#if this is weird pls write more weird stuff

[mrstellmeafuckingsecret]

wake up babe new ship just dropped

“who are you?”

“oh!” xenophilius turned around, pushing his long, light blonde hair out of his eyes. “i’m xenophilius. you’re sirius black.”

he already knew him. sirius black was one of a kind, especially in xenophilius’ family. he’d heard them seething, calling him a disgrace to his name, but he always found sirius a peculiar individual, and most especially brave, considering how he had left behind everything he once knew.

sirius black’s eyebrows furrowed. “yes, that’s me.”

“i know.” xenophilius finally stopped looking for the book, instead putting it on the worn-out desk in front of him. “i’m writing an essay about werewolves. i find them interesting, even though they’re dangerous. you know, half man, half beast. people say they can’t control themselves, but what if, actually, they can, and they lust for blood?”

for a second, sirius black looked like he was about to smack him. however, he pulled a chair and sat down next to xenophilius. “they can’t; the werewolf’s mind is not the same as the human’s mind, and the bloodlust only exists within the wolf.”

he nodded, thoughtfully. “did you run away because they wanted to turn you, too?”

“sorry?”

“death eaters,” xenophilius explained, then lowered his voice; he was told he could be quite thick, but that didn’t mean it was right, or that he didn’t have an ounce of common sense. “it’s a bit of a fad in the pureblooded families, now. completely giving yourself up to you-know-who and all that. they make them take his mark, they brand them. i know all about that, my brother is one of them and he was very proud of it. he said he calls them through it or something along those lines. i wouldn’t know, i’m not one of them,” he added, pulling up his sleeves and showing sirius his pale wrists and arms. “but i thought that’s why you left; you don’t seem very drawn to dark magic, although i think you’d make a good duellist on either side, considering you’re very intelligent.”

sirius black’s eyes were furrowed over his steel-grey eyes, then he promptly stood up. “interesting,” he said, and left, without saying anything else.

xenophilius shrugged, going back to his essay.

[ganondoodle]

(Original art) Xaror, any pronouns, species (?), age (?)

short summary about them; they act as both an antagonist and an ally since they are only really interested in what they want or whats fun to them, they are immortal and call themselves 'death itself' since they have a special connection to souls (being the only one able to communicate with them) and the ability to seperate souls from their bodies in such a way that nothing can harm the soul afterwards their main goal is to .. bother and disturb the 'celestials'*, which they hate, as much as they can, breaking into their palace, freeing prisoners, destroying research, destroying the place, and most importantly, making as many souls unusable to them as possible-

they dont want to destroy the celestials though, they cant fight them anyway and this game of doing 'good' only with the goal of annoying them is their most treasured activity, so Xaror doesnt intend to stop them from killing or hurting anyone, only from harvesting what they are actually after (though Xaror doesnt actually care as little as they think they do about people, and has a soft spot for demons)

most of their appearance is later into the story; Zaphira (the empress) had been in coma and the medical facility she was treated in was destroyed by Shargon (orange eyed demon who acts as her bodyguard for the first part) in an attempt to save her from her estranged relatives taking over her country after they heard of her decline in health, she is believed dead but washes up on the shore of the mountain Xaror resides at years later (it has a reason, too much to write here) and they slowly nurse her back to health, the reason they give for it is that they found their first encounter very fun, thats all (is it?)

(more lore under the cut bc this is already so long .. im trying to keep it short q-q ......... this is stuff i have been working on since i was a kid so uh, some things might be cheesy but i cant change them anymore ..)

just to get some basics out of the way; theres three worlds, the celestials palace, human world and demon world, each are their own planet connected via different gateways

*celestials (possibly not final name, loosely based on angels) are the last remaining "survivors" of their planets demise, when their world died the most powerful among them cannibalized the weaker to sustain themselves until there were only less than 10 left, who each turned into different beings from it and dont resemble their own people much anymore, they built a palace from what was left on their world that protects them from space as its atmosphere collapsed shortly after- however they still needed something to live off; they discover the human world and are delighted to find rather short lived people with powerful souls, the best kind of sustenance for them (now), they aim to herd them like cattle, but a problem arose when it turned out another world has long been in contact with the human world; demons

demons are semi immortal creatures that act as protectors for their world, protection they extended, more or less secretely, to the human world ensuring them a long and secure life- the celestials need them to die at their whim though (demons are few in numbers, hard to kill and rarely have offspring, not an ideal target); as they worked out a plan on how to get rid of demons one of the celestials, Xanthriel (time) grew somewhat fond of people as they spent alot of time in the human world to observe and research them; in the end turning on their own completely, but losing the fight against Uriel (knowledge)

Xanthriel was supposed to be executed for their betrayal, but it doesnt work, instead they are splintered into many parts after a lot of struggle, most body, memory and most strength is one part (ending up as motionless forever bleeding corpse kept locked up in the palace), the rest is some time later gathered together and reforms as a seperate, weak mockery of them, they embody Xanthriels emotion- Xaror, without memory, strangely cut to pieces (hence all the missing limbs and broken halo) but driven by an unstoppable desire to disturb the celestials (they live seperate long enough to each become their own person, at some point Xaror discovers Xanthriels body after all and they merge back together, though as they are now two, Xanthriel only takes over once directly after merging, stays silent for a long time and lets Xaror be themselves, only later revealing that they are there at all .. hiding perhaps- i rarely have specific ideas for voices, but Xanthriels is like, like coarse rocks being violently rubbed against each other, less voice more noise)

(also, the celestials use Xanthriels blood from the day of their execution to create a plague that nearly wipes out all demons, only the youngest of them survived, effectively robbing them of everything, culture, history, knowledge etc- as demons rarely have children, like a complete restart of their society, they disappeared from the human world, and over time being largely forgotten as actually existing- the celestials wanted them all gone however, so they kept kidnapping them to try and find somethign that would work similarly against the young ones too (and then in general, bc the only usable blood of Xanthriel was from the day of their fall, and that has long since been used up) one of the young ones was Shargon, he was the only one still alive from his group

(also, the celestials use Xanthriels blood from the day of their execution to create a plague that nearly wipes out all demons, only the youngest of them survived, effectively robbing them of everything, culture, history, knowledge etc- as demons rarely have children, like a complete restart of their society, they disappeared from the human world, and over time being largely forgotten as actually existing- the celestials wanted them all gone however, so they kept kidnapping them to try and find somethign that would work similarly against the young ones too (and then in general, bc the only usable blood of Xanthriel was from the day of their fall, and that has long since been used up) one of the young ones was Shargon, he was the only one still alive from his group (he wasnt the strongest or special, he was jsut the last in the row and always got the lowest dosage) when Xaror found them in yet another break in into the palace and got him back to the demon world .. where he was promptly blamed for the others that were taken and treated like a pretender/fake/spy bc what he got put through changed his eye color (something that demons cannot change in any form) to one that does not exist among 'real' demons (orange ... notice the inner color of Xarors broken halo? :) ), some even suggesting killing him, but none of them were brave enough to do it (they were all kids still) .. except Eadrya (the big blue-ish one, largely regarded as the strongest demon alive) but Shargon managed to escape, and since then lived largely in isolation- this is part of why he is so hated, and why he starts to spend so much time in the human world after rediscovering the pathway there)

[quinn-pop]

morning

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

With the reveal of Abel now outside of leaks, unless people are right about the crackship idea that Lucifer knocked/got knocked up by Adam and is the secret father, I feel like the implication is that Eve is white.

Lilith, Adam, Eve, Abel and Lucifer are all white. All of the first humans are white. All of the royals are white, all of the people in power are white. Excluding a few characters, like Sara and Emily(who are still gray, and not black btw), almost the entire governing systems are white people.

I don't understand why Viv acts like her being Latina is the reason people don't like her work, or that hating on a successful Latina woman is all anyone is ever doing, when her representation is terrible???

I'm not special for saying this, cuz this has been a problem since day one and plenty of people complain about it. But every brown/black isn't ya know.......BROWN. Velvette is the only character I can think of thats actually black.

Alastor, Val, Vaggie, Carmilla are all either gray or purple. And Alastor doesn't even have a good excuse like Val or Vaggie have with being bugs. Deer are usually brown anyway, and he's the most humanoid of all the furry characters so him having a more human skin tone wouldn't be that odd of a design choice.

I'm probably missing some other characters because Viv is awful at conveying that a character isn't white. Husk doesn't count, he's only black because Keith David is playing him, he was never intentionally written to be black. (And neither was Alastor so, ¯\_(:/)_/¯) Niffty is only Asian because her pilot VA could speak Japanese, and Viv was like "yeah sure, whatever. she can be Japanese" without any further thought being put into what that could mean for her character. Vassago may or may not have been originally intended to be Latino, idk, but again he's still being played by a irl Latino so it could just be the same problem with Husk.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with the first humans all being white, but there's also nothing wrong with stopping to ask yourself "Why is it that my first instinct is to make Adam and Eve white? Is it my own bias? Is it because this is what society pushes as biblical canon?"

Almost everyone has racist or uncomfortable biases. It's normal when you live in a racist society. You grow up hearing things or absorbing information from your peers and the people around you. The best way to avoid that, is to sincerely question and understand why you feel and think the way that you do. Asking, "Why is it that when I want to convey that this character is evil and scary, my first instinct is to use symbols and words from a foreign religion? Is it because I'm genuinely interested in this religion, and want to explore it? Or is it because I've been taught to think that foreign cultures, especially black cultures, are inherently more scary and monstrous?" Is how you actually figure out if what you're doing is something to be concerned over, and if it's something that's hurtful or mean and thus should be corrected.

But Viv doesn't ask these questions. She uses being Latina to deflect her racism, or claim that people engaging with her art in a way she doesn't like is just them being the racist ones.

(Or homophobia, or hating SA victims, or just being mean to her for no reason. And I get it to a certain extent. She's been dealing with anti's and people fucking with her over being a furry FOR AWHILE NOW LMAO. Sometimes its hard to tell when something is a REAL genuine critique or complaint, and who's just bitching again because they can't handle a pop song about SA, or a bathtub of snakes, or the fact that valangel exists at all. Some people are out to be actually fucking awful for no real reason, but she tends to lump everyone who doesn't like her work as the same when thats not the case. People are also stupid, and genuinely in their very, very dumb hearts think that Snakes In A Bathtub is on the same level as like, racist appropriation and will treat Both with the same Severity because they're stupid)

She panics, and doubles down instead of actually thinking about what she's doing. "Uh, uh, uh, HE'S ACTUALLY MIXED. SO ITS FINE." Isn't helpful. That wasn't the problem. She treats race like its a toy that she doesn't even want to use. There's no sincerity behind anyones design or backstories. It's literally not relevant to her.

Anyway, rant tim. Viv needs therapy. She's definitely too mentally ill and immature to be handling this shit on her own. She is in soooo far over her head and it not only results in a bad show, but probably isn't good for her either.

[forgetme-eternally-blissfully]

Editing old fanfics are impossible bc now I want to check for lore accuracy and scene consistency and cross chapter references and all of those things require the entire fic to be checked again and again and again as I decide on what I want to keep and what I want to change. Might as well rewrite the whole thing at this point it's taking so long.

[the-sparkling-diamond-satine]

WIP Ask Game!

I was tagged by @vampswritings thank you!!!!

Prompt: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

if you hold me without hurting me, you'll be the first who ever did

last

first

texture (chapter 2)

"Please don't hurt me."

All Grown Up

Makeup Christian

Makeup Christian (Modern AU)

t4t (Modern AU)

Lifeguard AU

Jealous!Satine

OCD Christian

thanks, I hate it

Study abroad hook-up to LDR

Firework! for maya

shower sex (laughter during sex prompt)

to cover the bruises (which ending??)

Arabia and Satine

Satine/Nini

Christian/Satine/Nini

Friends hear through hotel walls? (Arabia and Ivy)

Arabia/Ivy + Satine/Nini + La Choc x Baby Doll

Arcade trash rat

Missing Tour Hamish

Catsit Switch Up

Exes to lovers costars in a musical

Slower burn romance

gravity will hold us as we're holding on for life (and we're racing to get older)

nightmares

on a walk

safe

say please

too small to remember/too precious to forget

don't

"Come with me, to the stars!"

moments of tenderness

oral fixation

Hadestown time loop

pregnancy/kid!fic

in her sleep

non-binary Satine

Phone sex line

Coffee Shop AU

Fairy tale doesn't work

Broken mirror

Cat

Theatre AU

Elevator - piano teacher and porn star

memento mori

Lush

5 moments when it wasn't safe to be himself (and 5 when it was)

Next Time Around

trans Christian childhood

t4t

I am tagging @falsestardust @gingerpeachtea @ashleyslorens @franniebridgertons @juanabaloo @all-seeing-ifer and anyone else who wants to play!

[bunnyboy-juice]

spent the first hour and change at work deleting some old files and am having a grand ol time laughing at myself for not realizing i was a lesbian sooner

[wundrousarts]

Hi folks! It seems like people are discovering that there are people online who write some WEIRD! 👎 stuff for Nevermoor. Some tips and tricks for dealing with that:

Don't engage. Don't read the fics. Don't even comment to say how much you hate it.

Don't spread it around. It's gross as hell, I know! But being like "ew, guys, I found this gross fic" just means you're causing more people to seek out said gross fic, and that's just not great. If you don't want to see it, no one else wants to either.

If you can: block, mute, or filter. I don't really use any fanfic sites to know if these functionalities exist, but I'm sure people online have found ways. Edit: here's a way to do it on Ao3.

TL;DR: Ignore, Ignore, Ignore. 👍

(PS: Same thing goes for when people send weird inappropriate anon messages. Just delete them from your inbox and don't subject others to them.)

This is unfortunately something that's been present for years in the fandom, on both Ao3 and Wattpad. This is also why I essentially don't read Nevermoor fics unless they're for Mogtober, and even then I'm cautious. I have seen some weird stuff written about my favorite characters that I wish I could pluck from my brain and set on fire, or worse! But when I stumble across that stuff, I just quickly close the tab and pivot to something else to get my mind off of it.

We should not entertain these types of people in a fandom full of minors about a middle grade series, so: just don't engage with them, ignore them, filter them out, and maybe even drown them out with some fics of your own.

[sp4ceboo]

rant but im a bit scared im going to get attacked

[wrestle-catboy-vault]

Mirrored Memory [catboy ue fanfic]

Ok so, TJ is looking for a warm place to stay the night, and some bougie show breeder's house happened to leave one of the windows open so lil teenage kitty scurries in

And accidentally finds himself in the kitty nursery

And little Akira is like, newly adopted and separated from his litter for the first time so of course he's home sick and can't sleep

And at first TJ thinks the place is empty but he spots Frankie and they make eye contact and he's like "ohhhh shit I'm busted"

He expects Frankie to start crying or something and then the owners are definitely calling hybrid control and he'd be in BIG trouble for "attacking a house cat"

But Frankie is really curious about this cat, cause he's never seen anyone like TJ before, he's never seen a stray before

It's not hard to think he's young enough to have never seen another hybrid outside his litter before

So he bounds right up to him because who's ever heard of self preservation? Not Akira that's for sure

And he starts asking questions to TJP, like

Who are you? Where'd you come from? Why'd you come in through the window, you're supposed to use the door? Why do you have scratches all over you? Why are your clothes so old? What breed are you?

And the whole time tj is standing in the open window, it's like mid-winter so he's wet from the waist down from melting snow and there's a sharp wind from behind him that makes him shiver real bad and Akira finally notices his teeth chattering

So he sneaks TJ down to the rest of the house, careful not to wake the owners, and they throw TJ's jacket in the dryer, and then go to the kitchen where Akira struggles to make him some hot soup

The next morning TJ wakes up in Frankie's nursery, buried in blankets with his tummy full and warm for the first time in months

Akira left him a poorly spelled little note and a half eaten plate of breakfast. The note says that he had to go to training today and he left TJ half his breakfast in case he was hungry again, and that he doesn't know where TJ came from but he's glad he has a friend now because this place is big and empty and he hated being alone

TJ reads the note as he eats, and when he's done he grabs his jacket and scampers back out the same window he snuck in and never looks back.

Because as kind as Frankie was to him, staying here is just too risky. The owners will find him and kick him out, or some stray he has heat with see him prancing around with a show kitten and that would make Akira a target, or hybrid control would recognize his face and lock him up. Too many things could go wrong

Years later TJP is tentatively staying in a hybrid foster home. Despite the others all having checkered pasts like him, he still feels like an outsider. Which might be why he's laying awake in the rafters when he hears the quietest *tink!* as someone slips in the window.

A little homeless Akira is fresh on the streets and he's starving.

Luckily he's welcome to stay (after the scare of TJP pounce tackling him from the shadows and interrogating his intentions)

The two don't recognize each other from that one night when they were both kids, and maybe they never will

But Frankie still likes to share his breakfast with TJ ❤️

Bonus: young tjp and akira designs

[campingwiththecharmings]

I would miss you if you disappeared 😭 You're one of the few people I feel safe talking to. I know I almost never message first (anybody), but that's cause of the same feelings I have like you, that others don't actually like me, just tolerate me, and I don't wanna annoy them with my presence. This mental state ruined quite a lot of friendships I had, but then again, I wouldn't distance myself if I didn't feel like I am overlooked / ignored in the friend group.

Anyways, back to yooouuu. I think you're very kind and funny and I love seeing you on my dash / on discord. When I'm writing fics I often think about you, wondering what your reaction would be to a specific scene / dialogue. Especially when I'm writing banters 😁 I also love your stories ✨ I am very behind on reading, but when I have some free time, I usually focus on writing in the last couple of months instead of reading, but I wanna catch up 😩

But you know Driver!Jake and RichGirl!Reader hold a special place in my heart 🥰

omggggggggg dolli 😭😭😭😭😭😭

the absolute LAST thing you are is a bother, bb. you are one of the kindest, loveliest people i've met here and i am so grateful to know you, i'm so sorry if i don't say it enough ❤️❤️❤️

[jutsuuu]

girl help I’m experiencing

[byanyan]

the urge to reblog a meme in hopes of some new stuff being the burst of enthusiasm I need to get shit going again... but knowing that I'll just end up overwhelming myself further with it

[heavenslittlehellion]

i think everyone needs to have a little more faith, i think

coraline

american gods

sandman

season 1

gos2 obviously isn't odd because neil's bad at his job.... gos2 is a bridge to gos3. it's absolutely purposely odd

y'all gotta chill & stop being so aggressive about how "bad" it is. it rly doesn't come off that good for us as fans and really isn't gonna convince amzon/neil to go through with s3 (which is like ready to begin production iirc it's just on hold bc of the strike)

i'm begging ppl to think just a little bit more critically about their vitriol. everything has a purpose. you'll see

[orcelito]

Honestly. OK. It's been some weeks since I did any writing. And I SHOULD push to finish ladue chapter 3. And i will. Eventually. BUT

My brain keeps scrabbling towards trigun, & I know it's inevitable I'm gonna write smth for it, but I still don't know what to write bc Realistically I'm still in the digestion phase. I'm not the type who will write while in the middle of absorbing a thing. I will write only after I have reasonably completed the thing, bc I would DIE if I got any details wrong for the thing

So yes I watched all of tristamp, but im only 20 ish chapters into trimax, so I'm not gonna be writing anything until after I finish that manga. Which you'd THINK would be good incentive for me to push to read the manga. But get this. Wolfwood Fanfic Good.

Also anytime I start reading I can't stop & I have literally given myself headaches doing this reading all of original trigun manga in one go And then 2 nights ago reading chapters 4 through 20 of tristamp in one go. Yes I read a few more last night and didn't get the Brain Grip, but I can tell shit's about to go down HARD & that's what got me getting only 4 hours of sleep the night before last bc i could not stop READING

I have to be cautious. Hyperfixations are a dangerous thing if you don't have the time to commit to them.

.... and I still really wanna write vashwood fanfic 😭

[stephaniebrownslover]

OMGGGGGGG I HAVEN'T SEEN THIS ONE EITHER AND I'M SO MAD AT MYSELF FOR THIS

I'm the sweetest girl in town; so why are you so mean? Nina 'the Killer' Hopkins in Creeped PT 2: PURPOSE

PT. 1: K-12 — PT. 3: NEW MESSAGE

General disclaimer: This AU is an amalgamation of headcanons, fanon, canon, and the occasional rewrite. There is an overarching story that HEAVILY strays from their canon stories. TW for toxic relationships, murder, violence and self-harm. Please take care of yourself and only engage in content you can handle.

PURPOSE

❥After Nina attacked Claudia, she was forced back online. Back to her recluse lifestyle, hiding away from everyone she could. She didn’t want to be seen anymore. Having her social life torn away from her once again hurt. Watching her father’s face morph into disappointment in her high school’s office hurt. Receiving hateful messages from peers again hurt. 

❥Her online friends were still there, thankfully. It was interesting, actually, the news they bought her. The same day she attacked Claudia, there was a brand new true crime case. She huddled beneath her blanket and called them for comfort. She stayed up until 5am researching this case, listening to her friends jokingly say that the case could’ve been Nina's crime. It happened the same day, right? 

❥His name was Jeffery Alan Woods. She was 16 now, and he was a year younger than her. New information was still unfolding as the weeks went by, but this 15 year old boy really fought back. She sympathized with him upon learning about his story. He was troubled and bullied like her. He just wanted to be happy too, right? Live a good life with his brother, have fun at school, make friends. But boys at his school bullied him for it. It wasn’t fair at all to him.

❥Nina really could have been him. She watched hours of interviews, scoffing at everyone who implied he was evil. He was defending himself. Why didn’t they help him when they could have? If they stepped in, he wouldn’t have had to go so far in protecting himself. He had to do it. They failed him. Just like everyone failed Nina. 

❥Nina found Facebooks, Instagrams, and even year books. She spent days scouring the internet, compiling every possible photo she could find of Jeff. He was such a cute kid, she thought! He seemed so sweet in his 2009 Christmas photo, sitting politely with Santa. She saw his older brother, Liu, in several photos. She began researching Liu obsessively too, but he was often kept on the backburner. His interviews were few and far between, as he tried to fade into obscurity. His rare public appearances always mentioned forgiveness. Liu seemed to be the only one who saw humanity left in Jeff, just like Nina did. Why did everyone have to turn him into such a monster? 

❥Nina was able to find Liu’s address in a matter of days. Now she wanted to find Jeff. 

❥She was thrilled everytime a new murder happened. Whenever it was traced back to Jeff, she was overjoyed. Criminal sketches began getting released, and Nina hung them all on her wall. God, the smile was cute. And it was fun! He was just as eccentric as her. She began drawing the smile on her face with makeup, sending it to her online friends and posting selfies on the internet. She received a whole slew of hate comments demeaning her for idolizing this killer, but they didn’t understand his story like she did. 

❥Her mental health deteriorated rapidly. She did the bare minimum to scrape by in school. She never left her room, save for a shower once a week. Christopher brought meals to her, even if his little hands had to cook them himself. He didn’t like being in Nina’s room, really. The photos of Jeff littered the walls and the floor was filled with clothes and empty bottles. Regrettably, Christopher stumbled upon some photos of crime scenes which left him with nightmares.

❥Nina wouldn’t even look at him when he brought her dinner. Her bloodshot eyes were glued to her screen, cackling away at forums about Jeff, or curled up sobbing and begging Christopher to get the fuck out of her room. 

❥Nina took one of her weekly showers halfway through her senior year. She was in there for so long, and the shower had long been turned off. Christopher needed to use the bathroom. First, it was a timid little knock, asking if she was almost done. She said to wait, so he did. He asked again, and she said to wait. It happened again and again until he was banging on the door, whining and telling her to get out of the bathroom. She was being so annoying, always doing her makeup for hours at a time.

❥That’s what he figured, at least. He didn’t think anything of grabbing his mom’s card and using it to unlock the door, just like he’d done several times before when Nina was hogging the bathroom.

❥He screamed at the sight. Nina sat on the edge of the bathtub. She was in her underwear, blood smeared all over her figure. Her biceps, stomach, and thighs were littered with hundreds of shallow, messy wounds. Nina threw her head up, big doe eyes widened in horror. Similar to the shallow cuts across her body, there were jagged scars across her cheeks. Blood bubbled and rolled off her chin, mixing with tears and snot. A foul smell came from her before he realized she had repeatedly thrown up into the tub. 

❥"GET THE FUCK OUT" was all she could manage, but Christophers cries brought him to his mother’s room. Nina desperately threw back on her pajamas, rushing to turn on the shower and make up any excuse she could.

❥There wasn’t really a defense for any of this. 

MISSISSIPPI 

❥February 13, 2015 Nina was sent to her grandparents home in Mississippi. It was her 17th birthday, right before her graduation. Her grandparents were retired and strict. Unlike her parents, they had all the time in the world to focus on Nina. They heavily monitored everything she did. Kept track of her location, her card, her friends. Made sure she put vitamin E oil on her scars and concealer before going out. They made her get a job working with their friend’s niece. Nina didn’t connect to anyone. She simply filed in and out of work and school, finishing up whatever had to be done and barely scraping by at graduation.

❥ Her grandparents barely permitted a gap year, but she began working full time. She got better at putting on a clean, sweet persona for them. She’d often come home and ramble to her grandparents about work, receiving firm advice to stay away from anyone causing Nina trouble. 

❥They couldn’t monitor her internet access the same way, though. Nina spent the next year obsessively researching Jeff all the same, but she kept it all contained to her laptop. Hundreds of hours of information compiled into thousands of different files. She had grown quite notorious in true crime communities, with her username being littered about several forums. ‘Nina the Killer’ was a silly but fitting screen name. 

❥She grew incredibly close to new people, all of which just as infatuated with Jeff. They all shared similar stories of being beaten and bruised their entire life, constantly daydreaming to exhibit the strength Jeff did that fatal day. Nina felt seen, for once. 

❥There was an especially interesting guy online. He went by Mark, and would email Nina very often, always asking her about her thoughts on Jeff’s latest move. Asked Nina for advice on how to kill his parents, too. She’d ramble on about several methods, and would completely melt when he praised her creativity. How sweet. He even spent time encouraging Nina’s curiosity on Liu, someone the community often disregarded. But Nina was fixated on him as well, just to a lesser extent. It felt so good to have someone care about her interests like that. Someone who engaged and encouraged her morbid thoughts.

❥A year went by. Her grandparents were so proud of her, genuinely believing she was getting better. They gave her a beautiful 18th birthday party, and quickly began registering her for their local community college. They wanted to keep her on this great path.

❥Before she could even select classes, Mark messaged her with a new rumor. Jeff was allegedly in Alabama. Only a state away from her. 

❥It was crazy, and it was unrealistic, and she should have dropped it. There was no fucking shot she’d meet him, right? But…

❥Nina Hopkins was pathetic. She rummaged through her grandparents' belongings one night, grateful for their poor hearing. She stuffed everything she could into a few massive suitcases, including her grandparents' cash. After withdrawing all her savings, she hopped on a train.

COINS

❥Nina stayed in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She began working two jobs, waiting tables at a dingy little restaurant and at a Hot Topic in the local mall. It was difficult for a while, staying in dingy motels before she could finally find a cheap apartment to rent. 

❥She got along with most of the people she worked with now. The year with her grandparents genuinely helped with her rapidly deteriorating social skills, and it seemed everyone liked Nina’s spunk. She was chatty, sweet, and very pretty. Tips always found their way tucked into her back pocket. 

❥Her favorite coworker was a girl named Natalie. Natalie was the opposite of Nina. Tall, lanky, with long straight hair and a mean expression. She knew how to stand up for herself from the start. Natalie didn’t let her anger boil over until she made horrible decisions, not like Nina. The speed at which Natalie would get difficult customers off Nina’s back was startling. She was protective over all the girls in the restaurant, but especially little Nina.

❥Natalie was an odd one, too. Nina could tell. She saw tiny scars littered on Natalie’s cheeks, always covered with foundation, but never fully hiding them away. She usually wore a medical eyepatch over one eye. This only drew Nina to her all the more, until they eventually began getting lunch together every now and again. Nina was 19 by then.

❥Nina would nonsensically ramble about this boy she met online, earning a raised brow from Natalie. 

❥It was the same guy she met on a forum about Jeff the Killer, Mark. The one who always came to Nina for a hypothetical murder method. The one who shared gross, gorey images that he ‘found online.’ The one who told her that Jeff was in Alabama. Recently, Nina had been making plans to meet Mark. She shared this with Natalie.

❥But Nina had no clue Natalie knew Jeff. They were quite close, actually, living in the same damn abandoned farmhouse. Natalie caught lazy glances at Jeff’s phone, and she was quick to connect the dots. 

❥”Don’t fucking meet him. You’re being stupid.” Natalie was blunt, as usual.

❥”You’re so dramatic, oh my god. It’s not like I-”

❥”I said don’t.” Natalie was insistent. Nina never listened to good advice.

PT. 3: NEW MESSAGE