a whole new bedroom and bathroom in just 11 days?!”

“Darling, some of us still have our magic.”

“Dearest, this is superb.  But I can’t stay here. I don’t deserve  such comfort.”

“Then, do it for me,” Zelda suggested. “I refuse to sleep apart from my husband but my back is crying out in protest at the thought of another night on that cot. Speaking of my increasingly pregnant body, I need to get off my feet. Care to help  me christen our new bed?”  It was only then that Faustus returned her smile.

Hours later, after they had made love and fallen asleep in each other’s arms, Faustus awoke in a cold sweat and a sharp intake of breath. “Damn these nightmares! Will they ever go away.”

“It’s alright, my love. There is no quick fix spell for trauma and you’ve been living with that  curse for some time now.”  Zelda snuggled closer and laced her fingers with his. “The good news is that we have all the time in the world.”

[myucornerorg]

I was tagged by @landofanimes!

RULES: go here, list 15 BANDAI sera myu characters (senshi are fine but name the actor too), randomize and answer! Then tag two other people from the fandom.

1. Your Parent: Jaguar Mask (Kenji Tominaga)

Ok...pretty weird parent, but I did try to be creative with the myu characters I put on the list. Jaguar Mask is this wrestler character from the 10th Anniversary myu Ai no Sanctuary who the Senshi cheer for, but then he gets turned evil by Dark Nibiru (he gets better later). I guess it would be kinda cool to have a famous wrestler as a dad...

(By the way, I recently found out there's a manga from the late '60s/early '70s called Tiger Mask, which was made into an anime in the '70s and has been remade a bunch of times. Real-life Japanese pro wrestlers have taken on the Tiger Mask persona as well. I wonder if this influenced the creation of Jaguar Mask...).

2. Sibling: Loof Merrow (Ono Hikari)

Well, that'd be a pretty cool sibling actually. Though she also lived thousands of years ago so not sure how that works...

3. Grandparent: Centi (Endou Ado)

Ok not sure how she'd be my grandmother but ok... (Centi is one of the Grimmseijin from Mugen Gakuen BTW).

4. Haunts You: Prince Dimande (Ono Hikari)

Yep, sounds about right. I mean, Bandai Dimande wasn't quite as creepy as PE Dimande (though I can still picture Hikari rocking "Junpaku no Megami"), but Dimande is a creepy guy regardless.

5. Boyfriend/Girlfriend: Chibiusa (Gunji Ayano)

Um...I don't date girls (I'm straight)...but for the purposes of this example let's pretend I do. Chibiusa is quite a bit younger than me (physically at least; obviously she's really 900+), so us dating would be kinda weird. Possibly even illegal if she's considered a child. (That's why I picked Gunji as an actress cause she's older than most Chibimoon actresses). Maybe we started with a mentor relationship and it became something more??

6. Ex: Kaolinite (Kawasaki Miki)

Again I don't date girls but we'll pretend. Man Kaolinite would be like the worst kind of ex. Maybe I dumped her when she started getting all evil, or maybe she cheated on me with Tomoe. Don't know. I'd imagine now that she wants to hex me big time. (Or just flat out steal my hostie and turn me into a vessel for a Daimon).

7. Best Friend: Tiger's Eye (Kasahara Ryuuji)

Um...WTH. Why would we be best friends? He's kinda creepy. (I feel like Ryuuji would be a cool friend though).

8. Proposed to you: Rei (Megumi Yoshida or maybe Kotani Misako)

That seems highly unlikely. Maybe she was drunk? Or maybe she secretly leans that way but didn't want to be with Minako anymore? The mind races...also since I just became reacquainted with Sailor Moon Abridged recently, I'm picturing the SMA Rei (a crazy, always angry, has-no-indoor-voice Satanist) in this for some weird reason.

9. Boss: Mamoru (Shirota Yuu or Kenji Urai)

That would be one cool hot boss...dang.

10. Random Person You Met at a Bar: Usagi (Ooyama Anza)

Of all the people I could meet at a bar LOL. I mean, Usagi did use her Disguise Pen that one time to get into an adult nightclub.

11. Rival: Space Knight (Mochizuki Yuuta)

So...my boss is Mamoru, but my rival is future Mamoru (since Space Knight is an alter ego of King Endymion's). Awkward. Also would be problematic as my sister Loof Merrow would be in love with him.

12. Gave you first kiss: Sailor Astarte (Hosoda Aya)

Well...this is getting, uh, interesting. My first kiss was with a senshi from the new moon, who's also secretly a goddess and a vessel for Dark Cain, an evil undead guy who's trying to end the world. My ex Kaolinite became a witch and part of the Death Busters. And my current girlfriend is a kid (and my boss AND rival's daughter to boot!). This is like a telenovela!

[GIF source]

13. Drunk and sing karaoke with: Miss Dream (Takeda Keiko)

Another villain...ok. I mean, she is picked on by the rest of the Dead Moon Circus, so she probably needs a friend.

14. Played 7 minutes in heaven with: Ami (Kawabe Chieco)

No joke...I had no idea what 7 minutes in heaven was and had to look it up. 😅 Anyway, I don't think Ami and I would make out or anything (though maybe since according to this list I'm a lesbian who's just getting around like nobody's business). Seriously though I think we'd probably sit and talk the whole time, like two reasonable, intelligent people. We'd have the deepest conversation one can have in 7 minutes, then exchange contact info so we can continue the conversation later.

15. Gave you your fave dessert: Minako (Ayumi Murata)

Can Minako even bake?? Still, I'd definitely appreciate the gesture.

**

Hmm...who should I tag?? I'll tag @kosmosinusa and @gracemyheart (hopefully you haven't already done it...if so sorry).

[geek-patient-zero]

Prologue (Part 1)

Or: My Dinner with Reuben

Blood War: Masquerade of the Red Dead Trilogy Volume 1

I always loved the cover art. It was done by an artist called BROM. Here’s his website.

Robert Weinberg dedicates the book to Edgar Allan Poe “for obvious reasons” and Bram Stoker “who started it all”, though Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu might disagree with that. On Poe, peppered throughout the book, between the three parts and on the back cover are short quotes from his works, mostly “The Masque of the Red Death”. Obviously. It’s a little BS though. Any elements inspired by Poe are shallow, at least in this book.

Underneath the dedication is a little disclaimer:

While the locations and history of this trilogy may seem familiar, it is not our reality. The setting of Vampire: The Masquerade of the Red Death is a harsher, crueler version of our world. It is a stark, desolate landscape where nothing is what it seems. It is truly a World of Darkness.

For in the grim dark 1990′s there is only war. And vampires.

Going into the book I thought this disclaimer was a little wanky. I expected that “a harsher, crueler version of our world” would translate to “our world but with more rats, goths, and supernatural creatures.” Similarly, the book’s spine labels the genre as “Dark Fantasy” which in my experience usually translates to “regular fantasy but with more rape.” Turns out the World of Darkness setting is a little more complicated than that, but most of the time Weinberg isn’t too subtle on the whole “darker version of our world” thing.

I just want to let you know, before we get started, that I’m not the biggest expert when it comes to V:TM lore. I’ve never played the tabletops, or read their source books. My knowledge comes from Bloodlines, wiki binges, and lore dumps on Reddit and the Something Awful Bloodlines 2 thread. Please bear with my dumb ass if I get something wrong.

Alright, enough preamble, let’s get to the actual story.

We start in Rome, June 15, 1992, at an outdoor restaurant near the Coliseum. A meeting there was set up the night before through an anonymous phone call to the “heart of the Vatican.” For a suitcase full of money, they’d talk about vampires, or as the book dramatically puts it:

“We will talk,” declared the mysterious voice in somber, cold tones, “of The Kindred.”

The first to arrive is Father Naples, named so because it’s a word you’d find on a map of Italy. He’s a member of the Society of Leopold, who only get one more brief mention after this prologue so all you need to know is that they’re Catholic vampire hunters. He’s a big buff guy, described like a cross between a priest and a high ranking CIA agent. He came unarmed.

His faith served as his shield.  Along with the five other agents of the Society of Leopold in the restaurant, including two women disguised as streetwalkers.

The Society of Leopold is the “the devil was behind this” kind of religious, so it’s weird they’d jump straight to hookers when thinking of disguises for their agents, or that said agents would agree to it. But this is the World of Darkness, a harsher, crueler version of our own, and that means there’s hookers everywhere, so put on the hot pants and think of Italy.

So Father Florence here’s got his disguised agents, who “carried enough firepower on them to start a minor war.” He’s also something of a badass.

And, though he had retired years before as a field operative, Father Naples still maintained his training in the martial arts. An expert at both kendo and karate, he could kill an attacker a dozen different ways.

He’s also got some agents in a nearby hotel room with a directional microphone aimed at his table to record the conversation. Soon, the target of all this seeming overkill arrives; a blonde mid-twenties guy in a white suit. His voice was different than the one who made the phone call, implying to Naples, and us, that there’s at least two people involved on the other side of this setup. It’s a neat bit of foreshadowing. After a firm handshake and no-selling Father Naples’s patented death glare, the stranger introduces himself as Reuben, “like the sandwich.” They banter a bit about the biblical Reuben before he decides to troll the Father a bit. First by saying he’s older than he looks, then by passing on the Father’s offer of wine.

“No thank you,” said Reuben. “I do not drink wine.”

He waits a beat for a reaction, then orders a Coke and a menu. I think I like Reuben.

Since vampires can’t eat or drink (unless they have high Humanity and a good dice roll) Father Naples is thus satisfied that the guy is not a vampire trying to trick him, deciding he’s “definitely human. And not very clever.” Reuben had made an obligatory knock at airline food, so now Naples believed the agents recording the conversation could use this clue to track down his real name and where he came from through airline records.

They get to the You Got the Cash/You Got the Stuff part of negotiations, with Reuben showing off the twenty million US dollars in his briefcase (Not euro because we’re the only country whose currency matters fuck you Italy) in exchange for a monologue from Naples about the history of the Kindred, starting from the beginning. Reuben says Father Naples can summarize if need be.

“Summarize?... How does one summarize ten thousand years of absolute evil? An impossible task, but let me try.”

The rest of the prologue until the end is Naples’ exposition on vampires while he drinks a shit ton of vino. Since it’s Vampire: The Masquerade Lore 101, I’ll summarize like our pal Naples.

Vampires secretly control the world. There are thirteen vampire clans descended from Caine, of Cain and Abel fame only spelled with an e for some reason. Ye olde Caine killed his brother, though I once read that in this setting it wasn’t so much just committing the first murder as introducing the very concepts of murder and killing to reality and basically ruining everyone’s lives, including demons. God punished Caine by giving him vampirism, forcing him to kill to survive for inventing killing. The vampirism also gave him superpowers, so he’s like a little bloodsucking demigod. I’ve seen jokes about God punishing Caine by giving him cool superpowers, but according to Father Naples Caine needed them because everyone knew what happened and were pissed at him for inventing murder and eating them. When everyone and everything wants to kill you on sight you need to be OP to survive and then feel sad about it.

(He also didn't learn most of those powers until later, when he met Lilith.)

Caine discovered that he could make more vampires through the classic “drain their blood to the point of near death and then feeding them your own blood” method. He sired three new vampires, who weren’t as powerful as him but still quite capable of ruining your day, a trend that continues through twelve or thirteen vampiric generations, although the latest generations are puny compared to Caine and his kids.

Caine and the Second Generation founded Enoch, the First City, and were worshiped there as gods, I’m guessing because of a mixture of fear and the hope of getting some sweet vampire powers if you suck up to the first murderer. The Second Generation then sired the Third Generation, thirteen vampires that became known as the Antediluvians. They’re the ones the modern thirteen vampire clans descend from. 

Then everything goes to shit for Caine. Again. The Antediluvians, ambitious dicks, rose up and killed the Second Generation, destroying Enoch in the process. This could be thought of as Caine’s true curse: being forced to watch his childer, and their childer, and so on plot against and murder each other as he had done to his brother, and generally being a plague on mankind. See, Vampire: The Masquerade can be a bit too try-hard edgy and horny at times, but then you also get neat bits of writing and lore like that. As for Caine, he disappeared after the fall of Enoch. He’s now a cab driver in Los Angeles. Or a hermit in Greece, messing with traveling scholar vampires. Or both. Depends on who you ask. No, really. I’m being serious.

I should mention that, religious guy that he is, Father Naples likes to pepper his monologue with casual mentions of the devil. He says things like...

“It was then, in his darkest despair, that Caine learned from Satan a monsterous secret.”

“Encouraged by Satan, Caine created three such monsters.”

“And, in time, urged by Lucifer, they, too, bestowed the gift of eternal life on a select group of their victims.”

“They knew not the Lord God, but Lucifer, the Dark Angel.”

...and generally blaming the big guy below for getting the vampires to do vampire things. While most of what Father Naples says about the setting’s history is correct, the Satan stuff isn’t. Lucifer is a character in the World of Darkness, specifically Demon: The Fallen, but he has nothing to do with V:TM. This adds a neat bit of characterization and unreliability to Naples’ narrative; something Reuben will point out at the end of the prologue.

The Great Flood happened, but Father Naples doesn’t mention it. He skips to the Antediluvians founding the Second City, which didn’t get a name like Enoch because in its two thousand years of existence apparently no one could think of one. With the support of their childer, the fourth generation, they ruled over the Second City and, according to Naples, enslaved humanity. But eventually humanity rose up against the vampires, killing some of them with sunlight, fire, and beheading. The Second City fell and the surviving vampires fled. The Antediluvians disappeared. Some modern day vampires believe the Antediluvians were all dead, while others (the correct ones, turns out) believe they’re hiding, resting in torpor (a kind of vampire coma) this whole time and one day, they’d wake up and, as Father Naples says, “...the world of the Undead shall tremble.” This is our first mention in this book of Gehenna, the end of the wold according to the Kindred. He also says their return was predicted in Revelations, but I’m no biblical expert so I can’t tell you what bits of Revelations that might be referring too.

Reuben asks what happened to the fourth generation, or the Methuselahs as they’re now known because they’re old as balls but not “lived before the Biblical Flood” old. Father Naples tells him, then goes on to explain the titular Masquerade, vampire factions, and the thirteen clans.

[therealmadblonde]

October 27

I was awakened by a scratching on the back door. I went to it and pushed my hatch open. Graymalk was sitting before it, waiting. It occurred to me that I can’t tell when she’s smiling either.

I checked the sky, which was cloudy with blue breaks. “Good morning,” I said then.

“’Morning, Snuff. Did I wake you?”

I stepped outside and stretched.

“Yes,” I said. “But I was oversleeping. Thanks.”

“How are your aches and pains?”

“Much improved. Your own?”

“Better.”

“Yesterday was pretty quiet,” I said, “for a change.”

“But last night was a different matter,” she said.

“Oh? What do you mean?”

“Then you haven’t heard about the fire?”

“Fire? No. Where? What happened?”

“The Good Doctor got burned out. It’s still smoldering. I took a walk very early this morning and I smelled it. Went over and watched for a long time. His storm finally stopped when the place caved in.”

“Is he all right? And the other fellows? Did they get out?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure they did, though. I didn’t see them.”

“Maybe I ought to sniff around a bit,” I said.

“Might be a good idea.”

We headed off in that direction.

It was odd, coming on the place without a storm raging overhead. The house was blackened and still smoky, its roof and three walls fallen, the ground dark with ashes, debris, and the singeing effects of the heat, about it. Off to the west — to our right, as we approached — the barn stood unscathed. The ground everywhere near us was wet to the point of squishiness from the deluge that had descended upon it in past weeks.

We circled the burnt place slowly, peering into it. Past charred beams and fragmented walls, I could make out banks of broken equipment far below. The smell from the fire and the dampness of the earth made it impossible for me to detect any useful scents in the vicinity. I told Graymalk this, and she said, “Then you can’t tell whether the Good Doctor and his assistants escaped or perished?”

“Afraid not,” I answered.

We went off to take a look at the bam. As we departed the ravaged area and neared that structure, I did pick up a fresh scent. Very fresh. Just ahead, in fact. I broke into a run.

“What is it?” Graymalk asked.

There was no time to respond to her. I’d glimpsed him rounding the corner of the building, and I raced that way. He saw me coming, realized that I could move a lot faster than he could, and dashed inside one of a number of wooden crates strewn there. I approached the crate and stuck my head inside, fangs bared.

Bubo crouched in its farthest recess.

“Remember what they say about cornered rats,” he said. “We can be nasty.”

“I’m sure,” I replied. “But what’d be the point? No one wants to hurt you.”

“You were chasing me.”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“So you brought along a cat.”

“I can let you talk to her if you don’t want to talk to me.” I started to withdraw.

“No! Wait! I’d rather talk to you!”

“All right,” I said. “I just wanted to know what happened here.”

“There was a fire.”

“I can see that. How’d it get started?”

“The experiment man got mad at the Good Doctor and started wrecking the lab. Sparks from some of the equipment set the place burning.”

“‘The experiment man’?”

“You know. The big fellow the Good Doctor put together from all the parts his assistant dug up for him.”

I recalled the smell of death and I began to understand.

“What happened then?” I asked.

“The experiment man ran out and hid in the barn here, as he always did after an argument. I got out, too. The place burned down.”

“Did the Good Doctor and his assistant get out in time?”

“I don’t know. When I went back and looked later there was no way I could tell.”

“What about the experiment man? Is he still in the barn?”

“No. He ran away later. I don’t know where he is.”

I backed up. “I’m sorry,” I said, and I withdrew my head from the crate.

Graymalk immediately moved near and asked, “Was the Good Doctor an opener or a closer?”

“Please,” he said, “let me be. I’m just a simple pack rat. Snuff! Don’t let her have me!”

“I’ve already eaten,” she said. “Besides, I owe you courtesy as a fellow player.”

“No you don’t,” he said. “It’s over. Over.”

“Just because your master is dead doesn’t mean I should treat you as anything other than a player.”

“But you know. You must know. You’re toying with me. Cats are that way. I’m not a player. I never was. Have you really eaten recently?”

“Yes.”

“That’s worse then. You’ll toy more.”

“Shut up a minute!” she said.

“See? There goes the courtesy.”

“Be still. I am starting to get angry. What do you mean you were never a player?”

“Just that. I saw a good thing and I decided to jump aboard.”

“You’d better explain.”

“I told you I was just a pack rat. I used to hear all you folks talking — Nightwind, Quicklime, Cheeter, you and Snuff — as I lurked about my business. I got the idea pretty quick that there was some sort of strange Game going on, and you were all players. You all had it pretty good and you all left each other alone, even helped each other sometimes. So I decided to learn as much about your Game as I could and figure out how I could pass for one of you. I realized pretty quickly that you all had pretty weird masters and mistresses. Then I knew that I could do it. After all, I’d been hanging around the Good Doctor’s place already, for the leftovers from his work. So I let on that he was in the Game and that I worked for him. Sure enough, I got respect and decent treatment from the rest of you. It made life a lot easier. What a tragedy — the fire. It’ll be rough spending winter in the barn. But rats are adaptable. We — ”

“Be still,” she said again, and he obeyed. “Snuff, do you realize what this means?”

“Yes,” I said. “There was no secret player. What it was, was that I had one player too many in my calculations. The Good Doctor must just have come here seeking a little privacy for his work.”

“…And that explains why the divinations concerning him were always ambiguous.”

“Of course. I’ll have to do some new figuring, soon. Thank you, Bubo. You’ve just helped me quite a bit.”

Graymalk moved away from the crate and Bubo peered out. “You mean I can go?” he said.

I was feeling generous, happy even, at the final piece for my puzzle. And he looked kind of pathetic.

“Or you can come with us, if you like,” I said. “You don’t have to live in the barn. You can stay at my place. It’s warm and there’s plenty to eat.”

“You really mean that?”

“Sure. You’ve been a help.”

“Of course you do live near a cat…”

Graymalk made her laughing sound.

“You gave us professional help,” she said. “I’ll leave you on my professional courtesy list.”

“All right, I’ll do it,” he told me. He emerged and we headed back.

October 28

 I knew, but of course I had to check it out by laying it on the terrain. I strolled by most of the places I had visited yesterday, wondering who else might have figured it out yet. I saw the vicar and he saw me, from a distance, after Tekela’d brought her notice of me to his attention, in passing. He was just carrying a carton into the vicarage from a wagon, and he stopped to glare. He was still wearing the bandage on his ear. The Great Detective Mrs. Enderby happened to be in a tree in her yard with a pair of binoculars when I passed, and called out to me.

“Snuff, please come here!” I kept going.

The sun was shining intermittently through masses of clouds. Yet more leaves, fallen and falling, were scudding in the breezes. I headed south.

Bubo had set up housekeeping in our basement, though he wandered the house with our leave and ate with me in the kitchen.

“What became of the Things in the Mirror? Or to the mirror, for that matter?” he’d asked.

So I told him the story of the attack, following our trip to town. Which led into the story of our trip to town.

“Wouldn’t put it past the vicar,” he said. “He’s taken many a shot at me with that crossbow of his, and I never did anything to him, except hunt through his dustbin on occasion. Is that cause to put an arrow in a fellow? I hope he fudges the final business and you fellows blow him to oblivion.” “Just how much do you know about the Game, anyway?” I asked.

“I’ve heard a lot. I’ve seen a lot. Everybody talked freely because they assumed I was a part of it. After a time, I almost got to feeling I was,” he reflected. “I know so much about it.”

And he proceeded to tell me the story of how a number of the proper people are attracted to the proper place in the proper year on a night in the lonesome October when the moon shines full on Halloween and the way may be opened for the return of the Elder Gods to Earth, and of how some of these people would assist in the opening of the way for them while others would strive to keep the way closed. For ages, the closers have won — often just barely — and there were stories of a shadowy man, half-mad, a killer, a wanderer, and his dog, who always showed up to attempt the closing. Some said that he was Cain himself, doomed to walk the Earth, marked; others said he’d a pact with one of the Elders who secretly wished to thwart the others; none really knew. And the people would acquire certain tools and other objects of power, meet together at the designated spot and attempt to work their wills. The winners walked away, the losers suffered for their presumption by a reaction from the cosmic principles involved in the attempt. Then he named the players and their tools, adding an awareness of the calculation, of divinations, of magical attacks and defenses.

“Bubo,” I said, “you have impressed me as few have impressed me — learning all that without giving yourself away.”

“Rats have strong survival instincts,” he said. “I needed to know it to stay safe in this area.”

“No, you didn’t,” I said. “You could have remained out of it and gone about your business. The deception itself was a lot more dangerous.”

“All right. I got curious about all these cryptic comments I kept hearing. Probably too curious for my own good. What it was, I think, is that I enjoyed pretending I was playing, too. I’d never done anything important before, and it felt good.”

“Come on,” I told him. “Get up on my back, and I’ll take you to see the Gipsies. Good music and all.”

We stayed late at the camp. I don’t have that many friends, and it was a good evening.

As I made my way to Dog’s Nest I came across another set of the huge, misshapen footprints at the hill’s base. There were some up on top, too. I wondered where the experiment man would go, now his home was destroyed. I made a circuit of the hilltop, drawing my lines again, laying them out upon the land, excluding the ruined farmhouse to the southwest now, which moved things considerably northward, taking into account the two satellite graves, trying it both with and without Larry’s place in the formulation. With it, it came to another nothing wilderness spot.

Without it, however, came a place already touched by the High Powers. I was standing upon it. It was here, Dog’s Nest, amid its broken circle of stone, where the final act would take place. Larry was just a friend of the court. I threw back my head and howled. The design was complete.

On the rock where our earlier adventure had begun the inscription flared briefly, as if in endorsement.

I departed quickly, skipping upon the hill.

 Midnight.

“I’ve found it, Jack!” I said, and I told him Bubo’s story.

“…And subtracting the Good Doctor leaves us atop my hill,” I concluded. “Of course the others will divine it within the next few days.”

“…And the word will be passed. True. I can only recall one time when no one figured it properly.”

“My, that was long ago…”

“Yes, and we all sat down to dinner together, made a joke of it, and went our ways.”

“Such things are rare.”

“Indeed.”

“I think this will be a close one, Snuff.”

“So do I. And it’s been a strange one from the start. This quality may carry through.”

“Oh?”

“Just a feeling.”

“I trust your instincts. We must be ready for anything. Too bad about Jill and Graymalk.”

“I’ve decided I will stay friends with them to the end,” I said. He squeezed my shoulder.

“As you would.”

“It’s not like Dijon, is it?” I asked.

“No. Many odd things have happened this time around,” he said. “Stiff upper lip, friend.”

“That’s how I smile,” I said.

[thecomicsnexus]

The origin of Professor X

Uncanny X-Men #12-13. July, 1965. By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Alex Toth & Jay Gavin (Werner Roth).

Cerebro is calling out an intruder alert prompting the X-Men to dawn their uniforms and come to the Professor's study to learn who this mysterious intruder is. Telling his charges that whoever is approaching the mansion is extremely powerful, he sends the group out to set up defenses including an ice wall, live-wire lined trench and fence posts rigged with grenades. When the X-Men return to the Professor, they are shocked to learn that their attacker is none other than Xavier's own brother.

The Professor tells his X-Men that his father was a nuclear research scientist who was accidentally killed during a nuclear bomb test in the New Mexico desert. During his father's funeral, Kurt Marko, a fellow scientist, would come to comfort Xavier's mother. However, the young Charles knew of his less than noble intentions to take his mother and his father's wealth, position, and property; three things that Marko had become envious of.

Shortly thereafter, Kurt moved into the Xavier mansion and married Charles’s mother. Kurt became a ruthless and verbally abusive step-parent and shunned his new family for his work. During this time Kurt's true motives would come out. One day, Kurt was thrown into a fury when his own son from a previous marriage, Cain, came to the Xavier Mansion after yet another expulsion from school. Cain turned out to be a cruel tormentor to young Charles.

The Professor's narrative is interrupted when Cain's advancement on the mansion progresses, easily smashing through the ice wall put up by Iceman, much to the X-Men's surprise. Charles continues the story of his youth: He would explain that one day he overheard Kurt and Cain arguing over money. When told that he would not receive a handout, Cain suggested that Kurt had orchestrated the death of Charles's father (an accusation that Kurt would flatly deny). Charles entered and confronted them about the statement. During the moment of tension, Cain tried to throw chemicals at Charles; however Kurt attempted to stop them sending the volatile brew crashing to the floor causing an explosion and fire. Kurt carried the two boys out of the blast. Having been mortally wounded in the blast, he begged Charles to believe that his father's death was only an accident before dying.

Cain has reached the second barrier, the electro-magnetic force field and live wire. As he is impeded by this barrier, Charles finishes the next part of his story. He explains that by his adulthood he found that his mental powers (which by this point have rendered him bald) could allow him to have an advantage over other students academically and in sports, however he decides against using it for personal gain.

His trophy winnings earned the ire of Cain who pushed Charles too far one day and the two got into a fight. Charles won the fight due to his mental ability to read his mind and know his movements. Some days later, Cain attempted to make Charles cry out in fear by driving recklessly. He only succeeded in making the car drive out of control and smash through a detour sign and down a cliff. Cain bailed out, but Charles wasn't so lucky, however Charles would tell his X-Men that he was able to erect a mental shield around himself to protect him from the crash.

Outside the mansion, Cain finishes with the live wire and breaks through the force barrier. He then makes it to the grenade traps and gas traps that were set out for him. He staggers through the gas traps and Iceman puts an ice barrier over the busted window of Xavier's study so no gas comes in. This allows the Professor to tell the final part of his story. Cain and Charles had grown and were enlisted in the military and had been sent to fight in the Korean War. Cain deserted while under fire and sought refuge in a cave. Charles rushed after him and they had stumbled into the long lost temple of Cyttorak. The greedy Cain grabbed a crimson gem that was left before an altar. Upon contact and reading an inscription, the gem transformed Cain into a hulking form. The cave began to collapse because it was being bombed from the outside. Charles escaped the cave in while Cain was buried under tons of rock.

Finishing his story, Charles realizes that Cain had finally dug himself out from the cave and sought out his brother for revenge. With the last of the outer defenses, the X-Men sealed the mansion’s front door with a near impervious steel plate and waited for Cain's next move. Much to the X-Men's surprise, Cain is able to smash through the supposedly indestructible steel door and easily knocks the X-Men aside. Revealing himself for the first time in years, Charles looks at his brother -- garbed in a special mystical armor -- and calls him a human Juggernaut.

The Juggernaut -- Charles Xavier's mystically enhanced step-brother -- has finally returned home to once more renew his rivalry with his brother. Charles attempts to protect himself with his vast mental powers, but finds to his shock and surprise that Cain's helmet protects him from mental attacks. The X-Men revive and with Marvel Girl’s telekinetic powers lifting up the Juggernaut, Cyclops blasts the floor out from under their foe causing him to crash into the ground below, giving the X-Men time to retreat back and try to come up with a means of defeating their attacker.

Xavier takes the X-Men to the lab and the Professor builds a device that allows him to amplify his mental projections and sends out a thought wave into the city to seek allies in defeating the Juggernaut. Meanwhile, Cyclops and Angel go back to where they last saw the Juggernaut, attempting to keep him at bay using Cyke's optic blasts. However, the Juggernaut smashes his way around the two X-Men and gets the drop on them. Neither Angel’s fists, nor Cyclops’ optic blasts are capable of stopping their enemy.

Back in the lab, the Professor manages to contact both Rick Jone's Teen Brigade and Matt Murdock, (who is secretly the hero Daredevil) however, neither can come to the X-Men's aid. To stall for time, the Professor sends Beast and Iceman to go help Cyclops and Angel, who are having a hard time keeping the Juggernaut back.

As Iceman and Beast join the fray, Charles attempts to get the aid of the Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm (Aka the Human Torch) who is out testing a new modified car with some of his classmates. Hearing the Professor's mental call for help, Johnny assumes that it might be from one of the Fantastic Four's many villains and dismisses it.

Although he is trapped in an ice block, the Juggernaut manages to break free and battles the Beast in hand to hand combat. The Beast only succeeds in getting his foot injured, however this does not stop the brainy mutant, who lures the Juggernaut into the Danger Room and activates all of its traps in the hope that it can defeat this seemingly unstoppable foe. The Juggernaut survives the traps and then knocks the Beast out when he throws back a rolling cylinder.

By this time, the Professor has finally managed to convince the Human Torch to come the X-Men's rescue and then goes with Marvel Girl to help the others. Jean keeps the Juggernaut off balance by lifting him in the air with her telekinetic powers until the Torch arrives. Johnny uses his flame powers to blind the Juggernaut and commands the reviving Angel to remove the helmet from the Juggernaut’s head that beast had loosened earlier in battle. Without his protective helmet, the Juggernaut is easily struck down by the Professor's mental powers.

With the battle over, the Professor thanks Johnny for his help. He wishes that the secret of the X-Men's headquarters remain a mystery and erases the memory from Johnny's mind and sends him on his way. Later, the male members of the X-Men are sent to bed to recover from the injuries they sustained battling the Juggernaut with Jean acting as their nurse, much to the pleasure of the men. Proud of his X-Men, the Professor tells him he has an award for them when they are once more able to be up and about.

From Marvel Wikia

The first part of this story is actually pretty good. Charles Xavier is a very complicated character, and it is useful to know more about him. This early Juggernaut seems very limited, but I suspect they wanted him to have some kind of weak spot to be able to be taken down.

The second part of this story is a bit boring though, but it is interesting to see the rest of the Marvel Universe reacting to this.

I think the weak part of all these x-men stories are the battles, and I think that is a problem with Stan Lee in particular. It is not limited to him, as I have experienced this boredom with Teen Titans from the sixties. Somehow the attractiveness of these stories relies on the inner conflicts, more than their goals for the episode.

Jack Kirby is a king, but his battle scenes feel uninspired. I can imagine that they were outstanding at the time.

I give this story a score of 7.25.