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lokilickedme · 4 years ago

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Well today was a shitshow. Sit down and lemme tell you a little story about trusting your gut when someone seems too fakey-nice to be real.

Actually you know what? - it’s a long story so let me just give you a quick rundown.

(under the cut because my quick rundown ended up slightly longer than “quick” - this is a massive vent with trigger warnings for dog attack, injured children, animal bites, police, and hospitals. Yeah, it’s been a goddamn HELL of a day)

Neighbors moved into the house next door maybe a year ago (it’s the house that inspired Hammer Of The Gods, just as an interesting side point) and the mom has always been one of those chirpy sunshiny waving-over-the-back-fence “call me anytime, I’ll bake cookies!” good neighbor types that make you feel a little bit unsettled, like, nobody can be that cheery and be for real, you know what I mean? But we’ve never seen any dark side peeking out so we’ve always just accepted it at face value and waved back and gone about our business, happy in the belief that we got a real good neighbor this time.

So - neighbor lady has this rotten little shit of a dog that we have hated since day one. We’re not dog haters, this is just a hellspawn beast that even Steve Irwin would want to euthanize. It barks constantly (sometimes all night), and it gets out of their yard and comes into ours to either 1) take a shit in Little’s sandpit, or 2) snarl and chase Little while he screams and cries. The kid is scared to go in his own back yard to play because he’s afraid of this shit dog even seeing him.

Neighbor knows this, has seen it happen, and always blows it off with a chirpy “Oh he just likes to roughhouse and play rough, you’ll be fine, he won’t hurt you!”

Yeah, no. You don’t let your animal come into MY yard and terrorize MY children. I have chased that beast off with rocks, the water hose, my own shoe more than once, and I stg if it hadn’t run off before I got back with the baseball bat there was one time when I likely would have killed the damn thing. My child is terrified of it and it goes out of its way to come onto our property to snarl at him and chase him. I’m not cool with that. But we haven’t complained because we’re scared to death of making enemies of this neighbor. Trust me, after the last people who lived in that house, we’re very anxious to stay friends with the ones in there now. So we did the good neighbor thing and kept the peace by keeping our mouths shut.

Well. Fast forward to tonight, after a year of putting up with that yappy vicious asshole. Little is out in the front yard, playing right in front of the front door of our house. He’s nowhere near their house or the fenceline to their yard, you can’t even see their front door from where he is. Two steps and he would be inside our house, that’s where he’s at. Absolutely ten THOUSAND percent nowhere near them or their house or their dog. Neighbor opens her front door to leave and this shithead comes tearing out of their house on a straight beeline for Little. It has to go all the way to the end of their front yard and around the end of the fence to even get into our yard, which means it had full intention of coming over here from the minute it got out of their house. And it’s snarling and barking the whole way, which scares the everloving shit out of Little, because he’s been chased by this hellhound countless times and he knows what’s coming. He immediately starts screaming and loses his damn mind to the point where he can’t think straight enough to turn around and run into the house, and he starts running in circles because, yeah, he’s a complete idiot when he’s scared, like most 8 year olds when being attacked by vicious animals. And this stupid dog is right behind him, snarling and barking like a rabid goddamn demon, and Little is screaming that horrified deep-chest kind of scream that stops mothers’ hearts.

I hear it all the way at the far end of the house, over the loud music I have playing. I’d already heard the dog but had assumed it was just barking through the fence like it always does. But that scream - god, I hate that scream. That scream is like a nightmare, you don’t want to hear it while you’re awake, ever.

So I run through the house and tear out onto the porch to see this dog straight up attacking my child. My child is trying to run but the dog has hold of the back of the calf of his left leg, and Little is practically dragging the thing and screaming his lungs out, but it won’t let him go. I slam the screen door open and scream BABY GET IN THE HOUSE!!!!! and bam, his brain kicks back in and he heads for me. I grab him and he’s trembling so hard I thought he was having a seizure.

Now comes the kicker. The neighbor lady is standing at the end of the fence, watching all this happen. She yells for the dog to come to her, but that’s all she does.

Now for an even bigger kicker. The teenage daughter is actually standing less than two feet away from Little and the dog when I get there, meaning she followed the dog into the yard but stood there and didn’t stop it when it started attacking him. She was simply standing there. I mean, I can sort of understand where she’s coming from on this, because she’s afraid of the damn dog herself. But if I were watching my dog attack a small child, you better bet your ass and everything attached to it that I would be putting myself between that dog and that child - or at the very least kicking the dog or trying to grab it by the collar, anything to protect the child. At least make a fucking effort.

Nope. She stood there. In my yard. Watching her dog attempt to maul my child. While the mother watched as well, from the safety of the end of the fenceline, while making one feeble attempt to yell for the dog to come.

Fuck them both.

So at this point I’ve grabbed Little and slammed the screen shut to keep the dog away, and the girl says “I’m so sorry!” and then just stands there looking at me like she’s expecting me to say it’s okay. I’m inspecting my still-screaming child and I find that his leg is bleeding and has fucking HOLES IN IT. I look through the screen at the teenager and say “IT BIT HIM!!!”

She just stands there. She obviously doesn’t know what to do, she keeps looking over at her mother. The mother never steps foot into the yard. Not a damn step.

Again, fuck her. I can forgive the teenager...but not the adult.

So my husband finally comes in from the back - up to this point he’s assumed the kids were just playing noisy and the neighbor’s dog was being a yappy little bitch from its own back yard like usual, but when I got Little into the house he finally realized those screams were serious and came running. I told him the dog bit Little in our yard, and he runs outside but the dog and both women are gone. He comes back in, confused about what’s happening, and I look him straight in the eye and say “That dog bit our kid, you do something.”

To his credit he snaps to action and runs out, heading straight over to the neighbors’ house to ask what the hell just happened. She’s trying to get in her car and leave in a hurry, so he stops her and she starts laughing and saying how the dog loves to “roughhouse” and she wished Little wasn’t scared of him so they could play. And husband, still not knowing what’s going on, has no choice but to let the woman get in her car and leave, but he asks her if the dog is current on its rabies shots and she says something to the effect of “I think so, we lost his tag” (husband was confused by the whole situation, bless him he’s no good at all in a crisis...that’s why he has me) and then she says she has to go and quickly gets the fuck out of Dodge.

When husband comes back in I tell him what I saw. Little recovers his wits enough to start talking and tells us everything. I clean the wound and hold him while we try to figure out what to do. ER? God, we were just in there a month ago when my eyeball exploded, we just got the bill for it a few days ago and have no idea how we’re going to pay it. We’re not even sure they’ll see us again with that visit still on the books unless we pay them something on arrival. But we’re going anyway, because this is our kid and we know we at the very least need to get this situation documented by someone official and make sure the bite doesn’t need care beyond what I can provide...but I need to know what to tell the ER crew when they ask if the dog has had its shots. I start texting the neighbor, I send her pictures of the bite so she knows this is serious and she needs to work with me, I ask for information on the dog’s vaccine status, and she...straight up ignores me. I text her again, making it clear that I need her to answer me ASAP because we’re likely going to the hospital and if I can’t tell them what they need to know, they’re going to be calling her.

A half hour goes by, and in the meantime I’m calling TeleHealth and googling shit as fast as I can, waiting for this woman to reply so we know what to do next, and when she finally responds she -

REFUSES TO GIVE ME ANY INFORMATION.

Yeah.

Two tries later - all I want is to know if the dog has had its shots, I even tell her she can just text me a picture of the dog’s collar tags or let me take a picture of its vaccine papers - and she comes back with “I don’t have any papers and his collar broke so the tags were lost.”

I realize at this point that there’s a reason why she won’t give me an answer and keeps evading. I text her again and say “Ticia I need you to tell me right now HAS THAT DOG HAD ITS SHOTS”

She waits a while, then replies with “My friend does the vaccines for me.” So I ask for the “friends” name and phone number so the hospital can call and get the information they need from them. She makes me wait a long time again, after which she finally comes back with “Tell the doctor to call me and I’ll tell him what he needs to know.”

Okay, this is pure bullshit now. One more try. “IS THAT DOG VACCINATED OR NOT, YES OR NO?”

She finally replies one last time, with just a single name, “Hubbs”.

I google it - it’s a vet clinic, Hubbs is the doctor. Wait, I thought she said her “friend” does it and there are no papers...? So I call the vet clinic, but by this time it’s after hours and they’re closed and my only option is to leave a message and beg them to call me first thing in the morning. Now I know why she waited so long in between replies...she was watching the clock. I give husband a quick rundown of what’s been happening and he says “That’s it, I’m calling her.”

He calls her. She doesn’t answer.

By this time I’m starting to cry and we’re both getting frantic. I get the kiddo calmed down enough to leave the room and I call my mother - yeah, I know, I’m supposed to be on Active Shun status with her, but this is an emergency and she has experience in the legal field (I do too, but her know-how is far more recent than mine) and there’s no way in hell she would refuse to help her grandbaby. She’s also the only level head I can think of at the moment. So I suck it up and make the call.

In spite of everything, she comes through for me. Lists off everything I need to be doing as far as documenting, getting him to the ER, filing a police report afterward if the neighbor decides to pull a vanishing act (the woman is out of town VERY frequently, sometimes we only see her once or twice a week so we know this is likely). While I’m on the phone with her, my husband is on the phone with his friend, who is a veterinarian in another state. Equine vet, but hey, they all have the same basic knowledge under their specialties. Vet friend says get him to the ER tonight, as in right now, and starts a massive spiel on the danger of waiting since rabies is a possible factor in this equation. Full panic is setting in now and I’m crying fullblown and vet friend is telling us to take him in NOW, we’re operating on a tight timeframe and rabies is something you don’t fuck around with and we do not want to cut it even remotely close.

So. We grab our masks and get gone. On the way to the ER I call the neighbor in one last ditch attempt to get something remotely useful information-wise from her. She answers on what had to be the fifteenth ring, I was just about to hang up when there’s finally a terse “Hello.” And while I’m breathlessly telling her we’re in the car on our way to the emergency room and I need to know if her damn dog has had its damn shots or my sweet little 8 year old boy is going to have to start a horrifically painful series of shots for something that likely isn’t even going to happen to him, she has the unmitigated BALLS to calmly and coldly say to me, “If I had that information I would have given it to you. I can’t do anything until tomorrow.”

Again...say it with me. FUCK. HER. She doesn’t even ask if he’s okay. Her attitude and tone make it clear that she’s considering this whole thing a waste of her time and she’s annoyed that I keep contacting her about it.

I hang up. Not gonna let that bitch hear me cry.

We get to the ER, I run inside with Little, husband and Big have to stay in the car because Covid regulations. We get temperature-checked at the door and then do the front desk check-in thing; it’s a quiet night and a small town thank god so we get taken to a room immediately, ER nurse asks what’s happened and I tell her.

She is PISSED. Informs me that they’re going to be calling the police and that I won’t have to do anything, the Sheriff’s Department will handle it all. She takes all Little’s stats, checks him over, then leaves to make the call.

Doctor comes in, super nice man, Dr Khan. He’s not happy about the situation either, tells us they’ll get the police involved on our behalf, verifies that the bite will be okay with some careful tending and a ten day round of antibiotics. He says since it’s highly unlikely a domestic pet is carrying rabies and this dog has a history of just being a bad tempered bitch, he’s not going to start Little on the horrific preventative treatment for the virus because it’ll likely be unnecessary - but that damn mutt IS going into quarantine and the CDC is being notified of the situation.

Husband texts me from the parking lot: COPS JUST PULLED UP. About three minutes later Deputy Bishop walks in and he’s ready to rumble because he’s already mad about the call being for a dog attack, and when he sees the victim - all 48 lbs of tiny skinny little blue-eyed blonde haired angelfaced Little - he’s furious. Takes all the information, asks a lot of questions, spends a lot of time with us, listens to Little, and then as he’s closing his notebook he tells me that he’s headed to neighbor’s house to inform her she’s in some shit now and she should have just cooperated with me from the start (yep I told him how she gave me the runaround). But since she didn’t extend even the slightest bit of human decency, her dog is being put on the “problem animal” watch list and I’m to call him immediately if she gives me any trouble at all, ever, about any of this.

She not only has to quarantine the dog for ten days, she has to report to the CDC. If she doesn’t comply, the dog will be taken by the authorities. She’s also in trouble for not maintaining proper records on the dog’s vaccinations (which I think is because the dog ISN’T vaccinated - why would she have given me such a yank job about it if it was? I straight up asked her FOUR TIMES “is the dog vaccinated” and she refused to give me a simple yes or no).

So it’s finally finished and we’re released from the hospital, and as we’re turning at the end of our street headed home we pass Deputy Bishop leaving neighbor’s house. Neighbor is out in her front yard, dragging her trash cans to the corner in the dark as we go into our house.

She never looks at us, never asks how Little is doing. Nothing. Pretends we aren’t even there. Her dog just fucking MAULED my kid, we’re literally just now home from the hospital because of it, we’re going to have an astronomical hospital bill, she could likely get SUED THE FUCK INTO OBLIVION AND BACK, she’s standing less than 20 feet away from us as we’re carrying the injured baby into the house...but she doesn’t even ask if the kid is okay.

This is where the learned lesson comes in. Remember that fakey-sunshiny-chirpy-friendly “I’m a great neighbor, you’re so lucky to have me!” shit I mentioned at the beginning? Yeah, we thought this lady was a super great person, we had nothing to make us think otherwise. Now we do. From the very first contact after the incident she attempted to make it our fault - said to me in one of the first texts that if we had a problem with her dog’s behavior we should have said so from the start (I had told her that the dog chased Little and snarled at him a lot, that this wasn’t the first time, and that she needed to make sure it was the last time). She immediately got uppity with me and turned it into our mistake for not saying something every time the dog acted up. Oh, okay, forgive us for trying to be good neighbors who don’t complain about everything. That’s where we went wrong here! Yeah it’s all our fault, sorry! You’re completely within your rights to keep a dangerous animal that hates children next door to a family with children and not do anything to keep it under control. Our bad, sorry to waste your time.

For the nth time...fuck her. People show their true colors when they feel threatened, and I feel like she knew she likely has a lawsuit coming...and if she felt threatened by the possibility of a lawsuit, that means she knows she’s guilty and deserves one.

So anyway...Little is going to be fine, physically. But he’s made it clear that he’s never going outside again. (Say it with me, class...FUCK HER). The shitty little dog has to be locked up for ten days, yay. Personally I wish they’d taken it away, but at least there’s 10 days where Little can go out in his own damn yard without fearing for his life - if I can convince him it’s safe and talk him into it. (Say it again...)

Tomorrow I talk to neighbor’s vet and get the truth, finally, about the damn thing’s shots (or lack thereof), and then I have to call our homeowner’s insurance and file a claim through them against neighbor’s insurance to try to get our hospital bill paid by her. Which, you know, probably wouldn’t even have been necessary if the woman had cooperated with me from the start. And then I get to start the long process of getting Little through his trauma and fear of ever going outside to play again. And in 3-5 days I get the joy of going down to the police department to pick up a copy of the report.

And, of course, we get to deal with the cold shoulder from a suddenly not-such-a-nice-person uncaring next door neighbor who obviously thinks we’re assholes because the hospital called the police and reported her while our son was bleeding in the emergency room with holes in his leg the size of her precious pet’s teeth.

I won’t ever fall for that fakey-nice act again, from anyone. My gut never truly believed she was as good as she pretended to be, and now I know my gut was right. She’s a mother...yet she couldn’t even muster up that fake sunshine long enough to find out if a child was going to be alright. A child whose injury and trauma were due to her negligence. To me that makes the deception a thousand times worse. She’s a goddamned mother and she flat doesn’t give a shit. She didn’t even pretend to.

Words can’t even go where my feels are at the moment.

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eerythingisshaka · 6 years ago

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Will the Bell Ring? Pt. 4

[Erik Killmonger x Black OC]

Word Count 5.8k

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Erik has a meeting one morning to discuss the upgrades he has planned for key components of the new model Boeing airplane that is set to begin manufacturing early the following year. Erik stood at the sink in the master bathroom reciting lines to himself that he had prepared with notes on his phone.

“As you can see, the planes trajectory following take off can be more smoothly….more smoothly...smoother? Uhh-- SHIT!”

Erik curses to himself as the blade angled in the wrong direction, cutting his jaw.

“You ok in there baby?” Kimara calls out from the bedroom.

Erik watches the blood begin to bubble and drip onto his shirt before he could get a tissue to catch it.

“Fuck! Yeah...I’m aight.” Erik calls back.

Kimara is putting on an earring when she walks in to see him. “Oh damn, Erik. You cut yourself today of all days?.” Kimara reaches for the tissue to survey the damage.

“Ain’t it some shit? I gotta be at the office in one hour and I fucking maim myself and stain my fucking shirt.”

“Ohh, now stop.” Kimara pats his chin as the blood begins to clot instead of run. “At least now you have an excuse for the bald spot right around there.”

Erik pins her arms down giving her slight shake. “What I tell you bout that?”

Kimara cracks up uncontrollably. “HAHA! About what?!”

Erik stares her down sticking his chin in her face. “Say it again, I dare you…”

Kimara bites her lips choking back her laughter. “I meant to say...you look very handsome.”

“Uh huh.” Erik says unconvinced but satisfied.

“So now the white men with toupees can swap Rogaine recommendations.” Kimara adds swiftly.

“YOUGONNAADDTHATWHILEIGOTYOUSNATCHEDUP??!!!” Erik barks at a cackling Kimara, tickling her neck and the sides of her torso mercilessly.

“OK! OK! You finna make me pee, STAHP!” Kimara orders in between breaths.

Erik backs off eventually, checking his chin self consciously. “You playing too much this morning. Since this your week for laundry, make sure you don’t forget the softener this time. That shit smell good as hell to let it sit.”

Kimara goes over to the toilet to relieve herself, leaning on her knees as she regains her composure. “Whatever. You got time to eat something before you go?”

Erik pulls off his shirt in all studded and scarred glory. “Nah, I took too much time at the gym this morning, so Imma have to pick somethin up later on.”

Kimara flushes and goes to her sink rinsing her hands. “Ok. Let me know when you get off, I wanna go out.”

Erik pulls out an new shirt from his closet to put on. “Aight bet. You got a place in mind?”

Kimara thinks a moment. “Not really, but I’ll look up some stuff we can come to a decision on.”

Erik shakes his head. “Uh uh say less. I got you. Lemme surprise you with somethin good for once, ok? You got enough on your plate, imma fill it with something tasty, ok?”

“Oh my God, you being corny, but I like it. Thank you…” Kimara says sweetly with smile to match. Erik pulls her to him for a kiss and a goodbye smack on her ass as he finished up and headed out for the day.

Erik’s meeting with the board went on practically without a hitch. Erik was always more nervous during preparation than when it came down to performance. His presentation ran according to his plan and all the old white men looking back at him seemed slightly above average in intrigue over what he had to say. No one was ever too excited for the meetings unless lunch was included, which today it wasn’t. But by the end he got a round of applause and a series of questions that he answered effortlessly. When the meeting was dismissed, the cordialities and congratulations were passed around to Erik which he took lukewarmly. He’d been doing this long enough to know that a handshake and a smile does not a deal make.

“Hey Erik, great presentation today son. You really knocked it outta the park with this one.” Edward Hawkins, the engineering department head and Erik’s boss, says to him.

Erik nods appreciatively. “Sure thing. I looked as deep into it as I could and I’m pretty proud of the outcome.”

Edward subconsciously brushes his comb-over over. “Yeah, it shows, the details were amazing and your stats very appropriate. I wouldn’t be surprised if I heard from Dave tomorrow morning with a deal to move forward with a couple things you proposed today.”

“I won’t hold my breath for news that quick, but drinks on you if that’s the case.” Erik claps Edward on his back and goes to leave.

“Oh, Erik! I did want to talk to you about something. I was talking with some of the board members and we thought you might work better with a team, just one extra partner to kind of share the load.”

Erik puts his hands in his pockets walking slowly to Edward. “Whatchu mean?”

Edward stutters. “Well I-I mean it's a lot of research and money riding on what you do so to protect you and the company, we feel having a teammate with you would be beneficial!”

“Who you want me with?” Erik asks curtly.

“Uh, Bryan actually.” Edward says nervously.

Erik scoffs. “Your son? The intern?”

Edward gets defensive quickly. “Now hang on, he is an entry level employee now and he went to Brown, he has the mental capacity to keep up with you. You think?”

“I don’t think so, nah.” Erik adds.

Edward sighs. “Well hell, Erik. I don’t know what to tell you. But this isn’t an if but a when situation so I just wanted to give you a heads up so you weren’t blindsided.”

“Cut the bullshit man and tell me what’s this really about. I been handling mine, no problem. I thought y’all didn’t have the budget for hiring new people any damn way.” Erik rebuttals. He knew the white folks around there complain most about money. Edward wasn’t gonna pull this over on him so fast.

“It’s not technically a hiring, just a promotion.”

“Ohhhh, that’s nice. Well since I’m babysitting his ass, I expect a heavier drop in bank account, and that ain’t a promise, issa threat.” Erik warns, walking towards the glass doors.

“Oh! Erik, come on! You’re expecting a helluva lot outta me here.” Edward calls out.

“I know you good for it. Make it happen.” Erik walks out leaving Edward to ponder his proposal.

The meeting was the biggest portion of his day, and judging from his calendar, he is free the rest of the day. Erik texts Kimara to see if she’d be down to go out still while he attempts to read her mind for a perfect evening ahead.

In the meantime, Erik calls his cousin to pester. “Aye T! The hell you doin nigga?”

T’Challa sighs deeply. “Yes, N’Jadaka. How have you been?”

“Pretty good right now. I got through with work early so I’m tryna get ready to go out.”

This elicits and even biggers sigh from T’Challa. “N’Jadaka, there is no way I can go out with you again this week. I doubt I would want to for the rest of the year to be honest.”

“Not with you, fuck you mean? I’m talking about Kimara!” Erik says.

“Ohh, well then that is good. You both are doing well?” T’Challa’s tone brightens suddenly at the relief of not getting blasted drunk in the club again.

Erik approaches his office, closing the door and the blinds. “Yeah man, I tell you! These past few days have been so good man, we vibing for real.”

“That is great to hear! She deserves some stress free days concerning all you have planned to do together.”

“Yeah, we haven’t heard back from my doc about the results yet so it’ll be any day. But she hasn’t even brought up nothing bout it. No text reminders about ovulating and shit, no scheduled sex, just regular spontaneous freakin that-”

“Eh eh, N’Jadaka you are overdoing it again!” T’Challa warns.

Erik scoffs putting his feet up on his desk. “Shit my bad. I thought we were having a moment.”

“No your thoughts and desires were having a moment. So on that note, and keep it clean, what do you and Kimara have planned to do tonight?”

“That’s the thing man. I’m still tryna figure it out. I’m bout to pull up some four and five star spots so she can get all cute and fancy for a nigga, you know?” Erik powers up his computer to being his search.

“Doesn’t she usually Asian foods?” T’Challa asks.

“Yeah, them beepbeebop meals and shit? She loves the fuck outta all the side dishes they give with the meal. More bang for the buck she says, but we ain’t been together….probably since we been married.”

“Bibimbap. But good, there’s a Korean grill place that opened up downtown you might want to try with her. I met with Nakia there recently and it was pretty good.”

“Hold UP! You and Nakia went out? Nigga, details!” Erik says excitedly.

“I have asked you countless times to stop calling me that. But yes we did, only to go over ideas about the outreach center .”

“Annnd?” Erik asks.

“Erik…” T’Challa mimicks Erik, but in a stern tone.

“Ooh, ok, you serious using my government name. I see you. So are you still fucking that one girl from the club?”

“I’m hanging up.” T’Challa says.

“Wait wait, you can’t talk to me about that either?”

“I don’t parade my conquests for everyone to hear about.”

“Aha, so y’all still fucking. Ok, well knowin your ass, she must be a serious situation now. Especially if you ain’t giving Nakia the time of day.” Erik says matter-of-factly.

T’Challa hesitates before answering. “We are considering things still, but it is an appropriate adult partnership. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Well at least you gettin something on the side while you waiting for scraps at Nakia’s door. Listen, what’s the name of that Korean place?”

“Palmi, it is not an uptight place but she will enjoy the atmosphere and food, I’m sure.”

Erik types in the place by name and reads over the reviews. “Cool, this should work. Thanks man.” Erik’s phone dings with a notification from Kimara confirming their night out.

“Ok T, Imma let you go. I got some time to pick some roses up or something to give her.” Erik says getting ready to go.

“Get calla lilies instead.” T’Challa offers.

Erik pauses. “What? She likes them more? I got her roses on Valentines, she liked them just fine.”

“Exactly, that was that manufactured holiday Americans love so much. Lilies are sweeter, more elegant, sends a better message.”

Erik nods. “Ok T, I might try that after all, good looking out.”

Erik clicks off the phone call with T’Challa and makes his way home to get changed. Kimara was still at the studio so he texts her to meet him at the Korean restaurant in an hour. There is a florist up the street from his job that he stops by to get Kimara a bouquet of ten lilies with some eucalyptus leaves.

When he gets home, Erik takes his time washing the funk of white elitist off of his skin and slips into his real nigga attire for the day: dark navy canvas jacket over his chocolate colored Henley with black distressed jeans and timbs. Erik spritz some cologne, just enough to make her lean into him to get a better whiff. He refreshed his locs, banding them atop his head and giving himself a once over, feeling his excitement build as the time drew near. Erik wanted his lady to know she was appreciated and tonight would highlight that for them.

Pulling up to the restaurant, Erik saw her car was already in the parking lot, a soft glow through the tinted windows indicated she is sitting and waiting for him. Erik gets out the car with flowers behind his back as he crouches, hopping over to the back end of the car. He glides toward her driver’s side window before knocking loudly against it, causing her to honk the horn in fright.

“Dammit, Erik!” Kimara shouts rolling down her window.

Erik leans into the window. “Ma’am, there’s no loitering in the parking lot. Spaces for patrons of the restaurant only.”

Kimara turns on the light in her car to check her makeup in her phone. “Made me smudge my lips.”

“That’s gonna be a problem you have all night. Com’ere.” Erik pesters Kimara who gives him a light smooch before reapplying.

Erik opens her car door, helping her out of it. “Babe, you ain’t had to fuck up the game like this! I thought you was coming home from work, I know I ain’t let you out the house in this!”

Kimara wore some denim cut off shorts, making a dream out of her deep toned thighs with flesh colored platform sandals adorning her feet. Her voluptuous frame stood out as her best accessory hugged by her ‘COCO Butter’ baby tee with a scoop neck that let her girls breathe a bit.

Pulling back her wavy 18 inches back, Kimara shrugs. “So what about it? A queen comes prepared for any meet and greet, understand me?”

Erik rubs his chin, not able to take his eyes off any part of her. “That ain’t a fucking problem one bit baby. I just hope these shits don’t wilt from you showing them up tonight.” Erik takes the bouquet from behind him, giving them to Kimara.

“Awww, Erik! These are so gorgeous! And…” She gives them a good sniff. “MM! Good call on that eucalyptus. How did you know I love me some lilies?”

Erik takes her hand and leads her to the restaurant. “I know what my lady like. That’s why we finna feed my Mara well so she can go to bed with a smile on her face, you hear me?”

Kimara giggles. “Good cuz I’m starving too.”

A hostess greets the, warmly before setting them at a table and giving them menus. Erik and Kimara look over the options.

“The pork belly is good for sure, but the marinated bulgogi never fails me either…” Kimara mutters, looking over their options.

“Get whatever you want Mara, you know this better than me. If it’s meat, I’ll eat.” Erik professes.

Kimara calls over a waitress and asks for her two faves to order. “And couple bottles of soju please.”

“What’s a soju?”

Kimara grins sneakily. “Just a little something to warm us up, you know?”

“Ahh, ok. Tryna take advantage of me. I ain’t falling for it neither.” Erik smirks.

Kimara puts a hand up to his face. “Skrrrrt! In ya dreams!”

Erik takes her hand, kissing her knuckles. “You right, woman of my dreams all day every day.”

Kimara rolls her eyes but can’t stop her smile. “So damn corny. I guess all this good mood is cuz your presentation went well?”

Erik screws his face up. “I can be happy to see you too! But...a little bit of work shit too. Mara, I KILLED that shit. Those whites didn’t phase me not one time.”

Kimara gives him a quick applause. “How soon til you know what’ll stick for the roll out next year?”

“Ed made it seem like tomorrow, but realistically I’d give it the end of the week.”

The waitress brings out a tray of little dishes with appetizers for them to share and their bottles of soju with some glasses. Erik and Kimara get their chopsticks ready.

“What’s that?” Erik points to one of the dishes.

“That’s gamja jorim. It’s like potatoes in soy sauce, really good!” Kimara picks a cube of potato up, moaning at the first bite as she bounces in her seat.

Erik tries it out but makes a face. “It’s cold!”

“It’s supposed to be!” Kimara says laughing at him. Erik opens a bottle of soju and takes a swig.

“Yo! You’re supposed to drink it like a shot! You not tryna drive home??” Kimara exclaims.

Erik sets the bottle down, mulling over the flavor. “That’s not bad, weak, but not bad.”

“It’s not weak, it’s just smooth. Your taste buds so used to drinking gasoline, you don’t know good liquor.”

“Not too much on my taste, Miss Thing Thang. I know what’s good, like some meat right now.” Erik whines scoping the restaurant out like it was supposed to fall from the sky.

Kimara tastes a couple more of the other appetizers. “Have some of the kimchi! It’s that red cabbage over there.”

Erik does so, to little fanfare. “I said MEAT Mara!”

On cue, the waitress comes out with a cutting board and the raw meat laid out in two piles, and a side of three dipping sauces for each of them. She runs some oil along the grill in front of them and places some meat on the hot plate, flipping them and plating some for them before wishing them luck and dismissing herself.

Erik sits there flabbergasted. “Imma kills this nigga.”

Kimara places more meat on the griddle. “The pig and cow are already dead, bruh.”

“I mean T’Challa. He recommended this place and he ain’t told me that we gotta cook shit ourselves. That meat is $30 a pop! We coulda went to the store and ate at home!” Erik fumes, taking his bottle of soju up for another gulp.

Kimara thinks about this a moment. “Well I think you’re crazy. I’m thanking T’Challa then when we get home, cuz I guess your imagination lives inside a Big Mac box. Eat!”

Kimara shows Erik hot to lay the meat out and when to tell that it’s ready to take off and eat. After a few pieces Erik is setting up the sliced meats himself and plating them for him and Kimara.

Kimara gives him a handclap of praise. “That’s it! See, This the only time I’ve gotten you to cook for me. Look at God.”

Erik hiccups. “I cook for you before, lyin ass.” Erik clinks a plate down before sloppily eating a piece of marinated beef like a spaghetti noodle.

Kimara takes a sip of soju from her glass. “Oh shit. Erik, gatdammit! You drank too much?”

Erik sits up with a big smile. “Never too much, never too much!” he sings.

Kimara calls over the waitress. “Now I’m gonna have to get up early and get you over here to come get your car. Fucking…” She gives the waitress her credit card and starts to put on her coat.

Erik reaches for Kimara across the table. “Baby….baby...babe….you know this meat was real good.”

Kimara swats his hand. “Yeah, I told you it would be.”

“I know somethin that taste better though.” Erik says before cackling out loud. “I can still eat baby, just SAY THE WORD!”

Kimara breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the waitress come back with her card.

“Thanks for coming you guys! Have a good night!”

“Thank you miss lady, we ‘preciate chu.” Erik says. He looks over at Kimara writing. “Aye! Don’t tip, she ain’t cooked shit.”

Kimara shushes him. “Damn, Erik, shut up! This is a restaurant, she still served us!” Kimara finishes writing out the ticket and her and Erik walk out the door to her car. Erik leans back in the passenger seat until he is completely leveled out. “Come on, sit for daddy…” Erik reaches over Kimara in the driver’s seat.

“Erik, I gotta drive, just go to sleep or something.” Kimara says, backing out of the space.

“My wife got the fattest ass, fattest pussy, fattest titties. Shit too good to let go to waste. That’s why I’m taking you home girl…”

“No, I’m taking you home.” She corrects.

“...You my leftovers. I’m eat that ass up later.” Erik laughs to himself at his dinner puns.

Erik sits his seat upright again after a while. “Mara, I’m sorry.”

Kimara looks over at him. “What’re you talking about?”

Erik leans on her shoulder. “I wanna do right. I wanna be good to you.”

“Aww, you are baby!”

“But you deserve it all, putting up with my bullshit.” Erik mutters.

“You just got a little drunk. I’m not mad at you.”

“I ain’t talkin bout now. I shouldn’t have left you.”

Kimara tenses up.

“Those last days were so good, but I wasn’t ready for good. I didn’t want you cuz you made things nice. But I wasn’t a nice person yet.” Erik says.

“Y-yes you were. I knew you were, that’s why you came back.”

“I wanted to die. T didn’t let me. If it wasn’t for your forgiveness I probably woulda…” Erik slumps down in her lap.

“Watch it Erik!” Kimara exclaims.

Erik twists his face to her stomach to kiss it. “That’s why Imma make us a family. I don’t care what a doctor say, we finna have a cute ass baby. I owe it to you.”

Kimara is silent for a while. “You don’t OWE me a baby Erik.”

“I do, I do. I’ll do whatever to get this done right.”

“Erik, shut up, ok?” Kimara says softly.

Nine Years Ago (Revisit)

Erik had been gone a month, and Kimara had no one she could talk to about it. Her days working at the local community center to teach music to kids was her only escape from the day to day.

“Ok Lala, from the top. Caro mio ben, Credimi almen…” Kimara sat at the piano going over the melody as her sophomore student Lala handled the lyrics. She handled the Italian pronunciations expertly, however getting the traditional operatic tone was proving difficult..

As Kimara played along a cramp in her stomach made her stop playing abruptly to clutch the source of the pain.

“Ms. Walker? Is something wrong?” Lala asked with concern.

Kimara felt horrible all of a sudden as her condition progressed. “No….well, not with you. I’ve got to stop this rehearsal early. Keep practicing on your own and I’ll see you next week.”

Kimara made her way to her car, rooting through her purse for her phone but ran across the prescription pill bottle first. Staring at the label with her name and instructions, she thinks what may have happened had she not gotten them. Could she have gone on without taking them?

Just then a wave of nausea hit her as she opened her car door to kneel out and puke all over the asphalt. The stinging in her throat from the force and volume of it all made her cough uncontrollably, stimulating her gag reflex even more. Kimara gets back in the car, cursing herself for the predicament she has been put in. This was supposed to be the easier way, at this rate she may probably should’ve rethought things.

Sitting in silence for her body to settle down, Kimara’s phone rings, breaking her calm. She finds it in her purse but sees it’s an unknown number.

“Hello?” She asks gruffly, voice strained from vomiting.

“Yes, is this Kimara?” The voice asks.

“Who is this?”

“I am T’Challa, Erik’s cousin? I don’t know if he ever mentioned me but-”

Kimara perks up at the name. “You said you’re Erik’s family? You’re from Africa?”

He sighs. “So he hasn’t told you about me then.”

Kimara grows tense. “Why hasn’t he? But first of all, why are you calling me? Where’s Erik?”

“He is with me, in Wakanda, for a few weeks now.”

“What?? He actually made it there…” Kimara’s voice trails off as she thinks of how Erik told her about the stories of his home, the lost family he was a part of, and claiming his part in it. “I still don’t understand why I’m hearing from you though.”

“He wants to see you Kimara. He wants to talk to you about things, make things right with you.”

Kimara let out a grave laugh. “Ohhh, this is corny as fuck. He is sending his cousin, some foreign dude I ain’t met, to call and ask me to talk to him sounding like a scammer. You tell his ass to bring himself back here on a plane to the States and maybe we will talk. How about that?”

“He can’t do that.” T’Challa says.

“Like hell he can! He got there, he can come back. You calling me? Call him a plane ticket so he can bring his sorry ass back here and say shit to my face. I ain’t crawling nowhere to him. He don’t know what he’s left me with!”

“Kimara, I’m sorry it’s coming out like this, but-”

“I said what I said, T’Challa!” Kimara hangs up in his face. She was fuming as she started her engine and drove off to head home. If Erik only knew….And he always did things like this: do her wrong, then beg to see her and act like nothing was wrong because ‘leave the past in the past’. He smiles his way into her good graces and they’d be cuddled up with her favorite movie and snacks. But this wasn’t college anymore, they were grown now, and he left her vulnerable. Kimara knew they were going to go somewhere this time but he didn’t treat her any different than the girls he ran through in his hoe years. But she was supposed to be different, he convinced her of that. Not anymore, from this day forward.

Kimara pulled up to her place to see a man standing outside of it. It was dark out so she really wasn’t sure who it was, but the deja vu was heavy within her. She slowly stepped out her car and stayed behind it as she shut the door.

“Yeah?” She asked cautiously.

The figure turned around to face her, giving her view of his face. “Kimara, I know this is rude of me to insist, but I have to act on Erik’s behalf. You have every right to be angry, but he needs you right now. I want to help you through that.”

Present Day

The trill of Erik’s phone going off wakes them both up as they take a lazy morning. Kimara barely got a good night’s rest for Erik having gotten too drunk and staggering to bed noisily and sloppily, only then to snore ridiculously loud for almost the whole night. Kimara smacked her pillow at him to stir him but soon as he hit REM sleep, he was Foghorn Leghorn in the sheets.

Kimara rounded off her pillow upside his head once more to get him to pick up his phone, this time Erik has gained more coordination to register his surroundings. He picks up his phone without acknowledging the caller ID.

“Hello?’ Erik asks with a heavy tongue.

“Yes, Good morning Mr. Stevens. This is Doctor Tracy from Jocelyn Elders Fertility Clinic. How are you this morning?”

Erik sits up slowly. “Oh hey, yeah, I think you should be telling me that, right?”

The doctor laughs. “Sure, that’s fair. I would like to speak with you and your wife in person about the results, if you have time this afternoon?’

Erik lightly hits Kimara on her shoulder. “Aye Mara, you got anything to do this afternoon?”

“I always got something Erik, why?” Kimara mumbles.

“The doc wants to see us about my results, but I can schedule it later.”

Kimara shoots up with renewed energy. “Shit! They wanna see us?” Erik nods, covering the mic part of his phone. Kimara motions to him nodding as she gets up and heads to the bathroom.

“Uhh, yeah, this afternoon will work for us.”

At the doctor’s, they sit in a room waiting to be seen. The doctor’s normal office seems as sterile and bland as an examination room with the smell of unidentified solutions and the overpowering whiteness of their surroundings, Kimara’s nerves are on the edge.

“What do you think they’re going to tell us?” She asks.

Erik is leaning on his knees looking blank in his face. “Whatchu mean?”

“I mean, hell, if it was good they would’ve just told us on the phone! Did you fuck up your balls doing your duties overseas and you ain’t told me?”

“Hell nah! Shit like that don’t happen. Females swear guys gets kicked in the balls every other day or somethin.” Erik retorts adjusting himself.

“Well it’s gotta be something. Maybe your time in Africa you got mixed with some shit that didn’t agree with you and wound up making you sterile.”

“Mara, you don’t know anything about Wakanda or vibranium so chill on that theory.”

“Then tell me something I don’t know Erik, cuz you’d be wasting both our time holding back.” Kimara warns.

Erik peers over at her. “The only thing getting wasted is my time and money sitting here cuz ain’t shit the fuck wrong with me.”

Kimara hated when Erik brought up how much he was doing for her by just showing up or dropping some cash on a situation. She wasn’t with him for everything he could do for her, she was with him because she loved being with him, wanted the best for him, and she put in too many years with him to get that notion twisted.

Before she could really let him have it, the doctor walked in.

“Good Afternoon folks. I’m glad you were able to make it on such short notice.” Dr. Tracy greeted them both with a smile and a handshake.

“No problem! We’ve been waiting on these for a little bit so no way would we miss this.” Kimara says, looking over at Erik with a smile, who looked bored with it all.

“Yeah, so whatchu got for us doc?” Erik says scratching his beard noisily.

Dr. Tracy nods. “Of course, so I won’t delay it any further. Erik after reviewing your sample, we found nothing abnormal with your sperm count, their mobility, or make up. You seem perfectly capable of being able to conceive a child with your wife.”

A moment of silence washed over the both of them as they looked wordlessly at one another.

“Soooo, I’m fine? Chamber loaded, no blanks?”

“Erik!” Kimara chides him.

Dr. Tracy chuckles. “It’s ok, I’ve heard all the euphemisms. But you are correct. They are...clear for takeoff!”

“Then why are we not pregnant yet?” Kimara asks in a hollow tone.

“Well, there’s a multitude of scenarios that can contribute to it but what we know right now is that Erik’s sperm is prime for conception and your uterus is beautiful for harboring a baby, just an example of good genetic make up. I would want to be reborn again from you if I had the chance!” Dr. Tracy adds.

Erik grips the bridge of his nose in frustration. “So what do you recommend we do from here?”

“Well honestly I would say to just keep having your regular routine. If you want to keep track of ovulation that’s fine but honestly I wouldn’t put too much pressure on it until it’s been a year of trying. I know they taught us in school it only takes one time, but as we get older and just leaving it up to God, it sometimes takes just that one good day after many for it to happen.”

“Ok. I got the answer I needed. Are we done here?” Kimara says, getting up before she could answer.

“Yes. Like I said folks, this is good news. It means this can still happen naturally and cheaply.” Dr. Tracy says with a slight chuckle that drops to a tight smile when she reads their expressions.

As Erik and Kimara get in her car, Erik starts. “We need a new doctor.”

“What?” Kimara asks with contempt.

Erik taps on his window nervously looking outside. “This one don’t know what she talking bout clearly. How she finna joke about this?”

“I mean, she wasn’t laughing at us, she was trying to make us feel better.” Kimara says.

“Nah, she don’t need defending. She need to give us some real solutions instead of a punchline. This ain’t a night at the Apollo, or is she taking us as a joke cuz we Black?”

“Erik, she gave us good news, right? Are you gonna take any piece of that positivity and just be happy with it? I don’t know why you’re being mean with her.”

Erik scoffs. “Trust me this ain’t mean. I’m just being real. You know these doctors give less of a fuck for us then they do white patients. She would been giving us fertility referrals and brochures and clinics out her ass if we were white. But with us it’s ‘well just keep fucking like you niggers always do’.”

“ERIK! Shut the fuck up! I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you, but you don’t have a damn place to be this upset right now.” Kimara yells, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

Erik’s neck practically snaps to face her. “The fuck is-”

“Nah Erik, you been talkin. Soon as we got there you had stank on you, callin her ‘doc’ and talkin all vulgar. You need to quit acting like such a child! I almost think you WISH your balls were empty.”

“Mara, ain’t nobody-”

“AND NOW you wanna say let’s switch doctors, when we been working with her since I first told you I was worried about not getting pregnant yet. She’s spent all this time with us, changing doctors ain’t easy or quick. You know I’m the one that has to carry this right? I’m going to be the one to have to go through treatments if it comes down to it?’

“I know.”

“Nah, you really don’t Erik! You don’t know what this will do to me having to hear this shit over and over again, when this coulda been mine already.”

Erik’s demeanor softens slightly. “What’re you talkin bout?”

Kimara’s face becomes wet with tears. “It wasn’t this hard, you just don’t know. It could’ve been so damn easy, but you won’t let it.”

Erik looks around out the window. “Where we goin Mara?”

“And you got the nerve to blame the doctors? That’s some bullshit nigga, real fucking bullshit.” Kimara stamps on the brake when she reaches the outside of the Korean BBQ place. “Get your damn car! I’m going for a drive, don’t wait up.”

Erik looks at Kimara with concern. “Mara, that’s my bad about the doctor. I just-”

Kimara clicks the unlock button. “Get out Erik!”

Part 5

Masterlist

Ragtag

@chaneajoyyy @sarcastic-sunshines @muse-of-mbaku@dameshaemonique @fonville-designs@destinio1@bakarisangel @wakanda-inspired@klaine15689 @savageiz @nickidub718@yoyolovesbucky @alexundefined @forbeautyandlife @bakarisangel

#erik killmonger fanfic #erik killmonger x black!oc #shakafic #black panther fic #fanfic #will the bell ring

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defleurtradingco · 5 years ago

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The Merry Month of Mirth- Shaking

(Previous: Mother , Next: Surprise)

“So first night back on the job huh? It’ll probably end up bein’ so dull it’ll feel like ya never left. I wouldn’t worry about it so much.”

“Maybe…I don’t know…I mean-” Liam looked back and forth between the road in front of them and Lowrey who casually lit another cigarette as he rolled the car window down. “Could you maybe-” “Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry.” It was a force of habit. The vampire tossed the cigarette out the window and reclined back in his seat.

“It’s all right…” Liam sighed again. He’d been doing that a lot all night long. Even during dinner.

Lowrey couldn’t help but notice it aloud. “That aside, had fun anyway?” “Huh? OH-” They slowly turned onto another dark and lonely desert road and kept driving. “Yes, dinner was wonderful! I enjoyed it.” Every so often Liam's hands squeezed on the steering wheel as they neared their destination. “I only feel bad that you can’t actually have dinner WITH me is all…” “Of course I can, I was the good lookin’ guy at the table ordering all the wine samples, remember?”

Liam let out a halfhearted ‘hah’. “Yes I remember. Actually it was really hard not to notice.”

“It’s hard to forget a mug like mine, I admit.”

“Considering most mirrors don’t work for you.”

“Hey-”

Eventually they neared a chain link fence with a toll booth and a security guard. Rather than stop and get out, Liam flashed the car lights a few times. The gate opened shortly afterwards, and they kept following the long stretch of road until they appeared in what could only be described as a parking lot in front of a military base.

Or so it had seemed from the outside.

“Ugh…All that talk online with kids saying they’re going to storm this place- just thinking about that makes me nervous.” Liam sighed again as he parked and shut the car off, remaining in his seat.

“You really think people are gonna do that? Listen, like….maybe three or four will show up and the rest will bail. It always happens like that. I wouldn’t worry if I were ya. Besides… Ain’t like security of this place’s yer job anyway, right?” “No, no it isn’t… But still- I just wouldn’t want anybody to-

Before Liam could continue, his phone rang. And so did the whole car. Well…the radio anyway. Bluetooth.

He frowned and raised a brow before answering. “Hello??”

“Good evening McPhearson.” It was Solaina.

“Oh! Uh- good evening Solaina? Did you need something or-” “I know you are likely on your way to work if you are not there already. I had wondered if Mr. Lowrey happened to be with you.” “Sure am babydoll, what’s up?” Lowrey snickered, leaning on the window sill with an elbow.

“There is an important matter I must speak with you about, if you have the time.”

“Time’s all I got these days if ya ask me. Uh, one second though, yeah?” “Of course.” The vampire gave Liam a look indicating to put her on hold, so he did. “What?” “Well since ya gotta leave fer work an’ all. I figured ya’d at least wanna give me one’a those ‘bye honey I’m off ta work’ kisses.” Lowrey grinned.

Liam let out a sputtering exhale, though he had a small smile on his face. “Oh, is that it?” “Yup. Sooo…?”

“Oh all right.”

They both leaned towards each other, sharing a quick kiss before Liam got out of the car. “Are you sure you can get back to the house?” He asked, turning back around and sticking his head through the open window on the driver’s side.

“Course I can. I can just fly back remember? Don’t worry about me.”

“..Well alright…I’ll leave my phone here so you can talk to her…Just make sure you lock the car doors before you go.” The last thing he needed was to have his phone stolen by some idiot.

“Sure thing boss.”

“Right then…”

Once Liam was gone, Lowrey fumbled around for the cell phone and squinted as he tapped at the screen. It took a few times to get it to take Solaina off hold. “There we go…I’ll never understand these gizmos.”

“You would if you would let me issue you one.” Solaina’s voice came through the car speakers once more.

“Nah, I think I’ll do without. Besides, wouldn’t want just anybody to be able ta get ahold of me all hours of the day now would we?” That would be dreadful. “So, what’s goin’ on? Ain’t it a lil’ late fer you ta be callin’? A powerful woman like yerself needs her beauty sleep.”

“Recently there has been a sighting of a potential member of the Royal Order of Jesters by Central Park back here in Manhattan. Grandfather will not speak to me about it, and the only other one who could possibly know more would be you.” Lowrey brought out another cigarette as she explained and chewed on it first.

After that he took his time in actually lighting it.

“Would you happen to know anything at all? It is very important. I need to assess how much of a threat they might become in the future.”

“What makes ya think they’re a threat?” “Mostly Grandfather’s reaction if anything. As well as Ben’s.”

“Ah.” The vampire let out a plume of smoke that flooded the interior of the car. “Lemme tell ya something. It ain’t really a thing ya need to be worried about.”

“So I have heard, and why is that? Be specific.” Lowrey exhaled in some slightly exasperated way. “Now why can’t ya ever just give me a social call huh? Always gotta be about work. All work and no play makes Jack a dull, dull boy Solaina. C’mon…”

“Fine then. How was your evening?” “Very well thanks. Vegas sure knows how to live.” “So it does. And how is Mr. McPhearson? I have not checked in with him in a while.”

“Oh he’s doin’ great. Ain’t shakin’ so much no more. Those new meds must be doin’ wonders fer the fella.”

“That is good to hear. Now then, why are you not answering me?”

“Yer killin’ me kid.”

“That would be the least I could do. Considering everything that’s happened. Very well then, have you at least seen anything suspicious going on? Las Vegas is typically ripe with such things that can easily hide there.”

“As far as I know, everything’s fine here. Ain’t seen or heard nothin’. And ya know how much I just love snoopin’ around other people’s business.” “I do. How long do you think you will be there?” Lowrey rolled the cigarette from one side of his mouth to the other. “What? Here in Nevada?? Oh I dunno, maybe nine more days or so, ain’t sure yet.” “Any reason why nine more days specifically?”

“Nah. Just picked at random.” “I see. In the meantime, keep a lookout for anything suspicious, please.” “Am I lookin’ for anything specific?” “Yes, I was able to obtain a pack of cigarettes that was found to contain traces of fae. As in, not merely touched by the hands of one, but perhaps made with whatever magics they use. Or perhaps enchanted. I am not entirely sure yet. They have had a change in what logo they use, it seems. But you should be able to recognize it when you see it. It is a Venetian carnival mask.” “Solaina, I dunno if you noticed but Las Vegas is fulla clowns. How will I ever know which one is which? Ya ever been to the Rio? That one’s a real swell place. Got some kinda Mardi Gras vibe goin’ on-”

“Mr. Lowrey.” “Alright alright…I’ll keep an eye out. Just fer you. And cuz ya asked nicely.” “Thank you. And if you decide you want to speak about it and not remain so closed off just as Grandfather is, please call me right away.” “Don’t know whatcher talkin’ about but will do.”

“Right…Good night.” Lowrey sat in the car for a while longer after the phone call was over, thinking about it all.

His hand slipped into his pocket as he pulled out a pack of playing cards, picking his spent cigarette out of his mouth and flicking it out the window again.

The joker was at the top, giving him some goofy yet sinister expression.

#mirth #lowrey dodgin dem bullets

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aboysbestfriendishismum · 6 years ago

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Chapter 51 - Elvis, the beard and Schroedinger’s kisses (Part One)

In the previoius chapter: Dina, Angie's best friend, goes to San Diego to meet her and it takes her a few hours with her and Eddie to figure out there's something between them. She tries to make her admit it when they're alone and she almost succeeds. She meets Jerry too and is surprised about how nonchalant Angie is with him despite all the bad things he did to her. At the beach party, Dina has further proof about the attraction between the two when she hears them talking on the shore, while the others left skinny dipping in the ocean. The next morning Angie has to leave to Seattle, Eddie can't believe he wasted that opportunity and didn't do anything although he had two whole days to act out his feelings. He almost kisses Angie as she sleeps but he realizes it's weird and stops. As he takes her to the bus station they have a little verbal fight when Angie jokingly tells him he needs a girlfriend and that his friend Michelle would be perfect. Exasperated by Angie's blindness towards his feelings, Eddie shuts her up with a kiss. In the meantime Angie dreams about Eddie the night before leaving and in her dream Eddie kisses her. When the kiss happens for real at the bus station, Angie loses her mind and hears the infamous "music": Just can't get enough by Depeche Mode.

***

“I’m in love again, been like this before…” maybe I shouldn’t have put that one on the tape, too blunt. Well… I just shoved my tongue in her mouth, so I’m pretty sure that it’s impossible to be any blunter than that. Just… It’s been hours and I can only assume that the stupid grin that’s plastered on my face ever since I said goodbye to Angie is still there. I look up and see myself in the mirror, humming like a poor fool. I assumed correctly, fuck. I keep on repeating in my mind all the steps of our conversation from the moment she woke up that lead to us kissing and… and stop, that’s all I can do while I throw my things in the suitcase, ready to hit the road and leave this house again, this time with a heavy heart. Yes, because whereas before my house was just some sort of depiction of my frustrations, of my loneliness and everything I hadn’t been able to be and obtain, even though I had always wanted it, now it has an added value: the memories, pleasant moments that I’ve built with the girl I love, the turn of events that has led me to declare my feelings, albeit not with words. There had been many opportunities to do that before: in each other’s arms on the sofa, in front of a bonfire at the beach, on the terrace of Pike Place Market, on top of the Space Needle, on that bench of Balboa Park, even the other night on the dancefloor, and all of those situations were certainly more romantic and appropriate; but, even so, I wouldn’t change anything about those stolen kisses at the bus station. But it must also be said that, had I made a move before, I wouldn’t have to wait a week for the second round. This morning, for a second, I thought about not letting her get on that fuckin’ bus and taking her back here at home, but Angie's got university, work and I’m not going to get between her and all the responsibilities she cares so much about. Besides I didn’t want to look like a sentimental ass. Not yet.

Somebody knocks at the door. I zip my bag, pull it over my shoulder, take one last look around – trying to memorize as much detail as possible – and then go out.

“You’re all set?” Mike flinches a little, maybe taken aback by my quick exit.

“He’s all set” Jeff, by his side, answers for me.

“I can confirm it, I’m ready to go!”

“And he’s happy too” adds the guitarist.

“Yeah” Ament nods.

“Why are you happy?” Stone appears on the stairs.

“Lemme guess: Angie didn’t leave!” McCready ventures a comment.

“She's comeing to Oakland with us!” adds my roommate.

“She follows us for the rest of the tour!”

"God, I hope she doesn't!" Stone gives Mike a nasty look then wickedly smiles at me "Somebody else thinks differently though, right?"

"The fuck are you talking about? What's with Angie?" I try and play dumb but I bet that if I still had my bedroom's mirror in front of me right now I'd see the same fuckin' smile. So I think I'm failing miserably.

"Where is she?"

"I don't really know exactly, at 7 o'clock in the morning I put her on a bus to Seattle, so I guess she's still there. Well technically it was a but to Los Angeles, then from there she had to take another to Seattle. She must already be there by now. On the second bus. I think" honestly I thought she'd call from there already, I mean, I'd have called her as soon as I could, at the first stop. What did I say about the sentimental ass? Angie's more pragmatic, more practiacl, she must have thought it was more logic to call further on during the journey, maybe halfway through. Maybe she thought I was resting before leaving and didn't want to bother me. As if it can be possible to sleep after what happened.

"Uh. She left then?" Jeff asks as if he wasn't that convinced.

"Yeah, sure"

"So why are you happy?" Gossard insists, followed by his friend.

"You should be sad"

"Haha and why? What's with those long faces? She wasn't sent to the scaffold, she's going home and we're seeing her again in one week, even less" I sound pretty convincing as I include the whole band in being sad for Angie's leaving.

"Oh well, yeah, of course..." Mike mumbles.

"And what about you leaving? Leaving San Diego? Your house? Aren't you sad about that?" Jeff goes on with the questioning.

"Sure but-" I barely try to answer but I already know it's gonna be pointless way before Stone interrupts me.

"... but, as they say, home is where the heart is, isn't it?"

"I'm not happy anyway!"

"Ha! I knew that!" Jeff exclaims, all pleased with himself with no apparent reason.

"I'm just pumped up, for the show..."

"Huh. Yes. The show, sure" Mikey's been nodding his head yes for fifteen minutes basically, I think he's been in this comatose state since last night. The only thing that prevents me from being 100% sure it's his giant mirror shades, which creat a barrier between him and the outside world.

"Well, you gotta find motivations, you know. To go on..." Jeff puts his arm around my neck and we walk down the stairs and then through the garden up to the small gate, the other two guys tagging along. "And by the way, three days pass very fast" he adds in a low voice, winking at me.

"Oh we need to go to Craig's first, I need to give him the keys for my landlady. And to tell him bye. I'll be quick" I immediately change the topic of the conversation. I wouldn't really give away this house but I can't really afford two rents.

"Be really quick, Kelly's already waiting for us." Stone calls us to order as we all get into the van "We've just got five hundred miles to go"

First ring. Ok. Second ring. Hope's still there. I realize I'm basically holding my breath. Third ring. Well, this isn't over yet, maybe there's some lag time... Fourth ring. Fuck you. I shake my head. Fifth ring. I drop the receiver maybe too hard and let my hand down, which has been covering my other ear as I was trying to isolate myself from the chaos of the Real Rock Club's backstage. Fuck the phone and Jeff's smart answering machine, which picks up after just two rings whenever there are messages to listen to. Why doesn't she call? I openly asked her to do it. Did something happen? Does she regret our kisses? Or maybe she just can't remember the number... I'm such an ass, I should have written it down for her! Is she supposed to know it by heart only because she might like me? I retrieve the change and put it back into the payphone, only this time I dial another number, not mine, trying to beat anxiety to the punch.

"Hello?"

"Hey Meg, hi" thank god she's at home, I've been spending the whole day talking to myself or to our stupid intro message on the answering machine.

"Hi Eddie! What's up? You found me by the bell, I was about to leave to work to Roxy's" that's some good luck.

"All is good, thanks. We're... we're about to get on stage for the soundcheck, in half an hour more or less"

"Cool! Are the other dorks there with you now?"

"Uhm no, it's just me on the phone actually..."

"Oh yeah, I should have known, I can't hear Stone complaining in the background" Meg tries to hide her disappointment with a joke, she'd rather talk to someone else.

"And what about you? How's it going?" I ask her 'cause I don't wanna sound like the shitty guy who just calls her to ask her about her friend.

"Fine, usual stuff. Alright, what can I do for you?" she asks without wasting any time.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I doubt you called just to ask me how I am. What did you want to tell me?"

"I called you also to know how you are"

"Eddie"

"Nothing really, I was just wondering if you had news about Angie..."

"She'll be here in Seattle tomorrow in the afternoon, right?"

"Exactly. It's just... I put her on the bus this morning and I thought that maybe, you know, she called in the meantime"

"She did, actually she called me about half an hour ago"

"Uh"

"She's already in San Francisco, they stopped there for a while. She told me that they're perfectly following the schedule so she would be here by two o'clock tomorrow"

"I see. Well, good for her, right?" come on Eddie, don't take it bad, the most important thing is she's ok, isn't it? Maybe it was a very quick stop and a lot of people had to use the phone. Or maybe she doesn't wanna talk to you, asshole.

"Yep... But are you ok?"

"Sure, why shouldn't I?"

"I don't know, you seem... strange. Did something happen?" strange? More than usual?

"No, nothing! What was supposed to happen?"

"I don't know, you tell me"

"It's just that... We agreed she'd call to update me about her journey home but she didn't, so I was just a little worried, that's all"

"How can she call you if you're out playing?"

"I told her she could leave a message... the machine is in Seattle but I can listen to it from any place, you know?" maybe I should try to be less bitter.

"Well, you know how Angie is, maybe she didn't want to disturb"

"BUT I TOLD HER SHE WASN'T DISTURBING ME AT ALL!" I raise my voice a little too much, Meg stays silent for a long while "Ehm, sorry. Hehe"

"Relax Eddie... Maybe it's that or maybe she didn't have enough change to call both and since I have to go pick her up tomorrow, she had to call me "

"Uhm yeah, it can be..." actually I didn't think about that. I didn't even ask her if she had money enough to call. Non just for me, she might need it in general, in case of emergency! I'm a fucking irresponsible guy who leaves girs at the bus station.

"Or maybe you had a fight?"

"What?!No!"

"Or the opposite?" what's the opposite of fighting?

"Ok ok, if nothing happened you've got nothing to fear. She called me for convenience. She'll call you tomorrow, don't worry"

Nothing happened. Everything happened. A lot of stuff happened. Meg's right though, I must relax. I mean I kissed Angie twelve hours ago and I'm already freaking out. I'm not at the center of the world, it's not like everything necessarily revolves around me: she's travelling, she's tired, she called her roommate for a ride, she'll call me as well as soon as possible.

"I know. It's just... Well the journey is long. I was worried. And I feel kinda respinsible, if I hadn't told her the wrong dates of our tour she'd have taken a comfortable plane and would be at home right now" I try and put it on the road safety and other shit level. I hope she buys it.

"Come on Eddie, don't blame yourself. And by the way, I believe she didn't mind extending her holiday a little longer, you know"

"Oh... ok hehe, I hope so" I loved her extended holiday, it could as well last another week. That wouldn't be enough anyway, to take her to all the places I wanted to show her, the restaurant on the beach in Las Olas, the pool room at the Casbah, all the small pieces of my world I wanted to share with her. I just wished I had more time with her to share, even just hanging out in my car, talking and doing stupid stuff; just like when we were going back home from the night out at the Yates, I pulled out the tape to turn it to side B and Love reign o'er me by the Who started playing on the radio and she started singing at the top of her lungs. And even though she was simply destroying one of my favorite songs ever, I couldn't think about anything but how perfect the word love sounded when she said it. And if I still had doubts, it only took those five minutes of song to clear up any confusion: I love her and keep on falling in love again every time i see her, I talk to her on the phone or every time I'm just waiting to do one of these two things. And each time I look at her or talk to her for a minute I find a hundred new things to love.

"Yes, Eddie, trust me! Sorry, I gotta go now, Roxy'll kill me if I'm late"

"Oh sure, I mean, sorry for bothering you anyway..."

"You didn't bother me, don't worry. I'll tell Angie to call you as soon as she arrives, ok? Or even before if I manage to talk to her in the meantime" by now she must have understood I'm desperate.

"Thank you"

"You're welcome! And good luck for tonight"

"Thanks"

*************************************************************************************************************

"Fuckin' bastards" I curse loudly against the unknown assholes who decided to create a work of abstract art with ketchup, mayo and chewing gum on the seat I've been scrubbing for hours. My colleagues started churning out various techniques to solve the matter and the kitchen split in two groups, those who claimed I needed to use ice to dry out the gum and tear it off and the ones who thought I needed to warm it up to melt it. I'm the one who has to clean it anyway!

I hear the door ring and I'm about to take all my anger out on the next pain in the ass that has just entered, who might not be responsible for this disaster, but is still a dick who can't read the sign hanging on the glass door with CLOSED written on it.

"We're clo-" I look up and see a face that disappeared for a while and looks different now.

"Hey Meg"

"Since when do you have a beard?" it doesn't look bad on him.

"Oh hehe well, I've had it for a while" he smiles and scratches his chin, unusually covered with hair, like half of his face.

"Testing a new look?" I realize just now I'm still on all fours on the seat and immediately stand up.

"The test started casually, I'd say I turned sleaziness into a look"

"You're basically getting old inside that recording studio" I joke as he comes closer and suddenly my knees are shaking.

And now it seems clear to me that I must have a screw loose, there must be something wrong in me. 'Cause I've been crying for days over Mike not getting back with me, for his decision to stay single, the first decision he's ever taken since I first met him, who never knew what he wanted and now that he finally knows, he knows it's not me. And, I mean, I'm here mourning my dead relationship with my ex, then Matt comes in and it only takes him a couple of moves to turn me into jelly and... what's Mike's surname?

"Actually we're getting old in the rehearsing studio, technically we haven't started recording for the album yet"

"And what are you waiting for?"

"Hehe to polish the demo and clear our minds better"

"Considering what I heard, your minds seem already clear enough to me"

"I can't wait to record with Ben, I think he'll bring a breath of fresh air in the album"

"I agree. So? When will you start recording it? So I can estimate how much time will pass until I see you around again..."

"Soon, in Spring... Anyway, talking about this, I really need to talk to you, Meg"

"About the album?"

"Hehe no, about me disappearing. And other stuff"

"I see. Ok, shoot"

"Uhm no, not here. Maybe when you finish working. Can I drive you home?"

No. NO. No, Meg, you can't. You can't sleep with Matt tonight. If the first time meant fucking up, a second one would be fucking up cubed. You can't fuck him whenever you've got problems with Mike. Mike McCready! That's how he's called.

"Actually I came here by car"

"You got a car? Since when?" he asks sincerely surprised.

"Probably since you got your beard, more or less"

It's past midnight, Matt and I are sitting on the hood of my Impala talking about Ballard, Mookie's... ehm, Pearl Jam's tour and about how unbearable the nurse living at the second floor is, continuously passing each other a bottle of crappy red whine.

"Why don't we cut to the chase, Matt?" I tell him at some point, making myself clearer right away "What did you want to tell me?"

"Uh yes. Well... first of all I wanted to, you know, I feel I have to apologize"

"Apologize? For what?" whatever it is, I forgive you anyway.

"For my behaviour, how I treated you after what happened, the way I handled the whole... situation in general"

Code name: Situation.

"I thought we had already sorted it out. The situation" if you talked about something you'd totally want to do again in the next fifteen minutes, would you call it Situation?"

"Not really. I mean, we just pretended it hadn't happened" he shrugs.

"And wasn't it maybe the best thing to do?" I ask my rhetorical question and he'll surely answer No, then jump over me.

"Yes, but..."

What do you mean Yes?!

"... but no" ok, that's better.

"What do you mean?" I pretend not to understand and prepare myself to the next moves of the bearded angel. Of course I can't put out right away, that's obvious, I have to put some moral resistance at the beginning.

"That I was an asshole. I realized I was really cold to you, almost cynical, I don't want you to think that... well, that what we did..."

"That the situation"

"Hehe yeah, that the situation didn't matter to me or something"

"Oh no, Matt, don't worry"

"Ok, it was something reckless and unwise"

"Not wise at all"

"Terribly wrong"

"Sure" well, terribly is a little too much maybe?

"The most stupid mistake we could have done"

"Ok" something tells me we won't have sex tonight.

"But if I did it, it's because I wanted to in that moment and not just for fun, you know. I care about you"

"I know, it's the same for me"

"We made a mistake but I don't regret it, it was a nice thing between us, don't you think?"

"Yeah... really nice" maybe we'll have sex after all.

"I'm sorry I gave you a bad impression, if I treated you bad and avoided you, it's just I didn't know what to do, how to act.

Detatching seemed the best solution and being cold with you was the easiest way"

"It's alright, Matt, really, I understood that"

"And I'm also ready to tell Mike if you want to, I want to take resp-"

"NO! Ehm, I mean, that's not necessary. You know, it's not like he can't wait to talk to me and see me already, if he knew he'd be done with me. There's no need to make a mess for nothing, it won't happen again anyway, right?" ok, will it happen or not? I want answers.

"Oh my god, no, of course!" this answer sucks. Next one, please?

"Exactly, so I think it's better to leave things as they are" can somebody explain the sense of this conversation if it's not to take me to bed?

"I told April though" I feel an explanation coming.

"April?"

"Yeah, you know her, it's a friend of Stone's..."

"Who? The girl who plays the violin?"

"Viola!"

"Well, whatever it is, they look similar anyway. But why did you tell her about us? I had no idea you knew each other, I mean, I didn't know you were familiar with her"

"We weren't that close, then we got to know each other better"

"Are you dating April?"

"No!" ah ok, thank god "We went out together sometimes, you know, we're just at the beginning" thank god my ass.

"I see" beginning of what?

"The beginning of what I don't even know, hehe, anyway, we'll wait and see"

"And why in this beginning did you end up talking about me?"

"Oh well, we were talking about exes and past experiences and I talked about you. Without telling your name, obviously! And as I was telling her about the situation, April helped me understand, she opened my eyes. Thanks to her I realized I was an asshole"

"That's good"

"She told me I should have talked it out with you. And apologize" the girl is clever, for sure, she didn't want her man to have unfinished business with other girls and suggested him a nice peacemaking speech. And a closure speech.

"Wow, well, I only know her by sight but from what you say she seems a cool girl"

"She is" Matt's look is lost far away and I've never felt so out of place in my whole life.

*************************************************************************************************************

SIDE A

Can’t help falling in love (Elvis Presley)

I want to tell you (The Beatles)

You’re all I need to get by (Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell)

When you dance I can really love (Neil Young)

Can’t keep it in (Cat Stevens)

Two hearts (Bruce Springsteen)

SIDE B

I wanna be your boyfriend (Ramones)

You really got me (The Kinks)

Love you more (Buzzcocks)

Here comes my girl (Tom Petty)

Thank you (Led Zeppelin)

Don’t talk (put your head on my shoulder) (The Beach Boys)

I grab the piece of paper where I scribbled down the titles of the songs in Eddie's tape and I'm about to put it away when we're almost arrived. I didn't see the sign saying WELCOME TO SEATTLE, actually I've never seen it, neither the first time I set foot here or the number of times I traveled back and forth from my new town. So I could have missed it but maybe such sign doesn't even exist. I place the paper on the backpack I'm holding on my legs and I observe the creases created by folding and unfolding it everytime I took it and put it back in its case. I read my shaky handwriting due to street holes, too heavy breaking and unexpected words. The first song startled me because Elvis was honestly the last person I was expecting to hear among Eddie's favorites, for no reason in particular, I simply never associated him to Eddie, although since then I've been mentally going through various songs by The King, thinking about how they'd sound if he sang them. I was expecting the Beatles a little more and I guessed he'd have chosen a less known song. On the Motown sound of Marvin and Tammy my jaw literally dropped, and maybe my pen too as I was writing down, because that's one of my favorite songs ever and I wasn't expecting it at all. Neil Young and Springsteen were easier to predict, just like Ramones at the opening of side B, whereas Cat Stevens was another pleasant surprise. On the word got of the song by The Kinks my pen slipped a little because as I was smiling to myself, noticing that in that case Eddie had somehow replied to my tape by selecting a different tune of a band I had chosed too, I absentmindedly started to go through all the previous titles, reading them one by one, as if they formed a single sentence, a message and... Of course not, that's bullshit, it's just casual words. When I head Buzzcocks I thought maybe side B would be the punkest and heaviest part and I wrote the title in tiny letters; then Tom Petty came and I was just wondering when he'd have placed him, followed by Led Zeppeling, who were instead making me wonder why Eddie should thank me. I didn't do anything and maybe that's where all the mess started, 'cause I did nothing but being his friend and being close to him in certain situations and maybe he feels he owes me and maybe that's the reason he did the same. And he mistake this closeness for something else. So there are two possible alternatives: either he planned everything, tape and kisses, or the tape doesn't mean shit, songs are just random songs and he only kissed me because... I don't know, because he felt like doing it. Maybe he was stoned. It's not just acids that make him affectionate. While I was pondering on this, the last song by the Beach Boys, at the right moment, almost as if they could hear me, as if they listened to my inner ranting monologue and were asking me to shut up, just like somebody else shut me up a few hours earlier, without talking. In the corner of my eye I see the outline of the Kingdome dramatically entering my field of vision on the left, briefly taking my mind off useless thoughts. I fold the paper, take the cassette from the front pocket of the backpack and put it back in, then stuff everything in the back once again.

When I get off the bus I can't feel my butt anymore, I stretch out awkwardly and I can't believe I can finally unbend my legs and walk and I don't have to get on that bus anymore. When I cross the road and see Mag waving at me through her car window I'm almost sad: I'd gladly walk all the way back home.

"Then you'll have to tell me how the fuck you survived thirty hours on a fuckin' bus" that's my roommate's salutation as soon as I throw my backpack in the trunk, then close it and crawl on the backseat.

"I don't even know, hi to you too anyway"

"Hi Angie, welcome to my taxi cab, where do you wanna go?" she jokes about me sitting in the back.

"I wanna go home to die, because it was exactly thirty-two hours and I'm even working in the evening"

"Jesus, you hate yourself so much, why didn't you ask Roxy for another day off?" she says as if it was the easiest thing, as if she didn't work there as well and didn't know how things work there.

"Having this couple of days was already some kind of gift, I didn't want to push my luck" I yawn and keel over the backseat ready to sleep.

"YOU'RE NOT THINKING OF SLEEPING NOW?" Meg's imperative voice point blank makes me open my eyes wide right when I was starting to drool on the shirt of Morpheus.

"Why not?"

"Because you gotta tell me!"

"Tell you what?" I produce a scrunchie from out of nowhere and tie my hair.

"What d'you mean what? Everything! How was it in San Diego?"

"Good"

"Good?" she insists completely turning back to look at me.

"Yeah, it was alright. Shouldn't you look at the street?"

"Alright... and then?" she goes on and follows my advice turning back towards the traffic.

"And then nothing, it all went well"

"Hahaha yeah, you really think you can get away with this"

"I think you're so kind and gentle as to postpone this conversation to tomorrow"

"Sure babe, but give me some anticipation, tell me something!"

"Stone and Jeff made a bet with the other guys about wether one of us girls would have gone see them on tour and the losers performed as a Village People tribute band in a terrible 70s disco club" I tell her all in one breath and hope I shocked her enought to prevent her from asking any more questions.

"Did you dream all of this on the bus or here in the car, in the ten seconds you had your eyes closed?"

"Haha none of those, it really happened"

"Tell me you're kidding or tell me you have photographic evidence of this thing" she turns around again intermittently, trying to figure out from the look on my face if I'm joking or not.

"I'll tell you the second one"

"OH MY GOD, I GOTTA SEE THEM"

"Look forward, Meg!"

"You'll show them to me when we get home"

"If we get home"

"Ok, I'll behave... And what about the rest?" the Village People shock wasn't hard enough.

"It was great, the show was cool, half of the crowd were Ed's friends" I remain vague, as if I didn't know where she's going with this.

"Did you meet his friends? What are they like?" she doesn't insist, she probably decided to change her strategy and indulge me at the beginning to catch me out in another way.

"They were fun. And almost all surfers"

"Uhm interesting! And what was Eddie like?" I knew that.

"Oh he was good, he's becoming a real frontman, he's not as shy as he used to be"

"Good, great. And what about him, off the stage?" I really knew that.

"What do you mean?" I yawn again and rest my head against the window.

"Yeah, you know, how did it go with him?"

"Good"

"What the fuck does good mean?! Would you please be more specific?"

"Hey, calm down! Good, in the sense he saved my life by hosting me and so on. And he took me around to see places like a tourist, me and Dina who came from L.A.!"

"She made it in the end! Was she staying at Eddie's place too?"

"No, she only came over the day of the show, in the afternoon, then left the same evening. Well, more like in the night. Almost in the morning, really, after the beach party"

"And how did the beach party go?"

"Good"

"Angie, I swear to god..."

"Good, it was a nice party! There was music, drinks, company... at some point everybody went skinny dipping in the fuckin' freezing ocean" I try and come up with anecdotes about other people, maybe it'll work in the long run.

"And did they survive?"

"Barely, but yes. Needless to say I didn't participate"

"You don't say! What about Eddie?"

"He neither, he missed the fun because he felt he had to babysit me" I ruined the fun and let his friends know I'm some kind of amoeba.

"Yeah, I can imagine. Anyway you haven't answered yet..."

"No?"

"No"

"And what was the question?"

"Are you trying to exasperate me?" no, I'm just trying not to tell you shit.

"No! I'm only sleepy, I slept too little and bad"

"How did things go with Eddie? Did something... happen? Finally?" Meg tries to meet my eye in the rearview mirrow and I awkwardly avoid her look.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know... you spent two days with him... the house was small..."

"So what?"

"Maybe you... slept together?"

"MEG!"

"What?! You already did, didn't you?"

"How many times do I have to tell you we only slept?"

"Oh but I know, I believe you, that's why I talked about just sleeping too"

"And it was an incident anyway"

"No incidents in San Diego"

"No" nothing, apart from the lips-on collision.

"Not even a nap on the couch?"

"No, Meg"

"A little kiss on the beach under the moonlight?"

"No" do I sound convincing enough?

"Cuddling at the park?"

"Nooo"

"A small pat on your ass at the disco?"

"Haha no! At least not from Eddie. Anyway we danced toge-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT FROM EDDIE?"

"That's a weird story. Anyway it's official: Eddie can't dance for shit even when he's sober"

"Ok, but I wanna know whose hand was it!"

"Mike Starr. Now that guy can dance"

"WHAAAAAAT?!"

"We danced just to have a laugh! Anyway he can dance for real, he told me he had taken lessons"

"Oh shit... he took ass-slapping lessons too?"

"It was an incident"

"Your life is punctuated by nice incidents, did you notice that?"

"Definitely less than the unpleasant ones, trust me"

"Anyway, you mean Eddie didn't make any move this time either? I can't believe it, he's a jerk"

"Or maybe he's just not into me, you know? You're obsessed with this"

"I see why you didn't call him"

"What do you mean?" I quickly sit up in an almost normal position. Maybe too quickly.

"Eddie called yesterday to know if I had heard anything from you, he was worried 'cause you had told him you'd call but you didn't. And now I can see why"

"But... shut up! I didn't call him because they had a show, I didn't want to bother him"

Fuck.

"Yet the guy was anxiously waiting for you to leave a message on his answering machine"

Fuck fuck fuck.

"I'll call him back later, before going to work"

"Why not now? After all you only have to tell him you're alive and good"

"Yeah, I'll see..."

"Now, let's go back to Mike Starr's hands, please"

"Meg, just shut up and drive, PLEASE"

I know why he called, it's evident: he wants to know if I'm arrived because he wants to call me. He wants to call me to talk about what happened last morning. He wants to talk about last morning to tell me it was a huge mistake and it won't happen again and he hopes this won't ruin our friendship. All things I already know myself so I'll spare him the struggle. The nap was a bad idea because I'm more tired than before, but the shower wakes me up enough for me to quickly get away from our apartment avoiding further questioning by Meg. I get on the car and I'm about to put Eddie's tape I brought with me in the car stereo. But in the end I change my mind, I put it away in the glove box with the other cassettes and turn on the radio.And I try to focus on the road and on Fleetwood Mac starting right then on the radio, but how is it I keep on hearing Depeche Mode and the touch of Eddie's fingertips on my wrists and the taste of his mouth? I'm so concentrated on driving that I'm basically on autopilot and when I find myself in the diner's parking lot I don't even know how I got there. I hold the wheel tight and butt my head lightly against it a couple of times, I don't know why, maybe trying to get Eddie out of my head literally. I guess an axe would work much better, after all it worked with Zeus and Athena. Once I'm at work there's no time to waste, a couple of minutes for my colleagues to welcome me back, a joke by Brian about my Californian mega-tan (cheeks and nosetip vaguely reddish) and I'm already serving people food. I don't mind working, at least I can distract myself and not think about anything else. The problem is I keep thinking all the same. At least until one of my tables is occupied by an old friend and that pain in the ass who sings in his band, maybe the only one who can make me forget about Eddie for five minutes. I mean the pain in the ass, not the old friend of course.

"HEY PURPLE RAIN!" the before mentioned asshole says hi with his usual smirk.

"Did Idaho go out of fashion?"

"Hi Angie"

"Hi Dave, how are you doing?"

"I'm trying to freshen up my repertoire" Kurt answers politely waiting for his turn.

"Alright, thanks. Even though I haven't bought a motorcycle yet. What about you? You look great, I like your hair!"

"Thank you. Anyway, before buying a motorbike you should release an album. And sell some copies"

"To release it we have to record it first, something we haven't started doing yet" strangely enough Kurt says something serious, normal and absolutely non sarcastic to me.

"And what are you waiting for?"

"We'll go to California in a month or so to record it. You already been there, right? Just come back from the land of the sun. By the way, how did it go?" Dave asks calmly, as much as Dave can be.

"What... how do you know I was in California?"

"Right, how do you know?" Cobain asks too, squinting at him.

"Well I came here yesterday and your colleague told me." he explains pointing at Brian, who never minds his own business, then he brings his hands forward as to defend himself "But I swear I'm not stalking you!"

"Also because in that case, I'd never lend myself to such bullshit" the blond guy adds.

"And there won't be any serenades or shit like that, I promise!"

"I told him if it happens again, he's out of the band"

"Uhm... but... to kick him out of the band he must be in the band... Have you heard Dave? It's official: YOU'RE IN THE BAND!"

"OH MY GOD! YEEEEAAAAH!" Dave high fives me and Kurt looks at us disgusted.

"I think you're in the wrong place, the open mic is at the comedy club on the other side of the road"

"Anyway... I came here 'cause I was looking for you"

"No way, really?" the singer jokes, then goes back reading the menu.

"I have to ask you something and I can assure you it's not what it seems" Dave claims defensively and how is it I've got the feeling it's exactly what it'll seem?

"Ok, shoot"

"Would you go out with me tomorrow night?"

I knew that.

#finally #thank god #pearl jam fanfiction #grunge fanfiction #eddie vedder fanfiction #eddie vedder #matt cameron #dave grohl #kurt cobain #pearl jam #nirvana #soundgarden #chapters

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 6 years ago

Text

Alix Appreciation Week, day 3: Favourite Ship

Did I blatantly cheat on this prompt? Of course. Which ship? All of them None of them Wait until the very end and see. Am I cruel enough to break 13 kids’ hearts in quick succession? Yep. Am I sorry about it? Hell nah >:D

It was that time of year again.

Every shop window was advertising specially themed chocolates, cards, flowers, every radio station blasting out love songs non-stop, every pavement of every street filled with couples holding hands and using this day to be as mushy in public as they wanted without the usual repercussions. The very air was filled with the stench of romance, so thick it weighed down on everything, worming its way into every nook and cranny and smothering everyone like a blanket of stale marshmallows.

In other words, it sucked.

Alix hurried to school facing straight ahead, ignoring anything that made this day different from any other. Hopefully during class she’d be free from it, right? She could always just zone out and ignore anything the teacher was saying if she needed to.

Unluckily for her, she didn’t even make it to class unscathed. While pulling textbooks out of her locker and stuffing them into her bag, Marinette shuffled into view, a ridiculously bright blush covering that freckled face of hers.

“Hi Alix!” she squeaked, waving enthusiastically for a few seconds before clearing her throat and seemingly trying to appear less nervous. “I, um, just wanted to say hi to you before everyone else b-because I – well not that I don’t want you to say hello to anyone! N-no wait… what I mean is…”

Her face glowed so bright it was like she had eaten one too many tomatoes. Did Marinette always stutter like that all the time? Usually she only did that around Adrien, right? But then again she hadn’t spoken to Alix for quite a while, seeming to just run off whenever getting near her, so if her attitude had changed in the meantime then there was no way of knowing.

“What do you want, Marinette?” Alix said. “Just spit it out.”

She was already half expecting it. Everyone knew what Marinette’s stuttering meant. But that didn’t make it any less awkward when Marinette finally managed to stammer out, “Will y-you be my Valentine?” before hiding her face behind her hands and taking a step back.

So, the class rep herself had been hit with Cupid’s arrow in the cruellest way possible, huh? Alix sighed. “If I say no, will you get akumatized?”

Marinette shook her head frantically. “No, of c-course not! Don’t worry! I… I just… um… bye!” She ran off without another word.

Well, hopefully that would be all. Why did Marinette like her, anyway? Usually people found her intimidating. Or annoying, that too. Not worth hanging out with much. Whatever Marinette liked her for, it had to be something superficial, since no one in the class knew her very well at all.

Alix stood up on the lower shelf of her locker to reach the things she had put at the top – why did these lockers have to be so tall, seriously – only for her fingers to close around a loose slip of paper. She pulled it out and had a read.

I know you probably don’t think of me this way, but you’re so brave and inspiring and I wish I could pluck up the courage to ask you to be my Valentine in person. But I can’t. So have this letter instead, as a token of my feelings. I hope you have a great day today, whoever it’s with. ~J

Seriously? Did Juleka really think Alix wouldn’t recognize her handwriting? No one else dotted their “I”s with stars. Maybe Juleka wanted her to know it was her, though, at least subconsciously, and so didn’t even try to hide it.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t change anything. Alix stuffed the note in her pocket, slammed the locker door shut, and looked around for Juleka. Probably best to just return this note as soon as possible before that gothy bundle of nerves spent too long getting worked up waiting for some kind of reaction.

She ran up the steps to the classroom two at a time, not looking where she was headed, only to directly run into someone at the top and bounce backwards, almost falling right back down. The person quickly turned around and grabbed her hand just in time.

“Hey dude, slow down there! You don’t wanna get hurt!”

Looking up, she saw Nino beaming down at her. Oh, thank goodness it was him and not a teacher or a snitch. She did not want to get in trouble again for running in school, or her dad would kill her for real this time.

“Actually,” Nino continued, “you’re just the person I was looking for. I wanted to talk to you.”

Still holding her hand to stop her falling, he loosened his grip slightly and gently pulled her up onto the landing.

“I made a new mixtape,” he said, not looking at her now. “It’s, uh… I could send it to you. If you want. I mean, it’s for you.”

The warm smile on his face had turned into an all-too-familiar cheesy, nervous grin. The same kind of grin that so many people had on this particular day of the year, a grin that spoke volumes about how they were feeling on the inside. A grin that Alix did not want to see.

“You made a mixtape for me?” she asked, trying to keep disappointment out of her voice.

“Yeah!” Nino rubbed the back of his head, looking at the floor. “It’s, um, a Valentine’s Day present, I guess, if you want it…”

Alix promptly let go of his hand and wiped her own hand on the side of her shorts. “I’m sure your mixtape is great. But um… could you send it to me on a different day of the year? Like, any other day at all? Any day that isn’t this day?”

“Sure…” His face was falling.

“Do send it though. I wanna hear it.”

“Um, cool, I’ll do that…”

Why did he still look sad? People always seemed to take rejection so hard for some inexplicable reason, no matter how nice you were about it. It didn’t feel good at all, hurting people’s feelings like this… but what was the alternative then? Lying to them?

Whatever. Alix gave Nino a brief smile before pushing past him and heading to the classroom. As soon as she walked through the door she saw it there – a crimson rose, lying on her desk. Oh come on, what now? Stomping over, half expecting it to be a joke, she picked up the flower and was about to toss it out of the window when she caught the faint scent drifting out of it.

No, it wasn’t normal flower fragrance… it was perfume. And a very familiar perfume.

She turned to the back of the classroom and slammed her hand down on the desk. “ROSE!”

Rose, who had been sitting in her seat at the back with a textbook up to hide her face, jumped and dropped the book with a thud. Her face was almost as pink as her dress.

“Y-yes?”

Alix clambered over the desk in between and made her way over, dropping the flower right in front of Rose. “I think this belongs to you. You seem to have lost it.”

Maybe an indirect rejection would be a better way to deal with poor, sensitive Rose, at least if she didn’t want another akuma on her hands. In any case, Rose blinked a few times with those giant eyes of hers, taken aback. Clearly that wasn’t the response she had expected.

“Actually… I…”

“Lemme guess, were you gonna give this to Juleka?��

Rose’s eyes had rather alarmingly begun filling up with tears, but the mention of Juleka’s name managed to stop her from actually crying. “Oh, well… I didn’t think of that, but…”

“You should do it.” That would kill two birds with one stone, as the saying went. Alix wasn’t even sure what would cause sweet girly Rose to go for someone like her when Juleka was already her type, anyway. Or what would cause anyone to go for her at all.

Without waiting for a reply, she turned and vaulted back over the desks towards her own seat.

Class itself was uneventful, thankfully. By the time the bell rang Alix had almost forgotten what day of the year it was – at least, until she leapt to her feet and felt the crunch of paper in her pocket. Oh yes, Juleka’s note. Juleka herself had come into class late and there had been no chance to talk to her. Maybe it would be better to get it over with now.

Alix was just turning around to go when she felt Mylène put a hand on her arm, pulling her back.

“Alix! Wait a moment!”

She had to bite her tongue to stop herself snapping What now?!

“Are you doing anything later today?” Mylène asked.

“Why?”

“Well, I was wondering if…” She was twirling a strand of hair around her finger, biting at her lip. “Since it’s… Valentine’s Day…”

Really? Was this just because they sat next to each other? It wasn’t like Mylène ever willingly talked to her outside of class time, about anything other than needing a hand with schoolwork. People seemed to find the prospect of spending Valentine’s Day alone so horrifying that it almost seemed not to even matter who they asked.

Or at least, that was what it looked like from what she had gathered over the years.

“Sorry, I’m busy tonight,” Alix said simply, shaking her arm free and walking off. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mylène curl up a little – okay, maybe there were a few genuine feelings there after all, oops. Still, that didn’t change her answer.

She headed to the back of the classroom as everyone else was leaving and thrust the note right into Juleka’s hands without even a greeting. “I think you accidentally put this in my locker.” She was sure it had been no accident, but rejecting Rose indirectly had worked, so maybe this would too.

Juleka was hard to read. The hair covering her face made it almost impossible to see anything, not to mention she was one of those tall people, so it was hard to see her face anyway. But her quiet mumbling did indicate some kind of response.

“Did you mean to put it in Rose’s locker?” Alix continued, lowering her voice enough that Rose nearby wouldn’t hear.

“Hrnnhrhhnnrhn,” Juleka said, the visible sliver of skin on her face going red.

“I bet Rose would love it. Don’t worry, I won’t tell her. I’ll let you do that.”

“Hrmmbbffrrrr…”

“You can do it.”

Alix gave her a thumbs up, then had started walking away when she finally heard Juleka actually speak.

“Wait!”

She turned around to see Juleka shuffling around nervously.

“Th-this was meant for you… but it’s okay. I get it. I’ll give it to…”

Her one visible eye shifted to the side as she trailed off.

“Hey, Juleka?” Alix said, trying to force herself to be nice for once. “It was pretty brave of you to tell me. Good going.”

Juleka smiled. “Thanks…”

Cool. Now that was sorted, hopefully the rest of the day would be free of any sorts of shenanigans, because honestly, this was getting kind of ridiculous. Whichever cosmic entity was up there firing Cupid arrows at all Alix’s classmates, they had a really sick sense of humour.

The rest of the day was not free of shenanigans, of course. Alix was heading out of the empty locker room for lunch when someone suddenly grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and yanked her up into the air.

“Hey, midget!”

She had known who it was before she even heard the voice. “What the fuck do you want, Kim?”

He dropped her and crossed his arms. “I have a challenge for you. Well, kind of a challenge. A bet thing.”

Oh, thank goodness. Finally something normal was happening on this lawless, godforsaken day. At least she could always count on Kim to be his usual annoying self. “What is it?”

“Well I wanna prove myself and no one else ever takes my challenges seriously except you, so like, I have to ask you, it’s not ‘cause I want to or anything, I…”

“Get to the point.”

“Fine!” His face had suddenly gone the colour of his hoodie – not a good sign. “I bet I’m totally a way better kisser than you, so I challenge you to a competition!”

Not him too…

She smacked her hand on her forehead. “No. Just… oh god. No. Ew.”

“I’m not asking ‘cause I want to!” he said quickly. “It’s just that no one else would do it, and like… I mean, I’m definitely gonna win, but if you somehow win instead then you can take me out for dinner or something… okay even if I win I’ll take you out for dinner, how’s that…”

“Is this all just an excuse to get me to go out with you?”

“N-no! Well… unless you want it to be…”

Alix rolled her eyes. “Jeez, at least ask me properly.”

“Okay, okay… do you wanna go out with me?”

“Nope. See ya.” She shoved him aside and left the locker room, calling out a quick, “And don’t go getting akumatized over it!” behind her shoulder as she went.

Not even a second had passed before Chloé was standing in front of her, hands on her hips, haughty smirk on that cold face. “I heard that.”

“So what?” Alix snapped.

“So, I just want to say: join the club, darling!”

“Uh, what club?”

Chloé let out a little chuckle with her hand covering her mouth, like one of those evil rich lady anime villains. “The club of girls who are too good for that loser, of course! Surely you know he’s asked me out plenty too?”

“Yeah, everyone knows. I also don’t care.” She tried to walk past, but Chloé stepped into her path and blocked her way.

“Boys aren’t good enough anyway, wouldn’t you say? So boorish and unsophisticated. Don’t you think… someone else would be a much better choice?”

She had her hands clasped together now, batting her eyelashes.

“I’m gonna throw up,” Alix muttered.

“Oh, you’re just like them!” Chloé stomped her foot and folded her arms, turning away. “So… so… oh, I don’t know! Rude-spirited! Tomboy! I thought maybe you’d be a little different today.”

Yeah, most people did act different on this day. But Alix acted the same every day, and if Chloé didn’t like it, then tough.

“I don’t have time for this,” she said, rubbing her aching forehead. “You’re like the seventh person to make a move on me today and it’s really weirding me out…”

“Hmph!” Chloé flounced off, her nose upturned.

Alix breathed a sigh of relief – only for every bit of relief to vanish when she heard a timid little voice from somewhere to the side.

“That was really cool of you…”

No, not another one, not again…

But sure enough, she turned aside to see Sabrina sidling over, the look of admiration on her face that was usually only reserved for Chloé.

“Don’t even try it,” Alix warned.

“Oh! Um, no, of course I won’t!” Sabrina looked down, her doormat personality suppressing anything she would have otherwise said. Was that bad? People didn’t like keeping their emotions bottled up, right? Maybe it would be better to hear her out…

“Okay fine,” Alix sighed, “just say what you wanna say and go.”

Sabrina nodded, still looking down at the floor with her hands clutched to her chest. “You’re really cool and I wish I could be more like you and I know if I ask to be your Valentine you’ll probably say no but I do want to so…”

For goodness sake, it was like being the protagonist of one of those awful dating sims – when was it going to end?!

“You’re right, I’d say no,” Alix replied, “but you know what? If you wanna be more like me, I’ll teach you to rollerskate at some point.”

Sabrina’s face lit up. “Really?”

“Yeah. And here’s another tip: if you wanna be like me, stop being a mushy dork like everyone else.”

Sabrina’s face fell again. “I can’t help it…”

And that was the problem, wasn’t it? No one could. That was what made it even more frustrating to have to turn everyone down.

“Fine. Just… ugh, I’m getting out of here.”

Alix walked off as quickly as possible. Maybe going home for lunch was the best idea, where there would be no one else to bother her. School was being more cursed than usual today.

She was out of the school’s front doors when she heard someone calling her.

“Hey! Alix!”

It was Adrien, standing at the door of his limo and waving at her. She apprehensively waved back. Was he about to start too? She didn’t trust anyone right now.

He ran over to her. “I’m so glad to see you – you’re one of the only girls I know who doesn’t completely fangirl over me on Valentine’s Day, it’s getting so tiring…”

Her hopes shot up again. “Really?”

“Yeah! It’s so refreshing! I…” He looked past her towards the school entrance, his face filled with alarm. “Oh no, here they come…”

Alix turned around to see a bunch of squealing fangirls running through the doors, waving posters and autograph pads. Adrien grabbed her arm.

“We probably shouldn’t stay here or we’ll get swarmed – come on!”

He had pulled her into the limo before she knew it, leaning across her to shut the door. The screams of the fangirls could still be heard, but they wouldn’t be able to see anything through the tinted windows.

Adrien quickly shuffled back into his own seat, grinning sheepishly. “Uh, sorry… They’re kind of wild, aren’t they?”

Alix just nodded. Whatever she was going through today, poor Adrien clearly had it a hundred times worse.

“I was just going home for lunch, maybe you’d like to join me?”

“Sure,” she said. Adrien probably needed a bit of sanity in his life right now.

“Great!” He smiled that sunny smile at her, putting on his seatbelt. “I just hope Nathalie won’t tell my father…”

Alix put on her seatbelt too. Yeah, Adrien’s restrictive life sounded less appealing by the second. Hopefully by being a good friend to him, she could at least cheer him up a little.

Halfway through her third sandwich, sitting at the end of the long, empty Agreste dining table, it occurred to her that Adrien had shuffled his seat closer. Noticeably closer.

“Thank you for being here,” he said, resting his head on his arm, not even eating.

“Yeah, no problem,” she replied. “I wasn’t exactly having the best day either.”

“I never have a good Valentine’s Day… but you’ve made it a bit better.”

Well that was depressing. And suspicious, too. Hopefully he wouldn’t…

“You’re, um, really cool. Different.” His hand shifted over, ever so slightly, to rest on hers, far too warm to be normal. “I’m really glad you’re here with me, you know…”

“Is this a date?” Alix asked, her mouth still full of sandwich. Adrien blushed.

“If you want…”

Date? Right now that was another word for nightmare. Wait, was this a nightmare? Was she dreaming? Would that explain why today was so unprecedentedly bad? But no, she was wide awake, and all of this was real.

“Well in that case this isn’t a date,” she said.

“Oh, okay.” Adrien’s smile disappeared, and he took his hand back. The rest of the not-date continued in an uncomfortable silence.

By the time Alix arrived back at school, she had made up her mind that from tomorrow onwards, she was making proper friends with all these kids. It seemed like she didn’t know any of them very well at all, and had also happened to make a lot of them rather sad today. Breaking hearts was nowhere near as fun as it sounded. Perhaps by being friends with them, it would ease the guilt somewhat.

Of course, her day immediately got worse when the monthly stomach cramps hit full force – “monthly” as a loose term, considering she was only 15, and her hormones did not seem to know the meaning of the word month. She rushed into the toilets and hoped she wouldn’t be too late for class.

Running out into the locker room a minute later, she almost bumped right into Ivan, who was towering there as sullen as ever with his phone in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.

“Ivan! Dude, get out of my way, I’m gonna be late for class and I don’t want another detention–”

“I wrote you a song,” Ivan grumbled.

“Uh…”

Without another word, he hit the play button on his phone. Out poured a heavy metal track that would put Kitty Section to shame. Ivan began singing unintelligible lyrics off the piece of paper – well, less like singing, more like screaming.

Alix just grabbed the phone out of his hand and paused the song. “That’s nice, but seriously, I don’t have time. But thank you for this wonderful, sibling-like performance, you’re so much like a brother to me dude, it’s great, I gotta go though. Bye.”

She handed the phone back and ran off, leaving him standing there bewildered. Had that got the message into his brain? Hopefully it had. And hopefully he wasn’t going to get akumatized over it. Dealing with an akuma attack today, on top of everything else, would just be too much.

She hadn’t been expecting anything more to happen before the end of the school day. Obviously, she was proved wrong when paired up for the next class project and sent off to the school library for research during the last lesson, and immediately began to expect nothing but the worst from her project partner. He did not disappoint.

“So,” Nathaniel mumbled, pulling a book off the shelf and passing it to her. “What’s up?”

“My level of bloodlust.”

His eyes widened. “That sounds like something Jules would say…”

“Jules? Oh, are you friends with Juleka?” She hadn’t expected him to be, considering how he always kept to himself all the time. But Juleka didn’t let just anyone call her Jules.

He shrugged. “A little, maybe?”

Alix pulled up a chair and sat down, plonking the book down on the table without bothering to look at it. “You’re a bit like me, aren’t you? We’re the leftover classmates.”

He sat down next to her. “We really are…”

“No best friends. No true close bonds.”

“Exactly!”

At least Nath understood. He was different, of course, usually being a full-on loner, not interacting with the others at all. But he knew what it felt like. Maybe, just maybe, he would relate to her in another way too. Maybe he wouldn’t be different at all on this cursed day of this cursed year.

“Can I draw you?” he asked suddenly.

“What?”

His face had gone so red it was blending in with his emo hair. “I… you’re so… I mean, I won’t make a comic or anything! Unless you want me to…”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah whatever, you can draw me. But stop blushing.”

He just blushed even harder.

“You’re still doing it!”

He looked down, his fringe falling to cover almost his entire face. “S-sorry! I can’t help it…”

“No one can, apparently.” It wasn’t blushing she was talking about exactly, and Nath seemed to understand.

“It’s okay, I’m not asking you to be my Valentine,” he said quietly. “I know you don’t like stuff like that.”

“How do you know?”

“Just things I noticed…”

True, he must notice a lot, sitting at the back all quiet. Usually he seemed to have his head in the clouds. But maybe sometimes he paid attention to what was going on down on earth, too.

“You’ll find someone to be your Valentine someday,” Alix said, hoping she didn’t sound too fake. “Now, are you gonna start drawing me or what?”

Nath smiled. “Sure…”

The school day finally ended. Was the torment over yet? Please say it was. This day had already been too much to bear. But Alix was pulled out of her rather murderous thoughts when she closed her locker to see Alya standing there, leaning against the locker rows, sporting the tell-tale flannel she often wore, and a rather dazzling smile.

“Hey Alix,” she said, throwing out a finger-gun and winking. “You look tired. Well you must be, ‘cause you’ve been skating through my mind all day.”

Alix sighed. “How many more of these have you got?”

“Plenty. If you were a triangle, you’d be acute one. Are you from Tennessee? ‘Cause you’re the only–”

“You sound like Chat Noir.”

“Uh… is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Right now, if I’m being honest, a bad thing.”

Alya grinned. “No problem. I’ll cut down on the bad puns and cut right to the chase. How about dinner?”

“I already have dinner plans, sorry.”

Alya looked at her carefully, even adjusting her glasses slightly. “Are you just saying that because the bad puns put you off?”

“Bad puns or no bad puns, my answer is still no.”

“Hey, fair enough. I hope you have a good dinner, whoever it’s with!”

Out of everyone who had asked today, Alya had the most genuine smile on her face after being turned down. Alix smiled back, more genuine than usual too, and gave her a friendly punch in the arm. “You too. See you tomorrow.”

Alya waved and walked off happily. Was she seriously okay with it? Or was she just acting? In any case, Alix put her bag over her shoulders and started walking off too – home, finally!

Well, almost. She was almost across the courtyard when Max caught up with her.

“Alix, there you are!”

She allowed her spirits to lift ever so slightly. Max liked dudes, right? At least, she thought so. She wasn’t 100% sure. But maybe he would be the first person today to not bother trying anything, and her day wouldn’t be a total disaster after all.

Of course, that was too much to ask for.

“I have a scientific experiment I need your help with!” he said. “Markov isn’t around, right? No? Good… alright, listen…” He lowered his voice. “I have never experienced an actual Valentine’s Day date before, and before I actually ask someone I have any interest in, I think it would be beneficial to go through a practice run with someone else first so that I know what to do, just as an experimental thing, and–”

“Are you asking me out?”

“Hypothetically speaking, yes.”

At least he didn’t sound very nervous about it, which was better than could be said for pretty much everyone else.

“You don’t need a practice run,” Alix said. “Just go for it.”

“But I need something first to build my expectations on! I can’t just ask out Ki– uh, someone else who I actually like, without first experiencing what such a thing would be like myself…”

“Is there, um, anyone else you can ask for help? Anyone who isn’t me?”

Max sighed. “You’re refusing, aren’t you? I understand. It’s fine.”

“Look dude, it’s not personal, it’s just–”

“You are uninterested in the fundamental concept of Valentine’s Day whatsoever, yes, I know. Come to think of it, I don’t even know why I asked you in the first place. I suppose perhaps I thought your objective point of view might help give me some perspective.”

“Uh… yeah.”

He smiled. “Well, I hope you have a good day anyway. I’ll find someone else.” Speeding up, he walked past her and out of the doors.

Alright, well that was all her classmates. Every single one of them. Surely, surely there couldn’t possibly be anyone else now. People in other classes were terrified of her, there was no way. From here on she could make it home without any more grief, without any other awkward advances, without–

“Alix! Has Max already left?”

That robotic voice flooded her with relief. She turned to see Markov whizzing over.

“Hey Markov!” she said, fist-bumping him as he came to a stop in front of her. “Yeah, Max just left.”

“Ah, I thought so. I feel like on Valentine’s Day I should leave him be to have his own adventures.”

Oh, thank goodness for Markov. He was a robot. Unlike every human she knew, Markov would feel the same way about this day that she did.

“Can I talk to you about something?” she asked.

“Of course!”

“Cool. Well, I’ve just had a really weird day. My classmates don’t even care about me that much, I’m not that close with any of them, but they all seem to have crushes on me… why? How? Like, how does that even happen? What do they see in me? What’s the point?”

Markov was silent for a few moments, processing all that, before speaking. “Romantic attraction appears to be a rather unintuitive, arbitrary human emotion. I will spare all the technical details. But in many cases, it is not necessary to know the subject well to experience attraction to them. The attraction itself involves a desire to want to get to know the subject better, much like regular friendship.”

So her classmates wanted to know her, just as she wanted to know them. They were just a bit more… sappy about it.

“As for why they all seem to like you in particular, well, there are many reasons!” Markov continued, his internal fans whirring a little louder. “As you are slightly more withdrawn, there is a mysterious charm! And yet you still have a friendly personality, and one that is spirited too. And…”

Dark blue blush circles were creeping up under his cheeks, his volume lowering.

“…while beauty is subjective, I would argue that you are rather… well, I believe the colloquial term is ‘hot’, though that denotes temperature… though perhaps that’s why my internal drives appear to be overheating…”

No way. No way. Alix just stared, unable to believe what she was seeing.

“Is this what it feels like?” Markov was saying now, the blush spreading all over his face. “I… I suppose I understand now…”

“If I ever meet the real Cupid,” Alix said, her hands curling up into fists, “I’m gonna strangle him.”

“What? Why?”

“He seems to think it’s funny to shoot his arrows at everyone and make them all fall for the one person he never shot anything at, ever.”

“Are you speaking in metaphors? I have trouble understanding those sometimes. It’s so poetic though, I would have no objections if you continued…”

His dotted eyes were slowly transforming into hearts, and Alix had had quite enough.

“That’s it. I’m not talking to anyone else for the rest of the day. I’m going home.”

“Oh… well have a good day!”

She ignored him and strode right out of the school doors.

Home sweet home, at last. Her father was out working late, Jalil was spending the night with some bae from uni, so Alix had the house to herself. She grabbed a bucket of ice cream from the freezer, went to her room, and turned on the TV to pick a good movie.

Oh, how nice it was to be alone! Being the class’s third wheel had never been fun, and being the class’s collective crush was even worse. At least the one person she could always count on was herself.

Well… it was a little lonely in here. It was Valentine’s Day, after all. As much as she hated to admit it, she didn’t want to spend it all by herself. For the first time her brother wasn’t here to hang out with, so someone or something else would have to do…

She picked up her rollerskates and lay back on the bed in front of the TV, holding them close. If there was one thing she could always, always count on, it was these skates. They had been with her through countless races, countless challenges, the very best and the very worst of times, even being akumatized along with her.

She helped herself to a scoop of ice cream and curled up around the skates, waiting for the movie to begin.

“Someday I’ll find a real friend to spend this day with, someone like me,” she whispered to them. “But in the meantime, you’ll have to do. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

#i barely even proofread this cause it got too long oops #alix appreciation week #miraculous ladybug #alix kubdel #and everyone else #random stuff #aish writes #we are miraculous #pretend this is a universe where no classmate ships are canon yet

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thelastspeecher · 7 years ago

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53. Enchanted phoenix

53. “That wasn’t very subtle.”

Some background: In 1989 (ten years after they first got enchanted), Stan and Angie agree to be part of an exhibit at the San Diego Zoo, aka Angie’s old workplace. They went there before mating season, and without their kids (who instead stayed at the McGucket farm), and were supposed to be there only for a couple weeks. But those couple weeks turned into a couple months, when Fidds and Ford got caught up in some magical mischief and couldn’t bring the phoenixes back home. Mating season came and went, while Stan and Angie were still stuck at the zoo. It’s a rough time for them.

Send me a number and characters and I’ll write a drabble!

“Stan! Stan, wake up!” Stan mumbled something, but didn’t open hiseyes. “Stanley!”

“Ow!” Stan yelped, hopping away from his mate. He stared at Angie. “Younipped me!”

“I had to wake ya up,” Angie croaked. Stan’s anger melted away. Angie had been stressed a lot lately; theyboth had. It was starting to take itstoll on her, and at the moment, she was in the worst shape he’d seen yet. Her feathers were drooping and dull, her eyeswere wide with panic, and she was shaking.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Stan cooed. Angie looked down. Stan followedher gaze, to the egg sitting in the middle of the nest. “Righton schedule. …Hang on.” He bent over to peer more closely at hisunhatched child. “Did something happen to it?”

“No! It- it looked like that from the start, andwhen I- when I realized somethin’ was wrong with it, I- that was when I startedtryin’ to wake ya up.”

“Why is it so small?” Stan clucked, nudging the egg with hisbeak. He frowned. “Andit’s the wrong color, too. Maybe it’s aboy?”

“No, Stan, I- it’s my fault!” Angie screeched. “I letmyself get stressed, and now- now our child is goin’- goin’ to be sick or- or-or-”

“Hey, hey, shh,” Stan crooned, moving to Angie’s side to nuzzleher. “Youcouldn’t help it. Your family getsstressed easy, and anyways, this is a stressful situation. I’m stressed too, babe.”

“But yougettin’ stressed won’t mess up our next chick!”

“Angie, it’s okay. Look, we’rein a zoo, right? There’s vets aroundhere 24/7. This sucks. But the zoo’s gonna do their best to makesure our kid is healthy. You know that.” Angie bobbed her head. “Theonly good part of all these examinations and bullshit.”

“Lord, what if this chick hatches here?” Angie muttered. “Thezoo ‘ll have a field day. Prob’ly wantto keep our baby.”

“They’re not gonna keep our baby, Ang. If I have to turn human and punch our way outta here, we’ll do that.” Angie let out a watery chuckle. “Now,don’t you have something to do?”

“Yessir, you are correct,” Angie said, smiling weakly at him. She nestled herself on top of the egg. Stan preened a few of her feathers.

“I’ll grab some food. Whattayawant for breakfast, babe?” Stan asked. Angie adjusted herself slightly.

“Peaches ‘n crickets. Thank you,darlin’.”

“You gotit.”

—–

Stan was nibbling a few of hisfeathers when they heard someone open the door to the enclosure.

“Aw, shit. They’re gonna bringme to the front,” Stan muttered. Helooked over at Angie. She had calmeddown somewhat, but every now and then would tremble. “That’snot gonna happen. Not today.”

“They’re goin’ to take ya, whether ya want to or not,” Angie chirpedsadly. “I’m only goin’ to get a free pass ‘cause I’m broodin’.”

“Nope. Not gonna go. You need me, babe. I’m gonna be here.” Stan frowned. “Now, how do I do that withoutbiting someone?”

“Just let ‘em know that we aren’t in the mood. But be polite about it. Subtle,” Angie suggested. Stan shifted his feet.

“I’ll try.” One of thezookeepers entered the enclosure. Stanimmediately puffed up and screeched.

“That wasn’t very subtle,” Angie hissed. Stan rolled his eyes and screeched again.

“You’re in quite a mood today,Prometheus,” the zookeeper said, seemingly unperturbed. Stan hissed. “What’s wrong?” The zookeeperapproached the pair slowly. Angiehuddled down in the nest, trembling. “Pele, are you all right?” the zookeeper asked. Angie let out a halfhearted hiss. “Hmm, maybe we should have the vet check youover again.”

“Oh, Lord,” Angie croaked. “The vet.”

“Are you up for being displayedtoday, honey?” the zookeeper asked. Angie hunkered down more firmly and squawked. The zookeeper frowned. “You’re acting hurt. Did you get injured?”

“Why do ya ask us these questions?” Angie cawed. “Wecan’t answer ‘em.”

“Lemme check you over realquick, okay? And then I’ll ask Bob whathe thinks we should do.” The zookeeperpicked Angie up. “…Oh.” The zookeeper set Angie back down. “You laid an egg, Pele? But it doesn’t look like Dr. Pines’ descriptionof a phoenix egg.” Angie let out achoked sob.

“Iknow. I- I messed up, and my poor babyisn’t goin’ to be right.”

“Well, you’re brooding, so we’lltone things down for you. You’re free ofyour responsibilities for a while.” Angiechirped softly. “All right, Prometheus,it’s show time. You ready?” Stan moved closer to Angie. “Don’t worry, I’ll send someone to check onher.” The zookeeper picked Stan up. Angie began to shake again. Stan screeched.

“Hey, Clark, what’s taking solong?” Bob, the supervisor of avian exhibits, asked, walking into theenclosure. Clark looked at Bob.

“Pele laid an egg, but it looksmalformed.”

“Shit,” Bob muttered, marchingover. Clark nudged Angie to the side. Bob looked at the egg and sighed. “Dammit. I was wondering if they’d been stressing out too much lately. I caught Pele self-plucking yesterday, andPrometheus has been eating less.”

“Wait, that’s why the egg looksso weird?”

“Laying healthy eggs in ahealthy manner becomes difficult during times of great stress.”

“So does that mean it won’thatch?” Clark asked. Bob shook his head.

“No, Pele’s brooding it. If it was a dud, she wouldn’t bother.” Stan blinked.

“Wait, really? We can tell when it’s not gonna hatch? Since when?” Stan chirped.

“We need to decrease herstimulation and interaction with people, right away,” Bob said. Angie settled on the egg again, stillshaking. “We’re not a circus. These birds shouldn’t be in this rough of ashape.” Bob sighed. “Close the exhibit for a week.”

“What? But Prometheus-”

“-should stay with his mate,”Bob finished. “Look at Pele! From what Dr. Pines told me, she andPrometheus should never be separated from each other during times of highstress. They both need the comfort theyget from staying together.”

“Okay.”

“In the meantime, we canannounce that the zoo now has a phoenix egg, and start coming up with ideas forthe brooding time to be easier on both Pele and Prometheus. We can’t keep the exhibit closed the entiretime, but we can come up with something to ensure they stay healthy.”

“Got it.” Clark set Stan in the nest. “Should I get out some treats for them, aswell?”

“I think they definitely deserveit,” Bob said with a nod. Stan huddledclose to Angie.

“See,babe? Told ya I wouldn’t be leaving youon your own.”

“Yer a miracle worker, Stanley Pines,” Angie chirped.

“Yep. And, hey, another brightside to this shitty situation: Ford won’t give the kid a weird code name forhis research.”

“Nope, it’ll just be a zoo name,” Angie sighed. Stan shrugged.

“Anything’s better than…what did he call Danny?”

“Pavonis.”

“Yeah,at least the zoo ‘ll use real names.”

#me: I have to study #me: *gets too stressed to study and instead wastes time writing fanfic*#anyways I can't be trusted for anything ever #at least dinner was tasty tonight #and this turned out nice #Phoenix Enchantment AU #Angie McGucket #Stanley Pines #Stangie #ficlet #my writing #writing meme #ask #Anonymous

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tombstxne · 7 years ago

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Lemme update y'all on my life real quick ! First of all, I am currently in a place where I was able to wake up one morning and be like "ima buy myself a fuckin iPhone 7 plus bc why not" and I didn't go broke after!!! Although rn things are a little weird I'm in between jobs so I gotta stop eating out so I can pay bills for the next month:/ BUT that leads me to my next point, i fuckin quit my miserable ass job and the worst part is that I loved the job itself but management??? They fuckin sucked and THIRTEEN people quit recently bc of them lmfao (also as soon as I quit my coworkers/friends kicked me out the group chat so that sucked lmao) but yeah I never left at my scheduled time which made me go overtime a lot and I got in trouble for it??? When I would literally cry wanting to go home lmao and I never got my breaks til the last hour of a full shift and my supervisor was always in my business like that shit was just miserable but it's ok bc I moved on and got a job at a brand new restaurant opening in Valencia :-) and in the meantime I get to work at universal studios til it opens! It's also gonna be open from 4pm-2am so I won't get scheduled before the sun rises everyday lmao so yea things are hella looking up. Also w my new job I get to keep my piercings in and not cover tattoos and have my nails done and at my old job we weren't allowed to have anything and I worked so much so I felt like not myself u know I kept my piercings out 90% of the time and I only wore my uniform when I went out so I just felt gross and confined but now I get to wear and do whatever I want and I get to finally experiment w myself :-) anyways moral of the story is I'm financially stable, I quit my job for a new one and I'm happy. PS. I'm in college too. Being an adult is strange as fuck but I'm really shaping myself into a beautiful and stable human being

#me

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claroquequiza · 7 years ago

Text

McHanzo Week, Day 3: Downtime || Undercover

McCree falls in a ditch. Hanzo helps him out, and they make a new friend in the meantime.

“Hey, uh, Hanzo? Could I get a little help?”

Hanzo stopped dead on the narrow street, scanning his surroundings before he walked casually to sit on the concrete curb lining the gutter, bending over to hide his face and speak into the comm as he untied and retied the laces on the running shoes he wore over his prosthetic feet.

“Hanzo here. What is you status, McCree?”

The cowboy chuckled ruefully, “Ain’ that serious, Hanzo. I’m, uh, I’ve just fallen into a big ol’ ditch.”

Hanzo frowned. “A ditch?”

“Well, the drainage channel. Got a twisted ankle. I’m just by 6th Street.”

“I am en-route.” Hanzo did not ask for a further explanation, not right then anyway. If there was anything McCree was, it was professional, despite his getup and loud behavior. If the situation was serious, he would not beat around the bush, to borrow a phrase. Hanzo did hurry, however, breaking into a quick jog that was not out of keeping with his runner’s clothes, the long nylon pants and thin long-sleeved shirt disguising his prosthetics and tattoo. He had been doing an initial sweep of the area around the safehouse, familiarizing himself with the layout, just in case. McCree had expressed a desire to do the same right when Hanzo was heading out; he must have done so, but how he managed to fall into the enormous concrete chute that contained the Los Angeles River was anyone’s guess.

He arrived at the high chainlink fence that lined the channel in short order. He spared a quick look around him, but the oppressive heat of the day still clung to the early evening air, and there was nothing in this neighborhood to tempt anyone to endure it. He lightly sprung over the fence and crept to the edge of the enormous, slanted embankment of the channel. He spotted McCree immediately.

He was sitting next to a small pile of driftwood that was thoroughly matted with dried grass and dead branches, one leg stretched out and placed atop a small log he must have purloined from the pile, the other folded awkwardly in a kind of half-crossed legged position.

He had a dog with him.

It was a big dog, at least 20 or 25 kilos, and it had a smooth, yellow-and-white thin coat, perfect for the intense heat, with its tail curled and flopped over its back. It seemed to be inspecting McCree’s outstretched leg; it kept lowering its head to sniff it before pawing at it slightly and looking at McCree’s face, currently hidden from Hanzo by the baseball cap he wore that looked so wrong even from so far away.

“Arenas?” called Hanzo, using McCree’s pseudonym for the mission. “Are you--”

As soon as the dog spotted him, it started barking and yipping, running directly beneath Hanzo before whining and making false starts towards McCree before stopping dead and staring up at him. Hanzo could hear McCree’s pleased chuckles echo slightly off the hard concrete. “Hey there, Sakaguchi. My friend here’s ‘bout to have a heart attack, but he’s real friendly. Come on down.”

Hanzo carefully made his way down the embankment, the surface hot and surprisingly slick. No wonder McCree could not get up it in his condition. When he made it to the bottom, the dog whined and backed off, suddenly shy of the stranger. Hanzo merely nodded at him as he went over to McCree and crouched next to him. He reached out to inspect the injured ankle, finding it swollen and tender, as McCree attested with a hissing intake of breath. Hanzo shook his head. “Of all days not to wear those boots of yours,” he muttered. “They would have contained the swelling better than these.”

McCree laughed. “Yeah, but it’s probably cuz of them that my ankles have gotten so delicate. Rolled out right from under me when I was slidin’ down the wall there.”

“Were you trying to aid the dog?” asked Hanzo, looking over his shoulder. The dog was cautiously approaching, torn between his wariness of the stranger and his apparent concern for McCree. Hanzo knelt and reached out a hand for him to sniff. He tilted his head but came forward readily enough, inspecting Hanzo’s hand before wagging his curly tail and licking it. Fears assuaged, he came forward to sniff and lick at Hanzo’s face as well. He turned his head away to let him lap at his cheek, catching a blinding grin on McCree’s face that he immediately smoothed into a smile instead.

“Ayup, saw the poor guy tryin’ t’get up, but it’s too slick for him. No collar, so I figured nobody was missin’ him, so--”

Hanzo nodded. “I will get you both up, then.” He stood slowly, not wanting to spook the dog. He immediately started whining and pawing at McCree again, prompting a chuckle out of both men, though McCree’s was cut off almost immediately. He was looking up at Hanzo with marked surprise.

“Wouldn’ta marked ya for a dog person, Sakaguchi.”

Hanzo shrugged as he held out an arm for McCree to grasp. “Most do not. They assume I would like cats better.”

McCree groaned as Hanzo easily hoisted him to his feet. “Yep, includin’ me. So, not a cat person then?”

“They are fine creatures. They remind me of the dragons more often than not. However, cats are often aloof to strangers, while dogs are usually more--” he paused as he slung McCree’s arm over his broad shoulders. The dog was literally running circles around them, pausing to sniff concernedly at McCree’s legs as they moved towards the embankment. “--open, with their affections and camaraderie.”

“That they are,” said McCree, smiling at their companion. Hanzo set his foot on the embankment, but McCree hung back. “Actually, why don’ you take him up first? Don’ want him thinkin’ we’re abandonin’ him.”

Hanzo hummed. “Yes, the inability to explain our intentions is often quite distressing for them.” McCree looked at him with a strange expression before he eased himself down to the ground again. The dog took the opportunity to lick at his face, while Hanzo took the opportunity to gather him up in his arms. He stiffened but otherwise allowed it. “I wonder if he truly has no home,” he mused. “He is very friendly and well-behaved.”

McCree shrugged. “An awful lot of street dogs have people lookin’ out for ‘em. We can swing by a vet t’see if he’s chipped, though.” Hanzo nodded as he began making his way up the embankment, stepping carefully to avoid slipping. He made it up with little fanfare, letting the dog down to the ground gently. He circled in place a couple of times, pleased to be up and out, but then he went to the edge and barked down at McCree.

“Don’ worry none, sweetheart,” he called back up to him as Hanzo started down again. “He’s a-comin’ t’get me, don’ you worry.”

It was much more difficult to get McCree out. Hanzo was a solid support, but McCree was a big man, and they had to drop to their knees more than once to keep from sliding back down. Eventually they made it out, and Hanzo had the unenviable task of ferrying first the dog over the fence, throwing him over one shoulder and praying he would not try to scramble off at the wrong moment as he went up and over, and then perching on top of it as he more or less heaved McCree up and lowered him down to avoid jostling his ankle too much. But soon they were hobbling back to the safehouse, the dog leading by a few paces as he sniffed at random spots on the sidewalk. McCree watched him with a soft look.

“We should work him into the mission, somehow,” he murmured, as if he did not realize he was speaking.

Hanzo glanced at him, feeling his cheeks heat a little from the exertion of carrying McCree’s weight, but also from being so close to his face with his arm over his shoulders. “Pardon?”

“Y’know, since we’re gonna be here a while. He could be our pet that we’re takin’ for walks when we do our perimeter checks.”

Hanzo rolled his eyes. “And if we find ourselves in battle? If we take him in, we are responsible for him, and we cannot guarantee his safety. We should check if he has a chip, and take him to a shelter if he does not.”

McCree made a small noise. “Never liked shelters. No guarantee that someone will take him before--”

“There are no-kill shelters,” said Hanzo gently.

“Yeah, that’s true. But, we won’ be invitin’ trouble except when we’re actively bein’ guard dogs for that producer, y’know? He’d be safe enough with us in our downtime. Could be a great morale booster while we’re here, and then we could take him to the no-kill shelter before we go.”

Hanzo snorted. “After we have bonded with him. After he ingratiates himself to us more than he already has. Do you think Kim Hyun-ji will let him go after she meets him?” Until now, he would have expected Hana to be the biggest obstacle to letting a team pet go when a mission was over. Now he suspected it was already too late. McCree was silent, watching the dog wistfully.

Hanzo sighed. It really was too late. It was too late when McCree called on Hanzo to help, really. He was a dog person, after all.

“Keep in mind that we must still check for a chip, but if you wish to retain naming privileges, you should think of one before the rest see him.”

McCree’s eyes snapped to Hanzo’s. He stared for a few seconds, as if waiting for Hanzo to take back his words. Hanzo looked steadily back. A grin slowly spread over McCree’s lips. “Aw, darlin’.”

Hanzo jerked his gaze straight ahead at the pet name, but he could still see McCree beaming out of the corner of his eye. He searched desperately for something to say to ward off the warm feeling in his chest at the sight. “I passed a park before you called. If we have any more downtime, it might be a good place to take him for exercise.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said McCree cheerfully. “Lemme see here, a name, a name--Sage, maybe? Hmm.” McCree returned to watching the dog, murmuring under his breath as they continued down the sidewalk. Hanzo, for his part, watched McCree, the warmth in his chest continuing to rise. He was caught off-guard when McCree turned back to him and said, “Actually, what d’you think? You’re the one who rescued him. Rescued both of us, I might add.”

Hanzo flushed and looked away. “It was no trouble. You were the one who found him.”

“Yeah, and then I promptly fell on my ass,” laughed McCree. “Besides, you’ve been a good sport about it all. I was expectin’ a scoldin’.”

Hanzo looked back at him. “You were doing a good deed, and your injury was completely accidental. There was no need for censure.”

McCree grinned. “C’mon. What d’you think’d suit him?”

Hanzo considered. “Jiro.”

“Jiro,” McCree repeated. “Jiro. Here, Jiro! C’mon, Jiro! What d’you got in your mouth, Jiro? Y’know, I like it.”

Hanzo chuckled. “It will do for now. If another name suits him better, we can change it before he gets used to it.”

“Hey, Jiro!” McCree called out. The dog paused at the loud shout, looking back at McCree. When McCree smiled and beckoned, he wagged his tail and came trotting back, tongue lolling out in the heat. “Well there you go, he likes it, too.”

Hanzo shook his head, but he could not help smiling either.

#mchanzo week 2017 #mchanzo #my fics #today's excerpt #I found the name from the tale of Taro and Jiro #it's a fascinating story of survival in Antarctica

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teamfreewill-imagine · 8 years ago

Text

Hell House

Summary: Your sister and her boyfriend start a prank war on the way to investigate a haunted house Words: 6k Dean x Reader, Sam x Jess Warnings: episode related drama, pranks

A/N: this is part of my ‘Jess never died’ rewrite, find the masterpost here Beta: @blacksiren

Your name: submit What is this? // <![CDATA[ document.getElementById("submit").addEventListener('click', myHandler); function myHandler() { var v = document.body.innerHTML; var input = document.getElementById("inputTxt").value; v = v.replace(/\by\/n\b|$y\/n$/ig, input); document.body.innerHTML = v; } // ]]>

You didn’t remember falling asleep in the car. In fact, you didn’t even remember deciding to close your eyes. Apparently, your body was just exhausted.

You woke with a start as Dean began singing obnoxiously loud along to Blue Ӧyster Cult, flailing your arms out in front and promptly spitting something out of your mouth before realising it was just a plastic spoon.

You looked over at your sister to see her suppressing a laugh, and you slapped her arm at the same time as landing a forceful kick to the back of Sam’s seat.

“Hey!” he complained, turning to face you once he’d turned Dean’s music down a bit, the brothers both suppressing grins of their own. “It was all Jessica.”

You folded your arms, raising an eyebrow. “I do not believe that for one second.”

Dean finally allowed himself a chuckle, and you glared at him through the rear-view mirror.

“Sorry kid, not a lot of scenery here in East Texas,” he halfheartedly apologised, “Kinda gotta make your own.”

“I’m not a kid,” you replied automatically, despite the term of endearment not really irking you anymore. You looked at your sister, unimpressed. “We’re not going to start this shit up again.”

“Start what up?” Dean asked, and you sighed.

“The prank stuff,” you told him. “Sam and Jessy started a prank war back in college. It escalates too quickly.”

“Ah, what’s the matter, Bish?” Jess teased. “You afraid of a little Nair in your shampoo, huh?”

You took your time to look at them all, calculating.

“Alright,” you said after a while. “Just remember, you started it.”

Sam smirked, “Bring it on, baldy.”

Unsurprisingly, that earned him another kick.

He turned back to face the front and you glanced out the window, taking in your surroundings as you allowed yourself to stretch.

“Where are we, anyway?” you asked through a yawn, not bothering to cover your mouth.

Dean pulled a face at you but you just shrugged.

“A few hours outside of Richardson,” he told you.

“Gimme the lowdown again?” Jessica requested.

Sam passed the research back as he started to explain.

“Alright, about a month or two ago, these kids go poking around in this local haunted house,” he told you. “Apparently, it’s a pretty misogynistic spirit. Legend goes, it takes girls and strings them up in the rafters. Anyway, this group of kids see this dead girl in the cellar.”

“Is there an ID on the corpse?” you asked, and Sam shook his head.

“See, that’s the thing,” he sighed. “By the time the cops got there, the body was gone. So the cops are saying the kids were just yanking chains.”

Jessica shrugged, looking up from the papers on her lap.

“Maybe the cops are right, babe,” she offered, and Sam nodded.

“Yeah maybe. But I read a couple of the kids’ firsthand accounts. They seemed pretty sincere.”

Jess shuffled through the papers, coming up short and frowning at her boyfriend.

“Where did you read these accounts?” she asked, and he chanced a glance at Dean before answering.

“Well, I knew we were going to be passing through Texas, so uh… last night I surfed some local paranormal website,” he admitted, rushing a little. “And I found one.”

Dean scoffed, nodding. “Oh yeah? And what’s it called?”

“HellHoundsLair.com,” Sam murmured, cheeks flushing an adorable shade of pink.

Dean outright laughed at that, and you couldn’t help but let out an amused huff of air.

“Lemme guess,” Dean offered, “Streaming live out of Mom’s basement?”

Sam smiled, his blush fading. “Yeah, probably.”

“Yeah,” Dean nodded. “Most of those websites wouldn’t know a ghost if it bit ‘em in the persqueeter.”

The comment caused Sam to bristle, looking straight at his brother despite Dean’s eyes being firmly on the road.

“Look, we let Dad take off - which was a mistake, by the way,” he added, obviously still bitter. “And now we don’t know where the hell he is, so meantime we gotta find ourselves something to hunt.”

Dean didn’t reply, and you could see Sam getting more aggravated every second that passed.

“There’s no harm checking this thing out,” you offered, softly.

Dean met your eyes, seeing the pleading expression.

Sam really needed a win right now, and you knew that Dean knew it too.

“Alright,” he relented. “So where do we find these kids?”

The sour look vanished from Sam’s face, and he found himself holding back a proud smile.

“Same place you always find kids in a town like this.”

The four of you split up when it came to interviewing the kids from the house at a local burger joint. You and Jessica went together to talk to the girl.

She was somewhat timid, clearly shaken up by what she’d seen, which lead you and your sister to believe what she was saying.

When you met up with the brothers, the two of them having spoken to a witness each, some of the information was conflicting but one thing was certain. Craig Thurston took them to the house.

Dean had found out that he was working in a nearby music shop, so the two of you headed there while Sam and Jessica found a motel.

A bell rang above the door as you entered, alerting the guy behind the counter to your entrance.

“Hey. Can I help you with anything?” he asked as the two of you walked up to the desk.

“Yeah, are you Craig Thurston?” you enquired, and he nodded.

“I am,” he smiled, and Dean offered a tight smile in response.

“Well, we’re reporters with the Dallas Morning News,” he explained, the practised lie easy on his tongue. “I’m Dean, this is Y/N.”

“No way,” Craig grinned. “Well, I’m a writer, too. I write for my school’s lit magazine.”

“Well, good for you, Morrissey,” Dean murmured, causing Craig’s smile to falter.

You subtly elbowed Dean, trying portray ‘stop being a dick to the witness’ through the narrowing of your eyes.

“We’re doing an article on local hauntings,” you told Craig, “And, rumour has it, you might know of one.”

He shifted uncomfortably. “You mean the Hell House?”

“That’s the one,” Dean confirmed.

He folded his arms self-consciously, “I didn’t think there was anything to the story.”

“Why don’t you tell us the story?” you offered, pulling out a notepad and pen to jot stuff down while he was writing. You figured that would be a reporter-y thing to do, despite Dean calling you a dork for suggesting it on the way over.

“Well, supposedly, back in the ‘30s, this farmer, Mordechai Murdoch, used to live in this house with his six daughters,” Craig told you, visibly growing more uncomfortable as he spoke. “It was during the Depression; his crops were failing, he didn’t have enough money to feed his own children. So I guess that’s when he went off the deep end.”

“How?” you prompted, and he nodded, swallowing.

“Well, he figured it was best if his girls died quick,” he explained, “Rather than starve to death. So he attacked them. They screamed, begged for him to stop, but he just strung ‘em up, one after the other. And when he was all finished he just turned around and hung himself. Now they say that his spirit is trapped in the house forever, stringing up any other girl that goes inside.”

Dean shot you a glance before looking back at Craig. “Where’d you hear all this?”

“My cousin Dana told me,” he admitted. “You gotta realise, I- I didn’t believe this for a second.”

He paused and you looked up from your pad.

“But now you do,” you finished for him.

“I don’t know what the hell to think,” he sighed. “You guys, I- I’ll tell you exactly what I told the police, okay? That girl was real. And she was dead. This was not a prank. I swear to God, I don’t wanna go anywhere near that house ever again, okay?”

“What’s the excuse for us not going to the scene this time?” Jess asked, unamused, when you turned up at the motel and told Sam he had to go with Dean to the house.

“Legend says Mordechai strings up any girl that goes inside,” you shrugged, kicking off your shoes and kissing Sam’s cheek as he passed through the doorway to meet Dean outside. “We’re girls, Smalls. Might not be safe.”

“What’re we supposed to do then?” she asked, and you pulled out your laptop before sitting beside her on one of the beds and opening it up.

“We’ve got research to do.”

Jessica groaned, leaning her head back on the headboard. You laughed slightly, pulling up a search engine to look up anything to do with Mordechai Murdoch.

“You’d rather risk your life than do research safe in a motel?” you questioned.

Your sister shrugged noncommittally and began picking at her nails.

You ignored her emotional funk in favour of throwing yourself into work.

Eventually, Jessica joined in, helping you take down any and all information that seemed to be of import.

By the time the boys got back that night, you’d exhausted all of the online resources and still come up short of anything particularly relevant to the case.

“What’ve you got?” Dean asked, setting his duffel down beside yours on the other bed.

“We couldn’t find a Mordechai, but there’s a Martin Murdoch who lived in that house in the ‘30s.”

Dean raised his eyebrows for you to continue, and Jess took over.

“He did have kids, but only two of them. Both boys,” she expanded. “And there’s no evidence he ever killed anyone.”

Sam groaned in annoyance as he placed the takeout bag on the small coffee table.

“I’m guessing you didn’t find much either?” you deduced.

Dean shook his head.

“Those kids didn’t really give us a clear description of that dead girl,” he reminded you, retrieving two boxes of Chinese and handing them to you and your sister. “We did hit up the police station, but no matching missing persons. It’s like she never existed. We did our digging, but this one feels like a bust. For all we know, those HellHound boys made up the whole thing.”

Sam handed you chopsticks, and you frowned at Dean as he perched on the edge of the mattress.

“What do you mean, ‘those HellHound boys’?” you asked, picking up on the familiar tone he used when addressing them.

“They were at the house,” Sam explained, leaning in to kiss Jessica before sitting back with his own food. “Amateurs, calling us the inexperienced ones. Kinda ironic.”

“Sounds like a barrel of laughs,” you deadpanned, and Dean allowed you a small smile at that.

“Low-rent Ghostbusters,” he mumbled, and you grinned back, happy to see a smile on his face.

The next morning, pictures of a teenage girl who’d supposedly gone to the Murdoch house to commit suicide were all over the local news.

Upon further inspection you found out from friends that she went into the house as a dare, with no obvious intentions to take her own life.

Figuring they missed something, Sam and Dean decided that it would be a good idea to go back to the house that night.

You and your sister weren’t happy about staying back in the motel for another night, so after much persuasion you were allowed to go with them, on the condition that in no circumstances would you set foot inside the house.

After being cooped up in a motel for bordering thirty hours, it was no surprise that you and Jessica both jumped at the opportunity.

Dean parked the car half a mile from the property, and the four of you quietly made your way towards the house careful to stay in the shadows.

As you got closer, you noticed a police car parked outside, two cops leaning against it.

“I guess the cops don’t want anyone else screwing around in there,” Sam offered, and Dean sighed.

“Yeah, but we still gotta get in there,” he murmured.

Whispered voices caught your attention, and the four of you looked over to the source of the news.

Two men, head to toe in all kinds of undoubtedly useless gadgets, were approaching the property, whispering and shushing each other.

“I don’t believe it,” Dean groaned.

“Ghostbusters?” you questioned, and he nodded in confirmation.

You took a moment to survey the situation before nodding to your sister.

“I’ve got an idea,” you announced, glancing back at Sam and Dean. “Ed and Harry, right?”

“Yeah,” Sam murmured. “What are you gonna do?”

“Don’t worry about us,” you told him, grabbing your sister’s hand and silently telling her to follow your lead. “It’s not the first time Jessy and I have had to flirt our way out of a tricky situation.”

You emerged from the shadows, gasping as if you’d only just seen the wannabe paranormal investigators.

“Oh my God!” you mock-whispered, deliberately loud enough for them to hear. “Jessy- is that-?”

“Ed and Harry!” Jessica squealed, really catching their attention now as you approached them. “Oh my God!”

Their eyes widened at the sight of you, before plastering on what they thought were cool, sexy expressions.

“Hey there, ladies,” Harry drawled, and you fought back an eyeroll at his terrible attempt at being smooth.

“Wow,” Jessica breathed, and you bristled with pride that she was selling it convincingly. “My sister and I are like, your biggest fans.”

Ed’s eyebrows shot up.

“Sisters?” he asked, and you nodded, tossing your hair over your shoulder and giggling.

You made a mental note to get Sam and Dean to buy you a fuck load of beer after all of this was over. These guys were making your skin crawl.

“That’d make us brothers,” Harry whispered, and you knew that was your chance.

“Oh my God!” you gushed loudly, getting the attention of the cops. “Jessy, our favourite paranormal investigators like us!”

“Hey! You!” one of the cops shouted, and Harry and Ed froze, looking between you and your sister before turning on their heels and running.

The police chased after them on foot, leaving you and your sister at the side of the road, laughing.

“They were about ready to marry us,” Jess laughed as Sam and Dean walked over to you, grinning.

“Good job, girls,” Dean commented, his hands finding your waist as he placed a firm kiss to your lips.

You huffed a small laugh as you halfheartedly pushed him back.

“Go, while the cops are busy,” you told him as Sam kissed Jess softly.

“If they come back, we’ll keep them occupied.”

Dean frowned.

“Not sure I like the sound of that,” he grumbled, and you smirked.

“Go,” you repeated, pushing him in the direction of the house. “Be safe.”

You watched them walk away, your sister standing right at your side.

“He really doesn’t like seeing you flirting,” Jess commented, and you scoffed.

“Good.”

She looked at you, contemplative.

“Are you still punishing him?” she asked, and you shook your head.

“Not intentionally,” you allowed, throwing your arm across her shoulders to keep the two of you warm. “If I do something that makes him jealous, it’s just a bonus.”

She laughed, an arm slipping around your waist as she leaned against you, the two of you walking closer to the house.

“We’re working on it, though,” you assured her. “We’re getting there.”

“Good,” she smiled, stopping and leaning against the cop car. “I think you make a good team.”

You laughed, ruffling her hair fondly.

“Whatever.”

You saw the guys run out of the house and you and your sister immediately started running in the direction you’d parked the car, seeing Ed and Harry being trailed by the cops as they approached the house again.

The four of you got to the car at the same time, Sam and Dean looking more dishevelled than usual after a half mile run.

“Murdoch,” Dean explained, opening the impala and getting in behind the wheel. “Fucking Murdoch.”

They didn’t say much on the way back to the motel, and when you got there Dean focussed everything on drawing some symbol he’d seen inside the house.

You sat against the headboard, Dean leaning back into you, half laying over your lap as he continued to scrawl on his notepad.

You couldn’t help but notice the ease at which you fell into the position, how naturally intimate it felt to be this way with him. You were falling hard and you knew it.

Your hand was subconsciously carding through his short hair, scritching at his scalp lightly as Sam and Jess sat in a similar position on their bed.

Sam had his laptop open, the two of them looking intently at the screen.

“What the hell is this symbol?” Dean grumbled, halfway done with the drawing. “It’s buggin’ the hell out of me. This whole damn job’s buggin’ me. I thought the legend said Mordechai only goes after chicks?”

“It does,” Sam murmured, and Dean shifted, getting more comfortable.

“Alright,” he sighed. “Well, I mean, that explains why he went after you, but why me?”

Sam rolled his eyes, pointing at something on the screen for Jessica to read.

“Hilarious,” he deadpanned. “The legend also says he hung himself, but did you see those slit wrists?”

“Yeah,” Dean agreed, continuing with his sketch.

“What’s up with that?” Sam asked, turning his head to look across at the two of you, only just taking in your position and suppressing a smile at the sight. “And the axe too. I mean, ghosts are usually pretty strict, right? Following the same patterns over and over?”

Jessica clicked a link on Sam’s laptop, reading intently.

“This mook keeps changing,” Dean complained, finishing the irritatingly familiar symbol.

“Wait a minute,” Jess interrupted, pointing to what she was looking at to get Sam to read it too. “Someone added a new post to the Hell Hound site. Listen to this. They say Mordechai Murdoch was really a Satanist who chopped up his victims with an axe before slitting his own wrists. Now he’s imprisoned in the house for eternity.”

You grabbed the notebook out of Dean’s hands, suddenly remembering where the symbol was from.

“Where the hell is this going?” Sam asked, and you got to your feet, shrugging into your jacket before throwing Dean his.

“I don’t know,” you admitted, pocketing the notebook and slipping your feet into your shoes. “But I think I might’ve just figured out where it all started.”

You left Sam and Jess back at the motel as you and Dean returned to the music store where you’d first ran into Craig.

He was sat behind the counter, a forlorn expression on his face.

“Hey Craig, remember us?” you asked, walking through the aisles of records and looking for what you needed.

“I’m really not in the mood to answer any of your questions, okay?”

You smiled tightly, flicking through the albums.

“Oh, don’t worry,” you assured him. “We’re just here to buy an album, that’s all.”

You pulled out an album and handed it to Dean as you walked over to the counter.

“You were trying to figure out the symbol relating to lore,” you explained, quietly. “But it doesn’t mean anything. It’s the logo for Blue Ӧyster Cult.”

Dean narrowed his eyes, placing the album on the counter.

“Tell me, Craig,” he said, voice low and dangerous. “You- uh, you into BOC? Or just scaring the shit outta people?”

Craig flinched at his tone, and you folded your arms, no longer feeling sorry for him.

“Now why don’t you tell us about that house,” you prompted.

“Without lying through your ass this time,” Dean added, causing the kid to swallow thickly.

“Alright, uh,” he sighed, shaking his head. “My cousin Dana was on a break from TCU. Ah, I guess we were just bored, looking for something to do. So I showed her this abandoned dump I found. We thought it would be funny if we made it look like it was haunted. So we painted symbols on the walls, some from some albums, some from some of Dana's theology textbooks. Then we found out this guy Murdock used to live there so we- we made up some story to go along with that.”

You looked at Dean, finding the same soft frown pulling at his brows as the one you knew you were wearing.

“So they told people, who told other people,” Craig continued. “And then these two guys put it on their stupid website. Everything just took on a life of its own. I mean I- I thought it was funny at first but... now that girl's dead! It was just a joke, you know. I mean, none of it was real, we made the whole thing up. I swear!”

He looked distraught, and you paused, watching him carefully before nodding to yourself.

“Alright,” you sighed, turning to leave, Dean doing the same.

You reached the door and Dean held it open for you.

“If none of it was real,” he murmured, “Then how the hell do you explain Mordechai?”

You made Dean stop at a joke shop on the way back to the motel. You still hadn’t forgiven your sister and traitor of a best friend for pranking you in the car.

When you got back, Sam and Jessica’s clothes were on the bed, the sounds of running water coming from the shower.

“We’re back,” you called out.

You heard a muffled ‘shit’ from your sister, the sound of feet slipping on tiles.

“Think we interrupted some sexy shower time,” you teased, but Dean pulled a face.

“Gross, that’s my brother,” he reminded you, and you rolled your eyes.

“Yeah, and my sister,” you shrugged. “They’re young, let them have fun.”

You moved over to their bed pulling a packet of itching powder from your pocket, beginning to shake it into Jessica’s bra and Sam’s boxers.

“So, we- uh, we might have a theory about what’s going on,” Sam called out from the bathroom, shutting the water off.

“Oh yeah?” you asked, finding Jessica’s duffel when you decided that attacking one bra wasn’t enough payback.

“What if Mordechai is a tulpa?”

You frowned, shaking more of the powder into the rest of your sister’s underwear.

“The fuck is a tulpa?” you questioned, dropping the bag and pocketing the packet just in time for the two of them to emerge from the bathroom, towels hastily wrapped around them.

“You’d know if you ever went to class at college,” your sister snarked, but Dean had your back.

“I don’t know what it is either,” he told them, and Sam shook his head.

“It’s a Tibetan thought form,” he explained.

“Right,” you nodded. “Hey, why don’t you two get dressed? I wanna go grab something to eat, and I’m sure your little extracurricular activities have left you two hungry as well.”

Jess flushed in embarrassment, but Sam just laughed, walking to their bed to retrieve his clothes.

“We’ll meet you at the car,” you told them, turning to leave to give them some privacy.

“You’re evil,” Dean commented once you got outside, a proud grin on his face despite his words.

“They need to know who the boss is,” you shrugged, and he laughed, his eyes glistening with humour and something you couldn’t quite place.

“Sammy and I used to prank each other,” he told you, leaning against the car and pulling you towards him.

“Yeah?” you asked, tilting your head and looking up at him, his hands resting comfortably on your hips.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “The Nair in shampoo thing? Learned that from me.”

You gasped, pinching his chest harshly.

“I had a bald patch!” you protested, and he laughed, pulling you closer and kissing the top of your head.

“So did he,” he assured you, and you leaned back, looking into his eyes.

“You’re pretty when you laugh,” you told him, earning you a soft smile.

“I’m pretty all the time,” he bargained, and you laughed, nodding.

He leant in and kissed you, gentle but firm, before pulling back as your siblings came out from the motel room.

“For the record,” he murmured, unlocking the car. “You’re pretty when you laugh, too.”

Sam and Jess weren’t happy when the itching kicked in at the diner.

You’d managed to come up with a plan to get rid of the tulpa before they figured out you were behind their discomfort, so you reluctantly took them to a laundromat on your way to Kinko’s.

They both insisted on washing all of their clothes, not trusting you when you insisted that you’d not put the powder in anything else.

“Smart kids,” Dean commented once they were out of the car, and you huffed a laugh.

“Yeah,” you agreed.

You worked in a content silence once you got to Kinko’s, printing out convincing paperwork with ‘confirmation’ of Murdoch’s death certificate, explaining how he died - from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

After a brief discussion with your siblings, you figured it would be best for Sam and Dean to go and present the new information to Ed and Harry. Dean didn’t even try to hide the fact that he didn’t want you alone with other guys that had a crush on you.

Not wanting to go back to the motel, Jess convinced her boyfriend that the two of you could just as easily wait it out in a cafe.

It didn’t take long for the information to be snatched up by the Hell Hound boys. After the guys met you in the cafe you knew it wouldn’t be long before the story was up on their website.

You slid out of the booth when they arrived, offering to get them drinks since you and Jess were only halfway done with yours.

When you got back to the table, Jess had a suspicious grin on her face.

You narrowed your eyes at her as you handed the brother’s their drinks.

“What’s that face for?” you asked, and she shrugged, a practiced mask of indifference.

Dean pulled you by the wrist, making you sit next to him without further question.

“C’mon, crack a smile,” he teased, and you rolled your eyes, nodding to Sam’s open laptop.

“They post it yet?”

Sam turned the computer to face you, showing a new page up on HellHoundsLair.com.

“‘We’ve learned from reputable sources that Mordechai Murdoch has a fatal fear of firearms’,” Dean read, shaking his head in bemusement.

“Alright,” you sighed. “How long do we wait?”

“Long enough for the new story to spread and the legend to change,” Sam told you. “I figure by nightfall iron rounds will work on the sucker.”

He held his beer out to you, and you picked up your own, tapping the neck to his.

“Sweet,” you murmured, taking a swig.

The grin was back on Jessica’s face as you lowered the bottle to the table, and you frowned in confusion until realisation dawned when you couldn’t let go of the glass.

“You didn’t,” you accused, trying to shake your hand free.

“Oh, I did,” Jessica laughed, holding up a small tube of superglue.

“Jessica Lee you’re in a whole load of shit for this,” you told her, but she was too busy laughing to pay any heed to your warning.

“Here,” Dean said, trying to hide a smile as he motioned for your hand.

“You’re such a shit,” you told him as he tried to pry your palm free with a spoon. “Three vs one isn’t fair.”

“Hey,” he protested fondly, “I’m the neutral party in this.”

“Two on one isn’t fair either,” you grumbled, wincing as a small section of your palm was freed. “You should be on my side.”

His eyes searched yours for a second, and Sam and Jess were eerily quiet as they witnessed the exchange.

“I am,” Dean murmured softly, looking back down at your hand as a blush rose across his freckled cheeks.

“You sure you’ve got this?” Sam asked Jess for the tenth time since you’d left the car and started on foot to the Murdoch house.

“Sam,” she laughed, “You know for a fact that this isn’t the first time Y/N’s flirted with a cop.”

“Yeah, but you’re not Y/N,” he reminded her, and you rolled your eyes.

“If you actually dressed up on halloween, you’d have seen Jessy flirt with a policeman,” you reminded him. “You’d’ve probably seen me flirt with one, too.”

Jessica scoffed, but you just shrugged.

“What? This tall drink of water in a tight-in-all-the-right-places cop costume?” you laughed, pinching Sam’s ass as you walked past him, turning and walking backwards to catch the looks on their faces. “Nobody could resist that.”

“That’s enough of that,” Dean grumbled, and you turned back around, falling into step beside him.

Your eyes flitted over his face, taking in his clenched jaw and slightly flared nostrils.

“You know I’m kidding, right?” you assured him, quietly. “Sam and I, we never-”

“I know,” he sighed, surprising you when he entwined his fingers with yours and squeezed. “But you’re gonna have to flirt with those cops.”

You squeezed his hand back.

“True,” you allowed. “But after all this is done, I’ll be going back with you.”

You paused, heat rising in your cheeks as you realised what you’d said.

“And Sam, and Jessy,” you hastily added, and he smiled, letting go of your hand to put his arm around your shoulders.

“I knew what you meant, kiddo,” he assured you, kissing the top of your head.

You didn’t even pretend to hate the name this time.

Jessica told you that she had a plan with the cops, so it was your turn to follow her lead. Sam and Dean were waiting in the shadows, ready to make a quick dash for the house once you’d distracted them enough.

As you approached, the policemen stood up straighter, cool smiles plastered on their faces.

“Ladies,” the slightly taller man drawled, his Texas accent heavy just from one word. “What are y’all doin’ all the way out here in the dark?”

Jessica smiled, tilting her head up to look at him, despite the fact there wasn’t much of a height difference. Making him feel tall, you nodded, allowing yourself to slouch slightly.

“We’re new to the area,” Jess explained, her voice lighter, softer than normal. “We were exploring and- I think we’re a little lost.”

“Where did you move from?” the other one asked, and you and Jessica answered at the same time.

“Minnesota-”

“California-”

You blushed, shaking your head.

“We were at Stanford,” you explained, “But we took a trip north before settling here.”

“You think you could maybe show us around?” Jessica asked, big eyes wide and inviting.

They looked at each other as you smiled hopefully at the two of them.

“I suppose we could walk you back into town,” the taller said, and you grinned, throwing your arms around him and kissing his cheek.

“Thank you so much,” you gushed, hating how girly you sounded but going along with it for the brothers’ sake.

“So,” Jess said once you’d started walking away. “How did two handsome guys like you end up on this shitty night shift?”

You’d given the cops the number of one of Dean’s burner phones when they left you outside some apartment complex, waiting for them to leave before walking back to your motel.

The new legend hadn’t stuck, the iron rounds didn’t harm the tulpa at all, so the brothers took matters into their own hands and burnt the house to the ground.

Sam had texted Jess a couple minutes after the cops left, telling you that they were back at the impala and Murdoch had been dealt with.

“Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?” Jessica pondered as you got back to the motel, waiting outside the room for the boys to arrive. “Of all the things we’ve hunted, how many existed just because people believed in them.”

You shrugged, leaning back against the wall.

“All this stuff is crazy,” you sighed. “When we were growing up, back with Mom and Dad, I wouldn’t have thought any of this was possible.”

She nodded, thinking.

“You ever think we should tell them?” she asked. “About all this stuff?”

“You think they’d believe us?” you countered, and she sighed.

“Guess not,” she agreed, raising a hand in a wave as the impala pulled into the parking lot.

You pushed up from the wall, walking towards the car, ready to get in for another long drive to Bumfuck, Nowhere.

“We’re gonna stay here another night,” Dean told you, getting out and grabbing your bags from the trunk while Sam and Jess embraced. “Wanna make sure the amateurs leave well enough alone.”

“Okay,” you nodded, taking your bag and the room key as Dean held it out for you.

You leant up, placing a soft kiss to the side of his mouth before walking back over to your room, leaving Sam and Jessica to pay for an extra day at reception.

“What was the cop’s name?” Dean asked, dropping his duffel on the bed while he sat down, taking off his boots. “The tall one?”

You smiled knowingly, not that he was looking.

“I never asked for it,” you assured him. “But it’s cute that you’re jealous.”

He looked up, mouth opening and closing, unsure what to say.

You grinned, walking over and standing between his parted knees, your hands resting on his shoulders.

“Just shows you care,” you told him, letting your thumbs stroke over the sides of his neck soothingly.

“Yeah,” he sighed, taking one of your hands and pressing a kiss to your pulse point before letting go as Sam and Jess entered. “Let’s get some rest.”

You nodded, stepping back and opening your bag, pulling out a sleep shirt, ignoring your sister’s perceptive smile as you walked through to the bathroom.

The next morning, you waited at a bench near Ed and Harry’s trailer, watching from afar while they loaded their car.

Sam said something that made Jessica crack up with laughter, catching their attention and causing them to walk over.

“You guys know these ladies?” Harry asked in place of a greeting.

“Old friends,” Dean replied, tightly.

Ed and Harry nodded, their eyes drawing slowly over you and your sister before Harry nudged his friend.

“Should we tell ‘em?” he asked, and Ed shrugged.

“Hey, might as well, you know,” he agreed. “They’re gonna read about it in the trades.”

You raised your eyebrows at them.

“So, this morning we got a phonecall from a very important Hollywood producer,” Harry explained, and Dean scoffed.

“Oh yeah, wrong number?” he guessed, and Ed narrowed his eyes.

“No, smartass,” he defended. “He read all about the Hell House on our website and wants to option the motion picture rights. Maybe even have us write it.”

“And create the RPG,” Harry added, and you frowned.

“The what?”

“Role playing game,” Ed explained, and you nodded. “A little lingo for you. Anyhoo, excuse us, we’re off to la-la land.”

“Well, congratulations guys,” Sam offered, smiling wide. “That sounds really great.”

“Yeah, that’s awesome,” Dean agreed. “Best of luck to you.”

Ed scoffed. “Oh yeah, luck. That has nothing to do with it. It’s about talent. Sheer, unabashed talent.”

You nodded, and Harry winked at you before the two of them began to walk away.

You watched them leave, laughing slightly.

“Wow,” you murmured.

Sam grinned at you. “I have a confession to make.”

“What’s that?” you asked.

“I, uh,” he paused, laughing softly. “I was the one that called them and told them I was a producer.”

You all laughed, and Sam smiled, proud of himself.

“Yeah, well I’m the one who put Jessy’s number on their dashboard,” you added, and Dean cracked up, Jessica shaking her head through a chuckle as you made your way back to the impala.

“Truce?”

Jessica offered her hand, and you shook it, grinning.

“Yeah, truce,” you agreed, opening the back passenger door. “At least for the next hundred miles, anyway.”

Dean was still laughing as he got in behind the wheel, starting the engine and turning on the stereo.

There was Blue Ӧyster Cult blasting through the speakers as you made your way out of Texas.

What did you think? Let me know!

@aprofoundbondwithdean, @adriellej, @deansbaekaz2y5, @danijimenezv, @ruined-by-destiel, @starswirlblitz, @thepinkgremlin, @torn-and-frayed, @prideandprejudiceandbrendonurie, @bbywinchester67, @xtina2191, @latinenglishfandomblog, @purgatoan, @mindlessmegzz, @winchesterprincessbride, @sandlee44, @waywardlullabies, @treasurecastiel, @allinhishands, @helloangelicaaaaa, @destielxspn, @hiddenwritingsintheworld, @riddikuluslysupernatural, @sdavid09, @keepingitrealcas, @lennyways, @spnhybrid, @chaos-and-the-calm67, @dontcrydean, @shameless-danni, @a-girl-who-loves-disney, @maxwellthemajestickoala, @supernatural0826, @run-your-cleverboy, @nerdwholikesword, @tiarna-spn, @ashiewesker, @tolaughistolobe, @lakama15, @spnolivia, @creatively-charlie, @bideanismykink, @highonpastries, @wanderer-tan, @a-sea-of-fandoms, @niamandthings, @damnitfandom, @avasmommy224, @babyjpad, @smol-hufflepuff-fangirl, @aiaranradnay

#series rewrite #hell house #dean x reader #sam x jess #supernatural #sam winchester #dean winchester #jessica moore

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mysynthfetish · 8 years ago

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Rhapsody in Blue? AKA: Novation Revisitation

Visible at the bottom there is a my recentmost acquisition: a Novation Nova II X. I’ve been a fan of Novation synths ever synth I first played around with one. Ahem. Since. Anyway, um, where was I? Oh yeah. Actually the first Novation synth I owned was a Bass Station, the original one, that I bought new when they first came out. Of course, I was hoping it would live up to the hype and be a good sit-in for a 303, which I couldn’t afford at the time (though I would buy one not so long thereafter, from a shop in NYC, for like $900). Well, it didn’t, not exactly. I mean, it was a very good monosynth, no doubt about it, but as far as replacing or duplicating the 303 sound? Not so much. And I can say so because of having the 303 I mentioned a few lines back at the same time as I had the Bass Station. Blah blah woof woof. What did I like the most about the Bass Station though? The filter, oh man, the filter! it was good, and somehow different from the other synths I’d used until then. Just recently I found out that the Bass Station filter was actually the same as in the Wasp, which was a creepy oddball monosynth released by UK-based EDP. Seems Chris Huggett, the designer of the Wasp, took part in the designing of the Bass Station (and also the OS for every AKAI sampler from the S-1000 through the S-3200). Well then!

Actually, I had a Nova desktop module for a few years, maybe I bought it 5 years ago, but I sold it after picking up a Virus TI. Oops. I also had a K-Station for a while. Last September I built two Jaspers—DIY clones of the Wasp—and I’m sure I posted here about it. I’ve been rearranging my setup basically non-stop for the past year and a half (need to cut this shit out already) and was thinking I wanted a polysynth that was different from the standard Roland Korg Yamaha stuff (new and old) and Novation popped into my head. I found an X-Station 25 for a very reasonable price so I bought it. It definitely had the Nova DNA, but with a bit fewer programming options and somewhat lesser DSP power than the desktop Nova I had before. In any case, it sounded good! It was the Nova sound—a sound I really liked, though I never really got all that deep into programming the desktop when I had it. And come to think of it, the one thing I remember liking the most about the Nova was that you could build a Performance, with up to eight separate programs across up to eight separate MIDI channels, and each program would retain the up to six effects used per program, if I recall correctly. Even now, this is virtually unheard of. It was a great module for using both in the studio and live. The only problems it had were jumpy encoders and a power supply issue that would have it cycle on and off by itself (usually a jiggle to the power cable took care of that).

Jumpy encoders. Ugh. My K-Station suffered from this too. I sent an email to Novation Support asking if they’d provide me with a part number so I could fix the thing, and what do you know? They sent me a replacement part for free!!! FREE!? Insanity!

Back to the Nova II X. I’d had my eye on this one for a while. It was listed on the auction here as an as-is deal. Jumpy encoders, and an on-the-verge-of-breaking-off Sustain slider, though the seller had obtained a replacement part but never got around to installing it. Well… Hmmmm. Ah what the hell why not? I bid on it and won obviously, nobody else bid. It hadn’t even been in the house for ten minutes and I had the thing disassembled and swapped out the slider.

There you can see the old one. On the verge of breaking? Sheeeeeit that fucker was broke off! The previous owner had super-glued it as a temporary fix. Popped right off. Nice one. Hmmph. So after it was all back together I gave it a thorough test drive and guess what. Jumpy encoders. AAAAAAAAAARGH!!! I contacted Novation Support in the UK, but this time they gave me the contact info for the distributor in Japan. Ah this is where it gets fun. I sent an email, and in a very un-Japanese fashion, did not receive a reply even a week later. So I decided to call them up. The first person I spoke with was a lady who wasn’t all that helpful, and left me with the idea that they didn’t wanna have anything to do with service or repair, I mean she flat out told me “…the Nova II X was never officially sold in Japan, so we can’t really help you out with your problem.” Say WHAT? So I said “..actually I contacted Novation in the UK and the service rep gave me your contact info, and told me you’d take care of it. Guess I’ll get back in touch with him then.” At which point I was asked to hold. The next person to get on the phone was a guy actually in the service department. He told me they were behind on answering their emails after I said I’d been waiting for a week for a response, so that explains that (but doesn’t excuse it). I told the guy about my positive experience with Novation Support when I had problems with the encoder on the K-Station, but I made it clear that I had no problem paying for a pair of replacement encoders, given the age of the synth and the probable difficulty of finding parts. The rep said hold on a sec lemme check, yeah ok there is stock available but it’ll be after the New Year holiday that we can get them in. So I should be hearing back from them again soon, seeing as it’s January 6th already, and today was the first day back to work for the majority of the country (though there are some companies that won’t open again until the 10th, as next Monday is a national holiday). In the meantime, I thought maybe I could just pop open the encoders, clean them out, clamp them back together again and see what happens.

Wow, nice pixelated text there. The lighting wasn’t so great either for the “After” shot, so the thing actually looks worse. Whatever, You can see the encoders still attached to the PCB at top left. They were much easier to pop open this way, than if I’d desoldered them (I’ve done that before, not fun). At top right, you can see inside the body. There are three pins that ride on the surface of the spinny part. The lone pin at far left had drifted over towards the sorta pair of pins in the middle (on both encoders), so I gently straightened it out with the help of a 20x loupe and a pair of VERY sharp tweezers. I then used contact cleaner on the spinny thing, finally putting the encoders back together after a very careful wipe down. Well, waddaya know? Works like new. So, it doesn’t really matter if the peeps in Tokyo who’ve been stuck with being the ‘service’ provider for Novation here in Japan get back to me about the encoders really. Though it would be nice to have an extra pair just in case.

After it was back in good running order, I spent about two weeks straight programming a patch or two every night. Goodness. This is a programmer’s synth, make no mistake. The trickery this thing is capable of, well, it almost gives my Xpander a run for the money. You know, actually, if the matrix mod on the Nova was as flexible as that of the Xpander… well, and if it had five EGs and five LFOs (it has three EGs and two LFOs as it is though). In any case, once you get your head around the way it works, it is such a good synth. Some of it is just brilliant. For example, using sync doesn’t require two oscillators (the sync parameter just builds a synced waveform at the source). Or you can use sync skew and change the formant width too (the Nova manual explains all of this in such great detail that it’s worth a look even if you don’t have a Nova). Of course these are destinations in the Mod Matrix. All this just makes it possible to cook up some really unique, interesting, evolving, organic sounds. And then with effects? It’s a sound designer’s dream and then some.

I did however run into a problem I experienced with the desktop Nova I had though, although it was more a programmer error than any real fault of the synth. The problem was that the patches were SO quick to distort (this happened on the Nord Lead 3 too). It’s easily fixed by lowering the mix level of the oscillators, and/or lowering the effects sends. No big deal. And now that I’ve spent time with it, I think the synth engine is extremely powerful, obviously, but it also requires a certain amount of finesse while programming as opposed to a brute-force methodology, if that makes sense at all. An added bonus is that this synth has the most LEDs of any synth I’ve owned, I think, which along with the almost one-knob-or-slider-per-function interface, makes it a breeze to program. Having said that, there is a certain unavoidable amount of menu diving, but only if you want to control things at a sort of maniacal level (like the stuff I talked about in the previous paragraph). For your everyday synth sounds, though, you can leave your scuba gear alone as no diving is required. What a great synth.

Wow, this turned into a long post! Right then. Til next time!

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forgotten-bloom · 6 years ago

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K-EXCLUSIVE: DAY6 wrap-up their Australian tour with a phenomenal set at the Enmore

Customarily a haunt for stand-up comedy, the iconic Enmore Theatre was shaken all the way to its Art Deco foundations last Sunday night by the combined passion of South Korean rock band DAY6, and two floors of feverish, screaming fans. After building up an impressive following both at home and overseas since debuting in 2015, DAY6 successfully launched their first ever world tour titled 'Youth' in June this year. Australia, as the first international leg of the tour, was graced with not one but two stops on the east coast, with the band playing at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne on August 10, before heading to Sydney two days later on August 12 for their show at the Enmore. A note from the writer: Coming from a background where I was constantly slipping away to attend battle of the bands as a teenager, spending hours crushed in a pit or the basement of a dive bar watching hardcore, punk and metal artists swinging from the ceiling or climbing perilous scaffolding to get onto the venue roof, stepping into a DAY6 concert packed with a primarily young, female demographic, still feels a little out of the ordinary for me. I've attended dozens of concerts over the years, but based on what I witnessed on Sunday night, I can say with absolute confidence that DAY6 are in a league entirely of their own making; how many multilingual rock bands can you list with four powerful lead vocalists, all with their own distinct and identifiable style (who can also rap with effortless grit), play their own instruments and write their own music, with a fifth member, a literal drum incarnate, who keeps their very hearts beating with a shy grin from the back of the stage? Let me save you some time; I googled it quickly out of curiosity (admittedly with slightly less detail), and the list is non-existent. The 'Youth' world tour will be another long-term project for the band, on the back of their 2017 'Every DAY6' series, and we're sure they'll continue to slay every crowd with their bright, yet soulful, brand of Korean rock in each country, leaving behind a long trail of broken hearts (did I happen to mention that they all hit those required South Korean industry visuals? Because they definitely do). DAY6 will be returning to South Korea to play their next gig in Busan on August 18, before hitting the figurative road to conquer Taipei, Bangkok, Manila, Canada, USA and Europe over the next year; if you haven't yet had the privilege of seeing this band live, do not miss out on a ticket to one of these dates. Full transcript and setlist: DAY6 at the Enmore Theatre, Sydney A cliche, but a universal truth nonetheless, is the inherent ability of music to transcend language barriers. Despite this, one of the most impressive features of a K-Pop concert (or in this case, full-blown Korean rock concert), is the members' efforts to learn as much of that country's language as humanly possible, in order to forge a warm and genuine connection with the audience for the precious few hours they'll spend together. Although DAY6 have a slight advantage with wildly confident, English-speaking members Jae and Young K at the helm, it's entirely possible that native Korean-speaker Wonpil actually took the gold for both overall charm and line distribution during the ments (a.k.a. chatting with the audience) in Sydney. As you probably know, the dynamic five piece band is made up of leader Sungjin (rhythm guitar, vocals), Young K (bass, vocals, rap), Jae (lead guitar, vocals, and beloved YouTuber), Wonpil (keyboard/synthesiser, vocals), and maknae Dowoon (drums). See if you can hear their voices as you read through the transcript, and let us know how we did! Disclaimer: It was a crazy night on the dancefloor, and it's entirely possible that a few things are slightly mixed, or misheard here and there! It's not verbatim, but we've worked hard to imbue this transcript with the spirit and energy of each individual member of DAY6, and we hope you can happily experience every chuckle and heartwarming moment through our very carefully punctuated text! We also deeply recommend reading the rest of this article on a computer screen. Transcript key SJ: Sungjin YK: Young K J: Jae WP: Wonpil DW: Dowoon DAY6: The band MYDAY: The audience [trans]: live translation KR-ENG at the concert 한글/Romanisation/ENG: post-concert translation [The concert opens after the added anticipation of a slightly late start] SONG: '반드시 웃는다I Smile' SONG: 'First Time' SONG: 'Better Better' [First round of banter for the night] SJ: Going, keep going; show me your energy, ok! J: So… SJ: [launches into an acapella solo of '놀래Whatever'] SONG: '놀래Whatever' SONG: 'Say Wow' SONG: '쏟아진다Pouring' SONG: '어쩌다 보니Somehow' J: That's what I'm talking about! MYDAY: [cheering] J: …Ladies and gentlemen, we've just done seven songs and it's already this crazy. Tonight we need you to prepare yourselves 'cause it's about to get crazy lit up in here right? But before that we're going to introduce ourselves. DAY6: 하나 둘 셌! 안녕하세요 데이식스 임니다! /Hana, dul, set! Annyeonghaseyo DAY6 imnida! / 1, 2, 3! Hello we are DAY6! WP: Hello everybody, we are DAY6 SJ: So we'll go one by one [trans] WP: Ah, yeah. Um, first Sydney… MYDAY: [cheering] WP: …I'm really excited for tonight, we already did seven songs and you're already so excited [trans]. I'm really honoured to be here and I'm really excited for the show [trans]. I'm, Wonpil. YK: WHAT'S GOOD SYDNEY!? How you feelin' tonight?! What's good, it's Young K! DW: Oh, wow. Um, please keep cheering for us, yeah! I'm so happy to play the drums here, it's really THANK YOU! Oh, enjoy yourself? Thank you. [Startled] Oh, my name is Yoon Dowoon. SJ: What's up everybody!! I'm DAY6 leader, Sungjin! Uh, so good energy 진짜/jinjja/really, keep going! J: What's up everybody? I'm DAY6 guitarist Jae, nice to meet you. Uh, first of all before we continue on with our set, we are so grateful, so blessed, so humbled to be here before you today…we have wanted to be here a long time now, and because we did our trainee days with, uh, Bangchan [member of Stray Kids, rookie JYP Entertainment idol group]… MYDAY: [cheering in deep Australian] J: …he's always talking about Australia…he told us about how much of a beautiful a country it is, how beautiful the people are and EVERYTHING he said was true, so we just wanna thank you once again for welcoming us here. We are beyond humbled and blessed to be here today, so with that said and out of the way, are you guys ready?! We got a lot of set for you guys today, we good we hot? Let's all get hot together! [laughs]. Ok, so we're going to move on with our set, and our next song is…what's our next song?? SJ: Need. Need? J: …what's Need? [laughing] BINGO! Let's go! SONG: '누군가 필요해I Need Somebody' SONG: '어떻게 말해How Can I Say' J: Oh wow, this is wild. I think Dowoon has something to say, no? DW: Uh, oh, today it's so hot. Outside the weather is hot too…Wow, the weather is just great. Ok ok, how was your feeling? Wow. Yes, the weather is good, too nice, yeah. Oh, Wonpil Wonpil! Something to say to our MYDAY? WP: Uh Sydney…Sydneyyy…recently… YK: Recently? WP: Uh Winter… YK: Yes, it's Winter? WP: …but this place, Summer. My middle…inside…heart, so thumping…Sydney is Winter, but this place Summer? My heart… YK: My heart is? WP: …too Summer when it's in Sydney. [Deep breath, ready to summarise] Wonpil's heart and this place, Summer, ok?! Woooo! YK: Go Jae J: Alright, uh… how you guys doing so far, pretty good? We're going to move on with our set right, but before that, it might be a little bit dangerous for the people at the front, but we need floor two to stand up too, ok? No? That's alright, I'll just go then [pretends to walk offstage, laughing]. WE NEED THE SECOND FLOOR TO STAND UP can you guys stand up real quick? So, for this next little corner we're gonna do, we're gonna have to get a little bit hype, but, uh second floor please be careful? [sways from side to side] that's cool, but none of this ok [jumps up and down]. We don't want accidents happening and your safety comes first ok? So uh… MYDAY: [suddenly cheering loudly] J:…was it something I said? I never knew safety was such a great word [laughing]. Um, alright guys so we're gonna enjoy this, are y'all ready for the next section?! Is DAY6 ready for the next section? Let's get it on…[pauses as he realises he said something potentially racy, but laughs it off]. YK: [In the meantime, bursts into operatic vocals] READYYYYYY! ARE YOUUUU READYYYY! LET'S GOOOOOOO! J: Alright, what we got next up, 저 태양처럼/jeo taeyang cheoreom, let's go! SONG: '저 태양처럼Like That Sun' SONG: 'Dance Dance' SONG: '좋은걸 뭐 어떡해What Can I Do' SONG: 'WARNING' YK: How you feelin' so far? Lemme hear you one more time, how you feelin' so far?! Oh you guys are AMAZIN'! WP: So Sydney…inspiration… YK: …they givin' you inspiration? WP: Yah… YK: What you thinkin'? WP: Beautiful voice and, we are ensemble? YK: Working all together? He's saying we are one! WP: Sydney…wow. YK: It's Sydney and wow. WP: Sungjin too…Sungjin, what, ah, feeling? SJ: [sings] I'm feeling goooood! Feels soooo good! [talking] Are you ready [trans]? YK: Do one more! SJ: Then let's keep going [trans]! Jae, Jae… MYDAY: [someone squeezes a loud 'I LOVE YOU!' into a split second of silence] J: I LOVE YOU TOO! [Frowning] This has been a miscalculation on my part…second floor, uh, would you like to sit down, or… do you want to keep standing? SEE Y'ALL HAVE ALREADY SAT DOWN, you guys can sit down if you want! It was a miscalculation at first, I was like, oh let's all party together, and then during the song you guys were like, what am I doing here? [laughing] I felt bad, you guys can sit down, no worries…if not, let's keep the show rolling…Sungjin's gonna kick it off… SJ: Ah, ok let's…go! SONG: '장난 아닌데I'm Serious' SONG: '혼잣말Talking To' SONG: 'Shoot Me' J: Crazy YK: [Looking at the fan project banners for the night] What does it say? Shoot Me love? Give me more… Shoot Me love! I need more, SHOOT ME LOVE! Ahhh, thank you guys, you guys are AMAZING! Dowoon? DW: Let's go. YK: Isn't it great? DW: Yes, also… YK: Also what? Also… DW: Awesome. YK: Awesome! DW: Awesome. Ohhhhh yeah. Um, first time I come here, I see the city Melbourne, we see it together yeah, oh so beautiful. Australia is so beautiful. Yeah, I want to live here two months or three months? Yeah. YK:…Actually, we went to uh, to see the Opera House yesterday. Harbour Bridge. Yeah, it was actually beautiful. The weather was really nice too. It's Winter here now right? I love this Winter [laughing]. The weather was actually perfect wasn't it? WP: Sydney, uh, tonight is winter? Season, but um heat…it feels like I'm wearing a heat pack because this place…because I heard the beautiful voices of MYDAY my heart is warm [trans]. Yeah. So I'm not cold at all [trans]. I also want to stay in Sydney for more than two days [trans]. Yeah, I like it [trans]. Sungjin? Uh, Sungjin…Sungjin, uh what's that? [mumbling happily at the crowd] J: [to YK] Can you translate? YK: What, translate English to Korean?? J: [to WP] Ohh, you're speaking English??? MYDAY: [loud mixture of scandalised giggling and whooping] J: Oh, no no no! It's not like that, no, I was being curious, oh I swear! YK: [unable to contain his reaction, hollers] SAVAGE!!!! HARSH!!! [laughing] J: Wonpil was good, I'm sorry! MYDAY: [settling down again] YK: Guys, ah no, when we're on stage, when we're not wearing uh, our in-ear? Earphones? J: Uh huh YK: Uh, it's actually really hard to understand what anyone's saying. It's really…boomy? [laughs in Jae's direction]. [To Wonpil] Do you have anything more to say? WP: Yes, I already said but I'll do a bit more [trans]. I'll say more later [laughing]. YK: What do you mean? [Repeats the question in Korean, then English again] What do you mean? WP: What do you mean? YK: No, but this is the end [trans]? WP: No! Really? YK: Do you know how many songs we got through? 17 already! MYDAY: [Cheering] WP: Yeah, wow! YK: But wasn't it fun?! MYDAY: [More cheering] YK: But sadly, we're already at the last section. WP: No, you're a liar! YK: I'm a liar? WP: Yeah. YK: You sure? SJ: [looking at YK, suddenly deadpan] No, his name is Brian not liar. YK: NO! DAY6 (except YK): Brian. Brian. Brian. MYDAY: BRIAN! BRIAN! BRIAN! BRIAN! BRIAN! YK: [chagrined, and dripping with sarcasm] THANK YOU SYDNEY! [Back to normal]…Yeah, but sadly we're already at the last section of the concert [tech comes onstage], I was too excited, I was too hyped, so I kept stepping on the line? So, I actually plugged out the bass cord [laughing]. J: Honestly though, I think that today is just that kind of environment, like.. you know what I'm sayin'? Like it's so crazy, we got lights up in here, we got people who are dancin'. At one point, nah nah nah real talk, I don't say this at every stage, but at one point the stage was shaking. Real talk. So uh, we're gonna try to make that happen not in this next part now but…this next part…wait backtrack, that didn't happen just now…this next part is the last part…we…[laughing] I MESSED IT UP! [Quickly] Hey Sungjin, you got anything to say? SJ: Kiki…[grins] J: …Sungjin, you got anything to say? SJ: Yeah uhh…this part is uh, final section. Um, he told, told you guys um head shaking…but uh this part is not… head shaking yet [trans]? Show me the voice! Show me your beautiful voice, alright? YK: Are you guys going to show us your voice? Are you guys going to show us your beautiful voice? Uh…can I hear you guys sing? ['Man in a Movie' singing time with YK and MYDAY] YK: YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! I really wanted to hear that, because actually, that was the last song before we came on right? And you guys were singing along to it? [points off to stage right] And we were right behind there? And we heard you. So you're gonna sing us the next song we're going to play. Alright, sing it first, let's go. SONG: 'Congratulations' SONG: '예뻤어You Were Beautiful' SONG: 'I Loved You' SONG: '좋아합니다I Like You' [SPECIAL VCR] SONG: '놓아 놓아 놓아Letting Go' (Rebooted version) [Ending ments] J: Wow [laughing]. Uh, this is so sad…come with me [laughing more]. Ok, uh, so guys, today for me was a phenomenal day. First off, um, you know, I was a little bit scared coming to Australia 'cause we haven't been here, it's our first time here for a concert. What if no one sings along, what if…[cheering]…you're right, I was stupid, you're right, you're right. You guys are crazy! Uh, yo, real talk, I don't think I've ever…uhh, how do I say this..I don't think I've ever let my 정신/jeongshin/ mind or mentality…I don't think I've ever let my mind this loose while being, while being on stage ever. Like usually, like, as an artist, you stand here like, I'm gonna sing good, I'm gonna play guitar real good, I'm gonna listen to my metronome, I'm gonna get…I didn't care today! So um, so excuse me if I was uh, off-pitch…I know, I know, I'm amazing! Haha, but anyway, guys today, today was exceptional. Um, no, no, really, you guys don't know how much this means to me today. Just overall, thank you so much for having us. I, I feel like, I feel like, well really blessed, thank you, I appreciate it. SJ: It's the first time for DAY6 coming to Australia [trans]. But this first experience was such a good experience in my life [trans]. Australia is a beautiful place and has beautiful people [trans]. Honestly, distance-wise it's pretty far; this time and memories, even though these will become memories, we think about it in the past, we will be together [trans]. So please don't forget this moment and I promise we'll come back [trans]. Thank you so much for today [trans]. See you guys, thank you! DW: Ha. He kind of said everything I wanted to say, yeah [trans]. Uh, ok? It was such a good memory for us today, and I hope this is a good memory for you guys too [trans]. We will work so hard and come back to give you better energy [trans]. Wow, thank you! YK: How was DAY6 concert? How was MYDAYs? 'Cause I thought you guys were amazing. There's so much I wanna say, but I don't know how to put it in words, especially in English. Uh, ok. First, I know how hard it is to memorise a song in a different language, 'cause we did covers and we tried singing in different languages; it's not easy. But throughout the entire concert, you guys were singing along…I don't know how that's possible. How many of you speak Korean as your first language? Not so many, exactly! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! So, again I feel blessed…I feel…I don't know if I deserve such love. Thank you guys so much. We really appreciate it, and we'll be back. Thank you. WP: So our first world tour, and we are so lucky that our first stop was here in Australia [trans]. I was expecting it, but I didn't know I would get this much love, energy…I'll never forget this moment, and I'll promise to come back [trans]. For us DAY6, thank you so much for making these precious moments [trans]. I love you too. Thank you for, appreciate it, yeah. I want to take picture. [DAY6 and MYDAY photo time] J: So we're really at the final part of the concert. But uh, you guys know how crazy it gets right, at the end of our shows? Do you not know how crazy it gets at the end of DAY6 shows? OH, just real quick, let's be, let's stay safe…[ suddenly, throwing his head and arms back dramatically] PREACH, YES JAE PREACH!! [Jae's comprehensive safety talk time continues] J: I think there's something Young K wants to say right? YK: How's the, energy level right now? It's great… but not as great as before. So [screams], no no save your energy, we're gonna check how you guys are, but this time it's gonna be Wonpil doing it. WP: Yeah. YK: You know what to do. WP: Uh, Sydney. Are you…ready? Don't hear me, don't hear me. I can't hear it [trans]. MYDAY: [reasonable decibel of enthusiasm] WP: Amazing music. I'll use magic [trans]. Look at my hand [trans]. [Punching upwards into the air] Let's go!!!!! MYDAY: [ear-splitting screams that JYP himself probably heard from South Korea] SONG: '바래I Wish' SONG: '하게Free' [DAY6 in the pit with MYDAY time a.k.a. a wild and incredibly unconventional victory lap of the venue while miraculously keeping the song going, all clothing intact, and sending venue security into an apoplectic state of panic] DAY6: [Warmly exiting the stage] J: Thank you guys! YK: Thank you Sydney! Thank you Australia! SJ: See you soon! WP: Thank you, I appreciate it! J: [whispers in WP's ear] WP: …This has been great! Everyone, see you later, I love you! [blows kiss] J: [the very last to leave, waving fondly at their MYDAY with both hands until he disappears] [Concert end] If you made it all the way to the end, thank you for reading! And if you attended the concert in Sydney, congratulations on creating these precious memories with DAY6! Still need more? If you're suffering from some serious post-concert depression right now, we prescribe one dose of footage from last years' 'Every DAY6 Concert' series while we wait for JYP Entertainment to release that 4k blu-ray 'Youth' tour content! You can also access our full suite of HD photos from DAY6's concert in Sydney here. A special round of thanks of course goes out to My Music Taste and JYP Entertainment for allowing our team to cover an incredible performance; as always, follow our page for future concert exclusives from Officially Kmusic! Source: (1) Media/Twitter/Writer/Editor: Carmel-Lee Skinner Media/Photographer: Shalamah Tautaiolefue The post K-EXCLUSIVE: DAY6 wrap-up their Australian tour with a phenomenal set at the Enmore appeared first on The latest kpop news and music | Officially Kmusic.

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haklek · 6 years ago

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K-EXCLUSIVE: DAY6 wrap-up their Australian tour with a phenomenal set at the Enmore

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guysthephanselfies · 6 years ago

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K-EXCLUSIVE: DAY6 wrap-up their Australian tour with a phenomenal set at the Enmore

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