#me: hey maybe we should just chill first i mean you are supposed to be the levelheaded one here

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Full Tech Day One pic today from kiko laureano (denizen of skid row / ensemble) & video (that's four seconds of "ya never know" playing over the static image) from & ft. marcia milgrom dodge (director / choreographer) double captioning "there might be puppets in this musical ;)" & "Well Shake my hand! Come see LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS @guthrietheater featuring @actually_will_roland's hand!"

[idontplaytrack]

I’m not clingy

Janis ‘Imi’ike x fem! reader

Warnings: coarse language, fluff

It’s reader’s birthday. Regina, Janis and Cady pull out all the stops

Read other parts to the series here

“We have been talking about this party for two weeks. How is it that we have no theme yet? It’s already February 15. We have exactly seven days till y/n’s birthday.” Regina groans out of frustration, throwing her head back on the headrest.

“You need to chill.” Janis laughs.

“Easy for you to say.” Regina teased, “She loves everything you do.”

“And what the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Cady squinted at them both. “Guys—”

“How was your Valentine’s Day?” Regina asked with a smirk.

“Since you asked, fucking great.” Janis shrugged, a playful smile plastered on her face.

“This is why you had to soundproof your garage—”

“Will you guys stop that? y/n will be back any minute.” Cady smacked Regina on the arm and shot Janis a glare. “Should I just plan this party alone and let you two get back to talking about your sex lives? Preferably with me out of the room?”

“Sorry, you’re right. We should focus.” Regina leaned forward to grab her laptop, the screen was left on a Google document with barely anything in it.

“So…” Cady began, “Maybe we could settle on a colour at least? She likes what, blue? Baby blue?”

“And olive green.” Janis quips.

“Right, so we could definitely work off of that, get decorations and party supplies in either of those colours.” Cady continues, “As for a theme, how about we don’t have one? Just think about what she likes and have little touches of them all over the place that goes with the colour scheme?”

“Great idea.” Regina agrees.

“Hey, guys.” You walked in, placing your keys in the little bowl on the credenza.

“Hi.” Cady and Regina greet you almost in unison, their focus entirely on your sister’s laptop screen.

“Hey, honey.” Janis smiled, gesturing for you to go over. You do so, kissing her first, “Hi.” You sit down on the armrest of the armchair, Janis squints at you and pulls you into her lap. Regina jokingly rolled her eyes at the gesture.

You knew she’d make a joke, it’s gotten to the point where if she didn’t, it seemed weird.

“You know…” Janis says while squeezing your thigh, “We might have to soundproof the bedroom.”

Air gets caught in your throat at your cheeks go red— that could only mean one thing.

“Stooop.” You groan, looking away from the group of them.

“Not what I’ve been hearing a lot lately, but alright.” Regina teased with a smirk.

Janis snickers, “I’ve been hearing the opposite a lot these days.”

“Fine!” You say while hiding your face in her shoulder, “Soundproof it for all I care. I already tried to keep it down, alright? It’s not like we can’t hear y’all too, you know?”

Cady awkwardly cleared her throat, “Anyway. How was your day?”

“Was going great until y’all had to make me embarrassed about a normal thing.” You sigh dramatically. Janis rubs your back, “We love you.”

“That I know.” You smiled.

Regina quickly snapped her laptop shut, then turned the TV on. You squinted at her for how loud the noise was but shrugged it off once the remote control was handed to you. “You pick what we watch tonight.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, baby.” Regina chuckles, “Whatever you want, but we all know what we’re gonna be watching.”

“So, then you still decided to ask me, why?”

Regina laughs lightly, “Because I wanna do that for fun? It’s fun.”

Cady chuckles, you just went ahead and picked whatever you wanted to watch, not intending to stay in the living room for too long anyway.

“How are you gonna see the TV hugging her like that?” Regina teased.

“I can see it just fine, thank you for asking.” You bit back a laugh. Janis had shifted in the seat so you could see the TV clearly while you literally hugged her like a koala bear. A little too affectionate to do so in this setting, but you could not care less at this point of day. You were getting sleepy and cranky, and just didn’t want to talk much. But, Regina was truly making it hard for you.

“Baby, you are so gay.”

“Oh, look who’s talking.” You poked fun at her right back. “Can you look at her and tell me she’s not attractive?”

“Oh hella attractive.” Janis snorted, laughing, then rubbed your lower back and soothingly. “We need to go back to New York again, don’t we? See if we can run into them filming the show.”

“Oh please let me be there when you finally run into Mariska because I would love to see how that goes down.” Regina continues.

“Tsk.” You tutted, growingly annoyed as you snuggled closer to Janis and kept your eyes peeled on the TV screen.

Janis grabs a decorative cushion and tossed it in Regina’s direction, Cady bursts out laughing. “I told you, you gotta stop making fun of her for things like that right now.” Cady said through the laughter, “She’s clearly tired and you’re making her all worked up.”

“Oh look who’s all motherly all of a sudden.” Regina switched her targets, you let out a little chuckle at that.

“Maybe a nap would be better for you.” Janis says, looking at you briefly.

“Can I just finish this episode?”

“Are you just saying that because you want to fall asleep on me?” Janis grinned cheekily.

“Maybe.” You hummed.

Eventually, you did finish watching one episode of the show like you said you would. “I’m gonna crash.” You muttered, climbing off of Janis. Well, you tried, but she didn’t want to let you go. “Jan.” You narrowed your eyes at her.

“What? You’re comfy, no?” She asks, batting her eyes.

“I am, but I wanna lie down for a bit.” You admitted.

She lets you go after kissing you on the cheek, “You want me to come with?”

“It’s okay, you can don’t have to if you wanna watch TV.”

“Okay, baby.”

You gave her a kiss on the cheek in return and retreated to your shared bedroom.

————

You woke up later that night to the smell of dinner— pasta, to be specific. You went to the bathroom then headed outside to see three of them laying the table. “Hope you had a nice nap.” Regina notices you were awake.

“It was pretty good.” You shrug, walking into the kitchen.

“Hi, honey.” Janis pulled you closer to herself, smooching you on the cheek.

You grinned, “Hi.”

“Let’s eat.” Regina hums, shrugging her shoulders. “We’re still not done with the planning.”

You glared at your sister. “I told you—”

“I told you, it’s your 16th. We’re definitely gonna do something.” Regina interjected.

“Keep the spending to a minimum.” You insisted.

“Fineeee.” Regina groans, they laugh. You, still being a little groggy from your nap only quietly ate your food while the three of them chattered away. Eventually, you were in the living area watching TV while they remained in the kitchen to plan whatever it was. It didn’t matter to you, whether or not you had a party. A birthday was just another day to you.

Your focus on the TV show gets disrupted when you hear Regina’s phone ring.

“Hello?”

She listens to the other person talk. Her face fell, contorting into one of confusion and shock.

“What? No, no, wait— you’re selling the house. Mom you can’t just say that and hang up! Don’t you think your should’ve discussed that with me? Or y/n?” Regina shrieked, you jumped, slightly startled. “We’re not done talking about this.”

“Just let her sell the house. It’s empty now anyway, most of our things are here already.” You told her flatly.

Regina quirked a brow, not expecting this indifference from you. About your childhood home. But she didn’t press you about it, thinking it was due to your tiredness. Janis and Cady were also looking at you for a second, you could feel their gazes burning holes into your head but you didn’t look back.

You hear Janis say something to them, but you couldn’t hear what. Seconds later, she was right next to you, asking if you wanted to cuddle. “I’m okay.” You told her, confused.

“I know.” She shrugs. “But don’t you want to lay on me?”

You squinted at her incredulously, “are you trying to tell me that I’m clingy?”

“Baby, I did not say that.” She bites back a laugh, brushing the hair out of your face.

“But yes, I want to lay on you.” You continued.

“Clingy.” Regina teased.

“Shut up.” You snapped back. Cady nearly snorted laughing.

“No.” Regina smiled smugly, batting her eyes at you.

“I’m not clingy.” You added on while Janis easily put you on her lap.

“Yeah, so you’re just trying to cop a feel?” Regina joked.

You gasped, “Oh, disgusting.”

“I wouldn’t mind though.” Janis snickered.

“Hey.” Your eyes went wide, and Janis was just more amused by all this.

“Okay, we’re done planning. Tomorrow after school, you’re on your own baby. We’re going out to grab the stuff we need.” Regina announced.

“That’s fine.” You shrug, refocusing on your rewatch of Full House. It has become one of those shows where you just put on for the sake of some background noise because you already knew the story so well. That didn’t mean it was no longer a good watch.

You watched a handful of episodes to pass time, then was back to bed, this time with Janis. “Brush your teeth.” She chuckles over her words.

You sulked playfully.

“Baby.” She was holding onto your toothbrush, and you were anticipating that she would toss it to you just to get you moving. It worked, wasn’t the first time after all. “Good girl.”

You damn near choked on air hearing her say that, narrowing your eyes at her. She only smiles back.

At 3pm the next day, school let out and as planned, you were making your own way home. Well, that’s what you thought. Your Mom pulled up in front of you out of nowhere, scaring you. “Get in.”

“Why?”

“I need to talk to you, please?”

You thought about it for a second, nodded and opened the front passenger door then got in. “It’s about the house. Would you want to go back and take a look?”

“Rather not.” You replied quickly.

“Are you okay with me selling it?” She asked.

“Yes.” You told her simply, still staring out the window.

“Why?” Your mom asks, “In all seriousness, I want to know.”

“Well…” You began, “Uh, a lot of the bad stuff with Dad happened at the house and it honestly triggers a lot of negative emotions and thoughts. So doing without it would be best, for me.”

“I hear you.” She nods, continuing to drive, “Have you had lunch at all?”

“Why?” You spoke without much thought, chewing on the inside of your cheek.

“Because we need to eat. I know you’re not particularly fond of school food, but you can’t go hungry.”

You were quiet for bit before mumbling, “Okay.”

“Let’s go grab a bite, alright?”

Burgers and fries. That’s what you both got for lunch. The place was rather quiet, which wasn’t anything unusual. Not many came by here on weekdays since it wasn’t in a very convenient location. You knew she only took you here because you and Regina loved this place back then. And surprise, the place hadn’t been updated in years so you were hit with nostalgia almost instantly.

“How are things?” June asked hesitantly. You haven’t exactly been the nicest person towards her after all that took place.

“Better.” You swallowed thickly.

June nods, “That’s really good to know. I’m working through some things myself and I want you to know that I’m trying my best to be better.”

“I can tell.” You admitted, “You wouldn’t have taken me out to eat if it was a few months ago.”

A smile tugs at the corners of her lips. “Just so you know, he eventually admitted to me what he did.”

“It wasn’t to me.” You stopped chewing your food for a moment.

“I know that now, but he still said things that made you uncomfortable and unsafe in your own home. That was fucked up, and I’m so sorry, baby—”

Your phone rang, interrupting her.

“Need to take this, excuse me.” You pick up your phone from the table and tapped the answer button.

“Jan, hey.”

“Are you home yet?”

“Not yet, no.” You told her, “Um, mom picked me up. We’re getting lunch.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t too shocked by that, “All good? Do you need any of us to—”

“All good, I’ll see you guys later.” You answered.

“Great.” She smiled, “See you, honey.”

You did have one question you have been dying to ask her. Though a little scared, you still decided that now would be the best time to ask.

“Would you want to come to my birthday party?” You asked.

“I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”

————

Cady and Regina were practically dying of laughter after seeing Janis’ post on Instagram. It was rare sight— especially from Regina.

“You want the place to yourselves tonight or no?” Regina asks.

“Shh!” You exclaimed, “Hi, Mom.”

The entire gang stopped chatting and just turned around to look at the said guest. “Hi, y/n.” She walked up to you and gave you a hug. Regina almost passed out witnessing that. Look, she knew that June was coming here but she wouldn’t have expected this hug. Frankly, neither were you.

After a couple of minutes, the buzz settled down. The party went on without a hitch, until after the meal when June was taken aside by Regina to talk. You shared a worried look with Janis, “Everything is fine, I promise you. She just wants to talk about the house.”

“Okay.” You said, putting down your plate that still had some cake left.

Janis puts her arm around you to comfort you, planting a kiss to your cheek, “Breathe, baby. They’re fine.”

“I know now, I just haven’t been around to see that spending time alone together.” You revealed, resting your head on her shoulder. “Okay, maybe Regina’s right. I am clingy.”

Janis giggles, “Cling onto me all you want. Even if you do it at school, I’m all for it, honey.”

“Don’t tempt me.” You joked.

“Is it working?” Janis gasps dramatically.

“…yes.” You sigh quietly.

“Clingy.” Regina walked by at that exact second, squeezing your shoulder and making you yelp.

“I love it.” Janis retorted.

“Of course you do.” Damian mocked.

“Shut it, Damian.” Janis snarked, “I know you and Avery are inseparable too.”

You chortled, hiding your face in Janis’ neck before either of them caught it.

“Alrighty then. Can’t argue with that.” Damian sat down next to Janis, “Happy birthday, y/n.”

🏷️Tag list:

@ashecampos @auliisflower @cheesysoup-arlo @frogs00 @ludoesartandstuff @pda128

💭A/N:

Took me longer than I’d like to finish this part…🥴

[miniscule-meow]

Charlie and Felix: Phone Calls

Masterpost Wordcount: ~2k Warnings: lots of swears? First Part | Last Part | Next Part

---

Sitting in her dorm room, she sighs, staring absentmindedly at the ceiling. She is supposed to be focusing on her biology homework, but she keeps replaying her conversation with Felix in her head. So, he transferred from Rosehill University. That’s, like, The number one Supers college. Her brothers all go there. Or, went there. Her two oldest brothers, Elias, and Asher, have both already graduated. Mars is a senior now, and Jeremey, her twin, is a junior. Considering Felix is a junior as well, Jeremy and Mars might have had some classes with him. She pulls out her phone and texts Jeremy.

“Hey. Do you know Felix Westwell?”

“Ya. That guy is a jerk.”

Her brother’s response comes. Shortly after, her phone buzzes again, he adds,

“He got like, expelled lmao”

She replies,

“Nah, he just transferred to Bayshear.”

“??? WTF! Dude that’s crazy. Stay away from him. He’s bad news Frfr”

“We have a class together. He seems… nice enough.”

After that message, she immediately gets a phone call.

“Hello—” she starts to answer, but she’s immediately cut off.

“Char, I am so serious. You do not want to mess with that guy,” Jeremy’s loud voice announces as soon as she picks up the phone.

“Okay. Uh, cool. I just wanted to see if you knew him. I’ve had like, a couple of run-ins with him and he—”

“What kind of ‘run-ins’? What does that mean?” He cuts her off again, she rolls her eyes.

“I mean, we have a class together. We did a group project, calm down. Aside from that we’ve had like, one conversation,” she can already tell that she does not want to tell him out about her conversation with Felix yesterday. “He mentioned he transferred from Rosehill. I didn’t ask him about you though, he didn’t really want to talk about school.”

“Yeah, no shit!” Jeremy barks a laugh, “He got his ass expelled.”

“So, you weren’t like friends or anything then," she states.

“Friends,” Jeremy scoffs, “Yeah, for a while until he decided to go off the fucking deep end. Did you know he put Mars in the school infirmary for a month? He never apologized for that."

“Wait- that was because of him?” she asks, her heart sinking. She remembers that happening. It was late last year. Mars ended up being fine, thanks to the healers, but it was a really scary time. Apparently, that’s just sort of the nature of the school. When you’re strong enough, it’s common that other students will try to challenge that.

“Yeah man, he’s fuckin’ volatile.” Jeremy confirms.

Involuntarily, her heart begins pounding. Her mind drifts back to yesterday. Felix’s ability is no joke, she can definitely see that. But it’s crazy to think that the hands that held her yesterday were the same ones that nearly crushed her brother. Not that Felix was particularly gentle with her, not that she’s surprised he’s capable of it. It’s just that she didn’t truly consider how much danger she was in, until now.

“I guess. He definitely seems to have a short temper," she muses.

“To say the least,” Jeremy says with a huff, “It’s starting to sound like you’ve maybe had more than just a couple run-ins, Char. Spill it.”

“You’re going to freak out," she winces.

“I mean, now that you've said that, yeah, I want to freak out. The more you keep stalling, the worse I'm imagining.”

“Promise me that you’ll be chill," she asserts.

“Char,” he sighs.

“Promise!”

“Fine, whatever. I promise I’m going to be so chill about whatever horrible thing you’re about to tell me," she can hear the eye-roll in his voice.

“Okay so like, he was getting picked on for being a super—”

“Which he deserves,” Jeremey interrupts immediately, she should have put money on that happening. “He like, embodies all the reasons mundanes hate supers.”

“Germ, it was like, really problematic, okay? And besides, the guys messing with him didn’t know he was a super for sure. Anyway,” she begins, before her brother can cut her off again. “He ran off into the woods and I sort of followed him.”

“Charlotte,” he sounds disappointed, “you can’t just follow people into the woods.”

“I want to point out that I didn’t know he was a super at this point.”

“Uh, that’s,” he cuts himself off with an incredulous noise. “That’s so beside the point? Super or not, you shouldn’t just follow people into the woods, period.”

“So anyway,” she says, getting them back on track, “I wanted to check on him, and he showed me his ability. We talked for a while, it wasn’t a big deal," she tried to gloss over her explanation of the events.

“Wait, wait, wait. Run that by me again. He showed you his ability?” He asks, she can already hear the freakout that’s about to happen.

“You said you’d be cool about it!” She reminds him.

“I—” He takes an audibly deep breath, “by ‘showed you his ability’ do you mean that he used it against you?” His voice has a faux sense of calm to it.

“I don’t know that I would describe it like that.”

“Did he touch you, yes or no?” He asks, his voice trembling with a rage she can hear even through the phone.

“It’s not a big deal, Germ," she says, trying to smooth this over.

“Yes or no, Charlotte I’m being so for real right now.”

“Alright, so like only a little bit," she admits, "but I'm really fine. I’m really super fine, I promise—”

“Oh my god!” he explodes. “If I see him again, it is on fuckin’ sight.”

“No! No J, it is not ‘on sight’ do you even hear yourself!”

“Do you hear yourself?” He returns immediately. “Listen, Mars is strong as hell. Did you not hear the part where I said that Felix put him in the infirmary for a month. That’s four weeks with advanced healers, dude.”

“Alright, I get it—”

“What, Jeremy. You’re not here to protect me?” She can feel herself flash with a hot spark of anger, “Just because I don’t have powers, doesn’t mean that I’m completely helpless!”

“Do you? Seriously? Like, all of his ribs were broken. He literally almost died, and he's fucking Mars. You're you! You should not be putting yourself in these situations! You’re not invincible, Charlotte! I mean, you’re out there all by yourself, you can’t just—I mean, I’m not there, Mars isn’t there, like,” he heaves a frustrated sigh.

“Stop. That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it,” he counters. “I’m saying, the whole point of you going to a mundane school was so you could just be around some normal people for once! But, Of course, you go and find the one super in the whole school. Of course, the one super at your school would be the most dangerous guy I know. Fucking great. I swear, it’s like you look at danger and just think Yeah, that looks friend-shaped, why not!”

“Whatever, Jeremy. Felix and I aren’t even friends! I told you we just had like, one conversation. He was sort of a jerk anyway. I—” she huffs, “look, I’ve got a lot of homework to take care of. I’ll talk to you later.”

She hangs up quickly, tossing her phone aside with a frustrated swear.

Jeremy has always been super protective of her. She understands where he’s coming from, and she can’t say that he’s wrong. But still. It’s so frustrating to hear him say it. Yes, she should be more careful. Yes, he’s not here to protect her. Yes, it’s scary that Felix nearly killed her brother. She didn't know that before.

Maybe she has a worse judge of character than she originally thought.

---

“Mr. Westwell, this has been an enlightening session,” his advisor says as they finish their online check-in. It’s what she always says, and it typically means that he’s done a bad job convincing her that he’s, he doesn’t know, normal? He supposes that's what she's looking for. Whatever it is she’s looking to get from him, it would seem as though he hasn’t been able to provide that just yet.

Even when he comes in, trying to answer the questions the way she wants them to be answered, he’s always met with a ‘this has been enlightening.’ She'll take her report back to the school, and he'll be stuck at this shitty mundane college. Theoretically, if he's on his best behavior, eventually Rosehill will accept him back. He doesn't think that's really going to happen.

“One more thing before I leave you, have you made any friends at Bayshear?” She asks.

“With any of the mundanes?” He scoffs, “I hardly see how that’s relevant.”

“Hm,” she says, obviously disappointed. She tilts her head, making a note of that response.

“Well, alright. I’ve made one friend, if it’s that important,” he covers quickly, crossing his arms with a huff. The coordinator pauses. The picture of her on his screen looks up at him over the rim of her glasses.

Great now he needs to think of a believable lie. Or, actually, wait. Maybe it doesn’t need to be a lie. It certainly won’t be the entire truth, but he might actually have something here.

“I met this girl. Her name is Charlotte. I don’t, uh, I don’t know her last name. She’s in one of my gen-ed classes, we were partners on a project.”

“Alright,” the coordinator does not sound terribly impressed. Now that he's heard himself say it out loud, he isn't really impressed either. Felix runs the mental math, trying to figure out if telling her what really happened would be better or worse for his record. She had asked him the story behind his black eye earlier, and he completely fielded the question, changing the subject entirely. Maybe he can actually spin this one though. It's worth a shot.

“Okay, fine. Do you want the story about my eye?” He says, gesturing to his still swollen face, The coordinator takes of her glasses, listening with a raised brow. “I’m not changing the subject, it kind of all goes together,” he sighs. “So these guys were being really obnoxious, and I know you probably won't believe me, but they actually started a fight with me. I swear I was actually trying to de-escalate and everything. But, I mean, long story short,” he gestures again to his face. “Maybe you should put in your notes that I lost a fight to a couple mundanes on purpose. If they were supers that would not have happened. But,” he raises his hands, digressing.

"I went out to the woods nearby to blow off some steam and Charlie- uh, Charlotte, the girl from my class, she followed me. I was like, ‘hey you need to leave,’ because I was going to use my ability, and I obviously didn’t want her there for that. Because I'm actually really trying to be on my best behavior and not traumatize the random mundanes here. But, she is the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, so did she leave? Of course not. So, I grew, but she didn’t freak out. She was really normal about it. Uh, we," he decides to respectfully omit all the middle parts of the story, "we just, ended up talking. Apparently her brothers go to Rosehill? I don’t know. She also said she wouldn’t tell anyone about my abilities because the mundanes are weird about that sort of thing here. And, anyway. I don’t know. That’s probably a lot of nothing. It’s a new development. But yeah, we’re totally friends. Check.”

“Felix, that is…” enlightening. Yeah, whatever. He predicts her next words, but he's surprised when she says instead, “that is really some great progress. I’m happy to hear that,” she says. He looks up. “I hope to hear more about Charlotte next time, she sounds like she could be a good influence for you.”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah for sure,” he says, and with that the videocall ends. This is great news for him. Charlie is such a social butterfly. And so far, he hasn’t really been able to get her to leave him alone.

Maybe he’ll make a friend after all.

[dream-phantasm]

Leona Kingscholar x Reader: Love Letters (4)

Ruggie's real introduction and Cater shows up! ^^ Hope you enjoy! No spoilers or warnings for now but this might change in future installments :)

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 [!] | PART 5 | PART 6 | END

It's only after third period that you remember it's Valentines day once again. After everything had occurred, the letter and gift had totally slipped your mind. At your desk, you find a handful of dandelions with a note tied to it. 

As an apology and because he forced me too, hehe.

Suddenly, it all makes sense. "That guy from earlier! He must've sent these to distract us and pre-planned to steal the sandwiches from us!" You blurt out. "What?" Deuce looks confused. "Yeah, what?" Ace raises an eyebrow. 

"Henchman, I think you're being stupid dazo." Grim shrugs. "I'm not! Look, it totally makes sense! Everything goes wrong and then I get flowers and a card apologizing!" You explain quickly. 

"Yeah, but there's no way that guy could've guessed we would get the sandwiches unless…" Deuce stops, lowering his voice to a whisper, "Unless he was eavesdropping."

"You think he's stalking us? That's how he knew where I sat and everything!" You excitedly whisper. It was the exhilaration of figuring something out. "But why target you specifically? I mean, you really don't have a lot going for you." Ace stares you up and down. You roll your eyes. "That's exactly it. I'm the magicless one here. I can't do anything to retaliate." You grumble, you've long come to terms with your position here. 

You weren't going to lay down and just take it though. A chill goes up your spine.

You whip your head toward the classroom window. There's nobody…nothing there. "Fygaa! Di-Did'ya see something there dazo!?" Grim yelps upon seeing you suddenly turn. Deuce cautiously approaches the window and looks out. 

"Um, there's nobody out here…"

Ace peeks his head out, "Hey, if there's somebody there, you better not be stalking the prefect! They're really dull and boring and it's not gonna be fun for you!"

"Hey!"

You go back to pick up the dandelions. What a strange choice of flowers. They didn't particularly strike you as romantic flowers but you guess there was that myth of blowing on dandelions to make wishes. 

"Ah, wait…" Your eyes widen as you spot another letter nestled within the dandelions. "Oh, what is it?" Deuce looks over your shoulder. "Another threat dazo!" Grim exclaims.

As you unfold it, you realize it's way longer than the first one that had simply two words. 

Good day, You're so annoying. 

"What a great starter." Ace snorts. "Shut up, I'm trying to read." Deuce hushes him with a glare as he urges you to continue. 

"Wait, you can read?"

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

You ignore them as all three of them get into an argument behind you. Your eyes are locked onto the words.

Traditions suggest that I'm supposed to be sending romantic gestures on February the 14th. If you knew who I was, I doubt you'd want to reciprocate anything. I don't care if you reciprocate or don't. 

I know I'll never be the one you love most, and that's fine. It'd be ridiculous of me to assume that. Spending time with you is enough for me to deal with. I really dislike you for making me put in this much effort right now. I don't like the way you speak and laugh, it makes me feel irritated. 

I get this feeling in my chest and I'm really hoping it's heart arrhythmia or a heart attack. It's only whenever I'm around you, you really are too dangerous to be around. 

You let out a little laugh at this. You've gained your first substantial clue. You must've talked to them before. Maybe that's why you had a sense that you had met that beastman before. 

Besides that, you should actually be careful. That weirdo probably caught wind of this and is probably watching you. 

Now this makes you concerned. You had been feeling watched the whole time but every time you checked, there was nothing. 

Seriously, why was this Valentines shaping up to be a horror instead of something romantic? 

I'm not apologizing for putting you on his radar. You probably already had his interest since you're so bizarre. It's your fault for catching my attention, of all people, anyway. 

You scoff. You didn't ask to get stalked. Why were guys at Night Raven College like this? 

Yours Truly,

That's where it ends. No signature, no name. Nothing to really identify who had sent this. 

That beastman from earlier didn't seem like a person who would write like this, but you couldn't tell from one (possibly two) encounters. 

Maybe you should just catch that beastman and ask him yourself. Yes, that's it!

"Let's catch that food thief." You declare. They all turn to you. 

"What?"

"Nyahaha! Let's make him pay dazo!" 

"Uh, but how do we do that…?" Deuce rightfully asks. You blink. "Uh, we can start by asking around." You suggest. "Honestly, this sounds like such a stupid idea." Ace scoffs. 

"But I'm in." He smirks. 

-

Cater was scrolling through his phone, on his way to his next class, when you and Grim jumped in front of him. 

"Cater!" 

"Whoa!" He laughs, seemingly out of shock. 

Behind him, Ace and Deuce spring out. Cater turns around with a smile on his face. 

"It's nice to see you guys again. How has your Valentines day been?" Cater waves casually. "This is fine. Everything's fine." You send him a shaky thumbs-up. "Uhh, what's up? You okay? You having love troubles or something, hm?" He teasingly asks. 

"Yeah…" You mutter, you're not focused on the current conversation.

 

"But that's not the big issue! Some furry stole our food dazo!"

Cater chokes. "D-Don't say that, Gri! You're totally going to get cancelled for that…the term is beastmen." He quickly splutters, looking around sheepishly. "Yeah, yeah." Ace rolls his eyes. 

"Uh, Cater, we actually came to ask you for your help since you know a lot of people." Deuce speaks up, reminding you all the reason you had surrounded him in the first place. "Oh? My little underclassmen are coming to me for help! Don't worry, you can rely on your super dependable Cay!" He practically squeals. 

"Agh, now you've made it weird. We should go ask Trey, c'mon." Ace groans, looking embarrassed. "No way! Come on, just ask me. I can help out!" Cater insists with a pout. You wonder if this is a ploy by Ace to get Cater to agree to helping because it seems like it's working. 

"Henchman? Yoohoo. Are ya there dazo?" Grim must've hopped onto your shoulders while you were distracted. "Is that the guy you're looking for?" Cater asks curiously. He was behind you, trying to follow your line of sight. 

Outside, there's a field. Crouched among them is a familiar head of dark blonde hair and a large pair of fluffy animal ears. "Hm, he looks like second year Ruggie Bucchi from 2-B. From his animal features, you probably already guessed he's in Savanaclaw and you'd be right! I think he's actually a hyena beastman." Cater cheerfully gives you a short description of him.

You run outside. "Fygaa! Henchman, where are you going dazo?!" Grim tumbles off your shoulder, you already know he'll land on his feet. Their shouts grow further as you exit the building.

Their voices grow further as you exit the building. You gasp. 

You run into the field and you gasp. You weren't hallucinating. That was definitely a cute tail! Oh yeah, and that food thief.

You weren't hallucinating. That was definitely a cute tail! Oh yeah, and that food thief.

Ao3: HERE If you see it posted anywhere or by anyone else, it's not me.

[hummingbird-of-light]

In Our Favor

Part 307

McCoy

“So where are we going?” McCoy asked as he followed Scotty out of the dorm. He pulled his jacket tight and closed it. “Are we walking?”

“No, I called us a cab.”

“Oh,” McCoy said, lifting a brow. “So we’re going somewhere further out in the city.”

The prince snuggled in against his husband. Scotty had quietly told the driver a place so McCoy wouldn’t hear, then had settled back into the seat. The night was cold and even the quick walk from the dorm to the cab had chilled McCoy. He was glad for Scotty’s warmth.

A short while later the cab pulled up to the curb.

“We’re here cadets,” the cab driver said. Scotty leaned forward to pay the woman while McCoy got out and stood on the sidewalk. He looked at the restaurant in front of them and smiled.

“Xing’s huh?”

“It was good,” Scotty replied with a hint of coloring climbing his face.

“Yeah it was,” McCoy agreed and grabbed Scotty’s hand. “Come on.”

“How’d you get us this nice table?” McCoy asked with a knowing smirk after he and Scotty were seated. Their previous time in the restaurant they’d gotten nearly the last table and it had been small and near the back.

“Oh ye know,” Scotty grinned.

“You dropped my name didn’t you?” McCoy laughed.

“Maybe, maybe,” Scotty mused. “Though I did take yer name when I married ye, so it’s my name too.”

McCoy laughed again. “Maybe I should drop yours around Aberdeen next time we’re there since I took yours too. Would it get me anything special?”

McCoy glanced up and thanked the waitress as she brought their drinks.

“Oh aye,” Scotty laughed. “Go ahead and name drop a Scott in Scotland, see where that gets ye!”

McCoy grinned back at his husband. The nap they’d taken and the conversation with their families had gone a long way towards making him feel better about the fire in the simulator hall.

“Do you want to do anything special with tomorrow? Or just do like Chris said and get ahead on homework?”

“I dinnae ken,” Scotty said, taking a sip from his wine. “First thing, we can sleep in.”

“You planning on keeping me up late?” McCoy asked slyly.

“I suppose it is ye birthday…” Scotty said, bringing his hand up to stroke his chin in pretend thoughtfulness.

“Do ye want to take a walk love? Or…?”

The pair had taken a cab back to campus after dinner. The meal had been delicious.

“I can think of better things to do,” McCoy whispered hotly into Scotty’s ear. He slid his arm around his husband and pulled him close for a heated kiss.

“No?” Scotty laughed when they broke apart. “No nice after dinner walk?”

McCoy shook his head. “No,” he agreed. “Just you.”

“Hey now mo ghràdh, there’s still presents to open first.” Scotty took McCoy’s hand and began to pull him along.

“Maybe you’re the only present I want right now.” McCoy squeezed Scotty’s hand and got one in return.

“What if someone hears ye?” Scotty admonished him with a smile. “Think of the headlines then.”

“Oh well,” McCoy shrugged. “The whole galaxy already knows how much I love you.”

“True,” Scotty agreed. “But do ye want them getting intimate little sound bites of ye?”

“You like it,” McCoy laughed as he pulled Scotty towards the dorm faster.

Part 308

Scotty

The night with Leonard had been really wonderful, but Scotty was woken very early the next morning by a message on his PADD. The Scotsman rubbed his eyes sleepily and reached for the device to see who wanted something from him at this time of the day.

His stomach turned when he saw that the message was from the admirals. They told Scotty and Aporal to join them immediately after breakfast.

"Oh nae..." Scotty breathed and he noticed Leonard stirring next to him and moaning softly.

"Leannan?"

It was only when his husband addressed him that Scotty looked to him. An apologetic look was on his face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake ye, mo ghràdh."

But Leonard just shook his head and sat up.

"What's the matter? You look worried," he mumbled, tilting his head to one side questioningly.

Scotty sighed heavily as he held his PADD over for Leonard to read the message.

"Oh my — they can't be serious! By what right?" The prince seemed more annoyed than concerned.

"It... it won't be that bad. After all, I have Aporal by my side." Even though Scotty tried to sound confident, he couldn't deny that he was a little afraid of the conversation.

"I'll come along too. If these admirals think they can punish the two of you for something anyone else would have done, too, they're wrong."

Scotty shook his head slowly.

"Nae, mo ghràdh, ye're going to rest today. If ye come along, ye won't be able to keep yer temper under control and that's certainly not good for yer body."

Leonard gave a reluctant grunt, but it was no use. Scotty would not give in.

Breakfast was a quick affair. There weren't too many of their friends up yet. Even though Scotty had promised Leonard the evening before that they would be able to sleep in, he hadn't been able to keep it.

"You sure I shouldn't come with you?" Leonard squeezed Scotty's hands tightly when they left the dining hall and the Scotsman nodded.

"Aye, I am."

"Don't worry, Prince," Aporal said, clapping Leonard's shoulder. "I'll take care of your lover."

Leonard sighed and gave the Andorian a glance.

"I'll take your word for it."

Aporal seemed much more composed than Scotty as the two cadets entered the room they had been ordered to. His face looked relaxed and he kept his posture straight.

"Cadet Scott-McCoy, Cadet Tallister. Good morning."

A tall gentleman greeted the boys with a stern expression on his face. Two other admirals sat next to him. And one of them in particular made Scotty tap his feet uneasily.

Admiral Kinnear.

Why did it have to be Admiral Kinnear of all people? The man would do anything to get both Scotty and Aporal kicked out of the Academy.

"Good morning, Admirals, you wanted to see us," Aporal replied with a polite nod and Scotty followed his example. He tried his best not to flinch under the glare of Kinnear.

Just how would this talk go?

[cbsghostsmetasandtrevor]

CBS Ghosts - Hello! - Sam & the Doctor

Warning spoilers may appear.

Okay.  How is it possible that Sam walked into her doctor’s office - the doctor that she SHOULD HAVE ALREADY MET - and just talk it all out and not notice that it’s NOT HER DOCTOR.

Or Maybe she was expecting to meet a new doctor? Is it possible that she didn't even know the doctor's name? Is she that stressed?

This is so interesting!  So this Ghost Doctor - first off, died at a Hospital, but more importantly, he has COME ACROSS someone ELSE that has seen ghosts before!  

He tells Sam what he thinks is the reason that Sam can see Ghosts is because she was so close to death that she is connected to death.  

It’s very interesting - knowing that children can sometimes see ghosts, I wonder if it’s possible that if a child sees ghosts and then gets an injury like Sam’s that they’ll be able to knock ability loose and see ghosts?

Not that it matters - I do like the reasoning, BUT in that case (spoilers here: Someone ELSE that literally became a ghost and then became alive again, SHOULD ALSO see ghosts, then).  ALSO, in the pilot BEFORE she passes out, she can see them.  She sees Pete and Trevor looking all worried.  So, at that point, she ‘hadn’t died for three minutes’, so....

Anyway, very interesting that he’s seen it before.  I wish Sam came across others with the ability. This would be a very interesting storyline. One of the guests at the B&B can see ghosts and there's this like game going on of Sam and the guest pretending not to see them and then figuring it out.

Did he even give her a name?  Also, I love how causal he is about this - like “Oh yeah, it’s been about 85 years” as if to make it so that she FINALLY realizes that she’s talking to a ghost.  

I really think that's what he was doing (true or not fact), this was the easiest way to keep her calm and have her realize what she was doing - IE, talking to a ghost.

Side Note - I LOVE that he’s so CHILL about talking to a living about her sudden issues with ghosts that he doesn't appear to have said ‘hey, you’re talking to me therefore, you see ghosts’.  

In fact, I wonder where he would’ve gone from here if the living doctor hadn’t interrupted?

LMAO - “Oh, I suppose you want to see your living doctor now - there she is, I’ll hand you off to her.”

Also, the living doctor walking in and being like ‘so what’s the problem’ and the LOOK on Sam’s face is like FUCK.  

One thing I absolutely love is that if we go with AT LEAST 85+50 years, he probably grew up in Hetty’s time, but unlike Hetty, he doesn’t seem to have ANY issues with a woman as A) a doctor and B) as a job that isn’t ‘raising the children’.  This means, that despite being dead for a very long time, he’s progressed in a way that our ghosts in the mansion HAVEN’T.  

Is it because he’s in a hospital with the changes in technology and medicine?  Is it because he’s witnessed men and women accepting the changes to equals?  Is it because of the access to the livings that he’s had where the others haven’t?  

This may seem trivial, but I think it’s important because we see the same things with our ghosts - having Sam and Jay around introduced them to life in a way that they hadn’t been introduced to it in a long time.  At least by the time that Pete died, it was ‘the old lady that lived alone’ and even though Trevor and his bros came around sometimes - David calls it ‘the country estate’ and doesn’t think anyone’s been there to ‘get into Woodstone’s secret Drug Drawer’ and we know by Hetty’s very strict attitudes as well as Thor’s unchangingness and the way most of them are stuck in their times that life hasn’t been around them. 

We don’t know how long, but it seems that sometime between 1928 (the party Alberta died at) and 1985 (when Pete died) that activity there died.  At which point, there was no room to grow.  

I’ll bring it up later - with regards to certain other ghosts, but I just thought it was SO interesting that he’s so ... progressive compared to our ghosts.  

ANYWAY, I really like him and I wish we got a name or something.  

Side note - totally love that he was so convincing that Sam immediately is like “you know what - he knows his stuff, ghosts exist”.  

Thanks for reading :)

Feel free to chat :)

[hbosucc]

Greg Hirsch x Reader: Chapter 8

Link to previous chapter (18+ only, minors dni!) here.

This chapter is kind of part two to the previous one; it picks up right after the last one ended.

Content Warnings, same as always:

Sexual Content (only mentioned in this chapter, no explicit scenes, but it's still an 18+ chapter)

Swearing

Alcohol consumption

Mention of drug use

Maybe fluff towards the end??

That's all! I'm having a really weird, difficult time irl right now, and posting these is something fun to look forward to. So, if you're reading, thank you:) xoxoxo

Chapter 8: Meeting the Fam, Part II

Back in the main room, I craned my head to look for Greg. I spotted him at the bar and had to stop myself from breaking into a run. He glanced up and met my eyes as I approached him, his smile disappearing as he saw the traces of unease I hadn’t been able to wipe from my face.

“Hey, are you okay? I just saw your text.” He asked, taking my hand as I reached him.

“Yeah, no, I’m fine.” I gave my best attempt at a smile, looking over my shoulder, then back up at him.

“Are you sure? I was looking for you for, like, a while.” He looked concerned, which almost made me start crying again.

“I’m sure.” I squeezed his hand. “What did Kendall want?”

“Just, like, family drama, which is also work drama, like usual.” Greg sighed. “They really can’t chill out, even for one night.”

“God, that sucks.” I said, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay?” Greg lowered his voice. “You’re kind of…I don’t know, something feels different?”

“I’m…” I closed my eyes for a moment, then looked up at him. “I just did coke, Greg.”

“Oh, oh.” Greg’s eyebrows went up. “Okay, gotcha. No, that makes sense. Um.”

“I know.” I nodded. “There was this really nice girl I met in the bathroom, and she asked me if I wanted a bump, and I said sure, why not.” I felt bad lying to him, but Tom’s warning from earlier about ruining Greg’s career rang through my mind. Tom was a prick, but there was still something that felt dangerous about him. And as much as I hated Waystar, I did not want to be responsible for Greg getting fired.

“Oh, I see.” Greg nodded. “That’s cool, I mean, I don’t care that you did it—I mean, I’ve done it before, too, just so you know—I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Thank you.” I lowered my voice. “I’m wondering if it was cut with something weird, though, and that’s why I was feeling so sick at first. I’m okay now, though, I think.”

“Are you sure? I mean, we can totally blow this off, and, like, head home, if you’re not feeling well.”

“Really?” I asked, looking up at him.

“Yeah, totally.” He nodded. “I think Logan’s supposed to be giving a speech at some point, but I don’t really need to stay for that.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” I leaned against him, glancing out over the crowd. I saw that Tom had reappeared across the room and was now talking to his wife. His eyes met mine for a moment, a smile tugging up the corner of his lips.

“Do you want to just go back to my place? I mean, it’s closer, and you haven’t been over yet.”

“Yeah, we can do that.” I ripped my gaze away, meeting Greg’s eyes again, giving him a more successful smile this time. I really was interested to see his apartment.

“Okay, cool. I’ll call the driver if you go get our coats? Meet you out there?”

“Okay.” I nodded, taking his coat check ticket and heading for the exit, keeping my gaze straight ahead, my shoulders back.

I got our coats and stepped out into the frigid air, wrapping mine around myself and trying not to shiver. My legs were mostly bare, and I shifted from foot to foot, trying to warm myself. I felt my phone vibrate and I pulled it out to see a text from an unsaved number.

Remember what I told you.

          My fingers shook as I tried to think of how to respond, if I should at all, and I knew it wasn’t just from the cold. I wasn’t surprised that Tom had been able to find my number—not really. I put the phone back in my pocket, wrapping my coat tighter around myself. I was about to head back inside to wait for Greg, the cold outweighing my fear of running into Tom yet again, but then I saw Greg heading towards me. The car pulled up, and the driver came around to open the door for us.

          In the warmth of the car, I still shivered, scooting closer to Greg and laying my chin on his shoulder. He squeezed my thigh, then interlocked his fingers with mine.

          “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want me to turn up the heat more, or anything?” He asked softly, brushing some of my hair back from my face.

          “No, it’s okay. I’m warming up now.” I smiled. “I’m excited to finally see your place.”

          “I am, too! It’s kind of crazy. I don’t know if I told you, but Kendall, who you met tonight, actually owns the place, and he’s kind of just, like, letting me live there right now.”

          “Really?” I asked. “That’s really cool of him.”

          “I know, right?” He went on to tell me the story of how he hadn’t been able to believe it at first, that he’d thought Kendall had been playing a joke on him. Given the initial impressions I’d gotten of his family members, that didn’t surprise me.  

          We pulled up to his building and he helped me out, leading the way inside, then up in the building’s elevator, almost to the top floor. When the door slid open to reveal his apartment, I was surprised at its size, despite how he’d already described it to me. It had the tallest ceilings I’d ever seen in an NYC apartment—or any apartment, anywhere, really.

          “Jesus, this is incredible.” I breathed, walking over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out over the lit-up city.

          “It is. I still can’t believe I get to live here sometimes. Like, I keep waiting for him to kick me out.” He let out a nervous laugh.

          “That’s kinda fucked up.” I turned to face him, leaning against the glass.

          “Yeah, it is.” He sighed, coming over to me. “Hey, did anyone…did any of them say anything, like, weird to you? I mean, I saw that Tom was with you at the bar while Kendall and I were talking, and then, like, the next time I looked over, you were both gone.”

          I closed my eyes, leaning into his chest. I didn’t want to lie to him. The truth swirled around inside of me, and I felt a wave of nausea as the mix of no food, lots of alcohol, and two lines caught up with me.

          “I’m going to throw up,” I choked out, realizing I didn’t know where his bathroom was.

          “Oh, fuck, okay, it’s this way.” He read my mind, pulling me down a hallway and into a bathroom, flipping the light on. I bent over the toilet, making it just in time for my guts to upend themselves, spilling the evening’s overpriced g&t’s into the bowl.

          Another wave came up, and then everything was out, nothing left inside of me. I felt Greg’s hands in my hair, smoothing it back from my face. I spit into the toilet and closed the lid, flushing and propping up my head, unable to look up at him.

          “I’m sorry.” I croaked. “You didn’t have to—you didn’t have to stay.”

          “No, no, it’s okay.” He said, rubbing my back slowly. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

          “I’m—I’m fine now.” I pushed myself up and stood shakily, looking at myself in the mirror. My makeup was streaked down my face, my hair mussed, my eyes red and teary. “Fuck.”

          “Do you need to throw up more, or do you want to go lie down?”

          “I think I’m done. Do you have, like, mouthwash or anything?” I asked, leaning on the counter, my head in my hands.

          “Yeah, I’ll go get some. Be right back.” I heard him pad down the hall and open another door. I spat into the sink and turned on the tap, rinsing my mouth with water while I waited. How much did I need to tell him? How much could I tell him?

          “Here,” He reappeared in the doorway, handing me a bottle of Listerine.

          “Thanks,” I took a big swig, swishing it around between my teeth for a minute, until it stung my gums, then spat the minty foam and rinsed it down the drain.

          “Do you want, like, one of my shirts to wear to bed?” He looked like he wanted to reach out and touch me, but hesitated.

          “That would be great, yeah.” I nodded. He led us down the hall to his bedroom, which was just as big as I’d imagined it would be, having seen the rest of the apartment. “You don’t have any makeup wipes, do you?”

          “No, sorry.” He shook his head, rummaging through his drawers. He pulled out a white t-shirt and handed it over.

          “That’s okay. Can you help me with the zipper?” I turned around, and he pulled the zipper down so I could slide the dress off of my body. I shuddered as I remembered how Tom had done the same thing just hours before. I unhooked my bra quickly, pulling the t-shirt on to cover myself.

          “Y/n.” He took my hands in his. “Please just tell me what’s wrong.”

          “I…” I started, swallowing, closing my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. I opened my eyes and looked up at him, into his searching gaze. “Tom was being, like, kind of weird.”

          “How—how so?” He sat down on the bed, pulling me to him.

          “When you weren’t around he…he was just…I don’t know, like, weirdly interested in me, I guess.” I bit my lip. “But I was worried because if I told you anything, and he found out, he said he’d…” I was still too high, and having to deal with conflict felt incredibly overwhelming, and I collapsed, sniffling into his chest.

          “Fucking Tom, oh my God.” He sighed, pulling me onto his lap.

          “Please don’t let him know I even said—said anything.” I whispered, another sob coming out.

          “Hey, hey, it’s okay.” He wrapped his arms around me. “I’m not scared of Tom, okay? You don’t need to worry. Whatever he said he’d do to me, don’t worry about it.

          “Did he…” Greg trailed off, and I looked up at him. “Did he do anything to you?”

          “No.” I shook my head. “Almost, but no. He said he was, like, just joking with me or something.”

          He ran a hand over my hair, reaching down to wipe my tears with his thumb. “God, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…I should’ve realized he would do something tonight.”

          “It’s not your fault.” I whispered, swiping at my face. “I’m gonna go wash my face, okay? Be right back.”

          I got up and went back to the bathroom, cleaning off my face the best I could with soap and water—I knew it wasn’t great for my skin, but it was probably better than sleeping in a full face of makeup. I padded back to the bedroom and found him sitting in the same spot, on his phone.

          “You’re not texting him, are you?” I balked in the doorway.

          “Hey, come here.” He opened his arms, and I allowed myself to be wrapped in them once more. “I don’t want you to worry about Tom. He’s a dick, yeah, but he’s kind of…like, on the outs with the fam right now. He’s impotent, okay? I’m not worried about him.”

          “If you’re sure…” I swallowed.

          “I’m sure.” He laid back against the pillows, pulling me down with him. “I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

          “It’s not your fault.” I said again, burying my face in his chest.

          “Is there anything I can do? To make you feel better?” He ran a hand over my hair, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

          “I don’t think so. I’m okay.” I whispered. I wished I could just go to sleep, but I was still too wired from the coke. It was going to be a very long night.

          “You don’t want me to kill him, or anything?” He asked, and I giggled, trying to stifle the noise with my hand. “What, you don’t think I can put out a hit on him?”

          “Not really.” I said, pressing my lips together, but more laughter spilled out, and he joined in, still holding me close.

          “You don’t want me to have the mob take him out?” He teased, and I shook my head, giving him a kiss.

          “No, if you’re going to kill him, I want you to do it yourself.” I rubbed my nose against his. He’d succeeded in making me feel better, at least for the moment.

          “Well, whatever you want.” He pressed another kiss to my lips, and I let myself melt into him before pulling back. “Do you want to go to bed?”

          I shook my head. “I’m kind of tired, but I’m not going to be able to sleep for a while.”

          “Do you want to watch a show or something, then?” He asked, rolling over to grab a remote from his nightstand.

          “Sure.” I sat up as he scrolled through some options, landing on something light and stupid, pressing play on a random episode.

          “Are you hungry at all?” He asked. “I have, like, cereal, and probably some chips and stuff.”

          “No, I’m okay.” I smiled. His place was such a bachelor pad. “Thank you, though. You’re the sweetest.”

          “Nah, I’m not.” He protested, but I could see that he was pleased.

          “You are, too.” I kissed his cheek, moving down to his neck.

          “For real, though, do you need anything?” He looked at me, our eyes locking in the dim light coming from the TV screen. It might’ve been the fact that I was high, but it felt like he was looking straight into me, reading my mind.

          “No, no, I’m…I’m good.” I whispered. “Just need you here, with me. That’s all.”

          “Okay.” He breathed out, pulling me closer to him once again, our limbs wrapping around each other, my ear pressed to his chest. I could hear his heartbeat, thumping away, and relaxed into the sound. I wouldn’t be able to sleep for a while yet, but that was okay, as long as I could stay with him, just like this.

[piratemousey]

Bg3 fluff for non-ao3 people

Tav - Tiefling Bard

Tav x Gale

Bg3 act 3 spoilers

The group returned to camp. An eventful day of scouring Baldur's Gate for resources and allies. Tav traveled with Gale, Wyll, and Shadowheart that day. They'd managed to investigate a series of murders around town and it all ended in a high end tailor's shop. Covered in blood, they begin removing armor and packs first thing.

Karlach bounded up with Scratch and the owlbear cub in tow. "Hey-oh! My people! Out having all the fun."

"I got you a bear," Wyll said, pulling a small toy bear with switched eyes from his armor.

Tav laughed and set a bag of jewelry and bobbles on the table where Astarion sat. With a book in hand and a glass of wine chilling in one of the glasses Gale enchanted. He was waiting for them, though he appeared disinterested, enraptured by his book.

"My gods, you're perfect!" Karlach jumped up, sure that Wyll would catch her. He swung her around easily, using his dancer's feet to offset the force.

"Astarion, I brought you some stones to appraise." Passing judgements was one of Astarion's favorite past times.

"How did it go? Traversing Baldur's Gate without me?" Astarion asked, ignoring the bag.

"We're all Baldurians," Shadowheart pointed out, pulling off her gloves.

"Well, you hardly count my dear because you don't have a memory." Astarion responded.

"I lost "some" memories, Astarion," She snapped back.

"Wyll hasn't been home in years and lets face it Gale is Gale."

"Meaning?" Gale asked, an eyebrow arched.

"Wizards are absent minded," Astarion replied.

"You cast wizard spells, you know," Gale said. "I helped you learn how to shoot beams of fire at multiple opponents."

"But at heart, I'm a rogue." Astarion replied, his hand flattened against his chest.

"And me?" Tav asked. "I suppose I'm too doe eyed over the wizard to know my way around the city i grew up?"

"No, I think you know the city, you just don't know the darker corners like I do." Astarion admitted.

"That's probably true," Tav answered. "But, we did pretty well today. Where's Lae'zel? I found a sword that's completely unbalanced, she's going to flip."

"You've come to taunt me with the ineptitude of your smith's, an interesting strategy." Lae'zel appeared from behind her tent, her hair damp from training.

"So, Tav, tell me, how many?" Astarion asked, rolling his glass over his fingers.

"What?" Tav asked, a mask of bemusement.

"How many lockpicks did you use without me?"

"Eight," Tav spat out begrudgingly.

"Eight! My gods, a good day for you then was it. Seems being a jack of all trades doesn't necessarily make one skilled at anything, does it? You do sing pretty though."

"Astarion," Karlach said his name like a warning.

"I'm just making an observation," Astarion continued. "I use two lockpicks tops most days that I adventure with you, yet you insist on leaving me here, my gifts languishing."

"You love to lounge in your tent," Tav noted.

"I was only thinking of your scarce inventory. Burn through as many lockpicks as you like, I'm not the groups treasurer." Astarion lifted the bag of jewels and begins sifting through them.

"We'll need you tomorrow certainly," Tav said. "We're going to murderize that damned steal watch then break into the newspaper."

"How fun," Astarion bobbed his head from side to side with amusement. "Maybe I'll find a horrid guard to bite. One whose had too much bree I think."

"Most guards can't afford bree," Wyll commented.

"Look my love, a scroll of knock," Gale held the parchment up for Tav to see. "I could learn it right now and cast it right away."

"That's great," Tav threw an arm around Gale's neck kissing his cheek.

"Yes thats great. I'm sure it'll help that one time a day you can use it. " Astarion's good mood evaporating as his temper is ruffled. "The very idea that a scroll could replace my talents is offensive and you should all be ashamed."

"I can use it as many times as I like." Gale said.

"You really are trying to take all my fun, wizard." Astarion's hand shot out pointing to Shadowheart. "I'm sure you learned some memory spells under your former God."

"Yes a few." Shadowheart answered, confused at what Astarion was getting at.

"Good, Lae'zel, hold the mage down. He won't be remembering much." Astarion's gaze threatening as it landed on Gale.

"Maybe we can also get rid of his detestable earing." Lae'zel stepped forward, her training sword at her side still.

"Well, I wasn't going to tear into his appearances..." Astarion said, taken aback at first.

"He wears the symbol of his former lover," Lae'zel said, he fury boiling. "Mystra, a manipulation queen who would have him end his own life. He parades her token blatantly while wooing Tav with nonsense about stars. I've been to the tears, I've smelt them as they burn across your sky. They are not baubles for your vain seductions."

"I'm right here, folks," Tav pointed out.

"Mystra is magic," Gale stuttered, growing concern in his words. "... and I wield magic. It's not uncommon to wear a charm for the goddess."

"One whom you bedded," Astarion's smirked as he rhetorically pored oil over the fire. Things were going in a different direction, but he could work with it.

"Tav hasn't complained," Gale said, his eyes resting on the bard.

"Of course not, they're the nice one, remember?" Shadowheart said, her arms crossed.

"Tav? Does it bother you?" Gale asked, his voice thin with worry.

"I'm not going to tell you how to dress." Tav said avoiding eye contact. "It's not really about the fact that you bedded her, Gale," Tav said holding up her hands. "It's about the fact that she's terrible and she used you and threw you away."

"You shouldn't waste time honoring gods who would ignore you so easily." Shadowheart chimed in.

"You know what would make this better?" Karlach asked. "Let's go kill mystra."

"Now, hold on," Gale said. "Mystra is magic. You can't kill magic."

"You know I think of the word "can't" as a challenge at times," Tav smiled teasingly.

"My work here is done," Astarion gathered his wine, book, and the bag of jewels. "I need to go rest up for tomorrow. Lots of locks waiting. Maybe a few spells if you decided to leave the extra baggage at home, Tav."

Lae'zel remained beside Tav, her arms crossed as she glared at Gale's earing as Astarion sauntered away to lounge in his tent.

[theflyingfeeling]

☀️ "it's always sunny in Stockholm" ☀️

aka a concert report from Fryshuset Klubben, Stockholm, 1.3.2023

Travelling to our final destination (Stockholm city centre) did not go without hassle (wrong gate at the airport, delays with the commuter train to the city centre, trouble figuring out the venue etc., BC would've been proud!) but everything did work out eventually and we were in good spirits! 🥰

Speaking of the venue, I think none of us would've foreseen that listening to that one song in 2021 would lead us to hang out in the backyard of some random school in Stockholm, but that's where we were, and had good laughs there too :') <3

The venue was small intimate and not full, which to us in the audience was great (it wasn't cramped nor too hot), although for BC's sake I would've hoped there would've been a little bigger turn-up (especially considering at least half of the audience were Finnish fans 😂). They didn't seem to mind though; the show was as 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 as their shows always are

But before I talk about the show, I must once more advertise the support act! Not gonna lie, I had a minor heart attack when hours before the gig, BC posted an IG story starting with the words "due to an illness...", because them cancelling the gig would've been just the cherry on the top of the day we had had already, but it thankfully was Eyes Wide Open that had had to cancel at last minute. A band called Those Without was asked to fill in and boy am I thankful for the universe for this!! 😭🙏 They were so damn good!! I remember listening to their first song and going "huh! this ain't that bad actually" and wondering if it's just that one song, but no, all the other ones they played were great as well, which made me so happy 💖 It was a little funny when the band came on though; they just walked to the stage very unceremoniously and we weren't quite sure whether they were still doing the preperations until they started playing 😂 The singer was cute af, the bassist sang a bit, they were so chill and SO GRATEFUL to be there and just kept thanking BC for this opportunity and us the audience for being so nice to them, and all I wanted to scream was "no, thank YOU!!" because they really made my little punk pop/rock heart burst with love 🥺 If you're into early Mayday Parade / The Maine / Yellowcard -esque stuff, definitely check them out!

Blind Channel was Blind Channel, meaning they were wonderful amazing brilliant and it was great seeing them again 💞 We were ~4th row, there were a few tall people directly in front of us but at least I ended up having a great view to the stage in the end. The stage was high enough and close enough to the audience for me to be able to see their tattoos in detail and I remember admiring Joel's heart tattoo and Olli's three swords (god bless the inventor of sleeveless shirts eh? 🥵)

Random moments I remember include Olli falling asleep/zoning out during Autopsy (he didn't look up at the "HEY!!" part, or maybe he just forgot 😂 (I have video proof lol)) and Joel doing the tiniest snake dance during Snake (it looked like he wasn't going to do it, but then he couldn't help himself, I hope someone captured this 🥺🙏) + the moments in the videos I've posted

They're all so gorgeous but Olli 😩😩😩😩😩 he's so fucking beautiful I have a scheduled meltdown about it on a normal day, but during the show it's just 💦💦💦💦💦💦 all the time 💀 he trousers he was wearing were so tight cool and the sleeveless shirt had me by the pussy swooning 🫠

Flatline is awesome live, including the silly dance, even if in the audience you can't do it as "big" as you're supposed to. No bruise on my left tiddy though, I guess it takes more than one concert for one to appear, so BC should maybe consider wearing some padding on their chests for that 😆👀

After the gig we had an "after party" in a rock bar somewhere in Stockholm (not sure which district). I think here it's relevant to mention that in the queue there was this nice Swedish metal dude standing behind us and probably unwillingly listening to us as we were speaking a merry mix of English and Finnish, and eventually he started chatting with us and ended up joining us inside the venue and even showing us the way to one of his favourite bars when we asked for recs and he also came in for a few drinks with us despite having work the next day (he had also been at the venue the day before to see Sleeping With Sirens and was still wearing the same makeup from that gig 😂👌)

At the same bar there was also Henrik from Amaranthe (who none of us would've recognized if the Swedish metal dude hadn't started fangirling about him 😂)

All in all I had such a fun time on this 24-hour trip and I'm so happy I decided to go. Some of you know how stressed out I was about it; I'm so thankful to anyone who had to listen to me rant my heart out about it. I'm happy to tell you that the experience I had was totally worth it <3

Thank you so incerdibly much to all you guys who were with me at any point of this trip, it wouldn't have been the same without you (you all know who you are <3). Sorry if I was obnoxious or laughed too loudly, but I had such a shit weekend behind me and I was just so happy to get to see my favourite band and to hang out with all of you lovely people that I couldn't contain my excitement. Being there really meant so much to me, because this band and the community we have built around it truly is one of the few lights at the end of the never-ending tunnel I often get lost in. I know this sounds silly and I'm probably being selfish but it made me so sad when BC said they won't be doing that many shows in Finland this summer. Yes, I completely understand that they're aiming for an international career and I'm fully supporting their plans to take over the world (I'm not one of those Finnish fans), and yes, I am aware that as a Finnish fan I'm immensely priviledged as it is and that I've had many more opportunities to see them than most fans living elsewhere have had. This may sound pathetic (or at least I feel pathetic about it), but I really don't have much else going on for me other than BC and everything related to it (nothing that gives me as much serotonin, that is), and if I don't get to see them next summer... I don't know what I'll do. Summers are a bit difficult for me for a variety of reasons, and last summer with all the BC shows was such a blessing, a wonderful distraction from my sad life and the fact that I'm nowhere near where I want to be, and I'm not sure if I can handle another lonely, grey summer and feeling like a failure every waking moment after having experienced all the fun last summer 💔

...so I guess I'm going on a road-trip around Europe next summer 🤔 Who's with me? 😌

[tobiasdrake]

Well, that was an unmitigated disaster. What else have you got for me?

YES. Is it a murder? Kidnapping? Missing persons? All of the above?

Oh. Well, I guess that technically counts as a missing persons case. Hey, maybe they're dead and I'll get to find their killer!

Either way, it gets me out of the sub for a bit and, finally, away from Yakou.

That's... an interesting question, actually. We still know nothing about how this shinigami contract even came to be a thing we would know about and perform. One over there is supposed to be the greatest detective ever and Shinigami has a slant towards mysteries so maybe they do--

Okay yeah, she definitely knows One. My guess is he's responsible for our contract in some way.

Oh good, a collect-a-thon. Well, at least it has narrative rewards. I always like narrative rewards for collectibles. Makes me motivated to give a shit.

I mean, I'm going to wind up collecting them either way because I'm neurodivergent and like to collect things. But I'll be less sour about it if I get story stuff in payment!

Though she goes on to clarify that I can't have the memories I sold her back; These just let me see hangout moments with the other Detectives that I inexplicably forgot. So these basically function like the Free Time Events, letting us see moments of chilling with the other characters, shooting the shit and learning about them.

Well, guess that means I can check out my first big social event and spend some more time with....

Yakou....

*sigh* I cannot get away from this man for five minutes.

You know, Yakou's actually making some sense here. I've been (and will likely continue to be) pretty critical of him for being so adamantly against the work we're here to do.

But his point here isn't wrong. All work is work. Dividing people into classes based on whose work is superior will cause you to break out in business executives.

At the end of the day, Yakou's freaking out because this just isn't the work for him. He's happy tailing cheaters and finding lost puppies. And if that makes him feel fulfilled, then who am I to judge?

You do you, man. I gotta admit, I've gained a little bit of respect for you from--

I was gonna make a joke here but actually, nah. This is only a punchline due to a cultural philosophy of nigh-fetishistic reverence for the act of working as if it is virtuous in and of itself. This is, itself, one of the nasty hooks that capitalism wriggles into its peasant class to wring labor out of them.

Teaching you that Work = Virtue is a way to get you to undervalue your own labor. "You should want to work, you should do it just to do it, the act of labor is its own reward!" No. Fuck you. Pay me.

So. No. I'm not going to make fun of Yakou for this (even though the writing definitely wants me to). He is absolutely right. A good drink that you worked hard to earn tastes pretty sweet, and a good drink you didn't need to work for tastes even sweeter. The drink is the reward. The labor is just a means to an end.

[stargazer-sims]

Violet Gets An Invitation

Violet: Okay, so I need some help. I’m going to this wedding…

Keigo: Ooh… wedding! Who’s getting married?

Violet: Tak Min-Joon. You know who that is, right?

Keigo: Anyone who doesn’t is probably living under a rock.

Taiji: How did you get invited? I read about it online, and apparently the guest list is super exclusive.

Violet: Are you implying I’m not famous enough for the famous club?

Taiji: The infamous club, maybe.

Violet: Hey!

Keigo: To be fair, weren’t you the one who got quoted as saying you wanted to be known as ‘the notorious Violet K’?

Violet: Uhh…

Taiji: Dude, have you ever actually been to a wedding before?

Keigo: Why are you asking him that? Aren't you already married, Violet? And your friends... aren't they married?

Violet: Yeah, but nobody had like, a wedding wedding. Me and Rebel got married at the courthouse. Emi and Kaito eloped in Sulani, and Rebel and I weren't even there, so yeah... That's why I’m here. No wedding experience whatsoever.

Taiji: Well, this should be interesting.

Violet: You have to tell me everything you know.

Taiji: What makes you think I know anything?

Violet: You mean, you don’t?

Taiji: How would I? It’s not like I’ve ever been to a wedding before, either.

Violet: If I do something to embarrass our family, it’s totally gonna be your fault.

Taiji: My fault? How would it be my fault?

Violet: I came here for your help, dude! You can’t just abandon me in my hour of need.

Taiji: Okay, first of all, it’s not a crisis. And second, I’m not abandoning you. I never said I wouldn’t help you, but it’s up to you not to embarrass yourself or our family. You gotta be responsible for yourself.

Violet: ‘Be responsible’. blah… blah…

Taiji: If you’re going to be a jerk, I’m not helping.

Violet: Chill out, Taiji. You’re obsessed with being responsible.

Taiji: It’s important.

Violet: Yeah, of course, but you’re twenty years old. Let yourself relax and enjoy life a little.

Taiji: I enjoy my life. Anyway, I thought this conversation was supposed to be about you, not me.

Violet: Yeah. What are we going to do?

Taiji: First things first. We need to work on your wardrobe. You can’t go to a celebrity wedding with your usual ripped jeans and questionable t-shirts.

Violet: What do you mean, questionable? I think this one sends a pretty clear message.

Taiji: Yeah, but not the message you want to be sending at your friend’s wedding. I’ll pick out something respectable for you to wear, and maybe we can get Haru to help figure out your makeup. Probably take out your facial piercings, and maybe not go with black nails.

Violet: That seems like… a lot. Are you sure I can’t keep my piercings in?

Taiji: All right. We’ll find some jewelry that suits your outfit. Maybe you can borrow some of mine.

Violet: Cool.

Taiji: After that, we can ask Ryu to help you with etiquette. He’s from a super rich family. He knows all about stuff like that.

Violet: Etiquette?

Taiji: You said you don’t want to embarrass yourself. Nothing says embarrassment like a guy who doesn’t know how to behave in polite company.

Violet: Oh, shit. This is gonna be a disaster, isn’t it?

Taiji: Not if you pay attention to me and my friends, and do what we tell you.

Violet: Crap. I am so in over my head right now.

@rebelangelsims

[aspenwriter]

Boysmell, Chapter 2

(CW: Smut)

After a few hours relaxing in Alex’s pocket, Alice decided to peek out.

Alex was resting on his back, and apparently sleeping. They were, also apparently, on Alex’s couch. The same couch they had both used while marathoning series or playing videogames, now was like the throne of a god. Alice had to balance herself against the rhythmic ups and downs of Alex’s chest as the giant boy breathed in and out, and admittedly, it was harder than expected.

Alice decided it was enough of resting already. She was, for some reason, barely inches tall and while she appreciated Alex’s help there was no excuse for delay now, as her entire life was in jeopardy. With great difficulty, Alice crawled from Alex’s chest to the boy’s face. 

If anything, her greatest distractor was Alex’s aroma. The soft musk of sweat and cologne he always had was intensified by several orders of magnitude hare, on this scale. It was now strong, and basically the only thing that Alice could smell now.

“Oh there you are sleepyhead!” A familiar yet booming voice came from in front of her.

 

“Alex?” Alice asked to his giant friend “You were awake?”

“Aha!” he said. “I just like, wanted to see you crawling in my chest and all…” He giggled. Even at this scale it was cute when he giggled.

Alice laughed. “Don’t make me crawl if I don’t need to, you dumbass!” She said.

“Aw, there’s no fun in that.” Alex said, with an obviously fake and dramatized sad tone.

Alice laughed again. Alex laughed too. Alice had to really put a great deal of effort in not rolling over Alex’s chest. She was grabbing her friend’s shirt as it was the only way for her not to fall over.

When they finally stopped, Alice took a long breath and said “It’s so good to have you helping me out on this.”

“No problem!” Alex responded “Doing my part!” he said, with a fake military salute.

Alice took her time to accommodate herself on her best friend’s chest, crossd her legs, and asked.“So, what now, Alex? We should get some help”

“Well, there is no need to go find help just yet don’t you think?” he answered.

Alice was baffled by that statment. What the hell was Alex thinking? Was this all a big joke to him? Where was his sense of urgency? “WHAT?! ALEX LOOK AT ME!” Alice said, pointing at herself. “In case you haven't noticed, I'm SMALL!”

“Hey, hey it’s ok” Alex said  “I know this is hard on you, I know this is weird and bizarre and unexplainable and we’re going to look for help but why don’t we like, chill for a bit?”

“What do you mean?" Alice said, still baffled at her friend’s characteristic relaxed attitude even in such situations.

“I mean you’re so small right now… isn’t it exciting for you?” he said.

“I don’t see how this could be fucking exciting, Alex”. Alice said.

“I get it, I get it, I really do but isn’t it amazing to see the world from this new perspective?” Alex said with a smile. “You’re probably the first person in that condition. You’re seeing things no human was ever seen before, you can do things no one has ever believed could be done!”

“I suppose you’re right…” Alice said. Maybe it was just that Alex wanted to cheer her up. Maybe he just wanted to put a positive spin on this horrible day. What could go wrong with a little positivity in her life? Alice felt almost guilty for screaming at him. Alex was doing his best to keep her morale up.

“Yeah! There's like, sooo many fun things we could do right now!” Alex said, cheerfully. 

Alice felt admittedly a little nervous by that statement. Not because she distrusted Alex as a person, but she distrusted, at least a bit, his definition of ‘fun’. Of course there was no harm in trying to do something fun at her size but what was Alex thinking of? Meekly, she asked:

“L-like what?”

“Like this! Watch!” Alex said.

A giant hand came from her left to grab her. It was so fast Alice didn’t have time to protest, resist or even gasp. Suddenly, she was trapped on a warm fleshy box of fingers and palm. Alex, on his part, jumped out of the couch with her best friend tightly secured in his hand and gently dropped Alice beside his feet.

“OH MY GOD YOU’RE SOOOO SMALL NOW!” he said, like an excited little boy.

Alice suffered a little vertigo and some dizziness from changing environments so fast, and by looking up at his friend’s giant form like this. It was very different from their first encounter as shrinkee and man, as Alex was resting on a bench. Now, at his full height, he truly felt like a massive, walking and breathing skyscraper.

“Let’s play a game!” He announced.

Alice still hadn’t stood up as she tried to respond “What kind of game?”

“Cat and Mouse!” Alex declared.

Alice was well aware of the implications that choice of game had. Fuck. She really couldn’t get mad at Alex. After all, if any person had to find her while she was just some inches tall she was thankful it was him. But still, he could be a little more comprehensive with her situation.

Alex was a giggling giant. He jumped back, making Alice trip and fall to the floor again as she was just standing up. And then he said “ON YOUR MARKS”

Alice wasn’t ready.

“SET”

She had finally stood up. Like an animal, she instinctively looked for hiding spots, cover, anything that could help. The couch? Yes she could go under it as long as-

“GO!”

Alright, there was no time to think. Alice ran to the underside of the couch as fast as she could. But all it took was Alex taking a single, loud step for the tremors it made to make her trip and fall.

Alice rolled over her back to stand up quickly, but Alex was already over her. She waited for his hand to snatch her out from the floor, instead…

Alex's sock-clad foot came down on her. Alice's reflexes acted up and she covered her face waiting for the worst. But obviously, her friend had no intention of crushing her. Instead, his foot gently pressed her against the floor, pinning her down, and preventing her from making any movement.

It wasn’t Alex’s foot that was bothering Alice right now. Not his foot per se. It was the smell of the foot.

Alex had clearly worn his shoes all day and it showed. His socks were soggy and dirty and all around her was the smell of sweat trapped within a shoe and a sock. Even if Alice squirmed and pushed, there was no way for her to realistically take it off from her.

“Take this of me now!” She screamed up. Unintentionally opening her mouth and letting the humid fibers of the sock in for a brief moment. It tasted horrible, bitter and salty. Alice dreaded the fact that Alex could have noticed it.

“Uhhh, don't wanna” He said, with a lightheaded tone.

“ALEX!” Alice screamed again. Although this time with just a little bit of genuine anger in her. 

“Ok, ok! No problem!” Alex said, gently removing his foot and looking down mockingly on his best friend laying on the floor, a sight that made him giggle like an amused young boy yet again.

Alice took the first chance she got to try to rise up from the floor. It was a nice attempt, but Alex just shoved his foot right back in. Again, he used little force. A mere touch  was all it took to make Alice fall back down on her ass again.

“Sorry!” He said “It’s just so much fun to see you down there like that!” He said, and honestly, Alex was speaking the truth here. Watching her best friend pinned down, hopelessly fighting for release against not him, but just his foot, was the most amusing thing that Alex had seen in his life.

“IT’S NOT FUNNY, ALEX” Alice shouted at him. Now, she was definitely annoyed by her friend’s teasing attempts.

“Aw come on, it really is” Alex said, pouting. “You’d do the same if I were tiny, you have to admit this is really funny”

“IT 'S NOT!” Alice said.

She gave up. Alice stopped squirming and pushing and fighting to reflect on her position. Alex was merely teasing her, that was right. But he was just so much more powerful than her now. If he had wanted to, he could have crushed her like a bug several times over. 

And then it sank in. She was powerless. She depended on Alex for everything now. Her life was entirely reliant on his whims.

Alex, above, felt how Alice suddenly stopped and removed his foot to reveal her friend curled up and crying. Concerned. he backed off and dropped to the floor on his belly, in a position that best allowed him to look Alice eye-to-eye.

“Look, I’m sorry if it got out of hand, it’s just kind of irresistible” He apologized.

Alice cleaned her tears with the sleeves of her dress, and took a big breath. “Don’t worry Alex, I guess I’m going through a bad moment, that's all” she said, still depressed.

“I’m sorry, again” Alex said with concern in his voice “Do you need me to do anything for you?”

“I need you to get help!” Alice said. “Just look at me! I don’t know what happened to me. I don’t know how it happened, I don’t know if it’s even possible for me to grow back! We need to get someone! A scientist or a doctor or anyone!”

“That’s going to be a bit of a problem” Alex said, backing off a little “you smell like feet right now. I believe you should clean yourself up a bit before going to meet anyone else, it would be a bad first impression if you roll up smelling like some dirty socks.”

That was very much true. Alex’s smell had somehow stuck to her. It was everywhere in her dress, hair, and face. 

“I smell like YOUR feet because of YOU!” Alice shouted at her friend. “You should be the one finding a solution!”

“Well… I can help you smell nicely right now!” He said. “Although you probably wouldn't like it. The thing is, I've been chewing mint gum all day, you know?

Alice connected the dots immediately. “Oh no, don't you da-”

Alex, in an almost feline motion, lunged forward to grab Alice with his mouth. Only her kicking feet were out of his body, and he promptly pushed them in as he stood. He wasn’t lying, his mouth did smell nicely. 

“ALEX!” Alice said. “LET ME OUT THIS INSTA-” and again, Alice was interrupted by Alex’s mouth. His tongue, acting as a bathing sponge, licked Alice’s entire body. From her feet up to her head, Alex spared no place from his tongue.

He went back to the couch, playing with his little prey on his mouth. Alex moved Alice from cheek to cheek, between his teeth. Covered her entire body with his saliva. He even took the care to give Alice some brief moments of respite to catch her breath.

After a few minutes, Alex opened his palm right below his mouth, and gently dropped her friend from inside of him, covered in a blob of mint-scented saliva. Alice’s hair was a mess now, and her pretty dress would need a wash later, but she was otherwise unharmed.

“There! Now you smell like fresh mint!”

Alice had cried a lot while inside Alex’s mouth. It wasn’t that she felt violated by him, not at all. It was all too frequent among the pair to grab each other unannounced and to sleep together occasionally. Intimacy among them was no taboo.

No, Alice had cried because there was nothing she could do to stop him.

But right now she wasn’t crying. As her mess of a saliva-soaked body tried to find her footing in Alex’s palm she just laughed nervously.

“I guess we can look for help now?” She asked

“First we wait for you to have an actual bath, silly” 

[holos-prim]

Holos backstory part 1

Holos (prime) she doesn't like to bring up her lineag/HeritageTM because like, her dad was the fallen and he caused an incident.

As in The very first thing this man does when he meets his child is: a) mistake her for a his wife, And b) he immediately tries to kill her.

Love me some prime-ly family ™ DRAMA !

Also alchemist and prima wasn't in charge of the family brain cell when they found her like- dying.

Sooo they somehow convince prima (via ego?) to use the matrix to revive her

But of course because they were not in charge of the family brain so no one thought to ask If they should use it instead of if they could.

And of course this predictively goes very wrong :))

Basically what happened is the matrix broken in half and part of it fused to her spark and because the matrix is over protective of itself, try's to use the spark energy to save itself (killing her), and then

because its hosts existence-, panics yet again and revives her like every few milliseconds.

Which means:

*Turns out your friend here is

only mostly dead. See, mostly

dead is still slightly alive;* - the princess bride

Prima is cranky that his special toy that daddy made for him got broken. 🙄

Primus's dad (godTM) gets fed up with all the drama and gets involved

And decided that it would be cool 1) make her a cyber organic And 2) assign her to serve in vectors round table of knights and train in various ways of kicking unicronian butt.

Then skips off screen never to be seen again.

Because reasons.

So she does that And well…

This poor kid can't catch a break.

Everything that could go wrong does go wrong.

The Predacons die in because unicronn finally used his "it's a surprise tool that will help us (him) later".

And her best maximal friend shoves her into a in a stasis pod only to wake up millions of years later during the "golden age".

Things go chill for a while

It's all good

Except a very corrupt and a messed up Sentinel prime was the one found her and woke her up-

And discovered she has powers.

Oh joy. /s

Because alpha Trion is (technically) the only family member alive, guess who gets to start a custody battle.

Spoilers he just handed the kid to him

"For the good of cybertron".

Ouch

Maybe he should've stopped reading that book of his.

But I suppose asking him to be self-aware is too much to ask

And so the experiments begin, a few escape attempts happen (including one that nearly go Maccadam killed in the process of helping her.), and eventually settle just has had enough of this kid shenanigans and "refusing" (read as: literally physically cannot) give him the powers and title of a actual prime and sends her to the worst Cybertronian mine ever.

but hey,

She makes a new friend his name is Termmenus

and of course if you know Termmenus, and if you know what happenes to him in messutine…

Then shouldn't come as a surprise he gets severely injured.

Luckily for her (or at least that sentinel's opinion), he is more than willing to forgive her and save her friend in exchange for her "being a good little cog" and all that nonsensical functionalist rhetoric.

And the experiments begin again.

Sometimes when he gets bored of being a torturous jerk he will polish her up and show her off at various fancy parties.

Blah blah blah eventually war breaks out because you know Optimus and Megatron couldn't just get over themselves and get married already.

she would've taken advantage of this rare opportunity to escape however you know there's a problem of a bomb collar that explode if she steps too far away from terra nova sentinel prime.

Drat.

So this is the part where I should probably mention he has been drinking the unmaker juice this whole time that he might have stolen from tripticon station in a bid for power.

that's totally not going to cause any problems in the future no Sir-ee.

And eventually we get to the part was sentinel dies in the tfp series.

He basically just lets everyone thinks he's dead until he runs into Ironhide, joins his crew because why not.

He just says it was all part of a con scare tactic, no all the reports or false he didn't die(l mean he technically did and he got revived but no one has to know that) drags his "pet" (holos) along and they

go traveling for a bit in Space.

Eventually Ironhide starts noticing some things. Suspicious things.

Like this prime claims to be married to this girl but uh…

Somethings not quite right.

She's a really flinchy, Super quiet, speaks really formal (like unusually to the point where it's just really weird.).

And so Ironhide starts paying close attention and when he starts paying close attention-

He decides to do some digging. And oh boy oh boy does he find something he doesn’t like and grabs on it like a dog with a bone.

One day he bumps into the " happy couple" (was sneakily following them) In the middle of a physical altercation In the middle of a hallway.

And something falls off from a slot in her audial. Grabs that while they are distracted. then he somehow manages by some miracle, Convinces sentinel to let him drag holos off for a private chat.

Ironhide drags holos into a closet And he manages (gently) pry the whole story out of her.

He tries to privately confront sentinel but it didn’t go well for he poor captain.

so he eventually ends up in the med bay after sentinel try’s to kill hide via murder closetTM.

As far as everyone else is concerned a bunch of heavy old equipment fell on top of him and it triggered a paranoia episode for hide.

(If only they knew the truth)

So ironhide bides his time, collecting evidence, planting little inklings of doubt whether or not sentinel is really who he claims to be in the crew.

And after some time he casually gives the data stick to his sparkmate Chromia under the guise of being to old to understand how to transfer data from this new fangled tech.

She goes to ask red alert to help her out with the data transfer while whirl and her are on shift., And in to the rabbit hole they go.

Chromia demands her bonded get there right now and explain himself dangnabbit!

After a heated conversation between whirl, red alert, Chromia, and ironhide the come up with a plan to get Holos off the ship and away from her not-husband ASAP.

Phase 1 begins: separation.

Invite holos to dinner so while red alert pretends there’s a security issue that she simply HAS to show to someone and sentinel MUST see.

Phase 2: convince Holos she’s simply being given a tour of the docks and shuttle bay when they land and they’ll all be right back. (Also get that collar off)

Phase3: escaping.

Things start to go down hill from here…

Good ol’ terra nova sentinel prime has killed red alert and energon is EVERYWHERE.

Ironhide try’s to get between holos and sentinel.

Looks like the ship captain is now a hostage.

After whirl fails distracting the ill doer

Holos uses her outlier abilities for the first time in centuries, accidentally damages the ship, and passes out from the strain.

Sentinel shoots hide with cosmic rust cannon and disintegrates him.

Whirl and mia make a run for the ships stasis pods.

Whirl rushes off to hold the false prime back.

Mia discovers that there’s only one pod left and prepares to shove holos in it.

Holos wakes up and uses her reverse uno card on Chromia and uses her powers to make a shield bubble to protect her, mia, and whirl and they crash on earth.

(Yay we now have a plague ship™️ that will eventually almost kill optimus!)

To be continued…

[ofgentleresolve-a]

in another place || au starter ( ft. @jeoseungsaja​​ )

Plans are bound to go awry. It’s the one thing he’s found consistently in the five years he’s been in this line of work: have a plan going in and have two more in advance to accommodate for any WRENCHES thrown in. 

However, this might just be the biggest wrench of them all. And from the moment it ( he ) reveals itself, Myungdae knows two alternatives aren’t going to be enough. The wrench is not going to fix itself either. Patrick Grace, by all intentions, is dead;  Disappeared five years ago without a trace, never to be seen again. He’s been replaced by the Black Knight and Shin Myungdae. All in all, Patrick Grace was buried a long time ago. 

But what happens if there’s someone who can see through both facades?

The office his dear friend has taken up is rundown. Dilapidated. There’s only one security camera for the entrance too, which has Patrick concerned- has Hyuk developed any sense of self-preservation in these five years? Because clearly, combined with the fact he’s been tailing the Black Knight and clawing his way in to the outer rim of ANACHRON’s attention, he hasn’t. At all. 

But it does make slipping into his office easy. Patrick’s not about to let five years’ worth of SECRECY go down the drain; he’s given up five years to make sure his loved ones don’t suffer an ending similar to Felicity’s. The last thing he needs is Hyuk, who is very much included in this category, butting his way into this and ruining that.

So when his dear friend finally enters the back room of his office and shuts the door behind him, Patrick makes his presence known. Darting out of the shadows, Patrick grabs his dear friend by the front of his shirt and slam him against the wall- hard enough to make a sound, but not enough to hurt him. It’s the first time Patrick has seen Hyuk up close in years. He looks tired. Haggard, like he hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in well, years. Patrick lets out a sharp sigh. Dammit. He forces himself to look at the wall behind Hyuk- he can’t bring himself to look him in the eye. Otherwise, he might just lose his RESOLVE.

“Hand over your findings.” He says, voice icy. His voice modulator hides his voice with the voice of the Black Knight. The hand around Hyuk’s shirt tightens as does the hand around his sword. “Whatever business you think you have, you don’t. Stay out of it- this is for YOUR OWN GOOD.”

[redrobin-detective]

Half of

Danny Fenton was half ghost. Or something.

No one was quite sure what that meant exactly or if it was even true. A ghost in a pure white suit had announced it during an attack on the town until he was beaten and silenced by Phantom. It’s been three days since then and the nerd hasn’t been at school. Not that Dash was looking for him or anything.

Dash worried, for just a second, that something bad happened to him. The Guys in White creeps had been asking questions around school the last few days. There’d been a noticeable lack in ghost attacks around town, maybe another ghost got to him? What about his ghost obsessed parents? Surely they wouldn’t have done anything to their own kid...

“Think Danny will be in school today?” Kwan whispered nervously, leaning in close to Dash’s side. Talking too loudly about the elephant, or ghost he guesses, in the room got people very forcefully interviewed by the government. 

“Why the hell would I know?” Dash grumbled, shaking his friend off to shove his hands deep into the pockets of his letterman jacket. “No one knows what’s going on, Manson and Foley haven’t shown up either.”

“I hope they’re ok,” Kwan said quietly, looking down at the floor. 

“Why do you care?” Dash grumbled, harsher than he meant to.

“You and everyone ditched me for Danny when Paulina was dating him, remember? Sam and Tucker were real pals and Danny, well he’s weird but not really that bad.” Kwan said bitterly before his eyebrows twisted in confusion. “That was actually pretty out of character for Paulina to date him now that I think about it, maybe he was, like, using ghost magic to control her?”

“That’s stu-” Dash was interrupted by the usually noise of Casper High going dead silent. He and Kwan shrugged at each other. He saw Star down the hallway, staring at something. He caught her eye and mouthed What is it at her. Her eyes slid back over to the hall before mouthing Fenton back. 

“Shit,” Dash couldn’t help but mutter under his breath, “Fenton’s here.” He glanced over at Kwan, trying to hide his nervousness. “Guess we’ll find out if he’s some sort of ghost freak after all.”

Kwan eyed him for a second, “you know if Danny really is half of a ghost then maybe you’ll want to quit it with the names.” The warning bell rang for first period. “You guys have homeroom together with Lancer, right? Just, I don’t know, don’t make him mad or anything.”

“Man, don’t even joke,” Dash said with a strained smile. “It’s Fenton, what’s the nerd gonna do?”

XxX

Fenton always sat in the back right of the class so seeing him there wasn’t that strange. What was strange was that he was there before the bell rang, not looking sweaty or exhausted or beaten up. Seeing him sitting there with an almost bored expression, casually leaning one arm over the back of his chair. It was eerie, seeing Fenton try to act normal. Dash felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on his head as he stiffly walked by the nerd he usually smacked when he walked by. He thought he felt Fenton’s icy eyes following him as he passed. Dash made sure he didn’t scurry like a wimp to his seat but it was a close thing.

“Class, please stop staring at Mr. Fenton and let us begin,” Lancer sighed, unsuccessfully trying to start the class.

“Do you know the ghost boy?” Paulina asked, slamming her palms on her desk and ignoring their teacher. “Because if you’ve been holding out on me-”

“I mean everyone in Amity Park knows him,” Fenton shrugged. He’d been so chill this morning, like the whole thing wasn’t bothering him. It only made Dash more antsy. He bounced his leg under the desk.

“Can you do anything cool? Like fly or shoot lasers from your eyes?” Mikey asked, leaning forward with curiosity.

“I can do lots of cool things,” Fenton sniffed. “I know a lot about the space program and local astronomy. I draw sometimes and I’m think I’m pretty good. I also have super flexible joints so I can do this.” He grinned a little as everyone squealed when he bent his thumb back so far it nearly touched his wrist. “Of course,” his grin turned into an eye roll, “no one really cares about that only my supposed superpowers.”

“What is a half of, exactly? What that ghost called you?” Dash found himself asking. He almost didn’t want to be heard but Fenton turned to look at him anyways. 

“What do you think it means?” Fenton questioned back. Though he had a teasing smirk, his eyes looked dull and dead. Dash couldn’t look at them and ducked his head. 

“Alright, alright, enough with the questions. The Fenton’s gave Danny a clean bill of health and allowed him to rejoin class so that’s all you kids need to know. Now, back to what we were actually talking about.” Class continued as expected but everyone still snuck glances at Fenton. He’s not sure what they were all waiting for, him to suddenly turn green or sprout horn or whatever. But Fenton just sat there, still as anything, trying to act normal and it just didn’t fit him right and it was all just. Wrong.

XxX

Dash was relieved Fenton wasn’t in his second or third period classes but they did have the same lunchtime. For the first time since he was skinny, bucktoothed 6th grader, Dash wanted to hide away and eat his lunch in private. But Fenton wasn’t the only one trying to keep up appearances.

“Alright, what has everyone got,” Paulina was whispering to the table by the time Dash was sitting down. “The day is halfway over, someone had to have seen him doing something ghostly.”

“I mean we don’t know how long he’s been like this,” Star commented, flipping her hair as pretense to sneak a glance at the loser trio near the back entrance of the cafeteria. “He could’ve been hiding his for a while.”

“Fenton’s always been weird,” Dale commented with a sneer, stabbing at his beefaroni. “Since day one, he’s been jumpy and clumsy and goes through weird mood swings.”

“Maybe he’s never been normal,” Kwan said with a little frown. Now Dash knows this wasn’t true. He was the only one at the table who’d gone to the same middle school as Fenton. The nerd had talked too much about space and was always tripping over something but he’d been like all the other annoying brats in middle school. Dale was onto something, Fenton had changed once high school hit which means whatever is up with him as been going on for a while. Years. 

He suddenly felt eyes on him, a cold, crawling feeling that made his breath catch in his throat. Dash squeezed his eyes shut and breathed a silent sigh of relief as the eyes turned from him. They didn’t return but Dash found he couldn’t eat after that.

XxX

“Dude, did you hear about Fenton?” Victor said in an excited but still hushed whisper as Dash was leaving fifth period. 

“No, what did he do?” Dash asked with dread.

“He had gym last period and apparently he’s been faking his loser weakness. He crawled up the rope climb like a goddamned spider monkey and then slid himself back down. Don’t know how he didn’t have intense rope burn from that. He also beat Charlie, Katie and Veronica on the sprinting portion. Must be those ghosty genes.”

“Fenton did all that?” Dash asked, he bit the inside of his cheek. Hard.

“Yeah it was crazy, I thought Tetslaf was gonna pass out,” Victor laughed. “Maybe we should get him to try out for the football team, he’d be a great running back or-”

“Come on, Vic,” Dash laughed but the sound came out wrong. “Why would we want Fenton on our team? He’s, he’s Fenton! Just a skinny, weird little wimp.” Vic side-eyed him a bit before clapping Dash on the back.

“World’s changing, Dash. First ghosts, now half ghosts, it’s all wrong but you just gotta roll with it. All I know is I have 2 years left in this hell hole before I leave this miserable place for Chicago and never look back. I recommend you do the same, after all,” Vic grinned again but it was sharper. “Fenton’s always been your personal punching bag, not every day you learn your victim has superpowers.”

“We don’t know what the hell is up with Fenton,” Dash defended. Vic just shrugged.

“Yeah but he’s always been a freak now we know he ain’t human. Who knows what else he’s hiding?” Vic said with a smug smile before wandering off, giving a halfhearted wave over his shoulder as he left.

Dash stood in the hallway, trying to get himself under control until the warning and late bell rang. Only then, when he was certain he wouldn’t run into Fenton, did he head to class. 

XxX

“Should we follow him, see where he goes?” Paulina said, biting onto one of her nails in nervous excitement. Paulie was gorgeous and overall pretty cool but her thing with ghosts sometimes tired Dash out. Now more than ever. 

“Come on, that’s like stalking,” Kwan scolded. “Even if that wasn’t illegal or whatever it’s just not cool. They had a rough day today, leave ‘em alone.” That icy chill returned and Dash looked out of the corner of his eye to see Fenton and his cronies walking out of the school. 

Truthfully, Dash didn’t think Fenton had that bad of a day. Yeah people were asking questions but he’d side stepped them all, gave non-answers. Other people talked about Fenton’s supposed strength in gym but there’d been conflicting reports, some said he flew up the rope climb, others said he levitated doing his push ups. Dash really didn’t know what to believe. Fenton was just acting, well, like Fenton. He paused for a second, stopped walking before catching up with the group.

Maybe... maybe Dash was getting caught up over nothing. There really was no proof Fenton was this ‘half of’ other than what one dumb ghost said. He thought back to Fenton’s grin during first period; stupid nerd was probably milking his 15 minutes of fame and bully free time. His earlier fear and uncertainty burst into flames until a familiar anger was burning in his gut. Now this he knew what to do with.

“Yeah, well his day is about to get rougher,” Dash heard himself say as he stomped off to where Fenton was smiling tiredly at something Manson was saying. “Hey Fentonio! Think you’re pretty cool with every paying attention to you but I-”

Fenton gasped suddenly, like a hiccup only his breath misted out in front of him cold as a winter’s day. Dash stopped midsentence watching as Fenton’s whole face twisted. His earlier weary but tolerant annoyance that he’d been projecting all day was stripped away. He glared at Dash with an expression that was hard as ice and full of an exhaustion and bitterness he couldn’t begin to understand.

“As payment for being forcibly outed,” Fenton spoke up loudly enough that most of the school yard could hear him. “I was promised a week.” His eyes slowly but methodically scanned the crowd who had frozen in place at his authoritative tone. “Where I didn’t have to deal with ghosts, so I want to know... Who is trespassing on my haunt.”

Fenton’s mouth opened impossibly wide revealing what seemed like rows of sharped teeth. He curled his fingers into claws and, looking closer, his fingernails had indeed become real claws, as sharp and deadly as his teeth. His eyes blazed an impossible, ectoplasmic green and his dark hair developed streaks of white. He was terrifying, monstrous, but he was still Fenton. That feeling that had been eating at dash all day came back full force. Not the realization that Fenton had powers or whatever but that he had been hiding it in plain sight through ghost attacks and bullies and failing grades. This had always been Fenton, they just hadn’t seen. Until now that is.

And now the script had flipped and Dash didn’t know how this Ghost Fenton, who still was the same Fenton Dash had wedgied last Wednesday, fit. A green blob ghost materialized over by stairs, quivering and wailing in some ghost language. It turned and fled, presumably in the direction of the Fenton Portal to escape Fenton’s wrath. Fenton’s glowing eyes tracked it for a moment before he straightened up from his hunched posture and... was human again.

He brushed his hands through his black hair, lazily blinked blue eyes and, when he smiled, his teeth were normal. But Dash had seen, they all had. He’d let them see but to what end, he had no idea. Fenton turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow and another small smirk, just as tired as earlier.

“Sorry about that Dash, I take my vacation time very seriously. You were saying?” Fenton said with a smug lilt but his eyes were still dead and there was a bit of fear in them now. Despite his powers, he still gripped his backpack tightly.

“When your dumb little vacation’s up, Fentionail,” Dash said with a shaky voice. “It’s-it’s back to business, okay? Punches and wedgies and locker shoving. You,” he voice cracked a bit and he fought it down. “It’ll ramp up now that I know you can take it.” Fenton blinked, once then twice before he smiled. This time it wasn’t annoyed or scary or fearful but like the dumb grins he usually gave his dumb friends. 

“Yeah okay, we’ll start back up next week. The usual time?” Dash nodded, not knowing what else to say. “Alright, see you around.” He turned to walk away before pausing and turning back. “Actually you should be careful on who you shove into lockers, it can get hard to breathe in there and not everyone can phase out of them. You never know who’ll turn up dead,” he grinned and his eyes flashed green again, “if only half.”

That said, he and his friends walked away, ignoring the stares of the entire school on them. “Oh and it’s halfa, not half of,” Fenton called out over his shoulder. “I’m not half of anything, I’m just a whole me even if the details get a bit complicated.”

“Bye Danny, see you tomorrow,” Kwan called after with a grimace. No one else said anything for a minute until Dash found the strength to move his legs from where they’d been planted. He clenched his fists to hide his shaking and continued his walk home. Everyone else slowly did the same, talking quietly among themselves.

“What the hell was that?” Dale asked in a nervous high pitched voice. “What the hell did I just see?”

“Fenton being a weirdo but that’s nothing new,” Dash shrugged with a confidence he didn’t have yet. But if Fenton could show up to school after being outed and then willingly show them his inhumanity, then Dash needed to up his game. Couldn’t let the nerd be cool or anything. “So what if he glows or whatever, he’s still Fenton. Look I gotta get home, it’s Pookie’s feeding time and he is NOT going to believe the day I had.

[five-rivers]

Beltane

Written for Ectober 2021 Day 1: Trick vs Treat. This is part of the Exhumed series.

.

Danny Fenton walked into the precinct. As often happened when he did this, all attention slowly turned to him. “Hi, Detective Patterson. Have you ever heard of Beltane?”

Patterson took a long swig of coffee through the plastic stir straw, because she felt the need to be at least a little drugged before dealing with whatever this was, and then said, “Is this the kind of thing the whole precinct needs to know about, or is it more specific to me?”

“Mm, not specific to you, but I’m not sure if everyone needs to know about it, yet.”

Despite only select members of the Amity Park police force knowing Danny Fenton had another identity, he’d become a sort of ‘ghost liaison’ for the precinct. Better him than the adult Fentons, who tended to break things even (especially) when they were being careful.

“Actually,” continued Danny, “you might have already noticed some things about it. I mean, it’s seasonal, and Mom and Dad were detecting ectoenergy and ghost activity spikes for events like this before they got the portal up and running. Although, the portal was supposed to stabilize and reduce those spikes… I guess reducing one isn’t bad?”

“Okay,” said Patterson. “I don’t really know what you’re talking about. Do you want me to go find Collins?”

“Oh, that might be a good idea.”

“Great,” said Patterson. She turned her head to shout across the room. “McGee. Go find Collins.”

“Still the new guy?” asked Danny, sympathetically.

“It isn’t like we’re a popular posting,” said Patterson, “and, thanks to the ghosts, we don’t really need new people.”

Danny nodded placidly. “I know. But it must be hard for him, don’t you think?”

.

McGee had done his job. He’d discovered the corruption in the Amity Park Police Department and plumbed its depths. The problem was that he could never, ever, report it. Even if they didn’t have a perfectly good cause for it all, what they were ‘hiding’ (and they were only barely doing that) was so ridiculous that McGee had thought he’d gone crazy at first.

Ghosts.

The whole of Amity Park was haunted. Just like it said in those touristy brochures at the front of the local diners.

He stuck his head into the break room. “Collins, Patterson and Fenton want you,” he said.

“In the normal room?” Collins asked, shoving a sugary monstrosity of a donut into his mouth.

“I have no idea. She didn’t say.”

“Normal room then. Great job, McGee.”

McGee rolled his eyes. Great job, he said. As if he’d done anything.

God. What would Halloween be like?

.

“So, it’s like, reverse Halloween?” asked Patterson.

“Well, not exactly,” said Danny. He patted Daisy, the department mascot slash corpse sniffing dog who had followed them into the small interview room, gently on the head. “Actually, there are more similarities than differences. Basically, like Halloween, we’re going to get a spike in ectoenergy. Maybe even some ectoplasmic storms. More portals. That kind of thing.” He shrugged. “Most holidays and seasonal divisions have them, you know.”

“So… we’re getting Halloween round two?” asked Collins.

“What do you bet that this is what gets McGee to snap?”

“He’s been here since December,” said Collins. “I think he’s too stubborn to leave.”

“Is he still spying?” asked Danny.

“No,” said Patterson, waving a hand. “He gave up on that, after a while. But there’s a new office bet about whether or not he’ll stay stay, or if he’ll decide to quit. We’re not allowed to join in because we know him too well.”

“Mm,” said Danny.

“I don’t actually know if I feel like I know him that well,” said Collins.

“Well,” said Danny, “it shouldn’t be as extreme as Halloween. Since, I mean, there aren’t as many religious holidays directly associated with death and stuff happening on or around May first. So. Yeah. But the thing is, there are some traditional, er, activities. Spirited activities.”

Collins suppressed a groan, and was glad that Captain Jones wasn’t available today. He and Danny could sling puns at each other for obscenely long periods of time.

“I’ve never noticed ghosts doing anything on May Day,” said Patterson.

“This is only the third year anyone’s even acknowledged that ghosts exist,” said Danny, “so I’m not really all that surprised. But the reason that I came to talk to you guys is that some of the ghosts want to do Beltane stuff. Like the fire blessings. Also, I’ve been told that some of the trees in town are secretly ghost trees, and if we don’t want to deal with another tree army, we need to do some stuff to appease them.”

“Secret ghost trees.”

“My source is very reliable,” said Danny. “Also, while I say ‘we don’t want to deal with it,’ I think we all know who’d be dealing with most of it.”

“You would,” said Patterson.

“Got it in one. Like, I can convince most of the ghosts to either do their Beltane stuff in the Ghost Zone, or somewhere out of the way. They’ll be disappointed, but I can do it. The ghost tree thing, though…”

“Can’t we just, I don’t know,” said Collins, “get rid of the ghost trees?”

“Well, they aren’t really evil ghost trees. Or even really ghost trees. They’re more… ghosts that live in trees?”

“What, like dryads?” asked Collins, raising his eyebrows.

“That’s what I said, but they’re different species, apparently.”

“Okay,” said Patterson, “so. Appeasing the trees. How many trees are we talking about here, and how are we going to appease them?”

.

“Okay, so, this is definitely a whole precinct kind of thing,” said Patterson.

“And possibly an ‘all civil servants’ type of thing,” added Collins. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Where are we going to get the funding for this?”

“Oh, don’t worry about money,” said Danny. “I’ll just blackmail Vlad, and if that doesn’t work, I can get Mom and Dad to pay for it.”

“What,” said Collins.

“I think this might be a bit beyond your parents’ budget,” said Patterson, “but knock yourself out as far as Masters goes.”

“Well, I guess if it is,” he allowed, dubiously, “I could get the cults to pitch in?”

.

“This is nice,” said Danny. The sky was a bit overcast, which was a shame, but the hundreds of bright flowers and cheerful music more than made up for that.

The May Day celebration was, in Danny’s opinion, a success. At least, this half of it was turning out to be. He’d have to wait and see how the Spirit Bonfires went tonight before he could really make a judgement.

He’d only had to blackmail Vlad a little, too. It turned out that the ‘ruthless businessman’ in Vlad was ludicrously easy to manipulate, and once Danny brought up how a celebration like this one could revitalize local businesses and bring in tourism, he’d caved.

Although, that might have been the threat of an angry tree army. Vlad had definitely come off worse for wear in the last one, on all fronts.

Then, publically putting the Phantom Stamp of Approval (and Necessity Given The Potential Angry Tree Army) on the event had gotten buy-in from his fans and (sigh) the cults. The cults were, in fact, very enthusiastic about their new Holy Day. Danny had made a map of all the places they’d set up booths, and was studiously avoiding them.

Sam and Tucker were doing a walkthrough of that area, now, to check for problems and unadorned thorn trees. They’d arranged to meet up soon.

So, Amity Park was decked out in ribbons and flowers. All of the schools had gotten Maypoles and the day off of classes. Several bands, both human and ghostly, were playing in different parts of town.

It was chaotic, but great.

Danny briefly cut into the street to dodge a pair of college-age men play-fighting with tree branches (a genuinely important tradition symbolizing the battle between winter and summer), then walked through a wall to avoid two ghosts doing the same thing.

Finally, he reached Madame Babazita’s table.

“Hi,” he said, “three readings, please.”

“Three?” she asked. “Just for you?”

“My friends should get here before mine’s done,” said Danny. Was he channeling some predictive powers? Maybe. Holidays did make his powers weird.

.

“I have no idea what your reading is saying,” said Madame Babazita, after fifteen full minutes. “The cards simply aren’t speaking to me today. Also,” she held up an Uno card, “I’m not sure how this even got here.”

“That’s okay,” said Danny, “I just wanted to make sure it was the same as last time.”

.

“Hey! Phantom!” called Ember across the crowd of ghosts that had gathered in the cemetery. Most of them were fire or nature themed. “You’re in for a treat!”

Danny, who had been examining the flowers left on his grave, looked up. “I am?”

Ember draped her arm around Danny’s shoulder. She’d been a lot more friendly with him since the corpse incident. “Sure are.” She stepped up onto the surface of his memorial, pulling him up behind her. Danny shook off a brief chill and looked around.

Ghosts were streaming into the cemetery from various directions, bringing armfuls of flowers with them. Danny could see two, huge bonfire piles of flowers growing near the cemetery gates.

“Are there going to be cows?” asked Danny, who was still fuzzy on the details of the ghostly side of the celebrations.

“I don’t know,” said Ember. “When I’ve seen this done in the GZ there are. Here? Who knows. Maybe we’ll just walk through.”

Danny nodded, unworried. Beltane sure was an interesting holiday.

The last armful of flowers was placed, and every flower in the cemetery caught on fire at once. Including the ones on Danny’s grave. Danny yelped, jumping into flight. As an ice core ghost, he vastly preferred cold to heat.

This went without saying, but fire was very hot.

Ember grabbed his foot, and he almost kicked her. “You knew that was going to happen,” he accused.

“Sure did, babypop,” said Ember, grinning. “Come on, don’t you want to pass through the bonfires?”

Danny eyed the very large bonfires on either side of the cemetery gates. They were lit up with sparks like fireworks, shifting like flowers blooming and withering and blooming again. They were beautiful and impressive, and Danny felt like melting just by looking at them.

“I don’t know…” He wanted to, but… melting…

“Well, if you want to go out the other way and be horribly unlucky for the next year…”

Danny narrowed his eyes. “Is that another trick?” he asked.

Ember’s grin grew wider, and she took off towards the gates. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Danny sighed and followed her.

.

“Unbelievable,” said McGee. “Absolutely unbelievable.” He gave the elderly cultist a boost into the wagon.

“I know, right?” said Patterson. “All this property damage and a low-key kidnapping,” she gestured to the hapless late night partier who had called the police when the cult got too insistent about their message, “and they didn’t even have the good drugs?” She shook her head. “Not that we ever arrest anyone just for drugs in this town.”

“I did not just hear you say that,” muttered McGee.

“We’ll make an Amity Parker out of you yet,” said Collins, heartily, slamming the back door of the wagon. He thumbed the button on his radio. “Any other disturbances?” he asked.

“No, you’re good to come back,” said the dispatcher.

“What I don’t get,” said McGee, leaning against a nearby wall in a moment of weakness, “is why we aren’t breaking up whatever cult thing is happening in the cemetery.” They’d seen it quite clearly on their way here.

“Because those are ghosts,” said Patterson.

McGee took a deep breath. “The ghosts are having some kind of ritual in the cemetery, and you aren’t worried.”

“Not really, no.”

“I hate it here,” said McGee.

“Do you, though?” asked Collins, sounding genuinely interested in the answer.

McGee opened his mouth to snap back that, yes, he did. But…

Hm. Huh.

Collins patted him on the back.