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benevolent-savage · 4 years

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this is what happens when u enable me lets go

(spoilers ahoy)

Firstly, here’s some somewhat miscellaneous reasons that don’t contribute to any sort of narrative analysis but are still parts of the character I like.

His boss fight is my favorite in the game thus far. It’s not super hard, but it isn’t super easy either, and I even managed to solo it on my Balance after a few practice rounds. Sufficiently challenging without feeling unfair.

His boss fight music. It is a bop and a half, go give it a listen, my soul ascends from my body a few centimeters every time I hear it start up.

His voice. I’m sure it’s processed at least a little but gotdamn his voice is so deep and spooky it startled me when I first heard it. Very curious who his actor is; I think he and Inyanga Whitestripes share the same one. Either way, very well voiced and acted.

His design is very good. It’s the perfect mix of innocuous but also spooky sorcerer fella who knows some shit. And I was afraid that the designers would try and make him like. Handsome? Under the hood? To try and make him more sympathetic? But they didn’t and I’m glad for it.

With those out of the way, the next thing to establish, I guess: I don’t interpret Old Cob to be the main villain of arc 3, nor do I interpret Raven as such. They’re definitely antagonists, but they’re not the ultimate problem; the ultimate problem is their divorce, and how they keep dragging people into their bs. It’s established the Aethyr is a physical manifestation of their anger towards each other, and as it thins, communication between them becomes possible, as Sparck puts it in this thinly veiled metaphor toward the start of Empyrea part 2.

But Cob’s still an antagonist and I love him so I’m gonna talk about that. Most of this is going to be talking about his motivations for doing what he does, since I don’t see him quite as the ‘likes to watch the world burn for the hell of it’ archetype that others might.

One of the reasons that drew me to his character is how legit his gripe is, when put in perspective. Old Cob- or Grandfather Spider, if you prefer- is not a mortal like the other antagonists of previous arcs, which establishes he has a different thought process right off the bat. This new universe was built on his suffering and he has a grudge against the ex wife who made it, so as a god, it makes some sense he’d try to destroy it and build one he would like better. He’s fully aware that what he is doing will hurt people but decidedly doesn’t care, and I appreciate that so much. He’s chaotic as fuck and he owns it, along with his superiority complex that’s as wide as the day is long.

Yet his reasoning is like. Weirdly understandable? Like, if my ex-whatever put me in jail for a lifetime sentence and stole my kidney to pay for a new house or something, I too would go apeshit and want my fuckin kidney back. That’s mostly how I interpret his situation. He’s not doing this for hell of it, he’s doing it because he wants to get back at his ex because he’s bitter and petty and for the most part he knows this but he feels justified in doing do because she ripped out his goddamn kidney- I mean heart, and he wants that back.

And then, even after all that, he and his magic are treated as if they’re inherently evil. While, sure, Shadow is a ‘dark magic’, its actual properties aren’t anything malicious by itself. It is described as “a magic that changes reality,” and that’s it. Incredibly exploitable and you should practice caution while handling it, but used correctly it is powerful and helpful; this is likely alluding to the backlash mechanic, where likes decrease the percent of damage you take, dislikes increase the percent, and I imagine the person meant to be the literal embodiment of the magic in question to be similar in nature: not inherently harmful and lashes out if he feels he’s been mistreated.

Going off that, I’m not sure he ever wanted the FirstWorld to be destroyed, and therefore believes his incarceration to be entirely unjust; he doesn’t deny that he instigated the fight between the Titans, but when it comes to being accused of its actual destruction, he gets angry.

...Okay the written text doesn’t really display how mad he got here, but he was like. Big Angy. Super offended. Honestly, a big part of why I love and analyze the hell out of his character comes from how his VA delivers his lines and his voice in general. If you haven’t heard it for some reason, I recommend looking it up. Anyway, here he’s basically saying he didn’t destroy the First World, and even if he did, he’s suffered enough punishment because of it, to my interpretation. The only one I remember blaming him for it is Raven; Bartleby was there, and I don’t recall him blaming anything other than the Titans for it. This is of course not accounting for the various changes made to the lore since he was introduced, but they could have easily thrown in a line like ‘And now Spider plans to destroy the Spiral the way he destroyed the FirstWorld!’ or something to make it clear it was done intentionally.

And this may very well be straying into headcanon territory here, but I think he holds positive relationships very closely to him, even if things went sour in the end; he clearly still has some remaining affection for the Titans, calling them ‘the children’ and being incredibly angry at Raven for forcing one of them to destroy his Heart.

When Rat loses in Polaris he shows up to praises his efforts and even comfort him, in his own weird way. He reprimanded Scorpion in Mirage, but it’s because Scorpion wasn’t doing what his dad asked him to and got his ass kicked as a result. As for Bat, every time they’re in the same room together he pays him some sort of compliment.

Bat claims that he and his brothers are meant to be his tools, and to some extent that’s true, but he also genuinely cares about them, and it’s really interesting to see a villain defect from the usual ‘not caring about anyone other than themselves’ and openly show affection for his kids while still managing to be an incredible asshole.

In line with this is his relationship with the Wizard. There is, of course, a foundation of manipulation to their dynamic, at least to some degree. I thoroughly believe that Spider was overshadowing Coleridge, at least partly, so our character could bust him out of prison.

And while this is happening, he regains some of his spent power and removes threats to it as well, namely Morganthe, using the Wizard’s help. In fact, I have very little doubt that he was at least partially responsible for her fall; his timing on that two-liner was too on the nose.

But even with that, I think he genuinely treasures the Wizard’s help and company, which is why he attempts on four different occasions to either sway them to his side, or warn them away from what he’s doing.

Boy, I want that vacation, but it’s your fault I’m here.

And then, of course, his relationship with Raven, something that is basically a summation of his character arc. Laden with baggage and tragic in concept, it is my belief that most of what he’s doing isn’t because he genuinely hates the Spiral or he wants to get back at her, but because he loved her and treasured their relationship; so upon her mistreating him, he lashed out at everything she’d made and detested it as a result. But only because he felt betrayed and hurt so he has to inflict that on other people because he is, as aforementioned, a petty and bitter old fuck.

Moving off that line of thinking, an admirable quality he possesses is how smart he is. This guy has so many wrinkles in his brain it must look like a raisin. Well, perhaps not ‘smart’ exactly, but how good he is at manipulating certain situations to his advantage. Like in Mirage; you just know that he was fully expecting Mellori to be there and fully planned to use her as a back up plan, or you could even argue that the whole debacle in Mirage was a ploy to get his hands on her, while having the added possible benefit of things actually working out.

Actually his scheme in Mirage was really interesting now that I think about it. His aim was to turn back time to when the FirstWorld was whole, further implying that he never wanted its destruction in the first place. It would also, of course, be a time where he had his Heart and would have the ability to avoid having it ripped out again. This would involve not having the Titans fight each other again, or at least not starting it and suffering the consequences. It would be everything he wanted to achieve knocked out in one go with minimal muss or fuss, compared to other methods. It’s probably a part of why he shows up personally to bargain with Eerkala and the Cabal, and why he directly intervenes in our Wizard’s efforts to stop him; it was too important to trust to any of his kids, so knowing Scorpion probably wouldn’t have been able to execute it anyway, he used his kid as a distraction for the most part.

I also like looking into the fact that his element, besides Shadow, is Storm, as opposed to pure Shadow or Death, as most major antagonists are. Storm is a school based on invention, experimentation and improvement. This is something that interests me for two reasons: one, the magic of major antagonists is always a part of their character, Malistaire the most blatantly, and two, because of this line he says in Mirage.

To my interpretation, this would imply that he sees the Spiral as something that could be improved. And as a god, he would of course find it his obligation to try and fix this flaw. When he made the barter with the Cabal, I don’t doubt he was being at least partially honest about restoring the FirstWorld; it would certainly fix the flaw it has in the context of stealing his internal organs, but he would also probably seek to improve it, make it more suited to Shadow or something.

Something else I find intriguing is how weirdly honest he is; I don’t recall him ever lying to us once, unless you count omitting certain facts as lying. But that’s absolutely something I can see him using against people, like “I didn’t lie to you, I just didn’t tell you, your fault for not asking ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .” As said before, he;s really good at manipulating people and he weaponizes whatever he can; @that-wizard-oki made a really great post about how he uses conflicts- his fault or not- to his advantage, and does his own thing in the background without interruption, Mirage and Neumia probably being the best example of this, with Scorpion and the Cabal serving as distractions while he either carries out things himself or gives instructions.

To pull all of this together narratively, I think it’s important to consider this line from Mellori during one of their confrontations:

He feels powerless, so he puffs up his god status. He has little power to fight with, compared to before, so he mostly manipulates and creates back-up plans while causing conflicts to serve as distractions. His love hurt him, so he lashes out at others and drags them into his problems.

You may ask, “But Sam, these are all bad qualities, why should we like him because of this?” And I would respond “Because it makes him a complex and interesting antagonist.” The kind of character that executes his shitty actions in such a way that you can’t help but respect- even just for the level of dramatics put in to it- while also having a motive that makes you stop and consider that maybe he has a point but is very much handling the situation the wrong way.

Like, c’mon, he ticks so many villain boxes. Tragic backstory? Check. Blatant thespian who owns it? Check. Gets his hands dirty before the climax of the story? Check. Smart/ manipulative/ has back-up plans? Check. Understandable, strong motives? Check.

He’s got layers. Like onion. I felt like there was always something new to discover about him, and for that I can assert my opinion that he’s one of the best characters in Wizard101.

lmao if you read this far into my simp-for-shithead post congrats. feel free to shoot me more asks on the subject bc i cant write persuasive-essay-esque format anymore my brain is rotting. if you will excuse me, im off to listen to the chronoverge combat track for the 82937487734th time

#i get that a lot of people havent gotten far enough into the game to meet him but I ENCOURAGE U TO TRY BC HE'S A GOOD AND FUN CHARACTER OKAY #i need more cob content >:U #wizard101 #w101

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sevenringsblingbling · 5 years

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Sienna and Colson part 5

Word count: 2,087

@creatureofthen1ght-v3 <3

As we everyone else chowed down on their breakfast all I could do was push the food around on my plate. Turned off by the eggs and pancakes in front of me. I would take small bites just so no one would suspect anything. On the ride back home I could sense tension starting to build between us. It also didn't help that Colson and I wanted to do more drugs and the weird thing about coke is that once you hit the first line you just want to keep the party going, it's an agonizing cycle. “I'm gonna take a quick shower. You staying or what?” The tone in his voice was flat almost as if he was pissed off and wanted me to leave. “So you sound like you want me gone?” I sat on the edge of the bed putting my shoes on. He sucked his teeth. “Alright don't start that shit Sienna. I'm already agitated.” He took out his phone and started scrolling. “Calling one of your little hoes? Fine! So selfish!” I pushed on his forehead walking past to get my bag. If he wanted me gone then fine. I could take a hint.

“Get your ass back here!” He yanked my arm pulling me back towards him. “Ow! What are you trying to break it?!” He took a deep sigh and rubbed his head. “Sorry but fuck Sienna, you know that shit pisses me off and I’m fucking tired and I..you know how I get when I’m on this shit. Just chill.” I nodded my head slowly and laid down stretching my body out. “So umm you got anymore?” I could feel physically my body was getting tired but my brain was still wired. Sleep wasn't happening anytime soon thanks to the nose candy so I had nothing but time to kill. “Oh yeah.” He reached for a gym bag in the closet and took out another eight ball but I was determined not to clean the whole bag just a little would be fine. He chopped up a few lines with a credit card on the dresser. “Ladies first” He handed me the steel straw. My mouth was watering for this. I snorted two lines as fast as I could. It hit me immediately. “Oh my god.” I stumbled back almost falling down but Colson caught me.

“Woah party girl go easy on this shit.” He laughed helping me back on my feet. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might jump out my chest. “I can’t it's so good baby.” I walked over to the mini fridge and popped open a beer. Colson turned around from the dresser “My fucking face is so numb.” His eyes were glassy but still he was beautiful to me. We legit talked our faces off about everything under the sun. On his third trip up to the dresser I started feeling a little concerned. He was snorting way too much in such a short period of time. “Heyy big head um don't you think it's time to sober up?” He shrugged his shoulder and did another bump. “Colson chill out on that shit. I’m serious.” He ignored my pleas. “Shut up already. I know my limit.” With his back turned toward me. I stood up stretching my legs. This fool was still doing little bumps.

“Colson! Fucking stop!” I put my hand on his shoulder and turned him around. “You need to chill out on this shit. Really though we need to stop using it. I've already lost fifteen pounds and I feel like shit half the time. This is too much.” I took a deep breath. When I first used I thought it would just be something fun to get into party mode but it was starting to get out of control. “And you’ve been losing weight too. I'm scared, you're getting too thin.” He just sucked his teeth. “I'm not stopping. You can do what you want but this is how I cope.” I wasn't surprised by his answer. His stubbornness wouldn't let me have the last word. “Are you fucking kidding me? Colson look things have been bad for awhile now. We need to stop this. It's getting out of hand.” He ignored my pleas and turned back around. “Your fucking heart is going to explode you idiot!” “Well at least I’d die with a big bang.” He just laughed it off sniffing his nose. “Fuck it then! I'm so out of here.”

He yanked my hair back hard. “You little slut get your ass back here!” I fell against the foot of the bed hitting my head. My body throbbing. “Fuck you Colson!” I kicked him in the stomach with my heel. Not caring that his shirt ripped a little hole in it. He jumped on top of me mushing my face against the comforter. “I’ll fucking kill you and the cops will never find your body.” A tear streamed down my cheek. I felt scared and alone. I wasn’t sure if he meant it or not. Just then there was a knock on the door. We both stopped in our tracks. “Ayy what the fuck is going on in there?” It was Slim’s voice. He got off of me and walked over to the door cracking it just enough “We good. No worries.” I guess Slim could hear my cries and nudged the door open a little more. There I was in a curled up ball on the floor. Hair a mess hugging my thighs.

“Bro what the fuck!” He pushed the door open walking over to me. “Are you okay Sie?” I muffled a “No.” I was crying so hard. Not only was I in shock but now embarrassed that his friend caught us like this. “Get out!” Colson screamed at his friend. Slim looked around and saw the coke sprawled on the dresser and shook his head. “Bro what the fuck? You can’t keep living like this.” Colson just shook his head and laughed. “You taking up for this hoe? Ya’ll two fucking behind my back or something.” I couldn't believe Colson would stoop so low and make crazy ass accusations. “What? Colson you’re not making sense right now.” Slim walked to him. “Nah what's not making sense is that you’re taking up for her! You know what, I’ve seen the way ya’ll look at eachother I’m not fucking stupid.” They stood face to face and up until now I’d never seem things get so bad. They were brothers.

“That's enough Colson! You’re crazy.” I stood up and grabbed my bag. “You know what get the fuck out!” He pushed me out the bedroom door. Slim touched his shoulder. “Bro chill she’s gonna call the cops.” Colson swatted his hand off. “Don’t fucking touch me. You like this hoe so much well go with her!” “What?!” “Get the fuck out! Both of you!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Colson this is your brother, you stop this right now and apologize!” He walked past both of us storming into Slims room and throwing his stuff down the stairs. “I want you out of my fucking house!” Slim stood there in shock. Colson was throwing down all of his stuff. Electronics, shoes, clothes, hats it didn't matter.

All of the guys downstairs rushed up to see what what going on. Slim and Colson were yelling having a shoving match. Things had escalated so fast I didn't know what to do. “What the fuck?” One of the guys asked, looking at everything on the steps. “He’s coked out! Accusing me and shit!” Slim shoved Colson and fist started flying. Baze tried to break it up. “Stop!” He turned to Colson. “Bro your fucked up for this.” Colson was at a loss for words he balled up his fist and punched a hole in the wall right above my head. His knuckle started bleeding. “Colson you're scaring me.” I slid down the wall in hopes to just disappear from all of this. Everyone was silent for a moment. Colson cleared his throat. “I want all out you out of my fucking house! Taking up for this whore.” This was the worst day of my life. I couldn't believe it.

Rather than fight more all the guys gathered what they could and left the house. Sienna was torn all to pieces. One of the guys were kind enough to call her an Uber home. She was in no shape to drive. They all decided to crash at a friend's house until Colson got his act together. It was a stressful time for all of them. One day out the blue Colson sent a group text explaining everything that happened and promised to get professional help. Saying that he needed his brothers by his side and he would never fight them again. Colson was especially choked up explaining to Slim everything. They were like blood brothers who had been through so much shit together he didn't want to throw in the towel on something so silly. Meanwhile some time passed and Sie hadn’t heard anything from Colson. She didn’t know what to think. Was he sorry for what he had done? Was he in rehab? How was he holding up? Sie checked his social media and saw a post five days ago that had all the guys with the caption “brothers4L” Sie was happy to see this but he hadn’t even sent her a text to see how she was.

Some time had passed and I was determined to move on with my life. Men come and go and I needed a fresh start for my body and mind. I had gained a few pounds back and was going walking every morning. One morning in particular something caught me off guard. I got dressed as usual and did my thirty minute walk on a trail I frequented. When I got back home there were rose petals at my doorstep, confused I opened the door and to my surprise there were roses everywhere! On the table, floor, just all over. I was in shock. “Oh my.” I smiled. I saw a note on top off the bouquet of roses on the coffee table it read:

I know I’m a fuck up and don’t deserve someone as sweet as you and hopefully you find it in your heart to give me another chance. I miss you like crazy. I want to see you. I'm getting help, I swear. I just..you know this industry shit has me fucked up but anyways meet me at our usual dinner spot tonight. I want to talk to you about something important. I got something for you on your bed. See you at nine thirty.

I was in shock. This came out of nowhere and I had to admit I wanted to see him badly. I needed to look in his eyes. My bed was covered in rose petals and on top was a red satin box. I sat down and opened it. There it was in all its beauty, a blinged out diamond choker. “Wow this is gorgeous.” I laid back taking it all in. finally we would be face to face. I know I said I wanted to move on but not now. Besides, I had to see what this ‘something important’ was about.

By nine-fifteen I was putting the finishing touches on my makeup. I had to look my best tonight. I had to show him how royally he screwed up. I was certain he was still sleeping with other women. Colson wouldn't go weeks without sex. I chalked it up to being a man thing but that didn't mean he cared about those other girls. I took a deep breath and tried not to focus on that. I put on a little black dress and matching shoes along with the choker. “Oww you looking goodt girlie. Eat your heart out Colson.” I looked in the mirror recording a video feeling like one of those instagram baddies. Just then there was a knock on the door. I opened. It was a young man dressed like a limo driver “Good evening ma'am. This is for you.“ He handed me a gift bag filled with my favorite snacks and goodies. I swear colson knew me too well. “I was told to drive you to a um.” He looked down at his phone. “A Tres Leche. On Downton Boulevard.” Welp here we go.

#machine gun kelly #mgk #mgk imagine #mgk fanfic #mgk imagines #imagines #colson baker #fanfic #fanficton #fantasy #gunner #seven

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pi-cat000 · 6 years

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MSA time travel idea (part 21)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Vivi POV, 8, 9, 10, Lewis POV, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, Lance POV 18, 19, Lewis POV.2

Part 22: here

“We’ll be fine,” Vivi reassures Arthur for a third time, spinning to face him, backing up past the assortment of haphazardly constructed ‘keep out’ and ‘danger!’ signage. Behind her looms the cave’s gaping entrance.

“We’ve been through a ton of caves. The worst thing that could happen? We, maybe, get swarmed by some bats,” She continues upon seeing Arthur’s continued hesitation.

“Ah, how about a cave in?” He points out leerily, eyeing jagged stone formations framing the entryway.

“No seismic activity in the area, I checked,” Vivi declares, whirling to march forward, glancing back to call, “You boys coming or what.”

Mystery bounds off after Vivi, leaving him to shoot an apprehensive glance at Lewis. The larger man shrugs, putting a comforting hand across Arthur's shoulder blades, “If this has you really worried we can always wait out here while Vivi takes her supernatural readings.”

Arthur sighs, tempted to take him up on offer, “No. It’s fine. Probably best not to let Vivi go spelunking with only Mystery as back up.”

“Probably,” Lewis laughs, patting his shoulder once then stepping forward, “Just stick behind me. I’m sure this will be just as boring as all the other caves we’ve walked through.”

“Yeah. ‘Boring’…Sure. That’s not the word I’d use but, whatever, let’s go with boring,” Arthur grumbles, shadowing Lewis up to the entrance. The ground underfoot transitions sharply from spotted green to dead twigs and dusty rock.

“Creepy,” Arthur eyes the unnaturally straight line, cutting the cave off from its surroundings. Lewis snorts, amused by his muttering-at least someone is having a good time-walking into the dark like this isn’t the most unnerving place they’ve been to so far.

Just inside the dimly lit opening, he spots Vivi, who’s wrestling with a wrought iron canister holding what appeared to be old-style wooden torches.

“Hey guys, check these out! Mood lighting! ” She calls with apparent gusto. Better make that two people having a good time.

“Lewis. You still have those matches on you, right? I think there’s still oil on these.”

Lewis trades his box of matches for the wooden torch, holding it out while Vivi grapples around attempting to light it. Arthur is surprised the old torch has lasted this long. They can’t have been the only ones dumb enough to explore a ‘haunted’ cave at night. Surely, some other idiot would have used them up before now.

“Can’t we just use the flashlights?” Arthur comments in conjunction with Vivi’s resounding "YES" of triumph. The stone walls around them come to life with a flickering orange glow. High, arched ceilings, almost two stories tall, provide an abundance of space. Arthur can now see several meters down a long tunnel before darkness overtakes it again. He shivers, peering at the many cracks and holes dotting the roof and walls. Everything is coated in a thin layer of green moss which catches the torchlight, giving a green tint. In other words, it looks freaky and unnatural.

“Well, this just went up several points on the Creepy-O-Meter,” He laments, resigning himself to an evening of jumping at pebbles coming loose from the ceiling, gusts of wind, and his own shadow.

“I know! It’s great isn’t it?” Vivi twists, grinning ridiculously, now holding a torch in each hand.

“Watch where you wave those Viv,” Lewis dodges back and avoids a face full of fire, reaching out and plucking the nearest torch from Vivi, “You almost got my hair with that one.”

“Whoops sorry,” A sheepish Vivi shoots Lewis an apologetic glance before carefully lifting her remaining torch to get a better look at the cavernous structures around them. A few seconds of fascinated gawking pass, while both his friends take in their strange new environment.

“You have to admit, this is a lot cooler than a graveyard or an old house,” Vivi voices in awe, moving deeper into the tunnel. She’s got an energetic spring to her step mirrored by Mystery trotting at her heels. No attention is afforded to the spooky shadows, shrinking away from the torchlight, rushing to close in behind them. It’s admirable.

“Maybe there’ll be an actual ghost this time and not a dude playing dress up?” Lewis adds, glancing about, holding his torch higher, “Definitely has the ambience for it.”

Arthur shuffles closer to Vivi, so he’s sandwiched between the two of them. This way he’ll have plenty of warning when the freaky cave monster leaps out to get them.

“One can only hope,” Vivi laments loudly. Her voice echoes, bouncing along the slimy green walls until it’s swallowed up by the dark. Arthur shudders. Is it just him or does it feel like the cave is listening?

“Ah. Objection,” He interjects, lowering his voice, so it doesn’t jump around like Vivi’s, “A dude in a sheet is plenty scary, thanks. No need for anything esle.”

Lewis laughs from behind, also lowering his voice to a whisper, “Like weird-scary or scary-scary?”

Arthur throws a half-serious glare over his shoulder, retorting, “Both.”

Further conversation is put on pause when they hit a fork in the otherwise straightforward tunnel. The two passageways are significantly smaller, a foot higher than Lewis, and narrower, twisting away from the central shaft. Both are equally uninviting, ghostly, glowing a poisonous green in the torchlight. His shadowed silhouette, elongated in the firelight, appears to shift unnaturally, skittering away into the gloom. Arthur blinks, focusing attention on the spot. There’s nothing there but ordinary rock.

“Let’s split up,” Vivi’s announcement draws Arthur’s concentration away from studying the walls for shadow creatures.

“What?”

Lewis is nodding along, considering both passageways seriously.

“No way,” Arthur waves his arms to catch their attention, wincing at his own volume, then whispering, “Splitting up is a terrible idea. When has splitting up ever worked well for anyone.”

“If we split up we’ll cover more ground and get through the cave system faster,” Vivi points out, already searching through her small rucksack.

“Just remember to take lots of photos. Here have my spare EMF meter,” She shoves the ‘totally legit’ ghost detection devise, an audio recorder, and notepad into Lewis’s free hand, “Don’t forget to actually press record this time when stuff happens, and write a note, so we know to cross check it later.”

"Sure," Lewis pockets the equipment with a laugh,

Arthur slaps a hand over his eyes, groaning. Why are his friends a pair of walking clichés?

“Lewis. You go with Arthur. He’ll need the moral support more than I will.”

“Hey,” His protest is half-hearted.

“I’ll take Mystery down that tunnel. Let’s meet up in, say, an hour and report our findings.”

Vivi walks purposefully forward before pausing to add, “Oh and if it gets too maze-like come back here, so you don’t get lost,” Another step, “And don’t fall down any holes.”

“We’ll be fine,” Lewis reassures, amused, slinging an arm out and catching Arthur before he can duck away, “Arthur’s got my back.”

Arthur suffers the semi-headlock with crossed arms and a stony expression. It’s not that he really believes they’ll run into trouble it’s more a matter of principle at this point. All it does is make Vivi snort in good humour then hide a grin behind her hand.

“See you boys in an hour,” A cheery wave and Vivi marches away, looking for all the world like a person having the time of their life.

“You okay there Arthur,” Lewis loosens his arm, glancing down. There is genuine concern in his tone now, eyes scanning Arthur for signs of discomfort. Arthur forcibly shelves his exasperation. No need to bring down the mood. Not when this is the first time in weeks he’s been exclusively in either Lewis or Vivi’s company.

A long exhale, and he ducks to disentangle himself from the larger man’s arm, “Yeah. Come on. Let’s go poke around a dark, damp, tunnel some more.” He injects as much enthusiasm as he can muster, but it ends up more sarcastic.

Lewis hits him with a knowing smile, offering, “Here I’ll go first.”

His friend takes a confident step forward, holding the torch high to provide them with maximum visibility. Arthur follows close behind, trying not to get too freaked out at the way the cave walls seem to shift unnaturally in the uneven light. It’s just his overactive mind seeing familiar patterns where there were none. That was all.

Down the gloomy stone tunnel, they go, flickering fire illuminating Lewis’s silhouette and the narrow walls enclosing them. Nervously, Arthur picks up his pace, tailing as close to Lewis’s back as he can get. Occasionally, he bumps into the other man when Lewis stops abruptly to examine part to the scenery. Lewis doesn’t appear to mind, being more interested in sporadic wooden support beams which arise from time to time. Everything is pretty much identical until the narrow tunnel opens suddenly to reveal a spacious cavern.

It’s huge. Dotted with wicked sharp stalagmites and stalactites which both hang from the ceiling and raise up from the ground like clawed fingers, it dwarfs them both.

Lewis immediately steps out of the tunnel onto a narrow ledge extending into empty space, transfixed by the stunning view. Arthur makes to follow. Distracted, he stumbles, hand brushing against the cave walls for support. Pain shoots through the limb, and Arthur stops, staring at the appendage, confused. Had he cut himself? He doesn’t appear to be injured.

“Hey, Arthur! Come check out this view!”

Lewis is now standing near the end of the wedge-shaped platform, peering down at the steep drop. Cautiously, Arthur inches out after him, eyeing the pointed rock formations far below. The way they catch and reflect the torchlight is almost menacing.

Would be such a shame if someone were to fall.

His left leg twitches, and he almost stumbles right into Lewis. Arthur finds himself unfocussed, and he hesitates behind the larger man. What is he doing again? Why is Lewis so close all of a sudden?

His arm is completely numb. It’s tuned an unnatural sickly green colour. The same colour as the walls. That's not normal. A twitch. Arthur watches, confused when his limb jerks up. A second too late he realises that he’s not the one moving it. In an action almost too quick to follow the arm lashes out.

“Lew…” The words of warning are choked off. Lewis turns, too slow to prevent the shove but quick enough that Arthur sees his shocked, betrayed expression. Lewis tumbles backward, face frozen in confusion.

A surprised yell.

Gravity rips Lewis from where he seems to hover mid-air, dragging him down.

He drops.

His friend’s panicked horror is the last of him Arthur sees. A wet thump. The yell is cut abruptly.

Silence.

“Ouch. Right through the chest. That’s never fun,” The foreign words vibrate in Arthur's chest, accompanied by an unpleasant laugh.

Down, far below on the cavern floor, is Lewis. Unmoving. Arthur wants to scream. He needs to scream, but his jaw is locked shut. Part of his vision goes dark. With his remaining good eye, he can see his arm moving, squirming about like it’s got a mind of its own.

No. No. No. This isn’t him. IT’S NOT HIM!!!

A jaw filled with rows of shiny white teeth clamps down on the writhing appendage. A flash of bright red. His arm is twisting, being ripped away. The force of the impact spins him around, putting him face-to-face with a giant canine creature. Red. There’s lots of red. His vision is failing. A warm haze gathers over his thoughts, mercifully pulling him from reality.

“Ah Shit,” He hears himself swear over the oppressive throbbing in his head and the growls of the monster above.

“...And STOP...”

The world freezes. Arthur freezes. It’s like someone’s hit the pause button on reality. Suspended, frozen halfway between falling to his knees and standing, Arthur hangs in place. Vaguely, he recognises Mystery looming over him, also frozen, green-hued arm between his teeth. Arthur’s disembodied arm.

“Sloppy. Very sloppy.”

The voice doesn’t echo like sound should in this stone, cavernous environment. It’s detached. Footsteps dull and artificial, mismatched on the rock floor, draw closer. A shadowed figure walks around from behind. Arthur, still immobile, tracks the progress of a lanky man, sporting spiked yellow hair, a familiar orange vest and flat running shoes. Aside from the sickly, off green, skin tone, it looks like him. Another him.

The doppelganger moves up to examine Mystery and the arm dangling from his jaws, shaking its head in disappointment, “Should have known there was something weird about the dog. It’s always the pets.”

Arthur doesn’t care for whatever this creature is saying because, down below, just behind him, is Lewis body. He’d just pushed Lewis off the cliff.

“To think, that could have been me, stuck in some rotting limb. Ugh. Gross.”

He killed Lewis.

NOTE: It’s the obligatory flashback episode. It only took 30 000 + words, but Arthur finally remembers. Hope I did The Cave scene justice.

Part 22: here

#MSA #mystery skulls animated #fanfiction #fanfic #arthur kingsmen #the demon #graphic descriptions of violence #possible disturbing imagery #mind control #posession #dark #coarse language #flashback #canon character death #angst #yeah arthur's definitely in trouble

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drawingwithgreen13 · 6 years

Text

Things that don’t get as much attention in Be More Chill as they should (based on the original bootleg and audio)

Gonna put them under a read more coz this list is L O N G

Jeremy lifts his shirt up in his bathroom to look for muscles

Jeremy thinks of Robert De Niro as a ‘hero’ and a cool guy

Rich literally lifting Jeremy up by his shirt collar when Gerard’s legit 5′4

I’d say Jeremy sounds genuinely interested in play rehearsal but a lot of people already know about that

Pretty much all the shenanigans that go on during the first classroom scene, like Rich doing the finger-through-hand fucking thing to Michael

Jeremy outright says he has small nuts

Michael wears his hoodie all the time until he sees Jeremy

Michael knows about Jeremy’s thing for Christine and is supportive of him!

Jeremy writes letters to Christine

Rich doesn’t actually point to Jeremy when yelling ‘gay!’, he just holds his fist up (or he points with his pinkie, I didn’t see)

Jeremy gets surprised by Michael when the two are at the door to play rehearsal, which is where the line ‘I guess evolution's not for everyone...’ comes from

MICHAEL THREATENS TO MOCK JEREMY FOREVER IF HE DOESN’T GO TO REHEARSAL WHAT A NERD

Christine tries to make a joke

Christine knows about sex and makes jokes based on it (’You’re a virgin. First play rehearsal!’ ‘You never forget your first...play rehearsal!’)

All the shenanigans happening in the background of Mr Reyes talking about the play (Jake pumping his fist up when Mr Reyes talks about the sport team and RICH GOING ON HIS KNEES TO PULL A CHAIR UP FOR BROOKE TO SIT ON)

Mr Reyes hugging Christine after saying Shakespeare is dead

Jake trying to be smooth with Christine and Christine obviously being kind of bothered by it, but trying to be kind

THE LITTLE EXTRA PART JEREMY SINGS WHERE HE TALKS ABOUT HAVING A BREAKDOWN THIS BOY HAS HAD BREAKDOWNS FROM NERVES

Rich’s hips during ‘confidence’, you know the one

Rich slapping himself for talking with his lisp

Rich pretty much hinting that he has a small dick

Whatever those weird hand things he was doing were during the ‘it’s from Japan’ part

Slide-y slide-y ‘IT’S FROM JAPAAAAAAAN’

How when Rich sings the next part, a robotic voice plays in the background, almost like it’s his SQUIP talking...?

More hip wiggles

‘TEENAGE ROCKSTAR SPLENDOR’ AIR MICROPHONE AND MORE HIP WIGGLES

Jeremy is a clean freak by the looks of it (’Aren’t you gonna wash your hands?)

Rich’s dancing (THE SHIRT LIFT THO)

How Rich flushes the urinal at the end

All the shenanigans during Two Player Game (stealing controllers from each other, switching beanbags, Michael fucking Tickling Jeremy)

The boys like Nintendo!

Jeremy getting annoyed at Michael’s constant ‘coooool at college’es

Mr Heere entering his son’s room, knowing fully that there’s a guest in there, WITHOUT PANTS

‘Are you hanging out with a girl? Oh...hey, Michael.’

Mr Heere was gonna order pizza for them aww

Michael sounds genuinely concerned when Jeremy talks bad about his parents

Jeremy legit flips Michael off after he says ‘favouwite person’

Michael reminding Jeremy to get to the point during the SQUIP deal

Scary Stockboy is more of a drama queen than Mr Reyes, who’s a drama teacher

Michael’s ‘whatever’ look at Stockboy’s ‘I DON’T KNOW WHY!’

The fact that the ‘pumps’ line was improvised

Jeremy was willing to share the SQUIP with Michael

‘I like to think that some day, you’ll owe me one’ FORESHADOWING

Mountain Dew can apparently be sold in cups?

Jeremy likes chilly fries apparently

Jenna immediately going to record Jeremy spasming on the ground

(The rest is just gonna be from the audio now) Jeremy sounding high as fuck when he says ‘you look like...Keanu Reeves’

Eric not being able to do a British accent for the life of him

How fucking excited Jeremy sounds when he says ‘LIKE IN X-MEN??’

Jeremy’s first independent shirt choice was...a girl’s shirt. What does that imply with his fashion sense? Or maybe he’s so thin only girl’s tops can fit

Chloe making Madeline sounds like the person who murdered her entire family in front of her

How fittig Lauren’s singing style is for ‘Do You Wanna Ride’ like wow?

CHLOE SINGS WITH BROOKE LIKE WHAT, CHLOE WAIT UNTIL ACT 2

The scene where Jeremy is tiredly singing before going to sleep and the SQUIP calling him ‘slugger’

Chloe is, like...really selfish. The way she talks to Christine about Jake makes it clear she isn’t over him

Christine sounding genuinely upset that Jake didn’t go to play rehearsal, and not just sad-upset. She sounds legit betrayed

Jeremy and Christine slow dance Jeremy lifts Christine up and spins her do you see the love in his eyes when he’s looking at her

How well Will C’s and Stephanie’s voices go together

The SQUIP literally breaking ‘cause Christine said she liked Jake

The fucking volleyball line, SQUIP you’re gross

How convincing Will C’s crying is (side note but hearing him cry makes me think back to the fact that during one show he legit started sobbing during the ‘everything about you is so terrible’ line and the show had to stop to calm him down)

BROOKE IS A GOOD GF WHOEVER SHE ENDS UP WITH IN THE FUTURE IS LUCKY

‘Super old and kinda mean to women’

The SQUIP saying he ‘didn’t exactly’ kill Eminem, when in fact, it didn’t kill Eminem, at all. It just predicted a favourable possible outcome for it happening

This isn’t an underappreciated part but I need to bring it up. They straight up killed Eminem (this happened in the book too like Ned u good?)

‘Our future is so clear’ is Brooke thinking about her and Jeremy’s future together?

Whatever her and the SQUIP are doing to Jeremy to make him question his sexuality

WILL C LEGIT SOUNDS LIKE A YOUNG BOY OR A GIRL WHEN HE REPEATS THE ‘UPGRADE’S

Jake is a good boyfriend if kinda a dick at points

Jake Boyd can fuck me up

Eric going l o w when singing with Jeremy at the ‘Christiiiiine’ part

Jeremy gets overwhelmed by voices in his head

The SQUIP is okay to just...leave Jeremy’s head

Michael gets genuinly sassy when he’s upset

Despite Jeremy ignoring him all day, he’s still super excited and happy for Jeremy when he finds that the SQUIP worked

Jeremy literally stating that being honest doesn’t get him anywhere

How we never see Michael’s reaction to Jeremy optic-nerve blocking him? Like, we don’t know if he was sad or angry or confused or all three?

Brooke is a flirt when it coms to Halloween costumes

Jake has...a condom. As if that’s the only thing he’s bringing to the party

Rich has an older brother! Who happens to have a Jason mask

Also, a loaf of bread...

Jeremy being a n e r d with his costume

Apparently the SQUIP wears a Matrix costume?? There’s no bootleg with that footage but wow

Jake not understanding how to treat his girlfriend 101

Rich getting sad during the last ‘It’s Halloween’s

Chloe thinks Jeremy is cute

Chloe is, indeed, probably worse then Madeline when it comes to the sluttiness

Jeremy trying his best to be kind and polite even when Chloe’s pretty much on top of him

Chloe’s ‘flask’ is a baby bottle

THE SQUIP MAKES JEREMY DRINK IT CHLOE DOESN’T FORCE HIM

They actually kiss

The SQUIP actually speaking correct Japanese (and Eric speaking it well)

Chaos

Michael thinks his ‘clever disguise’ isn’t clever at all, judging by his tone

Jeremy and Michael had been friends for 12 years

Joe T took the part in the book where Michael said his BROTHER took a SQUIP and changed it so that someone ELSE’S brother took it instead (side note, this probably makes more sense considering Michael has two mums)

Michael thinks that Jeremy just wants sex with Christine

Will C’s acting is oof so good

Apparently Michael makes a lot of awkward movements with his arms during Michael In The Bathroom, which I find interesting

Also apparently Chloe’s the one knocking?

The scene where Jeremy and Christine talk o the couch

How upset Christine is that Jake and Chloe are having sex, so maybe Christine saw their relationship as more then just romantic...?

‘Popular people are messed up!’ Christine isn’t popular

The monster on the couch making weird noises along with Christine and Jeremy, and all of them laughing

Christine pretty much admitting that she may have feelings for Jeremy, too

Ok I wanted to make a post about this by itself but I need to mention it here, too. When Jeremy says ‘I thought we were friends’, do you hear how angry he sounds? How...almost selfish he sounds? It’s like the SQUIP made him act like he was entitled

The fact that apparently Rich wasn’t drunk or high during the party, so his actions were done while he was sober

Jenna’s ‘WAaAaAoOoHh’

Chloe straight up lying to Brooke about the sexcapade for the sake of them to maintain their friendship

How quick Brooke is to forgive her

How scarily accurate school tragedies are treated during The Smartphone Hour? Like, people make a big deal out of it, only because it’s drama. Like, seriously, the ‘R-I-C-H, can’t you see just how much I love your tragedy?’ almost gave me chills

Jenna, Chloe and Brooke all say Rich is their best friend for no reason? They just say it just ‘cause? What’s up with that huh

Mr Heere is so broken and lazy that he doesn’t even know his own son is starring in a play

How they kept the SQUIP giving Jeremy instructions, like, they didn’t forget about that good job Joe

Jeremy can drive, apparently? Unless that was the SQUIP’s doing like in the book

Jeremy sounds so frustrated with his dad for all the times he wasn’t there for him, due to his mother leaving. In my opinion? He totally deserved to say that

Paul sounds like he’s crying when the first part of ‘The Pants Song’ is playing?

HE LEAVES THE HOUSE WITH NO PANTS MR HEERE ARE YOU GOOD

What shirt is Michael even wearing

He and Jeremy like Weird Al!

The fact Michael tries to hide the blunt from Mr Heere

The fact that Mr Heere thinks its incense

When Mr Heere says ‘do you love him?’ and Michael responds with ‘...what?’ he doesn’t sound like he’s been caught, it sounds more like he’s genuinly confused as to why he was asked that, so maybe it wasn’t intended to be romantic?

Mr Heere calls Jeremy a little shit and I love that so much

Michael is aware of how much of a ‘not-dad’ Mr Heere has been and calls him out on it

Again, how school tragedies are really treated is scarily accurate. It’s clear Christine’s saying what she’s saying because obviously you’re an asshole if you ignore the person in the hospital from a fire, even if you never talked to them

‘Break a leg!’ ‘Not cool’

Jeremy saying that Christine didn’t help him figure himself out, right after she asked. Wow Jeremy way to be an ass

Mr Reyes being the understudy for two characters like damn

(I forgot to talk about The Pitiful Children so I’ll talk about it here) how quickly Jenna is ready to take a SQUIP, thinking it’s a drug

The SQUIP thinks that showing sadness is a human error

ALSO FORGOT TO MENTION THIS EARLIER BUT THE SQUIP WEARS DIFFERENT OUTFITS

How Joe T literally couldn't’t make it anymore obvious that the drink for the play was gonna SQUIP the whole cast

Mr Reyes wants to go to Broadway

The SQUIP’s mock sigh

Michael literally refusing to give Jeremy the MDR ‘cause he wants an apology

The SQUIP blocks Jeremy from speaking

How they’re both arguing while the SQUIP makes Jeremy physically fight Michael

Michael likes to eat eel

Jeremy and Michael are jealous of each other

Oh yeah uh Michael is high throughout all of this

How Will C’s voice breaks when he says ‘I’m SORRY!’

‘Actually, that doesn’t sound weird at all’ Jake what do you like to watch online

Jake says ‘Upgrade! Upgrade! GOD, I love me!’

Chloe thought Jeremy slept with Brooke

Michael doesn’t like girly stuff by his ‘ugh...’

Jenna seems to have been given the power to tell what happens through her mind or something?

When Christine sings about wanting to be with Jeremy. I’m like 95% sure that’s not just her SQUIP telling her to say that

Jeremy made Christine drink the MDR, not knowing that it was gonna get rid of all of the SQUIPS. He willingly offered to sacrifice his happiness and freedom for the sake of freeing Christine. If y’all think that he just has some sorta puppy crush on her, I don’t know what to think

Not super unappreciated but Michael screaming with the others ‘cause he’s freaked out

How casual Rich is when Jeremy wakes up in the hospital

Rich decribes the SQUIP as a ‘shiny, happy hivemind’

Rich refers to himself by his full name, and not just ‘Rich’

How quick he is to assume Michael is Jeremy’s boyfriend

‘I’m sure some special someone will be lucky to have you, Rich’ is Michael hinting at something, here?

How fucking excited Michael gets when talking about how the SQUIP was destroyed. Like, this boy loves tech and science so much!!

When Jeremy asks why Michael came to help him even after all the stuff he did, Michael immediately responds by saying his dad also helped.

Jeremy sounds like he’s happy crying when he sees his dad

‘It’s reassuring. He still doesn’t know anything about girls’ most people take this line as Michael saying he’s happy ‘cause maybe he has a chance with Jeremy. I think it was originally written as a sorta ‘oh, good, he still doesn’t know about girls, the SQUIP didn’t change him too much’

Mr Heere is legit good at romantic advice

Michael gives not very good advice, presumably because he, too, doesn’t know a thing about girls

‘Tell her that the exthites you thexthually’

The fact that Chloe mentions doing ecstasy is a cool nod to the book

Jeremy is, indeed, an acne boi

Jake is almost as 90s as Michael

The fact that Christine’s original SQUIP was Hilary Clinton raises a lot of questions

Since there’s no visual aid for this, I’m just going by what I’ve heard. Apparently, after Christine agrees to go on a date with Jeremy, HE KISSES HER.

Jeremy proudly confronts the SQUIP. You go boi

Holy FUCK this list was way longer than I thought but it was worth it. I wanna draw stuff for some of these moments in the future damn

#Be More Chill

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the-tv-ninja · 7 years

Text

Trick or Treat - Pt 2

Summary: Sanji and Zoro take Chopper trick-or-treating for their first Halloween together. Luffy gets to be a pirate for one day and Law makes use of his scrubs. Better yet – this happens to be their first date. (Modern AU, ZoroSanji and LawLuffy)

Link to Ao3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12568336/chapters/28626704

Trick or Treat - Part 2

"Let me get this straight…you want us to go trick or treating?" He demanded, crossing his long, tattooed arms over his chest in indignation.

He was met by an enthusiastic nod from Chopper and Luffy and found it hard to judge which of the two was more excited about the whole deal,

"You do realize we're in our early thirties, right?" the Spaniard grunted, sending Sanji, whom till that day he'd seen as sane, a bewildered look.

"Thirties doesn't mean eighties, Law" the chef reasoned, a smirk over his face.

Trafalgar eyed him suspiciously, the gears in his head turning. He knew it! Of course the damn ero-cook had fallen for that Zoro guy! And now apparently, out of nowhere he was ready to play dress up and act as a parent.

The realization almost made him laugh – a mere month ago the French wouldn't shut up about how straight he was and yet here he was, acting like a damn mother to the kid of another man. It suited him though.

He'd never seen Sanji quite so relaxed, so happy. That on its own made the dark thoughts in Law's mind hush and it nudged him to give a chance to Luffy and his best friend.

"Quit being such a prude," the green haired man reasoned, leaning in against the doorframe.

Trafalgar shot him a surprise look, ready to respond but then he felt a warm hand over his own. The contact alone sent something like electricity through him and he stared at Luffy's tan fingers, the way they contrasted against the black ink of his tattoos.

"Come on, Torao, I know deep down you're not boring!"

The surgeon flinched at the word, the way Luffy had said it…it sounded as though being boring was the worst thing in the world.

He glared at the younger man, their eyes colliding. Luffy's eye colour was an endearing dark brown, full of kindness and optimism. Law couldn't help the tiny smile that spread to his lips – the other seemed to have some weird effect over people, as though spilling his own happiness onto them.

"I don't have a costume," he reasoned to which he was met by a smirk on Sanji's part.

"How about you use your scrubs?"

Law was mortified for one long moment, he was pretty sure it was kind of illegal or at least morally wrong to wear his scrubs outside the premises of a hospital.

And yet…he knew the four wouldn't let him go until he was out, celebrating that damn holiday with them and probably looking like a moron while at it.

In the end he sighed, sending Luffy a bemused glare,

"You win this round, Mugiwara,"

xxx

They went on to explore the town, in search of treats.

Chopper roamed ahead happily, ringing on doorbells and collecting candy. Acting like a normal six year old as Trafalgar mused. Truth to be told, the kid was growing on him, he was fascinated with his innate talent for medicine and the childish curiosity behind those grey eyes.

Sanji and Zoro appeared to argue about one thing or another but their voices were light and carefree and it made him smirk – he could tell his best friend was starting to fall for the guy and-

"So…Torao,"

It was Luffy's voice that cut him away from his thoughts,

"Don't call me that," Law argued, sending the shorter man a poignant glare to which he remained oblivious.

Luffy plastered on a big smile which he struggled not to call cute,

"But your name is just too long," he complained,

Trafalgar huffed,

"That or you're just not the brightest bloke around,"

The brunette grinned at him, completely unfazed by the remark. It made a smirk make its way onto Law's lips – he could appreciate someone having thicker skin. People got offended too easily these days. Luffy's sense of humour, how easygoing he was different, something surprising but fresh – like dipping your toes in the pool the first time after a harsh winter.

"So…this is our first date, right?"

The Spaniard stopped in his tracks, taken aback by how straightforward the other could be. He searched for traces of ill intentions on his face, the task proving to be a little difficult in the dim street lighting.

He found none, Luffy appeared to be the epitome of honesty and optimism, all garnered with the desire to have a good time and take others along for the ride.

It was something rare, almost precious which Law had hardly seen during his lifetime. It made something awaken deep inside him, something he'd thought long dead.

Hope.

"Hell, why not," he replied, words flying out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

The result was imminent, Luffy's lips stretched into the brightest smile he's ever encounter.

"Great!" he declared, dark eyes now sparkling with joy.

Law was taken aback as he felt a warm hand wrap around his own, this time it was legit handholding. Skinny fingers locked against the space between his own tattooed ones.

He stared at their intertwines fingers, bewildered. Luffy, as per usual didn't seem to notice.

Who held hands on a first date in the 21st century anyway?

"We'll have such a great time!" the brunette urged, voice high and enthusiastic as it soared towards the night sky.

Trafalgar grunted, caught between the joy that seemed to pour out of Luffy and his own rigid nature, his unwillingness to let people in. Generally when he did they got hurt. Or worse.

"Come on, let's go trick or treating in that house!" the brunette shouted, dragging him along in the direction of some poor stranger's house.

Law attempted to protest but all words died on his lips, something told him once Luffy set his mind on something there was no running away from it.

xxx

"Your son appears to be very smart," a woman with long, slick black hair claimed, stretching out a hand to ruffle Chopper's hair.

The boy blushed madly but smiled at her,

"Thank you, Miss."

She mirrored his smile, her turquoise eyes full of kindness as she put various colourful candy into his basket. Then she turned to Sanji and Zoro,

"You've raised such a good boy,"

The cook felt his cheeks burn, now they were being mistaken not only for a couple but actual parents. The idea made something nice and warm tingle deep inside his chest as he wished to experience it. And yet, he realized it wasn't his place to do it. Chopper was, after all Zoro and Tashigi's son and he had nothing to do with making him the wonderful, smart and kind child he was today. Sanji opened his mouth to correct the beautiful lady before him, when-

"Thank you," Zoro said, lips stretching into a trademark smirk as he leaned in against the door.

Sanji nearly gaped at him, sensing the blush stretch onto his damn neck and even his chest.

"Some time he should come play with our boys, Franky and I would love that," the woman went on, stretching out a tan hand and offering them a little card that read her name, Nico Robin and her phone number, all written in neat cursive.

"Too bad they're out trick or treating now…I might join them in a little while." She added while Sanji smiled warmly at her, already picturing her as someone he'd like to chat with over coffee.

And Chopper too, he needed to find friends, no child deserved to grow up alone. After all, he'd learnt that the hard way.

"We'll call you sometime," he assured as Robin bid them goodbye and they went on with the trick or treating.

The chef hesitated as he stepped in closer to Zoro,

"Oi, moss for brains…you sure it wasn't a problem that she mistook us for parents?"

The man hesitated, the expression over his tan face hard to read,

"Already told you - I've never cared about people's opinions, don't tell me you do, blondie,"

Sanji couldn't stop the smile at his response, even if he wanted to, feeling as though a weight was being lifted off his shoulders,

"Plus Chopper likes you," Roronoa added, voice quieter, "Maybe we should, uh, try going on dates more often." The cook's heart slammed against his chest, damn the bastard for saying something like that so casually, as though he was reading off his damn grocery list,

"As long as it's without costumes," the swordsman went on, the joke melting away whatever trace of tension there was.

Sanji grinned at him, soaking in the warmth their newfound relationship promised.

He leaned in, so close to Zoro he felt his hot breath dance over his own thin lips,

"We might keep the costumes for some other time," he teased, the look of shock on Roronoa's face priceless.

xxx

"You've ever been on a Halloween first date before?" Law asked, voice slightly annoyed as he struggled to find common ground with Luffy.

Truth to be told he wasn't the best when it came to that frustrating small talk dates called for. He much preferred to talk about science and medicine, about things that actually mattered, rather than to come with twenty different ways of complaining about the weather.

To make it worse, he'd never actually been in a relationship. He was no blush virgin by any means, if anything he had plenty of experience when it came to sex.

It was just that usually things began and ended with sex when it came to him. He's pick up some good looking dude in a bar, take him home, fuck and then by morning the bastard would be out of his bed and by extension out of his head.

Law didn't do dates. And yet, here he was on one, dressed up as the doctor he actually was,

"Nope!" Luffy admitted, sunny grin on his face, "I don't really know much about love and what not."

He had a sheepish look on his face, as though he was a flustered teen. He even proceeded to rub the back of his head, like a kid being scorned by his parents.

Trafalgar licked his lips, something about the innocent look on Luffy's space sparked interested in him. Perhaps there was more to what met the eye when it came to the brunette.

"Neither do I," he replied, honest.

The younger man shot him a surprised look,

"But you look…so hot! I thought everyone would want to be your boyfriend."

Law chuckled at his words, unable to neglect the nice feeling his praise offered. For whatever reason he enjoyed hearing Luffy say nice things about him, even when he usually cared little about people's opinion.

"Must be your bad personality then, I mean all you do is smirk and snicker," Luffy went on to joke, sending him a mischievous look. Trafalgar shook his head, way to ruin the good impression.

He sent him a glare, raising a hand for a playful smack on the shoulder. Before he could touch him though Luffy let out an overdramatic (and perhaps girly) scream and ran towards the nearest house.

xxx

"A doctor and a…pirate?" the owner of the house asked, leaning in against the doorframe.

Before them stood a tall, skinny looking old man with the wildest afro they'd seen a while. He was dressed as a skeleton, going as far as making his face ridiculously pale and bony.

For a second there Law considered that perhaps it wasn't even a costume but then dismissed it – no way in hell was he starting to believe in the supernatural.

"Every pirate needs a doctor!" Luffy declared, as though he knew everything about life in the sea.

Trafalgar shot him a bemused look, feeling a little offended he was being reduced to the captain's doctor,

"Now, come on, grandpa, give us some candy!" the brunette went on to urge,"

It made Law roll his eyes,

"Hey! I'm not your grandpa, don't you see, I'm a skeleton!" the old man roared with laughter, "And don't you think you're a little too old to go trick or treating?"

Luffy shrugged nonchantly,

"Meh, age is just a number, it's the adventure that counts!"

The stranger's thick lips stretched into a smile, a tint of nostalgia evident in his dark eyes,

"That's the spirit!" he encouraged, stretching out a hand and pouring some candy into Luffy's basket, "Mmm, you know you'd make a really good pirate, I should know, I was one once."

Luffy's eyes went wide and round in childish amazement,

"Really!" he gasped, as though that was the most fascinating bit of information, "You should tell me all about it! Here, Torao, take his number, I'll call him!"

Law sent him a glare, as if to convey, are you kidding me, but still did as told, saving Brook's number on his phone.

"And you, the grumpy looking doctor," the skeleton dressed man turned to him, "You'd better appreciate your boyfriend, he seems really nice!"

Trafalgar opened his mouth to protest but was silenced by Luffy's warm laughter,

"Shishishi, you hear, that Torao!"

Law's lips betrayed him, curling into a nice smile, against himself.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get going, plenty of houses left for you to terrorize."

xxx

A few hours later and many calories added to their day, they all set contently in the park, enjoying the surprisingly warm October night.

Sanji, Zoro and Chopper looked a lot like a real family, sitting close to one another as they laughed together and took lazy pictures in dim lighting.

The chef would occasionally raise the question of Chopper being way past bedtime but Zoro would brush it away, earning himself a glare. The scene made Law smirk, he could definitely see Sanji filling in the mum role, ever the worrier.

He let out a sigh, allowing himself to enjoy the moment.

Trafalgar looked up towards the sky, mesmerized at the way stars contrasted against the black sky – tiny dots of white. The autumn leaves rustled against one another, creating a soft, pleasant sound.

He closed his eyes, feeling something strangely akin to peace.

Luffy was standing right beside him, munching on the various candies contently. Law sensed his arm brushing against his own and let himself soak in the warmth the shorter man exuded. Literally and otherwise.

There was a pause, a soft silence between them which reeked of familiarity. It was strange, such a rare sight to see Luffy quiet. But it was nice, it felt good and right – as though they had known each other for years and not mere weeks.

Perhaps it was just the way Luffy worked – he was one of those rare people who felt like you knew them all along, who felt a little like home.

"Torao?" the other nudged him in the ribs, taking away from the serene moment,

"What?" Law asked, voice perhaps a little harsher than intended.

"You should let yourself be happy, you know," Luffy said, his tone nonchalant and carefree as ever.

And yet there was something more to his words, some hidden depth Trafalgar hadn't bother to notice. He raised an eyebrow, an unspoken challenge to go on,

"Life's too short for it to be boring," the brunette added, lips curved into a small, slightly melancholic smile.

The Spaniard was surprised his sudden change of mood, suspicious of how mismatched it seemed with Luffy's sunny, carefree personality.

Was there perhaps more to him than he'd let himself see?

The brunette appeared to stare at the darkness right before them but Trafalgar had the strangest feeling he was looking at something else, perhaps reliving times long gone.

"It should be lived without regrets."

The words resonated with him, they sounded like something a man – a father figure, he knew long ago would say. He leaned in against the tree behind him and turned to face Luffy.

His eyes were closed, his posture completely relaxed. The surgeon mused – he could be wrong, but the other seemed as though he was remembering something.

"Sounds like good advice," Law caved in the end, which earned him a broader smile,

"You really came up with those words on your own?" he investigated, raising an eyebrow.

Luffy broke into a laugh, the sound soft and melodic, dissipating into the darkness of the night sky.

It did something funny to Law, melting a piece of the ice he surrounded himself with. He was starting to think, he'd like to hear that laugh more often.

"My brother told me this," he responded after a while.

Law caught something was off in his voice, there was a slight shift in the atmosphere. Blink and you miss it but he still noticed it. He opened his mouth to question him but then –

Luffy shifted, coming closer to him.

He was so close, Trafalgar could sense his hot breath, which smelled of candy, over himself.

They stood like that for a while, staring at each other. Law caught Luffy's eyes, they appeared black in the cheap fluorescent lighting of the street lamps.

The expression behind them was a mix of curiosity and happiness, garnered with tiny flecks of lust.

Law hesitated for a moment too long, caught up between his desire to kiss the man and his own demons who wouldn't let him get close.

In the end Luffy seemed to decide for them both, leaning in and taking his lips.

Trafalgar stiffened at first, unaccustomed to having anyone in close proximity. But as Luffy's lips were on his own, the touch surprisingly warm and inexperienced, he leaned in, melting into the moment.

He bit down on the other's bottom lip, an invitation to let him in which he did.

It was evident the younger man was inexperienced and he even toyed with the idea of this being his first kiss. The thought of it sparked a trace of possessiveness in Law, he took pleasure in the sense of innocence which seemed to surround Luffy.

Law deepened the kiss, pleasantly surprised as the brunette appeared to be learning what to do, how to respond to the contact.

His hands were over his shoulders, then one travelled up, finding its way into his hear. He tugged a little at his shiny black strands and Trafalgar was caught off guard by the sensation, moaning into the kiss.

That seemed to excite the other more than anything so far but in the end they broke apart, taking a deep breath of the fresh, cool night air.

Law smirked as he saw the faint blush over the brunette's cheeks, he truly looked so much younger.

Luffy licked his lips, dark eyes shining with excitement as he scooped even closer. This time Trafalgar didn't shoo him away, his skin craving for more contact.

"See, I told you we would have so much fun!" he exclaimed, taking his hand once more.

"Mm, you might have been right, for once." Law teased, taking strange pleasure in the casualness between them after the kiss.

Luffy treated it as though it was the most natural thing in the world, as though they'd done it a hundred times and more.

"Just wait till you see our next date, Torao,"

xxx

Author’s Note: Thoughts on Law and Luffy's first kiss? Sanji slowly slipping into the role of a mum? And of course cameo by Brook and Robin?Did you enjoy the Strawhats as they celebrated Halloween (and went on dated at the same time xD)P.S: Did you celebrate? What did you go as? Please comment and share your impressions, I love any feedback!

#zoro x sanji #Law X Luffy #zosan #lawlu #zosan fanfic #one piece #One Piece Fanfiction #sanji #roronoa zoro #monkey d. luffy #trafalgar law #robin #anime #fanfiction

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heybinnie · 7 years

Text

i dunno if anyone watches steven universe but i gotta dump sth here

steven universe au

some context

there is Homeworld, located in space, where gems are made and are from

the three-ish people who lead Homeworld are called the Diamonds

every other gem kinda worships them and has to follow their every order

thousands of years ago, Homeworld set out to make Earth like this place to experiment making gems and shit and basically just rekt Earth for their own use

which is BAD

so basically the Diamonds suck

so Rose Quartz, right, shes a gem from Homeworld who saw Earth as a beautiful place and something worth saving

she believed that all life on earth is beautiful

SO she betrayed her own home to protect her new home, that is Earth

she started a rebellion called the Crystal Gems

whoever joined her had to remember that they could be killed, and if they won, they couldnt go back to Homeworld and have to stay on Earth

so they went to war with Homeworld called the Gem War and they won!!!!!

but the Crystal Gems lost a lot of their members

until there was only Rose, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl left

Rose (Whos a gEm REMEMBER) she falls in love with a human

Rose gets pregnant!!!

BUT

their baby and her cant exist at the same time

so rose has to give up her physical form so that her baby can live

which means

her baby will be half human half gem, and will thus have her gem

so her baby lives, but without his mom

thats steven

and bc she led the rebellion, steven has to ‘deal’ with everything his mom left behind

which is a lot of stuff

about where Steven lives!!

he lives alone in this house, but its like connected to the Temple where the Crystal Gems live, so in a sense its basically just a big house with a huge weird basement so they all kinda live together idk how to explain this

lives on the beach!!! its so cute i love the place

THE CRYSTAL GEMS!!!

sanha is steven (*starts crying*)

his rose quartz gem is on his chest, over his heart

has never met his mom

so never really knew the love of a mother but it never really ~occurred~ to him until she becomes really important

I CANT TeLL YOU HOW EMOTIONALLY DRAINING IT WOULD BE TO BE STEVEN OK

so anyway sanha is a sweetheart

also is musically talented in every way

likes to sing random songs out of nowhere

likes to mess with his ‘guardians’ a lot aka the rest of the crystal gems

but they all have a soft spot for him no matter how much he messes up

he always does his best bro

and its so cute bc hes just the baby brother and hes surrounded by a bunch of hundreds or thousands of years old gems lmao

sometimes hes left alone at home when the rest of the crystal gems go on missions too dangerous for him

and when his dad is busy

hes alone at home

and its really quiet and the painting of his mother hangs on top of their front door, and sanha gets really lonely and just cries sometimes

so when rocky comes over his chest always fills up with warmth and relief

to sanha, his family is everything

also adorable. absolutely adorable no one can say no to his face tbh

jinjin is garnet??

hes created the exact same way garnet was

his gems are in the same places--both palms

jinjin loves the concept of love in general

bc hes literally made out of love

like legit

hes a fusion: a sapphire and ruby who werent supposed to but fell in love, and gems do this thing where when theyre really emotionally bonded and stuff theyd fuse? which is like. thats a lot of trust for each other ykno

so jinjins a fusion

people look down on fusions bc theyre usually thought to only be useful to like fight but jinjin exists because of love

YOU FEEL ME

and jinjin honestly doesnt care about what people think of him bc he exists

but he feels very strongly for fusions!!

hes also considered the ‘strongest’ because hes a fusion

also the de facto leader of the crystal gems

always calm and level headed but occasionally likes to crack a joke

everyone loves him

jinjin is jinjin in the sense that he is always kind and likes to make sanha laugh

soft spot for sanha

sanha trusts him a LOT

often looks to him for advice, when something goes wrong, for safety and warmth and protection

eunwoo is pearl

he hides his gem beneath his bangs?? bc hes embarrassed :’)

pearls are considered only useful as ‘accessories’ and servants to the Diamonds

gems from Homeworld think of pearls as the ‘lowest’ gems

but this boy learns to love and be confident of himself come FIGHT ME

no one owns eunwoo man he’s his own gem

hes really super duper smart

sometimes he and jinjin fight bc he sees things more logically>? while jinjin acts more on intuition and stuff?

mj makes fun of eunwoo sometimes bc he doesnt know how to have fun? but then right after mj helps him so thats kinda cute

but also eunwoo berates mj a lot bc

well its mj

also chides sanha a lot when he doesnt keep the house in order

often helps to clean up

anyway hes considered the ‘closest’ to Rose Quartz bc hed been fighting by her side the longest

so he misses her a lot but eunwoo doesnt blame sanha for any of it; he loves sanha all the same

but then bin THE LION comes into the picture and eunwoo gets this weird but warm, familiar sense of comfort from bin, something he remembers feeling around Rose when she was still around, so he likes to hang with bin a lot

even if bin the lion likes to lie on his face and whap him in the face with his tail and leave fur everywhere

anyway

mj is amethyst

but like....hes an amber

his gem is on hiS BACK between his shoulderblades

the history of amethyst: amethysts are ‘made’ on earth, theyre made mostly to be soldiers and fight for homeworld

somewhere above pearls on the hierarchy i guess

theyre made in the Kindergarten, where there are these holes in the walls where the gems would come out of

at some point mj’s kindergarten kind of became like a ‘bad place’ and every gem that grew out of there were like parasites

so that Kindergarten was abandoned

and mj, the hole he came out of, his hole was smaller than everyone else’s

he came out smaller than everyone else

he was considered a ‘defect’ and weaker than the others

anyway bc the place was abandoned and he had nowhere to go since no one wanted him, mj just stuck around alone by himself for hundreds of years

until Rose came along (when she was still alive of course) and offered him to join the Crystal Gems

and Rose taught him love and how he was worth fighting for and he mattered and that he wasnt a defect, not a parasite, that he deserved love and to be loved and to love others and

im emo

ANYWAY

MJ IS MJ hes the mood maker and always makes sanha smile whenever sanha is feeling down

hes kinda like the glue that keeps the gems together

loves to have fun

but he gets really uncomfortable whenever the topic of the other ambers or the Kindergarten is brought up like hes super insecure of where hes from

he tries to smile it off tho but he really just doesnt like talking about it

protecc mj

ROCKY!! IS CONNIE!!!!!!!!!

SANHA’S HUMAN BEST FRIEND

who sanha really pours his heart out to!!!

and rocky as rocky doesnt give him shit ykno but he real talks sanha

a lot

rocky also doesnt care that sanha is half gem and half human; like doesnt care and just likes him for him

sticks around through thick and thin and hell and highwater

believes in sanha, holds a lot of faith in him

but hes still your Rocky Swag

always listens to sanha whenever he needs someone to talk to

actually likes to hear about all his adventures with the other Crystal Gems

likes to touch and poke and prod at Sanha’s gem too

like he’d sometimes kinda just pull down on sanha’s collar just so he could look at his rose quartz gem sparkle in the sun and its so pretty he kinda wished he was a gem

anyway eventually he starts to really worry for sanha and wants to fight the bad guys with him, doesnt wanna be protected all the time

so rocky learns to fight

from jinjin

and rocky becomes especially good in combat and stuff and learns how to use some weapons from eunwoo (specialises in weapons)

honestly rocky is a gem like hes a GIFT

sanha’s so thankful for him

but he also feels really bad bc he feels like hes pulling rocky into his own mess and putting him in danger

but rocky doesnt care he just wants to be by sanha’s side and help him wherever he can and support him all the way through

im emo

rocky also holds sanha quietly when he cries about his mom

which starts to get more and more often

bin....is lion......................................................

LMAO

basically Lion is this uh lion that Sanha found one day when they went on a mission, and Lion is all pink and stuff and followed him around and all the way back home too

the Crystal Gems were unsure about keeping him but sanha thought it was HELLA COOL to have a pet lion and they all eventually lost to His Baby Face

no one can ever say no to that face

anyway bin is called Lion bc sanha has no originality with names so there

anyway

bin is actually a gem

he specialises in shapeshifting? so when rose was still around he was in lion form a lot

hes a cATS EYE QUARTZ

BUT HIS GEM waS cracked in the middle of the gem war

and usually when a gem’s gem is cracked they start to get real weird until the crack gets bigger and bigger and eventually it shatters which means they die

but when rose was alive she healed him but could only do it like halfway? like it was a rushed job so he was stuck as a lion during that war

and then when that was over he was kinda left behind bc rose thought she’d lost everyone already

idk bro

so basically bin’s been stuck as a lion for TOO LONG until sanha found him

but sanha doesnt knoW hes a gem bc bin’s gem is hidden so far beneath is goddam thicc mane so no one ever knew

also my friends who may not know

Steven’s Lion is pink

this means binnie will have pink hair and skin imagine that

and he kinda kneels to sanha (even as lion)

I CANT EXPLAIN THIS U JUST GOTTA KNOW HE KNEELS AND BOWS HIS HEAD

#respect

but also maintains that whole im-older-than-you-respect-me-u-brat vibe

ANYWAY

bin the LION comes along on one of the Crystal Gems’ missions with sanha

aND HE GETS REALLY HURT

ALMOST DIES KINDA HURT

his gem cracks and his form starts to get real weird, changing between lion and other animals and shit

SANHA STARTS CRYING

“Lion????”

sanha cries A LOT, buries his face into bin’s mane and stuff and it soaks right frickin thru

his teaRS HEALED BIN’S GEM

BIN COMES BACK

AS HIS ACTUAL FORM

hes naked

everyone screams

#miwrites #tbh just a dump #steven universe is just really cool i just really love the concept #bulletfic

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roseamongroses · 5 years

Text

Antithesis: Dear Diary: why?

[Specific-Summary]: They should expect growing pains. For not everything to feel right or make sense. That doesn't mean it'll always hurt, nor does it mean they can't have fun along the way. It's senior year. Everything may be different. It won't be senior year for long. Everything will be okay.

[General Warnings]: Implied Emotional Abuse, Implied Physical Abuse, Bad Parents are Bad Parents, Mild Sexual Content/jokes,Mentioned Homophobia, Mentions of underage drinking (backround), Some Catcalling,Cursing , Self Hate,implied pregnancy talk/inability to become pregnant, adults arguing where the “kid” can hear it, adults drinking,

[Tags/mood:] highschool au, fluff and angst but its all good, chat fic, teen stress, its flordia no snow we die like men [Pairing:] Roceit (Roman Sanders/ Deceit Sanders), hinted future/possible logince/roloceit/loceit [Characters]Roman Sanders/Deceit (Dmitri) Sanders, Virgil Sanders, Logan Sanders, Patton Sanders, Remy (Sleep) Sanders, Nate Sanders, Dragon Witch (Diana) Remus “The Duke” Sanders (minor/brief)

(Ao3) (Previously)

(8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15)

(16) (17)

(Note: Please check the general warnings and character list before continuing since some changes have been made and I don’t want to throw you off later on)

Roman slung the scarf across his shoulders, “You think I should pack this?” he said, striking a pose, “You think it’s gonna be too hot for summer or?”

“You do look good in red...” Dmitri glanced up from his laptop, still typing, “And it’s better than your fifteen--separately bought-- white jeans.”

Roman flung a trench coat at his face. “Glass-fuckin houses babe, half your closet is black and boring--plus I like the white, ” he protested, “And don’t you think the red will be a bit too much with my hair?” he untucked his curls from underneath the scarf, smoothing the sides.

Dmitri laughed, “You’re the definition of a bit too much, Ro,” he said, “But if it means anything the reds been fading for a while now,”

“Wait really?” Roman picked up a hand mirror, angling it with a frown, “Dammit,” he said, “Virgil might still have some bleach left over, but I don’t want to kill my curl pattern like he did…”

“Then don’t redye it,” Dmitri shrugged, “You’ll look good regardless.”

Roman fluffed his hair, pouting in the mirror, “How good?”

Dmitri rolled his eyes, “Fishing early I see,” he said, pausing his typing to take a better look, “The red hair nice, but the brown will soften your features since there ’ll be less contrast.”

“I’dunno if I want to ‘soften my features though...It’d look cute, but...maybe if I cut my hair?” Roman tugged the scarf off, “.…people would take me more seriously.”

“Now why would you…” Dmitri paused, setting his laptop aside nodding, “Come over here, let me take a closer look.”

Roman eyed him warily.

“C’mon now, I’ve been dating you for what? A little over a year, Have a little faith,” Dmitri defended, “I’m not a snake tricking you into sinning,”

Roman crossed his arms, eyeing him up and down, “You’ve done it before--remember?”

“Oh that was fun and you know it, now c’ mere,” He offered a hand.

“It was,” Roman sighed, relenting and taking his hand. Dmitri tugged him to his knees, Roman making panicked noises as they bumped foreheads and he used Dmitri’s shoulders to steady himself, “Close enough?”

Dmitri tilted his head, “A bit closer.”

“Closer?” Roman’s lips barely brushed his.

“There we go--would you look at that,” Dmitri murmured, “A handsome prince if I’ve ever seen one…” Roman’s expression softened and Dmitri continued, “Whoever you’re trying to impress would be stupid not to take you seriously, especially with your anal work ethic--mmph,” Dmitri’s hands flew to Roman’s waist only slightly caught off guard as Roman closed the distance. The sloppy kiss eventually dissolved into Roman peppering Dmitri’s face between giggles.

“Either you’re rewarding me or you’re trying to distract...” Dmitri’s joke died off, eyes fluttering as Roman’s attention dipped lower, trailing his jaw, “Oh that’s...that’s nice…Your brother out?”

“Mhm,” Roman hummed contemplatively, before pulling back a bit, “ Yeah he is, but...I dunno I’m not really in the mood for that…Sorry..”

“You don’t need to apologize every time you know?” Dmitri leaned into Roman’s chest, feeling Roman’s hands nestle into his hair.

“It’s just so...weird.” He could hear the frown in Roman’s voice, “Is it weird? I’m going to be gone for a while too…Am I being a bad boyfriend?”

“You’re not weird, it's normal.”

“But--” Roman’s voice was quiet, “--- it’s not like you’re not attractive-- but--I dunno-- sometimes actually doing stuff like that is just...ugh I can’t even describe it.”

“The other guys might be horny bastards 24/7, but it’s perfectly normal for you Roman.” Dmitri said, “If you want to kiss we can kiss if you want to cuddle and talk we can do that too.”

“Talk’n’cuddle,” Roman mumbled and Dmitri smiled.

“So how are you feeling about the trip?”

“Oh, I’m absolutely horrified--” Roman easily spun into a rant,” I have to be holed up in that infested dung heap with that odorous rat with only my beautiful tia’s cooking as solace?” He sniffed appalled.

“Huh,” Dmitri snickered, “I’ve never heard that nickname for Virgil.”

“I’m not...talking about Virgil.”

---

R: XXX.notalink/rated:m/dontclickfortheloveofgod/dJDoJi90

Rem: WHAT THE FUCK ROMAN Rem: WHY WOULD YOU SEND THAT

L: Why the hell didn’t you read the link first

Rem: WHO THE FUCK READS Rem: GOD NEVER AGAIN

L: I highly doubt it's that bad

L:....I stand corrected

Rem: you clicked the link too didn’t you

L: In the name of science of course

Rem: ROMAN WHY DID YOU SEND THAT

R: ;)

Rem: EXPLAIN YOURSELF

R: ;) XXXX.notalink/rated:m/oopsididitagain/dskfJjfd9dsf3gds

L: That one is more weird than disgusting

Rem: WHY DO YOU KEEP CLICKING ON THEM

L: Why is Roman still sending them?

V: as much as i like smearing my brothers good name that isn’t roman

V: [Roman conked out on the couch, in a sweatshirt and shorts, drool pooling. Jpeg]

Rem: cute photo, 10/10 L: Agreed.

V: god both of you fuckin s t op i t s t o p s t o p

R: XXXX.notalink/rated:m/you filthylinkreaders/d3gds789jk

Rem: just bc you have issues with compliments doesn't mean roman does

L:Here we go again I guess...

V; roman doesnt have any fuckin boundaries

Rem: yes, yes he does Rem: they may be thin but he Does have them

V:sorry but he’s way too nice about it

Rem: weve more then established that me calling him cute is okay and i require the sustenance of doting on him okay? Like i get it ive pushed a bit too hard before but like im trying ok???

V: k k I i hit the breaks a bit too soon this 1 time but it’s ducking thin ass ice and I’m not above sending y’all to an icy tomb if you get gross. Roman may be a bastard but he’s still baby

L:Translation: He understands your reasoning and agrees he overreacted, but this won’t stop him from questioning our intents and calling out certain actions. Roman may be okay with joking around with stuff like that and being the center of attenuation, but he’s still self conscious and sensitive.

V:why must you add feelings and adult reasoning to everything

L: How dare you accuse me of having feelings

R: XXXX.notalink/rated:m/unicornhornsanddragontails/3nskjJ03 R: XXXX.notalink/rated:m/specA-Z/54Kjjf9n R: XXXX.notalink/rated:m/asliceofme/fljkl29mfJ

R: XXXX.notalink/rated:m/laughsinspanish/5Kjd8

Rem:ye feelings are gross so moving on

Rem: anyway who the fuck is this

V: the bastard

R: you can call me duke [video of Roman, Virgil, and Remus as toddlers, Virgil playing with blocks and listening to some music while in the background Remus follows Roman around.mp3] [image of Roman, Virgil, and Remus currently. jpeg]

V: the bastards name is remus

R: THE. DUKE.

V: FUCK. YOU.

Rem: why the shits have i never met them and why the FUCK does he look more like roman then you do virgil

V: i think it's bc rem doesnt cover up his freckles

V: but yeah my mom and tia had a falling out

R: more like my dad was an asshole

Rem: oh shit same

R: shitty dad squad hmu ;)

Pat: oh hey!!! Me too!!!!

V: yeah it was Not Fun and mom and mama refused to let us go back until tia got a divorce

R: XXXX.notalink/rated:m/deodarant/298jksf

R:XXXX.notalink/rated:m/sPicydeodarant/23kjfJ

L: Are you done yet? They’re getting repetitive at this point.

---

Sun beating on his forehead, Dmitri’s chest was light and airy. His hair was tied up in a high ponytail as he worked on repotting some of his nursery plants. Usually, he’d be listening to music, but his aunt had left early that morning for some appointment so he relished the silence.

Brushing the dirt from his hands, he winced at the fresh cuts lining his knuckles.

“You’re still out here?”

Dmitri almost jumped at Dr. Montag’s voice, “Sorry for the mess” he said, gripping the nursery pot tighter, “I-I’ll clean it up right away…”

Dr. Montag crouched, waving him off, “There’s no need. I’m running a few errands for your aunt,” his hands barely brushing the leaves of one, “This is a Yucca right?”

“Uh,” Dmitri blinked, “Yeah it is,”

He laughed, “Don’t look so surprised-- I know things,” he stood back up, “Like how to use google. It’s rather impressive that y’all manage to keep up with so many of these.”

“Barely,” Dmitri relaxed, refocusing, “We used to have a lot more, but without my dad...it got overwhelming,” he shook his head, “It’s the only thing we really….It keeps us busy..”

“This is more than busy--you put a lot of work into these, anyone should be proud,” He murmured, studying Dmitri again, “I’ll be gone in a few, just need to grab her purse. You need anything from the store?”

“Uh...No,” Dmitri frowned, “I don’t.”

---

LilRed: COLLEGE BOARD CAN SUCK MY ASS LilRed: THIS BITCH GOT A FIVE

BlueRanger: Which class?

LilRed: APUSH

BlueRanger: Nice, good job

LilRed:

PurpleRain: L you fuckin broke him

PurpleRain:like I legit just heard a fuckin thud I think he fell

BlueRanger: I just told him good job?

LilRed: i die from validation i die w/o validation

BlueRanger: Please don’t die

PurpleRain: thats a lame ass way to die

LilRed: @purplebitch i feel so loved

PurpleRain: mama didnt raise us for us to die so b o r i n g l y

LilRed: SO HOW DO YOU SUGGEST I DIE

PurpleRain: idk im feelin,,,,rain,,,,,lots of it,,, maybe you’re watching the sea,,,,

PurpleRain: okay I got it

PurpleRain: you’re wearing a white sundress, the ends tattered but well loved. The coast empty with nly the lapping of waves your company. You’re thinking, a lot. Not of anything particular, but thinking nonetheless. The ocean always makes you think, always makes you remember--bringing about a bittersweet tinge of remorse to your heart, but no tears ever fall.

PurpleRain:You make it a habbit to watch the sunrise each day, relishing in the sobering feelings it invokes Maybe you're a masochist at heart

LilRed:maybe it’s maybelline

PurpleRain:I AM HAVING A MOMENT PRINCEY

PurpleRain: one day, you hear footsteps approach, and assume it's your lover returned from war. The news of it's end just coming days prior and making your ventures to the coast sparked with an unfamilar hopefulness.

PurpleRain: instead when you turn around, you do not feel your heart soar. Instead it sinks. An icy panic spreading through you, a curl of dread closing your throat, it's grip tight. You need to move; to get away from them. But you cant. You cant.

PurpleRain: one shot is all it took.

PurpleRain: one.

BlueRanger:....Concern.

PurpleRain: dnd just started again im prepping ok

LilRed:fuckin nerd

LilRed: huh…. i should get a sundress tho

PurpleRain: i have a few bookmarked ill show you later

BlueRanger: Is That Really What Y’all Are Taking Away From This

---

“And so the shop explodes-no not explodes it's in flames and they have the audacity--the au,” Roman coughs readjusting the webcam, “They have the audacity to play ‘Somebody to love’ as he’s fuckin mourning,” he gestured angrily, “Like Neil might as well come into my house and stomp on my heart.”

Dmitri nodded along, amused at the combination of camera lag and Roman’s erratic movements, “Before or after you watch the next episode?” he asked.

“It’s gonna have to be after cause I already finished the season. I never recovered from that scene though, ” Roman shrugged, tapping his jaw thoughtfully, “Probably should’ve started working on my commission sheet,”

“The same sheet you said you were going to start last month?”

“Yes the same one,” Roman blew out an exasperated huff, flopping into his hands, “I don’t know why it’s so hard --I feel scummy for pricing ‘too high’ and like shit for pricing ‘too lo--,” A notification rang, and he glanced over the screen, eyebrow raised, “Huh, Lo’s callin’ to video chat, you mind if I add’em?”

“Nah, go ahead,” Dmitri said, starting to fold the pile of towels.

“Alrighty,” He answered the call, “What’s up ner-” his face lit up, “Princess!”

Giggles erupted from the screen and Dmitri glanced up curious. On the screen instead of Logan was a small girl animatedly talking to Roman. She had two front teeth missing, glitter coloring her cheeks and rainbow beads rattling each time her braids moved.

“Woah, Woah-Woah,” Roman snorted, “Slow down hon, where’s your brother? Does he know you’re using his computer?”

“He’s in the shower,” she said, batting her eyes, “And know is a very strong word, but I can assure you he’s...aware?”

“Mmm, I won’t tell if you don’t,” he said, “So what’s the fairest of the land need?”

She beamed, “You at my birthday party.” she said, more of a command than anything.

Roman made of show of mulling it over, unable to keep a straight face, “I think I can make it.”

Her fist punched the air, “Ya--”

“Nieve,” Logan’s voice called out sternly.

Her eyes shot wide and she scrambled out of frame. Seconds later, Logan reappeared in the frame without his glasses, towel tucked to his chest. He didn’t look particularly mad.

He squinted blearily at the screen, “Roman? “ his gaze slid over, “Dmitri? Shit sorry did she bug you?”

“Not at all,” Roman reassured, “It’s been a while since I came over anyway,”

Logan grabbed their glasses, adjusting the frames, “Yeah...I guess it has...Since you’re here did you get that email from the school?”

“Yeah, it’s bullshit, “ Roman said, rolling his eyes, “If the state cared they would have found the funds somewhere else, it’s all shady as fuck. ”

Logan nodded, saying goodnight before disconnecting.

As soon as his icon disappeared, Roman said, “Huh, that...reminded me,”

Dmitri started on the next pile of laundry, “Of what?” he said, brow pinched, concerned.

“I’ dunno something Remy brought up…” Roman said, playing with his hands, “It’s stupid really but---”

He yelped falling to the floor, Remus victoriously sliding into the rolling chair. He spun wildly, the web camera a laggy blur, with only loud obnoxious kissing noises heard amongst the screaming.

Eventually, Remus slowed down, and it was jarring how much he and Roman looked alike. It was more unnerving seeing such a sleazy look with Roman’s face.

“Oh Dmitri,” Remus mocked, even adopting the heavy accent Roman usually placed on his name, “Embrace me with those big, long artist hands of yours, god I’m going to melt--"

“Shut up--shut up! You Rat-- give it back-give it back--” Roman whined, clambering over the chair, elbowing him, “Give it back, fuckin- MOM,” At one point Roman managed to wrestle the laptop from Remus, kicking him out of the chair and sending him off with a finger-- which Remus promptly returned.

Dmitri’s silently wheezed as Roman turned around visibly frazzled, “God I forgot what I was say-Are you laughing at me?” he said, “Stop it--stop laughing it’s not--”

“It-” Dmitri’s covered his mouth, shoulders shaking “It kinda is,” He said between snorts, only laughing harder at the offended noises Roman made.

As his snickers died down, Roman crossed his arms, “You done yet?” he sniffed.

“Yeah…” he gasped, “Yea...h... I am…” he blinked a bit, a slow smile spreading across his face, “So... what’s this about my hands?”

Roman’s eyes shot wide, incoherent babbling coming from his mouth as his ears turned a bright cherry. He slowly shrank out of frame to promptly die.

---

@daflangstlairde

@ace-anx

@cataclysm-al

#Roman Sanders #Deceit Sanders #roceit #sanders sides #ts sides #ts logan #ts virgil #ts remus #ts remy #ts patton #sanders sides fanfiction #fanfiction #Antithesis

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skeletorific · 8 years

Text

The Death and Deals of a True Lumberjack

You guys probably forgot I do Gravity Falls stuff, didn’t you? Well, @waldorkler didn’t. They requested this fic a few months ago, and have been ultra patient about wating on my slow ass to get this over with.

Prompt: Set shortly after “Roadside Attraction”. Bill, seeking a way into the Mystery Shack, encounter opportunity in the form of a certain redhead....

Warnings: Gore, character death, angst. Could be read as Wendip? I don’t go any farther than the canon, and I don’t intend to write the ship, but I guess it could be seen as that. A couple of swears.

Word Count: 7641

Put under the cut cause this is long as fuuuuuuck

There were a lot of chores Wendy had taken on since her mom passed, but the one she had always hated the most was laundry. Between her, the three boys, and her Dad, there were a lot of completely destroyed flannels around the house. Not to mention the fact that her dad abjectly refused to buy a dryer. While literally everyone else lived in the twenty-first century, the Corduroy’s still hung their laundry on a line. A total pain, but she had to admit it made her clothes dry in interesting forms. She could get the crumpled but not too crumpled look she wanted.

“Alright, I finished laundry, so if I see one left out shirt, I’m gonna kick your butts!” she yelled upstairs. No response from any of the boys: chances are they were still zonked out.

True to form, though, there was a sock laid at the bottom of the stairs, draped almost delicately. “GUYS!” she moaned, stuffing it in her back pocket. Whatever, not worth doing a separate load for one sock.

Outside, the air was warm and close, with all the trees surrounding, but there was a faint chill in the air that promised fall was coming. Wendy wasn’t ready, really, to go back to school, but who ever was? She shivered slightly in her tank top but set back to work.

She started pinning up the shirts on the line. Green flannels, red flannels, blue, as far as the eyes could see. The only way you could tell them apart was by the shape, and given how fast some of her brothers were growing even that kind of sorting was getting difficult.

Well, not like she had much to do lately. The Shack had been closed for a few days recently. Mr. Pines....long lost brother? Honestly, she had gotten most of her details from Soos, and then only in a lengthy three am call that she only remembered like a third of. Either way, despite the fact that it was no longer crawling with feds, Stan had told her to take a day or two off while they sorted out whatever family mess they were going through. What was weird is that it was a paid vacation. Something really big must be going down.

It was funny. She’d’ve thought she’d have been thrilled to finally be getting a legit vacation, but she was just bored. The group wasn’t as much fun these days. Robbie and Tambry just spent hang outs making goo-goo eyes at each other. Nate and Lee were on some last minute vacation to the coast to try and finally make good on that surfing resolution they’d had since New Years. And she couldn’t hang out with just Thompson. She hadn’t sunk that low.

So yeah, she kind of missed work. It was definitely a little awkward now that the kid had finally just confessed his feelings for her, but things were always happening around Dipper and Mabel. It was never boring or just the same old routine. She honestly found herself staring at her phone, waiting for it to ring and have it be Stan telling her to get her ass to work, where was she, or Soos telling her the golf cart had gone haywire again, or Dipper to ask her to come on another monster hunt with him and his sister....but nothing.

The laundry all hung up, there was only one chore she had left: wood chopping. For the stove. Dad once again insisted on a woodburning stove in addition to the more modern one. Lumberjacks should always use the product of their labor, he insisted. Wendy didn’t mind this one as much. The axe was propped in it’s usual corner and she grabbed on her way out to the clearing where Dad had them drag all the trees that weren’t specifically business.

The rhythm of the chopping and the satisfying chunk as it connected with and severed the wood had always been pretty relaxing to her. In her blood, she guessed. Some girls did facials and manicures. She did axes. Once she got into a pattern she could practically zone out. She did some of her best thinking here. Slowly, she got more and more into it, lift, swing, thunk, kick it to the side, lift, swing, thunk, ki-

“HIYA RED!”

The shrill voice startled her and she whipped around, axe gripped tightly....

Face to face with one of the weirdest things she’d ever seen.

It was a little triangle guy, with one eye and yellow skin, with a top hat and a cane held in spindly little black arms, floating in midair. Not knowing what it was, she decided to make the safe move, and approached it with the axe poised to swing.

“WOAH, EASY THERE, HOT STUFF.” No mouth formed, but the voice seemed to echo all throughout the woods, bouncing off the trees in every direction as he floated above and behind her, coming to rest on the chopping block. His posture was laid back and easy going, clearly without a care in the world.

“Who are you?” she said, not as aggressive now, but still holding tight to her weapon.

“NAME’S BILL, BILL CIPHER. NICE TO MEET YA. AND YOU’RE WENDY CORDUROY, THE GIRL WITH AN AXE TO GRIND!” A long pause. “WOW, TOUGH AUDIENCE.”

“How do you know my name?”

“I KNOW LOT’S OF THINGS, KID. FOR INSTANCE, I KNOW THAT IF YOU WANT TO HELP OUT THOSE POOR PINES KIDS, YOU’LL GIVE ME A HAND.”

“Dipper and Mabel? What’s going on?”

“NOTHING YET, BUT TRUST ME, SOMETHING’S COMING. SOMETHING BAD. AND I NEED YOUR HELP TO GET THEM OUT OF IT.”

Wendy raised an eyebrow. “And I’m just supposed to believe you because....?”

“LIKE I SAID, KID, I’M OMNIPOTENT.” He said. “FOR INSTANCE, I KNOW PINE TREE PRACTICALLY KISSES THE GROUND YOU WALK ON. I’VE BEEN TRYING TO WARN THEM ALL SUMMER, BUT UNFORTUNATELY THEIR UNCLE AND I HAD A....BIT OF A MISUNDERSTANDING. HE DOESN’T TRUST ME, BUT I REALLY AM ONLY TRYING TO HELP. I THINK THEY MIGHT LISTEN TO ME IF YOU BACK ME UP.”

“Still not hearing a reason why I should trust you.” she said, crossing her arms.

Bill sighed. “YOU’RE A SHARP ONE, I’LL GIVE YOU THAT. ALRIGHT, ALL I CAN TELL YA IS IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE RETURN OF THE AUTHOR.”

“Dipper finally found the author?!”

“SO HE DID TELL YOU ABOUT THE JOURNALS THEN. ANYWAY, THE AUTHOR’S AN ESCAPEE FROM A DIMENSION FULLA BAD. I SHOULD KNOW: IT USED TO BE MY HOME TURF.” His hand waved, and a moving image, a bit like a projection appeared. Monsters made more of teeth and claws than flesh danced in the vision, snarling and snapping. “THE AUTHOR MADE IT OUT OKAY, BUT IT LEFT BEHIND A TEAR ONLY I’M POWERFUL ENOUGH TO FIX. THEY WON’T LET ME IN TO SEE IT, BUT IF IT’S NOT DEALT WITH SOON...MY OLD DIMENSION’S GONNA COME SPILLING INTO THIS ONE. NOT GOOD FOR YOU GUYS AT ALL.”

Wendy stared at the images, hand tightening around her axe as she imagined those creatures in the burning wreck of the Shack, her school, the house. “So why do you care? If they really are from your old world.”

Bill was quiet for a minute, and made a small movement with his shoulders that looked like a shudder. “LIKE I SAID, ME AND THE AUTHOR BOTH ESCAPED FROM THAT DIMENSION. I DON’T WANNA GO BACK FOR ANYTHING, RED. SO WHAT DO YA SAY?” He stuck out a hand to be shaken. “WANNA HELP ME OUT?”

Wendy thought for a minute. “What do I have to do?”

“EASY, JUST LET ME POSSESS YOUR BODY!”

“What?!”

“RELAX, ONLY TEMPORARILY. LOOK, KID, I ONLY REALLY EXIST ON THE DREAMSCAPE RIGHT NOW. TO PUT IT SIMPLY I CAN’T FIX THE RIFT UNLESS I HAVE A BODY. YOU WORK THERE, SO NOBODY’LL THINK ITS WEIRD IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE SHACK. ONCE I’M THERE YOU AND I’LL EXPLAIN WHAT I NEED TO DO TO PINE TREE AND SHOOTING STAR, AND WE’LL GET THE JOB DONE.” His hand ignited with a blue flame that somehow didn’t feel hot. “COMPLETELY PAINLESS, I PROMISE YA.”

Wendy hesitated for a second. Give up her body....but thinking back to the nightmarish images....Her mouth set in a thin line. “Alright. Deal.” She said, clasping his hand in hers.

There was a sensation like a strong static shock throughout her body. The world flashed black and white, back to color, and to monochrome again, and there was a peculiar sensation of weightlessness. Suddenly she found herself floating as light as the air in the clearing, staring at her stock still body that had gone slack in her absence.

Her hands and arms began to flex, and her head rolled almost eerily back into a raised position. He eyelids slowly opened to reveal two long black pupils, almost reptilian.

Creepy.

“You in, buddy?” she said, floating towards him. It felt weird, but kind of cool.

“SURE AM. WOW, HUMAN FEMALE THIS TIME. WEIRD.” He...? said, examining her hands and arms. “THIS ONE IS WAY STRONGER THAN THE LAST BODY!”

“Um...thanks.” Wendy said. “We should probably get going, though.”

“SURE, SURE.” Bill said, picking up the axe and swinging it back and forth, testing the weight. “THANKS FOR THIS, KID. NICE TO KNOW THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE LIKE YOU AROUND.”

Wendy shrugged and smiled slightly “No bi-”

“AND HERE I THOUGHT NOBODY ELSE BUT PINE TREE COULD BE THIS GULLIBLE. GUESS HUMANS REALLY DO NEVER CHANGE!”

“Wait, what?!”

“WOW, YOU ACTUALLY BOUGHT IT!” He said, clapping a hand to his forehead and laughing wildly. “I’LL ADMIT, I DIDN’T THINK YOU’D SWALLOW IT THAT FAST, BUT OH-HO-HO BOY DID YOU!”

“Get out of my body, you creep!” She said, diving towards it...only to phase right out the other side.

“NICE TRY, DOLL, BUT YOU’RE STUCK IN THE DREAMSCAPE NOW!” Bill said, gleefully swinging the axe from side to side. “ONLY I CAN SEE OR HERE YOU, AND YOU NEED A PUPPET IF YOU WANT TO AFFECT ANYTHING. NOW, LET’S GET PINETREE OUT HERE, SHALL WE?” He pulled out her cell phone, dialed it.

“I’m gonna kill you, you three-sided asshole!” she said, flying back and forth across the body, swinging, kicking, trying everything she could think of....but every time, she might as well have been a light breeze for all the effect she was having.

“Hey, P-....Dipper!” Bill said. His voice sounded close to hers, like a tinnier recreation of it. Over the phone, there would be nothing to notice. “Can you meet me out by my place? I’ve got something big to show you. Right. See ya.” He slapped the phone shut with a wicked grin. “HE SEEMED PRETTY EAGER, RED. LOOKS LIKE PINE TREE HAS A LITTLE CRUSH.....WELL, SHOULD MAKE MY JOB EASIER.” And he laughed, low and loud slowly travelling up to high and manic, as Wendy stared with horror at the axe, her mind racing to find a solution...

“Grunkle Stan, Great Uncle Ford, I’m going out!” Dipper yelled, shoving the journal in his backpack.

“Are you sure that’s wise, Dipper?” Ford said, poking his head around the corner. “Remember, I said Bill will be looking for any opportunity to-”

“I know, I know.” Dipper said. “But Wendy said she had something important to show me. I should be back in a few minutes.”

“‘Sides” Mabel said from her perch on the counter. “It gives him an excuse to stare at Wendy’s pretty face!

A bobblehead soared across the room and made contact with her head. “OW!”

“I told you, I’m over her.” Dipper said, pulling his pack on his shoulders. “She just....she sounded like it was important.”

“Heh,” Stan said, grinning and leaning against the doorframe. “Kid, when it comes to Corduroy, her wanting a soda sounds important to you.”

“Shut up!” He said, going toward the door. “I’m over her, we’ve laid out the boundaries, I just want to make sure nothing’s wrong.”

“WENDY AND DIPPER, SITTIN IN A TREE” Mabel screamed from the counter. Stan joined in “K-I-S-S-I-N-”

Dipper closed the door, rolling his eyes. Then he started running down the path towards Wendy’s house.

Okay, so he had lied a little bit. Because, yeah, he knew now that he would never have a chance with Wendy. In a way, it was almost a relief to have that spelled out. Less time and thought he had to spend dancing around it. But he couldn’t deny, when he saw she was calling....his heart had beat just a little faster. It wasn’t quite hope, what he felt, but it was something similar. Like, maybe she had missed him. Maybe she had wanted to see him again. Maybe she wanted to make the terms a little more ambiguous. Like, they wouldn’t date now, but maybe in a few...?

Dipper, don’t be an idiot. He told himself. She’s made it clear how she sees me, now let’s just go over and get ready to...to....STOP THINKING ABOUT HER HAIR AND FOCUS ON THE JOB

Finally he arrived at the clearing. Wendy was leaning against a pile of newly chopped wood, looking as cool as she always did.

“Hey, Wendy.” He said. “N-nice shades.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Um....your voice sounds weird, are you alright.”

A thick wretching noise came from her mouth. “Yeah, yeah, sorry, dude, just a cold.”

“Oh,okay.” He shook off the backpack and held it in front of him, ready to pull out what they needed. “Alright, what did you need to show me.”

“Dipper, I saw Bill.”

“.....who...?” No, she couldn’t, she couldn’t know-

“Bill? Bill Cipher? Come on, man, how many other triangle demons do you know.”

He almost dropped his backpack. “How do you know about Bill?!”

Wendy, meanwhile, had been searching desperately for a solution. Everything she tried to pick up just phased right through her. When Dipper appeared in the clearing, she tried screaming. No response from Dipper, but she could swear she saw Bill grin in her direction for a half second.

“He came to me.” Bill said. “Told me he was looking for a way into the Mystery Shack. He said he wanted to protect you or something from a Rift.”

Dipper snorted. “He wants to do something with the Rift, alright. Did he offer you a deal?” What had he said, a puppet? Maybe....she tried diving into birds, but it seemed like it required a deal to enter the heads of stuff with brains.

“Yeah. Kicked him to the curb: the dude looked like bad news.”

“Really? You saw through him?”

“Course, man, do I look like a moron to you?”

“Oh, you’re dead!” Wendy growled, desperately wracking her brains.

Dipper looked a little shy....”Yeah, no, you’re definitely way too smart to fall for Bill. I mean, what kind of moron would fall for that ahahaha!”

Puppet, puppet, why did that word ring in her brain, like something from the not-so-distant-past......

“But it got me thinking.....suppose he goes after Soos? Or, y’know, just some random customer? He could sneak into the Mystery Shack, grab the rift, and be out in a minute. I don’t know what he’ll do with that but if can’t be good. So I was thinking.....what if you gave it to me?”

“What?”

Pu- Mabel’s show! Sock puppets. And she could see the sock from the stairs, still sticking out of her back pocket. Bill hadn’t noticed it. There were no eyes or hair attached to it, so it might not count, but....

“Think about it. He already knows I’m not gonna fall for it. If I hide it somewhere and never tell you guys where, even if he gets into the Shack, he won’t be able to find it, and he won’t be able to find out from you guys where it is.”

Dipper looked from side to side, unsure. “I....I don’t know.”

Wendy quietly floated behind Bill, staying out of his sight line. Fortunately, he was too focused on Dipper to notice her hand creeping towards her back pocket, praying to whoever was in charge of this kind of thing that this would work.

“Come on, man. Give it a trial run. And if you ever change your mind, I’ll go get it and bring it back to you.” He extended her hand and smiled. “You trust me?”

Her fingers were right up by the sock....and it stayed solid! She picked it up, quickly shoving her hand inside it before the universe could change its mind on this technicality. She shoved the toe of the sock between her fingers and her thumb, forming a rough mouth.

“Well.....” suddenly Dipper’s eyes were arrested by the sight of a crude sock puppet rising over Wendy’s shoulder.

“DIPPER IT’S NOT ME!” The sock puppet spoke with Wendy’s voice. “IT’S NOT ME, RUN.”

He froze as Wendy’s body jumped to the side. “It’s Bill!” she said. “He’s trying to-”

Suddenly the sock puppet flew forward and knocked the sunglasses off her face, revealing yellowed eye with slit-like irises.

Dipper picked up his backpack and slowly backed away.

Bill-Wendy sighed. His shoulders began to shake with, and slowly a high and manic laugh came, twisting the mouth and throwing the head back as it rang out louder and louder in the clearing. Dipper wanted desperately to run but he was frozen in fear.

Bill/Wendy wiped a tear from his eye. “OH, WELL DONE, RED, WELL DONE. I ALMOST HAD IT TOO.” He turned to face Dipper. “STILL, I GUESS ITS NOT A TOTAL WASH.” He swung the axe onto his shoulder and began to approach, a menacing smile twisting Wendy face. “MAYBE FORDSY WILL BE A LITTLE EASIER TO CONVINCE IF I START SENDING HIM BITS OF HIS FAVORITE NEPHEW.”

“Dipper, run!” the puppet yelled.

He didn’t have to be told twice, and he took off, running blindly through the forest.

He could hear the laugh again, low and menacing. “WHERE YOU GOING, KID?”

Suddenly he saw the puppet zooming beside him, somehow keeping pace. “I’m here.” Wendy said.

“I just need to get to the Shack, we should be able to find a way to get him out once we’re there.” He said in short bursts. The running was already beginning to take its toll, but he kept pushing.

“OH, PINE TREE, PINE TREE, PINE TREE.” Bill called. “YOU FORGET SOMETHING? I’VE GOT A HOLD OF RED’S BODY! I CAN DO WHAT A WANT TO IT WHILE I HAVE IT.”

Dipper felt something pang in the back of his mind. What was he-

“HM, WHAT DO YOU THINK, RED, THINK YOU COULD LIVE WITH ONE LESS LEG? CAUSE I CERTAINLY FEEL THAT WAY.”

His heart stopped.

“Keep going, he’s bluffing.” Wendy said tersely.

“OH AM I, RED?”

Dipper turned to the puppet, eyes wild. “Wendy, I don’t-”

“Just go, Dipper!”

Suddenly there was a grunt from within the woods, and then a deep laugh. “WOW, I FORGOT HOW INTERESTING HUMAN BLOOD IS!” Bill said. “IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR HAIR, KID!”

Dipper froze, and for a moment so did Wendy. “OH, DON’T WORRY. YOU’VE STILL GOT ALL YOUR LIMBS. FOR NOW......”

Dipper turned and bolted back towards the voice. “Dipper!” Wendy called, before grunting frustratedly and following.

Dipper saw Bill before Bill saw him. On Wendy’s arms was a deep, visceral cut, the blood dripping behind her in a gory trail. It also coated the edge of the axe, which was returned to her shoulder. Shit, how could he get Bill out....last time they had gotten lucky with the host, but Wendy was healthy and well-rested. But they couldn’t afford to...Suddenly Bill froze, turned, and looked right. At. Him.

“WELL, FINALLY!” He started approaching, eyes wide and smile wider. “HEY, GOT A RIDDLE FOR YOU. WHAT ELSE DO YOU HAVE IN COMMON WITH A PINE TREE, BESIDES THAT STUPID HAT?”

Dipper backed away, eyes widening with horror.

“YOU GIVE UP?”

“Please....get out....get out of her body,” he said, his voice hoarse and squeaking. “Please, Bill, I’ll-”

“YOU BOTH FALL DOWN WHEN I USE MY AXE!” Laughing manically, Bill lifted the axe back, swung low, towards his feet, and suddenly he felt himself being lifted up, off the ground, out of Bill’s reach.

“Dang, man,” Wendy’s voice came from above him, strained with effort. “You have bricks in that backpack or something?”

She was using the socked hand to hang on to the edge of his backpack and pull him up.

“Wendy! What are....Oh.....That’s-actually kind of cool.”

“Yeah, you can be impressed with my lifting later, dude, we gotta get to the Shack.” She said.

Bill gave a loud, exasperated sigh about fifteen feet below them. “YOU JUST DON’T GET IT, DO YA, RED? I’M IN YOUR BODY! I CAN DO WHAT I WANT TO IT, AND I DON’T THINK YOU’RE GONNA LIKE ANY OF IT.” And suddenly he took off into the woods.

“Wait, Wendy, turn around!”

“Are you serious?!” Wendy said. “When are you gonna get it in your head, man, I don’t care what he hurts, I can walk it off. I can’t walk off the freaking apocalypse!”

“I’M NOT JUST WORRIED ABOUT YOU!” He said, frustrated. “What if he goes to attack your family? What if he goes after your friends? What if he kills you?!”

They froze in midair. And were suddenly going after Bill at a quick pace.

“Oh, thank hell” she said in a partly relieved voice. “He’s not going toward the house.”

“What about your dad?”

“He’s not working today, he went to go get a part for...for the.....” she stopped. “Oh gods...”

“What, part for what?!”

“WOW, THAT’S A LOT OF BLADES!”

A sudden machine roar that came from a few feet distant, and Wendy was booking, so fast she almost dropped Dipper, but they were too late.

Bill was standing on a boulder, about twenty feet tall, standing on the edge with the toes of his boots over the edge.

Below him was a running, open-topped woodchipper.

“WELL, WELL, THAT GOT YOUR ATTENTION.”

“Bill, you don’t want to do this!”

“AH, WHY NOT?” Bill grinned and looked down. “LOOKS LIKE A LOT OF FUN, AND YOU KNOW HOW FUNNY PAIN IS TO ME, PINE TREE. MAYBE I’LL LET HER BACK IN JUST BEFORE SHE HITS THE BLADES, SO SHE CAN GET THE FULL EXPERIENCE.”

“I’M GONNA KICK YOUR TRIANGLE ASS” Wendy was yelling.

Bill smiled and raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. “WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO, DOLL? I’VE GOT YOUR BODY, AND AS WE’VE CLEARLY ESTABLISHED” He leaned her body dangerously over the edge, pinwheeling his arms almost comedically, pulling back at the last possible second. “I DON’T REALLY CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO IT.”

“Alright, just....just back away from the edge.” Dipper said, his voice cracking under the stress. “What do you want? Okay, we can talk!”

“WE STILL ON THIS, KID? THE RIFT!” Bill twisted Wendy’s features into an exaggerated “duh!” facial expression. “WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS ALL FOR?”

“Don’t you dare!” Wendy said, turning the puppet on him. “Don’t give it to him, Dipper!”

“But-”

“TICK TOCK, PINE TREE.” Bill playfully lifted a leg, dangled it over the edge. “ITS AWFUL SLIPPERY UP HERE!”

“Wendy, I-”

“Do it and I will never forgive you, Dipper!” Wendy sounded furious, more fired up than he had ever seen her.

“I CAN’T JUST-”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK HE’LL DO TO ME AND MY FAMILY, DIPPER? TO YOU AND MABEL AND EVERYONE?!”

“YOU’VE GOT FROM ONE TO FIVE, OKAY?”

“Wendy-!”

“ONE......TWO......FIVE!”

“NO!”

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Bill fell backwards, laughing as he fell closer and closer to the roaring blades, Dipper screamed and reached out a hand, Wendy zoomed towards him to shove him out of the way, but it was too late.....and suddenly the clearing was red with blood and viscera, and the puppet dropped limp and handless to the ground..

A high cackle rang out in the forest, though he couldn’t see Bill. “TAKE THAT AS A LITTLE GIFT PINE TREE. MAYBE NEXT TIME YOU’LL LISTEN A LITTLE MORE TO MY DEALS.....CATCH YOU LATER......” the voice faded.

Dipper stared at the horrific scene in front of him, frozen in horror. Wendy.......

Manly Dan heard the screams all the way back at the cabin, and found the Pines boy on his knees, surrounded by gore and screaming like his insides were being ripped out by his worst nightmare.

Dipper sat up in his room, his arms wrapped around his knees in a pseudo-fetal position as he tried to stop shaking all over.

It was the middle of the night. He had been staring at the wall for hours now, trying to fall asleep, knowing he probably wouldn’t

Maybe not for the rest of his life.

Mabel had offered to stay up with him like half a dozen times, but....he couldn’t handle people right now. He thought she might have sensed that, because she agreed pretty readily to spending the night in Great-Uncle Ford’s room. Ford was out securing the perimeter, checking and double checking the enchantments. Now that they knew for sure Bill was in the area....well, they couldn’t take anymore chances.

So he sat alone in the attic, as the minutes ticked on in agonizing procession.

The others had tried, tried to say something, but....in the end the wound was still too sore, too open. None of them could really believe it. Wendy had always been so....so full of life, and now she was gone, so brutally, so...quickly. Stan had actually let Soos hug him. Mabel had been crying ever since she got the news.

Ford was doing the best he could to hold everyone together, but he had never met Wendy. He didn’t have the right words to say, and in the end, all he could do was try and take control of the situation, prevent any further damage.

And Dipper...

He had blacked out just after it happened. When he woke up, Dan had been shaking his shoulders and yelling for him to snap out of it. He had been screaming for the past ten minutes.

The next few hours had been like something out of a nightmare. He had had to explain to Dan whose.....insides.....were plastered all over the trees, the grass, the machines. The lumberjack had looked like he was going to pass out, but had somehow managed to hold it together long enough to use his phone to call Stan, so he would pick Dipper up. If he had been in his right mind, they might have gone back to the house, but he got the sense Dan was unwilling to face his kids at the moment. So they sat in the clearing. In silence. Dipper picked up the sock from the ground. There were only a few drop of blood on it, and he kept turning it over in his hand, mind blank and frozen solid.

As they waited...they would have looked odd to any passerby. Dipper’s emotions occasionally rose out of his throat like bile, and he would scream again, before stifling it. At some point Dan stood up and just started punching a tree. Repeatedly. It fell over. It would’ve been funny if not for the tears streaming out of his eyes.

Stan didn’t see the site of the accident (they had walked a little ways away), but the smell....he had dry-heaved against a tree for a minute or two before he could drive Dipper away.

And then he had to tell the story all over again to the rest of the family.

Dipper still had the sock. He pulled it out of his pocket, stared at it. His mind was blank, blank, blank, and then the dam broke, and tears were pouring out unstoppably and he was wretching, practically yelling as his chest heaved up and down and he couldn’t breathe, he didn’t want to breathe he wanted it to stop he wanted her to come back he wanted to sleep he wanted to not wake up he wanted to break something he-

He kept crying and crying, mentally begging someone to find him there in the dark, and at the same time praying that no one would see him like this.

Eventually, his consciousness had to surrender to his body, though, and he fell asleep, face dried and cracking and his blankets soaked. He fell into a confused, feverish black where thought floated disjointed and unrelated, but menacing, filling him with dread.....until he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Hey man.”

Dipper jerked awake. It couldn’t be...and yet it was.

“....Wendy?”

The redhead did her familiar half-lidded smile and nodded. She was translucent and blue, like that lumberjack ghost. Across her body were a few nicks that looked like they were still bleeding. But it was her.

Dipper froze for a second, the tears reforming in his eyes. And then he tackled her in a hug more massive than any he ever would’ve allowed himself while she was alive. “I....I don’t understand, how is this....wait....” he let go, backed up a step. “Is this a dream?”

Wendy laughed softly. “Nah, man, its the real deal.”

“But....how did you-”

She shook her head. “I’m not still alive, dude. I definitely died today. But....” she rubbed the back of her head. “Wow, this is hard to explain....I guess it’s kind of a last wish thing? I can’t explain it, but I somehow knew I’d get the chance to visit one last person before I left for good. Sorry I took so long. Kind of took me a while to figure out the physics of it all.”

“Wait, so you....I’m your last visit?” He frowned with concern. “What about your family?”

Wendy shoved her hands in her pockets and turned to the side, face mostly blank. “Thought about it. Wanted to. But...they don’t know about all this.” she gestured a hand in a broad movement. “Not really. They’ve seen the weird stuff around Gravity Falls, but they don’t really question it. If I came back, I’d have to explain it all to them, what I was doing, how I died, how the whole town works, and....I figured they were safer not knowing about Bill. Because they would a hundred percent go looking for him, and if one of them died trying to avenge me....” she shook her head. “This was safer. Had a few things to talk to you about. Plus,” she smiled ruefully. “Guess I didn’t really like the idea of the last thing you saw of me being a demon controlled puppet, or a pile of mulch.”

Dipper paused, and then nodded. He still couldn’t believe it, she was here and yet....in a few hours he was going to have to say goodbye again. “Alright.”

“Gonna be honest.” Wendy said, “If I hadn’t become visible when I did I was gonna try the sock puppet thing again, I’ve been hanging out up there for hours, trying to make myself visible in the physical world.”

“Yeah sorry, I-” Dipper stopped talking, flushing with embarrassment. “Oh, you saw....all that?”

“Don’t worry about it, man. I was the same way when my mom died. Worse.”

Wendy floated over to the window, staring out into the night, sighing contentedly.

“I’m gonna miss this.” she said.

Dipper looked down, hand on his knees. “Do you have to go?”

“Hey, smart guy, you know I do.” she said is softly, gently. “It’s okay, really. I’m not scared.” she paused, then laughed softly. “Well, maybe a little bit, but, it is what it is.”

“Wendy I-...” He felt the tears rising up again, and he wanted to control it, but he couldn’t, he couldn’t....”I’m s-so sorry...I’m so sorry...’ He started sobbing.

“Hey, hey!” she said, startled and wrapping an arm around him. “It’s okay, dude, its not your fault.”

“It is though.” he said, the tears flowing freely, and he hated himself for being this weak. “It is, if I had just told you about Bill-”

“You couldn’t have known he would come after me.” she said it firmly, looking him square in the eyes.

“But-”

“Look. I made the deal, okay? My choice. And I’ll live with the consequences.”

“Wendy...I-I”

“I don’t blame you, Dipper. I was a dead girl walking from the second I shook his hand, but looking back I’d do it again. I did it because I thought I was protecting you guys and my family, and I wouldn’t go back on that idea. Sure, turned out to be a lie, but....right reason, wrong thing, you know?”

His tears still poured out, but a shaky smile came on his face and he pulled her into another hug. Maybe it was selfish, but he couldn’t help feeling relieved.

Wendy stiffened under the hug, but then returned it before letting go.

Dipper’s eyes drooped involuntarily, and she chuckled. “You should probably get some sleep.”

“No! No, I’m fine.” he rubbed at them fiercely.

“Dipper....”

“I can’t fall asleep!” He said desperately. “I fall asleep, and....and you won’t be here when I wake up. I....I’m not ready for it to be over yet.”

Wendy paused for a second, deep in thought. “Close your eyes.”

“What?”

“Trust me, close your eyes and try and drift off.” A long pause. “I’m not going anywhere yet, promise.”

Dipper bit his lip, but obliged, lying down.

He must have been more tired than he thought, because in no time he was dead to the world, his mind wandering into shadowy realms, ones that looked vaguely like his old elementary school.

“Cool place. That desk yours?”

He turned. It was Wendy.

“I can enter the Dreamscape too. We can chill out here for a bit, until....” they both decided that sentence was better left unfinished.

They spent hours together. Dipper showed Wendy around the school (the parts that had been accurately recreated, anyway). Wendy experimented a bit with her ghost body, possessing the dream form of the class hamster, Mr. Snuffles.

Mostly, they just talked. About everything. Dipper shared his aspirations of becoming a paranormal investigator, and his apprehensions about how Uncle Ford saw him. Wendy gave him her survival tips for high school, told some stories about her mom, even talked about her brothers, which she almost never did with him. It was the closest he had ever felt to her. It was like now....there wasn’t any need to pretend, to play games. There would be no consequences for the things they said there, and they had a lot they needed to get out before the end they knew was approaching inevitably

“Part....part of why I chose to visit you, Dipper,” she looked off into the distance again. “is I knew you were gonna be blaming yourself. And....well, you shouldn’t anyways, but you really can’t now.”

“Why?”

“Cause people need you.” She lifted a knee to her chest, remained silent for a minute. “Look, Dipper, Bill’s got big plans. The way he talked, I think they’re coming soon. And if something happens to this town, I think you’re one of the few people who’ll be able to stop it.”

Dipper froze for a moment, and then laughed kind of awkwardly. “Heh. I mean, you know, I’ll help, but I’m pretty sure my Great-Uncle Ford’ll be able to handle it.”

“Well, I don’t know much about your uncle, but I don know he’ll almost definitely need you there too.”

“What are you talking about?” Dipper averted his eyes. “They don’t need me.”

“You kidding man?” she turned to him. “The family would fall apart without you. Like, I don’t even want to imagine it.”

“Well, I guess the journal-”

“It’s not just that.” she shook her head. “You’re a problem solver. You think fast on your feet, and you’ve got more guts than most people I know. Come hell or high waters....whatever that means, you’ll fix whatever is hurting your family. If Gravity Falls goes head to head with whatever Bill brings, they’re gonna need you on the front lines.” she turned to face him again. “So promise me you’ll keep going. Because I don’t think they’ll make it without you.”

Dipper looked her in the eyes, and smiled slightly. “Okay.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” He wasn’t sure if he believed her, but...the fact that she believed it meant a lot.

“Alright. Second thing.” she focused the intensity of her gaze. “Look after my family. Please, they...they don’t know what they’d be getting into. Keep them safe, and keep em from going after Bill. That goes for the group too. Promise?”

He nodded. “Promise.”

“And last thing....don’t go looking for Bill yourself either.”

“What? But I thought you said-”

“I meant it, I do really think you can beat him. But not before its time. Not before you have to. Like I said, whatever he’s got planned is coming soon, and the town won’t make it if you get taken out trying to avenge me.”

“I-”

“Dipper.” She looked him in the eye. “Promise.”

He sighed and then nodded again.

“Good.”

Suddenly wind kicked up, blasting their hair to the side (some of Wendy’s getting in Dipper’s eyes). It didn’t seem to affect anything else around them. No trees, no leaves, not even the grass turned under it, but Wendy looked to it with understanding growing in her eyes.

“It’s almost time....” she turned to look at Dipper again. “Dipper, I have to go soon.”

“Wendy-”

“I just wanted to tell you one last thing before I go....” she suddenly couldn’t look him in the eye. “Look, I know that things have been weird between us since...you know, your confession, and I know it must’ve hurt to be rejected like that.”

Dipper flushed. “Uh....” he swallowed hard. “No, no it-...okay, yeah it hurt a little bit, but....it was your choice. And you were right,” he sighed. “I am too young for you, and it totally makes sense.”

Wendy rubbed the back of her head, looking uncomfortable. “Well....I’m glad you were able to take it that maturely. There are a lot of guys who would be bitter, and I wanted you to know that I appreciated it.”

“N-no problem.” His voice came out in a squeak, and he blushed again.

“But I also wanted you to know.” she smiled, and looked directly into his eyes. “You’re definitely someone worth loving. Maybe not by me. But someone. Definitely.”

Dipper’s heart roared in his ears. He felt tears stinging at his eyes again, but his face split into a grin, and he pulled her into a hug. One that she returned more readily this time.

“Please, don’t go.” He mumbled into her shoulder, as the tears poured down his face. “Please.”

She pulled a little out of the hug. Wendy was smiling slightly, but there was a nervousness in her eyes she couldn’t hide. “It’ll be okay, man.” she stood up as suddenly a bright glow opened up behind her. “Tell my family and everyone that I love them, okay? Tell them....tell them I said it before I died, or something. Oh, and Dipper? Steer clear of wood chippers, man, they seriously hurt.” And with another lazy grin, she walked into the light....and everything vanished for Dipper.

Epilogue:

The afterlife was a lot.....emptier than Wendy thought. Based on the preachers her dad was always listening to she had always thought it would be pretty packed up here. Also, a lot more harps and winged guys floating around. But all she could see was a blank white expanse in every direction. There was a smell though, faint and lingering, like....wood chips and tobacco....why was that so-

“Hey kid.”

Wendy whipped around.

A woman stood in front of her, pose casual. She looked young, mid-twenties, but a couple of lines around her mouth and a certain assurance told that she was older than she looked. A pair of glasses perched on her nose and she had a gold cigar, the tip glowing white and the smoke floating in a formless cloud. She had a familiar lazy grin, and long hair the same color as....

Wendy’s eyes welled up with tears. “Mom?!”

Carolyn Corduroy grinned, and held her arms wide open.

Wendy crashed into her. Gods, she even smelled familiar. Her mom had always had a cigarette on her (she used to use em to light up sticks of dynamite when they need to blow out a stump), but when she had the time she would roll her own cigars, lacing the tobacco with woodchips. She had always loved that smell. It mixed with gunpowder that would get stuck in her hair and smoke.

Carolyn back up, taking in her daughter. “Look at you.” she put a hand on top of her head. “Still a short stack, huh?”

Wendy laughed, shoving her hand off. “Just not a tall freak yet.” she wrapped her arms around her mom again. “I missed you so so much.”

“I’ve missed you too.” Tears laced the edge of her mother’s voice, and she sniffed. “You’ve been....so brave.”

“Dad misses you too.” Wendy said, full-on crying now. “And the boys, and....I’ve been trying but-”

“You did so well.” She cupped her face in her hands, smiling softly. “Come on, walk with me. I’ve got a lot to show you.”

They each kept an arm around each other as they walked on. Carolyn held her cigar in the other hand, lifting it occasionally to her mouth and blowing out massive puff of smoke. “Don’t think I have to worry about you catching lung cancer now.” she winked at Wendy. Wendy smiled, and watched the puffs. They seemed to almost form shapes. Small hearts. Tree symbols, not unlike the ones on Dipper’s hat. A couple of times an axe.

The ground beneath their feet faded from the featureless white to springy grass without Wendy noticing where it began. A familiar clean smell washed over her, and it felt pleasantly cool, like the best fall day. Massive trees stretched to the sky. Somewhere birds were singing.

“Afterlife looks more like the woods back home then I thought.”

Carolyn grinned. “There’s a lot of different areas. This place can be pretty much anything you want. The Axolotl’ll show you around later.”

“Wait, Axolotl? Like the lizard think Stan has?”

Carolyn laughed. “Long story, one I’ll tell later.” She climbed up on a nearby boulder, sitting cross-legged. “This place is one of my favorite though. Like you said, its like home. And hey.” She flexed her arms, causing the tattoo on her shoulder of crossed axes to ripple. “We Corduroys never feel more at home than with the trees.”

Wendy laughed, sitting down beside her. “Damn, I forgot what a dork you are.”

Carolyn flicked her forehead. “Don’t use language like that in front of your mother.” She grinned, leaning back against the rock and blowing smoke into the air. Slowly her face sank and became a little more serious. “So....wanted to talk about something.” she looked at Wendy, smiled bittersweetly. “I mean, yeah, there’s a lot of things we have to talk about, but one thing, specifically right now.” She stuck the cigar back in her mouth. “I can’t keep as good an eye on you guys as I’d like. I can mostly just see stuff in the area when you buried me. Means I miss a lot. But.....” She blew out a puff of smoke, that formed a triangle above her head. “I saw how you went just fine.” Carolyn swallowed hard. “I.....I don’t know who that Bill Cipher creep was. And I don’t know much about that Dipper kid. But....” Tears started to pour out of Carolyn’s eyes, and she wiped them away, smiling waterily. “Shit, kid, I’m so proud of you.” She took a deep, shaky breath. “You’ve grown up to be....so so brave, and....I....” she laughed slightly. “Look, gonna be honest, not thrilled you’re here so soon, but....you’re incredible, kid. Sacrificing yourself like that, for the kid, for your family, for, I don’t know, the world, apparently. And....I can’t imagine having a better daughter. You’ve grown up to be better than I could ever imagined, and that’s saying a whole damn lot, because I already thought a hell of a lot about you.”

With those words, it was like a dam broke somewhere in Wendy’s chest. Tears came drizzling down her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around her mom. All the fear, frustration, pain that she had been filling in the past twelve hours....it was like it had been a knot deep in her chest and her mom had tugged at the one string that made the whole thing come undone.

For a moment the two women just held each other, crying hard as they could. Finally, Carolyn sniffed, smiled and patted Wendy on the back. “Alright, nuff with the waterworks.” She slipped off the boulder and held out her hand to Wendy, grinning. “Got a lot to show you kid. And you’ve got a lot to catch me up on.”

Wendy smiled, hopped down, and linked her arm with her mom’s. “Sure thing.”

They started walking off through the woods. “Alright, first things first: has that guy Robbie stopped coming around? I didn’t like the look of him....”

#gravity falls #fanfiction #angst #dipper pines #dipper #wendy #wendy corduroy #bill cipher #mabel pines #manly dan #stan pines #ford pines #gore #character death #fanfic

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