#Ghost is getting them which is also bad but I dunno how bad yet

[bloody-shadow666]

onLY THE C R O W N CAN PARDON YOU

jude

JUDE

"I'm starting to think he messed up with that wording"

J U D E

[moralesmilesanhour]

Hello!!! How are you? I’ve been a follower for the past few days and was wondering if I could request something.

I was hoping to request a fic or like give you a prompt for something for miles42 × femreader

So it goes like this- yk those super corny reads that are like the reader's pinning for miles and like sometimes miles finds them annoying but in a cute way but he don't know that her yk? So he's talking to his homeboys about her, talm about some how she's so "annoying, a nuisance" and guess who's behind the wall listening? The reader herself.

So this goes one of two ways- she either matches up there, confronts him. And she's like "flipping fine, if that's how you feel then lemme get out of ur way- you won't hear a peep from me" and she like just ignores him and he learns how he feels about her, sees how his life is so boring without her and all that- goes to apologize happy ending..

Option number 2: silent treatment. Like just slowly drifting away until he once again comes to the realization that he needs her and all that happy ending yay!

Feel free to do whatever you want with this but I'm thinking of sending the same request to other authors to see what they come up with cause everyone has a style k? And i just love studying them and reading them cause evervtime- no matter how similar the prompt is- they always manage to invoke different feelings with in me.

Anyway- have fun doing this- but remember you don't have to cause this is kinda too much and I'm sorry😓

"I want my pen back."

wc: >1,200 A/N: okay so i got a bit carried away...this is a long one. (yes I am using this as an excuse to try out the gradient thing) thank you anon for this fun request! i also rlly like ur reasoning behind it and i hope i was able to do this prompt some type of justice lol

The gel pen clattered to the ground.

“I got it,” you said, grinning at Miles. You squat to grab it before the boy can act to get it himself, and he sighs as you hand it to him.

“Thanks.”

Miles turned the pen every which way between his fingers.

You had gifted it to him on the first day of school, with that same expectant grin. The little cartoon dogs that surrounded the perimeter had begun to fade with use because – admittedly – it had actually turned out to be a good ass pen.

He’d thought initially that you were just being nice; maybe you were handing shit out to everyone because it was the first day, understandable. 

But then, it was highlighters (the erasable ones).

Pink sticky-notes on his locker, telling him to have a nice day with the ‘i’s dotted with hearts.

A new sketchbook for Secret Santa.

Miles’ pencil case had rapidly gotten bulkier, and when you rushed to grab a seat next to him during the one class without assigned seats, it finally clicked.

You were trying to get his attention. And he wasn’t sure what would happen if you got it.

“I like the new braids.”

He was snapped out of his thoughts, and turned to you.

“Huh?”

“The braids,” you laughed. “I like the pattern. Who did ‘em for you?”

A tiny smirk ghosted the boy’s lips.

“My mom. Just like the last time you asked me.”

He ran a hand instinctively over the meandering zig-zag pattern that his cornrows had been sectioned into. Miles looked at you from his periphery; you were still staring. 

“Bitch, just ask him out already!”

Your friend smacked the back of your shoulder as the two of you took your sweet time getting back to your lockers.

“Alright, today, I swear,” you said, hand over your heart for emphasis.

A beat of silence passes. “But what if he says no?” 

She groaned.

“Then he says no, and you can save your money. But say something, it’s getting embarrassing.”

Your friends’ encouragement landed you here, around the corner of a building where Miles and a gaggle of other boys from your homeroom were bursting into raucous laughter.

“Yo, why you ain’t bag her yet? She wants you bad,” one boy said.

Unsure if the ‘she’ in question was you, you stay where you are and keep listening.

“I dunno, she kinda annoying,”

Miles’ low voice makes your ears perk up.

“One day she gon’ run outta things to say about my hair, she has to!”

…Oh.

The buoyant feeling in your chest sinks as the group erupts into another laughing fit. If you asked him out now, you’d hear about it for the rest of the year.

Shoving your phone into your pocket, you turn back the way you came. 

Miles knew something was off when you sat down the next morning without a word. 

“You good?” he asked.

You glanced at him, then nodded before going back to playing with the beads in your hair. The excruciating silence stretched on for almost the entirety of class before it was broken again.

“Do you…wanna help me with my homework? I’ll really let you, this time.”

You raised an eyebrow.

“Morales, you got an ‘A’ in every class.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Your name’s on every bulletin board.”

“Damn,” the boy muttered to himself as his leg bounced under the desk.

Your beads clattered against your back as you rose from your seat. The bell had rung, finally. You didn’t even say ‘bye’.

Miles cracked open his locker. One of your sticky notes from last week had begun to un-stick and fluttered to the ground. There were no new ones. He bent to pick it up, noticing how neat and round your handwriting was on these compared to the way you wrote in class. The letters didn’t run together, like you were in a rush.

Neatly folding the note and sticking it in his pocket, Miles shut his locker to reveal your face. The boy nearly yelped in surprise.

“Where the hell did you come from? Scared the shit outta me,” he said with a grin.

“I want my pen back.”

Miles froze. 

“Which pen?”

You tilted your chin up towards the one he was currently gripping in his left hand. He looked down at it like a wad of cash.

“Oh.”

He couldn’t just not give the pen back to you…

…but he didn’t want to give it to you, either.

“What you need it for? Don’t you have, like, a whole store full of these?”

“Miles, I gotta get to class. I’m not playing,” you reached for Miles’ hand, but he raised it high above his head.

Instead of a smirk or mocking sneer, something like worry was etched onto the boy’s features. 

“Tell me what’s up witchu first.”

“What are you talking about? I’m about to be late, c’mon.”

“You ain’t said a word to me all day,” he dropped his hand momentarily. “Are you sick? Did I do something? What–hey!”

You had snatched the pen out of the boy’s hand when he wasn’t looking, throwing it into your bag.

“I thought that’s what you wanted.”

You turn to retreat down the hallway, but stop with a huff when Miles calls after you.

“Wait!”

“I’m waiting.”

“Come see me after school?”

You kicked an empty can down the sidewalk in front of Miles’ apartment.

“Make this quick, I gotta go study.”

He looks everywhere else to avoid meeting your eyes, looking for the right words.

“You didn’t answer me earlier,” Miles awkwardly shuffled his feet. “Are you mad at me?”

“...Yeah, kinda.”

“For what?”

You stop to think for a moment, crossing your arms. 

“For…for letting me hand you that pen, knowing you weren’t gonna give it back,” you began.

Miles’ brows furrowed in confusion. “That’s it?”

You shook your head profusely, “N-no, I’m not done. You let me buy you all that stuff, put all that dumb shit in your locker, whole time you don’t even like me–”

“You don’t know that,” Miles interrupted. Your head snapped up to look at him, and you paused.

“I don’t?”

Neither of you say anything for a moment, then Miles remembers the note in his pocket. He takes it out and shows it to you.

“These? Are cute as fuck,”

He searches for more words, ten continues, "A-and I use that sketchbook every day. That pen? It’s like, my favorite,” he laughs. “I got half a mind to steal it back from you.”

Miles watches you expectantly. Your arms are still crossed, but the corners of your lips quirk up in amusement.

“So you like getting free stuff.”

“No-! I…”

The boy’s arms had begun to flail around in frustration. You hold back a giggle, never having seen him squirm like this before. It’s a nice change of pace.

“Alright, listen. I like hearing you talk to me every morning, and…”

He trailed off. He had begun slightly bouncing on his toes.

“...I like you.”

At some point while watching Miles struggle to explain himself, the float-y feeling in your chest had come back. You tilted your head to the side, and smiled.

“Okay. What are you gonna do about it?”

The boy’s eyes lit up.

“Where do you wanna go?”

[soapskneebrace]

same anon who sent the ask abt price: MW3's writing was embarrassing tbh. i agree 100% that narratively, its the most logical and sensible for price to be the one who takes the fall. what you wrote i flat out completely agree with, and its deeply disappointing that we are stuck with an extremely poorly written and rushed story. the game was a hot steamy pile. everyone was slightly out of character, they all growled their lines like mad dogs, and the missions were ass. i cant believe no one talks about the mission where you get anti arab hate crimed. what was that??? what was the reason??? (the only thing i liked about that game were the 9 minutes of nikolai. i just find him entertaining.) i was replaying mw2019 while super high and got to the mission where you threaten the butchers wife and son and just thought to myself; that lady and that kid are gonna have nightmares about price for the rest of their lives. that room is going to come back to them again and again and again. they literally did nothing wrong except the crime of being the butchers family. what price and gaz did is never going to leave them, and gaz was right to question price on that. of course, the game doesn't care at all. they're disposable NPCS for a shock value scene. i dunno, the fact that the game doesn't really give a fuck, and seemingly even condones what happened, just kinda hit different and i had to put the game down for the evening. i guess that hit at that moment bc i had also read a fic a bit earlier where the reader was price's civvy gf and gets kidnapped by his enemies. it bent my brain a bit bc, the thing in the fic is literally a canon event perpetuated by price, portrayed as a good thing by the source material, that now price is the victim of. it was a very weird feeling for my weed addled brain to try and process. think i blue screened actually. i wanna put price in a jar and shake him vigorously. pin him to a board like a entomology insect. i want to bite him. i do love him i swear. but maybe make him actually face a single real consequence for his war crimes? (disappointing that it will never happen on screen bc these games are all gas no breaks outright propaganda. not to mention real war crimes are happening constantly in front of everyone's eyes and going completely unpunished) sorry this is really long, i have no one to talk to abt these games and i dont understand my feelings toward that British man

Yeah. The thing about Price is that he's not a good person in the slightest. We write fiction about the kind of man he can be--the best version of himself, a version we can all stomach--but the real Price is distinct from that, and the best people in this fandom recognize that.

Soap and Ghost have some plausible deniability simply because we haven't seen them doing anything other than action movie stuff. Gaz is on the road to becoming Price--Price is doing his damndest to turn Gaz into himself--but he isn't there yet. (@391780 did a GREAT analysis of the driving scene in mw19 and how Price subtly manipulates Gaz, but I can't find it.)

EDIT: Early kindly provided.

We, as the audience, are not actually supposed to worry that much about the Butcher's family, because Price is one of the Good Guys who would never let something Bad actually happen. Infinity Ward does not take the Butcher's family seriously, and does not want us to take the family seriously, because they are just a convenient vehicle with which to move the plot along. Their presence is, in the end, shock value. We are meant to stare, wide-eyed, wondering is Price really going to go that far? while in the back of our minds knowing of course he's not, because he's our hero. He's just doing whatever it takes. The family is not meant to be anything other than fodder for Price's characterization.

Same with Samara. We are not supposed to care all that much about her, personally--we're supposed to marvel over Makarov's canny brutality, his bRiLLiANcE in recognizing the obvious fact that an Arab woman would make a perfect scapegoat for a plane bombing. Samara does not matter to MW3. Only the shocking way she dies. None of these Arab characters matter to Call of Duty--only the entertainment value of their pain.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I am reminded of when Price threw a man restrained into a bomb jacket off a balcony, with not a shred of remorse afterword. I'm forced to ask the question--who would Price scapegoat, then, if he felt justified enough?

And yeah, he's never going to suffer the consequences of his actions, because Infinity Ward doesn't think he's actually done anything wrong. We throw the word propaganda around a lot without actually defining it, but Price is emblematic of how the propaganda of Call of Duty works. Price does something reprehensible, and is shown to be justified in doing it--implying that real men like him are justified, too, because don't you understand how little choice Price had? Don't you get that there's no good choice to be made? This is how he has to act, and this is how all soldiers have to act, because war is a dirty business, and someone needs to be willing to do it for the benefit of the ignorant public.

The question of why any of this should be happening at all is never asked.

[basofy]

ON UR LATEST POST I HATED THAT ENDING SO MUCH LOL they were both so out of character?? i do like the idea of buddy verbally breaking buzzo down but idk they did it so badly it didnt feel like the two of them at all especially him being all GRR YOU BITCH like eben if thats just the joy getting to him IDK it just. felt so :/ to me SORRY FOR THE LONG ASK

oh hi lolll dw about the ask i like getting asks(as long as i can think of a reply)

yeah much like with other stuff in the definitive i liked some of the concepts in the dialogue/ending but not the execution, as some people have already said it the stuff buddy tells buzzo feels more like the game is trying to make up for the fans's mistakes when misinterpreting lisa instead of trying to work through the mistakes it had made with the characters in the past, much like buddy's words about brad later on don't feel like it's her talking but it's instead austin talking agshgahgf i think all this happens because joyful continues failing to fully put itself on buddy's shoes so she becomes hard to write she barely even has a personality and it's sad, i did like some of the new stuff but the way it was set up and concluded is kinda goofy

i was surprised to see that the definitive edition managed to expand lisa's character nicely (save for that one implication buzzo made about hearing her voice and blah blah) but it didn't do the same for buddy as much as it tried. i think the stuff buddy says is especially weird because it all feels like conclusions we didn't see her reaching we didnt get to see the process and some of the stuff feels unfair to her as well, and making buzzo lame feels like a desperate attempt to get people to understand this guy isnt good he's just saying shit!!!! and it's funny some fans still dont get it lmao, i feel like it tried so much to make buzzo look bad and it didn't do it in the way it could've done it?? buddy could've had beef with him about how much he mistreated her, they dont even talk about the nipple thing even though it was aknowledged in the dream segment, also i would've preffered if buddy learned about lisa through buzzo instead of through weird ghost stuff but i'm wondering if she really knows at all?? i admit i cant be too mad cuz i understand that making joyful better would require rewriting soooo much stuff which was maybe not possible i dunno

i think austin understood that lisa needed more told about her as a human being rather than a haunting memory and that was rly nice to see yet it failed to understand that buddy's issues is that the story doesnt feel like it's about her that much, it tries to solve so much stuff for everyone that buddy is left with so little

[lampmanliveblogs]

We did return to The Owl House, just like I wanted. Although I didn’t want it to be like this.

We saw the house ransacked and emptied before, back in… it was O Titan Where Art Thou, right? I think it was. Yeah, because Luz & Eda went on a mission to get King’s stuffed animal back after the Emperor’s Coven stole it.

It’s bee further vandalized, with rude graffiti left by the Emperor’s Coven. And interestingly enough… based on the ”There is no Titan” one, I think this mightäve been fairly recent. As in, after the Day of Unity. Which, hm…

(Before I get into that though, I just… ”Kiss my grass.” I…I-I genuinely can’t believe they got away with that)

At this point it is not entirely clear what happened, but based on what I did see, I think what happened is that at the Day of Unity, The Collector sent out his little star minions to take control over people so they could participate in the grand game of Owl House.

We saw people fighting the star minions, meaning that it’s not impossible that there are groups of people who managed to avoid getting taken. Some of those may have been members of the Emperor’s Coven. And it kinda makes sense that the trained military/police witches would be able to put up the best fight.

Furthermore, let’s say that, oh, I dunno… a high-ranking member of the Emperor’s Coven with some experience in leading troops and maybe a big mech to back her up… if someone like that happened to be around, then she could maybe take control over a small group of remaining Coven Scouts and create her own little empire.

Pictured: Camila realizing that maybe asking these two kids about advice on a complicated emotional situation that she, an adult woman, can’t figure out was maybe a bad idea.

Either that, or she just has no idea what they’re talking about.

I joke, but I can appreciate Camila realizing she’s a bit out of her depth and resorting to asking someone else for help and advice. After all, it was Luz' new friends here in the Demon Realm that made her want to stay there in the first place, so they’ll be the ones to make her change her mind about never coming back.

(Future Lampman here: Also, she was the one who made Luz promise to stay in the Human Realm. That's kinda important. Maybe Past me should've brought that up, if he had remembered)

Lot’s of stuff going on here in rapid succession.

Gus tearing up at the thought of his dad being in danger… it’s the silly little guys breaking down that gets to you the worst.

Camila reaching out to comfort them both…

Hunter slowly losing his mind…and then he reflexively tries to summon Flapjack when he hears something in the bushes only to be reminded of his loss again.

Then we have Willow saying she’s ”the reliable one” and how she’s totally fine. Then she walks off, leaving a trail of sprouting plants that force themselves through the cracks of the floor. That’s totally not symbolic of anything.

Willow’s right, throughout a large part of the show she has been the reliable one. Her considerable magical power has gotten the gang out of trouble on multiple occasions, and she has yet to fall. But… there are only so many storms a single tree can take before it falls. And constantly putting others before yourself can be very tiring. It’s okay if you’re the one who needs help every now and then.

I was just about to make a joke about Luz trying to hatch her palisman egg in Eda’s nest when Amity stole it away from me.

Ooh, are we finally going to get the backstory on how Amity got her palisman!? Ghost, I think is its name?

[regular-lord-reckoner]

okay, so little recap of my trip! this might be kinda long, sorry in advance. do not feel obligated to read!! (but if you do, thank you!!)

here we go!

So I’ll skip all the travel part because that was boring (the only notable thing was on the way from one stop to another I saw a bird in the airport. Not just like in the doorway to outside, just...in the airport. As if it had just gotten off a plane. Anyway, other than that nothing special to report)

It took pretty much all day Friday for us to actually get to the hotel and it was dark by that time, which kind of worked out because we rented a car and my mom was nervous about having to drive that winding road up the mountain to where the hotel is at but without being able to actually see how high up we were going it wasn’t so bad!!

It was, however, a little confusing trying to figure out exactly where to go to check in. The way the GPS had us pull up is sort of at the side of the building? Which, there’s not really a way to pull up to the front to be fair, but there’s also no obvious sign I saw that was like, “Check in this way!!” and yet there are like three different places it looked like it could be so I had to wander around for a bit before finally finding the right way but after that it was smooth sailing.

We checked into the room no problem and right away I’d just like to reiterate how beautiful everything was up there; the snow on the mountains, the lights wrapped around the trees out front, the hotel itself, the mountains in the distance, just all of it. also, the interior was gorgeous, I tried my best to capture it in the pictures but to walk through it was really an experience.

The room itself was also very nice, I especially liked the bathroom!! I’ll talk more about it in a little bit and show some pictures but I thought it’d be kinda weird if I just put pictures of our bathroom up for some reason? I dunno. But here it seems fine? Mmm. The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma. Moving on.

I’ll say right off the bat I didn’t really feel like the room was haunted. Call me silly, but I do feel like I can sort of pick up on these things and I just never really felt anything there and we didn’t have any outright experiences that proved anything. There was maybe a time or two we were like, “Hey, did you put this here?” or “I can’t find my socks, have you seen them?” but you know how it is when you’re traveling and staying somewhere, shit gets moved around all the time and it’s nothing paranormal so that’s likely all it was.

Still, it was a really neat experience and if I were to ever go back to the hotel (which I’d very much like to, it’s very soothing there) I wouldn’t necessarily have to stay in that room again.

I’ll say too it’s possible that the room is still haunted because based on some information I got from someone who works there it was only 3 weeks ago someone heard “Get out!!” yelled loudly in there room in the middle of the night and a year ago someone came back to the room to find all their shit thrown out into the hallway so...maybe the ghost just liked us or was utterly indifferent?? The primary one is supposed to be a maid who didn’t die in the room, but she loved working at the hotel and that was her favorite room so that’s why she’s still there apparently.

Like, okay ooo ahhh Stephen King, The Shining, all that stuff aside, I really do just love a good haunted location and what I liked about The Stanley is there have only been 3 deaths on the grounds from what I was told again by staff and none of them were murders or anything like that so it’s really more so haunted out of like...people who loved this place so much they just don’t want to leave.

And honestly, that’d would check out because I never once felt uncomfortable or creeped out (even with an experience I had later on that uh....yeah) so I don’t feel like some asshole rolling up to the scene of a tragedy like, “Hey, where’s your ghosts at?!?!?”

But anyway, regardless of the lack of spoopy experiences I still had a really good time and I think now is when I’ll mention the bathroom because ahhhh, it was so pretty

So, a lot of the theme of the room and bathroom was sort of a blending of the original and a more modern update to it (look at me and my minimal, minimal HGTV-based knowledge) and I’m not sure if it’s picking up in these photos (I only noticed it while sitting from a distance) but the tile is actually my favorite color, dark green!!

Also, the light fixtures in there, chef’s kiss!!

And even the sink!! Not normally my first choice, but I love the rainbow effect whenever there was water in there!

Now, to give you an idea of just how comfortable I felt in this room, when I decided to take a shower it was right around the time that the sun begins to go down and I thought, “Yeah, why not just leave the lights off and only shower with the light that’s coming through the curtained windows in here and from the little nightlight by the sink?

And honestly??? It was so relaxing. I only wish the water had been warmer, but I understand. I should have done what my mom did and brought the heater that was in the room in there and used it to get the room nice and cozy and then had my shower, but ah well! Still very nice and to give you an idea of what that looked like here ya go!:

I even made a playlist just for this shower experience:

So yeah, very nice!! Was not bothered a bit and had a lovely time.

Moving on!!!

Everything we did was mostly based around the hotel and we definitely spent some downtime just hanging out in the room because like...that’s the whole point!! Also, there are tours that go by that room in the evenings and sometimes we’d just have to sit there and wait before we could go out because we didn’t want to startle anyone.

But I showed in the photos, the times we ventured beyond the hotel we were mostly just stopping by the side of the road to take pictures of all the views!! My mom kept circling around at one point to get some good ones of the mountains but I’m glad we did because it was just incredible up there.

A bit harder to breathe, though, they’re not joking about that! And all that wind that high up and in an old building like that?? An experience!!

But okay, so let me talk about The Experience because.......yeah.

So, the hotel offers a bunch of different activities that you can do while you’re staying there and a lot of them are tours (we actually took one of those as you might have seen from the pictures I posted but there’s a whole story with that so stay tuned!!) but one of the other services they offer is a seance experience!!

Funnily enough, the seance room was actually just down the hall and around the corner from our room so we saw that and then kept seeing posters for it and there was even a whole video production of the dude who does the seance showing him in the room unpacking all his tools and whatnot and incredibly, it was actually my mother who suggested we check it out!!

Now, this woman has notoriously told my sister and me all our lives to not bring Ouija boards into her house, don’t bring tarot cards into her house, don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t “bring that demon shit into my home!!” and yet...this event evidently was harmless enough that she was like, “Sure, let’s try it” and honestly, I’m inclined to agree because it looked kinda silly to be to be completely honest with you.

Like, I’m expecting theme park attraction level stunts, we’ll call up the ghost of the owner of the hotel and there will be some bangs and moans that come from speakers around the room and we’ll all get a little freaked out but have a good time and that’s that, right? Well..............

First of all, let me set the scene for you (and also I guess if you hate this kind of stuff now’s the time to look away?? I didn’t get pictures of some of the creepiest stuff that I will mention but there are some photos that are supposedly legitimate spirit photos that were on lend for this experience and they’re supposedly legit because these were taken before double exposure and obviously photo editing were possible but Idk you be the judge. In any case, the dude knows how to set a scene, I really dug the atmosphere. I also didn’t get a photo of it, but the chair the dude was sitting in was really cool, it had red silk interior, gorgeous!):

So yeah, very nice, very aesthetic, we’re having a good time. Again, are the photos real? Eh..... But they’re neat!!

My mom and I actually ended up being the first people in the room so we actually got to talk a little bit to the guy who’s leading the seance who’s name is Hannibal. He’s actually a pretty laid back dude, admittedly I’d had all these preconceived notions about what he’d be like based on everything leading up to this point, but he seemed really nice actually so that was good.

So, we get everyone into the room and we begin the experience and I’m not really expecting all that much other than maybe we’ll have something to laugh about later, y’know?

But it’s not bad, the guy talks about how he got into being an apparitionist and was transparent about the fact that he’s done a lot of theater type work and magician stuff so like, again, I’m not really expecting much, this is going to be very smoke and mirrors but still entertaining, so cool!

He explains to us that we’re going to open the circle by sharing with one another. That traditionally people would hold hands to kick things off but given, well, times and all he said we would instead just connect by sharing some so he goes first and I won’t go into specifics because it was a really personal story that he told and I hope if nothing else that even if the rest of it was BS that at least that story was true because to lie about something like that...yikes!! (I’ll just say it involved him losing someone who later came back to him in dreams and is sort of what started this ability to communicate with the other side, apparently).

Part of his story ties into this wishing coin he has that he gives us a cool backstory for as well and he has one guy in the group (there’s 12 of us, btw so Hannibal makes 13 and that’s the name of the program) read the inscription on the coin because it explains the rules. He gives the coin back and Hannibal says, “Thank you, sir, you’ve just opened the circle for us”

So wooooo, here we go!!

From here he does a couple of different things to demonstrate his abilities. One of the things he does is he gets down this ledger of the hotel that’s clearly very old and indeed contains a lot of information about guests that have long since checked out from their stays and so the goal is to have someone in the audience (a different guy this time) pick a random room number without saying it out loud, flip to where that is, look through all the names on the pages and pick just one to focus on and Hannibal would tell him who he picked.

So, the guy does it and Hannibal guesses correctly!! Oh, I should also mention that as he went to sit back down with this ledger we suddenly heard what sounded like a woman’s voice in the room. It was weird because it didn’t sound like it came from the ceiling or any of the walls, it sounded like it was in between one of the guests and Hannibal and no one could make out what it was saying, but aaaanyway!!

So, he guesses correctly and tells us a little about the guest who also just so happens to be one of the few pictures on the wall so at this point I’m thinking, “Okay, I see what’s happening here. Hannibal obviously met with this dude and his wife before the show and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this book trick, I want you to pick this person, it’ll be great,’“ or something, right? There’s some logical explanation, maybe that name is repeated several times in the lodger because it’s not authentic and so he guessed lucky or something, who knows!!

As for the voice, I’m thinking there’s something in the ledger when he grabbed it, some little device he pressed that made the lady’s voice suddenly appear. That or, as some guests pointed out there was what appeared to be a camera above the door. It didn’t have a full complete view of everyone in the room because of the way the seats were but there was an assistant working with Hannibal so it’s possible she was just watching the whole time and at that exact moment played the spooky sound, who knows! Point is, I was taking this whole experience with dangerous levels of sodium but still having a good time!

So okay cool, he talks some more about former guests and that part was really cool actually, but we moved on to the next activity to show his abilities and this is where I’m still a little stumped.

In the vein of hoping to respectfully conjure a spirit we again tap into this idea of sharing to help with that process so Hannibal asks for four volunteers and my mom’s hand immediately shoots up, she even surprised herself. He hands her a card and a marker and slowly three other hands go up. More cards and markers are distributed.

He tells the volunteers to think of their happy place, wherever that is, whatever that is, and write it on the card. He said it could be as abstract as “the smell of baking bread” and that would work just fine. He has everyone return their cards face down and as best as I can tell he didn’t look at any of them.

One by one he goes through the cards and when he does he asks for a personal item from each person and he holds it while he holds the card and again, all before looking at it he guesses what the person wrote.

I won’t really get into what the other three people wrote, two of them were pretty straightforward but one of them seemed pretty personal and for that one he did seem to guess details that weren’t on the card but that were still accurate.

When it came to my mom this is where I was first like, “Okay, what??” because he looked at her and first said, “Someone close to you has 3 sons and 1 daughter.” That could technically be my father. He had three sons from a previous marriage and two daughters with my mom but with my sister being gone and all maybe he just couldn’t see her? Then again one of my brothers is gone too so Idk but that was still pretty close!

He then said, “Did you show them the tapes? Who was your favorite, Joel or Mike?” and I could tell it wasn’t quite clicking with her and I was even questioning it but he said, “Remember, on Sundays? You’d get up early just to sit around the TV together and watch” and then it clicked.

And sure enough, she had written on the card “Watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 with my girls” as her happy place.

Now here again!!! There’s a camera in the room, right? And although I can’t explain how it would have seen the cards of two of the other volunteers it could have easily seen my mom and again, there could have been someone in this guy’s ear like, “Okay, so here’s what so and so’s card says!” and bada bing, bada boom, I’ve just shocked you with my psychic knowledge!! But I’m also not going to necessarily rule it out either because unless he just remembered when it used to come on it’s weird that he pinned down the exact time, y’know? You’d think that’s a Friday or Saturday night activity, not a Sunday morning thing but he knew that. Just odd!!

In any case, we’re all a little more convinced now but we’ve still got things to do so the seance moves forward!

There’s some stuff with a bell that rings itself which was...harder to explain away but I’m sure there would also be a logical explanation.

Said bell ringing was actually a response to which guest the spirits apparently wanted to participate in the next activity which ended up being this one guy who you could tell (and confirmed this later) that he was really only there for his wife, he didn’t really believe in all that stuff and he was honestly thinking it was all hokey at first but he gets called on and decides to be a good sport about it.

 His task ends up tying in to the first picture I posted of the seance which is all the photos laid out on the table. According to Hannibal, these were all photos of guests who asked him, from the other side, if they could participate in this activity so he obliged. That’s his version of events anyway, but I’d like to think we were being as respectful as possible and if these spirits did indeed ask then like...great, love to hear from you!

So this guy gets called on and his task is to pick one of the pictures from the table, any picture. Doesn’t have to be for any specific reason, but if one just called to him then go for it and if not then just pick one, doesn’t matter! So, he mulls it over for a while and goes over the table a few times but eventually picks one up and mind you, this entire time Hannibal has his back to the table and as far as I know he shouldn’t be able to see what this guy is doing unless someone’s feeding him information from an earpiece I can’t see.

The guy eventually picks a card and sits back down with it behind his back and even then his entire hand is still covering it so the camera wouldn’t see it. Oh, and moments before this Hannibal had laid out a bunch of objects from one of the people he discussed before that could be used as summoning objects and evidently on the back of the photo this guy had chosen there was a specific set of those items he would need to put into this box in order to summon the spirit of the person in the photo that he chose.

I should also mention that when Hannibal went to get this box he had knocked something else on the shelf over and there was sort of a break in the tension for a second as we all, him included, laughed and he made some little joke about it and we moved on, but also in that corner up above where the box was there was this doll that he had even mentioned was turned sort of away from us with her eyes looking towards the wall so as not to freak us out but not long after the box incident we noticed she was turned towards us.

Now, in my opinion I think that was some magician sleight of hand trickery. I think he dropped something on purpose while getting the box and distracted us and while he was putting things back in place he moved the doll. Just my opinion, but who knows, I didn’t see it move with my own eyes whatever the case!

Anyway, the guy reads the card and puts the correct items in the box so now it’s time again for Hannibal to guess who’s on the card and here again I’m thinking, “Okay, so he probably knows by the sound of each item as it hits the box what it is and based on that combo he knows which card it is!!” I haven’t ruled that out entirely but that would take some real dedication! (I had also thought a similar thing would happen but he’d just open the box and look at all the items and then know but he kept it closed the entire time I’m pretty sure so)

But of course, he’s able to guess exactly who it is!! And so now it’s time to see if we can actually communicate with this spirit.

I should note that at some point around this time a really strong gust of wind went through the room. I think that could have been a special effect or maybe just a weird air conditioning thing but it was odd all things considered. My mom said she felt it twice, but I only felt it once.

So, here’s where he gets down the Ouija board that you see and he claims this is an antique and was made long before it became a toy. I noticed some writing on the back of it later and I didn’t see any Hasbro trademarks on it so I’m inclined to believe him although it doesn’t really look old enough to be antique but what do I know.

In any case, this is our tool of choice for communicating with this spirit and so he lights a candle and beings the process and again we’re using bells that are ringing themselves and so it seems like we’ve done it, right?

It’s at this point Hannibal looks at my mother and asks her if there’s something she’d like to ask the spirit we’ve called to talk to us. (Oh, btw the way this person died? Suicide!! Not on the property, mind you, but that was the way they went just uh...thought I should mention it considering what happens next)

So my mom says that there’s really only one question she’d like to ask but wants to know if it’s okay if it’s about someone else.

So Hannibal asks the spirit if that’s okay and he has my mom stand up and meet him at the Ouija board. They put their fingers on the planchette and she asks the spirit, “Is Ashley okay?”

It takes a moment for anything to happen but slowly it begins to slide over to the side. I’m sitting there trying to read upside down from my angle and my heart sinks when I realize it’s heading towards what looks like the letter “N”. I think it’s going to say “No” and I don’t know what we’re going to do, I can’t bear that in front of all these people but instead it slides over to the letter “P”.

From there to the letter “E”. Someone in the group says, “Peace?” but it keeps spelling. “R” “F” “E” “C” and someone says “Perfectly?”

Hannibal asks the spirit, “Are you spelling ‘perfectly?’“ and the planchette slides over to yes. My mother, obviously overcome with emotion, nods and says thank you and has to sit back down.

A similar thing happens with the guy who picked the card, Hannibal thinks it’s only fair to let him ask a question so he asks a personal one as well and also seems really moved by the answer he gets.

Now...listen (and my mom and I even discussed this, so I’m not trying to take anything away from her or from that guy) but it’s obviously possible that was a totally manufactured moment. You see that it clearly means a lot to someone to get some type of response so what are you gonna do, be a monster and tell them something awful or give them no response? Of course not, you’ll move your fingers to spell out some good news, I wouldn’t blame him a bit and if it was totally fake, so be it!!

But here again, and may be this is us just...clinging on to something we want to believe, but there was something to the response my mom got.

It wasn’t just a yes. It wasn’t “Yeah.” It wasn’t even “Totally” or “Absolutely” It was “Perfectly”.

It’s hard to explain, but if you knew my sister you’d know how much that sounds like her. She hated boring and ordinary, she wanted everything she did to have flourish and so responding to “Are you okay?” with “Perfectly!” I can just imagine it coming from her and that’s what’s giving us both pause because maybe, y’know?

Also, just...I get why the guy got to ask a question, he was the one who picked the card to summon the spirit so fine. But like...the fact that he chose my mom to ask a question when mind you, there were other people in that group who didn’t get to really do anything. Me and a couple of other people never directly participated or had a hands on experience so he could have just as easily asked someone else to ask a question but apparently a spirit of someone who committed suicide wanted to give the mother of someone who committed suicide an answer as to how they were doing and again...if that’s all completely manufactured somehow it was still really impactful in the moment to us (I know everyone else didn’t get that part because we didn’t say, but still).

So anyway, the experience continues on and nothing else of note really happens other than there’s yet another bell except this time he has someone ask a question (I forget what question, my bad) and then ring the bell and so she does and we hear this loud bell sound and Hannibal asks us if we just heard that and I’m thinking there must have been another sound because like...yeah, I sure did hear a bell ring when it was rang, Jimmy Stewart, what noise?

But he takes the bell and gives it to someone else and repeats the exercise except this time when the lady goes to ring the bell there’s no sound. It’s only then we see that there’s nothing inside of it to actually make the noise, it’s a spirit bell apparently.

But yeah, other than that we’re pretty much winding down and wrapping things up.

We come back to that wishing coin and he has the same guy take the coin again only this time he lets him make a wish with it.

So the guy does (he has to toss it up and catch it and then hold it close) and after he makes his wish he’s asked to read the coin’s instructions again and whereas before it ended off stating that the owner of the coin had three wishes it now says that two wishes remain.......

So oooooo, spooky, how did the coin change???

Well, it’s...probably two different coins, right? He pulls out one the first time and the second one the second time and oops, something paranormal just happened here!!1! But in reality it’s just a magic trick. Still pretty cool, though! Mostly I wonder if that guy’s wish is going to come true, he didn’t say it out loud so I guess only he will know!

But for the grand finale of this event this is where I’m just...stumped, okay?

So, we’re almost done, we’re coming to a close and all of a sudden we hear this scratching noise.

Now, in my opinion it sounded like it was coming from the ceiling. Other people said they heard it coming from the middle of the table. I’m not entirely sure, but we all heard it! (which could still very well just be a sound effect, there were color changing light bulbs in the chandelier you see so there could be devices in there that play sounds, who knows!)

But the absolutely fucked part is......Hannibal picks up the Ouija board and flips it over and looks at it and at first I’m like, “Ohhhh, okay this is all an act, I get it, there’s going to be something spooky written on the board, very well done!!”

Instead, Hannibal looks up at my mom again and says, “Have we met before?” and she says no. He looks back down at the board then back up at her and asks, “Is there a nickname that you have, something you go by that not everyone calls you? Something people from work call you mostly?”

And my mom kinda stiffens and is like, “Yeah....” and he asks her what it is so she tells him.

Would you believe that this man turns around this fucking Ouija board and this is what is says:

I blocked out her nickname for her privacy but rest assured it was indeed her nickname that she got from work and that I don’t know very many people who actually call her that.

When I tell you we were fucking mind blown!!!! Step aside Criss Angel, I have been officially mind-freaked!!!!

Like...how??? How did he know that? Or how did that happen??

Like listen, it was written in chalk, comes right off I’m sure this is like....The Gag of the show, right? But I’m just...baffled, I guess.

If we are to assume this isn’t something paranormal I’d say he looked over the guest list and did some research from people’s social media sites to get information and maybe he was able somehow to figure this out but it’s just weird because this would have had to be written on the board before the whole show even started and there was always a possibility for anyone in the group to pass or skip out on participating directly so what would he have done instead if the person he singled out for this trick (in this case my mom) hadn’t wanted to participate? I’m sure there would be some other backup plan, maybe all the lights would go out or something and when they came back on something in the room would be really different or something like that, but still just...wow.

And again, it’s...not a very commonly used nickname for her. She’s not super active on her social media and when she is I don’t see many people calling her by this nickname. I’m not saying it’s impossible for him to have found this information out on her and planned this stunt in advance, but the way it all came together was just...incredible.

All in all a very, very inch arresting experience!! Still don’t 100% believe everything that happened there was legit and I mean, I think there have to be some built in scares so people get their money’s worth but there were still like I said just a few things that were a little too eerie and ultimately at least for the time being I’d like to think that message from the other side was at least approximate to the truth.

The guy also apparently does card readings and I asked how much he charges but he says he does something like that for free so I’m sort of curious to see but I’m also unsure. I’ll think about it some more because I do believe there are people in this world who posses I guess...extra abilities? Maybe not full on spiritual or anything like that (or maybe, the hell do I know!) but something like that, I’m just not 100% sure if he’s one of those people but gosh I’d like to think so after all of that

Also, here’s one last picture of that cool ass chandelier as well as a poster (my mom and I each got one although I don’t think anyone else did, I think they all left too quickly XD)

 So yeah, that was that whole thing!! Sorry it was so long, but I just wanted to get the whole experience written down before I forget it.

Moving on to the next big activity we did while we were there was The Shining tour!

I had actually wanted to go on a different one, it was more focused on just the hotel itself and some of the haunted history but I’m pretty sure it was the one where people got to use ghost hunting equipment and shit but of course by the time we got around to actually signing up for a tour it was booked and we wouldn’t have time to catch the next available ones before we had to leave so alas!

But!! It ended up being more than okay!!

I should say too here that like...although I grew up loving and watching The Shining and although I consider myself a fan of Stephen King’s works in general I’ve definitely become less jazzed about the whole thing in light of finding out about how Kubrick went about filming and in particular all the damage it did to Shelley Duvall.

I just wanted to make it clear I’m mostly marveling at just the “Hey, this is a piece of history and this Shining movie actually helped keep this beautiful hotel from being torn down so that’s kinda neat” not as, well, as shining endorsement of the movie itself or Kubrick or any of that.

Which also!! They gave us a QR code to scan where we can watch the entire Shining mini-series which is the one Stephen King prefers anyway because it’s truer to the book but it’s apparently kind of hard to find to watch in its entirety so now I have that plus all the original 90s commercials that aired with it so I’m excited to check that out!!

But okay, so the tour!!

It was only about an hour long and again, it was just sort of based off of Stephen King’s experience coming to the hotel and how the got the inspiration for the book.

I will say that first room we went into, the MacGregor Room, was very spooky feeling!! That’s where I got those pictures that come out kinda weird and again, it’s entirely possible considering it’s me that my hand was just shaky or that I moved too quickly before the photo was actually taken, fair!! But still just kind of odd because some of those photos I literally took seconds apart and one’s perfectly clear while the next has weird light distortion.

But aaaaanyway, so our tour guide takes us to a couple of different locations and is giving us a lot of cool information about everything and doing a great job.

At one point as we’re leaving the ice house (which was apparently featured in the mini series) my mom leans over to the tour guide and whispers that we’re actually staying in Room 217 and she doesn’t know if we’re allowed to, but that we’d be more than happy to let our group have a look inside if they’d like since we know the tour swings by there anyway

This was something we talked about before and we even picked up the room and made it look all nice just in case this happened and when I tell you this tour guide was fucking stoked I mean she was STOKED

She actually changed the whole tour around and basically rushed to our room because she said although she’d been working there since April she’d yet to actually see the room but desperately wanted to and no guests before had offered so I was incredibly happy to be able to give her the experience. Especially when she mentioned her boyfriend works there too and was actually supposed to be our tour guide that night but he wasn’t feeling up to it so he stayed home and she took his place so she couldn’t wait to go rub it in! XD

Everyone in the group was super excited too, there were a couple of guys who were like more gentle versions of drunk frat dudes who kept telling us they loved us for letting us see the room.

I dunno, maybe it was a crazy thing to do, but it just felt weird to go on this whole tour and then end it right by our door and just be like, “Mmm, well bye this is us!” Plus it seemed to really make everyone’s night so I’m glad.

All in all, it was a really wonderful experience. Not just the tour, but the whole trip.

I may not have had as many spooky experiences as I had hoped for, but it was still a lot of fun and everyone we met was so nice so I’m really grateful I was able to have this experience.

It still feels kind of surreal, like this whole thing was supposed to happen two years ago but kept getting pushed back and now it’s finally happened. Honestly, up until the day we actually left I fully expected something to happen and for it all to fall though and that would have been fine, but I’m super glad it actually worked out.

I dunno when I’ll ever get to take a trip like this again and maybe it was a silly thing for me to have done at all but I feel like I really needed it. And I’m glad it was able to finally happen.

I’m sure there are probably some things I’ve left out of this monster of a recounting but if they’re important enough I’ll share them another time and if not I’ll store them in my memories.

Thanks for reading this far if you have and I hope you’ve enjoyed my tales from the not-so-crypt! Have a good day! :3

[princess-pill-enjoyer]

I didn't think I'd really need to come back here after everything. It's so stupid. My dad has given me my own weed and it is way stronger than the pills. So many different ways it affects me. But I've been mostly sober since the attempt that started all this. Ig partially out of respect.. I feel like it wouldn't be fair to my parents if I continue my junkie ways after they had to listen to me scream and yell about how I felt trapped and then when things open up, boom still doing it

I dunno if that makes sense tbh.. lemme know ik I suck at explaining things correctly.

Anyway I've been sober 99% of the time since. I kinda don't like smoking as much now. It made my teeth hurt and I hallucinate when I get high. It's nothing crazy no where near as vivid the dph hallucinations get ofc. Tho it still scares me so bad. It can range anywhere to a few small & constant noises that makes everything hard to hear unless I'm focusing to hallucinations that put me in a state of delusion. I get so scared about ts I can't move. 9 times out of 10 I get this weird feeling someone or something is there and if I make a sound they'll come up to me. Those are the worst feeling ones dude I know there's no reason for me to assume anything is there but I just stiff up and cry as quietly as I can until I can work up the courage to check if they're "still there"

I used to do that when I was coming down from benadryl actually. I'd be too forgetful to be scared of anything like that mid high but all hell broke once it was wearing off

It makes me so annoyed. It makes me wonder if that's something I'll just have to deal with from here on or should I just stay sober from here on and hope for the best. It all makes me miss the pills so fucking bad. I was taking those for so long and it just felt like I knew pretty much anyway they'd effect me atp. It was straightforward

Dph made my heartbeat harder -> also made my heart sore when I'm not on it

The pills dehydrated me -> annnd if I took it too far, I'd go acidic and jaundice (which im ngl happened way more often than I wanted to admit.. when I tried to od again in December I was quite literally neon!)

Taking so many at once making my stomach have to dissolve anywhere from four to high twenties worth of pills at a time -> which led my stomach to get irritated and eager to get that shit out and made various issues there

But now? What. I don't even have anyway to measure so it's just a thing of.. o guess it kicked in, ig I can't hear rn. Oop dang ig I got too high now I physically have to focus on not freaking out over something that is not fucking happening. Oh what ig these stupid fucking edibles make my head hurt instead of making me high. Fun!!

I'm so over this shit. Im trying so hard to stay away. I didn't like dph after a while. You can scroll back and see so many things I hated about it. And yet I think about it every single day. I miss it so much. I used to be able to take a few pills and then poof blank out for a little while. As long as I took care after the fact, I'd be mostly fine. But now I have to deal with the unpredictability of my own mind or whatever nonsense I have to feel when I smoke/eat edibles

R has been really bumpy for me too. I don't know why like.. I've really been happy about our friendship lately. I feel like seeing how fucked up I had to be to my parents to make them listen gave me a new appreciation for her. I haven't blown up at her in a while but omfg I've done it a lot throughout our time together. Tho, she's still here for me. Nothing really changed. And I love her for that. I'm really just a random person online fr. At any point she could just decide she's fed up with me and ghost. But she endured my nonsense and still pushed me to look at things different. I never know how to bring that up without sounding like it's a romantic thing

Which has been eating at me so bad as of late. I don't know what th I feel towards her. If im still in love I wouldn't be shocked but it feels different from how I felt before the whole blowup a lil bit after she broke up with her ex. She's my safe space but she is also kinda fucked up to me sometimes. But I really can't help myself. I still worry about her all the time, I genuinely try to know everything and anything going on with her wherever possible, and I let so much go unspoken not blowing up and trying to keep her perspective in mind where I can.. I want her to not have to worry sm I hate that my presence has become a double edged sword. I love her so much it's become overbearing and hard to hide. I know it makes her feel pressure to hide stuff to keep up appearances/impressions. Shit sucks. It makes me feel like I'm in a parent's position atp..

Tho all that being said I feel like she still interprets my actions as some elaborate way to make her like me. Or me tryna be nice so that she falls in love with me. Some shit. And ik that sounds so paranoid and baseless but its been a pattern atp.

Everytime I get cheery and tryna treat her like ya know, my best friend, its like she takes that shit diff and mentions her ex as a way to tell me to back off. And I don't get it. Like no dummy I'm not excitedly talking about shit to lure you in YOU ARE MY FRIEND. MY CLOSESTTT. I know that she won't judge me for me and since she knows me so well, I rarely have to give too much of a backstory to talk about anything. It's nice. And I guess I abuse that privilege a lot. Maybe I should be better about not running to her about everything. But then like me being concerned and interested about what she's up to makes her do it as well. She briefly got with someone else (they've already broken up she ain't getting a codename 🥴) and I noticed her using her for that purpose too for a bit. Well. Before she got annoyed with her existence lolol

But yeah anyway like.. has that pattern already been there and I haven't noticed? Am I overthinking this action too hard and twisting it? It's frustrating me so bad cause I don't get why she interprets it like that. Am I just so oblivious I don't see how obviously in love I am and she's tryna push me out of that...? Or is she being self destructive and can't view my love as anything but manipulation.

Confessing to her has become one of my biggest regrets. It changed so much I hate myself for believing I was in lala land. Stupid fucking girl. All I could see was how much I liked talking wth her and it just slipped out. I didn't realize just how many fucking consequences it'd bring after the fact. I feel like im constantly dancing around shit. I wish I never said anything. Im so tired of having to study my every action to make sure I don't seem too eager to speak. I forget it happened some days but it feels like that's all she sees me as. I don't understand what to do atp. I don't want to lose her, we are completely ride or die aside from this. But my GOD I CANT TAKE IT. I feel like it's become such a giant elephant and it's going to rift everything once it's brought up. I don't want to piss her off and lose her for good

Between her and my ex.. I lowkey think I'm done with the whole romance thing this feeling is the absolute worst. Any time I express that myself in that way I come out of it feeling so stupid. It stings so much worse this time around. Least with my ex even though the shit only lasted a few months IT HAPPENED. I feel crazy feeling this exact same stupid feeling with someone I haven't even dated before. And for me to feel WORSE.. HOW?? I've avoided dating specifically so I wouldn't feel this way and then I stumbled and did the shit AGAIN! Let myself fall into even deeper feelings with someone that didn't even like me. Again. And I'm stinging worse than I ever was before. Crazy. I hope I never like anyone again.

I've been feeling blank as of late. Even with my family life improving and my health improving I still feel empty. The same I did before. It feels like now I'm performing a different role, but still feel the same. It felt so good to have everything in the open and finally dropping dph for good (probably) originally. But I really feel no better now that the dust has settled. Everything just shifted some

I try to be more open and honest about myself and what I feel but the central issues I don't know how to express. It feels unfair to air that shit out to R, my family or any of my friends since I know I won't believe them. It's so easy to say the right thing. So easy to assure me you love me. You care. But do you mean it? Or are you saying it because that's what you're "expected" to say and do? I dont trust a word out any of their mouths when it comes to shit like that. Looking at their unconscious actions and how and what they say feels like the most honest view of their thoughts. And a whole lot of that made me feel the way I feel. What's words going to fix when I can physically SEEE AND HEAR all the shit proving otherwise replaying in my head? Why listen to you try to cover your own ass when the evidence is already there? We both see the cards on the table. There's no point trying to sway me into looking at them different.

But I feel bad not being able to shake that sense. I know part of my thinking is irrational. It's fucked up I can't listen and change my view. It's like theyre speaking to a brick wall. It's almost like they can never fuck up since I can't let ts go once I've noticed it. I try to keep myself together because of that. I hate the grandiose acting I have to do to get through the day

I won't lie. I really sit there and wish I would've died that day. It's like ever since that last time ever since I got all my ducks in a row and decided I'm okay with no taking part in life, it suddenly made everything feel tedioussss. It gets on my nerves so bad I've been so angry. I wish I would've just kept my mouth shut and let things finally crumble down on its own so I could be left to pop pills til I either got it right and ended myself or guzzle em until I fucked myself up so bad I'd die without my intervention 💀💀

None of this seems to be worth it and I'm kinda over it. I made my decision. It fucking sucks that I'm still being forced along this stupid junk when I already decided it was all worthless. I wish I could hide away and just stop participating in society. Never talk again. Never play another game. Never spend a single cent. Just total isolation. I wish all the games I play were single player so no one would think to chat with me while we're playing. I wish the world was filled with robots so that I could go in and out of a store without thinking bout if the employees are thinking I'm stealing or wondering if anyone thinks I look as cool as I think I look

I wish it were just a lil bubble just for me. Go into a store, grab what I want, walk out. Dress up anywhere and take 10000 pictures that no one'll see. But idc cause i look so prettyyy and I like seeing myself in all my cute lil outfits. Eat what I want and how weirdly I want without people looking at me crazy. I swear it's all doable but it all feels like I'd have to completely ignore the outside world for me to be happy. Even shit like having to say good morning to my parents or thank you to someone holding the door open for me pisses me off. When I'm not in the mood for speaking, I aint in the mood for any and all speaking no matter how small. And lately uh it's been all I feeling

I don't know why I don't feel the motivation to try to kill myself again. Ig I don't even care enough to atp. I've been so over it now. I've been feeling kinda apathetic to everything to a degree. Not that it hasn't been nice to have clarity on everything. But I don't care to fix any of it anymore. I was done that day i tried to kill myself you know? Being here still didn't really change anything in my perspective. If I had a button right in front of me that'd instantly end me 100% guaranteed I'd put on a nice lil outfit then push that shit with a swiftness

I'd be shocked if don't end up relapsing atp. I'm tired of thinking

[twstinginthewind]

👻 Sia's turn for a spooky story! Can she scare Mia and Savvy?

Warm and Fuzzy

The lights in the Pomefiore lounge were lowered, and the room's walls danced with the flickering light of a single candle. Three shadows loomed up upon the wall. Two of them huddled together while the third gestured elegantly, spinning all three into the tapestry of a haunted tale.

".... and so, the Prince decided to close himself away. He and his court of merrymakers, nobility all, would continue their revelry, despite the death that haunted the countryside around them." Sia paused to take a sip from her juice, and she took in the looks on the faces of her sister and young friend. Two pairs of wide blue eyes stared back from unmoving faces. It was as if they couldn't show any emotion at all. Sia mentally praised herself. That meant they were too scared to show anything. The acting course she took over the summer paid off, just as she planned. She gently placed her glass onto its coaster and continued.

"He had set his household to decorate the abbey in which they hid for a great masked ball, and they set to create a colorful masterpiece for their distraction. Seven great rooms, each dressed and lit in seven colors, each more lavish than the last. One chamber of innocent blue, one of royal purple, the greens of summer, the orange of sunsets, one of purest white, and one of brilliant violet. And the last room was all in black, illuminated with deep, somber crimson. And in that chamber was a clock, hewn of deep ebony wood, which chimed each hour, a deep and resonant sound which shook the revelers to the bone." Aaaaaand, yes! She timed it just right. The clock in the lounge also struck the hour, making the younger two jump.

"Sia! That's too scary!" Mia scolded her older sister and pulled a cushion close to her chest, shuddering as she hugged it.

"It... it really is. I'm glad we're not doing this at Ramshackle," gulped Savvy. "I wouldn't be able to look their ghosts in the non-corporeal eye during this...."

"I can stop the story for now, if you need," Sia said through a grin that didn't reach her eyes. "I should have waited until you two were older to tell this one, anyway."

Mia and Savvy looked at each other, then back at Sia.

"I dunno," Mia said. "I wanna find out how it ends."

Savvy wrung her hands. "But I can't take it if it's gonna be a bad ending. Does it have a bad ending?"

"I don't want to spoil it," Sia sighed. She reached over to the table next to her, and clicks on a lamp. Bright golden light fills the room, erasing the looming, living shadows cast by the candle. "I didn't know Poe was going to set you both off so much!"

"It's creepyyyyy. I thought it was gonna be the hitchhiking ghost again," Mia whined.

"But you already know that one. Why would I tell you one you already know, Mia?" Sia rolled her eyes.

"It's less terrifying when you know what's going on," Savvy said, putting an arm around Mia. "I mean, I do wanna hear if the plague gets a cure, or if the Prince manages to save people."

Sia shook her head. "I can't tell you anything about that yet. Honestly? Maybe it's better to let this wait until morning. You won't feel so frightened in the daylight."

"Promise?" Mia's ears perked up slightly.

"Mia? Would I ever steer you wrong?"

[clearalibi]

Day 2! Upped 1.1 to 1.5 mph which is absolutely null but I didnt want to overdo it because I have a habit of doing that sort of thing. Saw the Greek god again, he appeared to do pull ups right in front of me eee, I really think he might be from Greece...Mel said theres way hotter but our tastes seem to differ pretty vastly except for Gerry. Eh she agreed Sam V and Ren are "cute and alright but not my type" so I guess Imma give her the benefit of the doubt. Still a lil mad she said that about Barry tho. He called himself a model and a legend on hot ones, scoffing at the title of actor..I agree when he said he doesn't seem like one of them. Probably cause he's an Irish wolf god or something. Mel had the audacity to say something shitty about his eyes! Oh I wanted to say something mean about Benson soooo bad, I didnt, I should've called her a filthy casual that would've hit.

But! I am not being empathetic enough. (If only there was a Naturo like individual to help me.) There is prob a lil envy behind her support. Even though I was helping her dream big looking at Gerrys studio home combo and having other combos discussed. After I explained to her what kickstarter and patreon was, fuck i gotta keep her young is 10 years really that much of a difference??? she expressed she wants to do something, but shes like i dunno all I have is crystals. Why didn't I fucking ask her to film my shit? Why would I trust my ex's sis over my bestie? That bich dont know me and when I vaguely asked if she'd help me film something in time for VDAY she assumed it was for her bro. Yet she couldnt be upfront enough to say I misunderstood no, she had to ghost me and fucking gatekeep really?!?! Sorry that too many people fucking triggers me and you decided to adopt 7 fucking kids. Fuck you hoe. You and his ma shouldn't have given off fucking Lannister vibes the first time we met, weirded me tf out.

I thought of Cat because it was the obvious choice, I wanted quality, this could be my only chance. I'm gonna suggest this next weekend, get a feel for her, she might get super into it. Then maybe I can mute Ren and show her Animal Flow because rewatching things with different povs of what to focus on is fun idc.

Now that I know how Mel feels about Brits idfk how to feel about her to be real. But I also need to lose this complex feeling of I LOVE HIM WHY CANT YOU SEE WHAT I SEE that I have.

I have been trying to be civil with my mom despite the fact that she pimped me out 3 times but the ex was the only one to get some. She actually paid my crush to do yardwork I shit yall not. I'm glad he did a shitty job, I'm actually gonna give him kudos to that...and now that I think of it maybe he was where my aversion to blondes stems from.

I was telling the ex it would be soooo fun, if the closest we can get to the next Eminem also got famous for roasting a mother figure. I swear I have tried to be the bigger person, but this cunt is still turning my grandmother against me. FOR NO REASON!!! BECAUSE I WONT LIVE UNDER HER THUMB. BITCH I AM 31. GET A LIFE!!!!!

Seeing how she handles her spiders I now know if I had any doubt, that I'm only alive because my grandparents mostly raised me...to their credit I don't think they brainwashed me, I think they saw how problematic my ma and her bros turned out and reevaluated themselves.

[bearballing]

End of the year Asks exept they’re not asks and done like a livejournal/myspace answer thing

1) Song of the year? Rare Ould Mountain Dew - The Irish Rovers i actually discovered in on xmas eve last year, rare old mountain dew was mentioned in Fairytale of New York so I decided to look it up and this was the first version i found and then i fell down a rabbit hole of traditional irish music. lol. anyway this is still the best recorded version of mountain dew there is

runner up is Hell’s Comin’ With Me - Poor Man’s Poison it just so happened to be the perfect song for saints row 2022 AND for thaddeus. whomst i played as

notable mention is any version ever of The Rattlin Bog/Bog Down In The Valley-o. i found a youtube version of some irish wedding where the guests were drunkenly singing it at like 3am and even that slapped

2) Album of the year?

Not released in 2022 - The Irish Rovers 50 Years

Released in 2022 - Bronco, Orville Peck. and i had apparently forgotten to put the album on my phone until THE OTHER DAY???

3) Favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year?

The Irish Rovers. Other notables are The Dubliners, Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, Strugill Simpson, The Protomen

4) Movie of the year?

Nope. like enoguh for me to Physically own it when it came out on bluray.

5) TV show of the year?

we watched Parasyte and Ghost In The Shell, first time I saw both of them and i love when shows make me like obsess over the lore lmao.

OH AND UH THE UK COMING /SECOND/ IN EUROVISION.

6) Episode of tv or webisode that defined the year for you?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯  i dont think there was a specific episode of anything.

7) Favorite actor of the year?

jim byrnes, every time we find out something about him it makes our heads explode lol. we still have to actually watch half the stuff he’s been in

8) Game of the year?

joint Saints Row and Pokemon Legends Arceus. 95% of the complaints about saints row are stupid i loved it. i still want to try to 100% it (I’M CLOSE) at some point

9) Best month for you this year?

january/february maybe

10) Something that made you cry this year?

hurricane ian. also the death of 2 cats

11) Something you want to do again next year?

go to maine lol. we May be able to

12) Talk about a new friend you made this year

well i gained several mutuals on here.....

13) How was your birthday this year?

it was nice!!! i got to do shit that i wanted and just chill. and i’m finally not in my 20s anymore

14) Favorite book you read this year?

i don’t think i read anything new, only re-read things

15) What’s a bad habit you picked up this year?

fuck i dunno. procrastinating on vacuuming the house.

16) Post a picture from the beginning of the year

17) Post a picture from the end of the year

18) A memorable meal this year?

we had dinner at belle’s castle at disney world. IN THE WEST WING.

19) What’re you excited about for next year?

visiting my family in the uk. which i’m also nervous about ngl

20) What’s something you learned this year?

that gamefreak can truly get away with anything regardless of quality

21) What’s something new about your place of residence (room, home, or general location) now vs the start of the year?

WE OWN A HOUSE WE OWN A HOUSE WE OWN A HOUSE WE OWN A HOUSE

22) Favorite place you visited this year?

didney wurl trip was gr9, really liked getting to go to new england again even though the circumstances sucked.

23) If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be?

house happens on the 31st don’t worry about it

24) Did you keep any New Year’s Resolutions?

got a house lol

25) Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one

no new ones but this was definitely the year of our lord Thaddeus2022. i played as him in saints row And in pokemon violet and accidentally created so much new lore for him. boxy also accidentally dreamed up yet another AU where he is the main character too lmao

[ptergwen]

fluffy make out sesh w petey? <3

call it even

w/c: 1,074

warnings: like two swears?

a/n: i don’t know why this ended up being so long but it did lmfhwjwhs i hope it’s everything u wanted and more :D

-

“god, how much time is left?” you complain, circling your index finger around peter’s chest.

peter refuses to expand his horizons beyond star wars, so you two are watching revenge of the sith yet again. you’re seated in his lap and doing everything you can to get his attention. it’s the only way you’ll be able to make it through the damn movie.

unfortunately for you, peter has a huge crush on anakin. that means his eyes are literally glued to the screen.

“we’re not even halfway through yet. get comfortable, babe,” peter smugly replies. he grabs your hips and squeezes, cocking his head to the side to see better. you tilt your own head so it’s blocking his line of vision. “i am comfortable… very. are you?” your voice drops an octave.

a smirk crossing his features, peter finally meets your eyes. “i know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not gonna work.” you gasp to feign innocence. “silly old me? what ever are you talking about, peter dearest?”

peter moves an arm so it’s around your lower back, you batting your lashes down at him. you yank on his flannel collar to keep him in place. he leans in closer to you until his lips brush the shell of your ear.

he’s all yours.

“i appreciate the effort. now, if you don’t mind…”

peter pulls away from you with a terrible wink that’s stupidly adorable, but you’re too annoyed to admit it.

you give up your facade, swapping it for whining and tugging on peter’s shirt. “no fair! all i want you to do is spend some time with me, petey.” gazing over your shoulder, you shoot the tv a death glare. “fuck george lucas.”

“woah, woah! don’t go that far!” peter defends, chuckling nevertheless. he does feel kind of bad because he has seen star wars more than anyone else on this earth. it wouldn’t kill him to focus on you for a bit.

although, he’d still like to finish the movie.

peter brings your body in closer to his, pecking your forehead softly. “let’s make a deal,” he prompts you. you eagerly nod and sit up straighter. “i’ll give you as many hugs and kisses as you’d like-“

“perfect! you and that big brain of yours, my smart boy.” puckering up, you go right in for a smooch. peter holds out a finger and presses it to your lips to stop you, beaming. “i’m not done,” he laughs out. “i’ll give you as many hugs and kisses as you’d like, after the movie is over.”

you scoff and shove both peter’s shoulders. “why can’t you just multitask? you’d be getting the best of both worlds!” peter does not consider it. “and risk missing the most intense lightsaber duel in cinematic history? i don’t think so.”

“whatever you say… loser,” you mutter under your breath. he coaxes you away from him, keeping his arms around your waist with a scowl. “do you want your kisses or not, y/n?” this time, your mouth stays shut. “exactly,” peter concludes. “new deal, i’ll level with you and cuddle for a while.”

he hugs you to his chest, chin resting lightly on your head. you instantly settle in his warm embrace and feel safe in his strong arms. this will do.

“love you, petey,” you mumble against the skin of his neck. smiling to himself, peter peeks back up at the tv. “love you too, angel. but, shhh,” he shushes, resuming his millionth star wars viewing.

just like that, you’ve been replaced by darth vader. you need to fix this, and fast.

it doesn’t take peter too long to lose himself in the movie, which plays out in your favor for once. he just mindlessly rocks you side to side while he watches. his obliviousness, more so than usual, gives you the opportunity to reach over on the cushion next to you and grab the remote.

bingo.

you swiftly hit the power button, hiding it behind your back and eliciting a yelp from peter.

“y/n, what the hell? we had a compromise!” peter demands and lunges forward for the remote. grinning wickedly, you tuck it into your back pocket before he can. “we also had a deal, remember? movie’s over,” you elaborate. “kiss me, loser.”

peter can’t argue with that logic.

“sneaky,” he compliments, his forehead leaned against yours. his fingertips ghost over your chin. “i’m so impressed, i can’t even be mad. you win.” giggling, you place your hands on peter’s shoulders to balance yourself in his lap. “well, you’re the prize.”

“ugh, i love you so much,” peter sighs. he kisses your bottom lip gently, holding your chin between two fingers. “more than star wars?” you search for his hazel eyes. “more than star wars… all three trilogies,” he murmurs a sentence you never thought you’d hear.

your eyelashes tickle peter’s face, both of you sharing matching smiles.

“in that case…”

you close the small gap separating you two with your lips on his. peter reciprocates in a heartbeat, his own quickened as he melts into the kiss. one of your hands weaves its way to some fluffy curls at the nape of his neck. he cups your cheek tenderly, free hand on your side and a grin spreading across his face.

“i love you, too,” you whisper, your legs straddling his waist. “could tell,” peter acknowledges in a breathy laugh.

he uses the new position to his advantage and flips you so you’re laying down on the couch. him on top, you under and your legs still around him. the next kiss is initiated by peter, so soft it fills your whole body with butterflies. he continues to caress your cheek while his lips dance expertly with yours.

“you taste good,” you rasp, peter kissing up to the tip of your nose. “like what?” he wonders and punctuates his question with another kiss to the bridge. you’re sitting back and enjoying every second. “i dunno, something sweet… vanilla?”

“oh, yeah. i might’ve stolen your chapstick,” peter admits, his cheeks starting to feel hot. amused, you pinch one of them. “i was wondering where that went. i should’ve known ‘cuz you always ask me about it.” he dips down so his forehead falls on yours once again. “buy you a new one?”

your fingers thread through his locks, willing him to look at you.

“just kiss me, and we’ll call it even.”

[thebeautyoffanfics]

Hey there Savi.. could i request a kou,mitsuba and tsukasa x reader where their s/o gets bullied alot?? I've been struggling with it recently and now that school is going to start again im dreading it .. thank you in advance <3

kou minamoto x gn!reader, mitsuba sousuke x gn!reader, tsukasa yugi x gn!reader

a/n: of course!! I’m really sorry that you’ve had experiences like that, but I also genuinely hope that this year will be better! You’ve got this-!! And don’t be afraid to ask for help <3 you’re so so welcome, tho I’m sure schools probably started by now, therefore I’m super sorry for the time this took- and thank you so much for requesting <3

Waaaaaah i’m also sorry if it’s OOC, cos I know Tsukasa’s at least is;;; writer’s block is aaaaaaah-;; I’ve genuinely been writing this since September 19th,,,,

warnings: bullying

word count: 2,044

kou minamoto <3

You glanced at your phone screen, the date flashing up at you. It was depressing. Thoughts of previous years danced in your head, as you shut your phone back off. You currently stood outside of your school, “open house” finally over. School was starting back in just a few days. Your days of freedom could be counted on one hand… this was, by far, one of your least favorite times of the year.

“(Y/N)! Do you still want to walk to the park?” Kou questioned, running up beside you. You nodded, hoping that spending time with your boyfriend would get your mind off of school, and memories related to such. As the two of you began to walk, you could practically feel the question on the tip of Kou’s tongue. He always made himself rather obvious- his hands fidgeted a bit, his gaze lowering to the ground.

“Say, (Y/N)... you seem sad. Is it because school’s starting back?”

You thought for a moment, unsure of how to put it. He certainly wasn’t wrong…

“Yeah, that’s basically it… last year was just… not a good year, haha.”

“Oh? Well, I’m sure this one will be better!! If you want, we can make a list or something? All the bad things about last year can be something we change this year-!”

Despite bitterly knowing that it wasn’t exactly something within your realm of control, you laughed a bit. “That’s… insanely corny, Kou. I didn’t say a terrible idea- just… corny.”

When you glanced up at him, you noticed his red face, as he blurted out an excuse. A moment of fumbling over his words passed, before he gave up, glancing off to the side once more.

“Wh-whatever- I mean, just… like, tell me what’s wrong, if you want to. And I’ll try to help. Alright?”

“It’s really not something either of us can help, Kou.”

“So? I’m your boyfriend,” He seemed a bit embarrassed to say, most likely not used to pulling that sort of card, “If you don’t want to tell me, I can’t make you. But, if you’re alright with telling me, I want to know. Either way, I’m here for you...”

“Ah… I know it, Kou. Honestly, I just… dealt with some bullying last year, so I’m really not looking forward to this year. No matter how much I hear ‘oh, the bully does it to feel better about themself’, it’s just emotionally… hm, awful, you know?”

“Oh… I understand, (Y/N). I do remember some people picking on me, since I have a big brother like Teru- it’s not fun at all. Here!! I’ll stay with you, 24/7! Sit with me during classes, and I’ll hang out with you during free time!” “Thanks, Kou- but we probably won’t have every class together.”

“Then- just tell me if something happens during the class,” He spoke, crossing his arms rather seriously. “I’ll talk with the teacher! Easy peasy!!”

A moment passed, before Kou took your hand, looking at the ground, then back up with you. His eyebrows were furrowed just slightly, his eyes not as wide as they usually were. Kou was being serious- as serious as his sweet mind could let him be. He almost seemed to resemble his big brother even more- when the two were serious.

“If something happens, tell me, okay? I mean it. I don’t want this year to be bad for you- as your friend and boyfriend! Let me do what I can to help, alright?”

You blinked a bit. Kou’s words were so sincere, you felt your heart beat a bit quicker. “A-alright. Thank you, Kou. I really mean it.” You spoke, bringing the boy into a hug to hide whatever sort of expression you were making.

“Of course! You don’t need to thank me, (Y/N). I’m happy to try and help-!”

mitsuba sousuke <3

“(Y/N), if you don’t tell me what’s wrong, I’ll give you something to complain about.”

Ah, Mitsuba… he spoke, his arms crossed as he sat next to you, silently noticing your slightly disheveled clothes. Judging by the slightly down look you wore, too many things were now adding up. Something was bothering you, and he was bound and determined to find out what it was.

“Mitsuba, it’s okay, really. Here! Let’s eat, I’m starving!” You opened up your bento box, sliding one his way, and sticking the chopsticks into your mouth. Though you hummed happily, Mitsuba was… in Detective Mode, to put it lightheartedly. Your every move was being analyzed, as he tried his best to figure out what was wrong. Your eyebrows furrowed, as you swallowed a bit harder than usual.

“What’s the point of lying to me, dummy? If you aren’t hungry, it’s probably because whatever is bothering you is ruining your appetite. Talk to me. I’m serious.”

You sighed, feeling as if the food was stuck in your throat. Or maybe your throat simply felt as though it had a lump in it…? Either way, you were painfully aware of the unpleasant feeling. Along with the creeping suspicion that Mitsuba wasn’t going to leave this alone. Was he good at reading people?? Were you just easy to read…? Or maybe, he was just far too accustomed to the way you reacted to things. Able to focus in on the little things, especially when he wanted to. Perhaps it was the talent of a photographer? Being able to read the entire picture??

Perhaps you were thinking too much into it, desperate for a way to get your mind off of the things going on around you.

“I’m just… dealing with some stuff.”

“Well, duh. What kind of stuff?”

You kept your gaze glued to the floor, fiddling absentmindedly with the chopsticks. You knew you could confide in Mitsuba… yet, something about it felt practically impossible. What would happen if you told him? Could he do anything? He was merely a ghost…

“Oi, I asked a question. Listen, and listen well, you idiot- I know I can’t solve all your problems, but I can at least listen- which is what you’d better be doing right now. You listen to me, though who wouldn’t want to is beyond me, so I can at least do the same. I’m not your therapist, but I am your boyfriend.”

Those words danced around in your mind for a bit, as you considered how to put it. For a moment, you simply nodded, letting Mitsuba know you heard- and were acknowledging- what he said. A few more moments passed before you began to speak.

“Lately, there have been some students… picking on me, I guess. It’s… discouraging, and makes school feel like a living nightmare. You’re the only good thing in my day at this hellhole.”

“Oh.”

You tightened your grip on the chopsticks, trying to read Mitsuba’s tone. Suddenly, it clicked- remembering Mitsuba mentioning being bullied for being “feminine” and “foul-mouthed”. He truly, genuinely, understood where you were coming from.

“I see, then… I’ll tell you what to do, (Y/N). Tell an adult, lame-o. I don’t give a flying flip about ‘oh, they won’t believe me’ or ‘what if the bullies blah blah.’ At least try it- it’s hard, but I don’t care about that either. Also, freaking ignore them. Obviously, you don’t want to pay them attention, so don’t.”

“Mitsuba, it’s not that easy-”

“I know. (Y/N), I’ve been in your shoes. Maybe it’s different- I dunno what kind of bullying they’re doing. Still, if you’re good enough for my standards, you know you’re at least worth something. So don’t let those low-lives get you down. I promise you, if I could, I’d give them a piece of my mind. But, since I can’t, just… do it yourself, or something. Don’t endure it, you rat.”

(“Mitsuba, all your insults lowkey feel like bullying-”

“Shut up, stupid-face, you can’t tell a teacher on a ghost. What’re you gonna say?? Waaaah, sensei, school mystery number 3 is calling me names!! Hah.”

“Tsuchigomori-sensei can see you, you know. And he teaches both Minamoto boys!”

“Lalalaaaa, I can’t hear you-”)

tsukasa yugi <3

Tsukasa… knows.

There was no other way to put it. You knew he knew, and you knew he was just waiting. A part of him wanted you to ask him for help- to confide in him, even if it took some pushing. He was… a bit different in that sense- I mean, how was he to know you didn’t enjoy being bullied? Was it the same way he felt when Amane looked at him with such hatred?

“(Y/N)!! What’s with such a sad look?? Did you get a bad test grade?” Tsukasa questioned, floating alongside you as you entered the broadcasting room. You simply shook your head, placing your bookbag on the floor, then standing back up.

“It’s just been a day, Tsu,” You added, taking a seat near Sakura. As you did, she pushed a cup of tea your way, her gaze as it usually was. She looked right through you, as if you were nothing but a ghost. Still, it was a much better look than the ones given by the bullies. Muttering a ‘thank you’, you lifted the cup, fiddling with it slightly.

“If there’s something bothering you, feel free to share it,” Sakura spoke, her gaze staying on you, then finally closing as she sipped from her cup.

“If there’s something bothering you, share it.” Tsukasa added, placing his head on your shoulder and staring at your eyes. His gaze drifted to your hands when you brought the cup to your lips, then over to your throat as you struggled to swallow.

“Runt, if you don’t back away from them, you’ll the the one bothering them,” Natsuhiko spoke, raising his eyebrows at Tsukasa, then offering you a slightly concerned look. His expression was enough for you to know he wanted to know if you were alright- to which you shrugged, reaching up and patting the side of Tsukasa’s face.

“Don’t worry, guys. I’ll be fine, really.”

Sakura pondered for a moment, before standing. “Mitsuba, would you like to walk with me? I should go grab something.”

Mitsuba, who had been sitting off to the side- glanced up, his usual puppy-like expression on his face. “Sure,” He replied, standing up, practically in sync with Natsuhiko.

“I’ll go as well, my lady!”

Oh. She’s doing that on purpose.

Your eyes followed the trio as they left the room, and you could feel Tsukasa’s eyes still stuck on you. The moment the door shut, he spoke. “(Y/N), tell me what’s wrong. You don’t seem to enjoy being miserable!”

“Am I supposed to?” “You’re miserable then? What’s wrong, c’mon!!”

“I didn’t say I was- just that I don’t think many people like it,” You spoke, taking another sip from the tea. The warmth of it made your throat feel hot, but it didn’t help the lump stuck in it.

“(Y/N). Just admit to me what’s wrong, and I’ll do what I can!”

You sighed, not wanting to grow frustrated. Tsukasa was… trying. He just didn’t understand everything- the boy who enjoyed seeing people wear normally unpleasant expressions, of course he wouldn’t personally understand. He wanted to help you, but how could a ghost help? Much less, the ghost of a boy such as him?

“(Y/N)-” “I’m just dealing with some bullies. It’s fine, Tsukasa- I’ll figure something out.”

“I’ll kill them <3”

“Tsu-”

Tsukasa stepped away from you, crossing his arms. “So, (Y/N), you don’t like it when people bully you? I’ll take care of it! Promise!” “Stop it right there, Mr. Only-grants-wishes-for-the-dead. Don’t ‘take care of them.’ I just need to get enough confidence to tell a teacher or something…”

Tsukasa paused, pouting his lips slightly, before nodding. Quickly, he floated back over to you, and trapped you in a hug. His arms wrapped around you securely, making you feel rather safe for being in the arms of such a destructive boy. “Fine. I’ll go with you, then, (Y/N)! I’ll even hold your hand!! And I definitely won’t let those bullies bother you any more~.”

“Tsukasa, please, don’t do anything drastic-” “Whatever you say, (Y/N). You know I can’t go against the wishes of my cute partner~!”

[worth-more-than-two-thousand]

Omega’s Observations

Request:  Congrats on starting the blog!! Pumped to have a new writer's work to read 🥰 If you need some requests, how about an echo/gn!medic reader who he develops a crush on, for a little of that sweet sweet mutual pining action✨ Dunno if you write pre-citadel or just BB echo, but I'm happy with either. Have a good weekend!! :) (@krussyfed)

Author’s Note: Whew! This took a while for me to get to a place where I felt good about posting it. Honestly, as most of my writing does, it got a bit away from me, but that’s because I love fleshing out a story, showing-not-telling, and building on events from the canon. But if I saw this through until the end, I probably wouldn’t end up posting this for months! So I hope what I have here is worth the wait, and if you want more, let me know! 

Story Notes: Unbeta’ed, no obvious warnings. 

🖑 🖑 🖑 🖑 🖑 🖑 🖑

Ask her brothers to describe her, and ‘still and quiet’ would not be two of the words any of them would use. 

Hunter would call her curious to a fault, then ruffle her hair to let her know that he meant it in the nicest way possible. 

Wrecker would boom with laughter, proclaiming her one of them (“Always ready for action and adventurin’! Let’s go get those gundarks!”). 

Tech would probably consider for a moment, then use a four-syllable word. Like effervescent.

Echo would call her young and energetic, but his brow would furrow as though this might be a bad thing. Then he would inevitably follow up with a reminder to stay within sight and keep out of trouble. She didn’t mind. She knew he just worried about her. Omega would always reassure him that she would keep close to her brothers. Of course, whether it actually happened was usually another thing. 

Crosshair, if he was with them, would probably call her troublesome. 

But really, this was a tactical advantage. Her brothers never expected her to be still and quiet, so she could settle in and be observant when it was least expected of her. 

Omega was actually quite accustomed to being taciturn, at least when she needed to be. Her time with Nala Se, after all, was mostly like this. 

Watching over like a stone guardian as Nala Se pored over the capsules containing her modified brothers…

...being as unobtrusive as possible during another endless meeting with Lama Su…

...laying noiselessly and without complaint as Nala Se inserted a needle into her arm for yet another blood sample…

 These days, Omega could be as boisterous and vivacious (two more words Tech had taught her) as she wanted to be, so long as there was no chance of enemies being around. The only time she was obediently still by choice during these times was when she was being treated by Y/N, Clone Force 99’s on-board medic. 

Again, this was mostly out of habit from her time with Nala Se, but it wasn’t as bad. For one thing, Y/N fielded all of Omega’s questions with unending patience. And their hands were less clinical, more gentle than Omega was used to. Nala Se was efficient, not a movement wasted in her examinations. Y/N, however, always offered a comforting touch on the back after a scary encounter, and would gently but firmly place their hands on Omega’s face to look her in the eye to assess emotional well-being. 

The first time Y/N had done this was on the Ordo Moon, as Y/N was finishing wrapping up Omega’s small scratches on her hands and knees from her misadventures in the underground tunnels. 

At this point, not used to such close eye contact, Omega averted her eyes and looked over Y/N’s shoulder for something to distract her from the unusual awkwardness she felt. 

Her eyes met Echo’s. 

Her awkwardness vanished as he seemed to startle, a faint flush appearing on his neck, as he coughed, crossed his arms, and turned away, suddenly much more interested in examining the ship’s ceiling than anything else. 

What an interesting reaction. Her brain filed it away, curiosity piqued.  

Then, over the course of a few weeks, Omega confirmed her suspicions. 

Echo was always watching Y/N. Echo liked Y/N. 

Omega caught him absentmindedly gazing at Y/N’s hands as they tapped thoughtfully on a datapad while Wrecker carried new medical inventory aboard the Marauder during a supply run. 

After Wrecker’s successful inhibitor chip removal on Bracca, and Tech volunteered to go next, Omega watched Y/N’s hands fly across the medical controls, fierce determination sharpening their features. Glancing up, she saw that Echo’s attention was similarly arrested, a look on his face that was bordering very close to adoration. 

He seemed most captivated by Y/N’s hands, however, whenever they were treating him personally for any ailments or injuries. Echo always sat pin straight, almost comedically robotic (it would be funnier, but his history brought a sort of cruel irony to the thought) and allowing Y/N to turn his body and maneuver his prosthetic arm however was needed without any fidgeting or complaint. 

But his eyes were another story. Darting back and forth everywhere their fingers touched, such a stoniness to his face that Omega was certain he was committing every graze, every feather-light touch, to memory. Y/N, as always, was so focused on the medical work that they never seemed to notice. 

Omega saw things, though. Echo was like Y/N’s shadow, often slipping into the same room or area Y/N was in, like a ghost. She observed with fascination how he always angled himself to face her whenever there was a conversation in the cockpit. It didn’t matter if it was just the two of them, or if the entire squad was there and discussing a mission, it was as though he had attuned himself to wherever Y/N happened to be and was drawn to them.

Like a sunflower always facing the sun. 

She saw in the field how Echo, not Hunter, was usually the one to call the Marauder to check in or alert Y/N to any injuries that would need to be treated when they returned. How the space between his brows would crease whenever they would radio in but only receive the static of communications interference. 

Or worse, no answer at all. 

Echo wouldn’t say anything, but Omega felt that her brother’s steps would quicken, just a little. And she wasn’t sure she was just imagining a sudden sense of urgency in the air as they completed the mission, with just a bit more efficiency, a bit more ruthlessness than was usual. 

Omega saw how Echo always let out a tiny breath in relief, as though he had been holding it the whole time, whenever they returned to the Marauder with its medic unharmed. 

And she would never forget that one time they had returned to the Marauder, doors blasted open, interior trashed, with no medic in sight and droplets of blood leading away from the ship. 

Omega had never been in war, had only heard about it passively from the conversations between Nala Se and Lama Su, then a bit more directly from her brothers once she was allowed out of the private lab. 

She had once asked Tech about the war, but his response clearly paled in comparison to the dark look on Echo’s face, as they battled their way through enemy after enemy to rescue Y/N.

Omega felt as though she understood war a little bit more after this. At least its motivations. 

It took longer for Omega to figure out whether her brother’s feelings were reciprocated. Y/N’s affection wasn’t as obvious, but the trick was to watch more for their actions than in body language. 

Since Y/N and Tech slept the least, they would swap bunks and so were usually on opposite sleep schedules. This meant that Y/N would stay up late into the night well after the rest of the boys had retired to their bunks, face alight in the glow of a datapad. They would concentrate fiercely, chewing on their thumbnail and pausing often to tap notes into the margins. 

Omega eventually managed to snatch and break into Y/N’s data pad, and saw that they were working their way through a series of medical journals, detailing the latest treatment for prosthetics. There were also several articles on treating post-traumatic stress disorder for former prisoners of war. 

Omega had even checked Y/N’s search history, and discovered that they had been using an encrypted channel to search for chatter on the whereabouts of the former 501st legion and its various members. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like Y/N had much luck so far, but if the number of searches were any indication, they weren’t giving up. 

Omega wondered incredulously how none of her other brothers had yet caught on to the two’s clearly mutual affection for each other. Until she realized that no, they already knew.

Once, when Omega had offered Echo some of her Mantell Mix, Echo had sniffed it, much to her amusement. Her giggles subsided immediately when Echo murmured apologetically that he sometimes had trouble digesting pretty much any food that wasn’t nutritional paste, due to half his digestive system being completely artificial. 

Of course, this meant that he must have been experiencing constant abdominal discomfort, as they hadn’t had any nutritional paste on the ship since their escape from Kamino. Hunter once mentioned to her that even the plainest of rations seemed to bother him, but he gamely never complained.

One day, Hunter was giving out rations in the cockpit, and had already given Tech and Wrecker their usual. Then he pulled out a green, unlabeled squeeze packet instead of the usual rations bar, and handed it to Echo, who took it with some confusion.

“What’s this?”

“New brand. It should be easier on your digestive systems than the usual stuff. Tastier, too.” 

Echo glanced at the packet skeptically, unscrewing the cap and sniffing at its contents. 

“It smells...fresh?” 

“Try it,” Hunter urged him, to which Echo obediently tried a small amount. 

His mouth rounded in a surprised ‘oh’. Omega wished she could have captured the look on his face with a holovid. He stared at the packet in his hands, with a look that was a bit like wonder and amazement. 

This didn’t escape Wrecker’s notice, who immediately stood up in protest. “What? Why does Echo get something new to eat?” He glanced forlornly at the slightly crumpled, stale rations bar in his hand. “I want some!” 

“They’re too expensive for your appetite, Wrecker,” Hunter replied, just a bit too quickly, though none of the others seemed to notice. “Besides, you probably wouldn’t like it.” 

“I’ll be the judge of that!” Wrecker proclaimed, swiping the packet from Echo’s hands despite Hunter’s attempt to chastise him. Wrecker took a giant slurp. 

...and immediately spat it out, some of it splattering on poor Gronk. 

“Blech! That tastes weird.” 

“Probably because it’s made of fruits and vegetables,” Tech said dryly, “Your palette likely isn’t sophisticated enough to appreciate the subtle bitterness and natural sweetness that are characteristic of those food categories.” 

Echo eyed Hunter skeptically. “And we have the money to keep buying these?” 

Hunter hummed, closing the rations box and turning away from the cockpit. “Omega’s paying for it from her holochess winnings.” She startled at the sudden mention of her name. “We have extra to spare, for now.” Hunter subtly winked at her when the others weren’t looking. 

“Oh. Thank you, Omega,” said Echo, looking at her with true gratitude. Omega flushed a bit, but mostly because it actually didn’t have anything to do with her. She played along, however, and insisted it was no problem. It did seem to make him happy, so there was no harm in a small lie like that, right? 

She cornered Hunter later, though, and insisted on him telling her the truth. After wearing him down a bit, he finally relented.

“Okay, but you can’t tell the others, all right? Believe me, I’ve already tried to talk them out of it. But Y/N has been doing some medical work on the side, working at one of the clinics near Cid’s bar. They’ve been using the money to buy these.” 

Omega’s face screwed up in confusion. “Why can’t you just tell Echo that?”

Hunter sighed. “Because they don’t want Echo to know. Figures that Echo wouldn’t like them going out on their own to work in the slums for his sake. They’re probably right, of course.” He rubbed at his forehead, a sure sign of an impending headache. 

Omega frowned, then decided to go for it.

“You know they like each other, right?” 

Hunter blinked at her, looking surprised. At her determined stare, he gave a sigh and muttered something like, ‘I’m getting too old for this’. He proceeded to explain patiently to her that perhaps Echo and Y/N liked each other, but pointed out how awkward or difficult it could be to have a romantic relationship in such close quarters, especially when they as a team also had bigger things to worry about. 

It sounded like Hunter had given this exact speech at least twice before. 

So Tech and Wrecker knew, then, but were being polite about it (or, in Wrecker’s case, had probably gotten an earful from Hunter earlier about tact and ‘minding one’s own business’). 

Well. That wouldn’t do. 

By the time Echo got up the nerve to say anything, he’d probably be old! (Omega wouldn’t, but she tried not to think too hard about that particular fact.)

So, she began to scheme. Quietly. 

She had the tactical advantage, after all. 

[hearteyesandviolence]

Summer Gay Update

Hello all....I still exist....been a turbulent summer (everything okay, just been a lot going on) but I am more or less back....don't know how often I'll be on, but I wanted to give a report on all the gay I have seen while I've been away

Deena/Sam (And Sarah/Hannah) Fear Street

Spoilers for Fear Street

These two (and many ways, these four) have owned my heart for most of the summer. I love horror movies, and I have always wanted to see a a wlw couple a) be actual characters in a movie, not just window dressing, and b) live through the damn thing. So imagine my delight when not only did this series feature a lesbian couple, it makes them the core of the movies, and gives them one beautiful happy ending. The dynamic between these two is incredible, and I have not yet begun to accept that I might never see them again.

Sarah and Hannah are amazing as well. I normally can't do tragedy these days, but maybe it was that Deena and Sam were still out there, or that it was just so well acted, or maybe just that I knew it was coming, but I was able to not just move past the tragedy but appreciate it for what it was....I do kind of wish we could have gotten a scene of their ghosts meeting up though...

Casey/Izzie  Atypical

I watched just the scenes of these two to see if they stuck the landing and....I dunno....the actors are great, the chemistry is off the charts, but a lot of the scenes themselves fell flat for me, and I blame that on the writing, which just does not seem to be very good to me. I know it's not totally fair to judge a seres based on a few scenes you're essentially watching out of context, but so much of the dialgoue and conflict felt really forced, and it left me feeling disappointed, despite getting endgame bis (Though I still think Izzie is a lesbian. Did she identify as Bi and I missed it? Don't wanna disrespect that, just my headcannon)

Mouse/Harper   Bigshot

Now, I've been away from tumblr, but I feel like even so, I've seen barely anything in the community about these two, and they're super cute! An awkward, goofy girl, falling head over heels for an serious minded overachiever, and those feelings getting reciprocated, really got me feeling mushy in an old school way.  Plus, it's on a Disney family show, which i never thought would happen, and there's zero angst about them being into girls. I dunno, it's not earth-shattering, but I feel like something like this, a simple cute couple, would have been really good for me to have seen when I was a preteen.

Raelle/Scylla   Motherland: Fort Salem

SPOILERS FOR THE PILOT FOR MOTHERLAND AND ALSO SOME OF WHAT COMES LATER MAYBE?

Okay, so this is another ship where I watched nearly every scene without seeing the show...I fell pretty hard for it....falling in love with the mark is one of my favorite tropes, and a big kiss against helicopter wind? That knocks my socks off....and the show intrigued me enough that I actually wanted to watch it, not just skim the wlw scenes like I'm so often guilty of....and I'm digging the show....but what Scylla does in the first episode...oooohhh nooo,...I knew she did some evil stuff, but I was not prepared for mass murder. That feels like a hard line to come back from, and while I know she undergoes some character development, i don't know how you make up for that. The community has a bad habit of softening characters that do terrible things because they love them (Regina from OUAT, Catra, even my beloved Lexa to an extent), and i don't like to see history repeat. I'm gonna keep watching the show, but I worried I'm not gonna be able to enjoy those soft romantic moments knowing what I know. Would love to have my mind changed though!

(Also, the deal with her face.....i feel like that gets retconned? So the face we know as Scylla is really Scylla? But I feel like that was probably not their intention when they did the pilot, but changed it after the fact, even though it makes no sense? Does it make more sense later?)

SHONI   the Wilds

I am still an utter and complete fool for these two....just knowing we are going to get scenes of them being blissfully in love....god damn....

Anyway, this has been the gay update. Please stay tuned for more gay.

[blu-eh]

after school summons

[AO3] 

or: Danny gets summoned. He doesn’t like it.

It starts with a tugging feeling in his very core.

Danny Fenton pauses. If there’s one thing he’s learned in the last year, it is not to ignore random things that are definitely ghostly in origin. He has just enough time to place his pencil on the desk from where he had dutifully been doing his homework—for the first time in two weeks, mind you—before his vision goes white, he hears a snap, and suddenly he’s not in his room anymore.

For a moment he’s weightless, lost in the feeling of falling. Then, his body jerks and he has just enough time to think, oh fuck—before he’s slammed to the ground hard.  His knees buckle under the unexpected weight and he goes down, clumsily, and trying not to throw up what little he’d managed to eat between homework packets.

“Ow,” Danny says.

He lies there, just for a moment, taking in the cool concrete underneath him. He tries to steady his breathing just enough so his mind can process what the hell just happened in the last thirty seconds. He’s still blinking stars from his eyes when he hears the hushed whispers echo around him and a heavy pair of footsteps approaching him. All in all, very bad signs when mysterious (and somewhat painful) things happen to you suddenly.

A gruff, questioning voice asks, “A child?”

“Oh, man,” Danny says, because that definitely does not sound good. Then he forces himself to his knees and looks up.

The first and foremost thing Danny notices is that he’s not alone. He’s on some sort of altar or platform, elevated a foot or so above the ground. A couple feet away, a group of no more than a dozen people surround him in a semi-circle, faces all covered by tattered cloaks. Another cloaked figure, dressed in much more formal robes with gold trimming, stands on the platform a mere couple feet from where Danny is. They all seem to be staring at him, waiting.

Danny hastily gets to his feet. He shifts a little into a sloppy fighting stance, just in case things were to get messy.

The dimly-lit warehouse room and the head covers don’t give him much to work with in the facial feature department, but he’s pretty confident that none of them are ghosts. Mostly from the fact that none of them are glowing and/or ranting about how much of a pain in the ass he is, but it still pays to be wary. Especially when Danny’s situations tend to quickly dissolve from bad to oh my god there are ghosts lose in Amity Park and also he maybe-sort of-possibly died in the process.  

Which brings him back to his next brilliant deduction; he’s definitely in ghost form. He definitely was not in ghost form before this. His ghost form is rather obvious considering he sticks out like a glow stick in darkness of the warehouse. He doesn’t even feel the need to check his hair color, this time, but that’s more due to the fact that he doesn’t want to take his eyes off the weird people who managed to summon him from his bedroom and forced him to change into his ghost form.

(He desperately hopes that they hadn’t seen him change—weird warehouse people are not people that Danny generally associates with secret keeping.)

“Is this a cult thing?” Danny asks before any of them can speak. He takes in white line that surrounds him, and the red liquid (which he very much hopes is not blood) used to paint runes and symbols that circle him, and their weird cloak-like robes, and says, “This is definitely a cult thing. Oh my god, did you summon me? Seriously—”

Before this, he hadn't even known he could be summoned. It's just the little ghostly things learned via accident, sometimes, that truly take the icing on the cake.

There’s a tiny spark of anxiety in his gut, but honestly there’s a large difference between humans threatening him and ghosts threatening him. On one hand, he’d take weird cultist over Skulker’s lair any day. On the other hand, pure white walls and experimentation tables aren’t super high on his to visit list either. Worst comes to worst—before they sacrifice him to some ancient gods, more likely—he puts on his scary face (and maybe adds a couple of explosions) and slips out before they even notice he’s missing.

“Silence, creature,” the robed man snaps. Danny zeros in on him and immediately deduces him to be leader from vibes alone. Also the gold trimming on his robe, which very much screams leader of weird cult that summons ghost kids.

“I—okay, you know what? That was just rude,” Danny says. He points to the white line that surrounds him, “Is that cocaine?”

Danny has a feeling he doesn’t want to know the answer to the mysterious red liquid and painted symbols, so he doesn’t ask.

“It’s salt,” one of the other cloaked figures answers, like it should be obvious.

(It’s not actually obvious, and actually leaves Danny with more questions than he started with. Mostly in the realm of how did a group of cultists summon him with salt. He knows salt is supposedly an anti-ghost measure, but Danny is pretty convinced it has little to no effect on him considering the amount of Nasty Burger fries he’s consumed haven’t taken him out yet.)

“Salt,” Danny repeats. He pauses, then awkwardly tags on, “That’s good, I guess, because drugs are bad. Uh, don’t do drugs.”

A cultist quietly, and a little slowly, answers back, “We, uh, don’t.”

“Right,” Danny says. His eyes catch another section of weird in this already weird, cultist warehouse. At the base of the platform sits a variety of bones, so fresh that some of the muscle still clings to them. “Are those bones? Oh my god, did you sacrifice someone? That’s not cool! Murder isn’t cool!”

“Those are goat bones,” another follower says.

“Oh,” Danny says. “Well, I mean, that’s still fucked up on a variety of levels, but I guess that’s better than murder. Unless it's considered goat murder? Uh.”

For a second, there’s silence. The nature of the interaction is so awkward and oppressing that he almost goes invisible just to save himself the scrutiny of these random people and get the hell out of dodge. His curiosity is the only thing that holds him back—that, and the fact that he’s not quite sure if any of these people are secretly hiding ecto-weapons.

Danny very much does not want to be shot tonight.

He looks around the room, eyes taking in every inch of the sparsely decorated warehouse. There’s nothing that immediately grabs his attention, nor anything that really screams danger but it pays to be suspicious of his surroundings in his line of work. A few of the cultists notice this, and start shifting awkwardly as Danny looks over them as well.

Then, Danny’s eyes flicks back to the lead cultist and he says, “I’m going to be real honest here and say that I have no idea what the heck is going on.”

The leader makes no inclination that he acknowledges any word that comes from Danny’s mouth. Instead, he brings an old, wrinkled hand up to his face, like he’s thinking about some complex problem. The leader circles Danny once, then again, and Danny feels something inside him defensively coil like a spring.

He tries not to be bothered when people treat him as something lesser—it’s not, exactly, uncommon for him to encounter. He dealt with being shoved into lockers long before he died, anyways. It doesn’t stop his shoulders from tensing just the barest amount.

Instead of showing this, he brings his feet up to his chest and crosses them mid-air, and fakes a yawn for good measure. A few of the other cultists gasp in wonder and fear. The leader simply stops his prowling and turns to face Danny.

“So this is the fabled Ghost King,” the man says, like he expected better.

Danny feels he should almost be offended if it isn’t for the tiny detail that these cultists—who summoned him by using salt and goat bones—assume he is the ghost king. “…Did you seriously confuse me with Pariah Dark?”

The man pauses, and asks, “Pariah Dark?”

“Yes! He’s like fifteen feet tall, has a huge sword, is a pain in the ass, and has, like, an entire ghost army. I have, I dunno, pre-calc homework in my bag. We are not the same.”

Some of the followers in the background shift uneasily. Danny bares his teeth in their direction, just to see them squirm. A couple take worried steps back and Danny fights off a satisfied grin.

Hey, poke a bull and get the horns. In this case, summon a ghost-teenager and get the ecto-powers.

(He’s slowly becoming more and more aware that these people have no idea what they’re doing.)

“I see,” the leader says. From his tone, he definitely does not see. “It doesn’t matter. Our book summoned the King of Ghosts and that is you, so you will do as we tell you and your pain will be lessened.”

“I am still not the Ghost King,” Danny tells him. “And no thanks. I’ve already used my yearly cult sign up and I can’t say I’m thrilled to join another. If you’re going to hold an initiation ceremony, at least decorate a bit first. Uh, not counting the goat bones and salt, of course.”

“You have no choice,” the leader snaps and steps a bit closer to him. Danny merely raises an eyebrow. “We are the Followers of Infernal. We have summoned you to serve us. You are bound to our will and bound to our grace, as the book foretold. Now bow, demon, for we are your new masters.”

There’s a very large portion of Danny Fenton that is convinced any good karma he held in life did not pass with him during his death a mere year ago. An even larger portion of him is convinced that these guys are no more serious than the GIW is. Danny does not tell the cultists this.

Instead, he squints and says, “Alright. I definitely failed US Government, but I’m pretty sure that’s not legal. Don’t you guys need like, a permit to summon undead beings of mass power?”

“It thinks it’s funny.” The leader’s face is mostly hidden by his robe, but Danny can imagine the sneer there from his tone alone.

“Trust me, I’m not the one who’s a joke right now,” Danny says. He looks back over at the dozen or so followers and grins at them. They don’t seem too keen that he’s not following their master’s orders and bending to their will. He turns back to the leader. “What’s in it for me?”

“What?”

“If I follow you and stuff, what’s in it for me?”

The leader pauses, then says, “You will be spared of punishment.”

“Hmm, that’s not good enough,” Danny says. He angles his body so he's once again looking at the followers and points at one in the middle. “Hey, you! With the cloak. No, not you, the other dude. To the left. Yeah! You. What do you have to offer me?”

The follower looks so startled that he cowers for a second. Then, seeing as he hadn’t been reduced to a pile of ashes from Danny’s gaze alone, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out something small and silver. “Uh, I have a paper clip, your ghostliness.”

“A paper clip,” Danny repeats. “Yeah, sure, fine. Whatever. That sounds neat.”

“You’ll submit to us?” the man sounds so hopeful that Danny almost feels bad for being a jerk. Then, he remembers that they summoned him out of his nice, warm bedroom at ass-o’clock in the night and feels significantly less amounts of pity.

“No, dude, I’m not being your sack of potatoes for a paper clip. Man, you guys are stupid.” Danny rolls his eyes and floats just a bit higher. The other followers shuffle around again, uncomfortable. In front of him, the leader remains impassive as ever. “Where even am I?”

“The lair which you will spend the rest of your afterlife,” the leader says.

“Okay, this is definitely a warehouse, firstly. And secondly, dude, I meant what state.”

“…Wisconsin,” the man allows because of course everything terrible happens in Wisconsin.

“You chose the worst state to have your crappy lair,” Danny tells them. Now he has to fly a couple hundred miles home and hope he gets there by morning, all the while avoiding his creepy, obsessed arch-nemesis. He wonders if Vlad is even aware there’s a ghost-obsessed cult in his home state. Probably not. “Nothing good ever comes from Wisconsin. You can take that as, like, ghostly wisdom or something.”

“Hey,” one of the cultists says, offended. “The Packers are in Wisconsin.”

“Nothing good,” Danny repeats, firmly.

“Enough of this nonsense,” the leader says. “It’s trying to distract you because it fears control. Briar, bring me the orb.”

“Yes, sir,” one of them says.

The followers mutter to themselves and teeter around in their positions. The woman who spoke, on the end, bows and scurries off. Danny watches as she runs through the darkness of the warehouse, footsteps echoing around them, until he can no longer see her among the darkness.  

“Hey, if they already listen to you then why do you need me?” Danny asks. The leader doesn’t answer, so Danny floats a bit on his side and puts his arms behind his head. “What kind of orb are we talking about, anyways? Like one of those Spirit Halloween ones? Or is it more like orbeeze? I can’t saw I’m super excited from your ominous it fears control statement, but—"

“Silence, beast,” the leader says.

Danny huffs. “I’m just asking. No need to be so snippy.”  

The man ignores him which, rude. Danny’s just about to see how far he can test this guy’s patience when Briar comes back, just as quickly as she had disappeared. She jogs through the warehouse and up the steps of the platform. Danny can’t see her face, but from the way her hood moves to glace at him every so often, he figures that she’s probably nervous. Specifically about him lounging around in a circle full of salt.

“Father Johnathan,” Briar says and bows. In her hands is a glowing, silver orb. It really did look like a generic orb one would find in a Spirit Halloween. “The orb.”

“Your name is Father Johnathan?” Danny asks. He eyes the orb for a second, but doesn’t feel the tingle of ghostly energy from it, so he ignores it. He turns right back to the leader, not able to keep the grin off his face. “Your name is really Father Johnathan?”

Father Johnathan gently takes the orb in his hands as Briar scurries off towards the rest of the followers. Then, he sighs and says, “Yes, creature, my name is Father Johnathan and I shall be your new master.”

“Oh my god,” Danny says, positively gleeful. “I meet real life Papa John and he summons me with salt and threatens me with a Spirit Halloween orb.”

“Laugh all you want,” Papa John says. The nervous air shifts into something a bit more predatory. “You will not be laughing much longer.”

The cultists break into applause and talk amongst themselves loudly. They shift forward, eagerly, as if they want to watch the spectacle up close. They’re only a foot or so away from the platform when Papa John waves at them to halt.

Papa John holds up the orb. It swirls, the silver fog inside consolidating and then dissipating. Something inside it starts to glow the barest amount.

Danny pauses, just for a second, and watches it. There's still no tingle of ghostly energy coming from it. If he hadn’t already thought these guys are a joke, he definitely would’ve been a tad more nervous. As it stands, he thinks nothing of it—no ghostly energy means no control over ghosts.

(Unfortunately, he knows the feeling of ghost-controlling objects quite well. It’s not an experience he’s eager to repeat.)

The orb glows brighter, and brighter, swirling more furiously. The chatter of the cultists picks up to the point where they’re almost shouting, jeering at him. Papa John draws closer and closer, orb outstretched. He holds it through the salt line and touches it to Danny’s chest. The shouting from his followers almost becomes unbearable.

And then….nothing. The orb stops glowing. The fog inside stops swirling. It simply dies in Papa John’s hand.

“Was that supposed to do something?” Danny asks.

Papa John touches him with the orb again, a tad more forceful, so Danny assumes it was supposed to do something. From the panicked whispers around him, it definitely was supposed to do something to him. Danny’s honestly not sure if the outcome is due to him being a halfa or these guys being a joke.

(He’s willing to bet it’s the latter.)

“I think your LED batteries died,” Danny tells him. “Or maybe you mixed up your Spirit Halloween orbs. Better luck next time.”

Papa John stops furiously pressing the orb to his chest and if Danny could see his face, he has no doubts that Papa John’s expression would be livid.

“You will obey us,” Papa John says.

“No,” Danny says. “I won’t.”

“You will—”

Danny swings his feet down so hard that he cracks the very ground he now stands on. Dust kicks up around him as he stands tall, even though Danny’s at least two feet shorter than the leader in front of him. His eyes burn a brilliant green and he crosses his hands over his chest in an effort to look intimidating. The cult thing is interesting and all, but it's late, he still has homework to do, and Jazz has definitely noticed him missing by now so it's probably better to end this before they can get another object from a Spirit Halloween and try that instead.

It works, if the half-step back from Papa John is anything to go by.

“Listen,” Danny says, flatly. “Get a hobby and leave me alone or else you won’t like what I’m going to do.”

He makes his form flicker and the temperature drop in the room, just for dramatic effect.

Some of the followers in the background shift uneasily. A couple take panicked steps back. More than a few look ready to bolt for the door and leave this cult business behind forever.

Danny takes notice and stares at them, smiling wide enough that they could see his slightly-toothy grin. He makes sure his eyes flare, just a touch, and says loudly, “Boo.”

To say the cultists are startled would be an understatement. More than a few stumble back, a couple falling onto their asses. One trips on their robe and is sent tumbling. Another one yells and cowers. Papa John has no time to reign in the situation before two scatter completely.

“Peace!” Papa John shouts over the chaos of a dozen panicking followers. Those that remain do settle down enough to hear his words. “Stand down, there is nothing to fear. It is only trying to scare you into letting it free. It is trapped whilst it remains in the circle.”

Danny snorts. “I can leave any time I want.”

“You cannot leave here, demon—”

Danny raises one single eyebrow and dutifully steps out of the summoning circle.

The warehouse erupts into chaos.

The cultists are yelling now, but this time there’s only because of fear. They scatter over each other, running and tripping over their obnoxiously long cloaks. A couple trample the goat bones to the point where several loud snaps are heard over the pandemonium. It only adds more fuel to the fire as less than a dozen people scramble to get as far away from the platform—and subsequently the ghost-kid—as possible.

“Do better than a paperclip, next time!” Danny calls out to them. They only seem to run faster at the sound of his voice.

Papa John is the only one who doesn’t run. He had stumbled off the platform and away from Danny the second that Danny made it over the salt line. However, in the disarray, he had been knocked to the ground, his orb lay broken at his feet, and his robe’s hood had been yanked off and left on the ground beside him. He sits, frozen, but Danny doesn’t know if it’s from shock or from fear.

Danny takes a step closer to him.

“How…?” Papa John whispers. He’s not looking at Danny—only his old, wrinkled hands. He’s bald, with brown eyes. He looks like nothing more than any generic old man that Danny would see at a grocery store on Sunday afternoon. “We followed the book. We…we took every precaution the book said. We were supposed to have the perfect slave, bound to our every word. We…”

“That didn’t work out too well for you, huh?” Danny says and crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s ‘cause you forgot the dunce cap when you decided to be the class clown.”

“Please,” Papa John says. “Spare me.”

There’s something wrong about this—seeing a human beg for his life at Danny’s feet. Danny doesn’t want to be feared. He never has wanted to be feared.

He presses his lips together and takes a single step back. Some part of him, though, knows that he desperately needs to make his point clear to avoid another situation like this (likely with more weapons, next time).

“I warned you,” Danny says softly. His voice echoes around the warehouse. The man below him shivers in terror. “Do not summon me again, or I won’t be so nice next time.” He pauses, just for a second and can't help but tag on, "Papa John."

He lets his threat linger and hopes the man takes it seriously enough that he won’t get summoned again. Then, the cool strings of invisibility wrap around his body and he disappears from sight. Danny takes one look at the man left on the floor before he shakes his head and shoots up into the Wisconsin night sky. He doesn't hear the shouted response of it's Father Johnathan from several hundred feet below him on the warehouse floor.

Danny waits about all of thirty seconds before he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone.

"Jazz? Hey, yeah, I'm fine. Yes, seriously, I'm fine but you are not going to believe what I just went through—"

[pencilofawesomeness]

003 Yue

Aw man it's been a hot second since I've done my re-watching of ATLA but let's gooooo

How I feel about this character: I didn't think much about Yue when I was a kid, but the older I got, the more tragic of a character she became. She's a kid, but she has so much responsibility on her—that she willfully maintains—both because of her position as princess, and because she happened to be blessed by the moon in order to survive as a kid, neither of which is something she chose for herself. Yet, she follows through, even when it pained her. Yet, Yue did try to balance her own desires with what was best for her people by exploring a relationship with Sokka, which was incredibly clutch because she didn't throw responsibility but she didn't remain impassive either. Ultimately though, Yue had to sacrifice herself anyway, and it's a wonderful but heartbreaking moment. Her sacrifice isn't taken lightly in the show, but it's still tragic that for all of her attempts to find a compromise, she never had a chance. In a show that is all about the balance between childhood and responsibility, she's one of the losers. Yue was such a pure bean and I mourn her greatly.

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Uhhh I'll be honest, I don't really have any. Her and Sokka aren't bad, but I really want to see Yue be able to be an independent bean and travel and touch some grass for a minute, since she spent her whole life trying to be what other people wanted and navigate that. I dunno. I'm not much of a shipper XD

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: I don't know what the difference between this question and the friendship question is so I'mma go hypothetical for this one. I would loved some sort of dynamic or parallel between her and Zuko. They're both sooo similar, being royal teens with a lot of pressure put on them, that I would watch/read the heck of them spending a day trying to do normal kid/teen things or just go grocery shopping or something so they can be the awkward trying-too-hard nuggets they were meant to be. (If any fics of these two actually exist out there, somebody hook me up)

My unpopular opinion about this character: Low-key, she's just Sokka's fridged girlfriend. Now, the arc she was in was beautifully done and the weight was there, but afterward, she's mostly something that Sokka refers to and we see less of Katara's and Aang's side. But that's also nitpicky and I'm reaching; I can't say that I've thought enough about her to have these kind of hot-takes, and it's also been a while since I've actually watched the show so I could be forgetting some stuff.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Aside from grocery shopping with Zuko, I honestly would have loved if she showed up more, somehow.

Favorite friendship for this character: Sadly, she doesn't really get much in canon besides with Sokka, but it would have been cool if she got to hang with Aang more for that spiritual shenanigans, like what happened that one time she helped him. I dunno.

My crossover ship: Uhhhhh hmmmm.... Not a ship at all, but I think it would be neat if somehow she took Ruu from Genshin Impact under her wing up in the spirit world, and they bonded over being turned into spirits/ghosts and then they explore the world/multiverse together under the guise of the moon. Yue's got some big sister energy and Ruu has allll of the little brother energy, and they're both pure beans that got sacrificed and deserved better. I'd read the heck out of that.

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