#lume answers

[lumienn]

Coming back at you: what are your favorite writing tips? 💚

Yayyy thank you for the ask Vortex! 🤗

I love asking people this question but I never expected to be asked it back haha. But I'll try my best (and disclaimer: almost all my fics at this point are either oneshots or wips, so I'm hardly a super serious writer myself)

Anyway!

1. Write on your phone. There will be typos.

2. Screenshot those typos- the day will come when you can laugh at them and compare them to the finished thing

3. If you don't have enough patience, laugh at them right now and send them to your group chat with the friends you're sprinting with. They will laugh too. (And if you're particularly unlucky one of them will also be a secret writer for the same fic fest you're secretly writing for and instantly guess which prompt you're doing T-T)

(this is totally not from a true story or anything)

Just kidding, but the first tip actually blew my mind with how useful it is. I always used to think I needed an entire setup- laptop and all, with just the doc open and nothing else- to be a Serious Writer Who Writes (ideally 500+ words in one sitting). And looking back? That's an insane amount of pressure! No wonder I barely got any writing done.

Now I aim for 100 words every day on most days, with music and full mental permission to scroll random apps in between, and I actually have fun writing haha. The first draft quality may suffer a little bit (see: typos) but it's nothing editing can't fix. Plus they make editing all the more entertaining :D

[lume-nosity]

spawned back here after another month (or more) disappearance like a legendary pokemon because it’s my birthday

18th birthday. woohoo i guess

[longeyelashedtragedy]

22 for the ask game!

22. three songs you listen to when you’re sad

oh...hmmmm

i haven't felt the kind of sad that needs music, in a while, really, but i used to have a very treasured "bad mental health" playlist lol

-i'm still a big fan of 'narrative of soul against soul' by AFI...my personal favorite anti-suicide song, hahaha

-world coming down by type o negative - if you want to really wallow in your misery and commiserate with a beautiful bisexual bipolar masochist from brooklyn (the best kind of person, if i do say so myself) then this is for u!

these two are "get me to a psychiatrist" songs. for a different, more melancholy sadness:

-lume, lume by maria tănase romanian -> english translation and context here

[bluebellhairpin]

Hi Nemo! I saw that you’re from around Melbourne, if someone were to go there what would you recommend as must see/do?

Oh gosh I... well I live about four hours away from Melbourne, but I try to visit as much as I can lol. I know a lot of tourist spots and a few more niche places.

Bourke Street is like the main street for shopping (like the shopping district). Carlton Gardens is a park, and its got the Melbourne museum right next to it. Federation square is close to both the IGV and the NGV (International/National Gallery(s) of Victoria) and they've got art in them. Also near Fed Square is Hozier Lane, which is full of street art. And ofc you can just do your own exploring for food, Melbourne is a MAJOR foodie city so you're chances of finding top notch grub is about 4 out of 5.

[starhrtz]

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌. 𝗄𝖺𝗓𝗎𝗁𝖺, 𝗑𝗂𝖺𝗈, 𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗓𝗈𝗎

𝗌𝗎𝗆𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗒. 𝖺𝗇 𝗎𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗋𝖺𝗂𝗇 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾𝗌 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖼𝗋𝗎𝗌𝗁

𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗍. 470

𝖺𝗎𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗋 𝗇𝗈𝗍𝖾. 𝖨𝖫𝖸 @lume-nosity :3

The sky was overcast and gloomy. The endless summer hydrangeas in the school's garden had been swaying restlessly for the last few minutes, as if they picked up on something. Large drops of rain came crashing down unexpectedly the moment you had looked up at the sky, perhaps a symbol of bad luck. This summer was anything but enjoyable with the surprises of downpours and heat waves. An unexpected voice snapped you out of your train of thoughts.

"it seems mother nature has struck again."

A calm voice joked as he stared at the rain drops depleting as soon as they reached the ground, you looked to your left to see your classmate standing there observing the rain with an umbrella in hand. You were startled to say the least, as red hue coated your cheeks upon the sight of Kazuha you never interacted with him despite being in the same class for 3 months though it was mostly because of your little crush on him which he seemed quite oblivious to. Of course your heart skipped a beat when he offered to walk you home, what a gentleman! Yet you failed to notice Kazuha's wet shoulder when both of you were walking in the rain.

"come on, go talk to her!"

That was the last thing Xiao heard before he was pushed towards you bumping to you in the process, he mentally cursed at himself and hu tao who was giggling in the corner. You were surprised to see Xiao, after all despite being in the same club both of you never interacted much to your dismay. As both of you shared an awkward conversation, you decided to go home before the rain starts getting more heavily you quickly waved goodbye to Xiao and covered your head with your bag not wanting to get sick. But before you could get far you were stopped by Xiao, he was quiet yet he hastily passed you his umbrella before rushing away.

"isn't it tempting to run in the rain?"

Heizou's voice startled you, upon seeing your reaction he cheekily smiled the smile in which you wanted to use your bag to hit him with. You sighed and looked at the rain with a grimmed frown, though Heizou seemed to take the opportunity to strike a conversation with you. Perhaps your rather short answers made him frown too before he grabbed your arm running towards a convenience store to treat you to something good. It would have been rather sweet if it weren't for both of you having to run in the rain! As both of you brought umbrellas and food, you and Heizou decided to relax in the store for a while with a few other students who were also drenched in rain water. While both of you were conversing, you didn't seem to notice the maroon head boy slipped a box of chocolates for you in your bag.

© astrinityy — do not plagiarize, copy, repost, nor translate any of my works!!

[beyondthepleasureprinciple]

That's a shame. Sorry to hear that. What kinda weird?

Sleep well? - A

as well as usual, at any rate. so kinda crap. had some weird dreams though.

[kithtaehyung]

A few things!

1) ok.....I might switch gears and try to slowly consume it and not binge it. Because I know im gonna be so sad once im caught up 😂 I'll still read regularly, just not all at once or as fast.

2) I ran out of deodorant this morning and I was doing a target pick up to get after work and I was just scrolling for a new deodorant because I want to switch it up. Did I buy a Lume deodorant that’s scent is Tangerine? Maybe. I have zero chill when it comes to 3tan yoongi 🥴

3) because I am SO down bad for 3tan yoongi right now and you always have the perfect pictures of yoongi in your responses to 3tan asks, do you happen to have a good boyfriend vibe picture of yoongi that you see and go "this is 3tan yoongi" that i can use for my background? With black hair 😬 I am never pleased with pictures i find when i try and search 😩

I ANSWERED THIS AND THE APP CRASHED😩 but here we go again! I’m glad you’re gonna enjoy it at a good pace. That’s how you truly experience it all, especially since this is your very first time running through!👍 Also… tangerine everything you’re just like me HAHA

Ah.. let’s say I have quite a few of 3tan yoongi🤍 But here are a few quintessential pics of bf vibe black hair 3tan yoongi, the ones i saw and immediately said “that’s him.”

[sneakypunmaster]

Sleepless Night

(targeted advertising to creatively tell someone to go to bed)

“Y O U” a gravely voice whisper shouts from the void to the offending artist.

Turning to face the sudden interruption, Maria did an out of sync slow blink. Like a lizard with no concept of thyme lazily staring down an offending bug. The bug in question was a dark blue blob with some gold accents here and there. It was an odd sight to see in the dark of their room and even though a corner of Maria’s mind screamed about how the ‘hat man’ was finally here to whisk her away to the unknown. Another part of Maria’s mind, a much deeper and more personal part whispered that they knew this offending blob.

There was no mistaking it, this offending blob was a familiar personification of a skrunkly. A skrunkly, Maria knew very, very well. For they had once spent countless hours designing this character over and over again, even going as far as to hide a poorly drawn version away from others. Away from any judgement that may match the internal “ew no” Maria experienced when first experimenting with the character’s appearance.

‘This was It’ Maria thought to herself ‘I finally snapped’ their thoughts continued on as they took in the sight before them. It was a character they had written for one of their AUs that had gotten significantly popular. Moon or CS Moon for short stood before her with an unimpressed expression on his face. The faint glowing of decorative stars lighting up the very much ‘tired all of this and everyone’ nightly god. Highlighting a softness to his form that was currently not present in Moon’s expression.

“What are you doing?”

The question was clearly rhetorical and yet Maria moved to answer it. Opening their mouth to speak only to have Moon shush them,

“When-“ Moon spoke in a language Maria was all too familiar and yet unfamiliar with. The foreign language danced around her ears like an unintelligible melody. Something that would never be understood by such simple ears and yet sounded like a beautiful language at the same time. Even though Maria couldn’t understand they guessed it wasn’t said in the brightest light their ears had heard it in. Moon looked about as grouchy as ever, like a disappointed parent catching their child up and dancing at night.

“-told me that everything and everyone was a story book character in an alternate world. I should have known better than to indulge them” he wiped a hand down his face agonisingly slow. As if the thought itself was more than enough of a reminder of how he ended up in this place.

“What are you t-“ Maria couldn’t even get a word in before Moon sent them a sharp glare. A glare sharp enough to cut air and silence those around the god and silent Maria fell. Mouth thinning out into the thinnest of lines as they subconsciously gulped and leaned back in their chair. While Maria knew Moon would never hurt her, she still decided to let him take the reins of this conversation. After all, their mind and body felt like jello. Like a leaf in the wind, floating along to whatever was going on and just existing alongside the invisible tides. Though they would never admit it, Maria was too tired for this.

How sleep deprived was Maria? She had no idea but judging by how life-like and realistic Moon looked, she knew she had just crossed some sort of border. A boundary between waking sleep and sleepless night or whatever the right word was — this was taking up too much mental energy to name. Seemingly already out of it, it took Maria a full minute to realise someone was talking to them. But who was talking to them again? Oh right, Moon…or well one of their Moons. Out of all the Moons in the world, Maria was glad they were hallucinating about this one. After all, they didn’t want to get mauled without their trusted lume 5000 flashlight.

“Did you even hear what I was saying?” Moon’s unimpressed tone caught Maria off guard. Causing her to splutter and look up at the fictional god in confusion,

“s-sorry uhhh…what?”

Maria cringed at the tone of their own voice, sounding scratchy and exhausted despite being wide awake. Knowing this was all most likely an odd little dream, the least traumatic form of sleep paralysis they had ever experienced. Maria just blinked up at Moon once more and earned a sigh from the skrunkly in return.

“When was the last time you slept?”

The question was simple and yet Maria found herself counting on her fingers. Staring off into space in thought before forgetting what she was supposed to be even doing in the first place. Making a quick pop sound with their mouth, Maria looked up at Moon almost expectantly. Almost as if Maria’s brain would communicate through the dream character and tell them what amount of time had passed since they last slept. Instead of this however, Moon let out another long sigh. Shaking his head once the god of night already knew the answer, it had been too long. Far too long one too many times for what was considered healthy for mortals.

Rushing to reassure the figment of their imagination, Maria opens their mouth to speak, “I’m really not that ti-“ only to be interrupted by an involuntary yawn.

This did not seem to impress Moon as much as Maria had hoped. Shifting his weight from one side to the other the night spoke his final question,

“Why are you even awake?”

Ah, this was something Maria could answer. Pulling out their pathetic excuse of a phone, Maria held it up in the air. Waving it around a bit as the smart phone was already one foot in the grave as it tried not to heave out its hard drives. This gesture only seemed to confuse the centuries old god. Rather that was because phones had not been invented in its time or rather because it just didn’t understand where Maria was going with this. But that’s ok, they would explain it to him,

“This is my phone” they started off slowly so that Moon could keep up, “I’m writing the next chapter on it…but it’s a little hard. There’s lines of dialog I don’t think Éclipse would say” Maria explains like it’s nothing. Though there is a tint of frustration in their voice.

“Éclipse?”

“Oh um don’t worry about it” Maria tries to awkwardly segway away from the topic and doesn’t fail to live up to the awkward part at all. Turning back to her desk, Maria accidentally drops the half-dead phone and splutters to pick it up. Quickly turning it on and off to make sure it was somehow still working despite being on its last leg and luckily it was still going. Maria turned back to the awaiting god of night and looked up at him. Sheepishly trying to hide the wobbly smile on their features with an awkward laugh. Causing Moon to squint his eyes at them, clearly this display was not working as much as they had hoped.

“You need to go to sleep”

Moon emphasises on the word ‘need’ and frankly Maria silently agrees with him. But there was no way she could sleep, not like this. Already having crossed the point of no return centuries ago, Maria opens her mouth to protest,

“But I need to get this chapter out. If I could just figure out how t-“

“No”

Maria’s words are cut off by Moon taking a step forward through the darkness of their room. Body highlighted by the faintest streaks of light as the early morning sun teased its arrival and the start of a fresh day peaking out from beyond the horizon.

“You can get back to writing later, but for now you must sleep”

Moon reiterates in a much stronger and more commanding voice. Causing Maria to whine in protest, unable to come up with a good comeback other than ‘I’m not tired’ and ‘I’ve stayed up later before’ knowing that would not help her case here.

“…b-but I can’t sleep”

Maria tries to explain and at this it seems Moon understands. Looking the tired artist over before looking back up at them and doing something Maria had never expected from him. Moon smiled at Maria, actually smiled and the smile caused the artist in question to pause. Leaning back in their chair, Maria knew what he was planning. After all they did design and write Moon. Whatever dream-state mirage this was, Maria knew what was in store for them.

“Do you want to sleep?”

“I mean yeah b-“

“Then you shall sleep~”

The god of the night said so smoothly and softly it was almost jarring compared to how Moon usually spoke. Knowing what was to come, Maria’s eyes widened in realisation as they say their own fictional character audibly begin to sing a foreign melody. Moon didn’t even get to sing the first line of the lullaby before Maria promptly passed out. Out like a light and laying slump against her chair as Moon took note of the soft rising and falling of her chest.

Smirking to himself, Moon pat himself on the back. This was a new record, no mortal he had crossed paths with before had been this sleep deprived. Looking over the sleeping artist once more Moon made sure they were ok before grabbing a nearby blanket and tossing it over their sleeping form. Doing one last look over before whispering a simple little, “Good night”

“Alright, I’m ready to come back now. If you told anyone I left the celestial realm. I’ll remind the higher gods you pushed me into this world”

Moon grumbled impatiently at the open air of the room. Back turned to Maria as he awaited the familiar portal to open up and step through it. Shooting a glare at the guilty god in question as he silently curses himself for having let his guard down so easily.

@pillowspace I mean this lovingly when I say, “go to bed, you sleepless heathen”

[lumienn]

Welcome to Moriarty the Patriot! We hope you enjoy your stay!

And I think I'll stay for awhile <3

[lume-nosity]

TW: gore

Imposter au where the reader has help from a strange person in the mirror where they don't explain anything to the reader, they say they just want to help

Very sus

*they were the old God who sacrificed their mortal form and locked their spiritual form in their mirror world*

They believe that the reader wasn't treated the way they intended and would demolish the true imposter

Before they killed their mortal form, they were brutal

They would publicly burn any they deem against them and would stake the heads on display and would torture people who would even think of going against them

So after some thinking, they decide to lock themselves in a desolate domain. And those greedy who call their name near a reflective surface, let's just say they would be put on display in her realm

Since children would dare to call their name as a game, they would entertain them by giving them a scare

Old God's lore is too deep and murky even I don't know who they are

p.s. I copy+pasted these from my old asks to sumone

holy…

i’m shitting myself over how genius and good this is…i instantly thought of lapis lazuli being trapped in a mirror the moment i saw the first sentence

this is quite the scare now that i think about it. it’s like a sort of legend and then reader over here happened to come across the old god as if it was ‘by coincidence’ the god’s like: ‘shit, no explanation needed, i’m here to help your ass’ despite the dark backstory they have under their belt

but when it comes to children or anyone who have no ill tendencies they like to mess around with them

it’s similar to saying: ‘i may look like the most intimidating person you’ll ever meet but if you deem yourself worthy of my presence i suppose i’ll let you slide’ type shit

i like this. 10/10!

[sujuyeonn]

Sujuu!

It's fanfic writer appreciation day so here I am in your askbox :D

Thank you so much for writing and sharing IWATIFI with us! You have no idea how often I reread it, and how much more I love it with each read. I know I haven't gotten around to commenting on the last chapter yet (and I plan to, it's halfway written so far but life is lifeing) but the short version is: I absolutely love it. Just a little bit more than the rest of the fic though I probably shouldn't have favourites lol.

I also want to acknowledge how hard you've worked on it. It probably wasn't easy writing a long multichaptered fic while maintaining the pacing and plot consistency, but you still posted regularly. And IWATIFI was one of the few things I really looked forward to back when things weren't looking so great in my life- I would often eagerly wait to wake up to that one email from ao3. Well, that and the email notifying me that you replied to my comments haha.

I really appreciate you for being such an amazing writer and human. I hope you have a great day! 💜

lume!! omg hello i can’t believe i’ve taken like,, a week to answer this lovely message.

happy late fanfic writer appreciation day to you too!! :D you made my entire week with this and i’ll probably keep thinking about it til the end of the year lol. hearing that you reread iwatifi is both a blessing and a curse; i want to send you tons of hugs!! but i also reread a few chapters lately and my god, you can really see how my writing progressed throughout. currently afflicted with self critical author cringe😫 that said, i absolutely support ch15 being the favourite because it’s probably my favourite too (… i may have made a whole ranking list at some point). and don’t worry about taking a while to comment! i totally don’t expect it. am super hyped to see your thoughts though, your username in my inbox always makes me scream into the void <3

‘thank you’ isn’t adequate enough because i feel appreciated beyond words. and yeah, iwatifi was a first-fic-ever-so-let’s-experiment-with-slow-burn kind of challenge, i definitely don’t think i could write it again if i started now (plus, i’m working on fics that i think will be way more fun). i’m genuinely so touched to hear that you looked forward to updates and replies. your comments managed to catch me at pretty low points too, for which i’ll be forever grateful since they never failed to cheered me up. hope things are going better for you too :)

i appreciate YOU endlessly for being one of the kindest people ever <3 (and one of my favourite commenters but shhh don’t let anyone know) have a great day!! 🧡

[gravehags]

do i want papa to kneel and kiss my hand or do i wanna kneel and kiss lume ghoulette’s hand? leave your guesses in the comment section down below

i think we already know the answer to this, anon

[joyjoy-the-troll]

The Hotel

Horror Hattercrow story

—----—----—----—----—----—----—----—----

Jervis is sitting in an old sofa-chair and huffing; look down at his feet than look up at ceiling of the building he's in now. He and Hare ran in this old hotel to hide from something(?) Jervis don't really remember what it was, he look around room where he and Hare sit down at but;where is Jonathan?

"Hare!" Jervis yell out "Where are you‽" but no response came, Jon's hat and his sack(mask) is laying on the sofa where Jon was supposed to be;the room is dark so that's all he could see. Jervis stand up and pull out his flashlight than point at the door to the hall than turn it on: and saw.

"Feathers?" Jervis thought and pick up one "these are very big ones": the feather is 80cm long and 10cm weight,orange-brown colored; "Hmm" Jervis spoke "what creature could-","AAAAARRGGG!!" Jervis jump up "that's Jonathan!": Jervis rush down the hallway where scream came from.

While running down the hallway was clawed up and filled of feathers on the floor than Jervis saw something on the floor and wall then he stop and stare.

"Oh gosh" Jervis sqeek "Jon do you hear me?" While slowly walk forward, a small whining sound was only response that came from the darkness:"Jon?" he whisper while look around the corner "you good?" but only thing as response was the smell of fresh blood; Jervis walk forward to smell while carefuly looking around.

*Growled* Jervis jolted, than slowly point the flashlight to ceiling where the sound was comming from:

This creature's low growled is frightening and clearly this isn't good; Jervis ran away from it and by accident dropping the flashlight.

It's grin and started to heckling, than rushing after Jervis;"Oh gosh!! Oh gosh!!" Jervis panic thinking "I need to hide from this thing!" but only room with stuff in them is the room he was in before.

But before Jervis were able to get to that room, he got slam in the wall by it: it's purring in glie but than it's eyes caught something else it's attention; the eyes become big like a cat and drop Jervis.

It dash to capture whatever that was, Jervis stood up and ran to the room to hide: the room has sofa,sofa-chair and an empty bookshelf; the Hatter hiding himself under the sofa.

*Chhrrriip?* it has return and came in the room, the tail smack the doorframe: it stood in middel of the; to clear view for the Hatter.

It's legs look like a hare's,the tail is long and look like asia dragon's: it's body very skeleton; every move make creak and crack of it's body. It sprint out, (sigh) Jervis let out a breath but than *CRACK-POP*

*slamp* half of a rat drop right front of it, it's tail loudly and fast against the ceiling and walls: Jervis froze looking at the creature;it tilted it's head than streching neck to move closer to the Hatter.

Jervis crawl away from it while it move closer and closer to him, til their's nose meet: *Chhrr?* Jervis can't breath anymore, he's paralyzed in fear than started to cry.

*Ghr!* it zip away from him but than Jervis got yenked out by his feets then he get slam down on the sofa-chair, it crawled and luming over him; *chrrii~* it smiled. Jervis sobbing&weeping nonstop, unable to stop wheezing: he's in full blowed panic attack.

Jervis closed his eyes tightly, turned his head away from it: it leaning in *Chrr?* and poked him in arm; Jervis quiver by the touch. It open it's mouth and lick away a tear from Hatter face: it's tongue felt like sandpaper; Jervis slowly open one eye to see what it's doing.

It still luming over him but now just stareing at him, but Jervis chouldn't speak still: it slowly nozzled him and rapped around him by it's neck; Jervis was bit surprised by it's behaviour.

"H-Ha-are?" Jervis whimper out but before he could get answer to his question; he pass out.

When he awoke again in the sofa-chair, he look at his clock to see what time it is: it's daytime; than looked out the window. Rock? When they ran in the hotel, it was in a forest but now it's in a cave;how?

Meanwhile before the Hatter awake: Scarecrow woke up on top of hatter's laps in pure pain; he look down at himself than jolt away from Hatter, looking around for something to cover with and saw the curtain then rip them off the window.

While rapping the curtain around around himself, he see: a tail,hare feets and some orange feathers on the floor;than he felt something off on his head and feeled his ears but there felt feathers instead.

"What'z happen to me?" Scarecrow ask to himself "did I do something to Hats?" while looking at him: he has bruises on his neck and ankles,messed up clothes and his face look like he has been crying for hours;he doesn't have his hat on him.

Scarecrow look to the doorway, seeing more feathers and some claw-mark: he walk over to the doorframe and leaned into hallway to; the hallway had claw-marks and dry blood all over it.

But as well hatter's shoeprints going to end of the hall, at end there is a light comming from around corner. Jon walk to the light and saw: Tetch's hat and the flashlight; "huh" Jon spoke "I guess Jervis try to find me".

"Instead he got cha-" "HARE!?! WHERE ARE YOU‽" Jon got cut off by a very sore voice screaming of the Hatter, "oh dear" Scarecrow spoke than pick up hatter's hat then walk to him: Jon poke his head in the room and see; Jervis shakely standing with the sofa-chair leaning to support him stand.

"No. No." Jon said and walk up to Jervis "you're too hurt for standing up" than help him back in the chair "you need to rest": then plump down in the sofa "me as well".

Jon look over to Jervis(who was looking at him) than look out the window *hm?* Jon thought "I thought we're at a forest, not a cave?":"this hotel isn't normal, mabye cursed?" then ask Jervis "what werid night huh?";

"...indeed".

[pb-dot]

Peebs! I’m here from this post you shared from writeblr summerfest! I’ll introduce you to a side character I never talk about, Grandma Risha! You may answer with as many characters you like~

Risha’s quite rough around the edges, but don’t let her raspy temper fool you, as she’s the most compassionate woman you’ll find in the city of Lumeli. Risha owns a once fancy, now run-down cafe that she has gradually converted into a pub/hangout place for the local neglected youth, who she refers to as her "strays". Nobody will go hungry under her roof and she will provide shelter and guidance to anyone who needs a resemblance of family.

She has an unwavering faith in the gods of the old pantheon but her strong feelings on the dubious morality of the institutions drove her away from the local temples.

Speaking of, she gets quite vehement when it comes down to morality and she often clashes with certain members of the main cast when their actions are in conflict with her beliefs.

In spite of her appearance or the way she speaks, she’s actually very well read and will often entertain long conversations with Libra, a much more poised and collected woman who she proudly calls her friend of a lifetime. Their interactions are always a fairly amusing spectacle to watch.

Ooooh I'm sorry I let this one percolate, brain's just been in a State this week. Now, Risha looks like a character that'd certainly interact with many of the Thereafter crew in interesting ways. Michael would probably be intimidated by her vibe and, although he'll vehemently deny this, probably Felipe as well. Alicia could go either way, as a self-declared lone wolf there's every chance she'll take the excuse to not hang around.

Lex, though, Lex would be like white on rice on this old lady. Now Lex isn't exactly a troubled youth any more, but they do appreciate the vibe. Besides, the physics grad is rather slight of build and dresses ambiguously both as it pertains to age, gender and overall vibe, so there's little doubt she could find a place among the restless youth.

It's not only that though. I firmly believe that Lex would be equally fascinated by both Risha's faith and her apostasy. Lex is about as agnostic as you get, but they always conceded that a reality that also houses parallel universes, immortal mages, bird people and disco music might hide secrets they are not privy to. Regardless of where they place themselves on the religious spectrum, one thing is for damn sure, Lex can not abide hypocrites and yes-men, and so an outspoken apostate like Risha would fascinate them to no end.

On a similar note, Eltern would probably be interested in Risha, both on account of her outspoken nature and strong morals. Unfortunately, I get the distinct impression that Eltern is entirely too hierarchical in how he understands knowledge and authority to become too close of friends with Risha. She probably would not go along with Deepspeaker Lia at all, but Lia goes well along with very few not of her flock, and will probably settle on "begrudging respect" if they were to come to (hopefully non-violent) blows. Leowin is a coin toss, as whatever governs the winds of his mind is influenced by any number of butterflies, but he would surely resist any effort on Risha's part of feeding him any "proper" food.

[vegalume]

Vendredi

Halloween 2023

By Vega-Lume

Duo's friends are vanishing, and no one else notices or even remembers. Only Heero believes him and together they try to discover what is happening.

read on AO3 HERE

Friday the 29th

“Hey guys,” Duo calls out as he joins his friends for lunch. He looks around noticing they’re one man short he asks, “Where’s Wufei?”

“Who?” Quatre asks, not looking up from his menu.

“You know, Wufei. Black hair, dark eyes, dating Zechs’ sister.”

“I’ve never met Relena’s boyfriend.”

“What?” Duo asked, turning to Heero. “We’ve known the man for a decade!” 

“I don’t know who you’re talking about. I’m sorry.”

Duo let out an exasperated sigh. Determined to believe they were playing a joke on him, Duo lets it go.

All night he thinks about the way the guys were at lunch. There was something off about it, more than just a joke. Whatever it was though, he couldn’t figure it out.

He stops at Wufei’s office Monday morning, only to find that it’s someone else's office. Looking like it had never been his friend's office at all.

“Hullo Agent Maxwell,” the woman in the office greets like she knows him, but Duo had never seen her bore in his life. “Anything I can help you with?”

“Um, no. Sorry to bother you.”

She simply frowns and turns back to her computer.

He turns away and walks right into Sally.

“You alright there, Duo?”

“Sal, where’s Wufei?”

“Who?” she asks.

“Not you too!” Duo snaps, “Seriously, this isn’t funny anymore.”

“Duo, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Last Thursday at 5pm, one of my best friends was in that office getting ready to leave for the night. Friday morning no one, including you, who used to date him, even believes that he existed! I have over a decade of memories of this man and it’s like he’s been deleted out of everyone else’s minds.”

There’s a look of concern on her face but she doesn’t say anything.

“At first I thought the guys were playing a joke on me, but now she- whoever she is, is in his office and you claim not to know him either. What the fuck is going on here?”

“She… Eliza has always been here, Duo,”  Sally said gently. “That’s always been her office. Did you really not know her name?”

“Don’t even know her fucking face,” Duo snapped and Sally grabbed his arm, leading him towards her office.

She had him sit while she did a quick examination. She asked if he had hit his head recently or was experiencing headaches or blurry vision.

She poked and prodded., and apparently he passed for now, because she let him leave with a small frown on her face and instructions to get some sleep.

He ignored her and went to his office. Heero was there, of course, already hard at work.

“You’re late,” Heero commented, not looking up from the file on his desk.

“I was talking to Sally,” he replied as he picked up the phone and started dialing a number. “She said I need to get more sleep.”

Heero’s eyes met his for a second, and then went back to the file.

The call connected.

“Casper’s Deli, this is Marla speaking. How may I help you?”

“Oh, sorry. Must have dialed the wrong number.” Duo hung up and dialed again.

“Casper’s Deli, this is Marla speaking. How may I help you?” the same woman answered again. Duo hung up again.

“‘Ro, did Relena change her number again?”

“Who?”

Duo felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on him.

“N- Never mind,” he stammered. “It isn’t important.”

He took several deep breaths, his hands clenched in fists in his lap so Heero wouldn’t see them shaking.

“I need to talk to Zechs for a moment.”

Heero nodded and Duo fled.

He hid in the bathroom for a good half an hour before seeking out Zechs.

“I need to talk to your sister,” he said without a greeting.

“Funny,” Zechs scoffed. “You’ll have to try better, Maxwell. Everyone knows I don’t have any siblings.”

Duo nearly ran back to his office and pulled up the search engine on his computer and entered Relena’s name. Nothing. Not a single searchable public record of her existed.

He then searched for the Gundam pilots.

Here he found loads of hits, but only for four. Just four.

“I’m going home, ‘Ro. I just- I can’t be here today.”

This time Heero actually looked up at him.

“Are you ok, Duo? You look pale.”

He let out a near hysterical laugh, “to be honest I think I’m going mad. Fuck.”

“Tell me,” Heero said as he came around the desk and crouched beside him. “Help me understand.”

Duo let out a shuddering breath.

“Remember on Friday I asked where Wufei was?” Heero nodded. “Well, Wufei is, was, one of us. A Gundam pilot. Only now he’s gone and no one remembers him but me.”

Heero frowned and settled back to sit on his heels. “And Relena,” he asked.

“Now I can’t find her either. Gods ‘Ro, she’s your best friend and you didn’t know her. She’s Zechs’ sister and-”

“Zechs doesn’t have any siblings,” Harry replied, sounding confused.

“That’s exactly what he told me! And I Googled her and there’s nothing. She was a fucking Queen for God’s sake and she’s just gone. And Fei, there’s nothing on him either, just news on the four of us, but he was our fifth. My best friend and he’s gone.”

Heero rose up and pulled Duo into a hug.

“What if you’re next,” he whispered. “Or Kat?”

“I can remember them, so they should be fine. Right?” Heero asked.

“I guess,” Duo replied. “But you remembered Relena last Friday and she’s gone now.”

“We’ll call them,” Heero said as he got to his feet. He picked up Duo’s phone and called Trowa first. Cathay answered and chatted for a few minutes while they waited for Trowa to come to the phone.

They only spoke a short while as Trowa was working, but it was enough to put Duo’s mind at ease, at least for a while.

They called Quatre next and he answered right away. Again he was fine but busy and only able to talk for a short while.

“Feel better?” Heero asked gently.

“For now, yeah,” he replied.

“I’ll stay with you,” Heero assured him. “Until we figure something out.”

“Thanks, ‘Ro.”

Friday the 6th

Duo had been twitching at every sound for days, expecting someone else to just pop out of existence, and now he and Heero, who hadn’t left his side since Monday, stood looking down at their usual table, only it was smaller and Trowa wasn’t there.

Duo’s vision almost blackened as he felt faint at the idea that Trowa was the next.

“Duo?” Heero asked. “Is it another one?”

Duo nodded. “Trowa.”

Heero frowned and looked back at Quatre who seemed confused.

“Do you remember Cathy?” Duo asked quietly.

Heero shook his head, paused and opened his mouth, his expression looking pained.

“I don’t understand.”

“What’s going on?” Quatre asked, but Heero and Duo’s focus was on each other at the moment.

“We called her last week, do you remember that?”

“Yes, and she gave the phone to someone else.”

“Yes! That was Trowa, only he isn’t… here now.” Duo finished quietly.

“How?”

“I don’t know, but that’s what happened to Wufei and Relena last week. We need to call Cathy and see if she’s still there and if she remembers him.”

They turned to leave the cafe but Quatre jumped up and followed them. “What’s going on?” He demanded.

“We’ll explain at the office.”

They told Quatre everything, but it was clear he didn’t believe a word Duo was saying and mildly scolded Heero for going along with the joke.

“I’m going home,” he announced an hour later finally fed up with the joke,

Duo begged him to stay, but Kat was having none of it and Duo had the sinking feeling that as his friend walked away, this would be the last time he saw him.

“What do we do now?” He asked Heero.

“We try calling Cathy.”

“Ok,” Duo agreed.

She answered, only she didn’t know him this time, Heero, or Trowa and scolded him for the prank call before hanging up.

Duo rubbed his eyes hard. 

“Last week Wufei was gone by lunchtime, and everyone still remembered Relena then, but by Monday I was the only one who still did.”

“So someone else could vanish this weekend.” Heero stated.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Duo replied.

“We’ll call Cathy again on Monday and if she answers then we’ll know she’s safe.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll stay with you the entire time, just like I have been.” Heero assured him.

“Thank you, ‘Ro. Not only for staying, but believing me as well.”

“There really is something going on, I can feel it too. I knew someone was missing today, I just didn’t know who.”

“I wish there was another person who believed us.”

“Who haven’t you talked to yet?”

“Only Une, but with the way Sally acted I’m afraid of what she’ll do. Maybe have me locked up for being insane.”

“You’re not crazy,” Heero replied. “I really do see it too.”

“Mass hysteria?”

Heero chuckled. “I don’t think two count as a ‘mass’.

“Let’s go home, I can’t stand being here today.”

They spent the weekend constantly in each other’s company.

It was hard to sleep. Duo woke after just minutes and confirmed that his death grip on Heero’s hand was indeed still on Heero’s hand. If he was hurting the other man, he never did say, and was still at Duo’s side every time he woke.

By Monday morning they both looked terrible but they went into work and called Cathy first thing.

She answered. Duo hung up and nearly sobbed.

“We should walk around,” Heero said gently. “See if anyone else is missing.”

That looked like the absolute last thing Duo wanted to do, but he agreed and they walked through HQ. Everyone and everything seemed as it should be, and the more they found right the worse Duo felt, because he knew. 

He knew.

Heero followed silently as they walked back to the office.

Duo sat at his computer and entered a name.

No results.

No Quatre. 

He buried his face in his hands and sobbed.

Heero crouched beside him and looked up and read the name in the search bar.

“Wait, I remember him, I think.” his forehead wrinkled in thought. “He had sisters?” he finished hesitantly. “We could call.”

“I can’t,” Duo whispered. “I can’t call and have him not be there, for his sisters to confirm over and over that he no longer exists.”

“We need to go to Une; we have to convince her somehow.”

They walk to her office and see someone else's name on the door.

“It can’t be,” Heero said. “I remember her. I know she should be here.”

“Hello boys,” Sally says as she walks by.

“Where’s Une!” Duo demands, rounding on her and stopping in her path.

“Une?”

“Yes,” Heero says, coming to stand by Duo. “The director.”

“Conrad?”

“No, not whoever that is. Une, Anne Une. You’ve known her since the war!”

“Duo, I really don’t-”

She didn’t finish as Duo grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

“Yuy,” she snapped, jerking herself out of Duo grip. “Get him out of here, now. Before I put in a recommendation for termination of his employment.”

Heero slung an arm around Duo and led him away.

“Fuck, ‘Ro. Fuck. Fuck!” he kicked his wastebasket, sending it rocketing across the office. He dropped to the floor with his back to his desk. “Why me? Why is it me that can remember them and no one else?”

“I remember Une,” Heero replied, sitting down beside him. “And Quatre. A little of him anyway. It’s more of an impression than an actual memory.”

“It was two last week, and three this week. There’s only the two of us left… What do we do?”

“We search the classified records and go to their homes if we must. There has to be something we’re missing.”

Duo slumped sideways and rested his head on Heero’s shoulder. “Gods, I miss them so much.”

Though Sally had told them to leave, they holed up in the office for days searching through the classified records of the HQ, old OZ files, any place that would, should have something on the Gundam pilots.

Absolutely nothing on anyone other than 01 and 02.

No military records on Une.

No birth or monarchy records for Relena.

No proof at all that Wufei, Trowa or Quatre ever existed.

They spend the rest of the week talking to others who might remember. Noin. Hilde. Other past war time contacts.

No one remembers or believes them.

They visit their homes finding other people living there, their parking spaces with different names on them.

Winner Industries was now run by Quatre’s father, who was somehow now alive again.

Dejected, they go back to Duo’s apartment and wait.

It was Thursday night.

Friday the 13th

Heero and Duo were silent as they sat on the bed, clinging to each other in fear. 

It was Friday now, though only an hour past midnight.

“I’m so scared,” Duo whispered.

He holds Heero’s hands tightly between his, clutching them close to his chest. Afraid to sleep. Afraid to close his eyes too long. 

He feels Heero squeeze back every minute or so.

His eyes slide closed. “Thank you for believing me.”

They blink open again an instant later and he looks down at his hands, no longer clutching Heero’s, but grasping his own as if clasped in prayer.

He closes his eyes again and lets the darkness take him.

Owari

[keeping-up-with-the-sanders]

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