#I mean- it’s fine :D nothing bad ever happens in basements seriously

[angelic-ish-phantom]

Dannymay7

Lab safety

“This doesn’t sound safe.” Jazz protested. From the look on her face, Danny thought she might have been trying to sound judgmental, but she only managed worried.

“Relax, Jazzy.” Dad said, “Dann-o’s more than old enough to be allowed in the lab. Besides, he actually wants to do some chores for a change!”

“He already does…” Jazz murmured.

“I wanna help in the basement!” Danny insisted, jumping excitedly.

“But what if he gets hurt!” His sister insisted.

“Danny what are our rules?” Mom asked absently.

“Um- No, no being in the lab without adult superstition,”

oOo

Danny felt a wave of regret as he walked down the basement steps. His legs grew lead-heavy, and he slowed to a nervous amble-shuffle behind his two closest—only—friends, wishing, not for the first time, that he had put a stop to this excursion when it had only been an idea.

He couldn’t remember for the life of him how Sam and Tucker had made this sound so appealing.

“Guys, there really isn’t anything interesting down there” he attempted, uncertain. It was technically true, for all the time his parents spent down there—a familiar pang of resentment struck him, a twisted blade in an old wound—few things in the lab worked, as many of them required ‘ghosts’ to be tested or demonstrated; nearly every single one of his parents’ gadgets was a product of ‘ludicrous delusions’ (as Jazz had put it) despite the fact they were able to construct ridiculously complex and advanced technology based on their fictional creatures.

“Danny, You live here. You’re hardly one to judge.” Tucker said, excitement tinting his voice, and while Danny couldn’t deny that was valid, it was hardly fair.

“Plus, you said they’ve been building a portal, how do you not hear how cool that sounds?” Sam countered easily, stopping in her descent to lightly grab his wrist, and began pulling him along. He almost abandoned his protest.

The portal. It was his parents’ life’s work. The hole in the wall of the lab had been there since before he was born, and anytime he caught his parents going over theories, or blueprints, or just any aspect of their profession, the portal came up. It was even the reason they weren’t home; Jazz had pushed them to stop moping at its failure, called their festering dependence on its success unhealthy, and told them to go out and enjoy themselves, and Danny admittedly couldn’t remember the last time his parents left the house for anything that was purely recreational.

It was actually unbelievable that the portal hadn’t come up prominently in a conversation with his best friends before… Although It had been on the forefront of Danny’s mind lately. He thought it’s completion (it’s failure) might mean his parents would drop the whole ‘ghost hunters’ thing—not that he could imagine that—and hopefully pursue a normal career, or at least obsess over something more… tangible.

“Come on dude, your parents are never out. We might not get the chance to check it out again. Plus, you’ve got to admit it does sound cool. What’s the harm?”

oOo

“Supervision.” Jazz corrected.

“That’s what I said! Don’t interrupt or I’ll forget!”

“If you forget them, then you don’t know them and you should be allowed in the lab! Danny it’s dangerous.”

Danny scowled and ignored her, counting off the second rule on his fingers as he continued, “Always wear my science suit,”

oOo

“What is it?” He asked, curious. Sam turned and looked at him, before a devious, mirthful glint entered her eyes. He shouldn’t have asked, terrible idea, he’d never felt so much regret..

“Danny, you should go inside the portal.” She said waving her camera. Oh. He tried to protest.

“I really shouldn’t. It could be dangerous.” He offered.

“You said it doesn’t work, so there shouldn’t be any problem.” Tucker countered, teasing, a silent dare on the words, as he moved to stand with him and Sam.

“Tuck…” Danny groaned.

“That settles it.” Sam half-cheered, pushing him towards the wall opening.

“But, the radiation—” Danny started, digging his feet into the ground. He knew that line of argument was pointless; ‘ectoplasmic radiation’ could potentially do some terrifying things—the fridge was a prime example of that—but with the concentration the portal was emitting, the worst he could get was something akin to a sunburn (plus contamination). His parent must have told him a thousand times at this point, and always they followed up with attempts to talk him and Jazz into wearing their—

“Didn’t you say you had a hazmat suit in here.” Sam interrupted, grinning like the cat that caught the canary.

“There’s a box of clothes on that cabinet.” Tucker pointed out, already moving to carry it down.

“…There are open wires in there.” Danny knew his objections had devolved into whining at this point.

Sam simply raised an eyebrow, letting her eyes fall to the thick wires that ran across the portal floor, and the few, spark-less cut ones tucked neatly to the sides of the portal. Danny’s shoulders slumped as he admit defeat.

“Just one picture.” Danny compromised heading over to the box, Tucker was already digging through.

Sam appeared to be opposed, but didn’t say otherwise. “one picture,” she assured, following him.

In the box, there were four complete hazmat suits, only two of them being his size: One orange, one a pale white. Danny chose the white one, because it was the same make as the ones his parents constantly dawned, while the other, while thicker, rigged with lead and metal parts that would offer more protection, it might have taken him hours to figure out how to put on complex article, even with Sam and Tucker’s help.

He quickly unzipped it, slipping into the suit easily and zipping it up over his clothes, before looking down at himself with a pained expression.

“I look ridiculous.” He said into his gloved hands, covering the emerging blush.

Sam walked up to him and ripped off the sticker of his father’s face that had been stuck on the centre of his chest. “Problem solved.” She deadpanned.

Danny groaned, but conceded. He headed towards the portal entrance, keeping a hand on the edge. He looked back: Tucker was grinning madly, and Sam beckoned him forward, camera still in hand. He sighed and gazed back into the portal.

oOo

“-and… never ever play with any of the stuff mom and dad build.” He finished smugly.

oOo

“If I die, I’m going to haunt both of you!” Danny threw over his shoulder, much the amusement of his closest companions.

Step. Step. Step.

Danny felt himself becoming more weighed down with each step. Anxieties and fears pooling in his gut, knotting his stomach. He breathed out slowly, attempting to push back the pointless dread he felt. He continued to tensely tiptoe over the wires. Nothing in here could hurt him. He flinched at a released puff of steam. So why was he so afraid?

He turned around to see Sam’s camera raised. He gave, a small, shaky smile.

Flash.

Danny rubbed his eyes, stumbling a bit, but caught himself. Tucker looked over Sam’s shoulder as she shook out the photo; he waited.

“It’s good!” She called over to him. Good. He could get out of here now.

“This one’s definitely a keeper!” Tucker declared merrily, snatching it out of Sam’s hand and holding it up to his own face.

“Hey!” Sam complained reaching for it, but Tucker held It out of her reach. He was the tallest of the three of them, so Sam shouldn’t have been able to get it back. A kick to the shins accompanied by a yelp, and Tucker was down.

Danny sighed fondly. Tucker may be tall, but Sam was Sam.

Danny watched the scene, a genuine smile stretching across his face. “Just make sure my parents don’t see it or they’ll never let me take this stupid jumpsuit off.” Danny was only half joking, and judging by the way his Sam cackled, while Tucker tried to hide his snorts, they could tell. He eased up, moving an arm up to lean against the wall of the portal.

It hit him like a brick.

Pure unadulterated dread, as he commit to the action, the unnatural air that had been resting over the house, over Amity as a whole, turned cloying and thick.

Something was coming, something was coming. Something was coming. SomethingwascomingSomethingwascom—

Click.

A lot of things happened in the next instant.

The first thing Danny saw was white. Well, he wasn’t so sure he’d seen it, as opposed to feeling it: hot white, seething on the surface of his skin, running up his arm and phasing deeper and deeper until Danny was sure he was feeling his bones, the light cutting through the fibres of his being, tiny needles made from static.

It hurt.

He was hyperaware; he was cognisant of every part of his body. He was connected with the rims of his bleeding ears, felt the backs of his eyes roll as they charred and shrivelled, tasted his too-dry organs as if they were a bad meal coming back up.

It hurt.

The next thing Danny saw was green. At this point Danny was sure he had been frozen in the blistering light-heat for some long agonising minutes, but only when that chilling of green washed over him, through him—hitting him like the weight of an avalanche in a dream, fuzzy and not there with a force—did he acknowledge time had slowed, that he hadn’t even been there for a second.

Ithurt.

Reality twisted upright upon the green’s impact and Danny finally felt, full-force, something he knew was present, but hadn’t truly been able to process before then. He was in pain. He was burning and freezing all over. His body was being grated away at. He vaguely recalled when he was eight and Dash had shoved him into the pavement while he’d been running from him: the scrapes were deep on his knees and hands, and his split open lip made eating burn for days; the pain felt dull and quiet compared to this. But, that memory played in the back of his mind, meanwhile, any semblance of coherent thought fizzed away, the contorting sensations and sharp agonies trying to erase him, leave only cold ashes behind.

(His last real thought was doused In relief; he thanked every star in the sky that this had been his mistake, that Sam and Tucker were safe and wouldn’t have to feel this torture. They should never have to.)

Ithurt Ithurt Ithurt

Seconds passed and that thrum of awareness that had let him feel everything as he was cooked Inside out, dulled painfully. Slowly. Enough for him to regain thought, to try and make his lungs work (to no avail), to try and blink away the fire only to find his eyelids just weren’t there anymore.

Ithurtithurtihurt

He felt something heavy grow in his chest (or maybe somewhere far away? He wasn’t too sure) and pull pieces of his mind away. Coax pieces of something more him than his mind, something more.

He wasn’t as resistant to it as he should have been, instead letting it lump within him—it felt like that strange green—take charge while memories resurfaced. He just wanted the pain to stop.

ItHuRt iTHurT IthUrT—

Suddenly, Danny remembered. He remembered when Jazz took him to school on his first day of first grade. He remembered how happy he was when she’d gotten him a toy rocket for show and tell. He remembered looking up at her and telling her exactly what he’d always thought; Jazzy was the best sister in the world and he wanted to be smart and amazing like her. He remembers how he met Tucker when he was crying, because Ryan had torn his new Barrett, and Danny had snagged it back, hid it away, and later offered to help him fix it. He remembers how happy he was when his mom taught him how to sew (even though he already knew how), and he remembered how ecstatic he was when she tried to teach him how to cook for the first time. He remembers how joyous he felt when his dad agreed to come in for careers day. He remembered how much he regret asking. He remembered the whispers of freak, and the way they’d called his parents loons. He remembered the way Star and Mickey, and Lester, and Ashley, and Mia wouldn’t hang around him anymore. He remembered feeling alone. He remembered when Tucker didn’t leave. He remembered the way his teachers looked at him with disappointment, thinking he couldn’t be smart like Jazz. He remembered trying to prove them wrong. He remembered getting fed up with Dash and Dale’s when their teasing and tormenting got worse for everyone when they got on the football team. He remembered Dash taking everything he did as a challenge. He remembered getting in trouble for fighting Dash even though he never fought back. He remembered some of his peers stopped insulting him when he passed by. He remembered when some of them thanked him. He remembered when he didn’t tell Jazz but she knew anyway. He remembered when the men in white coats came to his house and his parents argued with them really loudly. He remembered when his parents started spending even more time in the basement. He remembered spending a week at Tucker’s house before his parent noticed he was missing in the third grade. He remembered when his family stargazed together for the last time. He remembered when he grew a taste for exploration. He remembered when he decided he wanted to be an astronaut. He remembered first seeing Sam at recess in fourth grade when her parents let her go to public school, admiring the flowers. He remembered making her a flower crown with all the best colours. He remembered her yelling at him for picking the flowers. He remembered him and Tucker helping her take care of a bent tree In the schoolyard. He remembered Dash destroying it. He remembered catching the chickenpox, and giving it to Jazz. He remembered their parents looking after them even if his dad thought ghosts had made them sick and tried to decontaminate them. He remembered when Paulina stopped talking, to him and asking him to braid her hair, even though it had been in secret, and started calling him names too. He remembered not wanting to hurt anymore. He remembered when the names stopped making him too upset. He remembered when he finally acknowledged his parents weren’t quite normal. He remembered when Jazz got him a toy telescope for his birthday. He remembered that being the second time his parents forgot his birthday. He remembered finding that injured rabbit in the park. He remembered how he, Sam and Tucker had taken turns hiding It while they took care of it. He remembered when Sam’s parents found it. He remembered the first time her parents had said what they thought of him to his face. He remembered not wanting to feel inadequate. He remembered how happy he was when Mickey started asking him for help in physics. He remembered when Jazz stopped pretending that she wasn’t psychoanalyzing him. He remembered when Jazz and his parents got him a real telescope for his birthday. He remembered his first day of high school being memorably mundane. He remembered when Mia and Rachel asked to use his telescope. He remembered agreeing to meet them in the park next Friday…

(Danny fixated on something, several things actually, as the events of his life flashed by in a haze of vivid joys and regrets. He tried to place it… he wished he’d done more. More things he’d wanted to do. He wished that he’d succeeded more, that he’d done more to help. He’d always cared about being useful. He’d never wanted people to feel bad, or hurt, or ignored, but… he felt, for all he’d tried, he could have done more. He wanted to do more.)

ｉｔ ｈｕｒｔｓ.

Danny remembered going Into the lab with Sam and Tucker. He remembered going inside the portal. He remembered the switch being on the inside. He remembered…

He couldn’t remember.

He couldn’t remember anything. His mind went blank as one by one his senses switched off, that odd energy, a second brain, still trying to pick at his mind, scavenging memories and something more. What was left of his eyes stopped seeing light, leaving him in a painless dark. Then, He became deaf to the thrum of electricity and the crackle of energy as his now brittle bones shattered away, the desperate yells from something beyond the haze of green and light. Next, his hoarse voice went quiet (had he been screaming?) as his mouth sealed shut, the coppery taste of blood faded as his black, crinkled tongue became numb. He couldn’t smell the burning; he couldn’t breathe. He felt shadows embrace his consciousness, guiding him away from his body once he’d lost feeling in it. The shadows became clearer, a single dominating presence ruling them all, plunging him into a cold pool, emitting surety and gentle reassurance. Everything went dark.

It was like an outstretched hand had taken a hold of his psyche, and he could tell it was going to take him somewhere much better.

Nothing hurt.

oOo

“Honestly honey, you worry too much.” Maddie said, ruffling Jazz’s hair in a way Danny knew she didn’t like. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

[jungwonenthusiast]

Friends Don't Lie Ch. 1

Pairing: Jungwon x reader

Warnings for this chapter: underage drinking and smoking, mention of porn

Chapter word count: 2k

Based on: Stranger Things

Sunoo

“Can we play please?” Sunoo pleads, tugging at Sunghoon's sleeve.

“No, you’re not a baby.” he rolls his eyes.

“Who said d and d was for babies?” Sunoo scoffs and plops onto the couch.

“Everyone,” Jay says while trying on one of Jungwon’s jackets. “Even Niki doesn’t play anymore.”

Sunoo groans. “You guys are boring.”

“I’ll play with you.” Jake ruffles his hair.

“We need at least four people.” he whines.

“You guys play, we’re gonna go to the drive-in.” Niki says.

“And do what? Makeout with people and get gonorrhea?”

“That’s not how STDs work, dumbass.” Jay laughs.

“Whatever,” Sunoo rolls his eyes again.

“It’ll be fun man, just come with us.” Jungwon grabs at his arm. “Plus you like scary movies.”

“It’s Videorome, isn’t that movie about porn?” Sunoo frowns.

“Just come,” Jungwon begs. “I’m gonna be the only one without a chick, you have to keep me company.”

“I’m just gonna go home, Heeseung hyung will be mad if I stay out.” Sunoo stands up and slings his backpack over his shoulder.

“You gonna bike home?” Jake asks while spritzing cologne on his neck.

“Yeah, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Sunoo says while making his way up the basement stairs.

“See you.”

“Bye Ddeonu.” Jay teases.

Sunoo walks by Mrs. Yang who’s cleaning up the kitchen.

“Bye Mrs. Yang, thank you for dinner, it was delicious.” he smiles at her.

“Of course Sunoo-shi, are you going home now? I thought you boys were going to the drive in?”

He shrugs. “Yeah but I figured I should go home so that my hyung doesn’t worry.”

She smiles and pats his head. “Such a sweet boy, tell him I said hi alright?”

He nods and heads out the door.

It’s pitch black out and the air feels dry.

Sunoo mounts his bike and starts to peddle home, but something moving in the corner of his eye catches his attention.

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Jungwon

Jungwon feels bad. He hates feeling this way. It’s eating at his conscience.

“Why are you guys so mean to Sunoo?” Jungwon says while steering his Camaro.

“What are you talking about?” Jay lights a cigarette and Jungwon slaps it out of his hand.

“Don’t smoke in here, my mom will kill me.” he scolds.

Jay rolls his eyes and throws it out the window.

“It’s just our way of showing affection.” Sunghoon says with Niki sitting on his lap. The car doesn’t have nearly enough seats to fit all of them, but they make it work.

“You need help if you think that’s what affection is.” Jungwon grumbles.

Jake shakes his shoulder. “Loosen up Jungwon, he knows we love him.”

“I hope.” he replies.

Jungwon always wishes he could be nicer to Sunoo. Everytime he sees him he thinks, I should compliment Sunoo or tell him that I appreciate him. But he never does and he hates himself for it.

Jungwon parks in their usual spot.

“I’m gonna go try to con us some beers.” Jay says before hopping out the car.

“Don’t get arrested.” Sunghoon jokes.

Jake rolls down the window to chat with the girls next to them.

Jungwon slumps into his seat. Something feels wrong. They go to the drive in all the time, but something feels off. Everything feels, sounds, and smells the same. But there’s a tinge of pain in Jungwon’s heart. Maybe Jay’s cigs are starting to get to me, he thinks, but he knows that he’s lying to himself.

“Can you just go to her car?” Sunghoon groans. “We exist too you know?”

“Fine,” Jake opens to car door and merrily makes his way to her Ford.

Jay comes jogging up to the car with two cans of beer in each hand. “I am incredible.”

“Indeed you are.” Sunghoon reaches out for one. Niki does too but Jay pulls his hand away.

“No way man.” Jay chuckles and Niki groans.

“I’m literally taller than you.”

“And I weigh more,” Jay says. “No beer until you’re seventeen.”

Jay hands Jungwon a can and he reluctantly cracks it open. He never liked beer but he figured he needed it today.

He lets the bitter substance go down his throat. He holds his breath before swallowing so that he can’t taste it.

Jungwon watches the movie in a daze. The alcohol has gone to his head and everything feels calmer despite the gore being displayed on the screen.

“Shit, it’s eleven thirty.” Jake says. “I’ll drive us home, you’re all too drunk.”

“I can drive.” Jungwon insists.

“No you can’t.” Jake pulls him up by the arms and guides him to the backseat.

Jungwon rests his head on his hand as Jake drops everyone off.

“Alright get up Won, we’re here.” Jake parks the Camaro in the driveway.

“I’m tired.” Jungwon whines and gets up sluggishly.

“You’re such a lightweight.” Jake chuckles and helps him to the door. “Get to your room before your parents see you.”

“Roger that.” Jungwon mumbles and tries to sober up before heading through the door.

The stairs moan underneath his feet as he quietly climbs them. He can hear Jooyoung chatting on the phone as he walks to his room.

He changes into pajamas and heads to the bathroom. His cheeks are pink and his eyes are half open.

“Damn, I am a lightweight.” he says while observing his face in the mirror.

He splashes water on his face and rakes his hands through his hair.

The bathroom light flickers. He furrows his brow.

“I thought dad fixed that last week.”

He washes up quietly and knocks on Jooyoung’s door.

“What?” she calls out.

He creaks the door open. “Don’t be on the phone for too long noona, mom will get mad.”

She rolls her eyes. “She doesn’t need to know, don’t be a snitch.”

“I never am.” he sighs and closes the door.

He climbs into bed and turns to look at the photo on his nightstand. It’s him and the gang at seventh grade graduation.

Jay is smiling big and towering over the rest of them. He was always the tallest among them and Jungwon was dead jealous.

Jake’s arm is slung around Jungwon and Jungwon’s arm is around little Sunoo. Sunoo’s smile is bright and cute. His suit jacket is too big for him, he probably borrowed it from Heeseung.

Jungwon still remembers the day he and Sunoo met. It was the first day of kindergarten. Sunoo was alone on the swing set, staring at his feet. Jungwon had a few friends that he met in preschool but he wondered what the harm was to have one more. He asked Sunoo if he wanted to be friends. It was the best decision he ever made.

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“Breakfast!” Jungwon’s mom calls out as he pulls on a striped polo.

He skips down the stairs and sits down at the dining table.

“Have you seen Sunoo? Heeseung called this morning.” Mrs. Yang says while handing him a plate of waffles, bacon, and eggs.

“No, I thought he biked home.” Jungwon cocks a brow while pouring syrup over all of his food.

“That’s disgusting.” Jooyoung remarks while taking a seat next to him.

“Your face is disgusting.” he jeers.

“Well make sure he’s at school today okay? Heeseung sounded really worried.” Mrs. Yang sits down next to her husband.

“Does he think he got kidnapped or something? As if anyone would want him.” Jooyoung snickers.

“Fuck off, that’s not funny.” Jungwon says.

“Language.” Mr. Yang says sternly.

“She’s being an ass.” Jungwon rolls his eyes.

“What did you just call me?” Jooyoung’s head snaps towards him.

“Whatever.” he dismisses her.

She shoves his shoulder. “No, say it again.”

“Stop it! Both of you!” Mrs. Yang yells. “Can we not have one peaceful breakfast?”

“I can, I don’t know about her though.” Jungwon grumbles.

“I’ll kill you.” Jooyoung grits her teeth.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time.” Jungwon replies.

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Sunoo’s not at school.

“Do you think he’s sick or something?” Jake wonders.

“That doesn’t make sense though, his mom said he never came home last night.” Jungwon chews on his pencil.

“Maybe he went to someone’s house.” Jay suggests and Jungwon gives him a look.

“Who’s house would he have gone to? We’re his only friends.”

Jay shrugs. “Maybe he has a secret lover.” Sunghoon chuckles.

“Why aren’t you guys taking this seriously? Something could have happened.” Jungwon crosses his arms.

“I’m sure he’s fine. Nothing bad ever happens in this shit town anyway.” Jake says right as Mr. Jones walks into the classroom.

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Jungwons heart drops further and further into his stomach as the day goes on with no sign of Sunoo.

The boys are playing basketball during p.e when Principal Coleman and a policeman walk into the gym.

“I wonder who’s weed they found.” Jay jokes but his smile diminishes as the two men approach them.

“Gentlemen we need to speak to you,” Principal Coleman says, “outside that is.”

They all give each other nervous looks but follow suit. Jungwon can feel eyes on his back as he makes his way out of the door.

“Do you know what route Sunoo takes to get home?” the chief says. He towers over them and his biceps look the same width as Jungwon's thighs.

“Yeah, he takes Mirkwood.” Jungwon replies quickly.

“Don’t fucking call it that anymore.” Jay rolls his eyes.

“What the hell is Mirkwood?” the man says and crosses his arms. “Stop messing around, this is serious.”

“It’s where Cornwallis and Kerley meet.” Jake says.

“Why do you call it Mirkwood?” the cop says, unimpressed.

“It’s from The Hobbit.” Jungwon says and Jay shoves his shoulder.

“What? I’m just telling the truth.” Jungwon exclaims.

“So what happened to Sunoo?” Sunghoon says plainly. “Where is he?”

“We’re not sure, he’s probably at his Dad’s-”

“Why would he go there, his dad’s a cock.” Jay argues.

“His dad sucks.” Sunghoon says under his breath.

“Enough, let me do my job alright?” the cop says, exasperated.

“We can help look for him, we know all the places he likes to go.” Jungwon says with hopeful eyes and Niki nods.

“Yeah, we can help.” Jake says.

“No,” the cop shakes his head. “After school you are all to go home, and if I see any of you searching around, I’ll have you in shackles. Is that clear?”

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“We have to.”

“What if we get caught?”

“Then we run.” Jay says while packing a backpack of supplies.

“You think we can out run him?” Jungwon gets up and pulls a jacket on.

“Of course we can, that dude was huge.” Niki says while chugging down a Coke.

“Don’t drink that,” Sunghoon tsks. “You’ll have to pee.”

“I’ll just piss in the woods.” Niki rebuttals.

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The sun had set an hour ago and the stars were twinkling bright.

“Where are you boys going?” Mrs. Yang asks while watching tv on the couch.

“Party.” Jungwon says quickly.

“With backpacks?” She raises an eyebrow.

“Uhm, yeah.” Jungwon nods and she giggles.

“You’re not a good liar Jungwon-ah. Have fun, don’t be stupid out there.” she says and they happily head out the door.

Jungwon drives to Mirkwood with his headlights off. He couldn’t risk getting caught, that cop scared the shit of him.

“There’s a barricade.” Jake says quietly.

“Yeah,” Sunghoon says while getting out of the car, pulling his flashlight out of his backpack. “Shit, it’s raining.” Jay wipes a raindrop off of his cheek.

Jungwon takes his flashlight out and pulls his hood over his head.

They hop over the blockade and venture into the dense woods.

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It’s pouring at this point and their hoods are only making things worse.

They can’t even hear their footsteps over the sound of crashing rain.

“What are we supposed to be looking for?” Jake asks.

“Anything, his bike, his jacket, him.” Jay says.

Jungwon was starting to regret this decision. They’ve been walking for what seemed like hours with no clue of Sunoo.

“Maybe we should turn back,” Jungwon says. “This isn’t working.”

“No,” Jay says. “We need to keep looking, cops miss shit all the time.”

“Hold on hold on,” Jake stops in his tracks.

“What?” everyone asks.

“Shut up, do you hear that?” he says and they all try to open their ears. There’s rustling coming from ahead. Something is coming towards them.

“Fuck.” Jungwon whispers and grabs onto Jay's arm.

They all lift their flashlights to find a human in nothing but an oversized yellow shirt, breathing heavily and squinting from the lights blinding their eyes.

[badass-at-fandoming]

Just Little Ventrue Things ~

I finished a Camarilla Ventrue run of VTMB. Mostly, the only thing Ventrue these days know how to do is Dominate, run screaming, eat hot chip, and lie, and [high falsetto voice] here’s a list of other nonsense I discovered:

PC’s name is Christina; she’s a Dominatrix because I’m bi. Her sire was one of her clients, and she’s actually very, very angry about his death. She doesn’t mind being a vampire. She’s Wiccan and part of a coven

In this Camarilla run, I decided I would only do quests given by Camarilla members. My justification was that, while Christina is intelligent and curious about lore, she focuses on tasks that immediately relate to her and her goals. She’s not curious about others; won’t go out of her way to talk to them. She’s not a bleeding heart, like my other PCs, and she believes in the Camarilla’s laws. She just hates LaCroix for killing her sire. Her plan during the game is to curry as much favor within the Cam as possible and cozy up to LaCroix so she can stab him.

Enough backstory

Nonsense time

Smiling Jack laughs at you if you don’t eat a rat in the tutorial. LOL. The Ventrue dialog is like “I could barely choke down the homeless man: please don’t make me eat a rat!”

The blood in the Santa Monica haven’s fridge is now blue blood. Does regular blood make Ventrue sick? I was too scared to experiment.

[spots Mercurio] I am going to steal that ghoul

Rosa: The people you’re looking for are up there. Christina, assuming Rosa is a Cam agent: Okay, thanks, bye

Never spoke to the Thin-Bloods again (sorry Lily baby ;-;)

Everyone except Julius still leaves when the PC reaches Hollywood

If you try to feed on Julius, he WILL kick you in the head and you WILL glitch into the fire, be on fire; run away screaming in Prada

You can skip the whole basement of the Ocean House Hotel if you manage to jump over the hole in the staircase???? Like?? You mean the spookiest fucking level has been optional this whole time I”M

[ghost appears] [Christina smacks it with an axe] None of that.

Club girls speak to Christina and I’m on the FLOOR

Therese “kills” Jeanette, even though I had enough oompa to make that not happen.

Therese joins the Camarilla and says she’s in good position to be the next Prince??? Hello??? Where is our Prince Voerman ending????

Went straight to LaCroix, called him “sir,” and he name-dropped Napoleon.

LaCroix tells Christina to go visit the Anarchs. She blows the Anarchs off (Nines made a growly face, Damsel dialog yowl-exited out after I asked if she wanted to join the Cam; Skelter threatened to murder me twice). When LaCroix told Christina that, while he admired her Cam loyalty, she must listen to her enemies to understand what they wanted, it felt like he was actually being a good sire and mentor.

That’s weird.

When Christina asked for his history, he very carefully explained his lineage, like the important part of Ventrue culture it is.

Overall, I found LaCroix-being-nice-to-me extremely unsettling.

Sir. Stop smiling at me, sir. Stop being impressed I don’t ask for money. STOP MAKING ME UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIKE YOU, SIR.

In contrast, LaCroix sounded genuinely betrayed at the end

Also made it more obvious when he started to lose track of his marbles

Ventrue PC seems juuuuuuust tall enough for her forehead to glitch into the ceiling of literally any confined space

The dirty Elizabeth Dane policeman didn’t psspspspsp at Christina so the whole ship was 15 white-knuckled minutes of making police dance and scuttling about

There is!!! A lot less!!! Talking in this game!!! Than I remember!!! She is only good at talking and ordering people around i am bEGGING

All EXP goes to Dominate and making Christina extremely charismatic and buff.

Ventrue himbo????

Beckett un-himbo-ifies her

She insults Beckett on their first meeting, spitting out “What do you want, wolfie?!” I thought this was appropriate because she died like, 4 times on that warehouse mission and was Extremely Stressed And Under Duress

Beckett’s response of “Oh, you’re too young to have mouthed off to the truly old ones yet.” makes his later snide remark of “the young ones are so temperamental” 900% funnier. Yeah, LaCroix! Beckett thinks I’ve grown and am now more mature than you! XD

Missions involving sex workers hit different when you’re a sex worker.

Christina was incandescent with rage at the Brotherhood

Grout’s mansion mission was a lot of “I have no interest in this nonsense.”

For the first time ever, I didn’t kill anyone during the Museum quest! This is because Christina ran very fast and Dominated every guard as quickly as possible. Every single fucking guard knew she was there, but could do nothing about it, because they were dancing. The door to the sarcophagus locked (it will do this if too many guards are agro), but locked doors are no match for noclip hack.

Entertaining image of a tall woman absolutely blasting into this museum room and Beckett tackling her to the floor like wait! I must snark at you! You are legally obligated to speak with me!

Isaac is still somehow a pretty chill guy to work with if you’re Camarilla.

Christina didn’t visit VV or Ash. Interestingly, Ash didn’t show up at the hunter monastery later. Did he just die in his club? Is he still there, waiting, deciding?

Christina @ Andrei: what the fuck is this shit

“I don’t care. It’s ugly. Clean it up.”

SEWERS.

Not as bad as I was expecting

Did take shortcut, run away from fights, ducked out in the middle for a snack, and bring 7 blue blood packs tho

Gary threatened to shred her face with a cheese grater, which I thought was Toreador only dialog?? It must be connected to the Appearance Stat. Which Christina has maxed out.

When Heather became Christina’s ghoul, I was delighted because I thought this meant Christina would always have fresh blood.

No

If you ask to feed on her too soon after the last time, Heather says she feels light headed and wants to lie down. The dialog exits out

I love you, Heather bb

Perfected the art of nudging NPCs into corners

Mitnick’s quests now feature Enforced Nap Time for all guards

Seriously, Dominate is ridiculously powerful, hooooly shit. I get why people like it. I also like it when people do things I ask them to do.

Christina can’t sneak, but she CAN strongly encourage everyone to choke on their own tongues.

Very high contrast in the beginning of the game: 2 punches would knock her over, but anyone she spoke to would obey immediately and without question

Chinatown goes by ridiculously fast if you can’t sneak and don’t do any sidequests besides Mitnick’s.

For the first time ever, Zhao survived! This is because Christina made him take a nap.

He just told her to leave

You’re welcome, my good dude

IDK if it’s a game glitch, but Christina would vocalize? In battle, she grunts with effort and pain.

Got to the point where I kept expecting Dominate dialog in every interaction and would get disappointed if it didn’t show up. What do you mean I have to actually convince people? That’s lame.

Christina was polite and charming to Ming Xiao, who also conveyed a deeper betrayal than normal at the end. ;-;

I promise to give you a Ventrue boy toy soon, Xiao

Finale arc quests went by VERY FAST because Christina can’t sneak for shit. Just run in, Dominate blazing

You can skip the outside bit of the Hallowbrook Hotel if you find the open door on the top level what the fuuuuuuuuuCK

[“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” plays while Christina wipes out the Sabbat in 10 minutes]

Andrei disappeared mid-fight and didn’t come back until I complained that only I was allowed to run away from boss fights

I’m categorizing “triggering the interaction to save Heather” as something quite difficult to do. The timing has to be just right. I’ve missed it twice now. BUT hacking into the game to save her is easy.

I love you, Heather bb

Final Beckett talk had the vibe of “You’re a very different person than me, but you’re also High Humanity and trying to do good. You don’t deserve to die.”

Damsel threatens to kick the shit out of Christina and is extremely reluctant to tell her where Nines is

“Out of all people, they send you? All right, let’s just talk terms.” - Nines because Christina was short with him one (1) time

WEREWOLF HARD

You can just?? Walk out of your haven?? Without speaking to Jack at all???

I didn’t do that

But I could have

[”Dust in the Wind” plays while Christina kills entire Camarilla hit squad in 3 minutes]

You can visit Mercurio and Trip on your way out of Santa Monica??

Mercurio makes no comment on the blood hunt. Business as usual with him. This is fine.

Christina: I’m SO going to adopt that ghoul. And perhaps Isaac can be convinced to part with Romero...

(For the first time ever, my PC boinked Romero. Twice, to receive the break up email)

This is definitely a glitch, but Christina brushed up against Caine, and a worried voice said, “Are you all right?” It sounded like the same voice actor, but a higher pitch?

Always nice to think about Caine demonstrating care

Christina asked Caine who he is, and Caine replied that he “gets people where they’re going. [He’s] a driver,”  which is a nice nod (lol) to both his literal job as a driver and as a shepherd/creator/god to Kindred. Caine creates and makes fate.

Caine triple checks with Christina that she’s sure Strauss won’t betray her. Thanks, Vampire Dad. :’D

For some reason, only other Ventrue guarded LaCroix’s tower. I wonder if this is intentional. Like all the other Camarilla Clans backed Strauss and left? So only LaCroix’s Ventrue lackeys remain? Anyway, it created some weird moments where Christina fought her double.

KILL YOUR DOUBLE

Sheriff laughed in haughty joy that he was to kill Christina. I don’t remember him laughing in other playthroughs.

Christina ruining Caine and Jack’s prank oh noes

[teeztheflag]

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Wolf!Ateez Reaction to the daily life with their pregnant mate

warnings: strong language, argument, angst, inappropriate behavior, impregnating kink, violence, suggestive

a/n: this is connected to the other wolf!ateez reaction to finding their mate; I hope you like it anon! also I included some action

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k i m h o n g j o o n g

Hong Joong is a natural leader so he would try to plan and control everything including your daily routine. You know he normally wants you safe and sound but now that you’re in the sixth month and your bumb is becoming bigger he doesn’t really realize that the tasks are just too much for you.

Everyone in the town is super happy that you’re giving them a future leader or maybe a little princess. The pack members always want to talk to you or give you presents which made a normal shopping tour impossible by now. You can feel the pressure they’re inflicting on you and for gods sake just want some last months of peace but that won’t be possible with the alpha’s brilliant plan for you.

Today was also an enormous stressful day as all the grannies of your pack planned out a full five hour ceremony for you and the pup. You knew some things in Hong Joong‘s pack would be different but this made you feel uncomfortable like never before.

„Y/N?“ Hong Joong sees his mate crying in the living room your head held between your hands and sobs leaving you occasionally. „What’s wrong?“ He crouches down in front of you on the ground and takes your shaking hands away to see your glassy orbs and reddened cheeks.

„I- I cannot do this anymore...“

„What?“

„The ceremonies and gifts and talks and meetings and - it‘s just all too much!“

„Are you serious? I didn’t know... I mean the ahjummas told me you are just nervous. It’s traditional for the luna - “

„Joong! I am crying in front of you and pleading for some peace and everything you can think about is the pack and your stupid traditions! I am not nervous I just don’t want to stand naked in front of some old ladies who are telling me how to raise our baby!“

The alpha‘s eyes turn into a rich golden color and you can see that his wolf is coming to the surface at your little outburst. An alpha usually doesn’t take any shit but you’re his luna and you are indeed able to stand your point in front of him (also the naked part seems odd to him, too). Hong Joong sighs and takes your hands into his ones.

„I didn’t know it was so stressful for you and our pup. I just wanted to follow the traditions of my pack and forgot about your feelings and well-being entirely... I am really sorry my beautiful mate.“

The alpha takes you into his arms and gives you a kiss full of love. „From now on you can decide for yourself what you want to do and I will try to become a better mate. Our pack loves you, they will understand.“

„Thank you, Hong Joong“

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p a r k s e o n g h w a

Park Seong Hwa was a calm and loving mate. He always dreamed of a family with his beloved one and a pup. When the doctor said you were going to get twins he was lost. Your tummy became so big he always feared it would hurt you in some way but you assured him it was fine.

As Seong Hwa had a reputable family background and Y/N not really you slowly became aware of the possessive behavior of his family. Seong Hwa, too, had something slight arrogant to himself but you could handle it. The gatherings at his on the other site turned into a slight inconvenient time for you.

„A boy and a girl! I am so proud of you!“ His aunt said excited.

„Yes, at least one boy.“ Of course, you already expected Seong Hwa‘s parents to want an heir for their prestigious estate but now you feared for your little girl. Growing up in a family where only your son is loved his grandparents was something you wouldn’t want for your daughter.

Your patience was soon at it‘s limit when he and his family continued praising your boy and almost forgetting about the other pup that was in your tummy.

„I am so proud of Y/N! We are going to have the best boy in the world and - “

„Park Seong Hwa, we need to talk.“ You stood up and everyone went silent when you dragged your mate outside into the garden.

„I know you only want to impress you parents but what do you think is our daughter going to feel as soon as she‘s sitting with us at the table if you continue only talking about our son?“

„I - I didn’t consider that.“

„Why can’t you be happy about our babygirl like you’re when we’re alone? I am a girl, too. We’re not any less than boys.“

„Y/N, you know I would never think like that.“

„But your family does. They only see me as the one who gives you heirs.“

„I think it would be better if you go home.“

„Seriously? You know what, I am really going home. Home as in my parents house. You should start realizing that I am the mother and I won‘t allow you and your family to hurt my family in any way!“

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j e o n g y u n h o

Your and Yun Ho‘s relationship wasn’t easy at all. You being the princess and him one of the rogue leaders made it hard for you to live your romance freely. You often wanted to tell your parents but seeing them fighting the rogues more and more stopped you from your plan. You wanted peace, just like your mate, too.

To end the war between the wolves and rogues meant a mind change and you felt like the moon goddess picked the two of you on purpose. Maybe it was your destiny?

When you met Yun Ho that day to tell him the news about the pup you were having he suddenly changed into his wolf out of excitement and happiness which caused tears out of joy into your eyes.

By now it was inevitable to not tell your parents about your mate. It was the right time and you didn’t tell Yun Ho something about your decision because you trusted the king and the queen.

It was a fatal mistake to believe that - your mother only cried when the king screamed and trashed around and like an insane person he ordered the guards to bring you into a prison and lock you away from the rogue leader until he killed him. What was worse, they planned you to abort the pup and marry you off to another wolf.

Yun Ho soon found out about everything and nearly collapsed at thought of not only you being in danger but their baby, too. He gathered as much pack members as possible and made his way to your estate.

„I am warning you one last time King Y/L/N! You’re going to give me back my mate or I will burn down everything here!“

„Your mate? She’s my daughter and the princess! My blood would never interact with your kind and this scum that is growing inside her is going to die like you!“ That was enough to start the attack leaving Yun Ho taking some of the wolves with him to find you down in the basement.

He once saw you like this before and it nearly breaks his heart only this time it’s worse. You lay on the ground unconscious and beaten when he picks you up and flees out of your kingdom.

„Don’t worry my love. I promise no one’s going to lay a hand on you ever again!“

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k a n g y e o s a n g

„Mh, mine.“ Yeo Sang stood behind you his nose deeply nuzzled into your neck and his arms holding you and your tummy.

„Who?“ You feel him smirk and are sure of it when he raises his head and bites your earlobe a little bit.

„Both.“

Today you were having a big dinner with some of the other alphas and their families again. There was one big long table where everyone sat down and as you and Yeo Sang were mates your families now sit together.

You already had a bad feeling this morning knowing your ex would be there, too, seeing your mate being extremely overprotective since you’re pregnant.

You went to the restroom and when hen you wanted to get back to the others someone stopped you holding your wrist.

„Long time no see. The pregnancy suits you, Y/N.“

„Jong Su.“

You turned around and gave him a shy smile. How everything turned out a few months ago wasn’t in your interest, too. Before you can say anything he nears you and lays his hand on your belly making you slightly uncomfortable.

„That should’ve been mine. This bastard really didn’t wait long to shoot his dna into your dirty little cunt, right?“

„Jong S - “ Suddenly Yeo Sang grabbed the boy‘s hand and smashed it into the wall next to you leaving the boy crying and rolling on to the ground holding his hand.

„You better not touch what’s not yours! I thought I taught you last time?! I swear if I see you in her vicinity one more time I fucking break your neck!“ With that Yeo Sang took your hand carefully and guided you to one of the balconies of the mansion.

„Yeo Sang, I am sorry...“

„Why are you sorry? I love you Y/N and he has no right to talk to you or about you like that!“

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c h o i s a n

There was nothing better for him than seeing his mate with her little tummy standing in the kitchen and baking the cake for a garden party with their friends. San sneaked up behind you and before you could stop him he already stole a berry from your topping.

„Choi San! Hands off!“ You clapped his hand away and laughed out loud when he took a berries and ran away from you.

„Mooowwwrry.“ You stood behind the couch whereas he was in front of you on the other site smirking at you while he choked down the rest.

You lunged forward and luckily he caught you with open arms causing the two of you to land on the couch. He layed on top of you holding him up with one arm and in the other hand still some berries.

„Be careful my love! You cannot be so wild with our pup inside you!“

„Ah, now you’re acting concerned? What’s with my cake, hm?“

„Sshh... - “ He pops one of the red fruits into your mouth and grins at you. When you were about to shove him off you he held your wrist still and smashed his lips onto yours.

„I love you so much.“

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s o n g m i n g i

You could say Min Gi was a little bit overwhelmed with the situation first but fascinated at the same time. You still remember how he asked you how this could happen and you started to explain the intercourse to him leaving the two of you laughing the whole evening.

When he first bought the most ridiculous things like clothes for two genders and 50 packs of diapers he was now doing pretty good. Min Gi calmed down a little bit and started to read books and asked friends for advise. By now you probably didn’t even need to take care about anything because he planned out every detail.

Min Gi and you got closer while exploring the forests in your wolf form. His wolf went crazy everytime he saw your grown stomach - a typical natural instinct of possessiveness. Sometimes he got so excited he nearly climbed you on your trips. He had such a huge wolf so you were afraid that some day he would accidentally crush you.

„Be careful!“

„Ah, I am sorry... I cannot control myself. I think heat‘s coming.“ His wolf let out small whines while he let himself bump on the ground.

„Aish, Min Gi... Please don’t be sad. I didn’t mean it like that and I only think it’s not a very good idea to do it in our wolf forms right now.“

„You mean, human would be ok?“

You cuddled yourself into his side and licked his ears. Suddenly he jumped up and began to heckle like a maniac.

„Then let‘s go home so I can have some fun with you.“

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j u n g w o o y o u n g

Although Woo Young was the wolf prince and his daily life was often spent with office work and meetings he was quite childish when being alone with you. That doesn’t mean that he’s not mature enough but he likes to make people happy and is a friend of positivity.

Oh, and you always knew when he got home because of the sentence: „WHERE ARE MY BABIES?“

Woo Young also resembled the perfect father in your eyes - every evening when the two of you sat down on the couch and watched a movie he told you about all his future goals and what he wants to do with your little son when he’s finally there.

He also helped you a lot when your stomach grew bigger and bigger and took care of the house duties when it became too hard for you.

Maybe the sweetest part of the pregnancy was how Woo Young liked to talk with your tummy. He used every chance to lay his ears on it and feel the little kicks of your pup. His eyes grew bigger every time something happened and he looked so fascinated.

After the tough time the two of you had your mate was able to make you trust him and give you the love and family you never had. All the hate was gone and replaced with harmony and safety.

„Y/N?“

„Oh god, no ‚Where are my babies?‘ today?“ You chuckled at him while planting the roses in your garden. When Woo Young didn’t respond you got up and watched him smirking at you mischievously.

„Just you wait. Someday you’re going to say it, too!“

„My prince stop being a nuisance and help a pregnant girl.“ Your mate grabbed you by your waist and turned you around so your faces were only centimeters apart.

„You’re not some pregnant girl. You’re my pregnant princess and like I said, we‘re meant for eachother and it shows.“

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c h o i j o n g h o

„You’re kidding me.“

„No, you can see it here.“

„Yeah, more like I can see nothing.“

Jong Ho was totally overwhelmed with having a girl instead of a strong wolf boy. He didn’t even consider it beforehand and now reality crashes down on him. A girl? He’s pretty much busy with protecting his mate and now he has to protect two females?

At home Jong Ho enters after you leaving the keys on the side table and watches how you clap your hands and jump a little bit.

„Isn’t this great? The baby is healthy for now and it’s going to be a little girl! We can chose names if you want I already have some ide - “

„You’re really happy?“

„Choi Jong Ho, I know that voice you’re using. What’s wrong?“

„Y/N, you know me. I know there are many other boys like me outside and I am afraid of having a daughter! I don’t want her to meet a copy of myself and that sounds very wrong but I hope you know what I mean...“

„Jong Ho... First you’re not that bad - I mean, you were a big playboy before you met me but, the point is, you changed.“

„Yes, after I met you. When is she meeting her mate? She’s going to make mistakes. She will meet some asshole who breaks her heart before he comes.“

„Well, I wouldn’t say that you were pretty nice to me before my birthday but that doesn’t matter anymore. And don’t believe you are the only guy, I had my experiences and they make us stronger. It’s okay, that’s life. Why don’t you use your fear to turn her into a strong and confident girl?“

„You think I am able to?“

„Of course. I believe you can do everything. You made me fall in love with you if that’s not proof enough I don’t know what’s then.“

With that you both start laughing and he whispers a small ‚okay‘ while you give him a peck on his pouting lips.

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↺ back to navi

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[myhauntedsalem]

10 Terrifying True Ouija Board Stories

1. Ask Zander

Oh Lord. I was about twelve when a friend and I were playing Ask Zandar (a board game with an electronic wizard that makes sounds and talks) when the batteries died. I tried to find replacements but with no luck.

So my amazing friend says “hey that Ouija board could be fun! Let us play and become possessed by demonic entities for all time”…or something along those lines.

We’re going along and asking questions, pushing the little eye around and having a grand old time. Until I say “if something is there, prove yourself”. THE MOTHERFUCKING NO BATTERY ASK ZANDAR WIZARD SAYS “Dun dun dun, you win!”. I flipped that board, tossed it in the trash, and absolutely refuse to have one in my house again.

2. Obviously Possessed

We were goofing off in a neighbor’s house playing with the Ouija board, and we asked a “demon” to talk to us (shut up, I know.) Five minutes into our “conversation”, the girl next to me vomited then fell off her stool and bashed her head on the counter. We called her mom and she took her to the doctor. She came to school the next day (with a huge knot and bruise on her head) and said the doctor said he didn’t know what caused it but she was fine, although she said she still felt a little funny. It was most likely unrelated, but I haven’t touched a Ouija board since, nor have I hung out with that girl since she is obviously possessed by a demon.

3. Night Time Visitor

The night we played, something came through and was calling me horrible names – I thought it was my friend doing it so I made my younger brother try it with me and it was most def not her, my brother was 7 and didn’t know about those words or how to spell them. I asked it to do something to prove it was real and nothing happened… fast forward to next morning, we were all sitting in the family room, watching TV when our fireplace (which we were not using), literally exploded into flames. We were all freaked out and swore we’d never use the Ouija again but, it didn’t matter, the door was opened.

After that, I had many episodes of sleep paralysis, things in my room would move on their own, something would come in my room and sit on my bed while I slept, I could feel it and see the depression in the bed.

4. The Gun Shot

Yeah. Went to this house that burned down with a whole family inside with 2 of my friends at 1 am. It was a still night, no wind or anything. We were in my truck doing the Ouija and it started to get mean, so we stopped, then it sounded like someone shot a large gun outside the truck window, and it felt like a huge gust of wind blew over us because the truck rocked, and then we all started freaking out. I tried to start the truck, and it wouldn’t go.

Then, we did it again at a friend’s house, one of the 2 people there with me the first time, and we were in the basement. Shit started getting weird again so we went to turn the lights on, and they wouldn’t turn on, and the basement door locked. None of us ever did it again.

I don’t even believe in that kind of stuff, but it was really creepy.

5. KILL!

I’ll never forget. I was 13 and my three friends and I wanted to try the Ouija board. It was the middle of the day, so we went into my friend’s walk-in closet where it was dark and we brought flashlights. We were just playing around. Eventually this “spirit” named Michael came on and we starting talking to it. Of course each of us starts joking that someone is making it move. But the more we started talking to Michael, the more it was apparent that none of us were pushing the navigator around. It was really creepy, but fascinating, too. One of my friends asked the spirit where it was in the present moment. It started to spell C-L-O-S when one friend hit the navigator off the board, started freaking out and screamed, “Closet! He was spelling closet!!” We were spooked, but in a fun way. The friend who freaked out wanted to stop, but we insisted that we keep on talking to Michael as we at least had to say goodbye and close out the session. We got the navigator back on the board and said we were sorry for interrupting him. He was not happy. He said to not do it again. Then for some stupid reason I asked Michael what was he going to do in the closet with us. It started to spell K-I-L and then the same friend threw the navigator off the board again and started screaming, “KILL! He’s going to kill us!!” and ran out of the closet. We all got really freaked out and ran out too. We didn’t close out the session so there was an argument between those of us who felt we needed to go back in and say goodbye so Michael would be sent away, and those of us who refused to ever touch the Ouija board again. We ended up not going back in and I had nightmares about Michael following me around and wanting me dead.

6. Look In The Shower

In seventh grade, my friends and I went over to “Mary’s” house intent on playing with her mom’s Ouija board that night. None of us had played with one before. Mary’s mom was an extremely spiritual person who believed in energies, witchcraft, stuff like that. Before we used the board, Mary warned us that her mom would be really pissed if she found out that we were playing with it because Ouija boards can attract bad spirits into the home. With full knowledge of this, we decided to proceed anyway. This Ouija board was not like the average Ouija board you had ever seen. Along with the usual characteristics (the alphabet, “yes”, “no”, “goodbye”), there was an entire array of symbols and signs that were all arranged in a circle. This was some seriously intricate stuff.

We started just goofing around and “communicating” with random spirits here and there until we finally met one that had us in tears the entire sleepless night. First, we asked the spirit if it was a man or a woman, to which he replied “M-A-N”. Then we asked how he was killed: “M-U-R-D-E-R”. That freaked us out only a little bit but we were mostly excited. All of a sudden, before we even asked another question, the glass goes to the eyeball symbol, then spells out “I-N”, and goes to the water symbol. We didn’t have a clue what that meant. It wasn’t too scary until the spirit spelled out “S-H-O-W-E-R” and my best friend realized that the spirit was trying to get us to look into the shower.

We froze.

I’ve never been so scared in my entire life, especially sitting directly in front of the bathroom with the shower curtain all the way closed, faced in my direction. We all screamed and promised on our friendships that we had not moved it ourselves (very important promise). I felt like I was being watched and my friends thought so too. It was only 4 of us and I believe with all my heart that none of them had moved it because we were all too nervous to do anything.

I’ll never use a Ouija board again because of how crazy and intense that night was. I understand that people say Ouija boards are controlled by your subconscious but f**k that. I know I felt something in that room with us. I know it was dangerous.

7. Get The Boy!

My friend had mentioned that she had one, so I asked her to pull the board out so I could check it out. At first she said no, but then agreed to do it as long as she didn’t have to participate. After she had the board set up I asked “Is there anyone in here”…. Nothing. So, being a dumb teenager I said “If anything is in here and not talking, you’re a coward”. The board was put away after that.

Fast forward about a week later and have me sleeping upstairs on my couch. I wake up on a stereotypical “Stormy Night”. Thunder and lightning, wind and rain..the works. I look around to see why I woke up and couldn’t see a thing, and decide to try and fall back asleep. After laying there for about 30s I hear from downstairs “Get the boy” in a very raspy, wispy voice. I open my eyes and listen… Nothing. Start to go back to sleep…”GET THE BOY”, it was MUCH louder this time. Then my downstairs door SLAMS shut. I freak the F*ck out because nobody slept down there and we had no drafts.

Nothing really happened after that… I learned my lesson.

8. Are You For Real?

A lady I worked with brought one in to play around with one day. We messed with it and didn’t really think it was doing anything weird or moving on its own. So my coworker goes to lunch and leaves me all alone at the store. I didn’t have any customers so I went to the back where the board was. I put just my index finger on it very lightly and said, “are you for real?” That thing moved straight up to yes on its own! I ran out of the back room freaking out. Never touched one since.

9. Answers

A few friends and I mucked around with ouija boards a lot as teenagers. It had always been harmless fun. One night we were “speaking” with a young boy called Niall who had told us he had been murdered by his father. We “spoke” with him for a while and then got bored of the conversation, “left”, and eventually tried again. We started to speak with someone we assumed was an elderly lady, when actually it turned out it was Niall again. Someone must have asked “what do you want?” because the ouija pointer spelt out “Satisfy my requests” and then continuously spelt “answers” over and over again until we freaked out and just abandoned everything: the board, the house, the street.

I have never touched a Ouija board since. Early last year, a few of us got together again (having all gone our separate ways since high school) and we brought that night up – and everyone swore again that they hadn’t moved anything on purpose that night. Of course, someone could still be lying, or we could have inadvertently been moving the pointer without realizing, but just remembering the force of the pointer moving so rapidly – and what it spelt out – freaked me out enough not to want to mess with it again… just in case.

10. The Eagle

One of my best experiences involved talking with a spirit of air, which happened back when I believed only in the mental aspect of magic, and thought that the ‘spirits’ I was talking to were were just parts of my psyche. To test this I asked the spirit to show some kind of sign of its existence, which I did not expect to manifest. When I asked this a huge eagle (birds being part of an air spirit’s domain) landed right outside my window, stared at me, like, really stared into my eyes, looked down at the board and flew away. Maybe it was coincidence, but I closed down the communication, did a Rose Cross Banishing ritual and noped the fuck away from magic for a while. Good Times.

[afraschatz]

Leverage - The Grave Danger Job

It’s been a while since I did one of these, and I MISSED THE TEAM. Anyway, so I just randomly put in a DVD and out came The Grave Danger Job. So here are things I love about this episode: I love...

...the client’s reason for wanting the team to step in. The whole idea of scamming funeral home directors is just so atrocious and that woman sums it up so perfectly

... Parker hanging out in the back. Because that’s just how she rolls

... a Nate/Parker scene. They are too rare, really.

... “Faith. Faith, Parker“. - As someone who couldn’t be more agnostic if she tried, this is such a great way to frame that for me. Because like her, I don’t necessarily get the abstract concept but the show does such a great job to „un-abstractify“ it. Which yes, is totally a word

...Hardison’s and Eliot’s basement time (it’s one of the things I continuously love about this show. All these little off-hand comments that are just so inviting to make up your own backstory and that just always add more little pieces to the puzzle of all of their personal relationships. Because we all know that the two of them kept bickering aaaaall the way through that basement)

... Eliot being annoyed, Hardison being utterly unimpressed by it

... Leverage music. THANK YOU. Because seriously, I hate funeral home episodes and all the doom and gloom in them, and yes, I know it’s a serious thing and all that, but while the team definitely treats it as such (as they always do) the music once again tells us, hey, it’s gonna be fine

... Hardison in a suit <3 with cufflinks. And a horrible tie. Seriously, who bought that thing?

... Parker in a body bag <3<3<3

... Nate and Sophie funeral crashing. Because we all know that this is what they do in their free time as well

... Hardison being grossed out and Eliot making fun of it

... Eliot’s idea of a proper funeral-for-an-ex-con outfit hahaha

... Eliot complaining to Hardison about giving him the wrong information. Because yeah, that was TOTALLY an accident. Hardison, you dawg :D

... Eliot being so quick on his feet as always, going for the simplest and most believable explanation for his outfit. I have such a thing for him adapting so easily

...a casket named „Gentle Breeze“ hahaha

... one named „The Admiral“ because yeah, sure why not

... Hardison’s pinky finger touch. God, I love that he is so easily grossed out

...Sophie emotionally connecting with the dead guy, Nate who couldn’t care less

...“There’s a bunch of kids outside tagging cars“ - ELIOT, STOP BEING SO AWESOME AT THINKING ON THE FLY!

... „Bloody hell“ - I love when Sophie’s utter Britishness comes out. And what do you know, all it takes is Parker dangling in front of a window at a funeral home

...Parker dangling in front of a window at a funeral home

... Nate’s horrible, horrible improvisation. Nate and Sophie turning that improvised speech into a comedy show (Nate) and a Shakespearian drama (Sophie). And just that little detail about the unfaithful widow. Did I mention how I love all the little interpersonal background snippets that aren’t really neceessary but so so good?

... “But where is the money?!“

... two scams at once. I love this about the show, that there is a twist around every corner and that all of it is so fricking fast-paced

... the bad guy’s mobile phone. This has nothing to do with the show itself, really, but that seemingly ancient phone is the only thing that reminds me how old this episode actually is. Because all of the rest of the show? Fricking timeless <3

...family meal aka Chinese food and beer

...a Parker and Sophie scene. “How do you - care?“ God, I love her so much. And I love how her reaction to Sophie breaching the subject is a sigh and an eyeroll and the need to distance herself (totally get that, mate), and yet she listens because what Sophie says is maybe not even as important as how she says it - it’s not a long speech, it’s not about „but you should...“, it’s not prying. It’s answering the question that Parker asked and speaking from HER heart instead of making asumptions about Parker’s. Thank you, Sophie <3

... Parker’s burito eating face and his horribly large camera

... Sophie’s old woman accent

... both of which perfectly balance out the emotional Parker/Sophie scene from before

... the funeral boys being lazy sons

...Hardison and Nate’s little play in the diner

...Nate not blinking when he threatens people. Even when he is in character as a sleezy funeral home director

...the evil speech of evil and Nate’s well hidden disdain

...Nate’s voice when he is pretending to be harmless and a bit scared. You know, that nice guy voice, just a bit too soft to be real, just a bit too stuttery to be trusted - if you happen to know him

...now, the scene that ends with Hardison in a coffin. WHERE IS ELIOT? Dude, seriously. Why isn’t he hanging off a window outside??? (I love that that gets picked up later)

...the way Nate and Eliot talk to one another. I posted about this before, about how I love every 1:1 relationship on the show, and this is yet another example of it. The scene isn’t ABOUT their relationship (just as the little bit about Hardison and Eliot in the basement at the beginning wasn’t about them either) but if you want, you can see SO much about their relationship in this. Eliot waking Nate up and briefing him on the status quo, then looking for clues because Nate certainly doesn’t need mollycoddling. Eliot’s assessment of the evidence and Nate matter-of-factly confirming that („Yeah, got it“). This is how the two of them react in a stressful situation, especially when faced with the kind of emotional stress that is bound to unfold here. With a kind of super-rational coldness that may seem heartless but is the exact opposite; because this is what both of them know is needed.

...I mean I am really against Hardison in a grave, okay. BUT look at all those close ups of his faaaace. I mean, how pretty is he?

...Nate and Eliot arguing about why that situation went South. Because Nate ignored Eliot when Eliot said that he wanted to come with to protect his boyfriend err to provide backup. NATE. Damn you. Everything would be so much easier if everyone just listened to Eliot, like, 24/7. Trufax

...Hardison calling Parker <3

...Hardison freaking out. Aldis Hodge is sooooo good in this, showing how he tries to keep it together but is soooo fucking scared. Aaaah, baby.

...Nate once again proving that he is pretty much a dick. Dude, I know it’s not really helpful to have Hardison interrupt your impromptu crisis meeting, but to just mute him? WTF?

...Nate instantly kinda making up for it. Because it won’t help if the team leader sugar-coated the situation.He needs to be cold-blooded about this

...Nate and Eliot being the ones working this out because of this

...Hardison doing exactly what Eliot told him to (like everyone should)

...the short cut to them stealing the police car and the ambulance. I love the pace of this show and how of course they trust us to just get it

...Hardison working with what he has even if it’s not tech

...Sophie’s argument to Parker for why Hardison needs HER. Not because of emotional whatever (yes, because of that as well, but that isn’t helping anyone). But because she knows what she is doing. - As weird as that sounds, this next scene, that is the most emotional competence porn the show ever gave us.

...God, Aldis, you’re KILLING ME HERE. STOP IIIIT.

...thank fuck for a brief shot to Eliot and Nate and for them keeping it together because I surely am not

...Nate focussing not just on Hardison but also on Javier. Because someone needs to. Cold-Bloodedness pays off.

... “Where did you get the police car?“ - „It’s a rental.“ - You know that you’re up shit’s creek when Nate is not even trying to hide his sarcasm from you

...Eliot, stop playing with the thug and the shovel and RESCUE YOUR BOYFRIEND

...Hardisons desperate attempt cutting at the coffin turning out to be a strategy to get the compass. Again, of COURSE this is about emotions, this entire scene, but how great is it that throughout it is not simply victimizing Hardison? Yes, of course he needs his team to keep him sane and to get him out, but he is not just a damsel in distress. Smartest man.

... now, not to be that guy to make it even worse, but how horrible must those seconds be when Hardison loses contact and just hears machine gun fire outside? MAKE IT STOOOP

... „You have to make it through this. Because you’re my friend and I need you.“ - Yes, Hardison, I am choking as well.

...the utter speed with which Eliot runs to get Hardison out

...“Don’t do that again“ “I won’t“

...Hardison / Eliot hug

... Nate / Hardison hug

... Hardison / Sophie hug

... Parker’s breathlessness

...just deserts for Darlene and her boys and for Javier. Thank you, Nate

...Nate and Hardison computer porn err justice

...Hardison’s little boxing dance

...that Parker and Hardison scene. The shoulder touch. God, the kiss is sweet as well, as is Hardison giving her space, and his fucking smile (and hers), but that initial shoulder touch, that already slays me. That kind of physical comfort they take from one another, that has nothing to do with sex or want or lust, but is pure friendship, that is such a beautiful beautiful thing.

Did I recently mention how much I love this show? Because I do. As much as Parker loves Hardison’s shoulder bumps, as much as Eliot loves being forced into the basement with Hardison, as much as Sophie and Nate love funeral-crashing. Which is a whole damn lot really

[dee-brief]

How to be a terrible friend in a few easy steps: 1) Plan an angst-riddled fic for your friend’s birthday. 2) Get so flipping busy in life that said fic remains only 30% done and chilling on your computer as it slowly but surely becomes months after said friend’s actual birthday. 3) Ignore the really, really, really cool prompt fic you got graciously handed because you know you need to finish the birthday fic first before you can start on abovementioned really, really, really cool prompt fic. 4) Finally decide to take your own birthday as an excuse to ignore some RL things to finish said birthday fic. 5) Don’t actually even finish the fic on your birthday but take almost three weeks after it to ignore RL things to write. [5.5) Take so long the person you’re writing fic for actually writes YOU fic in the interim >__<]) Don’t write the birthday fic. Or the prompt fic. Instead, write snippets of an AU nobody but you knows about and that nobody cares about or wants to see.

[blows a streamer] Happy birthday, Sarah! At this point, it’s more an early-ish birthday present for next year than a very belated birthday present for this year. I swear, your actual birthday fic will be written. Someday.

Honestly, even if Camille hadn’t been around the moment Kirsten’s buzzer went off – obnoxious orange with a huge Feed Me! sticker on it, because ‘why not?’ was Camille’s motto – she would have known it was one of those days Kirsten was in an exceptionally bad mood, doing all in her power to contradict all the literature that stated her people were kind, empathetic beings. Whoever had written that literature obviously had one hell of a marketing degree: they knew to leave out the part that her people also embodied the term “hangry” like nobody else in the known universe.

“Are you seriously not going to talk to me because I took out the book you wanted from the library?” Kirsten shoved the buzzer back into her bag and whirled around, a wall of blonde hair and icy silence. “You know we’re roommates, right? You know the book will therefore be in your room for the next two weeks, right? Does it really matter whose name it’s under?” Kirsten continued to march. Camille continued to stride behind her, trying to resist rolling her eyes and throwing her hands up in exasperation so she didn’t walk into anything or anybody as they ploughed down the hallways. “Kirsten…” Would strangling her roommate really be such a bad thing? There was certainly no shortage of replacement babysitting jobs. Too bad Camille was attached to this irritating, slightly wonky one. “I didn’t do it on purpose! Our PhDs are so similar it was bound to – Oh, sure, let the swing door close in my face. What is this – high school?” She sighed. “Look, I’ll even let you keep it late on my name. I’ll pay the damn fine. Or whatever will make you feel better for me ‘stealing’ the book you need for your literature review.”

This earned her a little glance over the shoulder, but nothing much more. For the love of Dracula rolled in a doormat – why did she like this insufferable blonde, again?

“Afternoon, Kirsten. Camille.” Ayo smiled up from the forms she was filling in, completely oblivious to the fact that Kirsten was acting like a child instead of a mature, put-together twenty-something who just happened to need some food. Camille almost wished she was allowed to act this irrational and moody from skipping a meal. Her childhood would have been damn interesting, if that had been the case. “Feeding time, Kirsten?”

“Yes,” Camille answered empathetically. “Holy hell, yes.”

“Don’t say that rather delightful oxymoron be heard by too many,” Ayo chuckled, flipping through her papers. “You’re in luck; one of yours is open right at this very second.” She scrawled something down. “Bed four.”

Kirsten thanked her shortly and started down the hallway of curtained-off beds. Camille sighed and sank into a waiting chair, pulling out her phone in anticipation of the boredom. But she hadn’t even loaded any of her new emails when Kirsten came striding back. One look at her friend’s face, and Camille straightened from her slouch – she didn’t need to have seen through Kirsten’s eyes to know who was waiting behind the curtain.

“Where’s Ayo? I want somebody else.”

“She walked off. Looked important.” Camille stood hesitantly and put a hand on Kirsten’s arm. “Hey. Talk to me. You seemed fine with him on Monday.”

“That wasn’t this,” Kirsten said, eyebrows furrowed and shoulders tense. “You know what happens when…” She twisted her hands. “I’m with Liam!” she snapped hotly.

Camille took a deep breath so her usual views on Kirsten’s boyfriend would not leave her mouth and make the situation tenser than it actually was. “Last time I checked, feeding off of somebody doesn’t count as cheating.” Kirsten looked at her with big, conflicted eyes, her expression saying what her words could not. “He’s a good guy,” Camille defended. “He would never do – ”

“Of course not. But I… but…”

“I can come with?”

Kirsten pulled a face. “It squicks you out, watching.”

“It’s not the best entertainment ever, no, but if you need me there to… mediate then… Hey, who knows; I might get a front-row seat even if I don’t come. You know flashes tend to happen when you’re stressed.”

“Yeah.” Kirsten cleared her throat, suddenly looking shy. “Yeah. Would you…? I mean…?”

“I’m the best wingwoman ever. And don’t you forget it. Go on. Pale And Ready To Bale is not a good look on you.”

Kirsten gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand, and Camille couldn’t bring herself to feel any irritation or exasperation at having to follow her friend to the fourth curtained-off bed. There was a gap in the curtains, and through it Camille saw the familiar unruly mop of brown curls. The rest of his face was, predictably, buried in his tablet, fingers swiping furiously as he held the screen too close to his face.

“Hell, Goodkin. Hasn’t anybody told the human world about bifocal contact lenses, yet?” Camille said, breezing her way into the cubical.

She laughed, then; not at his flailing jump of surprise, but at the way his face lit up with delight when he saw Camille and Kirsten. She’d thought, in the beginning, that it was just because one had to be somebody who found a very particular genre of things exciting and exhilarating in order to willingly volunteer to be a walking, talking buffet. She still mentally apologised, on occasion, for pegging him as somebody who was joyous to see them just because of what they could give him.

“Ah, hark, the arrival of sweet Melétē  and Mnḗmē.”

The dork probably even pronounced the names of the two muses in the correct Latin. “Does that make you the muse of song? You gonna sing our praises?” she teased back.

“Not after that I’m not: now I’m not amused,” Cameron grinned and then held up his hand for a high five.

Camille glared. “No. That was terrible. You deserve nothing for that crack.”

Cameron’s face fell into a puppydog pout for a moment before he focused on Kirsten. The expression turned so warm, Camille had to glance at the blonde to see what affect it was having on her.

“Evening, Stretch.”

“Technically, for us it’s mid-morning,” she deadpanned.

But Camille could see her resolve to be aloof and cool already cracking under his warmth. Neither Kirsten nor her, already pegged as ice queens by their peers since high school and earning more of said reputation as they mowed through college together, had been able to stand up to the passionate, nerdy genuineness that was Cameron Goodkin. The plan had been to go to the lab the Academy had set up for him and his other human scientists and only do the bare minimum for the study so that Maggie and Turner wouldn’t make their lives hell, making the lives of the humans hell in the process. They had, after all, enough problems to wade through without being the sudden labrats of a feeder who had gone in to have his memories wiped at the end of his year of service and had ended up producing enough notes and theories that they set him up, memories intact, in the unused sub-sub-sub-basement of the Academy.

They hadn’t expected to be wowed by his ‘little human science toys’, or by the theories he was slowly refining about Spirit magic. But the more they listened and watched and let themselves be part of the discoveries he was pioneering, the more they understood why people as ruthless and as dogged as Maggie and Turner had been won over by one scrawny, stubborn human in his mid-twenties.

A scrawny, stubborn human who wore geek Tshirts under his multitude of plaid shirts, Camille was reminded as he removed the plaid monstrosity from one arm. She narrowed her eyes, wondering if she could convince him to take it off all the way so she could bin it – he had a hundred others to replace it with, anyway – but then caught Kirsten’s eye, saw the unspoken message in the gaze, and dutifully turned to face the other way, pretending to be very busy on her phone. She could almost feel Cameron shooting her a curious look; she wasn’t actually allowed to be around when the feeding took place and had therefore never shown up with Kirsten before. But his attention only focused on her for a few moments.

Not that she could blame him – there were all sorts of reasons  a woman with razor-sharp fangs biting you on the arm was a lot more attention-grabbing than the back of somebody seemingly scrolling through Facebook.

She was glad, not for the first time, that slipping into Kirsten’s head naturally meant only that she saw what the blonde was seeing, but didn’t necessarily feel what Kirsten was feeling. It was weird enough having her view suddenly distorted – to suddenly be herself but looking through somebody else’s brain – without having emotions that weren’t hers shoved into her chest. Unfortunately, Cameron’s little machines sometimes had the latter effect. He was getting better at controlling it, but Camille could still remember very, very clearly the first time Kirsten went under and Camille was suddenly not only feeling weakened by Kirsten’s use of Spirit but was also feeling emotions that weren’t hers. They weren’t Kirsten’s, either, and being forced to feel a double whammy of fake emotions still invaded her dreams, sometimes. It had been intense; the foreign emotions had been stronger than her own, drowning out her panic and fear and dislike and making her almost react the same way Kirsten had when Cameron had pulled her out, gasping and disorientated.

It was a good thing weakness had kept her slumped in her chair; she wasn’t sure what anybody would have done if both her and Kirsten had grabbed Cameron roughly and kissed him passionately.

He had dismissed it as magic-science residue the one whole time he’d spoken about it, gently trying to hand Kirsten some of her pride and control back. But one didn’t simply forget. Especially not when the same not-boyfriend person you’d kissed was also under your mouth giving you the blood your entire body craved while he gasped in automatic reaction to the euphoria from your saliva. And, no, Camille couldn’t fault him for that little gasp; she’d been there. She understood.

So, as soon as Kirsten let go, Camille jumped in to be the diversion Kirsten had brought her along to be, calling his attention back to her by whatever means necessary so Kirsten could put her walls back together and pretend it was just another feeding with just another human, and that those not-hers emotions that Camille had also been forced to feel were the only reasons she’d kissed Cameron Goodkin. She diverted even as they both beat a hasty retreat, too fast for him to even get a word in edgeways until they were already closing the curtain.

“See you tomorrow morning! Err… evening?”

Kirsten took a deep breath and shut her eyes. Camille patted her on the shoulder in consolation.

***

Camille missed what happened to start the argument, as her entire concentration was being taken up by Linus excitedly babbling about the new toys they’d installed into the lab and were about to use. It seemed it didn’t matter how many times Camille told him that despite her brief upbringing in the human world, their worlds were now enough apart he was speaking a foreign language to her; Linus would insist on trying to impress her or engage her in the things that were exciting him every time he had a spare moment. Camille didn’t actually mind it, either; Linus was naïve in ways that were dear and amusing, and there was a genuineness and steadfastness to him that Camille felt drawn to. So much so that she’d wondered a few times whether the fact that Linus had made Cameron’s lieutenant even in the deepest dungeon of a vampire college was more telling of the likeness that connected the two scientists than of Linus’ curiosity, passion to pioneer the unknown and geek-streak that ran as wide as the Grand Canyon.

It was, unfortunately, that naivety and that grand chasm that also made him incredibly prone to putting his foot in it. And as much as he was a great guy most of the time, there were also times Camille had to remind herself that a dhampir blow could easily kill a human, so slapping him was not quite the way to go despite what her irritation was telling her.

“Linus,” she tried to interrupt, gritting her teeth to hold in the caustic, acid words she didn’t want to burn him with. “Look, I appreciate the grand tour of the nerd-dom but I – ”

His face disappeared as the now-familiar slight swooping sensation grabbed Camille behind her eyes and pulled. One blink later, and she was staring at Cameron’s face, level with hers for once. And that wasn’t the only difference; the usual spark and excitement were gone from his eyes and face, and he looked tense and wary and a little upset. Camille shook her head in an attempt to break away from Kirsten’s mind, succeeding a split second before Kirsten started yelling, filling Camille in on erupting argument anyway.

“What are you actually doing here?” Kirsten snapped, furiously. “And don’t give me the same old crap you spun Maggie. Why are you here doing this? What’s the outcome, Cameron? What’s the game plan? Or did you really just not outgrow fantasy so much you have to self-insert yourself into escapism like this?”

Linus whispered ouch behind Camille, but Cameron only flinched a little. “My intentions? They’re to make sure you don’t end up like virtually everybody else with your element, Kirsten. They’re to find a way – some way – to stop Spirit turning you insane. A way that doesn’t include dumping all of that darkness and insanity and negative life-force drainage on your bond-mate.”

“Hey, thanks for that bit, by the way,” Camille chirped loudly, hoping to break the intense stare-off. But neither of them looked at her. “The whole Mad Hatter vibe isn’t really my thing, you know? I have no idea about ravens or writing desks.”

“My job is to make sure you and Camille are safe,” Cameron continued, fingers flexing in and out of fists as he stared at Kirsten.

“By ‘keeping me safe’ you mean blocking my magic,” Kirsten accused.

“What? No, I – ”

“That’s what everybody else wanted. One little pill, and I can stop everything from happening to me. I can no longer be a danger to anybody. But I’ll have this thing inside me, forced back, that’s there but that isn’t allowed to breathe. That’s what you want to do to me.”

“Kirsten.” Cameron took a step forward and put his hands on her shoulders. She startled, but, to Camille’s surprise, did not fight her way out of his hold. Not that she would need to fight very hard; at her flinch, Cameron loosened his hold so much his fingers barely brushed against her. “I don’t want to supress your powers, okay? I’m not letting that pill anywhere near you unless it is literally that or your life. And I won’t let that scenario happen.” Kirsten stared at him with wide eyes for a moment before her mouth twisted.

“You do want to take away some of my ability, though. I heard you. You want to make sure I can no longer see ghosts.”

Cameron sighed and scrubbed at his face with one hand. “Cupcake, I…” His eyes searched hers for a long moment. “There’s no evidence the ghosts are real. Only you can see them. It could just be that what you think are real spirits back from the dead are actually just…”

“The start of insanity.” Her voice was cool, brittle and dangerous. “Just because you can’t see them –”

“I know,” Cameron interjected quickly. “I know, Stretch. Maybe it’s because I don’t have your magic. But… I’m not going to take that chance. I’m not going to ignore the possibility that the ghosts aren’t magic but are some sort of way the magic is trying to hurt you.” He was quiet for a long beat. “Even if that means working toward a world where you won’t be able to see your mom again.” She stepped back from his remaining hand on her shoulder, and Cameron let it fall limply to his side. Camille watched them watch each other for a long moment, noting how the whole lab was quiet and waiting. “Are we going to do this?”

Kirsten glanced at Camille, and the brunette gave her her best winning, confident, affectionate smile. “We’re going to do this. But.” She turned and half-glared at Cameron, fierce and unrelenting. “Promise me you will give as much weighting to the theory that the ghosts are real. Promise me you’ll let me try and see the dead instead of erring on the side of caution; promise you’ll take risks where my mom is concerned.”

“Yeah,” Cameron said, and his tone of voice alerted Camille at once to what had happened. “I promise. Of course.”

Kirsten turned and marched briskly toward Camille, pulling up her hair so it wouldn’t get in the way as she walked. Linus slunk off as she approached, and Camille crossed her arms and raised an accusing eyebrow at her best friend.

“What?” Kirsten asked.

“It holds a lot more weight when you’re not compelling the man to make the promise you want him to make,” Camille pointed out. “I mean, are you not usually the one going on at me about trust and shit?”

“I had to be sure,” Kirsten shrugged, but she wasn’t looking at Camille as she said it.

“One day he’ll realise you’re manipulating him. And somehow I don’t think he’ll like it very much.”

“He’ll have to learn to deal,” Kirsten said, stubbornly unrepentant.

Camille rolled her eyes but let it go, flopping in her usual seat for the experiment. To her joy she found the boys had finally listened to her suggestions and bought the good chocolate, and she started on it before Cameron had finished making all the necessary checks.

“That’s for stabilising your blood sugar afterwards,” Cameron said when he caught sight of her. His grin was pure exasperated fondness, and Camille saluted him with the chocolate bar.

“Giving it a head start,” she said around a full mouth, and he rolled his eyes.

“Alright, team, let’s glue her in and see – ”

“Glue her in?” Camille interrupted, incredulous eyebrow raised.

“Well, somebody objected rather loudly to the ‘welding’ metaphor last time,” he said, his gaze on Camille pointed.

“Yeah, well ‘gluing’ sounds just as stupid.”

“Knitting her in?” Linus suggested from his seat.

“What, am I being transformed into an old woman’s blanket?” Kirsten scoffed.

“Pinning her in,” somebody else called from the side of the lab.

“We’ve been over why that one will not happen,” Cameron shot back. “Guys, we’re wasting time arguing about something that doesn’t even – ”

“Folding her in?”

“That one’s not bad. Baking metaphor. What do you think, Cupcake?” A grin twitched at his mouth.

“I will end you,” Kirsten said, very calmly.

“Yeah, she’s still cookie dough. Not done baking yet.” It slipped out before Camille could think; before she could remember that perhaps other people in the room had watched enough vampire cult classics to get the reference. Cameron gave her the oddest look; a mixture of pride at her taking up the referencing torch, confusion about whether it was a relevant reference or just one made because of baking, and a surprised-aching-hope that it did apply to Kirsten; that she wasn’t as eternally unreachable as he thought. “Ugh.” She had to say something to cover up her slip. “Just use the comparatively not-awful one from last week.”

It worked; his face scrunched up as he thought back. “Stitch her in?”

“We’ll use the least gag-worthy while we find something better,” Camille agreed.

Cameron shrugged. “Stitching it is. Alright, everybody. Get ready – on my mark – ”

They’d run the simulation to map Kirsten’s powers and their effects enough times for Camille to no longer be caught off guard by the second-hand emotions and visions. So it didn’t take her long to realise that something was different, this time; something was wrong. It was like each of her eyes was pressed to a different peephole, and she was seeing two separate scenes unfolding while her brain struggled to keep up. On the one hand, there was the usual montage straight from Kirsten’s head into hers – flashes of Kirsten’s life, her father, the sister who had disappeared years ago. But she was also seeing faces that were jarringly familiar to her that Kirsten would never recognise. Kirsten had, after all, come after Camille’s parents had left without a word.

The pain of reliving her abandonment increased and decreased as her mind struggled to deal with two completely different flashbacks at the same time, dialling back enough that it was a distant sort of hurt and then slamming into her as fresh and gutting as it had been on the day they’d left her.

“Camille?”

Kirsten’s memories disappeared abruptly, and suddenly her own were given the spotlight. They slammed into her with such a force she lost whatever small grip on the reality of the lab around her she’d held on to. There were the Moroi, all looking at her scornfully like a piece of trash under a microscope, discussing in loud voices whether she was too tainted to be reformed into a proper guardian, given the way she’d been brought up in the human world. The feeling of being let in only because they were so desperate for dhampir clung to her like a scar that would twinge whenever somebody brushed up against it. There was Theo, pushing her harder and harder despite fatigue and injuries, all under the guise of making her better and stronger and worth something.

“What’s happening to - ?”

“Is that really all you’ve got, Millie? And yet they let you join the fancy place and not me. Maybe it’s cause most of the higher ups are dirty old men. Is that how you – “

“Cami-!”

“Millie, Millie, Millie! Get up!”

There was smoke and fire of younger years; her home was on fire, and she couldn’t get out. And that transformed to her lying on an expanse of nothing, staring at blurry stars, hearing Kirsten screaming for her as she felt herself dying. Kirsten had saved her, hadn’t she? But nobody was coming now. She was dying. She couldn’t breathe.

“What’s wrong with her? What’s happening?”

“Dude, she’s totally not breathing at all. Her heartra – ”

“Don’t! Kirsten, hey! You can’t heal her! You’ll only make it worse when the backlash of using your powers falls on her! Just… let me… Camille. Hey, Pumpkin, hey.”

She hadn’t made everything right. She hadn’t proven herself. And who was going to look after Kirsten, now? Stinger was still out there. The Strigoi were amassing an army. Kirsten hadn’t even declared a magic yet. Damn, everything was fading so fast. What a shitty way to die. What a –

The scene around her jolted and scattered, confused and suddenly not as real as she’d first thought. Something was moving her arms; she could feel them being dragged forward and positioned. But her arms were limp at her sides… weren’t they? Sensation flared into her fingers; a drumming. A steady beat she didn’t really want to focus on, but that was there and attention-grabbing anyway. And then, beneath her other hand, the whoosh of air. Like a breeze passing over the earth, only more deliberate. More like –

Breath. Something was breathing right under her hand.

“Camille, sweetheart, I need you to focus on me, right now. Whatever’s going on in your head isn’t the most important thing right at this moment, okay? You’re not breathing properly and your body’s freaking out and that’s probably making everything feel very, very shitty.”

Yeah. Yeah, it was. She was dying.

“I need you to focus on what’s under your hands, okay? Use those enhanced senses, Supergirl. And then make your breathing and your heart match what you feel. You can do it. Just focus.”

Cameron. The voice was Cameron’s. She knew him. And she’d met him after the night she’d died. Which meant…

A deep inhalation rumbled under her fingers, and she followed its example, gasping in air. It felt magnificent. Cameron continued to murmur things to her – encouragement, instructions, nonsense pet names so she wouldn’t get lost again – and she clung to his wrist with one hand, letting his pulse thrum through her as a metronome for the galloping that was going on inside her chest. Her other hand scrambled for purchase against his chest, slipping up and down the weird-feeling bumps that the buttons on his flannel made.

Eventually, she was able to breathe properly again. Eventually, her heart slowed to just-above-normal; enough to make her head clear. Enough for her to open her eyes. She was on the floor of the lab, and Kirsten and Cameron were both crouched in front of her, looking worried. Kirsten didn’t hug, much, but Camille received an armful of blonde almost as soon as she’d proven she was all there and not dying, and Camille let go of Cameron to hug her back. She had to work incredibly hard to keep the tears from breaking free.

“I’m going to go and call Ayo,” Cameron said, and she saw him stand out of the corner of her eye. “Just relax until she’s here to take a look, okay?”

Camille shut her eyes, tightly, and wished she could shake off the remaining ghosts that clung to her. Something else was niggling at her, though; some inconsistency her over-stimulated brain needed to pick apart and make sense of. There was something off about what had just happened, and she needed to reconcile the truth with the lie her brain had been telling her. But what was the lie?

Cameron returned, and Camille realised at once that he was wearing only a plain Tshirt. His flannel, she realised, had been taken off and thrown over his chair when they’d first come in. So then… why the hell had she been feeling button bumps under her fingers?

“You okay?” Kirsten asked her as she frowned.

“Yeah, I… yeah. Just something I’ll need to figure out, later.”

But later was manic. And then the days wore on, and she forgot, for a long time, about the mystery her adrenalin-fuelled brain had insisted was so important back then.

***

They’d learned how to delay Camille being pulled under into Kirsten’s mind, and she was happily munching on chocolate as she waited and the scientists mapped Kirsten’s brain activity when the noise started and made her instantly alert.

“What is that?” she asked, already getting to her feet.

“What?” Cameron said, distracted.

“That sound. It’s like – ”

Strigoi, Camille thought a moment later, really had to stop trying to emulate bad movies. The three who barrelled their way into the lab did so with a Hollywood flair, and they did so snarling like animals, brandishing crude weapons and – honest to gosh – chuckling evilly. It was so over-the-top that everybody else in the lab stopped to stare for a good few seconds, nonplussed and not yet as afraid as they should be.

And then the battle started.

“Get Kirsten out!” Cameron yelled at Camille, and she didn’t have enough breath to spare to shoot a no duh, genius his way.

She knew she had to pull the Moroi from the experiment and hustle her to safety – but knowing she had to do it and being able to fend off three Strigoi who had weapons when she only had her fists and her feet was an entirely different ballgame. Her training and her desperation and her knowledge of the lab’s layout meant Camille managed to kill one who was just about to turn Kirsten into dinner. But snapping his was mostly a fluke, and Camille knew it. She was no match for two oldish seeming Strigoi, and the best plan was to run the hell out of there. The other two, who had been mostly hanging back, now advanced as a team.

Cameron yelling and throwing something on fire at them was only a momentary distraction; the one nearest him snarled, easily dodged the fireball and then leapt forward in a streak of speed Camille barely followed and Cameron had no chance of tracking. Said Strigoi flipped Cameron’s desk at the human, knocking him clear across the floor and then pinning him beneath the metal.

“Cameron! Cam!” No answer; no movement. Camille’s heart constricted in pain and worry.

At the very least, the loss of Cameron’s computers made Kirsten start to rouse. But it was too little, too late: the most it would do was allow Kirsten to wake up to her best friend being murdered – or worse, turned – just before she got her own blood drained from her body. But to hell with them if they thought they could take Camille down without a damn good fight. They laughed at her as they advanced, deliberately slowly and completely at ease.

She slammed one in the face, breaking her nose, but her partner caught Camille around the throat and squeezed and –

The lab lit up in bright, glaring light. Camille flinched at the sudden brightness, confused brain skittering for the source. Kirsten, mostly awake, hissed and tried to get under cover. The Strigoi burst into flames. With a yelp of surprise, Camille freed herself from the burning, horrifically-shrieking attackers, grabbed Kirsten’s hand, and pulled her out of the wide circle of sunlight. Sunlight. In the lab. Camille looked wildly up and saw a trapdoor in the ceiling had been rolled back to reveal what looked to be a mirror of some sort that was reflecting the sunrise down into the lab. Another look around and she found Cameron, pale and shaky, clinging to a lever in the wall. He was watching the burning Strigoi with wide, horrified eyes, and as Camille watched he slid weakly down the wall and landed in a heap on the floor.

“What the hell?” Kirsten breathed shakily.

It was a sentiment taken up by Maggie and the senior dhampir trainer, Fisher, when they barrelled into the lab a few moments later. Linus babbled a slightly-coherent explanation, and Maggie took charge. Her first point of call was getting Fisher to escort Kirsten far away. Kirsten, however, resisted, eying a still-crumpled, very obviously in pain Cameron on the floor.

“Go, go – I got him,” Camille assured.

Kirsten squeezed her shoulder, once, and then allowed herself to be led off. Camille scampered to Cameron’s side, relieved when she didn’t see or smell much blood.

“Now was not the greatest time to try we wrestling,” Camille joked, hands trying to figure out what was wrong.

Cameron blinked at her, eyes glazed and face uncomprehending. “What wrestling?”

“We? The… the famous wrestling crap on TV where they hit each other with chairs?”

That startled an almost-laugh from Cameron, which led to a groan. “WWE. It’s just my leg, I think,” he added in response to Camille’s prodding.

She made her touch to said leg as gentle as possible, but he still cried out. “Okay, shit, sorry.” He tried to wave her off, still panting in pain. She glanced back to his overturned desk, and then measured the distance from it to where they currently were sitting under the lever. “And yet, you still came all the way over here.”

“Crawled, mostly,” he explained through gritted teeth. “Had to get to the…”

“That was a really nifty thing to put in this lab,” she said, glancing again at the sunlight still streaming in. “Was that your idea?”

“Was inspired by a recent Mummy rewatch.” Camille gave him a blank look. “The Mummy? Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz? ‘No harm ever came from reading a book’?” He shook his head. “Add that to the list of things I have to… introduce… you… to.” He panted the last few words, face now looking a little green.

“Right. Ayo time. Don’t look at me like that; I’m strong af. I can carry your skinny butt up there. I’ll even do it bridal style if it wouldn’t hurt you more.”

He tried to smile for her, but it just came out a grimace. And the facial expressions only got worse from then on – even though Camille tried to be careful as she lifted him to his feet, the movement still jarred him. And as much as most of his weight was on her, hopping about was not a viable option. Luckily, Linus zoomed to their side and took Cameron’s other arm around his shoulders. They had to adjust their positions a few times before they got the right balance that meant Linus wasn’t banging into Cameron’s injured leg as they walked, but eventually they were able to make their slow ascent to Ayo’s capable hands.

Camille was looked over by another medical assistant and then sent to sit with Kirsten, who was actually one of the least badly hurt or drained by the whole fiasco. They were sent back to their dorm early, with Fisher posted outside the door just in case, and so Camille only got one more glance at Cameron that day. Ayo had fitted him with a leg brace and was busy explaining the correct use of crutches to him as Camille passed.

They both made a beeline for the lab as soon as possible the next day, and found that it mostly looked normal, except for some scorch marks on the floor that made an odd shudder run through Camille’s insides. Cameron’s workspace was also visibly stuck back together, with cobbled parts of other computer and technologies to replace bits of his that had obviously not made it out of the battle. Cameron himself looked a little cobbled together, as though held in place only by tenuous sticky tape. He was shockingly pale, and looked smaller than usual with the crutch and the leg brace.

“Didn’t Ayo give you two of those?” Camille frowned, watching him painfully limp around his table, putting too much weight on the injured leg for her liking.

Cameron waved a vague hand. “I can’t have both my hands occupied,” he said, firmly. “I need to get this up and running again.”

Camille and Kirsten shared a glance. “Cameron,” Kirsten started, doubtfully.

“I’m fine,” he snapped, still not looking at them. “Just… I’m fine. I can still do this.”

“Nobody said you couldn’t,” Kirsten tried, gently. “But we just…”

“Hand me that wrench, please?” Cameron said, voice like steel, and the women shared another glance and a sigh.

“Okay,” Camille said, dubiously. “But I’m going to laugh if you fall on your ass in front of me.”

She didn’t get to show that the statement had been all talk; Cameron didn’t fall. But he did get increasingly paler as the morning wore on, and before long his hands were trembling in pain and his leg was barely supporting him even with the help of the crutch. Kirsten and Camille had both retired to a corner of a lab with their library books, content to just be around the people they now considered as friends as they put their lab back together, helping where they could. But when Cameron had to suddenly grip the table to keep from collapsing, Kirsten shut her book with a snap and marched toward him, Camille hot on her heels.

“Okay, you’re done doing this.” She took him by both of the shoulders and supported him upwards while Camille positioned the chair behind him. “Sit.”

“I don’t need to -!”

“Cameron. Please sit.” Kirsten’s voice and demeanour changed, but for once Camille couldn’t find it in herself to call her friend out for using compulsion. “Please, just take a break, okay? And, look; this chair has wheels. You can use it to wheel around the lab.”

“I…” Cameron said, blinking at her.

“It’s more convenient,” Kirsten promised, lowering him into the chair. “You’ll get a lot more done this way.”

“Yeah, okay,” Cameron agreed.

“Or,” Kirsten said, suddenly eager and kneeling before him. “Or – I could heal that for you. I could make it better right now.”

“Wh-? No! No, no, Kirsten!” He yelped a little, involuntarily, as he twisted away from her in alarm. “Stretch!”

“What?” Kirsten folded her arms, face steely. “That’s what I was meant to do with this element, Cameron. That’s what I’m good at.”

“Animals – no mammals yet, I’ll add. And one or two dhampir and Moroi. No humans. There are no records of human healing anywhere. We have no idea what that would do to you or Camille.”

“Oh, man, that’s flimsy bs,” Camille argued. “If she can heal animals, she can do a human.”

“There’s no scientific proof,” Cameron stressed, glaring at both of them.

“Isn’t that what an experiment is meant to bring to light?” Kirsten argued back.

Cameron shook his head, mouth in a tight line. “I’m not leaping that far into the unknown. I will not risk you! Either of you!”

“It’s not a risk – ”

“Everything we do in here is a risk! Everything! Just because we’ve spent hours running all the variables doesn’t mean we’re not wrong,” Cameron snapped. “That’s why we take it further and further by tiny, calculated, acceptable steps. We do not jump all the way to unknown species healing when most of the lab isn’t even paying attention to stats!”

“Cameron,” Kirsten soothed, placing a hand on his arm and leaning a little closer. “I just want – ”

He clapped his hands over his ears and shut his eyes, tight. “You’re not going to compel me to do this!” Camille and Kirsten both drew back a little, surprised that he knew what compulsion looked like. Now that made a few past interactions very interesting. “You don’t…” He sighed, used his hands to scrub through his hair wildly, and then ran them both down his face. “You’re not the first Moroi down here, Kirsten.”

“What?”

“You’re not our first experimentation. Maggie… she always had her eye on you, but her and Turner wanted to advance on you slowly so you didn’t run off. In the meantime, there was a Spirit wielder who was… already in deep. Her name was Marta. She was… the hallucinations had already started and we… we were reckless and went too fast and…”

“And what?” Kirsten asked, very quietly. Camille kneeled before them, her hand on Cameron’s good knee, her heart pounding uncomfortably. She thought she knew where his story was going, and empathy ached through her as old wounds threatened to reopen.

“She turned herself Strigoi,” Cameron said, flatly. “Before we had the failsafe in the lab” – he motioned to the lever – “and before we knew… Turner killed her. Burned her alive.” He stared at them in turn, eyes haunted but shoulders determined. “We don’t take risks that big,” he stressed, but his voice was cracked instead of authoritative.

They let him get back to fixing his lab, after that, but both of them stayed close. Camille, in particular, abandoned the pretence that she was doing work very early and went to help him so he didn’t have to rise from the chair when his attempts to do so ended in him in pain and humiliation, unable to rise. Kirsten eventually had to go to a class, but Camille bunked hers after a silent conversation with her best friend; gazes that promised she’d look out for the human that had inexplicably become special to them.

She brought him coffee, eventually, and then reclined in a non-wheelie seat beside him, bouncing his crutch up and down while he watched.

“If I had stayed in the human world,” she said, suddenly, “If they hadn’t come to find me, I mean. I probably would have studied something to do with brains in a human university.” Where she would have found the money, she didn’t know. But this was a pipe dream; she could forget how much of nothing she’d always had.

“Yeah? Any field you like in particular?”

She shrugged. “I wasn’t old enough to extensively research. I just… what you’re doing here; trying to help by understanding the brain…” She nodded, unable to put it into words. His hand squeezed hers. “What about you, Goodkin? Were brains your first love?”

“Yes and no,” he said, making a hand wobble in the air. “I mean, except for the months I was convinced I was going to build the world’s first time machine, neuro-something has always been my path. My mom’s a neurosurgeon. Brain doctor.”

“But you went for PhD instead of MD,” Camille said.

Cameron sighed, a little. “Medical doctors… Look, I’ve known a lot of them throughout my life. All sorts of specialisations, all sorts of temperaments. And they… They’re great. They do great things. But they’re always looking at problems. They’re always trying to find solutions; the body is just a means to an end, really. I don’t… I didn’t want to see humans like that; to look at what was wrong and try and be the godlike one who fixes it. I just want to… to… wonder at it.”

“You’re such a nerd,” Camille said, fondly, her chest warm.

“No, no, but like…” Cameron leaned forward as much as he could, eyes alight and hands gesturing. “You and Kirsten – you’re not human, but there’s the same wonder in how you work. How your brains work. How your minds by themselves are… beautiful. Camille, I know you didn’t really look at your brain scans but… oh, man, Sweetheart, your mind is magnificent. And then you factor in how it links to Kirsten’s! And on top of all of that is the fact that you are behind all those neurons and that amazingness.” He was grinning at her; still too pale, but suddenly alight from the inside in a way she’d never seen him. “Not just a scientifically beautiful working organ; not just scientifically fascinating but also… there’s a person behind it all. And that person is amazing. You and Kirsten… you’re both so…” He gestured, big, like he had no words.

And Camille stared at that gesture, watching as it made something big and warm start in her chest. Something fragile she didn’t want to be there, because she knew how much it hurt when it was broken and proved untrue. But as much as she tried to stay realistic – as much as she reminded herself that nobody saw her as worth anything more than what she could do for them and be used for – the delight and warmth in Cameron’s eyes demolished her walls. The warmth and aching pleasure of being loved filled her veins and lay there, singing, while she sat silent and gaping and unable to breathe properly in a good way.

“I’m so glad you two were the ones who became part of this,” Cameron said, firmly, and Camille couldn’t give in to the desire to reach across and hug him close.

***

There was something off about the way Cameron was leaning on his crutch when they arrived that day, but he made sure there was no opportunity to ask more than once if he was okay. His leg had been slowly healing – mostly because, Camille was sure, she and Kirsten had been forcing him to take it easy – and he’d even been medically cleared to use only one crutch a few days ago. So the first explanation Camille jumped to was that he’d done too much and injured it more; she and Kirsten shared a few rolled eyes and raised eyebrows, and then they went to work on the pre-testing.

Linus had just finished walking them through the new simulation when Cameron, on view behind them, suddenly staggered and half-fell into his chair. The women exchanged a look, let an oblivious Linus finish, and then marched up to Cameron to find out how they could help.

“We’re going to round up the others and get coffee,” Linus called from the doorway. “Orders?”

Cameron shook his head, and the other two also declined, watching while Linus led the only other occupant of the lab out. Alone with just Cameron and determined to use that to their advantage, they rounded on him.

“You guys should get the caffeine,” Cameron said, not meeting their eyes.

“You should tell us what’s wrong,” Camille countered. “What did you do to your leg?”

“Nothing. It’s not the leg. I’m fine.”

Kirsten gently lifted his hand by the wrist, displaying his shaking hand as evidence. “Cameron.” Her voice was worried but incredibly firm. “What is going-?” Camille saw her suddenly jerk in surprise, saw her eyes widen, and saw her grip on his wrist tighten.

“Kirsten?”

“What – His heart is going crazy,” she gasped, staring at Cameron’s wrist in horror before looking at him in the eyes. “Cameron. Holy crap. Camille, call – ”

“Don’t, don’t. It’s okay.” Camille didn’t bother with his hand; she pressed her palm right above his heart. The organ was beating erratically beneath her palm; too fast with jerks like it was being kicked. One particularly vicious kick had Cameron exhaling shakily, obviously hiding a groan. “It’s fine. I just forgot. I just need a moment.”

“You forgot?” Camille said, incredulous. “What? You forgot to tell your heart how to beat properly? That’s bullshit, Cam. You’re basically dying.”

“I’m not dying,” Cameron sighed. “It’s just heart palpitations. It’s really not as – ” He broke off and flinched, hard, automatically curling in around himself. Camille felt the way his heart had squeezed all wrong, and her own heart started thudding in fear.

“Explain, or we’re hauling you off to Ayo right this very second,” Camille insisted.

“We should be doing that anyway,” Kirsten countered, looking grim.

Cameron sighed, again, and slumped a little in his chair. He looked everywhere but at their faces. “I was born with a bum heart. Took the doctors a few years to figure it out, and when they did it was… bad. Had surgery when I was ten. It fixed most of it, but not all of it. The rest can’t really be fixed by the technology we have right at this point in history, so I instead deal with what I can in ways I can. But the medication is… it has a few crappy side-effects, sometimes. So I…” He paused, struggling for words. “Moroi bites… they don’t only release endorphins.”

He finally glanced at both of them, and then settled on Kirsten. “Your race has evolved to be the very best at extracting blood from a willing donor. That means making it pleasurable for the donor, for starters, but it also means making sure you get the best and easiest… meal.” He pulled a slight face. “So you also release agents and chemicals into blood that regulates your blood donor’s systems; fixes small problems to make the process better. If a Moroi bites a human with cholesterol, for instance, the venom starts to break that blockage down. Because cholesterol interferes with the blood sucking process. Some of those chemicals also regulate heartbeat; do, in a much better way, what heart pills do. The condition, of course, is that when you’re being fed from you can’t have any medication in your system, because it tastes hella nasty, apparently, and we still aren’t sure what human meds do to Moroi.

“Long story short – I wasn’t selected as randomly to be a feeder as people are led to believe. I was the experiment before I was the experimenter. And I’ve gotten into the habit of not taking pills on the days I’m being fed from. But I can’t be in the programme right now because of the stupid leg and this morning was manic and I just… forgot that it wasn’t a feeding day. Forgot to take the pills. And my body’s a little freaked out. That’s all. I’m fine.”

Camille and Kirsten stared at him. Camille’s stomach had dropped somewhere to her knees. “’My heart is going wonky because I didn’t take the medication I need to to keep it okay’ and then in the same breath ‘I’m fine’?” she said, incredulous.

“They’re mild palpitations,” Cameron countered, his expression long-suffering. “It’s…”

His heart kicked again, and he winced, and Camille automatically began rubbing at his chest. Her fingers slid over something bumpy underneath his skin – something metal, from the feel of it – and abruptly she remembered the day months ago when she’d been bewildered by the mystery of the missing buttons on his shirt.

“Does Ayo have meds?”

He shook his head. “She wouldn’t have those.”

“So, what, we’re just supposed to sit around and watch you -?” Kirsten was upset, and Camille couldn’t blame her for being so.

Cameron forced a smile. “It should be over soon.”

“Should,” Camille parroted, and he wouldn’t meet her eyes.

Kirsten’s expression hardened, and she suddenly lifted the wrist she was still holding to her mouth.

“Whoah -! Kirsten!” Cameron tried to jerk his hand away.

“I’m not going to heal you,” she countered.

“You – I’m going to taste like crap.”

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself – like you usually taste delicious,” Camille snorted.

It worked; he was surprised enough he glanced at her, and in his distraction, Kirsten bit down. Cameron’s heart sped up even more under Camille’s hand, and for a long moment she was terrified they’d made it worse. But then the quiet groan he released was familiar, and with one more jerky beat his heart slipped back into rhythm, calmly, as though there had never been anything wrong. Cameron sagged in the seat, eyes closed as he got his breathing under control, and Camille looked to Kirsten. The blonde’s face was screwed up in disgust, and Camille indicated the door that led to the bathrooms. Kirsten nodded, trying not to gag, and made a beeline.

Camille turned back to watch Cameron watching her go, his face ashamed and miserable. She should get an honorary PhD in distraction, she really should, she thought with a sigh.

“So, hey… I’m feeling bumpy things…?”

He looked at her, thrown, and blinked a few times. “The sternum doesn’t ever heal properly,” he finally said. “So they have to… staple you back together.” She ran another hand over the bumps after wordlessly asking for permission. “Those are the staples.”

“How bad was it?” she whispered, not quite able to meet his eyes. His silence was telling. She laughed shakily, suddenly feeling light-headed in her relief that he was there and breathing and okay. “So… I’m thinking I should start an I Died Once club. You’re my first official member besides myself.”

Cameron grinned slightly at her, and touched his forehead to hers. “How rare and beautiful it truly is that we exist,” he said, quietly.

Kirsten was still gone, and Camille was still shaken, and Cameron was a grounding anchor she’d always insisted she didn’t need but apparently really did. So she unlocked the doors sleep sometimes wrenched open, and looked at him and asked, “Was there anything for you? I mean… did you see…? For me, there was only blackness.”

He cupped her cheek, gently. “You have four minutes after your heart stops to be resuscitated,” he said, quietly. “I think you didn’t see anything because you weren’t gone, yet. Kirsten was already working on bringing you back.” He smiled, gently. “But that’s not the sort of thing you want to waste your whole life worrying about. It defeats the purpose of living.”

“Ha. What is this purpose you speak of?” She was being flippant and purposefully argumentative, but he looked at her seriously and answered, anyway.

“I, for one, am not going anywhere until you and Kirsten are safe.”

***

The world was spinning out of control around them. Camille and Kirsten were gripping hands, tightly, but even that didn’t anchor either of them. Not when Maggie and Turner were a second from ripping into each other physically. Not when Cameron was standing in front of them like a guard with huge eyes.

“It’s just a theory,” Cameron insisted, again, as though Turner would listen this time.

“We cannot just get another dhampir and make them bond-mates with Kirsten,” Maggie snapped. “She’s not the only Moroi we need to protect! This afternoon’s attack proved that! We lost good people, Turner. This is supposed to be a place to keep them safe!”

“We need Spirit to turn Striogi back to Moroi,” Turner argued, smoothly. “If we get their best and make them our best, again…”

“That’s just a theory,” Cameron said, again.

“And I’m ordering us to test it, Goodkin,” Turner said, turning a dangerous look on Cameron. “Either you help me – use your scientific whatever to make it as safe as possible – or I do it myself.”

“Over my dead body are you going to force Kirsten Clark to bring another person back to life,” Maggie snarled.

“Careful, Baptiste. I can make that happen,” Turner warned. “Just grab a random human off the street – somebody nobody will miss. Bring them here. She gets another bond-mate; somebody to share her negative effects with so that she can become stronger. Then we work on turning Strigoi; on a real weapon against the bastards.”

“We don’t know what healing a human will do to her,” Cameron insisted, not backing down from Turner’s advance.

“It’s not a request.”

“That person is going to be in her head,” Cameron argued, actually taking a few steps forward, his anger rising. “In both of their heads! That’s not even mentioning the fact that bringing – ”

Turner’s hand closed over Cameron’s throat. Camille and Kirsten both shouted and started forward, but Turner released Cameron casually and he staggered back, barely-healed leg folding a little underneath him.

“Find a human, or I’ll send people to find one. Help me do this, or I’ll make her do it without your expertise. This is not a negotiation.” And then a sudden gleam entered his eyes. He took out a stake and pointed it very solidly in Camille’s direction. “Or perhaps we don’t need a second bond-mate? Perhaps we just need to strengthen the bond.”

Kirsten and Camille both tried to fight. Maggie was able to wrench Camille out of Turner’s hands. Everybody was yelling and panicked and angry, and it was therefore a moment before Linus yelling Cameron’s name got people’s attention.

Cameron sat on Kirsten’s usual recliner chair, his face pinched. There was a syringe in his arm that clattered to the floor as his fist went numb. Horror nearly sent Camille to her knees.

“If it has to be somebody…” He was panting already as Kirsten reached him.

“What did you do?” she cried.

“Will st…stop my heart.”

“No,” Camille groaned, making her way forward on shaky legs.

“This way… if it works I’ll f…find a way to make it b…better for you two. And if…if it doesn’t…”

He shuddered and groaned and slipped sideways. Camille and Kirsten both caught him. “Don’t let me be one of them,” Cameron whispered. “And don’t… don’t make this your fault. If you see my ghost, k…kick…”

They laid him on his back out of automatic habit more than anything else.

“Cameron? Cameron!”

“Cam? Cammy Cam?” Camille felt herself starting to cry. “No… Cam…”

Kirsten caught her hand in a vice-like grip and met her eyes. “This is going to kick you in the ass,” she whispered.

“I don’t care,” Camille snarled, dashing at her tears and then at Kirsten’s. “You save him.”

Kirsten took their joined hands and put them, Camille’s on the bottom and hers on top, on Cameron’s chest. She took a deep breath, and Camille felt a sensation she’d never experienced before kick to life in her gut.

[fallen029]

Parenthood: It Takes Two

For what would be such a tumultuous day, it actually started out quite regularly.

Mirajane arose long before the others, as to begin her morning routine, with Laxus following about half an hour later. She showered and got ready for work while he, first, went to peek into the crib in the corner of their room and be sure that his baby was still snoozing away, but just as quickly was heading down to the basement, where he had some gym equipment, to get a good work out in before any of the kids awoke.

He'd just finished that up and was tagging out with Mirajane for their bathroom so he could catch a shower when it happened.

"Something's wrong!"

It was Nathan, their oldest child, that came barging into the bedroom, not even knocking first. Mirajane, who was over at the crib, lifting their youngest into her arms, glanced over with a frown.

"What?" she asked as he only rushed over to her, standing there in only his underwear (though that was thanks to his father, who slept in his boxers, and therefore made such a thing cool). "Nate? What-"

"He won't wake up!" Reaching out, he tried to grab at her arm, as if to tug her away. "Come on!"

"Who won't?" Laxus had been heading into the shower, but came rushing back out there in only a towel. "Is it Gramps? Shit. What-"

"No." Nathan's eyes were round and full of tears as he stared up at both of them then. "It's Two. Come help him!"

Mira and Laxus both spared one another a glance at that before she moved to pass off the baby in her arms to him and rush off after Nathan. Laxus only turned to put the by then awake Ivory back in her crib before rushing to slip back on some pants and go figure out what was going on.

When Laxus came running into Nathan's room, it was to the sound of crying, though that wasn't his son sobbing. Rather, it was his nephew, Mace, who had spent the night with them, and was down on the floor with Nathan, staring down at their dog, both begging Mirajane to do something.

"Lax." Mirajane glanced back at him as he came into the room, her eyes pretty watery too. "I don't..."

"Can't we take him to the vet?" Nathan was always practical. "Please? You gotta take him to the vet."

Coming to stand over his wife, Laxus bent down before gently pressing his palm on the dog's chest and then its stomach. Finally, he shook his head before glancing at the two boys.

"I'm sorry, Nate," he sighed as he got to his feet. "Mace. He's gone."

"No!" Nathan wasn't done with the animal though and went back to trying to shake him awake. "Two, you gotta get up. You have to!"

Mira, who was still sitting on her knees in front of the dog's head, only stroked his fur gently. "He was old, honey. Very old. And-"

"But he was fine last night." That came from Mace, who was just staring up at his uncle, tears still falling. He had some more decency, recently, than Nate, in that, yeah, he slept in his underwear too, but he also wore an undershirt too. Again, more due to what Elfman wore to bed, but whatever. "What happened?"

"It's just how...death works," Laxus said slowly, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. "It comes when you least expect it. One minute you're asleep and the next you might be-"

"What?"

"Laxus!" Mirajane, still sobbing, took the time up to glare at him for that. "Don't tell them that!"

Nathan, still refusing to cry, rushed around the dog then to go shove at Laxus.

"What are you-"

"We have to go!" Nathan was trying to push him out the door. "Go get his leash so we can-"

"Nate, there's nothing that we can-"

"We have to!" He even stomped his foot. "Maybe they can do something."

"Nate, he's not breathing. I'm sorry, buddy, but-"

"What's goin' on?"

And then, there, in the doorway to the bedroom, was Pike, who still very much so loved his pajamas with the little cartoon renditions of animals on them. Rubbing at his bleary eyes, he asked, "Are you okay, Mommy?"

No. Mira, though she had known for quite a while that the moment was coming, was rather broken up about her poor mutt. She was still in shock, just a bit, as she continued to gently stroke the dog's muzzle.

"Uh, Pike." Laxus turned to go walk over to him and take him out of the room. "Maybe-"

"Two died," Mace sniffled as Nathan, done with his father, went back to Mirajane's side in hopes that she could help his dog.

"What?" And then Pike's crying started. "Why? What happened?"

"Nothin' happened, buddy." Laxus figured Mirajane had a pretty good handle on the older kids (or at the very least, he had none at all and wanted out of there) and moved to lead the youngest of the boys out of the room. "We talked about this sort of thing. Remember? About how this sorta thing just happens. It's just part of being alive, you know."

Pike only glanced back, over his shoulder, back into the room where Nathan was still insisting that Mirajane help Two out. "But Nate says we can help him. Why can't we help him?"

"Nathan's wrong. He's just...uh… C'mere. Let's go check on Ivory, huh? That always makes you happy."

"But what about-"

"I'll take care of it." Laxus even patted him on the head. "And buck up; big boys don't cry."

But Pike didn't wanna be a big boy. At all. He wanted to go in there and cry and throw a fit with Nathan.

It was only fair. After all, compared to his big bubba, Pike very much so was the baby. In all uses of that term.

Laxus only took Pike and Ivory to Makarov's room. The man wasn't up yet, as he found out, but was willing to watch them.

"I gotta go...do whatever you do now," Laxus mumbled to his grandfather. Pike was in the man's bed then, sobbing still, while Makarov only sighed and got to his feet to take Ivory from her father. "Just watch them for a minute, huh?"

Back in Nathan's room, the boy and his cousin were gone, but Mirajane was still in there, with the dog. And when Laxus approached her, she only glanced up.

"Hey," he whispered before leaning down to stare at her. "I know that you loved this dog a lot, but he was old, demon. And-"

"Laxus, I'm not a child." Still, she sniffled before glancing back down at her mutt. "I'm more sad for the boys than me, honestly." Grinning a bit then, at her dog, she said, "He was old and hurting and now he's feeling much better."

"Hey, go tell that to the boys, huh?" Laxus liked the sound of that. "Wherever they ran off to. And Pike too." It was his turn to glance at poor ol' Two. "I'll, uh, take care of this guy, huh? Where do you take dead animals, anyways? You think if I put him out by the curb, the trash guys will-"

"Laxus Dreyar!"

"What? I mean, what the hell else would we do with him? I mean- No." He saw the look her face then. "Mirajane-"

"It'll help the boys with closure."

"It's a damn dog! No. We're not going to-"

"Yes." Mira got to her feet. "We are."

And that, quite simply, was how Laxus found himself out in the back yard with a shovel, digging up a hole for poor Two.

Needless to say, he was not happy about it.

Inside, however, a much more somber scene was occurring.

Namely, the boys were getting ready for their first ever funeral.

Makarov had more than a few concerns.

"You're aren't afraid of...scarring them?" he asked his granddaughter-in-law at one point. The boys were in the living room, Nate writing out a eulogy (which his mother had explained to them was just a big speech about the deceased; Nathan, obviously, took up this task before either other boy could try) while Mace drew up some funeral programs, which his aunt had told him they'd hand out to everyone that came.

It was gonna be a pretty big funeral, the boys were pretty sure. Everyone loved Two.

Everyone.

Pike, for his part, was mostly moping around and crying. Nate kept calling him a baby for it whenever Gramps or Mira weren't around, but Pike didn't care. So Nate was a big boy. Great. Awesome. Good for him. Gold star for the little man.

But Pike was going to cry over his puppy like a big baby and his brother could just get the hay over it.

"Of course not, Master," Mirajane said in the kitchen, where she was starting on breakfast for the kids (though they'd all no doubt claim not to be hungry, which clearly said something about how much they loved their doggy because, seriously, those three could put away some breakfast). "We used to raise animals when I was growing up. We would bury all of them."

"And have little...memorial services for them?"

'Sometimes." Mira gave him a sad grin that time. "The more comfortable the boys are with death, the better. It's not as Laxus and Mace's parents live the safest life. I think that pets are a great chance to learn young that yes, things die; but we don't feel bad about that. We just remember all the good times about them and keep moving on.'

Makarov only bowed his head. "I think they could get over it just fine without a big hullabaloo."

Shaking her head, just a bit, Mirajane said, "It'll be a good introduction to funerals. It's part of life. Better to deal with it now rather than lat- Oh, ivory."

She was over in her highchair, mashing up the pieces of banana that her mother had given her, and was suddenly fussy. She wanted her bottle. Right then! No exceptions!

Not even for dead beloved pets.

Ivory didn't have a very fun morning. Her big bubbas and big cousin weren't very interested in her at all and her daddy stayed out in the backyard for a long time. Then the big dopey dog wasn't around to bother her and make her cry which, fine, was a great thing, but at the same time, was kinda weird. He was always there, sticking his face in her face as she played on the floor, slobbering on her and standing guard over her (or at least he thought he was; she thought that he was just being annoying).

Then, worst of all, Mommy left the house. Which wasn't odd; Mirajane left for work all the time. But Ivory, whose day was all ready disjointed, just wanted her mother to snuggle with and listen to talk and sing and that weird talk-singing thing Mirajane did when she went around the house, cleaning up.

But Mira would be back soon. She wasn't actually going in that day. She was going to ask someone to cover for her and then track down her siblings and their cohorts.

There was a funeral to get prepared for.

Needless to say, Ivory didn't enjoy the afternoon either. When the whole family showed up, it was more than annoying. Her Aunt Evergreen was very piqued about coming over, so she was very snippy with everyone. And Uncle Elf was real sad. He cried with Pike and called themselves both real men.

Then Freed showed up. He wasn't really one of her uncles, but he was always coming to family events and, apparently, they were having one. He went out to the backyard with Daddy though and watched him dig a hole. Ivory, the one time that Mirajane went out there to speak with her husband and was carrying her in her arms, saw the doggy out there too, but he didn't rush to greet her.

Daddy was really sweaty out there, digging that hole, and when ivory cried for him, he was too busy with what he was doing to even pay her any attention.

Which was fine. Ivory probably wouldn't have liked him all stinky and nasty anyways.

Eventually Aunt Lisanna and Bickslow showed up. He was decked out in a suit and Lisanna was wearing a black dress, which made Freed and Ever roll their eyes, but the little boys were very appreciative of their solemn attire.

In fact, before the ceremony, they went to put on their own cute little dress clothes that they only wore to the utmost of important events. Like weddings. Or the few times a year Mira somehow conned Laxus into going to church because she had a bad dream about when Lisanna was dead.

Now, apparently, they were meant to dress for funerals as well.

Pike, who always liked getting all gussied up and having his mother gel his hair just so, was not amused that day. It was very solemnly that he let his Uncle Elfman help him put on his big boy shirt and pants, as well as his nicest pair of shoes.

Mace's mother had brought him his nice clothes over, though she was just as bitchy about the whole thing as she was with most thing. The little boy kept trying to explain to Evergreen that Two had been a very special friend and that she should feel badly as well, but she only would give him that really mean look that she usually reserved for his father before grumbling about how things died; that was the only reason that others lived.

Nathan, however, took it all with the same seriousness that he did everything. He went into the bathroom and stared in the mirror as he carefully clipped on his tie and tucked in his shirt. Still having kept the tears in the entire time, he found it rather soothing to obsess, rather, with not only his attire, but also the funeral.

After all, not only would it be the first one that he was hosting (did people host those sorts of things; he'd have to ask his mother), but also the first one he had ever been to.

And for it to have been a funeral of his very best friend.

Huh.

Outside, Laxus finally dug a deep enough and wide enough hole for the poor pooch and, out there alone then, he only stood there, sun high in the sky, and sweating like a pig.

Glancing to the side, he frowned at the sight of Two, there on the ground, lifeless. It was rather depressing, actually, when he thought about it. The dog had offered nothing to society, fine, but he had been the best companion his sons had ever known. And yeah, he was annoying as hell and pestered Laxus to no end, but he wasn't a bad dog.

Just...not a great one.

"Don't give me that look," Laxus grumbled slightly as he stared over at the beast, ignoring the fact that his eyes were and forever would remain shut. "You lived a great life. You got to be a Strauss! And then a...Dreyar. You had Mirajane as a mother and my kids to play with. I kept you feed and housed and… So you had some rough years, on your own. So did I. And if I died tomorrow, I wouldn't feel bad. So you don't either." Then, driving his shovel into the ground, he wiped the sweat from his brow before adding, "Ya damn dog."

For the record, Bickslow was very behind the idea of having a morbid funeral for a dead animal that was potentially scarring to his young kinda sorta nephews.

After all, it was something quite similar that had made him the way he was. Death. That human fascination grabbed his young and shaped him into the man (read freak) he was that very day.

Lisanna, however, was more than a little weirded out by the whole thing. She saw it more as her sister forcing the boys into holding a funeral for the dog more for her benefit. Perhaps not consciously, but she was nearly certain the whole thing had more to do with the fact that Mirajane had just lost something that had been a big decade of her entire life with no warning.

Because, honestly, dying in your sleep was a great thing for the person it happened to, but a pretty fucked up thing to leave your friends and family with. Even a heart attack was a bit more closure.

Still, she'd dressed the part, as her sister had asked her to, and looked over Mace's program that he handed her quite thoughtfully, glancing at the drawings the boy had done of the dog as well as the nice little paragraph he'd written about Two and all that he'd meant to them.

Pike, after whining and sobbing most of the day, mostly just rested against his father's side as they stood around the pit dug for poor Two out in the backyard. Bickslow's babies, who had been keyed in by the seith to be in their most downcast mood, only hung around Pike's head and whined softly along with him, as they had been doing since they'd arrived.

In his arms, Makarov held Ivory, who mostly just whined a bit for her mother and her bubbas and her father and just because she was cranky.

Alright? That's just the deal. Ivory was cranky. So what?

Nathan stood at the top of the hole, a little paper in his hands, of which he began to read.

"Two was a very good dog," he said as the others just stared at him and he stared just as hard down at his paper. "He was the best dog. And he would still be the best dog if," and he lifted his eyes then, just to glare across the hole at his father, "someone had taken him to the vet! But they didn't! Because they're a horrible person! They never liked Two and now he's dead and that's why I hate you!"

Everyone was too shocked to speak. Freed, who was standing next to Laxus, only shook his head a bit.

"N-Nathan," he stuttered, "if you had only asked me to take your pet to the veterinarian, I would have-"

"Not you," the boy complained, raising an accusatory finger. "You!"

Laxus, who'd known all along just what the boy was talking about, only glared. "I didn't kill your dog, Nathan. And you're ruining your own stupid funeral thing. You-"

"It's not stupid!" Pike glared at his father as well then. "Two should have a funeral if everyone else gets one!"

"This went south fast," Lisanna whispered to her boyfriend as Mirajane rushed to go grab Nathan and talk to him softly. "Real fast."

"With these people,' he replied, "when doesn't it? Honestly, I thought that was the reason we still came around? It's the whole reason I came to an animal's funeral in the first place; for the blow up."

And oh, was there a blow up. Nathan kept insisting that Laxus was the reason his dog was dead, Pike started crying again, Ivory, done with them all for the day, began wailing, while poor Mace just stood there, staring down at his program that he'd worked so hard on (each time he'd made it), sniffling just a bit.

"Did Uncle Laxus kill Two?" he asked his father, staring up at the man who was mostly just feeling extremely awkward. Each time he came over to his older sister's house, it seemed, this was what happened.

"Uh...no. Maybe. I'm not too sure."

"Really?" Evergreen, who was enjoying the scene less than anyone, fanned at herself with her hand fan. "I thought men are never unsure?"

Elfman probably would have gone off her, about just how manly he was, had Mace not finished with his sniffles and finally decided that enough was enough.

"Stop it!" He stomped his foot too, at the sight of Nathan yelling at his father, the man doing much the same back, Makarov trying to calm down both Pike and Ivory at the same time, Mirajane attempting to reign in her oldest, and Bickslow and Lisanna clearly thoroughly enjoying themselves. At his exclamation, most of them stopped, though Laxus was still grumbling, quite insistently, that he had not killed the damn dog.

And he hadn't.

Nature had.

So there.

"Two doesn't want you to fight at his funeral!" Mace glared at Nathan mostly. "He was very nice to us. And we got all dressed up to send him off real nice too! So why are you being so bad? Stop it!"

"You stop it!" Nathan never liked it when Mace thought that he was the one at the reigns of things. "Two was my dog! He-"

"Two was Aunt Mira's dog!" Mace looked at her then. "And she loved him. And he loved her. And that's why he loved us. He loved us a lot. He let us pet him and play with him and would chase us around when he wasn't so tired and he let you name him, Nate. Remember? And now you're going to ruin his funeral? That's not nice." Then the boy looked to the ground. "Alexandria the Second wasn't Aunt Mira's first stray dog. He was her second. And he didn't even care when you named him Number Two because that's funny." Bickslow laughed then, but it quickly became a sharp intake of breath as his girlfriend elbowed him in the side. "Two wasn't bad. So you shouldn't make his funeral bad, Nate. He was our friend. And we're supposed to honor him at his funeral. That's what Aunt Mira said. So stop fighting. Just enjoy the funeral." He lifted his head then. "Even if uncle Laxus did kill him."

"I did not," Laxus growled then, "kill the damn dog! He was already dead! He-"

"Laxus, hush." Mirajane, who was still standing by Nathan, glanced down at the boy once more then. He was smoldering, but didn't move away as she reached down to smooth his hair down a bit. "Nate, Mace is right. Even if your father did kill Alexandria-"

"Fuck this!" Laxus tossed up his hands before going to snatch Ivory from his grandfather and stomp back into the house, Freed following faithfully behind. "I dig a hole, I sweat like a pig, I shower, get ready for this funeral and for what? For this?" He frowned as Ivory settled out, almost immediately, in his arms, staring up at him with her big blue eyes. "What are you lookin' at? Huh?"

Just her daddy.

What else?

"Now." Mira patted Nate on the head, figuring it was best if Laxus left anyhow; he'd never been on board with the funeral in the first place and Ivory clearly needed to be taken inside. "Let's start again, huh, boys? I think that Nate was in the middle of his speech-"

"No, I was finished." He held up the paper to her. "See?"

"Oh." Mira frowned. "You actually wrote out all those things you said to your father. Well."

"I love these kids," Bickslow whispered to Lisanna who hid her giggle into the black glove she was wearing. "This was so much better than just laying around and avoiding training all day."

"They are the best."

"Do I get to say something?" Pike was done crying for the moment, it seemed. Rubbing at one of his eyes, he said, "If everyone else did?"

Aunt Ever sighed loudly before anyone got to say anything, clearly annoyed, though she added, "If you say something, Pike, then that'll be the end of this little soiree. Alright, boys? So take us home, Pike."

He only sniffled rather heavily before slowly walking towards the corpse of his dead dog. Reaching into the pocket the slacks he had on, he pulled out a piece of paper with a drawing on it. Gently setting it on poor Two, Pike patted him one last time before saying, "I'll miss you a lot. I like you more than I like anyone. Even Ivory. And Mace. But not as much as Nate. But I think that you liked him more than me too, so that's okay."

But Pike wasn't okay. Because even if that was the end of the funeral, Pike was still rather broken up by Two's death. But that mostly fell into the category of irrational (though at the moment, completely rational) fears that the little boy formed over most things. To say that Pike was a scaredy-cat was an understatement. And the idea that someone could just fall asleep and never wake up was frightening to him. And as they all waited for Mirajane and Lisanna to whip them up some lunch, he only sat in his room, fearful of accidentally falling asleep (he still took naps sometimes) and never waking up.

Ivory, however, had no such fears and it was rather easy for Laxus to get her down for a nap of her own.

"There you go." He stood over her crib with a grin. "You know I didn't kill the dog. Don't you?"

Meh. She still didn't even realize it wasn't alive anyhow.

Or what alive was for that matter.

Nathan and Mace spent the downtime between lunch making up. It wasn't easy. Nathan felt slighted and as if the boy had ruined his funeral. Mace only explained that it wasn't his funeral to begin with; it was Two's. And Two wouldn't want them to accuse Laxus at the funeral. To which Nathan quite skillfully counter argued that he most definitely would; Two loved bothering the big guy too. And that only brought one response out of Mace.

"Na-ah."

"Yes huh!"

And that went on for awhile. Until, you know, Evergreen yelled at them that if they didn't stop bickering, she'd turn them both to stone.

Which worked, only in the fact that it gave the boys something to bond over; namely, their current distaste for Evergreen.

It was a great thing to bond over. And, best of all, with the size of their family, they could jump around on who they were upset at constantly. Bickslow promise to take them somewhere and fall through? Bonding. Freed trying to make them act like proper gentlemen when all they wanted to be were little rascals? Bonding. Lisanna being mean and refusing to buy them some toys when they were out at the market? Instant bonding.

That was the great thing about cousins. Always someone to be pissed at.

Makarov, however, seemed to only be doing worse after the funeral. Mirajane thought that the stress of it all was leading to him needing a rest, but Laxus saw right through that. He knew what the real problem was.

Gramps and the old mutt were pretty much the same thing. At least to the boys. Both had a relationship to their parents that superseded (or at least Nate thought so about the dog; Laxus only met the dog after Nathan was inducted into his life) their own. Both loved Mirajane more than anyone else, practically. Both groaned when they stood up, huffed when their dinner was a late, and fell asleep by seven sharp.

And now one was dead. With, no doubt, the other following not soon after. Judging by their reaction to the first one, the second would only be twice as bad.

"You know, Gramps," Laxus said as he stood in the man's bedroom with him, Makarov resting in the chair that sat in the corner, where he usually read stories to the kids. "Aside from the whole accusing me during the middle of it, I actually thought that things went okay. I mean, I would never have a funeral for a pet-"

"You never had a pet. All the pets I tried to give you didn't like you."

"That's not true." Laxus frowned. "Ivan just didn't like them and would make you take them back. That's all."

"Well, that's what we told you, at least."

"What? Honestly?"

No. Of course not. But Makarov wasn't feeling well and, much the same as his deceased counterpart, tormenting the man always made him feel better.

"Well, this has been a shit day then." Laxus went to sit then on the edge of the man's bed, running a hand over his face. "First the dog dies, then Nate thinks I murdered I by not getting it help, and now you tell me I scared away Mr. Bones?"

"He got a good home," Makarov offered. "And so did Flutters."

"I really liked that bird. And Mr. Bones." Laxus frowned. "Maybe even back then I wasn't meant to be an animal person."

"Come now, boy." Makarov was starting to feel bad about toying with him. "We never got you a cat. Maybe you would have done well with a cat. I hear they're temperamental too."

"Tempera- I'm not temperamental! I- Oh, Ivory."

Apparently, she wasn't ready for a nap as she began crying out for someone to come get her.

"Lax! I'm cooking! And so is Lisanna! And Ever refuses to get the baby and Elf went to get sodas and I don't want Bickslow to pick up the baby after the last time-"

"You almost drop one kid," they heard the seith grumble from somewhere in the house, "and you're treated like an outcast."

"Or, oh, Freed, Laxus is busy or something," he heard Mira call out again. "Can you-"

"I'll get her," Laxus growled as he got to his feet. At least Ivory liked him.

Err, well, liked anyone that was willing to change her diaper. And talk gently to her. Oh, and she was kinda hungry too. Not enough to cry about it, but just whine and wiggle around whenever someone tried to put her down.

"Hey, little buddy. Ivory's gonna have a bottle." Laxus used her discomfort to his advantage as he walked into Pike's room with her in one arm and the bottle in the other. "You wanna try giving it to her?"

Pike liked that. It had taken a few months for him to realize this as, of course, he was too fearful to hold her back in the beginning, but as she grew a bit and he got more comfortable about the idea of her, it became one of the best parts of having a baby sister. It was like she needed him.

He liked being needed.

So he sat on his bed as his father sat next to him, Ivory in his lap, holding her bottle up to her as she drank her fill.

"You know, little buddy," Laxus sighed as he sat there, watching over his two youngest, "I know that this has been a pretty rough day for you."

"Yeah."

"And that you really loved Two."

"Yeah."

"And that...you know, it's a bit scary. Isn't it?"

Pike looked up from Ivory then to stare at his father. "How do I know that I'm not gonna die, Daddy? If I fall asleep? Would you take me to the vet?"

"Buddy, you wouldn't go to the vet." Laxus shook his head a bit. "And your brother's just upset. There wasn't anything any of us could do. Two was already-"

"Then if I go to sleep and get sick and die there's nothing you can do?"

"Pike-"

"Would you just toss me in a hole too?"

"Well, technically, but-"

"Daddy! I don't wanna die!"

"No one does." Laxus sighed, shifting forwards to rest his head in his hands. "You think I do? Or that Two did? No. But it's just what happens. And.. Daddy won't let anything ever happen to you. You know that."

"But what if it happens when I'm asleep?"

"Pike-"

"I'll never sleep again." He looked back down at Ivory. "And I can't let her do it either. Or else she might not..."

"Buddy..." Laxus took a deep breath. "Daddy promises that you'll never fall asleep and not wake up."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I-"

"Then how did it happen to Two?"

"Because he was old," the man explained. "That only happens to old people. And old animals. Not little boys or babies. So don't worry about it. Alright?"

Confused, Pike glanced up at him. "How aren't you worried?"

"What do you mean, buddy?"

Cocking his head to the side, Pike asked, "Aren't you old?"

And the day just got even worse.

Why did Laxus continue to have children with Mirajane? When all they were was rude to him?

Lunch wasn't bad. Lisanna and Bickslow were clearly antsy about having to stick around at a family gathering for so long (Laxus was sure they'd actually had plans before they got forced into going to a dog funeral; ah, to be young and childless) while Evergreen was quite blatanly annoyed.

The boys, at least, seemed to be doing better. Nate wanted Mace to spend the night again, which was a good sign, and Pike only had to be asked twice to eat his vegetables, which was either a good thing (he was actually listening) or a bad thing (he was in such grief that he was actually listening), but neither Mira nor Laxus delved too much deeper.

Other than Pike, honestly, Laxus expected the whole thing to be over. There. The dog was dead. After lunch, Laxus was going to go fill back in the hole. Then they could all move on. It was, after all, just an animal. He wasn't raising no wussies; his boys weren't going to wallow in their grief about a damn dog.

He wasn't raising babies. Err, well, he was raising a baby, but…

The point was that dogs were just animals! Sheesh.

After lunch, most everyone took their leave other than Mace. And Makarov retired to his room once more, that time to truly nap. Upon hearing this, Pike insisted that he go with the man for some reason that no one, but Laxus seemed to understand.

After all, Gramps was great. Youthful in many ways. But still an old fart; Pike had to keep an eye on him.

"Can you take care of Ivory and the boys?" Laxus asked Mira with a kiss before heading towards the backdoor. "I gotta go finish up out there."

Mira grinned down at Ivory when he handed her off. "'kay. Don't hurt your back."

"Hurt my- How old do you think I am?"

"Mmmm."

"That," he grumbled as he headed out the door, "ain't an answer, you know."

"I know."

The day seemed to kind of drag on from there. Mace and Nate had made up, fine, but neither were too enthused about doing anything and mostly just sat around and played with their toys. The only thing that Nate really seemed to enjoy was when Ivory wasn't sleeping and sat down there with them so both he and Mace could play with her (though at her age, that mostly meant shake toys around in her face as she stared at them like they were stupid).

Nate really did like his sister.

He and Mace spent a good chunk of the day, once more, attempting to get her to say their names. Which totally went over Ivory's head, as she basically only knew how to cry and make gurgling noises, but Nate didn't mind.

Only switch to trying to get her to say the word egg when Mira left the room because, you know, that would be a great first word too.

And really funny. Because if she said egg, then his mother couldn't get onto him for calling her Egg.

Could she? Huh?

Well, maybe. Probably. But he wouldn't care none.

Makarov slept a long time. Err, well, he was in his room a long time. Sleep was far as, every twenty minutes, Pike would stop coloring in his coloring book to shove on his Gramps' side and see if he was really sleeping or, rather, dead. And Makarov was too good of a sport to say anything, but honestly, he was more than a bit peeved.

Especially when, that night, at bedtime, Pike insisted upon sleeping with his grandfather. Makarov loved the boy too much to tell him no. And, when, inevitably, some time that night it started to freak Nate and Mace out that Two had died in the room they were sleeping in which was basically just asking for ghosts, it would be Gramps' bed that they crawled in too and that was just fine because he loved his grandsons (and yes, he included Mace in that). Very much.

Even if it meant a sleepless night.

Laxus tossed and turned a lot that night too. Mira could tell as they laid down that night (he actually came to join her later, but Ivory had been whining right before then, so Mira was awake), and asked why almost immediately.

"I dunno," he sighed as she snuggled up to him, staring with concerned eyes. "It's just… I think I'm damn good to my boys."

"You are," Mira said with a slight frown. "Why would you think otherwise?"

"Because," he grumbled, "they think I killed their dog."

"Oh, Lax, Nate was just being-"

"And then Pike called me old-"

"He did?"

"-and even Mace thinks that I was negligent with the damn beast!"

"W-Well-"

"I mean, do they not get that without me, they wouldn't even be here? Pike and Nate, I mean?"

Mira blinked. Then she shrugged as best she could while lying down. "Genetically? Because considering Pike still thinks there's a stork that drops off babies to parents that look like them, I really don't think-"

"He does not," Laxus grumbled, "think that anymore. He just thinks that you prayed for a baby really hard and then, miraculously, it appeared in your stomach."

"If only."

"Mira-"

"Laxus, they know you didn't kill their pet." Or at least she hoped they honestly didn't believe that. "And to Pike, you are old. So am I."

The man only snorted. "I just… I didn't hate the dog, okay?"

Mira blinked. "Okay."

"I mean, fine, sometimes I made it seem like that and, fine, great, I'm not animal friendly, but who was the one that would clean up his poop because you were too squeamish back before the boys were old enough to?"

"Well, I just kinda treated him like a stray back then, so-"

"Me! I did! And who took him for walks?"

"Mostly-"

"Me!"

"Not exactly, but-"

"And you know, even though you all think I'm a big grump-"

"No one has ever-"

"-that has no feelings and no emotions-"

"You're the one that always tries to be-"

"-I can feel empathy. And sympathy. It's not all just apathy." That time, the slayer only took a deep breath before saying, "He was good dog. And I would never do anything to hurt him."

"I know, dragon." Mira pushed up, just a bit, so that she could kiss his cheek. "You loved him."

Grunt. Then, "I'm not a monster. Or Ivan. I would never do something that would hurt them. Or an animal. And Mr. Bones loved me!"

"Not the Mr. Bones story ag-"

"He did. He would lick my face and I taught him to sit-"

"Lax, you know I love you."

"You better."

"But please. Your childhood makes me feel bad." She laid against his chest that time. "And I feel bad enough without Two here." Sniffling, she added, "I loved my dog."

Laxus only patted her head. "I know, demon. I know."

It was, after all, the only reason that they sat through that horrible dog funeral.

The next morning didn't start off like normal. At all. Something felt off as Laxus headed down to the gym to work out and Mira got ready for work as well as tended to Ivory. They both knew what it was, of course, that was bothering them, but neither spoke on it and, though they knew the boys would, kind of hoped they could just get through the day without anymore waterworks.

Pike, pleased that, in his mind, he'd kept his great-grandfather alive, seemed better that day.

"Hi, Ivy," he greeted her as he passed her high chair that morning to go sit at the table where his mother had sat his own breakfast. Ivory only made noises at him which was good enough for Pike; he knew how she felt about him, after all. Words were meaningless.

Mace was rather sleepy at the table and only laid with his head down, not bothered as Nate ate both his own pieces of bacon as well as his cousin's.

"I have to work today, boys," Mira announced to them as she went around the table, kissing all their heads. "Behave for Master and your father, okay? And Mace, I think you'll have to go home sometime today; you've been here for a week, honey."

Meh. He'd go home another day. Like...in another week.

When she got to Laxus, he got two kisses, which was totally unfair, as all three boys frowned, but decided not to say anything because the second one wasn't to his head, but rather his lips and that was just gross.

"You going anywhere today?" she asked him. "Because I don't think that we can get Lisanna and Bickslow to babysit twice in a row."

"They didn't babysit," he grumbled. "They-"

"It counts." To them, anyways. "I'll swing by on my break to bring you guys lunch, okay? And then will be home for dinner. And Master is in the shower now, but he's supposed to come down to the hall at some point; make sure he does. He has some papers to sign."

"Alright," he sighed as Mira only moved onto Ivory then, who got showered with kisses. That time didn't get a complaint of its unfairness because, heck, the boys showered her with kisses and praises too.

It was just a thing.

"See you when you get home," Laxus called after his wife, who only left with a slight giggle. "Love you."

The boys echoed this and then, finally, Mira was gone and it was back to being a boys only house.

Well, Ivory was there, but she hardly counted. She was so tiny, after all.

After breakfast, Pike wanted to go play pirate (alone, he'd specified because if he didn't then the older boys might tag along and they constantly made him pretend to be a hostage and he hated that) while Mace hadn't bathed in a good two days, so Laxus sent him off to get that taken care of.

"Why do I have to do the dishes?" Nathan complained as his father ordered that to be his after breakfast duty. "It's not fair."

"Life's not fair."

Can't argue with that.

Still got some grumbles though.

"Come on." Laxus tapped him on the head. "You just dry 'em, huh? I'll wash."

That was done in silence for a while. Eventually though, Laxus figured that he was the adult and that meant starting the conversation.

"You know, buddy," he began at one point, "I didn't kill your dog. He was already dead. Taking him to the vet would have been a waste of jewels. It hurts, but it's true."

Nathan, who at that moment was running a rag across a plate, only glared down on it. "You don't know that."

"But I do." Then, since the story was already there and fresh and all, Laxus said, "I had a dog once. Err, well, I had a week in which I had a dog. Mr. Bones. It didn't go well. I don't like to talk about it though. Mainly because it kinda sucks. See, Ivan-"

"Dad?"

"What?"

"I don't want to hear this story again."

Laxus blinked. So that was why he kept having more children; he needed more people that hadn't listened to his stories before that wouldn't cut him off during the middle of them.

Oh, and because Mira forced him into it. That was a big one.

And, yeah, of course, since he loved them too. Lots. Maybe that wasn't why he had Nate, but it was definitely why he kept him.

And to get in Mirajane's pants.

A mixture, really.

"Well," Laxus grumbled then, glancing down at him. "The point is that I'm not my father. At all. I take very good care of you boys. All three of you, really. And your sister. And your mother. And your grandfather. Your aunts and uncles. All of you. I buy you all things. Even Ever and Elfman, at times, when they're short on cash. Freed once or twice. And don't even get me started on how much I give to Lisanna and Bickslow-"

"I wasn't trying to."

"The point is, buddy, that I...I love you."

Nathan's eyes grew. Then, making a facing, he scrubbed harder at the plate. "Knock it off."

Oh, he intended to.

Turning his vision back down to the sink, Laxus added, "Just know that I didn't kill your dog. Or was negligent towards him. Whatever. If he'd needed the vet, we'd have been down there that instant. You know that."

"Yeah," he mumbled after a moment's thought. "I know."

And he did. And had. But he'd needed to let his emotions out somehow and Laxus had told him that men don't cry; so he didn't. Instead, he turned his feelings into anger and took them out on his father.

Honestly, Laxus should understand that completely. It was what he'd done to his grandfather for years.

"Two was a good dog," the slayer offered up then and, slowly, Nate moved to set the plate in its place before grabbing another.

"Yeah." He didn't even sniffle. "He was a great one."

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