#[☆ small hatred appearance..Spooky...]

[greedyhero]

Bro did you put contacts in? Are your eyes supposed to look like that??

// tempted to do a lil griefer if ya r fine w/ it n maybe toxic hero if ur also down for that... /nf

Huh? Look like what?? My eyes are normal!! It's just the sun making it look a little weird! Yeah..

[Shoot, how is their body changing? Is it really becoming that obvious??]

[AS IF IT WASN'T ALREADY.]

[Well I'm doing a GREAT job at this, actually! It's not like you could do any better.]

[☆ ooc: both of them know that greeds lying in that last sentence LOL. also im up for both!! or rather down for it]

[cobaltperun]

Hi, i saw you were taking requests on various characters. I was wondering if you could do a wednesday addams x fem!reader.

I don't have a clear idea, but i thought about some things (mostly about the reader), like: reader is taller than Wednesday and can control the shadows (or something like that, something kinda spooky that would interest Wednesday), she is also really strong (like goes to the gym regularly or does a spot that demands a lot of fisical strength), she is good with cooking and is a bit of a joker (she is always saying funny things or snarky remarks). They are already in a relationship, and the school has a free day, so obviously, Wednesday is using it to continue her investigation and the raeder tagging along because 'what kind of gf would i be if i let you go to look for a killing beast alone?', I thought that they could've been out till late at night, so the reader sneaked her way into the kitchen and then to he gf's bedroom. They had been watched by weems throughout the day, so Wednesday usted it to look for information about the hayde. I would absolutely love it if there were some sneaky around to make out. It's okay if you aren't comfortable with that, you don't have to do it.

At this point, im rambling. Sorry, i got excited and kinda paniced.

English is not my first language, so i apologise for any spelling or grammar mistakes. It's okay if you don't do this or if you feel like changing something, you have total creative freedom, I'll be happy just by getting something of Wednesday x reader.

Thank you so much, bay!

Hiding in the Shadows

Wednesday Addams x female Reader (Request)

Summary: After a day of sneaking around and trying to get one step closer to solving the murders all you and Wednesday need is a moment away from everything and everyone.

Masterlist

Word count: 1.8k

There was something profoundly fascinating about shadows, about the way they danced to your whims, forming figures so beautifully grotesque that Wednesday found herself willing and ready to observe them endlessly. It started as a simple curiosity, a fascination with everything dark and dreadful, and your shadows matched that. It started with small flickers of your shadow in dim light, changing shape and twisting, silent yet deafeningly loud to Wednesday.

And then that interest slowly shifted to you, as if she was grabbed by your shadows and bound to you. Willing, despite trying to appear like she couldn’t care less. Hardly anything compared to falling into shadows, letting them engulf her and emerging on the other side of the school grounds.

It was convenient, she kept telling herself. She needed to be able to sneak out, to move unnoticed, and you just so happened to have a perfect ability for that.

Yes.

It was just convenience.

Even when she pulled you down to her level, damn you for being taller, and kissed you.

She allowed you to hold her because you needed to, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to travel through your shadows. That was all there was to it. Nothing else. She didn’t get soft.

And she didn’t yearn for that touch, cursing you for respecting the initial boundaries she set and the clear hatred toward any physical affection she clearly displayed.

Wednesday Addams did not miss the feel of your arm around her back when the two of you separated near the monster’s lair.

~X~

Despite your best efforts the monster kept being a step ahead of you and Wednesday. Once more you failed to track it despite finding yet another lair it used recently. “Why would it eat animals if it could shift between human and a monster?” you asked as you knelt down and picked up a deer skull. It puzzled you and you were kind of tempted to stand guard and wait for the monster to show up, but ever since Eugene got attacked Wednesday was more cautious.

Wednesday thought it over, perhaps the question never crossed her mind before. She was always so focused on the big picture that sometimes these little details slipped her mind. “Instinct maybe, or maybe it just wants to kill,” that was… an interesting idea.

“Wait, Wednesday,” you paused, because sure, instinct could be an explanation, but then again, the surgically removed body parts, the purpose behind the killings that, while unknown, definitely existed. “There’s someone else. It’s not just the monster!” you realized, exclaiming it so loudly the birds got frightened and flew away, but more importantly Wednesday’s eyes widened.

She began pacing around the lair, frustration visible on her face. “How didn’t I notice it before? It makes sense,” someone had to be instructing the monster, leading it, aiming all of that destructive force.

“You had someone very distracting near you?” you offered with a cheeky grin and Wednesday glanced at you, annoyed, and slightly amused, even if she would never admit it. “Let’s go back before Weems figures out we’re gone,” you offered her your hand, figuring there was nothing else to see here. Wednesday didn’t waste a second and closed the distance between you, letting your shadows consume both of you and in mere seconds you were back on Wednesday’s balcony.

The sunset looked beautiful from Wednesday’s balcony, even if it probably annoyed her, yet you caught yourself admiring your girlfriend as she looked down, the last of sunlight making her eyes shine with even brighter determination than usual. “You’re staring, Y/N,” she didn’t even need to look at you to know.

“Hard not to,” you whispered, approaching her from behind and wrapping your arms around her waist. Anyone else would have lost both of their arms for this, and that made being able to do this, and keep your limbs, even more precious.

“I’m going to check the lair again tomorrow, see if the monster comes back tonight,” she tried to be subtle about it, divert your attention back to the case as she leaned further into your touch.

“We’re going,” you left no room for arguments. “What kind of girlfriend would I be if I let you have all the fun all by yourself,” you teased, but you’d be lying if you said you weren’t slightly worried. Wednesday suffered from self-preservation deficiency, and it often caused problems.

A sound from inside Wednesday’s room made you pull away and you grinned a bit. It was just Enid, but Wednesday was still keeping you a secret from everyone else, even from Thing, so there really was only one option left. You winked at her and fell back as Wednesday rolled her eyes and watched you sinking into your shadow and teleporting back to your room.

~X~

She could still feel your arms around her. Strong, from all the training you did, firm, and cool to touch. She enjoyed how cold your hands were, leaving chills behind long after the two of you would separate. Her secret, that’s what you were, always hiding in the shadows with her, always keeping her cautious and careful and on edge.

The way only you could.

“Was that Y/N?” Enid asked as she joined her on the balcony.

“Yes, she missed some notes yesterday during class,” she effortlessly lied, and since you sat a few rows behind Enid the lie was more than believable.

Enid thought it over for a moment. “You know, I bet she just likes you,” Enid was deceivingly perceptive, something Wednesday didn’t expect when she first met the werewolf girl. Queen of gossip indeed, she did have to be perceptive to obtain such a title. Enid smirked, daring to tease Wednesday, as if there would be no consequences. “And I think you like her too,” too perceptive.

“She is useful,” Wednesday denied her feelings, keep on keeping your relationship a secret for as long as possible. Her entire reputation was on the line.

Yet Enid didn’t quite buy it. “Mhm, keep telling yourself it’s just that,” Enid actually sang, unaffected by Wednesday’s glare.

She’s become way too soft, grown to care for too many people. She despised it. It was awful. Dreadful really.

~X~

Hours later, after you were sure Enid was asleep you emerged from the shadows on Wednesday’s balcony, with a quick snack specifically made to suit Wednesday’s taste. She was playing cello again, focused, not for a moment interrupting her practice even as you stopped right next to her and offered her a bite of the pie you made.

You half expected to learn how to make poisonous mushrooms edible when you once spoke with Morticia about Addams family cuisine, but that was yet to happen. Wednesday, while still almost entirely focused on her music, accepted the bite and chewed slowly. You adored her. Every single thing about her.

A few minutes later she was done and the pie was forgotten on the railing as the two of you just stood there, side by side, overlooking the school grounds. Damn near all day spent together and you still couldn’t get enough of each other. Wednesday often lamented how she was turning into her father. You’ve seen how Gomez was, and Wednesday wasn’t that bad. Not yet, at the very least. You caught her occasionally looking at your lips and smiled, taking her hand and pulling you to the wall to the left, so that Enid couldn’t catch glimpse of the two of you in case she woke up.

“Wednesday,” you muttered, finally kissing her, finally, after a whole day of pure focus and determination to make progress on the investigation, you could feel her lips on your own. And Wednesday immediately grabbed onto you and deepened the kiss made it clear to you that she wanted this just as much as you did.

Wednesday rarely voiced any reaction, not that I bothered you. You didn’t need to hear her gasp or moan, let alone tell you how she felt. You could tell. Your kisses blazed a path down the side of her neck, and you couldn’t help but smile as Wednesday’s stiff fingers dug into the back of your head and neck, pulling you closer. You could tell how much you affected her by the way she tilted her head to the side, baring the side of her neck for you, or in the way she bit her lower lip, breathing a bit heavier, as if trying to keep the sounds from coming out.

The darkness of the night engulfed both of you, hiding you, the chilling winds actually felt pleasant, and Wednesday, she didn’t tremble one bit. Neither the cold nor your teeth grazing her soft, pale skin, made her shiver. No, barely anything made Wednesday shiver. You slipping your hand under her jacket, not quite daring to push it a step further and touch her bare skin just yet, did make her breath hitch and she shivered slightly under your touch. “Y/N,” her voice was barely louder than a whisper and for a moment you weren’t sure if you imagined it. Your eyes met and her dark eyes, usually void of any desires and instead filled solely with focus, disdain, or unimpressed boredom, now mirrored your own deep desires and need for her.

“Yeah?” you questioned, kissing up her neck until you reached her lips. You waited, letting Wednesday initiate the kiss, and the intensity of it took you by surprise. Wednesday pressed her body against your own, pulling you closer while she held on to you. The kiss was rushed, almost desperate, lips damn near smashing together as Wednesday demanded more, and you gave her more, anything she could want.

Wednesday pulled back, digging her fingers into the back of your head and pushing you lower to her neck. “Teeth,” that was as much as you could ever hope to get from her. A simple word stating what she wanted as you lightly bit her neck. Just enough for her to enjoy it, but not too hard to leave marks tomorrow.

A loud thud made both of you snap out of it and pull away from one another, only to see Enid, with Thing on her shoulder, staring at the two of you with wide eyes and jaw on the floor. “I knew it!” and that was all Enid said, and so the secret was out, the two of you could no longer keep hiding in the shadows, at least in regard to your relationship.

[lastthroes]

Tales of 20th Anniversary Encyclopedia 1995-2016: Edna

Edna

Gender: Female

Race: Seraphim

Height: 145cm

Weapon: Umbrella

I (pronoun): ワタシ (watashi)

Place of birth: Unknown [1]

True Name: Hephsin Yulind (Early-Bloomer Edna)

Voice Actress: Misato Fukuen

“An earth seraph who is quite vocal about her hatred of humans, never afraid of what others might think. Despite what her cutesy appearance might lead to believe, she carries quite a lot of years on her shoulders [2] and has amassed abundant wisdom. Her apathetic demeanor and sharp tongue tend to bewilder those around her because of that contrast.

Worried about her big brother Eizen, who became a dragon due to malevolence, Edna accepts to help Sorey under the small sliver of hope of finding some way to cure his condition. She doesn’t let it show but, in her heart of hearts, she has placed all her trust in Sorey and supports him in his hardships during his journey as the Shepherd.”

・ Dangling normin: A normin mascot can be seen hanging from her umbrella. It’s so spooky: it might start moving when nobody’s watching.

・ The guise of a small, cute girl: On her hair, arm, neck, legs, waist,... Everything’s covered with ribbons, making Edna look daintily and fashionable. Even the guardian of the earth shrine, the Shepherd Pawan, was completely enamored by her.

・ Normins: Normin seraphim are a type of small seraphim that help their fellow seraphim with their blessings, and many of them enjoy having relaxed and carefree lifestyles. Their leader Phoenix was once entrusted by Eizen with the task of guarding over Edna and now pretends to be a mascot, having not realized that Edna already knows he is an actual normin.

・ Together with her brother: Edna padded Eizen’s used boots so she could wear them. They might be apart, but deep down they will always be together.

The world that shines outside of her umbrella

“Held in my brother’s arms, I raised my eyes to the downpour of shooting stars. That was the one place where I was safe from all kinds of sadness and misfortune. A world only for me to have, where I did not need to worry about anything because he would protect me, a secret place no one else could break into. There, at the summit of the mountain, where if you stretched out your hand it felt as if you could even reach the sky, we kept within our hearts the scents that got carried to us by breezes from far-away lands.

Being left behind by my brother, who was always traveling around, made me feel really lonely. However, I managed to send him off on his way because I knew he would come back home safe and, once we met again, we could return to our normal days. Things such as adventures and challenges are only possible to find when you have already found the happiness that comes from having a place you truly belong to.

What kind of boons did my brother give to the humans? It’s impossible for me to know. What I do know is that my brother became a dragon because of the malevolence coming from those same humans. But there’s no place for holding grudges here: humans are self-centered creatures, after all. They think they only need themselves, and it’s only when it suits them that they turn to us seraphim so we run to their aid. And so, I decided that I’d look after my brother, who came back to me as the final stop of his journey. Staying by him I could at the very least stop him from committing any more sins.

Somewhere in my heart, I had already figured that you could not turn a seraph back to normal after they turned into a dragon, and that I would not find a cure anywhere in the world. However, that did not stop me from wishing my brother could find a salvation. As Sorey keeps quelling the malevolence in people’s hearts and saves them, I also start to realize what was it that my brother loved so much, retracing the path that his kind heart left behind.

This is not a fruitful journey: we are in the Age of Chaos, so it’s likely it will only reaffirm tears and despair. But even if it makes me more likely to abandon all my hopes rather than holding onto them, it doesn’t matter. Everytime that I find at the world’s edges a view from a legendary era that my brother’s eyes once lied onto, I burn the sight of this still living land into my eyes, etching it deep inside my mind as proof that my brother once lived.

And even if it means that I must bear to witness the very end of my brother’s life, I know I will be able to do it because he is still with me. When I close my eyes, I can picture the summit of Rayfalke. These large boots that my brother left me with help me step firmly on the land, and the feeling of those big arms he once wrapped me with stays with me, still protecting me.”

“Now then, take me with you. To the outside world”: As an answer to Sorey, who asked for her help as the Shepherd, Edna joins him in his journey and becomes his Sub Lord.

“Hey mister, Edna’s so lonely... She could use a big hug...”: Using her looks to her advantage, Edna begs the guardian of the earth shrine, the Shepherd Pawan, to grant them the power of the earth.

“Of those whose mere existence means human suffering, sometimes death can be a release”: Juxtaposing the image of her brother Eizen on Dezel’s loss, Edna speaks aloud her thoughts on seraphim and death.

“Hmph. How gallant of you. So that must be what makes you so...”: Edna’s chest feels tight as she watches Zaveid, who decided on killing his friends to save them.

1 TL Note This was answered by a Berseria Etc skit called “Matching Charms”, but this book was initially published before they came to exist.

2 TL Note Though her age might seem to be unknown too, we do have a confirmation that Edna is meant to be 1300 years old according to her voice actress during the 2015 Tales of Festival: around the 01:18:10 timestamp if you happen to own the BD version. An official text transcription of said recording does not exist.

Translator's disclaimer.

[lsdjellyfishu]

Happy Halloween everyone! Here is a spooky Godzilla story I scanned and translated into English, from the Godzilla comic. It's "Warning from G" by  Shinobu Kaze.

You can read and enjoy the whole thing here, in PDF, or image by image:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pBneTwlYivW3Rl43nsG5wHoXfQz5aGQu/view?usp=sharing

By "conventional" Godzilla standards, this might be one of the weirdest Godzilla stories to ever exist. It mainly concerns Godzilla being killed by a martial artist, and Godzilla subsequently posessing a baby. Brief panels from this comic have appeared online over the years,often with biwilderment, and it's no surprise why.

While I maintain it's certainly out there, I think it's incredibly fascinating once you know more about the background of the characters  and philsophy behind the story, which is rooted in "Japanese Occultism".

The story appears to largely be based on the philsophies and religious teachings of Onisaburo Deguchi.

The short version is that Onisaburo, according to Wikipedia, was a Japanese religious teacher who believed in a spirit world that reflects humanity. He believed that humanity needed to come together, and that negative energy/vibes, creates and continues horrible actions. While I'm always skeptical to praise spiritual leaders that sound nice on paper, it's worth noting that Onisaburo was a critic of imperial Japan, as he apparently believed that the atrocities committed by Imperial Japan has a negative impact on the human and spiritual world. Therefore, the idea of the story is that ambigiously, post  WW2, perhaps ideas and hatred still linger, or so much hatred exists in the world that Godzilla, a manifestation of evil, appeared (if this sounds a little like GMK, you're not wrong!).

Therefore, the stories titular "warning", is that if humanity continues to be horrible to one another, the world will get worse and worse, before horrible creatures will appear!

You can read more about him here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onisaburo_Deguchi

I think if you're a fan of other Japanese series (Yu Yu Hakusho), this may also ring a bell. It's the type of thing that may be repeatedly referenced in Japanese media (Like Journey to the West), that may not be immediately obvious to "Western"/"Non-Japanese"/"Non-Asian" viewers.

That brings us to the second weird intersection of the story, "martial arts". I couldn't find any English resources on Moshibe Uehara, so I apologize in advance if some of that was a little unclear, or if he was a real person and I've just misidentified someone. It's worth noting that one

Professional Wrestler Jushin Liger is brought up at one point in the story:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jushin_Liger

What adds an extra layer of weirdness, is that Jushin Liger, the wrestler, partially bases his persona on the actual anime/manga series "Jushin Liger", by Go Nagai. We'll get to Go Nagai in a moment...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jushin_Liger_(TV_series)

Seishi Moribe

The character Seishi Moribe was a real martial artist. Unfortunately, little if any, information exists in English. What I can find about him was that his father was a personal bodyguard for Hideki Tojo, and that he was a martial artist before becoming a wrestling promoter. He later trained Masaharu Funaki, a renowned Japanese MMA Fighter. Funnily enough... Funaki would go on to play a small role as the commander of the Mutant Squad in Godzilla Final Wars!

Anyways, Horibe claims to have invented the "bone method" from the story (which really doesn't have an english translation as far as I can tell), and his supposed feats with it are unreliable.

Ootomo Karo, whom the story claims originally invented ed the bone style, was a real general during the Nara period.

So, you wind up with a Godzilla tale that is, one part Godzilla, one part Japanese spirtuality, and one part martial arts. I think it surpsingly works well for what it is.

Shinobu Kaze is awesome, and I recommend looking into his other works. That brings us to "Go Nagai", one of the most famous mangakas who is up there with Tezuka Osamu and Toriyama Akira. While not directly credited, the credit of the story is given to Shinobu Kaze AND Dynamic Pro. Dynamic production was one of Nagai's studios/production crews. It's unclear if Nagai was directly involved with this, but it's pretty significant to have this involvement. It makes sense, as some of the ideas in the story also line up with Devilman's theming and style.

PS: you may have noticed that my scans and image quality are a lot better. I've invested a lot in a better setup and process, so I intend to pretty much translate all of the Godzilla Comic and Godzilla Comic Strikes back over time.

[sunny6677]

October

(A Spooky Month AU Series)

PART 9/CHAPTER 9: The Thief.

Summary: A 19-year old Skid ends up moving back to his old town for the sake of nostalgia. But he finds himself surrounded by familiar faces.

TWS: ARGUMENTS, PUMP BEING AN ASSHOLE, PROFANITY.

————

Skids stare had turned into that of deep shock, and slight sadness as he stared ahead at the man whom he had only reunited with recently. This man had shocked him so much to the point where he nearly fumbled with his cup that had been steamingly warm, though he stopped himself before he could let the burning droplets pierce his skin.

Looking back at Pump, he saw that furious glare return, feeling small under his gaze. He definitely had been shorter than Pump, that was for sure. This time, Pump only had a slightly different appearance, considering he had not been at work.

He still wore the green shirt, though his pants were now tight and black, put on in such a way that he almost looked a lot more larger in body shape when it came to Skid. Skid had internally groaned, he knew he had been fairly skinny, and Pump actually resembling a normal human being and not a skeleton had only doubled down on him—he hadn't been insecure, or so he thought. But if he had been insecure over something, it would have been that. For whatever reason, he had been wearing a jacket as well.

Pumps furious glare would become more and more intense as the two maintained eye contact for a split second, only slightly fading as he spoke in his low and scrawny voice, though it was tinted with exhaustion. His voice still had a teenage tint to it, even if he had only been eighteen years old.

"Oh, it's you.." He left his arms crossed, staring down at Skid, whom had no idea what to do underneath that cold stare. Skid felt as if he had been a lions prey, defenseless and terrified.

"P—Pump!" Skid said, unsure of what to say to the sudden situation at hand, he held the coffee mug close to his chest, clasping his palms over the white exterior of the mug—feeling the warm feeling of the liquid inside slightly buzz against the pale softness of his hands.

He was ever grateful to have some sort of warmth in such a cold time—even if he had to deal with.. this situation now. "What—what are you doing here?" He felt the awkwardness in his voice crack his tone at such high pitched rates, slightly backing away from the man whom had loomed over him so.

"What are you doing here?" Pump immediately turned the question on him, "Can't you do something else other than make my day more miserable than it already is?" Skid had attempted to answer, nervously laughing as he tried to speak, though he was then cut off by Pump holding an oddly puzzled tone in his still aggresive tone.

"Why the hell are you standing outside anyway?" Skid only averted his gaze at this question, ignoring Pumps arched brow as he continued to stare down at him.

"Errr.." Skid turned to face the police car that had still been present, Jack and John had appeared to be speaking with one another inside of the car, and the robbers had been slumped over, looking exhausted with irritation and annoyance.

He slightly held the mug closer, and said, "my house may have gotten almost.. robbed?.." Pumps facial expression turned from hatred to a mix of slight shock. Though It had not completely faded from his hatred-filled face.

Pump then turned to look at the car as well, his eyebrows slightly furrowed as the corners of his eyes widened enough to show that he had clearly been in shock from what Skid had just told him; "Oh.." His voice sounded low, laced with slight venom as he stared at the robbers whom had been in the backseat. The smaller robber appeared to be speaking with John for a moment, before turning back to look at Skid and Pump. Beads of sweat slightly trickled down their faces as they saw the smaller one elbow the taller one with a slight grin on his face.

The smaller man began to wave, making Pump arch one of his brows in slight uncomfortable confusion, for a moment, he looked away, in the hopes that the robber would leave him alone. Skid had only awkwardly waved back, forcing a soft smile on his already nervous face. The robber had then began to.. rapidly dance from left to right at a rapid speed, grinning happily as the other one looked at him with great confusion. Skid and Pump had immediately recognized this as the spooky dance, though neither of them had been sure of what to do.

Pump had only rolled his eyes, holding a slight stare of disgust and hatred for the thing he now despised so deeply. All things spooky disgusted him, all things that were skeletons disgusted him, Halloween disgusted him. Anything to do with his old friend had made him practically hold himself back from screaming with rage. He had even held back from ripping a skeleton decoration that had been inside of a resturant he went to a few weeks ago. He became nauseous at the sight of anything to do with his friends, and had always joked his friend would not return. But here his friend had been, and here he had been.

Skid, meanwhile, had no idea what to do. Only staring with a confused, yet awkward glance in his glistening eyes of deep sadness. He looked at Pump, and then back at the robber. For a split second, he slightly swayed back and forth, as if to imitate the dance. He could not do it at the moment, due to holding the coffee mug in his already slightly shaking hands. Things to do with Halloween or the spooky month had made him nostalgic, yet filled with a deep sense of sadness each time. He would even become defensive anytime someone had talked the precious holiday down.

The taller one had only elbowed the smaller one—causing the smaller one to sadly apologize while looking back at the two. Pump merely turned his head away from the robber, as if to dismiss him. The robber only seemingly sighed in sadness, as the engines to the police car began to start off. The vehicle then proceeded to drive off into the distance, Skid slightly waving a goodbye to the officers whom had just now left.

Pump only let a rough sigh out of his thin lips, and put a hand on his hip as he slightly turned away from his smaller friend, "Whatever, I'm just gonna go now. Have fun being a traitor, would you? Your better when you aren't annoying me." Skid only flinched at these harsh words, and looked down at the ground for a split second. He could not believe the man whom used to be his best friend when they were just boys was saying this to him, he had almost been stunned. He only furrowed his brows slightly in frustration, his tone didn't not exactly match though. In fact, it only made it seem as if he had been mildly annoyed.

"Traitor? When did I ever betray you? C—Can you please just—" Anxiety clinged to Skids words as he slightly turned his body to face Pumps, "You—you keep saying that, and yet your the one who made a judgement over an argument we had eleven years ago! When are you just going to listen to me for onc—" "Listen to you? Why would I ever listen to you?!" Pump slightly turned back to face Skid, his face hadnt been quite full of anger just yet. Yet that seething loathing in his pupils was enough to make Skid slightly shiver.

In that moment, Skid had slightly stepped back, remembering the harsh glare in Pumps gaze when they had first had the argument. That mean, harsh glare that had been stifled with such childish innocence. Such childish frustration. But, oh, he had not been a child anymore. He had been eighteen, an angered adult man. An angered adult man whom had problems with the friend whom had now returned. For he held unconditional rage toward anyone he had met, he had the temper of an angered bear, and the glare of a cougar. Skid felt as if that man had longed for him to be dead, even if they had been childhood friends. Had he longed for him to be dead? Perhaps he had?

Even so, Pump would turn around further, looming over the shorter man further with the firm anger of an adult male. His eyebrows continued to furrow, as he took a step foward slightly, making Slid step back in slight suspense of what would happen had they been in this sort of fight any longer. He did not wish to fight his friend, he had hated it so! But this friend—he had now been his enemy! Or had Pump just thought of it that way? "You smiled—you smiled when your own mom died, like nothing was wrong! And yet your acting like I'm the one being unreasonable?!"

"I—" Skid then took a step foward incase he would need to protect himself from any sort of danger the man would throw his way, but would he really hurt an old friend even if he had been angry with him? Surely, he couldn't have been that furious. "I never said anything about you being unreasonable! What's your deal?! Why cant you just—" Skid sighed, "Why can't you ever give me a straight answer other than the fact that I smiled at you?! I don't see why me smiling was such a big deal for you!"

"You don't see it?! You don't see the reason?! Are—you little—you bastard, are you fucking serious right now?!" It was obvious Pump had been losing his temper, approaching Skid with a furious gesture of his bigger hand. Skid took another step back as Pump began to inch his face closer to Skids, his pupils had been shaking with unfathomable rage. "Your mom had died, you—you witnessed her dying too! I—I went over to try and comfort you, because I thought you might have been grieving! But no—no, no!" A manic grin clung to Pumps face as he approached further and further with a looming figure, darkness consuming his face into anger.

"You smiled—you smiled at me as if nothing had been wrong.. heh, you don't ever think anything wrong, do you? You don't ever actually care enough to try and check up on people yourself, do you?" Pumps twisted questions had been becoming rougher as his tone would linger on the icy-cold words he had been saying to his former companion. "I—Pump, i—" Skid struggled to speak, for Pump only interrupted him. "Must have been nice living in your own little bubble then. Did you never care for me at all? Why didn't you bother to ask how I felt?! She was important to me, you know! She should have been important to you!"

Flashes of the argument began to pierce Skids mind, his palms began to shake as he held the mug in his hands—and he tried to prevent himself from potentially dropping it. He hadn't meant to, but.. he began to yell. "I was dealing with stuff too!" Skid yelled, Pump had then began to yell incoherent responses at Skid—Skid could not hear him over his own voice yelling at a high rate. Their voices had been mixed together into a chaotic cacophony of sound, of conversation, of argumentative speech. Skid had nearly dropped his mug several times, holding it close afterwars each time, as if it had been a baby he would have to protect.

Pump would only yell insult after insult, emotionally-triggered response after response. Skid would yell about how he had felt, about how he had been grieving too, about how he had still been grieving and had no idea how to manage it when he hadn't been capable of dealing with himself on his own. The two were close to almost hitting one another, Pump furiously gesturing with his hands and nearly slapping Skid harshly with his hand. Skid had nearly shoved Pump multiple times during this loud choir of an argument. But the argument became silenced as something had suddenly been pulled away from Skids grasp, and something had been pulled away from Pump too.

The two backed away from eachother, looking for whatever had suddenly been taken away from them. Skid quickly realized from the absence in his hands that it had been the coffee mug he so desperately held onto that had been taken away without reason. Pump had then realized the jacket he wore had been taken away the moment he realized the freezing cold was beginning to merge within his pale white skin, and for a moment, he held back a warmth-starved squeal. Pump yelped in surprise, "Argh—what the fu—"

The two looked around anxiously, to see whomever had taken their stuff from them, only to realize the subject had been still nearby. Running off into the distance, into the town, into the slight darkness of evening. Pump seethed, and immediately yelled in a rough tone; "Hey! You get back here!"

The subject had only most likely grinned behind the mask they wore, and had yelled back in a ominous yet weirdly scrawny voice; "Catch me if you can, kid!" Pump struggled to respond for a few moments, holding his head back in slight confusion, though only then did his facial expression slightly quiver with rage. In a low yet angry voice, he spoke. "Dont you ever fucking call me that—" He snarled, "I'll kill you!"

"P—Pump, wait!" Skid tried to call out in a hopeless attempt to keep his former friend from almost murdering someone, though it was too late. Pump had already began to dart after the man, yelling insult after insult as he ran after him—"P—Pump!" Skid yelled.

He knew he wasn't going to get that mug he had only purchased recently back if he didn't do something, but he knew damage would most likely be done if he went with Pump to go and find it. Pump would most likely yell at him. But.. taking the easier route would be slower. And he needed that mug back. He wasn't paying a ridiculous amount of money again, he needed it back so he didn't have to spend his entire account on something as stupid as a cup.

So.. without thinking, he only shook his head, and tried to hold on tightly to his blanket—and then began to run after Pump and whomever had stole their things. Would this be an adventure like old times? He hoped not. As fun as they were, he and Pump almost died each time. He wasn't ready to risk he or Pumps life again because of them both having fun. But in this case, it had not been fun.

Even so, he continued to run, not noticing the fact that his blanket was slowly slipping off of him—and the fact that the blanket had now fallen off of him, left to be forgotten on the sidewalk.

///////////////////

Teehee I made a shadow fandub reference somewhere here, see if you can catch it /lh

[sweetcerac]

In The Mood For Fall Reads

Autumn is in the air, pumpkins are in the grocery stores, and Spirit Halloween stores are popping up in those random empty store fronts. It's that time of year to get in the spooky mood! Here's my list of spooky reads you should definitely give a try.

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

"College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation. When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life, but they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood. Will she be able to face the town's terror or will she drown like everyone else?"

Such an awesome Vampy YA series! Rachel Caine wrote such an amazingly detailed world with Morganville, Texas. A vampire city with vampire rules for the resident humans to fear and dark secrets to uncover that could change the game. Her heroine is small but so fierce in Claire Danvers. Purely driven to be a scientist, her analytical brain helps her stay rational in the face of danger. Plus her room mates/true friends are such great compliments to her, including a hot broady musician named Michael Glass. I highly recommend the whole series!

Wake The Hollow by Gaby Triana

"Forget the dead, Mica. It’s real, live people you should fear.

Tragedy has brought Micaela Burgos back to her hometown of Sleepy Hollow. It’s been six years since she chose to live with her father in Miami instead of her eccentric mother. And now her mother is dead.

This town will suck you in and not let go.

Sleepy Hollow may be famous for its fabled headless horseman, but the town is real. So are its prejudices and hatred, targeting Mica’s family as outsiders. But ghostly voices carry on the wind, whispering that her mother’s death was based on hate…not an accident at all. With the help of two very different guys—who pull at her heart in very different ways—Micaela must awaken the hidden secret of Sleepy Hollow…before she meets her mother’s fate.

Find the answers.

Unless, of course, the answers find you first."

This book has the Sleepy Hollow vibes you didn't know you needed! Micaela's Mom's death forces her back to her hometown of headless horseman infamy. While connecting with her old friends and family, she finds shocking secrets that make her question her Mom's death. Not to mention two hot guys vying for her attention and the headless man himself making an appearance. I loved this ghostly thrill ride that I like to revisit when the air gets crisp.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

"After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.

Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemí’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind."

A creepy gothic estate in the remote countryside of Mexico where the walls actually pulse? What?!? The story follows Noemi, a socialite from Mexico City, on a mission to save her beloved cousin, Catalina, from her super weird husband and family. When Catalina has a moment of clarity and sends a letter of distress to Noemi, Noemi insists on swooping in and bringing her home. But this spooky manor is more like a spider's web than she bargained for and she gets sucked into staying. Fortunately for her, her determined curious nature has her poking through all the secrets she can uncover.

The Move by Laura M. Drake

"Selena knows that haunted houses are only real in movies.

Or are they?

When Selena moves to a sleepy Oregon town with her dad, she knows her life will be different than the one in California she left behind. But before they even finish unpacking, she realizes that everything isn’t as it seems. As the hauntings escalate in your home the neighborhood kids call “The Snatcher,” Selena realizes that no one is safe.

With the help of a cute neighbor boy, will Selena be able to solve the mystery behind the vengeful ghost before time runs out? Or is it already too late?"

This whole series was a spooky delight to read. A haunted house with a vengeance spirit that actually snatches people! Selena moves into this house with her father without any of this useful information about it's history beforehand. Luckily, she meets a guy in her new town, Lincoln, who has an extensive knowledge of Japanese Yokai (ghosts!) and totally kissable lips. Together they navigate the creaks and flickers in her haunted house as they investigate what this ghost actually wants from them. 

The Carrow Haunt by Darcy Coates

""The dead are restless here..." Remy is a tour guide for Carrow House, a notoriously haunted building. When she's asked to host seven guests for a week-long stay to research Carrow's phenomena, she hopes to finally experience some of the sightings that made the house famous.

At first, it's everything they hoped for. Then a storm moves in, cutting off their contact with the outside world, and things quickly become twisted. Doors open on their own. Seances go disastrously wrong. Red liquid seeps from behind the wallpaper. Their spirit medium wanders through the house during the night, seemingly in a trance.

Then one of the guests dies under strange circumstances, and Remy is forced to consider the possibility that the ghost of the house's original owner, a twisted serial killer, still walks the halls.

But by then it's too late to escape."

Remy loves haunted houses, so she takes the job as a tour guide at a specifically horrifying one. She loves the history and researching the houses she works at and becomes so knowledgeable about the Carrow House that a particularly handsome visitor on one of her tours asks her if he could book a week long stay to hunt the ghosts. Slamming doors, apparitions, a seance, and death! Things get real quickly and the group have to figure out how to escape! Not only a really awesome scary book, but I loved the relationship building between the characters. I like a little romance with my scares. Boo! Aww!

A Breath Of Frost by Alyxandra Harvey

"In 1814, three cousins—Gretchen, Emma, and Penelope—discover their family lineage of witchcraft when a binding spell is broken, allowing their individual magical powers to manifest. Now, beyond the manicured gardens and ballrooms of Regency London, an alluring underworld available only to those with power is revealed to the cousins. By claiming their power, the three cousins have accidentally opened the gates to the underworld.

Now ghouls, hellhounds—and most terrifying of all, the spirits of dark witches known as the Greymalkin Sisters—are hunting and killing young debutante witches for their powers. And, somehow, Emma is connected to the murders…because she keeps finding the bodies.

Can the cousins seal the gates before another witch is killed… or even worse, before their new gifts are stripped away?"

I am such a sucker for old time London and witches! I fell in absolute love with this series! Gretchen, Emma, and Penelope are very close and going through all the society protocols of the Regency era together with the balls and soirees. The Lovegrove cousins are far from swooning debutantes. They discover they are witches! Emma is very studious and loves to read. Gretchen is pretty bad ass and hates that the men get to do all the fun things, while the women practice their curtsy. And Penelope likes the idea of balls and soirees and practicing her embroidery, but she is no push over. Besides magic, there are magical creatures, a goblin market, romance, and more! Think of this series as a kind of Bridgerton murder mystery with magic! The last book is Kindle only, just in case you devour this series like I did.

Firelight by Kristen Callihan

"Once the flames are ignited . . .

Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family's fortune decimated and forced her to wed London's most nefarious nobleman.

They will burn for eternity . . .

Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it's selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can't help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn't felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask."

Another series set in old time London, this time Victorian London. The story has a Beauty and Beast esque aspect to it with some Phantom of the Opera feels. Toss in a little Firestarter, swirl things around, and you get a magical tale of power, fear, and love. Miranda can't control her powers and a tall, dark, and handsome stranger with a gruffness "rescues" her with a proposal of marriage. While Miranda isn't entirely sure of this mysterious hunk, the bodies start sprouting up and with his reputation scaring the locals, who can anyone believe that this guy is innocent? This whole entire series is amazing and I most highly recommend all of them and wish there were more books!

Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

"I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way."

This is my latest spooky read from this past year. In the mood for ghosts? This story has ghosts in spades! Scary vengeance ghosts that need to be battled. Meet Kennedy Waters. Her Mom is killed by a ghost and two hot brothers rescue her from being killed by the same ghost. That's when Kennedy's whole world view is changed forever and she hits the road to battle the evil spirits with a group of kids call the Legion. Members whose parents have also died and passed down a magical legacy upon their deaths. Kennedy is learning on the go, but definitely struggling with the idea that her Mom was a Legion member too. A secret society fighting darkness? Fantastic spooky read that makes me need the whole series now!

[noxtms]

❝   WITH HOPE OF PROMOTING ( AND STRENGHTENING ) COMMUNITY SPIRIT, a small number of past & present members of the appleby arrows have joined forces with diagon alley businessowners and wix world volunteers to host the appleby autumnfest from october 6th to october 12th ! the 11th annual festival will take place just outside of the village of appleby, and will be protected, week long, by strong muggle repelling charms ! prior festivals have drawn thousands of wix and we are once again expecting a huge crowd to come out and enjoy the food and fun arranged for this year ! a number of exciting events have been arranged, including a blood drive and charity relay on the 10th, all in aid of st mungo’s hospital. come one, come all, and enjoy what autumnfest has to offer you !  ❞

WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE :  

the appleby autumnfest ( say that three times fast ) is a celebration of the spookest season endorsed by past & present members of the appleby arrows, located JUST outside of the sleepy little village the dismal quidditch team hails from. running from october 6th to october 12th, inclusive, it’s considered a family friendly precursor of sorts to the halloween celebrations along diagon alley, later in the month. 

ministry officials lend their hand to placing a few strong muggle repelling charms over the festival area, which includes three large fields kindly borrowed from their muggle owners for the duration of the event. of course there’s a pumpkin patch ( where you can take home a wheelbarrow of pumpkins made of all shapes and sizes for the tiny asking price of two galleons ), but there’s also an impressive maze made of maize that appears and takes form overnight, and that disappears in much the same fashion at event end. these fields sit either side of the main event area, where wooden boothes sell reasonable priced wares & friendly wix have volunteered to run an impressive number of autumnfest games. 

there’s fun for wix of all ages with classic games such as bobbing for crab apples, pin the tail on the thestral, a potato sack race, carved pumpkin golf and a ring toss that sees brave wix trying to loop a plastic hoop onto the many legs of a fake acromantula - and it wouldn’t be half as fun without the opportunity to win some cheap prizes ! when you’ve swung by every booth and given each game a shot, there’s plenty of booths serving the stickiest and sweetest autumnfest treats, so don’t miss the opportunity to wash down a caramel apple and funnel cake with a cup of homemade hot apple cider ! 

and that’s not all ! this year, the usual fun comes accompanying an opportunity to do good in the form of a spooky scary blood drive in aid of st mungo’s on the 10th, followed ( yes, followed - it’s really rather bad timing, on their behalf ) by a charity relay, with sign up fee and additional donations going straight to the hospital itself in its time of need. volunteers will be randomly paired up and magically tied to one another at the ankle, all the better to participate in several relay style games like a ~ faux ~ dragon egg & shovel race and a gruesome hand - in - pumpkin golden apple search that’ll all, eventually, lead one pair to victory ( and a tacky plastic trophy ) and the rest ... not to victory, anyway, but there’s a 50/50 shot of developing close friendship or seething hatred by the end of it ! 

OUT OF CHARACTER :

another season, another festival in the spirit of said season ! the appleby autumnfest is one half of october’s lineup, and kicks off yet another opportunity to take part in the noxtms galleon system ! that is, of course, all well and good - but something that was quite important to me was working out a way to have another ‘sign up & get randomly partnered’ opportuntity since our last one was so long ago, and i really hope you guys get as much a kick out of the relay as i’ve had in imagining it ! there’ll be a channel on the discord to put forward names, and your partners will be up by sunday ! please remember, though, that as with all of these arrangements - you will be required to do at least one thread with your partner. 

this event officially begins today ( wednesday the 6th ) with the posting of this message ! 

it will last for two weeks, though you are not currently required to pause any current threads. you’ll be given a heads up if that’s going to change at any point ! 

all event starters should be tagged nox.event018, and the location is appleby ! don’t forget to keep the galleon system in mind for this event, as threads can earn you points ! 

if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to message the main with them ! please comment ‘boo’ on this post to show you’ve read it !

[life-rewritten]

The Gifted Graduation: Reuniting with Channon (NON)

Pang and his two  very conflicting and dark paths

Last month I said I was planning to write heaps of essays regarding the show the gifted graduation, in the end, I've just sat back and kept my theories and opinions to my self as this season started in a way I was not expecting, each time I planned to write an essay like who was the impostor, for example, it got revealed the next episode(Korn) and I couldn't find enough words and need to write it out entirely. After episode 6 though, Gifted has made me lose it, and if I don't try to break down all that's in my mind, I don't think I'll fully recover. Warning spoilers for both The Gifted and The Gifted Graduation so far. Please let us discuss this show more, for a while on Tumblr the tags were silent but I hope after this episode people run and become obsessed with this masterpiece. Also since it's spooky season Gifted and its scary themes and ideas acts a perfect Halloween show to focus on. Honestly, I'm hoping this show is the next show I focus on analysing the most.  Okay, let's break down Pang and his character arc/ paths he could take this towards the end of this season.  

Reconvening With Non

The first thing I noticed about the scene when Pang reunites with Channon is this sense of foreboding and also a sense of a  pseudo'fatherly-son' vibe from them. From season one Channon's presence has been made known as something that motivated Pang to choose good, and trust in the future, and also his story was the reason why Pang got stronger and decided to fight the system. Pang and Non have this energy around them because Pang looks up to him so much for his sheer will, kindness and heart, but also Pang was Channon's mirror/shadow character in season 1;

He also formed a close friendship with someone who he wanted to protect and understood why Channon made the decisions he made.

He also wanted to fight the system and managed to lose his memories and lose to the director. 

He again got betrayed by his friends and Pom at the end of season 1 the way Pom was forced to betray Channon.

 Like Non, he was meant to return back to not knowing anything and having the secrets buried of the school, he was meant to be forgotten and hidden. However, unlike Pom, Wave trusted Pang more than wanting to save his potential and strived to get his memories back and have him return to the gifted.  So both Pang and Channon have both mirrored arcs where Pang represents a younger version of the latter and also foreshadows the way his psyche and character mindset is changing, growing but also could be degenerating. Before I talk about this, even more, let's focus on the other mirror character for Pang which points and alludes to another path he could take.

War With The Director and Himself

This is another reason for why I got weird vibes from the reuniting scene with Pang and Channon. I felt like I had to stay on my toes because we've done this before; trusting someone or underestimating someone as not being more vital than they are. In season 1 Pang and I failed to recognise what the director was in that season, it was clear he was the villain, but it also felt like he understood Pang the most and I couldn't for the sake of me figure out why. Until the reveal that he is an evolved version of Pang if Pang chose to succumb to using his potential for evil. It was terrifying the truth was there all along;  he knew who Pang was, he learned about Pang's powers because he had the same.

The director proceeded like he did with Channon to belittle his beliefs about equality and break him down one by on;  first by showing both of them how easy it is to be betrayed by their peers/and closest friends (Pom and Wave who did not want to lose their potential or suffer consequences because of them,), second by making them see they've lost and laughed in their face at their failed plans and third to degrade them down even further by returning them back to their starting position where they were unknown and not crucial (by erasing their memories).  

The director is cruel, but his plans fail for both of these two as revealed in episode 6.  Non had his memories retrieved but could do nothing and was left in the shadows being afraid of the director whilst working as an IT for the ministry (I call bullshit on this btw) and Pang's memory was revived by the help of his friends and Wave who believed in his vision (well some of them didn't as we see in episode 6). Season 2 keeps repeating the same motif and idea of Pang pushing down his powers, so he doesn't turn into someone like the director, he doesn't want to be evil or manipulative he wants to be a fair leadership.

Pang's Struggle For Control

Season 2, however, seems to keep pushing Pang in the middle of this two paths, it's either he realises there's no way to survive and becomes like the director to return things back to normal, or he ends up losing the game and being pushed aside and haunted as a failure like Non.

The fight to win and have an equal system seems more impossible if Pang doesn't choose to take the director's path. The lack of unity and togetherness in his own team and the losses that have been acquired by episode 6, could drive him even further to have to submit to his potential and use it the way he's been trying to avoid.

We see hints of chaos still on the way;  his trauma for losing and causing the deaths of his peers for his cause, the resentment for his leadership being questioned and replaced by Punn who seems slowly tired of being under him, and the lack of trust for both his peers and the adults. He may gradually adopt the director's mindset that equality is impossible, and being gifted is the only way to achieve victory and get what he wants in this environment. He may even use his powers to make people forget everything and go back to the start, just like how the director does whenever chaos threatens the school.

Pang vs Non

Non's return is interesting to me, he seems good, and he appears righteous but broken. It's easy to feel pity for him and be misled by his words. It's the same way we were misled by the director and thinking he knew nothing about Pang's plans in season 1, we underestimated him because we felt he had no vision. Non is like that, another mirror character that can be revealed to be evil all along, the master manipulator.

Well, why not? He's been haunted and traumatised for ten years since he got his memories back, probably manipulated and told wrong ideologies by the ministry head who wants to destroy the director and this can easily lead him to be filled with vengeance and anger and resentment, and a wish to get revenge.

Not only that he went to the one person who was also feeling just as resentful about the gifted system (he says it was an accident, but I don't believe that for one bit), his speech about him being a failure is sad. It pushes the audience to want to root for him, but it makes no sense how the ministry just hired him to become an IT man and be left in the shadows, only for him to return because he did not want to have the virus spread around and used on the director. No he implanted that idea in Korn, he pushed Korn by only giving him small details about the drug and what it does, he also seems to have little knowing looks in this episode; times where he looks a bit more menacing, more sly, more cunning.  I focused on his facial expression during the confrontation with Korn, and it seemed too knowing, too secretive, to resentful.

Non is not someone who can easily be pushed away not after what happened to him in Season 1, not whilst Pom gets to run around being a teacher in the school and misleading more students to being hurt, not whilst the director continues to be director in the school and hide him as a secret, not whilst the gifted programme is still causing chaos and disasters that aren't right. His sense of justice is probably more than his fear of the director. His reason for not wanting to come back makes no sense to me, it feels off.  But that's why him being the villain of the show has even more potential, to hurt us just like the director's final plot twist in season 1, someone who we underestimated because we believed he was on our side, he was right and just, and he had let things go.

That's the same as Pang, we see him as someone trying so hard to not shift from his aim and path, someone who idealistically believes in equality and winning the war but are we sure he'll stay that way. He could follow this path. Instead, becoming the resentful failure who feels exhausted from failing and having his aims ruined, he is also mentally pushed to the brim just like Non, he is also being shown futility at every try, and he is being betrayed just like Non.

Pawns  Of The Ministry  

Pang joining the ministry to help defeat the director is just probably mirroring Non's real path, He's probably been told the same truths revealed to Non when he first got founded by them.

To me the ministry is our main villain this season, with opposite ideologies to the director, but how are we so sure that the head isn't on the other side of the spectrum to far, what if he harbours hatred for the gifted programme so much because he also wants vengeance, what if he wants to again do what the director wanted but even more harshly or crueller. It's one of the two.

The ministry is another form of representation of leadership from the adults, and we know in this show, the adults are not to be trusted, deceitful and cruel and too set in their own ways. Willing to sacrifice anything for their cause. Pang joining them seems good right now, but I bet Non is also one of them. He's now an adult just like Pom remember we trusted Pom in season 1 we thought he was good, only for him to indeed be weak and submissive to the director's control. Non probably is the same as Pom was, someone who wants to be good but is perhaps now instead, under the ministry's control.

The Ideology Of The Ministry  

It's a war of politics between these two ideologies and leadership from adults, and we're about to see it play out with Pang as a pawn. That's why I believe he will snap towards the end and stop being just a pawn, he will probably realise that he needs control and that's why he's most likely to mould into the mixture of these two characters he represents, and to be honest that's not a good thing. Luckily he has Wave by his side, that's one thing we can count on is Wave to bring Pang away from these two paths the way Pang brought him out from his own downward spiral in season 1. Both help the other and push the other to be better, to breath and calm down, to trust in the positives. Wave is going to do that for Pang let's hope it's not just too late when he does.

[zayray030]

You burned my toaster!

Summary: Bruce's children watch as their father and Hal bicker over pancakes and realise that they might have judged Hal too harshly.

Hal fluttered his eyes open, feeling sore in the best of ways. Sex with Bruce was absolutely amazing, even if he had to be gagged most times that not considering the fact that he's now living in a house with a bunch of children. He's not that much of an asshole.

Hal tried to roll away from the bed to go and shower but a strong arm around his waist stopped him from moving. He grinned slightly before turning to meet his boyfriends who had his eyes closed but a scowl on his face.

“Bruce~” Hal whined, trying to get out. That had only resulted in Bruce pulling him closer.

“Hal~” he mimicked back, still not letting Hal get out of his strong grip. “It's too early, go to sleep.”

“It's 10am, Spooky.” Hal protested but immediately felt himself blush when Bruce reached back and grabbed his ass.

“And?” the stubborn man asked. Hal just rolled his eyes at his boyfriend before trying to squirm away again and trying to ignore Bruce's hand on his ass.

“Bruce, I wanna make breakfast.” he protested and when it looked like Bruce was going to contradict him he cut him off. “And I'd rather not scar Alfred or any of your kids by our naked bodies.” he added, raising an eyebrow at Bruce.

“You're mean.” Bruce pouted with his eyes still closed.

“Oh, I'm the mean one?” Hal asked, raising an eyebrow. “Who's the asshole who made me jump on their cock and not let me cum for 2 hours.”

Bruce just smirked, cracking his eyes open the slightest bit. “I didn't hear any complaints. And I'm more than happy to do it again.” he added, gaze raking down Hal.

“Perve.” Hal muttered, climbing out of bed, trying to ignore his boyfriend's eyes. “When you're finally done being a phenomenal douchebag, join me downstairs.” Hal said, moving over to the connected bathroom.

Hal waited for a reply but instead he turned around and saw Bruce asleep, chest moving up and down. Hal smiled a little at the scene before moving over to shower.

After Hal had finally finished his shower and changed into one of Bruce's shirts and a pair of sweatpants, he went downstairs to make himself some breakfast.

“Mister Jordan.” said Alfred, appearing at his side. Hal jumped slightly, heart beating quickly, before turning to the old man and smiling at him in hope the man would smile back. No such luck.

“Alfred, hey!” he said sunnily. Even though Hal knew than nobody here really liked him he tried to be nice. “I was wondering if I could make pancakes.” Hal asked, staring at him hopefully.

“Of course. I will prepare-” Alfred began already descending downstairs but Hal stopped him.

“Actually I was wondering if I could make the pancakes myself.” When Alfred turned to him raising an eyebrow he continued, albeit slightly embarrassed. “Don't get me wrong, I love your cooking. But I've just missed being able to do stuff for myself.” he said, looking down.

“Of course, mister Jordan. Let's hope you don't take after Master Bruce's cooking skills.” Alfred finally said after a beat or silence.

“Please, who do you think cooked for most of our dates. I didn't even let him near the kitchen after he woke me up with the fire alarm blaring.” said Hal, remembering that disastrous morning when Bruce had tried to be romantic.

If Hal had been looking at Alfred's face he would have seen the small smile on the old butler's face and a gleam in his eyes. However, since he didn't he looked down again and practically ran to the kitchen to make sure the man didn't rey anything for insulting the closest thing he has to a son. Alfred frowned slightly at his actions before shaking his head, preparing to wake up the rest of his charges.

Hal entered the kitchen and immediately began looking for the ingredients to make pancakes. When he had collected all of them he began making them, enjoying the peace and quiet. Almost like he was back in his small apartment at Coast City. If his apartment had top of the line counters, oven and utensils.

When he had finished preparing a plate of pancakes, he turned around to go to the dining room but stopped short and tried his hardest not to let out a shrill shriek at the sight of Damian standing in front of him, scowling and glaring and looking very threatening for a 12 year old.

“What are you doing here, Jordan?!” demanded Damian, staring at him in disdain. Damian had always been vocal about his hatred for Hal and Hal just took it, even if it hurt that the child of the man who he loved could barely stand being in the same room as him.

“Making breakfast. Want some?” Hal asked politely. Damian looked at him slightly disappointed, as if hoping that Hal would retort with hostility. They all did.

“Tt. Whatever. Make sure that it's somewhat decent.” he huffed and walked away to the dining room. Hal just shrugged before tiring back to the rest of the batter. He was immensely happy that he had prepared extra.

After Hal finished the gruelling work of making several pancakes he quickly began stacking a few on different plates, sure that the rest of the kids were in the dining room. Hal frowned slightly when he realised that he wouldn't be able to carry them all together but fortunately Alfred popped at his shoulder.

“Do you need any assistance taking these to the dining room, mister Jordan.” Alfred asked after Hal had finally managed to calm down his beating heart.

“Yes please.” Hal said and he and Alfred began picking the plates up and taking them to the dining room to where the kids were sat. They all looked slightly disappointed when they saw Alfred standing near him helping him to deliver the plates.

“Why couldn't you not use your ring?” asked Dick in a would be innocent voice if not for the gleam in his eyes.

“‘Cause it's nice to do stuff manually instead of relying on your powers.” Hal answered, not rising to the bait. He saw Dick’s face at his answer. Hal just ignored it and set the plate out for the rest. Tim looked like he was going to complain about something but one simple look of Alfred silenced him.

“Morning.” Bruce greeted. “These look good. Thought you would burn them.” Bruce added. Hal shot him a disbelieving look before smirking slightly.

“Oh, like how you almost burned my apartment down by making toast?” Hal asked sarcastically and smirked when he saw the embarrassed look on Bruce's face. He heard a snort and when he turned around he saw Jason covering his mouth.

“I did not almost-” Bruce tried to protest but Hal cut him off again and he revelled in the surprised looks on Bruce's kids faces.

“Please, spooky. There were a bunch of complaints and someone asked me if everything was okay because they had thought if I fell asleep while making myself breakfast.” Hal said, smirking and leaning against the table.

Bruce struggled with word for a moment before sighing in exasperation before he frowned again and looked around the table. “Where's your plate?” he asked worriedly.

“Shi- shoot. Must have forgotten.” he said rubbing the back of his neck.

“Dumbass.” muttered Bruce.

“It's okay, he can have mine. I think I have way too much anyways.” Tim said.

“Sit down. You look pathetically pale and skinny. You're going to actually eat something.” Hal said before turning back to Bruce to bicker with him again, one again missing the look of surprise on the others faces.

“Well I have a meeting. You can have mine.” Bruce said standing up and pecking Hal on the cheeks before leaving the room.

“You barely even ate! Bruce Wayne!” Hal hollered after him. He swore he heard a laugh but he ignored it. When he turned to the kids he jumped up slightly in worry. They were looking at him as if he was their saviour and he was not comfortable with that.

“Teach me. Please.” Dick begged.

“Teach you what?” Hal asked confusedly.

“How to make these pancakes, duh.” said Jason.

“Tt. They're adequate. I would also like to learn how to make them.” said Damian.

“While I'm sure mister Jordan would love to teach you boys how to make these, let the man have his breakfast.” said Alfred. The boys didn't bother protesting but looked at Hal intently as he ate.

When Hal had finally finished eating Damian immediately grabbed his hand and dragged him to the kitchen with the others following.

Maybe they didn't hate him. But Hal was so going to check his pockets.

[hypexion]

Demons of the Punjab is a story about love, loss, and the price of hatred and the damage of colonialism. Also, Yaz learns more about her family history, which includes all of those cheery topics.

Family history is something that Doctor Who generally doesn’t touch. Perhaps because of all the issues it brings up in regards to paradoxes and such. But it’s one of the most personal types of history around, so even after Father’s Day, there’s still a large amount of material to work with in this area. So in this Yaz-focused episode, Team TARDIS is off to the Punjab to find out about the secrets of Umbreen, Yaz’s grandmother. And in the process, terrible secrets are revealed!

Upon arriving in the past, the team soon blunder their way directly to Umbreen and her family. This opens the main mystery of the episode: what’s the deal with Prem, the man Umbreen is about to marry, who definitely isn’t Yaz’s grandfather? While some might be objecting, Prem and Umbreen seem perfectly happy, meaning something must happen so that the story as Yaz knows it unfolds. But the mystery is soon overshadowed by the arrival of the titular Demons of the Punjab.

Or at least, that’s what it seems like at first. The “demons“ are in fact an alien species known as the Thijarians. They get the full “legendary never before mentioned super alien“ introduction modern Doctor Who is so fond of, and are described as the ultimate assassins. They even appear to be stalking Prem and his family, having appeared at the death of his older brother, Kunal. The Thijarians even have a spooky, bat-like design and scary telepathy so that you know they’re up to no good. They’re a complete evil package, minus an actual reason to be skulking around India in 1947 and murdering people. Which is where the twist comes in.

Rather than being the cause of the deaths, the deaths are effectively what is causing the Thijarians. They’ve given up the ways of assassination, and have become witnesses for the unwitnessed dead. Rather than demons, they are in essence psychopomps, who guard the dying in their last moments. Given how much Doctor Who tends to lean on aliens to provide a threat, even in historical episodes, it’s good for that not to be the case for once. Especially since Demons of the Punjab is based on a real-life period of violence and unreset. The Thijarians are probably the least necessary aliens yet, but they do have a place in the story.

The real cause of the problem is that The British Were At It Again, and now the people who live in India have to deal with the consequences. The upcoming partition has lead to radicalization on both the Hindu and Muslim sides, even in the small community the episode is based around. Prem’s younger brother, Manish, is ultimately responsible for the specific tragedy that happens in this episode. While Kunal and Prem have been away, Manish has been radicalized into someone who rejects Umbreen, a person he’s known all his life, and who ends up causing his brother’s death. Prem even recognises one of the people who come to drive out Muslims as someone he fought alongside in the war. It’s a grim reminder that while history is often taught in terms of grand events and great man, in the end it is ordinary people who live through the consequences.

Overall, Demons of the Punjab is a pretty frank look at the consequences of the Partition of India, focused on regular people who are caught up in the events. And while the mandatory aliens make their mandatory appearance, the episode doesn’t use them to avoid the truth of the situation. This sets a new bar for historical episodes, that I’m afraid very few will be able to meet.

[maluminspace]

Fallen Angel

Genre: angst

Pairings: Michael Clifford/Reader (kind of)

Word Count: 2.2k

Requested: by @ghost0fy0u for spooky!sos 2019

Trigger Warnings: feelings of hopelessness/homelessness

A/N: I’m so sorry I made this so emo! I really hope it turned out okay 💗

——

Michael felt naked without his wings. 

The mortal clothes he’d been given prior to his exile from the heavens did very little to combat that feeling. He very much doubted that he could feel more humiliated than he did right now, even if every inch of his milky skin was on display to the crowds of people flooding the streets around him.

Before today, Michael had spent very little time on earth. He’d both admired and despised it (depending upon the events he’d been surveying) from the heavens throughout the countless years he’d had the privilege of being an angel.

Perhaps he should have made more of an effort to visit earth, familiarise himself with the planet he was probably always doomed to end up on.

It was easy for him to remember why he’d rarely felt the need to descend from the heavens, though. If the pouring rain and the cold wind biting at every inch of the exposed skin of his hands and face, weren’t enough to make him despise this planet - the overwhelming sense of dread, hatred, loneliness and general despair seeping from every soul that passed him, certainly was. Earth was a cold and bitter place in more ways than one.

Even though the loss of one’s wings meant that they became, to all intents and purposes, mortal - Michael had some lingering abilities, like his heightened sense of awareness regarding those around him, that would no doubt fade with time. That alone was a bittersweet thought. One the one hand, losing the last remnants of the majestic feature he was broke his heart. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure how long he could survive when his own despair was crippled beneath the weight of thousands of others’. 

Michael knew that there was very little hope of him regaining his wings. Exiled angles are very rarely able to redeem themselves enough to be allowed back into the heavens. Of course, he had to have hope that he could be one of those few that are able to prove their worth. 

It could be said that Michael’s banishment was unjust. Some would argue that he wasn’t to blame for the events which had led to this but none of that mattered now. What’s done is done and the decision could not be overturned, no matter how much Michael wishes it could be.

Wrapping his long beige coat further around himself, Michael scanned the many neon signs around him. Before he could plan any sort of redemption quest, he needed to eat, shower and sleep. 

He’d been given a small amount of money before he’d been banished. Michael knew that he had to spend it wisely if he was to make it through the first days of his new mortal life. That meant that the luxurious looking hotel opposite him wasn’t an option. One night in there would probably leave him penniless. 

Unfortunately the former angel knew he’d have to look elsewhere for shelter. He’d been deposited in a place where no budget accommodation seemed to be situated. 

Despite the heavy rain continuing to drench him, Michael forced himself to start walking. Various people bumped into him and cursed at him for not looking where he was going as he made his way along the pavement. 

He walked until his feet hurt, until the glaring lights of the city had lessened to just the odd neon sign over bars and diners, until he was soaked to the very bone and until he literally had no more strength to continue. 

Michael had no choice but stop at the next available place that he might be able to get a room at. That place just so happened to be the tiny hotel that you worked at on the outskirts of the city.

Michael pushed open the door, his exhausted eyes scanning the dishevelled lobby before he stumbled over to the reception desk. This definitely wouldn’t be his first choice of accommodation but he couldn’t afford to be picky and if he didn’t rest soon he was sure he’d pass out.

You were dealing with a disgruntled customer that was complaining about the faulty T.V in their room. Michael simply waited patiently until you’d reassured the resident that you’d send the handyman to him as soon as he was finished fixing a broken lock in another room.

When the angry resident finally scuttled off up the stairs, Michael stepped closer to the desk. He was exhausted and colder than he’d ever felt in his life. The fallen angel had no idea how much he was shivering until your friendly face took on a concerned expression. 

“Hi there, are you okay?” You asked, your attempted smile falling flat as you took in the disheveled appearance of the stranger.

Michael nodded, trying to steady himself by placing his trembling hands on the desk that lay between you. “I need a room, p-please.” He stuttered, teeth chattering uncontrollably.

The worry on your face deepened before you yelled for your colleague. When the very bored looking teenager sloped into the room, you rolled your eyes at him. “Will you man the desk while I settle this man into his room please?” You asked, your tone clipped and a little stern. 

The teenager ran his eyes over Michael, something like sympathy or pity twinkling within their depths as he nodded. “We only have one charity room left available, it’s the smallest one and it’s right next to the main road.”

You glowered at your co-worker. “You need a lesson on manners and tact!” You huffed as you grabbed the key for room four. Turning back to Michael, you smiled brightly, gesturing down the hallway off of the lobby that led to the ground floor rooms. “Right this way, sir.”

Michael frowned, confusion clouding his handsome features. “Don’t I need to pay first?” He asked, reaching into his pockets with his shaking fingers. His knowledge of earth was limited but he remembered being taught about earth’s money and payment practices.

You glanced around the lobby, ensuring that no other customers were around before offering him a small smile. “We always try to help out people in your situation, sir...” you reply quietly. “I’ll explain everything once we’ve gotten you into some dry clothes, yeah?”

Still confused, Michael followed you. He didn’t know why he hadn’t had to pay but now wasn’t the time to question it. The corridor leading away from the lobby was lit by harsh fluorescent lights. One of them was flickering ominously as you led Michael past the rooms with peeling door numbers. 

Once you reached room four, you unlocked it with the old fashioned key and flicked on the light. The single bulb hanging from the centre of the ceiling hummed to life, illuminating the small, unkempt room. The greying paint on the walls had long since began to peel and the hideously patterned carpet had numerous stains littering it. The bed looked comfortable, though and the freshly laundered sheets gave off a fresh fragrance that somehow made the room feel a little more homely. There was a single lamp on one of the bedside tables and old TV attached to the wall with a metal bracket. Besides these and the the rickety old desk, complete with chair and wardrobe, the tiny room was pretty empty.

Your grumpy teenage colleague had been right. This room was probably the worst you had to offer but it was definitely more appealing than sleeping on the streets. “I know it doesn’t look like much...” you smile apologetically. “But it’s somewhere dry and warm for you to sleep whilst you get back on your feet.”

For a moment Michael was confused at how you knew he was in need of this support and kindness. It was only when he felt a wave of your sympathy and determination to help, that he realised you thought that he was homeless. With a sickening jolt, Michael realised that you were entirely right. He wasn’t any different from the unlucky souls he’d passed on his way here, the people begging on street corners, wrapped in distressed clothing and emanating the most heartbreaking despair.

Michael hadn’t even realised that he was crying until he felt your hand on his shoulder. He met your gaze through glassy eyes and felt himself crumple to his knees.

You dropped down beside him without hesitation and cautiously wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “I know it seems hopeless now.” You whispered delicately. “I’ve seen dozens of people in your situation turn their lives around, though. It might take some time and it’ll definitely take some hard work but we’re here to help.”

Michael sniffled, subconsciously shifting closer to you. “We?” He asked weakly, glancing back at you for a moment. 

Your smile faltered a little, obviously confused by something. “You mean you weren’t sent by one of the homeless charities?” You asked.

Shaking his head, Michael wiped away the latest tear that trickled down his cheek. “I was just looking for a room for the night... I stumbled upon this place.”

“Oh!” You gasped. “I’m so sorry, I thought you were... We help out people that are in a tough spot, y’know - people who’re homeless, in need of a starting point to get their live on a more stable track. I really should have made sure before...”

Despite his pretty hopeless situation, a watery laugh escaped Michael. “Well I guess I stumbled into entirely the right place then.” He shrugged. “That’s exactly what I need right now.”

Your face brightened as you got to your feet and offered Michael a helping hand. “Wow, what’re the chances of finding us by accident? You really must have someone watching over you.”

Michael bristled, knowing full well what your throw-away gesture of pointing towards the sky meant. There didn’t seem to be much chance of anyone ‘up there’ wanting to help you out. “I think it was just dumb luck.” He replied. 

“Well whatever it was that got you here, I’m glad because now we can help you.” You reiterated, helping Michael back to his feet. “First you need to get out of these wet clothes and take a nice warm shower, I’ll bring you some fresh pyjamas and something to eat when you’re done, okay? There’s towels and a robe in the bathroom so you don’t freeze while you wait.”

Still feeling dazed by the day’s events Michael simply followed your instructions - sloping into the tiny bathroom and closing the door. He heard you leave the room just before he turned on the shower. Things already seemed a tiny bit less hopeless now the he knew there was some kindness on this otherwise unforgiving planet. 

Once he’d located the old bath robe hanging on the back of the door and the fluffy towel on the little metal rail next to the walk-in shower, Michael shuffled out of his wet clothes. He caught a quick glimpse of his pale body in the mirror over the sink and another wave of grief for the loss of his beautiful wings hit him. There were two long red marks where they’d once been attached to his back. He tried and failed to hold back a fresh wave of tears as he stepped into the shower. 

The water was just a little too hot for his delicate skin, but Michael sort of welcomed the slight pain. It helped to numb his whirring brain and besides, even that felt better than being too cold.

By the time he’d warmed up and washed his hair, Michael figured he’d been longer in the shower than he perhaps should have been. He turned off the shower and stepped out into the bathroom, hastily drying himself before slipping on the bath robe. It was far too big for him but it was warm and comfortable, much better than his sopping wet clothes.

When he opened the bathroom door, Michael was shocked to see that the harsh ceiling light had been turned off. The overbearing light that had filled the room earlier, had been replaced with the much softer glow of the table lamp.

“Ah that’s better!” You grinned at him, forcing Michael’s attention to the bed that you’d perched on the end of. “You look comfier already...”

Michael returned your smile, unable to resist the kindness radiating from you. “I feel a little better, thank you.”

You nod, seemingly pleased by the small statement. “Our cook heated up some soup for you and I smuggled some bead and a slice of cake out for you as well. Do you need anything else before I leave you to get some rest?”

The scent of the creamy soup made Michael’s tummy rumble as he sat down at the rickety chair by the desk. “I don’t think so, thank you.” He replied.

Seemingly happy with Michael’s reply, you get to your feet. “I’ve left you a clean set of pyjamas on the bed and some of our donated clothes in the wardrobe for tomorrow. We can help you get more stuff sorted over the next few days, okay?”

Michael nodded gratefully. “How do I even start to repay you for your kindness?” He asked, already tucking into the soup you’d given to him.

“We never usually ask for anything, but some of our residents like to help out the charitable organisations in our network. We work with some charity shops, organise soup kitchens, that sort of thing.” You explained, “but there’s no pressure. Especially not whilst you’re still finding your feet.”

Michael swallowed his latest mouthful of soup, savouring the rich taste. “Well I want to do whatever I can to help.” He insisted, “today has been the worst of my life but you made everything seem a little less hopeless, thank you.”

The softness in you your smile was undeniable as you squeezed Michael’s shoulder gently. “I’m sorry you’ve had a rough time.”

Maybe it was what remained of his angelic abilities that allowed him to feel just how sincere your words were. Or perhaps everyone found you this easy to read because you obviously wore your heart on your sleeve. Either way Michael’s heart felt genuinely warmed by you, and he just knew that you were destined to be a big part of his life. Perhaps one day, he’d even realise that you were his true destiny all along.

Tag list: @clffrd @byxthexway @afuckingunicornn @lukesahoy @thrillchaser @moonchildsblack @calumbbyyy @h0tsos @valentinelrh @sexgodashton @megz1985 @myfalsedevotion @aulxna @honeyedlashton @tea4sykes @spookymashton

[sloshed-cinema]

After Midnight (2019)

At last, the spooky companion to Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy.  Set largely in a decrepit old house in the woods, this horror-tinged chamber romance reflects on a stagnant relationship.  Hank is content to live in the “family estate,” drinking Peanut Noir and going out with his hunting buddies.  Abby, meanwhile, isn’t satisfied with this.  She desires a broader world, culture and range that their small town can’t satisfy.  So she leaves.  Her sudden disappearance coincides with the appearance of a monster that arrives to torment Hank nightly, scratching at his door and trying to get in. Not that he isn’t doing a good job of destroying himself with booze and self-hatred as is.

Hank’s monster is, of course, a metaphor.  This is a threat that our protagonist must face alone.  Is it Abby, transformed?  Is it some other creature?  The beast represents all of Hank’s fears and uncertainties.  He doesn’t seem to know what he wants out of the relationship and fears change.  Everyone else is getting married off and having kids, and Abby seems to be coming around to that sort of life.  Hank, however, remains uncertain about it.  He brushes the questions off with jokes and shrugs, but the unknowns of those commitments weigh heavily on him.  Nobody believes him even when he opens up to others and makes himself vulnerable.

THE RULES

SIP

Someone says ‘love’.

Jump in the narrative timeline.

Someone drinks peanut winery wine.

Someone names a kind of drink.

Julie is mentioned.

BIG DRINK

Hank wakes up on the couch.

We see all or part of the monster.

Hank calls Abby.

[dra-and-sdra2-imagine-writer]

The SDRA2 Crew stumbles upon a strange blog that appears to be writing about them in strange situations! How do they react? (Choose your three favorite imagines from any SDRA2 imagine blog and write the crew reacting to them)

This one has been sitting in the ol inbox for the longest. Only because I couldn’t freaking think of anything! I’m super sorry, nonnie! But your long awaited post is here!

“Ow! Hey!” Called one voice, “Stop shoving me!” Called another filled with anger. “Why are we all here?” A bitter voice said, standing out in the group. “I’m n-not s-sure..M-Mikado w-wanted to s-show is something..” A shy voice mumbled, it belonging to none other than Iroha Nijiue. “Show us something? It better be worth it, and if I get shoved one more time, I will start biting all of you!” Nikei yelled out in anger, his eye twitching from annoyance. “S-Sis! D-do you think h-he has something p-planned..?” Kanade asked, lightly squeezing the older sisters hand. Hibiki looked over her shoulder wii a bright smile, shaking her head. “No, I’m sure he doesn’t! And if he does, we can take him!”

“I don’t trust this, not one bit.” Yokuro stated, with a small frown on her face. Crossing her arms over her chest with a small huff. “A..At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt to see what this is all about, right? If it’s bad, we can always leave and be on with our day.” Yuki stated quite loudly, to calm the chatter from amongst the group. “You do have a point, Yuki..but where is he?” Sora questioned with glancing around the cafeteria, but there wasn’t sign of the magician.

“Who knows, but if he doesn’t show up soon I know I’m leaving.” Syobai grunted, with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. Looking as if he had rudely woken up, which probably was the case in all honesty. “We’ve been here for about ten minutes or so, maybe he forgot?” Commented Emma, with a slight puzzled expression herself. Kokoro only shook her head in response to Emma’s comment. Taking a moment, before speaking herself.

“It’s..unlikely, Sannoji knows fully well what he is doing. If I had to take a guess..he’s most likely is waiting to see whether or not if were going to leave.” Kokoro sighed, pushing up her glasses to the bridge of her nose. “Aww, why must you ruin my fun, Koko?” The one and only magician Mikado Sannoji pouted, poking his head through the ceiling. Not to worry, it wasn’t damage for he was using maaagic. Dropping through fully, only to land onto the table holding a laptop in his hand.

“Can we go now?” Nikei grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest adverting his gaze from looking at Mikado. “Now now, your in such haste to leave Mr. Yomiuri. You’re going to miss the most important thing of all!” There was slight mischief mixed with his tone as he placed the device onto the table, opening it up, showing the website that read, ‘Mumblr’ “Eh? Mumblr? I think I’ve heard of that site before.” Setsuka piped up, taking a small step closer for further inspection.

“Whatever it is, coming from you Mikado it’s bad news.” Boy, was Nikei radiating hatred towards the magician. Making the others confused as to why, from what they’ve seen. The two hadn’t interact as much, but looks can be deceiving. “Someone must have waken you up on the wrong side of the bed, Huh Nikei.” Hajime snickered slightly, lightly smacking the male on his back. Nikei flinched as a result, but calmed down rubbing his temple. “Probably, just didn’t get enough sleep last night. I was to busy writing my latest scoop until it was five in the morning.” He said, as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

“What?! You have to get at least eight hours of sleep!” Emma shook the journalist for a moment concern laced in her voice looking down at him. “I will tonight! I promise..!” Nikei has gotten dizzy from Emma’s shaking, but still able to give a proper response thankfully. “I’m going to hold you to that, Nikei.” Slowly, she stopped shaking him and flicked his hat. “Now that those two have gotten things settled, how about we check out some lovely things that I’ve found about us? It’ll be interesting for sure!” Mikado clapped his hands together.

His mask showing just how joyful he was to do this. “Eh? Go for it, I’m curious myself!” Teruya chimed, poking his head through to get a closer look at things. Mikado only laughed in response as he clicked the blog by the name of @imaginefanganronpas .

“Imagine fanganronpas? What’s a fanganronpa?” Hibiki asked, as the group slowly expanded around Mikado to each take a look at the computer. “Who knows, but I found something amazing, don’t you know! It’s called Despair Remnants Au! I can’t wait to read it!” Mikado took a moment, clearing his excellent reading voice and began reading.

“I-It’s about us t-turning e-evil and k-killing innocent p-people?! A-And I lost my eye?!” Iroha squeaked, clinging onto Sora our of pure fear. “Aw, I lose my tongue..? What a shame..” Mikado pouted not seeming to fazed by what he just had read. “I think I’m going to be sick..” Yokuro replied, looking away shaking her head. The thought of killing someone was who didn’t sit right with her stomach. Seeing how this person got her personality accurate, but..the killing..she would never do that, no matter what. She refused.

Yuki had a blue expression on his face, but Shinji’s gently placed a hand onto his shoulder squeezing it slightly. “Hey, it’s okay..little bro. It wasn’t real, only fake..you know as well as I that we wouldn’t do something like that. That goes for all of us, we wouldn’t ever hurt any innocent people, it’s just not who we are!” Shinji really was one of the people that brought happiness to the group. Keeping them maintained, Setsuka nodded her head in agreement. “Shinji’s right! We aren’t monsters, Big Sis knows knows as well as everyone else, that we would never do that. This is only like a spooky story! Halloween is right around the corner, ya know!”

That..managed to calm down the majority of them. “If that’s what you believe, I say it’s possible that it could or might have already happened and we just don’t remember it.” Syobai smirked, taking a hand out of his pocket scratching his chin. “But who knows, I might just be rambling, the point is. We all might be different in comparison to what we’re all acting like here.” It was simple, but enough to send chills down their spines. “Rei..Tsurugi..” The former merchant softly muttered, his eyes filled with sadness and worry.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Otori, I’m sure your companions are..safe.” Kokoro replied, looking at the merchant with a small nod of her head. “Is it just me, or is no one going to bring up that Emma and Kokoro kissed while blood was raining on them, Yokuro was with some person named Akane..and there was some guy named Utsuro?” Kanade suddenly spoke, for once without her usual stutter. Emma turned a faint shade of red, shaking her head and waved her hand for a moment.

“It was just a story, there isn’t a need to look into things, Ms. Kanade.” Mikado chuckled his mask changing expressions to one of pure happiness. “Now let’s move onto another one! I find this one to be quite..up lifting. At least, for those involved anyway. This next blog is called, @dra-and-sdra2-imagine-writer -writer . “This small tale is about, Nikei, Hajime, Emma, and Iroha. Oo, I can’t wait to read it for you all!” Nikei barely recovered from what was just read earlier. “Why was I with Yuri of all people?” The small Russian who had been silent for the majority of the time finally spoke, with a small glare thrown the journalist’s way. “As if I would like to be stuck with a despicable male such as you.” His tone was harsh, as usual when it came to men, so Nikei wasn’t all to fazed only sighing. “I should have expected that..”

After the two had gotten shushed by Teruya, Mikado has began reading about the four. Leaving out the parts relating them to being void members. In all sweetness, it was short but put a light hearted mood to the group. Those void members glancing at each other with a mix of surprise, yet slight happiness. “I-I liked it..” Iroha smiles warmly at the small story, Emma agreeing along with her. “As did I, I believed it showed just how close our bond is.”

“So you guys are like a small family, huh? That’s good to hear.” Sora spoke, with a soft sigh escaping from her. “I..um..liked it too.” Nikei softly mumbled, pulling his scarf up slightly to cover his face. It was easy to tell that he was happy about the small tale, even if he wouldn’t show it. “Same! It’s way different from what just listened to a few minutes ago!” Hajime grinned slightly at about it. “I figured as much, now onto the last-“ Mikado was cut off by Hibiki yoinking the computer away. “I wanna read one! I’ll find a good one! Oh! Look, this one is by @sdra2writer-imaginesandhcs s ! What this story is about..hmm..let’s see, ah! The SDRA2 boys as yanderes for their S/o? What’s a S/o?” Hibiki asked not being able to come up with the meaning. “S-significant other..” Kanade whispered to the older sibling before shrinking back into the group. “Oh! Well anyway, let’s get started!” And so, Hibiki begun reading.

Boy, was that something they weren’t expecting. The girls shuffled away, to depart themselves away from the boys. “Come on, we wouldn’t do that!” Shinji tried to reason with them. They weren’t having that, “Let’s before they can try and pull something! Look! Yuri’s already trying something!” Cried Hibiki and that was enough to get the girls running, Emma having to pick up Kokoro hurrying off. The guitarist snickered to herself, as she ran after them in their hurry.

Meanwhile, Yuri wasn’t even doing anything, at the very least just having his arms crossed. “This is going to take forever to convince them we aren’t yandere’s..” Nikei groaned, burying his face into his hand. “Perhaps, but it was a fun time reading, no?” Mikado asked, looking at the direction of the girls had ran off, before back to the boys. “For a first time, it was..pretty good!” There was a small thumbs up from everyone’s favorite big brother. “Y-Yeah, S-Shinji’s right..! Come on, let’s go and try to convince them that we aren’t like that! Who’s with me!” There was several yeah’s aside from Syobai who seemed pretty disinterested with the entire thing.

With Yuki leading them, they were off to change the female’s minds. The only one left was Mikado who chuckled to himself glancing around to see if he was the only one. Looking at the screen there was joyful wave. “I hope you’ve enjoyed~!”

The stories that were used was,

Vamp’s: Renmant Au, both male and female.

Mine: The Void family without Mikado included.

Annnnnd from Noir’s: Sdra2 boys as yandere HC’s

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Halloween Special Villains

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Ah, Halloween, that magical, spooky time of year where ghosts and goblins come out to play and children dress up in the hopes of getting some delicious Halloween candy. But what about all of us who are trapped at home on the night of this pagan costume and candy festival? What do we have to keep us entertained?

Why, Halloween specials of course!

If there’s one thing Halloween delivers on almost as well as Christmas does, it’s spooky Halloween-themed episodes of cartoons, where the show is allowed to get darker and more disturbing than it usually does in some cases. And what is any special without a special one-shot villain? Gotta have someone stirring up some Halloween trouble on this spooky night. And since these characters are usually one and done with little in the way to go super in-depth about, I’d figure we’d look at five of them at once! They are:

Jack O’Lantern from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

Pumpkinator from The Fairly OddParents

Bun-Bun from Underfist

Fright Night from Danny Phantom

Ron Tompkins from Toy Story of Terror!

I’m sure some of you feel there are some glaring omissions. Where’s the Flying Dutchman? Where’s Stickybeard? Well, I decided that this time around I’d go with characters whose major appearances and debuts are Halloween episodes; both those guys had major roles in non-Halloween episodes as well, so I’ll be saving them for full reviews at a later date. Also of note: I am aware the story of Toy Story of Terror! does not take place on Halloween, but it is aired as a Halloween special, so I’m counting it.

Actor: So if there’s one thing these guys aren’t lacking in, it’s the actor department, and this isn’t a huge shock since when you’ve got a holiday special you want to splurge a bit, you know?

Jack has one of my favorite actors ever, the always-awesome Wayne Knight. Knight just has that sort of voice that’s perfect for smug jerk characters like Mr. Blik or Dennis Nedry, so really it’s pretty fitting for a pranking trickster like Jack, though I will say that it’s hard to match Knight’s voice to the human version of Jack when you see him in a flashback.

Ron Tompkins isn’t too far behind in the impressive VA department, being voiced by none other than Stephen Tobolowsky, who you may remember as the overbearing Ned Ryerson from GroundHog Day (and how can you forget him? You see him repeating the same scene about thirty times). He does a great job at making Tompkins cartoonishly evil and mostly enjoyable, a tall order for a character who steals toys from children to sell online.

And if you thought the list of awesome actors was done, boy were you wrong! Star Trek’s very own Michael Dorn voices the Fright Knight, and Dorn’s voice is absolutely perfect for a cool, evil, undead knight.

Bun-Bun is voiced by Dave Wittenberg who is an insanely prolific VA, playing characters such as Henry Wong from Digimon Tamers (AKA the beast season of Digimon) to none other than Kakashi from Naruto. I think it goes without saying a VA this versatile manages to make the role work.

And finally, we have the Pumpkinator, who is played by Dee Bradley Baker, and if I sat here listing all the notable roles this man has played we’d be here all night. But here’s a small sample: Appa, Momo, Squilliam Fancyson and Bubble Bass, Klaus the goldfish, Cow and Chicken’s dad, Cinderblock and Plasmus, the Alien and Predator in Mortal Kombat, Lion and Frybo, Numbah 4 and the Toilenator, Remy Buxaplenty, most of the animals in The Legend of Korra… you get the picture. This guy’s a legend. He’ll do any sort of role, big or small, so even if he’s not playing the most complex character here, he’s at least giving it a unique spin with his voice because man, this guy has RANGE.

Motivation/Goals: Jack has a rather simple motivation: revenge. You see, ages ago he managed to steal Grim’s scythe when he was about to be reaped, and bartered for the scythe’s return, asking to be made immortal. Grim reluctantly gave him this, but, as Grim is not someone who likes being tricked, also cut his head off. As anything cut off with Grim’s scythe is permanently cut off, Jack had to replace his head with a pumpkin (of course). This lead to him being shunned as a freak, which just made jis desire for vengeance even stronger; I mean, wouldn’t you want revenge if you could only go to the ding-dong grocery store to get pudding once a year?

If you want to get even simpler, the Pumpkinator is your guy! He exists simply to blow up planets. Tat’s it. He’s very much just an obstacle Timmy needs to overcome so that he can undo his wish for every Halloween costume to be “real and scary” before the consequences end up destroying the world.

Bun-Bun is rather simple as well: he just seems to be a jerk. But they don’t just make him a simple jerk, no, this is a Billly & Mandy spinoff so things have to be taken to their ridiculous extreme. Bun-Bun turns out to be behind numerous extremely petty actions that affected the lives of the main heroes, having haunted Hoss as a child and made him afraid of monsters, made Billy afraid of spiders which estranged him from his son Jeff, and, uh, sawed off Fred Fredburger’s tusks. The fiend! As you might guess, there’s no real rhyme or reason to this, it’s just goofy absurdist over-the-top sort of thing you’d expect from Maxwell Atoms.

Ron has a relatively simple motivation, but frankly it might be the most evil out of all of these: the man steals toys from the children who stay at his motel to sell them for monetary gain. Yes, this is more evil than attempting to blow up the planet, you heard me. I have no idea how sick and twisted you have to be to think that stealing toys from children is acceptable. Funnily enough, this is the same sort of motivation Al (who was played by Wayne Knight, funnily enough) from Toy Story 2 had, though Ron takes it above and beyond.

And finally that brings us to Fright Knight, Much like most of the ghosts on the show, Fright Knight seems to just want to cause a ruckus after he’s released, attempting to take over Amity Park when Danny foolishly releases him. Later in the show he is freed to serve Pariah Dark, and after Dark is beaten he joins up with Vlad. In his final appearance of any consequence he is seen serving the Ultimate Enemy in the bad future. Basically the guy is just a really cool overhyped henchman.

Personality: So let’s get the easy one out of the way first: The Pumpkinator doesn’t exactly have a personality, because it is a big generic doomsday villain meant to act as an obstacle for Timmy to overcome. However, when it returned later in the episode where Timmy goes to Unwish Island, it did have one notable personality trait: an undying hatred for Timmy Turner, It’s a pretty relatable trait the more into the series you watch.

Bun-Bun is also rather evil and simple. He’s just a petty jerk, as can be seen by his crimes listed up under motivation. There’s not much else to him, same with Fright Knight who, again, is mostly just an overhyped henchman who acts as the hardcore badass serving whatever big bad of the week is out to get Danny (or he would have, but more on that later).

Out of all of these, Ron and Jack have the most personality. Jack is an unrepentant prankster who, at least when alive, was heavily implied to just not get he was taking it too far with his pranks (“too far” in this case being tricking people off of cliffs, at the least), and simply morphed into a bitter, jaded, vengeance-seeking supernatural entity after hundreds of years of rejection by society and isolation. Jack’s honestly pretty tragic in that regard, though it obviously doesn’t excuse his actions.

Ron is just a straight-up jerk, putting up a facade of being a charming, friendly motel owner while stealing toys from under his guest’s noses. As the truth comes out about him, he becomes more cartoonish and hammy, which really doesn’t help his case at all, and in his final scene he actually does something so cartoonish he almost feels like he doesn’t belong in the Toy Story universe.

Final Fate: Funnily enough, Pumpkinator actually gets the happiest ending out of anyone here: after being unwished by Timmy, he goes to Unwish Island and, after Timmy eventually journeys there, gets to have fun tormenting Timmy clones for the rest of time.

Ron probably has the second happiest ending, for a given definition of “happy.” Bonnie’s mother calls the cops on him for his theft, and when they show up, he somehow manages to trick them, run away, steal their car, crash it into a telephone pole when backing up, and then run off before they even move a muscle. It’s ridiculously cartoonish, and there’s no way this guy is gonna be getting off easy after that little display.

Onto Bun-Bun. Bun-Bun made one simple mistake: he put any trust at all int Skarr. For those not in the know, Skarr was the “Starscream” to Hector Con Carne, always hoping to overthrow him and take over his world domination schemes for himself before he ended up retiring from that life and becoming a reoccurring character on Billy & Mandy. So, when he joins up with the villain by betraying Underfist, what do you think he does? He betrays the villain, pushing Bun-Bun into hot cocoa and melting him, using his power of treachery and backstabbing to help his team save the world. It’s pretty amusing in that classic Billy & Mandy way.

Good ol’ Jack ends up getting sent to the underworld this time since Grim wasn’t putting up with his crap anymore, and it seems Jack still hasn’t learned his lesson about pranking. When last we see him, he’s now tormenting demons, who all start moving in on him while he laughs at his dumb pranks. The screen cuts to black and we hear a squishing noise. It’s safe to say he won’t have to worry about that pumpkin head causing him problems anymore.

Fright Night is easily the most tricky one to talk about because his entire intended purpose in the show got aborted. After he was brought back to serve Pariah, he ended up under Vlad’s control by episode’s end, but for some reason, nothing ever came of this and it was never mentioned again – well, except in the “Ultimate Enemy” special, in which the Fright Knight cameos at the beginning, acting as something of the hype man for Dan Phantom, softening up Amity Park for Dan’s attack. After that, though, he’s basically out of the series, save for a couple of brief cameos here and there.

Best Scene: Jack has the flashback to his origins, because not only is it perfectly dark for a show’s Halloween episode, you have to give props to anyone who managed to outwit Grim, even if he did end up paying a steep price for it.

Ron has his aforementioned escape from the police. I do think it’s a bit too cartoonish and silly for Toy Story, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t pretty hilarious either way.

The Fright Knight has the aforementioned scene where he mentions he’s serving The evil future Danny. Considering that’s his last real role in the series, at least he got to go out on a high note, though it still sucks nothing ever came of the plotlines set up for him.

Bun-Bun’s best scene is when he revealed that he was the architect of most of the protagonist’s woes. Again, it’s just classic over-the-top Billy & Mandy silliness, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

The Pumpkinator… just doesn’t have one. Sorry.

Best Quote: While most of these guys aren’t exactly a goldmine of quotes, Jack has one of my favorite quotes from anything, ever, and I even already referenced it above: “Three hundred and sixty-four days a year, I can't even go the the ding-dong grocery store to buy pudding! And do you know why?" The why, obviously, is the fact he has a pumpkin for a head.

Final Thoughts & Score: Frankly, this batch of Halloween hooligans is a very mixed bag. We didn’t fare quite as bad as Charlie Brown did on Halloween, but we only got one King Size candy bar out of this lot.

I guess let’s just start with the black licorice of the bunch: Fright Knight. God, I wish I could love Fright Knight, I really do, but considering the overwhelming quality of most of Danny’s rogues gallery and just the fact this guy was totally shafted and everything set up for him was ignored there’s just no excusing how lame this guy looks, Michael Dorn or no. He has a great design and a cool concept, and the ideas for interesting stories with him were there, but he ends up being a 3/10, saved only by his cool first outing, great voice work, and awesome design.

Worse still is the pile of weirdly flavored candy corn that is the Pumpkinator. He has a cool design, but he’s not much of an antagonist to be honest. He’s just a cool-looking robot who wants to blow up the planet. That’s about it. There’s really not much to say about this guy, and his only other appearance doesn’t really add much. I suppose he serves his purpose, but I have to wonder, why even bring him back if he wasn’t going to do anything remotely interesting? I don’t like generic doomsday villains at the best of times, but if you’re gonna bring one back, at least try and do something interesting with them to justify their existence, otherwise they’re just gonna end up getting a 2/10.

Finally, we get into the good candy! Let’s start off with the tasty marshmallow bunny we got, Bun-Bun (isn’t that more of an Easter candy? Weird). Bun—Bun is a funy, goofy, cartoonish villain, perfect for the first (and sadly, only) outing for Underfist. The fact they went above and beyond to cement him as this ludicrous mastermind who just screwed with everyone’s lives for no apparent reason other than the fact he’s a jerk is pretty funny. I don’t think he’s gonna win any Villain of the Year awards, but I think a 6/10 is good enough for this above average nuisance.

Oho, what’s this? A… candycane? Well, it’s a bit out of season, but it’s still tasty! And that’s kind of where Ron is. I do like just how unabashedly scummy he is, and there is precedent for people like him in the Toy Story universe, but I feel he takes things to a cartoonish extreme. For crying out loud, the guy has a trained iguana that acts like a dog! He feels like he belongs in a different series than this one, but again, I don’t really think that’s a bad thing, because at the very least he is funny. He gets a 7/10, a bit higher than usual just because I love how ridiculously nasty his whole scheme is. Stealing from kids, what the actual hell.

YES! A King Size candy bar! Just what I was looking for! It’s just a generic Hershey bar, but hey, that’s a lot of chocolate, so who’s complaining? And that’s Jack, he is simply put a perfect Halloween special antagonist. Most of this comes from his voice work, since Wayne Knight is a national treasure, but his backstory and concept are worth praising too. His origin story is something of a twist on the old legend of “Stingy Jack,” the origin story of the Jack-O’-Lantern appropriately enough. While obviously there are liberties, such as substituting Grim for the devil, it’s a mostly accurate retelling, something that would go over most people’s heads unless they’re really into classical folklore. Jack’s a lot of fun as a character, earning himself a nice big 8/10, only being held back from a higher score because despite being rightfully beloved by audiences, he never really had a major role again, getting a minor shout out in Big Boogey Adventure and… that’s it. I think Jack could have been a really entertaining reoccurring antagonist in the same vein as fwllow ensemble darkhorse Eris, but alas, it was not to be. Maybe if Underfist had been picked up he could have been brought back for that, but the fact is it just didn’t happen. Oh well, might as well appreciate what we got.

And that’s it for this batch of Halloween goodies. Halloween specials seem a lot less prevalent than Christmas specials, but they’re no less important or fun, and as you can see, they do produce at least mildly interesting villains, sometimes. If only they could produce a villain so devilishly Halloweenie that he could perfectly embody the spirit of the holiday…

Hey, what’s that at the bottom of the bag…

Wait… is that…

OH NO.

[phantoms-lair]

I wish you would write a Fic where Sissel saves Lewis.

I did not know I needed this in my life

**MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END OF GHOST TRICK***

Lynne pulled up in front of the cave. “This is the place.” 

The small kitten in the passenger’s seat blinked lazily at her, flicking his tail.  This is certainly an ominous looking place. Sissel’s familiar voice echoed in her mind.

“Yep,” Lynne said brightly. “The ambulance took a girl in shock and guy missing an arm earlier tonight. There’s a third person who’s missing.”

And you want to go in by yourself?

“Well, the third kid might be dead. And if I waited for backup they might object to me bringing a cat into a potential crime scene.”

Fair Sissel stretched and jumped on her shoulder. If this ended in a fatal accident for Lynne, well. It wouldn’t be the first time. Or the fifteenth.

“This cave feels just like a horror movie. Like something spooky is about to happen.”

Please don’t tempt fate Sissel pleaded. You know it doesn’t like you

“I don’t know, I got to meet you, after all.” She reached up and scratched Sissel behind the ears. 

He purred loudly, leaning heavily into her hand.That is true. All levity left them though, as they turned the corner and saw what they assumed to be the body of the third member of the group impaled on a stalagmite.

Lynne’s hand flew to her mouth. She’d seen a  number of deaths and died a fair few times herself, but this was just gruesome.

“You’re going to fix this, Sissel, right?” Lynne’s normal exuberance has dissipated.

Of course,that’s why I’m here. Sissel jumped down from her shoulder and tried to make it to the body without stepping in the blood. Well, at least when he was done he’ll never have had any blood to step in in the first pace.

Sissel switched his perspective to the ghost world. Yikes  There was a familiar energy radiating from Lewis and several more cores in the cave walls and on the stalagmites than there should have been. Was there another Temsik meteor?  Maybe this cave system was formed by such a meteor crashing into the mountain?

A problem for later. Right now he had to save this guy. Sissel reached his soul outside his body and into the dead guy’s. 

“ARRRRRRRTTTHHHHHHUR!”

Sissel flinched at the bellow. This ghost was certainly awake already. “Keep it down would you.” 

“Wait, who’s there?” The purple man started. “A kitten? You can talk like Mystery?”

“I don’t know who Mystery is, but I can’t really talk. I can project my thoughts into people who have died.” he explained.

“Died…I’m dead… He killed me…” Rage seemed to overflow the ghost. “Arthur, you piece of shit, when I get my hands on you-!”

“Easy there big guy. Let’s work on fixing this first.”

“What’s there to fix!” the purple guy demanded. “I’m dead. You can’t fix that.” 

“You can’t, but I can. You see, certain people are gifted with certain powers in death. Mine is the ability to go back in time four minutes and try to change the course of fate.”

“You…you really can do that?”

“Watch me.”  Sissel concentrated and felt time beginning to rewind. The body, the cave, the green hand that was about to grab Lynne, all of it dissolved into the past.

~

The van pulled up to the cave entrance. “We’re here!” a girl in blue proclaimed, jumping out of the passenger door with a small dog on her heels.

Vivi his guest said wistfully.

“Lewis, Arthur are you coming?”

“Calm down Vivi.” The living version of his tagalong laughed as he exited the driver’s seat, along with a sullen blond man.

Arrrrrrhur his guest growled in hatred.

I supposed that would make you Lewis? Sissel inquired, but Lewis didn’t answer, focusing on this ‘Arthur’.

The four living people entered the cave. They split up at the fork, Vivi and her dog going down and Lewis and Arthur going up, though not before Vivi gave him a kiss on his cheek that made Lewis turn red and Arthur grumble. The two made their way to the top of the path which let out over a cliff.

“Man, those are a lot of spikes down there. It looks like the jaw of some monster. Doesn’t it Arthur?… Arthur?”

Lewis turned around just in time to see his best friends hand shove him off the edge. He toppled down until the stalagmite pierced his chest, ending the recap.

“We’ve known each other since we were kids. He was my best friend and he just killed me in cold blood. Why? Was it Vivi? Damn you, Arthur. If it wasn’t for you, Vivi and me could have lived our lives happily.”

“I don’t know why he did it.” Sissel answered honestly. Though it didn’t seem as out of nowhere as his fellow ghost seemed to think. The other man had clearly been upset the entirety of those four minutes. What was the saying? ‘If you think someone goes from 0 to 60 in a second, it means you’ve failed to notice how long they’ve been at 59′. Lewis probably wouldn’t appreciate him saying that though. “Maybe we can find out, but the important thing is we change it. But first we have to get up there.”

“Up?” Lewis realized they were on the tip of the stalagmite that would kill him. He tried to move, but found himself stuck.

“We need to climb up the cores.” Sissel reached out with his soul and snagged a taller stalagmite before grasping onto one on the cave wall.

“Are we going to have enough time?” Lewis asked, worried.

“I wouldn’t want to waste a second.”

By the time they reached the top of the cliff, past Lewis and Arthur were already there.  “Man, those are a lot of spikes down there. It looks like the jaw of some monster. Doesn’t it Arthur?”

There’s not much time Sissel jumped to the torch in Past Lewis’s hands

The fire looks different Lewis commented. 

It didn’t look any different to Sissel.  Maybe it’s your ghost trick? Try something?

Apparently Lewis did, because the torch suddenly flared, startling his living self and causing Arthur to take a step back and cover his face with his hand.

Lewis, I’m going to assume that’s not normal.

No, it’s not Lewis gulped.

Half of Arthur’s body was covered in an insidious green and a black and green eye was peering at them from his palm.

There’s a core in that hand, like the one in your body Sissel observed.

Is that what we need to focus on? Lewis asked.

Cores like that only appear in the dead. And it’s always in their heart, not a hand. So it’s at least worth checking out. Sissel  jumped to the core, Lewis right behind him, and entered the ghost world of whatever was in there.

“What is that?” Lewis asked in horror at the souls they found there. It was a green twisting thing, shifting between things that looked like a bat, a rat, with some of Arthur himself.

“I am the god of this cave. I can take any body I please, but I’m so tired of vermin. A living human has walked into my path, and I can’t just let that go!” it said in a voice that sounded like several talking over each other.

Sissel felt a feeling of revulsion. In all likelihood this was someone who’d died in the cave and gained the ghost trick of manipulating living bodies. That this was something his Yomiel could have become frightened him.

“You think you can just replace someone?” Lewis accused.

“Of course not!” it laughed. “First I’ll have to kill everyone close to him, so no one will come looking. Then I’ll be free.”

“That’s why you killed me!” Lewis roared. “You killed me and made me think Arthur did it! If I had that fire here I’d burn you to ashes!”

The ghost world seem to shudder. “What did you do?” The invading ghost screamed as things began to destabilize. Sissel jumped back into the torch to see what had happened.

The torch had been flung to the ground. Living Lewis had flung it aside and was standing over Arthur, shaking him.

Get away from him Ghost Lewis pleaded. It could be a trap from the monster.

It’s not, said Sissel. Look, Arthur has his own core now. Right where his heart was, radiating energy like Lewis had been. You mean Arthur’s- Lewis flung himself from the torch into the newly formed ghost world. By the time Sissel followed Lewis was cradling the unformed ghost in his arms. “Wake up, wake up, buddy . Please it’s me, it’s Lewis.” A far cry from those screams of revenge only minutes earlier.“Lewis?”  the newly formed spirit questioned. “Am I Lewis?” The unformed soul expanded until it was a duplicate of the man holding him.

“No, he’s Lewis. You’re Arthur.” Sissel corrected.

“Arthur I…oh…” The ghost shrunk back to Arthur’s normal size.

“Is that normal?” Lewis asked concerned,

“It is,” Sissel assured. “The newly dead are easily confused. Trust me.”

“Dead?” Arthur looked confused. “I’m dead? How did I die?”“I don’t know. We were talking to the thing that was controlling you-”“Controlling me? What are you talking about?”

“Being controlled by a Manipulator can mess with your memories.” Sissel explained. “I’ve dealt with a case like this before, and that was common among the victims. A Manipulator is a ghost who can control living bodies the way I can turn back time and Lewis can manipulate fire.”“So I was possessed?” Arthur clutched his head. “What did it want?”

“To steal your body and kill anyone who’d miss you. It pushed me off the cliff once. Sissel here rewound time to save me, but for some reason you died instead.”

“Oh. Mission Accomplished, I guess.” Arthur seemed to close off.

“What do you mean ‘Mission Accomplished’? You’re dead Arthur!” Lewis seemed on the verge of panic.

“And if it didn’t happen in front of you would you even notice?” 

Lewis flinched back as if struck. “Of course I would notice, what are you talking about?”

“I didn’t say anything.” Arthur said defensively.

“You thought it. That’s the same thing here.” Sissel stretched. “Shouldn’t we get to fixing things?”

“Seem pretty fixed to me.” Arthur shrugged. “You wanted to save Lewis. Lewis is saved.”

“And you’re dead in my place, that’s not ‘fixed’.” Lewis sounded frustrated. “And what was that about not knowing you’d be dead if it didn’t happen in front of me?”It was obvious from the look on Arthur’s face he didn’t want to talk, but as Sissel said, thoughts were as good as words. “You’ve barely even looked at me since you started dating Vivi. Neither of you have. I’m just there in the background. You’d probably be happier if I just vanished and you could just live happily ever after with Vivi.”

It was almost word for word what he had said earlier. Lewis’s guilt was further compounded by a tiny ‘I knew it’ from Arthur, revealing just as he had heard Arthur’s thoughts, Arthur had heard his. “That doesn’t count. That was when I thought you’d murdered me.”

“You’d still be better off without a third wheel dragging you down.” Arthur refused to look Lewis in the eye.

Sissel sighed. This felt like Jowd all over again, believing his death was the ‘right’ thing for those who loved him. Well he didn’t take it from the detective and he wasn’t taking it from Arthur.

“I assume we’re going to save Arthur too,” Sissel asked, knowing the answer.

“Oh yeah, I’m not coming back to life without him.” Lewis was filled with determination.

“As you wish,” Sissel smiled as the world dissolved again. The ghost world, Arthur’s body, the green spirit leaping from his arm to Lewis’s, Mystery growing in size as he charged forward. All were erased as time rewound to four minutes earlier.

~

This was the second time Arthur and Sissel watched the van pull up, and the third time for Lewis. It was strange how different Arthur seemed each time to him. The first time he hadn’t noticed him much at all, which sadly fit into Arthur’s belief they didn’t want him here. The second time his bearing had seemed so sinister, colored as it was by his presumed murder. Now though, Arthur seemed so sad. And Lewis couldn’t help hating himself a little for how long he’d let it go on.

The scene followed past the split-up, up to the path.

There Sissel pointed out as the other ghost jumped into Arthur and he began to turn green. Lewis growled, but Arthur just seemed to observe, having no strong feelings on his own possession. At least not until his body began to advance on Lewis with a clear stance to push him over the edge.

“Man, those are a lot of spikes down there. It looks like the jaw of some monster. Doesn’t it Arthur?”

Past Lewis turned around and suddenly his torch flared up.

That still happened? I’m not touching it now? Lewis wondered.

Past you is. We’ve already changed your fate, so we’re going from the new timeline.

The monster in Arthur’s body reared back, startled by the light. Past Lewis likewise froze at seeing the inhuman color and extra eye on his friend. 

“Arthur? What’s going on?” Past Lewis asked nervously. He swung the torch halfheartedly, as if he wanted to ward off the monster, but still concerned for his friend. Suddenly the flame gushed out, hitting Arthur and the invader right in their face.“NO!” Past Lewis screamed, throwing the torch aside as he ran to his friend. Arthur tried a few rattling breaths before his burned lungs gave out.

Glad I don’t remember that Arthur said dryly.

Why did the torch explode like that? We were talking to the evil spirit at the time? Lewis wondered

Sissel winced  You were talking about burning the spirit to nothing. I’m guessing you don’t need to be touching the fire to affect it

You mean I killed Arthur? Lewis sounded like he was going to be sick I…I just wanted to stop the thing possessing him. I never meant-

Lewis focus. We’re saving him. Sissel reminded. And at least now we don’t have to climb a cliff

It was true. They had begun on the spot Arthur had died. There were still cores on the walls, but nothing they could manipulate or change. Let’s get going.

I might as well stay here Arthur shrugged again Not like I’ll be much use.

Stop talking about that. Lewis chided. And besides, we might need your trick.

My what?

When you die you get a trick. Sissel can turn back time and I can amplify fire. I don’t know what you can do, but we’ll need all the help we can get

Fine Arthur sounded resigned.

As they jumped from core to core, a green bat, also with a core, flew overhead.

I think that’s our Manipulator. Probably scoping out his new body Sissel observed

But how do we stop him? Lewis wondered.

Footsteps echoed through the stone path. Past Lewis and Arthur were coming down the way. They passed under the bat, which spread its wings, ready to take flight.

Lewis now! Fire up that torch Sissel commanded.

The flames leapt up, flash frying the bat, which collapsed with a small screech. 

“What just happened?” Past Lewis exclaimed as Past Arthur jumped back. “Oh no, poor thing.” Lewis started to move towards the bat.Stay away from it! Arthur called out in panic, not wanting to see Lewis get possessed by the creature.

“What was that Artie?” Past Lewis turned his head.

“I didn’t say anything,” Past Arthur protested.

“You didn’t tell me to stay away from the bat?”

“No, but you probably should. It might have been rabid,” Past Arthur pointed out.

The three ghosts were stunned.

Your trick is being heard by the living Sissel said in disbelief. Do you have ANY idea how useful that would have been?

You saved us Lewis cheered. Now the Manipulator can’t steal my body

You burned the guy in the first place Arthur sounded pleased with the praise, even as he tried to deflect it. 

Sadly, we’re not out of the woods yet A sickly green spirit jumped from the dead bat’s body into a another one, which took off after their living selves.

Oh hell no. Lewis growled, trying to take off after him.

And now he’s going to be on the look out for fire Arthur bemoaned We’re not going to catch him like that again. What can we-

He was interrupted by a slight jangling sound as a small dog followed the boys up the path.

Mystery! Arthur called out, causing the dog to stop

“Arthur?”

He can talk? Sissel asked puzzled. Sure dogs could talk in the spirit world, where all thoughts were connected. But in the living world?

I’m a ghost. Lewis is here too and another ghost named SIssel. There’s something in this cave Sissel calls a Manipulator that steals bodies. It killed us but Sissel can reverse time a little so we’re trying to keep our past selves alive and uncontrolled.

Sissel barely had time to jump to the dogtag and Arthur to his glasses before Mystery took off at a run. 

Lewis, jump on his collar! Sissel yelled as they ran past to the ghost still trying to catch up to the bat. He jumped just in time and the dog and three ghosts charged down the path.“Lewis, Arthur, you have to get out of here!” Mystery called out as he caught up with them.

Tell them it’s a natural gas leak Ghost Arthur whispered to him They might argue a supernatural occurrence, but no one’s staying around to inhale more methane. 

It was a fair point, and Mystery admired the ghost’s quick thinking. He did not want to take the time to debate whether or not a ghost existed and why they shouldn’t stay to study it if it did. “I smelled something strange on this path. I think there’s some build up of natural gas in this cave.“

“Oh god, that makes sense.” Past Arthur’s eyes widened in realization. “The reports of bad feelings and strange behavior were from methane poisoning. And the thing that happened with your torch earlier!”

All the color drained from Past Lewis’s face. “Vivi! I need to get to Vivi!” He took off running, with Arthur at his heels shouting for him to be careful.

There he is! Lewis shouted as a green bat curved around the group, aiming for Past Arthur’s unguarded back.

As silent as an owl going in for the kill, Mystery leapt up, grabbed the bat, and landed without a sound.

You’ll do it cackled, reaching from the bat to the dog.

Their Past selves never saw, they had already turned a corner, but in that instant Mystery grew several magnitudes his normal size, snout lengthening and several more tails popping up. He let loose a surge of power that knocked the green spirit bat into the bat and rattled the three riders.

Um, I was under the impression Mystery was a dog. For the first time nervousness filled Sissel’s voice. Because as far as I know dogs don’t change in size and can’t do that to ghosts.

No, that was our understanding too. Lewis sounded as shaken as Sissel sounded.

Mystery kept the Manipulator pinned beneath his paw. Listening to Past Lewis and Arthur find Vivi and the three of them heading upward. He then grabbed the now injured bat and flung it off the edge, before shrinking back down.

“It should be sealed in that form. Hopefully it’s helpless to harm anyone else.” Mystery said, shrinking back down.

I have several questions, Arthur mumbled.

Let’s head out. Once we know your past selves are safe I can collapse the timeline and set this as the actual events.

Arthur relayed this to Mystery, who shuddered. “Sissel, your powers are terrifying.”

Right back at him

Mystery ran back to the entrance, meeting up with his humans at the intersection. They ran out the entrance as fast as they could.

That should be good. I’m going to return to my present which should set the timeline

Sissel let go and found himself shooting through time, to the couple of hours in the future, the same time Lynne had brought him to the cave.

~

“You can’t still be sulking,” Lewis chuckled as he drove.

“I really thought when might find something this time.” Vivi pouted. “Instead it was just a hazard zone,”

“Case is still solved though.” Arthur said in a monotone voice from the back seat.

“But it’s not satisfying,” She grumbled.

“It’s not about it being satisfying.” Lewis was grinning.”It’s about - Holy crap!” Lewis slammed the brakes of the van as Arthur sat up, screaming.

“What is it?” Vivi swung her head around, trying to see what happened. 

“Did that really happen?” Arthur asked his voice shaking. “Mystery? Sissel?”

It did came a voice only Arthur and Lewis heard from Mystery’s dog tag.

An expletive slipped from Lewis’s lips as he slumped over.

“So you do remember,” Mystery said, curious.

“Can someone explain what’s happening? What’s wrong that everyone seems to know about but me?”

“There was a malevolent entity in the cave. Thankfully there was a benevolent one too, by the name of Sissel.” Mystery explained.

“Then we have to go back!” A grin spread across Vivi’s face. “Let’s check out these entities.”

“Vivi no!” Lewis’s voice was firm in a way he never was with her.

“But-”

“Vivi, Sissel’s power is to rewind time when he comes in contact with a corpse. The corpse he used was Lewis’s.” Arthur explained.

All the excitement left Vivi as that. “Lewis’s?”

“Arthur died too.” Lewis squinted at him in the rear view mirror. “Don’t downplay your own death.”

VIvi was gray by this point. “You died? You both died?” she said in a voice so small it didn’t seem like it could come from her.

Lewis hugged her, so glad he had arms to do so. “We did, but Sissel, who’s currently haunting Mystery’s dog tag, brought us back.”

“Thank you Sissel,” Vivi turned around to face the dog tag. “I can never repay you for what you’ve done.”

It’s what I do. The cat said happily. If you drop me off at a land line I can make my way back to my people. I need to tell them about the Manipulator.

“Will do.” Lewis started to get the van moving again.“Wait, Sissel said he couldn’t talk to the living. How come we can hear him now?” Arthur wondered.

“Hear who?” Vivi asked. “I haven’t heard anyone?”

“Nor I, though I vaguely sense his presence in my tag.” Mystery confirmed.

Side effect of being dead. Sissel explained. You now have cores of your own, so you can hear me, and presumably other ghosts.

“Don’t want to think about that too much.” Lewis adjusted the route he was taking. “Sorry Vi, but after all of this I think our ghost tour needs to wait.”

“You died, Lew. You really think I have a problem with you wanting to go home?” She leaned against this arm, as if making sure he was still there.

“Once we get home we’ll get you to a landline, Sissel.” Lewis promised. “And first thing tomorrow we start looking into therapy for Arthur.”

“Wait, what?” Arthur sat up straight. “Why therapy for me? We both went through the same thing?”

“Because my reaction to being killed wasn’t ‘I guess this is for the best’. This isn’t a gloomy phase you’re going through, this is depression. And I’m not losing you to it any more than I am to the Manipulator,”

Had Jowd been depressed too? Sissel wondered. Was that why he had himself locked in a cage and all but refused to save himself until his daughter was in danger. He’d after to ask.

After he told them about the second Temsik site and manipulator, of course. It would be a lot of work, but it was something his whole colony could come together on, and those were always good.

And it may be his feline curiosity, but he kind of hoped they discussed what the hell that ‘dog’ was before sending him on his way.

[qhostqizmo]

the truth can be hard to swallow

I wanted to name this piece bad o/mens but then realized some fandom folk would find this and be sorely disappointed so thought better not

- - - - - - - - - -

Alone. Just like before. Wasn’t this the way it was supposed to be?

No. No, this wasn’t what she wanted. This wasn’t what she wanted at all. This was never what she wanted; the smothering silence, the dull ache in her chest, the feeling that she wasn’t good enough. She would never be good enough. Not for herself, not for anybody.

‘I need no one.’

A lie. Pretty lies, keeping the world at bay. If she kept them at arm’s length, they would be safe. She would be safe. They wouldn’t need to fall to the misfortune of being around her; or the bane of knowing her, and she would not be tricked again. No one could get under her skin if she didn’t want them to. No one could break her more then she already was. Haunted by words and wounded by piercing dagger tongues of others; damned by her own demons which whispered and spat her own self-loathing and hatred back at her.

Nevertheless, Essätha’s heart betrayed her. She craved. She wanted the things she passed from town to town; the smiles on the faces of others, the ordinary life, the jokes, the friendship shared. It made her sick to want. Beautiful things she could not have, and people reminding her with every sneer and curled lip as gazes met that she never would.

She opened her eyes, staring ahead blankly.

Maybe not everyone despised her…

The unlit fireplace, cold and empty, allowed a breeze to sweep down and chill her to the bone. A shiver coursed through her veins and into her aching joints. The musky odor of mold lingered in the air. With a snivel, she pivoted on the creaky floorboards to examine the remainder of the dark, dingy, dusty room.

Curtains draping the cloudy windows were chewed to rags; lined with holes and brittle from bugs eating the fabric. The only sitting furniture in the room; an impressively large sofa, had its metal springs breaking the surface and was filthy. Like the shades, it too was a mass of holes and scratches from pests eating away at it.

Something about this place seemed familiar. Maybe because so much of it was such an echo to her own soul; void and forgotten, left to rot and wither away.

Essie escaped the eerie room to walk the path of the hallway. She avoided stepping on the most warped boards and near the holes that riddled the floor, revealing slivers of light to the first floor. Below and among the other rooms of the imposing house, she could still make out the muffled conversation of her allies sorting through the building.

Breathing heavily; coughing as she inhaled the choking stale aroma of the air and dust, she covered her mouth.

Alone. Alone. Alone.

What was wrong with her?

What isn’t wrong with me, she thought with bitter scolding to the small, longing voice in the back of her head.

Pacing down the adjacent corridor, her mouth parted in surprise. A ladder that entered to the attic, partially pulled down and leaving a gaping maw open to the loft. She inched closer suspiciously, half expecting something to jump down upon her.

Nothing did.

Squinting suspiciously, Essätha examined the old wood. None of the dirt upon it looked like it had moved recently; still caked on it layers. Strange though. She wondered if the steps had unlatched itself with time. Perhaps the catch had gone bad? Certainly the estate itself was spooky and ominous, but it was unlikely people would depart leaving this open?

She took the rung, and pulled it down the remainder of the way. More dust fell upon her, leaving her staggering and coughing as she stepped away.

Definitely unused.

With no paw-prints and no scat immediately in sight, she tentatively tested a boot against the bottom step. It was firm, and steady. Curious, she tested the next, and the next; gradually climbing up to poke her head up at the top.

Nothing spectacular. As with most home owners, it appeared this room had been used as storage space.

Still, she wondered if they’d left anything useful behind. Maybe a magical heirloom, or some books that might come in handy for study…

Clawing her way the remainder of the way up, Essätha swung her legs over and crawled on her hands and feet cautiously across the baseboards. They softly groaned, but didn’t appear overly worn. She got on her feet, and brushed as much of the dust off her slacks as she could. So far so good, she hadn’t fallen through at least.

Various boxes, old lamps, neatly organized files, and portraits greeted her. She cared little for these, as they eyes appeared to follow her judgmentally as she moved slowly around the room.

I know I’m a hideous creature, you need not point it out, she thought sourly, glaring at one extraordinary well detailed painting of a man who appeared to be sternly glowering towards her. He appeared quite youthful in the painting; not entirely attractive or unattractive, but plain. Many of the drawings were actually uneventful; images blurring together. Some had more defined noses, or a broader forehead; some older and some younger, but they weren’t spectacular. It was difficult to tell if they were related or not.

Traversing the room, she paused curiously at a desk behind a row of boxes. It had parchments lined upon it, and a dried out ink bottle. The spot appeared to be a little nook for privacy, hidden out of sight. It offered a slanted view of the only window up here; small, but one that could offer decent light in the day to avoid keeping a lantern on. She wondered what they’d been writing…

Stepping closer, Essie’s sharply darted her eyes over the faded, yellowed paper. Stained with time, the pigment of the ink barely legible and handwriting atrocious and difficult to read. Her feet dragged her closer, trying to inspect the delicate pages without daring touch them, and ruin whatever may be written on them.

‘Talon of the Raven Lord, You are hereby charged, by the order of His Glory…’

She exhaled sharply, stepping away from the table. Her rear bumped into one of the boxes on the floor. It fell over, spilling out paperwork and scattering it upon the floor.

Essie’s eyes moved to the bumbling mishap, and all the letters.

‘Talon of the Raven Lord-’

‘Talon of the Raven Lord-’

‘Talon of the Raven Lord-’

“Oh Gods,” she wheezed, taking a side-step away from the tainted parchments. Nervously licking her lips, her gaze shifted hastily from the mess, towards the desk.

With horror, she realized that the ink upon the paper began to steadily darken. As if written new, the paper, too, began to change; taking on a soft manila over the fragile yellow-age. A droplet of red began to bleed out from the corner. Nausea swam in her stomach, staring at the frayed edges reform and for more of the off-colors to grow bolder splotches of crimson.

From above, a drip splashed against her nose. Essätha reached up, stepping away from the study as her fingers swiped at the liquid upon the bridge of her face.

Her digits came away stained crimson.

Against all better judgment, her eyes moved towards the ceiling.

With empty eyesockets and rotted flesh hanging off of bones; and what remained of its clothes, a corpse offered her a twisted, welcoming grin from above.

A terrified scream tore through her throat, making it feel raw. She fumbled backwards, her eyes unable to tear themselves away from the dreadful sight. The figure moved; its head cracking to the side like an intrigued bird. Fragments of bone from the neck vertebrate rained down, and the undead thing began to climb with gangly arms, like a spider, from rafter to rafter and down the side of the wall with the grace of a spider.

“Where are you going, Essätha?” the skeleton cooed in a masculine voice, its teeth clicking together as it laughed. Old blood flaked off its matted hair, and what remained of its scalp. Fresh blood oozed from beneath its ribcage, and left splotches and smeared imprints of its hands where it gripped.

As it spoke, a chill ran over Essätha. She found it possible to tear her eyes away; finally, and back towards the scuttle. She lunged for it; knees hitting the floor.

It rolled upward, slamming shut before her very eyes.

Someone distantly cried out her name in alarm.

“Look at you,” the creature scoffed, reaching out with bony fingers. “You are just a girl. Only a frightened child.”

“Don’t touch me!” she shrieked, whirling away. She scooted back on her rear, using her hands to scrambling out of its reach. As it coaxed towards her; curling its fingers, she raised a hand to wave a shaky gesture; muttering the ancient draconic words of a spell.

A skeletal hand appeared; pale transparent and ghostly with a blue aura. It reached out; gripping the abomination crawling towards her by the face.

It loomed at her. The sickening appearance of a grin with what remained of the flesh on its cheek stretching up into a smile. More grimacing in appearance, but delighted.

“Oh Essätha, you can not get rid of me so easily.”

“H-How do you know my name?”

The skeleton laughed; husky and raspy. Its entire body shuddered violently, and maggots and flies came rushing out of its abdomen. Appalled, Essie drew herself further away.

“I know all of your names,” it sang. “Abernathy Harding, Adela of Rivesee, Amon Thomad Illiad, Penimra Korvis, Pri’cha Sunspot, Ravamora Carnivale, Sulhadur of Vuulthidel… And you, dear Essätha Meduza.”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she held out out her hand as though it would keep the corpse away like a bared shield. Her other jerked and shoved at the attic’s door, but it wouldn’t budge. It didn’t so much as creak under her weight as she bore all of herself upon it. Anything was better then this unholy sight; even falling face-first into the floor below.

“What is one little Yuan-Ti doing so far from home?” the figure chortled, inching closer. “I forget myself; this one does not have a place to call their home.”

Her breath hitched, and a ghastly wash of sweat peppered her temples as she leaned away. Her face was drained of color, and her eyes round and wide enough to show her whites and the thin slit of her pupil.

“S-Stop.”

“You are a broken thing, aren’t you? A lost, broken, unsightly thing.”

“Leave me alone you don’t know me!”

“I know you better then you know yourself,” the monstrosity argued sweetly. The tones of is voice changed; altering until it sounded like a chorus of people were talking at once.

Gasping through a spring of tears, Essie was left to forfeit the door. She scurried backwards as the creature crept forward, allowing it to take a place on all fours, standing guard above the only exit she had. Below, the continued bellowing of voices, and a sharp thudding against the floor, reminded her that someone had to be looking for it. But it was muted; growing quieter. It existed less and less, and she could feel the hope dashed and draining from her chest until she was saturated in loneliness and terror.

Trapped and desperate, her eyes scanned the area for any sign of help. Her gaze paused on the lone window; much too high and too small for her to fit through, but her common sense had left her. Instead, forcing herself on shaky legs, she reached up for it. It lay out of reach of her fingertips.

“Where do you intend to go, little snake?” the Multi-Voices echoed, drawing on each syllable. When she did not answer; clawing at the wood with her nails, it spoke in Many-Voices of amusement, “What catastrophe’s you have wrought, dear Essätha. Do you think the next hiding place you claim will be any safer?”

“Please,” she whined, her heart hammering against her chest. Just a few more inches, that’s all she needed…

As she lunged and scratched the walls, a haze of black descended from the ceiling. She cringed, sliding down to her knees as the force of dark magic swirled like a storm’s black cloud above her head.

Another series of laughter; too many to count.

“You want to run, don’t you?” the Voices taunted. “You are a coward; only looking out for themself. You are going to fail them. People don’t fail you, do they, Essätha? You fail them. It’s what you do. It’s what you’re best at.”

Hiccuping, she sagged lower on the floorboards. All of her hope, her energy, her faith, her will; it was all gone. She had nothing. She felt weak, and tired, and empty. Helpless as a newborn babe, curling up into a ball against the wall. Her tears welled up to the surface, spilling over onto her cheeks silently as her breath hitched uncomfortably in unending silent sobs.

“You wonder why they do not trust you; why they do not want you. What is there to devote, from something so undependable? You are never there. They call you flighty, and skittish behind you back. If you are not ugly on the outside, perhaps it is the nature of what is inside that wards away everything you touch.”

“Stop it,” she whispered hoarsely, rocking herself. Tears spilled over the dams, rushing out, falling upon her clothes and the floor.

“No one is coming for you. No one wants you. No one is going to protect you; a stupid girl, a fragile child. What do you have to offer them? What importance does Essätha Meduza of nothing have?”

“STOP IT!”

Her cry unanswered, the being rattled closer. “They pity a poor Yuan-Ti; an animal tangled in their grievances. Better to be rid of it, but you are an obligation now, aren’t you? You do not really believe they could like you?”

She turned her head away, rancid breath close enough now to begin billowing over her as the creature whispered, “You do not really believe Lord Amon Thomas Illiad could possibly love a monster like you?”

Twisting her face away, Essätha shuddered violently. Her stomach churned, wanting to toss her last meal. The odor from the undead beast was becoming worse by the second; burning her teary-eyes and nose, making her skin crawl; as if any of the insects occasionally tumbling out of it were not already possibly skittering upon her clothes.

“Look at me.”

Ignoring the demand, she kept her face turned away; eyes squeezed shut.

The skeleton clattered closer still. It hissed out in a clear, singular voice this time; a foreign tongue she did not know nor understand, and grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to spin her face towards it.

Either by fright, or some unknown force, her eyes opened wide and frightened. She stared up into the unsightly view of the corpse’s face.

“Such a disappointment,” the Many sighed with sorrow, stroking her face with the back of its other hand. “Such potential, wasted.”

Essätha whimpered, trying to ball herself even more. She could not close her eyes. She could not close them, what was wrong with her? Why could she not look away? This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t possibly be real.

Within the black of its sockets, twin flickers appeared. She squinted, but could not turn away. It was quiet. There was no banging, no screaming, no hollering of her name. No one was coming.

No one was coming for her.

The pin-pricks of crimson suddenly flared up, revealing licks of flame. They began to burn a searing blaze, but emitted no light or no warmth.

Many roaring echoes of laughter; all different but sinister and gnarled as the twisted bony fingers touching her, began to fill the room, her head, the space. They were everywhere.

Essätha let out one, final scream.