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humbledragon669 · 4 months

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S1E1 – In The Beginning Write Up P2

– Eleven Years Ago

Once the credits have finished rolling, the audience are catapulted in to a close-to-present-day time space. Eleven years prior to “present day” to be exact – the helpful on-screen signpost tells us we are seeing events “eleven years ago”. I rather like it when TV shows and movies are so reluctant to set a specific time period as a backdrop – it helps future audiences feel like the content is still relevant if and when they discover it. This neutrality is maintained in a number of ways throughout both series of GO and despite the fact that we will see scenes that have incredibly specific dates that they take place in, all the “present day” material has a subtle avoidance of date specification. Whether considering Crowley’s timeless outfit against Aziraphale’s decidedly dated ensemble, Crowley’s use of a vintage car, the setting of an antiquarian book shop contrasted with a modern-day coffee shop complete with almond milk lattes, or the repeated used of the couple’s favourite place to eat (opened in 1906 and largely unchanged since then), an audience would be hard-pressed to say exactly when the show is set, other than it feels modern-day. The closest we come to being able to specify a year is in knowing how long Crowley has owned the Bentley (ninety years, from new) and the year it was made (1927, according to the book), but even those two pieces of information feel rather hazy.

If snippets of writing are a constant source of Easter eggs in this series, the music is the parallel supplier of subtextual plot enforcement. I do not believe it is a coincidence that the Bentley’s choice of music on the approach to the graveyard gives us an early indication that Crowley is about to get more than he bargained for out of the meeting – Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, a rock ballad about a condemned man awaiting his fate - and which line more appropriate than what is playing exactly as he pulls up and turns off the engine:

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me

Side note: this is a graveyard attached to a church, which means the land would likely be consecrated, meaning the three demons should not be able to walk on its grounds, let alone emerge from it as Hastur and Ligur do. I think this is likely an oversight; after all, where is creepier for three dark figures to lurk than a graveyard at night?

What we see of Crowley in this first scene is that he has a thinly veiled nonchalance towards his employer that only seems to go amiss by his colleagues because none of them appear to be able to appreciate the subtle nuances of human characteristics that he delivers so well, even if they do think he’s “gone native”. He shrugs off the “Hail Satan” greeting expected of him and is clearly bored by such minor trivial “deeds” as tempting a priest, appearing to revel more in the pure mischief and ingenuity of his achievements rather than the actual results that Hell would be interested in (almost like he’d done something clever and needed to tell someone about it before he popped…) – just look at his smug little face:

Oh, and he clearly wants no part in the delivery of the Antichrist.

Like it or not (most definitely NOT), Crowley has no choice but to take the Antichrist. He receives his instructions from a delightfully camp sounding but unnamed character through his stereo which, according to the script, belongs to none other than Satan himself (and, according to the book, should sound exactly like Freddie Mercury). If this is indeed meant to be Satan, I feel it’s a shame we aren’t explicitly told this – the knowledge that Satan himself has issued the instructions for the delivery of his only son would really hammer home the message of how much shit is hitting the fan at this point in time.

The scenes that follow are mostly narrative in nature, but there are still nuggets of information to be had from them. This is where we are introduced to Aziraphale’s love of food, and the notion that this is most certainly not expected behaviour for an angel.

We learn of Gabriel’s appreciation for the clothes available on Earth (which is not viewed with the same disdain as Aziraphale’s eating fixation). Most importantly we discover that Heaven appears to be completely unaware of the fact that Crowley and Aziraphale are not only aware of each other, but have been meeting on pretty friendly terms for quite some time.

The fast pacing of the baby switching scene at the nunnery is expertly put together – it conveys just enough of a sense of chaos whilst making sure that the audience are keeping up with the plot twists. It is interesting that the playing card used to represent the Antichrist (before it is magically converted into an image of the Beast) is the King of Hearts, which is perhaps a nod to what will become his true nature (all the more noticeable in the book). We can assume that Crowley is known to the nuns (they refer to him as “Master Crowley”) prior to his arrival, but we are not given any information about how this has come to be. Considering that Crowley’s involvement in the delivery of the Antichrist came as something as a surprise to Crowley himself, I find this interesting, though this may simply be a case of his reputation preceding him, as we see in later episodes. Baby B’s unfortunately undecided fate feels terribly dark, even for a series that has, in the first half of its first episode, introduced Satanic nuns and the Antichrist. Interestingly, the book offers a more optimistic outlook for this innocent babe, even if it is for him to grow up to become the village bully nicknamed “Greasy”. I suspect this may have been omitted from the finished script due to time and budget constraints (one less child actor and chaperone to pay…).

Back in the Bentley, we’re treated to what I believe is another subtextual Clue about Crowley’s true feelings – Queen’s “It’s a Hard Life” croons out of the stereo as he tries to call Aziraphale. Great song as this is, I cannot believe that these particular lyrics have not been chosen for a very specific purpose for this exact point in the story:

You win, you lose It's a chance you have to take with love Oh yeah, I fell in love

The song itself is actually the same as the one playing on Crowley’s earlier arrival at the hospital, but the lyrics are, interestingly, from a point in the song after all the instances of the lyrics we hear during the attempted call to Aziraphale, meaning the song must be on repeat during this period of time. Examining the lyrics of the song as a whole, it actually feels like a particularly appropriate song to use against the backdrop for establishing the present-day nature of Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship – it really strikes a chord with me. Is it dusty in here or is my hay fever playing up? (I don’t even get hay fever…)

An undescribed period of time passes (we’re suddenly in broad daylight, so it’s at least one night). The next conversation between the pair reveals quite a bit about the level of familiarity that Crowley has for Aziraphale. He clearly finds his optimism delightful – just look at this smitten kitten face:

And Crowley knows exactly what buttons to press to try to get Aziraphale on side, pointing out that he’s about to lose all his favourite things – classical music, food, and finally (just for full impact) his own book shop. Even when Aziraphale won’t bend to the demon’s temptations, it’s clear that (despite the fact that Armageddon has just been set on its slow and wandering way) Crowley just wants to spend more time with Aziraphale, offering to pay for lunch, which is clearly the best way to get the angel to engage fully. Interestingly, Crowley knows that he owes a lunch but can’t remember when for, whereas Aziraphale knows exactly when, where, and what they had – I would hazard a guess that he would probably be able to recite those facts for every instance of a meal they have ever eaten together.

Side note: I am not remiss of the fact that the year given by Aziraphale here ties up with the scene from episode 3, or that those events also coincide with an “I Was Wrong” dance performance. I have some ideas about those apology dances, which I will be covering in a (much) later post, with (I hope) a couple of fanfic chapters.

And so we are introduced to the Ritz, a place I’m sure everyone knows will come to be important to this pair, with this tableau:

I know there has been a LOT said about this tiny snippet of a scene. I am one of the people who find it pretty interesting that we never see Crowley eat (yes, I know we see him with food in front of him, but we never actually see him put anything in his mouth or chewing). I’m not saying that he doesn’t – the book and several script references make it clear that he does – but I do think he derives much more pleasure from watching Aziraphale eat than from eating himself (see the Lockdown episode for a good indicator of this). And let’s be really honest for a minute – that shot of him watching Aziraphale finish off whatever he’s eating in the Ritz is almost pornographic. Do we really think that the sound at the start of the scene of a champagne cork popping in the background as Crowley is staring at him is a coincidence? I certainly don’t. In my honest opinion, this is as close to the demon being actually aroused as we ever see him.

I also find Aziraphale’s choice of words to conclude their meal at the Ritz interesting:

So, what are you in the mood for now?

There’s something… knowing about this. Like Aziraphale knows exactly what Crowley has been thinking whilst he’s watched him eat. It’s almost flirty but I can’t quite put my finger on it. It does not escape my attention that, if Aziraphale is aware of Crowley’s thought process, he hasn’t exactly been demure whilst he’s eating – his expression as he finishes that final bite is positively post-coital. Not to mention the little teasing smirk and the once over he gives the demon after he’s offered Crowley carte blanche of activity choice. One wonders whether “alcohol” was really what he had in mind here…

Side note: we have no idea of what has happened during this meal. We could assume that the talk has been about the Antichrist and Armageddon but given that’s the topic of conversation when they get back to the book shop, and that Aziraphale put a very clear stop to that discussion when they left St James Park, I find that unlikely. I have my own idea of what took place, which you might already know if you’ve read Dangerous Liaisons. I’m not going to go into it much further here but am hoping to explore it further in another fanfic. Let’s just say I think there might have been some discussion around true feelings and potential plans to act on them at this point.

As we see the couple strolling down the Soho street up to Aziraphale’s shop, we are witness to, I think, two physical touches between them. They’re small – Aziraphale’s hand on Crowley’s leg and then an arm brush – and they could be accidental owing to the momentum of bodies and limbs caused by walking but I’m not so sure, especially not after the subtextual display we’re treated to at the Ritz. If I’m right about the topic of conversation at the Ritz, this would make a lot of sense too. It would also explain why Aziraphale offers the very nice wine he’s been saving for “special occasions” – who considers the dawning of Armageddon a special occasion?!

Let’s talk about the entry into the book shop for a moment. More specifically, Aziraphale’s comments preceding their entry into the book shop and Crowley’s reaction to them.

First off, we have the (futile) reminder that they’re supposed to be “hereditary enemies”. I feel like Aziraphale says this to attempt to remind Crowley of what they’re relationship is supposed to be, and I find Crowley’s reaction to it pretty delightful – we only get a glimpse of his expression before the camera switches back to Aziraphale’s face, but we can see the demon mocking him on the side of the screen. He’s clearly not interested in playing along with their cover story here – he reminds me of a child being told off for something minor and unimportant.

This charming little interaction is concluded with Aziraphale’s assertions that Crowley get behind him, only to invite him to lead the way. I’m sure there are some that would attribute this to comedic writing combined with the further establishment of Aziraphale having impeccable manners. However, I have a filthy mind and adore this couple, so I cannot help but see this as a hint towards the establishment of sexual positions. There we go, it’s out, I said it. I will not unsay it. Sue me. Besides, adding that bit of subtext to the scene makes it smuttier funnier. Not to mention that Crowley seems a bit taken aback by Aziraphale’s first suggestion (“get thee behind me”), but nods his agreement after the second (“after you”) – I interpret this as him being on the same page, at least at this point in time anyway.

As we enter into the book shop, we are shown one of the compass points marked on the mezzanine level. It won’t come to make much sense at this point, not until we’ve seen at least one more of them but it’s my understanding that this is deliberate, and that Aziraphale’s desk sits to the east, which is a nod towards his position of Angel of the Eastern Gate. The music played here is another stroke of genius – it’s highly uncomfortable but purveys perfectly just how wasted this pair are.

NEWS FLASH! Crowley takes his glasses off now that he’s suitably hammered and inside the book shop. We will come to see that when he removes those glasses, it’s a sign that he’s comfortable, feels that he’s in a safe space, and that he can speak freely. This is a really important aspect of Crowley for us to understand and we’ll see it used as a device throughout both series. What’s similarly important to observe is that Aziraphale doesn’t react to it at all – he’s clearly very accustomed to seeing Crowley without his glasses and takes the underlying meaning for granted. For some less subtle display of intimacy between them in this scene, let’s examine that slightly odd and awkward pouting that both of them engage in when discussing fish/marine mammals:

There is a look here, from Crowley, that I cannot decipher. Look? Stare, perhaps. Most certainly not a gaze. It’s paired with a little repositioning of his body. To me it looks like he’s steeling himself to do or say something that he might consider brave.

This is immediately followed by Aziraphale’s announcement that he’s about to sober up, which Crowley follows suit on. I can’t help but wonder what exactly was going through their minds here that makes them believe that being drunk is such a bad thing? We’re led to believe that the heavy nature of the Armageddon conversation is the trigger. I like to think there might be something more sexual at play here…

Side note: I particularly love the idea of being able to be suddenly not drunk at will, and that the alcohol goes nice and neatly back into its bottles when you do so. Imagine how much fun you could have without spending a fortune if you could do that!!

When considering the fate of the Satanic nuns, I find it rather interesting that Hastur has such fun burning the nunnery down to the ground. When we were introduced to his character in the cemetery it had appeared that his motivations were driven by Hell’s goal of acquiring souls for Satan, and that he was interested in little outside of that scope. Here we see him laughing maniacally at the destruction of an institution that has only served his master. It indicates that mischief is something he enjoys, which is something he shares with Crowley despite his disdain at our demon’s personality.

I’m finishing up this part of the write up with a brief look at the interaction between Crowley and Aziraphale around being godfathers to the Antichrist.

There’s no denying that the pair of them are really delighted with this idea – being able to work together to a common goal. Not to mention it’s likely to mean that they will be seeing more of each other, albeit in disguise. Again, if my suspicions about the conversation at the Ritz are correct, their joy here is easy to explain. We finish this scene with a cheeky little exchange between them about being damned and it not being so bad “once you get used to it”. It’s pretty easy to interpret this as a bit of friendly mischief on Crowley’s part. I choose to believe there’s more to it than that – if the two of them really had finally confronted their feelings and decided to act on them over lunch, it’s not unreasonable to suppose that Heaven would indeed consider Aziraphale damned. Crowley’s closing wink says that’s something he’s aware of, that he knows he would be the cause, that he doesn’t care, and that he wants the angel to know he’ll help him work through whatever that means. Even if my suppositions are incorrect, that wink still says all of those things, and ensures that we as an audience have been well established into the comfortable nature of the relationship between them both.

#good omens #episode analysis #aziracrow #good omens season 1 #ineffable idiots #hastur good omens #good omens ligur #good omens gabriel #aziraphale loves food #crowley loves watching aziraphale eat #flirting #relationship #love #lunch at the ritz #head canon

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v-taehyung-kim · 2 years

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Watch Me Undress

He watches her strip her clothes off, get in the shower, spread her legs and fuck herself in the hopes that he is watching her… she gets off being watched, and he wants nothing more than for her to be a filthy slut with her legs open for him. He’s not real, but oh.. he is. And he’ll make sure she feels it.

genre: exhibitionism, voyeurism, supernatural!au, ghost!jk, dom!jk, voyeur!jk, submissive!reader, exhibitionist!reader

Warnings: filthy. dirty. slutty.

————————————-

“Fucking hell it’s hot out,” I groan, getting the last few of the boxes inside. Did I really need to move in today of all days? I’m boiling in this heat!

I’m finally moving into my new apartment, after the roommate I lived with became a total dickhead and I needed to get out of there. Living alone is the best, a luxury I can luckily afford.

This new place felt… odd from the get go. I was in a hurry to get a new place so I picked whatever I could find. This place screams “a person died here” but hey, nothing a lil’ Ikea can’t fix. Honestly, I don’t care. I’m not scared or believe in any of that supernatural shit. If I don’t see it, I don’t care. Party it up.

That being said, it’s not fun to feel like I just saw someone from the corner of my eyes. But oh well, this is my place now.

Unpacking stuff for my bedroom took the rest of the day, what fun! I made it look all pretty and comfy, now the vibes of this place feel a lot lighter. See? All we needed was a little decor. A little glow up.

———

Dinner meant no more dickhead roommates asking me to wear skimpier clothing to pay lesser rent, and also comfortably dressing down. If I want to be half naked while eating a bowl of wings, so be it!

I do a little happy dance making my way to the kitchen, and I swear I hear a little snicker come from behind me. The hair at the back of my neck stands and I immediately turn around to, of course, find nothing.

What the fuck was that.

I slowly turn back around and walk towards the kitchen. Now I feel really really weird.

I swear it was a snicker? A human… snicker…

I heat up some wings and went to sit on the couch to start eating. Ah what peace… to sit in your underwear, eating greasy spicy wings, watching trash tv.

Except. I don’t feel at peace whatsoever.

I keep feeling like I’m being watched, and it’s way too fucking cold. It’s like a 100 degrees outside, and it’s freezing in here. Maybe it’s because I’m barely wearing anything?

I swear someone is watching me and I’m confused how my mind even came up with that conclusion, with no realistic root cause.

I switch the TV off to sit in silence for a minute trying to understand what I’m feeling.

And now it feels creepier.

I suddenly feel even more exposed and naked, and I just want to crawl into bed and hide in my blanket.

I get up and do exactly that.

———-

What? Where the hell am I?

I look around and it’s my new apartment… only it’s empty and the room is lit red.

I’m wearing the same set of underwear I slept in yesterday and it’s… hot in here…

Why do I feel things…

Suddenly there’s a mirror in front of me and I look at my reflection. My hair is messy, sexy and my lips are red and plump. My underwear set looks strangely sexy, and I feel… seductive…

I feel myself getting hotter and I close my eyes and sigh.

I feel a cool breath hit the nape of my neck and it sends chills down my spine.

I look up to see a very, very handsome man standing behind me. His jaw chiseled to perfection and messy curly strands of hair falling on his face, eyebrow piercing glistening, tattooed hands with thick bands of rings decorating his fingers, his black leather jacket barely hiding the thickness of his biceps… fuck. His face is hiding in my neck, breathing on it gently.

“Wh-what are you…” I let out, breathing heavily.

I suddenly feel so exposed, with him looking like that in his leather jacket and me exposed standing in front of him… I could fall to my knees.

“Ssh… it’s okay. I won’t hurt you,” he whispers in a low tone and fuck, I don’t think perfection is the word for whatever he is.

I lean my head back to rest on his shoulders as his hand comes up to wrap around my exposed neck. He’s biting my neck, moaning, and I know I’m going to pass out in pleasure without him doing much.

“Please,” I beg, whimpering.

Within a second, he pushes me against a wall only to stare directly into my eyes.

“I want you to only beg.”

His eyes are dark, seductive and I don’t think I can ever stop staring. Fuck, this level of sexy has to be demonic.

I blink a few times, only to wake up to a ceiling in front of my face than his eyes.

What the fuck?

Was that a dream?

———

Am I expected to go back to a normal life after that dream has effectively changed me forever?

I’m still wearing that same underwear set, and I cannot get him out of my mind.

Who even was that?

And that feeling of being watched has not gone away.

And for some reason… I like it.

In the dream, I was exposed in front of this man and I enjoyed being looked at like that. Maybe I enjoy being watched?

What if I am being watched?

So… what?

I’m sure nobody actually is, and it’s all in my head- maybe I should make use of this.

I don’t think getting over that dream is happening any time soon and fuck… that man…

I strip off whatever little I’m wearing, and get out my vibrator that I keep close.

Fuck.

This already feels good.

I love being watched.

I’m on the bed of the same bedroom I saw in my dream, with the lights turned down.

If I am being watched, I hope I put a good show on.

Please watch me.

Spreading my legs wide pretending I am being watched, I give into how dirty I feel and enjoy the pleasure I’m getting from this.

The feeling of being watched intensifies by a thousand, and it’s only helping me feel even better.

Now that I feel like I do have an audience, I moan even louder, enjoying how dirty I feel.

So I’m a filthy slut that loves being watched. Maybe that dream was just for enlightenment purposes, so that I know exactly what I like.

Fuck if only that man was real, and could watch me right now.

————

I’ve been questioning my sanity ever since I got off by pretending I’m being watched.

Questioning both in the sense that: why do I enjoy something like that, and why does it feel like I’m being watched NOW more than ever? It’s no longer a doubt in my head, I KNOW I am.

I’ve been searching this house for cameras only to find nothing.

Of course there’s nothing.

Then what the fuck is it?!

Suddenly I hear something fall and now chills are going up and down my spine. I run to the kitchen to see where the sound was coming from, only to find a cereal box on the floor.

Hmm.

Yup.

This place is fucked up.

From the corner of my eye, I swear I see a black leather jacket and immediately turn my head to confirm.

Fuck. Is it my dream that is haunting me?

I need a shower.

A cold shower.

——-

The cold water feels good on my skin, and my scalp. I feel like all the thoughts in my head are being shut up and I can finally relax.

Even in this seemingly haunted place, a cold shower is comforting.

Just as I sigh in pleasure, I feel a hand going up my leg.

A hand?!

I look down and see nothing, but my body is shivering.

I feel a slight touch over my lower stomach going down to my centre and for a moment I choose to believe it’s just water dripping down.

Fuck it feels good, whatever it is.

I feel my nipples harden with the more sensations I feel down there, and I know it’s not water.

I know something is messing with me.

“Please stop,” I beg, voice quivering with fear.

This isn’t a joke and fuck why does it feel good?!

All the sudden, I feel absolutely nothing. I take this change to sprint to my bedroom, despite being naked.

Getting dressed in an oversized tshirt, I crawl into my blanket and hope sleep takes over me.

I’m going to sleep scared but it’s not like I can do anything.

I know this thing isn’t evil… it’s just… what the fuck?

———

I wake up in the red room again.

On my bed.

Wearing the same oversized t shirt with nothing under.

The room feels hot again.

I feel hot again.

It’s that man again. Looking into the same mirror where we stood. He’s running his hands through his hair…

“Comfortable bed?”

Huh…

Fuck. His voice. Fuck, fuck. No wonder I feel hot.

I sit up straight not answering his question, covering my lower parts.

“I asked you a question.”

“I-I… yes,” I say softly, intimidated by his dominating tone of voice.

“Good. It’s fun to see you.. enjoy… that bed,” he says, winking at me through the mirror.

“What… do you mean?”

“Do you want to find out?”

He asks, turning to face me.

Suddenly I feel so exposed, so aware that I’m not wearing anything under this shirt.

“Take off that tshirt,” he says, coming towards me, his eyes getting darker and his steps slow.

“I can’t… I can’t, I’m not wearing anything…” I say, feeling slightly scared but I know I want to be naked for him. I want to be watched by him.

“I know you want me to see you like that. And I’m not asking.”

“But… who are you? I can’t do this,”

“Don’t lie to me. Take it off.”

I slowly take it off, covering myself with my hands because even though I want this, he makes me feel way too shy.

“Stand up.”

His veiny tattooed hands gesture me to stand up, and his messy hair cover his eyes, making him look more intimidating than before.

Standing up, I realise I’m fully naked in front of this man that I don’t even know.

“Yeah, you like this don’t you? Little miss exhibitionist slut? Bet you want to strip in front of an audience…” he says lowly, circling me.

His hands reach for the lower part of my stomach, trailing downwards and I swear I’ve felt it before.

Fuck.

His other hands slightly goes over my ass, his touch feathery light.

“Yeah you fucking like this,” he growls in my ear. I can feel his cold lip ring hit my ear and his rings right above my folds.

“Stay like this.” He backs away, just to stare me down.

“I’m giving you what you want. I’ll watch you.”

Inspecting me and staring at me, I feel myself get really, really wet. Fuck. This is a dream, though…

He smirks and laughs, coming closer again.

“Back to bed.” He pushes me down the bed, and it wakes me up.

I wake up in the same bed.

Wearing nothing.

———

Everything is weird.

Every night, I dream of him.

And every night, he commands me to do things I know I secretly would love to do.

I feel so dirty, so filthy, so liberated.

I feel watched everyday, and I get off it.

I’ve never felt more pleasured. Both in real life, and in my dreams.

He doesn’t do anything to me… and I haven’t asked him to… but I want him to.

And he’s not even real.

Standing in my bathroom and looking into my mirror, the image of him standing behind me flashes in my mind.

Fuck…

I take off my towel to be naked, to feel as dirty as I did when he stood behind me. Closing my eyes, I sigh.

“Attagirl…” a seductive whisper says, and my eyes shoot wide open.

There’s no one here…

“Who’s there?! What are you?!” I yell, looking around.

“Whatever you want me to be.” The same voice says, and I know it’s him.

From my dreams.

“Y-you? Why can’t I see you?”

“Do you want to?”

“Fuck! Just stop scaring me! Please! Please stop this,” I beg, nearly crying.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn around.

It’s him.

Standing right there.

Looking the same as he does in my dreams.

“Y-YOU!” I screech, tripping backwards and hitting a wall.

“Me. Jungkook. Yeah,” he says casually, running his hands through his hair. I should not be finding this erotic right now.

I yell at the top of my lungs and he grimaces.

“Shut the fuck up, princess. I’m not alive but that doesn’t mean my eardrums can’t be ripped apart.” He says, strangely gently.

NOT ALIVE?!

“WHAT? WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?” And can you ask me to shut up like that again? Fuck. No, wait, he’s not even REAL?

He walks closer to me, coming up really close. Pushing me against the wall with my hands above my head, he looks straight into my eyes.

“Like this?”

“Y-yeah… but answer me… what are you…? What is this?”

“Do. You. Like. This?” He asks again, his dominance dripping with every word.

“I like it.”

“What do you like?”

“T-this…”

“Be fucking descriptive, love.”

“I like being pushed against the wall like this,” I whimper. I suddenly realise I’m completely naked in front of him, once again.

“Nah.” He says, tongue poking the inside of his cheek and eyes rolling.

Fuck.

“I swear…” I say softly.

“You like being naked like this, and I want you only like this,” he whispers into my ear, making my body go warm.

I feel my inner thighs wet with all the arousal I’m feeling, making me whimper even more.

“But I’ll let you in on a few secrets first,” he begins, pulling away and handing me a towel.

Wrapping the towel around me while shivering, I feel scared to know what’s coming next.

It’s as if a fog took over my mind to not let me fully realise that there is a strange entity right in front of me, that’s made me feel things I didn’t think I could.

None of this is normal, how am I not calling the cops?! Or a doctor?! Am I going insane?!

“No you’re not. Come,” he responds to me thoughts while taking my hands and guiding me out to the living room, sitting me down.

“What the fuck are you?” I say, finally a voice coming out of me.

“Ah, you can speak.” He smirks, knowing full well his effect on me.

“You never gave me a chance to speak in every dream I’ve seen you in,” why am I joking around when this is not even a REAL PERSON?

“What can I say, my hands on your throat seems pretty ideal.”

Fucking hell.

“I own this house,” he says.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“This is my house.”

“No, I believe it’s mine,” I say, not actually believing that.

“I am the original owner, I used to live here. I don’t anymore, of course. I’m stuck here, which is fair, because it’s my house.” He says, very casually, while taking a seat.

“What happened to you? Are you a ghost?”

“If that. But sure, maybe. I can’t remember what happened and I don’t care. I love it here. You make it even better,” he says, very seriously.

“So whatever I’ve been feeling about being watched…”

“Me. And I know you knew it’s me. Didn’t you?”

“Did I?”

“Well, were you spreading your legs at the thought of someone else watching you?”

My face turns deep red. He knows everything about me.

“How do you know… what I was thinking…”

“Not sure. Not my experience with any of the people that stayed here, you’re the first.”

“You’ve seen other people do this? You enjoy it?”

“You’re the first. And I do enjoy it… and you enjoy being fucking filthy, don’t you?” He says, taking off his leather jacket.

Fuck, I absolutely cannot deal with him looking like that right now.

“I enjoy watching you be naked for me. I know it’s for me.” He says lowly, getting up and coming towards me.

Pulling my chin up to look at him, I whimper staring into his eyes.

“Fuck. I can give you what you want if you want it…” he whispers, getting closer.

“Watch me.”

“I do.”

His lips trail down my jaw down to my chest, and I know I won’t be able to bear this any longer.

“Fuck.” I moan out loud, eyes closing.

“Let’s.”

Note: If you guys want a part 2, let me know.

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biaswreckingfics · 2 years

Note

For the prompt drabble request (again)

San - ateez & 48, 90, 107

San + Fluff/Crack -Idk how, but we ended up going straight for the crack fic, but we're here🥴🥴-

(Of course, I've noticed. I notice everything about you. + If you want to keep sitting on my lap, you have to stop wiggling around like that. + You're so cute when you're struggling.)

The party feels like it's been going on for hours. You would've gone home ages ago if your bosses hadn't required everyone to be here. The least they could've done is make sure everyone had enough chairs to sit on. Your feet are killing you, and you swear this is the last time you wear these stupid shoes. They're cutting into your feet and you can already imagine the blisters you're going to have.

Bouncing back and forth, you scan the room to check if your bosses are still here. Amid the scanning, you notice someone waving you over. San, the cutie from the floor above you. Half of your company has a crush on the man.

Curious about what he wants, you make your way over to him while trying to keep the pain off of your face. "Hey. What's up?"

"This might be highly inappropriate, but if you need to sit down, you're more than welcome to sit on my lap."

Surprised, you glance at the people around you before you look back at him. "You're offering me a seat on your lap?"

"It just looks like your feet are bothering you." He glances down at your shoes then looks back up at your face. "I'd give you my seat, but I tweaked my knee, so I'm not much better at standing."

It suddenly makes a lot more sense why he's not just giving you his chair and is instead offering a virtual stranger a seat on his lap.

"You noticed?"

"Of course, I noticed. I notice everything about you." He pauses after the words come out and grimaces. "That sounded a lot creepier out loud than it did in my head. I just meant that I've noticed you around the office. A lot."

A laugh comes out of you and you find yourself looking at him in amusement. He's cute, seems sweet, and might be funny, so you shrug your shoulders. What the hell? Why not?

Actually sitting on his lap is awkward at first, but San cracks joke after joke and you quickly find yourself relaxing. Your first impression of him seems spot on. He doesn't try anything weird, and a lot of people you respect come up and talk to the two of you. Suddenly, you're glad you weren't able to leave the party earlier. You're having way too much fun with San.

The later the night gets, the less classy the music becomes. You find yourself bopping along to the songs, enjoying yourself after having maybe a little too much wine. It takes you a little bit to realize how stiff San has become. When you do, you turn back to him and ask if he's okay.

He gives you a tight smile. "If you want to keep sitting on my lap, you have to stop wiggling around like that."

You blink at him in confusion for a moment before your eyes widen in shock. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry!"

Abruptly standing up, you nearly fall over your own feet. San grabs you before you can get very far and places you right back on his lap. You push against him to get off, but his arms wrap around your waist.

"It's okay. I just said it to make sure you're a little more careful."

"San, really. I can stand for a little while. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," you attempt to stand up again but he doesn't let you go.

With his arms wrapped tightly around you, he says, "You're so cute when you're struggling."

You pause in your movements and look back at him with an odd look. It takes a second before he realizes the words that came out and his eyes widen in panic.

"Wait, that sounded even more creepy than before. I promise I'm not a weirdo!"

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yanderes-galore · 1 year

Note

Fandom: BioShock (Infinite)

Character: Sander Cohen

Pairing: romantic

Type of Fic: a short! Sander requests that the Darling, who's been invited to his fancy shindig in his club in the frolic (from the game, idk if you know but you can look up clips to see what I mean) dances on the stage and gets angry when They disrupt his muse and BOOM! SHOCK TIME! Rest is up to you :D

I'm apologize because this may be a bit short but here's what I got! I made it open ended as I felt it may be creepier but it's a vague yandere here.

Luckily I did not lose my draft like I thought ^^;

The title is inspired by this Bioshock rap by JT Music, you can find it here! I personally like it :)

Masquerade

Yandere! Sander Cohen Short

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Delusional behavior, Implications of stalking, Manipulation, Violence, Anger issues, Murder, Kidnapping, Forced relationship implied, Open ended, Dark content, Grotesque descriptions, Vague on darling's fate, Possible OOC Cohen???

Chills ran down your back as you walk through the event. Sander Cohen is a known artist, and psycho, in Rapture. It's a big deal to be invited to one of his clubs and events.

Especially his artistic Masquerade parties.

Everyone knows only certain organizations are given a rabbit mask to go. However, you aren't part of any big organization. Despite such a detail... a mask was delivered to your room.

You thought it was a mistake, in fact you hoped it was. Unfortunately when you check the hand written note... you see your name. There's no mistaking it, you were meant to come.

You didn't know why but was Cohen ever a predictable individual?

As much as you dreaded to go you gave it a shot. You wore the mask with a matching outfit and left. Part of you only went because you wanted to know why you were picked.

Even if you may dread the answer anyway.

Before you even entered the club you got a weird feeling. Giving your name they let you enter without much fuss. Now you're left to wander corridors filled with men and women dressed as rabbits.

You didn't even realize your mask was slightly different than the rest until you saw them.

Looking into their eyes gave you a feeling of fear. Despite looking almost like the rest you felt you were the only prey. Ignoring such feelings you walk deeper in hopes of seeing what you need to see before leaving.

Hopefully this would all be done quick.

You hoped no one would pick you out of the crowd. Even when you walked down some stairs and found the "main event", you hoped you could blend in. This whole event activated your anxiety.

It only worsened when you saw Cohen.

You watch silently as the psychotic artist paints on a canvas. Dancers twirl in front of him with praise. Hesitancy makes your movements stilted as you take your place beside the other guests.

Is this it? Just some painting and praise? Seems... less scary than you thought it would be.

Then there's the sound of hissing electricity and the screams of the dancers.

Your mind nearly doesn't process it at first. You don't realize what happened until the smell of burning flesh meets your nose. Then there's the frustrated yell of Cohen.

"IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! You've ruined my muse..." Cohen snarls, the corpses of the dancers now being lifted in the air to be around of the way. The artist tries to soothe his anger before combing the crowd with his eyes. You go to hide behind another guest...

Only for Cohen to make eye contact with you.

You start to have a feeling the slightly different mask was on purpose. His glare of anger turns to excitement when he sees you and he beckons you closer. Your anxieties quickly make you feel ill.

"You! I'm so happy you came, my most important guest.... You will be my muse! Come come!" Cohen encourages, stepping closer to you.

You bite your lip before slowly glancing up at the hanging corpses. Like an actual rabbit you find yourself shaking before being dragged to Cohen. You were going to die....

"Now now... no need to be so worried! My little moth, you'll do wonderful on that stage. I'll paint every moment of your beauty!" Cohen coos before changing his tone. "Don't disappoint. Now dance! Dance for me!"

You're roughly shoved onto the stage, stumbling pathetically as a result. Not wanting to die and succumb to a similar fate of the dancers, you sway yourself into a rhythm to appease the artist. For now... he seems pleased.

"Beautiful..." He breathes. "Your beauty is splendid! Every movement is divine.... You and I are going to be something great!"

You try not to spend too much time on his words, you need to survive.

"I knew I picked out the right one when I saw you... took forever to find you, my muse! But now you're here...."

He swipes a brush against the canvas, observing your moves to the music. You try to keep your movements correct. Yet you can't help but come to a twisted realization...

Have you been stalked?

"Now that I have you... our art will be wonderful! You'll forever be my muse... forever depicted in my art..."

Was he inching near a lever?

"I think there's only one thing that can accentuate your beauty, my little moth..."

Wait, no, please- You did everything right!

"Pain makes the best art, don't you agree?"

With a flick of the lever electricity courses through you. Your mind draws a blank as your seize, each muscle and fiber of your body being burned. Once he flicks it off you collapse onto the floor.

Your senses burn, everything burns. Are you alive or dying? You can't tell... you can barely even see Cohen walking towards you.

"You'll be my greatest masterpiece..." Cohen grins, touching your overstimlulated skin.

"Just you wait and see, MY muse."

#yandere bioshock #yandere bioshock infinite #yandere bioshock burial at sea #yandere sander cohen

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thatmarvelobsessedteen · 5 months

Text

Not planned...not planned at all

Cassian x reader

Azriel x OC! reader's cousin

Short Summary: Two girls, cousins, somehow find themselves inside a slightly modified version of their favorite book saga ACOTAR. What will happen to them, things have changed and not just their situation but themselves...are those pointy ears they now have?

Chapter 7

The only one that returned the energy was of course Cassian, but I might not have been prepared to see his shine at that very moment.

My heart was asking to jump right out my throat and at him.

He didn't just smile, he shined bright as the sun like he was a being filled of fluff and love! And yet he was a very tall bulky and scary looking man, oh the irony.

To be fair he didn't look amused at the moment, he just seemed to be glowing with joy for some reason?

Suddenly Rhysand's head snapped towards both of his brothers with a shocked incredulous look on his face and they likely started speaking through their thoughts because Cassian's smile turned into some kind of a pout and he crossed his arms over his chest while Azriel nodded dutifully although he too looked disappointed.

I took it as a chance to stand up, slowly so that I would catch their attention and get pinned to the ground in case I was of any sort of danger, not that I would've minded.

Helping pull up Roxanne with me I look at the boys then back at her raising my brows. She makes a face pursing her lips and giving me a smirk.

"Oh shut up, I did not! I wasn't that obvious..."

Roxanne didn't so much as blink giving me the look that clearly meant "sure honey whatever rocks your boat".

"Please, you weren't discreet either! Didn't even say a word and just stared, who's the weirdo then?"

This time Roxanne did glare at me rolling her eyes.

"Anyways...You boys do know that even together me and Roxy barely oppose any type of threat!"

Cassian's head looked like it might snap from how fast he turned when I addressed them, Rhysand looked intreaged while Azriel just glared and raised his bandaged hand.

"That barely even counts you yeeted us around like it was nothing!"

Roxanne nodded in agreement rubbing her sore ass from when Azriel threw her.

"What did you expect? We open our eyes in the middle of the mountains with pointy ears next there's a random big guy with giant fucking wings reaching for us. Also be thankful I got stressed and just thought to bite, you were reaching to grab my cousin while she was half knocked out on the ground!"

Of course Rhysand just smirked, his smirk is creepier in real life than books.

"You're not helping your cases!"

Finally Roxanne decided to speak.

"If she barks she won't bite. It's when she's quiet that stuff gets dangerous! Plus we've got zero combat training other than self taught crap and me with Judo, but that's self defense primarily"

I stare open mouthed at my cousin.

"So it's all bluff?"

Should I scream fuck you Rhys? No. Would I if it didn't equal death? Most definitely!

"My point is...bitch"

I give a quick playful glare and my cousin, to which she sends a flying kiss my way.

#cassian x oc #cassian x you #cassian acotar #cassian #cassian x reader #azriel x oc #acotar x you #acotar x oc #acotar x reader #acotar #a court of thorns and roses

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mariana-oconnor · 1 year

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The Cardboard Box pt 3

OK, so this was mostly solved last part, with a few hanging threads, mainly being the motive and who the second ear belongs to. Our working theory is a man that Mary's husband thought she was having an affair with. But how that all relates to Sarah Cushing and why he sent the ears to her specifically. My best guess is she was encouraging Mary to leave him and 'befriend' this other guy in some way?

“Lestrade has got him all right,” said Holmes, glancing up at me.

Welp, that was quick. I guess no one is dying in a mysterious shipwreck this week, even though there are actual sailors involved this time.

“In accordance with the scheme which we had formed in order to test our theories” [“the ‘we’ is rather fine, Watson, is it not?”]"

Are we going to get Holmes' commentary throughout? That would be fun. Throwing shade at Lestrade here for taking partial credit for everything. Fair.

@ameliahcrowley did the research about May Day and apparently it wasn't in use as a distress signal yet at this time, which surprised me. So this ship name is just retroactively ironic, which is one of the best flavours of irony.

"I found that there was a steward on board of the name of James Browner and that he had acted during the voyage in such an extraordinary manner that the captain had been compelled to relieve him of his duties."

This guy has zero chill, which we already knew because he was going around murdering his wife and sending ears to her relatives, but he fails so completely at getting away with it, it's kind of farcical.

I guess it makes sense that he'd be a bit weird after killing his wife. But at the same time, the kind of effort it takes to cut off ears, pack them in salt and send them off to women in Croydon indicates a level of thought and planning that is clearly not evident anywhere else in his crime. So weird.

"He jumped up when he heard my business, and I had my whistle to my lips to call a couple of river police, who were round the corner, but he seemed to have no heart in him, and he held out his hands quietly enough for the darbies."

This reads as though the guy is feeling guilty or remorseful, but please see prior notes about taking the time to pack ears in salt. The remorse was a really delayed reaction, huh?

Mr Browner's understanding of what he did dawning:

"...bar a big sharp knife such as most sailors have..."

If he has a big sharp knife, why did he use a blunt one to cut the ears off? Unless the blunt just meant 'not as sharp as a scalpel', which seems an unfair benchmark of sharpness to put on a knife. Not everyone can be a scalpel.

"The affair proves, as I always thought it would, to be an extremely simple one, but I am obliged to you for assisting me in my investigation."

This isn't exactly a lie. Except it kind of is. Lestrade at least claimed to think it was just the medical students the whole time, but at the same time he called Holmes in, which seems like a weird thing to do if he was convinced it was a prank?

"I tell you I've not shut an eye in sleep since I did it, and I don't believe I ever will again until I get past all waking."

Again, this is strange to me. Like did he get through the whole posting of the ears and did the guilt set in immediately after that, or did he do that while feeling guilty? which makes no sense. I do not understand this man.

"Ay, the white lamb, she might well be surprised when she read death on a face that had seldom looked anything but love upon her before."

And this does not read like the words of someone who feels remorse. I feel like Jim Browner is a very disturbed individual. This is very creepy. Anyone who compares another person to a 'white lamb' is instantly ten times creepier than they were before. I'm already getting 'my wife drove me to it' delusional self-justification from his language.

"For Sarah Cushing loved me—that's the root of the business—she loved me until all her love turned to poisonous hate when she knew that I thought more of my wife's footmark in the mud than I did of her whole body and soul."

Oh, I did not see that coming. Although thinking back, the way her interactions with him were referred to were a bit weird. I thought it was just a Victorian flare for language coming through, but no.

I said last time that Mary needed better sisters. She really needed better sisters.

"The old one was just a good woman, the second was a devil, and the third was an angel. Sarah was thirty-three, and Mary was twenty-nine when I married."

A devil and an angel? Right, this guy has unrealistic expectations of the women in his life, I can tell you that right away. The Madonna-Whore complex called, Jim, it thinks you might have a problem.

For someone who is so guilty he can't sleep, Jim Browner is trying very hard to seem like the victim here. Dude murdered two people and cut off their ears and he's determined that it's Sarah's fault. I'm not saying she had nothing to do with it, but seems like he's having a little trouble with accountability here.

Also, her seduction of him is very... like she took hold of his hand and looked at him? That's all she did? I was expecting something more overt. Although this is the Victorian era, I guess maybe that's pretty overt by their standards? Or he misread the entire situation.

"Things went on much as before, but after a time I began to find that there was a bit of a change in Mary herself. She had always been so trusting and so innocent, but now she became queer and suspicious, wanting to know where I had been and what I had been doing, and whom my letters were from, and what I had in my pockets, and a thousand such follies."

This whole thing reads very strangely. 'so trusting and so innocent', and the pedestal he seems determined to put his wife on. It's all a little icky. He seems like a remarkably unreliable narrator.

OK, maybe it happened like he says. We have no evidence in the text contradicting him as of yet. But at the same time we only have his word for any of this and it's possible that he hit on Sarah rather than the other way around, she told Mary. OR that neither of them was hitting on each other, but they both thought the other one was hitting on them and things... spiralled.

"I can see now how she was plotting and scheming and poisoning my wife's mind against me."

If this story hadn't ended with him murdering people and mutilating their corpses, I'd be more inclined to believe him at face value, but knowing the extremes he went to, I feel like this is just massive paranoia.

"And then this Alec Fairbairn chipped in, and things became a thousand times blacker."

Ah, we finally get to the owner of the second ear. Alas, poor Alec. You were doomed by the narrative.

“‘It was only a little thing, too. I had come into the parlour unexpected, and as I walked in at the door I saw a light of welcome on my wife's face. But as she saw who it was it faded again, and she turned away with a look of disappointment."

His entire motive is based on two moments when he saw a look in a woman's eyes? Are you kidding me, Mr Browner? Are you a telepath? Can you read their minds? You have no evidence of literally anything and you just murdered people?

Maybe we're getting to the evidence. Maybe you're going to walk in on them in a compromising position, or find a love letter, or overhear a incriminating conversation. But so far all we have is 'my sister-in-law was upset I didn't enjoy her company and held my hand and made eye contact with me' (which I agree was a bit weird, but not conspiracy worthy) and 'my wife looked like she was looking forward to talking to someone who wasn't me'.

“You can do what you like,” says I, “but if Fairbairn shows his face here again I'll send you one of his ears for a keepsake.”

OK, no. You're just going straight to threats of violence. No further proof needed.

“‘Well, I don't know now whether it was pure devilry on the part of this woman, or whether she thought that she could turn me against my wife by encouraging her to misbehave.'"

The paranoia and entitlement is so strong in this one. He's completely irrational. We're all agreed on that, right? Maybe he was right about everything, but he's based all of his conclusions on...

heh...

He's based all his conclusions on vibes.

I played myself.

At least I didn't kill anyone over it.

"'How often she went I don't know, but I followed her one day, and as I broke in at the door Fairbairn got away over the back garden wall, like the cowardly skunk that he was. I swore to my wife that I would kill her if I found her in his company again, and I led her back with me, sobbing and trembling, and as white as a piece of paper.'"

This is slightly more incriminating, but given that there was a threat made to cut off the man's ears, that seems enough reason for him to run away. And death threats are never cool.

"'The thought was in my head as I turned into my own street, and at that moment a cab passed me, and there she was, sitting by the side of Fairbairn, the two chatting and laughing, with never a thought for me as I stood watching them from the footpath.'"

Honestly, at this point if she was having an affair with him I'm kind of okay with that. Mr Browner is clearly paranoid, violent and unstable. Divorce wasn't really an option for her because Victorian divorce laws were sexist and terrible, and from Browner's earlier description Fairbairn seems like a pretty cool guy. I hope she at least had fun before her husband brutally murdered her.

OK, point of Victorian etiquette, was it considered scandalous to be alone in a cab together? To me that's far less intimate than being found alone in a house together. But chatting in a cab? I suppose there isn't a chaperone, so maybe.

“‘Well, I took to my heels, and I ran after the cab. I had a heavy oak stick in my hand, and I tell you I saw red from the first; but as I ran I got cunning, too, and hung back a little to see them without being seen.'"

Either you couldn't think straight OR you could think straight enough to be cunning. You can't have it both ways. That's not how it works. EITHER you're blinded by jealousy and commit a crime of passion, OR you're thinking through your plan. My dude, you're undermining your own argument (although, as mentioned, the ear thing already did that).

They do seem to be having a very nice date. Good for them. Pity about the murderer lurking in the shadows.

And he's spending an entire day stalking them. Yeah, no, Mr Browner, we're way outside of 'blind jealous rage' murder. You hired a boat specifically to hunt them down and kill them without witnesses. This is now officially premeditated.

"'I cleaned myself up, got back to land, and joined my ship without a soul having a suspicion of what had passed. That night I made up the packet for Sarah Cushing, and next day I sent it from Belfast'."

Yeeeaaah, those are not the actions of a remorseful person.

You're just a dick.

If only she'd had good sense and just run the fuck away with Mr Fairbairn and changed her name. Genuinely, usually I'm super against infidelity in all forms, but you seem like a real piece of work. Your story is so full of inconsistencies and irrational jealousy and paranoia that I can't believe half of it.

"'I cannot shut my eyes but I see those two faces staring at me—staring at me as they stared when my boat broke through the haze. I killed them quick, but they are killing me slow; and if I have another night of it I shall be either mad or dead before morning.'"

Can confirm: you are already 'mad'. Your actions were not those of a mentally stable person. Not that that's why you did it. You clearly have problems, but loads of people deal with problems without killing people. You just suck, my dude. And honestly, zero sympathy.

'I feel super guilty about the crime I threatened to commit, then deliberately set up so as not to get caught, then followed up with acts of bodily mutilation, cover-up, and terrorising of the victim's relatives. But now I feel super guilty.'

Yeah, this whole account is just one long rant about how he's not really responsible. It was the women who drove him to it. By... talking to men and... looking at him funny.

“What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But what end? There is the great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from an answer as ever.”

Super philosophical at the end there Holmes. Seems like Holmes at least is taking Browner at his word about Sarah, or else the cycle doesn't really make any sense here. Even if Sarah did put events in motion, it's not really a cycle. It's just... a couple of rather horrible people being horrible to each other.

Or maybe he's referring to the death penalty?

Well, this one was weird. Given ACD's predilection for spiritualism and the afterlife, it's possible he intended the guilt plaguing Browner here to be the spirits of the people he murdered, which - given his lack of accountability throughout his own narrative - actually makes more sense. But there's no evidence of that in the text, so that's just me. But mark it down as another score on the 'supernatural Holmes universe' tally.

#Letters from Watson #Sherlock Holmes #The Cardboard Box #long post #I really tried to take everything at face value here #I just couldn't #'seldom looked on her with anything but love' rings false when you look back on it #You threatened to kill her #Browner reads as a completely unreliable narrator #Maybe Sarah was obsessed with him but we literally have nothing to support that except his word #It seems likely that his wife was emotionally involved with Fairbairn #but given what we know of him I can't really blame her

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saintnoname2 · 1 year

Text

Rewatching season 2 of The Bear and Claire's reaction to Carmy giving her a fake number? God, what a fucking slimeball. It's even creepier than I remember it being the first time. And I'm sure there will be other moments with Claire that'll be creepier to me the second time around, like the party. Were the writers intentionally setting up red flags like, "Hey, this could've turned abusive if it went on for too long" or were we really meant to side with her in the finale?

So much care has gone into every other character's arc (even characters who don't necessarily have "arcs" and only appear in an episode are still fully fleshed out) and so much care has gone into every other aspect of storytelling in this show that, like many others, I'm puzzled by Claire. Maybe it's supposed to be more, "Hey, this could've turned abusive if it went on for too long, but also Claire is still a person with feelings and those feelings were hurt and Carmy was stressed out being stuck in the walk-in and he could've handled the situation better and he could've broken up with her with more tact"?

They managed to give that kind of nuance to Donna. They made us empathize with her and feel bad for her while still showing she was abusive and it gave us an idea of where those abusive behaviors could've come from for her and gave us an idea of where some of Carmy's behaviors could've come from. And unfortunately, as someone who has already been abused by more than one person (let's not forget his former boss, too) and doesn't have much experience with romance and being able to recognize what healthy romantic relationships look like, Carmy is extremely vulnerable to being abused by a romantic partner.

This whole thing with Claire and how his relationship with his mom could've set him up to be in a toxic relationship could've had so much depth, but unfortunately, I don't think that's what they were actually going for. If it is what they were going for, they didn't quite stick the landing. Instead, I agree with the general consensus that Claire wasn't a character so much as a plot device to show that Carmy struggles with work-life balance. I feel like they could've gone, "Hey look, Carmy struggles with work-life balance" while also going, "Hey look, Carmy's been abused and doesn't have much experience with recognizing healthy relationships, and these are some red flags that the audience is supposed to notice that Carmy doesn't notice, and this romantic relationship could've turned abusive if it went on too long and Carmy was right to wait for the shoe to drop because it would've motherfucking dropped (just not in the way Carmy expedcted), but Carmy didn't handle the breakup well, and Claire's feelings were hurt, and Claire is a person with a history and she's probably got her own reasons for acting the way she does." I know for a fact the writers would've been able to handle that, and I think it would've told a much better story. But instead they decided to stop at, "Hey look, Carmy struggles with work-life balance" without delving into Claire at all.

#the bear #carmy berzatto #abuse tw #anti claire #anti claire bear #I wouldn't even say I'm anti claire just anti the way her story was told #but tagging just in case

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oodlyenough · 2 years

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last of us 1x08

I had fucked up dreams last night after watching this episode lmfao

Obviously this will talk about the content of the ep so general cw for attempted child sexual assault and uh cannibalism I guess

Overall, probably one of the best this season. Very faithfully adapted from the game, which is a neutral point, but I was impressed that for all I knew what was going to happen basically beat by beat I was still on edge.

Not sure if this is #unpopular or not but I found David MUCH creepier here (from a starting place of "very creepy already" in the game), and I also found his characterization overall to be better. I've never really been sure if in the game you're meant to ever trust him, but I never did, partly because Nolan North plays him with the slimiest voice imaginable, so him turning out to be a creep is kind of a no-shit moment.

Whereas I thought this David was much better at putting up a front, which in turn made him all the more terrifying. It was way too easy to imagine this David pre-apocalypse, teaching (UGHHH), ingratiating himself in the community, getting away with all of it because these kinds of men so often do. The slide "from teacher to preacher" god like of COURSE this mf would find a different way to gain power, control and access over people including/especially children... Ugh it was all 2 Real and that much more creepy.

I also though the way they dealt with the cannibalism was very good honestly. It would've been easy to purely justify it with "people are starving, and we're eating the dead" -- which is kind of what David says, but you can use the context clues to deduce that it's not just that they're eating their dead out of desperation, but that they are actively hunting people for food, he's keeping it a secret, it's, imo, clearly part of his sick power-tripping rather than necessity (as others pointed out, relatively inexperienced Ellie finds game very quickly and easily in one hunting trip lol).

I also thought the slight tension between David and James was interesting here -- obviously James is also a freak, lol, but their disagreement over how to handle Ellie and the general rift between them, as the episode goes on I think you do get the sense that even James is uncomfortable with this side of David and tried roundabout ways to talk him out of going after her or just about shot her in the head. (I keep wanting to joke that James is like "I can excuse cannibalism, but..." but frankly 1. one of these things IS worse than the other and also 2. in the end he still enables everything David does anyway! Bc of course he does. Isn't that how it always goes.)

This was definitely the big showcase for Ellie and for Bella Ramsey. (Watching people whine and cry about it, "two episodes of mostly Ellie wahhhhh" lmaooo shes the main character of the franchise losers, deal with it.) Ramsey was very good. Everyone's saying it but yes the primal screaming in that restaurant scene, ugh, chilling and excellent.

I did find the very first scene between Ellie, James and David had me wincing, like Ellie's tough guy voice was just so bad and felt like a kid play-acting ... but then I suppose that was probably the exact intent, that Ellie was trying to be threatening but wasn't capable of actually BEING threatening in that moment. There's a huge difference between that fake bravado and her (entirely justified) rage and violence later in the episode.

Joel was very Joel in this. I don't have much to say about him lol, it was nice to see Pedro's Joel go a bit unhinged, something we've heard tell of in various episodes but only seen scraps of before. "It's all right, I believe him" is such a memorable bit of the game and it just as chilling here.

Ok time for some criticisms:

They leaned HARD into the pedophile angle for David here. That was always in the game, but it was fairly subtextual, with more emphasis on the cannibalism. Here it was the reverse. Although disturbing, I generally didn't mind -- but I did feel the final scene, and specifically his dialogue in it, about "liking the fight" was just too Ick for me. Very HBO. I felt we didn't need it to know what he was going to do. (Then again audiences do miss the obvious all the time...)

I didn't really miss the infected fight in this episode. I saw people say that you need it to build a false sense of trust between David and Ellie but like... lmao idk I never trusted that guy for a single second. BUT I will say I *do* wish we saw more infected in the series overall. I know it's not about the zombies~ but they are still, uh, the reason all of this is going on, fundamentally. They're what makes rebuilding a functioning large-scale society near impossible, because it falters so easily with a simple misstep leading to infection and outbreak.

The ending felt a bit rushed. The Joel-Ellie reunion didn't hit me as hard as I wanted, although it seems to have resonated with the show fans. It's not an issue (for me) of him pulling her off David, or not -- I like the way it played out -- it's just... I dunno. Something about the way it ended on the two of them wandering off together, maybe? Maybe I liked the game's cut to black with her sobbing in his arms more?

I also felt that because they spent more time with David's community, there was a real glaring absence of them in the climax. These people have been under David's thumb for who knows how long, presumably with James + co as his enforcers. Now they're free but directionless. What comes next? Obviously, the show can't explore all of that, but questions like "why hasn't anyone tried to stop Joel in town" "why didn't anyone notice the fire" "where are other guards" etc... I think we could've used another scene with Hannah and her mom (who totally looks just like Mel from TLOU2, lmao).

AND the biggest one of all...

Feeling pretty :/ about the "violent heart" speech to Ellie. From David's POV, it makes total sense for him to say those things. He's trying to manipulate and groom her. I completely buy the dialogue, from him.

But I was left wondering if I the viewer was meant to agree, concluded that I am probably supposed to agree, and also that I ... don't. This has been a recurring criticism from me of the show's portrayal of Ellie. I've mostly tried to make my peace with it by acknowledging Show Ellie and Game Ellie are different characters evolving slightly differently and living slightly different lives yadda yadda... But I dunno. I guess I won't be able to say how I feel about it until I see s2 and s3 anyway lmao.

#the last of us #the last of us hbo #god this post is long af

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agirlinsearchof · 7 months

Text

So, I have an ebook that I recently had to edit, because of the incredibly bizarre line breaks and typos. My mom had it, I don't know where she got it from.

As a result of editing it, I read it in its entirety, and actually enjoyed it (though I must confess, I would have enjoyed it more if I weren't so focused on correcting the formatting and typos).

It's called Nightlight: A Parody. It's a Twilight parody about a teenage girl named Belle Goose who falls in love with Edwart Mullen, a teenage boy with a love of computers and awkward social skills, who she concludes must be a vampire after he accidentally "saves" her from... a flying snowball.

TL;DR: I did not even like Twilight, yet I loved this book. And I bet even people who do like it will also like this.

Spoilers below!

So this parody has a couple of major twists to it that made me like it even better than I would have if they had stuck strictly with adapting the source material!

First of all, Edwart turns out to be a regular human guy, who Belle assumes is a vampire based on a series of coincidences. He's genuinely very sweet, and I was happy that he got together with Belle. I liked him way better than Edward!

Belle herself was also enjoyable to read about! She starts off kind of conceited, thinking every boy who pays attention to her is in love with her, but she outgrows this by the end. Her taste in boys changes, too! She's initially attracted to Edwart, aside from his good looks, because she thinks he is a vampire. Then they get attacked by an actual vampire, and when Belle finally directly, unambiguously tells him he's a vampire (up to this point he thought Belle was simply an eccentric role-player), he runs away, so she goes out with said actual vampire (who never meant to actually kill her, he was just pulling a prank). When he treats her badly, though, she and Edwart get back together, and the final chapter ends with a sweet scene of them as a couple.

And said actual vampire who Belle goes on a date with is Joshua. Ironically, personality-wise, while Edwart is closer to how Stephanie Meyer intended Edward to come across, Joshua is closer to how Edward was actually written. And unlike Edward, whose creepier behaviors were glossed over by the narrative, Joshua's mistreatment of Belle results in her leaving him in favor of Edwart, who she loves even if he isn't a vampire like she thought.

My only criticism of the writing is how unrealistic the video game Edwart made seems. Is Belle using an arcade stick? The way she's described using her pinky and middle fingers to press buttons suggests as much, but the game is apparently on the Wii? I know there's a Wii arcade stick, but I don't know how realistic homebrew Wii games are for late 2009. (Was the Wii arcade stick even around in 2009? Or does Edwart's uncle work for Nintendo?)

To quote the book itself:

[Edwart's] hands grabbed my hands like they were video game controllers. He pushed down on my left index finger. I low-kicked. He pushed down on my left pinkie. I jumped. He pushed down on my right thumb. I paused in mid-air. He kind of rotated my wrist while pushing down on my right middle finger. I crouched down and shot a fireball from my hands.

Like, what the frick is going on with that game controller? I get the feeling that between Edwart "saving" Belle from an old man trying to sell her "Sega products", telling her to stick with Nintendo, and... this mess of a description of someone using a game controller, I get the feeling whoever wrote those scenes was old enough to remember the Nintendo and Sega console wars, but hadn't played video games in a long time and wasn't up to speed on the fact that Nintendo's primary competitors were now Sony and Microsoft.

But this is just a nitpick. It doesn't bother me enough to stop me from recommending this book to anyone remotely interested in a Twilight parody.

#nightlight a parody

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heyhellohihowareyou · 2 years

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🎃Halloween Time!🎃

Class 3-E + Big Five Halloween Oneshot

🎃Ao3 Link🎃. ☠️Warning: This thing is over 10k words so be warned☠️

It was October 31st the day of, you guessed it, Halloween. For Halloween, Hazama and Karma had decided to host a haunted maze and invited all of their classmates.

It was being held at Karma’s place and Nagisa, Sugino, Kayano, Kanzaki, and Okuda were the first ones there.

Sugino was dressed as a zombie baseball player, Kayano was dressed as a bunny rabbit, Okuda was dressed as a witch, Kanzaki was dressed as Princess Zelda, and Nagisa was dressed as Sal Fisher from the game, Sally Face.

“I absolutely love the the details on your costume, Kanzaki!” Kayano said while eating some candy out of her bucket.

“Thanks, I wish I had a sword to go with it, though.”

Nagisa lifted up his mask to speak, “I know Fuwa’s brother has a bunch of Katanas and I think she said he had swords as well.”

“Yeah but it’s too late now and besides, I don’t think Yuzuru would like the idea of me wielding an actual sword. Especially, from Fuwa’s brother.”

The group started to laugh which got interrupted by, “Hey, hey!”

The group turned around to see who it was and it turned out to be Maehara, Isogai, Kataoka, and Okano.

“Wow, you guys look great! Isogai your-”

“He’s Prince Charming!” The girls plus Nagisa squealed. They were right, Isogai was dressed as a handsome prince. His hair was tied back in a small ponytail and his outfit consisted of a buttoned up shirt with bishop sleeves, a corset around his waist, a long burgundy cape, black high knee boots, and a plastic crown that fit perfectly on his head.

Isogai chuckled, “Thanks, Maehara’s sisters made me this prince costume.”

“That’s right and I’m his valiant knight!” Maehara waved his cardboard sword around.

“Hehe, nice sword” Sugino chuckled

“Hey, I was planning to get a sword from Fuwa’s brother but my sister said I couldn’t. She said that it’s “dangerous” and “I could poke my eye out” like, what does she know!?”

“She’s just keeping you safe.” said Kataoka wearing a Wonder Woman costume with her hair down.

Okano, who was wearing a ninja costume, giggled a bit, “Yeah from his own stupidity!”

“HEY!” Maehara proceeded to poke Okano repeatedly with his cardboard sword which just made her laugh.

“YEEHAW!”

Once again they all turned around to see who it was and saw Terasaka, Yoshida, Muramatsu, and Itona. “Hey guys, uh, is that Itona under that blanket?”

“You are correct. I’m a ghost. Boo.”

The group just looked at him blankly.

“His outfit was a last minute decision.” Yoshida said from under his astronaut helmet.

“Can he even see through that?”

“No, I’m a blind ghost. I don’t need to see, I can smell fear. Boo.” Itona tried to step forward but tripped on his costume. “I meant to do that. Boo.”

Muramatsu, who was wearing a cowboy costume, helped Itona up, “Ya okay there, partner?”

“Yes, I am. Thank you. Boo.”

Okuda stepped forward, “Um, you know that you don’t have to keep saying boo after every sentence, right?”

“Well, I’m a ghost, ghosts say boo so, boo.”

The group just looked at him blankly again.

“Ya just need to deal with it, ya’ll.”

“Muramatsu, why are you talking like that?”

“I’m a cowboy, it’s as clear as day!”

Terasaka, who was wearing a Frankenstein costume, sighed, “He’s been like this all day. You’ll just need to roll with this one, too.”

“Sure do! Yeehaw!”

“Okay then…”

After that, a bigger group of students showed up wearing a variety of costumes.

Kurahashi, who was wearing a butterfly costume, ran up to the group in front of the house, “Hey you guys!”

“Hey Kurahashi, love your outfit.”

“Yeah, it fits you perfectly.”

“Thank you, I made it and Yada helped me out.”

“Yup!”, right beside her was Yada, who was wearing a bloody red riding hood outfit.

“Woah, looking creepy Yada!”

Sugino came up for a closer look “No kidding, your outfit is way creepier than mine.”

“Yeah, but is it as creepy as my outfit?” Itona somehow appeared beside them.

“AH! Itona is that you?”

“Yes, as a ghost. Boo.”

“Uh, okay then.”

Nagisa and the others went to see the rest of their classmates costumes.

“Hey guys!”

“Hey Nagisa, hmm,” Sugaya, who was wearing raggedy clothes and skeleton make up, inspected Nagisa’s fake scar make up closely, “You could use a scar right here and there.”

“Huh?”

“Overall, I give your makeup an eight out of ten.”

“Um, okay then…”

“As for you,” Sugaya turned to inspect Sugino’s costume, “The blood should be a bit darker, it clashes with the gray makeup. A couple of scabs couldn’t hurt, it makes your face more gory. Also, your arms just look boring.”

“What?”

“You could’ve added more scars or veins to make them at least somewhat interesting. Overall, I give you a six out of ten. Not bad but it could have been better.”

“…” Sugino and Nagisa turned to look at pirate Mimura.

“He likes criticizing people’s Halloween costume makeup. Kind of his thing.”

“Ah…Nice fake parrot by the way.”

“Thanks.” Mimura said petting the parrot.

Then, Nakamura and Fuwa came behind them, wearing a Harley Quinn and a variation of a Luffy outfit respectively. “Hello, boys!”

The boys greeted them with a smile, “Hello, you two.”

Sugaya looked at Nakamura for a second, “Perfect, nothing else to say, ten out of ten.”

“Why thank you, puddin’.”

Sugino crossed his arms, “And I get a six out of ten? So unfair.”

Fuwa pushed up her straw hat, “Wow Nagisa, that costume really fits you!”

“Thanks Fuwa, not surprising to see you dressed as a manga character.”

“Yeah, I hard a hard time figuring out which one to pick so I decided to go with good old Luffy!”

“I’m guessing Reiji gave you that costume?”

“Yup! This is an old one that he wore when he was little. He patched it up so it could suit me better!”

“Oh is he a tailor?” Kayano said while popping another piece of candy in her mouth.

“I guess you could say that. He cosplays sometimes. And by sometimes, I mean like every Saturday.”

“I can see that actually.”

Then Kimura, who was wearing a Flash costume, came by, “Hello guys, nice costumes! Ooh, candy!” Kimura reached for the candy in Kayano’s bucket but Kayano swatted his hand away.

“No, get your own!”

“Okay, okay, geez! So when’s the thing starting?”

“Not sure, maybe when everyone gets here? I know Hara’s not coming because she’s handing out candy to trick or treaters, Chiba and Hayami are running a bit late, and I have no clue where Takebayashi and Okajima are…”

“Here we are!”

It was Okajima who was dressed as a mummy along with a mad scientist Takebayashi.

“Hi, you two. It’s kind of weird to see you guys show up together.”

“Hehe, it’s a long story…”

“A pack of dogs jumped him and tore all of his bandages. Luckily, I was passing by and he came to me crying and naked asking for help. I had to walk all the way back home to get him some spare bandages and now we’re here.”

“Okay…I guess it isn’t such a long story after all, hehe.”

”Crying and naked? Okajima, are you not wearing any clothes under there?” Kayano backed up disgusted.

“Nope!”

“Gross!” All the girls said unison.

“Well excuse me for trying to be authentic!”

Sugaya walked up to him, “If you really wanted to be authentic you would have gotten better bandages. These bandages are completely clean, what mummy has clean bandages? You could have also could have worn some makeup underneath the bandages to make yourself look even more ancient. Overall, I give your costume a four out of ten. I expected better from you, Okajima.”

“Geez dude, cut me some slack.”

“Sorry, no one is exempt from my criticism.”

“Yeah, no one except Nakamura.” Sugino mumbled.

“Guys, guys!” Yada caught the attention of everyone, “Rinka said that they’re going to be late because Chiba’s feeling a bit self conscious about his costume and that they’ll just meet us inside.”

“Aww, poor Chiba. I kind of feel bad.”

“Yeah, but if they want us to go in, we might as well.”

“True, true.”

“Well what we all waitin’ for? Let’s get a move on! YEEHAW!”

The group began to walk up to Karma’s door when, “Hold on…”

The group turned around and saw none other than,

“THE BIG FIVE!?” There stood the five virtuosos, also known as the big five, with their typical, pretentious aura.

“Who the hell invited you guys!?” Everyone glared at the five of them.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re for the haunted maze.” Said Araki, who was wearing a robot costume.

“WHAT!?”

“Okay, okay, I’m not sure about the others but, you Asano? I didn’t even know you were into Halloween.”

Asano, who was wearing a costume similar to Isogai’s, sighed, “You’re right I’m not. Akabane asked me to go through this maze of his. At first I declined thinking it was childish but then he said I was just scared and called me a coward. So naturally I had to prove him wrong.”

“Ah that makes sense. Surprised that you bothered dressing up, Asano.”

“These guys made me. Each of them gave me a different outfit to choose from and Ren had the best option.”

Koyama, who was wearing a wizard costume, patted Asano on the shoulder, “I’m just saying, you would’ve looked great as Sailor Moon.”

“Please shut up. Hmm,” Asano glared at Isogai, “Isogai? What are you supposed to be dressed as exactly?”

“Oh, uh, a prince?”

“Ah, you’re a prince. Well, just to let you know, I’m a king meaning I outrank you. So, HA! I win!”

Isogai looked at him confused, “Uh, I don’t think this was a competi-”

Then Maehara jumped in front of him, “You may be a king Asano but Isogai is the fairest in all the land!”

“Yeah!” The girls backed Maehara up, which usually never happens.

“Whatever, we’ll see who’s truly superior when we see you scared straight in that maze, haha!” Seo, who was wearing a wolf costume laughed.

Maehara pointed his cardboard sword at Seo, “Watch out my prince! It’s a hideous beast!”

“HIDEOUS BEAST!? Why you little-” Seo walked towards them and Maehara waved his “sword” at him as a defensive maneuver.

“Stop it you two.” Kataoka came between them to defuse the situation, “Look, you guys can go with us if you want but at least try to be nice.”

“I can assure you, we will be on our absolute best behavior tonight, miss.” Ren, who was wearing a vampire costume, bowed.

“Yeah, you better be!” Sugino yelled, wielding his “bloody” baseball bat.

“Okay, now can we go in? I’m DYING to see what’s inside!”

“Alright, let’s go!”

Isogai went to knock on the doors first but Asano stopped him.

“Wait, don’t you think the king should be the first one to enter? Y’know since you’re just a prince and all?”

Isogai looked at him confused,“Uh, okay…”

”Still as douchey as ever.” Maehara mumbled.

Asano knocked on the door three times and for a while nothing happened. Unexpectedly, the doors slowly creaked opened and some sort of smoke seeped out.

“How ominous!”

Asano rolled his eyes, “Let’s just get this over with.”

Asano and the others stepped inside. Once they were all in, the doors immediately slammed shut behind them causing most of the group to jump.

Kimura turned around nervously, “Uh, who closed the doors?”

Nakamura chuckled, “Who knows maybe it was a ghooooooost~”

Itona scoffed,“As a ghost, I take offense to that. We’re not a joke, we are meant to be taken seriously. Boo.”

Kataoka rolled her eyes “Obviously, it’s just apart of the maze. Let’s just go.”

As the group walked they all looked around a bit. It was like some sort of dungeon.

”I knew Karma was rich but damn! This looks so professional.”

Asano chuckled, “Yeah, it may look professional and all but I don’t see myself getting scared anytime soon.”

“We’ll see.”

The group ventured deeper into the dungeon-like maze. A chill breeze ran through the hall the group was walking through that caused them all to shudder. A bunch of unexplainable, eerie sounds can be heard from the distance. All that on top of the uncanny paintings on the walls really set the tone for the maze.

“Hmm,” Sugaya was staring at one of the uncanny paintings along with Mimura.

“So what’s the rating?”

“I’d say about an eight point five. It’s uncanny enough but I feel like they should’ve added a bit more darker colors to really set the tone they were trying to go for. It stills does the job but it could’ve been better.”

Mimura nodded. Out of the blue, the painting the two were looking at blinked at them, which made them both jump.

“Did that painting just…”

The painting blinked again.

“Uh-huh…”

Sugaya let out a nervous chuckle, “I’m sure it’s just nothing. Let me just…” Sugaya took hold of the frame of the painting.

“W-what are you doing!?”

“Chill out, what’s the worst that could happen?” Sugaya went ahead and took the painting off the wall anyways.

He immediately regretted that decision

Mimura let out a small shriek and stumbled back a bit. The rest of the group turned around to see what all the fuss was about and besides Kurahashi and Koyama, the group looked disgusted and horrified.

Behind that painting was a whole bunch of tiny creepy crawlies, also known as, to put it simply, bugs. There was beetles, ants, centipedes, roaches, moths, and spiders galore. The tiny treacherous creatures scattered themselves along the walls all onto the floor.

“WHAT THE FU-“

Kurahashi ran up to the scene, “Oh my god…IT’S LIKE A DREAM!!!” She bent down and scooped up a couple of the crawlies up, “Aww, aren’t you a couple of cuties.”

Yada gulped, “Uh, Hina? I know you love bugs and all but cuties? Really?”

“Come on, Touka! Look at them, they’re adorable!” Kurahashi held a couple of the bugs up to Yada which made her back up a bit.

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen enough of them.”

Then, Koyama kneeled down beside her looking closely at the bugs.

“These are indeed a fascinating batch of bugs.”

“Wait Koyama-Kun, you like bugs too?”

“Haha, of course! President of the biology club remember? I love everything about animals, including these tiny little cuties.”

Kurahashi’s eyes lit up with joy, “Finally, someone who gets it! I think I’ve found myself a new bug buddy!”

”Me too!”

While the two were enjoying their time looking at all of the “cute” bugs, Muramatsu had already jumped into Yoshida’s arms, terrified.

“D-Don’t ya think it’s best we g-get a move on!? These critters look vicious!”

“Wow, you’re really committed to this role aren’t you?” Yoshida said while not at all struggling to hold Muramatsu.

“Sure am, partner!”

Nakamura reluctantly came over, “I agree with cowboy Matsu, this is just getting weird.”

Asano sighed, “I agree as well.”

Maehara chuckled, “Don’t tell me the all mighty Asano is scared of a couple of bugs!”

”Like hell I am! I find it hilarious how Akabane thinks a few tiny pests could get me scared. He’s got to try harder than that.”

A centipede came crawling towards Asano and he squashed it underneath his boot, “You guys can stay all you want but I want to see what other “scary” things Akabane supposedly has in store for me.”

Asano turned around to walk away from the group and the big five, excluding Koyama, followed after him.

“Come on guys! Asano’s getting ahead of us!” Maehara ran to catch up with Asano and the rest of the virtuosos.

“Maehara, wait!” Isogai and some others came following.

Yada stayed behind and looked at Kurahashi and Koyama, who were still admiring the bugs.

“Come on you guys, the others are leaving. We should go.”

“Do we have to?” Kurahashi and Koyama said in unison.

Yada sighed, “Yes, now come on.”

“Awww!” The two of them got up and headed towards the group ahead along with Yada and the others who were also left behind.

Sugaya let out a nervous sigh, “Next time, I won’t take off anymore mysterious paintings of the walls.”

Mimura nudged him, “Yeah, good idea.”

After everyone got together again, they continued down the maze. Well, until they ended up finding themselves confronting two different paths.

“So which way should we go?” Okuda said looking back and forth between the two paths.

“Hmm,” Isogai looked back and forth s between the two paths as well, “How about we go-“

“This way!” Asano said, cutting Isogai off and pointing towards the opposite direction.

“Oh, uh, sure! Let’s go this way then.” Isogai and the others followed Asano as he lead the way down the path.

The whole group zigzagged their way throughout the maze with Asano’s lead. During their journey, they past countless of even more uncanny paintings that Sugaya had to muster up all of his strength not to criticize.

Instead of finding more paintings, the group walked into a hall filled with a variety of mirrors with different shapes and sizes. But these weren’t just regular old mirrors you see. These mirrors were like the ones you’d see at a carnival but some had a slight twist.

Sugino was looking in one of the said mirrors and found himself surprised,“Woah, sick!”

Apparently the mirror he was looking into made his hair and eyes change colors. And not just darker or lighter shades, instead, his hair and eyes appeared orange.

The group looked in different mirrors that each had different twists to them. Some mirrors were simple that just made appearances a bit wonky. Others made their skin look inverted. It was such a horrific sight that the group tried to avoid those mirrors at all costs.

Seo was looking at one of the wonky mirrors and Nakamura along with Maehara came behind him with a sly grin.

”Wow, Seo! I didn't know that you're face could look even weirder!”

”Heh, it looks like an improvement to me!”

The two cackled with laughter while Seo stomped towards them angrily. Meanwhile, Kayano was looking at a similar yet larger mirror that morphed her body each time she moved. She moved in a position that caused the mirror to make her, um, “upper regions” to look bigger than they actually were.

Nagisa came behind her, “You okay there, Kayano?”

“……I WANT THIS MIRROR!”

“Hehe, I guess that’s not really a surprise.”

There was more ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the mirrors until Araki came across a mirror that was seemingly out of place. Araki inspected the mirror closer but unlike the other ones, there was nothing in particular that was wrong or weird with it.

“Hmm, what’s the deal with this mirror?”

Yoshida came behind Araki to inspect the mirror with him, “I guess the mirror just doesn’t have a deal at all.”

“Ah it’s crooked.” Araki straightened out the mirror and for a while nothing happened.

“That’s strange I thought something would happ-“ Araki was interrupted by the sound of the mirror cracking. Then, the rest of the mirrors in the hall started to crack as well.

“What the-“

“This is why we don’t touch things!”

The mirrors kept on cracking and cracking until they found a stopping point.

Maehara came up to the mirror that the two were looking at and inspected it closer.

Red, blood-like, liquid started to ooze from the cracks. Despite this Maehara didn’t seem to be that all affected.

“Really, this is supposed to be scary?” Maehara laughed, “Oh no, we’re going to have bad luck. I’m so sc-“ this time, Maehara was interrupted by the candles that was illuminating the hall going out. “…ared?”

Okano her hands on her hips. “Godammit, Maehara! You’re angered the spirits!”

“Hey, I didn’t mean to!”

Kataoka sighed, “Guys, there’s no spirits.”

Itona coughed, “Ahem.”

“Um besides you, Itona.”

“That’s right, booooo~.”

“Well, it looks like your boos are getting better.”

All of a sudden, the cracked mirror in front of them started to give off an ominous light. The sound of childish laughter could be slightly heard and it got louder and louder and louder and it echoed throughout the hall.

Maehara, who was obviously not scared, clung to Isogai’s arm, “Uh, you okay Maehara?”

“Um, y-yeah! Just protecting you my dear p-prince, hehe. That’s all!”

Isogai rolled his eyes, “Sure you’re not scared or something?”

“Pfft- Me!? Scared!? HA! I’m a knight! Knights don’t get-“

Maehara was yet again interrupted, this time it was by an image of a black haired girl who seemed to be crying for help. Her face was all distorted from the cracks of the mirrors and instead of laughter, the sounds of screaming echoed through the hall.

The other mirrors started to glow and with them, images of different girls appeared. Some look like they were laughing and others looked like they were crying and screaming. The hall was now filled with echoes of laughter and bone-chilling screams of agony.

Maehara was no longer clinging to Isogai’s arm, this time he was clinging to Isogai’s waist, shaking.

Isogai looked down at him, “You were saying?”

“I’m n-not scared…” Maehara said nervously, with his voice sounding six octaves higher than usual, “I-I’m j-just protecting your waist.”

“Protecting my waist?”

“Mhm.”

Isogai chuckled and patted his head, “Thanks my valiant knight.”

“For a valiant knight, he sure is cowardly.” Okano said while on Ren’s back. During all of this, she managed to jump on Ren’s back, totally not out of fear of course and obviously, she wasn’t clinging on for dear life.

Okajima tried to cling to Kataoka but she immediately shoved him away, “Can we just leave already? I’m starting to actually get chills.”

Okajima chuckled, “Well, judging by how short your skirt is…”

Kataoka immediately shot Okajima a glare, which was arguably more horrifying than all the girls in the cracked mirrors, “I’ll stop talking, hehe.”

Nakamura turned to Asano, “So, are you scared yet your highness?”

“While I will admit this whole thing is more impressive than the bug fiasco,” The laughs and screams persisted giving Asano a slight shudder, “I still don’t see myself getting scared anytime soon. I’m going to continue on.”

Asano moved himself down the hall covering his ears from the nonsensical noise.

“I swear, does nothing ever scare him?”

“Who cares? Can we please get out of here!?”

“Alright, alright. Come on everybody!”

“Yeah, let’s go Ren!” Okano commanded while still clinging onto Ren’s back. Ren, for some reason, had no issue with it and just complied.

Just like before, the group caught themselves up to Asano and zigzagged more into the maze as the laughter and the screams got quieter.

“God, how big is this maze exactly?” Asano said with annoyance.

“Karma and Hazama are usually extra when it comes to these things so who knows?” Nagisa responded.

“You can’t rush these things, Asano. Hailey wants to get this done even more than you do.” Fuwa chimed in.

“Hailey? Who the hell is Hailey?”

“Ah, just a higher being.”

“Sounds like nonsense to me.”

While Asano was looking at Fuwa in disbelief, he suddenly tripped on a bump in the rug that seemingly came out of nowhere.

“AGH! What the…”

“Ooh, looks like Hailey didn’t like that Asano.”

Isogai came over to his aid, “Ah, you okay Asano?” He held out his hand as an attempt to help Asano up.

“I’m fine.” Asano got himself up and continued on, completely ignoring Isogai’s helping hand.

“Ah, okay then.”

Once they rounded the corner, they came face to face with a chained up skeleton against a wall.

“Woah, talk about a dead end!”

“Heh, looks like Asano here isn’t such a great leader after all.”

Asano turned around at the group in an irritated manner, “It’s not my fault Akabane’s maze is impossible.”

Ren patted his shoulder,“Well a maze wouldn’t be as fun if we could go straight through it.”

Asano gritted his teeth, “This way, then!”

He pushed his way through the group in a fuss.

“Why do we even bother following him?”

The group shrugged in unison and proceeded to follow Asano’s lead. In turn, he kept leading the group into dead end after dead end.

“Asano, you’re sure you know what you’re do-”

“YES I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!” Asano snapped, “Now, the other way!”

“UGH!” The group groaned in unison. Once the group turned around along with Asano, a bizarre sound rung through the hall. It was a playful, child-like type of sound but it felt especially eerie combined with all the spooky scenery.

“What’s that sound?”

“No clue but it sort of reminds me of a…”

The music was briefly interrupted by a rubber honking sound.

“CLOWN!” Maehara and Seo yelped and started to cling to each other, surprisingly.

“You two okay?”

“HELL NO!” Seo snapped.

“H-how could we be when there’s freaking c-clown on the loose!?” Maehara said with his voice even higher than ever.

“Uh, what’s your guys problem with clowns exactly?”

“CAN WE PLEASE GET OUT OF HERE FIRST!? I CAN HEAR IT GETTING CLOSER!”

The group came out from the corner they were in to escape the clown with Maehara and Seo dashing out of there. The group came to a stop when they managed to immediately confront the said clown in the hall.

“WHAT THE FU-AHHHHHHH!” Maehara let out high, deafening shrill that made both the group and the clown cover their ears in pain. While, the clown and the group were distracted, Maehara and Seo ran down the hall.

“Wait Maehara!” Isogai went running after them along with the rest of the group, leaving the clown there trying to regain its sense of hearing.

After running through the twists of the two of them ended up stopping after Maehara ended up bumping into a mysterious someone who seemed to be wearing a phantom of the opera costume and had a piercing gaze.

“AH CREEPY CLO- Oh, hey Hayami! I like your cat costume and… huh?” He looked at the stranger in confusion, unable to identify the boy before him.

The boy helped him up, “You okay there, Maehara?”

“Oh, uh, yeah! Thank you but how do you know my name?”

“Huh, do you not know who I am?”

Maehara shook his head.

“Maehara, it’s me.”

Maehara turned his head to the side in confusion as the boy and Hayami sighed in disappointment.

The rest of the group finally caught up with them, “Ah, there you are Maehara!” Isogai sighed in relief.

“RINKA! YOU MADE IT!” Kurahashi and Yada went over to give her a grand hug but then noticed the stranger and looked at him in confusion , “Uh, who’s this.”

“Not you guys, too!”

“You sound familiar.”

“Have we seen you before?”

Hayami shook her head in disbelief, “Guys, it’s Chiba.”

“Ohhhhh…” The group said in unison.

Chiba sighed, “This is why I didn’t want to come at first.”

Maehara wrapped his arm around Chiba’s shoulder, “Sorry, Cheebs but you do have to admit that it’s kind of hard to recognize you without your iconic bangs. If you ask me, you should show your eyes more, you definitely got the look of one of those hot models you see on magazines. With eyes like those, girls will definitely be hanging all over you soon enough.”

“Thanks, I guess, but I’ll leave the ladies to you Maehara.” Chiba said slightly embarrassed, “Anyways, why is Asano and the rest of them here and also, what’s the deal with all of you?”

Koyama groomed his fake wizard beard, “Just regular Asano and Karma shenanigans. Also, Seo and Maehara were scared of a clown for some reason.”

“A clown?”

Hayami nodded, “I don’t blame them. Clowns weird me out, too.”

“THANK YOU!” Both Seo and Maehara yelled in unison.

“You guys never told us why you were afraid of clowns for some reason.”

Maehara looked at his feet and sighed, “When I was six, my mom thought it was such a good idea to hire a clown for my birthday. He had this wide grin and an abundance amount of makeup and not only that, he was apparently a contortionist as well.” Maehara shuddered, “He kept bending his limbs in all sorts of freaky ways and kept asking “HOW’S THE BIRTHDAY BOY!?” and it creeped me out.” Maehara turned to Isogai, “For SOME reason, Isogai actually enjoyed the clown.”

Isogai looked back at him smiling, “Come on, Maehara. That clown was fun.”

“FUN MY ASS! That clown was creepy as hell and you know it!”

Nakamura rolled her eyes, “So what’s your deal, Seo?”

“Things that smile all the time just give me the creeps. No normal living being can smile THAT much.”

“Ren smiles a lot.” Araki said as he pointed to a currently smiling Ren.

“EXACTLY MY POINT!”

Ren proceeded to grin slightly wider.

“Cheeky ass bastard.”

“Okay, okay can we just go!? I wanna get away from that clown as fast as possible.”

“We all know that you’re the biggest clown around here, Maehara.” Chiba snickered.

“HEY! I heard that! Not cool, Cheebs!” Maehara poked him repeatedly with his “sword”.

Alright, alright we can go.”

“Yeah, but can we let Isogai lead this time? I don’t think that Asano knows what he’s doing.” Nakamura huffed.

“I DO KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!” Asano snapped again.

“Don’t worry Asano, you can keep leading the group. Truth is, I’m not good with mazes either.” Isogai patted him on the shoulder, but Asano proceeded to swat his hand away.

“Well, I do have to say that I’m sorry for your lack of skill when it comes to mazes but don’t put me on the same level as you. Now, ONWARD!”

Isogai shook his head in disbelief as Asano went further ahead of the group, “I just can’t win, huh?”

Araki let out a slight chuckle, “You guys should know by now that Asano can get a little, ahem, extra.”

Seo rolled his eyes, “Extra is an understatement.”

“He’s never truly experienced the wonders of Halloween. Mostly because of his cruel father.” Ren said, uncharacteristically gritting his teeth at that last part.

“We’re just glad he wanted to come! Even if it was just out of spite, hehe. It’s rare for him to agree to things like this.” Koyama chimed in.

“We’ve tried and tried to get him to have some fun but he’s always so busy.”

“We even tried to “kidnap” him once. Obviously, we didn’t have much luck.”

The group looked at the virtuosos in disbelief, “That’s surprisingly wholesome for you guys.”

“Yeah, besides that kidnapping part. Whatever the hell that was about.”

“It’s just a thing, don’t worry.” Ren and the rest of the virtuosos chuckled, “Now we better get going, Shuu is already way ahead of us.”

Kanzaki giggled, “Aww, Shuu. What a cute nickname!”

Ren let out a slight chuckle, “Yeah but don’t tell him that. I’m not supposed to call him that in public, exactly.”

“Well, your secret’s safe!” Kanzaki said with a wink. Right behind them was Sugino, who was slowly raising his, soon to be bloody ,baseball bat which then Nagisa proceeded to slowly push back down.

The clown music again rang through the hall which made Seo and Maehara stiffen up in fear.

“Okay, let’s actually get going, please!?”

“Yeah, definitely!”

Seo and Maehara once again dashed ahead of the group absolutely terrified and the rest of the group came running after.

While the group was running, Kayano ended up dropping her candy bucket in the process.

“AH! MY CANDY!” Kayano went back and picked up her bucket but when she did, she was greeted with a wide, toothy grin of the clown from early. The clown’s eyes were glowing a red hue and somehow, his grin was getting wider by the second, revealing sharp, piranha-like teeth. Before Kayano could even react, Maehara came dashing back, slung her body over his shoulder, and dashed back away from the clown, "GOTCHA!"

"MAEHARA, WAIT! WE HAVE TO GO BACK AND GET MY CANDY!" Kayano swung her legs back and forth in an attempt to get Maehara to put her down.

Maehara looked back for a moment and saw the clown holding Kayano's candy bucket, grinning widely, "NOPE! SORRY KAYANO BUT YOUR CANDY BELONGS TO THE CLOWN NOW!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Kayano dramatically yelled as Maehara kept running away from the clown and her candy.

Despite the extra weight, Maehara managed to catch up with the rest of the group and rounded the corner where Asano was.

"What the- What's with all the commotion?"

“C-clown’s b-back!” Seo managed to stutter out while out of breath.

Asano rolled his eyes, “Seo nothing about that clown was scary.”

Maehara put down the grumpy Kayano down and fell to his knees, “No, this time it’s scarier than ever!” Maehara started to flail his arms around dramatically, “It had raisor sharp teeth and glowing scary eyes and and waaaaahaha.”

Maehara pathetically crawled towards Isogai and hugged his waist.

Isogai patted his head “Y’know, Maehara, what you did back there, picking up Kayano and all, was pretty brave of you. Sort of like an actual knight.”

Kayano stood up and brushed off her dress, “Yeah, thank you Maehara but now I lost all my candy! Do you know how long I went trick or treating for all those treats!? I had to pretend that I was still ten years old!”

Yada nodded, “I can see you easily passing as a ten year old.”

“Haha, what are you implying?”

Asano sighed, “I can’t believe you guys still bother taking part in something as childish as trick or treating.”

Kayano got up, “Hey! Trick or treating is anything but childish!”

“Didn’t you pretend to be a kid just to go trick or treating?” Nagisa asked with a concerned smile.

“Don’t worry about that.”

Isogai chuckled then turned to Asano, “Trick or treating is just a fun thing to do. Maehara and I’ve done it every year. Right, Maehara?” Isogai looked down at the nodding Maehara who was still hugging his waist.

Isogai rolled his eyes with a smirk, “Anyways, it’s really fun and besides, you get lots of candy in the end.”

Kayano rapidly nodded.

Asano stared at Isogai blankly, “I never understood what was so addicting about candy.”

“Come on, Asano. You say that as if you’ve never had candy before.”

Asano stared at Isogai blankly again.

“You’ve eaten candy before. Right?”

Asano shook his head and the rest of the gasped in surprised.

Maehara got up from hugging Isogai’s waist and looked at Asano in disbelief, “No candy? At all? Not even a skittle?”

Asano shook his head again, “My father wants me to have the upmost shiniest teeth known to man. He doesn’t want me to spoil it with sweets.”

The group shook their head in both disbelief and disappointment.

“Wait, don’t tell you’ve never had anything sweet at all.”

Asano shook his head.

“Cake?”

“Pie?”

“Ice cream?”

“LUCKY CHARMS!?”

Asano shook his head to all of those.

“Oh nooooo.” Kurahashi looked at Asano with pity.

Muramatsu held his head down low, “Imma ramen type of cowboy myself but even I know the value of good ol’ sweets, dawg!”

Terasaka looked at Muramatsu confused, “Do cowboys even say dawg?”

Yoshida just shrugged.

Asano looked at everyone confused, “I don’t see why everyone is making a big deal about this.”

Kayano sighed, “It’s because candy is a vital part of everyone’s childhood. You can’t have happiness without candy. You just can’t.” Kayano dug through her bag and pulled out a chocolate bar, “I always keep a a chocolate bar on me in case of emergencies and this is certainly an emergency.” She held the bar out to Asano.

“Wait, are you actually giving this to me?” Asano looked at Kayano absolutely baffled.

Kayano nodded, “Don’t worry, this bag has special cooling so chocolate isn’t melted.”

Asano hesitantly took the bar out of Kayano’s hands and looked at it, “Are you sure I can have this?”

“Yes, now hurry up and eat it before I change my mind!”

“Okay then….” Asano slowly started to peel of the wrapper to the bar.

“Oh my god! OH MY GOD IT’S HAPPENING!” Koyama shook Ren back and fourth but Ren didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he was excited as well.

Seo poked Araki a bunch of times, “HURRY! GET OUT YOUR CAMERA! WE MUST CAPTURE THIS RARE MOMENT!”

“ON IT!” Araki pulled out his camera ready to record.

Asano rolled his eyes, “You guys are so dramatic.” He unwrapped the the chocolate bar enough so he could take a bite. He slowly brought the bar up to his mouth and with every inch, the group observed Asano closer and closer. Feeling a bit peer pressured, Asano finally took a bite out of the chocolate bar. He started to analyze the taste in his mouth and for a split second, his eyes displayed with pure, childlike wonder. He let out a involuntary “Mm”sound and licked any remaining flavor off of his lips.

The group looked at him with absolute awe. Asano quickly realized the situation he was in and immediately changed up his act, “Hm, it’s fine I guess. I can certainly see the appeal.” He turned to Araki who was still recording, “Just so you know, you will be deleting that.”

“Whatever you say!” Araki said with a cheeky smile.

“Aw, what a beautiful moment.” Maehara nodded his head. A mysterious hand found its way onto Maehara’s shoulder, “Don’t worry, Isogai. I’m fine now. Glad we’re away from that clown.”

“Um, M-Maehara? I’m over here.”

“Wait, if you’re over there than who’s…” Maehara slowly turned around and was met with a frightening demise. The clown was back and flashing Maehara with his brightest grin. Maehara looked at him with his mouth hanging wide open but wasn’t making a sound. Instead he just looked at him shaking.

“Uh, what’s happening to Maehara?”

“I think he’s screaming in a pitch so high that even we can’t even hear him.”

Kayano came closer to the clown, “Hey you! What happened to my candy bucket!?”

The clown didn’t answer, instead he opened his mouth wide open and a bunch of centipedes came out of it.

Kayano jumped back in fear, “Um, y-you can k-keep the b-b-bucket actually, hehe…” Kayano ran behind a nearby Takebayashi.

Takebayashi shakily adjusted his glasses, “O-okay, Maehara. I’m starting to agree with your stance on clowns now.”

The clown’s grip on Maehara tightened making it hard for Maehara to be released from his grasp, “Um, HELP!?”

With surprisingly quick thinking Seo pushed through the group, grabbed Maehara’s “sword”, and stabbed the clown in between his armpit. That seemed to do the trick because the clown ended up flailing around and let go of Maehara. The clown passed out on the ground with his tongue sticking out of his closed mouth.

Meanwhile, Seo and Maehara were still a bit shaken up by the events that had just occurred.

“Damn I, uh, I didn’t expect that to actually work.”

“Well, clowns are very dramatic.”

“Hehe, I guess that’s true.”

Maehara huffed out a sigh, “And thanks for saving me, I guess.”

“Eh, no problem. I saw how you saved that girl earlier despite being afraid and thought I should do the same.”

“Just so you know, I could have handled that totally by myself!”

“Pssh- Yeah right!”

“I COULD!”

The two started to bicker a bit, completely ignoring the clown on the floor. While they were distracted, something underneath the clown’s clothes was moving around making visible bumps.

Okuda was the first one to notice this,“U-um, guys look.” She pointed at the “lifeless” clown.

“What the…” Maehara and Seo looked down at the clown, confused on what was happening to his body. Out of the blue, the clown’s top ripped open and from it a bunch of rats came crawling out frightening the whole group. Well, except Koyama and Kurahashi naturally.

“WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUCK!?”

“CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!”

“AWWWWW, CUTIES!” Kurahashi pick up one of the beady eyed creatures and nuzzled its nose.

Yada looked at her concerned, “H-hina!? Really!?”

Koyama picked up another one, “I mean, she has a point. They are quite cute.”

Yada looked at both of them in disbelief, “U-um whatever makes you two h-happy I guess! I just want to get out of here!”

Yada attempted to move down the hall without stepping on any of the tiny beasts as well as most of the group.

Muramatsu once again jumped into Yoshida’s arms bridal style. Yoshida had a hard time navigating with all the rats in the way but managed to get passed them.

Meanwhile, Okajima was covered with rats clinging to him, “AHHHHHH! GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF AHHHHHHHHH!” He tried to move his body and arms around to get the rodents off of him. He ran down the hall in an attempt to get away from all the rats.

Koyama and Kurahashi were the last ones to leave from the rats and carefully stepped over them to not harm their tiny bodies.

They’ve caught up with the rest of the group and most of them seemed to be out of breath.

Araki let out a huff, “This costume wasn’t, uh, made for all of this running, ugh.”

Yoshida put Muramatsu down and huffed, “I’m with you. I think the fake tank was unnecessary because god, it’s annoying to carry around.”

“Well, your costume still looks cool though.”

“Thanks man! I like yours too!”

Itona came from behind Yoshida, “How’s my costume? Booo~”

“I, uh, think yours is cool as well.”

“Thank you. For that, I will not be haunting you.”

“Uh, okay then.”

Okajima got the last rat off of him and it scurried away, “YES! Well, I’m just glad we all made it out okay.” Immediately after he said that, his bandages came clean off, showing the group an even more horrifying sight.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!”

“OH MY GOD!”

Isogai used his cape to shield the horrifying sight before the group.

“OH COME ON, IT’S NOT THAT BAD!”

Isogai took off his cape and handed to Okajima averting his gaze, “Uh, here! Cover up with this.”

Okajima snatched it from him and wrapped it around himself, “Thanks! I guess.”

Sugaya looked around, “Hey has anyone seen Kimura?”

“Now that you mention it, the last time I saw him was during the whole painting bug situation.”

“To be honest, I just think that Hailey forgot about him.”

“WHO THE HELL IS HAILEY!?”

“I just hope he didn’t get lost. This maze is pretty big.”

“Heh, imagine if found the exit before us.”

That seemed to struck a nerve in Asano and he immediately started going ahead of the group again.

“Asano, wait!” Isogai called out to him but to no avail. Isogai shrugged and ran after him.

“Hey Asano, what’s the matter?”

Asano was still walking, albeit slightly faster,“I just want to get out of here and I hate the thought that someone else finding the exit before I do. This whole thing was really a waste of time.”

“Why because Karma hasn’t managed to scare you?”

“Oh, I expected that. All of these “scary” things were just nonsensical. It’s just that I could be doing something more important rather than this.”

They turned a corner

Isogai looked at Asano with pity, “You really don’t have much fun, huh?”

“And why would I?”

“Because it’s fundamental!”

Asano turned and looked Isogai dead in the eye.

“Okay, that pun was unintentional but my point still stands. Everybody needs to have fun at least once in their lives.”

They turned another corner

“You sound like my minio- I mean,” Asano sighed, “friends.”

“AHA! So they are your friends.”

“Technically, yes. They keep trying to get me into going along with any “fun” activities they have planned. I never really have the time for any of them really.”

“Well, that’s actually kind of saddening. Can I give you some words of advice?”

Asano sighed, “Yeah, what is it?”

“You should try and make more time for your friends, Asano. They seem to care about you a lot. I’m a pretty busy guy myself, really. Well, uh, not as busy as you probably but either way, I still try to make time to do fun things with Maehara and my other friends as well. It can be really relieving after a stressful day and besides, it’s best to have all the fun why you still can.” Isogai slowed down a bit and looked down sadly, “Or it’ll be too late.”

Asano stopped in his tracks and Isogai did the same.

Asano pondered for a bit and then sighed, “I…I guess, your words of advice aren’t entirely ridiculous.”

Isogai chuckled and nodded, “Thanks, Asano.”

“ISOGAI!”

The two were interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice.

“Wait, Kimura?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Oh, hey Asano!” Kimura waved at Asano and Asano slightly waved back.

“What happened to you?”

“Long story, after seeing those bugs I got scared and ran off. I was rounding corners left and right then I completely lost where you guys were. This whole time I’ve been trying to get back to guys but this maze is so confusing! And scary too, you guys do NOT want to know the horrors I’ve witnessed. I’ve…seen things.” Kimura shuddered

“…”

“Okay, so I guess it really wasn’t a loooong story but good news, I think I found the exit and I think I remember the way.”

“Wait, really!?”

“Ah, so he did find the exit before me. Hm, okay then.” Asano mumbled out.

“So, where are the others?”

“We’ve kind of wandered away from them too but they should be coming so-”

“AH, There you two are!”

Naturally, the others did catch up with the two.

“Sorry, we didn’t come sooner. Rats came back and they were even more vicious.”

Okajima had a bunch of scratches over his face and legs, “I think I’m going to need bandages and not just for my costume.” He cried.

“Woah, is that Justice-Kun!?”

“In the flesh!”

“Dude, what happened to you!?”

”Ran off and got lost. Scary as hell. On the plus side, I think I found the exit!”

“Really!?”

“FINALLY!”

“HOORAY!”

“Ahem,” Asano coughed, “Lead the way I guess.”

“Alrighty! Follow me everyone!”

Everyone followed Kimura in hopes of finally beating the maze they were in.

“Almost there! Just around th-” Before Kimura could finish, some giggling sound could be heard all around them, “Oh no.”

Something came rushing past them. Then, over them.

“What the hell!?”

Something jumped from the ceiling onto the floor before them. They couldn’t make out its face but the figure stood up and adjusted its crooked head. It moved its hair to expose its wretched face. Their eyes were dark and soulless and their skin was bumpy and covered with messy makeup.

“U-um, sh-should we run?”

“No more running please, I’m tired enough.”

“We’re so close! Maehara, Ren, one of you use your charms to seduce this creature or something!”

“Uh, LIKE HELL! What makes you think I know how to seduce whatever that is!?”

Ren took a momentary look at the figure.

“Hm, sorry I don’t have anything to say.”

The figure opened their mouth widely to reveal shark like teeth and slowly crept towards the group. Drool came pouring out of their mouth and they quickly licked their lips.

“OH MY GOD! ITS GOING TO EAT US!”

“Guys be logical about this!”

“WE WITNESSED A SELF OPENING AND CLOSING DOOR, A BLINKING PAINTING, A BUNCH OF GIRLS TRAPPED IN MIRRORS, AND A CLOWN WHO WAS APPARENTLY MADE OF RATS! THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN “BE LOGICAL”!?”

“IT CAN’T EAT US ALL!”

More figures like the one before them surrounded the group, also showing their sharp teeth.

“FUCK!”

“It can’t end like this, we were so close!”

“TAKE TERASAKA! HE HAS MORE MEAT ON HIS BONES!”

“DAMN RIGHT, WHY GO FOR A SKINNY COWBOY LIKE ME WHEN YOU HAVE A CERTIFIED MEATHEAD RIGHT HERE, DAWG!?”

“COWBOYS DON’T EVEN SAY DAWG!”

The figures circled around the group, trapping them all.

Both Maehara and Isogai were clinging to each other, “I’M TOO PRETTY TO DIE! I’M SORRY MY PRINCE! I’M THE WORST KNIGHT EVER!”

“No you’re not Maehara! You’re the best knight around!”

“GOD, YOU’RE WHOLESOME TO THE END!”

The figures got closer and closer until,

“Two out of ten.”

The figures stopped in their tracks and looked confused. Sugaya pushed through the group and came before the main figure.

“What was even the point of the messy lipstick and eyeliner. Your complexion doesn’t look drained enough so it lessens the intimidating factor. Your arms and legs look completely normal. Doesn’t really go with the whole “aesthetic” you’re trying to go for. Your clothes also look way too clean. Instead of looking creepy, you just look like you woke up from a hangover. I’ll give you some props for the teeth but I noticed they were fake from a mile away. So yeah, two out of ten. Do better next time!”

The figure didn’t respond. Instead they stared down at its feet. Then, they sat down hugging their legs rocking back and forth and contemplating their life choices. The other figures looked at Sugaya for a minute before immediately scattering off.

“Well damn, Sugaya.”

“No filter, huh?”

“Hey, not my fault some people can’t handle criticism.”

“Let’s go before they start their revenge arc!”

The group hesitantly walked around the figure who was still contemplating their life up to this point.

“I was actually a bit scared this time to be honest.” Isogai said while clenching the non-armor part of Maehara’s arm. His fingernails somehow dug straight through the fabric and into Maehara’s skin.

“Y-yeah! M-me too!”, Maehara said while trying not to cry from his prince’s fingernails in his arm.

“Well, I sure wasn’t.” Asano was clenching onto Ren’s shoulder, also somehow digging his fingernails through the fabric and into his skin.

“Whatever you say, our king.” Ren somehow managed to stutter out even with the tiny knives called fingernails in his shoulder.

“Well, let’s get going!”

“Just around this corner!”

They rounded the corner and was greeted with a singular dungeon-like door.

“This should be it!”

Isogai went to open the door but stopped himself and turned around, “I’m guessing the king should be first to open this, huh?”

Asano stepped up, “You’re quite right, Isogai. Finally, time to prove Akabane wrong.”

Asano, pushed the door open and was greeted with a very red surprise.

A bucket full of some blood-like liquid poured all over Asano’s head. While Asano was still in a state of shock, the sound of a picture being taken could be heard combined with the sound of gasping and cackling.

“What in the world!?”

“Glad you made it, your highness!” It was Karma and he was wearing a Mad Hatter outfit. Pretty fitting.

“A-Akabane! Don’t tell me that this is actual…”

“No, it’s not actual blood, unfortunately.” Hazama came out of seemingly nowhere. She was wearing a costume from the popular Japanese urban legend, “Kuchisake-Onna” a.k.a, “Slit-Mouthed Woman”.

“What’s the meaning of this!?”

Karma chuckled and flashed his iconic devilish grin, “I knew scaring you would be a tough nut to crack so if I wasn’t able to scare you, I figured I could at least humiliate you. I was pretty confident in the fact that you’d be the first one through that door and even if it wasn’t you, I’d still witness something hilarious.”

Asano looked at him red and fuming, “Oh, I despise you.”

“I know. I know.” Karma put his phone away and took a piece of candy from the bucket he was holding.

Kayano peered over Asano’s shoulder, “Wait a minute, IS THAT MY CANDY!?”

Karma looked at Kayano, then at the bucket, then back at Kayano with a grin.

This time, Kayano was fuming, “LETS GET HIM, ASANO!”

Asano and Kayano gave chase while the rest of the group came through the door.

“Oh my god!”

“Is that!?”

“HARA!”

“Hey guys!” Hara, who was wearing a Minnie Mouse costume, was sitting at a long table that had a bunch of Halloween themed sweets on it.

“I thought you were supposed to be handing out candy for trick or treaters.”

“That was a lie. Karma and Hazama needed my help with some of the costumes. Not to mention all the confectionery.”

“Wow, you really went all out!”

“Of course! This all took me days to bake but I love going all out on holidays! Now, have at it!”

Most of the group did as Hara requested and started to pick out some of the sweets on the table.

“You and Karma really went all out as well, Hazama.” Yoshida confronted Hazama, who was now reading some creepy book.

“Yeah, I was shakin’ in my here boots. How’d ya do it?”

“Well you know, Karma’s rich. Anything’s possible with money.”

“And I also helped!” Ritsu chimed on Muramatsu’s phone. He took it out and she apparently made herself out to look like Monika from the game Doki Doki Literature Club, “I projected all those screaming girls for them!”

“HUH!?” Araki looked over Muramatsu’s shoulder to see her more clearly.

“Hi there! My name’s Autonomously Intelligent Fixed Artillery but my friends call me Ritsu! Nice to meet you!”

“WHAT!? HOW!? Can I interview you please!? I’ve never interviewed an AI before! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!”

“And I have so many answers!”

Araki took Muramatsu’s phone and sat at the table to interview Ritsu.

Muramatsu stood there confused, “My phone.”

Meanwhile, Asano and Kayano chasing Karma around but he zigzagged all around him. The two were starting to get tired and stopped.

“THIS ISN’T OVER KARMA! Ooh, pudding!” Kayano immediately started to shove her face with every cookie there.

Asano walked over to the sweets table to set down but ended up tripping on his cape instead. He found himself falling face first into one of the cakes. Everyone around him turned silent as he tried to wipe off all the icing off of his face. Out of nowhere, Isogai was right beside him trying to hold in his laughter but eventually let his contained laughter out.

Asano looked at Isogai in disbelief and then in anger. He grabbed one of the cupcakes near him and threw it directly at Isogai’s face. Everyone gasped as Isogai stood there in silence wiping the cupcake off of his face as Asano laughed. He started laughing again as well and chucked another cupcake at Asano and vice versa. This started a mini food war between the two.

“Guys, please. Not the cupcakes.” Hara looked at them in horror as they continued.

Before another cupcake could hit Isogai, Maehara took one of the silver platters and used it as a shield to protect him.

“Maehara?”

“Don’t worry my prince! I’m here to protect you! For I am your valiant kni-”

Maehara was interrupted by a cupcake hitting the side of his face. It came from Seo who was on the other side of the table, “Yeah, yeah! Shut your hole womanizer!”

“HEY! You’ll pay for that!” He chucked and chunk of cake at Seo.

Hara was beyond mortified at this point, “Oh god, please don’t turn this into a-”

Kimura got up on the table and yelled, “FOOD FIIIIIIIGHT!”

“Oh no.”

Everyone immediately grabbed chunks of the confectionery and started throwing them at each other. It was absolute madness.

Chiba and Hayami were flicking the sweets off with forks and hitting their targets with 100% accuracy.

Yoshida, Muramatsu and, Itona was using Terasaka as a human shield.

Sugino was protecting Kanzaki from any incoming sweets but was met with a surprise when she hit him in the back of the head with a cupcake.

While trying to hit Mimura, but ended up throwing a bowl of pudding at Kataoka instead causing her to look him dead in the eye and start chasing him with a chunk of cake.

Kurahashi and Koyama were admiring the black cat cupcakes.

Kayano was just vibing and eating her pudding.

Ren was trying to flirt with Hazama and surprisingly wasn’t opposed by her attempts to curse him.

Okuda and some others were hiding under the table for dear life.

Araki was still interviewing with Ritsu despite all the chaos.

Hara was praying and mourning all of her wasted sweets.

Karma was just observing, like a mastermind of some kind.

Eventually, the food fight came to an end and so did Hara’s suffering. Isogai and Asano were leaning against one of the flipped over tables, exhausted and covered in icing.

Isogai stood up and wiped off his pants, “Well, that was something, huh?”

He bent down and offered a hand to Asano. Asano took it and stood up with him, “Yeah, it was.”

“I hoped you had fun pelting me with cupcakes!”

Asano chuckled, “Sure did.” He looked around and spotted Karma leaning against the maze’s door eating out of Kayano’s bucket and was completely clean, “But, I know what would be even more fun.”

Karma was rewatching the video of the food fight that he recorded when he noticed that the group all surrounded him.

“Hm? What the-”

They immediately went to immobilize him but he managed to escape. The group chased him all around the tables but not even Kimura could catch him. Muramatsu whipped at his lasso and swung it around a bit before throwing it over Karma. He pulled the lasso tight and officially managed to catch the cheeky devil, “YEEHAW!”

“Nice one, Muramatsu!”

“Heh, no prob!”

They tied Karma up with the other end of the lasso and sat him down at one of the tables, “Uh, what’s happening.”

“We just noticed how clean you were.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of unfair that you missed out on the frosting frenzy.”

Kanzaki brought a strawberry cake that was still intact in front of him. Karma figured out what they all were planning and tried to stand up but was held in place by Terasaka.

“We heard you like strawberry.”

“So here’s a nice strawberry cake just for you.”

“Dig in!”

Asano came behind him and shoved his face straight down into the cake. When Karma brought his head back up unable to see because of the frosting, everybody around bursted out into laughter.

Nakamura to a picture of him, “This is just classic!”

“Should we untie him?”

“I think it’s best if we don’t.”

Asano was cackling, “Now THIS is fun!”

He turned to his friends, “I uh don’t suppose you guys have any more “fun” things we could do.”

“Wait, aren’t you going to be busy!?”

“I’ll make time.”

His friends looked at him excitedly, “How about a maid cafe!”

“A maid cafe?”

Takebayashi heard their conversation and came up to them, “You guys going to a maid cafe? I know a good one.”

“Ah, that’s great!”

“Wait, a minute I never agreed-”

“Come on, Shuu. A maid cafe would be fun.”

“I told you not to call me that in public.” “Shuu” muttered.

“MAID CAFE! MAID CAFE! MAID CAFE!” They started to chant.

“FINE! I’ll think about it!”

“HOORAY!”

Isogai was watching everything unfold at the table, “Nice to see Asano actually trying to make time for his friends.”

“Yeah, I thought they were his goons at first.” Maehara said right besides him.

“Maybe at first but he certainly considers them as friends now.” Isogai smiled, “Oh also, I heard that a new circus is coming around soon. Want to check it out!”

“HELL NO!”

And so, the group left the party to go back to their respective homes.

Asano father didn’t notice his son walking in so late. Asano’s just glad that his father didn’t need to see him covered with all of that frosting.

While washing off all of the sweet residue, Asano wondered when he’d be able to go out with his friends again. He never considered trying out fun things before, especially things like going to a maid cafe. Heck, the only reason he went out now was out of spite. He could’ve been doing something else worthwhile. But he figures that in life sometimes you’re going to have to work your ass off,

and sometimes you just gotta have fun with your friends

#THIS WAS FUN!#let’s never do it again 😃#assassination classroom #ansatsu kyoushitsu #assclass #big five #class 3e #hailey writes #Can’t tag everyone so…

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achitka · 1 year

Text

Doors: Chapter 42

Tío José

There are some curious folks headed toward the Encanto. Camilo does more recon, Mirabel is stuck on a cart, Antonio does not like writing, Isabela doesn't know her own strength, Bubo finally wakes up and stay away from Miguel… he's creepier than I anticipated. No, really they're gonna make it back to town soon, I swear.

Alma sat between her daughters as the group of women discussed where and how they would house all the newcomers. There hadn’t been a group this large up to now. Usually, it was small family groups, such as Doris’s. She, Inez and the children were settling into a home that had been recently vacated. The family that lived there had moved to a larger home closer to the school. Doris was a little surprised, she was expecting they would be staying outdoors. Inez was delighted to have a roof over their heads after so long, and the children were excited at the prospect of going to school. The school had been shut down after the outbreak and was scheduled to reopen tomorrow.

Señora Aguilar was asking a question, but Alma wasn’t actually listening; her mind was on the information Dolores gave her and her daughters as she’d walked to the meeting. Dolores’s update of what was happening on the mountain, included her grandchildren’s speculation that the older woman may be related to her. She was not sure why this made her more than a little fearful and nervous. While the prospect of one of her sisters being alive was a good thing, at the same time she realized that she’d not seen anyone from her family for over fifty years.

Alma had forgotten the details of the dream that had awakened her, and she thought of the night when the magic returned. Bruno’s first sponty and how sure he was that whoever the woman he saw was; it was not her, but someone who looked a lot like her. Since the founding of the Encanto, she never thought it would be possible to find them. With three babies and a town to run, she had put that out of her mind.

She glanced out the window and saw Isabela and Tuli making their way up the road. She remembered then that Isabela was going to be working on the Jimenez farm near the edge of town. Isa had been working on strengthening the cassava crop this farmer had planted because the plants seemed off to the farmer’s wife. Tuli walked next to Isabela, holding her straw hat behind her. Skipping along, and she looked, for the moment, to be at ease. Alma had told Tuli that she could stay in the Encanto if Bubo did, she meant that. It would all come down to whether their Tío would allow it. Still, that was a worry for later and Alma was pulled out of her musings when Pepa lightly touched her hand and asked, “Mamá, you okay?”

Alma nodded and looked around. She realized she had no idea what anyone had said for the past half hour. Pepa picked up on her confusion and asked, “So you agree that the new folks will be housed on the fútbol field near the edge of town?”

Alma again nodded and added, “Yes, that would be best suited if we still have all the tents and equipment.”

“Most of those items were stored in the old shoe shop,” Sylvia Guzmán said, then turned to Julieta and asked, “How long does Dolores think it will be before they arrive in the town proper?”

“They’ve only just started back, so we’ll have at least three or four hours,” Julieta said as she rose, “Okay ladies, let’s go. The time will pass quickly, I’m sure, and we have a lot to get done,”

It made Alma happy that no one questioned Julieta's authority, as they all got up and collected the items they’d brought with them. Even the younger women were doing their part this time. Since the women outnumbered the men in the Encanto, Alma was not surprised. There were potential new unmarried men out there.

Alma put a hand on Pepa’s arm to keep her there and waited for the room to clear out. Julieta already knew what was happening because she’d spoken to the Doctor directly. She reminded Alma this morning that she needed to tell Pepa what was happening and to have a little more faith that Pepa would handle the news well. Alma had to admit a lot had changed with her middle child since the breaking. Pepa was far calmer and more in control of her Gift in a way that Alma had previously thought was not possible.

Julieta was the last one out and smiled at them encouragingly as she pulled the door closed. Alma took a deep breath, she’d put this conversation off for weeks, but it was clear to her that she needed to stop holding things in. She thought back to the time before the Gifts and how Pepa’s joy had always helped lift the shadow from her heart. Always her little ray of sunshine. Since the breaking, Pepa was once again full of joy as she watched her babies grow. Alma knew she needed to learn better to ask for help when she needed it and said, “Pepa, I’m sure you noticed that since my illness, I’ve been trying to do less these past few weeks.”

Pepa nodded and though she had already developed a cloud, there was no rain as she asked, “Is your health okay?”

“Yes,” Alma said with a smile as she took one of Pepa’s hands, “Right now I am fine, mi vida; however, I want you to be aware of what I am potentially facing and why I will be relying on you and your siblings more from now on,” There was no easy way to say this, so Alma again took a breath and said, “The Doctor says there is a problem with my heart.”

“What sort of problem?”

“He called it a heart murmur,” Alma paused when it started to drizzle. Pepa blew at the cloud, it dissipated, so Alma continued, “That means my heart does not always beat as it should, and he told me that if I wish to be around to see all of my nietos grow up, I need to take a step back from some of my usual responsibilities.”

Pepa nodded and asked as a new cloud formed, “How can I help, Mamá?”

“Well, you have been after me for quite some time to give you more stories for the family scrapbook you have been working on,” Alma paused as Pepa squeezed her hand, “now that things will be, hopefully settling down, I want to help you with that, if I can.”

“That would be wonderful, Mamá,” Pepa said and picked up the umbrella she had with her. She popped it open, and Alma heard the light rain Pepa had stopped before as it began to fall again, this time interspersed with some hail.

“To begin, I want to meet with you and your siblings at that yellow door at lunchtime tomorrow.”

“Did you remember something?” Pepa leaned in, her excitement causing a brief increase in the hail’s intensity.

The happiness Alma had felt the night before, again crept in, and she said, “Yes, but… ” and she held up a hand, “tomorrow, Pepita. I want all three of you to be there when I tell you.”

There was a quiet roll of thunder and Alma could not help but smile. Pepa shrugged as she let out a short laugh and said, “Okay, Mamá, tomorrow it is… at noon.” Her rain stopped, so she closed the umbrella, and together they got up to join the other women.

-------------------------------

Camilo was headed to where Bubo’s Tío was standing when he paused and nudged Mariano, who was watching the people as they started to drift toward Mira. It amazed him that Mirabel never seemed to notice it happening. Mariano looked where Camilo indicated, and he too noticed Bubo leaning against a tree with his eyes closed. He’d never seen someone able to sleep standing up like that. Camilo’s Mamí had told him why Bubo was staying over last night, and both he and Mariano had seen Bubo stumble once or twice on the trip here. It was very evident he’d just not gotten enough sleep the night before. Mariano nodded, walked over and poked Bubo awake. He took him aside, at which point Bubo yawned mightily and rubbed his eyes. Mariano then bent nearer and said something that made Bubo shake his head. Mariano poked his arm and said something else. Bubo rolled his eyes but nodded. Together, they walked over to the cart where Luisa and Mirabel were. There was a brief exchange, then Bubo climbed into the cart and if Camilo didn’t know better, fell immediately asleep.

Mariano returned and said, “Well, that was easier than expected. Anyway, Camilo, do you think Dolores would like pastries?”

“What’s a pastries?” Camilo asked as the whole group began to follow the cart Luisa had placed Mirabel on.

“Fancy French desserts,” Mariano replied.

“Oh, probably. Dolores definitely has a sweet tooth.”

Mariano nodded, then asked, “What about Isabela?”

“I have no idea. You should probably ask Luisa or Mirabel that one.”

“Yes, okay then I’ll talk to you later,” and Mariano went back over and started speaking to Luisa.

Camilo watched him go and realized the more he got to know Mariano, the more he found that he actually liked the guy. All the time he’d spent mocking him because of Isabela’s supposed relationship had left Camilo believing the stuff he’d always heard. Mariano Guzmán was a big dumb hunk. He supposed he should not be surprised that his sister easily saw past the label he’d been stuck with since school. Now that Dolores was going to marry that guy, they’d be cuñados. Antonio already thought Mariano was loads of fun, since before the magic came back he’d been quite willing to carry his little brother on his shoulders all over town when Dolores was looking after him. Probably still would, but Parce was stiff competition.

“Excuse me, Señor Madrigal, do you have a moment?” Camilo turned and was surprised to find Old Arturo next to him with another of the group of newcomers. Something weird was going on. Arturo had never referred to him as Señor anything. Read the room, he thought and responded, “Yes, Señor Sanchez, how can I help you?”

Arturo quirked a smile and said, “I’d like you to meet Señor Rodriguez. It seems he was a science teacher in Bogotá. I had mentioned that you would be working at the school. He wanted to ask you some questions regarding that.”

Camilo found that odd as well. He’d only just been accepted as an apprentice there. Arturo knew that, so Camilo nodded. Arturo moved off and, at the same time, guided Señora Vargas toward someone else. Camilo could see that Arturo was purposefully not letting that woman anywhere near them, and was having fun using the woman’s ‘properness’ to do so. He’d seen him do that with Mariano’s mother occasionally, but it was more worrisome that Arturo felt he needed to do that. Still, Camilo trusted the old man’s instincts when it came to people’s intentions. He turned back to the man and noted he was at least as tall as his Papí, thin build, middle-aged, but had a thin face and a slant to his features that was borderline ugly. Would be a challenge to get that face right, Camilo thought, and had to resist an almost overwhelming urge to shift into a copy of the man, so asked, “We are quite proud of our school, just opened a larger one. What would you like to know, Señor Rodriguez?”

“Please, call me Miguel,” he replied and looked over his shoulder, “Only my students call me that.”

“Nice to meet you, Miguel. My name is Camilo.”

The man smiled and Camilo pulled back slightly, the smile did little to improve his looks and actually made him look creepy. Undeterred, Miguel leaned closer and asked, “José says you found his sobrino, Paola, and that they are currently in your town.” Camilo only nodded, so Miguel leaned even closer and continued, “Is it true you all believe that Paola is a girl?”

Camilo was not at all sure why this man wanted this information, but didn’t really like his tone. It made Camilo wonder what his actual motivations were and responded, “I’m not sure what it is you’re asking, Señor,” Camilo said, moving slightly back and glanced at José. He was nearby, still by himself, walking alone and looking thoughtful.

“I see,” Miguel said, “but you did not answer my question.”

“Nor will I,” Camilo said. He disliked where this was going and was now feeling more than a little irritated at this person and asked pointedly, “I thought you wanted to ask about the school?”

Miguel’s expression changed from clunky charm to one of apprehension, but he quickly stowed that, smiling once again, but the mask had slipped long enough for Camilo to decide he would tell him nothing regarding Tuli or the magic. Miguel said nothing, it was more than a little disturbing. The man remained silent as they walked, then suddenly turned back to the main party. Camilo watched as he made his way through the people and began speaking with Señora Vargas, who was now seated on the other cart. Bubo’s Tío was now very nearby and likely heard the exchange, and Camilo whispered, “Dol, some of this lot is full of potential trouble.”

(…Agreed... I’ll keep an ear on them…)

Camilo quickened his pace just a little until he was right next to Bubo’s Tío. José looked over and said, “I must apologize for my companions. They are a bit much sometimes.”

Camilo nodded, then asked, “Señor Márquez, may I ask you a question?”

“Only if I can ask one of you, Señor Madrigal.”

“Fair enough,” Camilo said, then asked, “How did you end up in charge of these people?”

José raised an eyebrow as he was probably expecting questions about Tuli, but he shrugged and said, “More of an accident. We came across their camp while my own group were attempting to track down my sobrino. Turns out they were refugees from Zipaquirá. Their houses had all been burned to the ground, and they were on the run. Since she ran a boarding house, the people with her thought Señora Vargas was best suited to lead them. Others from the group said she was leading them in circles. The other unfortunate person you met, Miguel, is her son. He is an unpleasant person, at best, and I would recommend you not give him or his mother information you do not want twisted and spread.” That certainly explained a few things Camilo thought. José continued, “They were very disorganized and on the verge of starvation, having run out of food and fresh water. We felt bad for the kids, so we decided to help them, and we only planned to stay with them long enough for them to get back on track. We were actually headed in the opposite direction when we ran into this one,” he said, and paused to pull a small notebook out of his pocket. He tapped it with his finger and continued, “Bubo gave me this. He said he got it from someone named Bruno. I know this belonged to the tracker because he was unusually protective of it. Now I know why. He claimed he’d seen a group of women with several children on the mountain where he lived and could lead us to them. He seemed very eager to help us and since we were short on leads at that point, we agreed.” Camilo nodded and José said, “So now to my question.”

“If I know, I’ll be happy to answer.”

José held up Santiago’s book and asked, “Do you know where this, Bruno, the man who owned this is?”

“Bruno? Oh no, Bruno is my Tío. The man who owned this, we believe his name was Santiago.”

“Santiago… that name does sound familiar… Is he in custody?”

“No, he’s dead, actually.”

José paled and said, “How? Did your Tío Bruno kill him? Is that how he got this book?”

Camilo held up his hands and shook his head. “No no no, Santiago died on the mountain.”

“Then you met him as well?”

“Ummm, not exactly. I can’t really give you the whole story here. Like you said, something's are better discussed in private, and my Papí would be a much better source of information.”

José looked around and nodded, then asked in a lowered voice, “One more thing, can I ask how you know Bubo?”

“I actually only just met your sobrino yesterday at a town meeting. He’s more a friend of Mariano’s,” Camilo said and pointed to him. He was now speaking with Miguel, and Camilo hoped Dolores had warned him about that one. “I know Mariano because he’s my sister’s fiancé. Anyway, the only reason it was yesterday is that Bubo hasn’t been around much since he’s been leading the group that’s been keeping watch on the outskirts of our town.”

“It would be like him to do something like that. I wondered why he had not returned, I had hoped he would come back six months ago,” José said, “Thank you, Señor Madrigal I need to speak with the others of my own group, how much further do we have to go?”

“It will be a few more hours of steady walking before we get to the town.”

José nodded, then moved toward a group of men that were staying together near the back of the line of people. Camilo looked toward the front and saw Mirabel was still sitting with her arms crossed on the cart, so Camilo went to cheer up his prima.

-------------------------------

Antonio was sitting at the desk in his room with a stack of paper and a pencil, writing out:

‘ No usaré mi super jaguar volador para abalanzarme sobre Abuela.’

He was supposed to write that twenty times in his best handwriting. Twice his Papí had crossed off one or two of the lines because he said it was ‘illegible’ whatever that meant. Antonio had lost track of how many times he’d written the sentence and was seriously bored with it. Parce was asleep nearby and had not moved a centimeter since his Papí told the big cat he best not move from that spot until Antonio had completed his punishment. The jaguar had simply chuffed and closed his eyes.

Chipsi came over, and she whistled to see if he was hungry and Antonio smiled, “No, I can’t eat grass, but thanks for asking.” This made Antonio realize he’d missed out on lunch when his stomach growled. He threw back his head and said, “Ugh... I’m gonna starve to death.” Antonio sighed and looked at the papers. He began to count the lines. He ticked off each one, skipping the crossed off lines, and started to get excited when he realized he only had one more to go. He picked up his pencil and started to write really fast. Chipsi let out a chirp and Parce chuffed. Antonio looked at the line... he couldn’t really read what he wrote, and decided this must be what illegible meant. He sighed, crossed it out and began the last line again. This time he made sure to make his letters extra neat. He was just finishing up when his father appeared next to him. Antonio handed him the last two pages. His father looked at his work and nodded as he said, “Okay Toni, you can go have some lunch, but if we have to do this again, it will be forty times.”

Antonio shuddered and thought, forty would take forever and said, “Okay, Papí. I won’t do it again.”

His father smiled then sighed and said, “Off you go, but don’t leave Casita by yourself. There are a lot of new people on their way here that we know nothing about. Why don’t you take your sister some lunch for me? She’s in Mira’s room. It’s on the counter in the kitchen.”

Antonio nodded and went downstairs with Parce in tow. There was a basket with some wrapped sandwiches and some fruit. Antonio took the basket and went up to Mirabel’s room. He found his Tío Bruno sitting on the floor with his sister and he must have been telling her jokes because she was laughing.

“Hey Toni, I see you’ve finished your punishment,” Tío Bruno said as he came in the room.

Antonio nodded and said, “Yeah, and Papí asked me to bring Dolores some lunch.”

“Excellent,” he said, getting up, “Well, I’ll leave you to it then Toni. Dol, let me know when they all get here... I gotta do a thing, then maybe a nap.”

“Okay, Tío. Thanks for the company.”

“You’re welcome,” he said and walked out the door.

Antonio set down the basket as Parce laid near Abuela’s door. He pulled off the towel and Dolores put it in her lap. Antonio pulled out two of the sandwiches and some fruit. He sniffed the wrapping and smiled, recognizing the smell of one of his favorites.

“So, what did you bring me, Toni?” Dolores asked as she settled her hands on the towel in her lap.

“Pickled potato sandwiches,” Antonio said and handed her one.

“Oh, nice,” his sister said, “Mamí is really getting good at that one.”

Antonio nodded and while she was unwrapping it, his sister squeaked then laid a finger down and said, “Mariano, mi vida, be careful not to say too much to that one. Definitely nothing about Tuli or the Gifts.”

She refocused on Antonio as he asked, “Doli, are these people bad?”

“Not so much bad, as snooping about things they have no business knowing,” Dolores said, and took another bite of her sandwich.

Antonio looked at all the lights swirling around on the floor. He could see they were following Luisa and Mirabel and said, “Papí says there were a lot of new people coming. Do you know how many?”

“Yes, thirty-two.”

“Wow, that is a lot. Any kids?”

“Yes, quite a few, actually.”

“Oh, how many?”

“Eleven, but most of them are still not old enough to go to school.”

Antonio looked over at Parce and asked, “You think they’ll be afraid of my friends?”

“Maybe at first. Parce is a really big jaguar.”

“Yeah,” Antonio said as he finished his second sandwich.

“You might want to slow down there, hermanito, you’re gonna get a tummy ache.”

“But they’re so delicious.”

Dolores took another bite of hers and said, “Can’t argue with that.”

Sitting with his sister was nice, but Antonio wanted to go out and play but since he couldn’t go out alone he asked, “Dolores?”

“Yeah, Toni?”

“Where did Tuli go?”

“She went with Isa to do some farm work at the Jimenez place.”

Antonio gave himself a shake and asked, “On purpose?”

Dolores smiled and said, “Not everyone gets to play all day.”

“I helped today,” Antonio said with a small pout.

“True, it’s a good thing Isa sent you into town to find me. No donkeys were loose, but those chickens would have taken forever to round up without you.” They ate in silence for a bit, then Dolores asked, “So little brother, you looking forward to being the star of Milo’s play?”

“Kinda, it is fun to put on costumes and stuff, but I don’t know if I can do it in front of a bunch of people.”

“Just pretend you’re doing it in front of your animal friends.”

“That’s a great idea Doli,” Antonio said, then looked over to the door when he heard a squeak. It was Tino and Antonio had to focus hard. Tino was talking too fast, and he said, “Tino, slow down a little bit...” The rat did, and Antonio's eyes went wide, and he said, “Oh my gosh. Doli, Tío Bruno needs help. Tino says Tío isn’t waking up and that his eyes...” Antonio was up and so was Parce.

“Hold on,” Dolores said and put her finger on her their Papí’s light. She relayed what Antonio told her and said to Antonio. “Toni, can you go get Tío Gus? He’s in the back garden.”

Antonio nodded and scooped up the rat, then hopped on Parce. They ran out the door, then down the stairs and out the back door. He reached the garden and found his Tío raking in between a row of squash plants.

“Tío Gus! Tío Gus! Tío Bruno needs your help!” Antonio shouted as Parce skidded to a halt.

His Tío set aside the rake and asked as he leaned in to listen, “Tell me what’s happening, Toni.”

Antonio did, and his Tío asked, “Did Dolores let your Papí know?”

“Yes,” Antonio replied.

His Tío nodded and started toward the back door. He stopped and said, “Toni, I’m going to need you to wait by the door. Dol probably called your Mamí too, so can you wait for her to get back and tell her what you told me?”

Antonio nodded and followed his Tío into the house. Toni and Parce went across the courtyard, but before they passed the stairs he said to Tino, “Find out what’s happening, Tino and let me know, okay?” The rat squeaked in the affirmative and ran up the stairs. Casita opened the front door, so Antonio sat nearby to wait for his Mamí.

-------------------------------

Agustín took the stairs two at a time and met Félix at Bruno’s door. It was glowing very brightly, and the cuñados exchanged looks as they went into his room. Bruno was not there nor in the nearby alcove, and Agustín glanced back at the falling sand on the other side of the room and Agustín thought, oh no, and nudged Félix. They both rushed over to it, and ducked as the sand enveloped them. They pushed through and found Bruno on his knees in front of several shattered vision tablets. It had always been rare for Bruno to subject himself to creating this many visions in such a short time. The sand dome started to collapse, so they knelt in front of him and called to him, but Bruno did not respond. His eyes were darting all over the place, almost as if he were searching for an answer he was not finding.

Pepa came in and asked Félix to collect Antonio from the other room. Félix nodded, and Pepa glanced at the broken tablets as she knelt in front of her brother. Her brow furrowed, and a cloud formed as she put a gentle hand on his cheek and said, “Bruno, it’s going to be okay. We’re here to help. I know we’ll find a way through. Come back to us, hermanito.”

Bruno finally blinked and as he did an emerald tablet coalesced and dropped into the sand in front of him. He didn’t look at it, just stepped on it, causing it to crack. “I need a nap,” was all he said before allowing his sister to help him leave. Pepa looked back before she followed Bruno into the sand, her concern was clear and Agustin pushed the vision tablet pieces back together and frowned as he thought, one more complication to an already complicated problem.

-------------------------------

Isabela and Tuli reached the Jimenez farm in good time, and they talked to Juanita Jimenez, the farmer’s heavily pregnant wife, for a little bit about how the crops were doing. She joined them as they headed out to the new cassava field while telling Isa what she thought the problem with the crop was. Isabela listened carefully, the goal was to see if she could just help the plants along without interrupting their normal growth, and the farmer’s wife held many answers. Juanita had come to the Encanto from her family’s cassava farm with the same group as Bubo with little else beyond the clothes on her back and a sack full of cassava cuttings. She’d met and married John Jimenez within a month of her arrival. The rumor mill had gone wild with speculation that she’d gotten pregnant just so John would have to marry her, and he didn’t really care for her at all. Juanita called to her husband, and he came in to greet them.

He smiled at his wife, and she tilted her head and smiled back, then turned and walked back to the house. Screw what the gossips in town said. Isabela recognized that look, John Jimenez loved his farm wife. He turned his attention back to her and said, “Thank you for coming, Señorita Isabela. I did as you said and cut off all the spotty leaves and burned them. Most of the plants appear to be bouncing back. I did not think cassava was so finicky.”

Isabela nodded, but did not mention that it was in fact Juanita that had told him he needed to do that. That’s why Isa made a point of speaking with her whenever she came by.

“Who is this lovely young lady with you?” John asked.

“This is Señorita Márquez, she volunteered to help me today.”

The farmer laughed, “Oh, a volunteer weeder. Good on you, Señorita.”

“Where do you need us to start?” Isabela asked.

“I’m working on that end,” he said and pointed, “If you could start on that side, hopefully, we’ll meet in the middle.”

Isabela nodded as she and Tuli walked toward the end of the field. Isabela hummed as she brushed her hands along the tops of the plants. Leaves vibrated and most deepened in color. The ones that did not were already dead and broke off. Isabela knew she could just grow the cassavas, but it was important to her that she focus on helping them be a little healthier. Trying to grow an entire field would likely knock her out for days. So, after tying up her shoes as well as her and Tuli’s skirts, she pointed out which plants needed to go, and they got to work.

Isabela was impressed, Tuli worked diligently and without complaint for the entire time. They actually caught up with John much sooner than Isabela expected. He complimented them on their hard work and asked if they wanted to stay for supper.

Isabela declined, saying she was expected to be home this evening. The farmer nodded and asked if Isa would be available the following week. Isabela nodded and wished the farmer well, and she and Tuli started back toward Casita.

“That was kinda fun,” Tuli said and skipped ahead of her. When they were halfway home, Tuli stopped as she looked up the road. From where they were, they could see the line of people coming down and Tuli went very still as she put a hand on her locket and asked, “Isabela, is it alright if I… change my clothes before my Tío comes? I want to stay, and I think I’ll just make him angry... if he sees me... like this. Then we’ll have a fight and I’ll end up... ”

Isabela noticed Tuli’s look of almost panic as she took her hand. “If that’s what you want to do, of course. You know your Tío better than anyone. It’ll all work out Tuli.”

“How can you be sure?” Tuli asked, her other hand firmly grasping her locket.

“You know, I just am,” Isabela said and lifted Tuli’s chin.

Tuli smiled then kissed the locket. She looked back up the road and whispered to the people in the distance, “Eu acredito em você, Bubo.”

“Tuli what language was that? I know it’s not French.”

“Oh, it’s Portuguese, I learned some of it from my abuela and Bubo. He used to live in Brazil. That’s where he came from before he went to live with our abuelos.”

So that was the source of his accent. It hadn’t occurred to Isa that Bubo’s parents might not be around. She wondered how old he’d been when he came to Colombia. Maybe she’d ask later… maybe that was too personal for a first date… maybe she could ask Tuli. Isabela dismissed that idea since it was not necessarily something Tuli would know. Isa let out a yelp when she stubbed her toe. She looked down to realize her shoes were, once again, missing. She quickly reached behind herself and sighed with relief when she found they were hanging on her belt. She and Tuli left the path and walked on the soft grass. Isa stopped as she brushed at the dirt she’d gotten on her clothes, it didn’t help. Tuli looked down at her own skirt and wiggled her toes, “Weeding sure does get you dirty.”

“Yeah, but it’s so satisfying to yank those troublemakers out of the ground,” Isabela said and laughed as she pretended to violently pull an imaginary weed. Both she and Tuli took a step back as a large oak tree sprouted and rapidly grew near the edge of the forest. It was almost as large as the one in the plaza.

Tuli whispered, “Oh my gosh, do you think that’s a guardian tree… I’ve never thought I see one get born before… I wonder who it’s for… ”

Isa wondered what Tuli was talking about but put her hands firmly at her sides. No more using her gift today if she actually wanted to go on that date, that was for sure, and asked, “Tuli, why would you call that ...?” Isabela realized that Tuli was gone. She was running toward the tree. Isabela followed and stopped with Tuli in front of it. Tuli ran her hand over the bark as she stared at the tree with a hopeful smile on her face. Isabela decided it was a question that could be answered later as she too looked up into the branches. The tree was still filling out as its leaves were still unfurling near the top. She put a hand on it and heard quite plainly ‘anselmo’. Startled, Isa pulled her hand back. Tuli was now hugging the tree and whispering something that almost sounded like a prayer. Isa wiggled the fingers of the hand she’d touched the tree with. They were tingling, and she thought, that’s just weird, and she decided she would figure that out another time. She poked Tuli’s arm and said, “Come on, let’s get cleaned up before Bubo and your Tío get back.” Tuli nodded and reluctantly left the tree behind to follow Isabela toward Casita.

-------------------------------

Mirabel sighed as she watched the road ahead. She knew they were only a few kilometers out of town now. Luisa was again talking to Osvaldo about his donkey, and Camilo had told her to stay put when he jumped off the cart. Still, he’d sat with her for the past two hours, telling her the most random jokes. He was now walking with Old Arturo, who was telling him something that made Camilo glance over at the other cart where Señora Vargas was sitting. She had her head together with the man she’d noticed Camilo speaking to earlier.

The cart bounced when they hit a stone in the road hard enough that Mirabel had to adjust her glasses. The kids in the cart all squealed and were giggling. Mirabel looked back and saw that Bubo was now awake. He looked at the seat beside her, and she motioned for him to join her.

“Feel better?” Mirabel asked as Bubo climbed up.

“Yes, didn’t realize I was that tired,” Bubo said as he rubbed his knees rather nervously. He was quiet for a time, then looked at her and said, “Thank you, Mirabel.”

“For what? I didn’t actually do anything,” Mirabel said.

Bubo shook his head and said, “You underestimate yourself, Mirabel Madrigal. You have an unusually calming presence about you. You also, once again, stopped me from doing something incredibly foolish, and I’m sure my outburst didn’t help Tuli’s situation.”

“I don’t know, Bubo. You care a great deal for your prima and throw a little personal guilt and exhaustion into the mix and voilà, instant anger.”

“Ugh, I feel so stupid. I see now why your Mamá asked that I bring you and your sister along on this journey.”

“My Mamá?” Mirabel was perplexed, then remembered her attitude when she was told she wasn’t going with her mother and sisters to retrieve the folks on the mountain. She thought she’d hid her disappointment better. Clearly she did not, but maybe that was not a bad thing. Too much of what had happened before the breaking was because no one was willing to let certain parts of themselves show.

“She said you wanted to help. You did, so again, thank you,” Bubo said, then fell silent for a while. He was looking down the road. You could just make out the tops of the houses in town from here. Mirabel noticed the tree line had changed since this morning. There was another great tree poking above it. It was large enough that you couldn’t see Casita from here anymore. Isabela must be responsible for that, she thought. But why grow it there? She looked over and noticed Bubo was, once again, rubbing his knees and he said, “I’m not sure how I’m going to talk to my Tío about this rationally. We’ve already had arguments in the past regarding him calling Tuli, Paola. Now add into that the other and… ”

“I’m no expert, but maybe you should try to see the situation from your Tío’s perspective. He obviously cares what happens to the both of you. Who’s to say what’s motivating him if you don’t ask.”

“While I see your point, I’ll be honest, I am not convinced that will be effective.”

“Well, just give it some thought, Bubo. People can be surprising. So, did Mariano fill you in as to what you’re doing tonight?”

“No, but as long as I’m sitting here, can you give me something to talk to your sister about... besides insects, that is.”

“Well, Isa loves music and dancing. She plays the piano and sings really good too. When I was little, she would take me ‘flying’. She was an awesome big sister then.” Mirabel realized what she’d said and glanced at Bubo. He hopefully missed that, so started hurriedly naming random Isa likes. “Ummm, she likes to experiment with recipes... She’s actually really good at cooking, but doesn’t want anyone to know that. She likes her coffee with milk. She thinks everyone should love cacti. She wants a cat, either striped or maybe a black one. She thinks dogs smell funny, and she doesn’t like when they dig up plants. She used to have potatoes in her room that she would talk to and dress up in clothes...” Bubo tilted his head, and Mirabel paused and cleared her throat. “Sorry, just forget I said that.”

Bubo chuckled as he nodded and said, “É engraçado, I promise I didn’t hear a thing.”

Mirabel tilted her head and asked, “Bubo, you speak Portuguese?”

“Yes, I was born in Brasil. I only learned Spanish when I came to Colombia.”

“Oh, how did you come to be living here?” There was a pause and Mirabel thought maybe that was an uncomfortable question and added, “Sorry, I don’t mean to be nosy.”

“No, no, it’s alright. Just something I’ve not thought about for a long time,” Bubo said, then looked off toward the town. Though Mirabel was curious, she just sat and waited for Bubo to find his words and he asked, “Do you know what a bus is?”

Mirabel shook her head then remembered seeing a picture of one in a magazine that one of the newcomers had brought, so she said, “I’ve seen a picture. They look a bit frightening.”

Bubo shrugged. “Not really. Anyway, buses are usually pretty safe, and you can move quickly from one city to another. When I was about eight years old, my parents and I went on a bus trip to Brasile’s capital, Manaus. Spent the day looking at all the historical buildings. Overall, it was a good day, the time got away from us, and we ended up boarding the last bus back to our town very late. I’m not completely sure what happened because I fell asleep pretty quickly once we were on the road. I woke up in the hospital. I knew something wasn’t right because my abuelos were there instead of my parents. I was told that the weather had turned bad, there was an accident and that both of my parents were killed. I survived, but only just. There were a lot of things I had to relearn, like how to walk, feed myself, it’s a long list. Since I did not have any relatives in São Joaquim, where we lived, I came to live with my Abuelos in Aracataca once I was released from the hospital. My Tío was already living there on and off, and he helped me get back on my feet, so to speak.”

“I’m sorry about your parents, Bubo.”

“Thank you, I think my only regret is that I’ve never been able to visit their graves. Someday though.”

Mirabel nodded and realized they were almost to the town plaza and could see her Abuela and Mama, along with the rest of the town council, waiting to greet them. Camilo came up to them and said, “Hey, Bubo, your Tío was asking for you.”

Bubo nodded and hopped down from the cart and began walking toward the back of the group. Camilo climbed up and plopped into the seat next to her. He elbowed her twice and started talking without looking at her. Camilo used to do this when they were little, and they were busy planning some pointless prank. It was always more fun to do that in a conspiratorial way. No jokes this time though, he was instead giving her a run-down of all the things he noticed happening with the new group. It felt weird that her primo felt he needed to do that. But again she realized that she really did need to know these things. Most concerning was José’s warning that they not share extra information with Señora Vargas or her son Miguel. She could see that Luisa was also paying attention and Mirabel glanced back and saw that most of the kids were asleep, so she wasn’t overly concerned they were listening. Camilo wondered then how Abuela was going to explain the magic to these people. Mirabel looked over at Casita and smiled when she noticed the house waving. She waved back and thought, It’ll all work out. I just know it.

-------------------------------

Bubo joined his Tío, and his uncle introduced him to the others of his original group that had joined him on his search. A few of them Bubo knew since they were from the same area as his abuelos. He nodded to each and decided to let his Tío know about the magic and what to expect. His Abuela had often told them stories about the fantastical things that could only happen in Columbia and after seeing the magic of the Encanto, Bubo believed every one of them. His uncle was even more so. Though he had studied to be a lawyer, he’d given that up to be a journalist and writer. He was always looking for stories to explore and Bubo had enjoyed all of his published works, so he said as they walked, “Tío, there’s a story attached to this place and the people that live here that I want to tell you before we get there. So you know what to expect.”

His Tío was clearly intrigued because he slowed a little and let the group move ahead without them and said, “Okay Bubo, let’s have it then.”

Bubo then told him what he knew of what had happened here over fifty years ago at the beginning of the thousand days war. That the leader of the town, Doña Alma Madrigal, received a miracle after the death of her husband and father of their newborn triplets. It was this event that was the impetus that ultimately protected and saved the original inhabitants from the marauders that ransacked theirs and other nearby villages. He told him about La Candela and Casita, the living house that helped look after and protect the Madrigal family. When he got to the part regarding the Madrigal family Gifts, he paused and his Tío said, “You can’t stop now, Bubo.”

“Sorry, I’m just trying to find the best way to describe what came next,” Bubo said, then one by one told him about each of the family’s Gifts as described to him by Mariano.

“You left one out,” his Tío said. “What Gift does Señorita Mirabel have?”

“Mirabel does not have a magical Gift,” Bubo said.

“How unusual. You’re sure?”

“Yes, she told me so herself,” Bubo replied.

His Tío nodded and said, “You look as though there is more to this story to tell.”

Bubo nodded and said, “Yes. When I arrived here, almost a year ago now, Casita had fallen and there were no magical Gifts.”

“But you didn’t use past tense when you were describing them.”

“That’s where Mirabel comes into it. After La Candela went out and the original Casita fell, a new Casita was built for the family by the townsfolk. Mariano said it was quite the thing to see because on the day they were to move back in, the family gave Mirabel the very last piece of it to put in place. A doorknob to be precise. When she did, Mariano said a new miracle was born and Casita and the Gifts returned.”

“You did not see any of that?”

“No, at that time I was patrolling the area near the river at that time. I found out about it when I came into town to resupply.”

“You didn’t go look?”

“Tío, I was responsible for a patrol, and only in town for a day before I headed back out.”

“Right, so Mirabel is now the... the miracle bringer?”

“She is an extraordinary young woman. I'm guessing she’ll lead this town one day.”

“I think I would like to see this Casita.”

“It’s likely you will, since Tuli is staying at the Madrigal home.”

As they crested the final hill, Bubo’s Tío put a hand on his shoulder, bringing Bubo to a halt. Only one of his uncle’s companions noticed they’d stopped. That one just nodded and continued on. Bubo was now feeling very nervous.

“Now that you’re a little more rested, I need to ask Bubo, honestly, do you believe Tuli when he tells you he’s a girl?”

Bubo strangely did not feel he needed to hesitate and said, “Yes, at her core she has the soul of a girl.”

“But don’t you see how much more difficult Tuli’s life will be if we allow them to continue with this?”

“Her life is already painfully difficult, to the point that she fled our family with a person of questionable character. She’s already paid a high enough price for that mistake. Honestly, do you not see how alone and isolated she already is? She doesn’t want to go back to that. Who would? I’ll say it again, I accept that Tuli is exactly who she believes herself to be. She wants to remain in the Encanto, make it her home. Also, the Madrigals are all aware that Tuli is not physically a girl, and they do not have an issue with that. In fact, Doña Madrigal said Tuli would be welcome to stay... if you gave her permission to do so and if I agreed to stay as well.”

“And do you?”

“Yes. I’ve grown fond of the people here. Made some good friends. Met a nice girl.”

“What about school?”

“I’ll find time for that one day.”

“I do not believe that.”

“Said my almost lawyer Tío.”

His Tío smiled and said, “Good answer, Bubo. And if I take Tuli back to Bogotá?”

Bubo sighed and said, “Then this was a pointless conversation because I do not believe she would be able to bear it. We will lose her forever the next time she runs, and you know that she will,” Bubo said “Tío, when I found out yesterday just what Tuli had been through, I was ready to go out and do something I would never be able to take back. But I was reminded that of all the places Tuli could have ended up, she ended up here where her family is. Tuli’s found the sanctuary she’s been searching for since her mother was killed, and her father went missing. This place where she can be who she was meant to be. This place where miraculous things happen daily.”

His Tío did not answer, so Bubo started down the hill. He paused and turned back when his Tío said, “I can’t make any promises, Bubo, but I will consider what you’ve said.”

“Thank you, Tío,” Bubo said with a small smile, “That’s all I can ask for.”

Notes:

If you were wondering: ‘No usaré mi super jaguar volador para abalanzarme sobre Abuela.’ translates to: I won't use my flying super jaguar to pounce on Grandma Kids

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