#with one of the kids acting like a helpless worm

[mockingbird-9-0-1]

as someone who works with kids, this is something that could easily happen. Kids have more fucked up imaginations than we think.

the thing that i think MOST accurately resonates w/ jjba is when ur a little kid and ur on the elementary school playground and u larp with the other little children and someone is like “i shot you youre dead” and then ur like “but i was wearing a bullet proof vest!!!” and theyre like “well i shot u in the head with my special diamond bullets that also hit ur chest and u died” and ur like “but i was an alien the entire time and diamond bullets dont affect me” and so it goes until u get tired and go in for snack time

[avatar-anna]

Unknown Number, Part 3.5

i feel like the last part to unknown number was kind of rushed, so i decided to write a little extra part. enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

J: do you BELIEVE in love

HS is typing...

J: after love

J: after love

J: ...

J: after love

HS: I see. You're drunk.

J: finish the lyric 👉🏼👉🏼

HS: Are those supposed to be finger guns?

J: i'm not ACTUALLY gonna hold you at gun point!

J: now finish the lyric!

J: 👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼

HS: I hope you know that I am ROLLING my eyes at you right now.

J: 👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼👉🏼🐇👉🏼👉🏼

J: oop sorry didn't mean to put the bunny in there now it looks like i'm shooting a poor helpless animal!

HS: Monster.

J: i'm not!

HS: What if that bunny had children? Think of the children June!

(five minutes later)

J: you made me cry ://

HS: I did?

J: yeah. i'm a bunny murderer :(((

HS: Jesus Christ. You really are drunk, aren't you?

J: :'(((

HS is typing...

HS: I can feel something inside me say I really don't think you're strong enough no...

J: :D

J: DO YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE

J: after love

HS: After love.

HS: After love.

J: i don't really have anything to base this off of, but i think we would be the life of any party

"So...you and Harry."

"Yep."

"You...and Harry."

"That's right," Y/n said as she stuck safety pins through the hole of Ashton's t-shirt.

"How—Wh—When did this happen?" Michael stuttered, looking at Y/n like she had three heads.

"It's a long story," she said, not wanting to explain how she and Harry had unknowingly been texting for months before they realized they were a lot closer than they realized and were able to act on the feelings they developed for each other.

"And you, like, like him?" Calum asked, like he couldn't wrap his head around the idea.

Niall had stayed true to his word and immediately blabbed to the members of 5 Seconds of Summer about Y/n and Harry. She'd hidden from them that night while they performed and after they got offstage, but now that she was prepping their clothes for tonight's show, she had no choice but to face them. And their questions.

Rolling her eyes, Y/n said, "Yes, Calum, I like him. And he likes me. I've been on a number of dates while touring, you know that. Why is this different?"

No one said anything, which was fine by Y/n. She thought it was better than asking her for dirty details. Looking up from where she was sitting on the floor of the dressing room, she fought a smile. The four boys in front of her were in varying states of confusion and disbelief. Luke was blushing and wouldn't meet your eye, while Calum looked like he was thinking about the information a little too hard. Michael and Ashton seemed to be taking it well, though it was hard to tell.

"I'm gonna talk to him," Calum finally said, turning on his heel and heading for the door.

"Good idea."

The rest of the boys followed suit, all of them turning and leaving before Y/n could stop them. Dropping the shirt in her hands, she scrambled to follow them, calling out for them to stop.

"A—And say what? Come back here!"

Luke was the only one to turn back as Y/n called out to the four boys. He smiled down at her and ruffled her hair playfully, which Y/n promptly swatted away. It was easy for them to think of her as a younger sister kind of figure, she thought. She was older than the boys, but they were all freakishly tall.

"Don't worry, Y/n," Luke said. "We're just gonna make sure he doesn't act stupid. We have your back."

Y/n sighed and shook her head. It was sweet of them to feel so strongly about her relationship with Harry, even if their scare tactics were unnecessary. But she knew she didn't have to worry. The boys talked a big game, but they were all gentle giants.

Then

J: tell me about your childhood

HS: What do you want to know?

J: not specific details obviously, but like...idk were you a happy child? one of those kids that ate dirt?

HS: Dirt?

J: or worms without having to be dared?

HS: ...Where the hell did you grow up?

J: rural town. we had to entertain ourselves in strange ways.

J: but i should make it known i've never eaten anything that isn't food

HS: You know, I think the town I grew up in might be considered rural but I don't think I knew anyone who ate dirt or worms.

J: ok...so what were you like growing up?

HS: Normal I guess. Nothing too crazy.

HS: Parents got divorced when I was young though. I think that's about as interesting as it gets.

J: mm

HS: Mm? What does that mean?

J: i'm humming! it's hard to communicate humming over text

HS: No I got that part but you always have some kind of comment, and now all I get is mm?

J: i'm no psychiatrist h i'm not gonna unpack all of that with you

HS: You asked!

J: i know, but i thought you were gonna give a silly answer

J: i'm not very good with serious or heavy stuff

HS: Well you've certainly made that clear.

J: i want to know and i want to ask you but i don't really know what to say without making a joke, you know?

HS: It's really not that serious. It happened ages ago. No unresolved issues here.

(six minutes later)

J: i've...never been someone who's been like a source of comfort for someone else

J: maybe i have some unresolved issues but talking about deep shit makes me squirmy

HS: That's okay. It's not like I'm stellar at it.

HS: But we can work on that together.

J: we can?

HS: Of course. What are friends for?

Now

J: my clients are assholes

HS: The boys are your friends.

J: they are menaces to society

HS: What did they do this time?

J: they're teasing me >:(

HS: About what?

J: you

J: they're sing the stupid kissing song. i work for CHILDREN

HS: Kissing song?

J: harry and y/n sitting in a tree...

HS: Ohhh.

HS: Do you need me to rough them up a little?

J: now THAT would be a sight to see

J: but no i'm a big girl i can handle it

HS: Give em hell.

HS: Then come find me after.

(the next night)

HS: Where are you? We were supposed to go back to the tour bus??

J: the boys wanted me to go out with them

J: i was going to tell you earlier but they took my phone bc they said i'm on it too much

J: i had to hide in a pub bathroom to text you

HS: So you're telling me you've been kidnapped.

J: no! they miss hanging out with me it's actually kind of sweet. that's why they've been teasing me so much

J: i can't really blame them either

HS: What do you mean?

J: we do hang out just the two of us a lot. i could see why they would feel left out or something

HS: We don't hang out that much do we? We're a couple it's a given that we do things together.

J: i know, but i don't want to be that girl that only hangs out with her boyfriend and abandons their friends, and i don't think you want to be that person either

HS is typing...

(five minutes later)

J: you're not mad are you?

(thirty minutes later)

J: come on h it's one night

J: please don't ignore me :(

(one hour later)

J: big baby

(the next day)

Y/n got up early and walked from her tour bus to One Direction's, her slippered feet shuffling across the pavement. The sun was slowly rising, and she had a slight headache, but she was up anyway, making her way over to Harry's tour bus.

She didn't think he would be so bothered by her going out without him, but when she checked her phone when she woke up, her last few messages hadn't even been read. Y/n supposed she should've told Harry ahead of time that her plans had changed, but she hadn't been kidding when she told Harry that her phone privileges had been revoked. Michael grabbed it and slipped it into his pocket before they went out, and she had to beg to let him give it to her for just a few minutes.

When she got to the door of the right tour bus, Zayn was stepping out dressed in gym clothes. He nodded to Y/n, who simply waved back. She was friendly enough with Zayn, but he kept to himself for the most part, and if she wasn't with Harry, she was usually with one or all of the 5SOS boys. He'd always been nice to her, though, and Y/n thought that they might be friends if they gave each other a chance.

"He's still asleep, I think," Zayn said as he passed her. "But feel free to watch TV or whatever. And help yourself to whatever food you can find."

"Thanks," Y/n said.

She pushed her way inside, cringing when the door creaked and swung shut. It was still early, and Y/n assumed that everyone on the bus was still asleep. All the little curtains that fell over the bunks were pulled closed. She knew she could go right over to Harry's bunk, pull the curtain back, and see if he was asleep or just lying awake, but she stayed at the front of the bus instead, rooting through the fridge to find something to make for breakfast. Technically, Y/n knew she didn't do anything wrong, but having a nice breakfast to wake up to would perhaps make their conversation easier when Harry eventually did emerge from his bunk.

Quickly assessing what she had to work with, Y/n got to work. Nothing too elaborate, but she was still working on it when Harry finally came out of his bunk. He still looked sleepy, rubbing at his eye as he shuffled over to the kitchenette. "Morning," she said, setting a full plate down for him.

"Morning," he mumbled, his voice deep and rumbly from sleep. "You have a nice time last night?"

"I did," Y/n said. "You should come out with us next time."

Harry hummed noncommittally before thanking Y/n for the breakfast she made. She watched him closely, unsure of what to make of his disposition. He was quiet and subdued, but she couldn't tell if it was him still waking up or if he was actually upset with her. When a few minutes went by and he still hadn't said much, she broke the silence.

"Are we okay?"

He looked up from his plate. "Yeah, why wouldn't we be?"

"I don't know...we left things kind of awkwardly last night, didn't we?"

"Because I didn't text you back?" he asked, and Y/n nodded. "Sorry about that. Lou asked me to babysit Lux last minute and I didn't have a chance to check my phone before it died. And, you know, you were right. I wanted you to have fun without me."

Relief washed through Y/n when she heard that. She didn't want this to be a big fight, and it turned out to be a miscommunication, a misunderstanding. "Oh. Okay. Good. Just um, ignore the text I sent where I called you a big baby."

"You called me a what?

The look on Harry's face made Y/n giggle. She went over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "You weren't answering me! And it felt like you were ignoring me. And I might have been a couple drinks in. So, I am sorry for that."

"Unbelievable," Harry muttered, though he sounded more exasperated than anything else.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "So we're good? This breakfast was meant to be a peace offering too, you know."

Harry reached up and squeezed her hand. "Yeah, we're good."

Y/n grinned, then came around him to sit at the seat next to him. "Great. Now give me a bite of that. I'm starving."

Harry rolled his eyes, but nudged his plate toward her anyway. Y/n hummed as she took her first bite and leaned into Harry's side, enjoying the warmth emanating from him. Now that the air had been cleared, she felt much better. It was their first little disagreement they'd had since getting together, and it turned out not being that big of a deal. It made her feel better about her relationship with Harry and their ability to talk things through. Y/n could only hope that they could do that when real issues and arguments happened between them. But for now she was content to enjoy her morning with Harry and hide from the rest of the world with him by her side.

[shakertwelve]

the obvious defense of this point would be that Victoria is simply supposed to be Wrong About It, which I would love, except that the narrative very carefully bends to make sure that Victoria is Always Right, and ESPECIALLY Always Right about Cape Science

[ context: the quote we're talking about: “I guess it doesn’t make sense as a thing powers would do.  Powers tend to steer clear of the suicidal, the helpless, the invalid, or people who are limited.” ]

my best guess as to what wildbow meant, if he put any thought into this at all? this is ward's version of the scene in worm that goes out of its way to make clear that labyrinth is not autistic and had a "normal" mind before her trigger (and the similar clarification about bitch). wildbow didn't want to write about developmental disabilities, probably because he thought he didn't know enough about the subject not to mess up and get in trouble for writing something offensive, so his solution was to just state that no one in parahumans is meant as "representation" of that demographic and avoid the issue altogether. this at least makes some kind of sense, if you are wildbow.

the obvious issue here is that this quote doesn't just single out developmental disabilities, but is phrased broadly enough to apply to almost any kind of illness or disorder. worm presents superpowers as explicitly tied to a traumatic event and as a metaphor for the effects of trauma, and experiencing other forms of illness and distress make someone much more likely to process an event as a trauma, so logically, mentally ill and disabled people should be overrepresented in the parahuman population (feeling "helpless" or distressed enough to be suicidal are common elements to many parahuman triggers), and the ways capes tend to act in the text of both books consistently reflect this. the only other explanation i can think of is that we're using an extremely restrictive definition of mental disorders (i.e. we're being the guy who thinks adhd isn't a real neurotype, so imp and kid win don't count, and low-empathy is just code for being a bad person, so cradle doesn't count, and so on...), and even that doesn't explain why we're claiming physically disabled people also can't get powers, when wildbow has written about it happening plenty of times (thank you @john-cherry-the-6th for bringing up this wog about triggers in suicidal people that includes the trigger event of a coma patient). also, we've seen that powers can cure illnesses as part of the trigger (see: vikare, famously the first hero ever, whose powers manifesting cured his cancer) if they really need to (they don't even do it all the time if the host isn't dying and can still fight with the power, like genesis), so why would they care if a prospective host is disabled? but whatever--let's disregard all evidence to the contrary and assume that all capes were 100% Mentally Normal (a very objective standard) before their triggers, so their erratic behavior after triggering must be purely the influence of their superpowers.

of course, now we have to go back to the first part of the quote. victoria claims that she doesn't think it's likely that finale's powers would affect her mental development after she manifested them, because powers want their hosts to be able and ready for action. so that can't be why capes like labyrinth and bitch exist, either; powers avoid choosing "limited" people as hosts and they also don't want to make their hosts limited, therefore all parahumans must be healthy because shards want healthy hosts. except there's absolutely no way any scientific study of parahumans in this world would come to this conclusion! scores of therapists run themselves ragged dealing with the various complexes of just the heroic capes, and capes on the "villainous" side are understood to be, on average, even more unstable! victoria has been working with jessica yamada, who definitely knows this, for ages! what the fuck is she talking about!

CONCLUSION: ??? wildbow got confused while writing about his own setting's alien brain parasites and started describing yeerks instead

[ckret2]

I'm curious about Ford's thoughts on the situation! Is he scared, angry? Does he really believe Bill is as powerless as he says he is? How does he feel about Bill being around his family and other people in town?

So at the end of April I got this question paired with another question about Ford's reaction to having human Bill around, I answered the other question, went "I'll answer this one soon," and then it got buried in my inbox lmao BUT I'M ANSWERING IT NOW!

(Here's the other half of this question I already answered! I also talk a bit about Ford's thoughts on Bill being around here and here so I'll try not to rehash stuff I've already said too much!)

Yeah, "scared" and "angry" are probably the top two emotions Ford's feeling when he thinks about Bill being back.

He's scared that if he does the wrong thing, Bill's human body will crack open and Bill will escape again, and the world will end, and this time they won't be able to stop Bill because they've already used up all the clever tricks they had the last time they tried to stop him. He's scared that Bill will find some slick way to worm himself into somebody else's mind—that he'll talk Soos into doing something innocent-seeming with devastating consequences, or that he'll get into the kids' heads (emotionally or literally) the way he got into Ford's head and turn them against the family, or that he'll secretly make contact with somebody on the outside and fast talk them into being his accomplice when they don't know what he is.

And he's furious that Bill's here, furious that he's NOT DEAD, furious that after trying every murder tactic Ford could think of from every angle imaginable he STILL hasn't gotten rid of this damn triangle. And furious that he's in Ford's life again, in ALL their lives—and that he's acting NORMAL. Like a NORMAL PERSON. He eats and sleeps and watches TV and complains about what's on TV and plays board games and tries to wheedle Ford into playing board games and acts like a person, instead of the monster Ford knows he is. Ford's mad that Bill is both a monster AND a person and he's mad that he has to see Bill being a person and he's mad that Bill has an opportunity to live like a person, waiting here on death row. He feels irrational. He's mad that he feels irrational.

(He's mad that he kind of wants to play board games—with the version of Bill he was fooled into thinking existed thirty years ago, the version that was Ford's "friend," and he's mad that Bill still CAN put on the "friend" mask and DOES put on the "friend" mask even though Ford knows it's all lies.)

Not long into Bill's captivity, Ford's decided he's pretty sure Bill won't hurt people—because right now, it's more useful for Bill to use people than harm people. He's not going to fight his way free, but he could scheme his way free. So, at the moment, he isn't worried for his family's physical safety—but he IS worried about what the things Bill could say to them, what he could persuade them, what he might talk them into. He's less concerned about Stan than the kids. And letting Bill fully loose in the town, to start making up his own story and identity to the townspeople, could be devastating. Ford canNOT let that happen.

(It's already happening. Trying to keep Bill's influence contained feels like trying to squeeze a handful of sand. Ford wishes they could just lock Bill in a tiny room with no contact with the outside world until Ford figures out a way to kill him for good—but Ford really does believe Bill when he says he'd just kill himself in that scenario, and Ford won't risk 50/50 odds that Human Bill dying would mean the return of Triangle Bill. So what can he do?)

He doesn't believe for a second that Bill is totally powerless. Not even Bill is making a strong effort to convince Ford that he's totally helpless; one second he'll say with a wink and a nudge "I'd try to tell you I don't have any powers left, but even if it's true you won't believe me, will you?" and then the next second he'll casually do a minor magic feat. The problem is, Ford doesn't know WHAT Bill can and can't do. He's trying to mentally divide Bill's skills into separate categories—what things could he only do because he was an energy being in the mindscape? He probably can't do those now. What magic spells did Bill teach Ford to do decades ago? He can probably still do those as a human—etc.

But these are just educated guesses. Even after thirty years of trying to learn more about Bill, Ford still doesn't know enough about him to list what all his powers were, where they came from, and which he might still have access to as a human. 

This is all Ford knows for sure: WHATEVER powers Bill currently has, they're not enough to let him kill the Pines and escape Gravity Falls—or he would have done so already.

[booksandchainmail]

Pale 8.5

Or, again, correcting herself, was there any way that the people who knew how Alexander had died, herself and Lucy, could run away?

ok, good to know that Lucy told her. And maybe good that Avery isn't here? I feel like she's the worst at deception

I reread the cafeteria scene in Worm a couple of weeks ago, and this is reminding me of it. Trapped in a mundane everyday location, surrounded by peers, having to hide a secret as the net tightens, knowing that reacting to strongly to protect yourself or get away will give it away, and having to remain calm and unsuspicious while panicking

“Raymond is asking if America or Liberty have any idea what happened to Alexander, beyond what was said here.  America answers that he probably died old-guy-hot.” Verona nodded.  Tough questions.

maybe we should put Raymond in charge of designing questions for the Carmine Beast investigation

"Raymond is now asking if they took any action, used any item, or performed a practice that would confound their answers or actions about Alexander.” “Would you know if you did?” Verona asked. “Should we have been asking-”

same line of thought from Verona I see.

Picking inexperienced kids who don't know what contingencies to cover as investigators must have been really useful for the murderer

I'm just hoping that the fact that John isn't bound at all and wasn't acting on their orders/request will help.

“Shh.  Let me listen.  Apparently… cheating the system to alter your mind or force a lie is something the spirits don’t like all that much.  Chase says that if America and Liberty pulled that, then they’d know.” So that wasn’t a thing. Right. “Know how?”

good to know! That impacts my methods list from way back in Arc 1

She considered herself okay at hiding her emotions and emotionally deadening herself, but she had no confidence right now, and she could remember messing that up when talking to Yadira and Kass, back when they’d been trying to sell themselves as tough and too scary to mess with. She’d tried to go emotionally dead and she’d just gone, what… sad?

...in my experience, keeping everything hidden and not reacting to your emotions works right up until something hits in the wrong way and everything you've been non-reacting to breaks out at once

“Like you guys and me, or you guys and Zed.  At odds one day, friendly-ish a few weeks later.” “I kind of thought that might be us.” “It isn’t."

I like the textual acknowledgement that this isn't an application of one of the standard protagonist powers

It’s not just losing a teacher and wondering what the future holds. It’s also knowing your parents might lose everything.

and that's something that they can't paper over with making personal friends, not if students are focused on their familial duties. Might be good to approach kids without family backing? Like Nicolette and Tanner, or the eastern practices boys

"Stuff doesn’t die and this world has a long, long memory. Unless you kill it. Unless you very deliberately ensure those things don’t follow you or weigh you down. Removing burdens and threats in a surgical way.”

so I think Nicolette might be on to them

“She has nothing,” Lucy said. “Except me, maybe,” Nicolette said. “You’re looking out for a lot of people,” Verona noted.

Nicolette is good! Maybe longterm she should get the school.

“A narrow path, maybe.  From Awakening to whatever lies ahead.  And whatever lies past that.”

if they do solve the mystery soonish, what then? They've served their main purpose to Kennet, does the town still need practitioners? It managed without for quite a while, but I guess there's more attention on it nowadays

Fernanda sat on a storage box by one of the bookshelves, seemingly not caring that it situated her lower, so she was looking up at all those people.

oh she cares, I'm guessing that's deliberate so she looks younger and helpless and unthreatening. Makes her less of a suspect and gets Nicolette's support

Verona sat there, silent, mentally banging her head against the wall.  Why were they here?  Why were they talking to her?  Each mental bang made her headache worse.

I have a bad feeling this is going to boil over in some way. Thinking back to when Verona felt trapped and pushed down after Avery got stuck on the Forest Ribbon Trail, and she responded by spitting in her dad's face

“Not girls either. Don’t get me wrong, boys are cute, they can be hot, but… no.” “No interest in boyfriends or marriage?” Zachariah asked. “Nah,” she said.

Stronger and stronger evidence that Verona is just aromantic.

I want to add a small caveat that what she's thinking of (and repulsed by) here is a very specific traditional kind of relationship (involving kids and cohabitation), and that it's entirely possible to have relationships that don't involve these specific details. But overall she's shown zero interest in romance, and seems to feel trapped by the thought of any romantic relationship (in a way she doesn't for close platonic relationships), so I'm comfortable calling her aro.

A lot of her discomfort, aside from the specifics of 9-to-5 and kids and mundane life, reads to me as being being deeply uncomfortable with the idea of being in a relationship with someone who wanted things from her she couldn't or wouldn't reciprocate. And that trying to meet those expectations would make her resent and hurt a partner she might genuinely care about.

Notably, this doesn't show up when she thinks about platonic relationships. Even very serious ways of tying lives together, like potentially becoming Lucy's familiar, don't make her feel trapped in the way a romance does. And I think that's because she isn't worried about not being able to meet the needs of a platonic partner.

Also, for not falling into allonormativity: we've been shown zero evidence Verona is allo, and plenty of evidence she's aro. So.

It felt like Nicolette was very, very wrong.  That there was this safe road running right down the middle of things and thinking about it made Verona’s stomach cramp. She’d rather fling herself over the side of that safe path, into Otherdom or hardline practice.

also, part of the reason she's eager to disengage from mundane society is to get away from what she sees as the inevitability of traditional romantic relationships. Adding "meeting adult aromantics/people happily single" to the list of things Verona needs, right after getting out of her dad's house.

Except without the marriage, like she’d just told Zach.  Unless it was purely for show and periodic nights together as the mood struck, with them each having their own space in a manor or whatever.  That would actually be kinda ideal.

that honestly seems pretty arrangeable. Though I guess most practitioner families would want kids out of the deal.

It would require some brutal amputation somewhere down the line, but she couldn’t make the mistakes Alexander had. If she went down the more serious, more ambitious practitioner path, then she couldn’t go all the way down that road. If she became Other, she’d need to do the same.  Maybe less surgery, since the surgery would be on herself.

Not thrilled about this new alternative path to becoming an Other. Serious practice, sure, but I'm not a fan of the ambitious practitioner route

mostly it was Verona struggling to figure it all out and reality would shout ‘Wrong!’.

being a teenager sucks

“My mom had him etch it, so it’s silent, so he doesn’t make such a racket in his workshop area.”

yeesh Zachariah was not kidding about his family being small-scale

“The meeting with Alexander, and Mari, I’m trying to connect the thought- oh,” Lucy said.

don't worry, I'm not getting it either. Maybe the thing about weaving your own style into a contract?

Verona could have kicked herself.  She hadn’t been building enough.  Hadn’t been taking steps.  Instead, she’d been leaning back, watching, looking for the right fit. And Lucy had been taking steps to build herself up, picking her implement, and Avery was giving herself gold checkmarks and going off on an expedition with Jessica.

... I want to make all the girls read each other's point of views until they stop with the self-esteem problems

Verona laughed in response.  This was why she’d needed to have her emotional balance, and be situated at a fake ‘neutral’.  To be able to laugh. The entire room fell silent. Conversations in the background stopped. Even Lucy looked a little startled. All eyes now on Verona. Laughing so soon after Alexander’s death.

Sort of the same stance as America, being weird enough about the death that it makes them less suspicious by not trying to seem unsuspicious?

"We can’t tell you stuff if you’re going to use it against us.” We can’t tell you stuff even if you won’t, but that’s at least easier.

love the strategy of being so outraged about being questioned (despite being guilty) that the actual questioning gets derailed

“Yes,” Lucy said.  “My new implement lets me hear things.  I heard what you and the other apprentices talked about as a group.  Interviews.”

oh clever answer. Using a legitimate reason to know more to hide the illegitimate reason. I have a feeling Ray is going to follow up on this more though.

“That’s the tone of discussion I was saying may burn bridges,” Raymond said, quiet. “A man died and you’re laughing.”

in the same way that Lucy responds to stress by getting more assertive, Verona responds by getting more flippant and offputting (affectionate). It looks a bit suspicious here, but I think she may have shown enough of a pattern of behveior that she can get away with it (much like the Tedds can)

“Just… he made plans to talk to Fernanda’s family, but Fernanda talked about that, too. He, um, he was plotting, rallying the troops, sort of. Talking to some mercenary types through America’s dad, um, he was serious about that revenge plot. I heard only snippets, so there was more I missed or only got fragments of.”

oh nice, she's slipping in things she heard Alexander say in person before he died and implying she overheard them just now from other students (bolded is heard from him)

“I don’t know what Avery knows, I assume it’s not much more than us, unless Zed or Brie or Jessica have said something.” “What about you two here?” “I only really know what Lucy passed on, what she overheard and observed,” Verona said.

good, getting cover for the other two to not have to answer questions in depth again

“This feels like it’s running against everything my parents tried to instill in me when I was young,” Lucy said.  “Talking to authorities and all.  Not having a representative.”

I don't think practitioners believe in Miranda rights

“I’m sorry.  I respect you more than most here, I appreciate you turning things around, but I can’t forget day one.  It wounded me.  You wronged me.  I have to account for the fact that you could do it again.” “Even with me looking out?” Nicolette asked. “Yeah,” Lucy said. “Sorry, I am, but… always.”

this is partly a distraction technique, but I think Lucy is being entirely honest here :(

“To answer your question, what else I know, yeah, what Verona said is right,” Lucy finished

and there's a non-answer! Verona's said a lot of things in this conversation. Also, what Verona said in answer to this specifically was that she only knew what Lucy had seen and heard, which is of course true for Lucy as well

Eyes like black windows with pale, shrouded figures within. White-wrapped heads and bodies with vague, distorted black shapes of unevenly-sized eyes and mouths all grouped in the middle of the eye, like a family or something staring through a window.

Is Verona seeing the spirits that found Nicolette a hallow? Her sight does seem more tuned to spirits and Others than most people's

Verona, despite herself, despite sense, sanity, and reason, laughed, interrupting him.

and there's the breakdown. At least it seems like it might be useful in deflecting questioning

"You ask me my feelings on him? I kinda liked the guy! I know my friends didn’t like or adore him but I thought he was sorta cool sometimes! Now he’s gone? And I can’t ever chill and talk practice with him? That sucks!"

I think Verona is the only one of the girls who could answer the question this way, because her interest in the practice emotionally outweighs issues of morality or justice

The tone that resulted was… pretty much the opposite of the strong image that Lucy and them had been trying to convey, before.  The ‘don’t mess with us’ image.

but I think it's a more approachable image. Maybe people will be less scared of your apparent ability to casually use deadly force if they see that you didn't want it to happen, it ecalated beyong your contorl and you're messed up about it

Venting emotion like a little bitch, like her dad.

so Verona may have some issues around toughness

“I didn’t want this, either. I didn’t do it, I didn’t ask for it. Avery didn’t either, for that matter."

Ah that lovely fact that John isn't acting on their instructions, he's just an ally

Wet snow splooged out in every direction from the circle’s edge, along with mournful wails and stuff.

lovely word choice here

Even being outside like this, waiting for Avery, it felt very exposed, and she felt a bit humiliated.

I strongly relate to feeling like having strong emotions, particularly a breakdown, in public is humiliating. I know it shouldn't be, and I don't judge other people for it, but hate hate hate if it happens to me

“Three times, a startling laugh. Taking control of the conversation by stamping it with your Self. Making it yours. But the tears were real. The words were real and unfiltered. And they didn’t finish questioning you.”

oh! I remembered that that was Maricica's advice, but didn't connect it to Verona's laughing. To be fair to me, I started this chapter last evening and read the interrogation this morning.

“Happy outcome, at least. Showing weakness, it got most of your enemies to back off. Most."

pretty much what I was hoping

[millylotus]

I've also noticed people tagging Duke & him just straight up not being in the fic/post it's so annoying! Anyway I have a "couple" recs

---

Duke Thomas and His Magical Magical Sunshine Hugs by the_dreary_fandom_whore

“Do I…really hug you guys that much?” “The amount of hugs you give in only a day is insurmountable.” So here’s the thing. Duke Thomas is a cuddler. He’s not a cuddler like Stephanie who pounces on people at impromptu times with her overexcited affections and extreme strength. He does not hug or cuddle like Dick who only knows how to wrap people up in extravagant and impactful hugs that drain every bit of breath from their lungs and makes them feel happy for as long as they last. No, Duke’s hugs are gentle and caring and magical.

Fic isn't really from Duke's perspective but it is nice to see Duke from everyone else's perspective. Kinda leans into the sweetheart Duke thing.

---

How to be Brothers with the Family Cryptid - a guide by Duke Thomas by sunlitlemonade

A series of fics that follow Duke and Jason as they become brothers.

A series of three oneshots, mainly from Duke's perspective. Very sweet to see Duke having a healthy relationship with Jason.

---

the early robin gets the worm by deargalileo

bruce loves all of his children equally. its just when he has to wake them up, that there's an issue. aka; the five times bruce tries to wake up his kids, and the one time that he doesn't.

Duke is part 3, it's short but sweet but I like it.

---

Can I sleep with you tonight? by LiaVid0921

Bruce thought he had grown out of hearing those words. He forget that he had a few more kids still in the nest.

Duke & Damian get scared & cuddle up to Bruce. So cute & sweet

---

Moth to a Flame by professorwho26

Duke and Damian are experimenting with Duke's light powers when they run into (literally) a curious person. Could it be love at first light? I'm so sorry for that pun. This fic was inspired by this post: POST

A fic from the one time when people started shipping Duke with a moth cause he glows. Genuinely pretty sweet

---

signal, n. a divine act by britishparty

The halo gets brighter the more people that Duke saves. He’s pretty sure that’s how it works, at least. He inherited it from his mother the day the doctors suggested it as a possibility: we may not be able to help them, Mr. Thomas. Duke doesn’t know what he is. He doesn’t feel like an angel; he has no divine purpose, no holy weapons, nothing but this stubborn light. But he looks at Robin and some part of him thinks I could do that, too and the halo, deep in his blood, sings. - or: an AU concept in which Duke's powers stem from the 10th metal: pure celestial possibility. he inherits a halo that has its own idea of Good and Evil.

I like the writing of this fic it's all poetic & stuff.

---

It All Started On A Cold Winter Morning by Varmint

When he had first opened his door up on the cold morning, he certainly had not been expecting a blast from the past; much less had he expected to find himself wrapped up into the familial drama of a bunch of people he had no real ties to half a country away. He wasn't about to lie to himself, though. It was real nice being around a big family again; no matter how many arguments broke out between them. Or. That story in which events are set into motion unexpectedly and when the Batfamily figures out about Bruce's budding feelings for a handsome cowboy, they force everything into high-gear.

Not technically Duke-centric but he is the main focus of the first chapter. Also it isn't complete & a rare pair of Bruce x Greg Saunders, actually really cool.

---

you can ebb and i can flow by konan_konan for Pseudonymous_Elusa

“What’s your name?” "Batman," he startles when Duke laughs louder than he really meant to. “What kind of a name is that?” he giggles, wiping a stray tear from his eye. "Isn't that an animal?" or: bruce saves a helpless merman and gets bullied relentlessly for it. Batfamily Week Day 5: KING’S GUARD Fantasy AU | Friendship/Team Bonding | “There’s more of you?!”

Mermaid!Duke ends up Kidnapped and Batman comes to help him. It's a sweet hurt-comfort with some superbat on the side.

---

Duke Thomas VS The "Good Child" Stereotype by PepperSoniRoni

5 Times Duke Tried To Prove To Bruce He Wasn't The Responsible One, and 1 Time His Siblings Knew Better (& used it to their advantage) Because Duke is relatively new, he hasn't opened up completely to the family. He tries to follow Bruce and Alfred's rules, but he doesn't always succeed (nor try to). It's during these times Bruce still manages to pin the blame on someone else. His siblings, of course, see this. And whatever are they supposed to think? Well, Duke's clearly doing it on purpose! (This is really just me being salty about fanon characterization, and an attempt to cram as much Crazy-Totally-Not-Sane-Duke as I can into a single fic)

Really funny fic of Duke pulling the most outrages of pranks. Actually kinda made me smad at the end cause Bruce never did fully believing Duke.

---

signaling home by jcp_sob_rjl_lmep

Quietly, he trudged towards the main Cave, keeping alert. At a sudden noise, his hand twitched towards his kama, but it was just a bat screeching far above. As he reached the main area, he slowed, tucking himself behind a convenient stalagmite. Three figures stood in the desolation of the Batcave - Duke was still fairly far away, but he could still recognize his older brothers. Jason stood farther away from the duo of Dick and Tim, twirling a gun around one finger. Dick’s arms were crossed, and he was looking down to talk to Tim, who was crouched to look at something on the ground. A pebble shifted under Duke’s foot, and he looked away for a second. When he looked back, all three heads had shifted unerringly in his direction. Well, fuck.

A funny little oneshot of Duke dimension hopping, it's weird & funny & Duke is having a... time.

---

Yellowman by unstablequeerbitch

Basically Duke scares people because he fights during the day in gotham. that isnt normal

Duke's day time wandering scares the shit out of people, funny short one.

---

As you can tell I was very anxious for someone to ask for Duke Thomas recs. He is our sunshine boy & he deserves to be appreciated.

Absolutely wild to me how people will write Duke out of stories and give bits of his character to other members of the Batfamily. I've seen this happen the MOST with Tim. And it's not a crime to write a fic without Duke in it— not every piece of writing needs every member of the Batfamily in it— but come on. Sometimes it's so painfully obvious that authors are only excluding him.

Anyways <3 please comment or reblog with your favorite Duke Thomas fics so I can kiss you

[happyandticklish]

oh alright :D!

since I've seen you did it for sk8 I was wondering if you could do reki and miya with ❣? and again it's okay if you don't want to do it, I understand if you don't want to :)!

-🍂

❣ -Cackle

“Hey. Idiot. Are you paying attention?”

A foot slammed its way quite unceremoniously into his face and Reki jerked away with an indignant yelp. The owner of the foot raised an eyebrow, retracting it momentarily only to aim it at his shoulder this time with more force. “What the hell dude?”

“We’re supposed to be training, remember?” Miya reminded him snidely. It was incredible how he could manage to sound superior in almost any scenario. “I’m giving you professional pointers and you can’t stop staring at your boyfriend long enough to take any of it in—figures considering what slackers all of you are.”

“I’m not staring,” Reki corrected quickly, though even as he spoke, he felt his gaze drifting back to Langa, oblivious to their conflict. He had chosen to accompany them to the park for ‘moral support’ but had abandoned Reki quickly to practice his own skills. Reki would have been annoyed that he’d left him at Miya’s mercy, but he was far too distracted by the sight of the other’s scrunched up face as he tried to concentrate. “And he’s not my boyfriend. We’re just friends.”

Miya raised an eyebrow. “Right. And I’ve never touched a skateboard in my life.”

Reki rolled his eyes at his dramatics, but before he could snark back, Miya’s foot had returned to his shoulder once more, the front of his shoe digging uncomfortably into his bicep.

“Hey!”

Miya smirked infuriatingly, digging his foot in more. “This is just motivation to focus, since apparently you can’t even manage that.”

Okay. That was it.

Miya yelped as Reki grabbed his foot suddenly, locking it into place. “Hey, what are you doing? Put my shoe back on, you idiot!”

“Nuh-uh,” Reki replied calmly, tossing back a smirk of his own. “If you want to act like a brat, you’re gonna get treated like one. So how about we make a deal—I’ll stop if you agree to stop being so annoying. Sound good?”

“What is that supposed to meheHE—gah!”

Miya’s words broke off as fingers skittered over his socks suddenly, digging into the soft material and prompting an eruption of bubbly giggles to spill out of him. He kicked weakly in his grip, trying to somehow free himself, but Reki was stronger than he looked, and he quickly realized just how trapped he was.

“Ahaha lehehet mehehehe gohoho!” he protested, jumping when Reki managed to worm a couple of fingers under his toes. Tickling was something that he had managed to avoid for most of his life, a feat he primarily succeeded at by distancing himself from others. Now, he wondered if that had been a smart plan as it left him entirely defenseless against the unbearable sensations flooding his nervous system. “RehehEHEHEKI!”

“Miya,” Reki responded in kind, scratching down his soles with the skill only an older brother would possess. “You know, I never would have thought someone like you would be ticklish. I’ll definitely have to remember this for the future.”

Miya flushed angrily, trying to bend forward to grab his hands away, but each time he did, Reki would simply double down on the tickling and he’d fall back in a fit of helpless cackling. He settled on simply wrapping his arms around himself and kicking his other leg out like he wished he could do with the trapped one. It tickled so much more than he thought it would, and even though everything in him begged for a release from his torment, there was a part of him that wished Reki would follow through on that threat. It was kind of nice to laugh like this, like the kid he was meant to be.

And then Reki started tracing his nails over his heel and Miya bucked, flying forward and grabbing at his shoulders desperately. “Nonononohohohoho! Reheheheki plehehehehease!”

“You’re gonna stop being annoying?”

“YeheheEHEHES!”

“Promise?”

“Yehehehes yeheheHEHES OHOHohohoHOHo m-my gahahahad ihihit tihihihickles!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll give you a break~”

Reki finally let go and Miya sighed in relief, his leg falling limply to the ground as he lay there catching his breath. “That,” he insisted, glaring weakly back at him. “Was uncalled for.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Besides, I didn’t see you fighting all that hard to get away.” Reki reached out, scribbling his fingers over his sole once more. “In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were enjoying yourself.”

Miya yelped, blushing as he jerked his foot away. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Let’s just get back to practice.”

Reki raised his hands in surrender, though the smirk didn’t disappear from his face for the rest of the day.

As it happened, Miya didn’t shut up, and had to be shown what happened to those who ran their mouth several more times that day. Luckily for him however, Reki and Langa were always willing to reteach him the lesson.

-

Thanks for the ask!! ^^

[insomniac-dot-ink]

Raptor wings, my God, they wrap up raptor wings and release them back into the wild afterwards-- without knowing if the bird will live or die, but knowing all the same that it would tear their flesh up to ribbons if it could, it would. Oh but people bandage the bones of giant predatory birds and I believe this is not an act of love, but of an act of worship. This is important.

Scientists spent years trying to decipher the alien language not of the stars, but of things without faces or heartbeats like ours. Trees speak of the weather, they warn each other of insects, they send electrical pulses to tree stumps who’s roots have withered long ago. In other words, they send love letters to their dead.

And by God, we want to hear them. We want to listen. We looked at the thing with no face like ours, no eyes, no hands or voice with tongue or mouth and said: It must have something to say. This is important.

Scientists spent years trying to decipher the firing neurons in the brains of songbirds during slumber. They found that the electrical pulses had a rhythm and were not random. They found that songbirds dream of singing. And we listen. People, strangers, us, all of us, we listen to the dreams of songbirds and birds dream of singing. This is important.

When I was a kid I would pick up worms after it rained and take them back to the grass. Wouldn’t they hate to dry out in the sun? Wouldn’t I hate to be so far from my own home if I was so pink and helpless? After storms I would scour neighborhood after neighborhood looking for worms to remove from sidewalks. This is important

So.

Do you love humanity? Do you love us for the fire we bring and plastics in the oceans? The way we’ve left a footprint on every inch of planet? Do you love this next extinction event? Which rests on our shoulders. It’s ours. It’s us. We did this.

Oh, but do you love humanity? My daughter. My scourge. My hungry one. What do you love?

And I cannot help it, I cannot stop, we are the birds, we are the worms, we are every tree and ever song, we are the Gods. This is us, all of us, ours.

I don’t want to save the planet from humanity. I want to save the planet for humanity.

[intheticklecloset]

Haikyuu!! Sentence Starters #11-20

A collection of the Haikyuu sentence starters I've done, compiled for the sake of ease. These are all stand-alone stories.

~~~

11) Lee Suga, Ler Kageyama

“Stop,” Suga pleaded quietly, giggling. “I can’t take it anymore.”

Kageyama held him closer and continued rubbing his nose underneath Suga’s left ear. “I’m barely touching you.”

“But it tickles.”

“Hmm.” Kageyama smirked, sliding his hands under Suga’s shirt and wiggling gently against his sides. “I’ll show you what tickles.”

“Noooo…” The silver-haired setter whined, giggling even harder, trying to arch away from his teasy boyfriend. “Stohohohohohop, Tobio…”

“Why should I? You clearly like it~”

“Mhmhm…no I dohohon’t,” Suga protested, but it was weak at best and both of them knew it. Kageyama sought out the older setter’s navel with this forefinger, circling it gently once he found it. Suga arched away from him. “Nohohohohoho!”

“Relax,” Kageyama murmured, going back to nosing his ear as well. “I’ll be gentle.”

And he kept his promise, wiggling softly into the tiny space that always made Suga cackle like a hyena, and the night was filled with plenty of tickles and cuddles and kisses.

*

12) Lee Tsukishima, Ler Tanaka

“Little brat,” Tanaka muttered under his breath, turning away from Tsukishima with a grunt.

“What was that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I stutter?” The second-year turned back to snap at him. “I said you’re a little brat.”

Tsukki was undeterred. “It’s not my fault you expect more of me than I can offer. One can only practice so much before they need to balance it with rest. Ask Daichi. I’m sure he understands.”

“Daichi’s not here right now, genius,” Tanaka grumbled. “And if you keep using that tone with me, I’m going to have to teach you a lesson.”

“You? Teach me a lesson?” Tsukki smirked, looking down his nose at Tanaka. “And how exactly would you do that?”

Tanaka paused. Tsukki definitely had height to his advantage, being the tallest member of the team. And whether he showed it off or not, he was also really strong and quick on his feet. His mind was even faster. So how could he assert his dominance?

Finally, he plunged forward and drilled his fingers into Tsukki’s ribs. “Like this!”

Tsukki shot his arms down protectively, shoving at the smaller boy, but much like Hinata, Tanaka was unbothered by the obvious advantages he had over him. He clung onto the first-year for dear life, digging harder and harder with every second until finally Tsukki was physically unable to hold back anymore.

“S-Stohop it,” he grunted, gripping Tanaka’s shoulders. “Get ohohoff.”

Tanaka smirked up at him. “Was that a giggle?”

“Plenty of people are t-tihihicklish. Why is it a surprihihise that I’m ohohone of them?”

“Andyou just admitted you’re ticklish? Dude!” Tanaka wormed one hand up to the blonde’s underarm. “This is my lucky day!”

Tsukki grunted, then spilled a few more giggles. “Get – get ohohohoff of me, you mohohoron – stohohohop it, I dohohohon’t – Tanaka!”

The second-year grinned wickedly. Oh, he was definitely going to exploit this weakness as much as humanly possible.

*

13) Lee Hinata, Ler Kageyama

“Don’t! It’ll work this time!”

Kageyama glowered at Hinata. “You’ve said that the last five times you’ve tried it, moron.”

“I mean it this time!” The redhead held out his hands expectantly. “Give me another one.”

With a roll of his eyes, the setter tossed another ball to him as requested, then stood back and watched as the tiny middle blocker set up to serve, hit the ball…and just barely tipped it over the net. Hinata groaned.

“Told you.” Kageyama grabbed another one and walked up to him, thrusting it at the redhead. “Your serves suck. Like, really. They’re awful.”

“Why do you think I’m practicing them, Bakageyama?” Hinata snapped, snatching it from him and turning his back to set up again.

Kageyama grabbed him from behind and dug into his ribs, grinning when Hinata shrieked, dropped the ball, and started flailing helplessly as hysterical giggles poured out of his mouth.

“S-Stahahahahap! Kageyahahahahama!”

“You’ve got to get better. You can’t always rely on Yamaguchi to save your dumb butt because you can’t serve.”

“I knohohohohohohow! Stohohohohohohop!” Instead, Kageyama wrapped one arm around his waist to hold him tightly in place, then used his free hand to knead into Hinata’s bottom ribs. Hinata exploded with laughter, squirming and kicking. “STAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!”

“I’m just getting you pumped up to do better,” Kageyama teased, smirking. “What’s the problem?”

“IT TIHIHIHIHIHIHIHICKLES!! KAGEYAHAHAHAMA, STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!”

“Not until I’ve motivated you a little more.”

*

14) Lee Kageyama, Ler Tsukishima

“You? Saying please? And apologizing? Not the king himself~”

Tsukishima’s taunting words were like throwing gas on a flame, making Kageyama squeal even louder, despite how badly he wished he could keep his reactions inside. He squirmed on the floor of the gym, having been made completely helpless within seconds at the blonde’s precise touch along his sides and ribs. And now his cursed teammate had started scribbling over his belly, forcing him to plead whether he wanted to or not.

“STAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!” He cried, hating himself for how pathetic he sounded right now. And at the hands of Tsukishima, of all people. “PLEHEHEHEHEHEASE DOHOHOHOHOHON’T!! I’M SOHOHOHOHOHORRY, ALL RIHIHIHIGHT?!”

“Sorry for what, exactly?” Tsukki demanded coolly, never letting up, showing no remorse.

Kageyama swore he’d kill him when this was over. “FOHOHOHOHOHOR BEHEHEHEING UNCOOPERATIHIHIHIHIHIHIVE!!”

Tsukki started vibrating into his belly. “And?”

“AND NOHOHOHOHOT LISTENING TO YOUR ADVIHIHIHIHIHICE!!” Kageyama screeched, arching his back, laughing so hard tears came to his eyes. “STOHOHOHOHOHOP, PLEASE, TSUKKIEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!”

“Hmm. I suppose that’s good enough for now.” Tsukki finally relented, getting to his feet. “Just don’t do it again, and I won’t have to punish you again. Clear?”

I hate you, Kageyama thought but wisely didn’t say aloud. Instead he groaned. “Yeah, we’re clear.”

*

15) Lee Noya, Ler Asahi

“Can’t take it, huh?” Asahi murmured, grinning into the back of his boyfriend’s neck as he gently pressed into his lower ribs.

Noya squirmed in his ticklish bear hug trap, digging his heels into the floor and clenching his teeth to hold his giggles in. “S-Stohohop, Asahi, I c-cahahan’t…”

“You’re really ticklish, aren’t you?” The ace continued to tease, gripping him tighter and beginning to lay back on the floor, taking any and all purchase from his little libero. “My sweet, ticklish little Yuu.”

“Stohohohohohohop!” Noya squealed, losing his battle against his giggles more and more with every poke and prod to one of his worst spots. “Asahi! Plehehehehehease, nohohohohoho!”

“But you’re so cute,” Asahi whined, digging in a little harder and kissing his neck at the same time. “I can’t possibly resist~”

“Ahahahahahahasahi! Knohohohohohock it ohohohoff, y-you’re mahahahahaking it worse!”

“How am I making it worse? By teasing you? But I thought you liked teasing~”

“Shuhuhuhuhuhut up!”

“All right, I’ll shut up…” Asahi chuckled, suddenly rolling over so he had Noya pinned to the floor on his stomach, straddling him from behind and skittering all over his back. The libero squealed and finally burst into a long string of bright, bubbly giggles. “…but only to better hear your beautiful laughter, my dear~”

*

16) Lee Noya, Ler Tanaka

“Dude, you’re super ticklish here?” Tanaka laughed, keeping Noya firmly pinned to the wall as he scribbled all over the libero’s lower back. “That’s freaking hilarious!”

Noya bit his lip on a squeal, but couldn’t hold back his giggles. “S-Stohohohohop, please, it t-tihihihihihickles so bahahahahad!”

“I can tell!” Tanaka snatched up both of his wrists and pinned them above his head, then slipped his free hand under Noya’s jersey and skittered along the bare skin.

Noya sputtered and squirmed. “Nohohohohohohoho!”

“Oh, yes.” Tanaka smirked. “I wish the others were here to see this.”

“Shut uhuhuhuhup, you bihihihihihig idiot!”

“How dare you?!”

“Nonononono wahahahaha-AHAHAHAHAHAHAIT!!” Noya screamed and exploded with laughter when Tanaka moved further up and started pinching along his back ribs. The libero squirmed helplessly against the wall, hysterics bubbling out of him faster than he had a hope of stopping them. “PLEHEHEHEHEHEASE DOHOHOHOHOHON’T!! I’M SOHOHOHOHORRY, OKAHAHAY?! TANAKAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

Tanaka laughed. “Dude, you’re the most ticklish person I’ve ever met!”

“PLEHEHEHEHEHEASE!! STOP TAHAHAHAHAHALKING!!”

“All right. I’ll just keep tickling, then.”

“NO THAT’S NOHOHOHOHOT WHAHAHAHAT I MEHEHEHEHEANT--!!”

*

17) Lee Kinoshita, Ler Noya

“Stop whining.” Noya nudged Kinoshita playfully. “It’s just measurements.”

“Y-Yeah, but I’m…” Kinoshita ducked his head. “I think I might be too ticklish for this, Noya.”

“Dude, if I can do it, you can do it.” Noya held up the measuring tape and grinned. “Come on.”

Kinoshita braced himself as he raised his arms outwards in a T-formation, trying to take slow, steady breaths as the libero wrapped the tape around his chest, jotted down the number, and returned to his waistline.

He giggled as the tape closed over his hips, making Noya smirk up at him. “Seriously, dude?”

“I told you,” Kinoshita shot back, instantly bringing his arms down as soon as he was able to. “I’m really ticklish.”

“No kidding. How sensitive are your hips?” The libero ditched the tape, grabbing onto Kinoshita’s waist with his hands and squeezing.

“AIEE!!” Kinoshita yelped, grabbing Noya’s shoulders and pushing desperately. “Nohohohoho, get awahahahahahay!”

“This is hilarious, Hisashi!”

“I’m g-glahahahahahad you thihihihihink so! Now stahahahahahap!”

Noya let up, grinning as he grabbed the tape measure from the floor. “Cute.”

*

18) Lee Iwa, Ler Oikawa

“Act your age for once, dang it!” Iwaizumi snapped, grabbing Oikawa’s wrists and shoving them away before they could make contact with his sides.

“Aww, but that’s no fun,” Oikawa pouted, making himself comfortable on Iwa’s lap on the couch.

Iwa was nervous. He was – for all intents and purposes – stuck here, and if Oikawa got it into his head to start playing around, there really wasn’t much he could do about it other than fight with his words. So fight he did.

“That’s such a childish thing to do. Knock it off.”

“Childish? Are you calling me a child, Iwa-chan?”

“You area child.”

Oikawa pouted again, but there was a twinkle in his eye. He reached for Iwa’s sides again, and when Iwa moved to stop him again, he snatched up both wrists and pinned them to the couch above his head, leaning in close to his face with a smirk. “You don’t really want me to knock it off, though, do you?”

Iwa’s face turned dark red. “Shut up.”

“Because you like being tickled, don’t you, Iwa-chan?”

“Shut up, Toru.”

“Poor, ticklish little Iwa.” Oikawa chuckled, reaching to grab a thigh, enjoying the sharp jerk he got in response, how he had to fight to keep his friend pinned in place, helpless to the laughter that was coming his way. “All dressed up and nowhere to go.”

“I-I’m in my PJs, genius,” Iwa spat before tossing his head back with a shriek of involuntary laughter.

Oikawa kept kneading his thigh. “Your Sesame Street PJs. Who’s childish now, hmm?”

“Toru, I s-swear to g-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

*

19) Lee Oikawa, Ler Iwa

“Where did all that confidence go?” Iwa asked, smirking.

Oikawa pressed his lips together. His heart was racing. Iwa took charge on the court sometimes, but almost never off of it, and certainly never like this. The setter had quickly gone from being his normal smooth, teasing, flirting self to this – pinned to the bed with his wrists in Iwa’s grip, the ace looming over him with a smile. And god, if it wasn’t making him flustered as all get out.

“I’m still confident,” he managed, swallowing. “Confident that I’m about to regret everything.”

Iwa chuckled. “You’re right about that. Let me ask you something, Toru.” He pinned both wrists together with one hand and used his other to gently squeeze the setter’s hip. “Are you still ticklish?”

Oikawa’s blush was all the answer he needed.

“W-Wait, wahahahahahait, Iwa,” he sputtered, a huge smile spreading across his face without permission. He squirmed helplessly. “D-Dohohohohohon’t do thahahahahat!”

“Why not? You deserve it, you know.” Iwa found the hollow of Oikawa’s hip with his thumb and pressed in deeply.

Oikawa jolted, trying to twist his body away from the ticklish touch. “Nohohohohoho! N-Not thehehehehehehere!”

“Not where? Not here?” Iwa pressed in again, enjoying how his boyfriend squealed and arched his back at the touch, helpless to the flood of giggles leaving his mouth. “But you’re just so sensitive here. How can I not play with you just a tiny little bit?”

Oikawa groaned, face and ears bright red. “I hahahahahahate you.”

Iwa chuckled. “I’m sure you do.”

*

20) Lee Tsukishima, Ler Kuroo

“It’ll give you motivation!”

“It absolutely will not.” Tsukishima glared at Kuroo. “Don’t touch me.”

Kuroo gave him a lazy smirk. “I’m perfectly capable of taking you down if I have to, you know.”

Tsukki paused. There weren’t many people he was nervous around, but he had to admit, Kuroo was one of them. Especially when he was being threatened like this. “Just don’t. It will only make me angry.”

“How can you be angry if you’re laughing?” Kuroo teased, and lunged for him.

Tsukki fought the entire way to the gym floor, causing Kuroo more problems than he’d originally anticipated, but eventually the upperclassman won the battle and rolled the blonde over onto his front, straddling him and pinning him in place.

“There now, was that so hard?”

“Screw you!” Tsukki snapped. “Get off!”

“I’ll get off once you lighten up a little.” Kuroo scribbled his fingers along the blonde’s sides, ribs, and back, searching for giggles that Tsukki successfully held back. “Oh, come on, this is no fun. Laugh a little, Tsukki!”

“I w-will not l-laugh,” Tsukki growled, but his resolve was quickly broken when Kuroo reached up into his underarms. He shot his arms down protectively, but it was too late. The Nekoma captain had found purchase and was now digging, and any resistance the blonde had left crumbled when his body betrayed him and he started giggling quietly into the floor. “Nohohohoho!”

“There you go,” Kuroo teased, pressing harder. “Just let it out, glasses. You’ll feel better, trust me.”

“Nohohohohohoho, I h-hahahahate—” Tsukki bit his lip hard to hold back a squeal. Kuroo had started drawing tiny, precise circles right in the crease where his underarm met his shoulder, and it wa driving him up the wall. His giggles quickly gave way to soft laughter. “Nohohohohohoho, dohohohon’t do thahahahahahat! P-Plehehehehehease, Kuroo…!”

[mcheang]

Hello. It's been a while. :) Post-Miracle Queen: There’s an Akuma who turns people into cute baby animals. During this state, people don't have memories as humans. They act like an animal would. Marinette gets hit and becomes the class pet until Ladybug fixes everything. Lila doesn't like this and having to pretend to coo over her rival. Her fake enthusiasm and plots to get Marinette banned temporarily from school gets her caught eventually by angry classmates.

Baby Mari

This is a draft

It’s annoying when your older siblings pull the whole “I’m older” card on you. Sometimes it can lead to deep, negative emotions. Something Hawkmoth takes advantage of when he akumatizes Perrine, fed up with her bossy older brother telling their mother she isn’t responsible enough for a pet yet.

So she is transformed to the Pacifier, and is heading for Dupont, where her brother is.

With a shake of her rattle, Pacifier sprinkles glitter on her victims, who turns into adorable baby animals.

The students were used to akumatizations and ran for it. Except Marinette couldn’t just leave Alya behind to film. And she got caught in the glitter as well.

Alya picked up a baby....bunny? (What? The ears could resemble pigtails when flattened)

https://youtu.be/_v94XqFW4Qw

Somehow Tikki avoided discovery. This is terrible. With the Guardian gone, Chat Noir will be on his own! Well, Mr Bug will be on his own, because the akuma has to be purified.

After Pacifier departed with her new pets, she went to find her mother.

School resumed. Alya had permission to bring Marinette to class since her parents didn’t allow pets in the bakery and it would probably take an hour for the akuma to be defeated. Otherwise, the bakery would be shut down for a while as Tom and Sabine looked through pet care guides.

As the class cooed over Marinette, Lila scowled over the loss of attention. With Chloé gone into hiding, there was one less contender for the spot of class queen.

Rose noticed Lila hanging back. “Come give her a pet Lila. She won’t bite. Marinette is such a cute bunny, and her fur is so soft!”

Lila plastered on a relieved smile, like she was glad people think she could get close to Marinette now.

Except as soon as the bunny smelled the liar, she instinctively bit the finger.

Lila: OW!

Lila recoiled, clutching her bleeding finger.

But instead of trying to comfort her, the girls actually chided Marinette in soft tones. “No, Mari, we don’t bite people.”

Alix: Wow, even in bunny form Marinette doesn’t like Lila.

Kim: you should go to the nurse Lila.

Lila: is no one going with me?

Everyone stared at her like she was being ridiculous.

Alya: Lila, it’s not a major wound. You don’t need us to follow you around everywhere. You’ll be fine.

Mylene: maybe Marinette’s hungry?

Adrien: does anybody have snacks? I have some Camembert but I read that rabbits shouldn’t eat those.

And just like that, Lila was dismissed from their minds.

As she stared in furious disbelief, Max glanced back to remind her to go.

That’s it. Time for the rodent to go.

Lila waited until lunch before grabbing Marinette with the lunch lady’s gloves. She just caused a food fight before grabbing Marinette as everyone turned to look at the spectacle.

As Lila headed to the second floor, she intended to drop Marinette from that height on the concrete, but the class quickly noticed her absence and spread out, calling for her.

Of course someone had to notice Lila was wearing gloves.

Lila quickly claimed she was trying to get Marinette to the safety of the class. That got her some gratitude, until wrinkled noses pointed out that Marinette must have confused rubber gloves for a litter box. Said gloves were currently dripping on Lila’s favorite shoes.

Alya managed to get Marinette out of Lila’s grip before she strangled the bunny.

Maybe she should try shooting the bunny instead. People hunt bunnies right?

Nah. Too much work.

Fine, how about insisting that pets are not allowed in school? But Damocles has been turned into a baby owl and Ms Bustier was all for letting the class bond over a class pet. ...is it too late to pretend she has a late-acting allergy?

Ooh. Lila’s got it. She goes to talk to a school assistant instructing some students on how to care for their new class Chinchilla.

Lila goes up, praising him for his hard work and knowledge but also offers her sympathies for cleaning up after the animal messes. And don’t they shed too?

Unfortunately the assistant turns out to be Mylene’s father. Wasn’t he supposed to be an actor? And he calls over Mylene to tell Lila where she put the gloves and poop bags.

And as for the shed hair, even humans have hair loss.

Mylene thinks it’s wonderful of Lila to volunteer for poop duty, but she shouldn’t be surprised. The excited Mylene hands Lila her new equipment before she can protest.

Lila is furious. But she eventually makes use of an opportunity to sweep Marinette into the pan and throw her into the dumpster. Everyone else backed off when Lila suggested they take her shift, hence they didn’t see Marinette getting swept up.

Except there was no way for them not to notice Marinette was missing once Lila had gone. Suspicious, Adrien stopped Lila.

Inside the pan, they found a stinky bunny.

Lila: oops, I must have accidentally caught her.

Adrien: how do you accidentally catch a bunny when her....um...business is smaller than she is?!

Lila: I don’t watch while sweeping.

Kim: that is just plain stupid.

Mylene: aren’t you supposed to be an expert at this sort of thing?

Lila nearly squawked in outrage at the idea that being a frequent volunteer means being experienced at clean up.

Alya: maybe you better take a day off? You don’t seem to have a way with animals. You can get away because the akuma is still out.

Lila couldn’t believe it. They were actually kicking her out. She was going to protest before Rose started insisting they give Marinette a proper wash.

Lila tries to volunteer for that but Max interrupted, “Sorry Lila. But with what has already happened, you’re more likely to choke Marinette with soap than otherwise.”

He wasn’t that far off. Lila would have likely drowned the baby animal.

Lila stormed out of school. As luck would have it, she crossed the Pacifier’s path.

A sprinkle of glitter.

Where once stood a teenage girl now stood a crow fledgling. Shame how nobody was around to witness this. Lila the crow lay helpless on the ground, until the Pacifier plucked her up and dumped her into a pram stuffed with other baby animals. It was a tight squeeze, and suffocating since the baby crow was smaller than the other animals.

It took some time for Mr Bug to defeat the Pacifier, though it helped that Pacifier was distracted by the sight of a baby bunny rolling around in flour.

When the Miraculous Mr Bug was cast, Marinette found herself safe at home. Lila found herself on the street sucking on a worm.

Lila spat it out. “Ew!”

When Marinette returned to class, her friends still coddled her and pampered her, much to her bemusement. Lila just glowered from the back. She never wanted to see another baby animal ever again.

Caline: alright class, settle down! Welcome back Marinette. Since we had such fun taking care of Marinette, I thought of a fun project for home economics.

Ms Bustier moved aside to reveal hamsters in their own cages.

You have got to be kidding me! Lila thought furiously. Her assigned hamster likes to bite too.

To rub salt in the wound, Marinette and Adrien were the proud new parents of Fu the hamster.

[twstedbeauty]

hcs of the twins, jamil, jack, rook finding out their s/o is ticklish.

oHOHOOOH BUCKLE UP

Disclaimer: This is going off the assumption that their s/o enjoys being tickled. Our bois are respectful and would never touch their love without permission~

Leech Twins

hAHAHAHAHA AHHH....you have a death wish, my friend. 

I said it in the last post, these two do not have the word ‘mercy’ in their vocabulary. 

These two used to torment Azul growing up. Being that he was so squishy and sensitive, he was a prime target for tickling. And these two would tickle him to the point of tears which then made him ink himself. 

So all I’m saying is that if you tell these two that you like being tickled, you better get ready to become their own personal tickle toy. 

They will HAPPILY indulge you whenever you want them to, but keep this in mind: SAFEWORD. PLEASE ESTABLISH A SAFEWORD SO THAT THEY WILL STOP WHEN YOU ACTUALLY NEED TO STOP. PLEASE, I’M BEGGING YOU. YOU’LL THANK ME LATER.

Their preferred method of tickling is ganging up on you: one holding you down while the other tickles you and then they switch after a while. 

But don’t think for a second that they are predictable. In fact, the two of them have a distinct difference in tickling. 

Jade opts for much more light slow tickling, but it’s in the places that he knows you are most ticklish. He just leans over you and smiles that polite smile as you scream with laughter. 

He doesn’t say much while he tickles you, other than to remark how red your face is or how sensitive you are. That polite smile will slowly grow into that toothy one he displays when something amuses him. 

Floyd, on the other hand, prefers to tickle hard and fast, constantly moving his hands all over your body, switching up so quick that you can barely keep up. 

He’s laughing the whole time he tickles you, cooing about how cute you are and tickle talking you to no end. 

Tickling you when they are bored will become their new favorite past time. They have no shame. They will come up and ask if they can tickle you. 

You opened a dangerous can of worms revealing this little secret of yours to them. All I can say is good luck.

Jamil Viper

Just like with Riddle, I would like to say that tickling would be kind of lost on him, except that I remember that he grew up with Kalim. So it absolutely would not have. 

He used to get into tickle fights all the time with Kalim (who would always start them) and he would always win because Kalim STILL hasn’t figured out where Jamil is most ticklish. 

Jamil not really fond of being tickled and he’s kind of neutral on tickling itself. But he won’t say no if you ask him. 

He thinks it’s kind of cute and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t some kind of a power kick out watching you beg and squirm underneath him. 

He’ll make you tell him how much it tickles though. He’ll make you admit you like being tickled because that used to drive Kalim insane as kids.

What amuses him the most is wondering if you’ll have the courage to walk up and ask him to be tickled. He’ll get a slight smirk on his face if you come into where he’s working with your arms crossed and that shy flustered expression on your face. It’s adorable to him. 

From one to ten on the sadistic scale, I’d say Jamil is about a four or a five. He can be pretty cheap with the tickles, but for the most part, he’s doing this more for you than he is for him. 

All in all, Jamil is pretty mild. Not too easy but not too rough either. 

Jack Howl

Oh my god this poor baby jakdljalskdjas

Now mind you, Jack is familiar with the act of tickling. He has two younger siblings that he got into tickle fights with plenty of times. He has earned his place as a renowned tickle monster. 

But when you tell him that you like being tickled, this poor boy’s face is gonna get VERY blushy. 

He’ll warm up to it a lot faster than you think however. 

You’ll come to find out that Jack loves to chase you around with the intent to tickle you. He’ll even get into character! Letting out some menacing sounding growls just to further excite you and spur you on to run and hide from him. 

I firmly believe that Jack puts on this prickly exterior around others, but when he’s alone with someone he cares about, he’s the biggest softie and sweetest boi. So he wouldn’t be afraid to play around and let loose with you~

When it comes to the actual tickling, I feel like Jack can be a little on the tortuous side but he’s careful. He’s pretty quiet throughout the process, just grinning down at you and commenting on how you could escape if you just push him off. 

And you can damn well except the softest and warmest of cuddles afterward!!

Rook Hunt

:) 

:’))))

DO YOU WANT TO DIE???

MY FRIEND, YOU KNOW HOW THIS MAN OPERATES. I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT THERE WILL BE NO ESCAPE FOR YOU ONCE HE FINDS OUT. 

You remember that personal story with him and Ruggie? YEAH, THAT’S GONNA BE YOU BUT ALL THE TIME. 

Either way, when he does find out about this, he’s thrilled! He thinks that its adorable that you like being tickled and will happily oblige. 

One of the things that he’ll no doubt enjoy is sneaking up behind you and tickling you out of nowhere, trilling about how adorable you are and how beautiful your laughs are in French.

Speaking of being chased around, you KNOW Rook would enjoy a game of cat and mouse that ends with him tickling you. It’s both exciting and terrifying because he’s practically silent when he’s stalking his prey and you’ll never know where he is. 

The only thing that will give you any indication is the deep chuckles you’ll hear behind you. 

On tickling itself, I have a feeling that Rook is like Jade in the fact that he’s smiling the whole time and complimenting you while he utterly wrecks you. 

You know that very sly, scary looking smile he gets in game sometimes? He’s wearing that the whole time while he’s cooing about how you can’t escape from him and how helpless you are. It’s utter torture. 

But given how adorable you are and the way you just shriek and laugh without restraint, he can’t help but laugh with you and break character. You’re just so cute!

So all in all, Rook is a sweet but very dedicated ler. Watch yourself. Maybe go hide behind Vil’s throne if you see him eyeing you with mischief in mind.

[sedated-love]

Yandere Dabi x Reader

First Post of October! 

Hey Guys! I’m writing every day of October and for the first day I’ve picked a bit of a sadistic route. It is spooky season after all! Hopefully you guys enjoy! Lemme know what you think and feel free to leave suggestions in my ask! 

TRIGGER WARNING- Kidnapping, Body mutilation, overall dark shit

Please read at your own discretion. 

~~~~~~~~~~

“P-Please…let me go…I won’t tell anyone anything!”

You cried silently as your wrists began to ache from being bound so tightly behind you. He stood tall above you. Absolutely menacing in every way. The sadistic grin on his face only getting bigger the more you begged. You hadn’t mean to wander into villain domain. You were just out on a stroll at night when you saw an abandoned building and thought it would be fun to check it out.

After all, you’ve seen the videos online of people doing the exact same thing and normally the scariest thing they find is an old doll in the corner or some mildly threatening spray paint on the wall that some kids probably wrote there when they were bored. However, it was just your luck to have had a run in with one of the number one villains in all of Japan.

You tried to run at first, but the abandoned house had quickly become a maze. Every corridor lead to another and the sound of his footsteps were always calm and steady behind your own panicked ones. You weren’t sure how long the chase went on or really when it ended but before you knew it you were waking up hours later, bound and gagged on the cold concrete floor of what seemed like a basement. He only ungagged you when your chest was heaving so hard that he was convinced that you were going to pass out again just from the lack of oxygen.

“You stepped into my territory, which means you belong to me and I don’t let things that are mine go.”

Dabi. A villain that you had seen on your tv screen several times was now standing above you, knife in hand. He looked a lot more threatening in real life. He was taller than you had imagined and even though his face already made your stomach churn, his fiery blue eyes were what made you feel extremely unsettled. It is like no matter what he said, the look in them never changed. Almost as if his soul were wiped long ago and all that was left now was this shell.

He reached down, running the blunt of the blade along the tear stains on your cheek as he loved watching the way your quivered underneath him. You were pitiful and helpless to him. Even though he was barely touching you, you seemed to twitch and respond to his every touch.

“Now, kitten…what should I do with you?”

He hummed softly, sitting on the balls of his feet beside you as he looked over your helpless body. The hand not holding the knife grabbed right under your chin, tilting your head up so that you were forced to look at him. Your faces were only inches apart and he only seemed to be leaning in closer.

You took that as a cue to use all your strength to head butt him. A shock of pain reverberated through your skull as your heads collided but you immediately tried inching away on the floor like a worm even though you had no idea where you were going thanks to being blinded from the pain. You may have liked to tell yourself you made it an entire foot before the heel of a boot collided with the back of your skull, shoving your face straight into the concrete below, but in reality it was probably closer to a couple of inches.

If the head butt hadn’t already caused a headache than that certainly did but the villain who was now seething in rage didn’t seem to mind. “You’re going to regret that.” He removed his foot from the back of your head, only to grab you by one of your bound arms and drag you into a better position.

He sat down and situated you laying face down over his lap, a soft snarl in the back of his throat as he spoke. “You wanna act up, kitten?” He yanked down your pants and underwear, a large hand resting on your left cheek, but he didn’t swat or move in any way. “I’ll just have to claim you the old-fashioned way.”

With no other warning his hand set ablaze, searing his handprint into your ass as you screamed in agony. The smell of burnt flesh filling the room as your body went limp against his lap. The pain left you still as you felt like you were going to puke at any second.

“That’s a good kitten~” The male moved his burning hand off your ass which was now permanently claimed with his mark, seeming to ignore the soft sobs that left your throat as he pulled out some ointment from the pocket of his jacket. “Oh, don’t be like that, I get burnt all of the time.” He made a shushing sound as he put a dab of the burn cream onto his fingertips before gentle massaging it into the wounded flesh on your ass. His other hand clasped over your lips to dull the screams of agony that left you as he pushed against the sensitive skin.

“There we go~”

He moved his hand from his lips to your chin so he could tilt your head towards him, shoving his mouth against yours in a harsh kiss. His lips moved heatedly against your own, all of his touches being warm to the touch as he bit you lower lip as he pulled away, a soft pleased purr leaving the back of his throat.

“You’re not a stray anymore~”

[glumpiglet]

Beetlejuice meeting his S/O and shes a ghost?

Hi..Thank you for the request.. I had a lot of fun with this one.. It really got away from me lol I hope you like it <3 to those who requested I havent forgotten about you, it’s just easier for me to write on the weekend when I’m not working. K love you guys

Warning: bit of swearing.. basic beej innuendos... thats it.

If you had known that when you woke up that Wednesday, it would have been your last day alive, you probably would have done so not hungover. Stumbling out of bed, sheets still clutching at your legs, you swore at the morning sun shining once again for the high, wide windows in all the bedrooms. It was on the list to replace the sheer curtains, but fabric that long was hard to find and not cheap to buy.

When Great Aunt Gerdy left you her house, the only wish she had was to ‘preserve, protect, and breath life back into Windflew Manor.’

Sweet, naive Gertrude. Spun of sugar more than flesh, your great aunt had been the youngest of twelve and definitely your favourite family member. Growing up, you fondly remembered spending summers here, riding your bike through the halls on rainy days, playing ‘Pirates and Rogues’ in the backyard with Gerdy and her children.

When you got older you begged to still come to the Manor; Gertrude watched you grow and in her own mind, Auntie Gerdy had assumed you would follow the steps of the women in your family, hunker down with a fine man, pop out some kids every few years.

As you said, Gertrude was tragically naive. Never had the heart to ever tell her the truth. That marriage….Children? Had never even entered the equations of goals. You wanted a spontaneous, fun life full of breakable things. Adventure. 

But also it was known that if you didn’t take this house, it would have gone to an auction. It broke your heart the way her children acted, their mother was one of the greatest women you had ever met, a role model. It was what she wanted. You couldn’t do that to Aunt Gerdy. So with hesitant determination, you had set about restoring Windflew Manor.

Due to funds, you were forced to do most of the work, getting help for a few handier friends. But it had been coming along nicely, room by room the cobwebs and mold were disappearing. It was satisfying work.  

Resting your head against the shower wall, however, you didn’t think you could find the strength to tackle the gardens today. It was all your friend's fault, ‘one more drink (Y/N), we’ve worked so hard!’ 

Exiting the shower, wiping the fog from the mirror, you reflected on how tired the image looked as you moisturized, changing into comfy shorts and a tank top without bothering to properly dry yourself. It was a warm day and you liked the cool moisture mixed with the lotion slicking your skin.

Just as you began brushing your teeth, the doorbell rang multiple times. Who the hell was that this early in the morning? The sound came again, more insistent and you had to roll your eyes.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Hold your horses..” Sprinting down the hallway, trying to steady on the banister, you felt the gravity shift as your feet slid across the hardwood.

You supposed everyone would lament your damned clumsiness, your carelessness. Imprinted on the skin, you held the reminders of how prone to accidents you had been. It had been a joke in the family for years. ‘(Y/N) is gonna kill herself one day!’ 

It was only a matter of time. 

Swing your hand wildly, nothing could be gripped as you felt yourself swinging forward, hurdling towards the twenty-six flight of stairs that as a child, never it was considered it would have spelled your end….  

**

Turns out, it had been nothing more than a neighbor, wanting to let you know the street sweepers would be out tomorrow. 

Life was funny that way. 

Watching in dull horror as the EMT’s took your body away, trying to process the following information.. It came to you so obviously even though it sounded crazy: You weren’t having some out of body experience… You hadn’t taken any hallucinogenic drugs lately.. You were dead. 

Thinking about what the afterlife would have been: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory…. Haunting Auntie’s empty house had not been on the top of the list. 

Time was meaningless now, you could look at the grandfather clock and see two p.m and look five minutes later and see eleven a.m. it was always cold. You cursed not wearing something warmer than your p.j’s that last morning, not that you thought it would have helped. 

Going outside had been a big no-no. Whatever fucked up colossal worm creature had been out there when you tried the one time to leave, was obviously meant to be keeping you here. So here you stayed.

It could have been only a day you spent dead and lonely in the house. Or a week. A month. Years. You were being a little dramatic, you knew it hadn’t been years. Friends and family came by, grieving openly, making your heartbreak; and removing all your items, which was even worse. Obviously to be sold off or stored in your old room. A time capsule.

On one of the many days that found you aimlessly wandering the halls, a book fell before you without pretense. Equal parts startled and puzzled, well as much as a ghost could be, you picked it up.  

‘Handbook for the Recently Deceased..’

Gripping the pages, intent to open, you were halted as your front door swung open. A dozen or so handsome, young men carrying multiple packed things burst into Aunt Gerdy’s foyer, laughing and chatting loudly.  

“Aw, dude this place is awesome!”

“Look at all the space!”

“Get that pong table over there!”

“What the fuck!?”

Stomping forward, you were about to raise your voice louder before you stopped yourself….Right, stupid... They couldn’t see you… The whole ‘being dead thing’.

Watching in impotent rage as they slammed their things on the hardwood floor, scuffing their sneakers on the expensive carpets you had saved every penny for…

This was not good. Not good at all.

**

You had been right.

It wasn’t hard to not like these kids. You weren’t really into the whole ‘boys would be boys’ excuse for male idiocy in their youths. 

You didn’t like the way they treated each other, the archaic ‘hazing’ they would often do leaving you feeling ill. You didn’t like the way they treated the girls they used and laughed as they were forced down the traditional ‘walk of shame’ making you furious.

You especially did not like the way they treated the Manor. It was terrible, gaudy streamers and tacky posters were pinned to the walls. Daily parties...Keggers…. Were held here, the place was a war zone. Litter and garbage cluttered every hall and you were beginning to tear your hair out in helplessness. 

They had turned your Aunt’s treasured home and your hardworking project into a frat house. It was just rude.

What were you gonna do? Time passed and you watched as the house grew further and further into decay when a lightbulb burst unexpectedly. 

Realizing your answer, you hoped the discarded handbook was still where you had dropped it. Returning to the living room, you sighed in relief at seeing the odd-looking text where you left it. Walking up to it, however, you noticed something there that wasn’t there before. 

A card, dusty, and sticking out of a random page. Bending down you began pulling at it, fingering the worn edges. You lifted it up into the light, trying to read it under all the dirt caked on. On the card, it just said one word three times, strangely compelled you said it out loud.

“Betelgeuse… Betelgeuse…. Betelgeuse?”

The burst of smoke made you hack instantly, it was like someone smoked weed in an embalming room, pungent and eye-watering. 

It was a man. Well, no. Not a human man in any case. Duh. You would say this was the weirdest thing to ever happen to you, but nothing was normal after you died apparently.

Observing as he waved his hands, stepping out of the cloud, you couldn’t help the widening of your eyes...He was.. Definitely interesting looking.. 

“Geez, did I come late to the party or what-… Woah.”  

He looked awful and smelt even worse, and why the hell was he here?

The… Character that stepped had gone silent. Awkward and stilted, you struggled to speak. It couldn’t help being noticed his... Hair was changing colour… Most certainly going from an almost neon green to baby pink…. What was he? 

“Don’t be afraid. You’re dead. I am also dead.” There was a moment before an incredulous giggle escaped your lips, you couldn’t help but realize it had been the first time you laughed since.. Well..

“Yeah, I figured that. From... You know… Seeing my dead body get taken away.” The two of you stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, the silence deafening. 

Before he pounced. Flouncing over in a comical manner, he began to circle you, the humour disappearing from you at the look in his eye. 

“Huh, that line usually doesn’t work.. You’re surprisingly calm..” Turning your head until you couldn’t anymore, you swiveled striving for eye contact. He completed his journey around and stood in front of you, seeming to be searching for something. Before he held his grimey hand out…. The intense desire to hesitate held you still. 

It didn’t seem to deter him in the slightest.

“Hello! A pleasure to meetcha-” Leaning forward, you realized in just enough time what he was doing before he could press his lips to yours, jumping back. 

“Uh, excuse me!?” 

“Can’t blame a demon for trying, babes. Anyways uh… What can I do for you?” He fidgeted with his jacket, pulling at the cuffs and flapping the lapels, wafting his stench towards you making you gag. Covering your nose you murmured beyond belief.

“What do you mean?”

“Well usually I only get called when someone needs something from me….. Bio-exorcism. Homicide. Sexual pleasure. I do it all.” This guy couldn’t actually be serious… You shook your head, none of this was helping. You had gone to the book for an answer and had only gotten even more questions. 

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about dude, I just found this card in this book. Anyways, what is happening right now? Who are you and why can you see me?”

Snickering, he continued to very eagerly invade your personal space and it was getting harder to find the space in the living room. The predator was cornering.

“You said my name, sexy. You called me.” 

What kind of name was Betelgeuse? Deciding immediately to shorten it for ease, you opened your mouth but apparently, he was on a roll, and continued. 

“And I already told you.. We’re dead. Deceased. Post Mortem.” Bumping into the wall, just hearing the words from someone else’s lips made you stop… Well, dead. Pun intended. Before they could be halted tears were gathering in your eyes… You weren’t even that emotional about it anymore, had already spent endless nights sobbing about what-ifs and regrets...Not for a while, still, it never got any easier to think about. 

Trying and failing miserably to hide the sniffles, you peered at BJ’s surprised expression. 

“Shit...shit..shit. I didn’t mean to do that…. Don’t cry,” Wiping at stubborn tears that fell against your wishes, you could see BJ shuffle his feet, looking extremely uncomfortable at your sudden breakdown. You tried to calm him, ironically.

“No, I’m fine. It’s just… Not been that great so far... Sometimes I think I might be in hell.” Staring at the ground, you had the overwhelming wish once again for it to finally swallow you whole and take you where you belonged.

“Is it… Your current occupants?”

“It certainly doesn’t help.” Looking up at BJ’s tilted head and rapt expression, the need to confide was making you continue.

“My Aunt left me this house and… I’ve hated seeing what they're doing to it.” BJ looked to be contemplating something before he spoke.

“I could help you.”

You looked at him “What do you mean?”

“I told you.. Again... Sweetheart, you’re smokin’ hot but your memory’s shit. I’m a Bio-exorcist. Getting breathers out is my forte. Well, most breathers can’t see me… But I can teach you! Breathers are waay more likely to see a ghost than a demon.” Riveted by what he was saying, you didn’t realize his pursuit until you felt his grip sound your waist, pulling you closer.

“Mmm… Get you in a little school uniform.. Give you extra credit...” Blatantly ignoring him, focusing on the important part of what he said. 

“What you’re saying is we can get these kids out of here?”

“Of course babes. I take my job very seriously.” Shooting him an incredulous look, you managed to extract from him without much ease, he was really touchy for someone you just met.

“Yeah, I noticed…”

This was insanity. You weren’t actually considering letting this.. Demon?! To teach you how to scare the young men living in your house. It was dangerous and crazy.

Even more, there was no other option. Desperate times.

“Then you’re hired,”

“Oh, this is gonna be so good!” Once again having to duck away from his advance, you pressed a hand to the dirty front of his suit, holding him at bay.

“Stop that,”

“Hmm... Playing hard to get, I respect that.”

Maybe this wasn’t a great idea.

**

In hindsight, it worked out perfectly. Beej, as he had assured, was very good at his job. Just because that job entailed scaring the shit out of anyone and anything around him shouldn’t be held against him. 

Once again, incredulously if you had known in your life that your love of horror movies would have come in handy in your afterlife, you would have paid much more attention.  

Beej was impressed with your novice skill. The voice throwing came naturally to you, and your favourite trick was hiding in the corner of one of their bedrooms, positioning your arms and legs at odd angles and whispering to the sleeping boys, stifling giggles as they awoke, petrified and flew downstairs, waking everyone else in the house.

None of them could actually see you, but you had sworn the one redheaded one had locked eyes in the bathroom mirror, the two of you paused before the urge to scare rapidly left and the need to leave arose. Walking out the bathroom his eyes had definitely followed. 

He never told his friends about it, but BJ had said he watched him lay awake more than one night, clutching his sheets a little too tight. 

Possession was something you felt was unnecessary. Beej had often offered to uh.. Show you how it worked but the thought of BJ well.. Inside of you… It made your skin crawl and you didn’t know if it was from repulsion or excitement.

BJ was.. Unexpected in the best way. Devilishly Intelligent. Hilarious and.. You saw glimpses of his sweetness. He bashfully gave you dead flowers from the garden and was constantly sending you praises that would make you blush if you still had blood. How beautiful you were, how great of a scarer you were…. After getting over the whole stink thing, he was really cute and you might have been... Falling for him. Just the thought made you terrified. 

It all came to an end gradually. It was unexpected, you thought it would have been some big final fright, using all of your cunning ghostly powers. But no, one by one they just disappeared. Claiming to be moving back with family, dropping out, or simply leaving for ‘reasons’.

On the day you stood in the kitchen, now empty save for a few left behind appliances, the beaming smile sent to BJ couldn’t be contained.

“We did it.”

“You did it, babes. I was uh- Just along for the ride, I guess.”

Shifting closer to him, you saw with amusement Beej staring at your lips. The BJ of before would have taken your closeness as an immediate seduction, trying his luck. Now the fact he was trying to control himself, made your heart swell. 

The moment was broken by the sound of the front door opening, you held your breath to see who, or what entered.

A beautiful couple entered, followed by an obvious real estate agent, discussing the house. The couple seemed too good to be true, polite, and awed at the house. Seeing the little bundle of a baby tucked in the mother’s arm as they continued their inspection. You supposed in a way Aunt Gertrude had gotten her wish. And that could be enough.

You turned to Beej watching the scene with an odd countenance.   

“Thank you BJ, really. I’ve had a lot of fun.” You finally noticed. There was purple in his hair, something was making him sad.

“Why does it sound like you're saying goodbye?” 

Oh. oh.

Struggling to answer him, you watched as he further sank in himself. “I read the book, BJ..The Netherworld… Shouldn’t I be…”

“Not yet! Once you get there… We won’t be able to see each other this much... Haven’t we been having fun?” 

“Of course but-”

“Don’t leave!” His voice was frantic, higher-pitched than you ever heard, you couldn’t find the words to calm him.

“Please! I’ll… I’ve been looking into something…” The moment took the oddest turn when Beej practically flew to his knees, reaching out to you to clasp your hands between his before clearly speaking two words you never imagined him saying.

“Marry me.”

The words shocked you. Scandalized, you said the one thing you could.

“Beetlejuice!” That wasn’t it, the look on his face broke you. It was pitiful, desperate.

“No nonono say something else babes, let me explain!” You reached out, stroking his stubble as his giant, golden eyes glittered at you with so many emotions swirling.

“I’m not gonna send you away Beej, stop please.” Taking deep breaths between you, the urge to sink to the floor with him ran over you. Somewhere in your mind you realized how stupid this was, two ghosts having a panic attack in the kitchen, but weirder things have happened.

“If I… Marry a breather. I get brought to life. So I’ve been thinking..” Beej was asking to marry you.. Could ghosts and demons even get married? Would you have a wedding? Invite other ghosts to the ceremony?

“I don’t know BJ… We don’t even know if it will work,” You hadn’t said ‘no’ yet. At the moment, you couldn’t find the desire to do so. You liked Beej, it was the little things in death you realized that mattered. 

“What have we got to lose?.. I thought..”

Looking at him, on the floor with you. Overwhelmed with affection, you leaned forward, noting with glee Beej’s astonishment. Kissing the ghost with the most was... Everything and nothing what you expected. His tasted like cigarettes and dirt, still you leaned into him more.

The one thing that could make death totally rad. Being with him. He was absolutely right. Pulling away, looking at his blissed out face, eyes staying closed, you gave him your answer. 

“Yes. Okay. I’ll marry you.”

[largedenominationsplease]

you’d come over, right?

Summary: A year after Kiara and JJ broke up, they come home to the Outer Banks to deal with one of the hardest years of their lives.

Word Count: 5.2k

Warnings: swearing, canon-compliant smoking, au, minor character death, cancer, current events

A/N: Alternate Universe: JJ and Kiara dated seriously for a long while, but over a year before this story, they parted ways. Set in present-day with current events, but most current events are only mentioned briefly for context. All characters aged 21+. Partially inspired by If the World Was Ending by JP Saxe and Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi and current events and Sad Feels™ and a sad playlist my sister made. Come cry with me... also on ao3

Shoutout to @alexandracheers​ for proofreading <3

Sometimes even the most beautiful things die. It’s the sad cycle of life. 

It starts with a spark, a first touch, a first look, a first kiss; 

a few embers of warmth, holding hands, secret glances, flirty texts; 

the roaring flames of passion, clinging to one another, leaving the party early, tangled limbs and tangled sheets; 

then the steady heat of a well-tended fire, cozy mornings making coffee, binging your favorite shows, texting to see how your day is. 

But, sometimes, even the most loved and cared for fires die. They go out with little warning or reason. What was a welcome flame in the hearth one night may be a bed of ash by morning. 

Their fire died a long time ago. It wasn’t anyone’s fault - no one was trying to douse the flames - it just went out. When they sat down and discussed breaking up - parting ways was a more apropos term - she hadn’t even cried. When he packed up and moved out, it was unceremonious. He even kissed her forehead as he left, like he’d done a hundred times before, only this time he wasn’t coming back. 

She still dreamed about him. Sometimes unbidden images of picket fences and a dog and home-cooked meals and potted plants intruded upon her thoughts. Once, when her period was late, she’d even dreamt of a curly-haired little boy with blue eyes - which was ridiculous because she was very single at the time. Did she even want to have kids?

He thought about her, too. Each new destination she traveled to brought new Instagram posts and awakened an ache in his chest he couldn’t quite place. That ache deepened when she revisited places they had gone together - unwanted memories flooding his senses. The smell of coconut still sent him spinning, missing the feeling of running his fingers through her hair, over the smooth skin of her arms and legs. 

What hurt so badly about their fire dying wasn’t that it died. What hurt was that it should never have died; that it died so quietly and suddenly; that one day it was there, burning bright, and the next it was a cold gray heap of coals. 

Even their friends were surprised when he moved back home. “Where is she?” and “What happened?” and “We had no idea you had any problems.”

Followed by the futile response of, “It was just time to move on.”

And they did move on, eventually. She traveled to forget and perhaps after a few months she could call herself truly happy - though there was always an ache of not having someone to share each experience with. He stayed at home, but he opened his own business and the familiarity of home soothed any wounds he sustained. Their fire might have gone out, but they kept the bed of ash in the fireplace, a shrine to what they once had, and it was more comforting than sad after a time. 

When the virus first hit, she’d been back in the states, on the West Coast. She messaged him:

Are you safe? Still have a job? Anyone sick?

Fine for now. You?

Fine.

When the protesting started, he knew she’d be in the thick of it. Not that he didn’t get involved, he just knew her passion for people and justice. He messaged her back this time:

You’re protesting, aren’t you? Are you safe?

Of course! But I’m being careful. You?

Staying safe. Protesting here, too. 

Hurricane Isaias wasn’t meant to be a bad storm, but she had still tracked it up the East Coast. Her suspicions were confirmed when it intensified.

Isaias didn’t wipe y’all out, did it?

No, blew through pretty quick. The Cut took a hit. Gonna take some time to fix it up. 

At first, after reading the headlines about the fires out west, he thought it was a joke. As they spread, he realized how serious it was and it worried him. 

You evacuated, right? The air quality is shit where you are. 

Yep. Gonna take a pandemic-friendly tour of some national parks further east.

Every new development meant more messages sent. Simple little check-ins that meant nothing and everything. It was a scary year the world faced, and even after all those months apart, the only thing they wanted was to find comfort in one another’s safety. On opposite ends of the country, the two of them tied together by current events and the memory of their relationship. 

Mid-September, while she was traveling away from the fires on the West Coast, he got a call from her mother. He hadn’t spoken to her mother much since they had broken up, over a year ago, but she still liked his Instagram posts and struck up conversations when she saw him around town. 

“Hey, Mrs. Anna.”

“Hi, JJ. I’ve told you, it’s just Anna.” Her voice was soft and as kind as ever, but held an edge of tiredness and strain he hadn’t heard from her before. “We have some… tough news, and we wanted you to hear it from us first.”

Colon cancer…

Kiara’s hearing faded into white noise as her mother spoke those words to her through the phone. Her mother went on to explain that even though they caught it late, the doctors were optimistic that her father would make a recovery. Treatments were set to start right away. 

“Mom, I’m coming home.”

“Honey, we know you’ve got traveling plans. We’ll be fine. We don’t want to interrupt your-”

“Mom, I can’t do much traveling with this virus. Dad is more important than any of that, anyway. I’m coming home.”

JJ cried when Anna hung up the phone. Mike was rough around the edges, and he was resistant to Kiara dating a Maybank, but once JJ won him over, he treated him like a son. Hearing this news was a punch to the gut - it was like losing a father. Even in the midst of his sadness he knew Kiara would be sent into a tailspin.

Hey. You okay?

She was typing in response, then nothing. He waited, seeing the little bubble pop up again and again and fade away each time. And then she videocalled. She hadn’t called him in months - not since they parted ways. The little screen showed her in her car, only illuminated by her dim phone screen and the passing street lights. Tears stained her cheeks, but she kept her eyes trained on the road. “I’m not okay.”

“You’re driving right now?”

“I’m coming home.”

“Kiara, pull over. It’s late. Get some sleep.”

“I can’t. They caught it late - he might… who knows how much time I have-”

“Kie.” His voice was soft. He was always soft toward her.

Her face crumpled as the tears fell fresh. He let her cry. He talked to her about nothing and everything as her tears subsided. She cried as she drove through the night, talking to him when she was calm, crying harder when the conversation lulled. She didn’t stop until she noticed he’d fallen asleep, the video call still rolling. It was after four in the morning. The pang of nostalgia that tore through her was enough to make her catch her breath. They hadn’t talked like that since they first started dating. A few tears sneaked out of the corners of her eyes, but she couldn’t tell if the memories or the fear of the future caused them. She found a safe place to park and fell into a fitful sleep in the back of her car. 

She made it home just in time for her dad’s first surgery. JJ met her and her mother at the hospital parking lot, all masks and six-feet of distance until she said, “I could really use a hug.” The three of them colliding into a group hug within seconds. 

JJ made sure the Carreras didn’t need anything as Mike went through chemo and more and more hospital stays. He ran errands for them since none of them could risk going out and bringing anything home. He did yard work since Mike hated an unkept lawn. Kiara always made sure to leave him snacks and drinks on the back deck as the North Carolina heat stretched into October. Aside from that, he willingly put himself at Anna’s beck and call. Anything and everything she needed done, he jumped at the opportunity to help. He would even come over in the evenings to play cards with Mike - masks included. Kiara’s heart ached as she watched her parents get along with him so well. She hadn’t realized how far he had wormed his way into their little family, but here they were, acting as though nothing had changed between him and their daughter, loving him like a son. He praised her mom’s cooking until she blushed and there were times he could make her dad laugh so hard they all forgot for a moment that cancer existed. Those moments were fleeting and oh-so cherished. 

Mike deteriorated quickly. It made Kiara sick to see her father become a cancer-wasted shell of himself. As optimistic as the doctors had been originally, the treatments weren’t taking well. As chemo wrapped up, his numbers were still dangerously high. November brought another emergency surgery that confirmed their worst fears. Mike moved home. They were told all that was left was to manage the pain and make him as comfortable as they could. They had perhaps a month left. JJ moved into the guest room to be as close as possible in case anything was needed from him. The four of them were left waiting as Thanksgiving approached. 

Kiara wasn’t sleeping. Maybe it was knowing her ex-boyfriend was staying down the hall from her, though that was an odd thing to focus on. More likely, it was the fact that her father was passing away right before her eyes, slipping through her fingers as she stood by, helpless. The sun had set hours ago, and she sat with a now-cold cup of tea in front of her at the kitchen table, mulling over each crazy event that had led her to this point. 

JJ wandered into the kitchen, opening the fridge to inspect the contents. “What are you doing up so late?” he asked.

“I could ask you the same thing.” The words came out harsher than she had intended, but then again, she was exhausted in every single sense of the term.

JJ brushed off her roughness. “Hungry. Did you eat dinner?” He knew she hadn’t, so he set about making an extra sandwich.

After a few moments of silence, Kiara whispered, “It’s all my fault.”

“What?”

“It’s my fault,” she repeated, her lip trembling. “I always kept track of his appointments for him. He was always shit at remembering to go to the doctor. He should have had one last year, but I didn’t come home and I didn’t remind him. If I hadn’t broken up with you, I would have been here to remind him to go.” Tears shone in her eyes and on her cheeks.

JJ gave her a quizzical look, deciphering what she was saying. “I seem to recall being the one who left. But really none of this is anyone’s fault,” he kept his voice even, wanting nothing more than to hug her, to wipe away all the tears, and make sure she never had to shed another one again.

“I know, I know, it’s ridiculous, but it’s what keeps running through my head.” She reached up and readjusted the messy bun that her hair was falling out of. “But, for the record, I asked you to leave.” JJ raised an eyebrow as she said this, as though he didn’t believe her. The truth was, neither of them really remembered who had dumped who or why he had left in the first place. Nothing happened that they couldn’t work out with a little bit of effort. “Didn’t I?” she faltered.

He shrugged. “I don’t remember.”

“We just fought a lot, didn���t we?”

“Constantly. You were a bitch.”

She turned to him, mouth open. She slapped at his shoulder, “I know you did not just call me a bitch, bitch!”

He smirked at her. “Maybe you weren’t that bad. Apparently, I was a slob.”

“You are a slob,” she chuckled. Then she sighed and moved to heat up her tea. “But that’s no reason to dump someone. We just… fell out of love, I guess.”

“I didn’t.” His voice was so soft he was barely even sure he had spoken. Based on the way Kiara froze, her back tense, he’d definitely said those private thoughts aloud.

She turned slowly, her face pale with lack of sleep and - something else. Was that anger? Or sadness? “You’ve had more than a year to confess something like that to me, and you choose now?”

JJ shrugged helplessly, unsure of what to say.

“That was the issue all along, wasn’t it?” Kiara’s voice shook, but she kept her tone cool, even. “You wouldn’t communicate with me.”

“Oh, come on, Kie, that’s not fair.” It was too late for a fight. They were both tired and emotional. This wouldn’t end well.

“What’s not fair?” Her voice had started to rise in volume and pitch as her anger increased. She wasn’t even sure why she was angry in the first place, but something about JJ’s confession caused her blood to boil. “The fact that you didn’t admit you still loved me when you left over a year ago? Or the fact that you choose to admit that to me while I’m exhausted and emotionally compromised?”

“Don’t be like that! That’s not what I’m doing.” JJ tried to keep his voice lower than hers, so they wouldn’t wake Mike or Anna, but the way her eyes flashed told him that wouldn’t happen. He grabbed her bicep and led her out to the backyard.

“Let go of me!” She pulled away from him, trying to hide the shiver that ran up her spine in the cool November evening air. “You don’t get to manhandle me and manipulate me into falling back into your arms like nothing happened.”

“That’s not-“ JJ ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. “You know I’m shit at communicating this stuff.”

“At saying ‘I love you?’ At being emotionally present? Listen, I know your dad was fucked up and he fucked you up, but you’re a grown-ass man now. You could have learned how to be there for me!”

“Don’t bring him into this!” They’d had this fight a million times before. The recurring theme of their demise being communication. Their fire had been sputtering under the faulty system they had in place long before they realized what their problems were - it was something neither of them wanted to admit. “Fuck it, Kie, even if I had wanted to get any better at communicating, you were no help. You held every single one of my mistakes over my head. There was no road to redemption for you.”

“No, no that’s not true. I tried to help you-“

“Only telling me what I did wrong wasn’t helpful.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again, stuttering in anger. “Well… if you still loved me so much, why did you leave?”

“Why stay when I knew you didn’t love me anymore?” JJ’s voice dropped and he avoided eye contact with her. 

Her eyes grew wide in realization. “You know what? Fuck you! I loved you until the day you left. If I had known you weren’t coming back I would have fought harder to keep you with me, and if you’re too dense to see-” He cut her words off, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her roughly. She melted into him, a single tear squeezing itself from her eye. He tasted of a coconut flavored vape pod and nicotine and the sea. He was just as stupid and lovely as ever. It only lasted a moment before she shoved at his chest, clearing her throat and turning from him to hide the blush rising to her cheeks. 

“I’m… I’m seeing someone,” she muttered by way of explanation.

“Oh.” JJ licked his lips, missing her more than he had before he kissed her. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know. Who is it? Why aren’t they here?” He hadn’t meant to add that last part, but he was curious. Who could she be seeing that wouldn’t support her during all of this? Who could she want to be with that wasn’t there, like he was?

“Um, her name’s Fern. I asked her not to come. I didn’t want her to meet my dad this way.” She started to walk toward the door, wrapping her arms around herself in the cold November evening air. 

“Kie,” JJ called after her. She turned slightly, to catch his eye out of the corner of her own. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry about everything… I fucked a lot of things up. And I’m sorry about your dad.”

She nodded. “Me too.” With everything, she added mentally, and he knew she had.

Kiara and JJ wordlessly promised each other that they wouldn't let their differences ruin the upcoming holidays. So Thanksgiving passed uneventfully. It was almost a normal Carrera family holiday, besides the fact that Anna and JJ did most of the cooking. Mike tried once or twice to wander into the kitchen, but he didn’t make it long before having to sit back down. Kiara made him comfortable on the couch and they watched what little football was playing. She was sure to commentate on each play alongside him. The four of them ate extreme amounts of food, and laughed and played games. “Tomorrow we go get our Christmas tree,” Mike announced at the end of the night. Kiara bit her lip and glanced at JJ. He shrugged half-heartedly.

“That’s right, baby,” Anna replied, looking meaningfully at the others. 

And they did. They didn’t travel to the mountains, like other years, but they did go down to the local tree lot. Kiara made a big fuss about finding the fattest tree and over-scrutinized each one until she found the perfect Christmas tree, just like always. JJ had spent holidays with the Carrera’s before, but he had never been so intimately involved in all of their traditions. He thought Christmas might just become his favorite holiday at this rate. 

The weeks leading to Christmas weren’t all smooth sailing. Just a few days after Thanksgiving Mike was confined almost exclusively to a hospital bed in the living room. A nurse moved in a few days after that. He slept fitfully if he slept at all, and most days, the pain (or the pain medication) kept him from interacting with the rest of them. Kie would read to him in the evenings, starting with A Christmas Carol. He fell asleep after only a few paragraphs each time, so it took a long while to get through the story. All four of them watched classic Christmas movie after classic Christmas movie - many of which JJ hadn’t ever seen (to which Anna always replied, “That’s going on our list, then!”). Mike managed to stay awake for the entirety of Elf, his favorite. 

Christmas day was quiet. JJ cooked breakfast for everyone, and Anna gushed about how good his cooking had gotten. They had opted not to exchange gifts this holiday, instead filling their stockings with all their favorite candies and snacks. It had been JJ’s idea, and Kiara thought he might have been a secret genius for suggesting it. In the afternoon, Fern called Kie and they talked for over an hour. JJ thought she looked satisfied when she returned, but nowhere near as happy as one should be when they got off a long conversation with their girlfriend. It was probably just the current circumstances. She didn’t say anything other than, “What’s the next movie, Dad?”

Mike died two days after Christmas. He went in his sleep, which was exactly what he had wanted. No fuss, no doctors trying desperately to save him. Just a good night’s sleep where he peacefully breathed his last. He didn’t look the same as he once had. Cancer had changed him so drastically, his once strong imposing frame a mere shadow of its former glory. But his face was smoothed out, lines of pain, grief, and illness wiped away, leaving simply peace. He could have been asleep, but now he would never wake up. Looking at him, Kiara felt like she was drowning. Like every breath she fought to take just filled her lungs with more and more water. Her dad was her rock, and now she was sinking in a wide, dark ocean. She thought she might never breathe again. 

The funeral was tiny - it was only close family that attended - three days after he passed. The sky was clear and blue and the air was cold, typical North Carolina winter. It had snowed the day before, just a bit, so the ground was frozen and white. It could have been beautiful if it wasn’t so heartbreaking. Anna didn’t cry that day. She said she had cried enough. The snow started falling again that evening, once they got home, and she said that was Mike’s way of telling her he loved her. She loved the snow.  

JJ went back home the day after the New Year. Anna told him to stay as long as he wanted, but he said it was time for him to move on. She understood, hugged him tightly before he went, admonishing him to come around often. He said he would, and promised to help with anything she needed around the house, too. Kiara sat huddled on the front porch in a rocking chair, wrapped in a thick blanket with a cup of hot cocoa as he walked out. “You’re not going to say goodbye?” he teased kindly. 

She looked up at him, her eyes still bloodshot and sorrowful. He wanted to hold her. He wished she had never had to go through any of this. She didn’t deserve it. “I don’t know what to say,” she said. “You’ve done so much for us.”

JJ shook his head. “It was selfish. I thought if I was nearby maybe it wouldn’t happen.”

“It was anything but selfish,” She insisted, standing up and wrapping the blanket tighter around her shoulders. She placed a cold hand on his cheek. “Really, J. We couldn’t have made it through any of this without you.”

JJ might have leaned too deeply into her touch, no matter how cold her hands were. It somehow felt colder when she moved away. He cleared his throat. “So what’re your plans now? Getting back on the road?”

“Not until spring. Mom won’t admit it, but she’s not ready to be alone. She’ll need some help coping. And honestly, I’m not itching to leave.”

“I thought you’d wanna skip out as soon as possible. Doesn’t Fern miss you?”

She squinted her eyes but didn’t say anything in response. “I’ll miss having you around, Maybank.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll still be around. I think your mom will institute Sunday dinners or some shit if I don’t come over regularly.”

Kie chuckled. “She really loves you. Dad does - did, too.” Her voice broke slightly.

“I love them, too,” JJ said, honestly. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before picking up his bags and leaving. Kiara caught her breath as his lips brushed her skin, warmth spreading from where he made contact. Her wide eyes stayed glued to his figure as he loaded up his truck and drove away. 

If normal could be achieved after a year like the Carrera women had experienced, they worked their hardest to achieve it. Anna threw herself into caring for the Wreck and it had the best off-season it had had in years. Kiara wrote songs and worked alongside her mother and even took some online classes. Anna did indeed institute Sunday dinners with JJ and he came to as many of them as he could. Life was slow to move forward, but Kie and Anna kept each other afloat, reminding themselves that Mike wouldn’t have wanted them to sit still crying over him. Step by step they picked up the pieces of their lives. 

Things went along this way for a couple months or so. The world was calming down, but not fully quiet yet - when was the world ever quiet? Kiara never thought she could enjoy the quiet slow life that was the Outer Banks during the off-season, but after the year she’d had, she wanted nothing more than simple domesticity. She said as much during one of their Sunday dinners, enticing a knowing smile from her mother and a surprising lack of eye contact from JJ. She cornered him on the back deck when he’d stepped out to smoke. She was grateful they had regained some of the ease their friendship had carried when they were younger. “Okay, what was that all about?”

He chewed on his lip, twisting his cigarette between his fingers. He’d given up weed a while back when they were traveling, out of necessity, but she was secretly glad he’d never taken it up again. “I’m leaving,” he said abruptly. 

“Leaving? Going where?” 

“Not sure yet. My cousin’s gonna watch the shop for me. Travel the states for a bit until it’s safer to leave the country. Then Mexico? Maybe.”

“When will you be back?” 

He shrugged, “Don’t know. Not for a long time.”

“Why?” Her mouth had gone dry and her words had run out. JJ was a die-hard salt-lifer. He might pack up and leave occasionally, but the Outer Banks was home, where he belonged. She thought that no matter where he went, he’d always end up back here. Home. How could he leave now?

He turned to look at her, urgency and honesty shining in his eyes. “I know he was your dad, and I probably don’t have the right to feel this way, but I…” 

“You lost him, too,” she said, understanding.

“Need a change of scenery.” He shrugged again, putting out his cigarette before walking back inside. 

Kiara understood better than most the need to keep moving, the change of scenery a welcome distraction. Traveling alone left a lot of time to think and soul-search. She didn’t peg JJ as the soul-searching type, but grief changed people; he needed time. She could support him in that.

“You’re going with him, right?” Anna asked sternly as she and her daughter washed dishes that evening. JJ had just left. 

“What?” Kiara nearly dropped the plate she was drying. 

“JJ told me all about his plans. Getting out of here for a while will be good for him!” She waved a hand over her shoulder, dismissing Kiara’s shocked expression. “He talks to me, too, you know? Always has.”

Kiara chuckled lightly, “So even though he and I broke up, he never broke up with y’all?”

“You shouldn’t have broken up with him.”

Kiara’s heart stopped for a moment, as she processed what her mother had said. “What do you mean?” She started slowly. “I thought you didn’t approve of me dating someone from the Cut.”

Anna sighed, setting down a half-washed pan. She turned to her daughter. “Your dad and I always wanted what was best for you. We thought that meant college, a solid career, marrying up. But we realized recently that that is never what life’s about.” She reached out and took Kiara’s hands, tears starting to shine in her eyes. “Your dad was from the Cut. When we first got married, we had nothing except each other but being with him was the best decision I ever made. He made me happy. I think I made him happy, too.”

“You definitely made him happy, Mom. But JJ and I fought all the time, we couldn’t sort things out.”

Anna scoffed, “Your dad and I fought, too. Fights happen, but you have to realize you’re not fighting each other, you’re a team fighting the problem. Once you figure that out, you can work through anything.”

Kiara shook her head, but she had a soft smile on her lips. “Mom, I just don’t know.”

Anna smiled, tearfully. “That is what life’s about. Nobody knows! What really matters is who is there to walk with you in the unknown. Who is there for you when you need them? Through the good and the bad. Your dad was that person for me.” She paused and looked at Kiara meaningfully, “So I’ll ask again: are you going with him?”

She shouldn’t, but while considering all of this somehow she felt freer. Her father had just died, she should still be mourning him, and yet she knew that he wouldn’t want her to wallow - she had to pick herself up. You knew this was coming, she heard his voice in her head. She hoped she would never forget what that voice sounded like. You knew I was going. Now that I’m gone, you’re free to live your life again. Live it, Kiara.

JJ finished buying his ticket for the ferry. It was cold out, more snow on its way. He had some time to kill before loading up his truck, but not much. He double-checked the straps on his luggage in the bed of the truck and was just beginning to contemplate how to pass the time when he heard his name being called. He turned to see Kiara running toward him, backpack bouncing wildly on her back. She was all flushed cheeks and shining eyes and curls tumbling around her shoulders. 

“I broke up with Fern,” her words came out in a rush as she drew near him before he could even greet her. “I broke up with her months ago.”

“O-okay,” JJ replied, heart pounding. A million thoughts ran through his mind. He had just seen Kiara, why hadn’t she mentioned it then? Or before then? Why had she come all the way here to tell him that?

“And I’m coming with you,” she continued. 

“What?” JJ wasn’t one to be lost for words, but he couldn’t say anything else. 

“You make me happy. When the world went to shit you were the one person I wanted to know was safe. You were there for me and my whole family in the darkest few months of our lives and you really cared about us. I don’t care that we fought or that we will fight because being with you makes me happier than I ever thought possible.”

If she was going to say anything else, her words were swallowed up when he kissed her, hands cupping her cold cheeks. “I love you,” he said when she pulled back to breathe. “I never stopped. I didn’t know how to fight for you, how to stay, but I’ll do better. I can be better.”

She pressed another kiss to his lips. “Shut up, we’ll figure it out. We can do it right this time.” 

Sometimes things die. It’s a sad cycle. The brightest fires turn cold and gray. But with time, new sparks can settle in that bed of ash. With care a new fire can start, burning brighter than before. So, even though things sometimes die, sometimes those dead things lead to an even more beautiful beginning.

[k7l4d4]

Midnight Striga: Fairy Tail/Owl House Cross Fic Episode 6 Part 1

Hello, and once again, welcome back to Midnight Striga!! Everybody Clap Your Hands!!

“And now… to test it!” Eda cried, feeding a smidge of magic into the Lacrima sitting before her. In a burst of flames, she was sent flying into the wall, a pained groan clawing its way out of her throat. A crazed grin crossed her face. “Fire! Nice! That’s 163 down, 474 to go!” She cheered, hastily scribbling the results down on a piece of paper detailing the Lacrimas in her store. Carelessly tossing the Lacrima into the appropriate pile, she started sifting through her pile, hoping to find something interesting. “I’ve already managed to identify at least 13 specific types, wonder how many more I got?” She muttered to herself. She reached for her bottle of Appleblood for a swig, only to swipe at empty air. Glancing up, she met Luz’s unimpressed gaze, holding her Appleblood just out of reach. “You mind giving that back?” She asked, annoyed at the interruption.

Luz scowled. “Yeah, no. You’ve had way too much of this stuff.” She stated, a pointed look aimed at the kitchen, where at least 10 bottles lay emptied inside. Spotting the list of recorded Lacrimas and types, Luz’s eyes widened in shock. “Holy HELL Eda! When did you sleep!?”

Eda opened her mouth, paused, and awkwardly scratched her cheek. “I don’t have to answer that.” She finally said, evasively glancing to the sides.

Sighing, Luz plopped herself down from across the older Witch. “Eda, I get that you’re hurting. But trust me, running from this is just going to hurt you.” She looked up, naked grief burning in her gaze. “Believe me, I’ve been there.”

Eda gave a bitter snort. “Oh really? You’ve been betrayed by your family, cursed by someone you trusted, respected even!, and left to rot by society? Well color me surprised.” Eda sarcastically remarked, spite apparent in her tone. Her bitterness briefly fell away, however, when a thought came to her. “And weren’t you supposed to be watching Hooty and King while King was practicing?”

Luz huffed. “Pfft! They’ll be fine!”

King panted, dropping to his knees, the crude spear clutched in his paws trembling. He glanced up at his foe, scowling in anger. Hooty loomed over him, his long, wiry body coiled around multiple boulders he had suspended in the air; boulders that King now knew from PAINFUL experience could be willfully hurled like a slingshot. Forcing himself to his feet, King pointed his weapon at Hooty, screaming, “IS THAT ALL YOU GOT? YOU REJECT WORM TURKEY!!!!” With a savage battle cry, the two demons leapt back into the fray, bloodlust burning in their eyes.

“Yeah, they’ll totally be fine.” Luz repeated, blissfully unaware of the carnage going on out in the clearing she had left the two to practice in.

“I’m surprised you aren’t a mess yourself, Miss ‘My Sister Was a Hostage For My Cooperation Who I Thought Was Dead But May Actually Be Alive.’” Eda snidely stated, earning her a frosty glare from her roommate.

Luz sighed, seriously wishing they weren’t having this conversation right now. “I,” She began, pointing to herself. “Am Compartmentalizing at the moment. Does the information that my sister may be alive hurt me? Oh, absolutely. But I’m aware enough of my limits not to do something stupid, and am planning on putting the screws to Oroboros anyway. Forcing myself to panic and scramble won’t help me, and it won’t help her, if the info turns out to be true.” She finished, pain filling her eyes. Her gaze sharpened, pushing through the hurt. “But what’s important right NOW… is the fact that you avoided going to sleep, and are drinking this early in the morning while running magic experiments!” She glanced over the spread of Lacrimas, bewildered. “What were you even doing with all these anyway?” She asked.

Eda shrugged, lifting the Lacrima she’d most recently selected upwards for Luz to see. “Testing these to see what they can do.” She blithely stated, moving to do just that. Luz’s eyes shot open in panic. With a yelp, she whipped the Lacrima out of Eda’s hands. “Hey! What was that for!?” Eda demanded, holding her lightly stinging fingers.

Sighing in relief at the in-tact shard of magic in her hands, Luz carefully set it in what she gathered was the sorted pile. “That,” She said, pointing to the Lacrima. “Is an Explosion Lacrima. If you had tested that, it would’ve blown you to pieces, and considering its proximity to the other Lacrimas, would’ve taken the house and most of the clearing with it.” She stated, somehow managing to keep her panic out of her voice, even as Eda paled at the implications of what had almost occurred. Luz turned an accusing stare towards Eda. “This is what I mean! If you wanted to know about what these Lacrima were, you could’ve just asked me! But instead you snuck down here and proceeded to haphazardly test them without any kind of safety precautions!! I mean, I get your all about independence and inherent limitlessness of magic and all, but that was reckless, even for you. What. Is. The Problem?” Luz demanded, eyes hard.

Eda’s gaze fell to the table, her nails gouging into the wood. “I trusted her.” She whispered. “For all that we didn’t get along anymore, for all that she worked for Bonehead and I hated him and her attempts to bring me in, I still trusted her. And she’s part of the reason I’m such a pariah, the reason I can’t even live in town! She took my trust… and she stomped on it.” Tears fell to the wood, a look of desolation and pain stretched across her face. She turned to Luz, a look of hopelessness scrawled across her face. “How do I even deal with that!?”

Luz looked on levelly. She understood, she honestly did. While she herself may not have felt the particular emotions Eda was dealing with, she was incredibly familiar with the loss, confusion, and hurt that came from internal conflict. “Well, the first thing you gotta do is ask yourself this: do you still love your sister?”

Eda reeled back, appalled. “What kind of question is that!? She’s my sister! Of course I still love her!” She exclaimed, gesturing wildly.

“But she betrayed you and has been lying to you for years.” Luz evenly pointed out.

Eda snorted. “Yeah kid, I’m aware of that. I haven’t forgiven her for it, I probably never will!” She said, throwing up her arms in emphasis, before she continued, her voice softening. “But she’s still my sister. She’s still the girl who looked out for me as a kid, even if she has been acting like a pompous windbag for years. Am I hurting? Yes. But I know she is too. I don’t need to hold it any further against her than that. I just want my family to stop hurting over it all.”

“Well, my best advice for you is to get some rest and deal with this one day at a time.” Luz said gently. “It may not seem like much, but getting proper rest should do wonders for helping you process this and figure out how to go forward.” She shrugged. “It did with me at least.”

Eda gave Luz a misty smirk. “Since when are you the adult here?” She jokingly questioned, hands folding over her chest. As she felt a familiar sensation brush against her arm, she froze. Ignoring Luz’s inquiring look, Eda roughly pushed up her sleeve, the both of them turning pale at the sight of feathers popping up along her arms. “Crap!” With a shout, Eda rushed for her cupboards, hastily throwing them open, Luz following her lead with the cabinets and drawers. There wasn’t a single potion left in the house. Eda buried her face in her hands. “I can’t believe I forgot to stock up!”

“Well, do you have somewhere you can get more!?” Luz frantically questioned. Eda shot her a look that screamed ‘duh, are you serious?’ Luz sheepishly cringed. “Okay, yeah, you probably do.”

Eda nodded tersely. “Yeah.” With a gesture, she called her staff to her, Owlbert briefly cuddling up against her cheek before solidifying into wood. “Let’s get going before I go full Owl Beast in here.”

Luz gave a sharp jerk of her head, aimed in the direction of where King and Hooty were practicing. “Do you think they’ll be okay?”

Eda gave a mostly nonchalant snort. “Those two? They’ll be fine. Hooty’s more than strong enough to look after himself, and this place, and King isn’t a helpless little fuzzball anymore.” She stated, giving Luz a proud grin, one she happily returned. With that settled, the two leapt onto the staff, taking off into the air.

As they landed in town, Luz instantly took notice of the whispers. Everyone was huddled around, shooting one another furtive looks. Uneasiness rippled through the city, clinging to every group they passed. Luz was painfully aware of the stares she got, the fear and suspicion. She fought the urge to pull in and hunker against the voices, the accusations she just knew were building. A hand on her shoulder caused her to shoot her gaze up, Eda’s awkwardly comforting face filling her vision.

“Hey, just ignore them, okay? They don’t know you.” She said soothingly, rubbing Luz’s shoulder. “I’ve had to deal with it myself plenty of times. We kicked a hornet’s nest the other day, and now people are waiting for it to sting. They’ll be on edge, you might even get a few of the angrier idiots trying to yell at you, but they’ll come around. Eventually.”

Luz gave her a shaky grin, appreciative of the support. “Thanks Eda. It means a lot.” Eda gave her a jerky nod. As they wandered deeper into the city, they brushed by a group of school-age kids, including Amity and that girl who’d been burned that first day at Hexside. The group paused, turning to look at them, uncertain whispers kicking up. Luz was honestly surprised at how little it bothered her.

As they came to a fairly innocuous looking storefront, Eda began roughly pounding on what Luz assumed was the service counter. “Open up Morton! I’ve got an emergency, and I need potions, stat!” She shouted, her fist echoing loudly against the wood.

Thumps and shouts could be heard coming from the other side, before the shutters opened, a sickly seeming Witch poking through. “Oh, sorry Eda. I was up testing poisons last night and I haven’t been feeling too well. You said you’ve got a potion emergency?”

While Luz desperately wanted to comment on him testing Poisons on himself, she was rapidly growing accustomed to the lack of care to personal safety the Isles seemed to possess in regards to its Citizens. Still, Eda seemed to trust this guy, so she wouldn’t say anything. Eda nodded sharply, pulling out a sack of snails. “Yeah. I’ve got the usual payment, so make it snappy.” She barked, roughly sliding her payment across the counter.

Morton sucked in a hissing breath, a look of regret filling his face. Eda and Luz’s own faces dropped at what they expected to come. “I’m sorry, but I’m out of Curse-Suppressant Potions at the moment. Well, I’m nearly out, I should say.” He softly admitted.

Eda slammed her hands against the counter. “Then give me what you’ve got! I don’t even care if you take the entire payment, I need potions now!!” She said frantically, a feverish look burning in her eyes.

Solemnly, Morton pulled out a single potion, the bottle visibly only half full. At Eda’s crestfallen expression, Morton shook his head. “I’m sorry, but that’s all I have left.” He remorsefully confessed. Biting his lip, he slid the potion over, along with the payment, drawing a surprised look from the two. At Eda’s look of shock, he glanced up, a surprising amount of steel in his eyes. “It wasn’t right what your sister did, and it wasn’t right for the Emperor’s Coven to lie about what happened. A lot of people are in your corner at the moment, Eda, and I’m one of them.” He gave a firm nod, pushing the potion closer.

Eda gave a faint smile, gratefully pocketing the Potion and her purse. “Thanks Mort, you’ve always been a good one.” Her grin turned cheeky. “When your not doing something stupid like testing poisons on yourself, that is.” She and Morton shared a laugh, Morton’s sounding embarrassed but unhurt.

Morton’s gaze turned to Luz, his eyes widening. “Oh! You’re that human girl!” He exclaimed. “Wait here!” He ducked down, rummaging sounds audible as he looked through his stocks. Popping back up, he slid two bottles over. “Here, a one-time only gift, on the house. A specialty poison that obstructs magic, and a pain-relief potion I made on the sly.” He gave her a cheerful wink. “I heard what you said about that group, and what they did to your family. If you’re with Eda, then you’re a good person, as far as I’m concerned.” He folded his arms, growing stern. “But don’t expect any more charity. I do have a business to run, okay?”

Eda barked out a laugh. “HA! Don’t worry Mort, we’ll be fine. But, I’m sorry to say,” She held up the bottle. “This will barely hold me over for half a day, if that.” She and Luz exchanged worried glances.

Morton gave a rueful nod. “Yeah, that’ll probably be bad.” He scratched his chin, before snapping his fingers. “I think I might know someone who can help you!” His expression shifted into one of worried thought. “But it’ll be pretty dangerous.”

Eda raised an eyebrow, before her eyes widened in realization. “Oh no, don’t tell me-”

“Yup.” Morton replied, looking grave. “The Night Market. Specifically, a guy called Grimm Hammer. He probably has what you need.”

Eda cursed. “I hate the Night Market.” She growled, giving her thanks as she led herself and Luz away from Morton’s shop. “That place is seriously scummy, even for me.”

Luz raised an eyebrow. “Hmm, let me guess, Black Market? Illegal goods and services that would bring the law down like a hammer on ripe fruit?” She guessed, clarifying at Eda’s confusion at the term she used.

Eda snorted. “Exactly.” As the two strolled along, deep in thought about their next move, a finger slowly reached out from a nearby shadow, grasping for Eda’s arm. Luz shrieked at the sight.

[parismemes]

STARKID’S BLACK FRIDAY SENTENCE STARTERS (ACT 2)

“he’s got ice in his veins for a reason.” “what the fuck am i watching?” “you were stabbed.” “you’ll be alright, the knife missed your vital organs.” “___ used to say going to the movies was a waste of money.” “yeah. it’s.. a penis.” “if i could go back i would carve something nice.” “well, we thought it’d be forever.” “what’s goin’ on out there?” “if there’s even one left, i’m gonna find it.” “i killed my family.” “remember us in highschool? quarterback and cheer captain?” “after that, i didn’t go to any more parties.” “___ was a bad, bad man.” “people think he left me for some woman in another city.” “something about that woke something up inside of me.” “when we went our separate ways it was fine, because it was us. but who was he to keep us apart?” “that night, i fought back.” “he was the one who brought the knife.” “maybe he crawled somewhere for help. maybe he died in those woods.” “you’ve gotta forgive yourself. ‘cause if you don’t, how’s anyone ever gonna forgive me?” “you look just the same as i always remember.” “you and i were meant to be something more than a faded memory.” “there’s an alternate reality where we’re now a family.” “take me back when we were lost enough.” “i already lost it once.” “you were way more put together.” “if you asked me, i’d still go to prom with you.” “hold me closer than before.” “i’ve lost too much now to care.” “tell me something only santa would know!” “i knew it. i knew you weren’t santa.” “THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER!” “physicist.. is that like a scientist?” “sorry, i’m really lost here.” “you wanna send me to the FUCKIN’ TWILIGHT ZONE?” “we are trying to stop the birth of a god.” “if we have faith, we will be rewarded with a cuddly toy!” “FUCKING KILL THEM!!!” “i dislike that word. cult. no, it’s a new exciting religion that i started!” “my first act as divine prophet was to set fire to the cinnabon as a sacrifice to a dark god!” “i’ve met god. he had nothing nice to say about you.” “bring me the child!” “jealousy has a bit of a stench.” “you will adore me, i just know.” “you’ll kneel before me.” “i demand your love and worship.” “i guarantee i will destroy everything in my path unless i get what i-- shit.” “while i don’t want you to think for yourselves, i still want you to know what i mean when i say my evil shit, ‘kay?” “you know they’re coming for you!” “i swear on my own grave.” “well, ___ is a stupid bitch!” “i’m going to split you in two!” “i’m going to eat you right the fuck up!” “you can trust us. we’re good people!” “that’s an awful long way to go.” “you really are a fucking idiot, aren’t you?!” “do you want to play with me?” “oh god, i feel like i’m gonna puke.” “people don’t believe in governments anymore.” “the poor get poorer, and the rich--well, they just get richer.” “the people have been abandoned by everything!” “i can’t be evil! i’m a status quo democrat!” “do you think that in the netherlands they give a shit about some toy?” “your thirst for stuff is never slaked.” “i’m sorry, ___, i fucked it up!” “blow that bastard to kingdom come!” “MERRY CHRISTMAS, MOTHERFUCKER!” “it seems you’ve misplaced your bomby-wom!” “you better not be fucking with me.” “take me to the ponies and i’ll murder you later.” “is this what i lived for?” “you can close the casket now.” “i wasn’t the angel heaven-sent to break through my cliche boundaries.” “friday is black for me.” “the dreamer has dreamed her dream.” “i never even got started.” “were the decks always just this stacked?” “i don’t want your half-baked sympathy.” “i thought that angels did exist.” “did i need her more than she needed me?” “maybe i’m wrong.” “you’re not dead yet.” “i am authorizing you to use my firearm.” “it’s time to lead the pack.�� “i can show you the path, but only you can walk it.” “where did that come from?” “the leaders of your world are lost and helpless.” “wake the warrior. kill the prophet. save the world.” “i hope they didn’t tow my car. that’d be just my luck.” “what, are you gonna shoot me?” “i’ve had a shitty day and i’d appreciate it if you got that goddamn gun outta my face!” “kids don’t want that piece of shit! they’re all into fortnite, dude!” “that’s something you want. not your son.” “he promises to fix all of the holes. but he doesn’t.” “you’re like 40, you probably think your life is over!” “___ is a fucking lie, and i think you know it!” “if he’s not the answer, then what is?” “what is this thing in my hand?” “my heart is so empty.” “everyone’s dying, and that includes me too.” “there’s no pain that could ever explain how i let you down.” “i failed you once, and i will fail again.” “deep down, it didn’t matter--i was with him.” “she liked to loosen me up just to get to my heart.” “you’re not that cute, are you? in fact, you’re real fuckin’ ugly.” “i think i’m awake.” “here, you’re holdin’ that wrong.” “i’m not going to put you on speaker, ___, no one wants to talk to you!” “belittling you isn’t fun if you’re not upset.” “huh. she’s drunk. again!” “answer me or i’ll open your mouth with my FUCKING KNIFE!” “you’re a fucking moron!” “when he comes, he’ll come for us.” “___, you pathetic worm!” “you couldn’t even stand up to your disgusting husband!” “look at you, you’re paralyzed with fear!” “i’m just lining up my shot.” “abandon your god or burn here with him!” “the whole world has gone crazy!” “all he wanted was you.” “where can we go? is anyplace safe?” “you know? i have this kooky, reclusive biology professor..” “what am i supposed to do without my iphone?” “wear a watch.” “if we can survive today, we can survive anything.” “do you all see what i see?” “tomorrow will come. tomorrow won’t come.” “will tomorrow come today?” “what if tomorrow comes?” “15 seconds left.”