#shes still not gonna summon a ghost or put a curse on people

[shroomtime00]

Hoodwinked - Chapter 5: A Golden Haired Tutor

The first thing you see in the morning? Amity’s face, twisted with worried concern. 

You hold back a scream as you shoved your sister off of you.

“You don’t have to do this for me, (reader)!” she says desperately, “I can handle the stress, I promise–”

“Wha–? Not even a good morning?” you shook your head, feigning disappointment. “Amity, Amity. I expected better of you.”

Her ears flush light pink with embarrassment. Your attempt to lighten the mood does nearly nothing, though, as she goes right back to the point. 

“Whatever! Just…call off the deal, okay?”

“Sorry, no can do, sister. And can we save the talk? I need to visit the library today.”

Her eyebrow quirked. “Library? But it’s saturday.”

You chuckled, the sound coming more of a nervous laugh. “I need to study for a major test, that’s all.”

Lies. You were really going to begin studying on Abominations, but Amity didn’t need to know that. You bet you told her, she’d get even more stressed. 

“Huh. Okay.” The suspicion doesn’t leave her voice, however. “Um, happy studying, I guess.”

She hops off your bed and leaves your room. You breathe a sigh of relief as she shuts the door behind her. 

Getting ready wasn’t too hard, because you really weren’t going to dazzle today. Just a simple blue sweater and some jeans. You also decided to put on a silver necklace because just because you were going simple didn’t mean you weren’t allowed to look good! You wondered if your mother was awake. Perhaps it would be better to pick up some breakfast at a cafe instead.

•─────⋅

The Golden Guard had to study. He had been a little behind on his assignments. Nothing to worry about, though! He just needed to, uh, research wild magic. For the coven.

Okay, fine. This wasn’t really part of his coven duties. But still, if he could just find out what exactly Belos’s curse was….

One problem: the coven library was shut down due to a rain leak. The acidity of the boiling rain had melted the pages of each book. 

The closest un-boiled library was the Bonesburough one. It wasn’t ideal, but it would work. For now. 

Anyways, he would be going as Hunter. In any criminal’s eyes, he was only a scrawny blonde sixteen year old, visiting the library to study for school. It would be a foolproof disguise. 

•─────⋅

The Bonesburough library—where you spent most of your freetime. It seemed like you were gonna spend all of it now, as the deal would probably require you to study. All the time. It wasn’t too bad, though! Books are fun. 

You had always liked the library, with its big clock tower and towering shelves and grumpy, definitely sleep deprived librarians. It was a great escape.

Anyways, you grabbed three volumes (that you found in the fourth grade section): Abominations 101, Abominations 4 Beginners, and Darius Deammone: A Biography. 

Okay, so the last book wasn’t necessary. What of it? Head Witch Darius’s life was pretty interesting, and re-reading it for the thirtieth time wouldn’t hurt, right?

You cracked open the first book, and conjured a pen and notebook. You cracked it open.

Hm, you definitely needed a tutor. Who, though? 

You glanced around, hoping to spot a perfect target. I mean, tutor. The building was a little empty, and you didn’t blame the people for not giving it a visit at seven-thirty AM on a Saturday. 

Still, it didn't help your case. You wished you had asked Amity or Jerbo to come with you. They would have taught you.

Then, you remembered. You’re an oraclancy user! You could just summon a neutral ghost to help you, one who was an abomination user in their past life. 

Albert was summoned with a flick of a finger. “Hey!” he yelled. 

“Shh, we’re in a library! I need you to help me with something, got it?” you said, your voice hushed. He raised an eyebrow and floated to the table, hovering a few inches off the wood.

“What?” he said. “I was winning a game of Hexes Hold’em in that amulet of yours, you know.”

You rolled your eyes. Albert was being far from cooperative right now, but what could you do? How was your only available tutor. 

“Fine, I’ll let you haunt someone later. But for now, I need help with abominations.”

“Why?”

“Long story, I replaced Amity, okay? You know how she was the one Mother pushed all her ideals and stuff on? Well, that’s me now.”

He shrugged. “Cool. What do you need help with?”

And as you asked questions and received very vague, irritable questions, neither of you did not notice the blonde boy with ridiculously large eyebags peeking from one of the shelves, intrigued. 

•─────⋅

Hunter continued to stare at the two figures, curious. The third Blight of the family was replacing the fourth? That was something he betted worthy enough the people at taverns would discuss/ gossip about. 

He never was quite acquainted with the rich of the Isles, but this one felt…familiar. Maybe it was the way they argued with the floating, purple ghost, or maybe he had seen them somewhere, but there was something odd about (reader) Blight. 

He had swapped glances with them sometimes, at parties and balls sponsored by his coven. They were quick and didn’t mean much, just a bored kid looking at another. He found their gaze intimidating, sharp (e/c) eyes locked with magenta. 

They were acquainted with the privileged, the rich and snotty. Were they snotty too? He didn’t know. He never even spoke a word to them. 

It had never struck him that the people he saw at parties were real witches. Essentially, they were part of the background, and held no interest.

But this particular Blight? They were real. Very real. 

“You just ask very boring questions!”

“You don’t even give me a proper answer!”

“Hmph,” the ghost crossed his arms together and refused to look at his conjuror, like a child throwing a tantrum. “I’m not gonna help you. You’re being very rude, thank you very much.”

Blight's eyes widened, “Wait no, I don’t understand this topic!”

The ghost cracked open one eye, and it stared right at Hunter. Quickly and with a squeak he dove back to the bookshelves. 

“You’re not being very sneaky, kid.” the ghost huffed. “We can still see your hair, you know.”

Dang it. 

•─────⋅

You and Albert stare at the ashy blonde cowlick for a few seconds. You sigh, the chair making a scraping sound against the floor as you stand up and walk to the boy.

He has his face turned to you, a sheepish grin showing off his tooth gap. 

“What are you doing, stalker?” you demand. In a flash the boy is on his feet, “I am not a stalker!”

You cross your arms and scoff. “Really? What were you doing, then?”

“I—um,” his magenta eyes flick to the stack of books you had collected behind you. He points to them, “I needed a book you got!” he says hastily. 

You raised an eyebrow. “Huh. What book?”

“The, uh, abomination coven head’s autobiography.” 

The book flies to his hands in a blaze of purple. He grips the cover tightly, staring down at it. 

“Thanks,” he mutters.

When he stays in his position, unmoving, you ask, “So, you like abominations?”

He glances up in surprise when you talk. “Yeah.”

“Great! Are you a master at it?”

He shrugged, still holding the book close to his chest. “I wouldn’t say master, but I guess you could say I enjoy doing it.”

You snorted. His face seemed to twist in half-recognition until you said, “That’s practically impossible. Abominations? Enjoyment? Won’t hear that in the same sentence often.”

He shrugged.  “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. It’s a little messy, but it's practical. You know, abominations actually played a huge part in the Demon Revolution in 1390? Many thought the goo would melt in the battlefields, but it was a really big component in order to win the civil war!” you grinned at his mini-rant. 

The boy seemed to have suddenly become self-conscious, because he coughed and said quietly, “Not that that’s important, or anything.” 

“No, no! It’s interesting,” you gleamed. He seemed to be surprised. “R-really?” he sputtered. 

You nodded, “History always fascinated me. Hey, do you think you could tutor me on abominations? My tutor isn’t being–” you glanced back to Albert, or where he would be. You see nothing. “--too helpful.”

His mouth gaped open. He had a certain look in his eyes, as if he was waiting for an opportunity like this to come across all his life. 

“You want to study with me?”

You nodded happily. “Look, I’ll pay you in snails. Or maybe a free meal? I know some really good restaurants around here–”

“No, uh,” he finally looks you in the eye, and you wonder if you had ever made a kid so happy than he is now, “That’s fine. You don’t need to pay.”

Huh. Oddly nice. 

“So, what’s your name, blondie?”

He hesitated before saying, “..Hunter.”

“I’m (reader) Blight!” you grin at him. Playfully, you bend the crook of your arm for him and the other positioned at your back, as if inviting him for a dance. With a cheesy wink you say, “Well, shall we, Hunter?”

He rolls his eyes, striding past you with a snicker. 

This Hunter guy is so knowledgeable! Boy, he’s smart. You figure he’s probably a prodigy in whatever school he’s in. 

“The multiple uses of abomination goo is as follows—-why’re you staring at me like that?” He stops midway, staring at you accusingly. 

“I—what? Pfft, I wasn’t staring at you!” Your cheeks burn with embarrassment. 

“Uh-huh.” He raised his thick black eyebrows at you before clearing his throat. “Eyes on the page, Blight. Anyhow, the first use is abomination summoning, obviously..”

You zoned out as Hunter explained some subject your mind definitely wasn’t on. 

Your eyes darted from the yellowed pages to Hunter’s face. It was laced with concentration as he turned the subject into a ramble about how abomination goo was so annoying to take off and how it left a big splotchy stain. His hooked nose crinkled in distaste, and you presumed he was imagining the smell of abomination goo. You didn’t blame him—abomination goo always smelled horrible. 

You chuckled, causing him to pause. “You really have a grudge against abominations, huh?”

“Obviously!” He huffed, “The goo is repulsive. But, well, I can’t deny its usefulness…do you know what time it is?”

You glanced at the library clock above him, Hunter’s golden curls obscuring your view a little. “Um, I think eleven twenty?”

“WHAT?” he yelled. “Oh no, oh no no no…I’m late!” He burst to his feet, looking around frantically. 

“Late for what?” You asked him. “Late for something,” he replied, “I’ve really got to go…you’ll be okay, right?”

You laughed. That ripple of distant recognition from Hunter’s face showed up again. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve got this in the bag!” You looked back down at the page, which had been sticky-note bombed by Hunter. “But, er, I may need to find an demonstrator soon, putting theory into practice and all that. Anyway, see you!”

As his blonde cowlick disappeared from sight, you sighed. You glance to the page, with bright yellow sticky notes. 

Hunter’s handwriting was messy, hardly legible. The amount of loops in the ‘y’s and ‘j’s made it quite difficult to understand what was going on. But you didn’t really care, either, that was the funny part. 

Why didn’t you care that you spent four hours with a new friend, when you didn’t even learn anything at all? Could you even call Hunter a friend? You’d probably never see him again.

You found yourself hoping he’d be back tomorrow. 

•─────⋅

Hunter didn’t want to leave. Not yet. Weirdly, he liked spending time with the Blight, odd questions and quips and all. They were kinda fun hanging around. Everything about them was oddly uncanny—the snorts when he said something funny, the chuckling, the attitude…who did they remind him of? He couldn’t quite tell. 

But he had a mission he was very late for, as the golden guard, so unfortunately he couldn’t solve the mystery yet. That didn’t stop him from borrowing a few advanced abomination volumes, and made a silent note to borrow a trainee’s wand from the coven later. He might not come across with the Blight again, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared. Plus, he may have been stretching the truth about him knowing how to conjure an abomination to impress them.

[andstuffsketches]

[edit of Sawako Kuronuma in the style of Mob Psycho (anime) next to Mob’s official character art. They both have psychic auras drawn around them. Mob’s is blue/purple and Sawako’s is mainly pink/purple and sparkly]

two of them

[alien-bluez]

SATBK NINJAGO AU NO ONE ASKED FOR

ahaha... satbk stands for sonic and the black knight btw it's a wii game and it has a whole grip on my brain so now i'm combining my two fixations bc i can..!

this will be a long post btw, designs n ideas are all mine and just an FYI.. It is heavily inspired by satbk but i will probably develop it as an au outside of the satbk story.. for my own entertainment idk. also idk much about the knights of the round table / king arthur story so don't expect anything related to them besides the names..? idk

anyways let's start!

Lloyd and Harumi (aka Sonic and Merlina)

Lloyd is a lost prince that gets summoned to this part of the world by Harumi who is a wizard and gets asked to help stop King Arthur (aka Garmadon) from being evil n wrecking shit ig.

Lloyd is chosen to help but he's not a knight! Harumi helps him find an ancient lost sword (aka Excalibur aka Morro in this au. hear me out. i'll explain it in more detail later.) and gets trained to become a knight with his now very annoying talking magic sword haha.

Also spoiler alert ig- Harumi is the real villain all along...! she manipulates lloyd into taking down Garmadon in order to get Excalibur's scabbard (which is in evil king arthur's possession which makes him evil + immortal) and wants to rule Camelot for herself to preserve the dying kingdom and thinks she'll be a better ruler to where Garmadon failed ig. still working out the motivations here.

Morro (aka Caliburn/Excalibur)

Morro in this au is Lloyd's talking sword. You don't see his ghost form.. at all..? i just mostly wanted to draw him in ghostly prince form lol. Basically he was the crown prince before Lloyd but then died a tragic death and became cursed to haunt a sword..? Yeah sure. So Lloyd picks him up and Morro talks and yeah they're travel buddies now.

Morro basically helps Lloyd become a better knight, but they still bicker and argue like siblings and it is funny.

Okay I'm gonna put a read more here now bc this is gettin long. The rest of the ninjas designs + stories are under the cut!

Knights of the Round Table

Kai (aka Lancelot)

Kai is Lancelot/Shadow in this au! He's the most loyal to KA / Garmadon in this au which is really funny lmao. As a knight Kai will follow any order given to him, he's one of the strongest knights in the realm and he's quite hotheaded to boot.

He encounters Lloyd first and they fight bc Lloyd is trying to stop Garmadon. Inexperienced as a fighter and a knight he doesn't exactly beat Kai but gets away after a technicality. Umm I like to think they meet a few more times over the course of Lloyd's journey, and maybe there's a part where Kai gets stuck with Lloyd and they have to work together.

Despite having differences of opinion on what it means to be a knight, Kai sort of sees Lloyd as a worthy rival... and lowkey younger brother!

Cole (aka Gawain)

Cole is the second knight Lloyd encounters and fights on his journey. After having more experience Lloyd does in fact beat him fair and square! But Cole as a knight takes chivalry and honor very seriously. After losing he feels so much shame but Lloyd snaps him out of it because there's more to being a knight than serving a king!

Zane (aka Percival)

The third knight of the round table that Lloyd encounters and also one of the toughest opponents Lloyd faces. Zane's fighting style is full of poise and grace and even though he doesn't appear to be as heavy hitting or brute forced as Kai or Cole he is most definitely strong! If not stronger for being able to conceal his power!

Lloyd is an experienced knight at this point, when he has Zane on the ropes part of the cliff they stand on falls off, nearly taking Zane with it. But Lloyd swoops in to save him like a true hero. After questioning Lloyd about why he saved him when he shouldn't have, Lloyd says it's because it's what he does! He saves people!

I wanna develop the knights more outside of the satbk encounters, so hehe. Keep ur eyes peeled for that!

Last but not least the other supportive characters in the story!

Jay (aka the Blacksmith)

yeah it would've been funny to make Kai the blacksmith but i think Jay works better here!

Jay is the town's local inventor / blacksmith and tthe best kind around! Lloyd goes to his shop to sharpen up Morro Sword and probably visits after every fight he has too lol. Jay doesn't mind at all and likes Lloyd's company! Especially because he will get any chance to show off his newest crazy invention for Lloyd!

Nya (aka Nimue Lady of the Lake)

Nya takes the place of Nimue who gives Lloyd three tests to become a true knight. I had to put her here because of water.. water symbolism n all that.

She's also very chill and hosts tea parties and invites Lloyd to celebrate after becoming a true knight! She's like an older sister to him too!

And.. yeah that's it i guess lol! I don't have more designs yet to show but I do have ideas and other stuff in mind! if u ever wanna ask about it my ask box is open! i wanna develop more of this funny little au haha

[adhdeancas]

Sunset Sound: Made in Heaven

Read Chapter 5 on AO3 here.

“Alright, ladies and gents, let’s do this.” Pamela rubs her hands together. They’re all crowded around a table, having hauled Pamela’s magic crap in. She looks around at them like they’re all gathered around for a campfire ghost story. “So, rumor has it that you can crack into the Empty with an inter-realm spell. So… we need somebody from each of the ball fields: Heaven, Earth, Hell, Purgatory.” 

Charlie whistles. “Great. Well, we got the Heaven side covered. Earth is probably next easiest, right?” 

“Except we can’t run the risk of Chuck finding out what we’re up to. So, down low. Evasive measures.” 

Dean nods at Ash. “Sam’s got a handle on the Earth shit; he’s a little magic freak now. No offense.” he puts a hand on Pamela. She rolls her eyes. “But how do we get a message down to him without setting Chuck off? Not like we can send a halo-ed carrier pigeon.”

They all think on it for a second, till Pamela leans forward. “The veil. If we can contact a ghost, they can haunt Sam and get him the message.” 

Charlie raises an eyebrow. “Aren’t ghosts known for being kind of… crazy? Murderous?”

“Huge dicks?” Ash adds helpfully. 

Pamela shrugs. “We could find one that’s recently died; there’s the possibility they wouldn’t have turned yet. But we’d have to know who we’re contacting, we can’t just put out a classified.” 

Something pings in the back of Dean’s head and he slams his hand on the table. He apologizes quickly because damn near everyone jumps at the noise. “I got it. Kevin. Kevin Tran. He’s in the veil still, and he’s spent a fuckton of time down there, he’d know how to haunt somebody good.” 

“And is he going to want to help us?” 

Dean frowns at Pamela. “What does that mean?” 

“I mean, people don’t usually end well around you, Dean. Case in point,” she motions around the table at all of them. “It’s not your fault but… sometimes there are hard feelings.” 

Dean shakes his head. He deserves hard feelings from Kevin, that’s for sure, but the kid’s awesome. Hell, last time he’d seen them he’d been almost happy, even signing up to stay in the veil forever. “Nah, we can trust Kevin. He’s family.” 

“Alright. Fire her up then, Pam,” Ash is excited. Pamela shoots him a glare for impatience but she gets her shit together anyway. It’s already set up, all she has to do is ask Dean for a few personal details, chant a bit, and she gets through. “We’re asking for Kevin Tran. Kevin Tran, if you’re out there, Dean Winchester wants a word. Well, a few actually. Kevin, can you hear me?” 

The draft spigot turns on by itself, spewing beer onto the floor. “Hey Kev, want a beer?” Dean jumps up and grabs a glass, pumped at the prospect of seeing his friend again.” 

“That’s it, Kevin. You’re doing great. Keep trying, keep locking into that.” 

The candles on the table go out one by one: apparently, Kevin practicing. Dean holds his breath and shuts off the draft spigot, a glass of beer held out in front of him. “Can ghosts drink? Wait, are you even 21, Kevin?” 

“The kid’s dead and you’re gonna huff and puff over the legal age for a Pilsner?” Ash laughs. Dean hands it to him; he has a point. Maybe Jack’s made him a little overprotective of shit like that. 

Kevin appears in front of Dean then, hand outstretched to try and take the beer. His sudden appearance makes Dean spill half of it all over himself. “Son of a- hi Kevin!” he offers the beer out again, and this time Kevin takes it and pours it right through his ghostly figure. “Oh… shit.” 

Kevin deadpans at him. “Yeah, it sucks. Hi, Dean.” 

“How you doing, bud?” 

Kevin shrugs and sighs, looking down at himself. “Well, I’m dead. Still. Dean, you wanna explain what I’m doing here first?” 

Dean nods, grabbing the beer back from Kevin and setting it on the table. He motions for the kid to turn around toward the table set up with witchy shit. “Kevin, this is Ash, Charlie, and Pamela, the psychic who summoned you.” Pamela and Ash both give a flirty wink, which makes Dean turn about three shades of red in the face. 

“Heard a lot, kid.” Ash greets him.

“Yeah, I’ve never heard of any dead guy with such bad luck.” Pamela adds on. And she would know.

Kevin nods with a wry smile. “Yeah, well, that’s just me, I guess. Dead for years, in the veil most of it and hell for the rest.”

“Kev, I’m so sorry-” 

Kevin holds up a hand to stave off Dean’s apologies. “It’s not your fault, Dean. It’s Chuck’s. Tell me you got him.” 

“That’s what we’re here for, man.” 

“Yeah, apparently we’re the Kill God Team now.” Charlie grins and Kevin smiles back. 

“Hell fucking yeah. I can get on board with that. Whaddya need me to do?” 

They all sit down at the table and map it all out. “We need you to get the plan over to Sam, but we can’t have Chuck finding out about any of it.”

“Yeah, so you need to make sure he knows to keep a low profile.” Dean warns. The last fucking thing in the world they need is to lose the element of surprise. Plus, that would put Sam right in Chuck’s crosshairs, and Dean can’t be there to back him up. He curses himself again for dying. 

“What exactly do we mean by low profile?” Charlie asks. “Are we talking cabin in the middle of the woods off-grid kind of low profile or just a Meet the Robinson’s type deal?”

Dean sighs. “Sam needs to stay away from anything Chuck likes to watch.” God, it sounded grimy just saying it. “That means hunting, that means me, that means… Eileen too.” 

“Eileen?” 

“His girlfriend.” It hurts Dean to think about, but- “Chuck’s used them against each other before; he likes them together. So they gotta stay apart.”

“Shit.” Charlie exhales quietly, and Dean nods. It’s unfair. It sucks. It’s Chuck. 

“Tell him to live a normal life. Be as happy as he can. But don’t come looking for me and don’t get interesting. Or Chuck will just fuck with him some more, and if he does that… he’s gonna find out what we’re doing.” Kevin nods seriously. He never gets brought around for fun shit, does he? Dean feels a pang of regret at that. He immediately wants to change it. “But right now, whaddya say we have some fun, huh?” 

The table looks at him like he’s gone nutty. He shrugs and grins. “Come on guys, we’re dead. Don’t we all have a night to spare?” 

He sees Charlie come around first, slow grin spreading across her face. “Fuck yeah, let’s party, bitches!”

It doesn’t take the rest of them much convincing either. Dean has some good-ass friends. “Yo Kev, since you can’t get fucked up, you wanna play some pool?” Ash hitches his thumb at the table behind him. 

Dean laughs. “Ash, you are one cruel son of a bitch. Years of being a friggin’ ghost and you’re gonna whoop him in pool? That’s cold.” 

Ash shakes his head. “Nah man, I’ve spent way more time passed out on that table than playing on it. I’d say the kid’s got a fair shot.” Kevin smiles and shrugs at Dean.

“Hey, that’s more than I’ve ever gotten before; I’ll take my chances” 

They head off to play and Dean grabs a beer to watch, a good one this time. One with the label he and Sam used to buy, the kind that Cas said “didn’t taste as much like the vast expanse of space dust” as the others. Charlie and Pamela follow with their own. 

“So Dean,” Pamela says. “Ash tells me you gotta angel on your shoulder.” She sounds a little weary. Dean figures that’s fair, given her experience with the species. 

“Uh… yeah. Castiel.” He gestures to her eyes. “That one.” Pamela shrugs if off. 

“So make me like him. Charlie here says you’ve got quite the bond.” Dean blushes pink, but for once there isn’t any innuendo behind her voice. At least, none that is teasing. He looks to Charlie, who makes a ‘I didn’t say anything’ face at him and relaxes a bit. 

“Well, uh, he hasn’t burned anymore eyes out,” Dean starts, then reconsiders. “Well, none that didn’t deserve it.” Not really true either. “Well-” 

“He’s super cute.” Charlie cuts him off. Dean blushes deeper. “He gave a whole fuck-you to heaven to save Dean.” Dean blushes deeper still. Why does it sound so… intimate when she says it like that? Pamela just raises an eyebrow.

“Sounds like some ally.” 

“Cas?” Kevin sinks a ball. The kid’s not bad, actually. Ash was right; they are neck-and-neck. “Yeah, he’s awesome. I mean, weird, but cool.” Dean grins. Weird but cool was exactly Cas. 

“Someday, man, I gotta meet this guy.” Ash laments.

“Someday, dude, you will.” Dean vows. Somehow sitting around talking about him with all these guys, he felt confident it was true. “Once we bust him out, you better bet we’re throwing a party and meet-and-greeting everybody. 

“I’ll finally get to tease him for the eyes. You think it’d get him better without the fakes?” She pops her fake cloudy eyes out and waggles her eyebrows at Dean, empty eye sockets looking bizarre on such a cheerful face. Dean laughs. 

“You’re not gonna need to; he already feels shitty for that. He’ll probably offer to heal ‘em, matter of fact.” 

“Well, he won’t get far with that one,” Ash calls over. “Angels been trying to do it for years.” Pamela nods at Dean’s questioning glance.

“Wouldn’t be me without ‘em, now. Who needs sight anyway?” 

“Without eyes you won’t be able to see my pretty face!” Dean bullshits. 

“Yeah, or your brother’s tight ass. Second thought, remind me when Sam gets up here, won’t ya?” Dean makes a gagging noise and Pamela laughs. 

“So you said Chuck’s in your… kid?” Kevin asks skeptically. He misses a shot and Ash hollers. Dean cracks his neck and considers how to answer. 

“Kinda. I mean, yeah. Just not- he’s Lucifer and a human’s, technically.” He starts, realizing Kelly’s in heaven too. They’ve gotta let her in on this, but not now. Not now when Chuck!Jack is probably visiting her as her son; it’s too risky. With how sick he feels at the idea of Jack being Chuck’s meatsuit, well…

He sees Cas. Again. Just for a second, there he is standing outside the window, looking less wounded but more tired than before. He looks like he’s focused on something, like he’s scared, but he also looks transfixed, like he can’t look away. As Dean watches, Cas closes his eyes and mouths something. It looks like he’s counting. “One, two, three.” Dean blinks and he’s gone, and Dean’s left wondering if he imagined the whole thing.

“Dean?” 

“Yeah.” He smiles at Charlie to let her know he’s okay. Ish. “Sorry, uh, so he’s kind of devilspawn but he’s ours. Mine, Cas’s, Sam’s. Long story. But he’s a good kid.” He nods, knowing he oughta give more information, but not really knowing how.

“Who woulda thought, Dean Winchester, a dad.” Ash ribs with a grin. Dean laughs back and nods. His life hadn’t really screamed stability and mentorhood. His death still didn’t.

“Yeah, I… I haven’t exactly been a star father-figure…” Dean shakes his head. The conflict in his head that culminates in Jack is confusing as hell, but three things win him over. The first is Jack’s innocent, naive face looking up at him for any kind of approval or wisdom. A kid. Just a kid. The second is Cas’s face as he smiles at him that one night over a whiskey glass, the prideful joy as he tells Dean he always believed in Jack. The third is the pit in his gut of all the times he acted like his dad to Jack. And no matter what, Dean can’t leave those memories be. He can’t have Jack remember him like that, and he can’t look Cas in the eye knowing he didn’t do everything he could to make things right. “But that’s gonna change, if it fucking kills me. We gotta save him when we get Chuck, guys, we gotta.” 

“We will.” Kevin looks at him with an overly-confident smile. “We can’t lose. You’ve got me, now!”

The rest of them bust out laughing, and Kevin fakes offense. “You’re right, Kev. Don’t know what I’m so worried ‘bout.” 

Tag List (ask to be added or removed):

@dochunterwitch  @justonecitizenoftheearth @gnbrules @purpe @castiel-is-a-cat @alienapparatus @damian-janus-pendragon

[salt-warrior]

WHEN EARTH TURNS TO ASHES

Masterlist

Bonus Chapter: Okay Again

Kai’s eyes sprang open, met with a white ceiling and blinding lights. He immediately closed them, cursing Thorne for whatever prank he had pulled this time. Had he put a spotlight above Kai’s bed? For stars sake, his head was pounding. Though perhaps that wasn’t entirely due to whatever light fixture resided over Kai’s head. It felt more internal.

In times past, Thorne had put red plastic cups on Kai’s floor while he slept and, one time, had even saran wrapped him to the bed. (He was a heavy sleeper.) But this light was less funny and more painful.

“Kai?” Asked a voice beside him. He knew he recognized it, though he couldn’t understand why. It was the voice of a girl, and, as far as Kai knew, his only friends were Thorne and his father.

A spike of fear shot through him. What was a girl doing in his room?

Slowly, he peeked his eyes open again, opening just one in this girl’s direction. He saw brown hair, a pale face and the most concerned pair of eyes he had ever seen. The instant he saw her, everything flooded back to him. The three words whispered. The lightning bolt of fire. The pain. The nothingness. He had thought that he would die.

Apparently not.

“Cinder?” Kai gasped, trying to pull himself into a sitting position, but crying out as a new wave of pain hit him.

Cinder immediately rose from her seat, slightly unsteady on just one foot, placing her hands on Kai’s shoulders. She gently eased him back down against the mattress.

“Hey,” she scolded, though not unkindly. “Take it easy. You did die just a couple days ago.” She sounded as though she were trying not to cry, but her mouth was set in a firm line. Kai wanted to reach out to her— to touch her— but his entire body felt like… well, he wasn’t sure. But it definitely didn’t feel good.

"Water?" Kai asked, voice scraggly. Cinder nodded her head and grabbed a hospital cup with the largest straw known to mankind from a hospital tray. She held it up to his lips and he swallowed greedily until his mouth no longer felt like sandpaper.

“I died?” Kai asked, turning his head on the pillow as Cinder sat back down in the plastic chair. He had a strange déjà vu moment as Cinder looked down at him from the chair. Except, it had once been he who had watched carefully.

“Yes,” said Cinder, voice cracking. “When you were an idiot and told me that you loved me, my mother sent a bolt of fire down upon you. Almost your entire body is burned, though, lucky for you, it’s not all that bad. Of course there will be scaring and such, but Thorne and Cress were able to put you out pretty fast. Apparently your heart stopped due to the bolt sent directly at it.” Her nose scrunched in an almost painful way. “I don’t really understand how it worked. But within minutes, your heart went into arrest and then… then…” Cinder covered her face.

“Don’t,” Kai hushed, reaching for her despite the pain that coursed through his being. He didn’t know why he cared so much for her. He barely knew her, for crying in a bucket. But he loved her. He had scars enough to prove that love— scars that he would never denounce. “It wasn’t your fault. I’m the one who decided to screw with the plan. I made my bed, and you know what? It’s not too shabby.”

Cinder let out a laugh that sounded more like a sob, but she drew her hands away from her face. Her expression was kind, but she looked absolutely exhausted— as if she hadn’t slept for days. It didn’t help that she still wore bandages on her own person from her little tryst with fire just a few weeks before. Boy, were they one flaming hot couple.

“Why did you do it?” Cinder asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Make my bed?”

“You know what I mean.”

Kai released a sigh. “Because– I don’t know. I guess I realized that we could all very well die that night, and I couldn’t die without you knowing that I was in love with you. The real you. The you that is haunted and ghosted and troubled. I needed to say it.”

“You could have told me that without using my name— without summoning her. You could have let Cress do it and–”

“Cinder,” Kai cut her off, feeling rather sheepish. “I couldn’t let Cress do it. Not after everything I did— everything I put you through. I just had to do it.”

Cinder averted her gaze, looking down at the scuffed toe of her shoe. There were crutches beneath her chair, cold and gray. The doctors had already fitted her for a prosthetic, but Cinder didn’t much like it— or at least, she didn’t as far as Kai knew. But it hadn’t even been a month since Cinder’s accident. There were wounds to heal and time for things to change.

“You really scared me.” Kai watched as a strand of hair fell from her ponytail and she brushed it back with a partially bandaged hand. “They said that your heart stopped and I just…” She glanced up, tears in her eyes. “It was like Ran and Peony all over again. It was all my fault.”

“But it wasn’t,” Kai said, brow furrowed. His head pounded, but he didn't want Cinder to leave him. “You didn’t ask me to help you. I inserted myself into this situation. You bear no blame.”

“But I do,” Cinder choked, pressing a hand to her cheek. Her face was flushed and her eyes red, but she somehow managed to still look like an angel. “I should never have told you about any of it. I knew the risks, and yet…”

“Look at me,” Kai said. When Cinder didn’t meet his gaze, he tilted his head to the side. “Look at me, Cinder.” She looked, though with a sadness he could hardly comprehend.

“I’m fine. My heart stopped, sure. But it’s working again. I’m alive and breathing. And I’m glad that of all the people I could wake up from death to, it’s you.” He smiled at her, and through her tears, she smiled back. “I’m sorry for what I did, but I wouldn’t change it. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Cinder stood from her chair, leaning heavily on her crutches. She swiped at her cheeks, head bent low as she spoke. “I’m gonna go tell your dad and Thorne and everyone else that you’re awake. I probably should have done that first, but–” Cinder bit her lip. “Oh well.”

She walked to the door, and Kai felt panic begin to rise from within him. He couldn’t let her leave him— he didn’t want to live a second without her.

“Cinder,” Kai called out, somewhat breathless. His mind scrambled for something to say— anything that would allow her to stay for just another moment. “What did you tell my father?”

“Oh.” Cinder closed her eyes in that way people only do when they’re ridiculously embarrassed, as if looking at the world would mean to face unending mockery. She leaned forward, brow furrowed. “Well, you see, Thorne was the one who called him.” Kai immediately felt a twinge in his chest, knowing this would be anything other than good. “And, uh, he told him that we were having a bonfire and you tripped and fell in.”

“What?” Kai asked, astounded. “And he believed it?”

“Well, not really,” Cinder chuckled. “The falling into a fire stuff, yes. But the bonfire in a graveyard is something that he didn’t find particularly plausible. Then he gave Thorne a good, long look and suddenly seemed to find it somewhat easier to believe. I don't know. You'll probably get grilled on it soon enough.”

“Stars above.”

“Yeah,” Cinder muttered, her eyes nearly rolling out of her head.

And in that moment, with their shared exasperation at Thorne, everything felt okay again. They had both done things that they regretted, but they would move past it. All would be well once more. Kai felt himself relax against the pillows.

“Hey, Cinder,” Kai said.

“What?”

“I meant it, back in the graveyard. I– I–”

“I love you, too,” Cinder whispered, quiet enough that Kai wondered if he had heard her correctly. Her eyes darted up for a moment, and she shot him a shy smile. Then, without another word, she turned and hobbled out of the room, leaving Kai speechless behind her. Cinder could burn the world to nothing and he would never stop being amazed by her. He would never stop watching her with awe in his eyes and love in his heart. And that was perfectly okay with him.

[imagine-loki]

The Naughty Poltergeist

TITLE :The Naughty Poltergeist

CHAPTER: #1 of ?

AUTHOR'S: lokilover9 & velvetzybanshee

RATING: M

NOTES: This one shot is based on Loki having paid penance for ruining Thor's coronation. He never fell from the bifrost, nor attacked earth and is now free. Not to discount his true history, we just thought he deserved some happy. As for Felipe, he's based on the Spanish character Agador Spartacus, from the movie  The Birdcage and speaks in broken english. 

EXTRAS: Madre = mother  niña = girlfriend  panocha = pussy

Original Imagine  

Imagine thinking your new house is haunted. No one knows Loki lives there because he's always invisible and conjures furniture as needed. Disgruntled by your presence, he behaves like a poltergeist until one day you've had enough."I'm not leaving! Show yourself dammit!" Nothing happens for days and you think he's gone. Then while giving friends a tour, you find him naked on your bed drinking whiskey. "Cheers, darling. You did say show myself." Only you can see him and he follows you around like that for the remainder of their visit.

Loki was content residing on Midgard. With Thor King of Asgard remaining heavily influenced by Odin, he felt displaced as ever and decided to travel abroad. It was aloud providing he didn't hide from Heimdall and returned were the realm threatened, but that didn't mean he behaved. Midgard's continents teamed with beautiful maidens and Loki spent months at a time seducing them across the globe. Yet an introvert by nature, the constant socializing became exhausting. He needed intervals of solitude to rejuvenate his mind and cock. Indecisive of where, he conjured a world map, closed his eyes and randomly chose a location. 

First attempt. "A Frost Giant in the Amazon? I think not." 

Second. "Middle of the Bermuda Triangle? Know enough aliens already, thank you." 

Third. "Inside and active volcano? Fenrir's arsehole." He scoffed. 

Fourth. "Very well. Maine it is." 

The god settled in a vacant Victorian evicting its two following buyers with  'ghostly' shenanigans. Yet to the king of this miniature palace's annoyance the next didn't frighten so easily. 

Alexis was proud having bought her own house after a long divorce. Closer to friends and hours from meddling family, she'd thought herself free of troubles until sensing the place haunted. While unpacking, items started going missing and resurfacing in different places like her keys, clothing and once her vibrator after an evening of ménage à moi, disturbingly appeared in her dishwasher the next morning. Doors would slam, electricity short circuited, faucets unexpectedly ran, but most disconcerting was a voice randomly whispering 'mine' into her ear. Whether in the shower, her yard, doorways, the ghost didn't care. Alexis burned sage, had the house blessed, held a seance with a local paranormal group, but nothing helped. When returning after a long day at work to find half the main floor repacked, she angrily shouted into the air. 

"Ha ha, trickster! You don't scare me and I am 'not' leaving!" She held up a large envelope. "This is 'my' crib and here's the deed to prove it. Show yourself dammit!" Nothing happened so she put everything back, showered, grabbed her vibrator and stormed into the upstairs corridor. "And one more thing! See this? Touch it again and I'll summon your ass with a ouija board and douse you in holy water!" 

Loki inwardly chuckled. 'I'll be sure to bring a towel.' When she fell asleep reading in bed, he snuck a peek at what had intrigued her. 'Smutty fanfiction? Tisk, darling. Who could your heartthrob be? The name sounded familiar so he googled it. 'Ah, the actor from Crimson Peak. Good movie, but I'm much better looking. 'A wicked grin curled his lips when she moaned Tom's name. 'Maybe I need to play a little 'dirtier.'

With the next several days uneventful, Alexis thought she'd frightened the ghost off when in reality he was buying time. Since moving her in friends offered extra hands in their free time, but it was her befriended neighbor, a single gay man with a flamboyant, funloving personality who'd helped the most. They met one afternoon when she peered over his fence to complain about blaring Salsa music as he hosted a pool party. Felipe was sunbathing in a yellow thong, wearing sunglasses with enough bling to impress Liberace and choked on a shot of tequila when she whipped a pebble at his head. He invited her over with a promise to adorn shorts, they hit it off and became besties. 

Alexis planned to have other friends over for dinner one month after moving in, but with all the goings on had postponed twice. Now with a set date, Felipe was invited too and asked what she planned to cook.

"Who said anything about cooking? I suck at it Amigo and prefer no one hurling on my lawn." 

She waved a take out menu and he dramatically gasped. "Chinese food for eight people? Where you gonna put up you blow job booth to pay the mortgage after?"

Alexis smirked. "You're such a slut, Felipe."

He shrugged. "Happy whoopie stick makes a happy me."

"I think I've forgotten what they look like." 

"I show you mine, but no touchy touchy." She laughed, knowing he was kidding. "Too long without sex causes brain damage, niña. How long its been for you?" 

"Since my ex and I separated nineteen months ago."

"Ay dios mio. I lend you my Dustbuster for the cobwebs down there."

"Not funny, Felipe." 

"See. Abstinence makes everyone bitchy. My sister Maritza too. She was happy single before becoming a nun. Now she's Oscar the grouch with eyes like the chucky doll."

"How come you can pronounce words like 'abstinence' and 'cock' so well yet not others?" Alexis teased.

"Don't make me spank you. Come, we go shopping."

"For what?"

"I help you cook. We stay home and talk about cock, mine will curse me in Spanish. He's lonely too."

Alexis slipped on footwear. 

"Why you wearing those?" Asked Felipe.

"What's wrong with flip flops?" 

He stepped onto the porch. "You need something sexier, like bitch boots."

"It's ninety degrees in the shade today."

"So?"

Loki sighed when the door closed, relieved for some peace. He thought Felipe annoying enough as a neighbor yet worse as a guest who never stopped talking. So much so, he'd pondered concocting a tongue numbing spell, sneaking into his house and applying a heavy dose while he slept. But knowing his flair for drama, he'd run panicked to Alexis in the Boo from Monsters Inc. robe worn onto his deck every morning, carrying a note pleading to stay and until recovering, would hysterically sob each time he couldn't sing along to one of the show tunes on his phone. Loki opted to tolerate him for now. He'd be gone once Alexis left. 

The day of feasting came and while she handled finishing touches around the house, Felipe prepared guacamole dip and ingredients for fajitas while mixing margaritas. Hearing music, Alexis snuck to the kitchen and started recording him singing to Bad Girl, by Donna Summer while dancing like a hussy. 

"Toot toot, hey, beep beep

Toot toot, hey, beep beep

Hey mister, have you got a dime?

Hey mister, do you want to spend some time, ooh yeah

I got what you want, you got what I need

I’ll be your baby, come and spend it on me…"

He startled when noticing her.  "Girlfrien', you post that on social media, I kill you."

Alexis propped her phone on the counter and joined in wildly shaking her chest. 

Felipe tried the same. "No fair. I need big titties like yours to jiggle. Next time I bring tangerines and a bra."

Loki secretly watched on. 'Fucknuts.'

The three couples soon arrived. One, old neighbors of Alexis, Blake and Deidre, the others, her friends, Sage, Lisa and their newest flames Colby and Grant. She started a tour on the main floor then the upper leaving her bedroom for last. Excited to show it off, she was already opening the door as they shuffled out of the second.

"And this is my creme de la...eep!" She quietly squeaked once inside.

The resident spookster sat perched against her headboard sporting only what the Norn's delivered him to the universe in and winked pouring himself a whiskey. "You did say show myself, yes?"

She hurried out, slammed the door and her friends froze on approach. "Erm..wouldn't ya know I forgot to make my bed. Anyone for a drink?" 

Alexis passed them for the stairs and cringed when Deidre spoke. She was nice enough, but sometimes persistent when it wasn't welcome. "Nonsense, friends don't care. Right everyone?" 

Alexis continued down. "Enter at your risk then." 

Felipe watched her rush by into the pantry, close the door, followed and closed it too. "What you are doing?" 

"I can't go back out there."

"Why?" 

"He's upstairs naked on my bed." She anxiously whispered. 

"Which boyfriend? I take up the wooden spoon."

"No, the fucking ghost!" 

"It's a man? Is he hot and what do I tell your peeps? You afraid to come out of the closet?"

"Felipe!" 

"Sorry, it's the margaritas."

"I thought you the one person who believed my stories."

He eyed her sympathetically. "I do. You want I go bribe him to leave with a mcsqeezy?"

"Will you be serious? Ghosts aren't supposed to be naked. One look at him and everyone will think I invited them for an orgy." 

Blake and Grant came down first catching bits of their conversation and quietly conversed. 

"Can't believe she's still imagining this ghost." Blake wise cracked. "I always told Deidre she had a screw loose."

"Nah." Said Grant. "Lexi's a smart cookie. Sounds more like she needs a man. There's one inside with her. Maybe they'll shag, knock some shit off shelves." 

Felipe stuck his head out the door. "You not so quiet, cumquats. I gay. You want I show you my jolly green giant and shag 'you' inside against the creamed corn?"

Loki rubbed the back of his neck. 'I sacrificed prowling beaches of the French Riviera for this?'

Hearing the ladies coming, Alexis approached Blake and quietly inquired. "Still peeing in your wife's pond at night, murdering her koy? I'd see you through my bedroom blinds. Who's a few cans short of a six pack?" 

"Oooh snap." Said Felipe. 

Grant nudged the arse. "Let's chill in the dining room. There's a makeshift bar and appetizers."

The ladies entered the kitchen. "Who's a nincompoop?" Asked Deidre.

Felipe almost answered but pursed his lips together when Alexis loudly cleared her throat. "You know, just my ex."

"He sure is, honey." 

"Your bed's made, girl." Said Sage. "The room looks great." 

They all agreed passing through while thirty year old Lisa's younger boyfriend lingered. "Pretty awesome digs ya got here."

"Thanks." Replied Alexis.

Colby slid his hands into his pockets. "Soo..Lisa says you think it's haunted."

"Yep."

He spaced out for a second, staring at the floor. "I once thought a bat in our house was my dead uncle Howie haunting my parents for selling his mannequin of Vlad the Impaler. But hey, sometimes weird shit happens when you're stoned right?" Alexis and Felipe were saved when Lisa called him. "She misses me already. Laters." 

"He looks fresh from his madres panocha." Commented Felipe.

"That's the way Lisa likes them. Says the younger they are, the easier it is to train them."

Loki rolled his eyes. 'Age is irrelevant.'

Felipe feigned fright by playfully biting his nails. "She bad. Maybe Colby wear a leash and bark like a good doggy for her?" He goofily imitated one in a deep voice. "Woof, woof..woof. Or maybe he sound like an angry chihuahua?"

Alexis smirked. "I have my own problems. A streaking phantom who now makes unexpected appearances."

Felipe gave her a margarita. "Cheers. These make everything better." 

Alexis gulped down the beverage as he watched with raised brows. "Thanks. Next time that streaker appears, I'll just ignore him."

"Next time I give you smaller glass. Go enjoy you friends, niña"

She gave a thumbs up on her way out. "I got this. Easy peasy right?"

Loki mischievously grinned. 'Darling, I'm just getting started.

[waveypedia]

complete and utter chaos [ducktales group chat fic] - Chapter 3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Ao3 Chapter 4

let kids be kids

6:04 am

TheWebbedWonder: hey guess what

adefinitelyrealboy: Isn’t it before the approved technology time set by Mr. Uncle Donald?

TheWebbedWonder: brilliance waits for no rule, Boyd!

adefinitelyrealboy: Okay!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: you’re corrupting him, webs.

Lou: eh let her

TheWebbedWonder: whatever

TheWebbedWonder: it’s been a while since we had a sleepover…

lenaonme: oh yeah!!!

ICanDeweyIt: and Boyd’s never been to one!!

adefinitelyrealboy: you’re right!! 

adefinitelyrealboy: what does one do at a sleepover?

TheWebbedWonder: They’re super fun!!!

TheWebbedWonder: we watch movies and have pillow fights and discover family mysteries and summon supernatural creatures and fight said supernatural creatures and eat lots of junk food!!!!!

adefinitelyrealboy: Sounds fun!!!

Lou: lmao i love our family

ICanDeweyIt: @Violet-Sabrewing you up? Important convos happening here

Violet-Sabrewing: I am now

lenaonme: vi you’re not fooling anyone

lenaonme: we all know you get up at sunrise

Lou: yeah she’s crazy

Violet-Sabrewing: True, but I was reading.

Junior-Woodchuck74: fair!

lenaonme: omg nerds

TheWebbedWonder: Ok so are we on??

TheWebbedWonder: what about Friday night?

ICanDeweyIt: what’s happening on Friday night?

TheWebbedWonder: it’s the two thousandth anniversary of the Magical Battle of Demogogorna!!!!

Lou: ok hear me out

Lou: can we PLEASE have a sleepover that doesn’t consist of crazy dangerous magical shenanigans for once

Lou: I just wanna sit on the couch and watch scary movies

Junior-Woodchuck74: you do that every day anyways

Lou: yeah but I watch other stuff like Ottoman Empire

Lou: there’s a difference, hubert!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: whatever

Violet-Sabrewing: Thursday night works for Lena and I, but we should check with the adults.

TheWebbedWonder: yeah I’ll ask them when it’s okay for us to be texting

Lou: lmao what a rebel

Family Group Chat!!!!

7:00 am

TheWebbedWonder: good morning everyone!!

mutant-krill!!!!: good morning Little Della!!

Blathering-Blatherskite: gm!!!

TheWebbedWonder: exciting things are happening

Adventure-Pilot: ooh like adventure exciting?

Adventure-Pilot: are you planning an adventure?

TheWebbedWonder: no but I am now!!!

green-sharpie: oh boy

TheWebbedWonder: @Tea Time @aw-phooey @Adventure-Pilot @Scrooge-McDuck @Indy_Sabrewing @purpleisforthegays @dr. mad scientist CAN WE HAVE A SLEEPOVER???????????

Tea Time: At McDuck Manor, I presume?

TheWebbedWonder: yes!

Adventure-Pilot: fine by me!

Scrooge-McDuck: aye, as long as you don’t trash my house again.

Tea Time: It’s not like you were the one cleaning up, sir.

green-sharpie: It wasn’t us!! The ghost Webby, Lena, and Violet summoned had no sense of hygiene.

dr. mad scientist: why did you tag me

TheWebbedWonder: Boyd!!

dr. mad scientist: blathering blatherskite

adefinitelyrealboy: <3

aw-phooey: Webster.

TheWebbedWonder: yes, Uncle Donald?

aw-phooey: it’s 7 am.

TheWebbedWonder: actually, it’s 7:03 am now!

aw-phooey: Webby, you and the kids can’t have planned a sleepover in three minutes

aw-phooey: I told you guys no phones before 7 am!!

green-sharpie: you couldn’t have waited ten minutes webs?

TheWebbedWonder: brilliance waits for no rule!!

aw-phooey: but it does wait for parental punishments

TheWebbedWonder: Oh I almost forgot

TheWebbedWonder added DosCaballero and blackmagica

aw-phooey: !!!

aw-phooey: THE BOYS

blackmagica: WE’RE THREE CABALLEROS

DosCaballero: THREE GAY CABALLEROS

aw-phooey: WE’RE HAPPY AMIGOS

blackmagica: NO MATTER WHERE HE GOES

DosCaballero: THE ONE TWO AND THREE GOES

aw-phooey: WE’RE ALWAYS TOGETHER

green-sharpie: …

aw-phooey: but Webs you’re still in trouble you can’t distract me with my boys

ICanDeweyIt: i thought we were your boys

aw-phooey: you are

aw-phooey: you’re all my boys

Junior-Woodchuck74: 💖💖

Scrooge-McDuck: @blackmagica NO MAGIC IN MY HOUSE

TheWebbedWonder: …

Violet-Sabrewing: …

lenaonme: …

Scrooge-McDuck: okay point taken

Scrooge-McDuck: NO BLACK MAGIC IN MY HOUSE UNLESS YOU’RE BRINGING MY NIECE BACK FROM THE SHADOW REALM

lenaonme: Aww im your niece?

Scrooge-McDuck: yes lass

lenaonme: sldfkdskla;sdlfkhdksl;asldkfhgbfkdl;s

moonlander-general: you worry me.

lenaonme: awww penny you charmer you!!!

moonlander-general: …

Scrooge-McDuck: @blackmagica change. your. name.

green-sharpie: good job using internet speak Uncle Scrooge!!

Scrooge-McDuck: I still only vaguely only know what that means.

Scrooge-McDuck: But I picked up many various languages adventuring. I’m a polyglot!! What’s one more?

TheCrashiestCrash: Good for you Mr. McDee!! Glad you finally found the courage to come out. Love who you love!!!!

Adventure-Pilot: wh

lenaonme: SKDFGHDSKALDKFHDKS

lenaonme: LAUNCHPAD ILY NEVER CHANGE 💖💖

TheCrashiestCrash: okay!!

Scrooge-McDuck: ah, his heart’s in the right place.

Scrooge-McDuck: wait, finally???

green-sharpie: yeah i think webby infested launchpad with the scrooge theory bug

TheWebbedWonder: you make it sound like it’s a bad thing

Scrooge-McDuck: oh curse me kilts

Scrooge-McDuck: I’ve never really felt the need you young people need to label things…

TheWebbedWonder: THEORY CONFIRMED

TheWebbedWonder: thanks uncle scrooge!!

Scrooge-McDuck: ah you’re welcome lass?

Lucky-Gander: haha same Uncle McDunkle!!

Scrooge-McDuck: tattle me tartan, I’m like you!!

Lucky-Gander: lucky you! The Gladstone life is pretty sweet if I do say so myself

green-sharpie: eh he’s not wrong

Scrooge-McDuck: I cannot believe a member of my own family would say something so heartless!!

aw-phooey: oh shoot did i miss the scrooge roasting session

Scrooge-McDuck: Please. I can handle a little heckling!!

Adventure-Pilot: where were you Don?

aw-phooey: in PMs with Zé and Chito.

TheWebbedWonder: those nicknames are so cute omg 🥺

DosCaballero: I am very cute, thank you!!

mutant-krill!!!!: Why don’t Donnie’s and José’s nicknames correlate with yours?

green-sharpie: yeah that’s kinda mean Uncle Donald

green-sharpie: abandoning your friends’ beautifully compatible nicknames

lenaonme: huh cold

lenaonme: i didn’t know you had it in you. I’m impressed uncle d

aw-phooey: oh kids

DosCaballero: Do not worry! Donald didn’t abandon us!

aw-phooey: mine used to but I changed it when the band broke up. too dangerous to keep it ngl

aw-phooey: (you should really change your name, chito)

blackmagica: And I had… other activities that required my attention.

Scrooge-McDuck: You lose more and more of my favor by the minute.

aw-phooey: my friend had your favor?? You’ve gone soft, old man.

blackmagica: Well I have a brilliant idea to appease everyone!!

blackmagica changed their name to TrêsCaballero

aw-phooey changed their name to UnoCaballero

UnoCaballero: how’s that?

DosCaballero: !!!!!! <3

TrêsCaballero: We love you too.

Junior-Woodchuck74: awww!!!

dr. mad scientist: spare me.

Blathering-Blatherskite: Gyro play nice

Adventure-Pilot: yeah Gyro!!!

dr. mad scientist: oh my god shut up.

TrêsCaballero: I did not mean to offend you, Dr. Mad Scientist!!

green-sharpie: he really said duckscord user dr. mad scientist

moonlander-general: But we’re not using duckscord?

ICanDeweyIt: it’s a joke Penny

ICanDeweyIt: wait do you have duckscord???

moonlander-general: Della made me set it up

ICanDeweyIt: FRIEND ME

ICanDeweyIt:  I CRAVE VALIDATION

green-sharpie: we know

ihaveahead!!!: we know

lenaonme: we know

Junior-Woodchuck74: we know

Tea Time: we know

ICanDeweyIt: fine :( be like that

TheWebbedWonder: It’s because we love you 💖

ICanDeweyIt: sldkfghdks Webs how dare

ICanDeweyIt: ily2

ICanDeweyIt: IM GOING IN KIDS CHAT WHERE WEBBY LOVES ME

ICanDeweyIt: LET THE WORLD BURN

Blathering-Blatherskite: ...what???

Scrooge-McDuck: leave it, he’s being dramatic

let kids be kids

10:02 am

 ICanDeweyIt: >:(

Junior-Woodchuck74: dewey are you done moping

ICanDeweyIt: give me one minute

Junior-Woodchuck74: ...fine.

10:03 am

ICanDeweyIt: okay i’m back

Lou: smh

TheWebbedWonder: PARTY PLANNING TIME

TheWebbedWonder: what snacks do we want? Granny’s gonna do a grocery run soon

ICanDeweyIt: cheeto puffs

ICanDeweyIt: because SOMEONE ate them all

Lou: hey, don’t look at me! The rats love fake cheese dust!!

ICanDeweyIt: Beakley did her weekly rat clean the day before they went missing

Lou: ugh okay fine they’re good okay????

Lou: shut up

Junior-Woodchuck: also, HEALTHY snacks!

lenaonme: lame

Lou: seconded

ICanDeweyIt: thirded

Junior-Woodchuck74: Viiiii back me up here

Violet-Sabrewing: I look forward to eating an ungodly amount of junk food and having an impressive sugar crash with the rest of you.

Junior-Woodchuck74: dangit

Junior-Woodchuck74: webby?

TheWebbedWonder: SUGAAAAAAAAR

Junior-Woodchuck74: Beakley never let you near anything sugary so fair enough

Lou: I mean that was for good reason

Lou: she’s almost as bad as you hue

TheWebbedWonder: SUGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR

Junior-Woodchuck74: oh boy

Junior-Woodchuck74: Boyd?

adefinitelyrealboy: Getting ice cream with you in Tokyolk was fun, Huey! Let’s do it again at the sleepover!

Junior-Woodchuck74: dangit i’m soft

Junior-Woodchuck74: please put some healthy snacks down there anyway Webby. At least for me.

TheWebbedWonder: already done!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: <3

lenaonme: do Vi and I need to bring anything over aside from the usual?

TheWebbedWonder: idk yet

adefinitelyrealboy: what’s the usual?

Junior-Woodchuck74: we have sleeping bags and pillows but if you want your own you can bring it. Same with plushies and stuffed animals. Toothbrush and hairbrush and that kind of toiletries, but I don’t know how much you use. Your phone, obviously, and anything else you’ll want for the night. But we have a lot of supplies.

adefinitelyrealboy: okay!

adefinitelyrealboy: I don’t have a lot of personal items like that. Most of what I have at the Drakes is just hand-me-downs from Doofus

lenaonme: get in loser we’re going shopping

lenaonme: for personal trinkets for you

ICanDeweyIt: omg <3

ICanDeweyIt: lena you’re my new favorite person

lenaonme: as I should be

adefinitelyrealboy: That’s sweet! Dr. Gearloose and Lil’ Bulb I have been doing that periodically, though. Sometimes Mr. Manny the Headless Manhorse and Dr. Crackshell-Cabrera come along too!!

Lou: I really want to know what’s up with Fenton’s invalid doctorate ngl

Violet-Sabrewing: Me too

Junior-Woodchuck74: 👀 good to know

lenaonme: don’t overanalyze anything hue

TheWebbedWonder: but overanalyzing is the BEST!!

lenaonme: okay you’re the only valid overanalyzer Webs

TheWebbedWonder: 💖💖💖

TheWebbedWonder: Lena and Violet can you come over on Tuesday to help me set up the magical activities?

Lou: oh boy

Violet-Sabrewing: I’ll ask

lenaonme: do you need us to smuggle in anything again?

TheWebbedWonder: no that’s okay! I still have all the books you brought last time, and I think I can get any herbs we need for spells without suspicion as long as it’s not too close to the sleepover date

lenaonme: 👍

Lou: well I staunchly refuse to participate in any more magical adventures than I need to. Tuesday I have a date with some Pep and Ottoman Empire!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: ugh.

TheWebbedWonder: You don’t have to! This is a strictly Team Magic adventure!!

ICanDeweyIt: aw man :(

TheWebbedWonder: uhh that’s okay Dewey you can come if you want!!

ICanDeweyIt: eh it’s all right I just want validation

lenaonme: understandable. see you tuesday!

ICanDeweyIt: 💙💙

Team Uncle McDunkle (les parentals)

10:43 am

Indy_Sabrewing: Violet just asked if she and Lena can go over to McDuck Manor on Tuesday to prepare for the sleepover with Webby

purpleisforthegays: fine w/ me

acepilot: us too

22: so we’re all good with the sleepover at large, correct?

Dadnald: Aside from the fact that the kids were obviously planning it in their own group chat before the agreed tech time minimum

Moneybags: ah let them

Moneybags: they’re just excited

Dadnald: Unca it’s the first day of that rule

22: I agree with Donald. It’s good to lay down a solid foundation for rules. Let the children know we will enforce them.

acepilot: okay but I vote we still let them have their sleepover. It is Boyd’s first sleepover. Excuse me, important life milestones happening here!!

Dadnald: okay fair

Dadnald: It’s been approximately two weeks since we all met Boyd and Della’s already imprinting on him

acepilot: like you’re not

Dadnald: shhhhh

Dadnald: you’re right about the sleepover. I don’t want to take that away, and they all seem so excited.

Dadnald: let me figure out something else though, at least for my kids

Indy_Sabrewing: we’ll do it together

purpleisforthegays: Any adventures between now and the sleepover, Mr. McDuck?

Moneybags: just a small day trip to the Sands of Time on Wednesday. should be an easy one.

Dadnald: I think we should just assign them extra chores until then

22: fine by me.

acepilot: hahah same

Moneybags: Gyro?

worldsgreatestinventor: I don’t think I have that kind of relationship with Boyd yet, to be completely honest.

worldsgreatestinventor: but it’s fine he’s a good kid

acepilot: oh I know

Dadnald: I’m picking up Huey and Boyd from their Junior Woodchuck meeting tomorrow; I can talk to the Drakes then

Moneybags: good thinking Donald!

Moneybags: you’ll get there, Gyro

PM between Junior-Woodchuck74 and TotallyNotGizmoduck

11:47 am

Junior-Woodchuck74: Boyd says you’ve been shopping with him and Dr. Gearloose!!

TotallyNotGizmoduck: yeah!! It was an infallible excuse to get Gyro out of the lab

TotallyNotGizmoduck: He really cares for Boyd.

Junior-Woodchuck74: And Boyd really cares for him!

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I can see that! Boyd is a sweet kid.

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I just wish Gyro would realize that. For a genius, he can be surprisingly dense.

Junior-Woodchuck74: he’s not the only one

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Oh cease whatever scheme you’re planning and help me figure out how to make Gyro overcome his anxieties about parenthood!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: oh I’m down

Junior-Woodchuck74: I’m not dropping this, but I’m down

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I expected nothing less. Now, any brilliant ideas? Come on brain, think!

Junior-Woodchuck74: I think Boyd would be overjoyed to receive parental affection from Gyro. He doesn’t need any meddling; it’s just Gyro

TotallyNotGizmoduck: True

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I believe Gyro’s mostly scared, but he’ll never admit it. Least of all to himself.

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Also, the Drakes are two experienced parents with a stable, large home and income. They have an unending amount of time to spend with their children, and they easily fit society’s heteronormative mold of the perfect nuclear family. 

TotallyNotGizmoduck: they’re everything Gyro is not, and that intimidates him.

Junior-Woodchuck74: The Drakes spent the majority of their parenthood enslaved in their own home and terrified of their son. They’re not exactly the pinnacle of perfect parenthood.

TotallyNotGizmoduck: ha, nice alliteration.

Junior-Woodchuck74: thanks!

TotallyNotGizmoduck: However, I’m not the one you need to convince here. You’re preaching to the choir.

Junior-Woodchuck74: Fair.

Junior-Woodchuck74: Let me ask Webby; she probably has some convoluted scheme to get Dr. Gearloose and Boyd to be a family.

TotallyNotGizmoduck: That makes sense

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I don’t know her very well, but she’s a sweet kid.

Junior-Woodchuck74: she scares you, doesn’t she.

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Oh she totally scares me

Family Group Chat!!!!

2:03 pm

UnoCaballero: @DosCaballero @TrêsCaballero you know what time it is

UnoCaballero: We’re three caballeros

DosCaballero: Three gay caballeros

TrêsCaballero: They say we are birds of a feather!!

UnoCaballero: We’re happy amigos

DosCaballero: No matter where he goes

TrêsCaballero: The one

UnoCaballero: Two

DosCaballero: And three

TrêsCaballero: goes, we’re always together

UnoCaballero: We’re

DosCaballero: Three

TrêsCaballero: Caballeros

ICanDeweyIt: I can’t believe the adults did a songchain before we did

lenaonme: oh shoot we gotta do one now

TheWebbedWonder: what song should we do?

green-sharpie: CREEPER

ICanDeweyIt: aww man

Junior-Woodchuck74: aww man

Junior-Woodchuck74: darn it

lenaonme: so we back in the mine

Violet-Sabrewing: swinging our pickaxe from side to side

green-sharpie: side side to side

lenaonme: This task a grueling one,

ICanDeweyIt: Hope to find some diamonds tonight, night, night

TheWebbedWonder: diamonds tonight

Blathering-Blatherskite: Heads up, you hear a sound,

Junior-Woodchuck74: FENTON

lenaonme: omg another meme child rises

green-sharpie: not exactly a child skdfhdksla

dr. mad scientist: are we done fangirling yet

Junior-Woodchuck74: not all of us are girls, Dr. Gearloose.

Junior-Woodchuck74: That only perpetuates the ingrained societal mindset that liking something is cringey, and girls are cringey and inferior because they’re tied to that negative connotation

lenaonme: go off

TheWebbedWonder: ^^^^

wreathedingold: Well said!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: Dang I think that’s the first thing Aunt Goldie’s ever said to me 😳

wreathedingold: I’m not your aunt kid

TheWebbedWonder: just you wait

wreathedingold: well that’s ominous

wreathedingold: time for me to bounce then

TheWebbedWonder: Noooo Aunt Goldie come back!!!

ICanDeweyIt: Don’t worry Webs, we’ll get her soon enough.

Scrooge-McDuck: Should I be worried or…?

TheWebbedWonder: nah everything’ll be just fine Uncle Scrooge!!

dr. mad scientist: RED NEPHEW.

dr. mad scientist: STOP SPAMMING MY PMS.

dr. mad scientist: one more message and I block you, capishe?

UnoCaballero: You can’t block Huey for emergency purposes

Junior-Woodchuck74: I’m just making sure you get the message Dr. Gearloose

dr. mad scientist: okay okay

dr. mad scientist: it was more of a drag against Fenton anyway

Blathering-Blatherskite: hey!!

TheCrashiestCrash: nooo, we love you fenton!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: yesss Fenton positivity hours!!

Ihaveahead!!!: Fenton positivity hours!!

mutant-krill!!!!: Fenton positivity hours!!

TheCrashiestCrash: Fenton positivity hours!!

TheWebbedWonder: Fenton positivity hours!!

UnoCaballero: Fenton positivity hours!!

moonlander-general: well that’s creepy.

ghostbutler: it’s best not to question their antics.

Tea Time: Oh dear, Duckworth is making logical sense! He’s been replaced by a fake!

ghostbutler: You wish.

ICanDeweyIt: LONG LIVE THE HIVEMIND

lenaonme: Fenton positivity hours!!

DosCaballero: Fenton positivity hours!!

Violet-Sabrewing: Fenton positivity hours!!

Lucky-Gander: Fenton positivity hours!!

purpleisforthegays: Fenton positivity hours!!

adefinitelyrealboy: Fenton positivity hours!!

Lil’ Bulb: Fenton positivity hours!!

Blathering-Blatherskite: <3 <3

dr. mad scientist: betrayed by my own inventions… 

Lil’ Bulb: ily2

dr. mad scientist: which one of you kids taught him that

Junior-Woodchuck74: dewey

lenaonme: dewey

green-sharpie: dewey

ICanDeweyIt: oh shut up

ICanDeweyIt: I’m not sorry

Violet-Sabrewing: as you should be

ICanDeweyIt: and I would’ve gotten away with it if not for you meddling kids!!!

Lucky-Gander: haha

Adventure-Pilot: lol

UnoCaballero: sdfghgfds

lenaonme: dewey getting that Adult Validation

ICanDeweyIt: it do be like that 😌

ICanDeweyIt: anyway back to the song chain!!

ICanDeweyIt: yall adults are welcome to join us just don’t mess it up

Lucky-Gander: wouldn’t dream of it

lenaonme: creeper

ICanDeweyIt: aww man

Junior-Woodchuck74: that’s not where we were in the song

ICanDeweyIt: AWW MAN

Violet-Sabrewing: So we back in the mine

TheWebbedWonder: rocking our pickaxe from side to side

UnoCaballero: side side to side

green-sharpie: This task a grueling one

TheCrashiestCrash: Hoping to find some diamonds tonight

DosCaballero: night night

Blathering-Blatherskite: Diamonds tonight

Violet-Sabrewing: heads up

purpleisforthegays: you hear a sound

lenaonme: turn around and look up

Lil’ Bulb: total shock fills your body

TheWebbedWonder: Oh no it’s you again

Junior-Woodchuck74: I could never forget those eyes, eyes

TrêsCaballero: eyes eyes eyes

ihaveahead!!!: cause baby tonight

ICanDeweyIt: DISCORD

green-sharpie: The creeper's trying to steal all our stuff again,

ICanDeweyIt: IM HOWLING AT THE MOON

lenaonme: SLEEPING IN THE MIDDLE OF A SUMMER AFTERNOON

Junior-Woodchuck74: dewey i hate you

ICanDeweyIt: can’t help it i’m a wild child

Junior-Woodchuck74: last week you cried because the supermarket was all out of blue rock candy

ICanDeweyIt: WILD CHILD, HUBERT

Junior-Woodchuck74: IT’S JUST SUGAR AND FOOD COLORING

ICanDeweyIt: SHUT UP IT’S GOOD

lenaonme: ok shut up nerds hash it out later we’re going back to singing

lenaonme: DISCOOOOORD

green-sharpie: whatever did we do

dr. mad scientist: is this the hecking mlp song

Adventure-Pilot: hah hecking

dr. mad scientist: DONALD EDITS MY TEXTS

UnoCaballero: as i should 

UnoCaballero: don’t swear around my kids

TheCrashiestCrash: TO MAKE YOU TAKE OUR WORLD AWAAAAAAAAY

TheWebbedWonder: Discord, are we your prey alone

TrêsCaballero: or are we just a stepping stone to taking back the throne

Blathering-Blatherskite: Discord

Violet-Sabrewing: We won’t take it anymore

DosCaballero: So take your tyranny away!

purpleisforthegays: discoooooooooord…

Junior-Woodchuck74: discoooooooooord…

green-sharpie: discoooooooooord…

moonlander-general: wha

ICanDeweyIt: shh penny we’re singing

adefinitelyrealboy: this is quite an interesting phenomenon!!

mutant-krill!!!!: agreed, it is quite fascinating!!

green-sharpie: OH SHOOT BOYD DOESN’T KNOW ANY MEME SONGS

lenaonme: 😔😔👊

ICanDeweyIt: YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS

TheWebbedWonder: I’m adding it to the sleepover agenda now!!

Violet-Sabrewing: Della and Penumbra should join us, since they don’t know either

Junior-Woodchuck74: good idea! but what about Uncle Indy and Uncle Scrooge? And Dr. Gearloose?

Blathering-Blatherskite: Gyro knows meme songs he’s just not participating out of spite

dr. mad scientist: shut up fenton

Violet-Sabrewing: there’s no hope for them

wreathedingold: HAH

TheWebbedWonder: oh Aunt Goldie!! I thought you left!!

wreathedingold: shush pink niece

TheWebbedWonder: omg she knows who i am 🥺💚❤️🥰

green-sharpie: uhh not quite webs

Scrooge-McDuck: Excuse me!

Scrooge-McDuck: we had this conversation earlier today. I am a polyglot.

TheCrashiestCrash: And I told you Mr. McDee!! Love who you love!!

Scrooge-McDuck: Oh tatter me tartan.

wreathedingold: quite the enthusiastic brood you have there, Scroogey!

Scrooge-McDuck: I can’t believe this.

Indy_Sabrewing: That’s it Violet; no reading for fun.

Violet-Sabrewing: No!

lenaonme: 😔👊

TheWebbedWonder: Oh no!!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: We should invite Uncle Fethry too, if he can make it

mutant-krill!!!!: my schedule is full of traveling the seas with Mitzy and cataloguing our scientific findings and experiences!!

mutant-krill!!!!: But I will check.

adefinitelyrealboy: I can hardly wait!!

Tea Time: And when is this?

ICanDeweyIt: Well we were planning on showing Boyd at the sleepover, but it seems my dear class has grown… 

ICanDeweyIt: PROFESSOR DEWFORD RISES

Junior-Woodchuck74: @Tea Time Wednesday will work.

Tea Time: Wonderful. I’ll mark it in the family calendar. 

lenaonme: mrs beakley ily

Tea Time: Thank you, Lena.

ICanDeweyIt: P R O F E S S O R   D E W F O R D

green-sharpie: oh boy

Junior-Woodchuck74: you don’t have a Ph.D idiot

ICanDeweyIt: Neither does Fenton but do you see that stopping him?

Blathering-Blatherskite: why must you keep bringing up my lack of a doctorate?

lenaonme: it’s funny

green-sharpie: yeah pretty much

green-sharpie: you know we’re only going to bring it up more now right?

Blathering-Blatherskite: oh blathering blatherskite

Blathering-Blatherskite: What has my life come to? I’m being mercilessly mocked by a bunch of children.

dr. mad scientist: HAH

Tea Time: That’s just what children are like.

lenaonme: mrs beakley says this as if she doesn’t tease everyone mercilessly too

Tea Time: That goes without saying.

Lil’ Bulb: it do be like that 😔👊

dr. mad scientist: OH COME ON

dr. mad scientist: WHICH ONE OF YOU TAUGHT HIM THAT

Lucky-Gander: dude you literally just had this conversation

dr. mad scientist: I’LL KILL YOU KIDS

UnoCaballero: NO

Adventure-Pilot: I’LL KILL YOU FIRST

ihaveahead!!!: i dont doubt that

dr. mad scientist: WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON MANNY

ihaveahead!!!: della’s

dr. mad scientist: typical.

lenaonme: nearlythrewhandswitha13yearold.png

Violet-Sabrewing: yes pretty much

TheWebbedWonder: sldkfhdskl;a

Blathering-Blatherskite: oh how the tables have turned

dr. mad scientist: i hate you all

Adventure-Pilot: we love you too mwah <3 <3

dr. mad scientist: ewww

TheWebbedWonder: commence operation: SMOTHER DR. GEARLOOSE IN LOVE AND AFFECTION

Adventure-Pilot: HECK YEAH

Blathering-Blatherskite: Sounds like an interesting scheme with a potentially volatile reaction from the subject, but with likely a desired outcome!!!

TheWebbedWonder: aw thanks Fenton <3

Blathering-Blatherskite: anytime!!

lenaonme: lol get him

dr. mad scientist: I TRUSTED YOU WEBBIGAIL

TheWebbedWonder: THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD

TheWebbedWonder: TIME TO HEAD OVER TO THE LAB EVERYONE

dr. mad scientist: no

TheCrashiestCrash: I’ll drive!!

dr. mad scientist: NO

dr. mad scientist: FENTON STOP THEM

Blathering-Blatherskite: :3

ICanDeweyIt: S’DLFKDSL;KDKFHSKLASKEISKAGSKASKD

dr. mad scientist: YOU WILL DIE PAINFULLY

TrêsCaballero: This chat is… interesting

ICanDeweyIt: Get used to it Uncle José!!!

TrêsCaballero: I am… Uncle José?

TrêsCaballero: What an honor!!

ICanDeweyIt: sure you are!! you’re close enough to uncle donald

TheWebbedWonder: and we love you!!!

ICanDeweyIt: yeah and that

UnoCaballero: awww kids

TrêsCaballero: you must meet my biological nephews, Zico and Zeca!!

TheWebbedWonder: NEW FRIENDS!!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: Uncle Scrooge

Scrooge-McDuck: Yes Huey?

Junior-Woodchuck74: On an unrelated note, can we take an adventure in Brazil?

TrêsCaballero: 🥰🥰

Scrooge-McDuck: ugh 

Scrooge-McDuck: I’ll look into it

TheWebbedWonder: I’ll help you Uncle Scrooge!!

Indy_Sabrewing: Is this the adventure you promised Della?

TheWebbedWonder: Nope!! My lips are sealed on that one

lenaonme: huh you’re actually doing that

TheWebbedWonder: Yep!! And it’s gonna be amazing!!

Adventure-Pilot: I bet!!

TheWebbedWonder: 💕💕💕

TheWebbedWonder: I love you!!!

Adventure-Pilot: aww I love you too honey!!

DosCaballero: Not to interrupt this adorable declaration of love but

green-sharpie: you’re an uncle too

DosCaballero: !!!!!

UnoCaballero: I’m proud of you guys

purpleisforthegays: are you talking to your friends or to the kids?

UnoCaballero: up for interpretation

PM between Junior-Woodchuck74 and TotallyNotGizmoduck

4:35 pm

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Huey

Junior-Woodchuck74: Yes Fenton?

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I scrolled up in the major group chat and your uncle said something odd about his nickname

Junior-Woodchuck74: Wait, why were you scrolling up in chat?

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Manny and Lil’ Bulb roped me into taking out of context screenshots.

Junior-Woodchuck74: Oh hey Dewey and Lena do that too!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: What did you find?

TotallyNotGizmoduck: screenshot-2020-08-06-4.24-PM

[aw-phooey: mine used to but I changed it when the band broke up. too dangerous to keep it ngl]

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Why would it be too dangerous for him to keep his Three Caballeros nickname?

Junior-Woodchuck74: Yeah that’s definitely weird

Junior-Woodchuck74: Especially since Uncle Donald’s account is private

TotallyNotGizmoduck: this chat service only has basic security. It is easily hacked if someone has the means.

Junior-Woodchuck74: That means they’d have to want to find Uncle Donald

Junior-Woodchuck74: Fenton I’m scared for Uncle Donald now

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I’m sure he’s okay! He knows how to protect himself, if nothing else.

Junior-Woodchuck74: true

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Besides, you have me, a literal superhero, on your side if anything goes wrong!!

TotallyNotGizmoduck: and your family is exceptionally good at fighting off threats. You’ll be okay, Huey.

Junior-Woodchuck74: i’m not worried for me

Junior-Woodchuck74: but thanks, Fenton

Junior-Woodchuck74: i think i’m gonna sleep on this and then do some DuckDuckGo searches on the Three Caballeros tomorrow, okay?

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Of course, Huey

Junior-Woodchuck74: talk tomorrow?

TotallyNotGizmoduck: wouldn’t miss it!!

Junior-Woodchuck74: and you should really change your name

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I will

PM between TheWebbedWonder and TotallyNotGizmoduck

7:43 pm

TheWebbedWonder: Hi Fenton!!

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Hello Webby!!

TheWebbedWonder: I realized I never added your mother to our group chatTheWebbedWonder: Can I have her username?

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Of course! I figured something was up

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Not that you can’t contact me casually!!

TheWebbedWonder: I’ll keep that in mind! 💖

TheWebbedWonder: Your mom is really nice but I don’t know her that well

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Oh you two will definitely get along

TotallyNotGizmoduck: There is a 93% chance of it

TotallyNotGizmoduck: The 7% is if she catches wind of the illegal activities Lena drags you into

TheWebbedWonder: It was ONE time and that guy deserved it!! It was justice!!!

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Webby, you set a citizen’s apartment ablaze!!!

TheWebbedWonder: He was being a jerk

TheWebbedWonder: He purposefully misgendered Dewey and Violet

TheWebbedWonder: and he made some really gross comments about Lena

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Webby, I understand that

TotallyNotGizmoduck: M’ma and I have to deal with our fair share of jerks

TotallyNotGizmoduck: And in all honesty, she would probably respect the karma of your actions. I definitely do.

TheWebbedWonder: yeah I get it

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I became a superhero to help people

TotallyNotGizmoduck: And that person deserved what came to them, but sometimes there are better ways to help people

TheWebbedWonder: sure okay

TheWebbedWonder: I mean you should probably give Lena the lecture

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I’ll keep that in mind

TotallyNotGizmoduck: but you’re a good kid webby

TheWebbedWonder: awww thanks 💖💖

TotallyNotGizmoduck: You and M’ma will get along

TotallyNotGizmoduck: You’re both kind, powerful, passionate women who scare me

TheWebbedWonder: Aww, I scare you? That’s so sweet!!! Thank you!!!

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Uhhh you’re welcome?

TheWebbedWonder: 🥰🥰

let kids be kids

8:03 pm

TheWebbedWonder: Fenton is lecturing me about when we set that guy’s house on fire

lenaonme: hah that was awesome

Lou: ew lectures

Junior-Woodchuck74: I told you that was a bad idea

Violet-Sabrewing: It worked out, though

TheWebbedWonder: he’s so nice but also I want to set all bigots’ houses on fire

ICanDeweyIt: as you should

Violet-Sabrewing: *as WE should

ICanDeweyIt: you’re right vi!!!

lenaonme: *cracks knuckles* aight i got this

TheWebbedWonder: wait no lena don’t be mean

lenaonme: shhh it’s just a little bit of good-natured teasing

TheWebbedWonder: Lena

Junior-Woodchuck74: Lena

Violet-Sabrewing: Lena

adefinitelyrealboy: Don’t be mean to Dr. Crackshell-Cabrera!! He has to deal with a lot of their comments anyway. And he’s a superhero!! He knows what he’s doing!!!

Violet-Sabrewing: Fenton is a superhero?

lenaonme: khdskalksdf HE’S gizmoduck????

Junior-Woodchuck74: oh no

Violet-Sabrewing: I did think of this hypothesis a couple months ago

adefinitelyrealboy: Oh no!! I didn’t mean to reveal Dr. Crackshell-Cabrera’s secret identity!!

ICanDeweyIt: not much of a secret tbh. he has a whole journal entry for people who know he’s Gizmoduck

TheWebbedWonder: Guess he has two more names to add to that list

Lou: to be fair, his username is TotallyNotGizmoduck. That’s pretty sus

Junior-Woodchuck74: he really needs to change that.

ICanDeweyIt: yeah

PM between lenaonme and TotallyNotGizmoduck

8:24 pm

lenaonme: ay yo

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Hi, Lena!

lenaonme: be gay do crime

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Lena no

lenaonme: lena yes

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I suppose Webby talked to you?

lenaonme: yes

lenaonme: also vi and i know your secret identity now

TotallyNotGizmoduck: darn it

lenaonme: seriously change your name that’s kind of pathetic ngl

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I understand you like fitting the image of “rebellious teenager” and all, but are the insults completely necessary?

lenaonme: oh thank webby she convinced me to only lightly tease you

lenaonme: it’s with love~ 💖

TotallyNotGizmoduck: Not quite sure if I buy that

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I don’t want to have to apprehend you if you commit crimes, Lena

TotallyNotGizmoduck: and my M’ma wouldn’t either

lenaonme: i don’t even know her

TotallyNotGizmoduck: You will tomorrow!!

lenaonme: i can’t decide if that’s ominous or just overly preppy

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I’m just a little excited

lenaonme: lmao lame

TotallyNotGizmoduck: :(

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I hate teenagers

lenaonme: blanket statement huh

TotallyNotGizmoduck: sorry

TotallyNotGizmoduck: I wouldn't be forced into negative feelings if you weren't mean to me!

lenaonme: it's because i love you

TotallyNotGizmoduck: you keep saying that, but I'm not so sure I believe it...

Science Gays

8:48 pm

fentonium: why are kids like this

worldsgreatestinventor: agreed, very negative feelings indeed

adefinitelyrealboy: :(

worldsgreatestinventor: except for you Boyd

Junior-Woodchuck74: It’s because we love you

adefinitelyrealboy: what about Huey?

worldsgreatestinventor: ehhhhhhh

Junior-Woodchuck74: disappointed but not surprised

Junior-Woodchuck74: let me guess you talked to Lena?

fentonium: yes

worldsgreatestinvention: she’s cool

worldsgreatestinvention: she taught me memes

worldsgreatestinventor: WHAT

worldsgreatestinventor: red nephew!! your lot told me that was dewey!!

worldsgreatestinvention: just for those specific memes

worldsgreatestinvention: it was a group effort

Headless-Mannyhorse: good for them

worldsgreatestinventor: they will rue the day!!

fentonium: oookaay

fentonium: you know what I prefer Lena to this

Junior-Woodchuck74: she knows

fentonium: oh no

Junior-Woodchuck74: that’s one of the reasons she likes it so much

fentonium:  oh no

Family Group Chat!!!!

4:55 am

lenaonme: b͈̻̙͕̲̭ͦͦ̾͛l͉͒a̱̳̠̳͈͎̖̓ͪc̆͒k͎͖͈͓̎̌͒p̝͈̌ͫͥͦi̩͙͙͕ͫ̋͛ň̦̌k̟͐̾ ̟̼̥͎ͣͫ͛̂i̞͓̰̜͇̜̪ͧ͑͌̓s̙ͤ͛ͩ ̩̞̖͖̺̐̈͋͆́̈́ͅt̙̥̄ͨͭ͐h̩͇̮̙̬̉͂ͫe͕͚̳̩̞͚̜ ̞͕̰̇͛̏̍ͨ̄r͉̹̱̬͑̄̾͐ḛ͖̘̇̆v̺̱̇̽͒o̤̮̤l̞̯̪̳͕̿͆͌ͭͅu̮̼̝̤̅̑ͬ̾͑͂̍t͇̲̺̘̀i̘ͦ̿͗o̪ͣ͐̓̇ͦ̎ͬn͙̱͔̩͙͒́̋̽̎̎~

dr. mad scientist: oh my god shut up

~

Huey: Junior-Woodchuck74 Dewey: ICanDeweyIt Louie: Lou / green-sharpie* Webby: TheWebbedWonder / Ultimate_Scrooge_Fangirl* Donald: aw-phooey* / Dadnald / UnoCaballero Scrooge: Scrooge-McDuck* / Moneybags Della: worldsgreatestadventurer* / Adventure-Pilot / universesgreatestadventurer /acepilot Beakley: 22 / Tea Time Launchpad: TheCrashiestCrash Lena: lenaonme Violet: Violet-Sabrewing Duckworth: ghostbutler Gyro: worldsgreatestinventor* / dr mad scientist / wildlymisunderstood Fenton: TotallyNotGizmoduck* / Blathering-Blatherskite Manny: ihaveahead!!! Lil' Bulb: worldsgreatestinvention* / Lil' Bulb Gladstone: Lucky-Gander Fethry: mutant-krill!!!! Indy: Indy_Sabrewing Ty: purpleisforthegays Goldie: Wine-Aunt* / wreathedingold Penny: moonlander-general Boyd: adefinitelyrealboy Panchito: DosCaballero José: blackmagica* / TrêsCaballero

*main

i listened to a bunch of various blackpink while making this (on if it's your last rn) so that's why that ending moment is there lmao. it's just a glimpse into my life i guess. it's also a fitting reference since i wrote a bunch of this during a writing sprint with friends (and i lost :( ) and they introduced me to almost all of the blackpink songs i know!

there's a moment in which dewey called himself a "wild child" which is inspired by another friend calling me a wild child the other day. it just be like that i guess. (tragically, neither this friend nor the blackpink friends are into ducktales so they won't read this. but moon, silv, viper, rose, if you're out there... ily)

peep some sexuality headcanons!! I tried not to make them too overwhelming since I know a lot of people have different hcs, but they slipped in. It didn't make it in, but I hc that in addition to the no-label thing for genders, Scrooge is also demisexual and demiromantic!! I'm aroace so that means something to me. Also re: the bigot Webby and Fenton were talking about, I hc Violet is trans and Dewey is nb (thank the duckfalls server for that one). and lena is gay. but all headcanons are cool n valid and i'd love to hear some of yours!!

i unexpectedly got a really good response to this fic last week and i just want to say thank you!! it means so much to me that people like this fic and that people like my writing in general. i love all of you <3 i haven't responded to comments from last week yet cause energy but i promise i will i just need energy. but i read all of them and they were so sweet!! so thank you!!

in a similar vein, no penny pokemon plot this week cause the week slipped by and i forgot to message ppl about pokemon but i definitely will do that. it'll probably be back for next time. thank you so much to everyone who offered!! i'll probably take you guys up on that.

also thanks to the people on tumblr who gave me scrooge phrases. @just-sinag sent me an amazing video of all of scrooge's catchphrases from dt87 (which i didn't get to use this time unfortunately but definitely next time) which was really helpful, but everyone who replied to my post is really awesome and i appreciate it!!

in other news, my cat just meowed at the door while i'm writing this author's note and then jumped very cartoonishly when the door bumped against the wall. she's a little freaked out right now, poor baby. but i love her.

Chapter 4

[mor-beck-more-problems]

Ghost Busted || Morgan, Adam, Jasmine, Nell, &Constance

TIMING: Current

PARTIES: @walker-journal @halequeenjas @nelllraiser @constancecunningham

SUMMARY: Morgan’s plan to bind Constance gets busted.

CONTAINS: gun use (salt rounds)

Binding a soul wasn’t much more complicated than binding anything else, as it turned out; not in terms of ingredients, at least. Morgan was able to gather the herbs on her own, mostly foraged, to save her pride at the Eye of Newt, but to adhere as closely to the spell instructions, she braved Vera’s judgmental looks for the last few things. Now it was time to take stock and go over the plan one last time before doing the binding. Morgan felt for the bottle in her bag. Still there. As far as she understood it, just about any vessel that could be marked with the right sigils would do, but using any of the tiny jars she had left from her crafting days made her feel uncomfortable. They seemed so small, keeping someone in there just seemed so...unsafe. And what if she could somehow see Constance staring at her through the glass? The thought made Morgan shudder too much, so she got a nice arcane looking, opaque, ceramic jar.

The day was bright, the kind you painted on a greeting card for fall. Morgan turned at the sound of footsteps, not certain how much she should smile, with Jasmine and Adam at least partially on the fence. But this was a net good for everyone. A bottled ghost was going to kill a lot less people and cause a lot less chaos than a free range one. After they did this, she could figure the rest out on her own if it came to it. Morgan offered a small wave. “Uh, hey?” she offered. “Did you...get everything you needed okay?”

Apparently, Nell was the first back from her little monster hunting excursion. In truth, she would have preferred to still be out gathering spell items for many reasons, but the primary one stemmed from the little guilt monster that was gnawing away at her stomach. Now that she’d talked about exorcising Constance at the first chance possible with both Jasmine and Adam, it was emotionally difficult to sit here and pretend as if everything were still going according to plan, sitting next to Morgan as if nothing had changed and she would still get her revenge. But it wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling. There’d been multiple occasions in which she’d had to make decisions that her friends wouldn’t like for the benefit of themselves and others. Still...that didn’t mean it got any easier. Nell could only hope that Morgan might be forgiving in the long run, and still want something to do with her at the end of the day. “Yeah, I got them,” she answered as she held up her trophies. “Are the others back, yet?” Taki, her Ovinikk familiar, hadn't been far behind- looking proud as anything while he carried a few grathered herbs between his teeth.

Nell kept her response short, not wanting to say much else when she was caught up in wondering whether or not her and Morgan’s friendship would make it to see the end of the week. “I’m just gonna look over the stuff again, too.” Then she gingerly plopped herself onto the ground next to a basket of herbs, muttering to herself about their quality and picking through them with a careful hand as a means of keeping herself busy, and hopefully safe from too much conversation.

Chickcharney feathers, a catalyst for the curse. The larynx of an Aravo to bind their voice. The pelt of an Aufhocker to weigh them down to earth. A heart burst by a Carach’s fractoxtin to remind them of heartbreak. The exoskeleton of a Dearoile, to echo their life’s pain. A bone from a Gashadokura slain a century ago, to rekindle memories of fleshly deprivation A Valravn skull medallion, a symbol of death as the inescapable devourer.

Adam entered and began to place these cheery trophies of several weeks hunting in their assigned places, thoughts heavy with the twisted moral balance of what was about to transpire.

There had been no doubt in her mind that Jasmine was doing what was necessary. Whatever grudge Morgan had against this ghost mattered very little in the big scheme of things. Her ingredients had been more or less easy to gather. A mix of herbs and different salts. She was never without iron flakes and rods either. Once she had made it back to their meeting spot, she mentally began envisioning where she could lay out a salt circle. It wasn’t entirely necessary for a typical banishment, but it made things easier. Even if she had any intention of playing along with this whole binding the ghost until Morgan found a way to torture her, she’d be taking these same precautions. It all lined up with what they were doing here, just instead of Nell doing the binding, she’s simply banish Constance. Whether or not she deserved worse would be up to whatever cosmic power she faced after being thrown out of this plane. “It sounds like we’re ready then,” she said as she contemplated laying out a circle. She turned to Nell with a knowing look in her eye, “So, when are we doing this? Did we want to go ahead and knock this out before anyone else is hurt?

Constance didn’t feel at home in the manor. The walls reminded her too much of the ones she had dusted and cleaned for the Bachmans, and the environment was so unmoving save for spare objects that were fiddled with and tossed by spirits. Constance preferred to take them out to the woods where the oaks grew tall and remembered everything, even her. Or to the lake, veiled in mist and shining waters. “And did you know!” She cried, turning to Nancy trailing behind her in strange garb that had come into fashion after her death. “I taught her everything she knew about magic. Her mother was a beastly woman with no talent in her right fingernail, doing charms I had managed practically with my intuition. I gave Agnes the keys to the kingdom of the gods, which makes me the reason that tiny, ugly cow Morgan could tap into any of her magic at all. But, oh! The raptures we would find in these woods. They weren’t half so thick, and we felt so fearless and bold hiding here and--”

The sound of other voices made her stop and drift up into the trees. She had gotten better at this now, having so many ghosts to practice with and help her along. Most of the faces were familiar. Morgan, of course, tramping her muddy boots through her woods. The girl from the summoning. The boy from the classroom. And then some other woman, but if she was in league with the others, then she couldn’t be any more trustworthy. She hovered in the soggy gold and red of autumn leaves still hanging on, knowing that Morgan could see her always. There were strange things being passed, salt, herbs, some runes she recognized, and a jar.

“Those cruel, treasonous fiends,” Constance hissed. Did Blanche know about this? Was she just biding her time, placating Constance until this very moment, when she might be trapped forever? Or until such time as a suitable punishment could be given? As if being stripped of her liberty, of everything but her consciousness wasn’t punishment enough. “Nancy,” Constance whispered. “You said we could play a game today, right?”

Morgan wrapped Nell into a quick hug. “Thanks, Nell,” she said quietly. “I’m glad you’re doing better.” She nodded to the others, smiling tensely. They weren’t thrilled to be here, that much was obvious, and she wasn’t sure if any kind of thanks would smack with passive aggression she didn’t intend. “It looks like we’re gonna be all set, and the town is going to get a lot safer once we’re done and she’s all tucked a-- fuck. Nell, get down!”

Morgan grabbed the young witch and shielded her with her body as she saw Constance come soaring out of the trees. And this time, she wasn’t alone. Her iron rod was at her hip, she could give her a good whack or two and be done, but she couldn’t leave Nell vulnerable, and there was Adam and Jasmine to consider. “Okay, uh--new plan!” She screeched. “We get some salt lines down and nobody dies today, how about that?”

With the waking nightmares gone, the ghosts had also returned to their normal state of invisible. As it were Nell would have had not a single clue that Constance or Nancy had appeared if it weren’t for Morgan and Taki. Blindly following Morgan’s command, she ducked— hoping that whatever she was dodging might simply fly over her. It took a moment for Nell to make the connection between salt and spirit, and then she could only assume that it was Constance who had come for them. “Is it her? Constance?” she asked both Jasmine and Morgan. Taki’s fur had bristled into an enormous ball of fluff the moment the ghosts had appeared, hissing and spitting in disgust as the spirits approached. Remembering that last time Taki had met Constance at the ghost’s summoning and how it had ended with the familiar in the pet hospital, Nell instinctively picked up the dog-sized cat. Shit- they needed salt like Morgan had said. Focusing her magic for a split second, Nell Summoned the table salt from home, a blue canister blinking into existence in her hand. Then another appeared in her other palm, and Nell silently thanked Bea for sometimes buying in bulk. “Here!” she called before tossing the salt container to Adam. Hastily, she began to draw her salt circle, first using it to encompass the spell ingredients. Losing them would be too much of a set back to risk.

In another town, if people just started freaking out for no visible reason and tossed him salt, Adam might have questions, concerns even. However Adam was becoming accustomed to weird improv game that invisible spookums entailed that he just caught the salt contained and got to work putting circles around the important stuff.  

This was all happening more quickly than Jasmine could have anticipated. As a familiar chill ran over her, she felt her whole body tense. No, not now. Not while Nell was here and she didn’t even have a proper circle yet on the ground. This was less than ideal, but she could make do without the circle if it was just a simple banishment. Minimal distractions would be needed so she had to trust Nell and Adam could hold down the fort if Morgan threw a fit about what she had to do. Once she actually caught a glimpse of the ghost, her mouth dropped. Even if she never planned on going through with the torture, it was still shocking that she wanted to torture an actual kid. “Seriously,” she shot a glare at Morgan, “How old is this ghost? Sixteen? You want to torture a teenager?”

She shook her head and didn’t need any further motivation to push forward with the exorcism as planned. It hardly mattered to her whether or not Morgan approved of the decision. “Nell, stay back and keep everyone away,” she directed as she took her place in the room. A haphazard salt circle was laid out on the floor and she stood directly outside as she began the familiar incantation she followed for banishment rituals. The air was whipping around them, but she knew she could do this. It was only a banishment, she just needed Morgan to stay away. She could feel the familiar bolt of energy going through her as she spoke the words. Her eyes remained on Constance who was getting pulled closer toward the circle as she chanted. She could feel the fight in her, but this was the kindest outcome for her.

“Fucking Stars, she’s nineteen and a few centuries! How is that important right now!” Morgan screamed. She wasn’t going to make Constance into Jasmine’s problem. She would find her own exorcist, and maybe a plan B or C just in case they crapped out on her. Morgan was pulling Nell back to the Subaru. She was trying to shield her with her body and fish out her salt at the same time. “Salt outside the car and get inside, okay?” She turned to Adam, pointing furiously at the car, “Stuff is replaceable, you are no--!” She didn’t quite finish, because the roar in the air grew quiet and she heard Jasmine--chanting? Morgan whirled. “What are you doing? That’s not the binding, what the hell is that?”

A burst of force knocked her to the ground and dragged her through the salted earth until her head collided with a tree. It happened so fast, Morgan’s vision blurred. She grimaced, reaching for the salt pistol clumsily to her belt when she looked up and saw… some 1950’s barbie with a snapped neck. “Who the fuck are you?”

Constance screamed to the heavens. At last her body held some gravity, but it wasn’t binding her to the earth. She was being dragged towards a circle. She didn’t need to see its sigils to know it would mean her end. “Nancy!” She screamed. The leaves rose from the ground at her cry, the trees trembled. Control. A strong spirit was like a strong witch; she needed control.

All the herbs and magic playthings Morgan’s brood had gathered froze in the air, and with them, the two bodies not protected by Blanche Harlow’s words. She did not see Nancy lift her concentration, much stronger and better practiced than her own, to do likewise, nor how she approached the circle to take her place. There was an evil scream from Morgan, then the world shattered and bodies flew.

As Morgan tugged her towards the car, Nell did her best to wrestle from her grip, not keen in the least to let Jasmine and Morgan take the brunt of whatever it was the ghosts had come to accomplish. “I’m not gonna hide in the car!” she refused, though her indignance was also cut short as the exorcist began her ritual. Would Morgan retaliate? Try to stop Jasmine from doing her job? The witch wouldn’t get an answer as an invisible force threw her backwards along with the others. She landed roughly, arms scraped open by the assorted twigs and rocks of the forest floor when she’d tried to catch herself in a roll, trying to shield Taki from ricocheting off the ground as well. It was then that she officially decided that fighting ghosts was the single worst thing in the world and all its realms to go up against. How was she supposed to stab something she couldn’t see? She couldn’t even stab them to begin with. With a frustrated growl she rose from where she’d landed, wincing as her body protested the movement. The Ovinikk leapt from her arms, making a beeline towards the ghost named Nancy before erupting in an angry and thunderous dog’s bark, doing his best to ward off the spirit. Following his line of sight, Nell plucked the salt canister from where it had landed before blindly tossing its contents in the direction of the familiar’s barks, hoping it might miraculously find a hit.

Not for the first time, Adam found himself sprinting as things he couldn’t see turned his surroundings into an obstacle course. Autumn leaves were a dry whirlwind of red and gold as uncontrolled telekinesis and the sacred energies of exorcism caught everything in spiritual turbulence. Bowls and canisters shattered, sending shrapnel of glass and pottery zipping through the supernatural gale. The contradictory smells of pungent herbs and the frigid sterility of fall wind filled Adam’s nostrils as he booked it towards where the cars were parked, trying to not get pulverized as he ran across the grove.

Trying to pry off the windborn leaves that kept getting plastered against his eyes and mouth, Adam knelt by the closest car and started slating a circle around it. Adam’s world spun a bit as a stray herb bowl hurled from out of ritual space and shattered against the back of his neck. The ex-Hunter blinked flaring white spots from his vision and ignored the trickle of hot warmth down the back of his back.

His eyes cleared enough to see Morgan get flung against the tree with a blunt cracking sound.

Shit...well um, least she was already dead right?

Then Morgan started asking more nonexistent people who they were.

...that’s not good

How quickly things could spiral out of control wasn’t entirely new to Jasmine though it was different when it was just her and a ghost. Knowing how close Nell and this Adam kid were only steeled her sense of determination. The kids weren’t getting hurt on her watch even if it meant having to go up against two ghosts on her own. She laid more salt down and kept her eyes firmly between Constance and Nancy as she yelled out, “Nell, Adam. Car now. Morgan, not now. I keep the ghosts from killing us and you get the kids out of here.” There wasn’t time for Morgan to fight her on this. Constance was undeniably strong and her friend seemed to have been practiced, too. It was inconveniently her friend that was now bound to the circle as the air whipped around them at an impossible speed. Jasmine dug her heels in the dirt to try and stabilize herself against the whirlwind happening around her, but found she found herself floating in the air alongside Morgan and all the items they’d gathered.

The howls of air swirling were hard to shout over especially with no stable ground beneath her feet and Constance’s shriek still ringing in her ears. She had to keep pushing if any of them were going to make it out of this. Nancy was bound to the circle and it didn’t seem like Constance was going to join anytime soon. They couldn’t fight off both of them and Jasmine felt the fear creep up on her. Making the hair on her arms stand on end and added to the dizziness she was feeling from above the ground. Her words weren’t steady as she was whipped around, but not a syllable was missed. Right now, getting rid of one ghost would have to do as she kept going with the banishment ritual she knew like the back of her hand.

After what felt like an eternity, her chants drew to a close and Nancy simply disappeared forever. It’s what she wanted to do with Constance, but she already felt entirely too drained to perform another banishment. The floating in the air only furthered the feeling of unsteadiness, until she was no longer in the air. It was all very sudden after Nancy was gone that she found herself being thrown into the tree. The crack of bone against wood was enough to make her nauseated and she let out a pained shout as pain shot through her left arm. “Bitch,” she screamed knowing she had little else to stand on and her iron rod was too far away for her to grab in her condition.

Constance saw it all and yet was powerless to do a thing. The gravity on her body ebbed, all the energy she’d been pouring into fleeing sprang back and she shot into the trees, watching from the branches as Nancy disappeared without so much as an ‘I’m sorry.’ A thought came to her as lightning: this cruel departure had always been Nancy’s plan. If not to use her as a bridge off this miserable world so she need not bear pretending to care, then to grant Constance more time. Either way, she was utterly abandoned. Was this the so-called pleasure of lifting her gaze to anything beyond her one wish?

“You monster!” She screamed, flinging herself back down to the ground. She reached for the woman’s bent arm, as if she could will herself solid and snap it like so many twigs. The trees screamed with her as she wailed. To think she had ever considered Morgan’s friends worth sparing, that to be direct and careful was the only and best way to fulfill the fate she had written. Not anymore, maybe not ever. Constance wanted to burn it all, and for their remorse to be written on every human face as too little, too late.

Bang. A salt round fired through Constance and exploded into the trunk of a tree. The ghost turned just in time to see who had done it. Her mouth opened to scream just as she dissipated. Morgan stood crooked and seething as her spine knit itself back together. Her pistol dangled lip in her fingers. “You’re welcome,” she growled. “Now please explain to me what the hell was going on with that. You could have just taken her with iron, with literally anything else…” The last of her vertebrae snapped into place and she was able to look around. The herbs, irrevocable. Jar, smashed. Hides and fluids, destroyed. If Constance was going to be bound out of trouble, they would need to start from scratch. But there was something else that nagged at her worse. For a moment that had gone so completely off the rails, there was a serious lack of surprise and confusion among her friends. A lot of the attention was on her, and it didn’t seem like the ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘we’ll try again’ variety. “What’s going on…?”

Once the winds had returned to normal, and Morgan stopped shooting at thin air, Nell presumed the coast was clear. Crouching next to Jasmine, she took in the awkward angle the exorcist’s arm had been broken into, grimacing in sympathetic pain. “We gotta get you to the hospital.” Then as an afterthought— “You have insurance, right?” She wasn’t about to willingly lead someone else to thousands of dollars in debt. Jasmine’s injury had sparked the fire of worry in Nell’s belly, but Morgan’s question ignited it into a full blown flame, guilt beginning to pool. “I agreed...that Constance should be gotten rid of if the moment presented itself.” She was used to taking the fall with her sisters, so it came naturally to try and focus the blame on herself in this situation as well. Besides, it only felt right when she’d essentially betrayed the trust of her friend. It was true that Nell had never promised against exorcising Constance, but she’d also agreed to helping Morgan do it her way, and the two paths weren’t all that conducive. “I’m sorry,” she replied reflexively, not knowing what else to say.

It was becoming increasingly more apparent to Jasmine that Morgan hardly had her priorities straight. She was injured and others had been put in danger’s way yet her biggest worry was the fact she tried to get rid of said dangerous ghost without torturing her. Not to mention the ghost was practically a child. None of it sat well with her and she found anger boiling over in her. “What do you mean what the hell was I doing? In case you didn’t notice, we had a ghostly tag team try to kill us? Or did you not notice my extremely broken arm here… which, hey, kind of your fault for not wanting to handle this in an even remotely responsible way. A cast is going to clash with literally my entire wardrobe,” she huffed out as she tried to gesture to her broken arm but failed as she winced in pain. She shot Nell a look, “Nell, you don’t have to take the blame for this. I would have tried to get rid of the murderous ghost with or without your approval. That’s literally why I have these powers to begin with.” She quickly looked back to Morgan and rolled her eyes, “Look, I get you’re pissed and have your whole torture revenge thing, but your feelings aren’t more important than people’s lives. Which should be glaringly obvious.”

“I dissipated Constance in two seconds and I could’ve done the same with vintage Barbie too! We could have finished this just fine!” Morgan snapped. “And if you didn’t notice, I was protecting the kids while you were busy doing some kind of banishment instead of walking them into thin air!” But there was something more, something worse, and it made Morgan deflate and back away from them all. What did Nell mean by ‘agreed’ to do something in the ‘moment.’ Morgan played back all of their last conversations, searching for the time when Nell had said, sorry Morgan, but no, I think this is bullshit. She’d posed some questions, she was afraid of there being more collateral damage than there needed to be, but she never said she didn’t want to. She’d said she would help Morgan. They’d talked about what was happening to her powers. Hot chocolate. Movies. Her mom. Everything but stepping out of this. “If we had just stuck to the plan, no one else would have gotten hurt,” she said, her voice trembling with shock. “Which apparently doesn’t matter to either of you, but don’t throw your choices on me like I don’t give a shit.”  She searched for Adam in the midst of them. “What about you? After all the times I said you didn’t need to do anything you didn’t want to. Was this your idea too?”

“Nope,” Adam stated with blunt honesty as he stepped out of the salt circle and walked to the back of his car. He popped the trunk up with a click and the footballer’s head vanished into the cargo space. Some clicking and unlatching sounds were followed by Adam remerging with a tan military medic’s kit slung over one shoulder.

Adam crossed the rubble-strewn ritual space, tennis shoes crunching on pottery shards and autumnal leaves. He took a knee by the ladies and unzipped the tactical med kit with the purposeful calm of someone used to tending to grizzly battlefield wounds.

He produced a tincture of watery translucent goo with the depiction of a grotesque goblinoid creature with a distended barracuda-like jaw and bone claws on the label. “You’ll want some of this for the pain,” Adam said to his companions offering them the anesthetic tincture of reified Rawhead salvia and a stopper. “Only a drop or two though, else you’ll get muscle paralysis and shit yourself,” he explained with that gentle bedside manner Hunters were famous for.

Adam furthered purposed a splint and bandages for Jasmine, along with the more sutures, gauze, and antibacterials for everyone’s general lacerations.

“Honestly Beck, I was just gonna stab you in the spine and hold Miss Hale at gunpoint till she exorcised Ginger Casper normally,” Adam admitted, speaking of assault and threats in an amiably conversational tone. “But it looks like they’d worked out something smarter than that already.”

Jasmine could feel her blood boiling beneath her skin despite the lightheadedness she was feeling. Between blood loss and banishing Nancy, she found herself pretty zapped in the blood sugar department. As much didn’t stop her from glaring at Morgan, “I told Nell to go to safety so there was no chance for either of them to hurt anyone ever again.” Her voice was getting weaker, but fire was pushing her nonetheless. “You’re going to end up just like them on your whole revenge path.”

She eyed Adam as he tried to give her something for the pain. Her eyes narrowed and she asked, “Uhm, what the hell is that?” The mention of shitting herself was enough to make her wary of it, but if he was going to insist on patching her up she figured she better use it. It only served to make her more woozy as he went on and everything felt like it was spinning.

It was difficult to brace herself even with the numbness though Adam’s genius plan was enough to make her eyes widen. “Excuse me?” This kid was going to force her to perform an exorcism at gunpoint? “You were going to what?” She moved away as he had already placed the splint and muttered, “Ugh, you know what. Not a priority. Do you have a driver’s license? I’d like to see a real doctor and I can’t exactly drive like this.”

The entire situation had quickly dissolved into a shit show, and Nell wasn’t sure where to begin with Jasmine and Morgan. The witch didn’t have a defense for the choices she’d made other than the fact that she hadn’t wanted more unneeded innocent blood being shed on the path to ending Constance. And though Adam was doing his best to patch up what he could, it seemed that Jasmine wasn’t all that fond of possibly being made to complete an exorcism at gunpoint. Which was...fair enough. Nell wasn’t a mediator. She was better at creating tense situations than resolving them- especially when there was no common enemy to point anyone towards. The only way she knew out of a situation like this was to focus on an end task, and try to get the others to do that as well. “Let’s just get Jasmine more medical care,” she repeated, assuming the exorcist had already remembered that Nell didn’t have a car license. Latching onto the woman’s uninjured arm, she began to try and guide her towards Adam’s car.

The choice of whether or not to look at Morgan was one that took Nell a long pause to make, trying to decide if she wanted to see the hurt and disappointment that she was sure to find there. This was why she’d done her best to avoid the woman ever since she’d made her decision to get rid of Constance by whatever means were fastest. Ripping off the bandaid hurt less if the wound beneath it already had the chance to scab over. Finally she found Morgan’s eyes, knowing it was the coward’s choice not to face the consequences of her actions. But now what? What could she possibly say that would do any good to either of them? She wasn’t sorry for trying to get rid of Constance, even now. It was the right thing to do— minimizing collateral damage. The only regret she has was that of hurting her friend. “We should go,” was all she could settle on.

Adam’s hidden plan wasn’t all that surprising to Morgan, given his ‘barbed wire in a backpack’ ways and how quick he’d been to share his distaste with Constance’s age. It would be awkward in class, if the full moon didn’t kill him first, but it was nothing she couldn’t brace herself for. Jasmine’s cunning had tripped her up; most of the dutiful types she’d met in White Crest didn’t encumber themselves with lying to your face, but she’d remember not to let the exorcist’s confidence fool her into thinking that what she saw was what she got. It was Nell that left Morgan dumbfounded, staring slack-jawed and stupid as she helped carry Jasmine to Adam’s car, so focused that Morgan may as well have been a ghost herself. “Wow,” she said, too stunned to even put much venom behind her voice. “Not even an explanation, huh?” Morgan’s eyes burned as she spoke and she wished, bitterly, for even an ounce of banshee control so she could just stay hard and steady and leave. But her face was trembling on the verge of collapse, her voice full and ready to crack on the next breath. “I trusted you. I gave you a choice, so many choices, Nell, and I trusted you…” She hadn’t deluded herself into thinking she was nearly as important to Nell as Nell was to her. Nell had a family, a community that had seen her grow, friends her own age. It was an imbalance Morgan could live with, to feel like she had a family of her own. But she hadn’t reckoned on being worth so little that Nell could turn her back on her with ease, that she would be left alone in the underbrush as the sun cut red over the trees.  It took all the self control Morgan had to turn her back on Nell in kind and get back to her Subaru. “So much for that.”

[patchdotexe]

Explorers of Arvus: uhhhh / 3.23.21

today's notes are different from usual bc. well. you'll see

LAST TIME ON EXPLORERS OF ARVUS i broke my sleep schedule and am barely existing so this is fine. we went back to camp vengeance an uhhhhhhhhhhhh we are now going to fuck off into the forest to die or prove a very important point

oh god we forgot to level up

[mgd voice] BOOSTING NYX TO MAXIMUM LEVEL

im so fuckin tired. what on earth am i doing. how do i level again

k is not here this time but instead we've got mae+nii bonking their heads together to simulate 2 braincells and so far it is not working. i might just have to like fuckin, drop out n zzz partway thru or somethin. would be fun to see how chaotic michael makes charlie in my absensce

oh wait i can do d&dbeyond i think. how do i work this again. will i ever remember i have shield

what level am i. level 6? pog. oh shit i think i have a new thing

. new spell

. 3 total 3rd level spell slots

. bend luck! i can now screw people over on purpose (and will probably use my sorcery points FINALLY)

michael is leveling charlie up bc my brain is apple sos

ASDXFKLJFH I FEEL CALLED OUT zec rb'd my most recent art of MaX with "all i know about xem is that leo likes xem a lot that's the extent of my knowledge" THANK U FOR SUPPORTIN ME ANYWAY

there will be less blaseball distractions than last time bc blaseball is now on siesta. however i will still have MaX brainrot in the background bc i was drawing xem

wyatt mason my beloved

OKAY I GOTTA MUTE THE TACO STAND FOR THE ENTIRETY OF D&D i cannot and will not get distracted. we can do this. we

nintendo wii

we havent even started yet and im already incoherent

ok i have made a decision and that decision is that i do not have the brainpower to play. however i do have the brianpower to take notes hopefully! so ill just like. vibe. this will be a first

oh man im gonan pick up Blink. charlie is gonna be a fucking menace to herself and others

oh my god its not concentration so charlie may continue teleporting while unconscious. thorne is going to hate this

[charlie gets her soul eaten by a ring] [charlie singing dragonston din tei at halvkWAIT JORB HAS A PRIZE

jorb got a thing! an evil genius thing! figure man. fugrine. figuring. help

GREEN HAS DIAGNOSED ME AS TIGREX MONSTERHUNTER i love this

my notes are a disaster. this is so sucks

serotonin is stored in the wiggly zoomy jorb camera

jorb: his pinky is the size of the rest of his fingers

leo: he has a disease

jorb: he has a disease.

jorb: that disease is male pattern baldness

leo: [reduced to tearful giggling for mysterious reasons]

LAST TIME, ON EXPLORERS OF ARVUS: we've returned to camp vengeance! taure is still unconscious, which is not very great. camp vengeance is doin better tho!

michael, as part of the recap: ingrid is getting railed by her new girlfriend,

first dice roll of the day is michael rolled a 1. good start

OH THORNE IS AN ARTIFICER NOW thorne took a level in artificer!

"...it's like figuring out the right mathematical equation to summon a gun."

group is gonna go check out the statue that we passed by now that we're not WHAT DO YOU MEAN PONK AND GEORGE CANONICALLY HAVE IBS thats it im not looking at 772 anymore

im doing a bad job of paying attention but at least im Present

SIERON LEARNED FLY AND USED IT ON CHARLIE

michael: what do you want to do with your new flying powers?

leo: how many problems can i cause in 10 minutes

guard 1: ...why is the halfling flying?

guard 2: [rolls a 3 on intelligence] i think they can just do that

groundhogs, the real scourge of the campaign

silje and sieron are gonna hunt a big elk. they got distracted and sieron is putting grass on silje's head. i think

WAIT WE'RE ON WATCH NOW FUCK

we have discovered kali's tragic backstory whoops

update i am. too sleepy for this. good nigh everyone

[ and then leo went and somewhat took a nap! solar, normally playing thorne, started playing charlie in my stead. @jorbs-palace, local hero, started taking shitpost notes in my stead. ]

jorb's ghostwritten notes for leo:

help solar is immediately doing a cursed voice for charlie. charlie can do so many crimes

congratulations, charlie is now temporarily immortal!

dwarves can hit things with their beard

kali wants to know if she's legally allowed to bail

she'd feel really bad if she had to loot our corpses for payment if we died.

we have entered the Tree Zone

one of the corpses is now a flamingo (has one leg)

silje has decided to stab the ground. take that, dirt

kali was large size for a second there but then she remembered to not be a giant

"you accidentally deleted my cat?!"

silje has learned naruto cloning jutsu

be gone, thot

oh boy, making an int check to look at a statue! 11! silje is dumb apparently.

hmm. the statue has divination magic. it's also affecting silje.

SILJE LEARNED A 6TH LEVEL SPELL? its only single use but still

you solved my statue riddllllleeeee

thorne forgot to have eyes

its a shame mac and cheese doesnt exist in the d&d universe

wizards are just math criminals (the criminal part is setting people on fire)

sieron crit fails a check but it was still a 9 because of having +8

thorne is looking for what's weird!

uh oh music got scary, never a good sign

hmm. those leaves over there weren't dead a moment ago.

UNDEAD TROLL TIME! rolling initiative

"it's ok, im a wizard, it's my duty to be correct." "wow! waow!"

woooah here he comes

IT JUST DID HALF SIERON'S HEALTH AS A PASSIVE END OF TURN EFFECT?

thorne backed up and cast eldri- oh, ray of enfeeblement. character development continues

charlie is going to just blink out of existence for a minute.

big chungus has grabbed silje and sieron. BIG CHUNGUS HAS THROWN SILJE AND SIERON.

sieron is using hit and run tactics! isn't good at his extra attack yet though

silje is activating bid bid blood blood blood

thorne uses beam of skipping your leg day. troll's legs are now skipped.

michael is trying to determine what a 'clavicle' is

"does that mean the star trek kind, or the bdsm kind?"

charlie wants to cast magic missile.

charlie has vanished back into the ethereal plane mid-taunt

silje has decided to not get bitten today

silje may or may not have stats.

oh, right, trolls are weak to fire! and also we forgot to upgrade sieron's firebolt. so it actually hurts now!

silje is full of knives and blades and does 31 damage in one turn!

charlie shouts words of encouragement from the ethereal plane. a nearby ghost vibes with this.

🎉 eldritch blast 🎉

kali remembered she hates the sun

silje is enthuasiatic about charlie saying "get him cat boy!"

charlie contemplating using fireball to nuke the troll and also the entire stonehenge

charlie has decided to use magic missile instead, probably for the best

the troll bit at charlie SO POORLY it broke some of its teeth on the ground

charlie is too small to hit

accidentally rolled advantage on a firebolt, so got to learn it WOULD have done 29 damage with a crit but instead it missed because it was not actually with advantage

silje has just sliced open its entire back and made a spray of frozen blood! radical. big boy is down!

we have burned the body because we are not stupid. well, we ARE stupid, but not stupid in the way of leaving a body full of necrotic magic around

[dr coomer voice] i think it's good that he died!

we're also doing a funeral pyre for the other corpses that were around. just to be sure.

our loot is: the satisfaction of a job well done

thorne is cosplaying as charlie

charlie has located the direction troll came from! she found the 'the way to sweet loot' sign

thorne is apparently better at survival checks than our hired guide? wack

we found a viking house! it has: mead, a shield, gravestones,

found a gold coin in the mead! maybe it was thirsty

oh theres a LOT Of coins in there actually. 60 gold and 120 silver!

have successfully pointed out a hole in the DM's logic :)

there was a raven! it cawed and left. ok bye buddy

and that's where we leave it! heading back to camp vengeance next time.

someone rated this session a 7.2 out of 10, which is very specific

good night mr coconut

[speeding-fox]

Sorabon on the Haunt!

~~~~

Synopsis: Sorabon gets dared to go inside a creepy abandoned mansion rumored to be haunted to prove his bravery and that he's no chicken, but when his friends end up getting captured by a spirit, he has to summon the courage he needs to rescue them! Along the way, he unviels a surprising secret!

~~~~

Author's Note: "~~"'s indicate a scene change, and warning, this fic might be a little too spooky.

~~~~

Exiting the cinema after a scary movie, Tosukana, Dot, Shian, and Tiiru were discussing how freaky it was, with Sora stumbling behind them, trembling like a leaf. "That movie was certainly terrifying." Dot said. Shian wrapped her arms behind her head. "Yeah, terrifyingly bad." 

"I thought it was pretty scary, Shianbon." Stated Tiiru.

She stares at her with raised brows. "Seriously Ti? Did you not see how fake everything was? You could see the zipper on some of the guys' costumes during multiple scenes."

They all turn to the frightened Sora when they hear him whimpering. "Sorabon, you can't seriously have been scared by that movie." Shian teased.

"B-B-But, e-every looked s-s-so r-re-real." Sora stuttered out shakily.

"Dude, the only thing to be scared of in that movie was how bad it is." Shian assured.

"Have you forgotten about that one particular scene, Shianbon?" Tiiru inquired as they raise a brow.

"What scene?" She asked, playing dumb.

"You know, the scene that scared you so badly that you hugged Dottobon?" Tosukana teased.

Shian's cheeks turn a pinkish-red and snapped back at her sibling and Tosukana. "I wasn't scared! I heard her screaming, and I thought she would need my protection!"

"You sure that wasn't you screaming?" Tiiru questioned, stifling a snicker.

"No! It was just her and Sorabon! I would never scream out of fear! I'm not afraid of anything!" Shian bellowed at the two.

"Uh huh." "Whatever you say, sis." Tosukana and Tiiru said respectively before they begin to laugh at Shian's expense while she huffs, turns away, and crosses her arms, her cheeks maintaining the pinkish-red hue.

"Um, guys, not to interrupt, but where's Porukabon?" Dot asks.

"Didn't he say he had to use the bathroom before meeting us out here?" Tiiru questioned.

"Oh yeah, he did." Dot affirmed.

"He's definitely been taking a little while." Tosukana stated.

"I-I wouldn't worry a-about him. When nature calls, n-nature calls." Sora reassured shakily, unaware of a shadow looming behind him. He flinches and his eyes become dots as he felt a hand suddenly grab his left shoulder. He trembled as he slowly turned his head around to see what grabbed him.

The shadow roared once he met its glowing yellow eye. Sora turned ghost white as he screams like a little girl, then his eyes turn to X's, and he faints. The shadow turned out to just to be Polka fooling around with some party glasses.

Polka laughs heartily at the fainted Sora's expense. "Gotcha'!"

Shian busts out laughing. "Nice one, Porukabon! You scared the color off of him!"

Sora suddenly recovers and is on his feet, though still ghost white. "THAT WASN'T FUNNY, PORUKABON!" He screamed angrily at him.

"Yes it was!" Polka corrected while cackling. "I got you good!"

Sora growls. "No you didn't!" He crossed his arms and huffs. "I wasn't scared!"

Polka chuckles. "Oh really? Why are you still white as a sheet then?"

Sora checked himself, and he was indeed white as a sheet, devoid of color. "Ah!" He grabs a small paint bucket and paint brush from out of nowhere and rapidly paints his colors back onto himself, then crosses his arms once again while still holding the paint brush and bucket in his hands. "Like I said, I wasn't scared! I'm a hero, and heroes don't get scared!"

"Is that so?" Polka inquired. "If you're not as scared as you say..." He gets an evil look. "Then maybe you wouldn't mind going into an abandoned mansion I found on the outskirts of the city while was out for a drive."

"Abandoned..." Sora begins shaking again. "Man...sion...?"

Shian's eye light up. "You found an abandoned mansion?! That's so cool!"

"And going there sounds like a bad idea." Tosukana states.

Polka shrugs. "We don't *have* to go there..." He then glanced to Sora. "-if Sorabon's a such scaredy-cat."

"Porukabon-" Dot tried to interject, but Sora immediately stops shaking and snaps back at him. "I am NOT a scaredy-cat!"

"So you're going?" Polka asked with a smirk.

"Of course I am! I will go over to that abandoned mansion and PROVE that I'm not a scaredy-cat!" Proclaimed Sora.

Polka clapped his hands together. "Alright! It's settled then! Let's go!"

"Wait, huh? Already?" Sora questioned.

"Yeah! It's not like we have anything better to do anyway. C'mon! I'll show where the place is!" Polka went up ahead. "Porukabon, wait up!" Shouts Dot as she tries to catch up.

Sora realizes he just made a mistake. "Oh my Whiter, what did I just agree to?"

"Trouble, I bet." Tucker says as they go catch up.

As that was all unfolding, none of the kids realized they were being watched by the Neo Devil Trio from an alleyway, whom recede into their hiding spot, and begin to discuss. Lucifer rubs his chin. "Abandoned mansion, huh?"

"Sounds like the perfect place to mess with them!~" Sung Dandylion.

"I'll say... Hey, are two down for giving those brats a scare?" Suggested Lucifer.

"Oooh! I'm in!" Dandylion exclaimed. "I especially want to see the look on sky boy's face!"

"So am I, and lucky for us," Hades brings out a hologram projector. "I have just the tech we need give those losers, especially the Sora kid, the scare of their lives!" She cackled.

Lucifer chuckles. "Great! With that, those brats won't stay very long, and for sky boy, he'll stay even less."

~~

The group arrives to the derelict mansion via mech. "Here we are!" Shouts Polka.

Getting out of Sky-Soarer, Sora was already shivering at the sight of the creepy-looking building. 

Holding a flashlight under his chin, Polka begins to creepily tells a story. "Let me tell you a little story about this place. From what I heard, the first owner of the place, passed away suddenly over one-hundred years ago, and they say his spirit has haunted this mansion ever since, hunting down for any intruders. If he catches these intruders... he curses their spirits to be bound to this place FOREVER!" This story practically petrifies Sora into a statue, while Polka chuckles. 

"Porukabon, you just made up that story to scare Sorabon stiff." Tosukana tells him while staring at him, not at all amused.

"What? No! It's true!" Polka vehemently refuted.

"Then where did you hear this "story" from?" Tucker asks with a raised brow, meanwhile Tiiru is proding at the frozen Sora, trying to get him to budge.

"I- uh-" Polka averts eye contact. "I heard it from people.

Tucker continues to stare at him with a raised brow. "Uh huh..."

"Who cares if the story is fake or not?! I wanna go beat up ghosts!" Shian exclaims with four-pointed stars in her eyes; it seems Polka's story hyped her up.

"Shianbon, just how are you gonna do that?" Tiiru questioned.

Shian pumps a fist. "By punching them until they disappear!"

A sweat-drop appears on the side of Tiiru's head, and they mutter. "Oh sister..."

"So who's gonna go in first!?" Shian exclaimed.

"I don't know, maybe Sorabon should go in first, if he isn't too... chicken." Polka instigated.

That comment snapped Sora out of his statue-like state and swiftly turn to glare at Polka. "I am NOT a chicken!" He bellows.

Polka, somehow now partially dressed as chicken, teases him by acting like a chicken and making chicken noises. Sora flails his arms to boldly and angrily proclaim "I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT A CHICKEN! And I'll prove that right now!" He then barges through the unlocked doors of the old mansion. Polka takes off his chicken get-up and heartily laughs along with Shian. 

"Ha! That riled him up good, Polka!" Commended Shian.

"It sure did!" Polka continued to laugh, until Tosukana harshly slaps Polka across the face. "Ow!" He immediately rubs where he got slapped.

"That was not funny, Porukabon." Dot scolded to her brother, then she turned to Shian. "And Shianbon, you should know better." 

Shian grumbled quietly. "Sorry." 

"Since you riled him up, Porukabon, you're going in there to fetch him and apologize." Tosukana insists.

"Uhhhh." Polka shifts his eye around quickly. "I can't go in there."

Tosukana raises a brow and puts his hands on his hips. "Why not? Don't tell me you're the one that's afraid now."

"Me? Afraid?" Polka laughs nervously. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Ha ha..."

He continued glancing around as everyone is staring at him expectantly. He was hoping someone would back him up, but when he realizes that nobody will, he gives up. "Okay, fine! I'll go in after him, but I'm not going in alone!"

Tosukana sighs. "Even though I was hoping to teach you a lesson, I'll go in with you."

"I will too! I've always wanted to explore a haunted place!" Shian exclaimed.

"Sorabon's my friend too, so I'm coming too!" Tiiru chimed in.

"But what about me..? I can't go in there, not because I'm scared, but I don't want to possibly get stuck in the floorboards. I don't want to be out here on my own either..." Dot says while twirling her fingers and looking aside.

"Well, that's the perfect excuse ta'-" Polka tried to say, but Shian butted in before he finished. "I'll stay out here with you, Dottobon!" 

"Shi-Shianbon, I thought you wanted to explore this place!" Polka stammered.

"Of course I do, but Dotto has a point, and we can't just leave her alone!" She gets in a battle ready pose. "Besides, while I am disappointed I can't go exploring with you guys, what if something happens and you guys need to call back-up, huh?"

"I guess it is a good idea for you both to be on stand-by incase we need help. Now as for you, Porukabon," Tosukana grabs Polka's arm. "we're going." He turns to Tiiru, whom is watching a leaf float by on the breeze. "Tiirubon, you coming?"

Tiiru snaps to attention. "Oh! Yeah! Coming!"

Tosukana drags Polka by his arm into the mansion, with Polka groaning.

Now that the trio went inside, Dot and Shian wondered what they should do while they wait for everyone. "Sooo... What should we do now?" Questioned Dot.

"Hmmm..." Shian glances to Dot's half of the mech, then back to her. "Did you bring your Bontendo Switch?"

~~

As the trio stepped inside the old mansion's foyer, the floors creak under their weight as they look around for Sora, Polka shines his flashlight around, trying find him, but he doesn't see him anywhere. "Where the heck he go?" Polka wondered aloud. The three try calling out to him in hopes he responds. "Sorabon! Sorabon!" No answer...

"Where did he go anyway?" Tiiru questioned.

"In a place like this, you'd think he'd bail once he got in here." Polka remarked before Tosukana nudged him. "Ow!"

"Regardless, we have to find him. He couldn't have gotten far." Tosukana states.

"Should we split up and search?" Tiiru suggested.

"Tiirubon, that is a terrible idea." Polka retorts. "You've seen how well that turns out in the cartoons."

"Oh, right." Tiiru muttered.

"How about stay in a group and search the first floor together?" Tosukana suggested.

Polka nods. "That sounds like a better and safer idea." He puts the flashlight under his chin again and speaks in his "creepy voice" while wiggling the fingers on his free hand around. "It would deter the ghost if he was to find usss."

"Stop." Tosukana says flatly.

Polka groaned. "Okay fine." He shines a flashlight down the hallway to the group's left. "Let's check down that way first."

With that, they began their search for Sora. For the next ten or so minutes, they check each room across hallway for their friend, but did not find him, so they decided to search down another hallway, little did they know they were being followed...

"Where IS he??" Polka questions as he peeks into a smaller room and shined his flashlight around to find it was empty of life as well, and groans before closing the door. "This is some game of hide-and-seek he has us playing."

"And this only the first floor." Adds Tosukana as the group continues on.

"I swear, if we find him in a broom closet after spending all this time..." Polka murmurs audibly.

"What makes you think he's hiding in a closet?" Inquired Tiiru.

"If he is in a closet, he would've came out when we've called out his name." Tosukana says, concerned.

"Coming out of the closet isn't easy for most people, Taka." Polka joked, only to receive a beat in response. "Okay, I get it, bad time for a joke."

"I'm the one that's supposed to make the jokes, Porukabon." Claimed Tiiru.

They group freezes in place when they see one of the doors shaking, and whimpering noises coming from behind it. "Wh-Why is that door sh-sh-shaking a-and ma-making noises..?" Tiiru stammers.

"I-I don't know. L-Let's just hope i-it's Sorabon." Polka shakily replies.

Slowly, the three stepped towards the shaking door. Once close enough, Polka reaches for the doorknob, and grabs it. He hesitantly turns the knob, and opens the door, it creaking as it slowly opens, the noises coming from it getting louder, then when the light hits it, something covered in a white sheet shrieks, causing Polka and Tiiru to hug eachother and scream simultaneously. "EEEEEIIIII!!! GHOOOOOOST!!!"

Tosukana, however, was completely unfazed, and sighs. "Guys." He stepped over to the "ghost," and pulls the sheet off, revealing a terrified Sora underneath.

Sora gets startled from having the sheet pulled, then blinks a bit before he realizes what he's seeing. "G-Guys?"

"Sorabon?!" Polka and Tiiru shout in unison, then glance to eachother, and Polka lightly pushes Tiiru away and tries to look like he wasn't at all scared.

"Ahem... Sorabon! What's the big idea?!" Yelled Polka.

""What's the big idea?!" I should be asking you that! You almost gave me a heart-attack!" Sora shouts back.

"I asked first!" Polka fired back. "What were you doing trying to scare us like that?!"

"I wasn't trying to scare you, I was trying to hide from the ghost!" Sora shot back.

"G-Ghost..?" Tiiru shuddered.

Polka rolls his eyes. "Yeah right." 

"I'm not kidding!" Sora insists. "The ghost from your story, it's real! As soon as I entered this place, it chased me around until I hid in this closet!"

Polka still wasn't convinced. "Sora, I made that story of the mansion's first owner up to scare you." As if on cue, the aforementioned ghost floats down from the ceiling and hovers behind Polka, and the three onlookers pale and start trembling. "Everyone knows that ghosts are just made up! Heh heh!"

"Uhh-hhh, P-Poruk-kab-bon..." Sora uttered shakily.

"L-L-Look behind y-you-u..." Tosukana stammered as he pointed behind Polka.

"Huh?" He does turn around, and immediately turns white as a sheet once he sees what everyone was staring at. "Oh... so it is real... Ha ha ha..." He laughed nervously.

"Leeeeeaaaave..." The spirit moaned before roaring. "NOOOOOOWWW!!!"

The group scream in shear terror before bolting away, the ghost in hot pursuit behind them, but no matter where they went or where they tried to hide, they were always some how found. Where the heck is the exit?! This only the first floor! Were they running in circles?!

The group then runs upstairs in hopes of finding a better place to hide from the spirit giving them chase, then they run through a series of doors in a hallway in a familiar cartoon-like fashion in an attempt to escape the ghost until they get to one particular hallway. Sora bolts ahead of everyone before tripping over a loose floorboard, which triggers a trapdoor to open, he didn't have time warn his friends of the trapdoor. "GAH!" Polka just barely stops in time to avoid falling in, but Tosukana and Tiiru weren't as quick to notice, they bump right into him, knocking his flashlight out of his hand, it landing next to Sora, Polka loses his balance, and the three of them fall in, screaming out until they fade into the darkness.

"GUUUUUUYYYS!" Sora cried out to them before the trapdoor closes. Seeing the ghost still after him, he scrambles to his feet, and sprints around the corner and finds a conveniently-sized vase big enough for him to hide behind, then remained hidden for some time, even after the spirit wandered off, he is fearful and unsure of his next move. He waited a bit longer before he briefly peeks out of his hiding spot and glances around, the coast seems clear, but he goes back into hiding, he doesn't want to leave his hiding spot yet, he was afraid the ghost will come back and find him if he gets out of his hiding spot.

The poor kid whimpers as he hugs his legs, and he begins murmuring to himself as he softly sobs. "I don't wanna get out, I don't! But I wanna leave, but my friends... the ghost got them! I can't leave them, but I'm afraid of the ghost coming back! I don't wanna get caught too! What do I do? What do I do?!" He sobbed quietly some more, those sobs slowly turn to sniffles, and he begins to put on his "brave face". "I- *sniffle* I can't leave them behind. *sniffle* They're my friends, and... and they need my help."

Sora gains a determined look on his face. "I may be afraid, but it'll be the heroic thing to do!" He peeks out once more to check if the coast was still clear, when he saw that it was, he takes a deep breath, breathes out, then he quietly gets out of the vase, tip-toes the opposite direction the ghostly spirit went, retrieves Polka's flashlight, and carefully begins his search for his friends, hoping they're alright, and murmuring "I'm beginning to feel like that green-hatted guy from that mansion game..."

~~

Meanwhile...

"Dang it, Dottobon!" Shian shouts as she looks up from her Bontendo Switch. "How are you so good at Bontris?!" 

Dot gazes up at Shian before rubbing her head bashfully. "I wouldn't say *that* good, Shianbon..."

"You kidding? You beat me AND the 97 CPUs, twice!" Exclaimed Shian. "There's no way you're "not that good!""

Dot turns away, blushing. Her gaze swiftly shifts towards the mansion when she thought she heard screaming. "Shianbon, did you hear that?"

Shian was too focused on her game to notice. "Hear what?"

"It sounded like the others screaming..." Dot clarified. "And they are taking a little while..."

"Oh gosh dang it!" Shian says under her breath as she once again loses, then turns to Dot. "I didn't hear anything. I think you're probly just hearing things. Yeah, they're taking awhile, but they didn't call for help yet, so they must be fine."

"I hope so..." Dot mutters while not taking her eyes off the mansion.

"You down for a 3 out of 5?" Asked Shian.

Dot stares at the place for another couple seconds, she was still concerned about the screaming, but if Shian didn't hear them, then she must've just imagined them out of worry. She then shifts her gaze to Shian. "Sure, I guess I can do another round."

~~

Sora quietly searches around downstairs to see if he could find his friends down there, careful to not draw the ghost's attention and give away where he is. Why did this mansion have to be so big? There's so many rooms and hallways, he feels like he's going in circles and not making much progress, he just wants to find everyone and leave this place already. 'They have to be somewhere down here. The trapdoor has to lead into one of these rooms, right?' He wondered to himself as he quietly opens the door leading into a rather large room.

He enters the aforementioned room and shines the flashlight around for anything out of the ordinary. Nope. Just old and dusty furniture, nothing weird here, except for the coffin resting against the right-most wall. He shudders and whispers to himself. "That's... pretty weird. I really hope there isn't anything, or anyone, in that thing."

He turns to leave when he finds no signs of anyone being in the room, but he freezes in place when hears a noise coming from the coffin. He gulped, cold sweat runs down his head, and he very slowly turns back to the coffin and shines the flashlight to find it opening up, the light illuminates the revealed figure inside, a Bonpire... Sora was too horrified to utter a word. There isn't just a ghost hanging out in this place, monsters too?! 

The Bonpire's red eyes shot open and begins cackling as he leaps out of his coffin and lunges for Sora. The kid screams and sprints full-speed out of the room. So much for not drawing attention to himself.

He continued to shriek as the bonpire gave chase. Thinking he could get away if he went back upstairs, he sprints up the nearest staircase, and practically dives into the first room that had a door open, then slams it shut and pushes an old chair infront of it to barricade it. When Sora thought he was safe, he lets out a sigh of relief, and slumps into said chair. "Phew..."

His moment of relief quickly died when he heard something shuffle within the darkest corner of the room. A pair of glowing yellow eyes appear in the darkness, then whatever it was growls, before it leapt into the light of the flashlight. It was a wolf-like Wereron! They howl, then snarled at the kid. Sora screams once more before using the chair he was just using as a barricade as a throwable projectile at the beast, only them to swipe it away with no effort. Well that plan didn't work.

He swiftly opens the door, and yet again screams when turned out the bonpire was standing right in the doorway. Sora manages to sprint passed him and made a beeline for the stairs. Great, now he has a bonpire AND a wereron on his tail! Can it get any worse than this?!

As Sora ran through the hallway his friends found him in earlier, he had the bright idea of hiding in the same closet he used to escape the ghost earlier. The bonpire and wereron wouldn't even think to check there!

Without checking said closet first, he quickly ran in, and shuts the door before those monsters rounded the corner. He panted for bit before letting out another sigh. "Phew..." 

He wipes some sweat off his forehead, then slightly grimaced when he realized his head was covered with sweat. "Eugh, running away from those monsters left me all sweaty. I could really use a rag right about now."

Someone from behind him hands him a dry rag. "Oh!" He takes the rag. "Thanks." As he was wiping the sweat off his head, he suddenly freezes when makes a realization. "Wait... who handed me the rag when I'm the only one in here..?" Sora shakily turns to whoever was in the closet with him, and shines Polka's flashlight onto a one-eyed figure covered in rags and bandages, whom groaned lowly and began reaching for Sora.

"Muh... Muhh..." Sora stammered before screaming "MUMMYYYY!", and barged through the closet door and booked it, which caught the attention of the bonpire and wereron at the other end of the hallway, they, now with the mummy alongside them, once again pursue him.

Poor Sora kept on running and running in a vain attempt to get away from the group of monsters, he would've grown exhausted by now, but he was so pumped with adrenaline that he was determined to not get caught by the ghastly trio on his tail, however, this was for naught as he rounds a corner to dead-end. "Oh no!" He turns around to see the bonpire, wereron, and mummy surround him and slowly creep foward. He frantically tries to find a secret button to open a secret escape route. "C'mon c'mon! There has to be a secret button! There's always a secret button somewhere like in that one mystery cartoon!" Unlike the cartoon though, Sora could not find a hidden button, he was really trapped. He presses his back against the wall as the monsters crept closer and closer, his eyes were filled with tears, his head was covered in cold sweat, he was whimpering and shaking violently, he thought this was the end for him, this was how he was gonna go out.

The trio of monsters were now within arms-reach of Sora. As he braced for his doom, something woke up within him, all his fear was suddenly replaced by anger, and his biidama begins glowing brightly. He screamed "That's ENOUGH!" before firing a laser-shot at the monsters, and exploding a hole into the floor, which said monsters fall right through. Thinking he took care of them, Sora leaps over the hole he made and tries to make a run for it yet again, only to stop when he thought he heard his friends groaning. "Huh?"

He peeks into the hole, at first, all he could see was smoke and dust billowing through the air, but once it clears, he could now see the dazed monsters at the bottom- wait a minute, is that Polka, Tosukana, and Tiiru?! "Guys?!" Sora called out in disbelief.

Polka sat up and rubs his head. "Ow, my aching head..." He stops when he sees what is on him. "What the..? Why am I covered in bandages and stuff?"

"Owww... What... happened?" Tiiru dazily asks as they shakily get onto their arms. "Why do I feel all... fuzzy?

"And why are we in costume..?" Tosukana adds as he helps himself up and spits out the fake teeth.

"Guys!" Sora repeats, prompting the three to look up at him. "Sorabon!" They all shout, relieved he is okay.

"You're okay!" Exclaimed Tiiru.

Sora jumps into the biidaman-made hole and lands on the spot near his friends. "Of course I'm okay!" He closes his eyes. "Now, let ask you three this..." His eyes open to reveal flames, he flails his arms about, and his head gets comically large as he bellows at his friends, making them scream because they did not expect this kind of reaction. "WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!?!? WAS THIS ANOTHER PRANK!?!? YOU ALL ALMOST SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH!!!"

Polka rapidly waves his arms around. "S-Sorabon! Calm down! We can explain!"

That only calmed him a little bit. He then crosses his arms. "Hmph! You three better explain yourselves!"

"Sorabon, we really didn't mean to scare you so badly." Tosukana began.

"We didn't mean to because we don't even remember doing it." Tosukana and Polka nod as Tiiru finished.

That explanation didn't convince Sora. "Likely story."

"Dude, it's true." Polka insisted. "You don't know what happened after we fell through that trapdoor." 

Now he was intrigued. "What did happen after you guys fell into that trapdoor anyway?"

"Allow me to explain to give you a clear vision." Polka started. "After falling into it, we fell and got caught in a net trap at the bottom. Apparently, the Neo Devil Trio have set up shop down in one of the basement rooms, and they were watching everything unfold the whole time!"

Sora's eyes got big. "Wait, those three are behind all this?!"

Polka nods. "Yeah, and they also were behind the whole ghost prank! That ghost was nothing but a hologram they set up!"

Sora's eye twitched. "Are you kidding me?!"

Tosukana shook his head. "Nope."

Polka continues. "After they tell us about their prank, they told us that we're gonna be apart of it. You think we wanted in on their prank after that whole ghost trick? Heck no!"

Tiiru chimes in. "That's when Hades got out this weird swirly gun thing, and then... I don't remember what happened after that."

"And the next thing we knew, there was an explosion, and we fall through the floor, we're also in costume for some reason." Tosukana added while pulling at his costume.

"They made you guys think you were monsters and made you all chase me all around this place to scare me! You don't remember any of that?!" Sora exclaimed.

All three shook their head in response. "Not a dang thing." Polka replied.

Knowing now that this was all just a mischievious prank pulled by the Devil siblings, Sora clenched his fists tightly. How dare they pull something like this on him! How dare they play such a cruel joke, not to mention hypnotizing his friends into involuntarily scaring the crud out of him, and above all, possibly giving him a sore throat later from making him scream so much! "Grrrr... Those absolute JERKS! I can't believe them!" 

"And I thought I scared ya' bad earlier, but those three took it too far!" Polka growls as he balled his fists. "I want to get back at them for hypnotizing us and covering me in rags!"

"Normally, I would disagree about "getting back" at someone," Tosukana glares his costume. "but I don't very much appreciate getting hypnotized into scaring my friend!"

"And I don't appreciate getting put into such a tacky costume!" Tiiru adds as they're pulling at their urufuron costume.

Sora spent some time thinking about how to get back at the devious trio, then his eyes turn into light-bulbs, and gains an evilish look as he gets a devious idea, an idea to give the Devillish pranksters a taste of their own medicine. "Guys, huddle up, I think I have the perfect way to get back at those three." He huddles everyone together to discuss his plan. "Some of the things we need are white glow-in-the-dark paint, and some chains..."

~~

"Eeee heheheee! They surely scared Sorabon good!" Dandylion laughed.

"Did you see the faces he made when saw our "monsters?" Priceless!" Lucifer cackles. "He even fell for our hologram!"

"I wouldn't be too surprised if he busted out of here out of terror while crying for his friends." Mocked Hades.

"I don't see him on any of the cameras we set up." Dandylion giggled as they flipped through the camera screens from their phone. "So I guess he did flee from terror!"

"Brat said he is a hero?" Lucifer blew a raspberry. "More like a big baby."

The siblings laugh heartily, until they heard moaning. "Uh... what was that?" Dandylion asks.

"Was that you, Lucy?" Hades questioned.

"No, it wasn't me. I thought it was from one of you two." Lucifer answered.

"Then..." Dandylion begins trembling and whimpering. "Who made the noise..?"

The trio begin to hear the sounds of chains being dragged across the floor, getting closer to their place of hiding, all three begin to get nervous. "Please tell me this a prank you two set up." Begged Lucifer.

"L-Lu-Lucy, it-it's not us!" Hades insisted shakily.

The sounds of chains dragging across the floor crept closer and closer, then stop right at the doorway, the three very slowly turn to the doorway's direction, until the trio saw a white glowing shape. Their faces contort in horror, then they shriek at the sight, it was Sorabon, but... he was glowing white, his eyes were glowing red, he had chains on both his wrists, and he looked like a zombie. "S-So-Sorab-bon?!" All three stammered out of fear.

Sora's "ghost" lifted up an arm to point at the three. "Yoooouuu..." He droned on as he crept over to the frightened trio. The siblings all cower to nearest corner.

"S-Sora-b-bon, wha-what happened t-to you?!" Dandylion asked shakily.

"You allll know what happened..." He lifted up an arm to point at them once again. "I died of fright because of your prank..."

"N-No way..." Uttered Lucifer.

"Th-That wasn't supposed to happen!" Shouted Hades.

"It was only meant to scare you, not to death!" Dandylion yelled.

"Wa-Wait, ho-how do you kn-know it was OUR pr-prank?!" Lucifer inquired. 

As if on cue their "monsters" emerged from the shadows. "They told me..." The "spirit" replied.

"EH?!" The Devil siblings shout in unison.

"Now because of you, my friends are cursed to be monsters and to be bound to stay at this old mansion with me... forever!" The ghost announced, raising both of his arms.

"You took it too faaaarrrr..." Tiiruwolf growled.

"The four of us are now bound here because of you three..." Tosukanapire spoke lowly.

"We ought to return the faaavvoorrrr..." Mummy Polka droned whilst glaring at the three.

"Great idea, Porukabon..." Sora agreed, and the four tower over the terrified siblings menacingly, gleams appearing their eyes. "They deserve payback by making their last moments... A LIVING NIGHTMARE!" They all cackle as they surround the three.

The Neo Devil Trio all shriek in absolute terror, scream "WE'RE SORRYYYYY!" before jumping up, book it through the doorway, and make a beeline for the entrance they came in through, the kitchen entrance. They bust through the door, slam it shut, barricade it with planks, then take off in their aircraft. The group of four made it to one of the kitchen windows just in time to see the siblings take off, then they all laugh and give eachother high-fives.

"Dude nice! We sure scared the pants off of them!" Polka exclaimed whilst still snickering.

Sora agreed. "We sure did! It's what they get for hypnotizing you guys and scaring me to "death."" He snickered.

"How long do you think it will take until they realized they got pranked?" Tiiru questioned.

"Probably whenever they start causing trouble again." Tosukana answered.

"Y'know, Sorabon, for a biidaman that doesn't like spooky stuff, you surely know how to pull off a scary prank!" Polka commended.

Sora bashfully rubs the back of his head. "Well, I did get some help from you guys. I just came up with the idea." 

Polka pats Sora on the back. "I must admit, I honestly thought you would leave us behind after getting so scared like that, yet, you stayed."

"While I'll say I did think about that," Sora proudly puts his hands on his hips. "it would be very unheroic of me to leave my friends behind when they're in trouble, so I bravely trudged forward to find you guys!"

Polka chuckles. "I guess I was wrong about you being a chicken. Sorry about earlier."

"While all this did happen because of you, I forgive you." Sora joked.

"Wha- Hey!" Polka shouts as Sora laughed.

Tiiru happened to glance to the right when they heard something, and something caught their eye. "Not to interrupt you guys, but who's that?" They ask while pointing at a glowing white old-looking biidaman floating behind the group.

The others turn around, and see what Tiiru was talking about. Polka chuckled and nudged Sora's shoulder. "Ha! Nice try, Sorabon!"

Sora was merely bemused by Polka's reaction to seeing this. "Huh?"

"I know this another prank of yours. You turned on the Devil kids' hologram when we weren't looking. Go on, spill the beans!" Polka insisted.

"Uh, no, I thought you turned on the hologram thing." Sora stated.

Polka went quiet. "Nnooo, I didn't turn it on." He turned to Tiiru and Tosukana. "Did one of you two-..?"

Tosukana shook his head. "Nope."

Tiiru shrugged. "I forgot there was a hologram thing."

Sora began. "If it wasn't you guys, then..." A look of grim realization crept onto the four's faces, and they slowly turn to their guest. "Who is that..?"

..."Leave...NOOOOOW!" The spirit bellowed.

All four kids scream and make a beeline for the exit they came through. Shian was about ask Dot to play another round when the four burst through the doors, Sora slamming the doors behind him. Their exit startles Dot. "Ah!"

"About time you guys get out there! What took you all so long, and what's with the costumes?" Shian questioned.

"Are you guys-" Dot tried to say, but was quickly interrupted.

"Can't explain now! Dotto! Shian! Get in your mechs, we need to leave now!" Polka hurriedly answered.

"Why?" Shian inquires. "Why are you all acting like you've seen a ghost?"

"Just get in your mechs NOW!" Polka screamed.

"Alright alright, sheesh! I don't know why you all are in such a hurry." Shian helps Dot get into Lightning-Bug before hopping into Cyan-Sniper. As soon as Dot is in the mech, the four spooked kids swiftly take off ahead of Shian, involuntarily leaving her in the dust.

"HEY!" She yells out angrily as she starts up her tank, and quickly takes off after them. "GET BACK HERE! DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ME IN THE DUST!"

The ghost of the mansion's first owner watches the kids take off through the foyer's window, takes a sip of ghostly tea from his ghostly teacup, then shakes his head. "Kids these days, they never learn to stay away from creepy abandoned places, don't they?"

[queerchoicesblog]

Ghost of You (SC Titanic, Zetta x Adele)

So this is my very first SC Titanic fanfic: I am excited to post it and well I suppose I should warn you that probably Zetta x Adele fictions will be rather long as this love story features themes that are very dear and meaningful to me, such as 1. well, obviously the Titanic story, 2. references to beginning of the century cinema (love very old and b&w movies), 3. sapphism and 4. femminism/suffragette movement. It’s basically everything I could have ever asked for. The Gentleman Jack fans out there might find a reference here...

So here I tried to imagine what brought Zetta to write that little note to Adele after basically disappearing. Loved that scene and I had to try and portray her turmoil, her missing Adele but also, as any historical lesbian (maybe not only historical), fearing the strings of society and their effect on their love and her beloved suffragette. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I quoted some pieces of dialogue from the original book

Word Count: 2555

Zetta x Adele Tag: @marmolady @animus-and-anima @hayley-carter19 @escako @everlastingchoices @andrxrneda @aestheticsayeed @eleanorwaverrley @indescribablechoices @ahrielstuff @lvcley @nazario-sayeed

________________________

Two rapid knocks on the door then:

“Are you there, doll? Can I come in?”

Richard’s voice abruptly brought Zetta’s back to reality, involuntarily making her jump in her seat.  She blinked twice as if wakingg from a dream and took a quick look around. She couldn’t recall how long she had been sitting at her vanity lost in her thoughts with a brush in her hand. She just couldn’t focus that day as she was haunted by memories of the past. But Richard didn’t have to know, mustn’t have to know. She put down the brush and quickly fixed her hair before adjusting her robe to limit the skin exposure to the minimum: after all, they weren’t married yet…and her heart didn’t belong to Mr. King. Only after that, she answered loud enough to be heard on the other side of the ebony door:

“Sure, darling”

She resumed her interrupted makeup session, pretending to be fully taken by that routine that didn’t bring her the usual joy anymore. She looked at herself in the mirror and put on a practiced smile: it would have been enough to fool her fiancé.

Richard entered her boudoir and theatrically opened his arms as a seasoned professional: he mentioned that he started as an actor before becoming a stellar director.

“My love, every time I see you I’m completely blinded by your beauty. You’re the brightest star in the sky, even brighter than Venus itself” he said moving closer and kneeling beside her chair.

“…And you’re gonna be the most radiant woman at the party tonight. The belle of the ball, la plus belle” he added, courtly taking her free hand and placing a kiss on her knuckles.

He looked up at her with a dashing smile.

“Trés charmant, Richard…but are you done with poetry?” she smirked, retrieving her hand and resuming her previous core.

“Ah, la belle dame sans merci!” Richard exclaimed before falling back to the floor holding a hand on his chest.

“Silly” Zetta laughed and she was soon joined by Richard who stood again and leaned on her table.

“I can’t help it around you, doll, apologies” he shrugged, flashing her another smile.

Zetta had to summon all her acting expertise not to cringe at “doll”. She hated it when every fiber of her being when Richard -or any other men- called her “doll”. Even her first director called her so, even her husband…doll, as if that was all she was to them: a beautiful toy, maybe a collectible but not truly a woman. Not truly Zetta.

Instead, she mirrored his smile and threw him a quick look before methodically applying some rouge on her cheek.

“So, what are you dying to say that can’t wait?”

“Seeing you isn’t a reasonable excuse?”

Richard was a charming man, without doubt. He wasn’t a bad man or so it seemed to her but she had been deceived by men who swore to only want the best for her that it was hardly possible for Zetta to fully trust any of them. And a man could have never won her heart.

As she flashed him just one of her enigmatic smile, he spoke again:

“Fine, you got me: I just wanted to see you and to remind you that our producers are expecting us at Rao’s for dinner in an hour. We should leave soon” he gave an apologetic smile and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Will we be there in time?”

“We will, I promise you” Zetta confirmed then made a show of shooing him away. “Now shoo, call Sabine and let me get dressed or else we will be late”

Richard raised his arms in surrender, laughing. Then he pressed a kiss on the crown of her head.

“I’ll get off of your hair, doll”

Zetta resumed her makeup as Richard moved towards the door. He was halfway out when

“Oh I almost forgot! I spoke to Alan yesterday and he loved the movie: the story of the two sisters reunited in the midst of chaos on the sinking ship is just perfect, so heart-warming-“

“Yes, it truly is heart-warming” Zetta commented, losing focus again.

“The story is real, right? You met at least one of them on board, didn’t you?”

Zetta’s voice lowered as memories started surfacing back.

“Yes, we were…rather close”

“If they survived, we should track them down and invite them at the movie: it would be great if they could talk to the press. Journalists love stories like this: I can see the headlines alrea-“

“We’ll see, Richard. Now please go call Sabine”

She tried to keep her voice from betraying her feelings, but she could feel a rush of anger surging. She would have never handed the Carrem sisters and such a private and tragic moment of their lives to those shameless sharks who go under the name of journalists. The subtle hint of heartbreak and they prey the unfortunate victims like vultures over a corpse: they wouldn’t stop until they had dissected those aching hearts, leaving them to bleed out. No, she would have done everything in her power to prevent this.

The story she wrote down when asked to bring the grim fate of the Titanic on the big screen was fiction: inspired by true facts but fiction. Zetta was smart enough to know that life and fiction are two separate things and that an edulcorated tale of those most tragic hours was all the world could take: the people of New York, who weren’t there that night, would have been overwhelmed by the real story.

Still, when she sat at her desk and started writing a draft of the script her mind immediately turned to…Adele.

She didn’t even notice Richard leaving the room as the silhouette of Miss Carrem clouded her thoughts. Finally alone, her face fell and she shut her eyes as if to prevent the memory from fading away.

Adele, most gracious, fearless Adele…

Her lips curled into a sad smile as she reminisced their first meeting. She was sitting in her suite smoking and listening to James making some pointless speech when the door opened and Teo stepped in followed by Adele. She had the beauty of a Greek goddess and the look of someone who was going through a lot. She clearly felt out of place among finely dressed first-class passengers in the lavish room but she kept her head high. Zetta remembered feeling the urge to know what troubled her but she put on her mask, the sardonic film star ever out of reach. And then…was it a brave move or just an insane one? Adele told her of her arrest, of prison. Everyone else would have hidden from her, a new employer and Zetta Serda…not Adele. She handed her everything she needed to destroy her life as if it was no big deal. Zetta was taken aback and searched her green eyes for any sign of mockery but find none: the stranger girl truly trusted her with her life. That’s when she realized how unique Miss Carrem was.

Adele found a way to her heart effortlessly as if she had the map from the very start. When she placed her hand over hers in the projection room, she startled Zetta: whenever she had made the fatal mistake to show her vulnerable side to anyone, they would have used it against her to make her feel weak or small…clearly in need of someone who would tell her what to do, to guide her. They would have refilled her glass with wine again and again instead of going for the simplest gesture: taking her hand into theirs and comfort her. Making her believe with that touch that everything would have been fine, and she was stronger than whatever life threw her.

For a moment, as Adele held her hand, she felt safe, pacified, something she had never experienced with any of her supposed lovers. She couldn’t even be mad at her secretary when she revealed her James’ plan and the true reason behind his bailing her out of jail. She was shocked, obviously but she also couldn’t believe that Adele, brave foolish Adele, had put her life into her hands again. “I’m perfectly aware of the risk I’m taking by revealing this to you but you deserve to know. I cannot keep this from you” she said, looking her right in the eye.

Those eyes…they took Zetta’s breath away whenever they ignited with the fire sparking inside her. She could have lost herself in their green depths when they gleamed with pride and mischief as she proposed a toast to the vote to women or whenever their eyes met. She got lost in them when their lips touched, and they grew dark with desire. How daring and foolish they had been in the Turkish baths…but she couldn’t bring herself to regret that moment of ecstasy when she felt free and truly loved, for once. She could still shiver remembering Adele’s touch, the way her lips traced down her body with reverence and adoration, the soft moans the tender girl in her arms suffocated hiding her face in the crook of her neck as she melted under her caresses. In those stolen embraces she knew happiness.

How happy she felt whenever Adele was around: just exchanging a brief look across the room would make her heart flutter.

Then other memories surged and Zetta felt tears welling her closed eyes. Her birthday night, that cursed birthday night…Adele and her sneaking away from the party to find a private spot on the deck. The wine, the cold breeze of the ocean, Adele’s silvery laughter at her tipsy enthusiasm, how she craved those sweet lips all night.

“If I’m honest, I don’t even want to reach shore, I don’t want to go back to the party…I just want to stay out here with you. Forever.”

Adele’s tender smile in agreement.

“Let’s just make a tent of this blanket – we can live off seal meat and rainwater”

Her tipsy proposal made the two of them laugh again.

“What about your acting career?” Adele inquired, a smile lingering on her face.

“We’ll make our own plays. Whaddya say?”

God, how those words sounded different now…how she would have given everything to have Adele there to cup her face and give her a slow, deep kiss. But Adele wasn’t by her side anymore…she lost sight of her when her agent and Richard dragged her and James away from the crowd at the New York pier.

She hadn’t written her ever since that day and she felt so impossibly guilty because of that: Adele must have thought she had forgotten about her after all her words of love on the ship. Maybe she felt used, maybe she hated her by now and cursed the memory of her. She would have reasons to hold a grudge to her…the truth was that happiness and love are hard to accept if you have never truly had them before and if they came from a woman loving another woman.

Zetta had tried to write her a thousand time but every time she had made an effort to put her feelings into words, her lines rang hollow. Yet the words that got stuck in her throat when Adele pulled her into a corner and confessed that no matter what happened that night she needed to tell that she loved her were clear in her mind.

The months spent parted from you are the saddest time of my life. I’m haunted by you, the ghost of you. You’re everywhere: even if I’m silent, not an hour passed where I haven’t thought of you. I tried not to, but whenever I closed my eyes, there you were. I love you and I can’t live without you, without your smile, your wit, your touch. I just can’t but how can I ask you to be with me in the dark? I can’t step back from this wedding and I don’t want you to be a secret mistress: that would squalid and offensive when you are the one I want to give all of me. To marry, if that was even a possibility for us so that I could spend every single day of my life with you, waking up with you by my side, taking care of you…making you happy. Your absence makes even breathing hard, not to mention smiling to strangers, “capitalist pigs” as you would say…I even try and talk like you do, you see? But I find myself wondering: will I make you happy if I have to hide our love from the world? Kiss you only behind closed doors? Let you see me marry a man? You’re a free spirit, my love, I don’t want to put you in a cage because our love, our pure love would be a scandal and a scandal would ruin everything I worked for since I was even younger than you. I don’t want you to spend your life as a ghost yet I find myself craving to see your face one more time as living without you is barely surviving but all the light has gone as I lost you.

Suddenly she felt someone placing their hands on her shoulders.

“Let me help you here, Madame”

She opened her eyes and saw Sabine, smiling sympathetically down at her. She tried and failed to mirror her smile as her mascara was now running down her cheeks.

Sabine helped her to her feet and took care of everything. Zetta let her washed up her face and helped her into her shiny evening dress: she felt like a child in the hands of a loving mother. When she was putting on her earrings, the final touch, Sabine handed her a small stack of envelopes.

“The invitations to the movie screening and party” she explained. “It’s October first, I would suggest to send them first thing tomorrow to ensure that everyone get the invitation within reasonable notice. It wasn’t easy to find all the addresses, but I did my best”

“I’m sure you did, Sabine. Thank you for taking care of it.” Zetta said as she checked the succession of familiar names of former passengers and famous colleagues. “I will sign them personally when we come back from the party”.

“Excellent” Sabine nodded.

Then as Zetta placed the stack on her desk, she presented her a single envelope.

“I hope you don’t mind if I requested a faster delivery for this one” she added before bowing her head curtly and leaving the room. “Have a nice evening, Madame”

Zetta read the name handwritten on the last envelope where a different stamp had been appointed.

‘Mademoiselle Adele Carrem’

A lump formed in her throat but she forced herself not to cry and just smile, mentally thanking Sabine: she had found her. Following nothing else but her instinct, Zetta picked out the invitation and signed it with her fountain pen. Then, as Richard called her name, she grabbed a slip of paper and wrote a brief note:

“Please come, my love. I must see you again. Yours, Zetta”.

She folded everything back into the envelope and finally left her room as a newfound hope kindled inside her.

[kittae]

Spray Away

pairing: Hoseok x reader

genre: crack, comedy, fluff, reader POV

word count: 2296

prompt: Genie!reader + 15. “Please put your penis away.”

⟶ Halloween prompts masterlist

If anyone would ask? Then no, your life hasn’t been all that great since you’d been banished from the Spirit World and into a stupid perfume bottle, roughly a millennium ago. Granted, no one ever asked that question. They asked plenty of other questions, though. They asked for money, true love, to go back in time, more money, to bring back a dead loved one, and most of all: money. You may still be a supernatural entity with cosmic powers, there were limits to what you could do. Well, legal limits only. Apparently, just because you could, doesn’t mean you should. Messing with the balance between life and death, choice and destiny, was exactly what got you into this situation.

You were young, naive, hell-bent on helping those powerless humans. You couldn’t just stand there, watching them cry and go mad in despair when there was so much you could do for them. It was too late when you learned why they were not granted the gifts of your kind. You’re still paying for their mistakes.

Lucky for you, people these days didn’t fancy the looks of your physical prison. You’ve travelled all over the world, from one flea market to the other. Sometimes, you get picked up by a collector or someone who likes old things. They have a name for it now: ‘Vintage’. How stupid. Most of the time, though, years pass where you just lay in a drawer somewhere. Peacefully, unbothered, especially now there’s this awesome thing called Netflix! It certainly makes for much better entertainment than constantly replaying the same memories in your head. This era is truly not that bad, allowing you to sit out your sentence without any complications or devastating boredom.

See, to summon you, one has to squeeze the bulb three times, spraying the perfume in one sequence. Most people test the scent out once, decide they don’t like it, then put the bottle away for undefined periods of time until they get rid of it again. Lately, a few actually managed to do it right, but fainted when you appeared. Since your imprisonment, you’ve never actually granted any wish to those who didn’t faint. Well, not in the way they’d hoped for, at least. Not even a thousand years are enough to forget the way those humans betrayed you. It seems only fair to betray them right back.

And now? Right now, you’re meeting an old friend of yours: the dirty, dusty blanket splayed out on the ground where other old artifacts will join you. It’s flea market season again, it seems. The girl who picked up your perfume bottle at the previous one only needed a unique and old looking –sorry, vintage– thing to pose with during her boudoir photoshoot. Now she has no use for it anymore, you’re back in this familiar setting.

It’s so annoying. People pick you up and turn you around in their hands all the time. Can’t they just keep their dirty fingers off of you if they’re not gonna take you?!

“Hey! How much for that cool perfume bottle?” You hear a voice call out to the girl, sounding very chipper.

“Oh, you can just make me an offer! Any small change will do.” She responds.

Really? You’re not even worth a decent amount of money anymore? You’re a thousand years old, hello! That’s, like, antique times ten. You’re probably worth a fortune. What an Idiot.

“Hmm, then…” The boy thinks aloud, scrambling for change, “I just bought this pouch so I don’t have much left… Is this enough?”

“It’s yours!” The girl receives the change –you don’t even want to know how little it is– and another hand picks you up to take you to your new destination. You’ve lost count of the number of places you’ve been. Or rather, you’d stopped counting a long time ago.

“Ooh, there’s still perfume left!” He exclaims in excitement to no one in particular and you inwardly roll your eyes. Yeah, this one is gonna test you out for sure. Great.

Nothing really special happens after that. It doesn’t take too long to reach his home, where he places you in a bathroom cabinet before he takes a shower. He’s a good singer, though, you have to give him that. So this is it, huh? You wonder how many years you’ll spend in here before you’ll get ditched again.

To your surprise, you feel his hand curling around your bottle again. So soon? This is a first.

He sprays some perfume on his wrist and the action makes you feel all tingly and shivery. It relieves you, in a way. A natural thing that happens when someone tries to summon you.

Bringing his wrist to his nose, he takes a whiff. You expect him to be disgusted, like everyone that came before him, but he surprises you again by making a delighted kind of...noise? Oh, my god. It’s happening. He’s gonna do it.

You brace yourself, equal parts anticipating and dreading the reveal. You never know what reaction you’ll get in advance.

What you haven’t been considering, however, is your own reaction when the bulb gets squeezed three times in a row and you’re met with not a face, but something else entirely.

“OH– FUCK, NO!!” You stagger and thrash around to escape from underneath your liberator’s towel, grabbing and stealing it right off his hips.

Both of your screams are in sync when he throws himself on the bathroom floor, pointing at you like he’s seen a ghost. Well, he’s not entirely wrong in this case. Although if you could, you would personally decapitate anyone who would ever insult you by calling you a mere ghost.

“WHAAAaaaat the h-hell a-are you?!” He stammers, wide-eyed and seemingly forgetting he’s still butt-naked as you try to avoid the sight of him by covering your eyes.

“I- Here! Put this on first!” You squeak as you throw the towel back, somewhere in his general direction.

He doesn’t, though. He keeps whining and shaking, rubbing his eyes over and over again in the hope this isn’t real. “This isn’t happening! Not happening!”

“WHY WOULD YOU SPRAY PERFUME ON YOUR– YOUR–” You splutter, embarrassed beyond belief. Hey, it’s been a while, okay?!

“WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?” He yells back equally distressed. “I’M CALLING THE POLICE!”

“Let me explain, I– for fuck’s sake, please, put your penis away.” You groan, reaching for another towel hanging from the rack to throw it at his head. Thank goodness he finally gets it and wraps it around his hips again, the red sheen of embarrassment tinting his cheeks and ears.

“This is happening. Like, in real life. You’re not going insane and you’re not dreaming.” You finally feel comfortable enough to look at him and drone off the words you’ve said time and time again, in the past. Humans aren’t exactly the most intelligent creatures, so you know you have to break it down for them every single time. “I am ___, a genie. You summoned me by...spraying perfume...on your- your dick...uh...”

He looks extremely dumb, with his mouth agape and hair wet and tousled, but also kind of cute. You curse yourself to an additional century of damnation upon realising your weak spot for humans still hasn’t died down completely.

“Seriously, who does that?” You ask, genuinely curious...or concerned. Maybe both.

“I-” He starts, closing his mouth to gulp loudly, “I-I have a date later…”

You nod, still not seeing how this could be a thing. Humans remain to puzzle you. “And your name?”

“M-my name?” He pokes a finger in his chest, “It’s Hoseok.”

It’s silent for a few awkward seconds until he speaks again. “Am I really not going insane? This is… Too crazy.”

“I know, right,” You mumble, more to yourself than to him. “But I can assure you, Hoseok, you’re fine. I’m really here, in your bathroom. Traumatized, but here.”

“Was it really that bad?” he murmurs under his breath, a pout on his lips as he finally remembers how his muscles work and stands up.

“I know you must be really freaked out by suddenly summoning a genie without knowing you were, but imagine how I’m feeling right now. That’s the first thing I saw after centuries of being locked up.”

“Centuries of being locked up?” Hoseok’s brows furrow. “That’s terrible.”

You scoff. “Oh yeah? Try a whole millennium!”

Hoseok looks genuinely horrified. It makes you feel uneasy. You’ve never had this reaction before.

“That’s- wow. Who did this to you?” He asks, carefully stepping closer. You know you’re in your human form, to minimize the shock factor, but you’ve never experienced this amount of compassion from a human before. You’ve only seen them do it to each other. Not you, their magical wish machine.

Right! That’s probably why! You haven’t told him about the wishes yet.

“So, here’s the thing,” You sigh. This is your least favourite part. You know, aside from being imprisoned. “I have to grant you three wishes. There are some limitations to what I’m allowed to do, though, so. Other than those, ask and you shall receive, I guess.”

“Limitations? What kind of limitations?” He asks, looking utterly confused.

Ah shit, here we go.

You shrug. “Let’s see, I can’t make people fall in love with you, can’t bring people back from the dead, or kill anyone for you. That’s pretty much it.”

You could practically see the little gears spinning in his head and you roll your eyes, predicting one of the three will most likely be money again. Going off of his tiny apartment, at least. And the fact he barely had enough money to buy an ugly pouch and your perfume bottle. Also, people just really love money.

“So I can ask for anything, right? Anything outside of those three limitations?” The words leave his lips slowly, as if he’s heavily contemplating something.

“Yup. ‘S what I said.” You knew it. The second you’d talk about the wishes, all supposed concern about you would suddenly disappear.

“Okay!” Hoseok beams, looking like the sun itself. “How about your freedom? I can do that, right?”

“You- what?!”

You must look so incredibly stupid right now, considering the dumbfounded expression on your face, yet it doesn’t deter him in the slightest. “You said I could wish for anything except for those three things you mentioned. You never said I couldn’t wish for your freedom, so there.”

You shake your head in disbelief, “Why would– why would you do that?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” He asks, eyebrows frowned in curiosity.

“Because...Because!” You raise your voice now, heated, almost angry for a reason you couldn’t put your finger on, “It’s not how humans are wired! You’re supposed to only think about yourselves! Why aren’t you asking for money or to get revenge on someone like a normal person?!”

Hoseok scoffs. “Wow, sorry to disappoint? By the way you were talking, it sounded like you hate being confined and imprisoned. My bad for misunderstanding.”

Great, now he had you feeling bad about it. You still couldn’t process how he just went and wished for your freedom.

“Even if you’re really crazy enough to waste a wish on my freedom… Why make it your first one? You could still have two wishes left for yourself.” You counter, not knowing whether he’s just overly kind, or plain stupid. Probably the latter. “Once I’m free, I won’t be inclined to fulfill any wishes.”

He shrugs, smiling. “Because the only thing I could think about when you told me your story, was how terrified you must’ve been all this time. How awful you must feel. I know I’d go crazy in there if I were you.” He nods at the perfume bottle.

“But, still,” You murmur, unsure. He sounds so genuine, it’s getting harder to convince yourself of how he must be inherently evil, like you’ve thought all humans are up until...well, now. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m doing okay, you know?” He laughs, the sound ringing beautifully in your ears, “I got a job I enjoy. I know it doesn’t pay much, but that’s okay! I love doing what I do. I have a house that feels like a home… A dog who loves me. My family is still alive and also loves me.”

You’re not going to tear up, damn it. You’re over a thousand years old! Crying is overrated!

“Honestly, there’s just nothing I can think about that I want and don’t have already. But you wanna know something?” He asks, taking a step forward, really looking at you, “I still don’t know if maybe I ate something wrong earlier that makes me hallucinate, but even if I am… I just want to help.”

Well, so much for trying not to cry. Genies need emotional relief too. You’re having trouble looking him in the eyes while tears spilled from yours.

“You look like you’ve lost faith in humans and frankly, I can’t blame you… We’re a mess,” He chuckles, hesitantly raising his arm to take your hand in his. You let him. “But I hope, by doing this, you could let go of your anger and give yourself a chance to start over. With yourself, with us. If I’m given the opportunity to give you that freedom, I’m taking it with both hands and I hope you can forgive us. I hope you can be happy again.”

You feel like you could die, from happiness, from relief. For the longest time it’s what you wished for. One genuinely pure human makes you want to live harder than ever before, when you hear him speak the words to change your life forever.

“I wish for your freedom, ___.”

[hoodoo12]

Ménage (2/13ish)

SWF, backstory, personal hurts, connection

He listened to Molly move through her kitchen, hoping to hear her talk to herself for some more info on her. That wasn't eavesdropping, not really, he told himself; she knew he was there. But she was quiet, and quickly returned with another glass, sinking down beside him again.

He accepted the refill of this not-pink-at-all-drink, raised it properly in a toast, and liked very much that she took his hand as she settled in this time.

"So, you sound like you have a lot of experience with celestials. Is it just angels? What are they like?"

"Celestials?" he asked. "You really wanna hear about them? Pompous, jealous, dickwads? It's not just angels, either . . . anything that didn't turn away from the Light calls itself a celestial, and they're all busy jerking off to their own superiority. Sometimes they like to try and herd lesser beings back to what they think is the Way. Gets 'em brownie points or some horseshit."

He took a swig.

"Is that what you were hoping to call here?" he asked, barely keeping the distain out of his voice. "They're like Jehovah's Witnesses or fucking ringworm -- you can't get rid of them once they're here."

He extracted his hand from hers and drew his blackened fingernails through her palm and to her wrist.

"I think you'll find getting me was a much better choice, baby."

Rapt, she listened, her thumb idly brushing the side of his hand; his disdain was easy to perceive, but she was fascinated nonetheless. How many humans got an opportunity like this, to hear about the afterlife, to know even tiny details about the ever-looming What Comes Next?

"You know, I don't doubt you. I'm not exactly the religious type anyway."

The scrape of his blunt, dark nails across her palm to the delicate inner face of her wrist made her heart stutter in her chest, and goosebumps immediately raised on her arm all the way up to her shoulder. Oh. That had felt far too good.

She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks again, wondering how many times this ghost had made her blush in the half hour or so he'd been in her home. Oh well. In for a penny, in for a pound. She flipped her hand over, lying it palm up on her knee, and took a long sip of her drink, draining half in one swallow.

"Do that again?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, half a smile lifting the corner of his mouth.

"This, baby?" he asked to confirm, even as he repeated the motion, first and second fingers circling in her palm, following the creases there like he was divining before dragging them to her wrist and the soft skin of her inner arm. He pulled his fingers backwards to her hand and did it again.

Without permission but with the same smirk on his face, his fingers skipped from her arm to her thigh. They were even lighter there, dragging slowly upward, even as he watched for her reaction.

If his smile wasn't enough to make her heart begin to race, the slow, deliberate drag of his fingertips across her palm certainly did the trick. There were calluses on her fingers from working in her gardens, but her palms remained soft, sensitive, and she couldn't help pinching her lower lip between her teeth to hold back a sigh. Who knew such a simple touch could have such a physical effect on her?

When his fingers migrated to her thigh, bare beneath a thin pair of cotton pajama shorts, she couldn't keep a soft moan back, shivering at the more intimate touch, sliding slowly inward. This . . . oh, it was nice but she couldn't . . . he needed to know what he would be signing up for.

"Hey," she whispered, placing her hand over his to still his progress. "This . . . look, I like you touching me. I like it a lot. But if you . . . if you want more . . . there's a few things you should know about me first."

She sighed, feeling embarrassment and anxiety creeping icy tendrils around her ribcage. "I don't . . .  I . . . um, I haven’t done this. I haven't even been kissed. This is all fresh territory for me, and there's a really big reason why."

At the hesitation in her voice and her physically stopping his hand, he cocked his head. She had let the softest moan ever escape. There was the faintest tremble to the fingers atop his. Her breath had come more quickly, and that same pretty blush had darkened her cheeks again.

He didn't want to care about her reason; she was responsive and just the fact she'd called him was arousing. He sported a bit of a tent pole behind his fly, but he wasn't all demon. He knew pain. He'd caused pain gladly, sometimes. But Molly, this woman who may had inadvertently summoned him hadn't immediately banished him, so he wasn't going to do that to her.

So he stopped.

"Everyone starts somewhere, baby," he told her, hoping it sounded more philosophical and less smarmy, and then he waited.

She was grateful that he stopped, that he didnt press his hand forward, only cocked his head in response. He even spoke gently, assuring her that everyone started somewhere, and she was grateful for that too.

"I know. If it was just the virginity thing, your hand would already be in my shorts. I wouldn’t have stopped you just for that." She took a deep breath, let it out, realizing just how long it had been since she had spoken to another person about this.

"I . . . I lost my whole family when I was fifteen. All of them. My older sister was graduating high school and my parents threw a huge party for her. Everyone came, aunts, grandparents, cousins. Everyone. I was being a shitty teenager and didn't figure they'd miss me, so I took a walk, just wanting to be away from so many people asking if I was gonna graduate valedictorian like my sister. And . . . well, I grew up in a small town in the rural midwest, which means half the town made cooking meth their day job. Our neighbors happened to be cooking that day and it...went wrong. The explosion took out half the block, including the house behind it. My house." She paused. She could get through this. "No one got out but me.

"After that, it was foster homes until I could legally be on my own. I had a small fortune in inheritance, since I was the only living relative of anyone with a will. I got a shitty apartment and stewed in a delicious mix of PTSD and survivor's guilt until I turned twenty and started putting my life back together. Got my GED and a BA in journalism. Even got a girlfriend."

A short smile curled on her mouth, but it was joyless.

"Met on an online literary forum. She lived two states away, so we were long distance for a year. She was gonna drive down to spend Christmas with me, and her car . . . hit some black ice. She was killed on impact. She was still in the closet back at home, so I only found out because her best friend found my Facebook. I couldn't even go to her funeral."

"After that, I . . .I just couldn't do it. Everyone I ever loved had died, and not peacefully. I couldn't let myself be around people. I felt cursed. I still feel cursed. I bought this house and I . . . I don't leave it. That's why you're the first person I've spoken to face to face in nearly two years." Her head hung, ashamed at her own weakness, thoughts dark with the horrible memories she has dredged up from the murk.

"Still think I'm worth the trouble?"

Oh, he had some stories about his past that would rival hers, but this wasn't the time or place for one-upmanship. He could bitterly tell her that shitty things happen to everyone, and that's life: just a series of falling down to claw yourself back up again, over and over. You did it or you didn’t, and no one’s path was the right one for anybody else.

But the deep pain he’d experienced that should’ve made him calloused and sour wasn’t quite there. Hers was different, nothing like his, and that didn’t make the deep-seated anger flare.

“So you thought calling up a spirit would give you some companionship,” he said. It was a statement, not a question. His voice dropped. “And you got me instead.”

Slowly, his fingers curled in on themselves, towards his own palm, until he was no longer touching her. Gently he extracted his hand out from under hers.

He tried to chuckle, but it came out a little strained. “Second best again.”

His smile didn’t reach his eyes, and his gaze flicked downward, away from her for a moment, until he collected himself. When he did, straightening and leaving his hand on his own knee, he was able to look at her again.

“Tell me again what you wanted from the spirit you were trying to call up. I’m no good at conversation, I cheat at cards and Monopoly, I’ve eaten my fair share of puzzle pieces. TV is okay, so long as it’s reruns of the Jerry Springer Show. I’m not really suited for the quiet life that it seems like you’ve got going here--I’m more an inappropriately physical specter, if you hadn’t noticed.

“I’ve liked being here, baby, and the drinks were nice, but you might be better sending me on my way and trying your ritual again.”

For a moment, though his eyes were downcast and his posture already shrinking back from her, Molly could see something in his eyes. Something fractured and irreparable. Raw and pained on a level she couldn't possibly begin to fathom. Then the veil dropped, the veneer smoothly tugged back into place, his voice carefully measured and cold.

"What?" It was her turn to cock her head, brow furrowing. "I don't understand, second best to who? I called a spirit and you answered. Haven't I said more than once that I'm happy you're here?"

Reining herself in before her voice got too shrill, Molly took a deep breath.

"Just like I wasn't sure what kind of spirit would answer, I wasn't sure what I'd want if they did. Different spirits have different rules." She bit harshly at her lip, tugging threads of skin loose until the spot began to bleed. "I hoped maybe we could figure it out together, but I guess I just ruined that. I want you to stay, Beej, but I won't make you. Everyone else left, so I shouldn't have assumed you wouldn't leave, too."

She shrank back against the arm of the couch, tugging her knees up protectively to her chest.

People tended to dismiss him, so that wasn't totally unexpected; it was a familiar ache. But people didn't tend to be upset that he offered to go, didn't tend to try and tuck the blame back in on themselves, and didn't tend to tell him repeatedly they wanted him to stay.

In the silence that stretched between them, he considered what she'd said. Seeing her worry her lip till the red on it wasn't lipstick, he dug around in a pocket till he found a scrap of cloth that may have been a handkerchief at one time.

"Here," he told her, shaking it out. He looked it over, reading the monogram, before offering it to her. "I can't imagine old HPL is going to mind you using this. Why the hell anyone would be buried with a snotrag is beyond me."

He left it on the cushion between them, and sighed.

"Molly, I'm sorry I'm not what you expected when you wanted someone here. But . . ." He paused and made sure she was looking at him before continuing. "None of those people in your life left you. Not voluntarily, and that's a big difference than someone choosing to go."

Now the hard part, because it was dangerous being honest; in his experience, people used it against him. "You've said you'd like me to stay. I'd like to stay too, baby. A little company and comfort? Who in their right mind would turn that down?"

His own gaze had flicked to one side, a little, but he forced it back up to hers.

Out of her peripherals, she could see him moving, and assumed he was getting off the couch to leave. So when he produced an off white square of fabric and placed it in the neutral space between them, her brow knitted in confusion. Molly reached for it; there was probably more bacteria on this handkerchief than in a public restroom, but the gesture was kind, and she held it to her bleeding lip anyway.

Hope leapt in her chest like a flame when he admitted that he'd like to stay. Unfurling from her position on the couch,  she sat closer to him, and hardly believing her daring, she lifted her hand to cup her palm against his cheek, touch light in case she needed to pull away quickly.

"I was expecting at most some kind of poltergeist, something I could feel but couldn't see. Something to make the place feel less empty. But you came through, and I can talk to you and touch you . . . honey, don't apologize because you weren't what I was expecting. This is better."

Her thumb swept over the ridge of his cheekbone, secretly hoping no moss had rubbed off on her hand. "I would . . . I would really like you to stay. You're fascinating, and fun to talk to, and cute . . ." She bit her lips out of habit, wincing as her teeth raked the tender spot. "Please."

Her feather light touch made his eyelids flutter closed. It was something he could never get enough of, something he'd never tire of. He had to actively prevent himself from pushing into her like a damn cat.

When she relayed what she'd been hoping for and at her quiet admission that she'd like him to stay, he opened his eyes again and caught her gaze. He also couldn't help drop his eyes to her grabbing her lip between her teeth again. A smile grew on his face, and he hoped it distracted enough from what was growing in his pants.

Beetlejuice twisted his head under her hand a little, planting a kiss into her palm.

"I'd like to stay too, baby," he murmured against her skin, before he lifted his amber eyes to hers again. "You expected a poltergeist, but I can go bump in the night too, you know.

"If you're interested . . ."

There was something about the way his eyes fluttered shut, lashes brushing his cheeks as her palm brushed his cheek, that made her insides tremble; odd how such a minuscule gesture could affect her entire body, could make her breath catch. And oh, when his eyes opened again, intense and pinned to her, missing not a single move she made, and he smiled. Molly wondered if she was supposed to feel this way, if it was the isolation talking or if it was normal to have your heart try to hammer through your ribcage.

His lips were cool, colder than the rest of his skin from the chilled liquor, but they left a spot of warmth behind, ticking her palm as he spoke softly against it. Her stomach did a somersault, then another when he caught her gaze again, that playful flicker alight in his eyes. How could she possibly say no?

"I am interested," she breathed, her hand pressing just a bit more firmly to his cheek, leaning closer. Her drink was set aside, her other hand mirroring its twin, cradling his face between them. Her hands ached with the need to bestow gentleness on him; he seemed to be in desperate need of it. "You . . . you can touch me again . . . if you want."

He didn't need any further invitation. The hand he'd teased her with before went back to her thigh, using light pressure to draw a line up it. He made it to the hem of her shorts, then eased his fingers under it before stopping.

He shifted his head in her palm, and put his teeth on the fleshy mound below her thumb even more lightly than his lips had been.

When she moved closer in, he finally moved out of her hand again.

"Never been kissed, you said?" he confirmed, his voice a tad lower than before. "That's a crime. You bit your lip, and I don't wanna hurt you, baby, but I do want a taste . . ."

He left that hanging in the air as he tilted his head and his mouth covered hers.

The skin beneath his fingers seemed to tremble at their passage, a soft rush of breath leaving her as those gentle fingertips slipped under the hem of her shorts, caressing her inner thigh but venturing no further. A hot flush crept down her neck at the sight of his teeth, the soft scrape of the sharp edges making her lips part. Such subtle touches, but God, the effect they had on her.

Like a peal of passing thunder, the last parting rumbles at the end of a clearing storm, his question was asked, and Molly shook her head to confirm that no, she had never been kissed, head tilted back slightly to bare a throat that bobbed in a heavy swallow. Her hands slid to his shoulders, digging slightly into the material of his suit to ground herself as he crooned to her, leaning closer, closer . . .

 tbc

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - Beauty Within the Fallen ch.VII

Summary: Two misfit twins come across an enchanted castle, home of a mysterious beast, and slowly begin to form a strong bond that just might survive through anything. Even evil demons.

AU and artwork belong to the beautiful and very talented @artsycrapfromsai​. Go give her some love, guys!!!

ch.VI - ch.VIII (finale)

~~~~~~~~~~

Dipper, Mabel, and Waddles hastily traveled through the forest. They may have a map leading them to Fiddleford and then to the village, but the wolves might still come. Dipper led the way with a lantern he had borrowed from the castle and the map Ford had given to them. Mabel looked ahead and screamed before running with Waddles at her heels. Dipper looked up from the map and nearly dropped it in shock.

He hurried to the tree Mabel was kneeling at and examined Fiddleford. He looked more dead than alive, his skin pale, almost blue, and heavy bags under his eyes. He must have been searching for them this whole time. Without a single word, much like how they helped Stan when he was hurt, the twins stood on either side of Fiddleford and helped carry him out of the woods. It was the middle of the night when they arrived home. It would have been comforting if the circumstances weren’t so dire. Fiddleford might be dying. The children quickly worked together, fixing medicine, building a fire, dressing their guardian warmly and putting him to bed, until they finally admitted defeat to sleep and curled up with Fiddleford in his bed. ~~~~~~~~~~ The first thing Fiddleford noticed was how warm he felt. And better, much better. Oh. No. No, no, no! Did he die?! Is he in heaven?! He can’t die yet! The children! He wanted to quickly jump up and act, but his body was weak and he ached. Oh. Okay, good. He was still alive. He forced his eyes open and though his vision was blurry, he smiled weakly to find the kids at his sides. Mabel and Dipper both beamed at him, perfectly safe and okay. Mabel was dressed in her blue peasant dress and cloth headband, Dipper in his navy-blue nest and hat with an orange shirt. He gave Fiddleford his glasses and he croaked, “Welcome back.” “Kids,” Fiddleford sat up and slipped on his glasses, then wrapped each child up in a tight hug, which they happily returned. “Oh, thank God. Thank God. I thought I’d never see y’all ‘gain.” “We missed you, too, Fidds.” Mabel cooed. “You’re finally awake…” “What on God’s green Earth happened t’y’all?” Fiddleford asked as he loosened his hold. “You wouldn’t believe it, Fidds!” Mabel cheered as she sat on her knees next to him. “There was this beast in a castle and a talking hammer and an axe and a teapot and all sorts of magic inside and a poor journal who couldn’t talk or eat or sleep and…” “But the beast and the journal - Stan and Ford - are our friends. They took care of us.” Dipper cut Mabel off. “Well, everyone in the castle did, but the guys are awesome! They’re twins, like us, and under a curse.” “And we have to help them!” Fiddleford blinked, completely and utterly confused, but then he smiled. “I believe ya.” The twins are a bit surprised, but then again, they were talking to one of the most open-minded people they knew. “You do?” They asked at the same time. “O’course.” Fiddleford said. “I always said this world’s gotta lotta thangs we don’t quite get. Some thangs are just different, like us. N’ I trust y’all enough to know ya wouldn’t lie ‘bout this. Now, y’all said they’re under a curse?” “Yeah, and to break it, Stan the beast has to fall in love with someone and they have to love him, too.” Mabel answered. “We were gonna try to help by finding a match for him, courtesy of the best matchmaker in the world!” “Hm, well, if…” Fiddleford stopped when he thought he heard yelling coming from outside. “Did y’all hear that?” “Yeah, what’s going on?” Dipper asked and they went outside to investigate. ~~~~~~~~~~ Stan sat on Abuelita the armchair, watching the sun set behind the woods. His mind was elsewhere. Ford, his journal closed, noticed this and wished to help or comfort him, but the beast, back in his normal attire of red cloak over a white shirt and dark pants, was too distracted to open a journal and read at the moment. The sun was now gone, all light but from candles lost, and Stan sighed. He needed to say something. He cautiously opened the journal and said, “I’m sorry, Stanford. I’m sorry I couldn’t set you free.” Stanley, was the only word for a while, but then Ford managed to write more. You were willing to let me go. Thank you. “No,” Stan shook his head. “It’s my fault you’re trapped.” Don’t blame yourself. I’m the one that summoned Bill in the first place. I fell for his easy flattery, but you saw him for the scam artist he is. “I didn’t exactly make this curse easier for you.” No, perhaps not. Ford admitted, but then quickly added, But your heart was in the right place. You’ll never admit this but you were afraid. I understand; when the curse was first brought upon us neither of us knew how to respond. Accidents happen, Stanley. “Yeah, and I’m chop full of ‘em.” Even still, I won’t lie to you. All those years you never opened me, kept me in that glass container, I nearly went insane. There were so many times I didn’t know if I existed anymore. That wasn’t even the worst of it. All I could do was listen and watch you suffer alone. “I know, I know!” Stan growled. “That was probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve done some really stupid stuff, and I’m sorry.” It’s alright. I forgive you. I should have been a better brother to you. I should have seen your pain and done something about it years ago. “And now you’re gonna die like this.” Stan said darkly. As will you. “Who cares?” I do! And those children care, too! The tiniest of smiles flickered on the beast’s face. His memory brought back those kids for a moment, a beautiful, glorious moment. Dancing with them, reading stories, teaching Dipper how to fight and hugging Mabel close to his furry chest. You miss them, don’t you? Stan sighed, a tired old man. “Yeah. I love them.” I know you do. And because you love them, they will be with you, in your heart, for evermore. Stan, once again, cracked a small smile at that. He had no idea if they found Fiddlebucket or not, or if they ever made it home, but he hoped that they were safe and happy. Do you wish to see them? Ford asked. Look at my hand. You can see them whenever you want. Stan, excited, closed the journal and looked at the six-fingered hand. He grinned at the sight of the children, standing at a front door with an old man with a long beard and big nose. His smile dropped when the children looked scared and uncertain. He watched as echoes of voices grazed his large ears. “What’s going on?!” Dipper asked. “What are you all doing?!” “Dipper!” Lazy Susan gasped. “Mabel! You’re okay!” “But… how…” Blubs stuttered. “Gideon says you were kidnapped by some beast in a castle!” “What?!” Mabel gasped and shook her head wildly. “No, no! He saved us! He saved our lives! He’s our friend!” Stan beamed with pride. Lil’ Gideon paled. “I… I don’t understand. Y-You were t-t-trapped by a monster!” “He’s not a monster!” Dipper snapped. “Mabel’s telling the truth! The beast wouldn’t hurt anyone. He gave us a place to stay and took care of us.” “Yeah!” Mabel said as she and Dipper left the porch of their home to talk to the angry crowd. “He’s sweet and kind and gentle. You don’t have to be afraid of him. He’s a very good person. He even liked Waddles!” “No, I don’t!” Stan growled with a smile, unheard by everyone except for Abuelita and Ford. The old armchair rolled her eyes, knowing her boss was lying. Gideon’s face reddened, his chubby face curling inward in fury. “Of course! The beast has them under his spell! I’ve heard of dark magic like this, but never before seen it with my own eyes!” “What, no!” Mabel cried out. “Officers, you don’t believe him, do you? You won’t let this happen, will you?” “Sorry, kids, but we trust Gideon over a couple of odd-balls like you.” Blubs said coldly, arms crossed over his chest. “And nothing short of a miracle could ever change that.” “NO!” The kids shrieked and turned to Fiddleford. “Fiddleford, tell them!” Dipper called. “Tell them it’s not true!” The angry mob laughed. “You’d put your word on a loony old man?! The same guy that destroyed the town three times just this month?!” Durland cackled. “I done rebuilt it every time!” Fiddleford defended. Gideon stood on his dazzling white horse and called out to the townsfolk, “You see?! The spell spreads! Look at what the monster has done to our poor friends!” “He’s not a monster, Gideon,” Mabel snarled and pointed at the white-haired boy. “YOU ARE!” “ENOUGH!” Gideon hopped down and grabbed her wrist so tight she winced in pain. Stan growled dangerously. Dipper yelled and was about to act, but Ghost Eyes grabbed a hold of him. “Don’t worry, Mabel, once I kill the beast and the spell is broken, you shall finally be my queen! Keep them safe! Lock them away! We can’t have them gettin’ in our way!” “NO!” Mabel cried out as a big beefy man grabbed her and shoved her, Dipper, and Fiddleford into a cart and it was locked up. “HELP! HELP US!” Dipper rammed his body against the iron doors to try to escape, but it was useless. “The beast will come after us all! He’ll come after us in the night!” Gideon called out to the crowd, who cheered and yelled. “I say we kill it!” “YEAH!” “NO!” Mabel cried as tears ran down her face. “DON’T HURT HIM, PLEASE!” “We're not safe until he's dead!” Northwest concluded. “He'll come stalking us at night!” Mr. Valentino gasped. “Set to sacrifice our children to his monstrous appetite!” Manly Dan cried out, hugging his three sons so tight their faces turned blue. “He'll wreak havoc on our village if we let him wander free!” Lazy Susan feared. “So it's time to take some action, fellas!” Gideon called out. “It's time to follow me!” And the crowd began to gather guns, torches, pitchforks, and chanted “kill the beast” courageously into the night. Stan stood up quickly and left the armchair, throwing the door open. “Soos! Wendy! Get over here!” Soos and Wendy hopped over as quick as they could. “We’ve got a code Piertotum Locomotor! Man the boundaries! Protect the castle! Get ready for battle! Go, go, go!” And the beast left to organize the attack, all the while he couldn’t shake away the blossoming feeling that those kids were willing to risk their lives for him. Maybe he was worth it, after all. ~~~~~~~~~~ Even after the mob marched away, Dipper continued to throw himself against the doors, making loud bangs but no progress. “DIPPER, STOP!” Fiddleford grabbed him and rubbed his shoulders. “You’ll hurt yourself, calm down.” “We have to do something!” Dipper cried out. “This is all our fault! They’ll kill him! We have to help!” “Hush, boy, hush.” Fiddleford hugged him and rubbed circles into his back. “We’ll think o'somethang. We are three geniuses, after all.” Mabel looked out the window, though the bars, and tried to find something that could help. Her eyes dazzled at the sight of her pig as he ran up to the cart and oinked. “WADDLES! Waddles, we need your help! Go get us a pry bar! You can do it, Waddles, go find one! Good pig!” “Mabel,” Dipper scolded. “He’s just a pig! There’s no way he even knows what a pry bar is!” “C’mon, Dipper, have faith!” “No, no! YOU need to be realistic! I love Waddles, too, Mabel, not there’s no way he’s gonna…” The pig squealed with joy and the three humans peered down to find a ring of keys in his mouth. Mabel gave her brother a sassy look. “Well, it’s not a pry bar.” Dipper quipped. Waddles tossed the keys in the air and Fiddleford put his arm through the window and caught them. He pushed himself against the door and started to fiddle with the lock and the keys. “One of these gotta be it…” ~~~~~~~~~~ Manly Dan led the team to chop down a huge pine tree and cut it so they could use it as a battering ram. The mob hoisted it on it’s shoulders, following Gideon on his noble steed and Ghost Eyes marching beside him. “Take whatever booty you want, but the beast is mine!” He called out, using the map Gideon had woken up with in his fist to find their way. Gideon grinned to find the castle before them and they ran up to the giant doors. Miraculously, it only took one hit and the doors flew open, giving the invaders a false idea that this would be easy. They found the castle filled with items in the lobby, like a rich yard-sale. Gideon left his horse outside and led the crowd into the dark and quiet castle. Books, chairs, chests, dishes, nearly every type of item surrounded the unafraid villagers. Ghost Eyes leaned down to whisper to Lil’ Gideon. “Aren’t you worried this place might be haunted?” “Don’t lose your head, Ghost Eyes.” The bodyguard picked up an axe from a table and held it, ready to attack anything that may come his way. “NOW!” The axe cried out, and the castle lit up with life as the battle began. Drawers smacked people in the face. A coat-rack boxed with one of Manly Dan’s sons and won quickly. Pots fell on people's heads and clashed with metal spoons and pans, making their ears ring. A chest consumed people and dumped them back outside like dumping out trash. Grenda stood from the second floor and cried out, “GRENDA’S JOINING THE PARTY!” and she fell on top of Ghost Eyes. Gideon dodged out of the fight and went up the stairs. Three men were coming towards her to attack, but Grenda had cloth and material swarm around them and soon they were dressed in drag. Two of the boys screamed in horror and ran, but Tad Strange only stared ahead and said calmly, “This is fine.” Robbie was kicking tea cups and trying to squish them, but Candy hung from the above chandelier and spilt boiling hot tea on the crowd. Wendy was running away from Manly Dan’s own axe, but Soos came out of nowhere and hammered him in the face, knocking him out cold. Melody burst through the doors of the ballroom and shot her keys like bullets. Meanwhile, using Ford’s given map, Dipper, Mabel, Fiddleford, and Waddles were running up to the castle and gasped to find the battle before them. “Hurry!” Mabel cried out and they hurried up to the front door. Fiddleford used his banjo to swing at people’s heads. Waddles bit people’s ankles. Killbone was about to go after Fiddleford for helping the enemy, but Lazy Susan hit him over the head with her rolling in, knocking him out cold. “Susan?! But I thought…?” “I’m sorry, old friend, I just didn’t wanna be locked up.” Lazy Susan explained as she and Fiddleford fought back-to-back. “Claustrophobic. Plus I could’ve very well fight the bad guys locked away, could I?” “Ah, gotcha. Well then!” Fiddleford swung his banjo and hollered, “Fight like a hillbilly, woman!” Mabel and Dipper punched people and shoved them out of the way as they hurried up to the West Wing to make sure their friends were okay. ~~~~~~~~~~ Minutes prior, Gideon cautiously opened the door, a bow and arrow in his chubby hands. His eyes immediately landed on the handsome journal on the table. He noticed the six fingers on the golden hand and he hypothesized that this journal must have the answer to undoing the spell Mabel was under. No wonder it was so well cared for while everything else in the room was ruined beyond repair. Gideon walked into the room to take the journal, but the door slammed behind him and he spun around, arrow ready to shoot. His eyes widened at the huge gray beast before him, peering down at him with cold brown eyes and on all fours like an animal. “Last chance, kid.” The beast growled warningly. “Get out before things get ugly.” “You mean uglier than you, never!” Gideon declared and shot his arrow. Stan dodged it, but soon saw that it was a distraction so the little troll could run to Ford. The beast tried to get their first, but just a few feet shy and Gideon had the journal in his chubby hands. “I got it! I got it!” “Give it back.” Stan snarled. “Why?” Gideon asked coldly with a wicked smile. “Why’s it so important, monster?” “Just give it to me.” Stan was careful to sound firm, but he looked in no hurry to hurt a kid or his brother. Gideon opened the journal to find it blank. He flicked through the pages roughly, losing his temper, and when he concluded that the answers he was looking for were not here, he ripped a page out and yelled in fury. Stan grunted and sunk, like he was in pain. Gideon noticed this and grinned as an idea came to his twisted mind. This journal must be the source of his powers! Destroying it would free Mabel! Gideon ripped out another page, then another, and another. Stan growled on all fours and curled in on himself in overwhelming pain. He tried to shake his head and clear away the distraction, but he could practically hear Ford’s screaming in his ears, even if it was only his imagination, and it was maddening. “Stop it… stop it… STOP IT!” Stan gnarled at Gideon. “Or what, huh?” The child mocked. “What are you gonna do, huh? Huh?! Face it, foul creature, without this book you’re nothing!” He laughed and tore out another page. Gideon suddenly cried out in pain and dropped the journal. Stan huffed and puffed to try to compose himself. He looked up to see Dipper and Mabel standing in front of him, facing Gideon, both of them wearing scary looks and Dipper had his fists curled and ready to strike again. Gideon rubbed his pale chubby cheek. “Ow! What the… how did you…?” “Doesn’t matter.” Dipper snapped. “You’re leaving. Now.” “Oh, am I, boy?” And Gideon ran to him to punch him. While the boys punched each other and fought, Mabel hurried to Stan and petted his shoulder, trying to soothe him and help him feel better. “Stan? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Hazy still, Stan weakly looked up at the girl and smiled. “Mabel… you came back.” “Of course we did.” She looked back at the fight and saw that Gideon was having a slight advantage. He shoved into Dipper and they both fell through and broke a window, toppling down the roof. Mabel and Stan yelled with worry and ran after them. The boys tumbled and rolled, punching and slapping each other. Dipper fell on a balcony and groaned with ache while Gideon squealed and kept on going. He fell on a slanted roof and staggeringly got up. Like a scrawny cat, he climbed up to Dipper and kicked him in the jaw. Dipper quickly rolled up on his feet and used the lessons Stan had taught him to fight. Mabel quickly slid down the slanted tile roof and jumped into the fight. She punched Gideon in the jaw and found that his stuck-up traditions made him not hit a girl. She and Dipper took advantage of this weakness and worked together to beat up their enemy until he fell and didn’t get up. He rubbed a swollen black eye and looked up at the angry pre-teens before him. The beast, he noticed, was over on the next roof and letting the twins handle their own battle with a huge smile. “Listen, Gideon,” Mabel said coldly. “It’s over. I will never ever be with you.” “Yeah!” Dipper backed up and Mabel kicked him in the head, just hard enough to knock him out cold. Stan hopped down behind the twins and had his hands on his hips. “Nice technique, pumpkin.” “Stan!” They both cried out with relief and ran up to him. Stan got on one knee and engulfed them in a hug. Mabel nuzzled her face into his fur and Dipper held him tightly. “We’re so sorry, we tried to stop them but they wouldn’t listen to us!” The boy said. “It’s okay, kid, it’s okay.” Stan soothed and rubbed his back as he purred. “I know.” “You know?” Mabel gasped with a huge grin. “Ford! He showed you, didn’t he?! You asked to see us, didn’t you?!” Stan shrugged and put the kids down to ruffle their hair. “What can I say, I missed you knuckleheads.” Mabel squeezed his paw. “We missed you, too, Stan.” Meanwhile, Gideon’s one unswollen eye opened yellow and slit, like a cat’s. He rose and flexed his fingers and arms, getting used to his body. Standing with his back to the happy reunion, he began to cackle evilly. A chill ran down Stan’s spine. His grip on the twins tightened. “I know that laugh.” Dipper’s jaw dropped. “No… it couldn’t be… it’s impossible...” Gideon turned around and they saw his eye. Stan growled protectively and hunched over the kids. “Bill Cipher.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Note: I have nothing to say. Except the code Stan used as a reference to the spell McGonagall used during the Battle of Hogwarts. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope y’all enjoy an upcoming chapter full of angst!

[brooke0297]

Little Songbird Part 2: All I’ve Ever Known

Part 1 | Masterlist

Chapter song is "All I've Ever Known" from Hadestown the Musical. I encourage you to listen to it if you haven't before because it fits perfectly for Luke and Julie. Enjoy my loves!

Julie couldn’t sleep.

It wasn’t all that surprising to her, given the events of the day. It wasn’t every day she took down an evil ghost intent on stealing her soul and destroying her band and best friends. But she definitely thought she would be exhausted from discovering she possessed a supernatural ability to love and break curses put on her by said evil ghost.

When her and the boys had exited the Hollywood Ghost Club, the euphoria they had felt overcame them. Reggie and Luke had whooped loudly and grabbed each other in a huge hug. Alex had bent over and braced his hands on his knees, breathing in and out slowly. Julie wanted to comfort him, but she was in the middle of a busy street in downtown LA and her legs were shaking so badly she was worried they would give out on her. She pulled out her airpods and placed them in her ears as Luke and Reggie turned to her.

“How did you do that?” Reggie demanded gleefully. “I mean, did you see how terrified Caleb was? And how cool was your whole ‘you’re gonna leave my family alone or else’ speech? You’re like a hero from an action movie!”

Before Julie could answer any of his questions, Alex stood up and blew out a huge breath.

“As big of a fan of Badass Julie I am, promise me you will never go after an evil ghost by yourself again huh? I didn’t think ghosts could have heart attacks until I heard ‘Julie’s with Caleb and needs help’.”

“Oh, you should probably call Flynn before she sends out a search party.” Reggie added, “She was pretty worried.”

As if summoned, Juile’s phone rang shrilly and she winced at the volume in her ears. Sure enough ‘ Flynn the Great’ flashed on her phone, along with the selfie they had taken before Julie’s garage party. She swiped the answer button on her phone.

“Hey Flynn-”

“HEY? That’s all you give me is HEY?! You send me a 911 text that you are with some psycho evil ghost who tried to steal your bandmates who I then had to hope were in the studio so I could tell them to rescue you and all I get is HEY?!”

Julie winced. Partly because Flynn was right and partly at the sheer volume of the call. The boys winced and Reggie gave her a sympathetic look.

“I’m sorry Flynn, I didn’t have time to call you or explain more.”

“Are you okay? You still have your soul right? Are the guys okay? You have a gig in three days and it would really suck if we have to reschedule so we can rescue the himbos again…”

Julie giggled.

“We’re all fine. I’ll um…” Julie glanced at the boys and saw them looking at her intently, waiting for her response.

She was suddenly hit by a wave of exhaustion. She wanted nothing more than to go home, curl up under her blankets, and sleep for the next three days.

“Flynn, is it okay if I call you later? I’m waiting for the bus and it’s...not a great time…”

Flynn paused and Julie prepared to explain everything. It wasn’t fair to leave Flynn hanging like she was. But she also didn’t want to have to go into details about evil ghosts and sudden superpowers over the phone and around other bus riders.

Flynn sighed gently in her ear.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Jules. Call me when you can or I’ll hunt you down…”

A rush of love filled Julie and she quietly said goodbye to her best friend as the bus pulled up. She jumped on, seeing the boys follow her to the empty back seats.

By the time they had arrived home, the weariness had settled in Julie’s bones and Alex had to basically carry her in the house. Her dad was out at one of Carlos’ games, so they were easily able to get her up to her room.

“Are you okay?” Luke asked quietly. It was the first he’d spoken since they had left the club and he perched himself on the edge of her bed, eyes scanning her intently. Julie smiled sleepily up at him.

“I am, I promise. I guess discovering and using supernatural powers will really take a lot out of you.” she mumbled.

“So...how did you discover these supernatural powers?” Alex asked, sitting gently on her other side. Reggie placed himself at her feet and rested a hand on her leg.

“It was something my mom used to say to me. She told me that love was the most powerful feeling in the world and that sharing love would be my greatest power. And I remembered the night of the Orpheum, how all I could think about was how much I loved you guys and how much I wish I could save you and then…” Julie yawned lightly.

“And then the magical group hug to end all band circles.” Reggie finished proudly. Luke rolled his eyes fondly and Julie giggled.

“Yup. You know the rest.”

“So that explains how you saved us. But how were you able to fend Caleb off? He was going to stamp you and then it was like he was burned. I don’t understand.” Alex was thoroughly confused.

“I do.” Reggie said, his eyes watery. He rubbed Julie’s ankle comfortingly.

“It was our love for Julie that protected her. Like hers did the night of the Orpheum. It made her glow.”

The silence between the four of them stretched long. It wasn’t a new revelation that the band loved each other, but more of a realization of how deeply that love ran. Tears prickled in Julie’s eyes as she realized how grateful she was for these three ghosts that had dropped into her life and changed it irrevocably.

“I love you guys,” she whispered, the lump in her throat making it hard to talk any louder.

“We love you too, Julie.” Reggie murmured. The three boys simultaneously crawled into the circle of Julie’s embrace and cuddled close on her bed. Reggie rested his head on her knees and hugged her legs tightly while Alex pulled her into his chest and pressed her face into the junction of his shoulder. Luke curled into her back and tentatively rested his arm along hers. When she pulled him decisively closer, she felt him smile into her hair and decided to ignore the fluttering in her stomach for the time being.

She knew they would have to talk about what Caleb had revealed at some point. But the feeling of contentment that spread through her body at the feeling of being surrounded by three of the most important people in her life kept her from disrupting the moment.

They laid like that for hours, not speaking. Julie thought she would drift off eventually as the events of the day caught up to her, but her eyes refused to close. She felt Luke combing gently through her curls, twisting them though his fingers. Reggie would squeeze her legs gently every once in a while and Alex gently tapped a beat against her arm with his fingers. It was soothing, these little quirks from the boys. It wasn’t until her dad knocked gently on the door and informed her that dinner was ready that she extracted herself from the band and made her way downstairs. Carlos filled the usual dinner chatter and Julie excused herself as soon as the dishes were done to go upstairs and call Flynn back.

Her best friend was understandably astounded when she finished telling her what had happened. Julie had omitted the part where she had almost given into Caleb’s promises on her own volition. She hadn’t fully come to terms with that idea herself and she knew Flynn would absolutely freak out on her.

“Well damn girl. Are we completely sure you aren’t living in a supernatural movie? First three ghosts literally drop into your life, then you’re basically kidnapped by another evil ghost who wants to steal your soul, now you’re telling me you discovered some sort of super power that saved you from the crazy ghost man?”

“You’re telling me.” Julie had groaned.

Now, after telling Flynn goodbye almost two hours ago, Julie still couldn’t fall asleep. She knew she couldn’t just forget about Caleb’s promises and the reasons she had almost given in.

“I can’t lose anyone else that I love!”

“You won’t!”

“Yes I will! You’ll all cross over and I’ll just keep losing people I love.”

“No you won’t Julie. I know you. Even if one day we do cross over, we will always be with you. I will always be with you, right here. Right beside you. I couldn’t leave you even if I tried!”

Julie shook herself out of the memory and was out of bed before she knew what she was doing. Her monster slippers were on her feet and she blindly reached for a sweater before creeping out of her room. It was late enough that her dad’s light was off and the house was silent, so she avoided any creaky stairs and only opened the back door wide enough to slip through it.

Her steps became more determined. She knew what she needed to say. She’d been dancing around this for too long and Caleb had taken advantage of it.

She reached the studio doors and threw them open, preparing to shoo Reggie and Alex away when the scene in front of her stopped her in her tracks.

There were four ghosts in her studio.

Reggie and Luke were loosely grouped around Alex and the other dark haired boy. He had his hands braced on Alex’s shoulders and Alex had his on his waist. The boy’s long tresses were wild around his head, his dark eyes snapping to meet hers as she entered the studio.

“Julie?” he asked. Alex turned and Julie could tell by the look on his face exactly who he was.

“Hey Willie.” she smiled.

“You can see him?” Alex demanded. Julie nodded and Alex looked on the verge of a breakdown before Willie grabbed his hand.

“I had a feeling this might happen.” Willie said. Julie would have been more concerned if she didn’t catch the hint of a smile on his face.

“What do you mean? What happened?” she asked.

“You, Julie Molina, are the most powerful lifer I have ever met.” he laughed. He gestured for Julie to sit on the couch, where Reggie and Luke followed almost immediately. They sat beside her as Willie took the chair and pulled Alex to sit on the arm beside him.

“I wasn’t there when Caleb tried to trick you. But I definitely felt it when you broke my stamp,”

“Wait, WHAT?” Alex squawked. Willie chuckled, ever the picture of ease.

“I felt some kind of sting on my wrist that I haven’t felt since Caleb stamped me. Then I looked at it and it was like it floated off my arm and disappeared. And I felt...stronger. Like my soul had just been reconnected. When I went back to the club, I realized that I couldn’t get back in. You can only be allowed inside if you’re a part of the club or you're invited. And that’s when I knew I was free.”

“Wait, so you mean to say that Julie was able to save you just like she saved us?” Luke asked.

“It’s the only explanation I can think of since my stamp came off.” Willie shrugged.

“You did tell Caleb to leave Willie alone. Y’know, when you were being a badass and all…” Reggie interjected.

“You did?” Willie asked, suddenly soft. Julie nodded.

“You’re family, Willie. I wasn’t about to tick the evil scheming ghost off with my super cool powers and leave you to clean up the mess.”

He turned and met Julie’s gaze. The laid back attitude she somehow knew was his default setting suddenly melted into somber remorse.

“Julie, I want to apologize to you.”

Julie was taken aback.

“For what?” she asked incredulously.

“For getting the boys into that mess at the club. I honestly...I thought it was a great place. It was the first place I knew where I felt like I belonged. Caleb...I swear I never thought he could be capable of what he did. I knew he was difficult sometimes but he always offered me the freedom to do what I wanted. And when I met these really cool ghosts who could be seen by a lifer, I thought they would be happy at the club and could really learn to love it there, like I did. So I invited them to Caleb’s party

“And then Caleb stamped them--I swear to you I didn’t know he would!--and then I kept checking on them to see if I could maybe find a time to tell them what happened. I told them they would be able to cross over if they figured out what their unfinished business was. I know it wouldn’t make up for what I did, but then at least they wouldn’t be trapped somewhere they never wanted to stay. They never wanted to stay at Caleb’s club, they only wanted to be in a band with you. And I almost took that away from them. I will never forgive myself from almost taking them from you.”

Julie, after all the emotion and turmoil of the day, felt the tears brimming and Willie looked like he wanted to poof away. Julie stood and reached out for him, hoping with everything in her that what she was thinking would work. She was only mildly surprised when her hand went right through his and she sighed.

“Alex, can you please hug him for me?” she whined jokingly. Willie and Alex’s faces lit up before the blonde pulled him up and into his arms. Julie and the other two boys watched with excited expressions as Willie pulled Alex as close as he could.

Julie hadn’t been lying when she’d called Willie family. Despite what he had done initially under Caleb’s control, he had risked everything to help save her boys. He had sacrificed his own happiness with Alex in order to keep them from being trapped like he was. The least she could do was try and save him too.

She suddenly felt pressure on her hand and she turned to see Luke linking his pinkie finger with hers. When she met his gaze, he nodded to the couple still embracing and mouthed ‘thank you’. Julie nodded, smiling.

No question.

When Alex and Willie finally pulled away, Willie looked around and whistled.

“This place is dope! Can’t wait to hear what you guys are working on next.”

“We have a gig coming up in a few days! You should hear the new stuff Luke and Julie have been working on!” Reggie squealed eagerly. He suddenly gasped.

“Does this mean we have our own roadie now?” he asked, wide eyed. Luke snorted and Julie laughed. Alex just shook his head and muttered an “okay Reg”.

“Hey Willie! Let's go to the beach and moon the lifers down there!” Reggie suggested, jumping up from his spot on the couch. Alex rolled his eyes until Willie cackled and slung an arm around the bassist’s shoulder.

“I’ve always wanted to go for a midnight swim…” he crowed. He turned to Alex and raised an eyebrow.

“Y’comin, hot dog?” he asked mischievously. Alex couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face as he glanced over at Luke and Julie.

“I’ll pass on this one, guys. Just stay out of trouble please? I’ve already dealt with enough supernatural today.” she warned.

“Same here.” Luke said simply. The boys nodded before poofing out and Julie and Luke were alone.

Julie felt her heart stumble in her chest. What she had been banking on less than an hour ago was suddenly in her grasp. The determination she had felt earlier, before finding Willie, had evaporated.

Her and Luke had never been awkward around each other. From the moment he had stood in front of her and told her “we’re all a little crazy”, they had been two kindred souls. She’d found out he’d been the one who had written her favorite songs that had informed her love of music. They had both lost their mothers in different ways and found comfort in music. Even her mom, an enigma she never imagined, had somehow been connected to her boys as evidenced by the love and care that went into the bedazzled Sunset Curve t-shirt Julie had folded in the bottom of her drawer.

Everything in her life had somehow pointed her towards Luke. She couldn’t ignore the signs. They had always been there.

“Julie…”

Julie’s head snapped up to see Luke standing at the piano. He was leaning against the side of it, fiddling nervously with his rings.

“What happened today? Why were you at that club?” he asked quietly. Julie knew he wasn’t angry with her. She had felt his fear and later relief when he had pulled her from her trance.

“Nick called me. He said that he was in trouble and no one was picking up. He said he needed me and told me to go to the club. Caleb used him to trick me into coming.” Julie felt her ire burn when she remembered the lie. Poor Nick. She would have to call him in the morning and check on him.

“Oh.” Luke said simply.

Julie mentally quirked an eyebrow. Luke was many things, but he was not frugal with his words. When he was really fired up, he could go for hours until someone--usually Alex--shut him up by blasting Julie’s Spotify on the loudest volume. And even then he could sometimes talk over it and critique the music, much to his bandmate’s chagrin.

“Are you okay?” she asked, standing up and moving towards him. As she reached a hand out to place it on his arm, he abruptly jumped away from her. Julie watched, her arm still raised, as Luke began to pace the studio.

“How could I be okay, Julie? Do you understand how terrified I was? Caleb was this close to stealing your soul! What could have happened if we hadn’t gotten there in time? He would have taken you and we would have lost you. I would have lost you!”

“I’m sorry, Luke. I never would have gone if I knew what he was planning. He was putting some kind of spell on me and I tried to fight it as hard as I could.”

“But what about after?” Luke demanded. “You said it was the only way you could keep from losing us. You were well aware of what he could do and you let him try again. How could you even think that was an option?”

“Luke,” Julie murmured, moving closer to him. “I have never been more sorry in my life. I know it was wrong of me to even think about taking his deal. I never would have considered it before tonight.”

“So why did you?” he asked. There it was. The hurt and dread that had been just under the surface all night. Julie sighed.

“Because I don’t know if I’m strong enough to lose someone again.” she replied. Luke looked ready to interrupt but Julie held her hand up to stop him.

“I know you are about to say something wonderful and sweet about how brave I am and how you would never leave me. But the reality is, Luke, someday there will be a day that you three will cross over. Maybe it’s next week, maybe three months, or maybe it’ll be in ten years. And I will still be here. I won’t be able to follow you, no matter how much I want to. I will still have to live my life.

“So yeah, when Caleb offered me the opportunity to keep you three forever I thought about it. I’m not proud of it, but I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to not only save myself the pain of losing three of my best friends, but I wanted to hold onto the magic we make as a band.”

“You are not selfish.” Luke protested vehemently, darting over to stand in front of Julie. Julie smiled.

“All that and that’s what you take from it?” she teased. Luke grinned.

“Reggie called me the ‘number one Julie Molina stan’ or ‘fan’ or whatever he said. Just trying to live up to the title.” Julie giggled and Luke’s face melted into an expression of such softness that it made her heart flutter. She continued, aware of the electricity between them.

“And then you sang ‘Finally Free’ and I knew you were right. You will always be a part of me, no matter what happens. And I knew there was no deal that Caleb could come up with that would change that.”

Luke smiled softly at her, reaching out to push a wayward curl out of her face.

“What I said was true, y’know,” he murmured. “I will always find a way back to you, Julie.”

It was as powerful as if he had said the words he really meant. Julie could feel her heart expanding and bursting at the seams.

She knew. She knew that her feelings for Luke Patterson had grown and shifted and bloomed. It was undeniable. She found herself, like many times before, wishing she could run up to her mother and ask her the question that had burned itself into her mind day after day since that night on the porch.

Is this what love feels like? Is this what all the songs are about?

She felt the whisper of an answer.

Yes.

Julie smiled and grabbed Luke’s hand.

“C’mere. I want to play you something…” she said. He let himself be pulled over to the piano, where Julie sat down and shifted so there was room beside her. He gently took his spot, gazing at her.

“Whatcha got for me, boss?” he teased. Julie grinned and shook her head, before placing her hands on the keys and beginning to play a gentle melody.

“I was alone so long

I didn't even know that I was lonely.

Out in the cold so long

I didn't even know that I was cold.

Turned my collar to the wind

This is how it's always been.

All I've ever known is how to hold my own.

All I've ever known is how to hold my own.

But now I wanna hold you, too.”

Julie glanced over to take in Luke’s expression of awe and adoration that made the butterflies in her stomach flutter. He wordlessly turned in his seat so his legs hung off the back of the bench and his guitar landed in his lap. Tenderly, letting her lead, he began to strum the melody with her as her voice swelled with the music.

“You take me in your arms

And suddenly there's sunlight all around me.

Everything bright and warm

And shining like it never did before.

And for a moment I forget

Just how dark and cold it gets.

All I've ever known is how to hold my own.

All I've ever known is how to hold my own.

But now I wanna hold you,

Now I wanna hold you

Hold you close.

I don't ever wanna have to let you go.

Now I wanna hold you, hold you tight

I don't wanna go back to the lonely life.”

Julie let her falsetto carry the last note, closing her eyes. She had never felt this vulnerable, even when she had stood in front of the entire Orpheum audience and prepared to sing without the boys. But if the last year had taught her anything, she needed to open her heart. She couldn’t hide it away anymore.

Luke’s gentle, tenor rasp took over and she opened her eyes to see him gazing at her with a multitude of emotions in his eyes. She continued to play, never moving her gaze from his.

“I don't know how or why

Or who am I that I should get to hold you?

But when I saw you all alone against

The skies, it’s like I'd known you all along

I knew you before we met

And I don't even know you yet.

All I know is you’re someone I have always known.”

Julie felt the truth of his words wash over her. It was exactly what she had been thinking before she’d gone to the studio. Their connection was undeniable, even before they were even aware of it. Fate had pushed them together, two halves of a whole waiting for the other.

Julie joined him, her falsetto floating above his melody.

“All I know is you're someone I have always known.

And I don't even know you

Now I wanna hold you,

Hold you close.

I don't ever wanna have to let you go.”

“Suddenly the sunlight: bright and warm…” Julie began, inching closer to him.

“Suddenly I'm holding the world in my arms.” Luke finished. His guitar vanished from his hands at the same time Julie’s fingers left the keys and then their lips finally met.

Julie had always wondered what the big deal about first kisses was. When her and Carrie and Flynn would have their sleepovers back in elementary school, they would spend hours upon hours talking about what their first kisses would be like and how important it was to find the right guy. Julie had always balked at the idea that there would be a first kiss that could be that perfect.

Elementary school Julie had obviously never kissed Luke Patterson.

His lips were soft and gentle against hers, all of his burning passion he felt on a daily basis smouldering into a golden flame intent on her. One of his hands came up to cradle her face and Julie shivered at the feeling of his calluses caressing her cheeks while the other threaded through her hair. Julie let her own mould to his face and stroke the soft wisps of hair at his temples.

It felt as if her heart would beat out of her chest. This felt like the beginning of something incredible and of coming home all at the same time. When she had reached for his hand on her porch all those weeks ago, she had never imagined she would ever gain the opportunity to kiss him.

All too soon, Luke gently pulled away and rested his head against her forehead. He had his eyes closed and a beaming smile split across his face.

“I’m crazy about you, Julie Molina,” he whispered. Julie leaned forward and pecked his lips briefly, causing him to open his eyes.

“Te adoro Luke Patterson.” she murmured. He gently tugged her into his arms and she leaned against his chest, pulling his arms closer around her.

“I know you’re scared of what’s going to happen, Jules.” Luke said softly. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t too. But I don’t want to waste a moment of my second chance. You brought us back here and I believe I was always meant to know you. I will not let that slip through my fingers.” He pressed a light kiss to her forehead and it stole Julie’s breath away.

“I’ve always known we were connected somehow. I thought it might have been my mom. Maybe…” Julie trailed off.

“Maybe…” Luke prodded.

“...maybe it was something bigger than all of us.”

Luke hugged her closer.

“You mean like fate?” he asked. Julie shrugged.

“I don’t know, and frankly, I’m too content to care.” Luke chuckled and Julie reached up to kiss him again. It was slowly becoming her favorite pastime.

When they broke apart once again, Julie grinned.

“I have more…” she whispered. Luke beamed and gently pulled her up so she was tucked under his arm with all the range to play.

“Say that you'll hold me forever.

Say that the wind won't change on us.

Say that we'll stay with each other.

And it will always be like this.”

Luke squeezed her tenderly.

“I'm gonna hold you forever

The wind will never change on us

Long as we stay with each other…”

Their voices melded together perfectly, as if the universe itself had decided it. And maybe it had. But for the time being, they were just Luke and Julie.

“Then it will always be like this…”

******

Thanks for reading everyone!

[currentlyreadingmanga]

Toilet-bound Hanako-kun Chapter 16: The Little Mermaid (Part 1)

Previously: as one of you guys said last chapter, we “went from good boy hours to sad boy hours in a flash”, and I honestly couldn't have said it better myself. Yashiro and Kou are both very good children that just want to look after their new ghost friend (and each other) and I just（*´▽`*) love them very much. But yeah, the last chapter started with an incredibly wholesome and emotional premise and by the end that happened. I’m both excited and terrified to delve back into the story.

Now onto the next chapter!

[You can ignore this but if you’re interested, here’s a small update of where have I been lately: as I’ve mentioned before, around the moment the quarantines started to take effect where I live, I caught a cold and later I found out that I had laryngitis, so all that with the additional anxiety regarding the state the world is in right now, I really wasn’t feeling well enough to take the time to read and write the recaps for the chapters. I’m fine now, I started to feel better by last week. I’m a very anxious person by nature and while my family and friends are doing well, being quarantined this long really didn’t leave me in the best headspace since I tend to worry too much (both of my parents are over 60 years old and two of my best friends each have a family member who underwent heart surgeries recently). Also, I wasn’t sure if posting these recaps would be a good idea with everything that’s going on in the world right now. But I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone would probably welcome a distraction and if these recaps can provide that for someone besides myself (since writing them will give me something to do), then I should go right ahead. So.....yeah......If you’re reading this, please remember to take care and follow the steps that your region has implemented to stay healthy and stop the spread of the virus.]

Okay so before we begin, I have a confession to make: I ended up seeing a spoiler (well, two, but I will mention the other one when it becomes relevant). I’m honestly surprised that it didn’t happen sooner considering how quickly Instagram knows when I start a new series, but yeah, it was bound to happen since I’m pretty behind with the story. I saw a screenshot of one of the anime episodes (idk which one since I stopped watching it when I picked up the manga after watching episode 4) and I saved it so I could put it here:

sooooooooooooo..........yeah.........it’s kind of a bummer. But hey! At least I know one of the theories I threw out there was right. Although, it also brings up a lot more questions regarding their home life because..........why was Amane so beat up when (it seems) he had at least one family member around when he was alive? where does this other child fit into the story? Did he also go to the same school? Does Tsuchigomori know him?  Also he looks real cute???? But Hanako looked so terrified when he appeared at the end of last chapter that it makes me not trust him immediately???? You all are probably saying in your heads “well if you just start the fucking chapter you will get some answers” and you know what???? You’re right, I should, damn

Ohhhh right! This is the start of another volume and it looks like our two main boys are on the cover this time.

are you really gonna post the cover page again? you ask. And yes, yes, I will. It’s not my fault that the art style is so good. Things I noticed: it’s silly but I love how Hanako’s disregard for personal space it’s an ongoing factor even on the cover with how he’s grabbing Kou’s face; I really like the contrast between their expressions (how cheeky Hanako looks vs how serious Kou looks); and since they both look like they’re ready for a fight, I’m guessing that this particular volume will possibly present challenges for these two.

The next coloured page is also wonderful. My babies look so cute and ready to tell some ghost stories. I just wanna ruffle their hair, they’re so precious.

Then we have the index and by the looks of it, this volume will focus on two arcs.

And here’s the cover page for this chapter! ...........god, I’ve barely reached the beginning of the chapter, why do I ramble so much.

Anyway, “the little mermaid”, huh? Judging by that title and by the art here, I’m guessing that title refers to Yashiro. Also, there’s a big ass claw on the left side of the page, so does this mean that the mermaid from the first chapter is coming back? Because Hanako said that he had only managed to drive her away momentarily, right? That would be really interesting! 

Now directing our attention to the right side of the page...... (⚆.⚆) ......I’m guessing that this is directly related to last chapter’s cliffhanger, if Hanako’s terrified expression is anything to go by.......oh boy, this is gonna be so much f u n

Huh, that’s interesting. “She helped me make it here.” Does that mean that he wasn’t able to be in the school for some reas- wait wait a second. Idk why I’m just now putting two and two together but this boy is also dead, right? So where was he? And he honestly looks just like Hanako, so does that mean they died at around the same time? Did he also go to this school? Because Amane’s attachment to this school is clear (even if he had to take the role of “Hanako-san”) and well, there was also that thing Kou said about his grandmother sealing him away but we don’t know much about that. Would his brother also have a reason to be at the school, and not only that, but also to then have to leave the place? And a big enough reason that he needed someone else’s help to get back, at that?

Another interesting thing: so now we have the confirmation that the suspicious girl is actually his assistant. That brings up the following questions: does Amane’s brother also fills in for “Hanako-san”? Like, is it like a gatcha where you can get either of them when you summon them and lucks decides your fate? Also, with Yashiro and Amane, she became his assistant as an exchange for her wish to become human again? So, I’m thinking that if he also serves as “Hanako-san”, then she could have become his assistant in exchange for a wish, and the question then would be: what did she wish for? And that is tied to other questions that surround her such as: who is she? what are her goals?

Is this recap mostly questions and no answers? yes, that’s how it be, if you’re here expecting me to give you good answers, I’m sorry in advance lol

(ﾟдﾟ；) Σ(ﾟДﾟ|||) ahhhhhh he looks so shaken and ready to cry omg please back away and leave him alone. What is their story??? It’s clear that it is tragic but what could bring about such a reaction? Spoilers: it’s probably gonna destroy me :))))

OHHHHH!!!! LOOK AT MY GIRL GO! Hell yeah, protect your boy!! but also the fact that Hanako was so startled that he couldn’t even react fast enough to protect himself even though he had his knife in front of him is very concerning

Oh? I thought the bottle only had tea/water. Why did it do that to him? Because this doesn’t happen to all apparitions, right?

(⚆.⚆)

And just like that, he’s gone. Well. that was certainly a way to make an entrance.

........................okay, listen. I know I said that their story was probably tragic but I was trying to avoid thinking of this possibility because there’s something incredibly heartbreaking about the prospect. And the fact that Hanako looks so terrified only adds a layer of unease to the whole thing. If Hanako did kill him, then it shines a different light to one of the questions I asked before: “why was Amane so beat up when (apparently) he had at least one family member around when he was alive?” because........yikes. I think I had also asked before where would his parents be in the story (since it was still possible that the injuries were inflicted by bullies) and with this development, I’m even more concerned. Since, again, if Hanako killed his own brother and we take into account the rest of the information we’ve been given so far, it’s very possible that it was done in self-defence. And since Hanako was so reluctant to tell Tsuchigomori anything regarding the person who did that to him (going to the extent of saying he forgave them), the culprit being a family member is not farfetched at all.

(ﾟдﾟ；)(ﾟдﾟ；)(ﾟдﾟ；)

Oh, no, sweetie-pie  (ಥ﹏ಥ) He looks so distraught! It seems like he had a flashback of some sort judging by him snapping out of it at the end. The evidence just keeps on piling up against his brother and i’m very stre s s ed

Ahhhh and he’s all wobbly while apologizing to her and he leaves and they’re just alone and sad and the donuts are ruined. I’m :c sad :CC

............................is that a fish? because it doesn’t look like the mermaid, so maybe she sent her “minions”? Hanako said that the fish work for the mermaids, right? I’m assuming she’s sending someone to spy on Yashiro since she most likely isn’t ready to give up Yashiro yet (even if Hanako has lessen the effects of the curse).

Next, we see that Yashiro is still thinking about what happened with Hanako while Aoi looks worried about her. Yashiro says “I guess people from different species really can’t understand each other” and “Maybe it would’ve been better if I were a supernatural too” and I mean, I see where she’s coming from. But at the same time, that’s not all there is to it. Yes, it’s obvious that they are gonna have different mindsets, not only because Hanako is a ghost but also because of what he experienced when he was alive. However, I think Hanako’s reluctance to share his past has more to do with personal walls he has probably built around himself than with him being a supernatural. Like, yes, we know that he has had contact with other apparitions in the school, but who knows when was the last time he had the chance to interact with someone as a friend? Even when he was alive we know that he didn’t have friends from his class. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that while I understand Yashiro’s sentiment, her becoming a supernatural wouldn’t really help the situation.

Well, it looks like someone is conveniently ready to grant that wish and judging by the bubbles (?) around the dialogue bubbles, I think it’s the fish from before. And to that, I say no, thanks, chief.

Also

I feel so bad for Aoi, she must be so worried about Yashiro’s ongoing track record of talking to the air.

....................god, everyone is gonna think she’s off her rocker if they don’t think so already

Pfffffffft I love her so much, she’s so silly

But anyway, yes, the fish claim that they are here to “release her from the clutches of that loathsome school mystery” which sounds like a convoluted way to say that they want to take her away. “Our law states that those who have eaten the flesh and blood of our master will eventually become our next master” ohhhhh okay so that’s why they were being so polite, I had thought that they were just trying to butter her up.

Yashiro, no! Don’t fall for it!! I’m not saying that they’re lying about her new status, I’m just saying that she needs to consider the fact that the “men” are most likely not actual men if the fact that the mermaid was a fish with a face is anything to go by. Also, my girl is way too weak in front of the promise of ikemen oh boy please don’t fall for it

They say that they’ve been watching Yashiro these past few days and they think that the way Hanako treats her is “far too barbaric”.

Okay, I’m gonna stop you right there. 1) The donut incident: Yes, Hanako shouldn’t have treated her like that, but it’s obvious that he was going through some serious stuff at the moment. 2) He doesn’t speak about himself: I think I mentioned this even during the 4pm bookstacks arc, but that’s Hanako’s choice. It’s his own life story and he gets to decide when to share it. While it would be good for him to open up more to Yashiro since she clearly wants to be his friend and get to know him better, that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be easy. 3) He takes advantage of her: well, he has been quite reckless at certain points (like when he threw her down the waterfall at Yako’s boundary and when he unknowingly played with her feelings during the confession tree arc), he’s always done his best to protect her from harm. 4) Hanako thinks nothing of her: now that’s just plain wrong. As I’ve just mentioned, he always tries to protect her and we’ve seen in subtle ways that he’s clearly grown fond of her over time. He’s a teasing little shit, but he’s not a bad guy that would string her along without a care in the world. Granted, they can’t possibly know all this, but still. Don’t go dissing my boy like that.

So, they give her a vial with the mermaid’s blood and if she drinks it, her bond with Hanako will be overwritten and her bond with the mermaid will be made official. Oh, and they also say that she then “will cease to transform in reaction to water”................doesn’t- doesn’t that mean she will just be a fish all the time? right??

Okay so they gave her one day to give them an answer.

!!!!!

There he is!! Update: still hot

Yashiro went to him to get him to stop her but he’s really not being helpful. He asks her if he talked with Hanako and Kou. Yashiro says it would be too awkward to talk with Kou after the donuts were destroyed and like........I get it, but still, he would completely understand. Kou is one of the most wholesome boys in existence, he would not hold that against you AND more importantly, he would love to help you in anything you needed. And oh! she says she tried talking to Hanako but she hasn’t been able to find him lately. I’m a bit surprised but also really glad that she realised that this was something that Hanako needed to be aware of. It sucks that Hanako is (most likely) avoiding her, even if it is understandable.

Yashiro points out that Tsuchigomori has known Hanako for a long time and asks him if he could tell her anything about his past. And again, I feel the need to point out that he’s probably gonna tell her when he’s ready to and going about it behind his back is not the best idea.

I’m glad to see that Tsuchigomori is on the same wavelength as me. Hanako obviously carries a heavy burden on his shoulders and it’s best for the truth to come out from his own mouth.

Awww, no, sweetie, it’s not that. I think he does trust you but he’s shielded himself from other people for so long that he has a hard time opening up to anyone. And yeah, Tsuchigomori tells her he’s probably afraid of her finding out (which, again, is understandable) and that, at any rate, she should make her own decision and to make sure that decision is one that she won’t regret.

Oh

Well, speak of the devil. Look who was eavesdropping! I’m actually okay with this since Hanako really needed to hear all that (not only what the situation itself is but also how she feels about their relationship).

(ಥ﹏ಥ) someone please give this sweet boy a hug, he needs it  (ಥ﹏ಥ)

Atta girl, Yashiro. She’s been having a slow character development as the story progresses and it’s honestly great to see. To me, this shows a good contrast between how easily she jumped from crush to crush and how dedicated she is to stick with Hanako and learn more about him. Yes, they are just friends, but the chemistry they have is undeniable, so I still think it’s a fair comparison.

..................I said they would be fish but still omfg. This manga really is a treasure pffffft

Hey! They snatched her against her will! So much for respecting her answer, huh. Fucking rude. Well......let’s hope Hanako knows how to fish.

Okay, so the fishes are listing her beautiful qualities in her fish form and

Again, fucking rude.

Oh, that’s the end of the chapter..........that felt short. Still a solid chapter, though. I like the slow buildup we’re establishing with Hanako and Yashiro and their relationship and I’m really excited to see how they develop it.