#I decided to fill my basement with them but the second I had this idea they stopped bringing them

[asleepinawell]

me: maybe my retainers will bring me something fun today like a glam or some furniture, a little treat just for me

my retainers:

[angelbaby-fics]

Just saw my first picture of Ransom in the sweater during Autumn It has me thinking about Ransom where him being independent and less of a rich meanie, he is doing laundry and shrinks his sweater. THE sweater. So little gets a sweater just like cg Ransom. And he has to go buy another so they can match ♡ and they cuddle and eat cookies together ♡ that sounds like a nice day to me ♡

-♡

Sweater Weather

Word Count: 1.3k

A/N: OMGGGGGGG anon this is such a cute idea!! i had to write it as a full fic & i even have some inklings of a part 2 in mind 😳 ahhh i'd give anything to hug him in that big comfy cozy sweater omg 🥺💕

Ransom could absolutely, one hundred percent do his own laundry. Seriously, how hard could it be? All he had to do was put the clothes in the machine, pour in some soap, and press start. Just because it took him until his forties to start doing this on his own didn’t mean you couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks. Ransom was committed to setting a good example for you, teaching you how to be self-sustaining and not just a spoiled brat like he’d once been. As a result of this decision, the maid now only came every two weeks instead of weekly, and Ransom was responsible for everything in between. 

Dragging the hamper down into the laundry room, Ransom sighed as he tossed handfuls of dirty clothes into the washing machine. He slammed the metal door shut with a roll of his eyes; just because he could do the laundry didn’t mean he had to enjoy it. As the water began to fill up the drum of the machine, Ransom went back upstairs, settling into his big armchair to enjoy a book while he waited for you to wake up. The coffee he’d made earlier that morning was already room temperature by now, but he decided he’d rather just bear it than get up and make a new one. One chore was enough to deal with right now. When less than five minutes remained on the wash cycle, Ransom heard you stirring in your room upstairs. 

He took the stairs two at a time, not wasting a second to get you into his arms. Lifting you out of your crib, he rocked you back and forth, patting your back to soothe away a sob that hadn’t yet come. Ransom bounced you on his hip for a few minutes as you adjusted to the new morning, whispering sweet affirmations as you rubbed the sleep out of your eyes. He carried you over to the window, and you hid your face into his chest as he opened the curtains to let in the sunshine. Your daddy smelled like wood and cinnamon and love all wrapped up in one man.

The buzzer of the washing machine went off just as Ransom and you reached the bottom of the stairs. You looked up at him with wide eyes, frightened by the sudden noise, but he comforted you once more. “Shh baby, don’t worry,” Ransom soothed, “It's just the laundry.” He picked your blanket and pacifier up from the couch, adorning you with both. “Do you wanna help me put it all in the dryer?” You nodded, always eager for quality time with your daddy. He carried you back down to the basement where the laundry room was. You rarely saw this part of the house as you rarely needed to, aside from laundry it was mostly used for storage and guest accommodations if the upstairs guest rooms were taken. Curiously, you gazed all around you, taking in all the aspects of this new part of your daddy’s massive house. 

Ransom sat you on top of the dryer. Opening the doors of both machines, he began to take out damp clothes and hand them to you. It was your job to toss the clothes into the opening of the dryer below you. Finally, when all the clothes were loaded in, Ransom handed you a dryer sheet to put in with it all. It smelled like fresh lavender, the familiar scent of your sheets and blankets. You grinned behind your paci, so proud to be part of what made your house a home. Ransom picked you up off the dryer and set you down on the floor so you could push the door closed all by yourself, and you waved at your clothes through the clear window as they began to spin. 

To pass the time while the clothes dried, Ransom made you breakfast and helped you eat it at the kitchen table. He was just wiping off your face with the corner of your bib when he heard the buzzer on the dryer. This time you weren’t scared, you knew what the sound meant. 

“Is ready?” You asked with excitement.

“It sure is! Do you wanna help me organize it?” Ransom offered, happy to have his favorite little helper make the chores less boring.

Ransom removed your bib and lifted you back onto his hip. He put you back on top of the dryer and scooped all the warm, clean clothes into a hamper to take back upstairs.

“I’m sorry baby, but you gotta walk up with me.” He said with a sigh. “Daddy can’t hold you and the basket at the same time!”

But being the stubborn and spoiled little angel that you were, that wasn’t gonna happen. So Ransom carried you back upstairs, settled you into his big comfy bed, handed you a stuffy to watch you for the moment, and then retrieved the laundry on a second trip. When he got back upstairs, he dumped the warm clothes on top of you, making you giggle as the fresh laundry rained down on you in a flurry of cozy smells and soft textures. You emerged from the pile like a baby chicky from an egg. Ransom kissed your nose before starting to pick the clothes off of you one by one, folding each one as he went. One of your t-shirts, then another, a pair of his socks, and a cute little sweater of yours. 

Except… he couldn’t remember buying a sweater like this for you. In fact, it looked an awful lot like one of his sweaters but smaller.

“Oh, come on!” Ransom whined, dropping the shrunken sweater on the bed with frustrated force.

“What’s wrong, daddy?” You asked.

“I’m not sure,” Ransom replied, taking out his phone and furrowing his brows as he typed. 

Turns out, laundry was indeed more complicated than Ransom had assumed. If he’d been more careful, he would have known that some clothes needed special settings, or else the heat could warp the fibers and make them shrink. Thus, his favorite cream-colored cable knit sweater was now far too small for his giant frame.

It was perfect for you, however.

Thinking quickly, Ransom picked the sweater back up and held it up to you. Your eyes widened with glee. A new sweater just for you? And you’d be matching with daddy! You eagerly took the sweater out of his hands and put it on over your shirt. It fit you perfectly, the sleeves just slightly too long in the most perfectly cozy way. Wearing it felt like a constant hug from Ransom. Despite having just been washed, you could still smell him under the lavender scent. The threads of the knit were comfortably lived in, frayed around the hem from years of wear and anxious fiddling. That’s when you realized it was Ransom’s sweater all along, shrunken down to your size.

“But daddy…. It’s s’posed to be yours!” You said, looking up at him with a nervous look. 

As happy as you were to be the new owner of your favorite sweater, it saddened you to think you would never see him wear it again. Your eyes started to water, mourning the vision of your daddy as you always imagined him, snuggled up in the piece of clothing he’d owned the longest and worn most often. Change was hard for you to take, and Ransom understood that. “Hey, it's okay baby, you can have it now!” Ransom tried to cheer you up, gently wiping the tears from your face with his soft fingers.

“But I want you to have it!” You cried into the sleeves.

“It's too small for me, baby!” He laughed, a smile breaking through your sobs as you imagined Ransom squeezed into a tiny sweater. “But if you want, I can buy a new one for myself. Then we can match!”

You smiled, nodding leaning forward into his arms.

“Yeah? You like that idea?” Random asked, and you nodded again, killing two birds with one stone as you used the action to dry your tears on his shirt. “Alright baby, let's go out and buy a new sweater for daddy.”

[syntia13treeman]

Case files 02.01

what I think happened in:

Case 02.01, the case of "Portrait of Daria Gray" or "The artist becomes the canvas."

Daria's story is pretty straightforward. What we know about Daria: she's a struggling left-handed artist who used to wear a lot of hand-me-down clothes from her sister, and she doesn't like the way she looks. At some point she decides to get a bit of a makeover and, among more mundane things, she starts shopping for a new tattoo. She finds a deal too good to be true (it is) offered by one 'Ink5oul'.

Ink5oul is sketchy as hell, and definitely has something supernatural going on. The tattoo they gives Daria (with no input from her, WTF! - paintbrush, floral patterns and glittering symbols) hurts much more than it should, but also heals almost instantly.

Looking at the tattoo (which is 'perfect') fills Daria with sudden desire to paint an autoportrait (which comes out 'perfect'). And once that is done, looking at it again makes her realize she can adjust herself (and make herself perfect).

So she takes her painting tools, most notably a pallet knife, right to her own face (and soon pretty much every other body part) and gives herself an impromptu plastic surgery. Which goes on uninterrupted for several days (???!?!!?!) until her room-mate Sarah comes home. Poor Sarah walks in on Daria while she has a knife stuck in her jaw, understandably freaks out and punches Daria, at which point half of Daria's face collapses under her hand like putty.

Having no idea that her room-mate has been touched by the spooky, Sarah comes up with the only rational explanation she can think of, which is that Daria poured some acid on her own face (which is very comic-book logic, but maybe Sarah paid more attention to Batman than chemistry and biology class as a teen).

So now Daria has severely disfigured face, and also is officially considered suicidal and a danger to herself and must go to therapy. (Honestly, she needs therapy).

There are two things, aside from the obvious, that grabbed my attention here:

The voice. Narration in the first case was that of a pretty normal email - a little bit rambly, a little bit disjointed, referencing things that the recipient would know about that we can only infer. The second case had a perfectly average forum thread. This case... also starts out with pretty realistic voice - right until the moment Daria stats talking about the tattoo. Then suddenly this story gets ridiculously verbose. The way she describes the studio, the tattooing process, the tattoo itself, the painting process and finally the 'adjustments' - the details, the wording - there's no way a regular person talks that way. Not in real time, not about a traumatic event that they very much don't want to talk about at all. So where is this coming from? I think it's the ink. Until proven otherwise, I'm going to assume that Ink5soul's tattoo somehow infused Daria with power to 'express herself' perfectly in whatever medium she's using - be it words, paint, or her own flesh.

Invasion of privacy issues all over the place. First Daria's tattooing session is streamed for who knows how many Ink5oul's fans without her say-so, and then her be-damned therapy session gets intercepted by some weird basement government branch. Daria glosses over the former and doesn't know about the latter, but they are there. And there was that private email in case of 'Not-Arthur' too. I wonder how present this theme will be in rest of the show. One thing I can bet on: if one of the cases doesn't deal with a conspiracy theorist yelling about government spying on them, I'm gonna eat my hat. (And the poor paranoid guy will be 100% right, just not in the way they think).

[flyingmintbunny0]

Back by popular demand- What if More Archivist!Martin AU!!

Here's how the Hill Top Road roommates were born!

(If you can spot all the spiders in each panel, you have sharp eyes)

Get your context below the cut~

Ok, first off, I adore all the tags in my first post about this AU, they make my whole day!!! I'm so glad people latched onto the silly roommates especially, so I figured I'd show how Martin found them!

~~~~~

Story (A bit of a prologue setting up The Web if you will):

CW: Spiders (but they are cute, I promise)

Martin was always a very isolated kid, he never made many connections with other people besides his mother. So when he came out to her after he'd turned 15, he had nowhere to go when she kicked him out of the house until he "came to his senses".

He wandered the streets, waiting until enough time had reasonably passed so he could go home and apologize to her. In the meantime, he found himself sitting on a park bench staring up at the swaying leaves on a nearby tree.

Then, he felt something crawling up his arm. And another something was creeping up his other hand. Looking down, there were two tiny spiders clinging to Martin, as if they were afraid he would throw them off. Which was ridiculous of course. Martin had always had a soft spot for little creatures and cooed to them softly.

"Hello little ones, where did you come from?" He giggled for the first time in... he can't remember how long, as the little critters waved their front legs in the air towards him. Martin wanted to believe they were trying to say Hi back.

Martin spent the afternoon distracting himself by watching the spiders roam around, crawling from hand to hand like an endless spider treadmill. They spun fragile webs between his fingers and Martin thought they were beautiful.

The sun set, but the two little spiders didn't seem keen to leave him, so Martin decided to bring them home with him. On the walk back, he came up with names that seemed suitable for each of them. If they were going to stick around, they deserved to be properly addressed. He thought about his favorite subject in school for ideas. They had just finished up a poetry unit and he was captivated by a few poets in particular. He looked down at the spider on his shoulder that had climbed up on him first.

"You seem like an Oscar Wilde type," Martin gently poked at the spider. The newly appointed Oscar looked offended, like it could give a sarcastic retort if it was capable of human speech.

"As for you..." Martin paused at the second one. It was sitting in a fold of Martin's sleeve, but poked its head out nervously at Martin's attention. "I'm going to call you John."

John Keats wasn't an especially inspired choice, Martin thought. But he was his favorite author at the moment. Something about his sappy verses drew Martin in like a moth to a flame, or a fly to a web.

~~~~~

Later, after Martin had settled into a long-term position at the Magnus Institute, London, his mother decided she wanted to be rid of him for real this time. She asked him to set her up in a proper care home, and left him alone in their apartment. Martin was neither financially nor emotionally stable enough to stay in the lonely apartment, so he left as soon as possible with his few belongings in tow.

Annabelle Cane found him. Martin didn't understand how or why for a long time. But he eventually assumed it had to be connected to his spider friends somehow. At least she was friendly enough.

Annabelle led him back to her house on Hill Top Road. And sure, he wasn't expecting to live in a house filled with roommates that kept worms and moldy food(?) in the fridge, or a barrel drum full of wax in the basement, or an attic coated from floor to ceiling in cobwebs. But where else could he go? It's not like he could live in the library at work.

Yeah, his new roommates were weird, but he soon realized that he liked them. They were rough around the edges, but he figured out ways to be helpful, to smooth them out. He painstakingly experimented to find out their preferred choice of tea, and even convinced them to join him for movie nights every weekend.

And everything was going well! Martin was enjoying his work in the library, and he actually felt stable for once in his life.

That is, until Elias Bouchard called Martin into his office one day...

~~~~~

OK I didn't mean to write a whole fic for this picture, but I couldn't stop myself pffff

All of the spider talk is 100% @lelouchootori 's fault btw ;v; I just thought it would be cute if the lil spiders I was adding to Martin's hair had lore, and they said that the spiders should have names, so it really spiraled.

Another tidbit! After meeting Annabelle, Martin realizes that she can communicate with the spiders Oscar and John. This causes him to talk to them a lot more (even if he can't understand them), especially in his Archivist office. I have a very specific scene in mind to make this a full-on office comedy:

Martin: What do you think about this creepy statement, John?

Jon (passing by his office door): What? What did you say?

Martin: Oh, sorry, I wasn't talking to you Jon.

Jon: ???

[r0-boat]

STALKER NANU 😩 PLEASE

OOOHHH BOOY

Going to use all my ideas from the Discord call

I don't have a full story for this one so it's going to lean more towards head cannons

Cw:yandere, stalking, noncon touching,

Gn!reader

Nsfw

Stalker!Nanu knows everything about police records, and the internet has a lot of information nowadays. He is aware of his Weird attachment but doesn't care to stop it. After all, he hadn't felt like this since when he was your age. He desires you, you're now the only thing he see when Nanu pumps his cock. Wearing nothing but a little collar and maybe some cat ears smiling for him.

To you, Stalker!Nanu is just a person you just so happen to bump into at the convenience store. You quickly apologize and go back to your friends. This wasn't the first time you just never realized. Nana's footsteps are always as quiet and sneaky as a cat as he Tails behind you every night...You go out at night a lot. Don't you know how dangerous Alola can be during the night? Why just last week, he saw another person doing the same he had to politely tell them that you are taken. He just so happens to be in every location you are at that moment. You turn back just to his eyes to meet yours for a second; something bitter and heavy pools in your stomach as your friends ask you what's wrong, you tell them it's nothing.

Stalker!Nanu's old phone is filled with pictures of just you, some from your social media, others from himself when you weren't aware. You look so peaceful, so carefree, and unaware; Nanu has a weird desire to protect you from owning you. He admits you do look cute at this Cafe, but it's a much too late to be out. If it were him, he would have forbidden you to go out at specific times, let alone go out at all, without him.

"Don't touch what is mine," Nanu would grow, holding a punk by the collar. He was the guy that hit on you earlier... Ugh... so many eyes.

Stalker!Nanu would only turn to kidnapping when it's absolutely necessary. He's just fine with stalking you. But his patience is not unlimited as long as you stay sweet and oblivious to his actions. Unfortunately, all good times must come to an end when the police officer accidentally knocks over something, and you turn your head to notice him. That bitter feeling returns as Nanu quickly recovers, asking what reason do you have to be at this late. Being a police officer and Kahuna , stalking is the last thing you think of ; you stand there as Nanu slowly catches up to you, the bitter feeling of anxiety not leaving. You tried to brush it off as Nanu doing his job, and you just finding him creepy. The police officer stands beside you, the closest he has ever been to you. He can't stop starting. "I'll walk you home," his voice sending shivers down your spine. All you can do is nod and keep quiet, not realizing the fact that he knows where you live.

Stalker!Nanu, after that night, decided to come to see you more often. Watching you from afar is no longer going to cut for him. He needs to be with you just like that night. Sneaking into your house while you are fast asleep. His eyes filled with love watching your chest rise and fall. The first thing he touches is your hair, fingers gently grazing across your scalp... this is the first time he's touched you. His breath gets heavy when he goes for more, slowly peeling your blankets off your body to feel more of you. Sadly he can't stay for long, but he takes your underwear as a souvenir, kissing you before heading on his way.

You went to another Island without telling him; he was so alone. Nanu never truly realized how much he needed your presence until he was whimpering your name while pumping his cock with your underwear. He was so worried he thought about catching the next boat there until we just so happened to see you back on Ula'Ula Island. Nanu sighs in relief, finally thinking about installing some heavy locks on his basement door. Maybe it's finally time to bring you home; you have been a stray for long enough.

[cinnamon--bagel]

Currently overcoming the colossal tasks of figuring out how to start a Super Mario Bros fanfic and how to write the rest of a Super Mario Bros fanfic. Decided to skip straight to the second task. Why not. Here's a scene, bon appetit.

------

“Excuse me, did you two say you were plumbers?” a soft voice said behind them. Both brothers turned as one to see a young woman peeking over the seat between their booths. “I might have some work for you.”

Mario perked up like a rekindled flame, “Really?” 

The woman slipped out of her booth and into theirs on Luigi’s side. She slid her phone - one of those new, fancy phones with a touchscreen instead of buttons - onto the middle of the table. Luigi squinted, trying to make sense of the picture it displayed.

“I’m, er, gonna be honest,” he said carefully, “I have no idea what I’m looking at here.” He looked to his brother, who nodded in agreement.

It seemed to be a picture of a room filled with pipes. They twisted around each other like vines, some vanishing behind masses of metal dangling in midair. There were windows in the background, so it couldn’t have been a basement like he was expecting. Of course, that opened the question of what kind of maniac was building something like this in their living room, but Luigi didn’t dare voice that thought aloud.

“My uncle went missing a few years ago,” the woman started. The brothers’ eyes widened in surprise, but the woman continued on casually, “We were finally able to declare him dead a few weeks ago, so we’ve been cleaning out his old properties. Apparently he fancied himself some kind of scientist, because he built all-” she gestured to the picture, unhidden disbelief on her face, “- all this in one of his houses.”

“He built that all by himself?” Mario asked, his voice strained with shock. “That looks like it should be a crime.”

“It’s even worse in person,” the woman said. “We need someone to disassemble… that, but no one we’ve called has taken us seriously so far.”

The twins’ eyes met from across the table. 

Luigi raised his eyebrows, looking between the picture and his brother rapidly. ‘You really wanna take on that mess?’ 

Mario let out a silent breath and shrugged. ‘Rent’s due in two weeks. We need the money.’

Luigi sighed in surrender, but took a little bit of pride that Mario looked just as unhappy about it as he was. “Alright,” Mario said, pulling out the Mario Bros. business phone - a battered brick with a keyboard that had seen better days. “Let’s talk rates.”

[sailor-toni]

I Think My Neighbor’s Dead Son is Trying to Talk to Me?

You can also read this on A03, FF.net, or Wattpad

Summary:

Wes Weston has just moved into Amity Park but there is something seriously wrong with the destroyed house next door to him. Espically at night when the wind passed through the rusted Fenton Works sign. (AU Full Ghost Danny) (Phicc Phight prompt fill for kalyke/aggressivelyclueless)

The cold summer’s air blasted itself at the nape of his neck, chilling him to the bone. It was a threat, or a command from above to stop, but Wes saw something in the old Fenton Works, and he had to know whose eyes he saw in the brief flashes of lighting.

It started last week, his father had gotten a news anchor job in a medium size city called Amity Park, which according to the aged and weathered sign, was a great place to live. Was it really that great if they had to both underline and italicize the word? To Wes the strangeness of the sign was a single for the dull dread that was to come from life in Amity Park. 

It rained almost everyday in Amity Park, and when the sun decided to show itself the harsh winds kept everyone in jackets well past winter. The buildings were a mash up of white colonial paint with tall white columns, pointed Victorian roofs, and décor that looked like it belonged in the height of the eighties. All together it created a visual disaster of a town that seemed both lost in time and missing whatever soul it had once had. In short, Wes hated it here. He wanted to go back to Oklahoma where the sunset wasn’t obstructed by something every day, and back to where his friends were. 

Worst of all was the house next to them. It was a three story townhouse with a second metal house (It was a large metal circular structure with satellite dishes and antennas on top,  and random metal poles connecting it to the house below) on top, and a dead neon sign on the side that read Fenton Works. The whole building was abandoned and dilapidated with half the windows broken and the other half bored up. 

And Wes didn’t believe in ghost, he thought the idea was stupid. The dead can’t come back and anyone who told you otherwise was trying to sell you something. But one day at school he heard some of the other students talking. 

“So, Kwan are you in?” Dash, school bully, high school football star, and future used car salesman said.

“No way dude! I’m not about to spend my free night looking for Fenton’s Ghost,” Kwan, the only one on the football team who  had enough smarts go to college, said. 

“Aw, are you scared? Is the Kwan-ster scared of an old house?” 

“I’m not scared. We just don’t know what those people were doing there. What if they left a science experiment out and it gives us all cancer?” 

“You’re being ridiculous man, they probably took everything when they left.”

“You never know dude. I mean… their own son died because of what they were hiding in the basement. They probably didn’t want to carry that reminder with them when they left.”

“But doesn't that make you more curious to check it out? My Mom’s co-worker’s second cousin’s boyfriend said she saw strange lights in the house last halloween. Maybe the Fenton kid is still there as a ghost!” 

“Well, you and the girls can go deal with that. I will be home with fresh food, a warm blanket, and the new COD game.” 

  Wes tuned the rest of their conversation out. Instead writing down what he had hearn in his notebook. He didn’t know someone had died there. He assumed it was some business that lost all their money or something. But that would explain why every night as he looked out his window he swore he felt someone staring back. 

That night as the rainstorm turned nightmarish, he pushed his chair to the window in his room overlooking the old Fenton Works. If someone lived there he could have seen right into their bedroom. What kind of person lived there? He thought. Were they cool? Did they also like video editing and video games? Or were they like Dash and took sick pleasure in shoving peoples heads into the mystery meat specials. Wes was sure he could still smell it. 

BOOM! Lighting passed between the houses, staining everything a blinding white. He ducked his head and shielded his eyes, but in the bright light there was someone across the alleyway, with neon green eyes watching him. No, observing him. No, they looked like they were trying to say something. 

“Who…” The question sat on the tip of his tongue as the eyes faded into the clap of thunder. 

A week later, Wes stood outside the Fenton Works on a gray cloudy evening, Dash and Kwan standing beside him. The muted tones of the sky turned the world around them into shades of muted gray and blues, except the sign on the front door. The orange No Trespassing sign stood out like a neon flame. 

“Are you sure they are coming?” Kwan said. He looked nervous. 

“Yes! Paulina and Star just passed the Nasty Burger, they should be here soon,” Dash said. “Hey Kid.” 

“It’s Wes.” 

“Yeah, whatever, are you sure you saw something here?” 

“Yes, it was as clear as day, there was someone watching me with these neon green flashlight eyes,” Wes began. 

“Well you better be right. If we don’t see anything I’ll pummel your ass to timbuktu and back. Got it?” 

“Got it,” Wes said. He had only mentioned it to them because he didn’t want to go alone. 

“Hey guys!” Paulina yelled. Her and Star ran up to meet them with a bag of goodies. 

“What do you got babe?” Kwan said. 

“My Mom used to go ghost hunting all the time with friends back in New York, so she let me borrow some of her stuff. We have an EVP, flashlights, motion dictators, and this radio the ghost can speak through,” Star said. 

“A ghost is going to talk to us through that little thing?” Dask asked.

“Well, kind of, the ghost will flip through the radio stations and use whatever words are being broadcasted to speak to us. According to my Mom it can be a bit buggy at times.” 

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Wes said. 

“Thanks dude! I think it's amazing. I didn’t know she had all this stuff,” Star said. 

“And what did you bring Paulina?” Kwan asked. 

“My Mom made me bring a cross, a bottle of holy water, and a knife, just in case. God, she is so annoying,” Paulina pulled out a nine inch hunting knife as she said this. 

“Holy Shit! Paulina’s packing!”

“Don’t shout it Kwan! Do you want to get the cops called on us?” Paulina shoved the knife back into her low rise jeans. 

“Sorry.” 

“On that note let’s get in there, Wes you go first,” Dash said. 

“Me? Why me?”

“Cuz’, you saw the ghost first, now go before it tries to rain on us.” Dash pushed Wes forward. 

The inside of the Fenton works was worse than the outside. A pipe had burst some time ago and the carpet smelled of sour mold. There were some lights from the windows but the rest of the home was dark. Their shoes squished on the carpet, and the standing water threatened to fill their shoes. Through the groans of disgust and fake puking the teenager found their way to the staircase. The downstairs had nothing in it besides a broken stove and a fridge that had been locked shut. Dash and Kwan tried to pull on it but the lock hadn’t rusted through yet. 

The upstairs was picked clean as well. The fading sunlight showed spots on the wallpaper where pictures once hung proudly on display, but now there were brightly colored spots along the fading wall. Dash kicked open a door that was stuck and yelled for the rest. This room had everything, a bed, computer, desk, faded space posters, and action figures along the wall. 

“Woah! Do you think this is his room?” Paulina asked. 

“Whose room?” Star said. 

“The Fenton’s son, I think his name was Danny? According to the news he was messing around in his parents lab and suffered a fatal accident,” Kwan said. 

“And his parents left everything behind?” Wes said. He noticed a large window that looked directly into the building next door. 

“Maybe it was too hard. I hear some parents won’t touch anything that belonged to their kids after they pass,” Paulina brushed the dust off the computer monitor. 

“That is… understandable, but they didn’t even take his clothes with them. Apparently the kid wore briefs,” Dash was rummaging through the drawers. 

“That’s fucked up, Danny didn’t deserve this,” Kwan said. 

“Did you know him?” Wes said. 

“Yeah, we were in the third grade together. I wasn’t really friends with him, he was friends with Tucker, the nerd kid. But he was nice. I remember he did his whole show and tell about space and what it took to become an astronaut,” Kwan said. “We didn’t share a fourth grade teacher, but the school had an assembly when he died.”

“That’s rough buddy,” Dash patted his friend on the back. 

“It’s okay. I didn’t really know him too well, but I felt bad for his sister. She was in sixth grade and during the assembly all she did was cry.” 

“I would too. That’s a lot for a kid to go through,” Star said. “But maybe you can talk to Danny one more time with the radio.” The radio turned on with a loud static noise, with garbled speech mixed in as the dial moved back and forth. “DANNY IF YOU ARE HERE PLEASE LET US KNOW!” 

“Do you have to yell?” Paulina said. Wes could only hear her because he was standing next to her. 

“WHAT DID YOU SAY PAULINA?” 

“NOTHING!”

“OKAY!” 

“DANNY IF YOU ARE STILL HERE, MAKE THE RADIO SAY YES!” Star yelled. 

The radio flickered between a few channels “...zzzz…Now…Yes sir!...Home…” 

“KWAN DID YOU HEAR THAT! DANNY IS HERE!” 

“STAR THE RADIO IS TOO LOUD!”” Kwan yelled 

“WHAT!” 

“OH MY FUCKING GOD STAR!” Kwan grabbed the radio and turned down the volume. “Does it have to be that loud?” 

“Yes, we have to make sure the ghost can hear it.” 

“Star the ghost is dead, not deaf,” Dash said. “Here Wes grab the radio and let’s do it again.” 

“Why me?”

“Because you saw the ghost, maybe it left some ghost trace on you that will make the radio work better.” 

“I don’t think that’s how it works but whatever,” Wes took the radio from Kwan. “Hey Danny, are you here?” 

The radio flickered, “zzz…YES sir you are getting …. Yes … hello…zzz” 

“Omg did you hear it! He said yes! Quick, someone ask him another question!” Star began to jump with joy. 

“Danny, how old are you?” Paulina asked. 

“zzz…Now for the low price of nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine…zzz”

“Danny, how did you die?” Dash asked. 

“zzz… Supernatural … GHOST! … Home … Man … zzz” 

“What does that mean?” Dash said. 

“I don’t know. Danny, can you try again, we don’t understand?” Paulina said. 

“Zzz… Ghostly ghouls .. you are now entering … ghost! … Twilight Zone …” 

“Did you guys understand that? Paulina said. 

“Nope.” 

“No.” 

“Something about ghosts?” 

“Nah. Try something else, like where did he die?” Wes said. 

“Danny, where did you die?” Paulina asked the box once more. 

“Zzz… deep down below … Dad’s workshop … she opened the basement door … AHHH! ..zzz” 

“It sounds like it was in the basement?’ Wes said. 

“I don’t wanna walk through that carpet again, it’s so gross.” Star said. 

“You don't have much of a choice Star,” Dash said. 

“Here Babe, I’ll carry you,” Kwan scooped her sup in his arms. 

“Awww! Thank you Babe!” 

Paulina looked to Dash. “What?” Dash said. 

“Nothing,” Paulina rolled her eyes. 

The basement smelled of rot and decay, and like Danny’s room it was filled with stuff. Parts of the room had a strange green glow to it. It wasn't bright enough to illuminate anything, but when Wes moved his flashlight he could see it was emitting some light. 

“Okay Danny, what happened here?” Wes asked. 

“Zzz.. Zone … just turn it on and … bright lights of the city … hole deep below…zzz”

“Did you turn one of your parents' experiments on?” Star asked, her arms wrapped around Kwan’s neck. 

“Zzz.. yes.. Pain.. lights … AHHH!...zzz” 

“Omg! Kwan did you hear that?” 

“Yeah, poor Danny.” 

“Danny, why haven’t you left yet?” Wes asked the box. 

“Zzz … Mommy … Daddy … Jazz ha- … alone … zzz” 

“Oh Danny,” Paulina sounded like she was about to start crying soon. 

“Danny, your parents left. Why don’t you follow them?” Wes asked. 

“Wes! You can’t just ask a ghost that?” Star said. 

“Why not?”

“Ghosts are stuck where they die, Danny can’t leave.” 

The radio box sprung to life once again, “zzz… no! … he’s stuck in quicksand … Mommy! …zzz”

“Well can we do anything?” Wes asked Star. 

“We can help him pass on, usually you just have to find out what killed them or tell a relative some dark secret or something. My Mom was telling me that ghosts only stay behind when they have unfinished business.” 

“Okay kid, what do you want?” Dash asked. 

“Zzz… Mommy and Daddy … Jazz hands … Okay! Okay! Okay! … Love you! … zzz” 

“Uhhh kid, we don't know where your parents are, can we do something else?” Dash said. 

“Dash! Don’t be so mean,” Paulina shouted. 

“What, it’s the truth, nobody knows where the Fentons moved to. Plus I heard that the Dad was thrown in prison for child endangerment anyways. We can’t bust him out of prison,” 

The radio box flew out of Wes’s hands, the volume rising as the box did. 

“zzz… Mommy! DADDY! MOMMY! DADDY! … zzz” Junk started flying around them, slamming against the walls and trying to slam against them. 

“Oh shit! Run!” Dash shoved Wes out of the way and b-lined it to the door. Paulina grabbed Wes and they followed Kwan up the stairs. The floor rocking as they ran through the water and mold. Wes slammed the door shut behind them and kept running with the others into the night. He looked behind once to see a pair of eyes watching them.

[valyalyon]

August, 2024

CW: Brief sexual descriptions, cheating, affair.

August 1, 2024.

Today is Theo’s 1st birthday! I woke up early today to start setting up everything for a playdate birthday party with Anthony.

I can’t believe how fast he’s growing.

The whole day and into the afternoon, I spent it playing with Theo and Anthony. Sara and Julius had been working and so I had been left to entertain the kids and I didn’t mind at all. I loved spending time with Anthony, he was sweet and looked a lot like Julius. Most importantly though, it was Theo’s birthday and I couldn’t help myself but to celebrate with them.

I took pictures of Theo and everything I had set up, and looked at the clock, realizing that it was getting time for Julius to get home from work. Sara had already gotten home, but immediately had left again with a girlfriend to go clubbing. Sara worked 3 days out of the week, but she had a habit of going out every single night. Sometimes she would return home by 2am, other times not until 10 or 11am.

I quickly gathered the boys up to put them to bed, as they had exerted a lot of energy and were ready to sleep the night away. I decided I would clean up the party as soon as I got them to sleep.

When I came down, in a rush to clean everything up, I quickly noticed that everything was already done. Balloons were tied up and put in a corner, stuffed animals sat together on the sofa, play mat put away, and the light of the kitchen was on.

Julius stood in the kitchen, putting a now clean cake knife away.

I walked into the kitchen, “thank you, Julius. I was going to do it as soon as the boys were asleep… I’m sorry.”

“you’re okay, I appreciate you taking care of Anthony,” Julius said, turning to walk towards me.

He stopped right in front of me, and then cleared his throat, “can I hug you?”

I nodded, and opened my arms to accept him. This was the first time we had touched since I left two years earlier. He embraced me tightly and I squeezed back.

Neither of us spoke for a couple of seconds, but when we started to pull away, he paused, slightly holding me in place.

When I looked at him, my eyes were up to his, just two inches from one another. His hand slightly moved along my back, up towards my neck.

Before he could do anything, I quickly pulled away, “sorry, I think I heard Theo.” And I quickly rushed off.

August 8, 2024.

To celebrate my 24th birthday, Sara got a cake, a bunch of alcohol, and had the idea that we stay up watching movies. Julius was there with us, so he too celebrated in the drinking.

Sara had gotten home that day at 10am and hadn’t slept, so after about 3 drinks on the couch, she started to pass out, and caught herself, “fuck, I’m going to bed, I’m exhausted.”

She got up quickly from the couch and drunkenly stumbled into the guest bedroom down in the basement. She closed the door behind her and we heard the creaking bed as she passed out onto it.

“Want another shot?” Julius asked me, sitting down beside me on the sofa with a bottle of vodka.

“Only if you have another,” I told him.

“My glass is right there,” he nodded towards the coffee table at our feet, and I held up my glass to him.

He filled mine, and then his, and then we both downed the shot together. Then another. And another.

“Fuck,” I moaned.

“You feel so fucking good,” his breath was hot against my neck, his cock pulling in and out of me repeatedly.

“You’re still massive,” I gasped, and he pulled me into a kiss.

August 16, 2024.

The next time we were alone, we had an argument.

“Why the fuck did you leave?” He asked, furiously, but barely raising his voice. Most of his anger was in his dark eyes.

“I don’t know. I had so much going on in my mind, I wasn’t well,” I explained as best as I could without having to explain the real reason.

“I was going to propose to you! August 16, 2022, I was planning on proposing to you. I had been ring shopping. I was going to go pick up the ring I had chosen and pay for it. But I never got to do that because you were gone before the end of July!”

“I’m sorry, Julius… I really didn’t think you would have forgiven me. Did you want me to move out with Theo? I can get out of your way, you don’t have to see me again if I’m drudging up too much… we’ve already made a mistake by having sex, maybe the best thing is for me to go and you can maybe still preserve your marriage,” I reasoned.

He looked at me so angrily.

Then, he shook his head. “I don’t want you to leave but maybe we just go back to a little bit of space between us. I don’t regret having sex with you, and she doesn’t know.”

“That doesn’t mean it’ll happen again,” I interrupted him, wanting to make my stance clear.

“No,” he said.

Note From Valya

Julius and Dolores have overstepped a boundary! More descriptive scenes coming very soon!! See below for more of Dreams, Ink and Embers.

DIE MASTER LIST OR #LYONDIE

[ivydarkrose]

Different AUs  of Nathans

1.  Nathan-Crystal (Creepypasta- Circuspasta AU):  For Nathan as far horror AUs, I have several.

              An old one where Nathan dies within the walls of the basement, as he lays there dying, hands aching from his failed; Delirious, he envisions himself walking out the door, into the bright light ahead of him but suddenly he's pulled back to reality when he sees the outline of two men standing in the doorway. Both laughing and mocking the dying teen. No amount of effort on his behalf could move him, he was too hungry, too weak, too far gone.  He could hear them mocking him, unable to discern what was other than key words of “Sister” and “Dead”. With panic and a new sense of rage, he attempted to lift himself, only to crash back down as they laughed and slammed that door once more. With this, he falls into darkness, away from the light, only left with that rage and need for revenge, a voice so clearly asks him. “ Do you want your revenge?” Two voices replying back that indeed they will do anything to get their revenge. - This version is the AU where Nathan himself is no longer human but some kind of entity. Originally I had him trap the soul of his sister within that crystal necklace. However, I am thinking with this AU to change this. All for fun of course. 

    The Second AU is based off the Circuspasta theme, seeing he's often around the "circuspasta's" themselves, I had the idea of a fun AU (that I plan to doodle one day once I find my motivation again really). In this AU him and Crystal are conjoined twins, attached to one another. Honestly, there it many ways I have thought about taking this. Such as twins born conjoined (whether logical or not, nonsensical is amusing after all), another way they are conjoin is actually the canon but with a more supernatural twist, where one houses a physical body and one in soul only in the AU playing on the telekinesis angle (Think Beyond: Two Souls). The other possibility being horrible experiment or disturbing modification where one twin is attached to the other (Alive or Dead). Either way, playing into the circus theme of conjoined twins.  

2. (Umbra Series): Many AUs as its too fun to not think of alt scenarios. 

Nathan Lux: Originally he was replacing the AU I mentioned above. Giving up his humanity to become immortal in attempts to save his loved ones, IE Crystal (who was reborn within the world, not by choice), and Ciara, who is under control of her father, Night Terrors, being in a real threat of death if she doesn't do as her father demands of her. (Collect Souls for his consumption). He also aimed to become semi-immortal so that he could stay by Ciara's side until they both pass on. In order to do this, he needed to become more than human. So that he may fight in the true world that is filled with monsters, creatures, demons, angels and so on. 

Natalia Maxine Luxenia (AFAB AU):  Literally his AFAB AU, I've dabbled with her for a long time, mostly for silly RPs. I'd say ever since I created Nathan back in 2014. Officially gave her a canon ref recently. Seeing she is placed with in Umbra's world and narrative I made her a sub-species of human. Unlike the other AUs so far, she does not have siblings, however, she does have her family( well father) killed in front of her at a young age. Leading to a tragic upbringing with a evil fae like man, nicknamed "joker", who is a human trafficker (more less rents out the adult humans he lays claim on.) By luck, she manages to make her escape, running into humans of her own subset. Now as an adult exploring the world, looking for signs that her mother is still alive. Meanwhile, unaware of the very real threats to her life from the hunters tracking her down for the wicked fae.

3. Nathel (Mermaid): This stemmed from a silly RP between many friends on ask. While this hasn't received much of a story arch or anything else other than. "Hey, its Nathan as a Man of Mer." I've decided to maybe take this AU into a species I've created. Possibly the naga-mermaid hybrid species called "Syrion".  

4. Nathan L(Genyr): At the time, there wasn't much to go on with the Genyr Species and how they were made, being creepypasta related (at the time thanks to candy pop) I decided to experiment with a comic format, having the wicked side of Pop's personality being the cause of Nathan's transformation. Nowadays, he's apart of the new age Genyrs that were saved when all the other Genyr's were consumed, ironically thanks to their species rivals, more to the king of the Dhokkalfers (Aka Mire's and Pop's father).  (he'll have a more Genyr name for now just calling him Nathan lol)

5. Nathan Walleis (Dream Daddy): Yes, based of the game. Nathan in this AU sports glasses, and is simple an aesthetic character as I never found time to expand more than "Dad who reads too much" energy. Did plan to maybe play off a assassin vibe but was hesitant. 

6. Yanni (DDLC): AH, yes DDLC. I invented a lot into his AU here, thank to friends who at the time were into DDLC. Premise was interesting in my mind. Based off Monika's obsession with the player, Nathan (main version of him) plays the game for fun after taken care of the residence of the house. Once he's done, rather thinks he's gotten to the end, he leaves the game be. Running off from the crime scene. Monika wanting the player back, clones Nathan, giving him life within the game as Yanni. Along with his sister. She ends up rewriting the code of the game to make them side characters with their own clubs in hopes to keep them away from the other LC members. 

7. Not Named Yet  (Twisted Wonderland): A proud member of the Diasomnia, a dorm known for students who excel at magic across the board. His plan joining Night Raven College was in hopes to prove his worth to possibly join in ranks to guard the highly regraded, Malleus Draconia, However, his quiet demeanor and issues with communication he has yet to accomplish his goal. (Note: This plot might change in the future tbh, made on a whim lol)

Honorable mentions: 

Aun: So Aun here is his own character, but when I first crafted him he was legit an AU Nathan. I was like AU N should be the character that has some of the opposite physical characteristics.  Such as white textured hair, eyes colors the mix of blue and green, and less tense than our very anxious Nathan. Both still sassy, though Aun shows it more. I wanted them to almost feel like twins. I used the term 2P not really understanding the meaning lol. 

Cat form: Look he gives off black/grey cat energy. So his AU/ Spirit form is a black cat! Plus an inside joke between friends... if you know you know. 

Creepypasta café: One my friend Alloween created! Nothing more to state, as they created Nathan's role and I just had fun jumping off with the idea. 

AU Psychiatric Hospital:  Another Creepypasta AU/Spin off based on BleedingHeartWorks comic "Desolation." Where Nathan is found criminally insane and sent to said hospital. 

Ashur (The Demons Den - Nature Demons): A species homage to Nathan, not nessassarly him. I had no intentions of the fact but their traits are uncanny, 

Noctis ( Warpa AKA War Paint Demons):  Same deal here, a semi-homage but not intentional per say.  ~~~~ This took a while to finish, no regrets >w< I do have images, however I don't trust tumblrs character CAP lol

[nightmaremp]

Weremayhem: Song of Beasts. Ch 28: Take Five!

Floyd was playing a bass riff before turning to look at Dr. Teeth. “What do you think of this, Teeth?” he asked. 

“Something, something, something, something” the red haired male started to sing. 

“You know, like that. What’d you think?” he added. Teeth turn to Floyd Pepper. He was wearing the sweater that Penny was knitting. It goes up to his nose. The ginger haired male mumbles due to the thick yarn of the sweater that covers his mouth. 

“Yeah” said Mrs. Waxman as she likes how the sweater looks on the doc. 

“If you’re suggesting we take a fiver, uh ... .I agree” replied Floyd with a uncomfortable look on his face. 

“It’s nice and snug,” said the pink haired female. The good doctor mumbles again. She chuckles. 

Floyd decides to head upstairs to get away from Penny for a bit. He walks into the living room to see Zakai and Lewis playing goldfish while Annie sleeps in his second pair of arms on his back. 

“What are you guys doing?” the red haired male asked. 

“Playing goldfish,” replied Lewis with a smile on his face. 

“Ah, a classic” replied the red haired male as he sat on the couch next to the ginger haired boy. 

“What brings you up here?” asked Zakai with a smile on his face. 

“Just taking a five. Penny made Teeth a sweater while we were trying to play. Also wouldn’t stop clearing her throat” groan Floyd. 

“Ah, I understand. She can be a handful at times but she is a good woman” replied the mystic. 

“Yeah” replied Floyd Pepper with a sigh. 

Meanwhile back downstairs, Animal was beating his drums when JJ walked up to him. “Hey, it’s my main man…” he started to say to the drummer. The wild man starts to growl softy but there was a bit of a dog growl sound to it. 

“I know. JJ bad” said JJ as he kept a hand behind his back. “But perhaps, bunny good?” he added as he revealed a bunny with snow white fur to Animal. The small mammal let out a squeak. 

“Bunny!” said the drummer in a happy tone. 

“Yeah, that’s right, that’s right” replied JJ with a smirk on his face as he gave the wildman the bunny. Animal holds the bunny with care and is gentle to the small mammal. 

“Now, if, um, bunny good, maybe JJ good, too?” the male asked. 

“Bunny man good” replied Animal as he nuzzled the bunny’s head. 

“All right,” replied JJ with a smile. Nora walks over to them with a smile on her face. 

“Aw. I knew he’d warm up to you.” she said. 

“Yeah” he replied. Moog was in the background with a shocked face. 

“What?” the black haired male said in a shock tone before taking a bite out of a cookie. Animal coos as he holds his new pet bunny. JJ chuckles. 

The next day, a soulful keyboard filled the air of the basement. The camera cuts to Floyd writing some ideas in a small note pad. Then it goes over to Dr. Teeth who was playing his keyboard. He look up and gives the camera a peace sign. 

The cameras cut to Animal who was just sitting behind his drums in his own little world. His eyes slowly shut. In the makeup room, Hannah was doing Zoot’s hair that went around his bald spot. 

“What about James Brown? He’d be a good me” said the dark blue haired male. 

“Uh, Zoot, I think that guy’s dead” replied Hannah in a worried tone. 

“What? When?” asked Zoot in shock. 

Meanwhile with Floyd and Teeth, the red haired male had his guitar out and ready to show the doc what he was trying to play yesterday. 

“Here’s what I was trying to play for you yesterday” he said before starting to sing it to the ginger haired male. 

The good doctor starts to vocalize some words in areas that need them. “Yeah” said Floyd as they worked together. Teeth starts to play his keyboard. 

Suddenly Penny starts to try to sing with them. Her wailing scares Animal which causes him to hit his drums. He looked around in shock. Mrs. Waxman’s voice is…something like a dying bloodhound on a pouch. The bunny squeaks before running away to hide. Floyd looked in shock and disappointment. 

Moog walked over to Janice and Lips. The blonde haired male was reading some papers while the blonde female had her guitar in her hands. “Grilled cheesy wedge?” Moog asked them. They both shake their heads. 

“Ahh! Moog, Moog” said Hannah as she came running out of the makeup room. She grabs his arm and drag him into the makeup room. 

“What are you doing?” the black haired male asked. 

“You’re not going anywhere. Sit” Nora’s sister replied. When he sat down in the chair with a plate of the wedges. She turned to her makeup box to get a few things. “Yep, okay” Hannah said to herself. 

“While I take care of these heinous dark circles, you tell me about your adorable crush on my sister” she added with a smile on her face. 

Moog chuckles nervously. “What? No” he replied. The black haired female looked at him with a stare. 

“How’d you know?” asked the mayhem fan. 

“Glam squad knows all.” she replied. 

“Then you know that I can’t compete with JJ” he replied with a sad tone in his voice. 

“Dude just used my Mayhem knowledge against me,” Moog added. 

“Love is a game with no rules, Moog” replied Hannah as she added some makeup to his face. 

“Which means, anyone can win. Even you” she added. 

“Yeah, but I don’t play games” replied the black haired male. 

“My jam is just being sweet,” he added. 

“How’s that going for you?” she asked. 

“Really bad,” Moog replied. 

“Then switch it up” Nora’s sister replied. 

“Wait, why do you wanna help me?” asked Moog in confusion. 

“I am team Moog all the way” replied Hannah. 

“Thank you,” he replied with a smile. 

“Okay, but you can’t be you,” she replied. 

“Okay, so, you’re not team Moog?” the black haired male asked. 

“I’m just saying you’ve got to do it JJ’s way.” Hannah replied. 

“Play his nasty game, but better,” she added. 

In the background Penny starts to vocalize badly, she finishes and chuckles with a smile on her face. “Don’t mind me. I was moved by the music” said Mrs. Waxman. 

“And I move we take another fiver” replied Floyd with some sass in his tone. 

Back over with Janice and Lips, the trumpet player hissed as he saw Teeth looking at Penny with loving eyes. Lips' fingernails grow into claws which ripped through the notes. Janice noticed this. “Lips?” she asked him. 

He turned to look at the blonde female. He mumbles to her as to answer her. “Lips, are you, like, okay?” Janice asked in a worried tone. 

“I noticed, like, you get upset when Teeth and Penny are together.” she added. The blonde male stayed silent for a bit. He mumbles to Janice. “I’m just being jealous….I know it is wrong” is what the trumpet player said. 

“Oh! Lips, like, it is okay to be jealous. I’m sure that Teeth and Penny are, like, just trying to fill in the bitterness between them by being, like, friends” replied Janice with a soft smile. Lips nods with a soft smile. 

“Maybe Janice is right. I probably don’t need to worry about them but why I still feel like I should be near Teeth…keep him to myself” the blonde male thought to himself. 

[writers-in-moominvalley]

💡Lightbulb Moment💡

There comes a point where, if you've read enough of the comics by Lars Jansson, or even those handful where he collaborated with Tove as a writer for the "Jansson" phase of the comics (as I like to call it), you notice that the Inspector shows up suspiciously often for a cameo featuring dialog for one or two panels at the very least, and then you hilariously realized that the Inspector is quite possibly Lars' favorite non-main character.

It's so silly, this guy barely had a personality, he was like a different hemulen every comic along with every other police hemulen up until Club Life in Moominvalley where he's finally given his iconic scarf and obliviousness but not much else, and then Lars comes in and picks this guy up by the scruff and decided to make him one of the most queercoded guys in the comic.

I hear Lars had a big interest in detective novels and had experience translating them but I'm not as well-versed with the life stories of the Janssons as I am with their Moomin works so I could be missing something but my word does Lars' favoritism become apparent by the time you realize the first comic he made after the whole strip was given to him established some very major details about the police station's operations and it becomes difficult to name a strip thereafter that doesn't have atleast one panel featuring the Inspector in some capacity.

This isn't a criticism as much as it is an amusing observation because I myself am an Inspector enjoyer, I am glad Lars made him quite the character, he is charmingly silly, he goes against many hemulenish and police conventions of the time and he casually rebels against conventions of traditional western masculinity.

Possibly the first appearance of the Inspector we know was in Moomin and the Martians, where he is the second police Inspector to show up in the comic and is mostly irritated by being a walking lightbulb because of the alien device, then was followed adoringly by the Martian because he reminds him of his electric mother. When the effects of the device wore off, he greets the Martian enthusiastically but the Martian is upset and wants to go back to his mum, and despite learning that this small creature is the Martian that the police has been searching for through the entire comic, he does the kindness of trying to comfort him and takes him to the Moomins via blanketed basket, even calling the Martian a darling when speaking with Moominpappa. I would also like to note he's the first ever policeman who took his hat/helmet off in the whole comic strip.

The first real establishment of the Inspector's interest in roses was in Moomin Winter, where he mentions them as an excuse to not take in the Nibling in fear of any child's ability to ruin them, even insinuating that they're worse than criminals. He's also established as a sweet tooth, a fact that he is embarrassed to admit even to Moominmamma who seems to be a very close old friend according to an earlier comic, Club Life in Moominvalley. He also sneaks into Moominhouse's basement to play poker and drink home-distilled whiskey with Moominpappa and Wimsy whom are established as having very troublesome pasts.

Moomin's Lamp, Lars' first comic, established his "prisons" to be very homely, filled with frilly decorum and motivational quotes amidst the etched wall graffiti and traditional prison bed, and the Inspector would cook meals for the prisoners, and while Finland is currently known to have very humane prisons these days, this comic was published in 1960 when the idea of prisons being a place for rehabilitation wasn't a popular idea.

And this is only to mention the major points of his character development, there are many things to point out about the Inspector between and after these comics. There's points to be made about his taste in interior design, his fixation on roses even above his job, his consumption of detective novels, his less than dignified sweet tooth and tea parties with the other police officers, his minor-to-possibly-major crimes, his ownership of weapons (none of which are firearms), his straight up avoidance of duty in the winter, his status as a bachelor, his leniency, his relationship with Stinky and even the Moomins and his constables, his nephew, so many things about him as so fascinating for me to think about.

And to have all of this be watered down/straightwashed in the 90s series then straight up ignored in the 2019 series feels like a bummer to me. Most of what made his character feel so out of place yet right at home in Moominvalley is his queerness and otherwise general disinterest in his job, and while queer people have had a long history of practically being at war with the police and the law as a whole, I think the Police Inspector being the way he is reinforces the queer fantasy of the Moomins.

(You sound like you're concerned about him finding something in particular out, Mr. Inspector. Even Snorkmaiden is raising her eyebrow)

And to have this characterization coming from Lars' writing when he doesn't seem to put that much queerness into other things is something to consider I think.

Also I got off track from what I initially wanted to say about his almost customary cameos in the Lars comics but I keep laughing thinking about how Lars put what could likely be his grandparent in a time travel comic, the resemblance between them is uncanny despite the different uniform.

[criticalrolo]

level one, prep, and tpk; secret and heart for sigrun

Level One: What was your first experience with D&D? How did you hear about it? What was your first game like?

My first experience was DMing a one shot LOL

I had just gotten really into critical role in 2016, and was nearly caught up, when some of my friends (who didn't know I was currently Hyperfixating On DnD) actually casually brought up that they'd never played dnd before but it sounded like fun. They just needed someone to run the game since no one there really knew the rules. Cue me jumping into the conversation being like, "HAHAHAH HeyyyYyy you guys wanna play some dnd and need someone to run it? as it JUST SO HAPPENS, I know the rules and would LOOOVE to try running a game hahahaha..."

So I prepped more for that one shot than I ever did for any session ever, it was a level 1 4 hour game where I made everyone character sheets, bought dice sets for everyone, and had them clear out a wizard's basement filled with giant rats. It was REALLY fun, no one seemed to catch on that i ALSO had no idea what i was doing, and afterwards I asked if they would be interested in a Longer Campaign. I had a couple takers, and that first campaign ran for probably about five sessions before the school year ended, so nothing too wild happened, but after that I got some real games set up and ... here we are several years later :)

Prep: How much prep work do you do? How far out do you prep?

I do like... 1-3 hours of prep work before each individual session. And even then, it's mostly like... finding maps and stat blocks for NPCs. I go into each Arc that I run with a general outline in mind for what big beats I want to have happen, but otherwise I let each session progress based on what the PCs decide to do. It's definitely a combination of laying down tracks vs improv on the fly, but so far it's worked out for me! Having a really loose style has definitely helped make the story feel organic and player choice-oriented while still keeping things moving in the direction I'm hoping it'll go. And it gives flexibility for when players do things WILDLY unexpected!

TPK: Have you ever had a game go completely off the rails? TPK? How did you adjust?

I've come CLOSE to some TPKs but the players juuuust managed to squeak by, which is always my favorite kind of vibe. It's way harder to plan for that than you'd think when you've been DMing for 7 PCs for so long LOL

Honestly I don't think I've had anything go completely off the rails, or even really come Close to being that out of control? I've definitely had players make WILD choices that altered the course of FUTURE sessions, but my DMing style allows for a lot of flexibility I think, so I've never really been. THROWN by anything if that makes sense. I always LOVE it when the players make choices that Alter The Narrative Entirely.

My favorite example is when a friend of mine playing a cleric who was devoted (by accident) to Chaos, decided at the last second, in game, to NOT accept the help of their Chaos God and decided to just DIE instead. We had worked out a plan for her corruption arc!! It was going to be sick!! But apparently in the moment, during a big fight against a really difficult Boss, she looked around at her friends and decided her character would actually rather die than become corrupted and potentially break the world/hurt her friends. it was INSANE and COMPLETELY changed the next arc of the campaign since Ethros. DIED and couldn't be revived. And I loved it and we worked out a whole new arc for Ethros later :)

Secret: Is there anything that you know about your character but your character doesn’t know? What is it? How did you come up with this secret?

AUGH YES -- this was actually something that happened in game. From her backstory, Sigrun's village was attacked by raiders and she nearly died in the assault. She was healed by a strange figure she didn't recognize, swore an oath to what she Believed To Be the old gods to get revenge for them, and then this figure gave her Daisy and sent her off to safety.

NOW SIGRUN DOESN'T KNOW THIS... but that figure was actually her dad Osvald. who was sent forward in time by the Old God of Negentropy. to fulfill his wish to protect her. So I was playing Osvald at the time in a mini campaign, got this wish, and wished to Protect Sigrun. Then the DM narrated Osvald getting sent into the future, and I realized it was a scene from SIGRUN'S backstory, and I promptly lost my mind casting cure wounds on her and find familiar to give her Daisy. it was SOOOO GOOD

Heart: What drives your character? Do they have a theme, question, mission, etc. that they’re holding onto? How did you pick it for them?

Sigrun's character absolutely revolves around the theme of Family, in all its messiness and love. What do you do when the people who raised you tried their best but couldn't give you what you needed? How do you feel about them? How do you deal with people leaving, with being alone, with them going off without you? What do you owe family, if anything?

She has this mission to rescue her family members (yes I do this backstory in different variations for like. all of my PCs. dont worry about it) who have all been taken by this interdimensional raiding group, but something she doesn't admit to herself is that she's somehow trying to rescue her Dead Father too. And maybe she's trying to rescue herself? She's got insane abandonment issues from the various family members Leaving (by choice or by force), and I think there's a part of her subconscious that desperately wishes someone had come back for her when she was little, so now she's trying to act out that wish by Rescuing Everyone Else.

[dearclem]

* ( ! ) 𝒍𝒖𝒙 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒔

when: april 1st, roughly 11:47PM. where: towards the back of rhee's bar & grill. what: solo for this plot drop. warnings: ocd, broken bones, blood, mentions of death. mentioned: sry i'm not tagging none yall. clem adores too many of u dweebs 😔

the second game goes into overtime and clem hides a yawn. her social battery is running on fumes by this point in the evening, but the time she’s spent with friends warms her face as she weaves through the crowd towards the back of the bar to relieve herself, much to her own dismay. she doesn't like public restrooms; not knowing how well they were cleaned or who may have used them was enough to make her skin crawl, but a night filled with bottomless water and that singular virgin mojito won’t allow her to last until she makes it home.

she’s meticulous in the way she washes her hands, following a routine she’s had since childhood: rinse. put soap inside right palm. dampen soap. lather on entire surface of hands, then wrists, going up to mid-forearm. rinse. flick fingers into the sink thirteen times. repeat entire process three times before drying hands. finish routine by wiping sink and counter with a fresh paper towel until area is dry. by following the routine, it ensures she doesn't get in trouble and nothing bad will happen to someone she cares about. it doesn't make sense, of course, but obsessive thoughts and compulsions rarely do.

she hears the crowd pick up in volume, indicating the games have finally come to an end for the evening just as she's carefully tossing the paper towel into the garbage and she decides it best to give kage a heads up about her plans. retrieving the mobile from her back pocket, the raven happens to notice the time and her lips curl into a smile as she makes a mental note to give deshaun the right to say i told you so, before firing off a text message:

(  clem 📲 favorite  ):  everything’s finally over! i’m going to stay behind for a bit to help clean up and i promised kennedy i’d wait for her so she can give me something, but i’ll let you know when i’m on my way home 🖤

she’s in the process of putting her phone away when she exits back into the hallway, but the stairs leading to the basement catch her eye, stopping her in her tracks just past the edge of the wall. staring down the darkened descent serves as inspiration, kicking her imagination into overdrive and lights her up like a christmas tree.  ❝  oh, why haven't i used this before! just imagine all the horrors i can hide in a dark, damp, creepy basement!  ❞  the exclamation is spoken softly, lost in the murmur of the patrons still reeling from their own alcohol-infused excitement, before she senses someone approaching. believing it to be someone who needed to use the restroom like herself, she moves to grant them more room within the hallway, offering them a politely spoken,  ❝  oh, excuse me. sorry,  ❞  for taking up space. clem is so focused on committing her ideas to memory so she doesn't forget them before they can be written down that she can't bring herself to shift her attention despite her feet beginning to carry her back to the floor.

she’s only able to take a couple steps of her own when she realises she can hear the other's footsteps reverberating throughout the hallway---an oddity, given the lively atmosphere of the place---and, wait, why do they sound quicker than usual? her movements cease as clem's head whips forward so she can find out why.. except she's given no time to react before she's shoulder checked by the stranger.

they’re much stronger; solid and broad, especially in comparison to herself, and there's enough force that it knocks her off balance, but she hadn’t realised just how close she’d gotten to the edge of the initial step in her attempt to give them more room to pass until her foot slips off the edge, ankle rolling, and suddenly she’s free falling.

instinct wastes no time kicking in and she tries to catch herself, but the impact of her weight landing on the outstretched arm when it comes in contact with one of the steps immediately renders it useless and it caves. her world is spinning now, causing her to lose all sense of direction, but even knowing the best way to protect herself, learned through the research she’s stumbled across throughout her career as a writer, it does nothing to help her. using one's arms to protect their head and curling into a ball to roll down is nowhere near as easy as people make it seem and just as clem starts to think she's found a never ending staircase, she finally lands with a resounding thud, paired with a groan as her head ricochets off the basement floor.

the irony of the situation and the way it played out similarly to that of one she’d considered for her protagonist would be enough to elicit a chuckle had she not been in so much pain. her entire body aches: arms, legs, ribs, back, neck, head, and she could’ve sworn she heard things crack on her descent, though she can’t pinpoint exactly where and clem chokes back a sob. she doesn’t risk moving, both in fear of potentially hurting herself further and.. what if they're still around, looking down at me, watching?

her vision swims as dizziness overtakes her. her consciousness is beginning to slip, and it worries her, so she does the only thing she can think of to keep herself awake until help  (  hopefully  )  arrives: she begins to think of those important to her.

aranya, kage, deshaun, monty, jacob, lany, dilara, sadiye, vera, emira, selin, julia, hyejin, lunara, paisley, yasmin, kahlan, kyle, dae-eun, mariana, crawford, her agent, her listeners, malachi---maybe more, but it's getting harder for her to remember names. it surprises her, though, the amount she does remember. for someone who has always felt so alone in the world, she doesn’t have enough fingers to count all of those she cares about most, regardless of where their relationship may stand now, but she can't help wondering why she didn't try to make more happy memories with them? why wasn’t she nicer or more involved? why wasn't she more willing to forgive and seek her own forgiveness? most importantly, when's the last time she told them i love you? even after the loss of vivian and amoni, and almost losing jacob, why did she continue to take it all for granted?

it's getting harder to keep her eyes open and she can feel her stomach churning, though it's hard to tell if that's due to the level of pain she's in or the possible concussion. blood trickles from the laceration on her forehead into her eye and it burns, but her body is battered and bruised, making it impossible for her to wipe it away and she wonders if this is how she's going to die; alone, scared, and hurt by a combination of her own stupidity and the cruelty of another------and when her world goes black, she swears she hears her mother's voice:

it's not your time yet, so go continue making me proud, clem. you have people waiting for you.

[throatcoat]

//chapter 9// //we played house with the neighbors in the basement//

in my head, i counted out the miles between the speeding car and the only place i ever knew as home. the sun was going down, my mother slept in the passenger seat, my sister was silent in the back. the only noise was the stereo cutting in and out, picking up a preacher's voice interrupting johnny cash and his croons over june. my left hand left the steering wheel, and i ripped off the golden cross that sat on my collarbone. i did not need it anymore. we had five more hours left to the drive. we had not even made it over the mountain pass and my eyes already felt heavy.

that day began quiet, and i had no idea in just a few hours, my new life and identity was about to begin. the day before, i had passed my driving test and all there was left to do was pick up the certificate from the high school office. i had needed to go to the school anyways, i had text books to leave, and transcripts to pick up. it felt odd walking in to the school, no students, only two secretaries sleepily typing away. i walked out from the office and sat at the cafeteria table my friend group claimed stake. i looked around, at all the FFA flags and sports awards and class pictures dating back to the 50s. i stared at the stage i performed every recital on, every play, the talent shows. if i closed my eyes, i could almost see myself standing there, the spotlight hot and white and a real smile on my face. i rubbed my finger on the plastic table top and thought of the jokes that were told here, the secrets and stories. it hit me in that moment that it would be the last time i ever would step foot in the school i had gone to my entire life. i always thought i would graduate from there, even with the infection that had tainted what should have been the best years of my life. i had always thought that i would walk arm in arm with my two best friends, the crowd would be filled with the whole town, all the faces that even now, lay ingrained. it would have felt magical, like i really accomplished just making it through, but that happened to not be life's plan.

two weeks before my junior year was to begin, and my parents had dropped that we would be moving across the state to start over. they did not ask us before deciding and my dad was not coming with us. he had fires to fight and a house to sell, and he still was not allowed within 500 feet of my mother. my mother had been counting down until she was off of house arrest, when the blinking bracelet on her ankle could come off and she could go where ever she wanted again. my mother wanted a fresh start. she thought we needed a new place, too. it did not make much sense to me, after all, we stayed a whole year after everything had fallen apart. i was angry.

i was finally some-what okay after everything that had happened. my sophomore year, i found my place amongst the theatre kids, the creative writing exercises, we were going to go to state for knowledge bowl and i finally had a boyfriend (he came to our school that year, freshly implanted from las vegas)- a real one i did not mind. it felt like she had decided to ruin my life a second time.

the day my mom got her bracelet off was the same day i drove myself to the school to drop off my books. i had brought a packet of poetry i had written that summer, i planned to leave them on my english teacher's classroom door. she had been my savior my sophomore year, she had found a poem i forgot behind when rushing from class. the next day, she told me she was putting me in her creative writing class. after everything came out, she had been the only teacher in the whole school that did not treat me any different. there was one day that she pulled me aside to speak to me about the boy from vegas, how she was worried about the way he spoke to me. sometimes, i think she was the first person to really see me, and not through me. she saved my life in a very real way.

i thought of her as i sat at that table. i wondered if she knew the impact she had. my phone began to ring, it was my mom. she asked what was taking so long, she needed the car to go get her bracelet removed by her probation officer. i sighed, told her i would be there in a few minutes, i just had something i needed to drop off real quick. hurry she said, she was tired of being locked up she said. i wanted to say that she was not locked up, she was home and she was very lucky to be there. instead, i just said, okay.

i did not notice the car that followed me home that day, but i should have. the honda civic had been behind me earlier, it had parked in the school parking lot at the same time. i did not think about it. there were others that needed to be at the school during the dead end of summer, too, not just me. the windows were tinted, i could not see inside. i did not care to see inside. i just wanted to get in and out before i collapsed.

my eyes were burning with tears as i looked into the rear view mirror. i was at the turn off to the driveway, the same one i had learned to ride my bike on. it was then that i noticed. the car had turned, too. i stopped the car halfway and got out. the only other person who should have been driving up was my father, and this was not his vehicle. i started walking toward the tinted windows as it dawned on me exactly who it was sitting in that damned car. cowardly, the car backed out quick as it had showed up and sped down the highway. my hands trembled as i grabbed the car handle and finished the descent up the driveway. my mother had some explaining to do, but i knew none of her words really matter. i had stopped believing anything she had said awhile ago.

my body began floating above itself as i opened the front door. she sat at the kitchen table, a coffee cup at her lips. wake your sister up, she said, we need to get going. i did not say a word. i just looked at her face, not knowing what i was wanting to come out of it. the icy numbness had began to travel to my arms from my collarbone, urging me to sit in the bathroom instead. it would be so easy to grab the scissors that were hidden in the cabinet. i ignored the urges, walked past the bathroom to my sisters room. she was already up, she asked me if there was any coffee on. i already had her cup in my hand.

the thirty minute drive to the probation office and the lawyer she gave our college fund to was silent aside from my mother trying to talk to us, get us as excited as her, too. we could go anywhere and be anything now, she said. i did not want to be anything at all. i said nothing, i just sipped the watered down iced tea and put in my ear buds. the window was rolled down and the fire smoke made me cough. my skin was slicked with sweat and i wanted to be anywhere but there in that car that still smelled like some other man's cologne and stale mcdonalds.

the air conditioner did nothing as my sister and i sat in the car while she paid her final fees and signed the papers. what they don't tell you about getting electronically tagged with a bracelet is that you have to basically rent the bracelet. if i had learned anything, being horrible at being a bonafide criminal is extremely expensive. the lawyer fees, the court fees, the money you owe for bail, the way it leaves the rest of your family hungry and angry and tired. the way it takes away futures that should have never been impacted in the first place...it never felt worth it to me.

as my mother walked out, she was on her phone with her brow furrowed and i knew something was not right. i thought maybe they had decided to keep the bracelet on, maybe today had not been the day she could walk away, basically a free woman. she stood out there awhile, and the car was beginning to get too hot to sit in. i opened the door, she hung up the phone. we need to go, she said. she sounded nervous.

what usually was a thirty minute drive was over in twenty, and the second we stepped out into the driveway, she told us we needed to pack. we needed to leave now. i demanded an explanation, and then i got one as that same honda civic drove up the drive way. i starred at the tinted windows and then i looked back at my mom. she ran up to the windows that were rolling down, and i saw a hand flash out, and the sun glinted off something metal. it almost blinded me. my stomach turned as i realized what it was.

he had a gun.

he was sitting in our driveway, and he had a gun.

it was my mothers fault, he was here and he had a gun.

we were supposed to finally be free but god loves a cruel joke.

i grabbed my phone to call the police, and he told me to drop it.

the phone screen cracked as it the gravel.

i looked at my mother, still moving towards him, she pleaded with him to put the gun away. they could talk, she said. let her daughters go in the house she said.

he did not say a word as his hand disappeared below the window. she looked at me and told me to grab my sister and go inside. she was fine, we would be fine.

an hour went by before she finally came inside.

she told us to pack up, it was time to leave. we would be back soon to pack the house but we needed to go. she said she had talked him down, it was safe, but we needed to go where he could never find us.

i did not trust her.

i counted the miles silently in my head as we drove further and further away.

the dry desert air turned to mountain mist turned to a storm by the ocean.

i knew, once again, that nothing would ever be the same again.

[tryst-art-archive]

Context: 2013

Ngl, I had to go through the photos in my archives to figure out what even happened in 2013. SO, we'll cover the bits that stand out.

Thesis

Leading up to my graduation, I did a senior BFA thesis for my major. For this I decided to write the first chunk of Kriamiss's story in the Khra-nicles, which was an interesting experience both from seeing how someone besides me and Deer received that narrative and from approaching my genuine interests less as "dumb thing I do" and more as "thing I am doing seriously."

I completed the thesis successfully, but the experience sadly didn't lead to me writing the whole novel.

Graduation, Working Full-time, & Recovering from Art School

Prior to graduation, I needed to figure out what I was going to do about work. Because of the Boston lease cycle, I needed to know if I was staying in my then-current apartment with Deer, Coyote, and Tiger or not. Essentially, this choice boiled down to:

Move back in with my parents while I try to get a job in "my field"--whether that field is publishing or game dev.

Continue living with my current roommates in Boston and accept Any Job That Will Pay The Rent in order to be able to do that.

I chose the second because the real difference between 1 and 2 was whether or not I would have the space to be independent, have concrete privacy, and generally not feel observed in a judgmental fashion. (This is not to say my parents are overly harsh or anything, but it's the inherent nature of being with one's parents to regress to who you were as a kid.) This was completely the correct choice for me, and you can see it in photos following my graduation: my happiness and amount of life lived increases significantly.

To put it another way: Life Got Better as soon as I was free from a system that I hated and was able to self-determine.

That isn't to say I was magically no longer depressed--I was still massively depressed--but it is to say that the depression was existing within a bevy of relationships, experiences, and joy whereas before it had been the casing around a pile of obligations and resentments.

I graduated from my college, magna cum laude I think, in May of 2013, following the removal of my wisdom teeth, and accepted a full-time position with the company that ran my school's print & copy center and mailroom. They ran those services for many of the colleges in Boston, so my new gig with them was to look after the mailroom at another college.

This mailroom was in a basement, and I ran it almost entirely by myself. During some parts of the year, there would be a student worker with me, but usually it was just me and the spiders that liked to drop out of the ceiling. While that made working in the mailroom extraordinarily boring, it all-in-all worked for me; there weren't that many people stopping by, especially in the summer, and after spending four years dragging stories out of my soul, not being asked to do anything but exist and sort mail was a relief.

I spent a lot of my time in the mailroom decompressing from art school and slowly--a little tiny bit at a time, almost cautiously--returning to the things I'd liked about making stuff to begin with.

This seems to be an almost universal experience with art school, at least among the sample space of my friends. Pretty much every single one of us who went to some kind of arts university walked away with an intense amount of baggage about Making Things--typically centered around ideas of what is the right or wrong way to make things--that we had to dismantle before we could get back to making anything, much less stuff that aligned with what we wanted to make. For some of us that meant diving into other crafts/mediums than those we'd been educated in, and for others of us it meant simply not making at all and consuming voraciously instead.

For me personally, it tended to be small bursts of creativity that would then pitter out sadly, with a lot of photos--but decreasingly art-oriented photos--filling the time between.

One added peculiarity of the mailroom job was that I weirdly kept meeting people through the mailroom. One was someone I'd gone to high school with, who delivered some of the mail and greeted me with, "...I know you" to which I said, "You do?" and looked up to realize that he was one of the three Art Kids in my class--me, him, and another girl from my friend group. This encounter didn't kick off a friendship or anything, but it was a neat moment.

The other notable one--and I don't remember exactly when this happened--was a student at the school who made small talk when stopping by to pick things up. After a bit, he asked me on a date, and I agreed from a "Well, let's see what happens" place. We went on a few dates but lacked chemistry and decided to pursue that angle no further. However, Deer and I did succeed in adding him to our wider friend group. I also got a meaningful lesson and confidence boost out of being able to try seeing something without having to commit to them either exclusively or long-term. It made saying "No"--something I still struggled with--a little bit more feasible.

Gender?

I don't remember thinking about this in an intentional way, but it's clear to me from photos that I started stripping away elements of femininity in my personal presentation one little bit at a time. In particular, I was slowly shedding things that Required Effort to sustain.

A lot of the haircuts I see from this point forward are chin-length at longest or involve some kind of half-shave or undercut. I, in fact, specifically remember getting my first half-shave/undercut was a Big Moment in that I knew my family would hate it and felt I was doing something transgressive by prioritizing what I liked and wanted over what would make sure I was left alone.

I was, for a chunk of time, still doing makeup, but I slowly decreased the amount until I was only doing eyeliner and mascara, without anything else. While I was still wearing skirts and suchlike, a lot of the photos I have aren't of me dressed and looking nice but in the lounge clothes I wore around the house but feeling like I looked good in them.

I was also putting on weight, which for me is a sign of increasing happiness and reducing depression. Depression tends to make me not eat, so when I'm consistently losing weight, it's a sign that my mental health has tanked. (This isn't an intentional thing; I just stop having an appetite and lose the will to make food.)

Fun & Games

The social environment of my apartment was, frankly, rad, and while our unit was rundown in many ways, our location within the city was fantastic. We had a lot of excellent times, and we started some key traditions like the annual Krampus Party in December.

I had a habit of falling asleep in my squeaky pink armchair while playing Skyrim, and I'd wake up horizontal across the seat of the chair and its footstool with my horse on some building's roof.

Deer and Coyote and I would often get takeout while Tiger was out, and Tiger would come home to find the three of us passed out on top of each other on the couch with a spread of takeout containers spread over the coffee table. When we woke up, we'd get right back to eating.

There was a lot of eating in general, honestly. We made and shared good food and poured a lot of of our "disposable" income into the same, whether that was high-quality ingredients, special takeout, cakes from the nice bakery on the corner, or hitting up local restaurants. One of the parties in 2013 was, I think, a "Game of Thrones" themed party where we made lavish dishes.

In this way, we became something of a social hub for the wider friend group, and we were increasingly known for our warmth and welcome.

[suckerfordylansstuff]

New Journey (S.H) Chapter 3 Season 1

! This is a backstory. There are more chapters to the actual fic. Check my masterlist !

Pairing: (eventual) Steve Harrington x henderson!reader

Summary: The beggining of the story. How did Y/n Henderson get herself into this mess? How did she deal with the loss of a dear friend and how will she survive the bullies and monsters?

Warnings: swearing, dead body

Notes: So, I've been thinking of starting Season 4 as well along side with season 1. It's summer and I have a lot of free time on my hands and also I can't wait. I NEED to write season 4, my body yearns for it. I have so many ideas and I can't wait until I finish the backstory. So most likely the next part will be for the new season! Stay safe and I hope you enjoy! 💕

Gif not mine

Chapter 2 << New Journey Masterlist >> Chapter 4

After the shock that occurred you yesterday, you decided that it'd be best to prepare for the 'demogorgon' the next time you looked for Will. Oh yeah, you're all going out again in the dark to search for Will. You tried to stop them, telling them it's not safe and worse things could happen, but none of them were listening to you. They were in desperate need to find their friend so to keep them in check you were going to be part of their little search group.

Last night you and Dustin were preparing your bags with everything you could find useful. His was mostly (if not all) filled with snacks while your bag mainly contained weapons and supplies. Nothing too much. Two pocketknives for you and your brother, some medical supplies and the walkies.

You hated the idea of going out there when some creature was lingering in the woods, but you would feel better if you were prepared for anything.

You considered the idea of speaking to Jonathan about this, you haven't seen him since last morning, but you didn't want to give him any false hope. And you didn't even know how you would back up your theory 'Oh, some girl we found in the woods told us'. No. You had to find evidence first before making the case more bizarre.

Before you went to school, you, Dustin and Lucas stopped by Mike's to form a plan for the evening. You exchanged pleasantries with his parents and then went to the basement. You saw Eleven playing with Mike's walkie talkie.

"Okay, so, I believe the best excuse to say to our parents is that we have AV Club after school. Y/n, you..." Mike started speaking and looked towards you for your excuse.

"I have a night shift tonight, so I have time to spare till then." you didn't really feel like going to work, but you didn't want to use Mr. Miller's kindness again for your advantage.

"Great, that's give us at least a few hours for Operation Mirkwood."

"You seriously think this w- she knows where Will is?" Lucas changed his words quickly, knowing you told tolerate the word 'weirdo' anymore, even though you're a bit spooked by her.

"Just trust me on this, okay?" Mike asked and Lucas agreed "Did you get the supplies?"

"Yeah. Binoculars… from ‘Nam. Army knife… also from ‘Nam. Hammer, camouflage bandana… and the wrist rocket." he described the stuff while taking them out of his bag, showing them to the rest of you.

"You’re gonna take out the Demogorgon with a slingshot?" your brother asked not impressed with his choice of weapon.

"First of all, it’s a wrist rocket. And second of all, the Demogorgon’s not real. It’s made up. But if there is something out there, I’m gonna shoot it in the eye…" he slings the wrist rocket towards Dustin and he flinches at the movement " And blind it."

You shook your head at them and Mike sighed "What did you, guys, bring?"

"Well, I brought our walkies, two pocketknives and some medical stuff, just to be prepared, and Dustin..." your words dragged as you saw your brother dump all of his snacks on top of the table.

"Alrighty. So, we’ve got… Nutty Bars, Bazooka, Pez, Smarties, Pringles, Nilla Wafers, apple, banana, and trail mix." he went through all of the bags then looked up to his friends proudly.

"Seriously?"

"We need energy for our travels. For stamina. And besides, why do we even need weapons anyway? We have her." he answered Lucas and pointed at the girl. Eleven was still looking at the walkie not taking her eyes away from it.

"She shut one door!" Lucas said exaggerated.

"With her mind! Are you kidding me? That’s insane! Imagine all the other cool stuff she could do. Like…" he stopped him words and took on his hands the Millennium Falcon Lego Mike had build "I bet... that she could make this fly!" he stopped in front of Eleven and held out the toy towards her face, her eyes finally leaving the walkie talkie "Hey. Hey. Okay, concentrate. Okay?" he says before letting it go, but without any help from Eleven, it fell to the ground "Okay, one more time." again gravity does its thing "Okay. Use your powers, okay?" but for the third time the same thing happens and Eleven goes back to the walkie on her hands.

"Idiot." Lucas said and you smirked before playing with your brother's hat and bringing him into your hug, his back on your stomach.

"She's not a dog!" Mike yelled after he picked up the toy from the ground, when suddenly his mother called out.

" Guys! Time for school!"

"Okay, pack your shit. We're meeting here after school." you said as you grabbed your bag and climbed up the stairs.

You saw Dustin and Lucas follow you outside, only Mike staying in the basement to explain what time they would return to Eleven. After a couple minutes you started riding to your schools. You were pretty anxious about going today. You wanted to see if Jonathan would be there and also you wanted to apologize to Nancy. You were immature talking to her like that. You still didn't agree with her words and excuse, but it wasn't the time to speak to her about that. You truly hoped she had a nice time.

When you arrived at Hawkins High you didn't see your friend's car. He must still not be ready to stay here. You made a mental note to check on him the moment you had some time to yourself.

You took a deep breath knowing that since Jonathan wasn't here you couldn't avoid talking to Nance any longer. You passed the familiar faces of your classmates when you finally arrived at your locker. Nancy was there, but she wasn't alone.

Steve Harrington was next to her, blocking the way to your locker with his body. You didn't feel like fighting with anyone today, so you slowly walked over to the two of them.

You could hear them talk to each other, but you didn't understand what they were saying. You took your final step behind Steve as they were kissing and you cursed the universe for this awkward part.

"Um.. Steve? You're kinda blocking my locker..." you said just loud enough for the two to hear. Startled by your voice they both turned to look at you, Nancy's eyes falling on the ground the moment you looked at her.

"Oh, sorry." he immediately moved to the side, his hand holding onto Nancy's.

"Thank you." you replied under your breath, but he was still able to catch it.

"Did you just thank me, Henderson?" he was smirking at the thought of you having nice manners towards him. He may not admit it, but you were always an interesting person to him. Your quiet, but also bold personality always made him entertained.

"Don't get too used to it." your back was facing him as you opened your locker getting everything you needed.

"Well, after this exciting development, I think I need to go to the others. Don't worry too much, okay?" he said to Nancy, before she replied with a soft 'okay'. He leaned towards her placing a kiss on her cheek and left you two alone.

Your eyes fell on your friend's face. She was already looking back at you and you gave her a shy smile as you closed your locker, turning your body to face her completely.

"Hey..."

"Hey." she said.

"Look, um... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown off at you yesterday. These have just been some very stressful days and-" you started apologizing when her voice stopped you.

"Y/n, it's okay. I know that I shouldn't have used Will's name like that. I'm sorry too. Thank you for putting some sense into me."

"So, we're okay?" you smiled at your friend.

"Yeah, of course we're okay." you smiled at each other "Is that why you were nice to Steve?"

"I thought not being shitty for once would make you feel like I'm really sorry and that I'm willing to give him a chance." you explained your thoughts

"Well, you definitely achieved that."

"So, what exactly happened yesterday? I heard you two talk and you looked quite worried. He wasn't an asshole, right? If so, I'm taking back my effort of being nice."

"No, no, it's not him. Yesterday was... a big day. It's just that- I can't find Barb today, did you see her somewhere?" you thought the conversation was heading to some more explicit parts, definitely not to your other friend and it made you skeptical.

"Barbara? Um, no, no, I haven't seen her.." the bell rang and you both started walking to your classroom. You glanced at Nancy and her face was as worried as you had first seen her "She left before you yesterday?"

"Yes."

"So, I'm sure she woke up early in the morning and already is at her desk." you reassured her but as you entered the class, no Barbara was found. You looked at each other and you shrugged "I'm sure she's okay, Nancy. She probably didn't feel like going to school today."

"I just can't stop picturing every bad scenario that could happen to her. Now with Will gone, I'm scared the same thing has happened."

You didn't answer her as you took your seats. You couldn't. Maybe she was right. Maybe something bad has happened to her. Now that you know more about Will's disappearance, that some 'thing' is out there, your anxiety started acting up, your own mind creating those scenarios.

If you didn't find her by the end of the day, this evening you would have to keep your eyes out for one more person.

___

The rest of the day was normal. You tried to calm yourself down during class, telling yourself that panic will do you no good for your plan.

After some boring and far too long classes it was finally time for lunch, but as it turns out you couldn't even relax there.

"Nancy, I'm not going to sit with dumb and dumber." you were putting some food on your trays as you talked, hundreds of voices around you filling the cafeteria room.

"You said you were gonna be nicer to Steve."

"To Steve, yes, but not his 'friends'." you warned her.

"Jonathan isn't here and you don't like eating by yourself. I also want to ask them about Barbara. Come on." she simply explained and smiled at you before you headed at the 'King's' table. Carol had her whole leg on the table showing the boys something and Tommy was loudly laughing every now and then. You could already tell it wasn't gonna end well...

"No, I swear. Look at this. It's totally frostbite." Carol said as Nancy sat next to Steve and you took your seat next to her reluctantly.

"It's a heated pool." Tommy said, after he took a bite of his food. He saw you sitting down and eyed you carefully. You didn't give him an answer and just looked down at your own food, trying not to stare at Carol's bruise. It made your stomach turn and you already didn't have that much of an appetite.

"Well, if it’s not frostbite, then what is it?" she asked.

"Ugh, I don’t care what it is, it’s disgusting! Get it off the table. We’re eating here." Steve said annoyed, his mouth half full of food.

"Yes, please." you mumbled.

"I'm sorry, is my foot bothering you?" Carol asked you, acknowledging your existence with a frown on her face. You wanted to slap it so much but resisted your urges.

"Yeah, actually it is." a humorous smile on your face.

"Why are you here, anyway?" her gaze was intimidating, but you just ignored her and took a bite from your food. After a moment of silence and chuckles from Tommy, Nancy's voice filled your ears.

"Hey, Tommy. Yesterday, when you left, did you see Barb?"

"What?" his dumb face asked.

"Barbara. She's not here today." Nancy explained and you could tell talking about her made her nerves perk up. You don't know if any of you could handle another disappearance. But for now you told hold of the hand she had under the table to reassure her.

"I seriously have no idea who you’re talking about." he chuckled along side Carol.

"My God..." you sighed. If he didn't stop acting like a kid, you would slap him right here and now.

"Come on, don’t be an ass, man. Did you- Did you see her leave last night or not?" Steve came to the rescue and you could hardly believe your eyes. Maybe he wasn't as bad after all...

"No, she was gone when we left." he finally answered.

"Probably couldn’t stand listening to all that moaning." Carol couldn't hold her childish behavior for more than two minutes as she started moaning and calling out Steve's name, imitating Nancy from last night. Tommy picked up on the teasing and also started moaning even louder, banging his hands on the table. Nancy couldn't look away from her plate embarrassed, Steve looked annoyed but also proud and you looked at the two making the noises with shock in your eyes.

"Okay, chill." the King demanded and the two stopped their performance.

"Oh, relax. It was the only way for Y/n to hear any kind of moaning."

"Nah, I'm sure she's getting it on with the freak Byers." Tommy corrected Carol and they laughed in your face. Your blood was boiling, but you calmed down your breathing, not falling on their level.

As they were laughing you eyes fell on a figure that was passing the corridor outside of the cafeteria. It was Jonathan. You hated feeding the demonic couple on their absurd story, but you needed to check on Jonathan.

"He's my cue to leave." you pointed at Jonathan to Nancy and picked up your stuff and tray to leave. She tried to hold you down, but you gave her a look and she knew you needed to leave. Meanwhile, Carol laughing even more now that she has managed to 'upset' you. You couldn't let her win. You had to do something.

"Oh, before I leave, I need to give you something, Carol." you turned to look at her with the fakest sweet smile you could pull off. She was staring at you with the most unimpressed glare that soon turned into a shocked one.

You grabbed the pudding you had taken for dessert and dumped it on her pants. Her mouth opened and gave you a hateful look "For you frostbite." you turned to leave quickly, a grin on your face. You winked at Nancy, who was slightly smirking and made your way to the garbage can to throw out the rest of your food.

"You bitch!" you heard Carol squeal. You gave her a smile as you left the cafeteria. She was trying to get the stain out, making Tommy go fetch her some more napkins. Steve was preoccupied talking to Nancy, but you were pretty sure you had seen him smile a little too.

You chuckled while you walked outside on her corridor, jogging to catch up with Jonathan.

"Hey, Jonathan! Did you see that? Oh, Carol's face was priceless..." you smiled faded as you caught glimpse of Jonathan's face "Are-are you okay?" you placed your hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"It's-it's fine. You know... the usual." you could see something else was bothering him as well, but you just let it go. He'd talk to you when he was ready.

"Okay... Do you want to go somewhere to clear our heads? My treat." you smiled and waited for his answer.

"I-I was actually heading to the darkroom to develop some of the photos I have taken-" he explained and you grabbed his arm as you began walking again.

"Cool, I'll come with. You know I love your photographs."

"Uh... Don't you want to go back to the cafeteria? I don't want to keep you away from lunch time." he stopped walking and pointed back at the way you came from.

"Please, if I go back, Carol with rip my eyes out." you eyed your friend and your brows furrowed "Do you not want me to come with you?" you crossed your arms in front of your chest.

"No, no, it's just..." he played with his hair, something he did when he was nervous and you became very suspicious.

"Jonathan, what's going on?"

He sighed and looked around before taking your hand in his "Okay, I'll show you, but don't freak out, please."

You didn't answer, just followed him to the darkroom. He started developing the pictures, hanging them to dry. In the meantime, he was explaining what he did last night.

"So, yesterday I went out to look for Will and I had my camera with me. I tried to call you, but your mom said you were working and the diner said you didn't come in-"

"Yeah, sorry, I was with the party... They have been dealing with this thing pretty terribly, so I wanted to stay with them." you didn't like lying to him, but it had to stay that way until you knew more about Will's location.

"Yes, yes, of course. So, I was walking around the forest and I stumbled upon-" he began explaining but you stopped him.

"Is that Nancy? And-and Barbara? And Steve?" some of the photos were starting to show and it didn't take long for you to understand who the faces were "Jonathan what is this?" you pointed at the pictures looking him in the eye.

"I-I just came across their party and-"

"And you decided to take pictures of them? Jonathan, I don't want to sound mean, but.. This is kinda creepy." you looked at the rest of them.

"Don't think about it like that. I just- captured the moment." he said quietly.

"And you thought it'd okay to 'capture' this moment as well?" you pointed at the picture showing Nancy's bare back in what you guessed was Steve's room.

But before Jonathan could answer, a girl, Nicole, walked inside the room. You immediately panicked and tried to hide the photos, fearing for her reaction. She places herself next to Jonathan and sent you both a smile, but it faded quickly as her eyes left you and wandered at the photos you and Jonathan had on your hands.

He took them from you and placed them inside his bag leaving the room without a second thought after he took your hand and made you follow him.

"You think she saw?" you thought out loud. You had entered an empty classroom wanting to talk with no other disruptions. Your back was leaning on the door while Jonathan was sitting on top of the teacher's desk, clanging onto his bag.

"Maybe- I- I don't know. I don't care." he stood up walking back and forth.

"Jonathan, if she tells someone, maybe- I mean, how can you not care?" your eyes pleaded for an explanation.

"Cause I have bigger problems to deal with!" he yelled at you, his nerves taking the best of him

"Yeah, exactly. You don't also need another problem, like a smashed car, when- not if- when Steve finds out about this!" you yelled back, rummaging through his bag, showing him the photo of Nancy he had taken.

He stared at the photo, before sighing and rubbing his forehead "I'm sorry..."

"Look... Let's just hope she didn't understand what she actually saw. Maybe she won't tell someone and we're worrying about nothing." you comforted him.

After some time you ended up talking about the rest of his night. He hadn't found anything about where Will might be and it made him lose even more hope. Then he told you about how his mother had acted this morning, fearing for her health and sanity. You wanted to share everything you knew, but you had to wait. Eventually the bell rang and you had to go back to your classes.

___

The moment you stepped out of the school next to Jonathan at the end of the day, you could actually feel a weigh leave your shoulders, but your anxiety was still present. You just wanted to get on your bike, find the kids and go look for Will. You couldn't wait any longer. But, of course, the universe couldn't leave you alone for more than an hour.

You had left Jonathan for a bit to go and grab your bike. You couldn't convince him letting you return home by yourself, so you were on your way of walking towards the parking lot, bike in hand, looking for your friend. Only to find him once again in trouble.

"And here comes the partner in crime." Tommy said as you stopped. You looked around at mess that had created. Steve, Tommy, Carol and the girl from the darkroom, Nicole, were standing opposite of Jonathan, his bag on their hands as well as the photos.

"Shit..." you said under your breath looking over at Jonathan, fear evident in his eyes and you guessed yours as well.

"You told him what we were doing, right? Nancy told you and you got jealous or some shit and thought I'd be fun, right?" Carol's words made you furious.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"No, I think we have all the evidence we need to figure things out." she said giving you a shove on the shoulders, making your body fall backwards, hit your bike and lose its balance. It hurt landing on top of your bike, but you didn't want to show any sign of discomfort right now.

"Hey, why did you do that?" a voice started nearing you and you looked up to see Nancy coming to help you back on your feet. She took your arm, trying to lift you up, but you just stared at her. You didn't want her to think you had anything to do with this. You feared for her reaction, because nothing about this made you or Jonathan look nice and you knew that.

"Here's the starring lady." Tommy said sarcastically.

"What?" she looked back down at you, asking you what's going on, but Steve beat you to it.

"You might want to leave their side." he said coldly, his eyes looking like stone.

"No, what- what's going on? Why did you push Y/n on the ground?" Nancy was now walking towards Carol, looking angry.

"I'm not the one you should be mad at." she handed her the pictures she was holding "These creeps were spying on us last night. I don't even want to imagine what those two would want to do with this one." you could tell she was talking about the photo of Nancy naked. You were still on the ground, your palms taking in the weight of your head as you sighed. This can't be happening right now...

"See, you can tell that they know it was wrong, but... Man, that's the thing about perverts..." Steve started talking and walking towards Jonathan, who stood next to you.

"Stop it..." you pleaded quietly. You began picking yourself up, hating all the looks on you, especially Nancy's.

"It's hardwired into 'em. You know, they can't help themselves." Steve finished his sentence, as he 'nicely' fixed up Jonathan's collar, before tearing the photos he was holding. He sent you a look and it was the first time you've ever felt inferior towards him. You didn't know why, but he looked disappointed in you and you wanted to make it better "So... We'll just have to take away his toy." he said and walked back to Jonathan's bag and panic arose into your friend.

"Steve..." it was the first time Nancy had spoken after she saw everything and you were more than glad to hear her kind of supporting you.

"No, please, not the camera." Jonathan tried to step in, but Tommy stopped him, while Carol walked up a bit opposite of you as a warning.

"No, no, wait, wait... Tommy, Tommy." Steve told his friend to back off. Tommy did as he was told, chuckling and his friend stepped towards Jonathan handing him the camera "It’s okay. Here you go, man."

But before Jonathan could raise his arm, Steve let it fall on the ground, the sound of glass breaking making you flinch. You knew how important this camera was to Jonathan and how much it cost him to buy it. Now it was useless.

"Come on, let’s go. The game’s about to start." the king announced and left you two to deal with the mess yourselves.

"Boo." Tommy told you as a joke as he walked off.

Carol approached you along side Nicole as she ripped in half the rest of the photos "Bye."

You stared down at them exhausted, Jonathan still starring at the broken camera. You knelt down and started picking them up. You heard Steve call out for Nancy in the distance, only now realising she was still there with you. You looked up to see her take some pieces of the teared photos on her hands. She looked at you quickly and you found your chance to speak "Nancy, this isn't what it looks like-" she was gone before you could finish.

___

The only thing that made you feel a bit at ease is that you wouldn't be late at your meeting, even after this mess. You had a class less than the kids today, so you had plenty of time to pick up the pieces of the photographs and the camera. You didn't talk much as Jonathan drove you to your house. You didn't know what to say or what to do. You just wanted to forget that it had happened at all. You took your bike out of his trunk and said a simple goodbye as you watched him drive away.

You took a deep breath and made your way at the back of Mike's house, where Eleven was already waiting for you all. You were a bit early. You had hoped to have some time to yourself to calm down your thoughts, but you guessed it'd be best to distract yourself from thinking anything for a moment than thinking about everything all at once.

As you came closer you saw that Eleven wasn't moving, she looked as if she was frozen in time and it worried you. You parked your bike on the fence and slowly walked up to her "Eleven?" she didn't respond. You touched her shoulder and that's when she snapped out of whatever trance she was on. She looked around her eyes falling on you "Hey, it's okay. You're okay." she just kept looking at you. She looked scared. This was the first time she had allowed you to be this close to her. You could tell she needed the support and you were ready to give it to her. But someone interrupted your moment.

"You guys okay?" you turned to see the kids on top of their bikes looking at you. Mike was closer to the two of you as he asked you the question.

You took a last glance at Eleven who was nodding at Mike "Yeah, everything's okay."

"Okay, come on, hop on." Mike patted his saddle waiting for El to sit down. You could see her being a bit hesitant, but you encouraged her a little giving her a pat on the back. You motioned for them to start heading for the forest and you'll follow along in a bit.

You placed your body on top of your bike and started riding behind them after a couple minutes. Dustin was riding a bit slower than the rest making you grin "You didn't have to wait for me. I can catch up to you all easily."

"Are you okay?" he asked you genuinely. You both hated and loved the fact that he can so easily tell when you're not fine.

"You don't have to worry about me, Dusty. We have to focus on the plan, okay?" you smiled at him and he did the same as you continued riding towards the forest.

___

You've been searching for a couple hours now and the day has started turning dark. You, Dustin and Lucas have been following behind Mike and Eleven and you all have began feeling less hopeful about this whole thing. It felt like you were heading nowhere and when you eventually found your destination, it felt like every strength you had had left your body.

"What are we doing here?" Lucas asked Mike, after letting his bike fall to the ground. You looked at the house realising you spent these past few hours heading to the one house you didn't even need to search. The Byers residence.

"She said he's hiding here?" Mike said just as confused as all of you looked.

"What?" you asked, leaning onto your bike, your legs killing you.

"Um... no!" Lucas said annoyed.

"I swear, if we walked all the way out here for nothing-" your brother spoke up, before Lucas interrupted him.

"That’s exactly what we did. I told you she didn’t know what the hell she was talking about!"

"She must have a reason to bring us here!" you stepped in as you saw Eleven looking a bit lost "Eleven, why are we here?" you asked calmly, but she didn't know how to respond.

"Eleven?" Mike spoke up trying to get her to talk, but the girl just started stammering

"Don't waste your time with her." Lucas' words sounded angrier and angrier by the second and it started irritated those around him, especially Mike.

"What do you want to do then?"

"Call the cops, like we should have done yesterday." Lucas said, none of you noticing Dustin walking further away from the group.

"We are not calling the cops!" Mike protested.

"No, not the cops." you said, your thoughts recalling a memory.

"What?" Lucas looked at you as if you were crazy.

"We need to talk to the Byers... Jonathan told me something today about his mother and I think that maybe it-"

"Guys!" Dustin's voice stopped you. You all turned to look at him and immediately picked up on what he was referring to.

Sirens. Police cars. Red and blue lights filling the darkness. An ambulance following behind.

"Will..." Mike expressed all of your thoughts.

Your heart was stuck in your throat as you started following behind the commotion. You feared for the worst and hoped for the best.

You end up at the quarry. So many police cars in sight. As well as fire trucks and the ambulance... You didn't have much more hope now. You all hid behind a firetruck and watched in silence as police men were taking a body out of the lake.

"No, it's not Will. It can't be." Mike said, desperate for it to be true. But as you watched the body coming closer, its clothes made it as clear as the water it was in.

"Oh, God..." your hand covered your mouth as shock filled your body, the other one reaching for your brother.

"It's Will. It's really Will." Lucas said. You saw as Mike stepped backwards.

"Mike..." Eleven called out.

" 'Mike'? 'Mike' what? You were supposed to help us find him alive. You said he was alive! Why did you lie to us? What’s wrong with you? What is wrong with you?" he snapped at her and tears filled your eyes.

"Mike..."

"What?" he told her, not expecting an answer as he turned to get his bike and take off.

"Mike, come on. Don’t do this, man. Mike…" Lucas tried to stop him from leaving, but the boy had already made up his mind.

"Mike, where are you going? Mike!" Dustin cried out and you fell on your knees to hug him.

"Mike!" Lucas tried on more time, the tears wetting his cheeks. You motioned for him to hug you as well.

So you sat there for who knows how long hugging your brother and your friend, trying to stop the pain from taking control over your body and mind, your heart already shattered into pieces.

~~~

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