#the ghost seal was something i just kinda threw in

[little-pondhead]

I had a vision.

That vision was of AGIT Dan with shorter hair and snake bite piercings.

[grey-water-colors]

After All This Time (Bucky Barnes X Fem!Reader) Part 2

I went ahead and wrote the second chapter, I was so excited. I did a lot of research on PTSD and the triggers. I may not have a full grasp on it, but I hope I at least got some of it right. I feel kinda iffy on writing the characters, but I did my best to stay true to who they are. I hope you like this chapter!

Summary: The real world is a scary place, even more so when you’re alone. You live alone in a apartment filed with the ghosts of your memories. You’ve both changed since you last met your fiancé, but can love mend the gap after all this time.

Pairing: Bucky X Fem!Reader

Warnings: Mentions of torture, violence, yelling. Talks about triggers and PTSD. Mentions of death and killing. If there are any that I missed please let me know!

Word Count: 2,492

Part 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Steve, I don’t understand why you’re dragging me out here to this museum.”

“They told me that they made a new addition to the Captain America exhibit and I didn’t want to go alone.”

Bucky clenched his vibranium hand and continued to follow Steve. “Did they at least tell you what it’s about?”

Steve sighed, “No, they didn’t. I wish they had though, I hate going into these things blind. Who knows what they’ve dug up.

“Steve, did you find it?”

“Uh, yeah Buck. I don’t think you want to see it though. It’s something they had no business digging in”

“What is it Steve. And don’t even think of lying to me, I know you too well.”

Steve sighed and led Bucky to the new exhibit. A memorial just like Bucky’s, but it was dedicated to Y/N L/N.

Bucky scoffed but read it out loud anyways. “Y/N L/N was a childhood friend of both Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Y/N met the two in 1923 and they were close ever since. In 1941 record says that she became engaged to Sargent Barnes, but never married. Y/N was drafted as an Army Nurse but died in Germany in 1944.” A picture of her before the war and in a case were her dog tags, which was weird. If she hadn’t been found, how were her tags here.

Bucky trailed off, the rest just going on about what kind of person she was. They stood in silence for a while, both staring at her picture. Steve finally broke the silence, “How much of her do you remember?”

Bucky looked away and tried to remember the girl in front of him. Flashes of smiles, tears, and laughter floated through his head, but he could only focus on one memory.

“I don’t remember her before the war.” Steve’s head moved to look at Bucky so fast that his neck cracked.

“What do you mean before the war Buck.”

He looked at Steve and backed up until he could collapse on a bench. A deep breath then, “I remember seeing her when I was the Winter Soldier. I vaguely remember a mission, maybe a couple, and then an order. I couldn’t help myself. All I could do was watch as I choked her to death, them dragging her away after declaring her dead.”

He shook his head as if he could erase the memory, make it disappear to never see again.

“If you killed her-“ Steve paused, “If you went on missions with her then she didn’t die in 1944. She was captured by Hydra. Then there could be a possibility that she, well that she could still be alive. Could it be possible that it was staged? Buck is there any chance at all that she could still be alive?”

Bucky shook his head again and looked at his hands. “I felt it Steve, I felt her neck crush. There’s no way she survived that.”

He took a deep sigh and felt the world shift, his heart plummeted to the ground as he realized the full gravity of what happened. “Oh god. Oh god, I killed her. I killed my fiancé, Steve.”

Steve just sat down next to Bucky, still in shock. She had been a good friend to Steve. They had come from similar backgrounds, hell they had grown up together, she understood him in a way that Bucky never could have at the time. She had been there when needed and even when she wasn’t. A ray of sunshine in a dreary New York. He had taken a picture of them after Bucky had proposed. They were all so happy.

It shook Steve to his core that Hydra had gotten their hands on her. He couldn’t imagine the horrors that she had gone through, might still be going through much like his best friend. Was she as much of a shell as Bucky?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It felt good to walk into her apartment without having to break in. She had hassled every office and bank that had her name in its databases to get her back as a registered live, human being. And to get electricity and water going to her place.

She had already been living in the apartment, but now she could cook, light a fire, and make noise. With her accounts opened again, she bought a couple pairs of clothes to wear while she cleaned the place.

Starting with the kitchen she cleaned every surface, threw away all the canned food that had been left behind.

By the time she had finished cleaning, she was physically exhausted, but she couldn’t bring herself to sleep in the master bedroom. She had managed to turn off her emotions for the day. No tears had been spilled because there had been work to get done. But her new superpower didn’t work now that she had nothing to do. Y/N stood in the middle of the living room desperately trying to stuff her emotions back into the box they had been in, but they had seen their chance and taken it.

Tears filled her eyes and she took her first real look around the place she had once called home. It was like she had never left at all. A place for everything and everything in its place. She turned to face the worn leather wingback. The thick blanket draped over the back just like it always had. She shuffled over to the chair and sat down in it. The leather was cold but familiar with the smell of her life before the war. Ghosts of days past floated through the air around her. She curled up in the chair, thick blanket pulled over her.

Things had been so easy then, and it would be so easy now to just fall back into that time when everything was perfect. Except the person that had helped make it perfect wasn’t here. A tear fell from her cheek onto the leather, and she quickly brushed it off not wanting to ruin the chair.

As she was wallowing in self-pity, a fight broke out on the street below her window, voices piercing the air and pulling her back to a place she never wanted to go again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Project Cecilia had become a nightmare. A nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. The project was a testing ground of trial and error. They tested the trial serums, triggers, enforcers, and everything else to make sure that they wouldn’t damage whoever took the role of Winter Soldier. The project was named after the scientist who did most of the testing.

The serums were bad, it felt like lighting her blood on fire, like hell itself was inside her. But trigger testing was far worse. For every test or experiment, a trigger experiment came after. Is sound more effective than smell? Are words better than sounds? What kind of words work better than others?

Trial and error for over 30 different types of triggers until they settled on a list of words that would mean something to the Winter Soldier. Her mind was blocked off so carefully that she couldn’t remember anything before the last trigger.

Here she was, testing how much electricity a super soldier could take before things started to shut down. And then the doctor walked in. Constantine Cecilia was the man who haunted her dreams. She couldn’t ever quite remember who he was, but somehow she knew that when he arrived, things would be bad.

“How is our little rabbit doing today? I believe a congratulations are in order, you finished testing.”

He put on plastic gloves and his assistant walked up to them both. “She’s due for sound this time.”

The doctor smiled. “Good good.”

Things were going well; the set-up went smoothly. She was ready to receive the trigger, the thing her mind would take as a trauma to seal away all of the bad.

But then a fight broke out, and then people were yelling, screaming at each other. The trigger was set.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shuri had done her best at getting rid of the physical effect of the triggers, and by best, she was completely successful. Unfortunately, there was still an emotional effect that came with the triggers. Certain smells, sounds, colors, and even sometimes emotions would send her spiraling into a memory. Most were memories that terrified her, they brought her back to Hydra and their torture. Some were good, like remembering life before the war.

They happened less at home, surrounded by memories of a past that never hurt. The outside world was what tortured her. Going outside was like sentencing herself to relive the worst of her life.

And she remembered it all. Hydra had done such a good job of playing Tetris with her brain that every time that Shuri released a trigger, she remembered everything. Y/N bet that Dr. Cecilia was laughing in his grave at her tragedy.

Y/N fell asleep under the thick blanket on the chair of the man she had loved more than anything else in the whole world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/N decided to visit the Veterans Center, hoping that they magically had the cure for what Shuri called PTSD. She walked inside and was met with the smell of burnt coffee and laughter down the hall. She followed the noise until she came to what looked like a break room, or a very poor excuse for a kitchen.

A tall man took notice of her and he excused himself to go talk to her.

“Hi, can I help you?”

“I, uhh, came here to talk to someone, hopefully.” Y/N cursed herself for feeling so small. She was a veteran after all. She just fought in a different war.

“Are you a vet?”

“Yes?”

He smiled, “Well then welcome. My name is Sam Wilson. I help run this place. Mostly I work with the people though. Business isn’t really my style.”

Y/N gave a weak smile.

Sam spoke up again, much to her relief. “Why don’t we go somewhere to talk so we aren’t standing in a door way.”

She merely nodded and followed Sam to a room with foldable chairs and a couple beat up sofas.

After they had sat down, and awkward silence filled the air. Sam cleared his throat, “So what’s your name?”

Y/N took a deep breath and “My name is Y/N”

Sam nodded. “What war did you serve in Y/N?”

She froze, of course she could just answer him. She heard there was a whole museum dedicated to the two oldest people on the planet, so why was it so hard?

“You don’t have to tell me if you aren’t comfortable with it. I’m not going to force you into anything here. It’s a safe place.” The genuinely caring smile on his face helped her relax.

“I fought in World War II.”

Sam looked startled for a second. “Excuse me?”

“I was a nurse with the Red Cross in World War II.”

She watched as Sam’s shoulders dropped. Y/N prepared to fight, to tell him that it was true, without going through the horrors that she had witnessed. She prepared to give him the riot act like she had for every person who hadn’t believed her at the bank and social security office.

Instead, he started laughing. “Man, I wonder how many more of you there are out there,” Sam said between breaths.

The look of confusion on her face must have put more puzzle pieces together for him at how lost she really was.

“You… You actually believe me?”

“Yeah I do! I work with the other two.”

She suddenly felt cold, like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over her head. While Shuri had told her about James, or Bucky, and about Steve and how they both lived in New York in the Avengers Compound, it had never occurred to her that they were so close. So close, yet so far away. Her heart dropped.

“How exactly do you know them? You said you worked with them, so you must be an Avenger I suppose.”

“How much do you know about this time and place?”

She felt, for the first time since she left Wakanda, that someone understood. Only a fraction maybe, but an understanding all the same. Sam somehow knew that she didn’t know much about the present she found herself in. She didn’t really care to learn either though, the world was scary, and she had to face it alone for the first time in her life.

“Not much. I’ve only been off ice for about 9 and a half months now. Most of that was spent in Wakanda, while Shuri worked on getting rid of my triggers.” The more she talked the more Sam’s face filled with understanding and horror and that scared her.

“You were captured by Hydra weren’t you?”

All she could do was nod, her head held low.

“I won’t ask about that. I know better than that. I can’t even begin to imagine the horrors you’ve been through.

“Well, I’m the Falcon, I fly and I see things really well with my goggles. Other than that I’m just a human, no serum or anything.”

It was like all she could do was nod her head, she had been robbed of words.

“Would it be ok if I went home?”

“Of course! Nothing is keeping you here. I’m glad we met, and you’re more than welcome to come by anytime at all. We do close at 9 pm, but here’s my phone number if you need anything after those hours.”

More nodding. Y/N rushed home.

The first thing she did was climb into the chair, drape the blanket over her, and tell a ghost of what happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sam are you ok? You seem distracted today”

“Yeah. Yeah man I’m good.” Sam looked at Steve for a minute. “Say have you ever met someone named Y/N L/N? She came into the VA today and when I asked what war she fought in she said WWII. She was captured by Hydra. I didn’t press her on it, she got that same look that Bucky does when it gets brought up.”

Steve froze. “What was her name?”

“Y/N L/N, do you know her?”

“Are you sure about what you told me?”

“Yeah. Why? What’s going on?”

“What did she look like?”

“She had H/L hair and E/C eyes. She was about yay-tall” Sam held up a hand to about her height. “Again, do you know her?”

“I promise I’ll tell you later, but I gotta go.”

Steve took off running through the compound until he got to Bucky’s door. He hadn’t seen Bucky since the museum, but this was important. He pounded on the door, “Buck! Bucky! Open the door!”

A quiet mumbled “Go away Steve” came as a response.

“Bucky,” Steve pleaded. “She’s alive. Sam met her today.”

Silence.

Then the door opened. “Where?”

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 19, part two

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

The Man Comes Around

Over at the Wen Indoctrination Tower, which seems to exist just to torture Lan Wangji with stair climbing, Lan Wangji is climbing the stairs. Too bad his cultivation level is too low to be able to just jump up. At least this time his leg isn't broken.

This is the first vengeful stair-climb in the show, but not the last. (Parallel gifset here).

The Wen guards are stationed all the way at the pinnacle of this tower to guard...what? Why are they not at the bottom of the stairs? What is this location for, actually? This is further up the stairs than the scenes with the indoctrination lectures. Anyway, it's been three months since Wen Chao threw Wei Wuxian into the burial mounds, so naturally these guards are talking about that exact thing as Lan Wangji approaches.

Lan Wangji knocks them all down with a blast from his guqin. Did you know his guqin is named Wangji, by the way? It is. A guy who is that lazy about naming his quqin maybe shouldn't feel so superior to a guy who named his sword "whatever." 

(I'm suddenly remembering a plush lamb I had as a child, whose eyes were orange, that I named "orange eyes.") (I, however, was three. And I had a lot of plush lambs. Little ones. Grown-ups found it hilarious to give them to me.) (Native speakers of English can probably guess what OP's real name is. Hint: it rhymes with Canary.) (Everybody else: there is a kid's rhyming song called Mary Had A Little Lamb. OP's name is Mary.)

Anyhoo, after Lan Wangji is finally finished with his dramatic entrance, Jiang Cheng comes flying in from wherever he's been hovering for the past 20 minutes of stair time. A bunch of Lan sidekicks also flood into the frame from wherever they were hiding during the wide shots of LWJ on the staircase.

In case you hope that CQL Lan Wangji is as much of a top (offscreen) as MZDS Lan Wangji is (on the page), here's a gif for you.

(more after the cut)

He uses the patented Lan string attack to choke this guard.  Lan Wangji doesn't have to hold a guqin string in his hands to choke someone with it. He doesn't even have to tighten it, judging by how absurdly not-tight this string is.

Or maybe this guy is choking on the chin strap of his helmet. This is exactly how OP's son reacts when OP sticks a bike helmet on him. (Note: it's GOOD that they are following choking safety protocols on set. Very good. However, they could have just left the string out and pretended, and it would look better, in this instance)

The Wen guard tells Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng about the whole "thrown into the burial mounds" thing.  Team Let's Find Wei Wuxian is not happy to hear this.

A Vengeful Ghost

Meanwhile, in some Wen office somewhere? Where the hell is this? Yiling, we get an ominous shot of the rooftops where Wei Wuxian is lurking and then we see Wang Lingjiao trying to sleep and having a nightmare.

Wang Lingjiao has gone to sleep with a full face of makeup on instead of washing her face before bed. She has forgotten the important maxim, Go To Sleep Pretty, Wake Up Zitty.

She leaps out of bed to go cling to Wen Chao and freak out about Wei Wuxian's ghost. Wen Chao is trying to read the sports section and has clearly had enough of this crap. This has presumably been going on for a little while now.

Wang Lingjiao is in a new outfit, which is...pajamas? It has the feel of a 1930's French peignoir set, and it's much more softly colored than her usual bright red-purple combo. If this is her pajamas is it weird that her day clothes are a lot more aggressively sexy-looking than her nightgown? A freak in the streets but a lady in the sheets.

Wen Chao rants about the Sunshot Campaign and talks some smack about Wen Qing, and then leaves to go to the bar and watch the game with Wen Zhuliu. After he leaves Wang Lingjiao freaks out for a bit and then looks at the notice he was reading.

The notice basically says that the Sunshot Campaign is kicking their ass. She should be proud for inspiring the name of the campaign with that kite-shooting bullshit she made up at Lotus Pier. Before slaughtering everyone.

No Matter What You Do, I Only Want To Be With You

Back at the Indoctrination Tower, Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng are having feelings about Wei Wuxian. Jiang Chang does all the talking but Lan Wangji's thoughts are louder because a sad violin is playing Wangxian while they talk.

Jiang Cheng tells Lan Wangji about their meetup plan and says he thought WWX had dumped him to go find Lan Wangji in Lanling. Lan Wangji telepathically indicates that this didn’t happen. This means two things: 1. Lan Wangji has been hanging out in Lanling, where Jiang Yanli has been hanging out, so maybe they have bonded over the past 3 months and 2. This is the first time Jiang Cheng has talked to Lan Wangji since Wei Wuxian disappeared. 

Much as my fic-loving heart would like to believe these two spent three months on the road together looking for Wei Wuxian, in fact they are both important high-level fighters in an active military campaign, and Lan Wangji was busy taking back the Cloud Recesses while Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian were having elective surgery. They probably both were assigned to the "Indoctrination Bureau" mission and this is the first chance they've had to talk about Wei Wuxian.

Is it heartbreaking that, while Wei Wuxian was helplessly getting his ass beat because he'd sacrificed his golden core for Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng believed Wei Wuxian had abandoned him for Lan Wangji? Yes. Yes it is.

For some reason Jiang Cheng is hesitant to believe that Wei Wuxian really was thrown into the Burial Mounds. I mean, I understand not wanting to believe Wei Wuxian is dead, but given that Wen Chao is the dude who oversaw the massacre of all of the people at Lotus Pier, including kids, why would Jiang Cheng think his guards are wrong? Maybe he just feels like Wei Wuxian is invincible, since so far he kinda has been. 

The Sword is Mightier Than Not Having a Sword

While they've been chatting, the Lan disciples have found their swords. One disciple is holding Bichen (LWJ's sword), Sandu (JC's sword), and OP consults wiki Suihua (Jin Zixuan's sword). Another disciple is holding Subian (WWX's sword).  

Jiang Cheng grabs Sandu while the Lan disciples, who apparently know their gongzi’s heart, offer Wei Wuxian's sword to Lan Wangji. 

Lan Wangji takes Subian (Bichen: What am I, chopped watercress?) and immediately tries to draw it. Like you don't do. It's sealed itself, which apparently means that it's upset. It's unclear if it's upset because Wei Wuxian is dead or if it just misses him, however.  

Lan Wangji definitely misses him, and wonders, out loud inside his own head, where Wei Wuxian is. Um, he's in the Burial Mounds, dude, they just told you. Well, I guess he's actually in Yiling proper at this point, haunting Wang Lingjiao as he promised her he would.

Twa Corbies

The scene shifts to Qinghe, where there are about 12 dead bodies lying around, which in this show means that there are really a few hundred. In fact, per Jiang Yanli's statement "nothing can be seen but corpses covering the plains." The camera can't see most of them, is all.

Wen Xu's head is hanging in the doorway, and the Jins talk about how Nie Mingjue killed him, cutting his head off with just one swing. Is this foreshadowing anything, like perhaps someone else's head being cut off by Baxia in just one swing? Nope, definitely not.

A couple of crows are perched on a body, totally not eating it, but Jin Zixuan gallantly zaps them with a talisman to make them fly away anyway.  It might be noteworthy that nobody used to use talismans but gradually more and more people are using them - particularly people who have spent time with Wei Wuxian.

With mony a lock of his golden hair-o, we’ll theek our nest when it grows bare-o

Asshole cousin Jin Zixun says “scavenger rights,” so Jin Zixuan puts him in charge of collecting all the bodies. 

Since OP just finished watching fur-collar-happy Nirvana in Fire, these crows look to me like they are wearing luxurious fur collars. Where OP lives, crows are not this fancy. 

A Romantic Corpse-Filled Interlude

Disaster het Jin Zixuan goes to help Jiang Yanli get out of the carriage but she rejects his hand just like he rejected hers back in Gusu.

Jiang Yanli is extremely shocked when she sees Wen Xu's severed head, and turns away in horror, preferring to calmly rest her eyes on dozens of crow-pecked corpses.

Jin Zixuan tries to comfort her and she tells him she'll be going now, thanks for the hospitality. He tries to say that he has to personally deliver her to a representative of the patriarchy one of her brothers, but then one of her brothers shows up.

Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng arrive, having presumably flown there from Qishan. They show that they are flying by blowing a fan on the ground and then jumping off of a box, which is better than the effects we were subjected to earlier in the episode.

Jiang Cheng rushes over to have an emotional reunion with Jiang Yanli, while Lan Wangji rushes over to have an emotional reunion with Wen Xu’s severed head. Jin Zixuan kind of spoils it for him by talking about Wei Wuxian's absence while Lan Wangji is trying to have a moment.

The whole time Jin Zixuan is talking to him, Lan Wangji appears to be gazing into the middle distance but in fact he is staring at Wen Xu's severed head. This is the guy who led the burning of Cloud Recesses, killed a bunch of disciples, and personally broke Lan Wangji's leg. Lan Wangji stares at his head for more than a full minute before glancing away.

Jiang Yanli hasn't seen Jiang Cheng since they were in Wen Qing's clinic, and she is happy he's recovered. When she asks about Wei Wuxian he gives her the bad news in the classic Jiang fashion, which is to say nothing, but look stricken until your interlocutor figures out that something is horribly wrong, but not precisely what.

Four Angry Men

Inside the fortress, Nie Mingjue is slapping the table and saying, this bad boy can hold so much resentment and vengeance. They're having a mini war council and we're getting a better sense of Nie Mingjue's anger management problem. Note for those who don't get the gif reference: this is a The Godfather joke, not a sex joke, but it can be both, if you like.

We're also getting a little more info about Baxia, who seems to be eager to go fight even without anyone wielding it. (Her? Him? Them? do swords have gender? I don't know). Well done, person below the camera frame whose job is to rattle Baxia in a menacing manner.

They've got a giant model of the battle targets, which looks like it was carved out of real rock (I mean, as much as any of the rocks on this show look like real rocks) and has its own table and everything, decorated in Nie colors. Where was this before they took Qinghe back? Has Nie Mingjue been traveling with it? 

Anyway, I'm assuming Nie Huaisang made it, because it's pretty nice. Hopefully they will keep it around for tabletop gaming after the war is over.

Jiang Cheng is upset but is using his anger management mantra to help control his temper while Jin Zixuan and Lan Wangji talk with Nie Mingjue. 

Lan Wangji talks by leaning forward meaningfully, mostly not by using any words, but he asks for a battle assignment and Jiang Cheng immediately joins in. They both want to go find Wei Wuxian. 

Nie Mingjue says Yiling is too difficult of a target, but Lan Wangji puts on his determined face, which is apparently very persuasive.  

After Team Find Wei Wuxian leaves, Nie Mingjue asks Jin Zixuan to hang back so he can ask him how Meng Yao is doing. This is the first time he finds out that his ex didn't go to Lanling. Jin Zixuan tries to delicately remind him that Dad's got, like, SO many bastard children, they really don't have space for all of them. Nie Mingjue dismisses him immediately and abruptly. 

Nie Mingjue might invite the straights to his party but he isn't interested in actually socializing with them.

Unconditional Soup is Only for A-Xian

Jiang Cheng can't sleep, and takes some time, now, to be sad about Wei Wuxian. Presumably he spent the prior 3 months being mad, not sad, because he really thought he just buggered off without saying anything for all that time. Which is sort of fair, but sort of not. One thing about these two bros is that for as close as they have been and as much as they love each other, their mutual understanding has some big, messy gaps.

Fortunately while he is feeling sad, Jiang Cheng does not try to draw Subian from its sheath, because wouldn't THAT be awkward.

Jiang Yanli can't sleep either, and comes to sit with him. Jiang Cheng feels bad that she's wearing herself out with worry and she says "As your sister, I have nothing to do but to worry about you." Jiang Yanli isn't one to complain but she doesn't like being inactive or helpless. In Lanling she was far from the war, but now that she's in Qinghe she'll make herself useful by tending the wounded, and later she'll help Jiang Cheng shoulder his responsibilities as he takes over the Jiang clan.

At the moment, however, all she can do is fret and make soup. As she gives Jiang Cheng a bowlful she reminds him that he absolutely has to rescue their brother who has, according to his captors, been reduced to bone dust.

With all the impossible shit that Jiang Cheng is expected to achieve - and in many instances, does achieve - he is absolutely the embodiment of the Jiang Clan's motto. Fuck his father for disrespecting him because he hadn't figured out how to do everything by the age of 16.

Definitely Not Chilling in Yiling

Back in Yiling, Wen Chao is hearing the news that the Qishan Indoctrination Bureau has fallen and that he's being called back to Nightless City. Wen Chao says he shouldn't need to go back because his dad has a new right-hand man. That new right-hand man, we will eventually learn, is Meng Yao. Wang Lingjiao, meanwhile, is hiding under the bed covers and deciding it's time to dump Wen Chao.

She locks the door and goes to pull out her jewelry box, which is locked and hidden under the bed. Maybe this is Wen Chao's jewelry box, because she acts kind of squirrely about opening it. Upon opening the jewelry box, she doesn't find jewelry but a pair of bloody fake eyeballs staring at her.  She screams and freaks out and then the wind picks up and we hear the sound of a flute, playing the "I'm here to fuck your shit up" tune that Wei Wuxian likes.

Wang Lingjiao runs to the door and pulls down the protection talisman that's pasted above it, and pastes it directly to her chest instead, which is, we will learn in the next episode, the worst idea she could possibly have at this point.

Then she uses a poking stick to go flip the jewelry box open and finds it's full of ugly-ass jewelry again, plus an improbable number of weird round paper-mache biscuits that have been painted gold. None of this jewelry looks anything like the exquisite accessories people wear in this show, which means this stash was put together by the practical effects department, not by the costume department.

Anyway, Wang Lingjiao apparently thinks she can sell this fakeass stuff for a good price, so more power to her. But then we get a short glimpse of the menacing eyeballs again, this time on the floor, having moved out of the box and brought their little blood pool with them. Screeching ensues.

Next episode: Lady in Red!

Soundtrack: Twa Corbies, by Steeleye Span

[sideofmango]

You Have My Heart...

Word Count: 2.14 k Pronouns: feminine (she/her) Pairings: K. Bakugou x reader Warnings: gore, dark fic ahead, violence, cursing, death

Thanks Marie ( @dailydoseofscenarios​) for letting me be part of the server event! I had a lot of fun writing this, and as you can tell, I took the prompt kinda literally...anyways....I hope you like it! Don’t forget to check out all of the other fics in this event under the server event hashtag!

The ash blonde sat in the oversized red leather arm chair that faced the large window overlooking her garden. He let out a soft sigh, readjusting his position to get more comfortable as he leaned his chin in the palm of his hand. 

“What am I supposed to get her, that she doesn’t already have?” He questioned aloud, his crimson eyes shifting to the side as the large dog beside the chair let out a sigh himself moving into a laying down position, as if to say, I don’t know why you’re asking me. 

“You aren’t very helpful, Khan.” Katsuki muttered, as his eyes focused back on the window, a ghost of a smile pulling at his lips at the sight of his beloved wife in the garden below. Khan let out a whine in protest, as a close lipped smile grew on his owner’s face a moment later. “I’ll ask Shitty Hair.” Katsuki stood to his full height, the large black dog standing as well, prepared to follow him.

The ash blonde and his loyal dog walked down the long expanses of hallway, ornately decorated with golden accents, on the way to his private quarters. “Good day, Master Bakugou. Please give my best to the Mistress.” A few servants said as he passed them in the hallway, simply nodding in acknowledgement before he closed the heavy wooden doors to his study.

“Khan get me the ink.” Bakugou stated without looking up from where he was writing, the quill held firmly in his left hand, an almost empty ink well beside the letter he was in the process of writing to his best friend. “Good boy.” He threw the dog a treat as a reward before going back to writing, Khan settling at Bakugou’s feet once more in content silence.

“Dear Shitty Hair, Help me or else. What do I get Big Hair for Valentine’s Day? Come over and help me now. I won’t help you next time with Raccoon Eyes if you don’t help me. Signed, K. Bakugou.” The explosive man read aloud, nodding once before shoving it roughly into an envelope. He scribbled the information down before sealing the expensive stationary with golden wax, pressing the Bakugou Family Crest into the warm wax to leave an imprint.

“You!” Bakugou’s loud voice startled the butler walking past him in the hallway, the man blinking up at his employer nervously. 

“Master Bakugou?”

“I don’t care how you get this to Kirishima, just do it. And get it there by this afternoon.” Bakugou told him before walking away. He didn’t have to tell anyone anything twice, and he liked that.

A number of hours later, one of the servants announced that Kirishima had arrived, while Mina went to the garden to spend time with (y/n). 

“So is there a reason a winded man servant showed up at my door some time ago? You aren’t a father yet...are you?”

The ash blonde scoffed, quickly dismissing the idea with a roll of his eyes. “Fuck no.”

“Well, you aren’t getting any younger...”

“Well, I’m not getting any older either...”

“Don’t counter my point with another point.” Kirishima argued back as Bakugou rolled his eyes and flipped the redhead off with a small smirk.

“Whatever.” Bakugou stated as they both sat down in a chair. “I can’t think of anything to get (y/n) for Valentine’s Day.”

“It’s your anniversary, too right?” Bakugou nodded. “How many years?”

“183.” Bakugou said after a moment in thought. Kirishima stayed quiet as he thought.

“Do you remember how we all met each other?”

“You mean on our wedding night?” The blonde snorted as Kirishima rolled his eyes.

“Well, I guess...but you remember the first time you saw her right?”

“Well yeah, but she was just an extra then...I didn’t even know she was the woman I was going to marry.”

“What did you do? You weren’t an asshole to her, were you?” Bakugou simply glared at Kirishima. “Damn, you were.” Kirishima frowned.

“That’s a lie, Shitty Hair!”

“Whatever, just give her something super unconventional. Mina loves those types of gifts.” 

“Like what?”

“Well, you remember those super exclusive auction seats that we scored a few decades back?”

“Which ones? The Body is Art ones?”

“Yeah...well, I contacted Pierre and he lined up this whole private show and he let me harvest the different pieces...anyways, Mina loved it....We ended up keeping a few things.” Kirishima shrugged.

“How did you contact Pierre? Didn’t he say he hated technology?”

“That just what he tells everyone. He owed me a favor from a while ago. Anyways, the man loves you, I’m sure he’d do it for you in a heartbeat.”

“Whatever.” Katsuki shrugged dismissing the idea, but he would definitely look into it later. “Are you staying for dinner or not?”

“Are you asking?”

“Answer the question, Shitty Hair.”

“Sure!” Kirishima smiled widely, showing off his sharp teeth before the pair of friends decided to join their partners outside in the garden.

“Hey Mina?” (Y/n) questioned, looking over at the pink skinned girl who had her back against a tree. Mina’s eyes focused on her, a kind smile on her face.

“I’ve been thinking of what to get Katsuki for Valentine’s Day...and I want your opinion on it...” (y/n) trailed off, growing slightly nervous that Mina would think the gift was weird or stupid.

“If you wanted to model lingerie for me, you could’ve just said that...though Bakugou wouldn’t care if you were in a sack or lace...have you seen the way he looks at you? How do you not have gremlins...I mean children yet?”

“Mina! Get your head out of the gutter! I’m not modeling lingerie for you...right now at least...and we’re too young for children...”

“You’re 200 years old, but keep lying to yourself.” Mina teased as (y/n) rolled her eyes at one of her best friends, her face still slightly hot from what Mina had said earlier.

“What’s the surprise then? If it isn’t you in new lingerie or a child?”

“So...I thought it would be fun to recreate the night we first met?”

“But you literally just said you weren’t giving him lingerie.”

“Mina! The actual first night we met! Not our wedding day!” (Y/n) laughed, throwing her hands up in mock exasperation.

“Oh...the hunt? Ohhhh, the hunt.” Mina’s smile grew wider the longer she thought about it.

“That’s perfect! But the lingerie thing would’ve been nice too.”

“Mina! If you wanna see me in lingerie, then you should’ve just said that.” (Y/n) giggled before further explaining her plans for Valentine’s Day. 

It was the only plan she could think of for the man she had loved for almost all of her life...a man that seemed to have everything he could ever want.

ON VALENTINE’S DAY...

“I don’t understand why you couldn’t have just hired more people to help.” Mina complained while straightening a string of lights. 

“It’s more fun, and besides, all of the girls are back together!” (y/n) commented, gesturing towards all of the girls that were gathered around the room, each hanging different decorations.

“How long has it been since we’ve all been in the same place?” Ururaka questioned with a wistful sigh.

“At least 30 years.” Momo chimed in. “We really do need to see each other more.”

“Then we should have more balls, like we used to.”

“This isn’t a ball, Tsu.” Mina pointed out. “It’s the hunt. You know, like we used to have way back when.”

“Wait a second...where are we getting the prey from?”

“Aren’t you vegetarian?”

“No, Iida and I gave that up like 5 years ago.” Midoriya laughed. “Iida just likes sustainably sourced and organic.”

“Oh come on, you haven’t ever just gone to a night club to pick up a few?” Mina teased as the girls, Midoriya, and Denki laughed. 

“No, that’s so 1960s, Mina.”

“No, that’s date night.” Mina corrects as (y/n)’s face heats up slightly as she laughs.

“We’ve done it a few times...not recently though, we’ve been pretty busy...one of our neighbors called the cops because she thought she saw us doing something suspicious.”

“What were you doing?”

“Well we may have been hiding a body, but that’s besides the point. That old lady should’ve minded her own business. It’d be a shame if she were to suddenly...go missing.” (Y/n) mumbled with a roll of her eyes as they all laughed.

“Alright, everyone go change! We’ll be starting in three hours!” Jirou announced, ushering everyone to different parts of the large castle to change into their special outfits. 

It only took everyone an hour and a half to two hours to get ready, the last hour was spent doing finishing touches and everyone calling their partners to come as a surprise.

“Oi Shitty Girl! What’s the problem? You aren’t hurt are you?” The aggressive blonde questioned quickly, his red eyes gliding over (y/n)’s body as if checking she was ok for himself. 

“Then what’s the problem?” He questioned, raising an eyebrow at her as she placed a blindfold over his eyes. “Shitty Girl, what are you doing?”

“Be patient, Katsuki. You’ll like the surprise.” (y/n) said in a teasing voice as she led him into the large ballroom. The sun had just sat and the night sky was dark and littered with stars that could be seen from the windows.

“What’s all of this?” Katsuki questioned, finally removing the black blindfold as he scanned the room, surprised to see all of his friends equally surprised from where they stood with their partners. 

“Surprise! I thought it would be fun to recreate the party that happened the first time we met each other. Happy Valentine’s Day!”

“We’re going on a hunt?” Denki questioned excitedly, practically bouncing up and down as Jirou just smiled lightly at his antics.

“Duh.” Jirou mumbled from beside him with a quick roll of her eyes as everyone made their way outside. 

“Ok here’s the rules...and it’s the Valentine’s Day edition! So there’s 20, whichever couple can get the most hearts wins.” Midoriya announced with a large smile on his face. “(y/n) release them, and we’ll give them a minute long head start.”

(y/n) walked over to the where the 20 individuals were lined up single file, metal cuffs around their wrists and longer ones around their ankles. Each one wore a black leather collar with a number from 1 to 20 on it. “You evil bitch! Let me go!”

“Where are your manners, Thomas? You were so good up until now...I wouldn’t want to have to make an example out of you.” (y/n)’s voice was kind and soft, but the look in her eyes was anything but that. 

“Why are you doing this?” Thomas questioned, his blonde hair falling into his light eyes as she stared in fear at the group around him before meeting (y/n)’s eyes once more.

“It’s fun, Thomas.” (y/n) told him, patting him on the head before releasing everyone’s cuffs. “Go ahead...you’re free now.” (y/n) urged as they all just stood there with blank stares. They continued to stand there, looking at each other. “I said go!” (y/n) repeated, her eyes practically glowing in the light of the full moon. The soft light shining against the sharp points of her canine teeth. 

The group of 20 broke off into a sprint, disappearing into the tree line as Iida looked down at his watch. “Is it time yet?” Denki questioned, obviously ready to begin.

“Almost.” Iida replied shortly, a smile growing on his own face as the seconds counted down to zero. “Now!”

Everyone ran after that, disappearing into blurs with the speed they were moving. (y/n) ran with a long spear, the silver tip shining in the moonlight as she jumped forward, releasing the spear into the unsuspecting number 13. 

13 fell to the ground after looking down at the sharp spear poking through his chest. No sound leaving his lips since it had all happened too quickly. “One down!” (y/n) called out, seeing the recognizable flash of blonde that belonged to her husband. 

Katsuki came to a stop beside her, his hands stained red along with his lips. He smiled at her. “Two, actually.” He told her, showing her the heart in one of his hands. “Happy Valentine’s Day...I’ve already given you my heart figuratively, so now I’m giving it to you physically.”

“Aw, that was cute.” (y/n) laughed before accepting the gesture. “You can have mine too.” She added after her laughter died down, picking up the bloody organ from number 13 before holding it out to Bakugou.

Tags:

[mythiccheroacademia]

Okay bcuz this manga has me fucked all the way up,I need me some happy headcanons with Shigi and Dabi,like how would they be if they had a childhood sweetheart s/o that stayed with them ever since they knew each other?Knew each other better than anyone kinda deal?

A/N: The way this manga is fucking with my emotions don’t sit right in my spirit. I hope these headcanons add a little fluff to your life. Sorry it’s not all the way fluffy. I had to stick to character. But, they're as fluffy as a homicidal maniacs can be🥺     

Warnings: implied sexual activity, toxic relationship dynamics, death?, idk man

Tomura Shigaraki:

if there was one thing shigiraki’s enemies saw redeemable in him, it was his care for his friends

yes, he had a hard time trusting people (who can blame him), he wasn’t patient, he threw temper tantrums at his big age, and he barely showered

but he cared about his friends bc the only genuine love he felt, besides his sister, was from his friendship with you

before his quirk manifested, he and you would play with heroes all the time!

even when his dad would yell at him and give you dirty looks, you were still his friend

he never really forgot about you after his disappearance

your love and presence would always be in his heart

he was just busy dealing with, y’know, psychological trauma and world destruction

then, one day, you both saw each other when he was doing his daily walks and took time to catch up

you meet up all the time, and in those moments, you start to fall for one another

he was frustrated that he started becoming self-conscious about his skin, but you never failed to tell him how he still reminded you of the cute, shy, boy back in the day

then you’d recoil in embarrassment and tell him to forget you said that

it was annoying, but you actually made him blush

wears half gloves so he can touch your hand

he even stole a phone so he could text you

he doesn’t feel the need to wear the hands with you

at first, shigaraki kept you away from the LoV bc he didn’t know if he could trust you

and he didn’t want you a part of the violence, but he eventually couldn’t hide it when you started questioning him about his whereabouts—and it was so hard to lie to you

not when you still looked at him like he looked at you—like you were the world

little by little shigaraki starts to reveal his history, his thoughts, ideologies, and plans to you

at first, you’re horrified, and you immediately try to convince him to stop his plans

it ends up in a fight and he walks away before he does something he regrets

he laughs at the pain coursing through his chest bc why would you agree with him? he was a fool for thinking you’d join him. how could you? you were miss perfect

doesn’t cry but is noticeably angrier

heartbreak is a bitch

but then he gets a text from you to meet him at your apartment

it’s cryptic and so fucking dramatic but he shows up only bc he wants to set you straight

he’s surprised to feel you connect foreheads, just like you two did when he got nervous as a child, and tell him

“i don’t agree with your methods, but i’ll follow you if it’s to keep you safe. i lost you once and i refuse to lose you again”

in a moment of weakness, shigaraki kisses you

and the deal is sealed

it’s true he wants to destroy everything

and it’s true he doesnt want to be around after he does

but, at least he’ll enjoy the time he has with you

you mask your identity to everyone but shigaraki, only showing up to save him

throughout your time, you watch him grow, mature, and truly fit into the role of a leader when he becomes the head of the Paranormal Liberation Front

finally keeps up with his hygiene lmao

you spend countless nights talking, kissing, and other not kid-friendly things

you two knew everything about the other

you start to see his POV as you observe the poor actions of heroes and the civilians

soon, you’re always by his side—there’s never a time he’s somewhere and you’re not and vice versa

people catch on that you’re not just some bodyguard

they start treating you like they would shigaraki based on your power and their leader’s own demand for them to

many try to ask about your identity and shigaraki is quick to shut that shit down

you even dutifully watch him as the old doctor takes him through his torturous transformation

and when the heroes come to capture him, you’re in the shadows waiting…

Dabi:

he’s a Todoroki

no, I don’t accept criticism

anyway

when he was young, you and the older todorokis would hang out together

you only knew each other bc you were rich and your parents were internationally recognized pro-heroes

you were dragged to so many boring hero events

you’d talk so much shit about how two-faced heroes were

that’s how all four of you bonded

there were times touya would disappear and you’d be confused

fuyumi and natsuo said he was “training”

you didn’t really think much of it so you went on with life

every time he came back, he was covered in bandages

after the fifth time, you ask him about it and he just breaks down and tells you everything

he tells you all about endeavor’s harsh training, how much he thought of him as a failure, and about how he was literally burning from the inside out

you were young and could barely process this

your life was perfect, how could you ever relate?

however, you promised to always be by his side

you wouldn’t let him feel alone

even after a day of abuse, touya would look forward to texting you

you’d talk about movies, comics, who was the best hero, who would win the world cup this year, etc.

would sneak into your house to play video games

it’s ended up in cuddling more often than he’s willing to admit

it wasn’t long before you two knew everything about one another

even about the dark thoughts in his head

it worried you, but again, you didn’t think much of it

how could you know it lead him to faking his own death?

something you didn’t know he had done until he appeared at your door years later

who the hell was this and why did he look like an overcooked omelet?

you didn’t even believe it was him until he told you he was right about Barcelona winning the world cup in 2009

you spent half the day crying and the other cussing him out for letting everyone think he was dead

goes, “lol, yeah that was wild. help me dye my hair?”

what an asshole

your relationship is weird and toxic

you guys are best friends teetering on lovers but it’s confusing bc dabi is cryptic is hell

he confessed that he liked you but tells you that he’s too dangerous for you

like this was some Twilight fanfic

like, okay Edward Cullen

but he’s serious bby, my mans is out here committing homicide

not good

he’ll text you from time to time and randomly shows up at your apartment like he owns the place

you’ll talk, have sex, and talk some more

eventually straight up tells you about his end goal and you’re like

????

you: touya, no???

him: dabi, yes

speaking of which, makes you call him dabi when he’s not in your guts

despite him being a dick, he’s quite charming when he wants to be

takes you to the best spot to see the city lights

or the stars on the beach

always tells you not to worry about him and that he has everything under control

very very protective

won’t like if you're involved with anything hero or villain-like

if you’re a civilian, ensures that you stay that way bc he’ll be damned if you get involved with what’s happening

stalks you (for “safety purposes”)

you two always fight when you catch him snooping around

but has the audacity to ghost you and come back like nothing happened

it’s so toxic

hates knowing that you cry when he comes back battered and burning from fights but he’s got a mission, srry bby

someone’s gotta take out endeavor

being close to him is not for the faint of heart, but you have to take it or leave it bc he’s set on his life’s purpose

the night before the war takes place, he’s suspiciously touchy

makes you promise that no matter what happens, you’ll find him if society starts to crumble

you're like…what the hell, dabi? stop speaking in riddles. just say you wanna marry me and go

but honey, he’s 100% serious and you’ll find out soon enough

[coffintownkids]

The past week was an absolute slog for me, but I finally did get to finish Ch.35.

It’s time for “Cooking with Wèi Wúxiàn!”

Just a quick edit to add in a Read More cut. Saw this on mobile and realized this was looooong!

Lemme tell ya, the dinginess of the kitchen in the show’s got nothing on the book description.

Lán Sīzhuī followed Wèi Wúxiàn back into the kitchen. As soon as he entered, he was assaulted by a foul stench wafting towards him. Lán Sīzhuī had never smelled anything so terrible in his life and was dizzy for a moment, but he made himself endure and didn’t rush back out. Jīn Líng had also followed after them and jumped back as soon as he was in the doorway, desperately fanning himself, “What the hell is that smell!!! Why are you in here and not thinking of a way to cure the poison!”

Wèi Wúxiàn said, “Huh? You’re just in time. How did you know I was going to call you over? Help us out.”

Jīn Líng said, “I didn’t come here to help out! Gah! Did they kill somebody in here and forget to bury them?!”

Wèi Wúxiàn said, “Little Miss Jīn, are you coming or not? Just come in and help us out. If not, go sit back down and ask somebody else to come over.”

Jīn Líng was instantly furious, “Who is Little Miss Jīn? Be careful with what you say to me!” He pinched his nose for a while to regain his composure, then finally groaned, “I just want to see what the hell you’re actually up to.” He then angrily lifted his robes and charged in. Who knew that Wèi Wúxiàn would open a container with a clang and the precise stench would be coming from inside it. The case had pig haunches and a single chicken sealed up inside it. The red meat had gone green and had given birth to little white maggots writhing around in the green.

It also forced Jīn Líng out of the room. Wèi Wúxiàn lifted the container and handed it over to him, “Throw it away. It doesn’t matter where you toss it, just take it somewhere where we won’t be able to smell it.”

*pukes*

Kinda glad they didn’t show that more graphically on TV! I also do love tsundere!JL.

Jīn Líng said, “What are you cleaning the stove for? It’s not like we need to eat.”

Wèi Wúxiàn said, “Who said we don’t? Eating is precisely what you need to do. Come sweep away the dust and get the spiderwebs off the surface, too.”

He said it in such a righteous and self-assured way, as if it was so matter-of-fact, that Jīn Líng inexplicable found a dustpan stuffed into his hands and he did as instructed while in a daze. The more he swept, the more he got the sense that something wasn’t right. He was just about to check the broom at Wèi Wúxiàn’s head when Wèi Wúxiàn opened up another container. The dismay of it had him dashing outside. Fortunately, they were not assaulted by any stench this time.

WWX continues to roll high charisma stats and keeps bamboozling people into doing what he wants.

Jīn Líng said, “You’re making congee?”

Wèi Wúxiàn, “Yup.”

Jīn Líng threw a dishrag. Wèi Wúxiàn said, “Look at you. You work for a while and then get mad. Now look at Sīzhuī. He’s been working as hard as he can and hasn’t said a word about it. What’s so bad about congee?”

Jīn Líng said, “What’s so good about congee? It’s so bland! That’s not it… You think I’m mad because congee isn’t good?!”

Wèi Wúxiàn said, “It’s also not for you anyway.”

Jīn Líng got even angrier, “What did you say? I did all this and I don’t get my share?!”

Lán Sīzhuī said, “Mò-gōngzǐ, is it possible for congee to cure corpse poisoning?”

LSZ remains a good boy and JL remains a tsundere.

Quite a bit of plotty dialogue and worldbuilding happens that is way too long to post, but this line’s right in the middle of it.

Wèi Wúxiàn used a spatula while mixing the contents of various of bottles and jars into the pot of congee

Uh oh! LOL

Meanwhile, Lán Sīzhuī was crouched down on the ground fanning the firewood while glancing up, “Mò-qiánbèi, the congee seems to be done cooking?”

Wèi Wúxiàn returned to his senses, stopped stirring his spatula, and took a taste from the bowl that Lán Sīzhuī had just washed, “Okay. Go carry it out and give a bowlful to each of the poisoned people to eat.”

Notice something different? LSZ changes how he addresses WWX from Mò-gōngzǐ to Mò-qiánbèi in the middle of this conversation! He’s acknowledging that he’s sees him as not just a another cultivator, but as a more knowledgeable peer for him to learn from. In terms some of you may be more familiar with, it’s kinda like changing from “san” to “senpai.”

However, after it was brought out and having only eaten one mouthful, Lán Jǐngyí sprayed it out, “What is this, more poison?!”

Wèi Wúxiàn said, “What poison? That’s the antidote! It’s sticky rice congee.”

Lán Jǐngyí said, “Why congee is the antidote is not what I’m talking about right now. I’ve never eaten such spicy congee before!”

One by one, all the other people that had tasted it nodded along with watery-looking eyes. Wèi Wúxiàn stroked his chin. He had grown up in Yúnmèng and the people of Yúnmèng were very capable when it came to eating spicy food. Wèi Wúxiàn preferred it to be as hot as possible. But whenever he was given the chance, he would always make it so unbearably spicy that Jiāng Chéng would throw his bowl down and curse at him for making it inedible. He was also eternally incapable of adding ingredients to a pot spoonful by spoonful. It seemed he hadn’t managed to stop himself just now, either. Out of curiosity, Lán Sīzhuī picked up a bowl with both hands and took a sip. His entire face flushed as he choked and tried to keep himself from spraying it. His eyes were red as he thought to himself, This taste is…Actually so horrible that it gives me bit of déjà vu…

LJY continues to be the most un-Lán ever. I love him! And not even fellow Yúnmèng native JC could put up with WWX’s cooking. WWX is the dude that reads a recipe calling for jalapeños and adds Carolina ghost reapers. Meanwhile, LSZ can’t figure out why it’s so horrifyingly familiar...

All the young disciples all went “blech” one after the other to express their disbelief, but they still drank down all their congee with miserable expressions. During the ensuing time, all of their faces glowed red from ear to ear and their brows were beaded with sweat. Every one of them was enduring torment worse than death. Wèi Wúxiàn couldn’t help saying, “Are you kidding me? Hánguāng-Jūn is also a Gūsū native and he’s still rather capable at handling spicy food. Why are all of you like this then?”

Lán Sīzhuī covered his mouth with his hand, “He doesn’t, qianbei. Hánguāng-Jūn prefers really light fare. He never eats spicy food…”

Wèi Wúxiàn was dumbfounded, “Is that right?”

But he remembered, after he rebelled against the Jiāng Sect of Yúnmèng in his previous life, he had still encountered Lán Wàngjī once while in Yílíng. During that time, although Wèi Wúxiàn had been the subject of considerable criticism, it still hadn’t gotten to the point that they were chasing him down. So he had cheekily demanded for Lán Wàngjī to have a meal with him and reminisce about the good old days. Lán Wàngjī had ordered spicy cuisine featuring all sorts of dishes with Sì​chuān peppers, so he had always assumed Lán Wàngjī’s tastes ran rather similar to his own.

Now that he thought about it, he actually couldn’t remember whether or not Lán Wàngjī had reached for those dishes with his chopsticks. Only that before the meal, he had said he would treat him to the meal and that after he ate, he was able to forget about that completely and Lán Wàngjī still paid the bill. It was natural for him to still not remember such details now.

He didn’t know why he suddenly, in the middle of this, strongly and deeply wanted to see Lán Wàngjī’s face.

Gahhhhhh. LWJ wanting to spoil WWX and ordering all his favorite foods! WWX and his spotty memory and not realizing why LWJ would order spicy food if he didn’t like it. ;_;

Also, I can’t imagine why WWX would want to see him so badly all of a sudden.

[aggressivelyclueless]

hey @phantombreadproject this one’s for you

happy holidays, have some grayghost heartbreak!

Valerie had to be close.  From her vantage point above the park, she could see everything: trees with muted and blinking lights on under the snow; the playground, and the string of half-buried fenceposts surrounding it; the lot by the street, which had been plowed earlier.  Only so many places a ghost could hide, she thought dryly, and yet.

At least the twin engines of her hoverboard were throwing off a little heat.  Winters in Amity Park were a bitch, and she'd heard it was supposed to go subzero overnight, if it hadn't done already.  The cold, she groused, was probably the thing throwing off the precision on her gear.  She hadn't gotten an exact reading on that damnable phantom all night.

She could hear it, though.  She'd been following it for the past half-hour - a skirmish here, crashing there - and she descended between a cluster of snowed-down trees so that she'd be out of sight and hopefully get a decent shot as soon as she saw the thing.  It'd be coming off the river, probably; she'd been following it long enough to gain a sense of its territorial patterns, and most nights it would come through this area.

Sure enough, the echoing crack of ghostfire was right on the banks.  Up came a smaller, fleeing ghost - and up came that phantom in hot pursuit.

Valerie let the board idle and held steady over the snow.  She watched the two spirits go back-and-forth for a moment, clashing and dancing around each other in the air.  Where Phantom appeared mostly in shadow, the smaller one was a fizzling specter of light, and she waited for them to draw each other closer.  Once the smaller one was taken down, and had done all the damage it could, then she'd make her shot.

The doomed spirit shrieked and disappeared, and Valerie fired.  Her aim was good; she struck the phantom behind the shoulder, and it pitched forward and dropped like a stone.  She coaxed the board up and over the trees again, keeping an eye on where it had fallen.  The tip of her blaster was still smoking, leaving a thin trail behind as she went, and she spotted the disrupted snow between a handful of pines where the wretched ghost had landed.  She brought the board down, still wary; she didn't trust one shot like that to take the phantom down, she kept the blaster aimed at the sprawling form in the snow.  The form looked up to the hum of the twin engines,

and Valerie's heart skipped a beat.

"Danny?"

It was him, alright - white as a sheet and wide-eyed, and staring up the wrong end of her blaster.

"Val?"  His voice was quiet, but as soon as the silence was broken it was as if he snapped out of a spell.  "Val, hold on, wait a second, don’t - "

"Danny, are you okay, oh shit that ghost didn't hurt you did it?"  She threw the blaster aside and dropped from the board, kicking up chips of flattened snow from underfoot as she ran over to him.  He looked unhurt, if still a little disoriented; that phantom must be hiding closeby, or have blown past him, she thought, but it occurred to her that he'd known to call her by name just then, despite that she'd still had her visor up.

And then it occurred to her how off that felt.

"Danny," she said carefully, not entirely sure what to expect but putting her guard up anyway.  "How did you know it was me just then?"

"What?" said Danny, propping himself up on his elbows in the snow.  He shook a dusting of it off his hair, frowning.  "Of course it was - oh.  Wait."  He glanced down at himself, as if he'd forgotten something, and let all the breath out at once in a heavy cloudy puff.  "Shit."

"You knew it was me," said Valerie, "You knew I was - "

"Hold on a sec - "

"How did you find out?"

"I can explain, sort of - "

"How long have you known."  She imagined him all of a sudden, sneaking into her room when she was grabbing him a soda from the kitchen or surfing through Netflix titles or any other thing.  She saw him rifling through her things and getting ahold of her blaster or the helmet of her suit or a spare lying-around part of the board she'd get around to fixing.  That must have been how he found out - she couldn’t imagine any other way he would.  And that really stung.

"Val.  I swear it's not - "

"How long."

Danny hesitated.  "The whole time," he said lamely, pushing himself up to sit cross-legged and avoiding her eyes.  "Since you got the outfit."

"What?"

Danny said nothing.

"Who told you about it?  How do you just - find out about something like that?  Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, I - " Danny cut himself off.  He was doing some quick thinking; she knew that look, the twitching hesitation at the corners of his mouth and how his eyes darted about.  After a second he gave it up.  "Yeah.  Maybe I should have told you."

"Maybe?" Valerie snapped, "That's all I get, is a maybe?"

"Okay, yeah.  I should have told you."  He paused as the trees around them creaked in the wind; despite the cold, he sat in the snow as if it didn't bother him.  "Should have told you lots of things.”

Can't we talk about this later, she almost said, but stopped herself.  It wouldn't be any use; the ghost was gone, although that thought made her groan a little on the inside, and she wouldn't be doing either of them any favors by cutting and running after it.  It wasn’t as if she was going to let Danny off the hook, either - the more she thought about it, the more she knew that the conversation was overdue as it was.

Danny slowly got up to his feet, creaking in the cold like the snow-burdened trees, and didn't bother to brush himself off.  "Val, look.  I'm sorry, okay?  I should have said something, or maybe given you a hand or - "

"Yeah right," said Valerie, "You had to peek through your fingers at Dead Alive last week.  You'd be a shit ghosthunter."

"I'm serious, will you listen to me a second?"  He stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder.  It was freezing - wasn't it supposed to go subzero tonight? - and that made her pause.  He didn't act like the cold was bothering him but it should have been.  It must have been; all he had was the hoody, and he'd been pale as death the whole time.

"I want to make it up to you.  I swear.  Maybe I fucked up, kinda bad, but I promise I care about you," he was saying, but all of a sudden it could wait.  This was wrong, and the creeping-up unease in her gut refused to be ignored.

"Danny, you should get home," she said abruptly, "I don't even know why you came out here - but look at you, you're freezing - "

Danny dismissed it with a shake of the head.  "Valerie.  This is important - you're important, you need to know this.  Something I should have told you months ago."  There were the beginnings of frost on the sides of his face now, and although he was ignoring them she couldn't look away.  What was he trying to prove - did he want to freeze himself to death?  The cold was spreading - slowly, but it was spreading, and he just went on as if it wasn't there at all.  "I was there, Val.”

"Danny, what the hell is this."  Her hands came up to his cheeks, as if she'd brush away frostbite as easily as a tear or a stray fleck of snow.  She was certain, in that moment, that she was watching him freeze to death.

Horrible, and gut-wrenching, but a certainty.

“Danny, come on, this isn’t funny, you have to go - “

Danny's hands came up over hers, and the frost had all but taken over them.  Ice glinted and shimmered with every movement, but somehow he still was moving, and to her it was impossible.  "I'm sorry.  For everything that happened, everything I did.  You deserved to know."

Valerie was almost dizzy, almost sick.  She couldn't watch him die like this - but she couldn't look away, either, and he still had her hands in his own.  He slid them together over his chest, and she placed his uncanny stillness; he wasn't breathing, and even through the gloves of her suit she was sure his heart had quit.

"I know I should have fessed up," said Danny, even as the frost strengthened and solidified and turned his face as if to stone.  His skin had begun to spoil into a bitten off-blue, and the frost had all but sealed his lips together.

"Danny," Valerie whispered, nearly in tears, hoping please that it was some kind of nightmare, "You're - "

(I know) said Danny, his voice coming through to her in the wispy echo she'd grown to hate.  (Be mad if you want.  It's my fault, really, but please, please trust me when I say I never wanted to hurt you)

"Danny. . . what is this. . . "

He gave her hands a squeeze and then melted away into a fog, and all of a sudden she was grasping at the air; she pitched after him - tell me this isn't happening - but the fog soured into shadow and slunk lower against the snow.  The piercing eyes, unblinking, were still on her.

She stood empty-handed, teary-eyed, and in disbelief.  He's a ghost - he's the ghost - was the clearest thing in her mind.  Everything else was blurring together: all those times when he'd sat with her at lunch and just listened to her ramble about things, about anything, just to hear the sound of her voice; the utter surprise in the eyes of that accursed shadowy spirit the first time she'd stared it down rather than run; the way he'd wrap himself around her on the couch to stay warm when she had him over to watch movies; how many times she'd cursed out that haunt to his own face; and how he took it every time, without any hesitation or break in stride.

The shadow at her feet was near-formless, yet somehow still very clearly buckled on its knees.  Its eyes - his eyes - made her heart melt and break in equal measure.  I was there, he'd said, and now she understood.

She may never have caught that phantom but he'd been in her reach the whole time.

It felt like a betrayal.  He'd been right under her nose and any time she'd close in on him he'd just disappear.  The insidious thing was, though, that he wouldn't just disappear.  He'd be at her side, listening to her vent in the cafeteria, watching movies with her in her own living room.  He went on as if it was nothing.

As if he expected it to be okay.

"How could you."

His eyes were still on hers, round and green and pitiful.  (I fucked up, Val, I know I did, but please, can’t we fix this)

"How could you," she stepped back, breath hitching in her chest, feeling her cheeks grow hot and her blood boil.  "You knew - this whole time you knew and you let it happen."

(I swear I didn't want any of this - )

"Well what the fuck did you want, then?  Did you think it was just going to turn out okay?"  There were tears in her eyes and she couldn't stop them, but she'd be damned if she gave in.  "Did you think I was going to forget about it?  After all the shit you destroyed?"

(No, Val, listen - )

"And I'm supposed to forgive you now, right?  Just because you said you were sorry?"

(No) said the ghost, (You don't have to do that but please - )

"Great because I'm not fucking going to!"  She felt as if she was breaking.  The fire in her chest said shoot him, he deserves it.  For months she'd wanted to see him like that, all crumpled up and at her feet, and she'd wanted to put him out of his misery.

But she couldn't do it.

She couldn't do it, and no matter that it wasn’t fair, the fire in her chest was burning out.

(Valerie) the ghost - Danny - whispered, motionless against the snow.  (Please, I have to fix this.  I want us to fix this)

"I was supposed to trust you."  Her voice was strained and fraying, and just the sound of it made Danny flinch.  "I did trust you.  All this time.”

Danny hesitated, but the forming ice crystals in the corners of his eyes said it all.  He hung his head, and the whisper of his voice was barely there.  (I know)

“And you still think you can fucking fix this?”

(I don’t know) said Danny, withdrawing into himself a little.  (I want to.  Whatever it takes I just want you to be okay)

Valerie huffed.  “And I’m supposed to believe you now.  Because you’re sorry, right?”

(Val, please, be mad all you want but don’t - )

“Get out of here.”

Valerie couldn't stand it.  No matter that he was a ghost, or all the things he'd destroyed - she couldn't snap her fingers and quit caring about him because he was still human and it hurt.  Underneath the shadows and the wispy white hair he was still Danny-who-went-to-the-movies and Danny-who-made-her-snort-milk-at-lunch and Danny-that-always-had-a-spare-kitkat-because-he-knew-they-were-her-favorite, and to see him cry broke her.

(No, don’t - )

"Get out of here,” she snapped, with the last ounce of anger she had, “and don't you ever let me see your face again."

Danny said nothing.  For an unbearable moment he just stared up at her with those sad broken eyes, but with the wind and the creaking of the trees he was gone.

And Valerie sat on the idling hoverboard and let herself fall apart.

[rkorlov]

Harmonies (JATP fanfic) Part 2

{1st chapter.} {Wattpad link.}

Summary: Julie and the Phantoms get a proposal that’s huge. In the meantime, Julie has to deal with Carlos knowing about the boys.

Word count: 1936

                                        Chapter 2, Brand New

Flynn approached Julie in the hallway, the girl had a huge smile and was letting no one forget Julie and the Phantoms had played the Orpheum. It had been a couple nights, people still congratulated her when they saw her and whispered big things were coming their way. Julie wasn’t sure of anything, she was far more concerned about the boys now, she didn’t know if Caleb was coming back, the boys had no idea what their unfinished business could be and deep down, she was sure she didn’t want to say goodbye to them. Not now, not after she started playing again, after she enjoyed herself on stage and had a great time. Not now that she felt genuinely happy.

“Let me guess, you were lost into smiley land and that’s why you weren’t picking up your phone last night.”

“Luke and I were writing a song and after that I had dinner and went straight to bed. I saw your message first thing.”

“Uuuh, so we’re gonna have new music.” Flynn said, excited. Julie hated to disappoint her in that moment.

“I don’t think we will be singing this one… it’s quite personal for both of us.”

Flynn shook her head, and leaning on the lockers, looked at Julie. “Oh boy, no way of saving you from this one, is there? Writing love songs pretty much seals your fate.” She got close for an inch and made sure no one else heard. “What about Nick and the flowers?”

“He knows I like someone else, the flowers were just because he enjoyed the show. As long as he can’t tell is Luke who I like, then it’s alright.”

“Oh girl, we’re past from that, everyone can tell it’s him. Actually, you’re so lucky people can only see him when you’re singing because otherwise you’d be selling yourselves over.” She shrugged. “I’m still so surprised you’ve got no problem sharing those looks while your dad’s on the audience.”

Julie fell in complete silence and felt how her heart was in panic. She forgot about the rest of the world when that happened, no question why her father wanted to meet the boys. No wonder why he spent the weekend asking for the boy with the guitar. She was thankful none of the boys were around while that conversation happened. It’s safe to say it was uncomfortable, but Julie hadn’t thought of the fact that maybe everyone could see the same she saw.

“Maybe we do have to tone it down a little, huh?” Out the corner of her eye, Julie thought she was hallucinating.

Carrie walked towards them, for the first time she was all alone, displaying a smile on her face. A smile directed at them? Maybe that was the day of reckoning and everyone needed to get their apocalypse gear out, right? There was no other explanation.

“Julie! Right the person I was looking for.” She looked at Carrie with furrowed eyebrows and pointed at herself with a twitch of her lip. Since when that was a thing that happened? “Yes you, my father is putting up a show, we saw you the other night at the Orpheum, and he wanted to invite you and your Phantoms to perform. Dirty Candy is gonna be there, too.”

“Oh, that’s…” she was at a loss for words. “That’s very kind of your dad. I…”

“You’re gonna think about it?”

“Sure thing, I’ll let you know.” Carrie walked away and Flynn turned towards Julie with enough of a surprised expression to last for a day. “What just happened?”

“You tell me! Since when is Carrie… nice?”

But that was not what Julie had in mind. What she thought about was Carrie’s dad being in the audience of the Orpheum. Trevor, Trevor Wilson, the guy she thought introduced her to rock. The guy who used Sunset Curve’s songs, Luke’s lyrics, was at the audience of the Orpheum. He saw them perform and what if… what if he recognized the boys? There was no way he didn’t recognize his old bandmates.

“We may have a bigger problem than Carrie being nice!”

A quiet sound of guitar riffs came from the studio. Julie opened the door to see Alex at the drums, Reggie standing beside him tuning in his bass and Luke, playing chords on his guitar while he lay on the couch.  She thought during the entire day how to break the news to them, coming to the conclusion there wasn’t really a good way of doing so. The boys would freak out the moment she opened her mouth.

“Hey, guys… so, I kinda have good and not so good news.”

“Let me guess, let me guess!” Reggie said. “You were bringing us pizza but then you remembered we can’t eat.”

Julie chuckled and shook her head. “Not exactly. The good news is we have a gig opportunity…”

Luke didn’t let her finish. He jumped on his feet and walked to her. “That’s amazing news, we’re so ready for it. When is it?” A happiness she hated to let down.

“Let me give you the complete information first…” she held up a finger towards Luke. He stared down at her signalling for her to continue. “Carrie’s dad was at the show at Orpheum, seems like he liked our music so he’s inviting us to a show he’s throwing.”

“You mean BOBBY?” Luke blurted out, as if Julie had managed to insult him deep.  She nodded. Luke turned towards the boys and shook his head. “No way, we’re not going.”

“I don’t know, it could be a great opportunity…” Alex threw, shrugging.

“He stole our songs and never gave us any credit. Why would we perform at a show with him?” Luke gestured with his hands, letting down his guitar. Julie had learnt to recognize pretty fast when he was upset, physically he was impossible not to read.

“That’s not the bad news, though.” She said, calling for Luke’s attention. Maybe making him pay attention would help. “He’s the only person from your past that saw you and what if he recognized you, guys? What if he has something to say and this is a great moment to say something.”

“We can totally try and talk to him.” Reggie suggested.

“Exactly how, genius? The only person who can see us is Julie.” Luke let out, dropping his weight on the couch. “It’s not like we can call him out while we’re performing.”

“No but if the moment presents itself, I can totally vouch for you,” she said. “Carrie and I used to be friends, her dad knows me, he’ll… he’ll listen.”

Alex put down his drumsticks. “I say we go, we need some answers.”

“I’m with Alex, we can’t really hold onto anger forever.” Reggie said with a side smile and a shrug. “What do you say, Luke?”

He didn’t say a thing. A frown took over his whole expression. It only softened when Julie shifted his way; she tried to convince him with a gesture, a silent talk between them begging him please to consider it. The boys were angry at Bobby, they had enough reasons to be, but they still had to let go so they could keep moving forward, it was the best they could do. Luke finally gave in and nodded to Julie. She smiled and was about to approach him when she heard Carlos’ voice from behind.

“So… how are the guys doing?”

“Huh?” She turned around. Her brother was leaning against the door, looking past Julie. “What guys?”

“The ones you were talking with.”

“I… I wasn’t talking with anyone,” she played dumb. “There’s no one else in here.”

“I figured you were gonna say that but,” the boy said, taking out from his pocket a picture taken straight out of Sunset Curve’s demo album. Julie looked at it and let out a deep breath. Busted, totally busted. “Don’t they look familiar?”

“You gotta give it to him, he’s thorough in his research,” Reggie let out, the boys giving him a look. “What? He is.”

Luke stood up and walked next to Julie. “He’s not gonna tell anyone, is he?”

Julie looked up at him and shrugged. Her brother wasn’t nosey and he always tried to help her so she trusted him to keep it all in. “We can keep this a secret, right? No telling dad.”

Carlos took a hand to his chin and made a thoughtful grin. “We can but you’re gonna have to answer some ghostly doubts first.”

After giving Carlos the 101 guide on how to deal with ghosts, exchange that ended on him disappointed of not actually being able to interact with the boys, Julie went out searching for Luke; who had vanished from the studio and hadn’t come back for more than an hour. She wanted to make sure he wasn’t changing his mind, or freaking out about it. It was enough of a sensitive topic for him, Bobby stole his lyrics after all and music for Luke was the biggest expression of his soul. Knowing someone else, a friend, had taken his lyrics and sang them as their own and never even remembered his name while doing so was hurtful.

Bouncing a basketball and throwing it to the ring for it to bounce back and start again, she found him. Focused on his movements as if he were playing guitar, he bounced the ball once again before seeing her and stopping it mid-air.

“Hey!” He said, eyes glued on her, something Julie wasn’t sure how to take in. his eyes were always so full of the world. “Everything’s alright with your brother?”

“Yeah, he’s… he’s only bummed he can’t actually talk and hang out with ghosts but he won’t tell.” She played with her hands in her pockets and finally decided to speak. “How are you, though? I know the idea of doing this is big, playing in a show for Bobby after all that happened…”

“It’s…” he shrugged. “Ever since I found out he stole our songs I’ve been really angry and I know, I know we gotta let go of the past but there are some things that just linger. I mean, I like our music now more than ever, singing with you is the best… it’s just that…”

“He stole a part of you.”

Luke nodded. “But I’m on board with the boys; the best for us is to move on. Focus on here, what we have is pretty great…” he said, closing in the space between them. His bright eyes changed it all for her, every time, and now they were so sincere. Julie couldn’t emphasize enough how she loved playing with the boys, how much happier she felt since they showed up, how grateful she was with her mom for sending them her way. She needed them as much as they needed her. And now knowing how all Luke made her feel was too good, with its own stones to stumble in but good. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” Neither would she.

Luke offered his hand, intertwining her fingers with his she took him, closing in the rest of the space between them. Forehead to forehead, she closed her eyes as she let the feeling spread through her body. The gleefulness of being able to connect with him that way was homely, like landing on a safe place and being held by the right arms. Not even a thought of the impossibilities of their relationship could break how she managed to feel in that moment. Infinite, full of peace. Brand new.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello! Once again, I’m putting in the tags the people who have interected with the previous post and who want to be tagged. Thank you so much for reading and remember you can drop prompts for the fic, whatever you’d like to see I’d be really happy to play out. My ask box is always open, either for this fic or one shots.

Tags: @cordeliapeters @leahthewonder @a-chaotic-ananas @just-henny @helookedupgrinninglikeadevil @oliveswiftly @sammy-stan @sweetlikecherry-wine @lmaohuh @fantomgirlonsonthin @laughswaytoomuch @loveyatopluto @sammi36 @artemiscrock913

Thanks again for reading, it means the world!

[piisuke]

@satorusangel HERE ARE THE HEADCANONS YOU ASKED FOR laugh with me

Itadori Yuji: 

He's not a full crackhead but he's like a 7.5 out of a 1-10 scale

He went through a phase in middle school and dyed his hair red. That's why it's pink now.

Wants an industrial piercing but kinda has a thing against needles.

He's a great swimmer, but he only learned how to swim because his grandfather threw him in the pool and refused to help him.

Learned his fighting skills from anime.

Actually a really big anime buff.

He's big and strong bc he drank lots of milk as a child.

As we have previously discussed he puts empty milk cartons back in the fridge.

Had an absolute meltdown when Vine shut down. He didn't actually use Vine but compilations healed his soul.

Quotes iconic Vines a liiiiitle bit too much.

Knows too many Fortnite dances, but saves himself the embaressment and doesn't do them in public.

Memes. So many memes. 

Accidentally sent the entire Bee Movie script to his teacher instead of an essay. It was his fault though bc it was due at midnight and he finished the actual essay at 11:52 pm.

Veggies gross keep away.

Will find the good in everyone. Except Mahito, he's just a dick.

Radiates confidence. Like it oozes out of him. He walks into a room. Everyone becomes confident. 

Had a problem with acne in his early teenage years. 

Dogs. That's it. That's the headcanon.

Fushiguro Megumi

Thinks humans are a disease but also hellbent on saving them from curses.

Hasn't brushed his hair in three years he just kinda lets it go.

His pfp on social media is usually art of a wolf that's been floating around the internet since early 2005 and no one knows the source.

Doesn't actually post on social media he just ghosts. This is how he finds out everyone's secrets.

His phone has been on vibrate since 2013.

Someone put a color other than black or white in this man's closet he's honestly obsessed with monochrome.

He's bi. He's not even in the closet, he just doesn't find his sexuality relevant.

His room is nice and tidy but also *insert that one video of that guy who uses a broom to get all of those empty water bottles from behind his bed*

He's super intelligent and would have gotten straight A's in school, except he just did not do the work. How did this man even get to the next grade idk.

Doesn't know how to process emotions does not plan to even try

Kugisaki Nobara

No one ever told you life was gonna be this gay.

I don't even hc her as being bi or lesbian when I hear her name that meme instantly pops into my head and idk why.

Probably because she has binge watched Friends at least three times by now start to finish.

Netflix whore. She's watched just about everything except maybe anime.

Serial killer documentaries are her favorite though.

Has the cliche Tik Tok color lights in her room, an upgrade from the fairy lights she bought in 2014.

Idk if this will still stand true after the Shibuya incident but Halloween is her favorite holiday.

Probably Wiccan or something. Living in a small town will do that to you.

Wears leggings and uggs occasionally because fuck you they're comfortable.

Has two looks: uwu look at me I'm CUTE and homeless. Depends on how much sleep she got the night before.

At least puts on mascara on these occasions, she has to have just a little bit of makeup.

Loves acrylic nails but is constantly breaking or popping them off so she just gave up.

"I'm fully aware Hot Cheetos and ice coffee aren't an appropriate breakfast I also just do not care"

"Sorry I'm a bitch, I'm a Leo"

Wants to like avacado, really, but it just taste like wet compressed grass

Gojo Satoru

Doesn't know how to drive and that's probably a good thing

Had a bit of a rebellious streak as a teenager but hey, at least his juvie record is sealed

Has paperwork sitting untouched on his desk from three months ago that he will not touch for at least another three months

He doesn't drink often but when he does oh boy

"Meeeeeguuuumiiiiii~" Oh boy he's in danger

*Insert that one meme of the drunk mom who starts watering her pool with the garden hose*

Honestly does some really stupid shit when he's drunk

Has a Tik Tok and is very active on it

Honestly mentally he never matured past the age of 15

Can fight high grade curses but scared of spiders, probably

Does the cross word puzzles in the newspaper every week

Uses humor as a coping mechanism and it honestly just became a personality

Constantly popping his joints. I'm sorry if you find this gross I too find it gross.

Probably brought home every stray animal he ever met ever until he was at least like 22 y/o

Ugly Christmas sweaters. Every year. Without fail. I only thought of this headcanon because it's October 26th and my grandmother is watching a Christmas movie and will continue doing so until January 1st.

Ryomen Sukuna

Probably eats babies idk

Jk I like to think that when he massacred entire villages he spared children under the age of like 13 bc I want to find the good in him

He's a womanizer but also stops being handsy the first time the word no comes out of her mouth bc nonconsensual sex is boring, that's also me just trying to find the good in him

If he was a normal person (like an au where he's Yuji's twin) he probably became an alcoholic at age like 14

Constantly groaning and sighing. Like he cannot stop. He's surrounded by idiots fighting other idiots trapped inside an idiots body

Looks off in the distance like he's in the Office and looking at the camera

"What the fuck" is like a mantra to him

God complex

Sometimes when I'm sad I imagine him rapping to the full version of Lost in Paradise. This isn't a headcanon but it feels relevant.

I was going to add other characters for you but my brain is kinda rotting rn

P. S. ily 🦐💕

[secret-engima]

I'm trying to sleep but I cant bc if this this idea in my idea do here have it and fo eith it as you will; Nyx reborn into the KHR universe.

Pure. Unadulterated. Chaos.

Because if you think this boy is gonna be anything but the world’s most reckless and powerful Inverted Stormy Sun you’ve got another think coming.

Probably becomes like- a message runner/thief. Something high speed and dangerous that isn’t straight up murder-land. Despite this, he quickly gains something of his own famiglia from all the strays he keeps picking up along the way. Famiglia of info-brokers, thieves, and other sneaky mouthy folk. It’s great. He calls them the Kingsglaive out of nostalgia and everyone wears an Ulric braid.

Has 100% mouthed off to Xanxus and gotten away with it.

Misses his warping like crazy. It’s not fair. He gets sparkly fire powers and they AREN’T the ones that can teleport. Boo.

Still he gets to make stuff disintegrate and he has almost limitless energy so hah.

Finds Tsunayoshi when Tsuna is newly sealed and Smol and Sad and just Nopes his way into that situation because this is Wrong and he’s Reckless so here’s to kidnapping Tsuna and his mom and carting them off somewhere private to get those seals off (because in this universe Nana also has a seal on her that makes her so ditzy and air headed since she’s a Latent Sky who would otherwise know better than to touch Iemitsu with a thousand foot pole, but Iemitsu is all the levels of Jerk in this and wanted That Specific Pretty Lady as a mindless trophy wife so...)

Anyway Nyx yoinks the seals off with a combo of stubborn stupidity and stupidly strong Flames and Tsuna and Nana are more than a little confused and grateful. Nyx explains the Mafia thing and Nana goes Active from pure rage over being ... well ... married to the guy who robbed her of almost all intelligence and free will and then tried to do the same thing TO HER SON.

Nyx is more than happy to get them new identities and take them to Mafia Land where even Vongola can’t touch them without setting off a war and helping Nana set up the world’s best cafe on the island to support herself and her son without Iemitsu. He also gets divorce papers via his Network, all without Iemitsu’s knowing (dude really needs to pay more attention to what paperwork he’s signing).

Also Nana (now named Hestia) becomes Nyx’s Sky. And his much needed Momming Figure because he doesn’t have a Lib to Braincell him (yet). Tsuna (now named Regis because Nyx is a Sap) adores his reckless big brother.

Of course, two skies living on Mafia Land is gonna attract ALL the attention (minus Iemitsu who is an Idiot and doesn’t even register the possibility that these two are his wife and child because those are TOTALLY still back in Japan being a nice trophy family TOTALLY). It isn’t long before people are coming to the cafe for both the good food and a chance to Court either Sky in hopes of getting a harmony. Of course to Court either, they have to get past Nyx and Nyx’s info network first which is a grueling gauntlet of terror and mind-screwing because 90% of Nyx’s info network/friends are all Mists who keeping trying and failing to Braincell this reckless reborn Ulric.

One day an Inverted Cloud shows up at Hestia’s cafe, takes one (1) look at Nyx, who is on forced vacation with his arm in a sling, and starts reaming him out. People kinda side-eye the Cloud, expecting blood to fly, but instead Nyx bursts into tears of joy because IT’S LIB. LIB IS HERE. Wait that means you died DANG IT LIB YOU PROMISED.

Lib: I DIED AT AGE EIGHTY WITH GREAT-GRANDKIDS. TIMELINE IS JUST SCREWED UP HERE. YOU’RE THE ONE WHO DIED YOUNG AND DUMB AND HAVING LIED TO ME. YOU DON’T GET TO LECTURE ME ON ANYTHING.

Nyx: I HAD TO PROTECT YOU AND LUNA.

Lib: NOT BY GETTING USED AS A CANDLE BY THE GHOSTS OF SOME OLD DUDES IN A RING YOU DIDN’T.

Random Vongola agent who happens to be in earshot and knows the legend of the Vongola Rings: ????????????

Anyway eventually more formerly dead glaives show up and wind up being Nana/Hestia’s Elements and Tsuna/Regis grows up thoroughly Galahdian and self-confident and HUGELY POWERFUL as a Sky because HAH take that Vongola. Also somehow the entire mafia world, proving their SPARKLING non-intelligence, never realizes that Tsuna is like- a vongola.

Because he totally doesn’t look like a mini ghost of Primo or anything NO SIR (rolls eyes).

Also Tsuna/Regis somehow still picks up all his canon elements. 

Gokudera when they snap bond after running into each other on Mafia Land. 

Takeshi on a visit to japan with Nyx where Tsuna/Regis talks Takeshi out of jumping off a bridge and also maybe running away to be mafia with him rather than hang out with the bullies on his baseball team. 

Kyoka and Ryohei after Nyx accidentally rescues them from a child trafficking ring (blowing up the trafficking ring in the process VERY intentionally thank you).

Hibari because the little maniac FOLLOWED NYX HOME after picking a fight with him during one of his deliveries to someone in Namimori (Regis took great offense to this kid attacking HIS big brother and Threw Hands in true Galahdian fashion, Hibari was an Awe of this Smol deceptively fluffy and cute carnivore). Lambo just kinda ... shows up one day and never leaves (Nyx suspects his family intentionally “lost” him in Mafia Land while on vacation and makes a mental note to have his info network raise hell for the Bovino because HOW DARE).

However, his FIRST Elements are Mukuro and his gang. Because Nyx may or may not have busted into the lab by accident while looking to steal something else entirely and then gone on a Rampage through the facility, rescuing kids as he went. The moment Regis laid eyes on the shell-shocked, skinny, traumatized Mukuro and co, he ran over and pumped them full of Sky Flames to make them feel better and BOOM snap bond.

Libertus and the others work hard to keep Mukuro on an even keel. While also telling the Vindice to shove it when they come sniffing around because YOU CAN’T BUST US FOR BREAKING THE NO-FIGHTING LAW WHEN YOU WERE IGNORING THIS. The Vindice, surprisingly, accept this argument and buzz off.

Mukuro wandered off and came home with Chrome one day when he was twelve. No one knows how. No one knows why. But there is no way you are convincing Nyx or anyone else in Hestia’s Elements that Chrome isn’t Mukuro’s long lost twin and thus THEIRS.

Also Chrome does not have organ damage in this so yay.

Nyx takes one (1) look at Reborn when the cursed baby comes sniffing around Hestia’s cafe in curiosity of the Uber Powerful Skies, sees Reborn smack Regis with Leon Mallet, and promptly Throws Hands.

Reborn was Not Prepared for this Stormy Sun to be able to steamroll him with the vast and unorthodox experience of being a Glaive who tackles Flames with the understanding of Magic That Can Do Pretty Much What I Want Barring Some Things rather than the Mafia’s religiously conditioned rules of Flames Do This and Are Like This And Only This and then kick him off the nearest peer.

Colonello, who has already been taught to Fear The Reincarnated Feral Glaives, just sits there and laughs at Reborn’s confusion at finally meeting a Sun even more powerful and stubborn than him.

Also at some point Nyx straight up steals Xanxus because the Varia hired him to and then just .... never gives him back. Melts him free, sure, but the kid is CLEARLY unstable and in need of mental help and Vongola sure isn’t going to give it to him so Nyx just kinda ... sics Hestia on Xanxus and when the Varia come thundering in thinking Nyx had broken his contract they find Xanxus sitting there with a befuddled but surprisingly un-angry expression, holding a cup of tea rather than alcohol and with Hestia putting his favorite steak down for him.

Also Regis is sitting in Xanxus’s lap radiating so much Sky Flames that Xanxus can’t really ... think straight enough to be mad about much. Because seriously if Tsuna/Regis could defeat a trained assassin when he was a noob middle school kid while his Flames were SEALED then you better believe that when unsealed and raised in a loving, nurturing environment he can Therapy Jutsu anyone through the sheer power of his Flame aura.

Except Iemitsu.

Iemitsu gets shanked at some point.

Nobody will say by who.

But Libertus looks very, very Smug (he is a Cloud and Hestia and Regis are part of his Territory. What did you expect to happen. The only difference between Lib and Hibari is Lib is an Inverted and so is better at the Stealthy Route).

[currentlylurking]

Phic Phight: Have Your Kingdom and Eat it Too

Danny goes to investigate a disturbance at Pariah’s Keep. There he finds a ruined sarcophagus, a broken ring, and a very confused man who apparently doesn’t remember his multiple evil deeds.

(Based on prompts by @ghostlyhabato and a lil bit of one by @imperfection-at-itsfinest)

Word Count: 5614

Have Your Kingdom and Eat it Too

Officially, Danny was not the Ghost King.

That was mostly because the Observants hated him, but the fact that there hadn’t actually been a Ghost King prior to Pariah also played a part. Apparently, he’d just up and declared himself the Ghost King and then tried to murder the Observants when he was told he couldn’t do that. While Danny thought they kinda sucked as an organization (reasons A through X were just how poorly about ten of them treated Clockwork), he was well aware how many lines that crossed.

All that aside, while Danny may not be the Ghost King, most of his allies wanted to deal with the Observants even less than he did. So they made him a ‘representative’ for their lands. A few of his enemies had even jumped on board, like Skulker and Walker, who hated the Observants way more than Danny did. It was kind of impressive, considering they didn’t even know Clockwork and how he was treated, but whatever. Government was weird.

Anyway, the point of this whole ramble was that Danny was not the Ghost King, but he was as close as the ghosts he knew could get him. So when something exploded at Pariah’s Keep and scared the nearby ghosts, who did the Observants arbitrarily decide had the stupid thing in his territory and had to investigate?

It was Danny. It was always Danny.

He floated in front of the stupid ugly building, about an hour and a half after said explosion. Nobody had run out and gone on a murderous rampage, or summoned an army of skeletons, or done any normal ‘world domination time’ things, so he was pretty sure he was safe. It had probably just been some teenaged ghosts, poking at stuff they shouldn’t. It happened a lot. Danny, who was also a teenaged ghost, was a prime example of it.

He flew through front door he’d smashed open last time he’d fought Pariah, briefly shifting to human form to dodge some of the traps that had managed to reset. It took him maybe ten minutes to invisibly reach the throne room.

Problem one was super obvious; the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep was destroyed. The top front had been smashed inwards and crumpled into the sarcophagus itself. The hinge was barely keeping the door attached. Scattered around it was ectoplasm and broken stone.

Someone had tried to punch Pariah through the sarcophagus, and then there’d been a fight. Because of course there had.

Still invisible, Danny floated a bit closer. Pariah wasn’t in the sarcophagus, and there wasn’t enough ectoplasm around to suggest that someone had destroyed him. Not that he knew anyone who could – he was pretty sure the only actually surviving Ancient was Nocturne, and that guy was a dick. Anyway, it had taken seven of them and Clockwork just to seal Pariah up that first time. Even if Pariah was still drained from the sarcophagus’ powers, he was not weak enough to destroy.

Danny lifted a chunk of rubble between two gloved fingers, examining it. Bits of blue ectoplasm dripped off it – so, not ghost blood. Leftovers from a parried attack, maybe? He snapped a picture with his phone anyway. Sam and Tucker were better at the detective stuff, he was better at punching stuff.

He set the rubble down, and continued poking around. The Keep was still far too quiet. He rolled a fallen column to the side and revealed one of Pariah’s gauntlets, with the now-smashed Ring of Rage still under it.

“Dope,” Danny said, and snapped a picture of that as well. The Ring of Rage sucked, and Valerie was still super invested in getting ‘a ring that proclaimed her a real ghost hunter’ despite the fact she knew that thing had belonged to an evil ghost. But whatever, Danny had just gotten shot when he asked her if a ring of bruises was close enough. Some people didn’t appreciate quality witty banter.

He shoved the column aside a bit more, revealing plenty of ectoplasm. The image of Pariah getting his hand crushed by a column was so funny that Danny couldn’t help but snort.

“Who’s there?!” Someone shouted. Danny snatched his invisible hands away from the column and glanced back where, unfortunately, his ‘where is Pariah’ question was answered.

The tyrant seemed… smaller now. It wasn’t a perspective thing; he was just closer to the height of a dude with giantism than a literal giant. His hand was also smashed, just like Danny had imagined, and wrapped in bandages. He was covered in other injuries, too; aside from the multitude of scrapes, when he tried to move up the stairs, he did so with a clear limp.

“Who’s there?” He demanded again. That was another thing – his accent wasn’t as pronounced.

What type of accent did he even have? Scottish? Why did the King of Ghosts who’d been in a deluxe sleepy sack for a thousand years have a Scottish accent? Was this one of those ‘pay more attention when Lancer speaks, Fenton,’ things?

Not important. Pariah came closer. He looked more scared than angry up close, though it was almost hidden by the fact whoever had broken him out had chopped up his face pretty badly. He looked like he’d been caught in a lawnmower, and also incredibly terrifying.

He hadn’t noticed the invisible Danny, though. That was nice. Danny used it to float back, over the column, in case he needed to use the good ol’ hand smasher for cover.

After a bit of poking around, Pariah huffed. “If there is anyone here, I just want to talk.” He said, and despite how funny it was that he thought anyone would fall for that, Danny did not snort. Pariah faced the opposite way from him, and looked over the pockmarked walls. “My – my name is Alric.” What. “I just want to know what’s going on.”

Okay, that was past the weird threshold. Danny sat cross-legged on the column and popped back into visibility. A shield was already half-formed in his hand. “Last I heard,” Pariah whipped around, “your name was Pariah Dark, King of Ghosts.”

Pariah stared at him for a second. He didn’t attack. “Are you the one who let me out?”

Danny scoffed. “No. I just had to investigate a disturbance in my territory.”

Pariah frowned. “I… see. I am Alric, and yes, I am the Ghost King. Who are you?”

“Danny Phantom. Your replacement.” He waved, “Sup?”

“Oh.” Pariah’s frown grew. “You’re a child.”

“And you’re a child murderer,” Danny shrugged. Pariah’s face turned ashen. “So, are you going to try and kill me now?”

“I – I’m not a murderer,” Pariah said, and gripped the side of his head with his uninjured hand. Danny hummed in disagreement. “I’d never hurt a child, much less kill one!”

“Yeah, no, I still have a scar from last time we fought.” Pariah gaped at him, then gripped his head harder. Danny watched impassively, shield still at the ready.

“Why did I assault a child?” He asked, and his unnecessary breathing started to get ragged. Danny floated up, watching Pariah for a second. “I – Spirits, why would I do that? Why can’t I remember? I –” he paused. “Clockwork.”

“Huh?” Danny said.

“Clockwork.” Pariah repeated, which was not comforting. “My friend. He – you said you were the next king,” he stopped for a second. Danny raised an eyebrow. “Do you know a man named Clockwork? Blue skin, scar over his eye, likes the colour purple?”

Danny had seen Clockwork last week for help with a history report. Clockwork was entirely unhelpful and had gotten personally offended at how ‘inaccurate and biased’ his history textbook was. He hadn’t mentioned anything about Pariah breaking out.

“No?” Danny said. He wasn’t a snitch, and after three years of ghost fighting, he’d gotten pretty good at not messing up simple lies. “Why?”

Pariah’s face, once again, turned ashen. “Do you… know the Observants? Did they make you Ghost King?”

“I – I’m not –” nevermind, Danny was still a garbage liar. “They didn’t make me anything, it was my allies, they sort of voluntold me to go be, y’know,” he gestured vaguely, “and the Observants had to go with it. There were a lot of them.” Nevermind the fact that he was not the Ghost King.

“But… you’re a child.” Pariah said. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to keep bringing it up. Clockwork is – was my friend.” He had a bit of a weird inflection on the word ‘friend,’ which made Danny trust him even less than he did before. “There’s this item called the skeleton key, it’s very important to him. Do you know where it is?”

Danny raised an eyebrow once again. “Uh, dude, are you okay? I kind of expected you to try and kill me at least once by now.”

“I already said I – Spirits, what sort of things did I do to make you believe that?” He lowered his hands. “Danny Phantom, I give you my word that I will not harm you.”

Yeesh, could this day get any weirder? “Appreciate that, but Pariah, I really don’t believe you.”

“Alric,” he said. “My name is not Pariah. I don’t know why I would have changed it. I can barely remember anything between a dinner gone wrong and waking up not too long ago, my hand stuck under that column.”

“Uh-huh, I saw. Smashed your ring and everything.” Danny said, and pointed down at it. Pariah – Alric? Nah, he didn’t deserve a new name – frowned at the artifact. He took a step towards it. Danny threw up the shield he’d been holding. “What went wrong at the dinner?” He asked. He watched Pariah pull back a bit.

“I – I believe,” he said very reluctantly, “that it was a chef’s fault. My friend I mentioned, Clockwork, he was curious and went to watch her prepare the meal. I came in to check on the preparations as she began to call him horrible things. I was furious. I lost my temper.” He looked down at his hands. “I destroyed her, right in front of Clockwork. He was terrified. How did I not notice it then? Spirits, he must hate me…”

Danny, despite his best efforts, could almost sympathize – he’d nearly punched a few Observants after seeing how they treated Clockwork. The idea of other ghosts doing that was hard to handle. “Am I supposed to feel bad for you? You just admitted you killed a lady.” He said. He stood, dropping the shield. “Who let you out?” He pointed a thumb at the ruined sarcophagus.

“I’m not sure,” Pariah said slowly, and tore his eyes away from the ring. Danny kicked it down the stairs and quickly stepped away. “It was this ghost in a white cloak. I’m not sure what happened, I barely saw him. I think we fought, but after he pinned my arm he left. He didn’t say much. I never saw his face, but he threw these bandages at me when I asked him who he was. Once my mind had cleared I left to patch up my wounds and returned when I heard you.”

“Neat. No idea who that’s supposed to be, but I’ll tell the Observants to keep an eye out.” He caught the flicker of a scowl on Pariah’s face. “Now. If you’re not going to kill me or try and take over the world, what do we do now?”

“That’s your decision, my king,” Pariah said. Danny couldn’t help the face he pulled – Pariah didn’t notice it, though. “If I have any choice, though, I’d like to stay as far away from the Observants as possible.”

“Most people would, hence why they make me deal with them instead.” Danny shrugged. He looked over Pariah’s injuries again – whoever that cloaked ghost was, he had done a number on one of the most powerful ghosts ever. Danny didn’t know if he should be impressed or terrified. “How hurt are you?”

“Quite injured, I think,” Pariah admitted. He examined his bandaged hand. “I have a rather high pain tolerance, but the damage I suffered was significant.”

“Right. So, I’m going to take you to a guy who knows how to ask the right questions to figure out what we do with you, and also fix you up. We should probably make a sling before we do that, though…” Danny trailed off, examining the walls. “We should also disguise you so that other people don’t see you and panic.” He hummed, then snapped his fingers. “Oh, I know!”

.-.

“Great One, what is that?”

“Hello,” Pariah said, from under the tapestry Danny had thrown over him. He looked like a bedsheet ghost, although he wore an evil looking moth-eaten tapestry instead of a white sheet. His broken horn half poked out of a hole, tangled in red thread.

“Good question,” Danny said, and pulled the tapestry off. Frostbite took a step back, closer to the exit of the ice cave they’d been waiting in. “Sorry to drag him here but, uh,” he gestured vaguely to all of Pariah, “help.”

Frostbite continued to stare at Pariah for a moment longer. Pariah, for his part, stayed silent. “Come with me, Great One.” He frowned, “And… you.” He led the way. Danny flung the tapestry back over Pariah as they passed by the other yetis. A few bowed, but more simply waved. Danny waved back and gave wider smiles to the ones who didn’t bow.

Pariah watched the exchanges with a frankly disturbing look in his eye, which Danny decidedly ignored.

Eventually, Frostbite led them to a hospital-like room. “Sit,” he said, and Pariah did. Danny helped pull off the tapestry once again as Frostbite produced some ectoplasmic gloves. “Now. I would like an explanation, please.”

Danny shrugged. “Observants told me the keep was in ‘my territory’ and that something blew up there. So I went to investigate, I found him and a smashed ring of rage, he says he’s not evil anymore and that he won’t hurt me, also that some white-cloaked weirdo broke him out.” Danny frowned, and ran everything over in his mind. “And… yeah, no, that’s about it. Any advice?”

Frostbite frowned and turned to Pariah.

“Your king sums it up quite well,” Pariah said, and Frostbite grinned.

“Oh, so you’ve abdicated and passed the throne on to Danny Phantom?”

Pariah frowned. “I…” he glanced at Danny, and very reluctantly sighed. “I suppose?”

Frostbite whoop’d, and Pariah leaned away from him. “Excellent! I will spread the word, and we will have the biggest party in centuries! This is a wonderful day that will be remembered for ages!”

“Great!” Danny said, despite the fact this was not great at all. “Real neat! Can we focus on this first?”

“Of course, my king,” Frostbite said, and Danny did not sigh. “When you say Pariah is no longer –”

“Alric,” Pariah corrected once again. “Please, I don’t know why I would ever change my name to something as absolutely stupid as that. I –” he stopped, frowned, and squinted past Frostbite. Danny followed his gaze, and watched Pariah look himself over in a wall of shiny ice. “What the hell am I wearing?”

“Armor,” Frostbite offered, and began to unwrap Pariah’s bandaged hand.

“I noticed that part, I just – this is actually revolting. I look ridiculous.” Pariah huffed, ran his unbroken hand through his hair. “Why is my hair so long? And am I –” another pause, and more squinting. Pariah sounded particularly horrified. “Am I wearing eyeliner?”

“Huh,” Danny said, and watched as Pariah rubbed his eye. The raccoon effect around them confirmed that yes, the king of ghosts, a super evil mass murderer, had been wearing cheap eyeliner. He watched Pariah stare at his hand in abject horror. “I mean, it helps you look threatening.” He offered. “My friend Sam likes her eyeliner wings sharp enough to kill a man. And Vlad wears eyeliner whenever he’s out doing evil stuff, says it makes his eyes pop.”

“I don’t want to do anything evil!” Pariah protested. “Is it off?”

“Sit still,” Frostbite scolded. “You can wash your face after I’m done, if that is such a big issue.”

For a moment, Pariah sat there like a pouting child. Danny couldn’t help but snicker – his weird tolerance had been smashed to pieces, now it was just funny. Pariah had nearly killed him and Valerie, severely messed up the Ghost Zone, and now he was sitting on a bed complaining because he’d put make-up on at some point. How did this happen to people?

Frostbite paused his examination of Pariah’s hand. “Huh,” he said thoughtfully. He set the hand down and began to try and comb through Pariah’s hair. “Pardon me for a moment.”

“Like, officially?” Danny asked, grinning. From the look Frostbite shot him, now was not the time for royalty jokes. Not good. He floated over. “What’s up?”

“Do I have lice?” Pariah asked. “Feel free to shave my head if you must. I have no attachment to whatever atrocity happened to my hair.”

“Forget your hair,” Danny said, “what about your hand?” With the bandage gone, Danny could see that Pariah’s ring finger looked black and necrotic, with spiderweb-like black veins curling across the skin. It was also just messed up in general, but those were normal ghost-limb-got-crushed injuries. The weird veins were not.

“I genuinely have no idea,” Pariah offered, “it was like that when I came to my senses.”

“It’s not alone,” Frostbite said, and parted a section of his hair – there were more of those veins across his scalp, centralized at the top of his head.

“Huh,” Danny said. “That’s… huh. I think I have to up my weird tolerance. Do you know what that is?”

“Generally,” Frostbite said slowly as he pulled back, “marks such as that are leftover after a malicious curse has ended.”

“Why would they be on his head and hand, then?” Danny said. It clicked as soon as the words were out of his mouth. “The ring and crown!”

Frostbite frowned. “Great One, are you implying what it sounds like you are?”

“I mean, I would hope so.” He shrugged and pulled back. Pariah watched him, vaguely confused. “Where’d you get the ring of rage and crown of fire, dude?” Danny pulled a face. “Seriously, the names sound super evil. Why would you put those on?”

“I just thought they’d make me more powerful?” Pariah said, and rubbed the side of his head with his good hand. “I don’t understand. I didn’t have them on all the time. I would take them off when I wanted to rest. My memories cut off well after I got them.”

“Curses take time,” Frostbite said thoughtfully. “I could take an ectoplasm sample, and have one of our labs examine it, but it does seem likely Danny Phantom’s theory is correct. The crown was destroyed by the Observants two years ago.”

“And the ring was destroyed two hours ago,” Danny said, and pulled up the picture on his phone to show Frostbite. “So… the curse is broken because of some weirdo in a cloak who wanted to try out property damage, and you’re no longer evil?”

“The Observants cursed me,” Pariah said, quietly.  

“I would not pin the blame on them,” Frostbite said warily, “or on anyone at all. You should do your best to move past this.”

“No.” Pariah said, a bit of a growl burning through his throat. Danny and Frostbite both took a step back. “They did this on purpose.”

“Oookay,” Danny said slowly, keeping himself between Pariah and Frostbite. “How about you take some deep breaths and calm down. I know you’re a ghost, but those help.” He shrugged. Pariah started to scowl. “It’s probably best if you don’t spend your first day as an uncursed dude repeating a murder rampage on the government.”

That gave him a moment of pause. “When did I murder Observants? By the time I had reason to, they were all in hiding.”

“Uh, when you attacked their house?” Danny said. He glanced at Frostbite, who nodded. “Yeah. Early on in your kingship, they said you weren’t a real king, so you tried to kill them. It’s Ghost Zone History 101.”

“No. I never tried to kill any of them.” Pariah’s scowl was more pronounced, but less directed at them. “They did denounce me publicly, I remember that. But I went there to talk, like a normal person, to see if we could find some middle ground.” He scoffed, “That lasted for all of five minutes before they decided it’d be easier to destroy me. I defended myself, but I made no effort to kill anyone. When I returned the next day they were gone, so I raided their artifacts. That is where I got the ring and crown. It was a backup plan, in case their murder attempt failed.”

“Or,” Frostbite said, “it was an unlucky coincidence. As far as I know, the Observants’ view of the timestream is limited. They would not be able to predict that.”

Pariah huffed. He was silent for a second, but Danny stayed on edge. “How long has it been since I was locked away?” He asked.

“A bit over a millennium, I believe,” Frostbite said. “One of my ancestors was part of the ancient seven who sealed you away. I should have the exact date recorded in our history wing.”

“It’s super cool,” Danny said as Pariah leaned forwards, head in his hand. “They have some really neat cave paintings and stuff there.”

“I… I’ll have to take a look at that.” Pariah said. His voice was strained. He sounded a bit like he was three steps from a breakdown. “Is there a list anywhere? Of the people I – I hurt?”

“Of those you destroyed, yes. I don’t believe injuries were registered.” Frostbite said. He guided Danny aside and returned to tending to Pariah’s hand. “It is not with me, but I could request a copy.”

“Thank you.” Pariah said. “Would you – do you know if the name Clockwork is on it?”

Frostbite glanced back at Danny. He’d met Clockwork once, sometime after the revelation that Frostbite’s ancestor had been an Ancient and that Clockwork had helped them. They’d gotten along okay, Frostbite was a – pun intended – super chill guy, and Clockwork, as awkward as he was, had easily found common ground with the yetis. He’d also been impressed that they were nice to him since, apparently, Frostbite’s ancestor had been a real jerk.

Danny shook his head. Frostbite gave a small nod and refocused on Pariah. “I can’t say that name is familiar. Why?”

“He was my friend.” Again, Pariah said friend super weirdly.

“Ah,” Frostbite said. He’d moved on to examining Pariah’s limp and copied the weird tone. “A ‘friend.’”

“Yes, a friend.” Pariah said defensively. He hissed when Frostbite adjusted his ankle. “He was closest to me after the events with the Observants. Physically and otherwise.”

“I’m sure,” Frostbite said.

“I just want to know if I hurt him.” Pariah said, his bowed head coloured by a blush Danny almost missed. “There’s something else that’s just as important. There’s an item called the skeleton key. Do you know where it is?”

“No,” Frostbite lied. He knew just as well as Danny did that it was with the Observants. “Why?”

“It’s important to Clockwork,” Pariah said, and left that incredibly vague statement at that.

“How so?” Danny asked, and floated closer.

“It’s important,” Pariah stressed. “I know it opens any lock in the Zone. I don’t care about that anymore, certainly not if I used it to hurt people. But it belongs to Clockwork, and I had it before the curse took effect. I was closer to him than anyone. I could have hurt him.”

Danny said nothing. He wasn’t sure what he could say that wasn’t just Clockwork’s personal business. But he didn’t like the picture this was painting – Clockwork had, however reluctantly, admitted that the Observants used the key to control him. Danny didn’t know the specifics. He didn’t like the idea of Pariah knowing them, ‘previously cursed’ and ‘friend of Clockwork’ or not. Besides, Clockwork had helped the Ancients seal Pariah away. He wouldn’t want anything to do with him. Even if they’d been friends once, Clockwork definitely wasn’t one now.

Despite Danny’s best efforts, he was about the only friend Clockwork had.

The silence hung for a bit longer. “If, by any chance,” Pariah spoke up, “you’re lying because you don’t trust me, I understand that. I just want Clockwork to be safe.”

“Mood,” Danny said. Pariah frowned at him. He backtracked. “I’ll ask around. See what I can do.”

“Be sure to use your Kingly Sway when you do so!” Frostbite said, apparently delighted by the topic change. He turned to grab more disinfectant.

“Is that even a thing?” Danny asked. “Also, pretty big flaw if it is. Considering, y’know, the thing.” The ‘not actually being the ghost king’ thing.

Frostbite laughed. He stepped over and slapped Danny on the back. “That’s not an issue anymore, Danny Phantom! The Observants have no say in this!” He gestured to Pariah, who just looked confused. “Not when the previous king has passed the throne on to you!”

Pariah and Danny stared at each other for a second, and it was impossible to tell who was more confused.

“He’s a child,” Pariah said.

“I’m only half dead,” Danny said, at somewhat the same time.

“What?” Pariah asked.

“Both can be worked around until they are no longer issues!” Frostbite said. “But this is wonderful news! You should be happy, Great One – finally, the Observants will leave us alone!”

There was a soft ahem. The group looked to the left – a portal had been cut through the ice wall, and in front of it floated a white-cloaked figure. It waved a clawed, green hand, and poorly hidden under the hood was one red eye. “Is this a good time?”

“You’re an Observant,” Danny said. Frostbite guided him closer.

“…Well, I suppose the disguise was pointless then. That’s groovy.” The Observant said. He took off his cloak and slung it over an arm. “Anyway. What’s shakin’?”

“You’re not allowed here,” Frostbite said. He kept his eyes fixed on the portal.

“I’m not staying,” the Observant said, “I’m just here to make a delivery.” He pulled the skeleton key out of his robes.

“You have it?” Pariah snapped, already on his feet.

“A delivery for Danny Phantom, sit down before you hurt yourself.” He floated forwards, eye still on Pariah, and pressed the key into Danny’s hands.

“Thank you?” Danny said. “Are you the one who released Pariah?”

The Observant seemed to frown. “His name’s Alric. If you can turn your back on him, you can call him by his name.”

“Don’t defend me,” Pariah – Alric – said. “I don’t want your help. Where’s Clockwork?”

“Funny,” the Observant said, and backed up significantly. “You needed my help earlier, when I knocked that column over and uncursed you. Oh, and before that, when I lobbied the Overseers enough that they gave in and destroyed the crown. Honestly, they’re artifacts of power that can only be wielded by an ‘evil spirit.’ Everyone involved with that division knew they had some sort of curse; it wasn’t like they were in the dark about it. Why did they need to keep those?” He paused. “This is a bad time to get distracted. Yes, I released him.”

“Why?” Frostbite narrowed his eyes. “Observants are not supposed to intervene, and they don’t act alone.”

“He’s right,” Alric growled, and came to join their line. “Whatever you want with me, I am not interested.”

“Yeah, you are.” The Observant said. “I know my history. You and Danny are the best shot.”

Danny pulled a face. Alric scoffed. Frostbite continued to stare.

“Why are you here?” Frostbite asked. “Where does that portal lead?”

The Observant shook his head. “I can’t tell you where it leads. I would rather not be murdered for doing the right thing. Take a chill pill, dude. You should have plenty of those lying around.”

“Okay!” Danny said loudly, “Observants aren’t allowed to say dude, that’s too weird! Why’d you release Pariah?”

“Alric,” the Observant corrected. “And the same reason I gave you the key. It’s the right thing to do, personal fears or not.” He focused on Alric, “He’s in the same room you found him in before. They shut him down once word got around you were out. Do what you have to.”

Danny looked back when Alric growled. When he refocused on the Observant, all he saw was a closing portal.

“Well!” Danny said, clapping his hand around the key, “That was weird!” Alric’s hand reached over his shoulder. Danny frantically passed the key to Frostbite and whipped around.

“I need that key,” he practically begged.

“No,” Danny said, “not unless I get a more concrete reason why you need it.”

“It’s for Clockwork,” he said, “Please. He’s with the Observants again, and I need to go rescue him.”

“You are not attacking the Observants again,” Frostbite said. Alric scowled, and lunged for him – two blasts of ice froze his feet to the ground.

Danny lowered his hands. “You heard him,” he said, “Why do you need to rescue Clockwork?”

Alric hesitated. “They use that key to control him. He’ll be comatose in a closet again, just like he was last time – I’m not going to kill anyone, I just need to save Clockwork! Please!”

“How am I supposed to trust that?” Danny asked, and refroze the bit of ice that broke when Alric strained. “What do you mean comatose?”

“Exactly as it sounds.” He scowled, “They use that key to shut down his consciousness, and he needs to be… be regularly wound with it, or it will happen naturally. As long as someone else has it, he’s bound to them. He doesn’t have a choice. I need to get him out.”

“No,” Frostbite said, “we cannot trust that. We –” Danny melted the ice at Pariah’s ankles. “What are you doing?”

“He’s right,” Danny said, and held out his hand. “That checks out with what Clockwork told me about his body. We’re going to go bust him out. Key, please.”

“Great One,” Frostbite said, “you can’t be serious. He is still injured and cannot be trusted.”

“Clockwork can.” Danny said. He glanced at Alric. “I lied, by the way. I definitely know Clockwork. He’s great. I’m coming with you.”

“Oh,” Alric said.

“This isn’t wise –”

“Dude,” Danny said, “if you want me to be king, then you need to trust me. Besides, you don’t like the Observants either. Come on, Frostbite.” He smiled, “Just trust me.”

The silence held. Then, Frostbite passed the key back.

“I’ll arrange a ride for us.” He pointed at Alric, “Do not leave without me.”

Alric frowned but made no effort to run down the open door. He looked Danny over. “You know Clockwork?”

“He saved me from the Observants once,” Danny said, “I owe him my family’s life.”

“Oh,” Alric said. “Good for him.”

.-.

In the second basement in the Observatory, Alric ripped the knob off a closet door when he tried to pry it open.

“Oh jeez,” Danny said, “he meant a literal closet.”

They hadn’t run into many Observants. The few they’d seen had taken one look at Alric and flung themselves in the other direction. Frostbite had followed them in, and still stood a few steps behind Danny and Alric as they pried open the door. The bottom hinge snapped with a final tug on the hole that used to hold a knob. Alric pulled it open, and Danny, in all his stick-thin, not-quite-five-foot glory squeezed through the gap.

In front of him was a crumpled form wrapped in purple fabrics, normally blue skin clear to reveal the still gears that made up Clockwork’s form. Danny knelt down and poked him with the skeleton key.

Nothing.

“That’s not how you do it,” Alric said, and took a knee in the small space beside him. Surprisingly delicate, he opened the glass of Clockwork’s case and placed the key in a grove between the gears. There was a click, and then the key lit up. Clockwork, too, lit up – his gears began to move again, and his skin clouded over, blue once more. Alric pulled the key out and took a step back. Danny stayed where he was.

Clockwork groaned as he cracked open an eye. “Danny,” he said, already obviously anxious, “you shouldn’t be here. The Observants –” He stopped. He’d sat up enough that he could see the other two in the doorway.

“Hello,” Alric said, softly, like he thought Clockwork would break. Frostbite raised his eyebrows and muttered something about ‘abuse’ and ‘legalities.’

By the time Danny blinked, he was back in Clockwork’s tower, a medallion hanging around his neck. Clockwork had his hands on his shoulders. Danny had the key in his hands.

“Danny,” Clockwork stressed, “what did you do?”

“Rude. Technically, I did nothing.” Clockwork’s frown deepened. Danny held up the key. “D’ya want this back now? An Observant went rogue and gave it to me. Also he uncursed Alric by breaking the ring, apparently.”

“Alric?” Clockwork repeated. He stared at Danny, eyes flickering over him. “…Yes, I want the key back.” Danny handed it over. “I need you to answer me honestly. What is going on?”

“Uh. Well. For one thing, Frostbite implied I’m actually the Ghost King now.”

Clockwork’s sigh was several seconds longer than it had any right to be.

***

Prompt 1: Pariah Dark got out again! Danny goes to take care of it, but Pariah is acting.... weird. Not-evil weird. Turns out something or someone else caused Pariah (If that is his real name) to be the raging tyrant history knows him as, but the influence has ended and he's a new (or renewed) person now. What changed, and who's at fault? (Ghostlyhabato)

Prompt 2: Danny ISN’T the ghost king. (imperfection-at-itsfinest)

Reasons to be my friend: when you tell me your lore I write you fics about it so you don’t have to! Nocturne doesn’t get to appear in this fic despite being an Ancient bc he’s gross and stinky. No one likes him. He sucks. 

[elk-and-thearchivist]

So I finally watched playthroughs of Detroit: Become Human after it's been on my hit list for a while - as expected, it was absolutely fantastic.

And then I remembered @sad-1st making a really cool DBH AU and so here we have some ideas and doodles for DBH Elk, Wiki, Other, and Khera! Not necessarily the same continuity as @sad-1st 's but it is kinda based on theirs. I may change up the designs later, these are just... brainstorming doodles

I actually have... a lot of ideas, haha! Feel free to read, on, if you like.

The year is 2038. Hallownest has been transformed by the androids developed by CyberNest, the bug-like machines integrating into almost every aspect of life. However, there may be more than meets the eye in the history of CyberNest. More and more androids are becoming "deviant," causing unpredictable behavior, and a mysterious malware known only as the "Radiant Virus" has been sweeping across every kind of machine, causing corruption and violent behavior in androids.

Short version: PK is an arrogant fool and Radiance is mad in multiple ways. Elk (VS700 prototype) and Other (VS600 prototype) were designed to complement each other, part of one of the "vessel" series. Elk killed Other and became deviant, CyberNest threw them out but Other got back for repairs with Khera, but Elk thought they were being destroyed and panicked, leading to Other activating Wiki moments before they and Khera slipped back into oblivion. Wiki (Project ACV) is an AI clone of Monomon uploaded to Elk, they get their secondary body frame later.

Long version:

The Wyrm and The Radiance grew up together, both geniuses in AI and software development. CyberNest was going to be shared between them - or so Radiance thought. When they company was Barely starting out, Wyrm backstabbed Radiance and took all assets for himself. Radiance went mad, eventually converting herself into a superintelligent AI, killing her physical body, and letting herself loose on the internet to watch, to learn.

Grimm was Radiance's sibling, vanished around the same time Radiance did. He is that mysterious-sketchy-but-surprisingly helpful guy that helps out rogue androids for trades and favors. He has a neural implant, linking himself to his own superintelligent AI - the Nightmare Heart, as he calls it. Nightmare is able to control Grimm's body, and sometimes they switch off.

Radiance starts trying to assert control over Wyrm's androids - this causes corruption in memory and software. It can be spread from machine-to-machine interfacing, but what spreads is more like a backdoor for the Radiance - it makes it easier for her to influence the machine and cause what is called "the Infection." In a way, it causes deviation and then takes advantage of the instability.

Wyrm, who now goes by Pale King, realizes that this must be Radiance's doing. He eventually finds out about her state as an AI, and starts developing technology that can resist her, and then software that would have the ability to quarantine and isolate her - possibly entangling the data, corrupting both her and whichever android that got "lucky" enough to be the one to face her. He grows desperate as the Infection sweeps across Hallownest, enlisting the help of Monomon, Lurien, and Herrah. PK convinces them to undergo AI conversion to turn them into sentinel programs, a trio that, in conjunction with a vessel android's AI, should be able to contain the Radiance. Of course, the public doesn't know about this - PK pretty much rules the city and no one thinks to question him. He is untouchable by the law.

The HK series is made to be completely stable - they cannot think, they cannot speak. HK200, "Hollow", is deemed to have the most stable software, and is tasked with finding and neutralizing the Radiance.

Wiki, or Project ACV (Archival Clone Verus) is the AI clone of Monomon - the sentinel program conversion is not the same as the infinitely learning AI development of Wiki. They are designed to be able to absorb an infinite amount of data (and be able to hack into anything to acquire it). Their "body" is composed of nanomachines in thirium (void?? What do you call it in this AU) that communicate with each other and can replicate infinitely, though they need a primary memory storage unit. Immediately upon activation, they connect to the internet, to the confidential databases of CyberNest, and learn everything in an instant. Monomon shuts them off and tries to delete their memory but was unable to, only succeeding in building some firewalls - effective, but all the information is still there. Despite everything, she doesn't want to delete/destroy ACV, and keeps them stored in the assembly/disassembly room, leaving a possible backdoor for reactivation. And then, Monomon undergoes the conversion and disappears from society.

Elk and Other have linked programs designed to oppose, complement, and improve each other. They were deployed a few times, tested and upgraded more and more. For a final test, Elk had to terminate Other, causing Elk's deviancy. Other's data was corrupted, but they uploaded themself to Elk through their link, undetected. Elk was thrown into the junkyard with Other's remains - Elk's stress peaked and they more or less crashed, causing an incident that kills Khera, and Other found themself in control. They harvest parts from their own remains to replace Elk's damaged parts. They find Khera's body, and discover an ability they never knew they had: they injected some self-replicating nanomachines into her body, temporarily reviving her. After some hasty repairs, they make Khera sneak them into CyberNest to fix Elk in both software and hardware. (Other thinks they're corrupted beyond saving.) Khera agrees, taking Elk/Other to the assembly/disassembly/repair room. Khera worked on the software at the same time as the hardware, but Elk regained consciousness and panicked - they had no memory of the junkyard and thought they were being destroyed. Given that they had to be taken apart a bit for repairs, it did certainly seem that way.

Other hacks into the mainframe as a last act, looking for something that could help, and finds Wiki and activates them. Other and Khera both go under, then. Wiki emerges from the ceiling and calms Elk down, taking over the repair and assembly process and assisting Elk. Wiki ends up uploading their "core self" to Elk, and replaces Elk's thirium/void with their nano-thirium/void.

They try to stay away from the goings-on of PK and CyberNest for a while, laying low and investigating whatever they please - but they come in contact with the Radiance and all their systems shut down for a while as they quarantine and stabilize their software. With some undetected assistance from Other, they eventually wake up with corrupted memory (gradually recovered). They start looking into the Radiance, uncovering history, betrayal, how terrible PK really is.

A few possibilities, which branch infinitely, of course:

- Elk and Wiki and others, probably, help Radiance recover her sanity and she leads a movement to overthrow PK. As it turns out, she can very easily cause deviancy, without the negative effects of the Infection. Radiance could succeed, securing rights for androids, or she could fail, becoming sealed away. Resistance could fall or continue, still. Radiance could be freed, the Dreamers could be given androids bodies, PK could either die, go to jail, or vanish. Elk/Wiki then continue as part of the staff of the new CyberNest R&D, developing AI, nanotechnology, and android-support tech.

- Android deviant movement is led by Ghost. Hornet and Quirrel support, HK may or may not come around. Radiance may be contained or quelled.

- Deviants continue to live underground, getting help from Grimm. Elk and Wiki offer their aid to any deviants they find, helping them escape Hallownest.

- Bad End / closest to game canon probably: Radiance succeeds in bringing down PK's syndicate via Infection; androids are collected and destroyed, save for the few who managed to resist her, and PK vanishes. (He linked his consciousness with a computer, actually, and retreated to his mind palace to die.) An apocalyptic variation could be HK successfully containing her, but she upgrades her virus to mutate rapidly and corrupts everything independently, all electronics, all technology, everything that connected to anything her virus was in. The infection was quarantined in Hallownest, luckily, but no network tech works there anymore. Or, maybe it did spread across the world, and nothing is ever the same.

[theskyeandsea]

Breaking and Entering IS Self-Care || Nora & Skylar

Location: Nic and Skylar’s House

Timing: Backdated for May 14th, 2020

Tagging: @fearfordinner

Description: Sometimes self-care is breaking and entering. Sometimes it’s a bear, a seal, and a chihuahua playing cards. And sometimes, it’s both.

TW: Medical Blood

Standing at the East End, Nora gazed upon her next target. The window house. Or, that’s what she’d always called it. It had a lot of windows. Every time she’d gone near it she had an urge to break into it simply because of those windows. They were little beacons beckoning her to come inside. Now that she, the neighborhood bear, was back in the wild this would be her opening act. It was one of those many windows that were her way in. She found one unlocked and managed to crawl in. It was nice, for people who didn’t like a haunted look. Pop culture was everywhere on the premise in the form of pop dolls and manga. Nora took her time walking around the kitchen and living room. Every time she saw something of interest she would pick it up to examine it closely before putting it back down, deliberately out of place by a few inches. 

Steadying herself on the edge of the tub, Skylar unwound the bandages around her leg and threw them in the trash. The wound was better, she could tell, but she still hated this part of her day. The limping into the bathroom, the wiping off the blood. It hurt, it hurt so much more than she would have thought. But, she didn’t have any way to help ease the pain, not yet at least. Filling up a small plastic cup with warm, soapy water, Skylar looked apprehensively at her leg before pouring the water over her leg. A small yelp of pain escaped her lips as the water ran down her injury, coloring the water a slight pink. While her leg was definitely healing, every time she walked, it opened up just enough for her to feel a slight trickle of blood seep into the bandages. Gritting her teeth, Skylar washed the wound, unable to contain the gasps and grimaces as she did so. 

The best thing about pop figures were their lifeless black eyes. Nora decided that she’d like to have lifeless black eyes just like the pop figure of the green haired boy in a blue suit. An illusion spread over her face, giving her black lifeless eyes to stare back at the character she didn’t know. A yelp of pain tore her attention away from the doll. Someone else was there. Cool. Nora put down the toy. She was excited to see who would live in the window house. She slunk down the hallway towards the bathroom. The bathroom door wasn’t shut, swinging halfway in the frame. Nora nudged it open and was instantly greeted by the back of someone she knew. “Oh hey Skylar. I didn’t know you lived here.” Nora said shamelessly in her monotone drull. 

Too focused on the pain spreading through her leg, Skylar wasn’t aware of the door being pushed open, or the fact that she wasn’t alone in the bathroom. But, at the sound of a voice behind her, Skylar’s leg slipped and she fell into the bathtub, letting out short yell of pain as the impact knocked her leg against the side of the tub. Her pajama pants, rolled up to the knee, were soaked and the water around her was colored a darker shade of red as blood rolled down the side of her leg. Disoriented, the memories of the man sneaking up behind her and pulling the gun flashed in her mind and she held up her hands instinctively to protect herself. Fear and adrenaline had her heart pounding as she worked up the nerve to peer through her fingers and saw that it was… Nora. “N-nora?” She stammered, “What..? Why are you here?”

Fear swelled and bubbled around Skylar, drifting into Nora’s nostrils and giving her a tasty little snack. It smelt like a nice ocean breeze. Nora didn’t think twice about it. Fear was a common reaction to her. So when Skylar raised her hands to protect herself and braced, Nora didn’t think anything weird of it. She slunk forward, looking into the bathtub of colored water. “I’m breaking in.” Nora answered Skylar. “I’ve always wanted to see inside this house.” Her eyes moved from the discolored water to Skylar’s leg. “What happened to your leg? Do you need help with anything?”

Struggling to calm herself down, Skylar gripped the edge of the tub in an attempt to try and gain some semblance of control. She blinked rapidly, doing her best to suck in a deep breath to get her heart rate down. The sudden appearance of Nora, in her home, right behind her was… not something she had expected. “You-- you’re… okay.” She nodded, staring at the ripples in the water. Breaking in. She didn’t understand why, was she here to hurt her? Was she going to hurt her? Swallowing, Skylar glanced down at the wound on her leg. “I-- I got hurt. Someone hurt me.” She nodded, not sure what else to say about her situation. “Help me..?” She blinked, confused. 

The fear was a nice snack. A tasty treat as a reward for a successful mission. Skylar seemed to be struggling for words through the fear, so Nora sat down against the wall to seem less threatening. If she was sitting down, she wasn’t going to transform into a bear or something, right? Not that Skylar knew about the bear, but Nora was trying. “Someone hurt me too.” Nora lifted up her shirt to show her bandaged wound. “People can be cowards.” Nora assumed that was how Skylar got hurt. Fear. “Yeah help. It looks painful. I can help with anything.” Nora shrugged. She could also offer to leave and not break into someone's house, however the thought never crossed her mind. 

As Nora sat down, Skylar felt some small amount of relief wash over her. It was okay. It was going to be okay, she wasn’t going to hurt her. No one was going to hurt her. Looking at the bandaged injury on her unexpected guest’s side, Skylar’s eyes widened. Was it the same man who had shot her? The human hunter? “Did he-- was he an old man? With white hair and a beard?” She said. In the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but wish she had some kind of description of him that didn’t make him sound like Santa Claus. “It’s um… Can you help me out of the tub? It’s hard for me to stand.” She had some bandages sitting out on the bathroom counter; she’d planned to rewrap her leg once she’d finished washing it after all.

“I don’t think he’s old. Maybe in his thirties.” Was Skylar someone who considered people in their thirties old? It was a struggle to get back to her feet. Pain branched along her sides but Nora ignored it. “What did you do to scare him? The old man?” The saying ‘Assumptions make an ass of you and me’ was only partly true, because the only person Nora made an ass of was herself. Now on her feet, Nora braced herself before reaching her arms out to help Skylar up. “Do you live alone?” Nora asked. She wondered why there was no one here to help Skylar with the bandages. Nora had been lucky. Despite her attempt to lock herself away from everyone in the attic, she had people and ghosts come up to help her change bandages regularly. 

Thirties. No, that definitely wasn’t the same man. But, that just meant there was someone else going around shooting people, which was just as concerning. Skylar blinked in confusion at the question. “Scare him..? I didn’t. He was…” She hesitated, not sure how to explain why the man had been after her, why he had shot her. She couldn’t say it without telling Nora her secret. And, after telling Erin the other day, she wasn’t feeling quite up to letting more people in on what she was. “He just shot me.” She said. Taking Nora’s hands with a grateful nod, Skylar stepped out of the bathtub and leaned against the wall for a moment before slipping away from her grasp. “I’ll be okay to walk. And, no, I don’t. My roommate lives here, but he’s not around right now. You’re probably lucky that he’s out.” She said with a nod. She couldn’t imagine how Nic would react to someone just breaking into his house. Probably with a swift punch to the face or something equally violent.

“Another coward.” Nora nodded along, piecing together Skylar’s broken sentences with ideas that could only be constructed in her mind. “People need to stop shooting people.” Nora announced to a room full of people who had been shot and were not likely to shoot back. “He’s lucky he’s out.” Nora commented back, thinking of how fun it would be to terrify someone right now. Obviously she couldn’t terrify Skylar. Skylar had given her a very nice birthday net to go sky fishing with. Plus, she had already been scared enough just be Nora walking in. Now that Skylar was up Nora walked over to the bandages on the counter, picking them up. “Do you have neosporin? I think that’s supposed to go on first.” 

“I don’t-- I don’t think he was a...” Skylar’s voice trailed off slightly as she tried to collect her thoughts, still swimming in her brain. He definitely wasn’t a coward. But, if that’s what Nora assumed, she didn’t really want to fight to change her mind. And, besides. She could agree with her other statement. “Mhm. It’d be nice if they would.” She nodded. Though, she wasn’t really sure if Nic would think very much of Nora’s opinion of him. “Please don’t scare him. He’s um… his fight or flight is kinda always set to fight.” She warned. Nodding at the other woman’s words, Skylar pointed to the cabinet. “I’ve got a tube of it in there. I can, I can do that. I’m just not very good at the bandages.”

A lot of people have been trying to stop the scare train recently, and Nora was not having it. She decided not to comment.. She would scare everyone. That was the way this cookie crumbled. Nora opened the cabinet Skylar nodded at and pulled out a tube of neosporin. “Munch, my best friend, he's a paintbrush, told me that having a body is too much trouble and doesn’t understand why I didn’t get rid of it.” Nora squatted down in front of Skylar, putting the antibacterial cream on the bandage before starting to wrap up her leg. “I decided he was right when I had to get good at bandaging myself.” Nora’s nose scrunched a tiny bit in concentration as she tried to make sure the bandaging was perfect, blatantly ignoring Skylar saying that she could do that. “The things we do for our flesh.” 

“Your best friend is a paintbrush..?” Skylar echoed, trying to make sure that she’d heard that right. If that was true, it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing she’d heard of. Besides, she couldn’t really judge. She turned into a seal and her best friend was a zombie. But Remmy at least wasn’t an inanimate object. “Oh. Um… I think it’s okay to have a body? Even if it hurts sometimes.” She said, watching as Nora began to smear Neosporin on the bandages and began to wind them around her leg. As much as she wanted to protest, she wasn’t entirely in any condition to do so. As the soothing balm pressed against her wound, Skylar felt the tension trapped in her shoulders ease slightly. “Mhm. It’s not always easy, but sometimes we have to do what we have to do.” She said, her thoughts going to the sealskin hidden behind the bookshelf of her room. It wasn’t a fool proof spot, but it wasn’t as obvious as putting it under her mattress or shoved in the back of her closet. 

“Yeah, he’s just angry that he doesn’t have a body.” Nora held up her hand in a painting motion “on account of him being a paintbrush.”  Nora nodded as Skylar declared they had to do what they had to do. “You’re right. And you’re bandaged.” Nora stood back up, admiring her handy work. “Do you need anything else while I’m here? A snack?” Nora wasn’t sure what to do in this situation suddenly. Normally when she broke into someone's house she would scare them, they would scream, she’d reveal it was her, everyone would have a good hearty laugh and then she’d be on her way. Now there hadn’t been an intentional scare and Nora was nervous about leaving Skylar alone. “A game of cards?” 

“Mmmm. I guess that makes sense that he’s jealous?” Skylar said, hoping that her words didn’t sound entirely like she was out of her depth. But also... maybe it was because she was muddled up by the pain in her leg, but why was Nora’s best friend a talking paintbrush? She wasn’t magical was she? A little odd, a little different, but wasn’t everyone in this town? Unable to really dwell on the thought, Skylar glanced down at her soaked pants. All she really wanted to do was change and go to bed, but… It was nice, in a way, to have someone here. Even if Nora had broken into her house. “Um… Cards sound nice. And food. I think Nic grabbed me some sushi in the fridge. You can have some too.” She said as she steadied herself against the wall of the bathroom to walk back towards her room, eager to change out of her dripping clothes. Shutting the door behind her, Skylar changed as quickly as she could and settled on the edge of her bed. The wound throbbed, but only slightly. A welcome relief. 

There it was. An invitation to the fridge. Nora watched to make sure Skylar got to her room alright before slinking off to the kitchen. The mayhem started at the fridge as she first pulled out Skylar’s sushi then started to pull out any item she thought contained meat. Then she started to heat up all the meat items that she thought needed to be heated up. While those were heating, she got into the cabinets. Nora pulled out plates, silverware, crackers, and sweets. Anything that fell under ‘Oh maybe Skylar would like to eat this’ was pulled out and set at a table. Once the table was set she started scouring the house for any kind of cards. Uno. Playing cards. Flux. Anything. If it had cards in it she grabbed it. She then considered going to Skylar to see if she needed help getting back out, but Nora decided against it. People had their pride, and sometimes that pride was being able to walk somewhere on their own. 

Poking out of her room, Skylar walked gingerly out to the kitchen and was taken aback by the massive spread of food that was laid out on the table. Nora had… taken her invitation pretty seriously. But, after they’d run into each other fishing for sky fish, she couldn’t be too surprised. Seeing some of Nic’s cookies spread out, a slight pang of guilt ran through her. She’d have to make sure that she bought him new ones to replace the ones Nora ate. “This looks, um, really great. Thank you.” Skylar said, not entirely sure what else to say as she sank heavily into her seat at the table before taking a piece of sushi and eating it. Her stomach was already growling, starving after the past week. “Oh, you found the cards. Did you want to play anything specifically?” She asked.

“Anything is fine for me. I’m very good at war.” War also happened to be the only two person game she could think of off the top of her head. Nora pulled out a normal deck of cards and started shuffling it. “Anything you want to play?” She stopped shuffling long enough to eat something. God. She loved meat. This house had a lot of meat in it. She was very happy to see that. “Oh. I didn’t mention, but I like your house.” Nora pointed at the windows. “I’ve always liked how many windows it has. It’s very pretty.” 

“Sounds good to me,” Skylar nodded as she ate another piece of sushi, then another. As odd as Nora was-- and as terrifying as it was that she’d managed to break in here, completely unannounced-- it was nice to have the company. As Nora began to deal the cards, Dundee padded out into the kitchen before hopping up onto her lap, resting his head on the table. With a slightly hesitant hand, Skylar patted him once on the top of his furry head before taking her pile of cards. “Thanks.” She said. As she did so, she couldn’t help but smile a little. It was a bit confused and maybe a bit tired at the edges. But, it was one of the first genuine smiles she’d been able to muster over the past few days. And that was good enough for now.

[fortunatelyhauntedblackcherry]

Moonshine - A Beetlejuice Fanfiction 10

Warning: swearing, duh, Ouija-boarding, BJ's trust issues

- Are we seriously gonna do this like we were in a goddamn Z category horror movie? - asked Ari, while she rubbed the bridge of her nose. The coffin-table in the living room was decorated with at least 10 huge white candles, and in the middle there was a grey Ouija-board with a bright pink planchette. Sof already dimmed the lights and now was sitting on the floor, legs in criss cross applesauce. Beetlejuice was floating above the coffee table, laughing his ass off at the inscription he read on the planchette: Hey there demons, it's me, ya boy.

- And it's coming from the weird sister... - commented Rei as she folded her hands before her chest. Sof let out an annoyed sigh.

- Shut up, it gives an eerie vibe to the whole thing! I've been dreaming about using this shit for years, let me live my dream guys! - Rei and Ari both looked at each other, sighed, then sit down. Beetlejuice stopped laughing, wipped his laughter-tear filled eyes and rolled over to his belly in the air, legs dangling, hands under his chin. He had a devilish smile on his face and bright, neon green hair, mixed with a couple strikes of yellow. Even though he was excited to communicate with all residents of the house, he was kinda worried the Ouija-board won't work. He's been existing for at least a couple hundred years at that point, but nobody ever tried communicating with him through one of those suckers.

As soon as the girls got comfortable, Sofía cleared her throat.

- Okay, I know Ari knows how to handle this bad boy since we bought it together and had quite a good time while we looked into the use of spirit boards, but I'd like to state some instructions and ground rules. - Ari, Rei and Beetlejuice both nodded in agreement. - Once we start the seance, non of us should lift our fingers off the planchette. If any of us do, it might cause some trouble in the ghostworld. Concentration is essential, so please focus on contacting the dead. We have to take this thing seriously and must act respectfully towards the board and the spirit we deal with, so no frivolous questions.

- PFFFFFF kay, partykiller. - said Beetlejuice as he floated closer to the board. The girls put their pointing fingers on the planchette, breathed out, and looked at each other.

Thoughts were running around in Ari's head. Was this really a good idea? I mean if we can contact our homedemon effectively, I could tell my sisters I could hear him and they won't think I'm crazy. That's why I thought of doing this. But why am I so afraid then?

- Okay so let's start the session by asking simple yes and no questions. - said Sofía, closed her eyes for a bit, then started to talk. She sounded really confident for Beetlejuice, but her sisters noticed how her voice cracked a bit. Was she only nervous, excited, or was she genuinely afraid of what she might contact? - Is anyone here with us? - the planchette didn't move. Sofi let out a huge breath and gulped. Beetlejuice put his pointing finger on the planchette and literally screamed when he realized he could actually touch it. - Channeling the dead isn't easy so it might take some minutes to...

As soon she said that, Beetlejuice moved his finger, and literally yeeted the planchette across the room.

- FUCK I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THAT!!! - he screamed in a rather girly manner. Rei jumped up from the coffin-table and shook her head.

- That not normal man, a ghosty ghost couldn't do that in any horror movie! - Ari got up too and went to get the planchette. Beetlejuice floated before her.

- Sorry babes, I swear I'll be more gentle next time. Even though I know you looove wild stuff. - Ari replied with an eyeroll as she bowed down for the tiny pink thing. - Holy shit sugar I could imagine several hot scenarios with you in this position.

Ari headed back to the table and put the planchette down.

- Let's continue. - Rei sit back, fixing her glasses and putting her hair up in a messy ponytail. Ari looked at the planchette as she speak the words. - Could you please confirm that you're here? - Beetlejuice, as lightly as he could, put his finger on the pink thingie and moved it to YES.

- NAH MAN THAT'S CRAZY NA-AH I'M OUT! - shouted Rei and started to stand up.

- SIT YOUR ASS BACK DOWN PUTA! - shouted Ari back at her sister. - You said amen to this shit, we're gonna go through with it now. - Beetlejuice chuckled as Rei sit back down with the most panicked look on her face that he had ever seen. He tapped the planchette slightly.

- L-E-T-S-A-L-L-G-E-T-N-A-K-E-D. - Ari let out the the biggest laugh Beetlejuice heard yet. She snapped her head back as she squeaked like a degenerated seal while snorting. - OhmygodslashSatan your bursting laugh is so weird, I love it! - said Beetlejuice with a high voice and full on glowing hair.

- You did that. - stated Sofía, looking at Ari seriously.

- No way José! - she still giggled like crazy as she looked back at her oldest sister. - Looks like our presence is just nasty! - Sofía had a very annoyed and slightly angry expression on her face.

- ANYWAY, no, we are not going to do that.

- W-O-R-T-H-A-T-R-Y. - spelled the board. Sofía threw her hands in the air, annoyed out of words to express her feelings. Rei clicked her tongue.

- What happened to the "don't let go of the planchette" rule? - she asked.

- Shut up. - explained Sofía. She put her fingers back on the pink object before she stated the next question. - Are you a spirit guide? - the planchette moved to NO. - Then are you a ghost? - the planchette moved to NO again. Sofía shook her head in a way people do when they don't understood something.

- Did you ever live on Earth as a human? - asked Rei who calmed herself down enough to ask questions.

- B-R-I-E-F-L-Y-V-E-R-Y-B-R-I-E-F-L-Y. - Sof interrupted with her next question. Something really bugged her.

- Okay then WHAT are you?!

- S-E-X-Y - the girls all threw their hands up. They shared a look, all stating "I can't even" with their eyes. Without either of them touching the planchette, it started to move again on its own. - A-L-S-O-D-I-S-L-E-X-I-C. - Rei snorted.

- This bitch is a fuckin comic. - Sof growled in annoyement.

- No I mean what's in your pants? - she asked. Now neither of them was touching the board. And after a couple of seconds, the board answered.

- M-A-G-I-K-A-N-D-M-I-S-C-H-I-F. - Ari facepalmed, Sofía huffed.

- I can't believe that this thing is fuckin with us... - Beetlejuice could literally see the veins on her neck bulging in anger as he spelled HAHAHA out on the board. She slammed her fists on the table. - NO. TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE, SMARTASS!!!

- I-M-Y-O-R-G-U-I-D-E-T-O-T-H-E-O-T-H-E-R-S-I-D-E.

- Kay that's definitely a demon. - she stated with a huge hand gesture.

- Shit we're busted babe. - said Beetlejuice, sounding a tiny bit worried. Ari gulped.

- Why would you think that? - she asked, acting all naive. Sof pointed at the planchette, which was now moving up and down in the air since Beetlejuice was playing catch with it.

- Cause demonic spirits enjoy using deception and being a dick!

- What a keen observation, Sofía! - stated Beetlejuice, talking sarcastically. - That's built into our nature, you know!

- Let's just... - Sofía sighed midsentence. - ...stop.

- No! This is fun! - proclaimed Ari with the biggest puppy eyes. Classic smallest child trick.

- We are unprepared to deal with dark and negative forces that can wreak havoc in our lives!

- Sofía, let's be frank with each other, he already causes a lot of trouble. - Sof huffed. - At least let me ask his name. - said Ari in a sweet voice with a shy smile. - That would be the polite thing to do. - her eldest sister tried to say something but Ari stifled her speech. - Just one question. Then we can stop.

- That was a son of a bitch thing to do, and you know it. Tricking your sister into letting me tell you my name... That's low babes. - said Beetlejuice while folding his hands and shaking his head, floating next to Ari. - I'm so proud.

- UGH FINE! - said Sofía, while throwing her head back. - Little Miss Pushover. - Ari flashed a toothy grin. That was her moment. She already had a plan how'd she persuade her sisters to accept his offer of helping them out a bit and to say the demon's name 3 times. She cleared her throat and breathed out before she stated her question.

- What is your name?

Beetlejuice breathed in in excitement and grabbed the planchette.

- Welp let's hope it's gonna work this way. Here goes nothing. - the planchette started to move. - B-E-E-J-F-Q-J-E-S-U-S-I-C-A-N-T-S-P-E-L-L-S-H-I-T. - Ari sighed and Rei laughed. Come on Bug, don't be an idiot now!, thought Ari. The object started to slide on the board again. - B-E-E-T-L-E-J-U-I-C-E.

- OKAY GOOD NOW WE KNOW IT'S NAME CAN WE STOP PLEASE?!?! - shouted Rei as she reached for the planchette, but Sofía grabbed her hand.

- Wait. - with her other hand, she pointed at Ari. - Ariadné Rodríguez McLoughlin, you are suspicious, girl. Why did you want to know this demon's name so badly? - Fuck., thought Ari. She didn't think this through. She couldn't answer, she opened her mouth but no voice came out. - Demon, have you communicated with anyone from this group before tonight? - Beetlejuice fumbled through his hair.

- I'm sorry babes. But you wouldn't tell them about your superpower any other way. - he said before the planchette moved to YES. Sof looked straight into Ari's eyes. She hated that cold dead stare.

- Tell me who was it!

- A-R-I. - the oldest sister slapped the desk.

- Please I can explain... - said Ari in a shy, almost inaudible voice. Gosh things were not going the way she imagined they'd go.

- BITCH, I WILL SLAP YOU! - shouted Sofía, clapping after every word.

- Excuse me but... - cut in Rei. She mimicked a closing mouth with her hand. - ...tone! Let the girl speak for herself! - she turned to her sister. - So how long have you been talking with the dead, bitch? - Ari sighed, rolled her eyes then started to talk with very heavy hand movements.

- Let me state that I can only hear him, I've never seen him but we've been talking for weeks now and he's so awesome and funny! I mean he's actually a really nice guy to talk to!

- Ohmygod he's that special someone who's been making you feel better!!! - realized Rei who just slapped her forehead. Beetlejuice was floating beside Ari, giggling to himself. The whole situation was so comical.

- Yeah, we're buddies.

- FOR LYFE YO! - screamed Beetlejuice into Ari's ear.

- Why did I teach you how to use yo, seriously, this is getting out of hand... - she asked the thin air, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She was starting to get a headache.

- Wait you can hear him now? - asked Sofía with a jaw dropped.

- I can hear him all the time when he's near me... So yeah during every minute of the day, kinda. - she stopped for a sec. - You don't think I'm crazy, right?

- I mean we all saw what happened during the seance so nah fam, you good. Weird but good. Gee my sister is a comic book character! - proclaimed Rei excitedly. She even clapped.

- And what does he want? - asked Sofía. She calmed down a bit but her eyes were full of anger.

- Right now, and I quote him singing: "🎶I'm on the bench, but coach, just put me in the game! All you gotta do is say my name. Three times in a row it must be spoken, unbroken.🎶" - she mimicked Beetlejuice as good as she could, she even tried to do his voice. She looked at Rei, who almost had questionmarks for eyes. - Yes, he sounds like that all the time. Like he swallowed a cheesegrater, I know. - Rei nodded understandingly. Sof held her head.

- So he wants to be summoned. - she looked deep into Ari's eyes. She looked so serious. - You know we're not gonna do that, right?

- Why?! He promised he'd help us then just go away! - Sof shook her head but Ari continued. She sounded kinda desperate. - Just imagine, he could actually help us get revenge on our father for being such a prick with our moms! Just let me...

- No. - she stated. - In the Council of Sisters I vote no. - she looked at Rei. - Your vote now.

- Look I... - she sighed and looked at Ari whose eyes were now getting teary. She didn't want to tell her sisters how much she wanted to summon Beetlejuice, not because of his promise, but because how much she liked his company. She didn't have a friend like him in, why would I lie, ever, and she secretly craved his presence in her life. There was finally someone who totally accepted her as how she was, and now her sisters were robbing her of the opportunity of meeting him. - There are always a million reasons not to do something. - Ari covered her mouth with her right palm.

- No, not you, I thought you...

- Girl, we've been swimming with piranhas, we don't need a shark!

Beetlejuice was silent... until this point. He knew how arguments worked. How bloodyminded people were once they decided on something. His hair slowly turned from green to a purplish redish tone. His anger was building up and now it busted.

- And I thought you were special... Not like any other breather. - he spit between his teeth. Ari looked at his direction and shushed her sisters.

- Bug, what do you...

- YOU PROMISED YOU'D SUMMON ME! - screamed Beetlejuice. - YOU PROMISED BUT YOU WON'T! AND I TRUSTED YOU! - Ari stood up and stepped in his direction. She tried to sound calm but Beetlejuice's voice was so angry and frightening...

- Beetlejuice, I will, somehow, just...

- NO YOU WON'T! YOU'RE A LYING BITCH LIKE ANY OTHER HUMAN ON THIS GODDAMN PLANET! - he started to run while cussing at Ari. The girl ran after him, followed by her sisters. As soon as he got to the attic door, which the girls were unable to pry open, he floated through the door and laid head back to it. - I HATE YOU!

- You know that you don't and that that was uncalled for. - Ari sighed while trying to get the door to open. Rei asked if she needed an axe but she refused. - Please, this is hard enough as it is!

- Oh, I’m sorry sweetheart. - answered Beetlejuice in an annoyed way. - I just tend to get a little upset WHEN PEOPLE RUIN MY LIFE! - tears started to run down his cheeks. - FUCK YOU, GET LOST! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!!

Beetlejuice heard that Ari stopped trying to open up the door. She sighed and put her hand on the hard wood.

- I'll talk to them. And I'll keep my promise. - her steps faded and as they did, Beetlejuice's hair turned fully dark purple as he started crying. He really trusted her... And he did get that she'd want her sisters to know that she'll summon a demon at their home but why would she betray him like that still? He sniffled to himself as he summoned a sockpuppet.

- 🎶You could use a buddy... Don't you want a pal?🎶 Yes I do! - he put his head on his knees, sniffling hard. - ...yes I do...

[mor-beck-more-problems]

Friend Fail || Skylar and Morgan

@theskyeandsea

Don’t do blood magic in front of the baby seal. 

Morgan stopped her work for the third time this hour to make sure she really did have everything she needed. The crystals were all made, the bath salt jars were freshly clean and ready. She had her measuring cups and postage boxes so Skylar could help. She had even gotten through half her grading. There really was no reason not to make use of her new chalkboard and try another summoning. She’d gotten Sean with a birthday cake--sort of. Who was to say she couldn’t get Constance with a proper circle and a little blood? At least, practice getting the circle, right? The board had even come with chalk in three different colors, just waiting, begging to be used. Morgan checked her phone to see where the planets were. Still Aquarius season, so not great for her, but her Mercury was almost in a water sign. It was all so...promising. Enough to give her pause and make her look around the room once more. It didn’t feel very much like skirting around the curse if the universe was setting everything up so nicely for her. But if she waited until things were more dire, what would that achieve? Morgan pulled up the spell on her phone again. This was not Cassie approved, but at least she had salt this time. She could line the place if she decided to get serious. Which, she wouldn’t. Probably. (What if this was her one door and she was missing the good kind of signal? Or what if that was just what the curse wanted her to think?)

A knock at the door startled her out of her thought loop. Right. Skylar was stopping by the house to visit. Good for her! Making friends with grownups was kind of pitiful, but she’d been there before herself. Sometimes you had to take what you could get. “Hey, come on in!” She stepped back and signed, Good afternoon! Happy to see you. She’d watched a couple of videos online and had mostly memorized the greeting, plus two other words. Work there, Magic there. 

Skylar really, really, really didn’t want to be here. Her head had been aching all day, she’d barely been able to eat anything, and her body just felt run down, even though she’d slept ten hours the previous night. And… what made it worse was she knew exactly why she was feeling this way. Ricky had told her as much. It was because she hadn’t transformed. Apparently, all her problems were a direct result of not turning into a seal, which she didn’t quite follow. She wasn’t a seal who could sometimes be human. She was a human, a normal human. With… quirks. Taking a long drink from her thermos of coffee, Skylar sighed as she walked up to Morgan’s house. This was going to be good for her. This was going to be something good and helpful and nice. Because Morgan had been nothing but nice and helpful, even after Skylar had been dismissive of the whole magic situation. Knocking on the door, Skylar offered what she hoped was a bright smile as Morgan opened the door.

The signing threw her for a second. For one thing, she was going way too fast for her fingers, so they came out garbled. Skylar could tell what she meant, but it wasn’t the best use of sign. “Hi! Thanks for having me.” She said. Setting her coffee down, she let out a small laugh and signed, What do you mean by work there, magic here? 

Oh, thank god Skylar could talk just fine, maybe (probably) even read lips! Morgan saw the two whole words she’d learned outside of the basic greeting repeated in a new way, one she had no idea how to answer. She winced. “Sorry. Just--different tasks I have going on today! Um, I’ve got some bath salts that need to go into those very uh, hashtag aesthetic jars, and I have this shiny new chalkboard that has a lot of magic potential! I’m not going to do anything to it, I should clarify, I’m going to use it to make some more elaborate circles that I’m using right now.” Only after she finished did she realize just how fast she was prone to talking sometimes. Sorry, she signed, the only other word she’d thought make handy use of. “I talk fast sometimes, and I don’t always realize. Can I get you some sweet tea?”

“No problem.” Skylar said, waving it off with a laugh. “I was joking. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make fun.” She said as she took look around Morgan’s house curiously. There were a lot of odds and ends, and a lot of jars as well. What were the jars for? Watching Morgan intently, Skylar did her best to match the lip movements with what she was hearing, but it wasn’t easy. Morgan was speaking just a bit too quickly for her. “Ah. It’s okay, really! You said something about aesthetic jars? Is that what these are for?” She said, gesturing to the mason jars that were set up. “Tea? No, no, I’m good. Thank you though.” Skylar said as she picked up her thermos from where she’d set it down. Being around other people usually helped take her mind off what troubled her, so hopefully helping Morgan would do the same.

“No, I think you earn the right to tease,” Morgan said, trying to reassure her. “I tried to be competent in your language over the course of forty-eight hours maybe, with nothing but youtube and willpower. But, grab a pillow! Make yourself cozy!” She grabbed some tea for herself and sat on the floor with her shiny new board. It was so smooth it didn’t even look real. Morgan broke the seal on the chalk. It was good to practice, right? “You can put the TV on and make yourself at home if you want, but if you really want to help, You can use the measuring cup to put two scoops into the jars.” Morgan beamed over at the girl,who, now that she wasn’t moving quite so fast, really did seem in need of some kind of pick-me-up, poor kid. 

Shaking her head, Skylar shrugged. “I appreciate you trying at the very least. It’s more than a lot of people do.” She said, the thought making her slightly melancholy. Ack. No, no, no. Watching as Morgan picked up a neat little chalkboard, she settled down on the proffered pillow, her legs curling under her. “Oh, that’s okay. I’d much rather do something productive than just use your cable.” She said with a smile. Looking at the set up in front of her, Skylar set to work doing as she was told, putting two scoops of… stuff into the jars and screwing the lids on. “What are these jars full of anyways? Magic salt or something?” She asked curiously.

Morgan began drawing the circle. After so many years of alchemy, she was pretty good at freehand, though everything that went in would need more precision. She couldn’t help but smile at the tingle that went up her hand from that new-supply feeling. She looked up at Skylar to make sure she could see what she was saying alright. “Salt, lavender oil, dry roses and yarrow, and ground crystals. Very relaxing, but less real magic and more mind over matter fluffy magic,” she admitted. She got up and went for her chalk compass. “This, on the other hand, will hopefully be real magic someday. Thank you for deciding to help me out, by the way.” 

All of the things Morgan rattled off sounded just like normal herbal stuff that you could find in any shop, which Skylar realized was exactly the case as the woman finished speaking. Hm. So there were still some parts of “magic” that weren’t exactly flame throwers and turning garbage into candles. At least some things still made sense. Lavender was just relaxing because it smelled nice, not because it had any crazy property to it. “No, don’t worry about it. I needed to get out of the house anyways.” She said as she filled another jar with salt mixture. She watched as Morgan grabbed a small instrument and tilted her head, intrigued. “What’s all of that for? The chalkboard and things.”

Morgan hesitated, compass in hand, as she started to section off her array, making room for each of the runes and sigils she would need to make this work. And, terrifying as the feeling was, she couldn’t help but feel excited. She had a name. Constance Bachman. She had to be related to Sean and Agnes, even if she hadn’t been able to find her name in the geneology list. Maybe a spinster aunt? Or a lost sister? Either way, she was findable. And if Morgan actually managed to hack herself a successful, specific, ghost summoning with this, it would be the craziest and most amazing feat of magic she’d ever accomplished. Which meant she definitely wouldn’t today. Or that if she did, she’d get some static-y bitter brother of Sean’s. Or maybe some minor pesky demon. But she had to thread the needle between knowing the curse wanted to screw her over and manifesting some progress. It could work. And, well, who was Skylar going to talk about it with anyway? “Reason A for getting a big board is so I can make my crystals faster. The more material I can fit and work with, the more I can pop out at a time. My pop socket lid is great, but really not practical. But this,” she explained. “Is something different than my normal bag of tricks. I’ve got this project about spirits and their living descendants.” She began marking out the basic runes for summoning, then constructing the smaller circle she had designed to get Constance. Hopefully, anyway. She reached over for the version she’d sketched out on paper. She smudged away one of the sigils and drew it over again, clearer this time. “If it works, I might be able to bring someone over. Wanna see?”

Skylar watched as Morgan divied up the board with chalk, still not quite sure what she was looking it. Magic seemed to be a bit different than she thought it was. Winston had just kinda… done magic when they’d done it. But, she supposed that there was probably some method to the madness. Continuing to screw the lids on jars, she listened as Morgan offered an explanation. She wasn’t really sure what she meant by pop socket lid-- was she talking about the thing on the back of phones? Not wanting to interupt, she continued to listen. “So… you’re using a chalk board to summon a ghost?” She repeat, just trying to wrap her head around all of that. Ghosts. Ghosts were real. Okay. And you could use chalk and weird little doodles to make them appear? Mmmm, that was less okay. Even though she didn’t really want to see the odd little circle, Skylar scooted closer, “That’s interesting. They look like something out of Skyrim, honestly.”

Morgan was almost finished. She laid it down on the floor and examined her handiwork, then knelt down to add in the minor markings of the array. “What’s a Skyrim?” She asked. “Wait, don’t tell me--it’s that new show on Netflix right?” No, that sounded wrong. Morgan was more preoccupied with getting all the connecting lines just right anyway. “Sorry,” she said, looking up again. “I’m old. Like way old. I follow Grey’s Anatomy, and I have my supernatural crime shows, and food network. But tell me about Skyrim! I’m just going to grab some salt from the kitchen real quick.”

Raising an eyebrow, Skylar tilted her head in surprise. Mm. Well, after Alain had sent her the weird old French music, it shouldn’t be that surprising that some people weren’t as in the know with video games and stuff. “It’s a video game. You play as a Dragonborn, someone who’s got the spirit of a dragon, and can read and speak the ancient language of dragons. It’s…” She paused, realizing that she had no idea if dragons were a real thing. Were they real? Was Skyrim real? “It’s a fun game!” She finished, offering a slightly stressed smile. Oh dear. “Are you using table salt..” She asked. So, magic consisted of weird little runes on a chalkboard and table salt. Good to know, good to know. 

Video games. Morgan probably should have guessed something like that. There hadn’t been time or money to that when she was a kid, and though now, as far as she could tell, you could download one off the internet for thirty dollars, it seemed like an alien existence. “It sounds like fun!” She said brightly. “Fantasy conception is one of my favorite interests. Oh--and it’s not table salt, or not just table salt. It’s a mix this exorcist friend of mine told me about.” She came back out with the mix and started shifting around some objects in the room. She would need to get the real estate for this eventually. And maybe--maybe this could happen. “Hey, Skylar, do you think you can write the alphabet out for me real quick? 

“It’s a neat game, mhm.” Skylar said with a smile before taking a long sip of coffee. Thank God for this new thermos, honestly. Alain had been right about investing in one of these. And she honestly needed it now more than ever. As Morgan explained the mix of salt, Skylar watched with interest as she moved things around. Was this a big spell..? She had been under the assumption that the… spirit would just pop out of the chalk board kinda like a hologram in Star Wars or something. But then again, what did she know about magic anyways? “Huh? Oh, sure. On the chalkboard or somewhere else?” She asked, picking up one of the pieces of chalk from where Morgan had left them.

“Huh?” Morgan looked up from her work distractedly. “No, just grab a pen and paper from my grading pile over there. If I do, hypothetically, get a ghost in here, it’s going to need a way to talk to me. Especially, uh, since I can’t see them!” She was finished. She was finished and she felt like she’d stolen a cookie from her mom’s jar. Like she should run and enjoy her spoils or stay and get as many into her hand before she was caught. Morgan started to work on the salt circle, was going to fetch her dad’s old athame, just cleaned, before she realized just how this might look to someone who just learned that half the mythical creatures they’d read about as a kid were real. “Um, you don’t have to stick around for this part if it’s too much,” she said. “My cat is around somewhere if you’d like to meet her, or I can take it from here,” she offered. “Unless you can secretly see ghosts, in which case I will literally pay you to stick around.”

The back of her neck burning in embarrassment, Skylar nodded and did as Morgan told her. “Sure! Will do!” She said, hoping her tone sounded bright and not mortified. Mmm, yeah the alphabet made more sense to be written on a piece of paper. Writing out the alphabet in clean, large letters, Skylar tilted her head in surprise. “You can’t see ghosts? I thought that if you summoned them you’d be able to see them. But, um, sorry. Dumb assumption, I guess.” She said as she printed out a large Z. When Morgan offered her an out, Skylar chewed on the inside of her cheek. A big part of her wanted nothing more than to just… pretend that this wasn’t real. She wanted to forget everything about this. But, she couldn’t just run away from magic. It was here and she should know more about it. “Um, sorry. I don’t think I can see ghosts, but… I’d like to stay, if that’s okay. I just, I want to know more about all of this.”

“Oh, gosh, I wish,” Morgan confessed. “I honestly thought that too, but as it turns out you need some kind of special ability for that. And, for the record, not a dumb question. Didn’t you only learn all this weird shit was real two weeks ago? You’re harder on yourself than I am on actual students. There’s a lot to learn. Too much, really. I’ve known magic was real my whole life and I just figured out the ghost thing a while ago.” She smiled brightly at Skylar, hoping she felt better and went for the athame. She’d laid the salt thick. If, even, anything happened, they would be safe, and she could vacuum away the evidence before Cece came home to ask questions. And maybe if she was lucky Skylar would be willing to help with that too. She grabbed one of her novelty bowls, a tragic indulgence from the dollar store during her Traveler’s Rest stay, the happy faces of the Disney princesses already peeling away, and positioned herself over the circle. Then she put Skylar’s alphabet paper and pen in where it wouldn’t disturb the runes. “Let’s just hope this doesn’t turn out really anticlimactic, huh?” She raised the ritual knife and began to chant. So far so good. Then came the time for her blood offering. Morgan pressed the knife into her arm, voice hiccuping only a little as the pain sliced into her. So far, so good. Then she looked down into the bowl to make sure she had enough and the world shrank down to the size of a single drop of blood. She went silent and the rising magic and the knife both went whizzing away from her. 

“I… Yeah, only the last two weeks, with the karkinoids.” Skylar said with a shrug as she moved over to the side, letting Morgan do all the final preparation work on the spell that she had laid out. But… No, Morgan didn’t need to know about her situation. Not after she mentioned how there were people going around trying to steal teeth for potions and stuff. Skylar watched, curiously as Morgan pulled out a weird little disney princess bowl and set it down. Were princesses important for this? Fingers curling up at her side, she forced herself to watch as Morgan began to say words she’d never heard before and then draw the knife blade-- What the fuuuuuuck was she doing? Before Skylar could react, tremors began to fill the room, the bowl of blood shaking violently-- A sharp pain lanced through her right shoulder, searing and hot, as the knife flew towards her and lodged itself into her body. Letting out a scream of pain, Skylar fell to the ground, a large spout of blood splattering across the room. “MORGAN!” She cried out, panic threatening to overwhelm her as she stared at the knife sticking out of her.

Morgan didn’t hear or notice anything except the blood in the bowl. She shoved the plastic into her mouth with both hands, guzzling the liquid ravenously and licking the sides where it had stuck. And there was more, streaks puddling on the floor and the coffee table. Morgan dropped the bowl and threw herself down to lap them all up. When she pulled away at last, panting and dizzy, her face stained from nose to chin, and saw her dad’s knife lodged in Skylar’s arm. “Oh fuck.” She licked her lips in spite of herself and scrambled to her feet. Keys. She needed her phone and her keys so they could get to the car so they could drive to the hospital. Fuck. The fucking blood clinger. She should’ve known it wouldn’t have worn off that quickly. “It’s okay, it’s okay!” She cried, her voice jumping higher each time she said it. The edges of her vision felt blurry and she grabbed an empty mason jar while she was at it. “Come on, we’re taking you to the hospital, okay! Also, hold this to collect any blood you lose! This is fine, you’re gonna be fine!” She, on the other hand, looked like a walking crime scene, but maybe if she bulldozed ahead on the knife inside the girl’s arm they wouldn’t have to go into it. 

Skylar began to hyperventilate as she stared at the knife in her arm, her vision narrowing at the edges as she tried to focus on anything other than the knife-- “What the fuck are you doing?!” Skylar screamed, pointing at the bowl of blood that Morgan had just drank from. Scrambling away across the floor, she let out a cry of pain as she tried to put as much distance from her and Morgan, who was apparently some kinda vampire? “G-get away from me!” Skylar said, rivulets of blood running down her arm to pool on the floor. The more she struggled, the more and more blood poured from around the knife still lodged in her arm. “I’m not going anywhere with a vampire! An-And I’m not,” She let out a groan of pain as her arm screamed in pain, “Going to make you a to-go cup!”

“Oh my god you’re making it worse!” Morgan shrieked, starting to panic herself. She screwed her eyes shut. Maybe if she didn’t see the blood she wouldn’t have some weird blood-clinger blackout. “I’m not a vampire, it was a magic tick! I thought it had worn off  but apparently not! I mean, would you rather be the juice box? Come on!” But no sooner did she settle this in her head than did she slip on the floor and come face to face with the fresh streams of blood from Skylar. Morgan forgot everything she was talking about and licked them up like her life depended on it.

As Morgan tried to convince her that she wasn’t some kind of vampire out to suck her blood, Skylar remembered what Ricky had told her. Selkies had more blood than other people, making them prime targets for vampires. “A magic tick? That’s, that’s a thing? WHAT THE FUCK!” Skylar screeched as Morgan dropped down and began to lap up her blood from the floor. Skylar watched in horror and reached behind her to pull herself up to her feet-- she needed to get out of her, she needed too… As she stood up, what blood was in her head, immediately rushed out and her vision went white around the edges as fell back to the ground, woozy. “I… I… I’m…” She couldn’t fully make out words any more, all she could do was grasp at a nearby mason jar and hold it to her still bleeding shoulder.

Morgan slithered her way over the floor, lapping every drop until her tongue felt rough and every drop had been siphoned. She groaned, still thirsty, and made a grab for Skylar, but missed as the girl stood up. Her head hit the wall and she lost her balance, going splat and rolling onto her back Slowly, her brain cleared again. Maybe anticlimactic would’ve been better after all. “Skylar??” She asked. “Are you still there? Can you drive yourself maybe? Or, I don’t know, call an Uber? There’s Uber in White Crest, right?” She was afraid to get up again. Afraid the floor would fall out from under herself. Afraid of the red, tangy blood. It was still on her rough-scraped tongue and in the back of her, hateful and terrifying. But in the moment it hadn’t been. God she was so screwed. “Skylar--?” She croaked.

“Mmmnot good. No’ good.” Skylar said thickly, her head heavy as she continued to try and get away from Morgan. Holding the mason jar in her hand, she did her best to siphon some of the blood that clung to her skin into the jar. “Don’ eat me… ’m… fishy. Wouldn’t tas’ good.” Her words slurred together as she slid the mason jar towards Morgan. Uber? Her phone. Her phone! Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Skylar swiped her thumb across the screen to send a garbled text before setting it down on the ground, “Please don’t eat me.” She mumbled.

This was not going to be a good day. And really, Morgan should’ve known better than to hope for getting away with anything for long. She reached across the floor and grabbed the jar, stomach-lurching at the precaution and inched, achingly, to a sit. “I promise on whatever will make you feel better I do not want to eat you!” Never the less she sipped the blood. It didn’t soothe her like it did earlier, so maybe she was past the worst of this. “Come on, Uber’s going to take too long and you need help.” She was unsteady on her feet, but she had what she needed and she could just about make it to the door, to-go cup in hand as Skylar had so kindly put it. She staggered out and took a deep lung full of fresh air. She had no idea how she was going to explain this to Ricky, or anyone else for that matter. How far was the hospital again?

“Not an Uber… Ricky, he’s gonna… gonna help me. Can’ go hospital.” Skylar said, shaking her head back and forth. As she continued to struggle away, she fell flat on her back onto Morgan’s floor, the knife still sticking out of her shoulder. Fatigue and blood loss overtook her and Skylar passed out right in the entryway of the front door.

Morgan heard the thump of Skylar’s body on the floor and went more or less splat herself on Cece’s porch in defeat. The was no way she was getting her in the car by herself, or answering any questions EMTs might have. And Skylar didn’t want that stuff anyways, though whether it was because health insurance was a curse on everyone, or because of some supernatural bullshit she didn’t know about yet, she had no clue. But in the end, it didn’t matter. Morgan sent off some messages and waited for everything, as usual, to get worse.

[torendheavenandearth]

1.4

“Clutch the sword and expect to bleed. Wield the sword and expect to cut. Clutch and wield the sword to harness violence.” -- From The Teachings of the Tambay Swordsman, p. XX

▼

Ang Nilapastangan stares at the larawan she’s brought, sometimes caressing it, as she tells her story. “The world has been here for as long as we know. In the beginning, there was nothing but The Sea, and The Sky. They had names, of course: Lihangin for the sky and Lidagat for the sea. This vast expanse encompassed everything you know. From the land that we’re sitting within to whatever shitty universe you came from.”

“Yeah it is pretty shitty,” interjects Angela, moving her hand to brush some stray strand of hair from her face. She removes her glasses from her face and puts it down on the wooden table. She rubs her eyes. The dark bags under them have never been deeper nor heavier. Without them, all she sees is a blur, but she notices that it's somewhat easier to see. She then realizes that it’s mostly because of all the debris and drops of blood that have splattered across the front of her glasses.

Makabintang brings over a small soft cloth. “Wipe it down. It’s been like that since I first saw you.”

“Right.” She curses, thinking about why she didn’t think to fix it while she was changing clothes. As she wipes down her glasses, she continues listening to Ang Nilapastangan’s story.

“Now the Sky and the Sea weren’t the first beings in the world. Before even the Sky and the Sea there was a singular being, named MAYKAPAL, which means “the-one-who-thickens” or “the-one-who-forms”. It is said that MAYKAPAL was a being that is the pure pinprick of light, and that light was MAYKAPAL. When, out of Love, MAYKAPAL expanded to create the Sky and Sea, MAYKAPAL Itself became a separate being from the rest of them. He became a being with many spirits at his side. These Spirits eventually became known as the Anghel.

“When he expanded, his being became two, and the two became that Sky and Sea. And the rulers of Sky and Sea were Kaptan and Maguayen, the Nuno, or Ancestor, of the Sky, and the Nuno of the Sea. These two fell in love, and when Sea and Sky fell made love, they created the first diwata: Lidagat, the Bathala of the Sea, and Lihangin, the Bathala of the Sky.

“A thousand years pass, and Lidagat and Lihangin give four children before passing away into that embrace. The Nuno of the four children became their caretakers. But it was not long before the four children had thoughts of usurpation: ‘Why should only Kaptan sit upon the throne of heaven?’ and so they rebelled, but Kaptan was mightier than they, being the Nuno, and thus killed them with his Bolt. Kaptan and Maguayen gave light to their corpses: Adlao, the bravest one, became the golden sun. Bulan, the most beautiful, became the copper moon. Suga, the smartest and youngest one, became a million stars.

But Kalibutan, the instigator of the rebellion, they deemed wicked, and thus they threw his fractured body to the Sea, and he became the Pearlescent Archipelago, where we are now.”

“You know what? That sounds oddly familiar.”

“It should be. It’s a common creation myth across all universes.” Ang Nilapastangan stands up and then walks over to the stone box that Makabintang came from. She opens it and retrieves a strange vessel made of wood, seemingly sealed with some kind of sap or resin. She cracks it open and then drinks from within. And then, she reaches for something within and brings out a frozen strip of bacon, which she brings over to the table and puts in front of the larawan.

Angela blinks. “Uh?”

“A daily offering,” says Ang Nilapastangan. “It’s for the Bathala Inaginid.”

“Bathala Inaginid?”

“This world,” says Makabintang, as he’s now filing his razor-sharp claws with a flat wooden stick. “Is alive. In truth all worlds are alive. Everything--every single thing--has a soul within them. Not just us. And those souls are called diwata, that elemental, intelligent being that houses within the object, giving it its inherent objective quality.”

Angela blinks again. She casually ponders removing her glasses and wiping them down again.

“It’s… an animistic belief. We call it Anito, it’s the religion of the forgotten. It’s the religion of the Pearlescent before Trinitarianism became too large.”

“Okay. So, what, you don’t believe in God?”

Ang Nilapastangan shakes her head. “I guess I’ll have to explain a bit more. Settle down. Maybe eat some of that chocolate bar, it’s gonna melt.

“As I said, Maykapal was always there, the being separated from all things, the Ab Eterno, the Beginning, Middle and End. The diwata call him BATALANG MAYKAPAL, to distinguish him from the other Bathala, which are basically like the chiefs of the diwata, who live within the larger and more important things in life, like the sea, the sky, the air, large important mountains, that kind of stuff.

“Now this belief, this reverence of nature and worshipping of natural places, is called Anito now in modern Sansinukob. Anito is the word for the ritual of speaking with these unseen beings, the diwata and umalagad. A lot of this is facilitated by a spirit medium, usually called babaylan or katalonan, depending on where you are in the Archipelago.” Ang Nilapastangan raises the larawan. “This is a larawan of Bathala Inaginid, one of the three Bathala of War, otherwise known as the War Triad. The other two being Makanduk, Bathala of Raiding, and Barangaw, the Rainbow Bathala of Victory.

“Now this is important to you because most of Anito practice has been extinguished, replaced with Trinitarianism and the worship of the Holy Trinity, now known as God. Dyosveta, the Abusive Father, Yezu, the Idiot Son, and Shinseina Yurei, the Holiest Ghost. Together, the three of them make God. Where they come from, not many know, although the popular theory is that they are a Triad of War Gods as well coming from three different places that teamed up and amassed a huge following, which in turn gave them many offerings, which in turn gave them the power they needed to kill MAYKAPAL.”

Angela blinks. “MAYKAPAL is dead?”

“Yeah,” says Ang Nilapastangan, drinking from the wooden can again. “Anyway, ever since the Trinity came, they brought with them the anghel, umalagad from the continents by the border of the world that have chosen to side with the Trinity. They number 777,777 in total, and there are 7 chief angels among them, known as the Arkserapin. Each of them leads 111,111 anghel, of varying power. The one that leads Para Sa Luklukan is supposedly an Arkserapin: Barachiel, the Patron of Guardians.”

Angela nods slowly as Ang Nilapastangan chugs on her cup again. “So… the anghel… I suppose they’re like the servants of the Trinity? Like, I can kinda understand what you mean with the Trinity in all, especially considering where I came from.”

“You have the Trinity in your country?” asks Makabintang, suddenly with eyes wide open.

Angela shrugs. “Not… exactly? But close enough.”

“Ah, do you mean a belief that’s similar to the Trinity?” asks Ang Nilapastangan. “Because in this present moment, the Trinity is out sailing in the Neverending Ocean, conducting the Multiversal Conquest, where they aim to conquer all 100,000 Universes that arose from the shards of dead BATALA after the Trinity killed Them.”

“Wait, the universes come from BATALA? MAYKAPAL?”

Ang Nilapastangan nods. “The 7641 Universes float haphazardly in the Neverending Ocean past the borders of Sansinukob, also known as the Jaws of the World. Your universe is one of them. All of them are chunks of MAYKAPAL’s corpse.”

“What the fuck.”

Ang Nilapastangan shrugs. “You get used to it.”

“Get used to what?”

“Saying ‘what the fuck’.” Ang Nilapastangan drinks a bit more, and Angela doubts the size of the can. 

“Fine. All right. So what’s happening is that there is… this world, that was made by god. And then MY universe is from the bloody chunks of God after They were killed by God?”

“Correct.”

“And now I’m finding out that there was this whole thing, this world, this entire time because I was abducted by angels?”

“Correct,” says Makabintang. “And they are theoretically trying to sacrifice you to give more power to the Holy Trinity so that their diyostek works even in the Neverending Ocean so that they can continue their Omniversal Conquest.”

“They call it as them ‘Claiming Fate’. They say that, since they have killed BATALANG MAYKAPAL, it is their duty, their responsibility, their destiny, to invade and conquer the rest of the universes.”

Angela rubs her temples. “You know what’s insane? What’s insane is that logically, yeah, that makes sense. But, like, in common sense? This is all bullshit.”

“Oh, Angela,” says Ang Nilapastangan. “There is no common sense in Sansinukob.”

▼

After that brief rundown of what’s going on, Angela decides to go to sleep. She decides that he’s had too exciting of a first rodeo here in this weird and strange new place and decides that the comfort of oblivion is something she needs right now. She sleeps on the banig on the floor that Makabintang has provided for her. As she sleeps, Ang Nilapastangan smokes a yosi. 

“What do we do with her?” asks Makabintang. “I don’t get why you want to help her.”

“Three-fold,” says Ang Nilapastangan, dragging and then letting the smoke out through her nostrils. 

Makabintang snorts. “What are you, a buddha?”

Ang Nilapastangan ignores him. “Firstly, we’re leaving this place anyway, we can’t stay here anymore. The Guwardya Sibil, now with the help of the Hukbong-Katihan, are going around the entire village. There’s no escape. We have to leave.

“Secondly, the Hagdanan has begun. I told you. And she--” Ang Nilapastangan points at Angela, “--is going to be a part of it. “

“What makes you think she wasn’t just abducted by Para Sa Luklukan?”

“Sometimes Tadhana works strangely, all right? There are a lot of things we cannot explain, and some coincidences are too convenient to be true. She’s a competitor in the Hagdanan, I’m sure of it. I can see her soul, and it burns with that same fire hot wind of all the destined competitors.” Ang Nilapastangan looks over the girl. A soft, almost motherly, look shadows her face. 

“Thirdly, she needs to be protected, for now. Even just for now, while she hasn’t cultivated and grown her Gahum. If I cannot protect them all, then I can at least protect one.”

Makabintang stares at Ang Nilapastangan, startled at the sudden shift in tone. He sighs. “Hey, what happened wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know better.”

“I know.”

“And you survived!” Makabintang turns to the sleeping girl. She looks even more confused asleep. “Fine. I get what you’re trying to do. I’ll help you, but this won’t be the atonement you think you need.”

Ang Nilapastangan smirks. “I know. This is penance. A penance without atonement. It’s the only one I deserve.”

“Damn bitch, you’re really torn up about it.”

“I’m tao, duwende. Unlike you, you little weirdo.”

“Wow, look who’s talking! Miss black-and-red eyes and big ass horns. Fuck you, I’m going to nap.”

Makabintang walks over to his chair and then curls up in it since he’s small enough to curl up in his chair and sleep. Ang Nilapastangan smiles and watches him, dragging on her cig.

▼

When Angela awakes, the other two are already standing underneath the rope that leads to the opening of the mound. Ang Nilapastangan still wears her signature baro and tapis, although other than that all she wears is that salakot and rattan backpack. 

Angela pushes herself up and rubs at her eyes. She reaches for her folded glasses and puts them on. 

Makabintang is a bit more decked out: he also has a salakot on, albeit a bit smaller than Ang Nilapastangan’s, and the salakot is lined with iron. He wears cotton-padded armor on his torso called a barote, and he wields a pistol which he holds more or less like a rifle. On his hip dangles his belt. There Angela notices that the blue sprites that dance upon the stone box that he uses to hold his chocolate bars are gone and they look trapped instead in the little strange, bird-caged shaped cartridges upon Makabintang’s hip.

“Ah, finally, you’re awake,” says Ang Nilapastangan. “Come, get up. Get some water, there’s some I’ve prepared over on the table.”

Angela yawns. “What time is it?”

“Bukang-liwayway,” says Ang Nilapastangan. “The moment of breaking dawn. I have arranged a kalesa to be prepared for us at this point, but it's a bit of a walk, and we have to walk through the village to get there.”

“I’ll scout ahead,” says Makabintang. Ang Nilapastangan turns and gazes at him sharply, but Makabintang shrugs. “What? I’m duwende, I can turn myself invisible.”

“Anghel can sense Kaluluwa,” says Ang Nilapastangan. “It won’t be of much help.”

“Yeah but it’s better than having you, a walking sun in spiritual power terms.” Makabintang prepares to leap. “You get ready. I’ll get back when I’ve scouted out the area and think it’s clear to move.” And not wanting to hear any more protest from Ang Nilapastangan, Makabintang leaps straight up and through the hole of the mound. The mound opening seals closed as soon as he’s out.

Ang Nilapastangan sighs. She turns around, grabs and hauls a chair to a spot underneath the rope, and then sits right below it.

Angela goes ahead and pours herself a glass of water from a ceramic pitcher. The water is clean, and is oddly refreshing. She notices that she hasn’t been drinking anything all this time. Eating, yes, but not drinking. The water is extremely refreshing, and she finishes two glasses in relative ease, too overwhelmed by the refreshing power of simple water.

Afterwards, she washes her face by the sink, wiping herself down. When she looks up to look for a towel, Ang Nilapastangan sighs and then walks over to her. She uses her panuelo to wipe her face dry. “Hoy babae, Makabintang bathes by the river. He doesn’t keep towels here. There’s a bunch of towels that they sell by the river which are usually disposable.”

Angela, though, is a bit too flustered by Ang Nilapastangan’s gesture, letting her wipe her entire face until it’s dry, her hands stuck to the sides of her body. “Th-thank you,” says Angela, after she’s more or less dry.

“Get the parts I didn’t,” says Ang Nilapastangan, giving her the panuelo, before walking back to the chair. Angela stares at the panuelo for a bit. Her breathing is hot. She feels fuzzy.

She decides to dry parts of her stupid bangs that didn’t get dried. Her hands once again bump into the horns that she’s grown ever since she’s been branded. She sighs. She feels them up, and the strange sensuality of the gesture isn’t lost on her. She holds in a laugh. 

The horns are strangely sensitive. Not in that weird way, but as if she’s grown new nerves so that the horns can feel whenever someone is touching them. It’s strange, having new parts of you grown onto you. She can’t quite explain the feeling either, she just feels it, and that’s that. Sometimes it twitches, other times it’s solid and erect.

She sighs.

“That’s the branding,” says Ang Nilapastangan. “As long as you have those, you’ll be easy to track, and your soul will be more or less confined to this place.” Ang Nilapastangan turns to her then. “This place being, Sansinukob, I mean. You can’t return to where you were until those have been removed.”

She gulps. “How do I get it off?”

“Physically? I’m not sure,” says Ang Nilapastangan. “But spiritually? We’d just have to remove the spiritual properties that live within that. To do that, we’d have to go visit an albularyo.”

“Albularyo?”

Ang Nilapastangan nods. “An herbalist. Sometimes called a witch doctor. We don’t have any here, since it’s too easy to be ratted out by villagers and then be burned by the Priests of the Church. However, the place where we’re going to, San Justo village, is known to house some. It’s been a bastion for Anito.”

“And there’s an albularyo there?”

She nods in reply. “I’ve been told. We’ll get the branding upon your soul so that the anghel can’t find you anymore.”

Angela swallows and then nods. “O-Okay. I think… I think that makes sense. Will there be any way that I can remove them?” she asks, as she puts her glasses back on after wetting and wiping them as well.

Ang Nilapastangan shrugs.  “We can cut them off, but if you want that to be done surgically and cleanly, we’re going to have to go to Biringan, the City of Cities. After that, well, you’re going to have to participate in the Hagdanan.”

“Can I… not? Can’t I just forfeit and go home? See my family? Go back to fucking normal?”

“No can do, girl,” says Ang Nilapastangan. “You see, once you’ve been chosen by Tadhana to become one of the competitors of the Hagdanan, you’re in it for life. Even if you do manage to get out of Sansinukob and back to your universe, the competitors will chase you down, since there can only be 1 winner. If that happens well, you might just bring about godly destruction upon your universe.”

Angela inhales. She notices that she’s sniffling. She notices that her cheeks are wet. She tries speaking, but a lump forms in her throat, and she can’t say it properly. “I can’t… go back?” her voice is pained and forced, as the lump gets bigger and impossible to overcome.

“If you win,” says Ang Nilapastangan, looking away. “There might be a way to leave Sansinukob and never be found. I mean, I’ve done it, more or less.”

“O-okay.” She’s crying now. Angela is crying now. Ang Nilapastangan lets her, staring away, picking up another cig and lighting it with the tip of her crimson finger.

Next Chapter.

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