#i wrote this last night at 4am don't judge me

[tiikerikani]

Throwback Thursday: The diorama that wasn't

Previously I repainted the last model before the long hiatus. This time we go all the way back to the beginning. These are the first models I ever painted.

I would have painted these anyway because of the significance of the year, but when I saw that the Cold North Open (formerly Ropecon miniature painting contest) registration form had a non-competition category I knew I needed to show this there. I wrote a page about the context and crammed in the "new worlds" theme to the title to help it fit in.[1]

Turns out the category wasn't supposed to be there (they're using a tool originally made for the scale modelling community), but I was absolutely not putting it in competition, as it's not what I made it for. Competition entries are supposed to be kind of standalone (certainly no full-page blurbs with personal details!).

One of the organizers and I agreed to put it next to the dioramas but that it wouldn't be registered for competition. I guess it's kind of a diorama in the museum display[2] sense, where the description is a necessary part of the thing and the tray is simple and mainly just a container to stand the figures up in.

(Transcription of the text on the description page is at the end of the post, below the cut.)

So when I went in Sunday morning wondering if I'd be pleasantly surprised by a commendation for one of my actual entries (lol no ofc not) I was surprised and confused instead to see the card on this. The awards presentation didn't provide answers either as my name wasn't called.[3] One of the other competitors told me that it wouldn't have been the only omission, so I chased down the judges to check. In their hurry to get through everything over the night (they were up until 4AM judging and preparing the results), it seemed that they had forgotten to skip over my display. I mean I won't decline the honor, but I wanted to make sure that it's included on the results list because it doesn't feel legit if it's not on record.

The new versions are arguably not painted much better (and I spent longer on the W'adhrun in my previous post), so it certainly wasn't the painting that they liked??

After I posted this on my Insta the other day the organizer/judge whom I'd spoken to earlier about the display left a note to say that actually, they had wanted to recognize it despite being unregistered for competition. He was touched by the story because he was a teacher providing a similar experience for his students as Mr Mac did for me. Because the piece wasn't registered it consequently wasn't in the list of names that they copy-pasted to the awards Powerpoint.

But like, that's what I'm reaching for with my art. I think everybody wants to tell the stories about what makes them who they are, especially those who've had difficulty being taken seriously and/or finding an audience (or "appropriate" venue). Hearts are a lot harder to win over than heads, but heart is kind of really all I have. In performing arts, underdeveloped skill can distract from delivering the message, but visual arts I think is more open to seeing it as a stylistic choice.

P.S. I was in Jyväskylä last week and both the Jyväskylä and Joensuu Fantasiapelit shops (at least those two, don't remember about the one in Tampere) have display cases filled with painted miniatures in them. In Joensuu there were some painted warbands for sale in there too. So why the heck doesn't the Helsinki store actually use theirs? (I'd emailed about showing off some things there but they never responded.)

Project notes:

The models are Ral Partha's AD&D Battlesystem Cormyr Lords & War Wizards. I waited a while to find an affordable set that wasn't sealed or converted. Still pricey though, mostly because of importing them from the US.

The vivid green is different from that on the dwarf I previously repainted, because at this time I was using my teacher's '90s Citadel paints. Again I couldn't find a confident match in regular acrylics. I even bought Stahly's comprehensive paint swatches to look this up. Here I used Citadel's Warp Lightning contrast paint over Army Painter Greenskin. I don't know if the AP Fanatics Greenskin is the same shade. The AP Orc Skin Speedpaint would have worked but I only have the 1.0 Speedpaint with the horrible reactivation and I'd had to strip the one model once already because of that.

Nobody knows why I went with 15mm for my first miniatures. They're really hard to photograph.

__________

[1] As hinted in the text, there's also a whole lot of context for how the characters relate to the story I wrote and what the "for various reasons" refers to, but you don't want to get TOO personal.

[2] That's not what folks mean by "display" painting lol.

[3] Unsurprisingly the same handful of people swept the golds and big awards. And I'm thinking, to what extent are THEY here to compete when they're already on top and there are bigger and more pretigious competitions out there?[4] Would having a non-competition category benefit them too? Like, so they can step aside for new talent. The organizer I talked to mentioned not only issues of space but also that non-competition display categories are kind of controversial in international events because people try to use it as advertising space for their commission painting services. Which I guess is kind of specific to miniatures painting and not really a thing in scale modelling more generally.

[4] When I did piano seriously, me and one other girl in my age group would basically get 1st place in any category we competed in at the local music festival. Or 1st and 2nd if we were both there. It kinda got pretty boring. But I guess other participants got something out of hearing us too because the adjudicators would give some oral remarks about each performance before handing out the prizes. (We also all got a page of written feedback.) The other girl eventually also did national competitions and I don't remember why my teacher didn't steer me in that direction as well. Might have been he felt it would be too much pressure (he would have been correct).

__________

Memories of a New World: Repainting My First Miniatures, 25 Years Later

During 8th grade, Mr MacDonald was a teacher at my school who painted Warhammer Fantasy models during lunch break. He invited me and some of my classmates to join him. Mom took me to the hobby store and I selected these models to represent characters in a story that I had written. For various reasons, miniature painting did not become a serious hobby for me, although for a while I'd paint up my friends' Battletech mechs for pocket money and later in university I used my skills on some board game pieces. Late in 2020 I got back into painting as something to do while playing D&D over Discord. Now, just as it was when I was a teenager, the inspiration for most of my creative work is sentimental, coming from my own experiences, feelings, and people who are important to me rather than based on or for a specific game or fictional universe. On these repaints I have tried to match most of the original colors, with some very minor changes.

[image of a flat painting of one of the models from the display, pasted with MS Paint into the frame of a custom Magic the Gathering card, dated 2000-01.] I enjoy working with fine detail so I also painted 2-dimensional pieces at a similar scale. This was painted the actual size as it would appear on a Magic card :)

[Photo of the corner of a page in the back of a school yearbook. An autograph says: "Good luck in school, and keep painting!! :) Mr Mac"] ”Mr Mac” was only at my school for one semester. My only evidence of his existence is this note in my yearbook. His name and photo aren't printed in the book because the staff pictures were taken at the beginning of the school year.

[bidisasterevankinard]

Tease tidbit Tuesday 👠

Tagged by @honestlydarkprincess @panbuckley 💙💙💙💙 love you thank you

Ok so I woke up today(well officially tomorrow ) with this idea and rn my brain decided to wrote this for this idea so sorry for it being super bad(it's 4am)

Context: Buck liked to wear skirt, crop top, panties and heels in his fav gay club till Ali to feel pretty (especially Buck 1.0) but after Ali stopped because of everything around. After lightning (and maybe break up with Natalia still think about when to set it) he decided he needs it again for himself to feel better. So he's in gay club having good time and papapam Eddie is here with his bf

"Ed-Eddie? What are you doing here?" Buck feels a big urge to cover himself from the eyes of his best friend right now. And run away. Fast.

But he doesn't. Cause he doesn't do anything wrong. Just having fun.

"Hey, Buck. Doesn't expect to see you here," Eddie says it not even trying to hide how he looks at Buck's clothes, staying on the skirt too long that Buck has to cough to back his attention to his face .

"Well, it's Friday, and it's best gay club in LA so I just having fun. Not like I'm first time here. Cause if you remember I'm bi," Buck's margarita comes this moment and he takes big sip to try to calm down.

"I don't mean in club. I mean when you refuse to babysit with Chris it's always only if Maddie needs help with Jee," Eddie shrugs like it's nothing but his face shows that he judge Buck for something. Like that day in grocery store.

"Well, excuse me that I wanted to have fun and make myself feel good, because recently I felt like trash, when you were going to fuck the guy you going out with. By the way, don't you think that, how was his name," Buck take a pause to "remember the name", " oh, yes James, a little bit jealous that you speak long with pretty boy here and not with him? So go and be petty to your boyfriend, Edmundo, don't make me sad in this fantastic night. I'm sure there's a lot of people who can make it better for me," with this Buck drinks the last half of his margarita and goes to dance floor making sure his hips moves as that someone could even see the glimpse of his panties and his heels heard by close to him people even through all the music.

In the center of dance floor, Buck let's himself forget the world again and just dance feel all the attention from people around, and trying not to think how Eddie comes back to James to have a good night with him. Buck really hopes they will go away before him.

Tagging if they want to share : @911onabc @ebdaydreamer @alyxmastershipper @transbuck @cowboy-buddie @lover-of-mine @heartshapedvows @bekkachaos @rogerzsteven @the-likesofus @elvensorceress @shortsighted-owl @barbiediaz @buddierights @housewifebuck @thewolvesof1998 @wildlife4life @wikiangela @hippolotamus @transboybuckley @devirnis @heartbeatdiaz @buck-coded @spotsandsocks @monsterrae1 @spaceprincessem @userdisaster @caroandcats @mandzuking17 @translasso @firemedicdiaz @jesuisici33 @bigfootsmom @jeeyuns @diazass @eddiediaztho and anyone who wants to share

[manahiel]

Cotta headcanon / backstory

character asks -> do they have any scars? 

Neben zahlreichen kleineren Narben (eine unter anderem auf dem Knie - danke an Caroline, die ihn damals als sie klein waren etwas zu enthusiastisch auf der Schaukel angestoßen und ins steinige Sandbett geschleudert hat), hat Cotta eine sehr große und verästelte Narbe auf dem oberen Rücken, die sich bis über das linke Schulterblatt zieht.

Cotta hat sie sich in den ersten Wochen im Polizeidienst zugezogen und ist bis heute nicht sonderlich stolz darauf. Dennoch hat er daraus eine Lehre fürs Leben mitgenommen, die vielleicht auch erklärt, warum er es nicht so gerne sieht, wenn die drei Fragezeichen vollkommen alleine losziehen, ohne einem Erwachsenen (gerade ihm) vorher etwas zu sagen. And the story goes something like this (don’t ask me why, when and how the boys saw Cotta’s naked back, i just wanted to have him have to tell the story):

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

“Ich komm wohl nicht darum herum das zu erzählen, was?”

Die drei neugierigen Blicke, die ihm entgegen sahen, waren Antwort genug. Cotta seufzte tief und überlegte einen Moment, wo er anfangen sollte, dann begann er zu reden. 

“Es war mein erster, größerer Fall beim LAPD. Ich war sozusagen gerade erst aus dem Training raus und erst seit wenigen Wochen wirklich als Polizist unterwegs. Durch Zufall wurde ich in die Ermittlungen rund um eine Angriffsserie in Los Angeles gezogen, bei der ein uns damals noch unbekannter Mann scheinbar zufällig Personen angriff und sie mit einem Messer schwer verletzte. Bisher war zwar keiner der Menschen gestorben, aber die Art und Weise der Angriffe legte nahe, dass der Täter keinerlei Skrupel zeigte und ein Todesopfer durchaus in Kauf nehmen würde.”

“Ich erinnere mich an den Fall”, unterbrach ihn Justus, der dem ganzen nachdenklich gelauscht hatte und Cotta überraschte es irgendwie überhaupt nicht, dass der erste Detektiv sich an einen Fall zu einer Zeit erinnerte, zu der er noch ein kleines Kind gewesen sein musste. “Die Opfer waren mitnichten zufällig gewählt, sondern waren alle an einem anderen Fall beteiligt gewesen, bei dem eine Frau und ihre Kinder wochenlang von einem Unbekannten bedroht wurden. Schließlich hat er sie von der Straße gedrängt und der Wagen ist einen Abhang heruntergestürzt… Der Mann mit dem Messer wollte sich rächen, weil er das Gefühl hatte, die Polizei und die Rettungskräfte hätten damals nicht genug getan, um die Frau und ihre Kinder zu retten.”

“Danke, Justus, dass du das Ende jetzt schon vorweggenommen hast”, murmelte Peter mit einem Hauch von Sarkasmus in der Stimme.

“Aber Justus hat Recht.” Dass er das einmal freiwillig sagen würde, hätte Cotta auch nicht geahnt. Er schüttelte leicht den Kopf und erzählte dann weiter. “Alle Opfer der Messerattacken waren entweder Rettungskräfte oder Ersthelfer, die an der Bergung des Autowracks beteiligt gewesen waren - oder Polizisten, die das Stalking zuvor nicht ernst genug genommen hatten. Die Verbindung ist uns leider erst viel zu spät aufgefallen. - Ich habe jedenfalls eines der Opfer entdeckt und danach hat mich der Fall nicht mehr losgelassen. Und ich war jung und übermäßig von meinen Fähigkeiten überzeugt, also dachte ich, dass ich daran mitarbeiten sollte.”

Er machte eine kleine Pause, doch die drei Fragezeichen schienen die Parallelen zu ihrem Verhalten entweder nicht zu ziehen oder gewissenhaft zu überhören. “Wir haben dann irgendwann doch die richtigen Schlüsse gezogen und den Mann identifiziert. Die Fahndung ging raus, aber er entzog sich vollkommen unseren Blicken und attackierte sogar noch zwei weitere Personen in der Zeit. Tja, und dann…”

Cotta konnte nicht abstreiten, dass er die gespannten Blicke genoss, während er eine bedeutungsvolle Pause einlegte und einen Schluck Wasser nahm. 

“Dann habe ich einen großen Fehler begangen.”

Wie erwartet zuckte Bestürzung über die Gesichter der Jungs. Die Geschichte entwickelte sich scheinbar nicht so, wie sie erwartet hatten - aber eine Narbe diesen Ausmaßes kam eben auch nicht von einer mutigen Heldentat.

“Was für einen Fehler, Inspektor?”, fragte Bob schließlich und spielte Cotta damit direkt in die Karten. 

“Meine Kollegin und ich waren auf Streife. - Sie war schon seit mehr als zwanzig Jahren im Dienst und ich war - naja, unerfahren und sollte von ihr ein bisschen was lernen. Es war nachts und es war spät und es war furchtbar langweilig, wenn ich ehrlich bin. Meine Kollegin war kurz in einem Fast Food Restaurant, um uns einen Kaffee zu holen, als ich den gesuchten Mann entdeckte. Er stand genau auf der gegenüberliegenden Straßenseite! Und anstatt auf meine Kollegin zu warten, habe ich sie lediglich kurz angefunkt und danach gleich die Verfolgung aufgenommen, obwohl ich keinerlei Erfahrung damit hatte.”

Jetzt mussten sie aber langsam die Parallelen erkennen. 

“Und ich bin auch prompt in eine Fall gelaufen, habe die Umgebung nicht richtig gesichert und hatte keinerlei Überblick über die Situation, die ich vollkommen unterschätzt hatte.” 

Er ließ die Worte einige Sekunden lang sinken. Auf Justus Gesicht flackerte schließlich das Verständnis auf. 

“Und dann hat der Mann sie angegriffen.”

“Ja”, bestätigte Cotta und bei der aufkommenden Erinnerung rollte er unbewusst die linke Schulter nach hinten. “Auf einmal war er genau hinter mir, hat mich zu Boden geworfen und mit das Messer in den Rücken gerammt.”

Peter sog scharf die Luft ein. 

“Und was haben SIe gemacht?”, fragte Bob leise. 

“Was sollte ich schon machen? Ich habe natürlich versucht mich zu wehren, aber in der Position war es praktisch unmöglich.” 

Er gab ihnen einen Moment, um sich das Ganze bildlich vorstellen zu können. 

“Meine Kollegin hat mich schließlich gerettet. - Sie hat mir das Leben gerettet. Hätte mich das Messer in die Wirbelsäule getroffen, dann wäre ich heute vielleicht nicht einmal hier. Ich lag ein paar Tage im Krankenhaus und war mehrere Wochen nicht einsatzfähig. Mal ganz abgesehen davon, dass ich eh zur Schreibtischarbeit für die nächste Zeit degradiert wurde.”

“Aber… Sie hatten mitgeholfen einen Serientäter zu fassen!”

“Nein, ich habe mich von einem Serientäter überwältigen lassen und jegliche Protokolle ignoriert wie ein Anfänger. Das war verdammt dumm und genauso wurde ich damals auch behandelt.”

Das war ganz offensichtlich nicht das Ende, das sich die drei Fragezeichen erhofft hatten und Cotta nahm einen weiteren Schluck Wasser, um das siegreiche Lächeln zu kaschieren, das sich in seine Mundwinkel schlich. Hoffentlich war die Lektion angekommen - und würde dieses Mal auch einen bleibenden Eindruck hinterlassen. Aber vielleicht brauchten die Jungs noch einen Schubs in die richtige Richtung. Nur zur Sicherheit. 

“Versteht ihr jetzt, warum ich euch andauernd sage, dass ihr euch raushalten oder zumindest besonnen vorgehen sollt? Ich hatte damals ein Polizeitraining hinter mir und glücklicherweise eine sehr erfahrene Kollegin, auf die ich mich verlassen konnte - ihr seid noch nicht einmal erwachsen! Und wenn ihr euch ohne Bescheid zu geben in irgendeinen Fall stürzt, habt ihr niemanden, der euch im Notfall den Rücken stärken könnte!” 

Für einen Moment sahen die drei bedrückt aus und jeder von ihnen stierte in eine andere Richtung. Peter rührte gedankenverloren in seiner Cola die Eiswürfel herum. Dann sah er jedoch plötzlich auf. 

“Aber… wir haben doch Sie.” 

Justus’ und Bobs Blicke zuckten ebenfalls zu ihm. Sie nickten.

[starleette]

Makeno/Akimax headcanons PT2

So I'm back with more headcanons, hope you all like it (plz don't be so hard on me, English is not my first language so if you see any mistakes please let me know😭🖐🏻)

This one is kinda long since I wrote some back story to support the headcanons, it's not accurate at all but let me dream🚶🏻‍♀️This time is from Max's point of view

Whenever people try to figure out who fell first, it comes as a surprise that Aki giggles and Max gets flustered all of the sudden. Max Wolfe, oh lord, he has been deeply in love with Akeno Menzies since they were little kids. Later did he understood that in fact, he liked Aki, no, that wasn't accurate at all, he loved Aki.

But as he grew older he realized Aki was just, so pure, he couldn't bear the thought of corrupting him with all his mess so when Audrey confessed him that she wanted to date Aki since he would look great by her side, Max just slip a dirty joke and let them be.

When he first slept with Audrey he was really hoping she felt guilty enough to confess what she did to Aki and then they would break up -he didn't even liked Audrey, he just wanted to fuck things up with her relationship- but when finally gave the situation some thought, he was already in bed with the pink haired boy and yes, Audrey. God, he wanted to end things quickly with her tonight so she would just get bored and go to read one of those annoying novels she was always talking about.

After the threesome, Max was so sure he didn't want to spend more time sharing Aki; he knew someone as kind and loving as Akeno wouldn't want to be tied with someone as Max. He ghosted Audrey when she texted him for another round of sex and he disappeared from Aki's sight soon after this. Max tried to go back to his old lifestyle- God knows he tried- but as soon someone tried to kiss him under the neon lights of some fancy club, he felt sick, Jesus, he felt as if he were cheating Aki. Max just went home that night.

He was sleeping (not really, he was thinking about a certain boy with dark lashes, ethereal brown eyes and bubblegum pink hair) when he heard someone knocking at his door, he wasn't in the mood for late night sex or drugs

-jesus, it's 4am, who the fuck knocks at 4am?- he groaned as he opened the door but he stopped middle sentence when he see Akeno right in front of him, this was the last straw, he didn't care about Audrey, he didn't care about their lovely relationship and he certainly did not give a fuck about what people might say when they find out Max has been in love with Aki all this time.

But Aki is the first one to confess his feelings without hesitation, that night he let Aki into his house and stay over (he could say something cheesy like he also let Aki get into his heart but he has been there for years, growing into all the lovely shades of pink Max could ever imagine)

A couple of weeks later they reveal to the group they are in fact, dating. It is not a revelation at all, Max has been asking Luna and Monet for the perfect way of saying "I love you" to a certain someone who loves romantic movies, is a huge fan of skateboarding and has a weird fascination with airports. It doesn't take a genius to know Aki fit the description perfectly, so when Monet casually says to Aki that his boyfriend is being a pain in the ass, he just blushes and tries to ask how she knows but he just tells her "He told me he is doing some investigation about something, usual Max stuff" he says softly as he smiles.

Two days later, Max takes Aki to the airport and tries to say the three words, eight letters thing but he is stumbling with his own words -Aki deserves the world, he deserves an award winning love confession-

Aki just looks at him confused and tries to hold his hand but Max just runs to the end of the corridor leaving Aki standing alone in the middle of the hallway, the passengers were looking at him pitifully imagining he got dumped, but then a song started playing from the speakers and Max appeared from the end of the corridor singing cheerfully.

"You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you" he sang loudly as he pointed his finger to Aki "You'd be like heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much"

People in the background were recording the whole thing, being amazed by Max Wolfe singing in the middle of an airport. Aki knew this would be in every single newspaper, his dad will be asking him questions and subtly judging him,but for once Aki felt like he could breathe freely; he had nothing to be ashamed of.

As Max was singing, he came closer to Aki until they could hear each other heartbeat; people noticed it was a private moment between the two boys and let them standing alone in the middle of the hallway.

"I love you, baby" Max muttered while he caressed Aki's cheek "And if it's quite alright I need you, baby"

Aki smiled and Max stopped singing, looking at him full of love "I have never thought I was a romantic nor did I thought I would be singing in the middle of the airport" he said "But your shades of pink have coloured my heart and your name has filled my senses Akeno"

He held Aki's face with both of his hands "I'm deeply in love with Akeno Menzies"

[jay-bee-me]

200 Followers celebration!

For I finally reached 200 Followers here's my celebration!

It contains 2 elements! First this emoji ask meme:

So send me

🌈To get a fictional character based on your blog/what I know about you

✨To get a book recommendation (please add a genre if you aren't into sci-fi or fantasy)

💫To get a series recommendation

🌸To get my thoughts on you/ first impression

(beside the first and the last one you can sent on anon when you feel more comfortable with it)

Part 2 is the following creepypasta! If you don't like scary stuff just skip it and scroll on. I don't mention any critical things as far as I can judge. If you read it but think I should add trigger warnings please tell me (you can just sent an anon ask and tell me what tw I have to set) I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable and will add any trigger warnings!

"There's a myth being told. You know? It's about the white man. A creature pale as snow. His eyes a glooming red. You should never ever try to get him alive. And never ever summon him! He has medusas abilities and a single look at him and you saying 'no' will immediately turn you to stone for the next 10 years."." wait- wait- wait. Why only 10 years, Kathy? That sounds lame. Like losing 10 years? That's definetly worth to experience how it is being a stone!" Dev and Emma nod agreeingly." Well fine! What other ideas do you have?", Kathrine asks sending a glare in my direction. "uhm. What about 30 years and you forget everything besides the feeling of not being able to move?" I ask 'em. "why not 50 years? That's way more frightening and sounds way more magical?" Emma complains. Dev gives a noise that's implying he agrees. "than that's it?" we all nod to show Kathy our agreement. She then types the new version into her computer. "okay so how do we wanna continue?" she says as she looks at us again. "what about a young boy like 15 years old? And he is trying to challenge himself by finding the creature." Dev suggests. "okay, that sounds good, but I'm going to bed guys" "g'night" we say as Emma already leaves the room. "okay I'll write like a short introduction and I'd say we do it then tomorrow so no one leaves out!" "yeah!" Dev and me say simultaneously. While she's writing Dev and I throw chips in each other's mouth and try to catch 'em. Afterwards we talk another half hour and then go to bed.

It was dark when I woke up. A look at my smartphone revealed it was 4am. I had to grin to myself. It was exactly the time we stated in the SCP document to be the time the white man would show up. I was still impressed by Devs idea to start our own myth. And I was proud of Kathrine to be such a good writer she would write us the creepy pasta about it. The SCP thing we might got by ourselves but none of us had the talent to write a good horror story. The idea came from Deb at least all the facts for the SCP site. Only the years I didn't agree. I thought ten years of being a stone doesn't sound scary. Maybe even like a relief. Ten years without any responsibility... I went to the toilet and bumped into several objects on my way but didn't wanted to turn any lights on. When I was done I decided to go outside for a bit. I couldn't go back into that room with three other people. The air just was bad. I took Kathy's key so I don't locked out myself from her home and went into the garden. It was November and pretty cold but my sweater kept me warm. I sat under the oak tree I always wished to have a tree house in but her parents didn't allow us to build one. They thought it were unsafe but right now it would have been a better option than the bare ground. I breathed in the fresh air. 4.15 am. I thought about the creepypasta. What would it be like to be a stone for 50 years. I mean you can't age as a stone so when you come back you just lost 50 years of your friends and families life but none of your own cause physically your still the same age? Or would you die at the age of 20 cause you would have only had 70 years? I heard a rustle from the hedge in front of me. Was it a cat? But who would leave a cat that early when it's winter? I made a clicking sound with my tongue. "come here little one" I whispered. I heard another rustle. I took my phone and turned on the flashlight to have better vision. I cast it at the bush. Nothing. Then a reflection. It was almost red so it must be a cat with amber colored eyes. Cute, I thought by myself. Another movement. "don't worry." I told the cat. And it came out the bush. Only problem: it wasn't a cat. It was pale. It was a man. It was an almost white man. I gasped. What the hell. Automatically my eyes went to the creatures eyes and in my dumb disbelief I spoke the one cursed word: "no". Because my mind refused to belief what it saw. I felt my body turning unmoveable. The last clear thought of mine was: Well,at least I will find out what it is to be turned to stone.

The next morning Dec was the first to wake up. As soon as he noticed Alex empty bed he knew what happened tonight. He knew it because it was what happened to him. Ten years ago. He knew it because he lived through a similar evening back then. Sure they didn't wrote an SCP but they had other places to put the information. Back then he also thought it only was a joke of the new kid that came to the school one year ago. Back then he was as naive as Alex. When he woke up this night he ignored the urge for fresh air. He refused to be turned to stone again. The whole evening he worried the others would find it strange he told him all the facts. But he didn't questioned anything back then either. He know went down. And searched for the sculpture. The horrified look on Alex's face sent a little hurt to him and he asked himself if the one who hid him back then felt the same. He also wondered how long this have been happening already and how long it will continue. At least none of them actually loses ten years. They all only lose ten years of their friends and famalies life's. He pushed and pulled the sculpture to the cave. The cave he spent the last ten years. And because he knew Alex would hear him he said: "I'm sorry. We will meet again somewhen. I didn't knew he would pick you. When you wake up you have to do the same I did. I don't know what will happen if you don't. But if it was something good I don't think this would have continued so long. Goodbye" then he left this cave forever

I had time to think about everything. And I figured something out. When I look into the mirror in the bathroom of my new friends I met in the last year I still saw the same face. It was even stranger than if I had aged. I wondered whether Dev felt the same back then. Ten years ago. I made a decision. I never knew I would do this. But I was sure to do the right thing. The only option. I went back to the living room where Amy, Cal and Pete were already waiting. "so what will we do tonight?" Amy asks us. "what's about starting the myth of the white man?" Pete asks. And I look at him. And I see what I should have noticed so long ago. The strange oldness in his eyes. I knew it. "No!" Cal exclaimed and got my full attention. "no goddamn horror stories! Stop that! You guys know that always goes wrong! You know the movies! We aren't dumb teenagers from ten years ago! We won't do this!" and when I looked at him I notice that he was like me. We had made the same decision. But I also asked myself: when three of us are already here, how many of us exist? How many of us have to do this? When will this end?

@emo-bi-mess I thought you liked to be tagged in it :)