#where the basilisk dreams

[theresah331]

Ties that bind on the Northwestern Plains: Contexts for prehistoric troric trade and trade and travel

[sioster]

c!madduo (sorry)

Welcome in today's episode of Karo taking things literally :-) also yes its basilisk!dreamie again its close enough to a snake. i think.

[brandileigh2003]

Raising Harry and/or teddy recs. I know I'm missing some so send me your faves or self rec ❤️❤️

-orange juice (i've been ready for you to come home for so long) by raggedypond get back together ft Chronic Illness

-my love, take care of yourself by @littleoldrachel ft mental health and chronic

-Anything that msalexwp writes that includes the trope is fantastic

Let's Play Pretend muggle fake dating real feelings

Second Generation get back together

-the sea is a good place to think of the future by peachyybabe get back together ft Chronic Illness @lavenderhaze

-Like Real People Do by thirdcrow: coffee shop, great disability rep

-An Infinte Ocean by orphan_account muggle get together

-We’ll Make It Out Alive by wolfstar_addict417: muggle texting kidfic

-Blue Moon Café by @lazuli-moon raising teddy coffee shop

-Forever Is a State of Mind -orphaned account ft deaf remus

-Of Bookshelves and Baby Carriers by @poppunkpadfoot

-the mayors of simpleton by @fruityindividual older wolfstar get back together ft blind remus

-Till We Have Arrived Home Again by prouvairing divergent

-Of Quiet Hearts And Thundering Dreams by @tracingpatternswrites

-Spare! by B1ackCatChatsBack muggle get together

-I didn’t sign up for this by Moonystoastandmarsbars get back together

-Of Protein Powders and PTAs by @squintclover and TracingPatterns magical divergent

-A Wolf, A Bear, A Dungeon Master, and Boy Wonder by @ratmom819 ft chronic illness

-Puppy Magic by @demonbanisher thefifthmarauder17 magical divergent

-what a wonder (what a waste) by peachyybabe mcd magical divergent ft trans remus, mental illness and

-Aging Gracelessly by orphan_account older wolfstar texting

-So I'll Take My) Good Fortune by orphan_account muggle uni

-The Molinete & the Media Luna by punkwolfstar ft disability

-beautiful boy (darling boy) by @impishtubist and roaming_the_greenwood1: magical divergent ft trans remus

-Multiplying Parents by @heartofspells harry wants to find Sirius a bf

-ten reasons (to go to michigan) by @greyeyedmonster-18 muggle au get together

-The Things I Did by Lolo_row divergent

-Of Memories and Milk Thievery by moonymoment older wolfstar get back together @mayescapade

-Basilisks, Boggarts and Boyfriends (oh my) by OptimisticDinosaur

-Of Caffeine Addictions and Nail Polish by BlueAzalea au pining and fluff

Check out my fandom wife lucigoo she has some wonderful ones

Common Woodbrown by @imochan

that’s the art of getting by sarewolf

----Self rec: parks and playdates ft disability plus trans and asexual remus

~~Others' recs ~~

-Wherever I am/ you will always be - BrigidFaye

(anon): Under Foot, Under Moon by sometimeswelose

-An unexpected reunion- r33sesPieces

Rhythm & Blues by lez_writes13

stealing harry by @copperbadge

-Blanket Fort by @samynnad102687 : Regulus, James, and Harry build a blanket fort.

-Trick-or-Treating by Samynnad102687: The Marauders, Regulus, and Lily take Harry Trick-or-Treating.

-Unbound by you by friendlyneighborhoodtrickster, TracingPatterns

-Moonless Nights by @sliebman10 Sirius is trying to rebuild his life after the fateful Halloween of 1981. He's struggling to come to terms with Remus's betrayal and his new role as Harry's guardian.

-Family Vacation by sliebman10: Sirius is skeptical that a family resort is where he wants to spend his first summer vacation with Harry there, but he comes to see its merits when he meets Remus and his family.

-All the soul and body scars by 1point21

-To build a family - secondsister

-Forever live and die - wolfpants

--feel free to check it my main rec list

Also - the wolfstar librarian has awesome collections for raising harry

[holmsister]

Senshi would not have a recipe blog but he would become famous across the whole Internet because of his habit of leaving comments on actual recipe blogs like "I didn't have chicken eggs so I found some basilisk eggs. They are a bit more runny so I added a little slime starch, I eyeballed the amount but I'd say about 20grs? I also added some foraged moss to the filling for an extra touch of green. Anyway the recipe came out alright! I added some dried algae for décor" followed by a beautiful picture of something that sits exactly at conjunction of the tastiest omelette you've ever seen and some kind of predatory water beast camouflaged in the shallows

Nobody knows who he is or where he lives he doesn't answer personal questions and the biome he's pulling his ingredients from changes often and without preamble but he is always switching average ingredients you can find at the grocery store for like. Creatures and plants you can find only by being an expert forager in several different dungeons across the world. The background of his pictures is always a stone floor. He always uses the same pot. Laios has been stalking his Internet appearance regularly it's his dream to meet him

[george228732]

Fylass Nolde (Final Reference Sheet/Masterpost)

Finally! Made a reference sheet that was appropiate for the boy.

''He's more than up to sacrifice everything he has and lacks, even his own humanity, if it meant that he'll be able to see the one future he desires - He'll burn the misfortune of the stories of the world, and from the ashes, he'll make his own, before his matches run out and his days of daydreaming go out with them.''

The rune on the top left of this picture is Fylass' symbol. Just like how Kirby has a Star, Susie has an H, Dedede has the hand one on his robes, etc.

He has a lizard belly! And more lizard attributes, besides the whole wings and all. His tail for example, is connected to his stomach; if he wants to store food/fat for later, he can store it in his tail and all! We love fictional anatomy.

In the first pic, you can see two things! That his wings are too short to use them to actually fly, but also that he can find walking a bit difficult depending on how full his sack is.

In the second pic, there are three things! He has another set of eyes above his regular ones which are just as functional, he has sharp teeth and all like a normal penguin, and second of, he has a bit of a forked tongue, like lizards!

In the third picture, you can see how Fylass is a bit of sleepy boy - he normally sleeps more than the average person, so please give him a bit more of patience.

Lastly, his weapon! His Parasol. Fylass has the ability to nullify magic of other users, but the only way he can do that is by using his parasol, by basically using it as a way to shoot red projectiles in form of magic bullets/waves that resemble sparks that paralyze you - these don't really harm you, and simply just disable your magic for a prolonged amount of time depending on how magic Fylass used to make the projectile.

Trivia:

Fylass is inspired by the story, The Little Match Girl, which consists of a poor girl freezing to death when she wasted all her matches, since each time she lit one up, she could see her dead grandmother giving her a candlelit dinner, with the grandmother being the Dream Team and Fylass being the girl.

Fylass' design is based on the Basilisk, a mythological creature that has the ability to paralyze the people it sees with its eyes to turn them into stone, paralleling the powers he has of disabling magic with his paralyzing attacks.

The kid is one of the main antagonists of my AU, being someone that wants to save Kirby, Bandee, Dedede and Meta Knight from a world ending threat, accidentally making things worse by trying to get rid of some of the friends he finds a huge hatred off.

He's adopted by Dedede! Not being the Prince of Dreamland but getting a dapper jacket, robes, and sweater from him!

He's one of the few remaining ancients currently alive at the moment.

The amount of hexagons that appear in the Kirby series are actually a reference to Fylass in the AU, being a presence always watching but unable to get to where Kirby is. That's why his rune has an eye.

Fylass is a direct reference and role of one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Wrath.

Enjoy!

[theprettieststarfr]

sometimes when i think about Regulus i also think about how his name was one of the few that had little to no connection to Slytherin's theme of snakes and evil and cunning shit, like Draco, for example, but a connection to Gryffindor instead. Regulus is the brightest star in the Leo constellation. Leo? Lion? Gryffindor?

Regulus is also the "heart" of the Leo constellation, meaning it's the "lionheart" - a term used for describing someone brave, A GRYFFINDOR TRAIT, essentially. Regulus also showcases this by defying Voldemort, defending Kreacher and trying to destroy the locket

I researched "Regulus" as a term and found that it was also a family name of a Roman General, who became known through his BRAVE SELF-SACRIFICE.

And yes, you can argue that "Regulus" is "little king" in Latin, a term also used for the basilisk, so a relation to Slytherin, essentially, but the other version stands out to me more, because Rowling literally confirmed the Leo constellation thing.

All of this in mind, we can also dream about Regulus's connection to Sirius, as despite being in Slytherin, his heart may have belonged to Gryffindor, as his name could have

Regulus's name could also be connected with "rules" in some languages. You guys, "regulation", literally. So funny, because Regulus always followed his parents' rules

If you want an another fun linguistic thing about Regulus that I've thought of, go to my previous post, where I explain Regulus's initials in Russian :3

[lulublack90]

Prompt 20 - Morals

@jegulus-microfic August 20, Word count 996

Previous part First Wolfstar part

For the second time, Regulus woke up in James’s bed. He was cocooned in warmth by James’s arms, tightly wrapped around him. If it hadn’t happened before, he’d think he was dreaming. 

“Morning, love,” James said, around a huge yawn.

“Morning,” He said back, softly. He still couldn’t believe how quickly and easily they’d sort of fallen together. He still wasn’t exactly sure of their dynamic, but he was enjoying the change in their relationship nonetheless. “We should probably go back to the camp, Sirius will be worrying about where you are,” Regulus told him, but made no move to get up himself. 

“And you, he’ll be worried about you as well,” James added, tightening his arms around Regulus and rolling them until he was standing and was holding Regulus in his arms. Regulus laughed when James gave him a quick kiss and stood him firmly on his feet. 

“Yeah, sure,” Regulus said, and he half believed his own words. 

The forest where the pack had set up camp was so much more welcoming than the forbidden forest. Regulus felt so much safer here. The twenty werewolves didn’t hurt either. The first wolf they saw was, of course, Marcus.

“Oi, oi, you two finally got out of bed then?” He called loudly. Regulus didn’t hesitate, he pulled out his wand and hit the annoying man in the face with a stinging hex. 

“Where’s my brother?” He asked as Marcus howled in pain. 

“Reg, love, maybe not the best way to say hello,” James sighed. Regulus jutted his chin out. 

“The same could be said for him,” He turned back to the squirming Marcus and asked again. “Where is my brother?”

“Reggie, you’re never going to make any friends if you keep hexing people,” Sirius tutted as he and Remus emerged from the trees. “You alright?” Sirius asked Regulus, ignoring Marcus. Remus went to his rescue and performed the spell that neutralised the stinging. 

“Yeah,” Regulus said quietly. He looked his brother over and saw the real Sirius. His eyes were full of worry but warm as they looked back at him. His voice was full of kindness, and he was wearing a tatty pair of black jeans and a muggle band t-shirt. Regulus had no idea who Queen was, but she seemed to be a favourite of Sirius’s as this was the second one he’d seen him wearing. 

“Merlin, Reggie, was it really that bad staying with James for a few days?” Sirius chuckled as he threw an arm over Regulus’s shoulders. 

“We need to talk, now, privately,” Regulus leaned back and spoke at barely a whisper into his brother’s ear. Sirius didn’t react more than squeezing Regulus’s shoulder gently and began to walk them into the trees, blabbing away about some new species of tree he was sure he had discovered, but that Remus kept telling him it was only a damaged fir tree. The others followed, James, poking at Remus’s side and darting out of his way before he could retaliate and Marcus trailing along at a distance.

Remus set up the privacy wards and Regulus began. He took out of his pocket the book, the remains of the locket and the secure box that held the basilisk fang and told them what had happened over the last few days. 

When he got to the Sirius apparition, he choked on his words a few times, a thick lump rising in his throat as he spoke the words Sirius had said to him. 

Sirius rushed him and tackled him to the floor, squashing him and hugging him at the same time. 

“Idiot. Reggie, you’ll always be my little brother. I love you. Those words are not mine. I'll never go back to them,” Regulus shoved at Sirius’s arms but soon gave up. Sirius was far stronger than him. He wrapped his own arms around Sirius’s back, returning the hug. “They were going to kill me, Reggie. I would have taken you with me when I left if I could, and I’m so sorry that I didn’t fight them harder to get you out as well,” Regulus hugged him tighter. 

“I probably wouldn’t have gone with you anyway,” Regulus admitted in a whisper, burying his head in Sirius’s wild curls. 

“The portrait also told us Voldemort’s real name,” James interrupted. “His real name is Tom Riddle,” He said excitedly. Sirius lifted his head and Regulus caught him rolling his eyes.

“Yes, James, we already know that. You should know that!” Sirius exclaimed. “You were sitting next to me when Dumbledore told the Order, so we knew if anyone came across it. How the hell did you miss that?!” 

“Wait, he knows?!” Regulus furrowed his brow and stared at the confused James. 

“Evans was wearing that emerald low-cut top and was trying out a new hairstyle,” Remus told them, his nose deep in Secrets of the Darkest Art, and didn’t look up from the text to tell them why James had failed to retain vital information. James flushed beet red and gave Regulus and Sirius a strained smile. 

“Oops,” He laughed embarrassedly. “That’s on me,” 

“Idiot,” Regulus and Sirius said simultaneously. 

Sirius got off Regulus and offered his hand to help him get to his feet. He took it and let Sirius haul him upright. 

“Well, at least you destroyed the Horcrux,” Sirius beamed. “Should make winning this war just a bit easier,”

“Ahem,” Remus cleared his throat as he finally looked up from the book. “It says here that the outward features of a Horcrux creator only starts to drastically change after at least 2 are made and judging by Voldemort’s face, he’s made more than that,” He looked at them all seriously. “I think we have more to find. A lot more.”

“Oh for Merlin’s sake!” Sirius shouted to the skies. “Does this man have no morals at all?!” Regulus sighed, he’d barely found one. How on earth were they going to find the rest?

Next part

[newtknewit]

calanthe looks pretty cool, you have more info about her?

Calanthe is a surviving basilisk adopted by Hunter and Willow in my WIP NextGen AU! Here's some quick information before I delve into that whole backstory: Name: Calanthe Species: Basilisk Pronouns: He/her Age: Roughly 14-16 Tracks: Potions and Plants primarily She was accidentally uncovered when Darius led a search party to clear out the old Emperor's Coven laboratory in search of lost information that they could record (with Hunter as a guide, since he knew where the labs were, and the basilisks were too afraid to go anywhere near the area). To everyone's surprise, Belos incubated another batch of basilisks after the first ones had escaped, but died before they could hatch. In the incubation process, without the proper care they needed, all other eggs died except for one: Calanthe. Hunter was the first to discover Calanthe, after being hit with intense memories of the lab and hallucinating. At least he thought he was hallucinating when a vision of himself appeared, turns out it was a basilisk moulding into his form. When he realised this was a physical being, he freaked out at first. Then he saw the black-rimmed blue eyes. The basilisk had imprinted on him, taking on his form as they may typically do as babies. It turned back into a small yellow python-patterned basilisk with blue eyes and light brown hair, to which Hunter and the group had taken it to the Healing Coven for inspection, and later Hunter and Willow had adopted the basilisk since 1. no one else could, and 2. it had already imprinted on them. In this AU, alongside primarily being a palisman carver, Hunter secondarily works with Darius to protect the Boiling Isles' children, creating better safety laws for all and putting more protection in place for the young ones. At the time he discovered and adopted Calanthe, Hunter would've probably been around 25 and was taking part as a student in a school that retaught important life lessons to those who didn't get to learn them. After finishing up with these classes, he transitioned to parenting schools in order to do his best for Calanthe. Willow is living the dream of leading the Emerald Entrails into constant victories, and reassures Hunter that he doesn't need to go to these schools, but he insists, as he absolutely despises the idea of becoming similar to Belos in any way. -Which Willow is actually quite proud of and inspired by.

Thanks to Willow and Hunter, Calanthe gets to live a perfectly normal and happy life, being able to embrace his basilisk side while being treated with the same love and normalcy that every child deserves. Calanthe has changed her appearance many times throughout her life, and still does till this very day, switching it up every now and then when she gets bored. Her primary/favourite appearance is taking inspiration from Willow's fringe, Hunter's face, and a mix between both of their body shapes. This is still a heavy WIP! However, some characters I am planning to add are: Luz + Amity's kids Boscha's child, possibly nonverbal Adrien Graye's neglected/forgotten daughter A Grudgby Team + Captain + Giving IV (now called Ivy) and III (now called Trip) more development and depth (the two basilisks seen in Watching and Dreaming) + King getting a MASSIVE growthspurt There will still be much more to come, once the ideas finally start to pop into my head. Hope this clears up some things! I'm happy you like her design, though it is still a WIP, such as everything else. I am still working on my Cinderkin AU too, in which I might make a 3rd AU combining these two for funsies at some point. It'd be sick to design Calanthe with Cinderkin features! :D

[lampmanliveblogs]

Yesterday's Lie, Today's Truth, Tomorrow's Promise chapter 2 (beta)

Heeey, y'all remember that Vee fic I've been toiling away at? I finally, just now, five minutes ago, got the second chapter done. Sorta, anyway. This bad boy ended up being just over 10 000 words long... and it was originally supposed to be longer, but I decided to split it into two.

I havenät run this through any spellcheck or grammar check, and I mgiht go back to change some stuff before fnal publication, but I'm probabaly not gonna change too much plot-wise. It took me a long time to get it into a state that works, and I think I did a decent job.

I am planning on actually putting this story up on AO3, but I wanna make sure to have at least the first three chapters done and ready before that. The next chapter should hopefully not be as long as this one.

For now... enjoy!

(oh, and I actually settled on a title!)

(also, i just realized that copy-n-paste didn't copy-n-paste any of the italics... meh, it's 01:00 at night right now and I need my beatuy sleep)

xxXXxx

Lamp Entertainment presents…

The night was growing old, but Masha was wide awake. Lying in Luz’ bed, looking up at the glow-in-the-dark stars glued to the bunk above. They were tired, dead tired, but thoughts buzzed around their head like ten million fireflies, keeping them awake.

Not only were shapeshifters, basilisks, witches, magic, demons, and other worlds real, but shapeshifting basilisks demons from another world filled with magic and witches were real. Masha had spent most of summer sharing a bunk bed with one, just as they were doing now. It was a lot to take in.

Oh, and the story about the Wittebane brothers meeting a witch? It was true. The brothers had met a real witch, a witch that they had followed back to the Demon Realm, the world of demons and witches. Not only that, but old Philip Wittebane was still alive and kicking, turned into a monster and spending the last four centuries working on a plan to exterminate all witches.

That evil, wicked man was the reason Vee was alive. Vee had been… brief in talking about her origins. Masha knew better than to pry too much, and thank Goddess Marco and Samuel did too. Just telling them about her true identity had obviously been very difficult for her, and if there were things she wasn’t ready to tell them yet, then they shouldn’t pressure her.

Even so, what she did tell them did not paint a pretty picture.

”My name, it’s Vee as in V, as in ’five,’” she had explained, holding up two fingers forming a V. Her voice trembled and her gaze lowered, looking at something far, far away from the comfort and safety of her new home. She took a deep, unsteady breath before speaking again. ”I… am number five. Lab animal number five.”

And all of the sudden it made so much sense why ”Luz” had spent the first few weeks of camp jumping at every sudden sound and always looking over her shoulder. Why she would always sneak out of bed when she thought everyone was sleeping to make sure the door wasn’t locked.

It made Masha’s blood boil. Philip Wittebane better never show his face in Gravesfield again, or so help them…

But… something else troubled on Masha’s mind. They reached down on the floor, grabbing the vaguely clothes-shaped pile of fabric that was their discarded costume. The deck of cards was still in the pocket where they left them, still in the same order. The first three cards were still The Two-Headed Snake, The Light, and The Red String.

They shuffled the deck thoroughly and drew the first three cards again.

The Light. The Red String. The Two-Headed Snake.

What was the chances of drawing the exact same three cards? One in a million?

Maybe there was still some magic in them…

Eventually, Masha drifted off to a sleep filled with dreams they couldn’t remember in the morning.

Chapter 2: For the Future (that we can’t see)

Vee woke up early, before the others. Well, it wasn’t that early, it was just past eight in the morning. But considering the late night, it felt early even as the sun shone through the window.

She spent some time just coiled up in bed, enjoying the comfortable warmth under her two blankets. She thought if going back to sleep, but eventually convinced herself that it was time to rise and shine.

The others were still asleep, so Vee climbed down from her bunk as quietly as she could. Easier said than done when you had a thick tail instead of two nimble legs. Somehow, she made it down without waking anyone up, though that might have had more to do with the fact that her old cabin mates were exhausted after yesterday.

She noticed a deck of Hexas Hold’em cards lying on the floor. She recalled Masha playing with a deck on the day Luz contacted her from the Demon Realm. Vee couldn’t smell any magic left in them, which meant it was probably the same deck. They must’ve fallen out of Masha’s pocket. She gathered them and put them in a neat stack next to their costume.

She slithered silently out the room, past Samuel and Marco in the guest beds that used to belong to Willow and Amity. The whole thing reminded her of summer camp. She’d often wake up before her cabin mates then too, often sneaking out to enjoy the early morning sun. Masha had called camp prison, but as far as Vee was concerned, her first true sense of freedom had come from that place.

Making it down the stairs was one of those things that was a lot more uncomfortable with a tail than it was with a pair of legs, but Vee decided to stay in her true form for a bit longer. For the longest time, even before she made the decision to tell them, there had been an insistent voice in her head telling her that her friends would find her true form repulsive. It was nice to learn that wasn’t the case.

Oh stars, she could barely believe it! She had told them! She really had told them! Even though the thought had terrified her, she had still gone through with it. And it worked out, they didn’t hate her, they didn’t resent her for deceiving them.

There were some things she hadn’t told them. Things she had only ever told Camila, late one night after she woke up screaming from a nightmare. She wanted the truth to be a happy thing, not marred too much by what had been.

Vee was determined to move beyond her past pain. At times, the darkness made itself known at the back of her head, deep within her lizard brain. But she was getting better and better at pushing back. She had optimism for the future.

First things first though. She needed to call Camila’s work to let them know she was going to need a few days off. Vee, being naturally paranoid and a born liar, had already fleshed out a halfway decent story.

It took some convincing and a little bit of improv, but Vee was eventually (imitating Camila’s voice, of course) able to get Camila’s sudden leave accepted.

Once that was done with, Vee began cleaning up the mess in the living room while contemplating what to do with Luz. Should she take on her appearance and go to school as her again? Or should she call the school and inform Luz wouldn’t be coming for a few days? Both alternatives had its ups and downs. On one hand, Vee actually did like school and learning about the Human Realm. And Luz’ grades really did not need to get any worse. On the other hand, keeping up the deception would add another element of complication. Vee was good, but was she that good?

She mulled over it while cleaning up until she heard movement coming from upstairs. She turned to her friends groggily making their way down the stairs.

”Good morning!” she said cheerfully.

”Wow…” Samuel whispered. ”I was halfway convinced I was dreamt up everything,” he said a little louder.

”Not me, cause I’m not that creative,” Marco said.

”I gotta say, I think it would make for a pretty good story,” Samuel continued. ”A demon fleeing from an evil emperor ends up in the world of the humans, accidentally taking the place of a young girl headed for summer camp… yeah, that’s a good story. Maybe I should write a book about it.”

”Don’t you have like fifty-eleven different fanfics you’re already writing?” Masha teased him. Samuel blushed.

”I do finish some of my fanfics,” he said defensively. ”Unlike my thirteenth favorite fanfic writer, The Lampman. That guy couldn’t finish a fanfic if his life depended on it. ”

”I don’t know who that is, but he sounds like a talentless hack,” Marco said.

”I’m sure he’s not that bad,” Vee said. ”Anyway, here I am, very much real. By which I mean ’real-ly hungry.’ Anyone else want breakfast? I’m starving!”

The others agreed that breakfast would be nice. Vee lead them into the kitchen and began fixing some food. One thing the other Cabin 7 members had noticed about ”Luz” was that the way she’d scarf down her food at every meal like she had never eaten before. Which, based on what they now knew of Vee’s past, sadly made a lot of sense. Though that was not the only thing they had noticed about Luz ’ eating habits.

”You used to choke on your food a lot,” Masha observed. They were absentmindedly playing with the deck of Hexas Hold’em cards. ”Was that because you usually swallow your food whole?”

”Yeah, pretty much,” Vee confirmed while frying up some eggs. ”I do have teeth to chew with if I have to, but I usually don’t. Human throats are a lot less flexible than basilisks and I wasn’t used to it.” To demonstrate what she meant, she took an apple lying on the counter and swallowed it whole, making her throat bulge outward.

”Not gonna lie,” Marco said. ”That was a kinda gross.”

”You should see how I eat eggs then,” Vee chuckled. ”The difficult part is spitting the shell out in one piece.”

”Th-thanks, but I think we’ll skip that one,” Samuel quickly interjected. He looked contemplative for a moment. ”Do you have… is it poison or venom? I can never remember the difference.”

”If I bite you and you die, I’m venomous,” Vee explained. ”But if you bite me and you die, then I’m poisonous. And no, I don’t have venom. Don’t know if I’m poisonous though. I might be.”

”What if I bite myself and I die?” Marco asked. ”What does that make me then?”

”Stupid,” Masha said, prompting a good group laugh.

”No new information there,” Marco said between giggles.

The eggs done, the gang sat down at the table. Sitting on chairs designed for human creatures with things like ”legs” and ”butts” was yet another thing that was a bit awkward for Vee. She’d usually just stand at the table, but she decided to sit down this time. Before she sat down, she grabbed a special jar from one of the cabinets.

It had a homemade label, saying in neat handwriting that it was ”For Vee only.” A second pencil had added a small face making a sick face, to which the first pencil responded that ”I told you so.”

Her friends watched with interest as she took four slices of bread and spread thick layers of jar’s contents on them. It looked like some chocolate spread, but with strange lumps in it.

”What is that?” Masha asked finally. ”Is it some kind of special basilisk food?”

”Uh… kinda?” Vee hesitated. ”It’s nutella, with protein powder and, um… wood chips and sand.”

This was met with wide stares.

”Wood chips… and sand?” Samuel asked, as if to make sure he heard it right.

”It’s good for my digestion,” Vee said with a little shrug. ”It was either that, or I keep chewing on twigs I found on the ground. Camila thinks I need a lot of protein, so that’s what the protein powder’s for.”

”And the nutella…?” Masha asked.

”Oh, that’s for taste,” Vee said. Deciding that was enough explanation, she took one the fried eggs and sandwiched it between two bread slices slathered in the cursed nutella. ”I think Demon Realm stomachs are just tougher than human stomachs,” Vee said between bites of her sandwich. ”Luz told me there was a bunch of foods she couldn’t eat in the Demon Realm, but the others didn’t seem to have any problems with anything from here. Well, except for garlic.”

”What, they couldn’t eat garlic?” Masha asked in-between bites of their own sandwich. ”Like vampires?”

”Precisely,” Vee said with a nod.

”Wait, really?” Masha exclaimed, nearly choking on their food. ”Vampires are real? And they can’t stand garlic? That part’s true!?”

”Yes,” Vee said, smiling at the funny face Masha was making.

”Oh, so that’s why you had cloves of garlic next to your bed,” Marco said and nodded a little. ”It’s to keep the vampires away.”

”Kinda. There aren’t any vampires in Gravesfield (I hope), but it makes me feel safer to sleep with it,” Vee explained. ”Hunter said that basilisks and vampires used to be natural enemies, since, well… we both kinda feed on witches… Garlic is deadly to vampires, and since a lot of witches have vampire ancestry, a lot of them have inherited a garlic allergy.” Vee smiled at a memory. ”Willow’s and Gus’ weren’t that bad, but Amity’s was really bad. Luz was devastated, because one piece of garlic bread meant no more kisses for the day.”

That image garnered a few laughs.

”I can’t wait for you guys to meet Luz, the real Luz,” Vee said. ”She’s the coolest! Seh fights Belos and doesn’t afraid of anything.”

”Well, I think you’re pretty cool,” Masha said. They reached out to hold Vee’s hand, soft skin meeting rough scales. ”My whole life I’ve been looking for signs of the supernatural, for ghosts or demons or what have you… but I never ever dreamed of meeting, much less becoming friends with a living, breathing demon!”

Samuel put a hand on Vee’s shoulder.

”And I’m really happy you felt comfortable enough to tell us your secret,” he said. ”I know it couldn’t have been easy. I’m honored you felt you could trust us that much, and I promise you won’t regret it.”

Marco put his hand on Vee’s other shoulder.

”I used to think Cabin 7 was the coolest cabin in Connecticut,” he said. ”Now I know we’re the coolest in the whole world. I mean, who else can say they have a freakin’ shapeshifter as a friend?

”Aw, you guys…” Ve was struggled to hold back tears. She lost that battle, and big warm tears started rolling don her cheeks. ”I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” she sobbed. ”I wanted to, but I never dared.”

Masha, Samuel, and Marco acted in unison, standing up to embrace Vee in a big group hug.

”Hey, it’s okay, I know what that’s like,” Masha reassured her. ”Keeping a part of yourself secret even to those that love you… it eats away at you. It took me forever to come out to my parents, even though I knew they’d accept me for who I am… anxiety’s a bitch.”

”Th-thanks,” Vee said. She managed to wriggle one arm free to wipe the tears off her face. ”You guys really are the best.”

They stood huddled together for a minute, until Vee felt her love of hugs starting to give way to her fear of being restrained.

”I’m fine, I promise,” she said, trying to wriggle free of the group hug. ”I’m just so happy is all.”

Eventually, the Cabin 7 crew relented with their physical affection and let her go. They had breakfast to finish after all.

The three humans watched with equal amounts fascination and disgust as Vee ate an entire banana, without peeling it. ”The shell doesn’t taste that good, but hey, it’s the inside that counts, right?” she said. And really, who could argue with logic like that?

Her friends had a few more questions about her biology yet.

”Do you shed your skin like a snake?” Samuel asked while helping to gather the dishes.

”Uh-huh,” Vee hummed, putting the dishes in the sink. She decided to be lazy and do them later. ”I actually shed not too long ago. The old skin’s in a box in the basement, if you wanna see it.”

”…that’s a hard pass for me bro,” Marco said. ”Why would you even keep it?”

”What were we supposed to do, throw it out in the garbage?” Vee asked rhetorically. ”You saw how Jacob acted yesterday. After Camila locked him in his own cage, he hasn’t dared to go after us directly. But I don’t think he’s above digging through the trash to find proof there’s a demon living here. As is, everyone thinks he’s a raving lunatic conspiracy nut. Which, to be fair, he is, he just happened to stumble onto the truth this one time.”

The three friends nodded, for the first time realizing just what it would mean if Jacob actually did get proof of demon presence in Gravesfield. The town had a history of witch hunting already, who’s to say the people of today wouldn’t continue the tradition should they learn of Vee’s presence? Not to mention what the government might do to get their hands on an interdimensional traveler.

”It must’ve been incredibly hard for you,” Masha said. They were still playing with the deck of Hexas Hold’em cards, shuffling them and drawing the first three cards. ”To have to pretend to be someone else, in a world you know nothing about.”

”It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure,” Vee admitted. ”But, well… it’s kinda what we basilisks do. We disguise ourselves, observe, lie, infiltrate, feed, survive… a lot of it was pure instinct. I’m a natural liar.”

Samuel shook his head.

”’Liar’ is a bad word,” he said. ”Very strong, very stigmatized. Say you’re a born actor and a natural talent at improv.”

This made Vee laugh.

”If you say so,” she giggled. She cleared her throat and the next time she spoke, her voice was an exact imitation of Samuel’s. ”A lot of it was instinct. I’m a born actor and a natural talent at improv.”

”You’re so gonna have to help me write my résumé,” Masha said to Samuel, prompting a brief chuckle.

”I’ve been thinking of doing NaNoWriMo this year, so I’ve been practicing how to make sentences longer,” he explained. He then had to spend the next fifteen minutes explaining what that was and deflect questions his friends had about the novel he was totally going to write.

After breakfast was done with and the table cleaned up, a natural question arose:

”So… what now?” Marco asked.

”I’m thinking that maybe I should take over as Luz for a little while,” Vee said. ”But I’m not sure. For now though… I suppose the first order of business is to get Camila’s car back. I know she has a spare key in the key cabinet. So I guess that’s today’s project.”

Masha looked skeptical.

”Do you have a driver’s license?”

”No…” Vee admitted. ”But I can turn into Camila, and I’m sure there’s some other identification lying around I could use. And that’s assuming I even get pulled over, and why would I get pulled over?”

”Normally you’d have a point, but the police have been on edge lately with all the break-ins,” Samuel said. ”My mom told me she’s been pulled over five times in her life, and three of them have been in the last month.”

”I think we’re missing something obvious here guys,” Masha said. ”Vee, do you even know how to drive?”

”I mean… no…” Vee said slowly. ”But I’m sure I could figure it out!”

”…I’m driving it home for you,” Masha stated, not leaving it up for debate.

”Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Vee conceded.

Before they left, Vee quickly grabbed a few cups of brown pellets that she scarfed down. This made Marco raise an eyebrow… not that you could tell.

”Was that…?”

”Dog food, yes,” Vee sighed, clearly having had this conversation before. ”It’s filling.”

”Wow,” Marco said, not sounding particularly impressed or surprised. To be fair, the Luz he had known at camp did seem like she might eat dog food. ”You weren’t lying when you said you were hungry before.”

”I’m still growing!” Vee said with the smallest hint of a pout. Masha drew their attention away from the deck of cards they’d been playing with, since this sounded interesting. ”I’ve got a lot of growing left before I become an adult. I haven’t even been through second puberty.”

”…second puberty?” Samuel asked.

Vee nodded.

”Yeah, it’s, uh… a thing with us basilisks.You know, like… maturing and stuff.” This did nothing to explain anything. ”Point is, I’ve got a lot of growing left to do, and I gotta eat for that.”

”How big do you think you’re going to be?” Masha asked curiously. ”Or like, how long, I guess?”

”Oh, um…” Vee scratched the back of her head. ”About… twelve to fifteen-”

”Twelve to fifteen feet?” Samuel exclaimed, impressed.

”Noooooo,” Vee said. ”Twelve to fifteen meters.”

There was a pause as the three humans processed this answer.

”Bloody hell’s bells,” Masha finally whispered, their eyes wide with awe.

Marco whistled.

”Big snake,” he said.

”That’s putting it lightly,” Samuel muttered. ”Fifteen meters is bigger than the titanoboa, the biggest snake in the fossil record.”

”Haha, yeah, I got tall genes,” Vee said nervously. She shifted into her human form. ”Shall we get going?”

xxXXxx

Gravesfield was beautiful around this time of the year. The warm browns, oranges, and yellows of the trees suited the quaint little town. The air was clear and crisp, with a hint of winter cold in the wind, though today was an unusually warm and sunny autumn’s day. A perfect day for a nice stroll with friends.

Vee’s three human friends still had a plethora of questions that needed answering, not just about her, but about the world she came from. At the same time, Masha resolved to make good on their offer to give Vee a tour of the town. Since Vee already knew her way around, they resorted to the second best option, their specialty: useless historical trivia. And so the conversation kept bouncing between the magical and the mundane as if dictated by a conversational metronome.

”So on the Boiling Isles, all life and magic comes from the Titan whose body actually makes up most of the isles. All magic is made up of four basic elements, light, fire, ice, and plant. It’s really cool too, because when I eat magic I can taste the different elements. So Amity’s abomination magic, for example, is mostly plant elemental, with a bit of light and hints of fire and ice. Now, Gus’ illusions on the other hand are almost completely light elemental…”

”So you’ve all probably wondered why the library in town is called that, right? Okay, you’ve probably never even thought about it, but R.E.O.S Gravesfield Public Library is a pretty odd name, don’t you think? Turns out the old library burned down in 1931, and since this was during the Great Depression, there wasn’t any money to rebuild it. But as luck would have it, the millionaire industrialist, philanthrope, and hobbyist ghost hunter Robert E.O Speedwagon came to visit Gravesfield in 1933. This place was well-known for being haunted even back then. He didn’t find any ghosts, but he apparently took such a liking to the town that he offered to personally fund the construction of a new library. Thus, it was named after him. Speedwagon was an interesting fella, because he wasn’t born into wealth, no, he started out as a thug on the streets of victorian London…”

”Really, I swear, dog food isn’t that bad. Dogs are supposed to be man’s best friend right? Why would you feed your best friend something that’s gross? Amity, Gus, and Willow tried some, and they didn’t think it was half bad. Then again… Hunter nearly threw up… and so did Luz. Huh…”

”Speaking of ghost hunts, one of my favorites has got to be Mr. Hunter, and he actually visited Gravesfield once. As I recall, he wrote that while he didn’t find any ghosts, there was undoubtedly something eerie about this place that he couldn’t put his finger on. Like a subtle hum in the air, inaudible to the human air but still felt in your body. He visited the old graveyard while they were doing some digging and reburials, so maybe he could somehow sense the presence of the titan’s blood? Because I really do believe some people have extrasensory perception. People will say that ’Oh, the Stargate project never found any psychics,’ but do you really think anyone with real psychic abilities would tell the government? Best case scenario, you get locked up and experimented on for the rest of your life…”

”No, no, I’m not exaggerating, it’s an island on top of the body of an ancient giant. It’s just like that one story you told at camp Masha, about that giant that was killed by some gods who made the world out of its body.”

”Oh, you mean the norse creation myth? I love that one, it’s so metal. So in the beginning, there was a land of fire, a land of ice, and a great gap between them…”

It didn’t take too long for Samuel and Marco both to realize (and the fact that Marco noticed just went to show how obvious it was) that they were being slowly excluded from the conversation. There was no malice or ill will behind it, no. It was more so the fact that Masha and Vee seemed to only have eyes and ears for each other.

Vee looked at Masha with such affection and attention whenever they started talking, you could almost see her ears perk up under her hair. And Masha was always up for talking about history or ghosts or whatever else interested them that day, but the excitement with which they spoke to Vee was unparalleled.

As the odd bunch reached the center of town, it had become pretty clear what was going. Marco and Samuel had unintentionally become the third and fourth wheel on a date.

”Ooh Vee, you’ve got to try the new chai latte they’ve got at Robin’s Roast,” Masha said excitedly. ”Do you boys want anything?” They added, once they remembered the boys existed and were present.

”No thanks, I don’t like coffee,” Samuel declined. ”B’sides, I promised I’d be home by lunch, so I better get going.” He glanced at Marco. As per usual, Marco’s expression was nearly impossible to decipher, but it seemed like he got the hint.

”Yeah, and I only drink water,” he said. This was true; he only ever drank regular water. At most he’d treat himself to some ice water. He had never explained why. ”And I probably should get home as well. See you around!” he said and waved as he and Samuel went on their ways.

”See ya!” Vee said and waved back. She turned to Masha. ”And I’d love to try one of those chai lattes.”

”Great. My treat,” Masha said and started leading Vee towards the cafe.

Vee came to a sudden stop though just before they could enter.

”Oh uh,” she mumbled.

”What’s the matter?” Masha asked.

”Um…” Vee mumbled. ”I… don’t really wanna see her,” she whispered and gestured at someone through the window.

Masha took a peek inside the almost empty cafe.

”Who, Clara?” they asked, spotting one of Luz’ classmates. She was easy to recognize, with her bright blonde hair with a streak of pink. ”Did you or Luz get into a fight with her?”

”Wha-no, not Clara, the other one,” Vee said and pointed at the only other person in the room.

”Maya?” Masha said, surprised.

”You know her?”

”Sorta,” Masha shrugged. ”Believe it or not, but I’m a frequent customer at The Magic Circle, that’s where I get all my books on the occult and paranormal. So we kinda know each other. What about you, why don’t you wanna see her?”

”Well, uh…” Vee mumbled. ”We actually went to The Magic Circle the other day while we’re trying to figure out what that old rebus was about, and, uh… we kinda… got kicked out…”

”Ah, I see,” Masha said, a small smile playing at the edge of their lips.

”Really, it was mostly Gus’ and Willow’s fault,” Vee said defensively.

”If you say so,” Masha snickered. ”Don’t worry, I’ll go in and face this challenge alone,” distorting their voice into a dramatic growl, making Vee giggle.

”Alright, I’lll be waiting somewhere around. I don’t wanna stay too close, lest she see me.”

Masha nodded and entered the cafe. Vee turned around and started walking away in a very natural and unsuspicious manner, not at all reminiscent of someone who had just spotted someone who they really did not want to spot them.

She rounded the corner of the block, and realized too late that she had found herself back at the scene of the crime. Literally; The Magic Circle was cordoned off with bright yellow police tape.

What in the…? When did this happen?

Vee approached slowly, watching out for shards of glass on the pavement. Most of them had been swept up and to the side, but there were a few missed glittering in the high sun. Someone had broken open the door, nearly ripping it off its hinges, sending glass flying everywhere in the process. Not only that, but the metal bars that were supposed to stop anyone that had forced open the door had been cut and bent out of shape. Someone really wanted to get into that store.

A fleeting scent reached Vee’s nose, and she instinctively took a deep breath. She dared a little bit closer, almost to the point where she touched the police tape. She could hear people talking and moving inside, likely investigators trying to figure out who was behind this crime. It was not the noise that brought Vee close though, but the scent.

There was a faint smell in the air, a smell Vee recognized. Not from the realm of humans, but one from the realm of demons. It wasn’t magic, but rather the memory of magic, the ”soot” and ”smoke” of a spell. It smelled like someone had performed magic here… but no one, not Amity, not Gus, nor Willow had cast any spells while they were here. And even if they had, that was two days ago. Surely the smell would would have faded away into nothing by now… surely…

xxXXxx

The familiar smell of ground coffee beans and freshly baked pastries greeted Masha as they entered Robin’s Roast, well before the employee behind the counter could. They threw a glance at the sign showing customers that had managed to get themselves permanently banned. A pale woman with grey hair and bright golden eyes and a wild smile; Marilyn. Except that was not her real name. She was Eda the Owl Lady, a powerful witch from another world. She had come here once, tired to pay with a raccoon, cursed the croissants, and then ran away. To be honest, from what Vee had told them, this Eda seemed like an icon of chaos and unadulterated confidence. In other words, very much the kind of person Masha aspired to be.

Masha nodded to Maya before going to place their order. Two chai lattes, and these ones were the best in town. Well, they were the only in town, but still. They were good, Vee was sure to love them. After a moment of consideration, Masha decided to grab two two cupcakes as well. They had a chocolate-and-coffee frosting and were decorated with white and black hearts.

Without thinking, Masha reached into the pocket where they kept the deck of cards. Their thumb brushed over the topmost card. The Red String.

”… on a date?”

”Hm?” Masha hummed and spun around to face the voice taking to them. It was Maya, sitting by her lonesome with a by now cold coffee.

”You on a date?” she repeated, causing Masha’s brain to malfunction.

”Wha-? N-no, it’s not a date! We’re just friends.” Incredibly enough, Masha managed to stutter forth the exact series of words that anyone who was on a date but didn’t want to admit it was a date would say. Amazing. They felt their cheeks begin to heat up.

Maya, as expected, looked unconvinced.

”Yeah sure. And your ’friend’ with the green hair is real subtle.”

”You… saw her?” Masha said, keeping their tone low. Even if Vee’s other friends hadn’t done a crime, it was probably for the better not to draw too much attention to the basilisk hiding amongst humans. They glanced at Clara, who looked absolutely miserable over in the corner of the cafe, sulking with a half empty coffee mug.

”Yeah…” Maya said slowly. ”Kind hard not to, with the green hair and bright orange sweater. She’s like a walking traffic cone.”

That image was enough to make Masha forget their nervousness and start chuckling. Maya didn’t joke often, but when she did, she did not miss.

”She thought you might be mad at her,” Masha explained, still keeping their tone low. ”She said that last time you two met didn’t end so well.”

”Water under the bridge,” Maya said. She stirred her coffee with a spoon, not that it did much good since it was already cold.

”…wasn’t it less than two days ago.”

”Lot of water passes under the bridge in two days,” Maya said with a shrug. She tapped a coin lying on the table. It looked like it could be gold, though it probably wasn’t, and it had a spiral symbol on it. ”But you can let her know that her friends aren’t gonna get in trouble if they come back. I literally could not be arsed to report that stolen costume. And, well… with what happened, another missing costume isn’t that big of a deal.”

”What, what happened?” Masha asked, slipping back to normal conversational tone. Something else had happened at The Magic Circle since then? This was news to Masha.

”You didn’t see it on the way here?” Maya raised her eyebrow. Masha had never claimed to be great at reading facial expressions, but they could somehow decode exactly what Maya meant, calling Masha out on being… distracted by their company.

”If it was something at The Magic Circle, then no, we came from another direction,” Masha said quickly, internally cursing their traitorous body for pumping excessive amounts of blood to their cheeks.

”Yeah, well, someone broke into the store,” Maya said. ”Completely trashed the front door. Hence why I’m here instead of at work.”

”Oh no, that’s terrible,” Masha said. Genuinely, that was their favorite store in town. It was a much-needed haven for a social outcast enby goth like them. ”That’s what, the fifth this month?” The last month or so had seen an unprecedented number of break-ins and thefts happening in the otherwise peaceful little town. The last place to be hit was a private workshop. The thief had made off with thousands of dollars worth in tools, car parts, and electronics. ”Was anything stolen?”

Maya nodded.

”Mhm. No cash though, which is weird, didn’t even touch the safe. No, they stole some costumes and a bunch of jewelry. And cassette tapes, which is even weirder to me. If they were originals, then maybe they’d be worth something, but the ones we have are cheap replicas for nostalgia’s sake.”

Out of the corner of their eye, Masha saw Clara suddenly get up from her chair and hurry out. In her haste, she bumped into Masha. She mumbled a quick sorry and was gone before Masha even had the time to tell her it was fine.

”Geez, what lit a fire under her ass?” Maya said dryly, watching through the window as Clara all but ran her way from Robin’s Roast.

”I dunno, maybe she realized she was late for her class on being a bitch,” Masha said. They almost regretted saying that immediately, because in the grand scheme of things, Clara was not that much of a bitch… though she was far from a saint. Still, it was a funny joke that almost made Maya laugh.

”Yeah, probably,” she said. Her eyes flickered to the floor. ”You dropped something.”

”Oh, thanks,” Masha said and bent down to pick up the Hexas Hold’em cards that had slipped out of their pocket when Clara collided with them.

There were three cards on the floor. Now, you’d think that since The Red String, The Two-Headed Snake, and The Light were the three topmost cards in the deck, those would have been the ones to fall out, but you’d be mistaken. With a slight frown, Masha gathered the cards and looked at them.

The Sword and Shield featured a winged sword and an ornate shield. The card invoked the imagery of a knight or soldier, brave and loyal. It’d be a pity to stain such beautiful things with the blood of war and conflict.

The Golem showed a large and brutish figure made from purple clay. It was probably supposed to be one of those abominations Vee had mentioned Luz’ girlfriend (Amity?) used. A figure crafted with magic, made to defend or attack, but with little will of its own.

The Whip was just that, a whip, though the tip of this one was replaced with a snake’s head. Whips were the weapon of oppressors and animal tamers, who ruled though fear of pain and punishment.

”Oh yeah, and the thief also stole all those cards too,” Maya said, snapping Masha out of their thoughts and back to reality. ”What were they called, Hex n’ Hold’em?”

”Hexas Hold’em,” Masha corrected, shoving the cards back in their pocket.

”Right, right… I think we got them from that creepy conspiracy nut.”

Masha nodded.

”Jacob Hopkins. I got my deck from him as well.”

”You know him?” Maya asked.

”Not really. He used to work at the Historical Society,” Masha explained, which was met by a sympathetic grimace from Maya. ”And yes, he really is as crazy as you think. Or worse even. Did you know he’s an actual flat-earther?”

”Noooooo…” Maya said slowly, in utter disbelief. ”That can’t be true! I though the whole flat earth thing was just a bad meme.”

”I wish I was kidding,” Masha said while shaking their head. ”Flat earth and witches from Mars, ancient aliens that gather in the ruins in the woods… you can see why he got kicked out of the GHS.”

”Good riddance, by the sounds of it,” Maya said.

At this point, the man behind the counter decided he was tired of listening to Maya and Masha’s banter, and so he cleared his throat to get Masha’s attention.

”R-right, sorry,” they mumbled. They quickly paid and with only some difficulty, managed to grab both cups and the paper bag with the cupcakes.

Maya was a gentlewoman and got up from her seat to hold the door open for them.

”Good luck on the date,” she said, which, despite the playfulness to her voice, still sounded genuine deep down.

”It’s not-” Masha’s words were cut off by the door closing.

Masha wasn’t privy to Maya sighing and sitting back again, reaching for the spoon to uselessly stir her coffee again… only to discover the spoon had, as if by an invisible hand, been bent out of shape.

As Masha exited back out onto the sidewalk, they scanned the street for Vee, finding that she was nowhere within sight. Following a hunch, they rounded the corner and indeed, there she was.

Vee was standing in front of The Magic Circle, dangerously close to the trashed door, almost touching the police tape. She was sniffing the air, her eyes closed in concentration.

”Good Goddess, what did you people do!?” Masha said loudly, startling Vee. She almost jumped out of her own skin as she spun around.

”Nothing, I was just curious!” she said quickly, before she even registered who it was talking to her. She relaxed when she saw who was talking to her. Masha noticed her hair move as her big adorable ear moved underneath. ”Oh. Funny. Real funny coming from you, considering you’re my alibi.”

”I dunno, they say criminals always return to the scene of the crime,” Masha said, trying to sound genuine. ”Are you sure it wasn’t you?”

”Positive,” Vee said dryly. ”No, I really was just curious. I thought I could smell something…” She threw a quick glance at the wrecked door and security bars with the hint of a frown. ”But it’s probably nothing.”

”How about we get going again then?” Masha said, holding up the goodies from Robin’s Roast. ”The tea’s getting cold, and i’ve still got many useless. I mean, ’ interesting’ historical facts to tell you. Oh, and I got us a little something extra,” they said and shook the little paper bag, though gently, as to not spill any of the still hot liquid.

Vee’s face lit up at the prospect of food and drink.

”Gladly,” she said excitedly and took the cup Masha was offering. As they started walking away from the depressing sight that was The Magic Circle, Vee smelled the tea carefully.

”You were right, this is amazing,” she said.

”Y-you do know you’re supposed to drink it, right?” Masha asked while taking a sip themselves.

”Oh, I know,” Vee said and took a careful sip. ”But there’s not much difference in smell and taste to me.”

”Really? Can’t you feel any taste?” Masha asked, intrigued. There was still so much about their friend they didn’t know. They recalled what Vee had talked about before, how she normally didn’t chew her food, so maybe it did make sense that she didn’t have much of a sense of taste.

”No, I have a sense of taste, but my sense of smell is a lot more refined,” Vee clarified. ”Didn’t you ever wonder how I became the best seeker in hide and seek back at camp?”

This took Masha a second to process. It was true that whenever the camp counselors made the kids do hide and seek among the barracks or in the nearby woods, ’Luz’ was always the best at finding people… she even earned a little gold star for it, one of many.

”You… you were tracking us… by scent?” they said slowly. Vee nodded with a big grin, revealing Masha probably had a very funny expression.

”Yeah,” Vee said, clearly holding back laughter. ”I remember the very first time we played hide and seek, and I was so confused that no one else was trying to mask their scent. That’s when I realized humans just don’t have that good a sense of smell. Uh, no offense, you humans have a lot of great qualities, especially yo-I mean-”

”That’s why you showed up covered in mud!” Masha exclaimed, suddenly remembering one of the weirder things ’Luz’ had done, and one of the few times she got in trouble at camp.

”That and camouflage,” Vee laughed, prompting Masha to start laughing as well.

Once the laughter died down, the two friends could continue with their walk through town. Masha offered Vee one of the cupcakes.

”Aw, these are so cute,” Vee said, taking a good look at the muffin, before it was to be devoured.

”A cute cupcake for a cute girl,” MAsha said before they could stop themselves. Being unable to see their own face, Masha wasn’t sure if that sentence made them blush harder than Vee, but they suspected that might be the case.

”G-gee, th-thanks,” Vee stammered. ”I-I think you’re cute too. B-but in a cool way! You’re like the coolest person I know! Wh-which I know doesn’t mean that much because I really don’t know that many people, at least when compared to the average human, which I’m not…” Her sentence trailed off at some point before it devolved into complete gibberish.

And so, in only a few seconds, the atmosphere between the two friends changed entirely. They spent a few minutes in awkward silence, wandering the streets of Gravesfield while eating their cupcakes and drinking their tea.

Masha decided to break the silence.

”So, uh… did you say you could smell magic as well?” the asked, recalling something Vee had mentioned offhandedly the night before.

Vee nodded.

”I can track magic by scent as well.” She suddenly smiled again. ”But I can do more than just track,” she said. ”I can tell all sorts of things by smell. Like, did you know Marco uses the same kind of dandruff shampoo as Camila?”

”I didn’t know Marco used shampoo,” Masha said. ”I’ve never been able to smell anything from hm other than that body spray he insists on using way too much off.”

”It really doesn’t smell that good” Vee agreed. ”Okay, but I can also tell that Samuel really need to do something about his foot fungus.”

”Eeeeew!” Masha exclaimed. ”Gross!”

”I know,” Vee said with a nod. ”It’s been pretty bad for a while now, but I noticed that it’s gotten even worse. I’m serious, it can’t be healthy.”

”Ew, ew, ew!” Masha repeated while holding their hands over their ears. ”Talk about something else.”

”O-okay, um… ”Vee thought for a moment. ”Oh, I know, something else I can do. I could tell instantly that your mom was pregnant, right when I first met her.”

…

”SHE’S WHAT!?”

xxXXxx

It took Masha a bit to calm down after that bombshell. The revelation that there were going to have a younger sibling within a couple of months was bad enough, but it was made even worse when they realized that… it must have happened while they were away at camp. Vee was profoundly apologetic about the whole thing, meagerly saying she thought they knew already, which only made things yet worse, because it was apparently an obvious thing too.

Eventually they calmed down, largely thanks to Vee distracting them by asking for more historical trivia.

Vee was a very attentive listener. As Masha had noticed before, they could notice her ears move and perk up when she heard something she thought was interesting. And those big bright eyes were so full of life and wonder at everything. Even when it came to those subjects most people who were not already interested in history found boring and irrelevant. Though Masha made sure to omit some of the more gruesome details, especially regarding the witch hunts.

The two of them spent about an hour walking around Gravesfield, enjoying their chai lattes, cupcakes, the pleasant weather and each others’ company.

As Masha set the course, they dragged Vee along in any random direction, based more so on vibes and any interesting facts they could think of. So it was quite unintentional on their part that they end up where they eventually did end up.

It was towards the south edge of town, where at one point, there had been a big push towards development. Land had been purchased and forest cut down to make way for new housing and businesses. Pretty much all of those grandiose and ambitious ideas had been abandoned for a variety of reasons… and one huge reason, the primary reason really, was what Vee and Masha found themselves looking at.

Masha came to a halt when they realized where they were, an abrupt halt that took Vee by surprise. She followed Masha’s gaze, beholding the modern ruins.

The entire area was cordoned off by a chainlink fence to keep modern urban explorers out… not that it had succeeded, as the gate had been forced open, and was only kept closed by a rock someone had placed in front of it.

Beyond the fence was a large field of asphalt, which had once had lines for parking spaces, though since long worn out. Cycles of heat, and rain, and cold without any upkeep had over the years made the asphalt start to crack. Life, ever persevering, had started to reclaim the area, with grass, weeds, and flowers growing from the cracks.

On the other end of the old parking lot stood the remains of a building. Crumbling slabs and blocks of concrete, with rusting metal beams and rebar sticking out of it like the bones of a rotting corpse. Almost every visible wall that was still standing was covered in graffiti, some so old that it had started to fade away.

Masha broke the silence.

”That… used to be a big department store,” they said slowly. ”Built in 1998, it would even remain standing for a decade. Shoddy workmanship, corrupt inspectors approving subpar construction, and the ever-present desire of those who already have more than they need to earn even more, to increase the profit margin by even just a fraction of a percent…” They stopped before they got too carried away. They had spent a lot of time looking into this case, and everything they had learned had made them more angry. They took a deep breath to calm themselves down. At their side, Vee had a mixed look of confusion and worry.

”Are… you okay?” she asked quietly. She started to reach out, but stopped halfway.

”Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just… it makes me mad,” Masha said, though Vee didn’t look very reassured. ”It was during a summer of heavy rainfall that part of the roof collapsed,” Masha continued, doing their best to slip back into history teacher mode. ”Two people received minor injuries, one employee and one customer. Examination of the wreckage as well as the original blueprints lead to the entire building being condemned and left here. The parent company promised to clean it up, but of course, nothing has happened yet. It’s only been fifteen years after all, give it some time.” Again, Masha couldn’t help but let the disgust seep through their words.

”It was the opinion of several independent experts that a leak on the roof, a problem which was known about by the staff, lead to supporting beams beginning to rust and for the roof to weaken,” Masha continued. ”Furthermore, partway through the construction, there was a change of plans and part of the air conditioning system was moved, putting additional weight on a part of the roof that was not designed to bear it. One investigator went as far as to claim that the construction company had knowingly used substandard materials in order to cut down costs. Of course, they were never taken to court for this.”

Masha stepped on a small pebble on the ground, rolling it under their shoe and fiddling with it. Vee stood by, silently waiting for the next part of the story.

”I was here on that day,” Masha said finally. ”I wasn’t old enough to remember, I was only a little over a year old when it happened, but my dad has told me the story. It was in the afternoon on the seventh of June, 2007. My parents had been visiting my mom’s family living in the next town over. On the way back home, they stopped by here to get something for dinner.”

Masha stopped and pointed at a spot close to the ruins.

”I don’t know if you can see it, but there’s some flowers growing in some of the bigger cracks over there. Mom and I planted them there on dad’s birthday last year. I don’t remember what the flowers are called, but they’re supposed to represent life.”

They cleared their throat.

”Anyway… it had been raining cats and dogs all day, so dad was supposed to head in alone while mom waited in the car with me. But just as dad was about to leave… I started crying. He said that I was sleeping before, but the suddenly… I sat up and started crying. But not just crying… he said… he told me that I was screaming. And that he had never heard me scream like that, not before, not since, not even when I broke my arm in second grade.”

Even the brief mention of that painful memory made Masha rub their arm, even though it was completely healed.

”So… dad stayed, you know, to try and figure out why I was screaming bloody murder. And… that’s when they heard a a loud rumbling and a terrible crash. Mom said that at first she thought it was thunder, and that maybe it was a lightning bolt that frightened me. But no, the sound was not thunder, it was the roof collapsing… right above the entrance. If my dad had left when he was supposed to, if I hadnät started crying…”

”Then he would’ve been caught in the collapse,” Vee finished the sentence, met by a nod from Masha.

”Mhm.”

”You saved his life then,” Vee said tentatively, still not sure why Masha was telling her this.

”In a sense,” Masha mumbled, their hand in their pocket, fidgeting with the Hexas Hold’em cards. They pulled out the deck and held them up for Vee. They spoke slowly, hesitating. ”Are… you sure there’s no magic left in these?”

Vee frowned and took the cards. She smelled them carefully, flipping through the deck. It honestly looked kinda funny.

”No,” she said after a little while. ”Not even a little spark. Even the memory of magic is gone. All I can smell on them is you.” She handed the cards back and made an attempt at a smile. ”There’s literally not enough magic in them to do a card trick.”

Masha couldn’t help but smile at the joke, and they couldn’t help but giggle at how adorably proud Vee looked over herself for that pun.

”I really did think there might still be some magic left in them,” Masha said, shuffling the deck.

”Why?” Vee asked.

”Because…” Masha took a deep breath. Why was this so difficult to talk about? It really shouldn’t be. ”Last night, at the Haunted Hayride, just before we ran into you and Jacob… I drew some cards…”

One more deep breath. Inhale, exhale. This was the moment. Time to see if they really were crazy.

They drew the first card in the deck.

”The Two-Headed Snake. A being that is dual in nature, something that is not what it appears to be at first,” Masha said. They handed the card to Vee, who was looking… how would you describe the look? Eyes wide, mouth open and jaw slack. Flabbergasted, perhaps? One might even go as far as to say she looked gobsmacked.

They drew the second card in the deck.

”The Light illuminates and reveals things in the dark.” They handed that card to Vee.

They drew the third card in the deck.

”The Red String. A deep connection.” Masha swallowed. ”Like friends, or people who are destined to meet.” They handed that card over to Vee as well. ”I didn’t know it at the time, but in hindsight… it’s an odd coincidence, right? The Two-Headed snake is obviously you, a snake with multiple faces. Then we have the light which reveals things, just like how you revealed the truth to us, shed light on the situation so to say. And The Red String, well… we were obviously connected, since we became friends at camp and then ran into each other again, even after you became someone else.”

”That… does… make sense… kinda,” Vee said, talking slowly as she tried to process what was going on.

”And it’s not only that, but this night, I shuffled the deck again and I drew those exact same three cards,” Masha said, their voice ramping up as they got more worked up. ”And now I pulled the same three cards again! That can’t be random chance, it just can’t! I thought there might be some magic left in the cards, but if there isn’t…” The sentence trailed off.

Of course they had thought about it many times before, of course, what kid hadn’t? That dream every misunderstood kid has, the dream of being special. Masha had poured over books, badly produced documentaries, and no end of shady internet forums talking about psychic powers and the like. People whi claimed they could see ghosts, or bend spoons, or see the future. susually, these people wanted you money, but every so often there appeared to be someone genuine. And even more rarely, there appeared to be someone who really could do the magical things they claimed.

”Actually…” Vee said slowly, scratching the back of her head. She gave the three cards back to Masha, who shuffled them back into the deck. ”There’s no magic in the cards, and they weren’t enchanted with oracle magic, so they couldn’t tell the future anyway… but maybe there’s something… special about you. Because, um…” Her gaze fell to the ground, like she was avoiding eye contact. ”You do… smell kinda weird.”

”Weird in what way?” Masha said a little too quickly, for the moment forgetting what they were talking about and everything Vee had said before that.

”I-it’s not b-bad or anything, just… strange,” Vee assured them, still not meeting their eyes.”You smell of… metal.”

”…metal?” Masha said, confused. ”What kind of metal?”

”It’s not really like any metal I know,” Vee clarified. ”It’s more like a metallic smell.”

”And that’s weird?” Masha asked, trying to get Vee to explain just what she was talking about.

”Yeah…” Vee finally looked up again, meeting Masha’s eyes with hers. ”I was super confused when we first met, because no other human smelled like you. They all smelled like soap, and hormones, and regular stuff. And you did too, but you also had that other smell. But… you remember Dr. Jante?”

Masha nodded. Of course they remembered the head honcho at camp. It was undeniably ironic that Reality Check Camp, which aimed to make weird kids ”normal” was created and lead by Dr. Jante, a man who was inarguably a massive weirdo himself.

”He smelled like that too,” Vee said. ”So I just kinda figured some humans smelled like that. But if what you’re saying is true, then maybe there is something more to it. Maybe… maybe humans can do magic too! My kind evolved to track witch magic, not human magic, so maybe that’s why I wouldn’t recognize it!”

”D-do… do you really think so?” Masha said. It actually took them some effort to hold back a tear. Vee, someone so incredibly special, a real demon from a world of magic and miracles thought they might be magical too. It was everything they could've ever dreamed of.

”I mean, what else could it be?” Vee said enthusiastically. "You said it yourself, the chances of getting those same three cards three times in a row are astronomical. So if a funny coincidence is off the table, then what’s left?”

”Could I really be magic? For real?” Masha asked, their voice shaking, not out of stress, or anger, or sadness, no. Out of joy; they had a big dumb smile on their face. They looked down at their hands, halfway expecting sparks to fly from their fingertips. ”Can that really be true?”

”i don’t know that it couldn’t be true,” Vee said with a shrug and a big smile of her own. ”Why don’t we ask the cards?”

”Oh… yeah!” Masha said, excited. Of course, what kind of fortune teller were they, standing here asking questions, when they should be consulting the cards. They shuffled the cards again while Vee shuffled next to them to get a good look.

The first card had an image of a black bird.

”The Raven,” Masha said, saying the first thing that came to their mind. ”An oft maligned bird, it’s nonetheless intelligent and beautiful in its own way.”

The next card showed a single arrow with an ornate metal arrowhead.

”The Arrow. A… weapon of war, or…” Masha bit their lip, trying to figure out what the card was trying to tell them. ”Direction? Showing the the way or going somewhere.”

The third cad had a crystal ball from which a ghostly figure was emerging.

”The Spirit. A teller of the future summoned to give wisdom or aid to the living.”

”Seems clear as day to me,” Vee said. She pointed at the first card. ”The bird is obviously you, ’oft maligned, but intelligent and beautiful.’ And this arrow…” Vee moved her finger from The Raven, in the direction of The Arrow, which was pointing at… ”The Spirit. That’s the symbol of the Oracle Coven, and they can see the future.” She beamed at Masha.

”I…I.” Masha didn’t know what to say. They finally lost the battle against the tears, as small droplets of joy started rolling down their cheeks. ”Thank you,” they whispered, leaning in even closer to Vee. ”You have no idea how much this means to me.”

”O-oh, it’s really no big deal,” Vee laughed awkwardly, her face becoming a deep red color. ”I jus-”

Masha interrupted her by pulling her into a deep hug. Vee made an ”Eep!” sound and stood frozen for a second before she returned the embrace, holding on to Masha hard.

She held on very hard.

Almost a little too hard.

”V-vee,” Masha said after about a minute. ”It’s.. getting hard to breathe.

”Ohmygosh, so sorry!” Vee yelled and let Masha go, nearly pushing them over in the process. ”I’m so sorry!” she said again, hr face red as a beet. ”I, uh… constrictor instinct?”

Despite being short of breath, Masha couldn’t help but laugh at that, which in turn made Vee giggle awkwardly.

”You know,” Masha said as they dried their tears. ”When we first started on this walk, I didn’t expect to learn this much about myself. Mostly I expected to teach you boring history facts and maybe to learn a bit more about you, and…” They stopped at a realization. Something they, both of them, had forgotten. Something kinda important.

”What is it?” Vee asked, noticing the change in Masha’s expression.

”…we forgot the car, didn’t we?”

”…we did.” Vee sighed. ”Aw, shoot.” The walk back would be almost an hour.

xxXXxx

Going back in time a bit, to when Clara left the cafe in such a hurry. She had gone to the right, the opposite direction of The Magic Circle. She did not want to see the scene of the crime, she was desperate to avoid it. Coming to Robin’s Roast, so close, had been a mistake.

What no one knew at this point in time was that if Clara had walked past The Magic Circle at that moment, past Vee, the basilisk in hiding… then this story would have had a very different ending. Sadly, that was not to be. Fate, it would seem, has a sense of humor.

To Be Continued…

[witchyleehibernates]

Curtis Gang's Creature Companion's

Mrs. (Cheryl) Curtis has a Phoenix and her Magical prowess came in the form of potion making. Sodapop often sat with Cheryl when she was making her potions, her phoenix ‘playing’ with him when she didn’t need a magical plant. After she died, her Phoenix stayed close to the gang, and at night you could hear her crying for her person (Cheryl).

Mr. (Darrel) Curtis has a Hippogriff, and when his children were younger, he would take them on late night flights. When Darry’s Hippogriff was able to carry him, the two of them would go on flights, sometimes just the two of them, sometimes bringing the other two boys along too. His power was light manipulation (he could change the colors and shapes of light that he created himself).

Darry has a Gryphon, which stands just a half a foot taller than Darry when both are standing at full height. Sometimes, Darry will go on late night flights with his Gryphon. Darry’s magic is temperature manipulation. Darry’s Gryphon is a girl.

Two-Bit 100% has a basilisk that shrinks itself to wrap around his arm, the basilisk has reached majority and its life force has connected to Two-Bit’s and Two-Bit gained the ability of Sound Imitation which he absolutely uses to mess with people.

Two-Bit also has a Cheshire Cat, no one knows how. It rests across his shoulders when it’s not trying to terrorize people and not trying to steal their hats… or their rings. Sometimes, it also rests around the gang's shoulders, specifically Ponyboy’s.

Dally has a Firebird that sits perched on his shoulders. There are bits of fire that span from its wings, but it is not a phoenix. There are times were it seems like the two are communicating through whistles, and other times where Dally and the Firebird are… fighting? Dally’s ear is more often than not bleeding from a harsh peck from his firebird. Dally’s (future) power is vibrations / silent sound waves (think Rictor from ‘Logan’).

Steve has a ghost dog… or a half skeletal horse. (He takes Sodapop on horseback rides, both because it makes Sodapop ecstatic and two because he loves Sodapop holding onto him, only Ponyboy has clocked that second one). His future power lets him track people through a magic compass-like thing; he absolutely puts trackers on Ponyboy and Johnny (it tells him their health and body status too).

Sodapop has a Raiju (electric puppy as my friend explained it to me), he gets shocked on the daily with his Raiju, sometimes on accident, sometimes the Raiju is feeling spicy or he doesn’t want Sodapop to do something. His (future) power lets him grow magical plants. It breaks his heart when he learns this (through a dream of a younger him helping his mom with potions), and he becomes determined to become an amazing potion maker, like his mama was.

Johnny has a Cerberus with a size max cap of up to Johnny’s shoulder’s when Johnny is fully grown (the Cerberus shoulder’s will stand beside Johnny’s own). His (future) power is telepathy/empathy, and it lets him talk to people in their minds and read their emotions. When he’s strong with it he’ll be able to read minds and control emotions too.

Ponyboy has a type of small dragon (Wyvern) that’s really tiny upon hatching. Normally in mythology a Wyvern is massive in size, however Ponyboy’s Wyvern will have a magical cap size once it gets just bigger than Ponyboy’s torso when he himself is an adult (torso being from the top of Ponyboy’s shoulder’s to his waist). It likes to cling to Ponyboy’s back, claws digging into his waist and his shoulders and it will absolutely dive bomb out of the size to land on him. Ponyboy’s (future) power is a healing light/glow/touch manipulation (when he wants to heal someone, there is a golden light and he can change the shape of it, he often makes butterflies)

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Chapter 3

I thought of mentioning how the meals from the first two chapters were low in energy and fat and that would cause a problem, but this chapter goes and addresses that.

I really love how this series is focusing on the logistics of adventuring. I think Lord of the Rings is the only other story I've ever read, watched, or played where we're explicitly shown that mundane items like cooking pots and eating utensils are part of the adventurers' inventory.

The fact that everyone is carrying a backpack is putting more thought into logistics than the average story.

It's interesting how our dreams can interpret real-world information while we're sleeping. Marcille was having nightmares from the previous chapter and then she smells food cooking. So her brain interpreted the distress generated from her nightmares and the smell of food and jumped to the very recent association she's been dealing with of eating horrifying-looking meals.

Oh wow. I just noticed how worn out Senshi's axe is.

That thing definitely doesn't cleave as well as it used to. Meanwhile his cooking utensils look brand new. Definitely shows what his priorities are.

So this chapter is about basilisks. I'm curious if they have the general sexual dimorphism that chickens have. The one in this chapter is definitely a rooster.

And basilisk eggs seem to be more similar to sname eggs than chicken eggs based on how Marcille said they feel soft. Now I want to know what a basilisk chick looks like. Is it a big puffball like most chicks and has a little snake sticking out of its butt?

I've had to deal with aggressive roosters before and this is exactly how they act when they attack with their spurs.

The chicken half looks like it sees Laios as a rival male. Meanwhile the snake half looks like it sees him as a threat.

Senshi has a really bad sense of priority here. There's a guy dying from poison and Senshi doesn't want to give him the antidote because he'd rather use it for cooking, and he doesn't think he should cook the basilisk right now cause it's not lunch time, and he'd like to let the basilisk marinate overnight cause it will taste better.

I can't tell if he just doesn't care about the guy dying from poison or he doesn't comprehend that the guy will die if they don't do something soon or if he's just too much of a perfectionist who refuses to offer anything unless it tastes as good as possible.

I think Laios and Chilchuck realized they're being just as nonchalant about the situation as Senshi is.

A glimpse at the kinds of status ailments we might encounter on this adventure.

More bits of me talking about Marcille's right-handedness. She grabbed that basilisk drumstick with her right hand, but put it in her left hand so she could express how good it tasted. Then she raised the drumstick when she offered to heal the guy probably because she was holding it in her right hand and just instinctively thought that was the hand holding her staff.

She muttered that she's not very good when she offered to heal the guy. And last chapter, Laios recommended against Marcille resurrecting the guy they found because it might go wrong. So yeah, she's a black mage, not a red mage.

If this series doesn't end with monster cuisine being a skill that adventurers practice, I'm going to be so mad.

What a grim note to end the chapter on. Laios's team helped out that adventure team only for them to be completely wiped by the man-eating plants. If corpse retrieval and resurrection services weren't already an established thing, that would not be funny at all.

back

[sea-creature-things]

Grimwalker Things

Chapter 1: Fangs

Alternative title: all the times Hunter could've told his friends he's a Grimwalker and then didn't.

Hi! I'm starting my first multi-chapter fanfic. It's basically a collection of Grimwalker headcanons. The stories take place in the human realm, in the time skip of Thanks to Them. The chapters are loosely connected and (mostly) wholesome. This first one is definitely light-hearted! :)

You can read here under the cut or on AO3. Link here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53015821/chapters/134123059

It's been only two weeks since the witches crash landed in the human realm. Luz had led them towards her house in the pouring rain, which didn't hurt them... It was a strange sensation. The human realm by itself was very strange. Willow had not expected that they would adapt so quickly.

Luz's mom had opened the door, getting the scare of her life. Her daughter had finally come home, but she was covered in wounds and bruises. On top of that, she'd bring 4 witches with her in the same condition. But Camila is a saint, she welcomed everyone into her home.

That night, Luz had introduced them to a basilisk named Vee. She had sought out refuge, just like them, months earlier. Then Camila and Vee had helped them patch up. They had explained everything that happened. But if she were honest, Willow had felt incredibly numb that night. She couldn't do much, Amity had been a much bigger help. Being able to explain most things very calmly.

Luz was assisting her, knowing exactly what her mom wouldn't understand. Hunter had been completely focused on Gus, sometimes looking around the room suspiciously. Willow remembered he looked smaller than normal, Gus too. His experience of the human realm was tainted, the one thing he had dreamed off for years was ruined. It was a horrible night, but at least now they were safe, warm and healthy. Well, getting there at least.

However, to Willow's personal surprise, they all got used to their new living arrangements very quickly. At the end of the first week, they had already established a routine. They had learned all sorts of human things. They even had a few fun outings. (Mainly to the grocery store, which Gus was over the moon about.) Hopes were high.

They also worked on a way back home. They were planning to get the portal door working again. Somehow. But before that they would have to clean the old house a bit. Fix it up. Though, they mainly tried to distract themselves.

One thing the squad did to keep their spirits up, was play games. Gus had even come up with one himself: Whoever made Hunter laugh would win. What would they win? Nothing really, the sound itself was prize enough.

Willow and Gus had noticed how he rarely ever laughed. The first time they heard his genuine laugh was 6 days into their stay. The sound was amazing and contagious. So, the Emerald duo made it their mission to hear it again.

Dark humor seemed to do surprisingly well. But so did puns, which wasn’t surprising at all. Flapjack was the current record holder, but he's totally cheating.

Through this game Willow realise something. Hunter would always cover his mouth when laughing. Then she noticed he'd do the same thing when he yawned. It was kind of cute, in a weird way. She thought he must just be insecure about his tooth gap.

One morning Hunter sat down in the living room where everyone else had already gathered. The morning-people were watching tv, while the not-morning-people were grumpily trying to wake up.

He spotted Willow on the couch, so he sat down next to her. She was one of the grumpy ones. Sprawled out lazily, her feet far away, her arms slack and her spine looking miserable. Hunter didn't want to say anything about posture though. Not again.

It was Sunday. Miss Camila didn't have to work, so she slept in. Breakfast would be approximately an hour and a half later than normal. But Hunter still woke up at six.

He told the others it was just habits. Which was technically true, but he really wanted to do chores while everyone else was sleeping. That way he wouldn't have to 'have a talk' about it.

This morning, he had tidied the living room, swept the floors, cleaned the downstairs bathroom, and set the table. Breakfast was still half an hour away. The other kids had slowly been waking up and trickled into the living room. Hunter then made coffee before joining them.

He put his coffee mug down on the little table in front. Avoiding Vee who was sprawled out, similarly to Willow, next to (and over) the table. She was also one of the grumpy ones. Gus was in front of the table, looking at the tv with wide eyes. Absentmindedly trying to find the straw of his orange juice with his tongue, and failing.

"Morning." Willow's drowsy voice came from beside him. She lazily turned towards him and smiled sweetly, closing her eyes like she would fall asleep again.

"Good morning." Hunter said a lot more cheery. He couldn't help but smile at her antics. He felt his cheeks getting hot, which had become a regular occurrence lately. It was very strange for him.

"You're a big fan of coffee huh?" Willow said with a tired smile. Trying to come up with a pun to make him laugh. But she couldn't thing of anything, it was too early! So, Flapjack would retain his leaderboard position. For now.

“Yup! I love me some dirty bean water in the morning.” Hunter grinned with an eye on Luz, who was cuddled up with Amity on the big chair. Both of them were morning people, but still slow and tired.

Luz cringed loudly at his sentence, like he had hoped, and Hunter smile grew even wide.

"Ugh! Whyyyyy!" She whined.

“HA!” He laughed like this was his personal victory. Some of that Golden Guard snarkiness shining through.

Willow noticed something in that moment. His mouth was wide open and his tooth gap was in full display, but there was something else…

His incisors were sharp. Like really sharp. Like really, really sharp. Like Eda-sharp.

“Whoa! Hunter, do you have fangs?”

Gus spit out his orange juice. Hunter immediately covered his mouth and looked at Willow bewildered.

“No.” His voice was muffled.

“You’re a terrible liar.” Amity was now wide awake, trying to look into his mouth from where she sat.

“What?! Let me see!” Luz raced over to the couch.

“No! I don’t have-“

“Come on~ show them to us!” Willow was now extremely close to his face. He tried to back away but Luz was on the other side.

“Y-Yeah Hunter, show us!” Gus looked just as excited, but his voice wasn’t like the others. There was a trace of… something in there. Whatever it was didn't stop him from joining Luz's side.

“Fang twinsies!!” Vee gasped loudly. She had apparently also woken up, turning around as fast as demon-ly possible.

Suddenly Hunter was surrounded by everyone trying to look into his mouth. It all happened so fast, it felt like switch had flipped. Everyone was wide awake now, the room was full of energy. He was stammering and trying to find anywhere to focus on. But everywhere were eyes, and expecting smiles. He blinked rapidly and felt his breathing getting a little irregular.

“I don’t have fangs!!” He yelled and jumped over the back of the couch. Running to the basement. He felt incredibly embarrassed. His face probably reflected that too, looking like a blond tomato. All he wanted to do was run and hide.

Upstairs all the kids saw their oldest run for his life. Wide eyes and gaping mouths. Most of them too stunned to speak.

"He totally has fangs." Amity smirks.

"Amity!" Willow slaps her shoulder lightly. Guilt was already clawing at her heart.

"What?" The pink haired witch didn't seem to understand it yet. "You're the one who brought it up."

Willow pouted. This was not helping her rising feelings. Gus patted her head, he understood. Luz did the same with Amity to calm her down. It worked like a charm, it always did.

"I think we messed up there." Luz laughed nervously. Willow nodded, looking at the hallway.

"Yeah... we kinda swarmed him." Vee said with the same expression. "I mean, he jumped over the couch."

"Oh..." It finally clicked in Amity's head. "Right. You're right. We should go apologise."

"Or at least check up on him first?" Gus offered. "Should we all go?"

"I'll go." Luz said as she stood up. "He's probably fine, we just embarrassed him."

The room filled with a few 'yeah's and 'totally's as she walked out. Vee began to joke with Amity about the incredible leap they witnessed. Gus assured Willow the whole thing wasn't that bad.

"So... what did they look like?"

"Gus!"

"I didn't get to see 'em!"

Luz descended the stairs. She found Hunter sitting crosslegged on his makeshift bed. He was holding Flapjack on one hand and scratching him under the chin with the other. The bird and his owner were laughing and cooing at each other. The little palisman had clearly calmed him down successfully.

"Hey buddy." Luz called out when she got to the bottom of the stairs. He didn't startle, so she figured he'd already heard her come down. Hunter didn't turn towards her though.

"Hey..." He kept his attention on Flap. His ears turning a soft pink again.

"We kinda overwhelmed you there, huh?" She asked coming closer to him. This time he turned his head to her direction and nodded. Maybe he was still a little affected.

"I'm sorry about that." She offered. "We all are."

"No, no, it's okay!" Hunter finally said. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Luz sat down next to him, hugging her knees. The human gave Flapjack some scritches too. "Why are you sorry?"

Hunter didn't say anything for a while. He just looked around the room for a bit. And continued to pet Flap, who then chirped at him.

"I don't know." He admitted softly.

"Is it a Grimwalker thing?" Luz whispered. She was just as paranoid as Hunter that someone would somehow hear them, anytime they talked about it.

"Probably." Hunter sighed. Luz bumped her shoulder against his and he returned the gesture with a smile.

He really didn't want to talk about this, but he had no choice right now. Flapjack chirped some soft reassurance. He hopped from his hands to Luz's knee, cuddling against her face. Then he settled in his witch's hair.

"Can you help me with a story for the others?" Hunter asked her. Luz looked at him surprised, then became excited. That was a rare sight lately.

"Of course!" She sprang up. "What if, after years of gruelling training, your teeth adapted to an aggressive lifestyle?"

"Uh-"

"OR, or! What if, you sharpened them to make yourself look more menacing?" She held her hands like claws in front of her. Hunter laughed and stood up next to her.

"I was thinking something a little simpler?"

"Oh..." Luz smiled awkwardly. "They can't be fake, you can't take them out."

"Mmmh." Hunter ruffled her hair. "Got any more creative ideas?"

"Ah stop that!" Luz swatted at his hands. He could even see a little sparkle in her eyes now. "Okay. What if, you have them instead of a bilesac?"

Hunter tilted his head at her, encouraging her to continue.

"Like, you don't have organic magic, but you do have other traits. Like fangs!" she said it like it was an amazing accomplishment.

"That could work... maybe." Hunter held his chin and thought about it.

"Yeah! And-"

"Kids! Breakfast is ready!" Camila's voice came from the top of the stairs.

"We're coming mom!" Luz shouted back. Completely forgetting the sentence she was just about to say.

"We'll just have to go with it." Hunter looked at her worried. She touched his shoulder with a sweet smile.

"Don't worry Hunter." She said reassuringly. "It'll be okay."

Hunter sighed, throwing the tension from his shoulders. He ruffled her hair again. Then she barrelled into him for a hug. It felt weird at first, he still wasn't used to this. But he soon relaxed and it actually felt rather nice. Luz squeezed tight before letting go, and let him towards the kitchen with Flap flying in between them.

The duo stood in the doorway and everyone turned to them. The room was filled with apprehension and awkwardness.

"What happened?" Camila looked between them. Vee and the witches had helped her make a big Sunday breakfast. With waffles, eggs and a tiny bit of bacon. Yes, it was more expensive then simple toast, but this was important to her. And to these poor kids.

Luz slapped Hunter's back hard. The tension that had climbed back onto his shoulders fell off again.

"We overwhelmed Hunter a little, but he's okay." She said cheery.

The room relaxed, relief on everyone's face.

Luz walked over to her mom to help her with the last waffles. Explaining everything in whispers.

Hunter followed a few steps so he'd be insides the kitchen. Gus bounced to him and they did their secret handshake. It was his way of checking if his buddy was actually okay. Gus lit up afterwards. Then he punched him awkwardly in the shoulder.

"Sorry for swarming you back there."

Amity, Vee and Willow chimed in with 'yeah's and 'sorry's of their own.

"Nah it's okay." Hunter punched him the same way back. "I was just a little embarrassed about the... well, t-the uh... you know."

He gestured to his mouth, blushing a little. He refused to say fangs.

"Can I see them?" Gus pumped his fists, looking up with stars in his eyes.

"I wanna see them too!" Vee climbed over the kitchen island and joined Gus's side with the same pose.

"Wait wait wait! Me too!" Luz ran over to make the duo a trio.

Hunter looked at each of their excited faces bewildered. He couldn't believe this. Amity sighed with her hand pinching between her eyes. Willow shook her head, looking amused.

"They don't learn, do they?" She whispered to her friend.

Hunter wasn't completely surrounded, so the urge to escape was less strong. But still!

"Pleeeeaaaase?" The trio pleaded. Three sets of puppy-eyes staring at him.

Hunter looked at the girls for help. But he was met with smirks. He would not be rescued today. He sighed and scrunched his nose. Looked down at their stupid little faces one more time. Then pulled his upper lip in a way that they could see his teeth.

Luz and Gus squealed. Making his embarrassment ten times worse.

"Fang twinsies!" Vee gasped again.

"They're not fangs." He muttered stubbornly.

"Alright kids, settle down." Camila called, secretly also curious about theses supposed fangs. "Breakfast is served."

Hunter couldn't be more grateful about the save. And the table full of delicious food. They all quickly took their seats and happily devoured everything.

Breakfast was peaceful and fun. Afterwards Amity raised her hand.

"Can I ask now?"

"Sure." Hunter sighed

"Why do you have fangs?" Everyone was curious, but Amity was a girl who needed answers. Hunter appreciated that about her... most of the time.

He looked at Luz for support, who gave him discrete thumbs up. But now all eyes were on him and he's never been good at lying.

"It-it's because um... I'm only half a witch." He laughed awkwardly. "Can't draw spell circles, but I get sharp teeth!"

"Don't call yourself that." Willow scrunched her nose.

"Ah no. I didn't mean it like that, I'm just..." Hunter pleaded inwardly with the Titan to make him better at improv. "I'm different in those things. Just those two things."

Luz tried not to facepalm. Hunter wasn't doing great. Vee looked at her sister knowingly, who sent her a begging look. Discretely of course.

"That makes sense." The little basilisk offered, like a guardian angel. She was way better at lying.

"Yeah, it's very interesting." Amity looked convinced.

"Don't worry bro." Gus patted his shoulder. "We love you just the way you are."

"Uh thanks." Hunter laughed awkwardly again. Finally able to breath once more.

"Just don't call yourself that again." Willow said, her voice sweet but threatening. Hunter nodded fiercely.

"Yes. I mean no! Um, I promise."

A few mornings later when Hunter entered the kitchen, Luz ran over.

“Show me them fangs!”

Hunter looked away, not really wanting to comply. It was just them and Camila. The rest wasn't awake yet, but they'd be here soon.

“Show. Me. Them. Fangs!”

Luz punched his stomach with every word. Not hard or anything, it felt more like tickling. Hunter was glad that she seemed to love his teeth so much. But he refused to admit he had fangs. It made him feel weird.

“Come on! Please!!”

Apparently fangs were a big deal to her. Willow seemed to be impressed with them as well, Amity didn't really care and Vee was happy. Gus was just happy he had something to tease him about.

Hunter was glad that the gang hadn’t asked too many questions. They'd accepted his lame excuse very easily.

“Fiiiiiine.” He sighed, raised his upper lip and opened his mouth.

“Yehes!”

He was never living this down.

---------

Hi! Thanks for reading! I had a lot of fun planning and writing this. I want to post the second chapter on Friday next week. It's about the very popular Grimwalker headcanon surrounding Palisman. I'm very excited :))

[sack-thing]

A Bad Dream

A little scribble, 1,654 words. Not new actually, but I edited it slightly and it's time to repost it!

It's a bonus that would happen during chapter 10 of Year 3, focusing on Luu Kah's pov (I wanted to write him breaking down alright) but Weylin's in it too.

I wonder if I should post it on AO3? Anyway there we go~

---

The past two days felt like they had no end. Luu Kah went and checked on Délia one last time before leaving for the night. Only Roy would stay in the room, at her side, in case something went wrong; he had volunteered for that even though the doctor said things should be fine.

Délia was asleep, but she seemed to be in a stable state indeed. It felt better to see her resting like that than breaking down in the desert like the day before because of her injury. And because of the news that Ramsey had been petrified by a basilisk—a monster apparently known in Leuda to turn its victims into stone forever.

Luu Kah left the medical house, leaving Roy with Délia, and decided to go for a walk in the village. The rare Selkies he saw on his path seemed to look at him in curious ways. But whatever the reason was, he didn’t have time to bother with them.

He was thinking about what Délia had said when they were still in the Lynari desert. Before she fainted, she wanted to go and look for Ramsey, even if his body was currently turned into stone. She argued that they couldn’t leave him like that, that he’d be left alone in the middle of the miasma if the petrifaction was to dissolve. At that point, Luu Kah reluctantly said that it wasn’t supposed to… But if it did, the thought was actually terrible. He wouldn’t survive. The team chose to go back to Leuda because Délia’s state was critical, but they did leave Ramsey like that after all. He was still in the middle of that damned desert, all by himself, surrounded by miasma and probably monsters.

Luu Kah reached the end of his walk path and stood there at the top of a cliff, facing the ocean, only half paying attention to his surroundings.

Délia was right. They needed to get Ramsey out of there. Délia couldn’t do that in her current state, but he… He could do it. The thought of leaving Ramsey like that was unbearable. Now that they had made sure Délia would be fine, Luu Kah could do it and, at the very least, bring Ramsey’s body back to a safe place.

- - -

Luu Kah was sharing a tent with Weylin that night. There was no way he could fall asleep even if he wanted to, which was convenient since he was about to leave anyway. He had waited for a good hour to make sure Weylin was asleep; she hadn’t moved nor made any sound in a while now. Luu Kah set into motion. He grabbed the crystal pendant, the desert’s map, his clothes and his weapon with as little sound and friction as possible. He was ready within a minute and left the tent.

The air was surprisingly cold at this hour compared to the heat they had to endure during the day, but he could bear with it. It was time to go back to the Lynari desert. He wasn’t with Ramsey when he got petrified, but he remembered Weylin and Linitaa’s explanations and would find the place again thanks to the map. For now, his first destination was the village’s exit. There he would wake their papaopamus, Sally, and maybe he could borrow a cart or something to have her drag it. He was going to have a day of travel before reaching the desert, and he needed something to carry Ramsey when going back.

Luu Kah made it to the caravan and Sally near the village’s exit. He put a hand on the animal’s head and stroked her fur gently to wake her up.

“Sorry girl, I’m gonna need you for a while.”

He barely started to get her ready that he heard steps coming close. He knew those steps and didn’t bother to look back.

“Where are you going like this?”

It was Weylin’s voice. Of course. It would’ve been too easy. Luu Kah closed his eyes; he knew she already had the answer to her question.

“Please, don’t tell me not to go.”

“Do you really think I can simply let you go and have you too turn into stone?” Weylin asked.

Luu Kah shook his head. “I’m not gonna get petrified. If I get there tomorrow night, maybe the monster won’t be around.”

“You don’t know about that. I’ve never heard of monsters leaving their usual area at night.”

Luu Kah gritted his teeth before turning to face her. “What I know is I can’t leave Ramsey there like that!”

Weylin clenched her fists. The gesture sent back a few memories to his mind, of when he was a new caravanner with Ramsey and they sneaked out at night one time, only to get into serious trouble against some monsters.

“I am not happy with that either,” she retorted, “but what are you planning to do? Drag a stone body, in the middle of a desert, surrounded by monsters? There’s no way you’ll be fast enough to avoid the countless threats there.” Luu Kah couldn’t see her face under the helmet, but he was pretty sure she was sending him a death glare. She raised her voice. “That desert is dangerous enough as it is. Letting you go there and take the risk to end the same way as Ramsey is out of the question. We have nothing to protect us from that curse.”

Luu Kah felt himself boiling. “Who cares what happens to me, it doesn’t matter! Right now, just as we're having this useless conversation, Ramsey is—“

Before he could finish his sentence, Weylin stepped toward him to grab his shoulders and shake him. “Stop that, Luu Kah! What do you think you can do if something happens to you? You won’t save anyone like that!”

He froze, as if she’d just made a point on something he hadn’t thought about. He didn’t like that. Sometimes he hated Weylin’s rationality. And apparently, she wasn’t finished.

“Do you hear yourself talk? I’ve already told you before: your life is your priority! And what about Ramsey, what would he think? Do you think he’d be happy to hear you say that? Would he be happy if you sacrificed yourself for nothing?!”

Weylin was yelling. It was unusual. That’s right, she was the caravan’s captain. And as she had told them in the past, she had responsibility over their lives, at least to some extent. What happened to Ramsey probably shook her more than Luu Kah thought.

Weylin was still holding him as he stared at the ground and felt his eyes becoming hot and wet, despite the cold air blowing on his face. He tried to mutter a response. “But… I just wanna bring him back to a safe place… What if we never saw him aga—“

Luu Kah suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t speak. He could barely manage to bring his shaking hands to his face, even though he didn’t know what he wanted to do with them. He didn’t get what was going on. It felt like he wasn’t there anymore.

A monster that turns its victims into stone forever. He had tried to block the thought so hard. Or rather, his brain understood the words, but that was it. He hadn’t truly registered them within their current situation, and he realized it was for a good reason. Now that he just said what it meant out loud…

It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. Ramsey was always with them, always with him. They couldn’t lose him like that.

“Luu Kah… Breathe,” Weylin said, her tone softer than before. “Focus on your breath. Slowly.”

He heard her voice. Maybe she already tried to talk to him before and he didn’t hear. He was breathing again now, but it was fast and unsteady, and he still couldn’t properly take in enough air as sobs made their way into his breath. Weylin made some space between them but still held him, hands on his shoulders. Tears rolled down on Luu Kah’s cheeks as he hid his face in his hands.

It was awful. That wasn’t part of his plan. He’d never wanted Weylin to see him like that. He’d never seen himself in that state either, actually.

“It’s going to be fine, Luu Kah…”

He didn’t know what to do with those words. It wasn’t fine. Not if Ramsey was gone.

Weylin gently moved him until his back rested against a rocky wall, and now held him with only one hand. His whole body was shaking along with his sobs.

“Listen… Even if we’re not looking for Ramsey right now, I promise that we aren’t giving up on him.” Weylin said. “Monsters won’t have interest in him as long as he’s in that state.” Luu Kah felt her hand grab his shoulder with a little more strength before she resumed. “And then… Surely a cure must exist, even if no one around here has discovered it yet.”

Luu Kah wasn’t sure if it took a few minutes or an eternity before he managed to stop crying and somewhat find a regular breath again. After that, he felt completely empty and weak. Weylin didn’t speak much more; she just stood by him. Then after a while—he didn’t know how much time had passed again—she placed a hand behind his back to make him walk to the tent with her.

Once they got there, Luu Kah was exhausted and crashed on his cot. His mind was still blank and he couldn’t process coherent thoughts anymore. Weylin said a few words, something about how he should rest, before she turned off the oil lamp.

Luu Kah couldn’t stay awake even if he wanted to. Before falling asleep, the only coherent thing that crossed his mind was his wish that those past two days were only a very bad dream.

[vickyvicarious]

There are several really good Renfield/Jonathan parallels today.

First: dreaming.

It seemed, however, that his poor injured brain had been working in the interval, for, when he was quite conscious, he looked at me piercingly with an agonised confusion which I shall never forget, and said:—

“I must not deceive myself; it was no dream, but all a grim reality.”

.

I have been down to look at that room again in daylight, for I must know the truth. When I got to the doorway at the top of the stairs I found it closed. It had been so forcibly driven against the jamb that part of the woodwork was splintered. I could see that the bolt of the lock had not been shot, but the door is fastened from the inside. I fear it was no dream, and must act on this surmise.

Jonathan and Renfield both initially don't understand what has happened to them was real, or at least are doubting of it. But they both realize the truth and become determined to act accordingly. In Jonathan's case, that was when he fully understood just how deadly his situation was, and it meant he had to be even more cautious and careful and play the role Dracula wanted from him in order to survive. This also leads him towards understanding just how important keeping his accurate record and preserving his information to hopefully share with others is. But for Renfield, he understands that he's already dying, and determines to spend the time he has left sharing all the information he has, utilizing his new freedom to speak.

Second: attacking Dracula.

"I didn't know that she was here till she spoke; and she didn't look the same. I don't care for the pale people; I like them with lots of blood in them, and hers had all seemed to have run out. I didn't think of it at the time; but when she went away I began to think, and it made me mad to know that He had been taking the life out of her." I could feel that the rest quivered, as I did, but we remained otherwise still. "So when He came to-night I was ready for Him. I saw the mist stealing in, and I grabbed it tight. I had heard that madmen have unnatural strength; and as I knew I was a madman—at times anyhow—I resolved to use my power. Ay, and He felt it too, for He had to come out of the mist to struggle with me. I held tight; and I thought I was going to win, for I didn't mean Him to take any more of her life, till I saw His eyes. They burned into me, and my strength became like water. He slipped through it, and when I tried to cling to Him, He raised me up and flung me down. There was a red cloud before me, and a noise like thunder, and the mist seemed to steal away under the door."

.

Then I stopped and looked at the Count. There was a mocking smile on the bloated face which seemed to drive me mad. This was the being I was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the helpless. The very thought drove me mad. A terrible desire came upon me to rid the world of such a monster. There was no lethal weapon at hand, but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the hateful face. But as I did so the head turned, and the eyes fell full upon me, with all their blaze of basilisk horror. The sight seemed to paralyse me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, merely making a deep gash above the forehead. The shovel fell from my hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade caught the edge of the lid which fell over again, and hid the horrid thing from my sight. The last glimpse I had was of the bloated face, blood-stained and fixed with a grin of malice which would have held its own in the nethermost hell.

Both Renfield and Jonathan were driven to attack Dracula on the behalf of other people. But it wasn't simply knowledge that he would harm them; they both felt responsible for aiding him to do so. The idea drove them mad, they say, and they lunge to stop him in any way they can, physically attacking him. Both of them successfully connect with him. Jonathan makes him bleed, while Renfield forces him out of his mist form and manages to slow his progress. But then Dracula looks at them with blazing eyes and their strength flees, leaving them immobilized.

Jonathan was more successful for several reasons. He had a weapon, it was daytime, the shovel falling pulled the lid down and broke eye contact. Otherwise it would probably have ended in a very similar way to Renfield's confrontation with the Count.

Third: finding their limit/dealing with the devil.

He held up his hand, and they all stopped; and I thought he seemed to be saying: 'All these lives will I give you, ay, and many more and greater, through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship me!' And then a red cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed to close over my eyes; and before I knew what I was doing, I found myself opening the sash and saying to Him: 'Come in, Lord and Master!' [...] "All day I waited to hear from him, but he did not send me anything, not even a blow-fly, and when the moon got up I was pretty angry with him."

.

To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible land alone. [...] "I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out this brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do it!" "Oh, hush, hush, my child!" said Van Helsing. "God does not purchase souls in this wise; and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not keep faith."

First, the deal with the devil. Jonathan rashly vows he would sell his soul to the devil to achieve his ends, and van Helsing warns him the Devil doesn't keep promises. This directly echoes what happened earlier with Renfield and Dracula, where Renfield was overcome and in a rash moment agrees to let Dracula inside, only to find himself ignored as soon as the Count got what he wanted. The promises made to him are left unfulfilled.

The second part of this parallel is a little less straightforward, but... Renfield and Jonathan both find a limit to their faith in/devotion to a higher power. And for both, that limit is Mina. Renfield will not help Dracula if it means Mina is being harmed. Instead, he'll turn on him and fight even to his own death to try and prevent any further danger to her.

Jonathan's decision to 'go into that dark and terrible land' with Mina is a direct refutation of her seeming rejection by God, when the wafer burns her forehead. He will be faithful up to a point, and as long as Mina is alive perhaps that point has not yet been reached - but if she becomes a vampire he would turn his back on God and join her, even if it means his own damnation.

[cranetreegang]

Hi, I have a couple thoughts about your heir of slytherin request. I'm sending through here as I wasn't sure if you wanted it kept quiet.

I would think that specifically for the heir, the basilisk would 'know' they were at school, and would regularly call out to him. You know, 'free me, come find me,' that sort of thing. So Ominis is sorta tortured by fairly constant pleas.

The basilisk is not blind at this point, so some ideas about how it was destiny that Ominis was born blind because the basilisk would be his literal eyes. Maybe as magic grows stronger, or he becomes friends with the basilisk, he finds that the connection will allow him to sometimes see through basilisks eyes - similar to how Harry could see through Voldemort, or more interesting, that the connection works the other way, and Ominis finds he can kill someone if they look into his eyes.

just some thoughts :)

First of all, so sorry this took me so long to reply!!! Also I love your thoughts about this cause YES!!! I LOVE IT!!!

I've been busy, but I have been contemplating about Ominis and the True Heir/Serpent Bearer idea in the meantime. I had written down my initial thoughts and some research I've been looking through below:

"I would think that specifically for the heir, the basilisk would 'know' they were at school, and would regularly call out to him. You know, 'free me, come find me,' that sort of thing. So Ominis is sorta tortured by fairly constant pleas."

It seems we are on the same wavelength cause I was thinking the same thing!! I love the idea of Ominis hearing the Basilisk and it only ramps up more and more as he matures. I also really like the idea of him having dreams about the Basilisk (let me have my weird dream vision quests).

I have read that the Basilisk is in a magic sleep, so I was wondering if the Basilisk would still be able to communicate?? Anyways, lets get into the Chamber of Secrets itself.

"There was clear evidence that the Chamber had been opened more than once between its creation and the twentieth century."

"...the Gaunt family could not resist boasting of their knowledge. It can be presumed that they opened the Chamber and awakened the creature in different occasions, yet none of them dared unleash the monster, until Riddle."

It's also interesting that the Chamber of Secrets (at least according to this sources linked above) has been opened several times -> most likely by the Gaunts. And Corvinus Gaunt was instrumental in ensuring the Chamber of Secrets remained... ya know secret; by concealing the entrance to the CoS behind plumbing fixtures.

It seems the Gaunts have had several opportunities to open the CoS, unleash the Serpent of Slytherin aka the Basilisk, and wipe out the Muggleborns, yet they never did.

Which begs the question.... WHY??

And now this is where the theories shall take off!

What is a 'True Heir'? What does that mean?

Well it could mean several things:

The "true heir" could be someone with an extraordinary connection to Salazar Slytherin's magical bloodline, possessing unique powers and abilities inherited directly from him. This connection might manifest as an innate understanding of Parseltongue, the ability to communicate with serpents, and an affinity for powerful serpentine magic.

Could mean that a True Heir is destined to help Preserve Bloodlines/Legacies - or even unite Bloodlines - as well as being the official 'face' of the Gaunts and navigating the Political World of Wizards.

Now, what does it mean to be the Serpent Bearer?

I saw an interesting theory about the moles on Ominis' face creating the constellation "serpens caput". Thank you @rypnami for posting this!! It's been so interesting to deep dive into this idea!

The different meanings behind the "Serpent Head" is quite interesting:

Literary: The serpent is often associated with various symbolic meanings in different cultures, such as wisdom, transformation, danger, or deceit. The head of a serpent can represent leadership, control, or the beginning of a certain phenomenon.

Mythology and Religion: In many mythologies and religions, the head of a serpent might have a specific significance within those stories, representing power, knowledge, or temptation.

Astrology: In Western astrology, the "serpent's head" or "North Node" is associated with a point in a birth chart that represents one's karmic purpose, future direction, and personal growth.

Alchemic: In alchemy, the serpent is a common symbol associated with transformation, and its head could be seen as a representation of the initial stages of a transformative process.

This is to assume that Ominis is indeed a Serpent Bearer. To add on to this Ominis will more than likely be a Guardian of Secrets. All of the Gaunt's family secrets being passed down to Ominis (as shown with the Undercroft). But the most important thing Ominis is able to do is having a deeper or magical connection to serpents. Specifically, the Serpent of Slytherin.

Now, why would this be important?

As shown in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the Serpent of Slytherin doesn't respond to just ANYONE speaking Parseltongue; as Harry tried to speak to the Basilisk, but she wouldn't listen to Harry's commands.

"She was blindly and unshakably devoted to the Heir of Slytherin...,"

"Though capable of independent thought, the Basilisk followed every command the Heir gave her. In fact, she only listened to the Heir of Slytherin, Tom Riddle (Voldemort) regardless of Harry being able to understand and speak Parseltongue to her in the Chamber of Secrets."

That's because the Basilisk will only respond and obey the words of a True Heir.

And this is why Ominis is so important to the Gaunts.

Why else would the Gaunts bother with Ominis?

Ominis doesn't follow their ideals, rebels against 'family tradition', and is inherently not a standard of 'Pure Blood Supremacy' (sorry but disabilities during those times were not exactly smiled upon. Most people with disabilities were seen as burdens to families and lots of other negative stigma associated around them).

You could make the argument that Ominis being a Gaunt would be enough for his family to keep him around -> the importance of his name outweighing everything else.

I'm more inclined to believe the argument that the Gaunts NEED Ominis. Ominis is important to them - NECESSARY to them - because Ominis is the True Heir of Slytherin and is the ONLY ONE able to control the Basilisk. They have a use/need for Ominis.

This must mean that 'True Heirs' don't come around very often (and how they come to be could be any number of reasons but let's just assume MaGiC). It would explain why the Basilisk was never unleashed all the other times the CoS was opened -> as they had no way to command the Serpent.

So why would anyone wanna unleash a deadly Basilisk that only one person could control onto a school of children besides being mustache twirling bad guys?

Lets picture this:

You are the Gaunts. You are on the cusp of running out of money, therefore about to run out of power. This has never happened before. You have ALWAYS been on top. ALWAYS been in power. Your name carries weight.

What would be a way to regain this loss of power and control? How could you convince the other Pureblood Families that you are still #1?

You demonstrate the power of a True Heir, and unleash the Basilisk onto Hogwarts (killing a whole generation of Muggleborns) and essentially controlling the school.

I'd say that's a pretty good way to gain control once again and more importantly power and respect. Not only would the Basilisk become like an attack dog for the Gaunts, but the Gaunts have shown they are willing to do ANYTHING to maintain their power. Because after all,

Power is Power

So, wrapping up, what might be some challenges Ominis may face?

Well, Ominis may be more inclined to use the Dark Arts/Dark Magic. He probably has to resist the temptation harder than most. It's in his blood, and I dare say his nature, to use Dark Magic.

Ominis also has the weight of 'living up to the family name'. He has the responsibility to either become just like a 'Gaunt'. Or, to show that even though he comes from a long history of Dark Magic, he is his own person -> capable of good.

Ominis more than likely does not like that he is a True Heir and he probably prays he isn't actually one (until he starts hearing the Basilisk's call for him). Now he's torn between who wants to be and what destiny is telling him to be. He has to deal with internal conflict of him feeling like no matter what he does, he will always be like his family - he will always use dark magic. In the end, he'll have to decide who he wants to be. A True Heir, or Ominis.

ALRIGHT to summarize this long post in a single sentence:

Ominis is more than likely the True Heir, and is the only one able to control the Serpent of Slytherin.

I would love to hear y'all's thoughts on this! The more I think about it, the more it makes sense (or I'm delusional and I'm connecting random dots that aren't there).

I've been writing an initial outline of how Ominis might come to terms with him being the True Heir and how he deals with it. Hopefully, I can post something about that soon!

I love discussions and no thought is a wrong thought!

Thanks for reading!! <3