#the bandana looks a bit weird but its just supposed to be tight and pushed against her head

[maxthesillyy]

ITS MY GIRLLLLLLLL I MISSED HER LIKE A PAST LOVER 💖💖💖💖💖💖👆👆👆👆👆👆👆

she is supposed to be vry big :3 i might make a height chart later

this has pleased the autism

mommyclan literally cured my cat artblock

[jeontaeh]

〚FOUR〛

Sex was confusing.

Jungkook always saw romance as too idealistic. The whole idea of falling for someone to the point where you'd let them tear you to pieces and not bat an eye was terrifying. He can't imagine liking someone that much. Crushes were never his thing.

And also no one in this school was his type.

So, naturally, Jungkook never thought much about being a virgin. He knew all his friends had had sex numerous times, they were more than blunt about it. Jungkook never got the big deal. The big hype around 'sex'. What made people crave it? What was it about sex which made people go, very literally, crazy?

Of course, Jungkook's a hormonal teenage boy, he has needs. And yes, when Jimin leaves from time to time, Jungkook locks himself in their washroom and slowly jacks off- biting his hand not to let out any loud sounds. But that was the extent of it.

His friends on the other hand? Batshit crazy.

Namjoon talked about how good it was to finger some girl from his math class. Hoseok talked about how good it was to eat out some girl from his chemistry class. Yoongi talked about how good it was to have some girl from his english class sit on his face. Jimin talked about how good it was to fuck some girl from the grade above. Jin told them they were disgusting, but Jungkook knows he's done all of those, if not worse.

V, god, don't even get him started on V. He had this sort of.. magnetic energy surrounding him. Something that made people turn heads, both boys and girls. After all, being captain of the football team and hot as fuck had its perks. People were either jealous, lustful, or both.

V, easily put, was a player. A fuckboy. With his dark grey hair which he tied up in various coloured bandanas His dark eyebrows which seemed to either be furrowed angrily or raised in a flirty manner. His tendencies, the way he talked with his deep husky voice and walked with his commanding nature, it was all do.. alluring.

Not to mention, his dark eyes and a smirk that could kill seemed to always be around girls. He always had a girl against his locker, or on his lap, or around him, trying to get his attention. Jungkook never got that. Never got what was so goddamn attractive about him which made all girls want to get a taste.

That was until he got a bit of it himself.

See, when you've been cornered by those big big hands, and been fucked mercilessly, and have gotten dirty sentences rasped into your ear, you kind of get it. So yeah, Jungkook kind of gets it. He gets the hype. Yes he's only had sex twice, but it already makes him want to do it many many more times.

Not that he's going to. Whatever happened the last two days was an accident. It wasn't going to happen again. Unfortunate for Jungkook's needs but fortunate for Jungkook's ass. They like girls, this wasn't what was supposed to happen.

"Kookie!" A voice snapped, and Jungkook's head perked up. "You're daydreaming."

Jungkook saw Jimin, and pursed his lips, picking on the cuffs of his white school shirt that was tucked into his tight black school trousers. "What do you want?"

"Did you hear what Yoongi said?" Jimin asked, and Jungkook shook his head. They were walking towards their first lesson, Math.

Yoongi rolled his eyes, and then looked at Jungkook. "Apparently one of the cleaners found a used condom in the showers of the locker room."

Jungkook choked on his spit.

He paused, eyes growing wide, slowly looking at Yoongi. "W-what?!" He snapped, and Hoseok snickered.

"The coach is pissed. I think we all know who could be dumb enough to get a girl into the locker rooms," Hoseok laughed as they entered the math classroom, and Jungkook gulped.

"V." They said simultaneously, and the moment Jungkook walked in, he saw V sitting on his chair, feet propped on his table, black bandana pulling his hair back, a little smirk on his face as a group of people surrounded him.

"Who was it?"

"How was it?"

"At least you wore a condom.."

"Guys, chill." V said, looking at his friends who were walking over. "Why're you all just assuming it's me?"

"Because no one else would be dumb enough to just throw a condom like that!" Yoongi said, and V rolled his eyes, and then put his hands up in defense.

"Alright, alright. I'm the culprit." V said, and Jungkook sat down behind him, ignoring all the talk. "And me, the victim." Jungkook mumbled to himself, and V turned around.

"D'you say something?" V asked knowingly, and Jungkook just gave him a small glare.

"Who was it, though? Eka?" "Or was it Jennie?" "Joy, again?" "Sana?"

"How about, it's none of your goddamn business." V snapped, and everyone shut up the moment he raised his voice.

"Someone's getting defensive.. for real, who was it?" Jimin asked, and Jungkook cleared his throat. "I think it's best if we just focus on math." Jungkook said, and V grinned.

"Jeon's right, for once." V said, turning to face him. "After all, it's no one's business but mine, is it?" V said, and Jungkook looked at him with his big eyes, and felt their wave of nervousness washing over him.

He looked at V's small smirk, and before he could speak- the door opened and the teacher walked in with a "Good morning."

The teacher began talking, and Jungkook felt his fingers tapping against the desk. It felt like everyone was looking at him. Oh god.. they know. They know. Everyone knows.

"C-can I go to the washroom?" Jungkook asked, standing up, and the teacher sighed and then let him go. Jungkook got up in an instant and walked right out of the class, footsteps fast.

He began walking down the hallway, and then heard the door of his math class open and close. He started walking faster, but just heard the footsteps draw closer, and then saw a figure start walking beside him.

"Going to the washroom, Jeon?" A deep voice came, and Jungkook kept walking, looking straight ahead. He could make out the figure with the loose untucked white shirt, opposite of his.

"Where the fuck else, V?" Jungkook snapped, and then started walking faster, but let out a gasp when he felt V grab his arm and shove him into a dark room.

Lights turned on, and Jungkook realised they were in the janitor's closet. V closed the door shut, and then turned to Jungkook, smirking a little. He moved forward, making Jungkook move back until his back hit the wall. "Drop the attitude."

"S-says you." Jungkook said, suddenly feeling flustered with how V put both his hands to the wall by his side, confining him.

Jungkook saw V lean in, and then hover his lips over his neck, and Jungkook has his hands clasped tightly to his side, and then finally lifted up to grip at V's shirt. "What're you doing?"

V looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"V.." Jungkook trailed, like it was obvious. Was it not? "W-what the hell are we doing? Having sex? Twice?? And now- now what- you're pushing me into janitor closets- what is this?"

V looked unshaken, just shrugged. "I don't know." Careless.

"You should, you should know! Because I don't either, and I'm confused. Are you.." Jungkook trailed, and then tilted his head a little. "Gay?"

V jumped back, eyes growing wide in defence. "Fuck no, what the fuck? Bro- what?"

Jungkook looked more confused. "Bisexual?"

"Ew, no- I'm straight." V snapped, and now there was a visible gap between them. Jungkook rolled his eyes.

"Dude, that doesn't make any fucking sense. What, are you experimenting?" Jungkook asked, and V scoffed, shoving his hands in his pockets, looking offended.

"Am I- no! No- look, Jeon- I'm not- I'm not queer. That- that's just fucking weird. You're the one making this weird, not man."

"I'm making this weird?? Why'd you drag me in here?" Jungkook snapped, and then V smirked a little, stepping closer again, almost forgetting what he just said, and wiped his thumb on Jungkook's bottom lip.

"You looked cute."

Jungkook paused. "Cute?"

"Scared shitless." V reiterated, and Jungkook felt himself blushing a little. "Well, obviously. Your dumbass threw the condom to the side- and- w-what if the teacher checks it? Like- they'll realize we fucked- a-and then- ohmygod they'll run a DNA test! A-and- and- everyone will know- and-"

"Jungkook." V said lowly, and Jungkook looked up, because that might've just been the first time V said his name properly. "Relax."

Jungkook gulped, feeling V's big hands circling around his waist. "They're not gonna run a DNA test. There's used condoms all over this goddamn school, you'll be surprised in the weird places people have fucked." V snickered, and Jungkook nodded shyly.

"O-okay. I hope so. B-because if they do-" Jungkook started, putting his hands up. "They won't, god- will you calm down?"

Jungkook put his hands on V's chest. "Sorry.." Jungkook mumbled, looking away, and then looked back up, and saw V smiling a little. "What?"

"I wanna fuck you again.." V whined a little, and then squeezed Jungkook's waist and began kissing down his neck. Jungkook's eyes widened.

"Now?" He asked, and V hummed, and Jungkook rolled his eyes. "Dude, we can't fuck now."

"Why not?" V said, and Jungkook scoffed. "Maybe because we have class right now?? And anyone could hear us?? Also this is literally a janitor's closet???"

"Blah blah blah- you're not making any strong arguments." V said, and Jungkook glared. "Go fuck some girl, I'm sure they'd leap to get fucked by the handsome V- oh~" Jungkook said in a high pitched voice in the end, waving his fingers.

V paused for a few seconds, and then pinched Jungkook's thigh. "Yeah but I wanna fuck you."

Jungkook paused for a few seconds; a silence filling the room. V looked up at him, waiting for an answer, and Jungkook just blurted out "This is weird, V! I mean- what, are-are we just gonna hook up normally?"

"Why not. Tons of people do. It's called casual sex, look it up."

"I know what casual sex is, dumbass. I just- i-isn't this a little weird?" Jungkook asked, and V's eyebrow rose. "Why would it be weird?"

Jungkook paused for a few seconds, and then squeaked "I-I mean- w-we haven't even kissed-"

V burst out laughing, and Jungkook's eyes grew big, cheeks growing bright pink. "I-I mean- not-not like that! I-I just- I thought-"

V was still snickering, so Jungkook pushed past him, trying to walk out of the janitor's closet. But before he could, V grabbed his arm and pulled him back, and then pressed their lips together.

Jungkook's breath hitched, and he stood frozen in shock as V kissed him gently, hands trailing down to wring around his hips. Jungkook stood still, and V pulled away. "Is that fine?"

Jungkook was blushing, and then nodded a little, looking down to make sure V doesn't see how ridiculously flustered he was. "Y-yeah,"

V grinned, stepping a little closer, making Jungkook have to step back and crowd into the corner of the room. "Yeah?"

"V-" Jungkook started, and then gasped as V wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him closer in, hands going down to his thighs to lift him up.

"Ugh- V you're so annoying-!" Jungkook snapped, grabbing V by the collar and kissing him rough. V smirked into the kiss, hands going down to his ass and squeezing it, making Jungkook hum into his mouth, tongues pressing against one another.

They kissed for a good few minutes, both kissing messily, one pulling away to breathe and the other pulling them back in, cheeks red. After a bit, V let Jungkook down, and Jungkook breathed heavily, flustered.

Jungkook hit V on the chest, and V just grinned uselessly. Jungkook groaned. "Fine! After school, your room."

V bit his lip, and then looked at the door, opening it to let Jungkook out. Jungkook huffed and walked out, and as he did, V slapped his ass, and Jungkook jumped a little, turning around to glare at him.

"Do you want me to fuck you??" Jungkook snapped, and V scoffed. "I'm gonna be the one doing the fucking, Jeon."

Jungkook's cheeks tinted, and he mumbled "Same thing." under his breath, and then both started walking back towards their math class.

While they were walking, Jungkook stopped, and V bumped into him. Jungkook turned around. "What exactly are we?"

V looked around, and Jungkook realised he was trying to make sure no one was there. "Friends with benefits, I guess."

"We're not friends." Jungkook snapped, and V rolled his eyes.

"Enemies with benefits, then. Fuckbuddies. Whatever the fuck you want to call it, Jeon." V snapped back, and Jungkook pursed his lips, and then kept walking.

"Fuckbuddies sounds better." Jungkook stated, and V hummed. "A little too vulgar, maybe."

"This whole ordeal is a little vulgar, no?" Jungkook said, and then right before going back into the class, he made sure V stepped close to him, and then poked his chest.

"And V? Throw away the condom next time," Jungkook whispered, and then clicked his tongue and turned around to walk into the class.

V stilled for a few seconds, and then looked away, smirking a bit to himself. "Little tease," V mumbled to himself, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking into the class.

https://jeontaeh.tumblr.com/post/647263269411799041/five

[skelenyxx]

2 - We Only Want to be Ourselves ~ WOR

"We are the in between, cast down as sons of war.  Struck to the earth like lightning, on this world we're torn.  We won't cause the pain, of living out their law.  Take joy in who you are, we know our wings are flawed." ~ Fallen Angels

.•*•.•*•.•*•.

Andy entered first. I was immediately struck by his height. Any fangirl with a computer knew that he was six foot four, but I'd never really taken in how tall that actually was. He was just about a foot taller than me. I was five foot five and he completely towered over me.

Even from where I was at, I could clearly see his intense blue eyes. Those were the same eyes I fell in love with the first time I saw a picture of him. Yeah, I'd had a fangirl crush on him, but I was well over it now. Him and I didn't have a chance, I knew that, but he was still a huge inspiration in my life.

He was wearing his signature clothes, tight black jeans, a ripped up muscle shirt that had the Legion of the Black mask on it, a black leather jacket with the sleeves ripped off revealing his many tattoos, and black boots. His black hair was teased slightly, making his punk-like hairstyle stick out slightly. It was nothing like it used to be back when the band first started out. It had been just past shoulder length until he cut it all off a year or two ago. It had grown out again, but it wasn't quite as long and it was a bit of a different style now. Longer in the back, and a bit shorter in the front. I liked it like that. It looked a little more mature on him, but I still missed his longer hair. It made him look more rebellious.

He was closely followed by both Jake and Jinxx. They were wearing similar clothes to Andy, dark pants, muscle shirts, black boots and leather jackets. Jake had his long black hair teased like Andy, but Jinxx had left his straight. It was different seeing it like that since he used to tease his like Andy and Jake, but recently, as the band's style started changing a bit, Jinxx stopped teasing his hair.

Behind them was Ashley, Ashley freaking Purdy. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a skull on it and a small 69 on the sleeve, and I internally rolled my eyes. Of course he would wear that. He had on black ripped jeans, boots, and his signature star necklace. He too left his long black hair straight.

Then of course, there was CC, who was grinning like a psycho, which was rather usual for him. He had on a simple black t-shirt, dark pants, a leather jacket, black shoes, and a black bandana over his usual long, straight black hair.

But the thing that caught me off guard was the war paint. Every single one of them was wearing their signature war paint. Andy had a horizontal black stripe going across his face along his cheekbones and thick, dark eyeliner around his eyes. Jake had his eye war paint that went out even further than the others' eyeliner and lines protruding from it and pointing down, almost making him look sad. Jinxx wore his diamond eye war paint where black diamonds were drawn over his eyes and a black line protruded horizontally from the corners of his mouth and black lipstick. Ashley was wearing his signature neck painting with a black line going down his neck and multiple horizontal lines going across it. He also had a couple small, black, horizontal lines coming from below his right temple and thick black eyeliner. And CC had his usual tear drop shaped paint on his cheeks and the thick dark eyeliner.

I did a double take on the war paint. Last I'd heard, they'd stopped doing it since they were getting older and their style was changing. I had no clue why they would do it now. They were going to get quite a few weird looks for it, that's for sure.

I took all of it in in less than a few seconds. I briefly looked out at the stands to see what everyone's reactions were. Some students were whistling, some were clapping, a few were grinning like crazy, but the majority of the students were gaping. They obviously had no idea who they were. I was in shock myself, but I couldn't help but smile. They were here because of me, I had gotten them here, even if I'd had no idea they were coming. It took everything I had to keep from fangirling there in front of everyone, but my smile continued to get bigger and bigger. When the guys saw my reaction, they smirked. Well, all except for CC, who was still grinning like a maniac. That's CC for you though. He's like a giant kid.

They joined us in the center of the gym floor which we used as the "stage". They were standing a few feet from me and their stance kind of intimidated me. I felt like shrinking into the floor. Then I realized there was nothing to be afraid of. I'd stood in front of this many people many times before, so why was I having a problem now?  Perhaps I was just nervous I'd make a fool of myself in front of my favorite band.

I pushed that out of my head, unable to afford the distraction at a time like this. It was, after all, my grade and graduation on the line with this project. I had to relax and focus on what lie ahead. I could do this. I kept repeating that in my head. Keep your cool. I can do this. I can do this.

Mr. Gulbranson handed the microphone to Andy to begin the introductions.

"Hey guys, my name is Andy Biersack and I'm the lead singer of Black Veil Brides," he said in his signature unusually deep voice. "We want to thank Katrina here for sending out that invitation for this to happen. Even though she didn't know we were coming, we wouldn't be here if she hadn't started this. We're really excited to be here and spend the week with you guys and get to know you all and, hopefully, help Katrina out with her Senior project." He looked over and smiled at me. Oh god, I could feel the heat rising to my face, indicating I was definitely blushing.

He handed the mic to Jake. "Hey everyone. My name is Jake Pitts and I'm the lead guitarist for Black Veil Brides." He grinned and handed the mic to Jinxx.

"Hey everyone, I'm Jinxx and I'm the rhythm guitarist and violinist for Black Veil Brides." He smiled, his blue eyes twinkling.

The mic was passed to Ashley and he too introduced himself. "My name's Ashley Purdy and I'm the bassist for Black Veil Brides." He winked. Ashley was the well known womanizer of the group, known for his constant one night stands with girls. Yet, somehow, he managed to get girls to fall head over heels for him, even though its pretty obvious that they mostly likely don't have a chance of lasting with him. I mean, yes, he was hot as hell and quite the charmer and a nice guy, but he was still a player.

Then CC took the mic from him, jumping up and down slightly, making him seem as thought he were and overgrown kid. "You motherfuckers ready for this!?" Mr. Gulbranson glared at him, which made people laugh and made CC smile even bigger, if that was even possible. "I'm Christian Coma, but you can call me CC, and I am the drummer for Black Veil Brides." He handed the mic to Jinxx who chuckled at his enthusiasm.

"So, just like Andy said, thank you Katrina for setting this up. We're excited about this week and we want you all to treat us like we're any other students here. But keep in mind, we're not going to change to your standards of 'normal'. The idea is you're supposed to try and accept us for us. If you really want, you can give us all your hate." I chuckled at his reference, but it appeared that I was the only one other than the guys who got it. "We know how to handle it, but we only want to be ourselves, so get used to it," he continued, smiling at the crowd. He then handed the mic over to me. I took it and carefully tried to recite what I'd been planning on saying if this day should come.

"Um, ok, so first off, thank you guys for coming. As the guys have said multiple times, they are the Black Veil Brides." Some cheers rose from the stands which made me smile. Maybe this week would turn out okay. I shifted my weight and continued, "Please, please don't swamp them asking for pictures and autographs. They are, as of now, everyday students at an everyday school. I can't stress enough how important that is. At the end of the week, I will assess how the student body treated them. Did we treat them as outcasts, or did we learn to accept them? It is your job to try to accept them, every single one of you. If you can learn to accept them, then you can learn to accept anyone. Please, at least try." I glanced over at the guys to see them smiling at me. Well, accept for CC who was still jumping around. Still? He must've had like 50 Monsters before he got here. It gave me a confidence boost, seeing them. "Before we go back to class, does anyone have any questions for any of the guys?"

Only a few hands rose, so I handed the mic to Andy and let him choose hands one by one.

First, a girl with black eyeliner, dark hair, and many band bracelets stood and asked, "Have you done this at other schools?"

"No, this is the first time, but you never know, this might become a common thing." Andy replied honestly, smiling.

The next girl shot out of her seat before she had even been called on and began spewing her question at Andy. She was thin as a twig, bleach blonde, and had a high pitched, squeaky voice. It was Savannah Pates, a particularly popular girl from my class, and one of my repeated harassers. I put up with her just fine, but I knew she would be one of the people to give the guys a hard time, and that was going to be a pain.

"What's up with the weird makeup?" She asked accusingly, a smug look upon her face. Another girl shot from her seat across the bleachers, an obvious fan since she was wearing Black Veil Brides bracelets, a Black Veil Brides shirt, and a BVB necklace.

"Number one, it's war paint, not makeup. Number two, they can do whatever the hell they want to. It's their style." I'm pretty sure I recognized the girl. She was a Sophomore, I think, probably in one of the classes that I was a teacher's aid in.

"Makeup is for girls, unless your gay." Savannah spat back. The Sophomore girl looked like she was about to say something, but Mr. Gulbranson got involved before she could.

"ENOUGH!" He yelled. He took the mic from Andy, who was looking sort of shocked. "Is thsi really how you want to present our school to our guests?" Crickets. "Everyone has five minutes to get to their second period class," he said into the mic, rage seething in every word. "Go." Students grabbed their bags and scrambled to the doors.

I looked over to him, silently asking if that included me. He nodded his head and I scrambled up the bleachers to get my bags and out the doors, not even looking back, but my heart soaring.

[lizhly-writes]

the waking world

prompt: “I don’t even like coffee.”

Notes: This was supposed to be 500 words.  I went five times over that and I think I ended up world-building enough to make a novel.  Fun times.

The smell of fresh coffee wafts through the air.  This is odd, because Chris is pretty sure that it’s too dark for Naomi to be awake enough to be physically capable of making coffee.  Ha, maybe Naomi felt like getting up early for once and — 

What’s she even thinking, it’s not like Naomi lives here anymore or anything like that.

Chris cracks an eye open.  Shuts it.  Opens it again.   But no matter how many times she blinks, Mike is still standing there in front of her bed, a steaming cup of coffee in each hand.  

Chris doesn’t even need to get out of bed to smell the unreality coming off it.  It’s not just coffee, it’s Waking coffee, and that’s enough for her to shove her head under her pillow and pretend that Mike doesn’t exist.

“Chris,” says Mike with his typical mom-voice. 

“Nghhh,” says Chris.

“C’mon.  Don’t be like that.”

“Do you have any fucking idea what time it is,” Chris says into her sheets.  “That’s a genuine question, because I don’t know, I just know that it’s still fucking dark out which means sane people are asleep.”

“Christina.”

“Don’t Christina me, I don’t even want to be awake, why the fuck would I want to be Awake.”

“Boss’s calling for you.”

“Tell Boss-man to suck it.  It’s too early to be Awake.”

“Yeah,” Mike says, something heavy in his tone that Chris doesn’t like.  “But Boss is calling for everyone.”

“…Everyone, huh?”

Now that is something just weird enough to pay attention to.  Calling for everyone is just something that Boss doesn’t do, not without a good reason.

Chris pushes herself up to a sitting position, eying Mike warily.  In the end, Mike says exactly what she expects him to: “Emergency.  All hands on deck, apparently.”

She totally called it.

Chris sighs, swings her legs over her bed, and makes a wild grab for her stuff, hugging it to her chest.  “Okay.  Yeah.  What about it?”

“Does ‘Devourer’ ring a bell?”

Chris frowns. “A Devou—” 

And then it hits her.  

A Devourer.  Yeah, it fucking rings a bell. 

“Holy shit, gimme,” Chris snarls, snatching the coffee out of his hands.  The scent of it turns her stomach, worse than regular coffee does, but she pushes past it and chugs.  It burns her senses and her throat on the way down.  

Fuck, does it burn.

“Yeah, see, this is why Boss wanted you specifically,” Mike says, watching her drink like a creep.  “You should probably slow down, you’re going to injure yourself.”

Chris slams her cup down on her nightstand.  “Not fucking likely.”  If he was worried about that, he would’ve gotten her an energy drink from the Waking World instead.  Works just as well without the heat and lingering PTSD, but noooo.  

One thing she can say about the coffee is that it does its job quick.  She can already see the realities overlapping, colors getting brighter, world sharpening around the edges.  She shuts her eyes, makes use of the transition moment to swing on her pack, snap her goggles in place, tie her bandanna around her nose and mouth.

By the time she opens her eyes, she’s Awake.  

They’re in the Boss-man’s shop.  There are some Insomniacs already there, all with their faces covered.  It’s a necessity — for someone from the Sleeping World, the Waking World is sensory overload, everything too bright, too loud, too intense.  Back in the Sleeping World, Chris’s blurry, tinted goggles would’ve blinded her; her thick bandanna would’ve meant if she could smell anything at all, it’d have been a figment of her imagination.

Here?  It’s barely enough.  She’s already got the beginnings of a headache from the harsh lights, and the smell — it’s all coffee.  From the other Insomniacs who had to down a cup to Wake up, from the pungent taste lingering in the back of her own throat, from the fact that the Boss’s shop is a coffee shop. 

Chris doesn’t even like coffee normally.  It is so much worse here.

Just when she thinks she’s about to throw up, there is a voice.  “Thank you for coming at such a late hour,” it says.  “We have a bit of a problem on our hands.”

Chris whirls around.  The owner of voice is the Boss, who’s popped up behind the register, placidly pouring a cup of coffee.  He works right in his own shop, does the prettiest latte art with the foamed milk even with his shaky hands.  You’d never think an old man like him would be in charge of a bunch of bandanna-wearing misfits like them.

And yet.  

“We’ve noticed some disappearances over the week,” he continues.  “Ten total around our territory.  We believed it to be a highly unfortunate but thoroughly mundane series of events, until one of our own went missing.”

He exhales hard.  “Andrea Zhao.  She was investigating the disappearances, and detected Nightmare activity at every last reported sighting of the victims.  She was looking at the tenth when she became a victim of a Nightmare herself, just an hour ago.  Ethan Yu —” he jerks his head to a tired, tight-lipped man at the counter — “reports the culprit to be a Devourer.”  

Chris reflexively cringes — a Devourer is not a pretty way to go — before she… pauses.  Furrows her brows. “Hang on.  An hour ago?”

Here, in this part of the Waking World, it’s late afternon.  An hour ago would’ve made it dangerously close to high noon, which is flat-out too bright for most Insomniacs to even walk around in, let alone do their job.  And considering her partner isn’t masked at all —

That meant Andrea Zhao had to have been native to the Waking World.

“It’s too bright even now, what do you mean an hour ago—”

“How does that even—”

“Are you saying she could walk around in this kind of light—”

The Boss inclines his head.  “Yes.  Andrea Zhao lived in this world.”

“That’s not even possible.”

Nightmares are from the Dreaming World, and as such, they can only infect things that belong to the Dreaming World — intangibles, like memories, dreams, emotions, Insomniacs.  Flat-out eating an Awake? 

It should be impossible.

“Yes,” says the Boss.  “I thought so as well.  And yet.”  He waves his hand over to Ethan Yu.  “Andrea Zhao.”

Andrea Zhao should have been safe.  

There is a moment of silence.  

“Your task will be to take it down, before it can terrorize more of the Awake.  We’ll give you an hour or so before we start sending in some of the Awake.  Prevent collateral and observe — any information we can get on it should be useful.” 

“Where is it?” Chris cuts in.

The Boss glances over at her.  It’s Ethan Yu who says, “Corner of Devian and Arcord.”

“Right,” says Chris, and that’s all the information she needs to fucking vanish.

When you’re in the World of the Awake and you’re from the Sleeping World, you get some neat perks.  For example, you’re only real as you think you are.  If you’re not real, you’re imaginary, and if you’re imaginary, you can be anywhere.

One moment she’s in the Boss’s coffeeshop.  The next, she isn’t, and she’s right at the corner of Devian and Arcord, just like Ethan said, and she hooks a finger under her bandana and drags it down. 

Most Insomniacs have their senses deadened after too much exposure to the sensory overload that is the Waking World.  Chris?  Chris is good at compartmentalization and contradiction and fine-tuning bits of her head she wants to be real and which she doesn’t.

A good whiff of the air — she can ignore the overload if she isn’t real enough to feel overload — and under the sharp scents of the Awake is something distinctly of the Dreaming World.  Too strong for it to be any of her fellow Insomniacs, who contaminated themselves with a little something of the Waking World to even get there.  It’s got to be the Nightmare.

Another flicker out of existence, and there it is.

The Devourer, a Nightmare that eats and eats and never stops eating, with the special ability to hold on to what its meals used to be and replicate them.  It’s a mess of the faces and heads of fellow Insomniacs, filling the space with the whispers and memories and emotions of things that it’s devoured.  This one’s turned the alleyway, nosing around like there’s something tasty to be found in the dumpster.

Chris sees this kind of Nightmare in her own nightmares. Nothing like the grotesquely reanimated bits and pieces of your old friends and comrades to keep the fear alive.  Andrea Zhao is a fresh victim — her head’s probably somewhere on top.

Chris is so glad she never knew Andrea Zhao.  

What’s important to remember when dealing with Nightmares is that they shouldn’t be real.  Therefore, neither should you.  If you’re fearless enough, good enough at straddling the boundary between reality and unreality, you can dive through the Nightmare and wake the Dreamer who spawned it.  Wake the Dreamer, end the Dream.  The best way to do things, if you’re careful enough to avoid getting eaten yourself.

Chris doesn’t have that kind of fearlessness.  What she does have is a sword, and all she needs to do is pull from over her back.  

She’d had it even before Waking was ever a concept, because how cool is it to own your own sword?  It’s a beautiful thing of shining steel that she keeps religiously oiled and sharpened.  It’s remained unbroken for far longer than it should have.  Not that Chris is complaining.  

“C’mon, motherfucker,” Chris mutters, eyes on the prize as its faces tilt up and catch her own scent.  “Come at me.”

If you can’t do finesse?  Brute force is your best friend.  

It’s easy, really.  Step to the left, step to the right, make sure the adrenaline in her veins is just real enough to give her a boost without making her shaky, remember that all those memories and emotions aren’t —

You’re sleep-deprived and trying so hard to finish your paper, you’ve had so many cups of coffee you’ve lost count, and great, now you’re hallucinating, this is the worst caffeine trip you’ve ever had, what is that thing that’s —

Stab.

Where are you, you knew you shouldn’t have gone out for a smoke when you were this tired, you get lost in your head and now — ha, wow, what the fuck is that —

Stab.

You found it, and maybe you’re a little tired from all this searching and connecting the dots, but you was right, it was a Nightmare all along, but that’s Ethan’s horrified face as you tell him you’re fine, there’s no need to — 

Stab.

The taste of coffee, cinnamon, whipped cream.  It’s the best thing you’ve ever had, and you want to down the cup in one go, but you’re a nice person so you offer a sip to your best friend, who wrinkles her nose and says, “Naomi, I told you I don’t even like coffee” and you whine, “But Chris —”

Wait.

Chris stills and actually looks up for once.  There’s a face staring back at her, wide-eyed and gape-mouthed and screaming, and Chris knows that face.

Your head is spinning and maybe you shouldn’t have had the coffee all in one go?  But caffeine isn’t supposed to do anything to you but the colors are going sharp and when Chris dryly offers you a shoulder to lean on, you take it, she’s such a good friend, rea —

That’s Naomi, which means that’s Naomi’s coffee in her mouth and Naomi’s voice that Chris is hearing in her head and —

“What the hell is that?” you scream and Chris yanks at your hand and says who the fuck cares, how about we run the fuck away — 

“So you’re the bastard that did it.”

That’s the absolute bastard that pulled her into the whole Waking-Dreaming business to begin with.

“C’mon, take a sip,” Naomi’d said, so Chris did, but the coffee had been contaminated with Waking somehow, and gotten them both pulled to the Waking World where this thing was waiting and —

You’re fucking terrified, this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, and at least you have Chris but Chris is vanishing in your hands, her eyes wide as she fades away and she’s screaming your name —

Later, Chris had looked into it.  Turns out, Chris had gotten a small enough dose that she’d been snapped back to the Dreaming World within minutes, perfectly safe.  

Naomi?  Not so much.

“I’m going to fucking end you,” Chris says brightly.