#waffle house is its own land

[gothamite-rambler]

Waffle House

Waffle House Waitress (Alice): I'm going to say this one more time: get out before I call the cops!

Crackhead (Luke): And I said I want compensation for this awful meal!

Alice: You ate the toast, the eggs, and the sausage. Your glass is empty. You consumed the entire meal, which means NO REFUND FOR YOU!

Luke: It left me disgusted! The toast was burnt, the eggs were undercooked, and the sausage—!

Alice (snapping her fingers angrily): Hey, douche canoe, do you know where you are right now? This is a fucking Waffle House!

Alice motioned to the window with the Waffle House decal on it.

Alice: The cook just got released from prison three months ago for attempted murder with a knife, and he has made it very clear he will gladly take that charge again specifically for you cuz you've pulled this crap scam in the past!

Luke (missing the point): Oh, is Percy back? I demand he remake this meal or refund me!

Alice: Did you miss the part where he’ll beat your ass if I call him? And he can't be fired either!

Percy (from the back): My uncle owns this place, jackass!

Alice (hands on her hips): So what will it be, Lucas Johnston? Pay and leave, or you can not pay and leave! I don't really care anymore!

Dick tried to chime in, but Jason gripped his arm simply shaking his head to not intervene.

Luke (saying the single worse defense): The customer is always right!

Alice (shouting): In taste! The customer is always right in taste— not to get a comp on a meal you licked clean, you drug fiend!

Luke (lying): Listen here, harlot! Before I became addicted to crack, I was an MMA fighter and killed three opponents.

Alice (at her final straw): Luke, we went to school together before you failed out. You were in no way a fighter, the band geeks could take you! Now, if you want to play games, I'll play games!

Luke lunged at Alice, but she grabbed him by his torn shirt and tossed him out of the restaurant. The patrons barely blinked an eye, focusing on their meals or conversations. Alice wiped her hands of the encounter and calmly returned to the other table where Jason, Dick, Stephanie, and Cass were sitting.

Stephanie (clapping supportively): I would’ve gone way harder on him, but I respect the toss.

Alice: Thanks, girl. Now, how are you guys doing over here?

Dick (terrified, hiding behind Jason, who sat at the front of the booth): We're good. We are so good.

Jason: Didn't you say your eggs were made wrong?

Dick (panic in his voice): I love them! They were delicious. Compliments to the chef. I have no issues with anything here!

Cass (holding up her juice glass, smiling): Can I have more orange juice?

Alice: Sure thing, girlie.

Alice took the empty juice glass and walked away. Dick smiled nervously as the waitress left.

Stephanie (amused at the terrified crime fighter): So you're just going to eat the runny eggs?

Dick shushed her while continuing to eat the clearly poorly made eggs.

Jason (chuckling): I love her; she's so sweet. Apparently, she's working hard to pay for college.

Cass: Good for her! And she’s a good fighter. Think Bruce will adopt her?

Cass and Jason laughed at that joke while Stephanie rolled her eyes with a smile. Dick was still reeling from the crackhead, whose nose had been pressed against the window of the Waffle House as the couple continued eating.

Dick: Why did you offer to treat us, then take us to Waffle House?

Jason: I like the waffles here. Not my fault you got runny eggs. I told you they never make them right.

Dick: That is not what I am referring to!

Jason (indifferent while eating): Okay, you're not Luke the crackhead, so you'll be fine.

Stephanie (mockingly): Yeah, Dick, just chill. Be glad a chair wasn’t thrown.

Dick sighed, covering his face in defeat and confusion. Left wondering how he was the only one uncomfortable with the atmosphere of a regular Waffle House.

[luveline]

hi sweetheart , ur amazing , was wondering if you could write an eddie & roan fic , where whereas eddie was in the hospital that one time , its r’s turn , not to serious but definitely something youd fine yourself worrying about ! and ed and roanie r so worried , sorta like the scene from the work trip 🥹

PLS i love u angel

thank you for your request, ilove u! eddie and roan —dad!eddie juggles his daughter roan, nearly step mom!you, and his own rollercoaster emotions when you end up in hospital for a few days. 4k

cw hospital stay, seizure recovery, temporary paralysis

Eddie's never been this tired in his entire life, and he can't sleep. 

He looks up at his bedroom ceiling (your ceiling, your house), hands under his back in the same clothes he wore yesterday. She'll worry if I show up looking like a slob, he thinks eventually, getting up to shower. The last thing he wants to do when he can't take care of you is take care of himself, but he has to, because that's what you'd want if you were home. 

Roan is stirring by the time he's dressed again. He tugs his socks on and walks across the landing, residual steam from the bathroom warming the air, his hair dripping a cool path down his back. 

He creeps over a mess of things that hasn't been touched in two days. Roan's eyes fly open at the sound, but she sees him and they squint to a more sluggish expression, little hands rubbing sleep from her eyelashes. 

Eddie thinks maybe she thought he was you. 

"Hey, bubby," he says, as loving and bubbly as he can manage, "did you have a nice sleep?" 

"Can we go see Y/N now?" she asks hoarsely. 

Eddie sits on the side of her bed and pulls her effortlessly into his lap. She's boiling from the sheets, her hair curled tight at her neck from the heat. 

"Remember what I said yesterday about visiting hours?" He strokes hair from her face gently, an arm wrapped around her waist to say I'm here. "They won't let us in until nine, and it's not eight yet." 

He drops his nose into her hair. 

"Maybe we can go get a really yummy breakfast," he suggests, thinking about you. You're probably awake, and if he's lucky you've eaten your own breakfast, but it's more likely you've refused it if you're as lethargic as you were yesterday.  

"I don't want diner burgers anymore," Roan says. 

Eddie gives her a kiss and her back a rub. "No, I bet you don't. Sorry, sweetheart, it's not nice having the same foods for two days in a row, is it? That's my fault." 

"It's okay. Let's make waffles." 

He kisses her forehead, taking a contemplative breather, just the two of them in their quiet house, her body a familiar weight in his lap. The sun is up and shining through her window, sunlight across the floor and her spilled toybox. It doesn't quite reach them on the bed, and Eddie snorts at it. Of course it doesn't. Home without you isn't sunny.  

"Waffles," he agrees. 

They make waffles with leftover strawberries and squirty cream. Roan is perky enough to want to have some straight from the can, giggling a storm when he plops a dollop of it onto her nose. He gets her ready as she eats, brushing her knotty hair and changing her pyjamas for a striped long sleeve shirt, wool leggings, and a dungaree dress you'd begged him to buy for her. The front pocket sports a small embroidered Russian doll. 

She should've had a bath, but it's getting on, and Eddie wants to get to Hawkins General dead on visiting time. She's not dirty, just her hair isn't as nice as it could be. He figures the universe will forgive him. 

He really has to see you. 

Getting Roan into the car rehashes a fresh memory. The day before yesterday… things should've been normal. Eddie was walking out of the shop, keys swinging around his finger ready to see his girls for your usual Friday plans: movies on the couch until one or all of you falls asleep. He's thinking kettle corn, a sheet of a dozen donuts, a gallon of Roan's favourite grapefruit juice and maybe another punnet of strawberries so she can dip them in chocolate and sugar. 

But Wayne jogged out after him calling his name. There was a phone call from your work, your coworker frantic. 

Eddie blinks and shoves his keys into the car, listening to the engine sputter, trying to focus. A tonic-clonic seizure, seven minutes counted before it stopped. You were already in the ambulance when they called. 

"What do I do?" Eddie'd asked, frozen to the spot. His heart pounding unsteadily in his chest, the image of you in convulsions behind his eyes. "What do I–"

"You go to the hospital," Wayne said, because of course that's what he had to do. 

Wayne vowed to pick up Roan and Eddie got in the car. His hands shook so bad he couldn't turn the key at first, but he managed it, and he got to Hawkins General in one piece, and he didn't panic at the reception desk asking if you'd been checked in yet. 

Eddie doesn't think he'd described you as looking small before, but you looked small. They laid you out in a snug bed with square orange stickers on your head, chest, and arms, unconscious. You didn't wake up for hours. 

And that was normal, Eddie reminds himself now, the car huffing and puffing its way down roads he's been driving on for almost a decade now on autopilot. You had a standard generalised tonic-clonic seizure. It started from nowhere, though they later found your blood sugar had been very low. That was deemed the cause. Eddie blames himself for it in a hundred different ways, remembering that morning, how he'd made you late for work cuddling you when you should've been getting ready. 

You skipped breakfast. He thought you'd have something on the way, but you never did. 

It's my fault, he thinks, then and now, the same thought that's plagued him for three days. 

"Do we wanna talk about how we feel today?" Eddie asks, tearing himself away from the aching remembered fear and back into the present. Five minutes until he gets to see you again, until he knows for sure you're alright.

"I feel okay. I want to see mom." 

"We're almost there. You have your flowers from the back yard?" 

Roan waves her picked daisies at him assuredly. Eddie hadn't thought to buy you flowers. He could barely manage the essentials; pyjamas, toothpaste and lip balm. He forgot to get you a toothbrush. He forgot underwear —he had to go back to the store. It was a disaster. 

"What about scary feelings?" Eddie asks softly, reaching back to make a grab for her knee. 

"You said she's okay now." Roan sits forward. "What if her arms stop working again?" 

It was only one arm. You could've come home yesterday if you hadn't been experiencing a weakness called 'Todd's Paresis', a paralysis of the limbs. You slowly regained functionality of it throughout the day, but your headache and confusion remained. 

Eddie thinks that was the worst part. You, in bed, crying because you didn't understand. His eyes burn and well with tears every time he thinks about it. Eddie, I feel sick, you'd mumbled tearfully, reaching for his arm, smudging his tattoos between your careless fingers, I don't know what's– why are we here?

But you were genuinely going to be fine, even if you were scared. In the same way Eddie's going to be okay, and Roan will be, too, as long as he makes sure this isn't hurting her as it's happening. 

"Baby, I promise you her arms won't stop working again. When she had the seizure," —he doesn't like using a big word like that with her, only there's no alternative and she needs to know— "her brain was confused. It was confused for a couple of hours, 'n' when she woke up her body needed time to catch up." He doesn't know how true it is, but it's for Roan to understand her feelings, not to help her medicinal education. "When we said goodnight she could wave bye to us, yeah? So don't worry about mommy's arm." 

"I'm worried about mommy's everything." 

"Yeah?" Eddie feels a mixture of stress at her admission and relief as the hospital parking lot creeps into view. "You want to tell me?" 

"What if she gets another one?" 

"Another seizure?" Eddie asks, turning the wheel. All he has to do is drive into the lot and find a space without crashing. 

"Will she have to come back to hospital?" Roan asks. 

"Yeah, she would have to come back. But… okay, sometimes, people have lots of seizures all the time, and they aren't dangerous. Sometimes they are dangerous," he amends. "But lots of the time they're not. So if she did have more, I would make sure she didn't get hurt and we would have to be brave all over again. We can do that, can't we?" 

He parks the car. 

Roan doesn't look as though his explanation helped. Eddie's running on an empty tank, scrubbing his hands through half dried hair and wishing he was better at this. He gets out of the front seat and opens her door, unclicking her straps, helping her down onto her feet. 

"Babe, I forgot your jacket," he says, surprised at himself as he realises she only has two layers. "Are you cold?" 

She holds out her arms and assesses for herself. "I think so." 

"You'll have to come inside my hoodie. Shall we do that?" he asks with a grin.

Eddie picks Roan up, has her cling to his neck, and zips his hoodie up over her body, their head sticking out of the hole all squished together. She's a laughing mess as they cross the lot and head into the main building of the hospital, infectiously happy as she calls him, "so silly, daddy." 

They do look silly, but Eddie's glad he forgot her jacket. It's nice to hear her laughing like that after such a tough weekend, far from the one he'd pictured. 

He tries to set her down after they've entered the elevator, but she won't go. He holds her tighter instead. 

"We're going to be nice and quiet on the ward 'cos there are other grown ups here, and some of them are in a lot of pain," he reminds her.

"We should've brought flowers for everybody." 

"How many do you have, sweetheart?" he asks, watching the floor number tick upward. 

"I have, um." She pulls her hand back from his neck, four rumpled daisies choked in her fingers. "No, I can't give them to everyone else, I only have enough for mommy." 

Eddie's noticed a very high ratio of 'mommy' when compared to Roan's usual mix these last few days. If anyone asks who her mom is she says it's you enthusiastically, but if she's talking to you face to face she'll call you whatever she feels like. Mom tends to come out more when she's tired, when she's feeling adored, or when she's upset, but that isn't to say she won't call you mom at random moments. Why is the window glass all blurry, mom? I didn't 'member to feed Lucky, mommy, you have to get the fish food. Mom, I need more soda. 

Roan was too old when you met to mistake you for her mother. You're growing into the title. Roan's growing into using it. 

"That's okay. You keep them all for mom," he whispers. 

"We won't show anyone so they don't feel left out," she whispers back. 

"Good plan." 

When Wayne brought Roan by the first night, she was just happy to see you both. Unlike when Eddie burned his arm, you weren't alert enough to be in any pain, and so she didn't have to be scared of that. Wayne kept his cool when he picked her up, mitigating most of the panic she probably would've felt had Eddie been there. She wasn't happy to see you unwell, but she wasn't scared. She hasn't cried. 

Eddie knows from experience that a lack of tears now doesn't mean they aren't coming. 

You're sitting up in bed, showered, in a fresh pair of pyjamas with a cup of coffee held between two strong hands. You have a magazine on your knee. Even your hair looks nice. It's a goddamn miracle in Eddie's eyes —he nearly drops Roan. 

"My Munsons!" you say happily, putting your coffee on the tray table wheeled over your bed. "What the heck, you told me you'd be here at nine and it's nine oh seven. I thought we loved each other?" 

Oh thank fucking God, Eddie thinks. You're okay. You sound yourself again, no pain, no hazy confusion. 

"You're conjoined," you say, smiling. 

Eddie scrambles to unzip his jacket. Roan throws herself out of his arms and on to the end of your bed. You push your tray table and coffee sloshes everywhere in your rush to make room for her. 

"Good morning," she says, slamming into you. Eddie winces at her force, and Roan must recognise her brutality, saying, "Sorry, I hugged you hard." 

"That's okay, I like hard hugs," you say, wrapping your arms around her. 

Eddie gets his knee on the mattress to grab you both in his own hug. Tears burn in his eyes. He doesn't have the wherewithal to blink them back, dropping his lips to your forehead. "I was so worried," he says, unable to hide how high and fraught his voice is. 

"Eddie," you murmur softly. "My love, it's okay. I'm just fine, you didn't have to worry about me." 

"But I did, you were–" He clears his throat. "I love you." 

"I love you too," you say, your hand crawling up his front. You curve your palm around his neck. "Baby, I'm so sorry." 

Eddie laughs and sniffs, sitting back on your bed to wipe his eyes with his wrist. His hands are shaking. "It's okay, it's alright. I don't want you sorry for nothing. We just wanted you to get better. Isn't that right, Ro?" 

Roan picks her head up from your neck, tears pumping down her face. 

Eddie's heart hurts seeing it, even if he was expecting it. You, on the other hand, hadn't had that foresight. You look at her like she's split you clean in two. 

"Princess, what's the matter?" you implore, cuddling her back into your chest. "I know it's really scary being here, lovely girl, I know. It's okay." 

Roan doesn't explain herself, just sobs little sobs into your shirt, clutching you as though she's worried you'll push her away. 

Eddie puts his hand on her back. 

"I'm sorry," you say softly, sounding weak yourself.

"Don't be sorry, are you kidding? It was my fault," Eddie says. 

"What?" 

"I made you late, you didn't eat breakfast–" 

"Eddie–" 

"Don't fucking say sorry–" 

"Eddie," you say again, rubbing Roan's back. You give him a soft look. 

"Sorry," he says. He takes a big breath, victim of an overflow of emotion. 

Eddie slides further up the bed to get a better hold on Roan where she's being hugged. "I'm very sorry for cussing, baby. How are you feeling, huh? Happy to see mommy with both arms, is that it?" 

"So happy," she sobs, pushing her lips closer to your ear and her flowers into your neck. "I brought you flowers to help you get better but you're better already." 

Eddie doesn't know what to do besides pat her back and cling to you.

After a big healthy cry fest, you lay back in your pillows with Roan propped against your front, speaking at a much more acceptable volume considering your three neighbours in the room. You rub her back with one hand and feed her hard pretzels with the other, passing your pinky finger over her cheeks as a makeshift handkerchief to collect the last of her tears. Her daisies wilt in a cup of fruitless water on the nightstand. 

"Is that what all the fuss was about? You worried daddy wasn't gonna enable your snack addiction?" you ask fondly, 

"Dad gives me lots of snacks. We had Benny's two times yesterday and then we had ice cream with every topping for after dinner." 

"I'm glad he's been spoiling you," you say. 

"Too much Benny's, wasn't it?" Eddie prompts, meeting your eyes with a bemused grin, his head twitching with a headache that doesn't fit the mood. "She said to me before breakfast she didn't want any today. We had waffles in the waffle maker and blueberries and strawberries." 

"With squirty cream," Roan says, opening her mouth wide for another pretzel. 

You indulge her and feed her. 

"You didn't enjoy burgers for lunch and dinner?" you ask. 

"We had Reuben sandwiches and loaded fries for dinner, it wasn't as torturous as it sounds." 

"It sounds delicious," you say, kissing Roan's pale forehead. "I wish I'd been there to steal all the bacon bits off of your fries. Now I'm better, maybe we can go and have them again, give me a fighting chance."  

"No!" Roan says with a laugh.

"No? So selfish, Ro, you know I want whatever you're eating." You kiss her crown and adjust your arms around her.

"Now you're better, I think we should have the, um, the special curry dad makes with rice and peas." 

"Oh, yeah?" Eddie asks. "Mom's better so dad can go back to his life of serfdom. That's awesome." 

In actuality, Eddie would make you complicated, exhausting meals multiple times a day for the rest of your life if it meant you didn't end up here again. He has a strict breakfast plan forming in his mind as you speak.

"They said they were gonna check me one last time and if I'm okay I get to go home. Soon as the doctor can come and see me and make sure I look okay," you say, planing a pretzel past her mouth and into your own with a self satisfied smile.  

"You look beautiful," Eddie says, squeezing your knee. 

"Dad! I was going to say that!" Roan stands up from your lap and pushes him. "You steal everything!" 

"I do not! 

"You do! You stole my strawberry at breakfast and you took my soda straw last night!" 

"I did do both of those things but that doesn't mean I steal everything," Eddie says, looking up into her face happily. 

She has fire behind her eyes, even though her lashes are still wet and clumped together from her earlier tears. Roan harrumphs at him. "You do. You stole one of my gingersnap cookies–" 

"Baby, those were mine. Uncle Wayne got them for me 'cos they're my favourites and I was upset," he says, laughing. 

"Well. Why did you let me have them?" 

Eddie finds her hand to roll her fingers. "Because I'm good at sharing, something you never learned how to do." 

"Don't listen, bubby," you say, tipping pretzels into your mouth. "You're a good sharer." 

In the end, the doctor comes by and tells you to stay until the shift changes for a last set of observations. Eddie and Roan stay just past visiting hours to wait with you, Roan now firmly wedged in his lap, you with his hoodie over your shoulders. In all the chaos, he didn't remember to bring your jacket either. 

"This is why we're getting married," you say. 

"Why, so someone remembers to put jackets on you both?" he asks ruefully, Roan in his lap, your bag packed and ready to go at your feet. 

"No…" You tip your head toward your shoulder a touch. "Because you've done such a good job looking after me, sweetheart. You really have. Thank you for taking care of me." 

"I think the hospital did all the looking after," he says. 

He tries uselessly to shove down that awful feeling again. The memory of you prone in bed with your IV and your heart monitor beeping. It felt like it was beating behind his eyes. 

It's easier to forget now you're feeling almost one hundred percent again. Your hand at his elbow, in your nice white and blue pyjamas, content to be going home again. 

"That's not true… I can't imagine how tired you are right now. If it were you in here, for three days…"  

"Only two," he says. "Today doesn't count." 

"It absolutely counts." 

You pout for a kiss that Eddie eagerly gives you. He kisses you, your cheek, your ear, a line of gratitude because he doesn't care how tired he is or how hard this was. You're better. You can rest at home. 

"I'd be a mess. Don't feel bad about the jackets or start thinking you did a bad job," you say, combing your fingers through his hair. You scoot back to look him in the eye, a ridiculous amount of fondness lining your own, your pinched brows. "You did awesome. A-plus for everything."

"It's not over," he says, stroking Roan's arm where she squirms in his lap, bored. "You're on bed rest, I don't care what the doctor says. And you're taking time off work. Promise me." 

"Promise," you say, holding your hands up. 

"Can I have the time off too from school?" Roan asks. 

Her big doe eyes and her tiny frown would convince him if he hadn't already thought about it. 

He squeezes her chubby cheeks in his palms. "You need a few days to feel better," he agrees. 

"Really?" she asks with a gasp. 

"Yeah, really. You've been really, really brave." He kneads her cheeks gently. "You're such a good girl. You're my brave girl." 

"Super brave," you agree, cheek on Eddie's shoulder. 

Roan sits back with a proud shrug, arms wrapping around her stomach. "I was a bit brave." 

Eddie chucks her under the chin with his knuckle. You get discharged a little while later, Roan and Eddie like a small parade pushing your wheelchair. You hate the attention, complaining to the nurse lightly that you can walk to the car without falling. No one wants to hear it. 

"You're legally required to take it easy for a few days," Eddie says. "You promised me." 

You slump back in the chair. "Fine. Ro, come and sit in my lap, at least? This hospital is a maze, I need company while they find our way out." 

Roan loves that idea. She sits on your knees, back to your chest, your hands around her waist like a seatbelt. 

"Can I push her the rest of the way? I'm sure you're busy," Eddie says to the nurse. He says it so nicely, so politely, that despite his tattoos and his long hair, she doesn't put him in the 'hooligan' box as people tend to do. She hands you over.  

Eddie waits for her to round the corner before ducking down, your backpack in the crook of his elbow, hands tightening around the wheelchair handles. 

"Girls. You better hold on tight. I'm sick of this place and we're leaving right now." 

"Don't you dare." 

"All arms in the ride?" he asks, charging up his push. He takes a preparatory step back. "On three. One, two–" 

"Three!" Roan shouts. 

Eddie races you down the hallway, your nervous laughter so loud it bounces off of every wall on the way out.

[voidvannie]

꒰ఎ CRUEL SUMMER! ━━ PART TWO

⋆✩⋆ ─── adore you masterlist main masterlist

⋆✩⋆ ─── part one part three

⋆✩⋆ ─── IN WHICH . . . emersyn surprises her best friend by showing up at the lake house, and quinn soon goes to his brother when he realizes his feelings for the singer.

⋆✩⋆ ─── feel free to send in any request for things you want to see in this series, or in any of the other series on my page. Or if you just want to share some thoughts about what you read, or if you want to talk about oc's!

June 1, 2022

“Hi, Emmie, we miss you!?”

“Mama H!” Emersyn cheers as the woman answers her FaceTime call.

“Is that Emmie?!”Jim’s face appears next to his wife’s, ginning widely at the girl he saw as his daughter. “Hey, superstar!”

“Hey, Papaw H! How are you guys?” She asked, looking off screen as a voice calls her name, “The blue one, Justin!”

“We’re good, honey! What with the call?” Jim asked the brunette as he smiled.

“Well, I wanted to let the two of you be the first to know that I’m coming to the lake house risk summer!”

A gasp leaves Ellen’s lips as a smile makes its way onto her face, “Are you serious?!”

“Yes! I feel like it’s been a long time coming, and besides, I miss everyone.” Emersyn pouts, “And with mom and dad going on their little getaway and Ryder busy with his own life, I need this.”

“I’ve been telling you that you need a break!” A male voice calls throughout the background just as a shirt lands on her head.

“Justin! Stop messing up my bedroom! Go home to your wife!”

“You said you would go get waffles with me!”

“Ugh! Fine! I’ll see you guys in a couple of days! Love ya’ll!”

“We love you, sweetheart!” Ellen blows the young woman a kiss before hanging up, “Oh, I’m so happy! Our girl is coming home for the summer!”

Jim smiles sweetly at his wife, his own excitement building up in his chest, “Maybe this is the summer where Quinn will get his head out of his ass and finally admit that he’s had feelings for her from the very first summer she stopped coming.”

June 10, 2022

The slick black car pulled into the driveway of the Hughes lake house, cars piled up outside from the amount of people staying there this summer.

Choosing to get her stuff from the trunk later, the brunette girl bounces up the stairs and knocks on the door.

The red wooden door opens up and Emersyn grins when she notices that Ellen is the one to open it.

“Emmie, my sweet girl!” Ellen pulls her into a tight hug, both women hugging each other for dear life, “Oh, I’ve missed you so much!”

“I missed you! You’re making me cry!” Emersyn can feel herself tear up as they pull away from each other, the brunette wiping her tears away.

“I heard our girls voice!” Jim’s booming voice filled the air as he comes around the corner, straight to the girl he had practically helped raise since she was eight. “Hi, honey.”

“Hi.”

“Come on, all the boys are out on the dock.” Jim leads the girl towards the back door as his wife follows along. “Hey, boys! Look what that cat dragged in!”

Everyone turns in the direction of Jim's voice, shouts of happiness leaving the lips of those who knew Emersyn on a personal level as they rushed to hug her, all of them talking over each other.

But two people stood off to the side, both with totally different emotions swirling around.

Jack stood with a dropped jaw, tears pooling as he it had been years since they had spent a summer with each other. Of course, the two talked on the daily and texted, checking up on each other. And Emersyn had been to a handful of his hockey games while Jack tried to go to as many concerts of hers as he could.

But they hadn’t actually spent a summer together since the summer that Quinn had embarrassed her after Luke spilled her secret about her crush on Quinn — one that was still so much present even though it had been years.

Quinn sat off to the side, his entire body frozen as he takes in the girl standing in front of him. The two hadn’t talked since that one summer. And every time Quinn tried to get Jack to give him the singers new number, his brother always refused.

If she wanted him to have it, then she would’ve given it to him.

“Holy, fu— is this real?” Jack asked from his place, watching as his best friend nodded her head.

“Hi, Jacky.”

And that’s all it took for the two best friends to rush towards each other, Jack picking the brunette up to hold her to him tightly, the middle Hughes boy swaying them slightly.

“Are you here for the summer?” He mumbles in her neck, only loud enough for her to hear.

“Yes. I decided that it—,”

“No. Let me help you get your stuff up to your room.” Jack cuts her off, placing a hand on the small of her back, pushing her towards the inside of the lake house.

It’s quiet as Jack watches Emersyn unpacking her stuff in the bedroom that was designated for her when she came to the Lake House for the summer, which for the last nine years had stayed empty.

“The entire summer?”

Emersyn laughs as she pushes the now empty suitcase under the bed, “I’m here the entire summer. Well, I do have to fly back to California in a couple of days just for a concert. I promised Justin I’d come sing Overboard with him.”

Jack nods as she comes to sit next to him on the bed, “How’s that crush on Quinn?”

Emersyn groans, throwing herself back as she uses the palms of her hands to cover her eyes, “You would think that after nine years, and one toxic ass relationship, that I wouldn’t have one anymore but it hasn’t gone away.”

“Might help if you stopped watching his games, or stopped looking over his Instagram, or let me set you up on a date with —,”

“I’m not going on a date with anybody for your team.” She cuts his off, “Dawson and Nico are great guys, but no.”

“Worth a shot.” He shrugged.

“I tried really hard to forget about my crush on Quinn, but it seems impossible. And I know that he doesn’t feel the same way, he made that pretty clear in 2013, but….,”

“You want him to return the feelings.” Jack smiles softly.

“Yeah.” Emersyn sighs, “God, that sounds so stupid.”

“Maybe one day he will. It’d be nice if you were my sister one day.” Jack smirks, nudging his foot with hers before the smirk drops, “I don’t know how I’d feel about it though.”

“What do you mean?” She sits up, eyebrows pinched together is confusion.

“Emmie, he broke your heart to the point that you haven’t been here is nine years. He let his friends laugh at you. He embarrassed you.” Jack shakes his head, “He’s by brother, and I love him, but your my sister and I love you just as much.”

“Jack! Stop hogging Emmie!” Trevor rushed into the bedroom, cutting off the conversation between the two best friends as he picks the singer up and throws her over his shoulder.

“Trevor!” Emersyn squealed, clutching tightly to his sides to make sure she wouldn’t slip from his grip. “Put me down!”

“I don’t think so, pop star.”

June 11, 2022

Emersyn had officially made it an entire day without talking to Quinn. Trevor and Jack had done a great job at keeping her as far away from her as possible.

But this morning as she was sitting on the porch, watching the sun rise, she had no luck seeing as she was the only one awake.

“Hey.” Quinn comes to sit in the empty seat next to her.

“Hi.” She doesn’t turn her head to look at him as he shoulders tense.

Quinn notices the way she rubs the palms of her hands on her bare thighs, a habit that she picked up on when she was nervous about something.

“How’s things in sunny California?” He asked, leaning back in his seat.

“Good. I finally moved out of Justin’s place.” Emersyn nods, “Which isn’t all too great ‘cause I live next door and he can just walk in whenever he feels like it.”

Having been a minor when she first moved to California, her parents staying in Michigan, she needed an adult to live with, and Justin offered to be her legal guardian until she was old enough.

And the brunette wanted to move out whenever Hailey had moved in with him, but both told her to stay, and she ended up doing that until about a months ago.

“Emmie.” The door slides open and Luke pops his head out with a pout, “Will you make me some of your pancakes?”

A giggle leaves her lips as she stands up, walking towards him, “Come on you big baby.”

Quinn watches the girl walk inside with his youngest brother, a sign leaving his lips as he throws his head back, “I am so fucked.”

June 14, 2022

“We need to talk.” Quinn shuts Jack’s bedroom door as the Devil’s player was trying to find a specific t-shirt that Emersyn had asked him to get so that she could throw it over her swim suit.

“Talk about what?” Jack doesn’t turn from his closet as he pushes clothes around.

“I’m in love with Emersyn.”

Jack freezes as the words come from his brother’s mouth, t-shirt clutches tightly in his fist before he shakes his head, “No.”

“No? What do you mean ‘no’?” Quinn looks at his brother in confusion as Jack turns to him.

“You think I’m going to let you love my best friend after what happened?” Jack asked, a dry chuckle leaving his lips. “Think again.”

“Jack—,”

“No. It has been nine years since I’ve spent an entire summer with Emmie because of you.” Jack tells him, “Hell, she didn’t even come to Luke’s first NHL game that she promised him she would come to because she didn’t want to face you.”

“I know! Jack, I was 13–,”

“I don’t give a damn if you were 31! Emmie has spent her entire life trying to please you, to make you see her as more than my best friend!” Jack’s voice grew louder as his grip on the t-shirt got tighter, knuckles turning white out of anger. “I’ll be damned if you hurt her all over again!”

“Jack—,”

“Tell her.”

“What? No!”

Jack’s jaw flexes as he clenches down on his teeth, “Either you tell her right now, or I do it.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Not fair? You what’s not fair?! Her being gone for nine years, not wanting to step foot into this lake house, because you hurt her and embarrassed her!” Jack’s voice carried throughout the house as he makes his way down the stairs, feet pounding loudly with each step that he took.

“Jack! Stop!”

“Emmie!” Jack calls out for the girl as he holds the t-shirt out to her.

“Oh, thank yo—,”

“Quinn is in love with you.”

Silence falls over the entire lake house, Emersyn's standing in shock as she holds the t-shirt in her hand.

"Jack." Quinn hisses, not able to tear his gaze away from the fallen expression on Emersyn's face. "Emmie."

"Stop." Her voice cracks as she holds a hand up, pushing the t-shirt into his chest as she walks by him and heads up the stairs.

"Seriously?" Quinn looks at his little brother before following after the brunette, "Emmie! Hey, Emersyn, talk to me!"

"What the hell just happened?" Trevor asked after closing his mouth after it fell open in shock.

“Emmie, will you please open the door?” Quinn calls out as he knocks on the bedroom door, forehead pressed against the wooden surface.

Silence fills the air as the brunette inside doesn’t say a word, throwing stuff into a suitcase as she texted Justin that she wanted to come back a day earlier for at least a couple of days to clear her head.

"Emersyn, please!" Quinn knocks once again before the doorknob is turning and the Canucks player pushed it open standing in the doorway, "What are you doing?"

"I have to go back to Cali to do a show. I don't have the time to talk." She replies as her phone dings, Justin texting her back with flight information for flight that was leaving in two hours.

"So, you're just gonna runaway again?"

Emersyn spun around, "I didn't runaway the first time! I was heartbroken, embarrassed! I took some time for myself because thirteen-year-old me was heartbroken!"

"Emmie--,"

"I seriously don't have the time for this." Emersyn says with a shake of her head, grabbing the now zipped suitcase and quickly walking out of the bedroom.

Quinn stands there for a moment before he's rushing after her, ignoring the looks from all of the hockey players spread out in his lake house living room. "I love you! Is that what you wanted to hear?! I'm in love with you!"

"I am not talking about this right this moment. I have a plane to catch."

"So that's it?"

Emersyn spins around to look at him once more as a tear falls from her eyes, "I waited nine years for you to say something, to heart you say that you loved me the way that I love you. Nine. I'm sure you can wait a couple of days before I'm ready to talk."

And with those last words, Emersyn walks out of the door, leaving Quinn standing there.

[nic-cage-incognito]

In the Springtime:

2nd person, subject character is Marion

Something wrong is growing in the fields of Almaren. Only you can see this root bursting from the seed under virgin soil and how it deadens the particles before they have the opportunity to nourish crops and scatter in the wind. Dread rises in your throat on behalf of the first forays of your family’s grand experiment in this land. It is simply too soon for these fields to fail.

You reach out with pristine fingers. You don’t mind to dirty them so long as what’s left behind is clean. This black root is pinched up in one flick and it dangles limp and offended, as if it had no intention of souring the tobacco that grows lush and fragrant next to groves of humid orange trees, yes, no intention at all of growing broad and ruinous to the spongy foundations of your home. You have seen what it could do, understood the vile potential this root and many others like it bear which you have ripped from the labors of your father’s wife. This is why Aule doesn’t mind your wandering breaks to the far edges of the fields.

Rich green rows stretch out forever. You’re aware that somewhere on the other side, your little island reaches its end, but even your eyes can’t see it from here. Golden light flickers on the small white buds clustered about swaying stalks of aligned plants and their fat, sloping leaves that drip down to the earth. It’s ever springtime in Almaren since the day your feet, flesh as they are in this form, first brushed against the bayou shore. The world unfolds before you, ripe in promise and potential and it is perfect.

That waxy light pouring onto the swaths of thick crops and shining in your eyes comes from tall pillars on either end of your world who stretch into the clouds, atop which flames from intricate braziers waffle and bend in the weak wind. Your handiwork. The twining and twisting metal braziers that contain the daylight’s embers bear your fingerprints alongside your father’s as signature, sunken into the molten metal.

A smile pries at the corners of your mouth. “Look not upon your successes with want for glory,” are the words set to ringing in your ears, “Or you’ll cease to remember how glory tastes, and remember only the wanting.” But how can something that your own hands wrought bring you any harm?

“Trust in the Powers,” you were bid as well, and would it not be a mistake to not trust in how you were made?

You are perfect too, whose mind was crafted by God himself and placed here in this haven. As it’s told to you by that great preacher who sits in the big house at the edge of the bayou: God wouldn’t create anything less than everything in his image.

[sea-creature-things]

Slow Down Time

A huntlow fanfic

This is a huntlow story about the BIID (Boiling Isles Independence Day) and Hunter struggling with his feelings about it.

They are so cute together, enjoy <33

Read here below the cut or on AO3 with this link:

Hunter was lounging on the floor of Willow’s room, the afternoon sun shining through her curtains. Waffles and Clover were playing, flying around the giant green vines thriving around the room. Willow was sitting cross-legged next to him, writing something in her notebook.

They were surrounded by books and articles, pieces of paper scattered everywhere. Willow had an important presentation for one of her plant track subjects, so Hunter offered to help her prepare. He really just wanted to spend time with his girlfriend and, by the way she had smirked, Willow saw right through him.

Besides, if there was any kind of homework she didn’t need help with it would be plant magic.

He just really wanted to be close to her. It made him feel better, especially today. Also, listening to her talk about flowers and true roots in the evolutionary tree of plants was a nice distraction.

Waffles caught up to Clover, apparently winning a game of tag with a tiebreaker. The palismen had tired themselves out, collapsing on the little bee’s bed. They snuggled up in the sunlight, not that it offered much warmth this time of year, but they just gravitated towards it like the little plants they technically were.

As he noticed the beam of light on the floor had moved a few inches again, Hunter felt an uncomfortable feeling creep in and settle in his stomach. He was reminded that he’d have to go home for dinner soon. And soon after that he’d go to bed. And soon after that it would be tomorrow.

Another day closer to the Boiling Ilses Independence Day.

He stretched his arms and rolled over the ground, until he landed on his back with his head in Willow’s lap.

“Hi~” Hunter said, looking up at her pleasantly surprised smile. She put her notebook aside, seeing as he’d basically taken its place and forced her attention on him.

“Hey there~” She replied with a flirty tone, not minding his ploy for affection at all. Actually, she loved how comfortable he’d become with her touch. As long as she wasn’t overwhelming him of course.

She kissed her index finger and booped his nose with it, giggling at his delighted expression. Blissfully enjoying this sweet moment.

Hunter’s stomach erupted in a whole flock of butterflies. She still made him feel so weightless after a whole year. Not that it was their anniversary or anything, but it was around this time he realised how much she meant to him.

He was the last to realise though, as Gus loved to remind him.

He settled contently as Willow kept brushing her finger over his nose, closing his eyes. But the feeling didn’t last. He couldn’t keep the dread from creeping into the edges of his mind.

Her promise that he could tell her everything, anything anytime, suddenly ringing in his ears. She had beat it through his thick skull with much care and he knew it was true.

But he was still a little reluctant.

“I wanna leave.” He finally confesses, forcing it out like a terrible secret he was sworn to keep.

“Okay…?” Willow stopped brushing his nose, taken aback by his intense tone. And honestly a little disappointed too, she thought they were having a nice moment. “You can if you want to.”

Pointing her thumb over her shoulder towards the door, she gave Hunter a puzzled look. Which sent the shock of realisation through his spine.

“No!” He instantly reacted, a little too loudly. He felt his face heat up from embarrassment and paused briefly before explaining himself better. “No, not leave your house, just… leave.”

Maybe not that much better.

Willow smiled softly, he sounded so sad. She ran her fingers through his hair, wishing she could help him.

“And go where?” She decided to ask. She still didn’t really understand what he meant, but just asking for clarification didn’t feel like the right move.

“I don’t know,” he admitted downcast. He shrugged as well as he could with his shoulders essentially trapped in place by her knees. He searched his mind for anywhere he’d like to go instead. “Australia?”

“What?” She was utterly dumbfounded.

A very welcome wave of excitement washed over him as he thought about it more. He shot upright, turning around and looking at his girlfriend enthusiastically.

“Yeah, it’ll be great! We’ll pet kangaroos, feed dolphins, dodge deadly spiders.” He wiggled his fingers at her face, making her giggle as she shooed his ’creepy-crawly hands’ away. He clasp his hands together in a pleading pose. “Run away to Australia with me Willow!”

She burst out laughing and Hunter followed not long after.

“Hunter, we have school.” Willow eventually said as counterargument, as it was the only thing she could think of right now. She was still astonished by his idea and his eagerness for it. “We can’t just go to Australia.”

“We have a week off from school soon.” He smirked, completely indifferent to the absurdity of his own plan.

The more he thought about it, the more he actually wanted to travel across the ocean. Luz had told him a lot about Australia after the first time they watched Bluey. She showed a few videos on her phone and let him research some more on her laptop.

She’d explained the concept of countries way back when they were trapped in the human realm. It was very weird for them, as the other Titans were usually not inhabited and none of them had ever been away from their own Titan. But Australia was definitely his favourite, with its strange creatures that bore a striking resemblance to the demons of his home.

“Yeah, for the Ilses’ Independence Day.” Willow reminded him and it felt like a bucket of ice water was dumped on his head.

Hunter’s bright smile fell, he looked away and fidgeted with his hands. Her stomach squirmed and her heart broke as she finally understood what this was all about.

“Oh…“ she couldn’t help but utter softly. Willow reached out to hold his face, rubbing her thumb over his scarred cheek. She stood on her knees to be taller than him and started kissing his forehead.

“I was never enthusiastic about it,” He despondently closed his eyes, leaning into her touch for support. Her soft pecks were painfully hard to focus on. “But the closer it gets the more I just want to… leave.”

She sat back down, placing a soothing hand on her boyfriend’s knee.

“I understand.” Willow struggled with what to say next. She wanted to help and support him so badly, but she also desperately wanted to go to the celebration with her family. “But I… kinda wanna be home for that, I’m so sorry.”

At once, Hunter wanted to bash his head into the wall from his own stupidity. This is the first time the Isles was celebrating the liberation from Belos and the Collector. Of course she’d want to spend that time with her dads!

“No, no, no.” He desperately waved his hands in front of him. “Please don’t say sorry, I totally get it. You don’t have to come with me- I mean… I’m probably not going anywhere anyways and-”

Willow cut his rambling off by pulling him into a tight hug. Hunter took a deep breath, enjoying the hug and letting it calm him down.

Willow let go, too fast for his liking, and started cleaning all her homework scattered around. Hunter stacked her huge textbooks and placed them on her desk, then watched as she grabbed a blanket and sat down on the edge of her bed. She pat the space next to her and he didn’t hesitate to oblige.

When hunter sat down, she wrapped the blanket around both their shoulders like a warm shield. He rested his head on her shoulder. Waffles and Clover woke up, flying over from the bee’s fluffy bed. The sun was gone and tomorrow came ever closer.

Hunter sighed. Everything anything anytime, right?

“I wish time would slow down, so I could stay here forever.” He mumbled as Waffles hopped in place on his leg, demanding chin scratches.

Willow sighed and smiled weakly. She wanted to agree, but her brain had a different plan. She cocked her head to the side and leaned slightly forward to look at his face, faking confusion.

“Specifically here or just generally in this time?” She teased him as her devious side took over. As she waved one hand vaguely around the space, Hunter rolled his eyes.

“Specifically here.” He deadpanned, removing his head from her shoulder and catching her hands. He pouted with his gaze locked on her fingers, rubbing them softly with his thumbs.

“I wish that too.” She whispered, interlocking their fingers. “I can’t believe it’s already been a year.”

“Yeah…”

They sat in silence for a while. This time Willow put her head on his shoulder and Hunter rested his on her. Their palismen tried to entertain them, playing tug-of-war with the ends of the blanket. Which were pretty much stuck in place by the bodies of their owners.

They were cute, Hunter would give them that.

“… so why Australia?” Willow suddenly asked, a confused look in her eyes and an amusement smile dancing on her lips.

“I know we can’t actually go there.” Hunter muttered, the tips of his ears heating up.

“But why?” Willow asked again. He felt her head trying to escape so he sat up straight in order for her to do the same. She gave him a spurring but kind look.

“Well…” His voice trailed off. An almost nauseating feeling surfaced, but he swallowed it away. He continued as lighthearted as he could. “I can’t be on the Ilses and I can’t be in Gravesfield…”

“So Australia is the logical next step.” She said matter-of-factly, grinning as she bumped her shoulder against his.

“Willow,” Hunter took a deep breath, clapping his hands together and pointing them at her. “They have Emus.”

They both laughed, loudly and full of snorts. Willow’s papa voice interrupted their fit, telling her it was time for dinner. They both exclaimed, loudly and full of disappointment.

Willow stole a quick kiss before jumping off the bed, still making Hunter feel completely euphoric. He got up much slower, carefully folding up the blanket and stalling for time in the most obvious way.

“Why don’t you ask Darius to take you?” Willow asked as she took the blanket and lovingly tugged him towards the door.

“Yeah right.”


“Why not?”

“He planned almost every part of the celebration!” Hunter retorted, whistling to Waffles to leave Clover alone and follow them downstairs.

“It was a group effort.” She shrugged with a cat-like smile.

“Willow…” He shot her a cracky, tight-lipped look.


“I’m serious!” She laughed. “He really cares about you Hunter, you should know that by now.”

He remained quiet, not really sure what to say but also not wanting to say it.

When they got downstairs, Hunter first greeted her parents as they made quick smalltalk about the presentation, then he said goodbye to them. As he put his shoes on in the hallway, Willow studied him like one of her articles on moss.

“Listen,” Willow held onto him in the doorway before he could leave. “If you tell him how you feel, I’m one hundred percent sure he’d drop everything and fly you to Australia himself.”

“You don’t actually know where it is, do you?” Hunter squinted his eyes. He stepped closer to the door, grateful for a few more minutes with her.


“No idea,” She shrugged, earning a soft chuckle from her boyfriend. “But that’s not the point!”

Hunter couldn’t tear his eyes away from her intense stare.

“Fine…” he relented, Willow cheered and clapped her hands excitedly. “But I’m telling you, it’s not gonna happen.”

_______ _______

“Hunter, let me get a picture!” Darius yelled from across the field. He speed walked over, because the caretakers of the animal sanctuary had told them not to run. It could spook the kangaroos. “I promised Camila I’d take as many as I could.”

“She would’ve loved this.” Hunter laughed as he made sure the baby kangaroo in his arms was secure and comfortable. He held the bottle at the best angle for the sweet baby. This might be the cutest thing he’s ever seen in his life.

“Smile!” Darius said as he snapped a few pictures with his scroll. He seemed satisfied with the result, then suddenly realised he was standing in a field and looked disapprovingly at his dusty boots.

“I’m going over there again.” He pointed to the gravel road next to the field where visitors could still feed and pet the kangaroos that came close to the fence. “Remind me to get a souvenir for Eda before we leave tomorrow. She went through all that trouble to get us on a plane.”

“Sure,” Hunter nodded. The bottle was empty so he put it down and started just petting the tiny human realm creature instead. “Were visiting the Outback tomorrow, right?”

“Indeed.” Darius said proudly, puffing out his chest. He’d spend a lot of time planning this road trip after Hunter told him how much he was dreading the Independence Day back home.

Turned out Willow was right. Again.

“They’ll be lots of those creatures you love.” Darius wiggled his hands around to imitate spiders “And then Eber can actually come out of the car.”

“You think he’s still upset?” Hunter craned his neck, trying to see the jeep they had rented in the city.

“Nah,” Darius waved his concerns away. “He knows it would be bad for the humans to see him, but he was pretty sad he’d have to miss these little angels.”

“I think he’ll have more fun with the creatures.” Hunter smiled, writhing his free hand in the same way Darius had done. His guardian rolled his eyes and chuckled in amusement, leaving for the safe gravel at long last. Hunter went back to petting the bundle of soft kangaroo fur.

He was so incredibly happy right now.

[engie-ivy]

(@wolfstarmicrofic Wolfstar loosely based on the movie Stardust)

10th: Myth

843 words

He Who Possesses the Heart of a Star

Remus barely manages to find a table to have his morning tea and read his paper. The fact that the cafés, bars and restaurants are all overflowing with people definitely proves that tourist season is well on its way, and every year, their picturesque small town seems to attract more visitors.

Remus is sitting outside on a terrace overlooking the town square. He would’ve preferred a bit more shadow, but as he’s lucky to have found a place at all, he really can’t complain. At the table next to him, a mother with two young children is seated, the family definitely being tourists. The mother is flipping through the menu, while the boy, probably around twelve years old, is reading from a travel guide to his little sister.

“They say that over three hundred years ago, a star fell from the sky and landed right in this very town,” the boy says. “The crater can actually still be seen at the west side. And it was not just any star! It was Sirius, before that fateful moment the brightest star in the sky.” He looks over the book towards his little sister, who’s looking at him with big eyes, and he continues in a low, ominous voice. “As it is said that possessing the heart of a star can grand you eternal life, this town was soon overflowing with power-hungry knights, savvy traders, opportunistic adventurers, hopeful thieves, ambitious warlocks and, most of all, ugly witches longing to have their youth and beauty back,” he reads. “All wanting to rip out the heart of the star and live forever!”

His little sister shrieks, and their mother gives the boy a stern look.

“But alas, the star was never found,” the boy quickly finishes.

“Because it is only a myth,” their mother says soothingly to the little girl, before turning to the boy. “So stop scaring your sister with silly stories!”

“But the crater is really here, though!” The boy says. “Can we go see, mum? Please?”

Remus puts his empty mug down and fishes some coins out of his pocket that he drops on the table, before standing up to make his way home.

Walking westwards, Remus passes the tour guides showing groups around town and the groups of tourists taking pictures of the old town house. He walks past the shop at the corner, where there used to be a weaver for three generations long, until it was turned into a tailor, even a candle maker for some time, and then into a grocery for a few decades. Now, it is a flashy shop where they sell Oreo waffles with Nutella topping or something like that.

As Remus comes home, his husband is lying on the couch scrolling through his smartphone.

“Those things are really going to be the downfall of society,” Remus scoffs.

His husband looks up with a raised eyebrow. “You said the same thing when they invented the TV, and who needs to watch his favourite shows now every night?”

Remus glares at him, and his husband sighs and puts his phone away. “Okay, what has gotten you in such a mood?”

“This town is becoming more of a tourist trap with each passing year. Nothing is like the good old days anymore,” Remus grumbles.

His husband rolls his eyes. “Okay, grandpa.”

“Oi! I look much younger than I am,” Remus protests as he sits down on the couch next to his husband.

“Oh, I don’t deny that,” his husband chuckles as he lies down with his head in Remus’ lap. “But on the inside, you’re just a grumpy old man.”

Remus almost automatically starts carding his fingers through his husband’s hair, who closes his extraordinary silver eyes, and here, in the safety and comfort of their own home, starts softly glowing.

“I guess the tourists do make the place more lively,” Remus admits.

His husband hums contently. “And they are a whole lot better than those starhunters who used to come here.”

“Did you know they still tell that story?” Remus asks. “It’s actually in the travel guides.”

His husband opens his eyes. “Really?”

“Oh yeah,” Remus grins. “All about how people came from all over the world searching for Sirius, the brightest star that had fallen from the sky, lured by the promise of eternal life.”

“Well, as obnoxious as they were, I suppose I can’t blame them,” his husband says. “I mean, it is quite something, isn’t it?” He takes Remus’ hand and places it over his heart, covering it with his own. “To live forever because you completely possess the heart of the brightest star?”

Remus regards his husband with a well-known surge of affection and a strong and familiar feeling of love, regards the man who crashed into his life all those years ago and has made his every day brighter since, literally and figuratively. “Yes,” he replies. “It is quite something indeed.”

No man can live forever, except he who possesses the heart of a star, and Sirius had given his to Remus completely.

[aladaylessecondblog]

Red Mountain Waffle House Pt. 1

A job, the skooma-head (or sugartooth around here) had said. But she'd have to come up with some cover by doing some favors for the Fighters' Guild and Mages' Guild. And collect some information from them, too...honestly, it was such a load of shit and the guy looked so crazy Sadara could only make quick excuses before rushing out the door.

A spymaster for the Blades? That guy was crazy, and obviously lying. And that package, who knew what was actually in it. Probably she was just made into some kind of drug mule, and she wasn't eager to get into THAT business, however profitable it might be. That business about the Emperor was obviously some kind of front.

Why the port at Seyda Neen had insisted on giving her those papers and what they meant - it wasn't going to be HER problem any longer. She'd find her own way just like she always had.

Emperor my ass, that was probably a smuggler taking a lofty title.

Guarshit. Absolute guarshit. She didn't feel the least bit bad about lifting a couple cigarettes from Caius's stash--not like he was using them anyway, not from how dusty they were and how blistered that spoon under his bed looked.

Jiub, she had to find Jiub. If that man was good at anything it was finding a way to land on his feet. Murder charges - what did that really matter, he'd been charged with murder before and gotten off every time.

Sadara found herself mainly hunting cliffracers for awhile, remembering Jiub saying now and then in a skooma-induced haze that he had a dream to eradicate them. Not that she would herself, but it was a profitable venture, even if it did result in a few new scars. Between Balmora and Ald'ruhn she'd trek, selling the plumes and anything else she might have found on the way there.

Not a glamorous living, but she'd see Jiub every now and then in Ald'ruhn and a friend she saw now and then was better than nothing. He was pursuing a similar course of action on a different track, though when she mentioned she'd like to have an actual job and not just live by freelancing, he promised to keep an ear out for something.

In this cycle did she live for several months before finding that, on a new visit to Ald'ruhn, Jiub wasn't where he'd usually be.

A letter waited for her instead.

Sadara,

Remember how you said you wanted a steady job that didn't involve freelancing? I've got something that might suit you. They just opened up a Waffle House in the Red Mountain region. Shithole neighborhood, but it's steady work and they'll take basically anyone, even if you've got priors. Lucky for me, huh?

Anyway, I told the manager I had someone in mind and they're willing to hold a job for you. Just show up, try not to be too drunk, and the job's yours. (I'll be honest, I'm looking for someone to split the rent on my new place with too, and it's not a good idea to live alone here anyway.)

P.S. I included some gold, buy me a pack of Balmora Lights before you head up here.

-----------------------------

There weren't that many houses and such on the outside of the Ghostfence...as if civilization just stopped at its border. The silt strider stop was covered in graffiti, and someone was asleep underneath the bench at the foot of the stairs.

"Has the tower fallen?" a male voice called out. He lifted his head. "The red tower! It burns!"

Oh, so not asleep just yet.

"Tower's fine, man, go back to sleep."

That seemed to satisfy the mer, and he went quiet again. Sadara headed on to the Ghostgate entrance itself, and after being warned about the blight winds for what had to be the millionth time so far since she arrived in Morrowind, she pulled her turtleneck up, tilted her hat down, and tried to keep her eyes on the directions on her phone screen.

It really is just like home.

Now she was on the road to it, though, she was at leisure to think about why the Empire would put a Waffle House in the Red Mountain region anyway. Sure there were other restaurants, but mainly hole-in-the-wall type places catering to the ebony miners and buoyant armigers. Local places. A Waffle House was an Imperial thing, and it seemed like this was the LAST place they'd want to have one. This wasn't exactly Hlaalu territory.

It was a Hlaalu kind of move, though, to put Imperial stuff where it wasn't--

The building appeared in her sight when she rounded a corner. The blight winds didn't ease up a bit, but it was hard to miss the glaring yellow of the sign overhead -

WAFFLE HOUSE

A lighthouse in the red fog of this absolute wasteland.

Sadara struggled forward, thinking only of getting out of the dusty wind, and--

--nearly fell on her ass.

Groaning, she looked down, noting a brief glitter among the red grit at her feet. She reached down and picked up...a ring? Pretty polished silver with a moon, a burned bronze star, and a small diamond (or a fake, it was hard to tell) set in the middle. It looked valuable and she couldn't figure why it would be out here. Maybe someone was stealing it and just happened to drop it here while on the rung?

It slipped so nicely onto the ring finger of her right hand, too.

She decided to consider it a gift from above, and headed on into the Waffle House before she wasted any more time out in the storm.

----------------------------------------------------------

Jiub was right. The manager, a thin elderly Dunmer woman, seemed fairly reasonable about her application.

"My name's Nibani Maesa, I'm the manager here. You didn't show up drunk or blasted out of your mind, that's already a point in your favor. Have you waited tables before?"

"Yeah, a few times. Once for a place in Bravil and then a couple different places in Leyawiin."

"Have you got priors?"

"A few bar fights." Sadara paused when the woman gave her a look. "Being drunk in public...possession."

"Can you handle yourself if you're attacked?"

"I lived on the Waterfront in the Imperial City for two years, I can handle anything with my fists."

That seemed to satisfy her and after a few questions more the woman gave a nod. "You've got the job. Whatever Jiub told you, though, we've got rules. Don't fuck in the freezer, don't sleep in the storage, and if you absolutely HAVE to smoke skooma, do it in the bathroom like a civilized mer. We clear?"

"Yeah, but...people fuck in the freezer?" Sadara's hands came up as she laughed.

"Don't ask. So long as..." Nibani's exasperated tone faded off rather suddenly, and her gaze was directed at Sadara's right hand. "That ring, where did you get it?"

"Huh? Oh, is it yours?" She held her right hand out. "I found it outside...looks nice, doesn't it?"

She started to take it off, but was surprised when Nibani stopped her.

"No, no, it's not mine, but you might want to be careful showing it off around here, especially if the buoyant armigers drop by."

The woman muttered something else under her breath, something Sadara was certain she wasn't intended to hear.

"Azura preserve me..."

"What about the corprus monsters everyone keeps saying are all over the place?"

"Oh no, the corprus monsters are easy by comparison. Lesson one - put something on the jukebox that's catchy with an easy repeating beat, and they'll forget what they were mad about."

"What about, uh...the smarter ones? I've heard there are..."

"Be polite and they're fine. And try to ignore the religious proselytizing they're doing, no matter how nice the pamphlets are or how much you might like the painting on the covers. Seems every year they get an artist to add another set of abs to the picture of their god on the front."

"They WHAT."

"Rule number two," Nibani lit up a cigarette, "Don't ask anyone that follows him about the devil of Dagoth. They'll keep you at their table half the night and do nothing but say how glorious you could be in his service and how we're all meant to serve a higher power. Some nonsense about dreams, that sort of thing. You understand."

"Suppose I accidentally get roped into the conversation?"

"Be polite...but noncommittal. And don't get your hands too close to their mouths - the ones that still have a mouth, anyway. They'll bite you and you'll catch corprus. We've got gloves for when we need to serve people that've got it."

"Why not just stop them coming in?"

"Because their gold spends just as well as anyone else's...and if they bring in one of their amulets, we take those too. They're symbols of that devil but they're valuable enough to pay your rent for a few months."

"So..." Sadara paused, a a little awkwardly. "When do I start?"

"Tomorrow," Nibani replied, "You're rooming with Jiub, right? How do you feel about the night shift? Would be safer for you to go back and forth in this neck of the woods if you've got someone to go with."

"Night shift's fine...and thanks. For thinking about my safety."

[vthetease]

my favorite things

it's me birthday

so just incase anyone wanted to know some stuff about V

heres some random info about my life as well as some of my favorite things

i am a libra sun, aquarius moon, capricorn rising

i like dark chocolate more than any other; i have since i first got my period. i like gummy candy and starbursts but my favorite are the little cola bottle candies. i like tea and coffee sweet, but flavorful. i like energy drinks and slushees and wanted my first tattoo to be a cola-mtn dew slushee but it wasnt. i like waffles more than pancakes but would prefer a toaster strudel or muffin. i like apples and lemons and cinnamon and garlic and truffle and black cherries but not maraschino. i dont like onions or cilantro or swiss cheese. i dont like chili because something about the consistency of wet, tomato-ee hamburger makes me ill. i also can't drink hard liquor.

i like smells like thick cologne that lingers and juniper and spearmint and old houses and honeysuckle and the smells of the earth when it stops raining in the summer. i like the smell of other peoples laundry soap and coffee more than my own. i like eucalyptus and aloe and teakwood and dragons blood incense.

i like classic rock from my dad and 80s pop ballads from my mom and afi and lincoln park from my older sibling and 4*TOWN for my younger sibling. one of my earliest loves in music was Paramore, and hayley is an inspiration of mine. i like pop punk and the band ive seen the most is sleeping with sirens, 4 times now. i like hip hop and rnb and acapella and piano. i like music that makes me feel alive. anything from violin to screaming, i just like passion. i'm a very passionate person and always have been despite myself.

i sing and like singing in the car, while i shower, and cook. i am very loud but sometimes can do cool things. i like how singing makes me happy and helps me relate to other people and also my predecessors. i like how i feel connected to those before me through my voice. my first time singing in public was my 4th grade talent show. I sang The Only Exception by Paramore because my parents thought Almost Lover was too dramatic and adult for a 12 year old

i like old movies and i used to fall asleep to them at my grandparents and wake up to them at weekends at my dads apartment. i like musicals like ride the cyclone and drama like the fault in our stars and action like john wick and will always be down for a horror movie. i like get out and candyman and hereditary and black swan and blair witch and creep. i like the twilight zone and rod serling has a special place in my heart. i also like alex trebek from jeopardy, matthew grey gubler, penn badgely, andrew scott, evan peters, and my biggest current celeb crush is matt rife.

i like being alone in busy places. i like to talk to people but i also like to disappear to the other room during the party. im the girl you find sitting outside sometimes smoking, or on the balcony. i enjoy walking back into a concert midsong and seeing all the happy little people being happy. i like stepping away from chaos to appreciate it. i like driving on highways at night when its empty and im high. i like watching airplanes land. i like sleep and i sleep in a tank top and underwear but never socks. my dreams always take me back to this very similiar place every single night doing different tasks with different people. i might start calling it the twilight zone. i like to paint my emotions in my makeup and artwork. i have always felt very deeply and openly.

i like the moon and the stars and it is so fascinating to learn about the same beautiful big rock my ancestors saw. i feel drawn to white butterflies and birds and bumblebees and skinks ( they r tiny lizards). i like history and culture, but im really bad at math.

thats all i can come up with for now. if you have any questions let me know

thanks for reading about me, lmk if youre in love yet

valentine, 22 today <3

[colesstar]

Tell me about land of the stories

FUCK OKAU SO- (also read the tags :33)

theres these twins - Alex and Connor, their dad used to own a bookshop but then he died close to their birthday i think? Its been a while since ive last read the wishing spell which is a but sad. Their mums a nurse but obviously they dont get paid enough (still true now aswell !!) so they had to move into a smaller house. They have a grandmother too she’s important. OKAY SO ALEX - She’s like your smart kid who nobody likes because shes smart which is lowkey kinda sad i love her shes also canonically autistic because i said so btw. ANYWAYS uhm when she was younger her dad would be the one who told her stories to cheer her ip when she was bullied he was really sweet i love mr bailey. She likes fairy tales too brw and is also the type to get excited over encyclopaedias im just waffling but you get the jist

CONNER !! - He is on the opposite hes ig the “funny type” in class theyre in like sixth grade i think? Falls asleep in class yknow that kinda guy hes really sweet tho because despite that he’s sort of always thinking about the people around him that he loves like in An authors odyssey (fifth book i believe) when they travel into his short stories you see how hes got multiple characters based off of his mum and then you see him being happy for Alex whenever she’s genuinely happy its sweet honestly uhm this could be more comprehensible sorry its 1;19 rn

OKAY SO THE WISHING SPELL (book 1)

soo on their twelfth of thirteenth i cant remember birthday their grandma gives them an old fairy tale book, very sentimental the book was always read to the twins as kids when they visited their grandma its lime a happy place. ANYWAYS uhm alex accidentally falls into the book because its actually a MAGIC book and they land in the middle of a ROAD *dun dun DUNNN* in the woods they see a wanted sign for goldilocks i think or that happens later on in the book then they meet a GIANT FROG who they call Froggy i live him btw hence the name @froggysstar of my dead tlos blog. And they ask him if theres anyway homehe tells them about a journal he once found and they follow the journal essentially to find a way home. It tells them about the wishing spell which is made up of the “main objects” of ur famous fairytales because did i mention that theyre in the FAIRY TALE WORLD now. But the main characters of these fairytales are like royalty so that is NOT an easy task. The evil queen from sbow white is there she has a really interesting backstory. Thats like an overview theres more that happens theres six books and there is SO much more to the wishing spell i could talk about but my arms hirt so that is for ANOTHER DAY !!

also its getting too long if i said anything thay is actually INCORRECT please correct me

[thenixkat]

new issue for the current Blue Beetle run dropped

i mean yall landed in Texas… and only got like one brick through a window and Ted's sister on some supervillain shit cause her morality pet little brother hasnt been around enough to keep her xenophobia on the inside. Yer doing pretty well if that and some aliens go home shit is the only bigotry you've faced thus far. Granted wanting to dip is valid also the art on Oo'li's ass is weird. why does she have a thigh gap all the way into her ass cheeks?

also Yeah, I was right about the Horizon being a very very young/recent splinter faction of the Reach. Given how damn old the Reach is, only having been looking for centuries as opposed to the billions of years the Reach has been around if they're only slightly younger than the Oans broke ass superheroes in the house

yall kicked him out the house to start his life over in a new fucking city, why the fuck would he call?

just the fact that we're treating Jaime getting kicked out the house and forced to go live/work elsewhere as just something totally normal and expected is… If yall wanted him to start working you could have just had him start working at the garage that Mr. Reyes owns instead of making him go elsewhere when he was clearly going through some shit They popped up also b/c its Milagro's birthday and she wanted to see him/explore the big city Naomi? The 2016 run is canon to this? Really? That's…certainly a choice. I guess. Not one I would have made. …and certainly, one that makes things make even less sense

just. If the 2016 run is canon to this… I hope that the 2006 run isnt canon. Cause those are incompatible runs and the Reyes look less bad if the 2006 run isnt canon to this like they still look bad, just not nearly as bad as they'd look if the 2006 run was canon and they still decided to kick Jaime out of the house

huh I guess Jaime killing Blood Scarab and its host was not information published online

again I'm still pissed off at the writing choice to make Jaime kill Blood Scarab and its host and the choices in the lead up to it. I don't think well written Jaime would kill someone or entertain the thought of killing someone for more than a second, especially when he'd feel justified in doing so. Like , shit was already covered and the writer of the current run has not proven the chops to pull off a believable drastic turn in Jaime. Especially with the cop out at the last min of Khaji Da taking over to do the killing itself. Khaji Da wasn't able to do that back when it was more murder happy and it went through a lot of character development since. Like writer tried some shit but I dont buy it also whatever happened to Mr. Reyes' cane? ……--- why the absolute cluster fuck is Ted at a board meeting for the Kord company. In. his. superhero. costume. Does he not have a fucking secret identity in this continuity?

the fuck the absolute fuck

Ted… if you fire yer sister… who the fuck is going to run the company? Its not like you have time, otherwise why would the writer have her be in charge if nothing else for you to have the time to superhero

also yer fucking billionaires who gives a fuck if yer being protested? or getting bad press? Lex Corp is still fucking around with Lex in prison you arent doing worse than that rn. Make a public non-apology, do some charity publicity stunts, pay some folks to write nicer articles about you, and move the fuck on

i'm guessing the writers decided on if they're gonna make her go full villain. Given how much she was sniffling and apologizing to Ted last issue this is a bit jarring of a turn. and 11 issues in after a 6 issue miniseries run is a long time to waffle on a character's character

(like nice to see that they finally decided but they wiffled for way too fucking long and her attitude here is a jarring turn from the literal last issue)

bullshit someone called the police, in Texas, on a billionaire, and the police respond

bullshit. If Victoria dont throw some white woman tears and money around and actually gets fucking arrested for Brenda stealing from her, in Texas, and Victoria trying to reclaim her stolen property, in Texas. Man. The writer really expects me to just believe shit huh

to be honest I dont think having Victoria arrested is the smart move here. Especially if Ted's not protesting the arrest. Like, it just seems obvious that it would push her into more supervillain territory and its not like Ted, who helped kidnap and detain someone illegally for days, has any leg to stand on. Morally or legally.

If you've got someone supposedly supergenius smart dealing with someone else supergenius smart and knows that they are that person's morality pet and how the other supergenius thinks. Then tricking them into moving into away from the supervillain side towards a more neutral or heroic side would be a better play than abandoning/openly working against her.

Again, Ted's kidnapped someone in this comic run. Depending on what's canon to this run, Ted's killed people, on purpose and on accident b4. Not almost killed someone, straight up fucking murder on purpose. And not in a elseworld au type beat like Dark Multiverse Countdown.

yeah, what's a better show of intelligence? pushing someone further into a mindset by pushing all the wrong buttons or playing them like a fiddle to the tune you want to see out of them?

Brenda, be realistic, La Dama is very well off but the Kords are fucking billionaires. Yer not gonna get a settlement that even effects them, if it even gets to fucking court

wow, I'm trying to read this. but every other panel just have something that's wrong. Or at least the story isnt good enough to pull me in without nitpicking shit every couple of panels

Traci… the Blood Scarab was made by an Egyptian/whatever the fuck fake country that shit got retconned to magic user. Kha-ef-re has already come back from the dead at least once as a giant mummy. The scarab is a shout out to the god of rejuvenation, resurrection, and the morning sun. Yer a magic user know some magic shit damnit. Its more than likely that Blood Scarab could be back at any second

Madam Xanadu is gonna revive a fucker herself. Ma'am are you at least gonna free the host or are you letting him stay enslaved b/c it suits yer purposes?

huh Jaime uses they/them for Khaji Da

so yeah Oo'li is def supposed to be a love interest for Jaime. Which makes me hate how humanoid she is even more. The decision to make her human fuckable is ugh to me as a furry and an artist who draws critters

so Jaime has been talked into going to university. In the city he currently lives in. And his friends Brenda and Paco have also transferred there

yet another arc of this current Blue Beetle run closes and I still dont like it. There's so much that feels either wrong or I find hard to belive. I've yet to be drawn into this story

[sleepy-achilles]

I’d love a fic of the FNAF au 👍🏻

So I deleted the whole fic I had. I've just watched the fnaf film and finally the whole fic idea came to me.

So obviously be careful if you want to watch the film. I'm taking the main storyline about Mike and abby and using that. The rest is winging it.

Notes- Not gonna lie it took me too long to finish this. To the point the quick ending ended up being awhole paragraph and cliff hanger. Sorry 😅 its been months and I forgot the original ending I had planned.

Family Of Destruction- Fnaf Au- Its Me.

------------------------------------------------------------------

John adjusts himself on the bench. "Ketchup makes everything better, isn't that right Johnny?" His Papa asks. "Yes!" John smiles. "No it doesn't." His father teases. Shawn rolls his eyes at the bigger man. "Dont listen to dad." Shawn huffs placing the burger down infront of John. "You should always listen to me. Just ignore papa" Taker huffs. Shawn turns to face him, knocking the soda can over. "Ah...Great." Shawn sighs picking the can up as Taker chuckles and turns towards the barbecue.

Shawn turns back towards John. "Im going to grab some paper towels. Keep an eye on your brother." Shawn tells him. "Yes papa" John nods, his blue eyes land on the baby brother in question. The boy was running around the trees, the old motorbike toy in the air. John takes in his outfit, black tshirt, with a red fox on his tshirt, black jeans with a rip in them from his rough housing and dirty red trainers.

He was obsessed with the outfit. It had his favourite freddy character on it, Foxy the pirate, the only pair of jeans he'd wear, the boy lived in joggers or shorts, and the only decent pair of trainers he wore. Despite being colourblind, he seemed to favour the bright red trainers over his others. Keeping them as the only wearable ones.

John stands up from the bench and begins walking towards his brother when something catches his attention. He tilts his head and walks towards the shiny thing. As he reaches it, he kneels down and pick it up. A security badge. "Da-" he cuts himself off as he hears a car start.

John's eyes widen as adrenaline and fear take over his body. Leon is gone. He drops the badge and pushes himself up off the ground. He runs towards the car and feels his heart break with each step. "LEON!" He screams as he spots his baby brother staring at him through the back window. "LEON!"

John runs past a tree and is no longer a lanky tween. No, he's now a adult, and still running. "L-LEON!" He stops as the car speeds off. His eyes close and hands shake as the sound of children laughing and his Papa crying fills his ears.

The children was new.

John opens his eyes and is greeted by his bedroom ceiling. He sighs as he brings a heavy hand up to scrub his face. "JOHNNNN!" The small voice yells. "Im up!" John groans. The now 20 year old sits up, his legs thrown over the side of the bed. Tiredness wracks his brain, as it has done for the past 12 years.

John goes on with his morning routine before joining the girl in the kitchen. "Im hungry." The red head frowns. "Why are you up so early cassie?" John asks as he moves towards the fridge. "Because I'm hungry." Cassie pouts. "So you couldn't make yourself cereal?" John questions as he grabs the one thing he knows she wants. "You promised me-" "waffles?" John finishes holding the box up. The girl gleams at him, nodding Violently. "Alright. You do your homework?" John asks as he moves to the toaster. (Do Americans have toasters?)

"Did you find a job?" She snaps back as he pushes the waffles down.

The siblings glance at each other. "No." They both speak at the same time.

"Well, there's a new opening in the papers, a security gig!" Cassie smiles as she slowly pulls her homework out of the paper. "Yeah where too?" John asks as he starts on coffee. "That old pizza place, Freddys!" John's heart sinks.

The image of the badge coming straight to his head.

"Hey, didn't dad use to own that place?" Cassie asks. John swallows and nods. "Yeah, him and Grandpa Paul." John whispers. "Whyd they close it?" Cassie asks. John keeps his gaze on the coffee machine. How do you explain a bunch of children went missing from the restaurant your father owned without making it seem like it was him?

"You know, no one left to run it after dad passed." John lies. "After he killed himself." John looks at her. "Who told you that?" He asks. "Papa died of a broken heart, dad couldn't handle the grief of losing both papa and Lee, so he killed himself." Cassie shrugs. John just stares at her.

She wasn't wrong. But she wasn't right.

No, there father was broken hearted. But he wasn't just grieving the loss of their family, but the loss of those children. The children who went missing in his business.

A business he built in hopes of bringing joy, happiness something his childhood lacked. And all it brought was pain and misery.

John looked up as the toaster pops.

Why are they suddenly looking for a guard? Who's looking for a guard?

And that's how John began his long, dark journey with his childhood.

------------------------------------------------------------------

John taps his boots together. His legs stretched, feet on the old desk. He glances at the old monitors, eyes landing straight on the animiatrionics.

His favourite was always freddy. Bonnie was always close behind. He smiles as his eyes land on the fox. His baby brother was obsessed with it. He always found the pirate creepy.

He pauses his thought and drops his feet, leaning closer to the monitor. He could have sworn that curtain was closed. There wasn't a camera in pirates cove either.

He's about to stand when the front door buzzer goes off. His eyes snap towards the outside camera to see a police officer. "What the-" the buzzing doesn't stop. "Jesus, I'm coming" John groans grabbing his security jacket, putting it on as he rushes through the building.

He opens the door. "Yes?" The man examines him. "Officer Orton and you are?" Orton asks. John stares at him. Is he about to lie to a police officer? Yes. Yes he is. "John Cena. New security guard" John smiles. "May I come in, John?" Orton asks. "Um sure. Is something wrong?" John asks moving back. He watches as Orton moves in. "No. This place is on my usual route, so safe to say I was shocked the lights were still on." He explains as he stops infront of the cast. John pauses as he spots foxys curtain is now closed.

"What do you know about this place?" Orton asks, turning to look at John. John was definitely going to hell.

"Not much." John lies. "Place closed down a few years ago after six kids went missing. Owner killed himself a few months after. Some say it was guilt, others say it was the grief of losing his husband and youngest son" Orton explains, eyes lingering on the curtains. "And what do you believe?" John asks. "The whole world could see how tore up he was about the loss of his son. I don't believe he'd harm another child. But I do believe this place is connect. To his sons disappearance as well." Orton answers.

John's heart clenches. "Feel bad for his oldest. Lost three family members and now has to raise his baby sister all on his own. Kid wasn't given a chance." Orton mutters pressing the showtime button. John watches as the animatronics come to life. "Hes probably not behind this though." Orton states. "No?" John asks. "God no. If its anyone it's the co-owner Bearer. Always cared more about money than ethics." Orton huffs. "Hes in town?" John questions, feeling his skin crawl. "Fuck if I know" Orton shrugs, eyes lingering on bonnie. "If your asking me, he's the evil bastard behind the kidnappings." Orton mutters as his radio starts going off.

John watches the officer. "I gotta go. Try to not let this place get to ya, yeah John?" Orton asks. "It won't, orton-" "call me randy." Randy smirks shaking his hand. "Randy." John smiles nodding. "See you around." John watches as Randy walks out.

The door shuts and the music suddenly stops.

John turns and looks at the animals. "This is going to be a long week.." he sighs hitting the button, watching the curtains close.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Cassie huns to herself as she draws. The colourful characters of the freddy crew. A voice joins in with her humming.

She looks up to see a boy, he must be younger than her. He has blonde hair, a black streak in his curtain. He has green and blue eyes, tan skin and beautiful freckles. She's seen him before. He was always nice and sweet to her. "Hello" cassie smiles. The boy just tilts his head before pointing down at the picture. Cassie looks down at it. "Oh those are the robots from my dad's restaurant" cassie smiles looking back up. She takes in the boys outfit, immediately spotting foxy. "But you must know that" cassie smiles.

"Cass? Who are you talking to?" Scott calls as he walks in. Cassie looks at her godfather. "What?" Cassie turns back to see the boy gone. "I..I saw a boy..I swear-" cassie looks back at Scott. "A boy? Can you describe him to me?" Scott asks moving closer. "Yeah" she nods as he sits down.

------------------------------------------------------------------

John stares at the car as it speeds away. He turns as the children start laughing. He freezes at the children stood behind him. One girl, five boys. One of the boys faces is hidden by a golden freddy mask. He stands in the front. One of the boys stands behind him and the others are stood behind them in a long line.

The furthest boy has pale skin and dark hair, he seems to be dressed as bonnie. The boy next to him has a ginger mowhawk and seems to he foxy. The next boy has a buzzcut and is dressed like freddy. The only girl has long blonde hair and is dressed like chica. The boy behind golden freddy has long black hair, tears staining his cheek, red rosy cheeks.

"D..did you see who took my brother?" John asks. The golden head tilts. And then the kids take off running. "Wait!" John gasps turning and chasing the slowest kid, the one dressed as foxy. John, not paying attention, tricks on a rock both of them do. John pushes up and grabs the kid.

The kid screams and drags his hook across John's arm. John pushes back and gasps as he hits the floor of the pizzeria.

He sits up and his arm immediately throbs. He looks down to see blood. "What the.." he glances at the monitor to see foxy gone from his stage. He pulls himself up and goes to change the cameras when his alarm goes off.

6am.

Time to go home.

Night 3, done.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Scott watches as Kevin paces. Kevin stops as John walks in.

"Kev? What's happened?" John immediately panicks.

"Nothing. Cassies asleep." Scott mutters. "Whats going on?" John asks. "Scott heard cassie talking to someone" Kevin states. "She does that, she has imaginary friend-" "it's Leon. She described Leon. We showed her a picture and she said yeah, that's my friend." Kevin cuts in. John's eyes widen. "What does she know about Leon?" Scott asks. "Nothing. Just that he existed and that he went away...we..we never talked about him much." John admits. Kevin looks at Scott.

"Hows the new job going?" Scott asks. John adjusts his hoodie. "Fine. Just a boring old security job" John shrugs. Kevin grabs his arm. John yelps and tries to pull back. "Why are you working at that hell hole?" Kevin snaps. "Why do you care?" John hisses. "Hes hurt Kevin." Scott mutters standing up. "Im fine." Kevin forces his sleeve up. "Ill grab the first aid kit." Scott sighs. "You should stay far away from that place." Kevin warns him. "You know the truth don't you?" John asks. "What truth?" "One of the officer, he thinks Leon's disappearance is linked to the missing kids from the restaurant" John states.

Kevin loosens his grip. "The only person who saw what happened that day, is you John." Kevin reminds him. John frowns. "I know that. You don't think I don't?" John grits his teeth. "If only I could remember..papa m..." John's eyes begin to water. "It ain't your fault kid. That sick bastard did this, he took them from you. And could he be the same guy that took those kids? Yeah, wouldn't surprise me." Kevin tells him. John looks down. "But if you've taken the job there just to feed the obsession you have about finding Leon's kidnapper, you need to quit. Its not healthy for you. Cassie doesn't need you ending up like your parents." Kevin warns him.

"Ill be careful." He whispers as Scott returns. "How'd this happen?" Scott asks. "I..I don't know." John sighs as he's forced to sit. "Cassie needs you John. Please, please be safe." Kevin pleads. "I will" John promises.

------------------------------------------------------------------

The fourth night.

John searches for his jacket. "Im going to be late." He groans. He opens his bedroom door and is immediately greeted by cassie wearing his jacket. "I need that." John states. "I have to come with you. Scott had to cancel. He said he told you." Cassie states. John straightens. Oh fuck.

Scott did tell him.

And John forgot to hire a babysitter.

"Shit!" He curses.

"Shit!"

"No! Bad word!" John barks as he rushes to the phone.

------------------------------------------------------------------

John sits at his desk with a frown.

He shouldn't have brought her here. He sways in his office chair, glancing back at his sleeping sister. They built her a little tent at the back of the office. He turns back to the cameras to see bonnie and chica gone. "Fuckkk" he groans letting his head fall back.

"Im cassie."

John freezes. Did he just hear cassie?

"I had a brother named Leon."

John turns around quickly and his eyes widen in fear. Cassie is stood looking at a big golden Fred bear that's sat in the corner of the office. "Cassie?" John asks as the lights start flickering. "John...Leon here says there's a dangerous man coming and we need to leave." She states. John stands and moves to his sister. "What? What are you on about?" John asks. "Leon, he says we are not safe here." Cassie frowns. "Thats a old freddy suit, that shouldn't even be in here" John sighs. "You're not listening to me" cassie snaps. "Cassidy it's a suit. Enough." He snaps back. "No!" She yells running out. "Cassie!" He barks running after her.

He pauses as he sees her stood infront of the animatronics. "Cassie step away from them" he orders. "No." She snaps. "They are dangero-" "no! Thats Finn" she points at bonnie. "Thats sheamus" foxy. "Alexa" chica. "Cody" freddy. "And thats drew." John stares confused. "Drew?" She points behind him. John turns to see some puppet figure behind him. His eyes widen.

Wait.

"The missing children." He whispers as the puppets head tilts. He glances back at the office. "Oh god this has to be a bad dream." He whispers turning back to cassie. "Cassie" "They are friends. Friends of Leon's." Cassie states. "Friends of mine." Cassie adds. "Fuck" John groans. "Cmon! Let's clean this place up" she smiles taking John's hand.

What a long fucked up night.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Night five.

John stares at the monitors. But that's when he spots it. The moving. All the robots are in their place, so who the fuck is this?

John grabs his flashlight and begins moving towards the main room. Nothing.

"What the fu-ow" he groans as something hits his back. He turns and feels himself pale as fear takes over. A ball sits at his feet. "Whos there!" He yells turning his flashlight on and aiming it at the hall he'd just come from. His eyes widen. "What the fuck!" He barks before taking off down the other hall.

"Get him."

------

Cassie glances up to her bedroom window at the tapping. She smiles as the golden fur shines in the light. "Leon!" She smiles opening the window. "Cmon. Johnny needs help" the voice creaks. Cassie nods and accepts the big bear paw.

----

John groans as he hits the wall and floor. "You know, it's a real shame to see another Michaels die. But...you couldn't let it be" the voice barks. John stares at the golden rabbit. The voice isn't coming from it. No. It's coming from behind it. John's eyes widen as the rabbit pulls the helmet off to reveal his uncle. "Kane" John gasps. "I enjoyed killing Lil Leon. He put up such a fight, it was a shame he had to have such a violent death compared to the rest." To confirm, kanes mouth doesn't move. "And well the rest fell into place. Your pa couldn't handle the death of Leon and fell into his own fate. And your father? He stood no chance." The voice continues. "All you had to do was stay away" the voice sighs as the other robots join kane.

"A real shame."

"John!" "What the-" the voice gets cut off with a groan. Kanes head snaps back. "Cassie?" John whispers seeing the girl stood with a boy slightly taller. "Kill them! Both of them!" The voice yells as the robots. Kane goes to move when freddy stops him. "Kill, them." A new voice speaks. As John sits up and clears his eyes, the boy turns into a golden bear.

"Cassie!" He yells finally getting his bearings. He pushes from the wall, ducking away from kanes grasp and towards the girl. He grabs her picking her up, not caring at the screams of pain coming from behind him. His eyes catch the puppet as he runs out of the building.

"What about Leon!" She cries. "We have to go!" He yells getting to his car.

Cassie stares at the building from the back seat as Leon stands in the doorway, smiling at his baby sister, waving. Cassie smiles softly and waves back.

Leon turns towards the others as they walk back in. "Their both locked away." Sheamus states. "Your brother. He's been looking for the truth for awhile now." Drew confesses as he walks over. Leon glances at the others and then the suits they hide in. "They'll end up like us. They'll suffer the same fate." Alexa states glancing towards the kitchen. "They'll be able to hurt us." Cody whispers. "No." Leon's gruff voice speaks up. "John, cassie. They'll be back. John won't stop until he knows the truth." Leon mutters looking outside to see randy walking towards the door.

He stands infront of the glass doors as randy chains and padlocks it.

"Randy will make sure of it" Leon mutters.

Randy glances at the boy and nods before walking back to his car.

"We will be free."

....

...

"Its me. Come find me."

[cassynite]

🎁🎁!

This forced me to write ten whole sentences of Daeran fic. I even kept it to chapter 2 this time!! Have some waffling about Nerosyan.

Nerosyan is a metropolis built for war, even more than the fortress-city of Kenabres sitting at the face of the demonic incursion. Though Kenabres has its high walls and scowling inquisitors and Gray Garrison at its heart, it still felt like a place where people lived, with houses and narrow cobblestone streets and gardens near and around the houses of his mother's friends.

Nerosyan is more polished, and outwardly more beautiful, with wider, cleaner streets. But it seemed like every square inch of space, from the Cruciform Cathedral at its heart to the most meager hovels at its edges, is built with the idea that one day demons will pour forward from the Worldwound and attack. Towers at key locations in the city's diamond-shaped sprawl act as mustering points and positions of defense from the outer rivers to the inner layers; the palace is just an addition to the cathedral, which is built with thick towering walls and powerful wards as a last line of defense. Symbols of Iomadae, the Crusade's godly benefactress, decorate every square inch of space in some shape or form; the uniform of the crusade soldiers is a more common sight on the streets than normal clothing.

It's hard to imagine Nerosyan in any other way than how it is now, so wholly consumed by the righteous cause of the Crusade. It's nothing like this mother's old stories, ones that were told to her by her grandparents, of old Mendev shaped by the exiles who had made their home there because they could not go back where they came from, who made the land their own and created their own culture out of it. Heaven's Edge had supposedly been built during those olden years, when it sat as the first line of defense against nothing worse than the Kellids of Sarkoris. Daeran finds himself searching for the elegant and stately lines that informed the architect of his home, but there is nothing of the sort in Nerosyan.

[phlistopher]

Home Grown and Garden Fed

Another old story I figured I’d publish. It’s pretty weird.

There was something heavy in the air. It crashed through a second floor window, landing in a pile of broken glass and furniture. It was a cow.

The three strangers in the room stared in comfortable shock while they waited for their brains to catch up.

The cow had crushed Phineus Ned.

Distinguished among London high society, Phineus always appeared in authentic Victorian-era clothing, (down to the underwear, it was whispered) and spent a small fortune on articles from the era.

If you were just rich, you were boring; just weird, and you were crazy. Both, and you were an influencer. That was Phineus Ned, who lay flattened under a cow.

Their shock had thawed enough that the strangers began to talk. They came to an agreement: yes, they all saw the cow, and no, they didn’t think it was part of Phineus’s dinner arrangements.

Questions arose. Where did the cow come from? How did it get here? Was it hurled, or did it come on its own? Also, was Phineus still alive? This last question seemed easy to answer. Jeffrey Palmer, a chiropractor and coward, checked both pulses and determined that cow and man were dead.

“I’m not surprised,” he said, with relief, as he had just had the biggest surprise of his life.

Relaxing into the comfort of the familiar, he pointed out the sound of crunching bone on impact, and likened the noise to the sounds of his profession.

“Like this,” he said, and demonstrated on his neck.

Ms Darla Winters puked salmon steak. The young oil baroness was sensitive to sound, and was not prepared for an audio re-enactment of a dismembering. Unfortunately, the sound she was most sensitive to was vomiting. It was a long time before she recovered.

The men moved to the window, looking for a cow launcher, or something. Everything looked ordinary.

“Well, I think it was murder,” said Roger Lindhorn, an investment banker and heroin addict.

He pulled the shades over the shattered window frame, muttered something about the unwashed masses, and stood by the fireplace to light his cigarette. Roger was in his early forties, and while still handsome, his face was deeply lined, as if it had been pressed with a waffle iron. But the lines weren’t from a waffle iron, they were from all the heroin.

“It was definitely murder,” Roger repeated, who thought about vengeance to relax.

“It’s too precise; this window, of this house, at this exact spot. There’s no way it could be an accident. It was murder.”

“Poppy caaa…caa—uhhhgh…cock,” Darla’s gagging was subsiding. “Who would murder with a caa…caa…livestock?”

“Feeling better?” Jeffrey asked, handing her a handkerchief.

“Yes, thank you.”

“So sorry about…”

“No no,” she interrupted, “No need to remind me.”

“Well, if it wasn’t murder, what was it?” Said Roger defensively; it had to be murder one of these times.

“This is clearly an act of God.” Stated Darla matter-of-factly. Invoking God was an easy way around many problems; it was her life hack, Darla thought with pride.

“Oh, come off it,” Roger snorted, “Whenever there’s something that defies immediate explanation, the true believers are quick to point to a man in the clouds. I don’t buy it.”

“God’s acts are not predicated on belief in them, Mr Lindhorn. What other entity would either have a motive, or have the means, to careen a two ton animal through a window? It’s a sign. A sign and a warning, to all of us.”

“What would God be warning us of, I wonder?” Jeffrey asked.

Darla spoke with rigor and authority.

“Biblically, cow’s are a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Phineus represented foolish opulence.”

Roger squinted at Darla.

“Where does the Bible say that cows are a symbol of wealth?”

“Cain and Abel. Look it up,” she said definitively, hoping he wouldn’t.

“Oh, I will,” Roger lied.

Jeffry piped up. “Regardless, don’t you think we should call the police?”

“No!” Yelled both Roger and Darla.

“But, well, a man’s dead, you know, and there’s blood on the walls, and bits of brain on the floor.” Stammered Jeffry, prodding viscera with his foot. It squished.

Darla threw up in her mouth.

“Absolutely out of the question,” said Roger, while Darla spat fish scales into a period-authentic orchid pot.

Roger had used all his favors with the police, and didn’t want to risk being caught with the five hundred milligrams of black tar heroin he had on him.

“The police will only muddle things up. We were all witnesses, we all saw what happened, but the police don’t rely very much on eye-witness testimony anymore. We could be implicated in the murder, or for some other crime we didn’t commit.”

“Finally, we agree,” Remarked Darla, as she wiped her mouth. She had been embezzling heavily from her oil empire.

“Ah, OK, no police. Probably for the best. So, maybe I should just…go then?”

“Out of the question,” said Roger, “We all need to stay here until we figure out what happened.”

“It was God.”

“No it wasn’t. We still haven’t determined that anyone here isn’t guilty of the crime.”

“What would be any of our motive? None of us knew him particularly well, so emotional ties are minimal. Money isn’t it, since we’re all independently wealthy, except for Jeffry, who’s wealthy but still has to work. Why would any of us do it?”

“Maybe Jeffry did it, then,” said Roger, disgustedly, throwing up his hands.

“I didn’t,” said Jeffry, looking hurt.

The whole affair was making Roger itchy. Probably best to get rid of the evidence, just to be on the safe side.

“Please, if you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”

Darla and Jeffry watched him go. Flies had started to buzz around the cow’s glazed eyes and lolling tongue, the jammy smush of the late Phineus Ned seeping into the 17th century carpeting.

Jeffry pulled out his phone, saying he’d check the news.

Darla stared right at the purpling pile; fortunately, she had a strong stomach for sights.

“Nothing,” said Jeffry, pocketing his phone.

He had also looked up cow symbolism in the Bible, and found nothing, but was too non-confrontational to mention anything. He paid his brother a salary for the same reason.

A maid came in carrying a tea tray.

Her scream echoed throughout the flying buttresses of the mansion. The tea tray crashed to the floor, and she bolted from the room.

“Stop her!” Darla yelled at Jeffry, “She’ll call the police!”

“Oh, good,” said Jeffry. The path of least resistance was starting to pay off.

Darla grunted in anger, picking up her skirts and running after the woman. Kicking off her heels, she skidded on stockinged feet into the hallway. It was long, dimly lit, with polished oak floors. The screaming had stopped. The maid was at the other end of the hallway, weeping into a phone.

Darla began running down the hall. Where the hell was Roger? She could have used some help.

“…Yes, three guests in the room. Mr Palmer, Mr Lindhorn, and Ms Winters,” The maid noticed Darla, her explanation changing to a shriek.

Darla frantically made a shushing motion, and tried to stop running. Polished oak and stockings heavily favor perpetual motion, however, and Darla keep sliding, fast, her shushing only serving to throw her balance off.

“She’s attacking me!” Was the last thing the maid said before Darla crashed into her.

Sergeant Bertram Huxtable entered the crime scene with two officers, and surveyed the scene.

A large cow, covered in broken class, lay in the middle of the room on top of a man dressed in Victorian clothes and copious amounts of blood. Both looked deceased. Behind that, a broken window, the curtains drawn and fluttering from the outside breeze. A man standing in the corner, his face transitioning from relief to distress at regular intervals. Suspicious. Keep an eye on him. And a woman, an ice pack on her head, leaning against a mahogany table leg, being glowered at by a tearful maid. Not sure what to make of that, yet.

“Alright, what the hell happened here?”

Jeffry, relief on his face, said, “We had just met with Mr Ned, when a cow crashed through the window and crushed him,” He switched to distressed. “I’m a chiropractor.”

“Is that it? That’s all you’ve got?” Huxtable looked at Darla, “What about you?”

“It was a sign from God.”

“She attacked me!”

“I said I was sorry!”

“OK, both of you stop, you’re giving me a headache. Everyone be quiet.”

Huxtable was going to ask for a raise after this.

Roger woke up in the bathtub. He had slept through the commotion earlier thanks to all the heroin he had injected. Now he was awake thanks to a hallucination of a commotion.

He stormed into the room, applying pressure to his left forearm.

“What’s going on here!” He yelled, too high to know the danger he was in. “And you,” He said, poking Huxtable in the chest, “You’re the murderer! I can feel it!”

“Get you’re hands off me!” Huxtable yelled, pushing Roger away, “And who said anything about a murder? Are you trying to do my job, or was that a slip of the tongue?”

“I’ve never done heroin!” Roger screamed.

Huxtable blinked. What the hell was going on? He motioned the two officers, who’s faces were wide with confusion.

“McEvens, Peterson, let me talk to you for a minute.”

The three men huddled together, speaking in hushed tones for exactly one minute, before the wall ripped apart and another cow cannonballed into the trio, spraying the room with gore.

“Ah ha!” Yelled Roger, as if he had solved the case, then chewed his nails.

The maid tried to scream, but only a faint, cracking whisper came out.

Jeffry stood very still, and waited for good things to happen.

“God always strikes twice, when he is not understood, Jeramia 2:16!” Darla quoted incorrectly, to no one in particular. “It’s all clear! I can see the meaning of it! For when…”

Darla was cut off by Jeffry wetly blowing his nose. She heaved another chunk of salmon at a priceless candelabra from Queen Elizabeth’s kitchens.

[bamboomix54]

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[eruanna1875]

Happy Reapers (Guidesman, C2)

Chapter Two: Shoulder

C2 on Tumblr: First/Previous - Next

(C1, The Lost Boys)

~~*~~

According to the bits of conversation the Woodsman heard over his shoulder as they walked, it seemed their new companion’s name was ‘Beatrice’.

They were coming now to the end of the trees. Though the damp of the morning still hung in the air, the path led out of the woods entirely, out from beneath the roof of leaves under which he lived out so many of his days.

The Woodsman glanced back at them over his shoulder. The half-early day was bright, and all was cast into a golden haze by the lingering mist. No shadows lurked behind. Or at least, none seemed to.

“Do you… think something’s following us?”

“Hm?” He turned his gaze. Wirt was walking at his right hand, and staring with a puzzled frown. “Why should I think that?”

“I mean, you keep looking back, so I just assumed you…” He tried to gesture an explanation, then gave up. “I-I don’t know. Dumb question.”

“No, questions are only natural in such a strange land.” A sigh. “And… I think nothing has followed us thus far. The wereling is long gone, certainly, and I’ve seen little that could be of any danger since we left the mill.”

“Really? So… why…?”

The Woodsman eyed him, then turned his gaze away. At his left side, out of Wirt’s sight, he set his hand on the lantern, hung on his belt hours ago. “The Unknown has taught me to keep vigil. Though perhaps you would profit from it, I am glad it will not have the chance to teach you.”

“Oh.”

Wirt fell silent, letting the sound of Greg’s chatter and the morning’s hush fill the space. And the Woodsman tried to turn his mind from dark possibilities. Their road had rounded a bend, and was fenced now on both sides. Fields of pumpkins stretched out beyond, their further borders out of sight. They walked in farmland now. Their road was plain. He knew the very dirt beneath his shoes. No need for concern, surely.

His eyes drifted over his shoulder once more.

“AHHHH!”

The Woodsman jumped. His hand sprang to his right side, where he had hung his axe. He spun to face Greg—the source of the scream. The child stared at Beatrice aghast.

“How can you not eat waffles?!”

Suddenly, he screamed even louder.

“What’s happened?” the Woodsman demanded, urgently bewildered as he bent toward the child’s level.

“I stepped on a pumpkin!!”

The Woodsman stopped. His eyes dropped to the ground. Greg’s foot was stuck inside of a small pumpkin. He looked back up, at a loss. But it only took him a moment before he let out a small “Ah.”

That’s right. Children do such things.

“Ha! Look!” Wirt’s triumphant cry caught his ear. He took a last look at Greg, who seemed now perfectly untroubled, and who began clomping along with his pumpkin pegleg. He glanced at Beatrice (who looked just as disoriented as he had been). She seemed to shrug.

The Woodsman, very slightly, did the same. Then he stood straight again, still a little baffled but no longer alarmed. Such a strange boy. He shook his head. I shall have to warn him of crying out without cause. The sound could well draw real dangers, or—

They came to the crest of the hill. And all his wary thoughts hushed at the sight.

Golden fields lay out before them. Autumn freely and wholeheartedly rested on the rolling hills. In the midst of these, the path wove down into a little farming village, its homely houses all together, safely gathered in. Pottsfield.

For a moment, there was nothing behind him at all.

“Civilization!” declared Wirt, throwing his fists in the air (and, he did not realize, shaking his guide from his reverie). “Yes! At long last, our ill-begotten wanderings through this realm of shadows are ended!”

The Woodsman cocked his head, intrigued at the strangely poetic words. The lad had never spoken that way before. And yet, it seemed as easy on his tongue as his everyday speech.

But the young wordsmith wasn’t used to attention for his work. He caught the look and shrank away a little. “Uh… yeah, we-we’re here, so— what the…?”

This last was said because his shrinking produced a squelch. Wirt looked down. Then he scowled. He too had stepped into a pumpkin.

“Ah, great.”

Once they’d removed the involuntary shoe, the four of them (five with Greg’s frog) made their way down the hill toward Pottsfield. Greg kept chatting with Beatrice, who seemed to respond only grudgingly. Wirt eyed their surroundings with curiosity (and kept watch for stray pumpkins).

The Woodsman didn’t look over his shoulder once.

[blackquillchillin]

I love this! I imagine they end up crashing together a lot, regardless of if Apollo and Athena have their own housing or not. It leads to some fun shenanigans.

Some of my thoughts:

Apollo has the best grasp of the chemistry involved in cooking, but isn't always great at improvising if they ran out of something. Nick barely grasps the chemistry, if at all, but feeding a small child on the money you earn playing poker and playing piano at a dingy bar means you learn what works, even if you don't know why it does. are they great meals? nope. but they are meals! and you won't starve!

Blackquill briefly crashing with the crew post-release, but pre-finding his own place. He finds it very overwhelming. If they are all sharing one apartment, he shares a room with Apollo, whos kind of scared of him. If not, he just ends up in the building a lot. Athena brings him. He's glad to make the acquaintance of everyone, but so, so glad when he finds a more permanent spot. Teaches Trucy tricks you can do with a real sword. learns way more about magic then he ever wanted to know.

They really struggle to play games such as werewolf or resistance, because they involve outright lying. they've tried it a few times where you have to tell a lie with your statement, regardless of if it was true or not. results were mixed.

Phoenix honestly isn't good at trivia, but he'll be damned if he'll admit it. double-down, insist the card is wrong. present flimsy evidence on why. if you tell enough lies, you can buy enough time to....wait, this isn't court. what are you achieving? At this point Apollo is pretty sure he's doing it just to mess with the group. possibly him specifically.

Edgeworth occasionally visits the office, when he's in town, which isn't that often. He and Phoenix sound kinda cryptic when reminiscing, but its not because either of them are trying to be. It's just how they are.

Maya visits all the time! she's Trucy's self-appointed aunt/big sister. when she goes to visit Khura'in, Phoenix cries in his office later that night. Gumshoe is there more often then you'd expect too. Trucy tells him he needs a warrant to enter. they go back and forth for longer then you'd think. (don't worry, its a jest. usually.)

Athena will be browsing the web for hours when things are slow, and immediately follows it with the most insane questions to everyone in the office, and then going for a run. "would you still love me if I was a worm?" "If we were on a deserted island, who would you eat first?" "would that be fucked up or what?" bonus points if Apollo was trying to focus.

Spirited debates on what the best steel samurai thing is. Phoenix doesn't have an opinion, unless Edgeworth is there in which case whichever option would piss him off, Trucy's answer is based on the cinematography, involved, Athena likes whichever one she and Simon used to watch, and Apollo hasn't seen it. Any of it. this man doesn't know any pop-culture.

At some point, Athena and Trucy make sims of everyone they know. Then they start drowning them in the pool, because they're bored.

every time a truly hopeless case lands in the agency's lap, they take bets on how long Phoenix waffles before taking the case. He's hopeless.

Athena mixes in a bit of every language she knows into her day-to-day life, and sometimes dosn't realize she's switched. It annoyed Apollo, so he started intentionally including Khura'inese in his day-to-day speech. Athena became more aggressive about including more and more languages in her speech. It's started to get out of control.

Debating Subs vs Dubs for any show, ever, even if its originally made in America, and thus they all understand it. no show is safe.

Trucy has doves for her show. She makes everyone get to know them, "so the doves won't be scared of you" turns out to be a ploy so they can't use not knowing what to do with the doves to get out of being her assistant. no one sees it coming.

Maybe I have more then just a few thoughts. whoops.

my favourite thing about WAA is just them being friends without the trauma and courtroom drama. Which is a really big thing to ask of Ace Attorney so I have to make everything up lmao. SO

WAA going on a cozy cabin trip together. They unpack together, Trucy makes a fun vlog, Athena can't make her bed because of a stubborn bedsheet, everyone goes fishing (Phoenix falls into the water), they have a fun barbecue, Apollo tells everyone about the stars (many hugs involved), Phoenix makes the best pancakes for whatever reason. I can list so many things they'd do

WAA having fun game nights together. Many chaos involved, and poker being absolutely hated by Apollo and Athena. Athena is really good at Mario kart 8 deluxe for some reason. Trucy ALWAYS wins trivia nights

Literally just a normal day at the agency. They have minimal work and interact with eachother because they're stuck with work :]!!

WAA going to Eldoon's noodles!!!

WAA cooking/baking together. If not, Apollo usually cooks for everyone else because he's the most competent at it

Sleepovers at the office!!! Phoenix is usually not there though. I like to think Apollo, Athena and Trucy watch bad movies together and make tierlists on how bad they are

Phoenix, Athena and Apollo watching Trucy's shows and cheering her on!! Bonus points if Athena or Apollo has to go on stage and be an assistant. More bonus points if it's Phoenix

There's probably more I have thought of but this is all I can recall right now! I'd love to hear what everyone else has thought of ^.^!