#and another person say ‘so close to halloween too’ ??? touch grass. eat it on second thought.

[rewritingcanon]

if i see one more marauder fan comparing what happened to reiky de valk to james you will hear distant howling and it wont be the wind, itll be the most unholy scream i’m letting rip

[writingbakery]

“season of the witch (& the werewolf)”

this is purely indulgent, fluffy, silly nonsense i dreamed up a while back, & am finally pushing out into the world! i may add more parts if it’s well received! <3 taglist; @lady-bakuhoe @katsukisprincess

[pairing; werewolf! kirishima x witch! reader]

[warnings; fluff, pining, crack, strangers to lovers, soft moments, clumsiness, slice of life, magical au]

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

fall, mid september

the leaves crunch sweetly beneath your boots as you make your way through campus; the air is chilly, still, like it’s holding an unspoken breath. how silly.

you shake off the lingering feeling that something.... important is about to happen, focusing your thoughts back on potions - magical college was much harder than normal college, and as a young witch in training, you needed to stay on track. this was only your second of six years; the almost daunting courseload was lightened only by the knowledge that you were exactly where you were meant to be, hopelessly in love with magic.

as a green witch, potions is a major part of your studies - second only to herbology, a smile on your lips as you remember your blooming greenhouse. potions and spells were vital to every witch, but in your case, they were the focal points of your magic. being in tune with wildlife was one thing; being able to borrow from & control it was entirely another.

you’re lucky, however - it’s fall, aptly dubbed the “season of the witch”, your magic stronger and more present. it’s your favorite season, partially because of the energy rush and partially because of everything it entails; halloween, chillier weather, your favorite films on tv.

so wrapped up in thoughts of elderflower and frog legs are you that you don’t even see the person in front of you, colliding with a sturdy chest and nearly toppling to the ground. nearly.

strong arms snake around your waist to catch you, warmth radiating from the laughing body of the man who’s both your savior and your reason for needing saving.

tall, broad, with a shock of red hair and peeking dark roots, smiling so wide you can count all four sharp fangs & hardened incisors - a werewolf’s mouth, if you remember your shifters correctly.

“careful there! that’s a pretty face, i’d hate to let the ground have it all for itself,” the werewolf teases, and you flush darkly before pulling yourself together.

“sorry, i was just.... wrapped up. potions,” you attempt to explain, but the tall redhead just waves off your concerns. now that you’re looking at him properly, he seems oddly familiar, like you’ve seen him but never seen him.

“it’s half my fault anyways, i was too busy lookin’ at the birds,” he shrugs, shaking his head. “i think you’re in my potions class. professor greenbirch? just finished?” that’s where you’ve seen him. a back row sitter, usually half asleep in his cauldron or dicking around with friends.

“that’s the one. this project has sort of taken over all my free thinking space,” you admit, tapping your fingers against your textbook; the way the young werewolf’s eyes widen makes you giggle. “i figured you missed that part. i’m [y/n l/n], green witch & second year.” you hold out your hand, which the werewolf blatantly ignores, pulling you into a rib crushing hug instead.

“i’m eijiro kirishima, also a second year and werewolf - but i’m sure you guessed that already! since i crashed into you so rudely, lemme buy you a coffee? and maybe we can team up on this project i had absolutely no clue about,” he laughs, and his smile is so bright you don’t have the heart to say no. besides, what’s the worst that could happen?

“sure,” you agree, gently prying yourself from his grip, and the two of you are off to the local cafe for chamomile tea and brainstorming.

winter, late january

you frown as you peek out of your frosted window, tending to your greenhouse plants. the weather’s been too chilly for them to thrive the way you want, & your heating spells can only do so much. bundling up in an oversized hoodie and gloves isn’t helping your shivers, but at least youre not directly outside.

technically, you’re meant to be picking herbs and various natural ingredients for your workspace, restocking on materials so that you can continue your studies - and your flourishing side business selling potions to your classmates.

instead, however...

krishima bounds through the grass excitedly, his wolf in full form - silky black fur, tinged with red, a massive creature that had frightened you nearly to death the first time you’d seen it.

ever since that day, swapping project ideas in the warm and bustling cafe, he’d been glued to your side, like a puppy nipping at your heels - he helped you with errands, kept you company late at night when you were lost in spellbooks, and even brought you coffee on the way to potions class. he’d become a great friend, and you were lucky to have him, as much as you teasingly complained about his clinginess.

although, as you watch his body morph and shift back into lean, corded muscle and a sunshine smile, the butterflies erupt full force, and you’re starting to realize you can’t hide your blossoming feelings forever.

he’s shirtless, as usual, a pair of dark sweatpants hanging low on his hips as he cheerfully drops the basket of ingredients next to you, eyeing your shivering form. for a moment you’re almost jealous of his wolvine blood, keeping his blood burning boiling hot despite the cold nipping at his skin. your eyes travel lower, past the broad width of his shoulders, trailing down the cut of his abs & the sprinkling of his dark-haired happy trail disappearing into sweats that hid nothing - clinging to well muscled thighs, and a very impressive print—

you pull yourself out of such thoughts with another shiver, although kirishima blames it on the cold, bless his heart. he’s quick to pull you into one of his notoriously strong hugs, surrounding you in warmth and a hint of cinnamon & pine, a scent you’ve come to associate him with.

it’s nice, comforting almost, and you can pretend you’re not flushing pink from his muscled arms around your waist, keeping you close.

“did you get everything?” you ask instead, pulling back a bit to eye his expression - kirishima has a tendency to get distracted in the woods, “playing tag” with the squirrels and diving into lakes. such a puppy at heart.

he nods, however, his toothy grin showing he’s extremely proud of himself. “i’ll show you everything i got in a minute - i found these really cool pebbles, and this super rare flower, but first we’ve got to warm you up.”

you flush deeper at that, ignoring his teasing tone as you cuddle closer to him, a little unconsciously. “whatever, puppy brain. not all of us have blood so hot it melts steel,” you grumble.

his laughter disturbs every bird in a ten mile radius, but it’s disarmingly cute, and very fitting - you’re smitten to the core, no matter how hard you try to deny it to yourself.

spring, late may

the weather’s finally warm enough to make your brow line with sweat as you dig out weeds, your floppy sunhat somewhat shielding you from the bright sun. your plants are finally coming in strong, tall and leafy and bubbling with happiness that seeps through your pores every time you brush over their stems.

it fills you with pride, a sense of giddiness that’s only heightened when you hear a familiar laugh from behind you, loud and full of sunshine you can’t shield your heart from.

kirishima’s in his element during the springtime, shedding his old fur, touching up his dyejob - the reds twice as vibrant now, and your fingers itch to play with the gelled up strands.

his skin flushes golden under the warm rays, makes him sunkissed and beautiful in all the right ways - you’re lucky to breathe normally around him, let alone control your racing heart.

he spots you easily, waving goodbye to his classmates before dropping down next to you with enough force to shake the dirt in your hands. he’s quick to hug you, immediately launching into a sped up recount of his day - all the while holding you close, nearly in his lap. odd.

he’d been clingier than usual lately, always hugging you close or playing with your fingers, face buried in your neck when he got tired or upset. it’s sweet, even adorable, but your tender heart can barely take it, and you’re not sure how to bring it up without making him - or yourself - embarrassed.

for now, you’ll just soak up the extra attention & hope to god it doesn’t make the fluttering in your stomach worse, your aura sickly sweet pink and flushed enough. eventually, you’d have to confess how you felt - it was eating you alive.

for now, however, this is enough. you tuck a daisy behind kirishima’s ear and laugh at the way he sneezes immediately, confusion written all over his face.

summer, early july

it’s sweltering, your greenhouse & garden safely locked away under cooling charms as you drape yourself over the couch in kirishima’s dorm room. you’re sweating despite the fan tucked under your shirt and ice cubes in your mouth, probably because you’ve got a redheaded, hotblooded werewolf in your lap.

kirishima’s clinginess has only gotten worse, not even the heat keeping him from burying his face in your stomach, arms tucked around your thighs. it’s lovely but too warm, the added heat from his body stifling as you finally push him off.

“too hot,” you complain, but kiri just wines in response, and you clumsily pat his head in apology.

he surprises you, leaning up to nuzzle his cheek against your palm, even kissing your fingers. he’s got your full attention now, and you watch his affectionate actions with a smile.

“what’s gotten into you, hm? you’ve been real cuddly, pup,” you hum, and the way his cheeks redden makes you laugh. “what, you thought i hadn’t noticed? you’ve been stuck to me like beetroot on toadeye powder, what’s going on?”

you’d kept mostly quiet about his ever increasing clingy behavior, but with the way he’s avoiding your eyes, you’ve got a feeling you know just what his response will be, and your heartbeat quickens.

he’s quiet for a long stretch, opening & closing his mouth like he’s deciding just what to say, & how to ssy it. it’s endearing, but you’re nervous, waiting to hear the words you’d been praying for.

“fuck it,” he says suddenly, sitting up on the floor so that his face is right up next to yours. confusion fills you as you sit up too, attempting to make space - but he tugs you right back down by your hands, lacing your fingers together and squeezing once, twice.

and then he kisses you, soft and sweet with a thousand and one unspoken words. it’s so gentle, a caress of his lips on yours and before you know it your hands are tangled in bright red locks, keeping him close.

“oh,” you say softly once you finally part, chest light and airy despite being breathless; kiri just laughs shyly, kissing your hands with a grin.

“yeah, oh. guess we should’ve done that sooner,” he blushes, but his tone’s still teasing - as always.

you roll your eyes and whack him lightly with your joined hands, your smile too wide to contain.

“and to think, all that pining for nothing,” you tease back, squealing as the young werewolf comes to bury you in a flurry of kisses, sweet and soft and full of love.

fall, mid october

you trudge through the grass, yawning as you crunch through the multi-colored leaves. there’s leafpiles everywhere - perfect for jumping, your inner child says, and you smile. it’s just chilly enough to make you shiver, but warm enough to forget a coat, and you hum as you walk, deciding to indulge yourself a little and kick through the masses of leaves.

however, you’re not accounting for the twigs to catch at your ankles, stumbling down and you wince as you brace for the rough fall—

two strong arms wrap around your waist, tugging you up and back against a strong chest, rumbling with laughter. cinnamon and pine tickles your nose, and you smile wider, giggling a bit yourself.

“we really gotta stop meeting like this,” kirishima teases, pressing a sweet kiss to your cheek before setting you back on your feet. you spin around quickly, hands resting lightly against his chest as you lean up to kiss him proper.

“oh shut it. don’t think i’ve forgotten about you rolling through the leafpiles like a puupydog,” you laugh, poking his cheeks gently; he’s dressed warmer than usual, a college hoodie and a varsity jacket. he’s quick to peel the latter off, however, and drape it over your shoulders. oh.

“i had a feeling my favorite little witch wasn’t dressed warm enough, so i came to rescue them from the cold,” he explains, taking your hands and kissing at the chilled skin. he’s always thoughtful like that, looking after you so sweetly. it makes your heart swell and your cheeks pink, the way he’s always thinking of you.

“well i had a feeling my favorite puppy hadnt taken in enough nutrients today, especially after a full moon’s night spent wandering in the forest. elderflower and ginger, to help with all your aches & pains,” you chastise gently, holding up the thermos full of herbal tea.

kiri takes the thermos with an excited gasp - he loves when you brew him things, always claims it’s twice as special coming from your hands. now that you have separate potions II classes, he can’t partner with you anymore, so he readily accepts whatever you give him happily.

“we still on for pumpkin picking? i wanna carve out professor horden’s creepy ghoul face to scare bakugou.” his voice rings out excitedly between sips, taking your hand in his free one once more; you laugh at his silliness, your heart twice as full as last year and steady growing.

the pair of you walk through campus just like this; holding hands and laughing about everything & nothing all at once, the future bright.

it’s the season of the witch, after all - the witch and the werewolf.

[zippiestdraws]

Choking Curiosity Ch 9

ftm reader x Michael Myers

read on ao3

The microwave clock says five-fifty am when Michael creeps into the house. He shakes the dew out of the mask’s hair and reaches for the kitchen towel to wipe off the latex.

The book is new. He saunters to it slowly, leaving it untouched other than plucking the note from the cover. Your request in writing is met with indifference, barely read, but his thumb rubs over the inking of your name at the bottom.

He’d seen it amongst your things, but this trinket he can keep. He pockets the paper, crumpling it in his grip, and picks up the book. Beginner’s Guide to American Sign Language.

Michael snarls under the mask. Past anger wells in his chest at the words, fighting to vent through his fingers. They tried to make him use sign language in Smith’s Grove. He never wanted to learn to communicate better, even if out of spite, it was what he could control. The only sign that really stuck was the middle finger.

Michael climbs the stairs with a harsh grip on the spine, sparing a glare towards your bedroom door and throwing the book into his room before him.

*** You wake up with purpose this morning and only spend half the amount of time as usual sitting in your bed before getting up.

Fussing with the bedhead in the mirror, you brush your teeth when a thought hits you. You haven’t seen your new roommate brush his teeth.

Ew.

You sigh. You’re going to have to get him a toothbrush and some deodorant, you can’t imagine being on the lam has left him smelling decent. You gag. He better not have touched your toothbrush.

The book is gone from the counter, which you count as a win. There’s no response to your note, but you’ll take what you can get. You just need to remember to study your book too, when you get back.

Thinking about the cookout, you stop short.

‘Was I supposed to bring a dish?’

You groan, hopefully they won’t judge you for bringing some chips and dip.

You get dressed what would be considered way too early, but you need to get gas anyway, and luckily you did because, as you leave your house, you see Abtin approach from his yard.

He gifts you a tomato from his garden, to your surprise, and begins to tell you how his plants are doing. He tells you he’s gonna cook the rabbit that keeps eating his cabbage if he catches it, in the way he jokes for shock value.

“So, hey, is that your brother I keep seeing behind your house? He keeps coming and going-”

You choke on your own spit.

“I’m just messing with you, I know what it is.” He laughs and slaps his knee. You don’t know what you would say if you could say something. What excuse could you give? You hope he doesn’t mean what you think he does, but you’re the only person he gossips to anyway.

You’re relieved when he moves on to critique the spray paint still out front, but at least Halloween is next month and then you’ll probably be able to paint the house.

In another ten minutes, you pocket your tomato and make it to your car to drive for the first time in probably two months. Hopefully you’ll have enough gas to make it to a station.

*** You’re lucky you filled the tank before leaving because you got lost twice trying to find the turn off indicated on the map. Finally, on another turn back, you see a faded red flannel tied around a tree, and upon closer inspection, an old dirt road hidden at an odd angle.

When the trees part into a wider clearing down the road, you slow to a stop in the drive of what appears to be a tricked out log cabin. Putting your car in park, you jump at a loud whack nearby, someone splitting logs in your peripheral.

Jake is wearing what looks like a cowboy hat, but you’re more enamored with the way his arms look in his sleeveless vest when he swings the axe. You close your mouth and remind yourself he’s spoken for. Stepping out of the car and grabbing the food you brought, he waves to you, then points to the cabin. Right on time you see Dwight and someone you don’t know lifting a wooden picnic bench, and you jog over to help because Dwight looks like he’s about to get squashed.

At its destination, the other man introduces himself as David and slaps hands with you, throwing his arm around Dwight. It’s almost surprising, the two of them look like a stereotypical high school nerd and bully, but David tussles his hair like an older brother.

After letting go, he pulls you over to where some logs are felled around a firepit to “grab a beer and meet the queers”. You laugh at the overtness of it, and again as a girl with red hair chucks a bag of marshmallows at his head when she hears him say it. Maybe finding someone like you isn’t a lost cause here.

“Hey!”, when David opens the cooler, you look up to see Laurie standing there pointing at you. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” you smile, glad to see a familiar face.

“I came with Meg and Claudette,” Laurie gestures at the two other women who nod to you.

“I’m Meg and this is Claudette, to be clear,” the girl with red hair clarifies and nods her head across from her, “and over there is Ace- and so help me, Ace, if you shoot that at me I will roast you over the fire.”

You turn towards who she’s speaking to and see an older man sitting in a blue, plastic kiddie pool struggling to fill a small water pistol while laughing.

“Here you go, mate.” David grabs your attention trying to hand you a beer.

“Oh, no thanks, I gotta drive home tonight-” you put your hand up, but he presses it into your palm.

“Come on, relax, just one won’t hurt. And if you get hammered, you can just camp out here like everyone else.”

It’s in your hand now and you nod at him, but you don’t want to reveal that you think beer tastes like shit.

Dwight returns with Jake and firewood in tow, Ace squirts the water gun at them ‘to cool Jake down’ and you duck out of the way as they drop the tinder into the pit.

“Hey, glad you came,” Jake says, dusting splinters from his hands.

“He brought chips!” You both hear David yell over from the table, presumably with his mouthful.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t bring something better-” you start to apologize but he tells you not to worry about it, chips are great and you brought enough so that David can’t eat them all. David yells back that he takes that as a challenge.

You can’t remember the last time you’ve laughed this much.

It’s a warm enough afternoon that you don’t need to light the bonfire yet, and David gets the grill going while Jake runs back to his cabin to grab the meat. At this point you remember the tomato in your pocket, pulling it out and setting it on the table sheepishly.

“Nice tomato! I always bring a vegetarian option for everybody too, Jake keeps them separate on the grill for me.” Claudette smiles at you from across the table as she sets down some plates.

“Thanks, my neighbor actually gave it to me from his garden this morning before I left.”

The two of you talk, and you learn that planting marigolds with tomatoes is a great way to prevent pests and Claudette knows a whole lot about gardening because she happens to be a botanist.

Meg sits down next to her and listens happily for a couple of minutes before calling Ace over to challenge him to an arm wrestle.

“Don’t let him near the grill, everything he touches burns…” Meg whispers out of the side of her mouth as he walks over. You catch Laurie’s eye from where she’s standing with Dwight, Jake, and David at the grill, exiting the conversation before swiftly making her way over to you.

“I’m gonna show (Y/n) where the bathroom is.”, her hand lands on your shoulder, you guess you have no choice.

You swing your legs around the bench and follow her off towards the cabin with a shrug. When you’re a few paces away from the group, she hisses to you under her breath without looking and you almost miss it.

“Have you seen him again?”

It takes a second before you register what she’s talking about, but you respond before you come to a full conclusion on what you tell her.

“No, not since the first time.” She opens the front door of the cabin and you avoid eye contact. You hope your body language reads ‘upset’ and not ‘hiding something’. “I don’t want to talk about it right now…”

Laurie lets it drop, but sounds irritated when she points out the bathroom. On the way back you whisper a ‘sorry’ and she responds with a ‘me too’. You scrunch your brows in confusion, but head over to the grill. She disappears from your side but a thirty seconds later a stream of water hits you in the side of the head.

You yelp in shock and duck, but Laurie keeps squirting the gun, catching Dwight in the crossfire.

“It’s on!” David yells, dropping the tongs on the grill and vaulting over the table after her. Laurie runs to the other side of the kiddie pool that you see Ace getting out of, holding a beer aloft.

There’s a stand off on either side of the water, broken by David launching over it and landing one foot in the drink to lunge at Laurie, only for her to jump out of his reach. Almost in slow motion, everyone watches as his one foot slips on the plastic and he goes tumbling down, soaking his pants and getting a face full of grass. Everybody has a good laugh while he climbs out with a flurry of curses and peels off his shirt.

Damn.

Jake calls over as he sets one huge plate of hot dogs and burgers on the table and follows it with one of corncobs and what’s probably the veggie patties that Claudette mentioned. Meg whistles at the sight of the food and starts serving hot dogs after passing the vegetarian plate to Claudette, everyone falling in at the table to eat.

*** You eat until you’re stuffed, unashamed as everyone else does the same. The sun is sinking in the sky now, casting a pleasant glow through the trees. Jake deems it enough to start the fire and you approach to watch curiously as he strikes flint onto the dry brush and blows on it.

When he’s finished he tells the group to keep an eye on it while he fetches the s’mores stuff.

“I thought we put it out right here-” Dwight turns toward the logs, confused, but Jake takes him by the arm to bring him along to the cabin.

“I brought it inside because the chocolate was melting.” Dwight seems to accept this and follows along.

When they're out of earshot, Meg leans in towards the log you’re sitting on from her own.

“Jake is proposing tonight! I think he’s doing it!” She squeals a bit in excitement and tries to look like she’s not watching when Dwight looks back before ducking inside.

You share in their excitement and join Ace in stoking the fire into a roaring flame. You watch the smoke dance and carry some ashes into the air and lean back happily. The sky is turning from purple to deep blue now. The light from the fire dances off the trunks of the trees, and you take in the nature of your surroundings as your friends chatter around you.

You squint at a shape between the trees and it moves behind a thicker trunk.

White mask.

*** Michael would never admit to himself of ever feeling jealousy, but a certain irritation of possessiveness grows as he watches. His stomach rumbles at the food, but it’s of little relevance to him.

He spots Laurie and his knife is already in his dominant hand. The strings are connecting what he’s seeing to the same feeling of what he saw watching the teenagers in 1978. This time Laurie is collateral. Funny.

All he has to do is wait.

He could go after the two that already diverged from the group, but he wanted you separated. He moves closer to where you will see him.

The firelight flickers over your form, creating a beautiful moving sepia of you that reminds Michael of the old photographs in the asylum. As you poke at the fire, it licks towards your fingers and that are drawn back sharply.

What sounds would you make when it touched you?

Your eyes had a dream like quality, observing the realness of your habitat, peering through rose-tinted glasses to only see the welcoming nature when surrounded by the lurking sharpness of it.

He may have felt smug when the illusion broke around his presence.

Michael moves out of your line of sight, but he humors over the way a human freezes like an animal in the headlights.

The annoying man who fell in the pool speaks. Michael doesn’t like the way he looks at you.

“Oi, (y/n), you look like you’ve seen a ghost, what’s got you bothered?”

You snap out of it quickly, looking towards him and then shaking your head.

“Um, yeah sorry, I’m just...cold. I’m gonna go get my jacket from my car, I’ll be right back.”

You skitter off nervously, Michael can see the confusion on some of the other faces.

You make it to your car before scanning the woods and spinning to check your blindspot, but you don’t need it, Michael is already walking toward you and you can see the way the orange of the distant campfire glints off of the knife he’s brandishing. You step back, you don’t want to be intimidated, but you fear for what he’ll do to your friends.

The car door stands between the two of you when you open it, pulling out your jacket without breaking eye contact. It’s seeming like you can’t escape him.

“How did you get here?”, you whisper, not knowing exactly where Jake and Dwight are.

You wait for an answer, and when you give up on one, he turns his head deliberately toward the backseat of your car and back to you.

You’re incredulous, the main question you don’t want to elaborate on is “how?”, but you wave it away to get to the point.

“Please.”, you don’t know what you’re appealing to, but you hope there’s some leverage you have in the way he sees the situation. “Please don’t hurt these people. I’ll-”

What will you do?

You don’t know, but you have to save them from whatever he’s planning.

“I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll-I’ll leave right now, okay?” He just stares at you. He twists his knife once.

“The car is open, I’ll go make an excuse to leave and be right be right back, I promise.” You hold up your hands placatingly.

You do a quick jog back to campfire and it looks like you return shortly after Jake and Dwight.

“So, what’d I miss?”, you hope you don’t enter as clumsily as you feel.

Jake and Dwight turn to you on the log and Dwight is wearing the biggest sheepish smile and looks like he cried a little bit. You can see the little gold band on Dwight’s left hand and smile back, issuing proper congratulations.

You force yourself to say it, feeling guilty for springing it on them during a sentimental moment.

“I wanted to stay for the s’mores, sorry guys, but I gotta get home.” Some sad ‘awws’ erupt from the girls and Laurie looks at you suspiciously.

“What, are you afraid of the dark?”, David jeers as you say your goodbyes.

“No, I just have work tomorrow.”, you grimace.

he responds with a hum of acknowledgement before laughing.

“Hate to see you go, but love to watch you leave.”

You give him a good natured punch in the shoulder before waving to everyone and heading out.

Approaching your car once more, you can see Michael’s silhouette in the backseat and gulp. Sliding in and starting the car like normal, you try not to look back, but in the mirror you see the shadowed eyes watching you.

It’s easy to imagine how vulnerable you are to him in the backseat. The ride home is awkward, but only for you.

[asidian]

Week 11: Rust

August 15, 2033

The chain-link fence is still standing, bowed but upright. In a city that’s mostly rubble, that’s a practically a miracle.

It’s held closed with a length of chain at the gate, pocked and rusted, sealed with a padlock. Whoever locked it up kind of half-assed it, though; they could have doubled the chain back around two or three times and made sure it was secure, but the way it is now, there’s a gap about as wide as Jacob’s palms together, side by side.

At ten, Jacob’s narrow and wiry and great at getting into places he shouldn’t be; it’s plenty.

He wedges one shoulder into the gap and turns sideways. He takes a breath in and holds it – presses hard and wriggles through.

Jacob’s standing on the other side in less than three seconds, kind of proud, and mostly tired, and trying really hard not to hope.

It used to be a gas station, once upon a time. The ground is paved over with concrete, but there are cracks here and there, deep black things thick as Jacob’s arm. Hints of grass have started to poke their way through.

One corner of the roof is caved in, but most of the building is still standing, and the gas pumps out front look ready for the next customer to pull up.

That’s exactly what he’s here for.

He doesn’t know how to drive, and the roads are thick with scrap metal and pieces of battered buildings, too much for a car to be viable. But he’s pretty sure a motorcycle could get through the tight places. He’s pretty sure they could get out of here, if he could find them a bike.

Anywhere’d be better than here. Ma’s getting worse, and there’s nothing to eat, and he ran into another crazy three days ago, trying to scavenge supplies out of what used to be a block of apartment buildings.

He’s been lucky so far, but sometime that luck’s gonna run out.

So. Gas for a motorcycle, then a motorcycle, then they get the hell out of San Francisco.

Easy.

Jacob takes a long breath in, to steady himself, and he starts to move – not toward the pumps, but toward the station. There’s got to be portable gas cans in there somewhere, the red kind with the handles. All he’s got to do is find a couple, load them up, and take off.

The door handle is cool under his palm; the sign in the window is turned around so the word CLOSED faces out.

It’s not locked, though. The door swings in steady and even, and it reveals a shop that looks exactly like it must have before the world ended.

The shelves are all standing. They’re even stocked. Some of them are missing a couple of things here and there, but it looks like the delivery truck was running a little late, not like the city got caved in and a couple million people died in the space of twenty-four hours.

Jacob stands there in the doorway, and he stares.

He takes one step, and then another; his eyes skitter across the store, uneasy, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But there’s nothing. There’s just this pristine service station, with its rows and rows of snacks. He can see the empty gas cans stacked up behind the counter.

Nothing’s ever this easy, but he goes for it anyway – takes three quick steps to the first shelf and grabs hold of a box of Ding Dongs. He tears the box open in three seconds flat – tips out one of the little snack cakes and pulls the plastic apart with shaking hands.

He crams the first one in his mouth – chews, and swallows, and lets his eyes slip closed for a second so he can enjoy it. It’s sweet and soft, only a little stale. He could probably go through the whole box, he’s so hungry, but he’s been real good about making sure half of everything goes back to his ma, and he doesn’t plan on stopping now.

Jacob folds up the wrapper and sticks the second cake back in the box, then unzips his backpack so he can start loading up some other stuff. There’s chips and jerky and dried fruit and – and everything. There’s enough here to get them through a couple months, at least.

He’s only just gotten the Ding Dongs in the bag when the sound reaches him. It’s soft, a little tentative, and he doesn’t know what it is. It sounds like some kind of bird, maybe – a gentle “ah ah ahh?” that’s how he’s always imagined a dove cooing.

He hesitates – glances back at the shelves.

The sound comes again, less gentle this time. It trembles on the final note, something like a whine, and every hair stands up on Jacob’s arms.

“...hello?” he says. “Anybody there?”

The sound comes again, the same three staccato notes, more urgent now.

He can feel his feet start to move, even while his brain tells him this is a bad idea. He’s seen horror movies before. He knows you don’t go check out the weird noise by yourself, but here he is, going anyway, heart slamming in his chest, rounding the edge of the gas station shelving.

He doesn’t know what he expects.

Whatever he expects, though, it isn’t this.

He goes stock still there in the middle of the aisle. The whole room seems to lurch sideways, and his vision goes a little grey at the edges.

Here in the center row, there isn’t any food on the shelves. They’ve all been cleared out, pristine white expanses that stretch away toward the back of the store. Where the food should have been, there are tools. A saw. A crowbar. Thick, heavy iron nails, the kind they use for railroad tracks.

There’s also a person.

It’s a girl, Jacob thinks, but it’s hard to tell for sure; the hair’s been shorn right up against the scalp, and she’s wrapped in shapeless fabric, like someone threw together a sloppy mummy costume just in time for Halloween.

She only has one eye. The other is a gaping ruin, wet and red.

She has no legs, and she has just the one arm, and when she opens up her mouth like she wants to say something, the only thing that comes out is that soft, “ah, ah, ahh,” sound, and a spill of blood, because she has no tongue.

Jacob sways a little, on his feet. He presses a hand against his mouth, so hard it hurts.

He wants to scream; he wants to cry. He is crying a little, sympathy tears that burn at the corners of his eyes.

He’s got to go, his brain is telling him, a thrumming panic somewhere under the white noise that’s settled over his thoughts.

He’s got to go.

But she’s staring at him with that one eye, and her mouth is open, and that little “ah, ah, ahh,” sound comes again, like she’s asking for something.

Jacob bites down on his lip, hard. He glances toward the door, and then back at the girl. He takes a jerky step toward her, and then another. He can smell the blood now, thick and copper. It fill up his lungs and catches in his throat.

“Hey,” says Jacob. His voice is quiet, pitched low and gentle, like he’d talk to a stray. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

He reaches a hand out, careful, and touches her. She’s hot, like she’s running a fever; the eye that’s still whole glistens, and tears start to spill down her cheek.

“C’mon,” says Jacob, and reaches out toward her. “Let’s get you out of here.”

She’s whimpering now, a full-on whine that goes on and on. It gets louder when he eases his arms under her and starts to lift. He’s hurting her, probably, but anything’s better than leaving her here.

“Shh,” says Jacob. His voice is shaking a little. Her blood is all down the front of his shirt, slick and shockingly warm. “Shhh, it’s okay. I got you.”

Her sole remaining eye is wide, now, almost frantic. She thrashes her head from side to side – makes as if to jerk backward. Her gaze darts up, over his shoulder, to something behind him.

Oh, Jacob thinks, as understanding clicks into place.

He starts to turn, but pain explodes in the back of his head before he can, a flash of white that beats behind his eyes.

Then darkness rises up to swallow everything.

[langstwhynot]

The cave

Warnings: blood, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween (that’s my Halloween fic), death¿

~~~

“There’s no way in hell I’m stepping one foot into this cave!”

Lance whined, falling to the ground and letting go of Hunk’s hand which he tried to drag his best friend with. “Oh come on, Hunk!”

“Yeah hunk,” Keith scoffed, taking out his flashlight and moving deeper into the cave. “Don’t be such a baby.” He said, his voice echoing through the tunnel.

“It’s going to be alright, big guy.” Pidge punched his arm with her little hand, even if she knew it didn’t do any pain to him. “Shiro will protect you.”

“I only came because I want to make sure you won’t be doing anything stupid, like getting eaten.” Hunk flinched from Shiro’s comment and imagined the worst. “Plus, if anybody wants to eat someone, I sacrifice Pidge.”

“First, rude.” She took out her own flashlight from the bag, and turned it on. “Second, Lance will be easier to eat. He’s only bones and skin.”

Lance got up from the ground and cleaned his clothes from dirt. “Because I don’t sit at home all day and type nerdy stuff on my laptop.” He made circles with each of his hands and put it on his eyes to copy Pidge’s glasses.

“Anyways-!” Keith popped his head through the cave again and looked at Hunk suspiciously. “Are you coming or what?”

“Or what?” Hunk teased, but terrified of the answer.

“Or, else.” Pidge glared up to him, making Hunk gulp.

“Fine.”

They all cheered.

“Last in the cave is a dead moth!” Lance shouted and ran into the cave, the flashlight in his hand. “Unfair! You could’ve given an alert first!” Pidge yelled after him, trying to keep up.

After a few seconds, they all stood deep inside of the dark cave.

Lance was the first to enter a dark long cold hallway of the cave. Keith came after, Hunk, then pidge, panting. Lance raised his eyebrow at her.

“I don’t do sports!” She yelled.

From where the group entered, a ball of light on the wall kept growing bigger and bigger, until Shiro stepped into the hallway with a curious expression, studying the cave.

“Oof, Shiro died.” Lance sighed disappointedly.

The man scoffed. “I’m not dead, Lance. But I will be if I‘d run into a cave and trip over rocks on my way here.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “No, it just means you’re boring.”

Shiro glared at him.

“Soooo... what exactly are we looking for?” Hunk asked, looking around the stone walls of the cave using his flashlight.

“Anything that can get Keith spooked.” The little girl smirked, and pulled the flashlight under her chin to make her look “scary”.

“Oh please, I’ve seen a lot of shit in my life.”

“Huh? Like what?” Lance asked, arms crossed.

“Like Shiro- ow!” Keith rubbed the back of his head where he was hit by the angry man.

“Asshole.” Shiro hissed, taking his flashlight and stepping away from the scene to look for something interesting around the cave.

“I’m just saying the truth, you gay mess.” Keith yelled back at him, his voice echoing throughout the cave.

“Yeah Shiro, you gay mess.” Pidge repeated.

“Yeah Shiro.” Hunk laughed. Shiro just rolled his eyes.

They all stayed quiet for some time until a new conversation began by Pidge’s question.

“Hey, do you guys think Bigfoot can fit in this cave? I mean Hunk almost reaches the top of it, and he isn’t that tall.”

“No, and you are.” Hunk said, sarcastically.

Keith stared laughing.

Their voices faded in Lance’s ears as he furthered into the cave, his flashlight on. He was looking around, watching his step, dragging the beam of light slowly on the dark gray walls of the cave, when he thought he saw something.

He took a few steps back and pulled the light on it.

“Hmmm.” He studied the cravings in the wall. “Hey guys? I think I found something!” He finally focused on their voices, realizing they’re deep in conversation. “Guys??” He called again, brushing his hand along the craving.

Suddenly, the cave lit up. The craving turned blue and the light from the flashlight did no use anymore. Lance gasped and stepped back.

“What the fuck.” Keith murmured.

“Who- who did that??” Pidge turned in circles, trying to find answers.

“I- I think I did.” Lance shuttered, and the cave shook. Parts from the ceiling falling on the ground, and the floor of the cold cave going up and down from shaking.

“W-what did you do?!” Hunk yelled in panic.

“I don’t know! I found cravings and brushed my hand over them!!” Lance tried to explain, though he didn’t really know either.

Pidge fell backward, her little legs weren’t able to keep her stable for so long. Hunk hugged the walls of the cave, whispering prayers under his breath. Shiro crouched to ground level and covered his head, as Keith took out his knife dramatically and scanned around the cave for any enemies. Lance couldn’t take his eyes off the blue, glowing, markings.

Then, a roar was heard.

Everything froze, the screaming, the yelling. The Little rocks on the floor who jumped as the ground shook, the pieces that fell from the ceiling froze in mid-air. Everything stopped.

“Wh-“ Lance looked down at the floating rocks. There was nothing underneath or above, just air. He wanted to try and touch the rock, see what’ll happen, but when he tried to move forward he noticed his legs were stuck inside the dirt.

“When did that happen?” He tried to pull his legs out, lifting one after another, with no success.

“Guys! Imma need some help! My legs are stuck!” He shouted while still trying to get his feet free. “Somehow!”

A sigh escaped his lips when he stopped fighting.

“...guys.” His voice was serious and straight to the point (not really), and when he didn’t get an answer again, he turned around as much as he could to look for his silenced friends.

There was no one behind him.

He blinked a few times and then scoffed. “Ok, that’s funny, you got me for a second. Now can you please help a buddy out?” He shook his head, how could he not figure it was just a prank?

Like someone flipped the light off, the cave got completely dark and Lance couldn’t see. Slowly, approaching his ears, the sound of an old tv static.

It got louder and louder, until Lance had to cover his ears because it was too much. He closed his eyes in pain and ground his teeth.

“STOP! IT HURTS!!” He yelled, hoping someone would hear him.

And the noise stopped as the commend said.

Lance uncovered his ears and opened his eyes to find out he was in a different place.

He was standing in the middle of a white grassed field, wind blowing through his hair and playing with his clothes. Not a building or a person seems to be in sight of the vast, lonely, area.

A laugh was heard.

It was a silly, innocent, light and playful laugh, the one a little happy girl can have. But it also held pain, as it echoed and faded in Lance’s ears.

“Who are you?”

Lance peaked from his shoulder and turned around to face a little girl crossing her arms. He looked down at her, she wore a white, short fluffy, dress and had a white bow tie on her head. Though her long hair was colored orange as the freckles on her pale skin.

“W-What’s going on? Where am I?” Lance asked, realization finally hitting him and pulling him out of the awe of the place.

“Father told me not to talk to strangers.” The little girl admitted for breaking the law, totally ignoring Lance’s question.

Lance shook his head. Of course she’ll be afraid, a stranger just entered her property and he yells and freaks out like crazy. Are the years of being an uncle all gone to waste?

He crouched to her level and smiled softly. “Hi there, I’m Lance. What’s your name?”

She uncrossed her arms and stared at him. “I don’t like you.” She finally said.

Lance was taken by surprise. Has he done something wrong? Probably, now he has to make it up for her.

“I’m sorry, sweetie. Am I scaring you? What can I do for the fear to go away?” He sat on the grass, now being shorter than her.

The girl took a step back, terrified. “Help!! Help me!! Someone!!” She stumbled back and fell, tears sharp as glass sliding on her cheeks.

“Wha- no! Please, I mean no harm!” Lance got up, running forward to reach the girl and ask for forgiveness.

“Leave me alone!! No!!” The girl crawled away, shaking her head violently and the tears spray from her cheeks like she’s a water sprinkler.

“I’m not going to hurt you!” Lance yelled with panic, finally catching the girl’s shoulders. She looked at him with her wet before her eyeballs rolled back into her head and she melted in Lance’s hands into a white puddle of liquid.

Lance jumped back. “Wh-what-“ His eyes wide and his breaths are short. He didn’t mean to do that, he definitely didn’t mean to do that.

“You, MONSTER.”

He turned around to the voice. The white field was not there anymore, instead, it was a dead ground that wasn’t used in the last 30 years for his say, on fire.

The sky was red and buildings that weren’t there before were too on flames in the background, adding more horror to the scene.

But there was not a living soul in front of him.

“DEATH, BLOOD, DARKNESS AND PAIN. THEY ALL CAME WITH YOU.”

The voice was so loud, it shook the ground. The flames grew bigger, surrounding Lance in a cage where he had no way out of.

“YOU MURDERED AND SLEW, KILLED AND SHOT, AND THEIR BLOOD IS ON YOUR FILTHY HANDS!!!”

Lance looked down at his hands, or where they were supposed to be. In fact, he had no hands. Just a left-over of blood dripping from the holes in his arms where his hands should’ve been at.

He was going to vomit. He can literally see his bone.

“YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR ACTIONS.”

A pain in his stomach was growing, bigger and stronger. He hissed and hugged himself, then gave up to fall on his knees.

He opened his eyes slowly when noticing he hasn’t reached the ground yet. He was falling and falling and falling, the ground getting farther and farther and farther.

It was a hole he was falling in, he could see the ground, but couldn’t touch it.

“...help...” he sobbed quietly. The pain in his stomach was aching so bad and he didn’t know if it’s even possible to survive something like that.

Maybe it wasn’t, and someone was just trying to make him suffer.

Warm.

It became warmer as he kept falling... wherever he was falling to. He opened one eye to take a tiny little look at the source feeding him from underneath.

It was a white blank, blinding hole. Like the sun, but colder. If it was the sun Lance wouldn't be able to get that close to it. That... close...

Then it stopped. The pain, the warm feeling left his skin, being replaced with a colder one. He opened his tired eyes, trying to figure the things in front of him with his blurry vision.

He was back on the floor of the cave again, lying on annoying rocks that hurt his back and the cold, dark, hallway he began at.

He sat up slowly and rubbed the back of his head. What just happened? Where is everyone? Are they alright? Are his visions mean something?

“Lance?”

[galacticbugman]

Dragonfly Adventures #1

When I am out on an insect adventure I always seem to wind up looking at things that look like they are from a science fiction world. Many of the creatures in the bug world have really peaked my interest but the Dragonflies are one of my absolute favorite insects. We even have a Dragonfly as the Texas Master Naturalist mascot (the Cyrano Darner) I think Dragonflies have a true beauty to them and I love to photograph them. Not only the Dragonflies but their close cousins the Damselflies. Both are in the genus Odonata which translates to “Toothed-ones” Dragonflies come in all different shapes, shades, and sizes and I have been very lucky to meet several of them when on my travels and adventures in nature and I would like for you to meet a few of them so lets see what we can find, shall we.

As the sun sinks low it is time for the Darners to rest after a whole day of hunting on the wing. This guy is called the Swamp Darner. One of the biggest I have seen; the Swamp Darner here was found at a place down in the woodlands of Texas called Jesse H. Jones Nature Center. I went out there a couple of years back and I must say this was a cool place. This guy was spotted by my aunt who has a pretty sharp eye when I don’t notice things. This guy was trying to take a snooze but at one point he took off and buzzed me a couple of times and at one point I thought he was going to land on me. This is a male and he was on a really nice boardwalk trail that was surrounded by tree knees, dense forest, and a lot of Spanish moss. That is one thing I like about south Texas you get to see a lot of nice bits of moss and things that animals can take refuge in. This guy almost blended in perfectly with his surroundings. He was a really dark color with only hints of a blueish green on his abdomen stripes. He is one of the many species I have seen down there. When I am looking for Dragonflies I always like to go near water to look for them but this guy was not anywhere near water. The boardwalk was on a creek system but no recent waters had come in the area so it was pretty dry. This is one of my favorite shots of any dragonfly. This is how they sleep they will latch on to a tree limb or something and just hang around until it is time to hunt again. 

Back up near where I live is a place called Crystal Canyon Natural Area. In that park there is a little creek system that runs through it. On one of the bridges I stopped to look at some of the limbs for Dragonflies. In the hot summer time if you are out in the trail and you come across a tangle of branches out by a pond or water way always keep your eyes peeled for dragonflies perch on the native vegetation. This is called a Great Spreadwing Damselfly. Not a dragonfly but it is pretty large. There are a few things you need to know about Odonata to better understand their physical appearance to distinguish what you are looking at. One is that Dragonflies are more stocky and fatter and tend to fly more strongly in the air; they also have broader wings and more of a rounded head. Damselflies tend to be much more skinny than their bigger cousins, they have a head that is triangulated with two bulbous eyes that stick out on either side of its head they also tend to have more a dance more than just sheer force when they fly. They tend to bounce and twirl around when they take to the sky. Most Damsels sit with their wings closed unlike Dragonflies which when at rest sit with their wings open. Unless you are this guy you have have your cake and eat it too. The Spreadwing is what I call a rule breaker and it is a special kind of Damselfly that sits with its wings at a slight ventricle. The Great Spreadwing is the biggest we have here in Texas and it is my favorite of all the Damselflies I have seen. It is large and has the most remarkable coloration to it. I love the emerald green patches on its back; when the sun hits it just right it shines just like it was metallic. 

Since we are on the topic of Spreadwings here is another one that I photographed on one my recent outings at Elmer W. Oliver Nature Park in Mansfield Texas. This one was on one of the more densely forested areas out by Walnut Creek out by the Bluebonnet patch. This guy flew right in front of me and I knew what it was when it landed. This one is much smaller than the last one; this guy is known as the Southern Spreadwing. It is pretty cool too with a more darker color scheme going on than the Great Spreadwing. This one is just a touch smaller but still a fairly good size and is easily identified when in the good light. I was kind of in a shady area so it took me longer to get a good enough photo to see what kind of Spreadwing he was. 

 Okay so I just post two photos of what look like two different damselflies. Are they different species or are they the same? Well actually these are both American Ruby Spots. The redder one is the male and the more emerald one is the female. Sometime these guys like to throw a curve ball and will make you think that you have another species. We animals that have two different color patterns sexually dimorphic. It is just a fancy way of saying that the males look different than the ladies and the ladies look totally different than the guys. If you ever go out to the Lake Lewisville Environmental Learning Area in Texas take a walk down the Bittern Trail that is right next to the river in the summer time. You can most likely see this species in the sunny patches by the river’s banks. These guys like to dance in the grass and other plants that are around there. There are so many species to talk about on my end. Let us meet one I met in Travis County a couple of years back shall we. 

Here is one I got at one of the Metro Parks outside Austin meet the Flag-tailed Spinyleg. These are one heck of a Dragonfly to look at. This one is in the family of Clubtails. Some of the largest Dragonflies of Texas come from this group including my personal fave the Dragonhunter which I have not photographed yet. There was also another flying about that day as well, observe if you will... 

This one is called the Four-striped Leaftail. I have a hard time with the names of these because they are so close together and I often just have to wait until I get some kind of confirmation on iNaturalist before I am convinced. There are many different kinds of Club Tails most do sport a lot of back and yellow coloration but also notice their tails if you will. At the end of their tail which is their abdomen is a huge knob. These are what gives this type their name. There are a few others like this one for instance I found a little closer to home at a place called Cliff Nelson Recreation Center. 

This is the third Clubtail on my life list and it is a little smaller than the previous two. This one is called the Jade Clubtail. This guy is a little greener than most of its kind but is still just as pretty. I saw this one last summer on one of the hottest days of the year. That is one thing about insects the more hotter and more uncomfortable you are the more they will be out. It is fun to hunt for these guys but you have to have a wide brim hat to keep the sun off of you, a cold bottle of water with you in a canteen or something, then you need sunscreen too. Some times I will bring a bandanna with me or an extra rag to get wet so I can wipe my face and neck when I get too much sweat or when I need to cool off. Insect hunting can be easy but if you are really into it like I am and want to see a lot of species all around then you have to bring along a little gear to make the trip a little more easier on ya. I wouldn’t have it any other way though. Dragonflies are one of my favorite groups of insects and I love to watch them zip around the pond. Lets look at some more of these winged beauties before I close the gate on this blog post. 

One that I always look for on the pond around late summer to early fall are these guys. These winged beauties are one of my all time favorites and they are not even that big. The Halloween Pennant is one of the most beautiful and appealing Dragonflies I have ever come to face to face too. I used to go to TCC South Campus in Arlington and they have a pond out there well in recent years when I have free time I go back to that pond year after year and get observations for it and they get droves of these every year that I have been there. That pond is one of my favorite places to go to at all times of the year. It is great for birds all year round and good for plants in the spring and the insects in the spring, summer and late fall. I spend a lot of time in Arlington since I got to school and live here. I tend to go to a lot of old stomping grounds at many different times of year just to see what I can find during all four seasons. I don’t go to the old campus to often I spend a lot more time at the one I currently go to which is South Campus. There are a lot of Dragonflies there too but not as many as I have seen at Southeast. For some reason they like that pond a lot more than the on at the campus I go to now. Still seeing these in the summer is really neat they are very easy to recognize and come in great numbers. 

One of the coolest and most rewarding Dragonfly chases of my life would have to be when I photographed this guy. It took me about ten minutes to wait until this Twelve-spotted Skimmer got situated for a picture. Sometimes you just have to be patient and wait for your target to land. Sometimes there are some species that just don’t cooperated like your Baskettails and things. The Skimmers are more forgiving and will let you take photo of them landing. This guy was at Elmer W. Oliver at the second pond when I found him. He was flying back and forth and would not settle. I would get my camera in focus but when I would be ready to take the shot he would fly off and then I would have to chase him down again. Normally I give these guys at a fairly good distance. Giving an animal distance is a great way to make them less afraid of you. Sometimes that is all you can do but this guy had too much energy but there was the one point when this photo was taken when he did finally sit still and the reward was the glamour shot. Sometimes patients and persistence does pay off. For me this was the first shot I ever got of this particular species of Dragonfly. It was a really cool capture after a heated chase around the pond. Sometimes in the science field you have to look like an idiot to make some things work. It is something we don’t mind though. Shoot I do all kinds of crazy things to get what I need for citizen science but that is okay. Sure people may think I am weird and crazy like I have lost my gourd but heck I don’t really care what people think of me when I am out doing this stuff. 

 And last but certainly not least I want to draw your attention to this little guy. There are about three species of Dragonfly that are sure to be out any old summer day in North Texas. This guy is one of them; meet the Blue Dasher. Yet small and common they are one that is good to warm up on. There is not a shortage of them at the ponds that I go to. They are out there all the time. There are also Eastern Pondhawks and Eastern Amberwings which are our Smallest Dragonfly which patrol the ponds as often as these guys do. The pond is a great place to visit weather you are having a picnic by one, out doing a bit of fishing, or just enjoying the serenity of it all. As for me I am always out looking at the bugs around the pond because that is what I do best. Dragonflies are predatory insects and eat other bugs but even thought they are said to be the most adaptable predator of the pond they are still very pretty in their own right. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but Dragonflies and Damselflies are some of the ponds most treasured gems. They are a sign of resilience and power. They are a truly remarkable and have been on this planet even when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. They are ancient creatures and are one of nature’s greatest success stories.  For now I am Zachary Chapman I will see you on the trail.     

[pagesoflauren]

A Thousand Years (vampire!Jack Lowden x reader AU) - Part 9

Part 8 Masterlist

Y/N sits at the dining table, fake flowers and leaves, a hot glue gun, branches and wire littering the entire surface as Socks plays with a fake flower on the floor by her feet. She’s mostly passing time as Jack naps upstairs.

Vampires don’t usually nap, but every once in a while they need to lay down and rest to recharge. She had laughed when he told her this, asking if he slept in a coffin like Dracula. This brought out his signature grumpy face, which she kissed away before she ushered him to bed and tucked him in.

“What do you think, Socks?” she asks, showing the feline the flower crown she was making for Halloween.

He blinks at her and she laughs.

“I was thinking the same thing, it does need more leaves.”

She sets to work, clicking away from the reference picture to another webpage with a list of coffeeshops in Liechtenstein, scrolling through the list as she pressed a leaf into a dot of hot glue. She had been calling coffeeshops for the past few weeks, ever since Lotta told her Thomas’s previous occupation. It had proven to be very difficult; apparently Liechtenstein had a lot of coffeeshops within a very small vicinity of each other. She had been calling shop after shop, talking to different managers and employees who had never heard the name before. She finds the next shop on the list and dials the number, listening for any sign of movement from Jack before pressing the call button.

The phone rings for a few seconds before someone answers.

“Hallo?” “Hallo, sprechen sie Englisch?” “Warten sie mal.”

Y/N recognizes warten as “wait”, so she settles the phone between her shoulder and ear, continuing to work as she hears some chatter on the other end.

“Hello?”

The man that answers has a slight accent and sounds quite young. The chances of him knowing Thomas are very slim.

“Hi, my name is Y/N, and I wanted to ask about a person who may have worked at your coffeeshop a few years ago?” “Sorry, Y/N, but it’s likely I don’t know this person you are talking to. Let me get my manager. I will have to stay on and translate for her though.” “Okay, that’s fine.”

She hears more chatter before the man in on the line again.

“What was his name?” “Thomas Morrison.” “Thomas Morrison,” he repeats. “How long ago did he work here?” “He should have left in 1995.”

He translates for his manager and she replies. “She has only been working here for a few years. The manager that…would have worked with this Thomas Morrison is retired.” “Is there a record of him somewhere? Something you can use to confirm that he did work there?”

There’s more discussion on the other line and Y/N can only pick up a few words.

“She said she will check, please give her a minute.” “Okay.”

She finishes the last touches of the flower crown and surveys it before setting aside to dry completely. She adjusts her phone to rest in her hand and leans her elbows on the table, rubbing the sore spot on her neck that developed from her neck being bent uncomfortably.

“Miss?” the boy says on the other line. “Hi, yes, I’m here.” “We do have record of this Thomas Morrison. He left to go to medical school in Belgium.” “Medical school?” “Yes.” “Do you know which one?” “I do not, I’m sorry. That’s all he said in his reason for resigning.” “Okay. Thank you so much.” “You’re welcome. Goodbye.”

She hangs up and sighs, looking down at Socks, who’s still occupied with the fake flower.

“Why can’t he be easier to find?” she mutters to him.

Socks meows and walks to his food bowl, looking at her expectantly.

“I wouldn’t expect you to sympathize,” she laughs, getting up to make his food, “You are a cat after all. And you only use me and Jack for food, don’t you?”

He meows again, rubbing against her leg as he watches her work.

“That is why, dear Socks, you are an imp for Halloween,” she says, mashing the wet food so that she can mix it with his dry food, “and Jack and I will be Hades and Persephone. I would dress you up as Cerberus, but an imp is much more suiting.”

“You can say that again,” she hears Jack say from the entrance to the kitchen. She sets Socks’ food bowl on the floor for him to eat before rushing over to hug him. He holds her as if he hasn’t seen her in days. “Did you have a good sleep?” she asks. “I did. What did you do while I was asleep?” “Worked on my Halloween costume. Do you dream? Did you dream?” Jack nods, smiling to himself. “What’d you dream about?”

Jack settles his back against a tree, sitting contentedly in the shade as he bites into an apple. Y/N leans against him and runs a hand up and down her swollen belly. She’s due any day now, the doctor said. He fiddles with the strands of hair that frame her face and she turns to face him, pressing a kiss into his cheek.

It’s 1878. Jack married Y/N immediately after finishing school. They live in a cottage not too far from his childhood home.

Their children run and toddle about the open field, the boys looking after their two-year-old sister as she runs into her eldest brother’s arms, giggling as she does. She squeals happily when the ten-year-old picks her up with both his arms.

“Andrew, be careful,” Jack calls to him, “make sure you support her!”

Andrew adjusts his arms to have one rest under her thighs as the other holds her back.

“Good lad,” Jack smiles to himself, “Junior! Fix your sock, it’s falling!”

The boy that’s inherited the most of Jack’s features looks up at him before looking down and pulling his sock up to cover his knee. He’s eight, the oldest of their middle children, three years older than his other brother and five years older than his sister.

“When can I carry Ginny?” the youngest boy asks, looking up at his brother. “When you’re big like me, Tommy,” Andrew says simply, “but she might be big then, too.” “Don’t worry, loves,” Y/N calls, “you’ll have another baby to carry, soon enough.” “Will it be a boy or another girl?” Junior says, stumbling over to his parents on the picnic table, bright blue eyes fixed on the bump. “I don’t know, darling,” Y/N says, “we’ll find out soon.” “When?” he asks impatiently. “Could be tomorrow, could be next week,” Jack answers. “But I want to know now!” “Patience, my love,” Y/N says, kissing the little boy’s nose, “It’ll happen before you know it.”

Jack Jr. huffs, pouting and furrowing his eyebrows.

“C’mere lad,” Jack says, the boy climbing into his lap, “You’re just like me. Far too excited for this.” “I just want to be like Andrew. I want to help you and mummy. He carries Ginny when we walk because you have to hold mummy and mummy’s got the baby in her tummy and-and Tommy and I carry the other stuff—“ “Oh, love, you and Tommy already help us. You take such good care of Ginny and you all make us so happy.” “But when that baby comes, I carry it, right?” “Mummy might carry ‘em for a little bit. Then when they’ve grown a bit you can help.” “Promise?” the boy asks, sticking a pale pinkie between him and his father. Jack laughs hooking his pinkie with his. “Of course, I promise.”

The afternoon carries on, Jack joining his children as he rolls in the grass and feels the sun on his skin. When they all head home, he embraces his wife, her head settling on his chest as his heart beats.

Jack’s eyes open as he exhales. He feels refreshed, albeit a little groggy and he rubs his eyes as he sits up. The blanket Y/N had laid over his chest falls in a heap on his lap. He thinks back to the dream. Y/N as his wife and five children. He loves the idea.

His thoughts are interrupted when he hears her talking.

“I wouldn’t expect you to sympathize. You are a cat after all.”

He chuckles to himself, getting out of bed and pulling a shirt over his torso as he heads downstairs.

“Just…just us,” he says, leaving out the part about children, “We were having a picnic in the summer.” She looks up at him, worrying that he might feel bad that they can’t do that. “Jack…” “Don’t worry about it, lass. So, how’s the costume coming along?” “Well yours is done, it was literally just a black piece of fabric fastened with a skull brooch. Then I just finished my flower crown.” “What time are we supposed to get there?” “Around 10:00.” “TEN!?” Jack says incredulously, startling Socks. “Yeah, the club doesn’t open till then. And it’s got a lounge upstairs for vampires according to Ash. It’s the club he and Garrett met at.” “How long are we going to be out?” “Why are you so worried, you don’t sleep!” “That’s just…so late.” “Come on, old man,” Y/N chides, “live a little.” “Oh shut it,” he laughs, pulling her close and kissing her forehead. “Just promise me you won’t drink too much.” “Alright, I’ll try,” she laughs.

“WHERE’S JAAACCCKKKK,” Y/N cried, a beer in her hand and her flower crown sliding off her head. “Oh, jeez, babe, get yourself together, you don’t wanna look like trash,” Ash said as he fixed it for her, laughing and hiccuping as he took a swig of his own beer. “But I don’t look anything like you? I’m wearing a dress and you’re Gary King.” “No, I said trash,” he yells over the music. “OOHHHHH I THOUGHT YOU SAID ‘ASH’ LIKE YOUR NAME.” “No, but I do need to get on your level,” he says, downing his beer and ordering another one.

“Persephone,” a male voice booms over the music. Y/N turns to him, smiling at first because she’s expecting her boyfriend, then scowling when she sees it’s someone else. “You know Persephone’s daddy was Zeus, right?” he smirks, holding up his lightning bolt.

Y/N looks at Ash, he looks at her before they burst out laughing.

“You also realize Persephone’s m-married, right?” Y/N laughs, “to Hades.”—she hiccups—“Quite frankly my Hades would kick your ass.” “I’m sure Hades wouldn’t mind if Zeus had some fun for a night,” the man continues, his confidence dampened a little. “Bruh, trust me, I know her Hades,” Ash says, chugging half his beer, “don’t mess with him.” “Seriously, dude, things aren’t looking good for you,” Y/N says, “byeeee.”

They wave him off together and he’s visibly deflated, but soon enough he’s going after some other girl in a Greek-looking costume. “What an idiot,” Ash laughs. “Whatever,” Y/N says, “wanna take a shot with me?” “Hell yes.”

Jack and Garrett are surprised to find the upstairs lounge very overcrowded with other vampires. There’s a good amount of them around the bar waiting to order drinks, some of them on the dance floor and others on the couches with feeders on their laps. Jack stares at the seating area a bit too long, catching Garrett’s attention. “You think Y/N’d be okay if you had one tonight?” he asks, pointing to a group of young men and women waiting for a vampire to invite them over for a drink. “What?” Jack replies, snapping out of his daze, “Oh, no. I don’t do that anymore.” “Ah, not since you’ve met her?” “No, I haven’t done it in a couple years. I hunt out in the countryside.” “Bears?” “Deer, mostly.” “I see. Why’d you stop? With feeders, I mean.” “Got a little too attached, I guess. I couldn’t really bear it,” Jack says simply, summing it up without complications. “Ah, I see.” “You think it’s gonna take long to get our drinks?” “Why?” “M’just worried about Y/N.” “Nah, don’t worry mate, she’ll be fine with Ash.”

They eventually make it to the bar and order their drinks, deciding to go back downstairs to rejoin Y/N and Ash wherever they were. Jack almost stumbles over the piece of long cloth hanging from his costume, nearly dropping his drink and tumbling down the stairs. “Christ,” he breathes, “How did people wear these back then?” “Beats me,” Garrett shrugs. “You’re lucky you picked a modern costume. Y/N wanted to be Persephone and Hades because I’m grumpy like him and she’s all flowery and stuff.” Garrett snorts a laugh, “It’s kinda true, mate,” he says, sipping his whiskey. “Bleh, too much whiskey.” “What, bad proportions?” Jack asks as he sips his own drink. It’s not that bad. It’s the first time he’s had a cruento, and he’s enjoying it. He likes the idea of being able to drink again while also satisfying his craving for blood, though the taste is a bit foreign since he’s gotten so used to drinking animal blood.

“Do you see them anywhere?” Garrett asks, his eyes searching for their partners. They must’ve been somewhere dancing in the crowd since they’re no longer at the bar when they left them half an hour ago.

The time was creeping to midnight; it had taken the group nearly an hour to get into the damn place despite arriving before 10 and forty-five minutes for Garrett and Jack to get their drinks. It’s obvious Ash and Y/N had gone to town with the drinking because the two vampires can hear them screaming Britney Spears lyrics over the shouts of the crowd. They weave in and out of the group of sweaty, dancing bodies, denying people who ask them to dance. “No, sorry lass, I’ve got a girlfriend.” “Excuse me—nah I’m good.” “M’good mate, not much of a dancer.” “No thanks I’m gay.”

When they finally find them, they don’t know how to react.

They’re in the middle of the dance floor, with traffic cones on their heads, empty glasses in their hands and screaming the lyrics to “…Baby One More Time.”

“Uh…” Garrett stammers out, “Yeah, you were right to worry. Y/N, ASH WHAT IS GOING ON?”

“GARRETT!!!” Ash exclaims excitedly, rushing to him before throwing his arms around his shoulders, “We’re listening to classics! But that might mean something different to you since you’re”—he hiccups—“like 500 or something.”

“I’m only 224,” Garrett says, steadying him by his waist, “How much have you had?” Ash holds up his arm; there’s only two lines drawn on it. “Oh we-we stopped count’n after two but I think it was…Y/N how much have we had?” She’s too busy giggling at Jack and stroking his beard to answer. “Dunno, maybe ten?” Ash answers instead. “Alright, that’s too much, let’s go home,” Garrett says, beginning to pull him out of the crowd.

“Y/N, love, where’s your crown?” he asks, pulling the traffic cone off her head and letting it fall to the floor. “I dunno. Why are you holding me though? I have a boyfriend and he’s dressed like—hey! He’s got the same costume as you!” “Darling, it’s me,” Jack explains. “Ohhhh really?” she asks, her hands coming up to stroke his cheek and feel the scratchy texture of his beard, “it is! Jack, I missed you!”

Jack hears Garrett begin to pull Ash out of the crowd and starts trying to coax Y/N into his arms to do the same. “Come on, love, let’s get you home.” “But I want food!” she whines, hanging off him as he practically carries her by her waist. “We’ll get you food, alright? Don’t you worry love, let’s just get outta here.” “Okay. You’re kinda strong, aren’t you?” she giggles.

He laughs, remembering how she said the same thing to him the first night they met. “Yeah, just a bit, love.”

Once he’s pulled her out of the crowd, he finds Garrett and Ash slowly making their way out of the club. The two vampires guide their partners to the car, Garrett and Ash climbing into the backseat as Jack lifts Y/N to sit in the passenger’s side. He buckles her in and she’s looking at him. “What, what’s wrong?” “I want a kiss.”

He huffs a chuckle, pressing his lips to hers and feeling his nose wrinkle at the taste of alcohol on her lips.

“Alright,” he says as he pulls away, “what would you like to eat?” “I want garlic fries.” He wrinkles his nose again. “Are you sure, love?” “Mhmm. Garlic fries and a milkshake.” “What does he want?” Jack asks Garrett, who repeats the question to Ash who’s playing with the zipper on his jacket. “I want garlic fries too.” “Alright,” Jack concedes, “let’s get you two some garlic fries.”

At almost 1:00, Y/N and Ash’s craving is satisfied and Jack has dropped off Garrett and Ash at their place before bringing Y/N home. He carries her upstairs before sitting her on the bed. He helps her take off her costume, unpinning and pulling the fabric off her figure and folding it to place on top of the dresser. He takes her shoes and leggings off and is about to go grab her a glass of water when she grips his shirt.

“What is it?” he coos. “Want…want this,” she says simply. “Okay,” he laughs. He unpins his own costume and lets it pool at his feet before taking his shirt off and placing it on the bed next to her. “Arms up,” he instructs her. She complies and he pulls her tank top over her head and unclasps her bra. He puts his shirt on for her, smiling as she practically swims in it.

“Wanna take off your makeup?” he asks. She nods and he turns to grab a makeup wipe for her. She wipes her makeup as he goes down to fetch a glass of water for her. When he returns, she’s occupied with the yellow blanket they had brought out from the basement. She’s running the fabric between her fingers and staring at it intently.

“Y/N, darling,” he calls softly, bringing her attention to him, “come drink this for me.” “Okay,” she says quietly, bringing the glass to her lips and gulping the water down.

When she’s done, he takes the glass away and sets it on the bedside table before opening his arms for her to cuddle into him. She wraps whatever appendages she can around his body, clinging to him like a koala and Jack can’t help but laugh, so endeared by her. He imagines this is what would’ve happened if he stayed the first night they met, her holding onto him as if he’s going to disappear and him feeling nothing but pure adoration for her.

Tagging: @albionscastle and @ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff :)

[pizza-is-my-buziness]

Day Eight: Thirty-One Days of Halloween

 Show: Stranger Things

Pairing: Skimmons

Soundtrack Suggestion: “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” by The Clash

AO3: [x]

Jemma rushes through breakfast, trying not to make it look obvious that she’s desperate to be anywhere else. She doesn’t exactly do a good job of playing it cool. Her parents look at her and her father lifts his eyebrows. “It’s Saturday,” he points out, “there’s no school to rush off to.”

Jemma nods, swallowing the last bite of her breakfast, looking apologetic. “I know. I just…I want to be out there. Looking for Fitz.”

She feels slightly guilty for using Fitz as an excuse, though it’s not a lie, not really. She does want to be out in the neighborhood, riding around town, looking for Fitz. Just thinking about it is almost hard to imagine, hard to comprehend, this fact that her friend has been missing now for forty-eight hours and she has absolutely no idea where he is.

But that’s not the entire reason she’s rushing through breakfast, desperate to get back to her bedroom.

Jemma pushes aside thoughts of Fitz and smiles. “I’ll try to-”

“No, we understand,” her mum assures her quickly, shooting her father a look like she can’t believe he would be so oblivious. “You can go, darling. Just please be safe.”

Jemma gets up, picking up her plate and glass. “I will.”

She carries the plate into the kitchen, rinsing it off and setting it into the sink to dry. A glance back toward the dining room shows her that her parents are deep in conversation, no doubt about Fitz and how she’s handling his disappearance. She grabs a few extra pancakes off the plate, wraps them in a paper towel and hurries up to her bedroom.

Daisy is waiting, mostly hidden in the closet, where Jemma left her thirty minutes before. “Sorry,” Jemma says as she sits down on the floor beside Daisy. “My parents are pretty insistent about family meals.” She hands Daisy the pancakes. “I brought you some food.”

Daisy studies the pancakes, looking at Jemma uncertainly. Jemma offers her a sympathetic smile. “They’re good, I promise.”

It’s been forty-eight hours since she’s had Daisy hidden in her room, since she went into the woods to find samples and subjects for her science project and found a person instead. A strange, not entirely normal person, but one that Jemma has started to come to understand all the same. She feels a twinge of guilt as she thinks about how quickly she’s gotten used to Daisy’s presence; Fitz has been missing for as long as she’s been hiding Daisy, as though she had to swap one for the other.

Daisy tears the pancakes into pieces, eating each piece slowly and methodically. As she eats, Jemma can’t help but study the mark on her wrist, those three numbers inked onto skin: 084. Daisy still has yet to elaborate on what they mean or where she got them. She assumes, of course, that they came from the same place Daisy did: a bad place. That’s the only thing Daisy will ever say about it.

Though Jemma has noticed other things as well: pinprick scars across Daisy’s wrists and in the crook of her elbow, the small half-moon burns on her temples and clavicle. Signs of experimentation, she’d be willing to wager, especially given the fact that Daisy was in a sheer, hospital style gown when she found her.

“We’ll leave here when you’re done,” Jemma tells her, talking mostly to fill up the silence that Daisy isn’t filling herself. “We can’t stay around here all day since my parents are home and-” She stops, thinking of Fitz. “There’s something else I need to do too.”

Daisy’s brow furrows, her expression sympathetic. “Something is wrong?”

Jemma shakes her head, even though she isn’t sure why she’s lying. “I’m just…worried about someone.”

“The person on the other end of that?” Daisy questions, pointing to the walkie-talkie sitting on Jemma’s nightstand.

The walkie-talkie has been on since Jemma first realized that Fitz had vanished. She’s been waiting, hoping, for him to contact her. They’ve had the walkie-talkies for years, since they were little kids and saw Escape from Witch Mountain and figured it was the closest thing to actually having supernatural abilities to communicate with one another. It seems stupid, of course, to be nearly seventeen and still hanging onto the relic. But the walkie-talkies have stuck around, just like their friendship.

Until now.

Jemma looks at Daisy. “Yes,” she says because she can’t think of any lie to tell her or any reason to lie at all.

Once Daisy has finished the pancakes, Jemma instructs Daisy to sneak out the window, using the gutter to help get herself safely to the ground. Jemma goes downstairs, kisses her parents goodbye and retrieves her bike from where she keeps it parked in the garage. Daisy is waiting for her, as instructed, and climbs onto the foot pegs on the back of the bike.

Jemma speeds off down the road, walkie-talkie in the basket, Daisy’s hands firmly on her shoulders. She’s used to riding with Elena or even Ophelia on the back of the bike so she knows exactly how to take the turns, how hard she has to pedal to make it up the hills that lead from her neighborhood and to Fitz’s.

When they get to the Fitz household, there’s a police car sitting in the driving room. Daisy’s hands tighten on Jemma’s shoulders and she shifts her weight suddenly, as though preparing to hop off the bike. Jemma manages to slow them enough before Daisy’s sudden movement upsets the balance of the bike and sends them both tumbling into the yard.

“Daisy? What-”

“It’s not safe,” Daisy says again, her eyes focused on the police car in the driveway. “Not safe.”

Jemma looks at the car and then back toward Daisy. “It’s fine. It’s just…the police. They’re helping…trying to find my friend.”

Jemma gets to her feet, holding out her hand to pull Daisy up as well. Daisy hesitates for a moment before reaching for Jemma’s hand, getting to her feet. They don’t say anything as they walk through the grass and to the front door. Before Jemma can knock, the door swings open and Sheriff Coulson looks at them, surprised to find them on the front stoop.

“Oh, Jemma,” Coulson says, clearing his throat. “And-”

“My cousin,” Jemma says quickly. “From out of town. Have you heard anything about-”

Coulson’s expression softens and he shakes his head. “No, nothing yet.” He puts a hand on her shoulder. “But we’ll keep looking. We’ll look until we find him.”

Jemma nods, swallowing. She wants to believe that’s true.

Coulson steps aside, gesturing for them to go inside. “I’m sure Ellen will be happy to see you.”

They trade places: Jemma and Daisy stepping into the living room while Coulson heads down the steps, moving toward the police car. Daisy watches him go warily but seems reassured when Coulson doesn’t spare her a second glance.

Fitz’s mother is sitting on the couch in the living room, her leg bouncing impatiently as she picks at her cuticles, staring off into the distance. She turns her head at the sound of Jemma offering up a greeting, smiling slightly. “Oh, Jemma, hello darling.”

Jemma goes to sit on the touch beside her, reaching for Ellen’s hand. She’s known the woman as long as she’s known Fitz, when they moved into town after Fitz’s father abandoned them and left with them little other choice but to relocate. The woman is like a second mother to her and it tears at her heart to see her like this.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Jemma says softly, giving Ellen’s hands a squeeze. “We’ll find him.”

Ellen nods, seeming not to notice Daisy in the room with them, even as Daisy moves closer to the mantle, studying the framed pictures there. “Yes, I know,” she says absently. “He’s a good boy. He’ll come home.”

Jemma nods, figuring it’ll do none of them any good to point out that Fitz never would have left them without a word in the first place.

“Maybe he’s with his father,” Ellen says, to herself, as she’s said before, “maybe he’s with Alistair.”

Jemma nods again, though she’s watching Daisy. Daisy’s eyes are fixated on a photograph of Fitz, taken at the beginning of the school year. Her expression is troubled, her eyes faraway and tinged with fear.

Jemma gives Ellen’s hands another squeeze before pulling free. “Can I look in Fitz’s room? Just for a second?”

Ellen nods and Jemma isn’t honestly sure that she’s even processed the request. She catches Daisy’s eye, gesturing for her to follow as she moves from the living room and down the hallway to the bedroom that belongs to Fitz.

Jemma eases the door closed softly behind them and turns to Daisy. “Why are you looking like that?” She asks, impatient. “What’s wrong?”

“That boy, your friend,” Daisy says, “I know him. I’ve seen him before.”

Jemma’s eyes grow wide and she feels her mouth drop open. “You know him?” She repeats. “How…what? When did you see him? Where is he?”

Daisy frowns, pursing her lips. “He’s…in the Upside Down.”

Jemma can’t stop herself from grabbing Daisy’s shoulders, giving her a jerking shake. “Stop! Stop talking in riddles, damn it! I know you can talk so just make sense!”

Daisy doesn’t seem phased. “It’s the other world,” she says, “the Upside Down. I’ve been there but I…I escaped and…I think he went in my place.”

Jemma loosens her grip on Daisy’s shoulders but her hands linger, holding her in place. “The bad place,” she repeats quietly.

Daisy nods. “It’s a very bad place,” she assures Jemma solemnly.

“How do we get him back?” Jemma questions. “What do we do? We can’t just leave him there!”

Daisy frowns slightly, seeming to give the question serious thought. “I have some ideas. But it isn’t-”

“Safe,” Jemma interrupts quickly, waving a hand dismissively. “Yes, we’ve covered that. Now let’s talk about what we need to do to get Fitz.”

[caressedorcrushed]

Starters "Nothing I ever do is right. I’m not good enough. It’s all wrong. Do this…Do that. Be this way. Be That way! Be you,…but not like that!”  Stomping back and forth Nathan spat under his breath before turning and swinging his hand at the lid of a trash can in the alley he had decided to have a little bit of a tantrum in “ Fuck you!  I am just…never going to be good enough! I am not, fucking, YOU! I’m me, and I am fucking pissed off!…and if you don’t fucking like that! Don’t bother pretending we are. …What kind of brother…Locks himself away in his bedroom, for weeks, because his god damn girlfriend is always out of town. What fucking good is that going to do, you fucking–” Picking the empty trash can up he flings it out of the alley toward a nearby sidewalk “Asshole! I am right here, after seventeen god damn years! And it’s not good enough for you!… I’ll just do everything…My god damn self… Stay, in your useless fucking room, being useless! It’s fine, I was the one abused, beaten, harassed for seventeen years, but you fucking just be selfish! Your girl friend is obviously more of a priority OUT of town, than I ever will have been, or will be. I am so fucking done!” Turning he kicked another trash can over, spilling out it’s contents onto the alley pavement “Is it too much to ask, for some god damn communication! Apparent-fucking-ly.– You are going to get to know the knuckles of my fist as they hit your face.”

#returned:starter January 18th 2018, 9:33:40 am · a month ago “It’s my birthday. Interesting.” Nathan mumbled a bit absently as he was sitting. He let out a breath then, humming lightly to himself.

#returned:starter 12 notes December 13th 2017, 9:56:01 pm · 2 months ago Staring up into the night sky Nathan watched the white snowflakes fall toward the snow covered ground “Hmm.” Squinting a little he tilt his head “First time feeling snow in a while.” He muttered, holding up his hands to catch the snowflakes in his hands. With a cute little grin he smiled down at the water building up in his palms. A stab of excitement hit him then. Tilting his head up he stuck his tongue out to catch a few snowflakes. A few seconds later he started to run across the park, still almost childlike. Then he dropped the ground and started to pull snow toward him, crushing some of the snow into snowballs and setting them beside him.

#returned:starter#Ignore the text#or don't lol 10 notes November 24th 2017, 6:22:34 pm · 3 months ago “She’s got the devils eyes and they’ll cut you like a weapon she’s stuck in my mind like a bad obsession.” Nathan mused, moving to rest his head in his hand, thinking of Isabella with a small grin “ All the boys say she was sent from the heavens but I’m not too sure that this girl is a blessing.” He continued absently spinning his phone on the table.

#returned:starter#idk ahah 16 notes October 22nd 2017, 10:20:56 am · 4 months ago Placing a hand on his head Nathan closed his eyes tightly, trying to calm himself down. It’s not real. I’m just…seeing things. Yeah. Just-Just tired. Swallowing he opened his eyes a little before forcing himself to move. Though a moment later he stumbled and bumped into someone who shoved him before shouting at him to watch where he was going  “S-sorry I-I.–Uuhh–” Inhaling sharply his arched back, a chill running down his spine and his chest tightening. Twitching he looked around before lifting his hand up and sobbed into it. This is so fucking stupid. I have to get out of here. Why …Right now!

#returned:starter#Sunday Starter#yay~ 18 notes October 13th 2017, 11:52:05 am · 4 months ago Sitting lazily in a chair at the hospital Nathan was slouching, his legs opening and closing as he stared in a haze at the tv screen just a few feet away from him. All around him he could hear others talking, but he couldn’t exactly make out the words anyone had been saying. It was all just a jumbled mess. Blinking his eyes shift slowly to meet a nurse as they walked over toward him and took a seat. Pulling himself up he moved to drop his head in his hand, groaning lightly as he did. The memory of the hospital melting then as the person who sat beside him asked if he were okay “Fine. Just having a bad reaction to the sun.” Standing then he started walking across the park.

#returned:starter 20 notes October 3rd 2017, 1:43:10 pm · 5 months ago Turning the phone over in his hand Nathan looked at the screen full of messages from people he hadn’t bothered to answer. Then he just chucked the phone into a nearby body of water before turning and walking away.  Oops.

#returned:starter 2 notes September 24th 2017, 11:54:41 am · 5 months ago Reaching out Nathan touched the mask of a costume and frowned “ Hm, it’s almost that time.”  He muttered before pulling the mask down from where it was to get a better look at it, before he then went to put it on. What month is it, September? Then it’s in a month or so. Halloween, fuuuun.

#returned:starter 3 notes September 6th 2017, 5:04:49 pm · 6 months ago Laying on his stomach, over a patch of grass, Nathan had a dorky little grin on his face as he brought over a pretty broken up toy through the air. His eyes shift up, following the toy as he played with it, some what in a haze. His eyes seemed to be big, like a child as he distracted himself. Grinning he laid his head at a tilt on his arm, humming to himself as he continued to move the toy around.

#returned:starter#I don't know what this is#But he needs a starter out there XD 22 notes August 15th 2017, 6:55:42 pm · 6 months ago Pacing, Nathan was chewing on the nail of an index finger,  his bruised face redder from apparently crying.  Brushing his fingers against his lips then he swallowed and paused.  Muttering for a moment to himself before he frowned and dropped his head into his left hand  “So bad…sooobaaad.”

#returned:starter 33 notes August 5th 2017, 6:33:22 am · 7 months ago Pulling the hood of his black hoodie up over his head, to hide the bandages and not be easy to spot in case someone wanted to finish the job in killing him. Though he doubted the disguise would work completely, it was all he had. He put on a pair of sun glasses he had stolen not long after waking up in the woods. Then placed the earbuds of his headphones in his ears and started to listen to music while looking at the phone he had been given. It wasn’t the most pleasant feeling in the world, the music vibrating through his head, when his skull was cracked and had barely, if at all even healed since it had only been a few days and for some reason, it still was acting like it almost just happened that day. But at the same time the music was calming, it helped a lot. Searching his phone he had been spend a lot of time recently just catching up on stuff he had been missing out in the last sixteen years of his life, and the phone was helping him to do that when he was out on the streets without supervision.

#returned:starter 2 notes July 26th 2017, 3:33:54 pm · 7 months ago Reaching out he tapped on the door in front of him, Austin’s door. He felt awkward being here, honestly. Like an unwanted guest. Like the other just felt obligated because of ‘blood’ reasons.  Like they were just trying to put on a show for accidentally forgetting him on purpose because Robert Douglas demanded it so.  Mindlessly he tapped the phone on the door, not really wanting the other to answer, and then he could just leave. After another moment he let out a breath. Feeling hungry he decided he was going to go get something to eat and turned, walking down the hallway. Once back out on the street he winced at the bright sunlight before turning away and walking, only to bump into someone.

#returned:starter 41 notes July 20th 2017, 3:45:50 pm · 7 months ago Laying on his back Nathan’s head was turned to his left, his left hand loosely wrapped around his face as he exhaled gently. His eyes shift under his eyelids as he breathes in, gently.  For the last twenty-four hours, he has done nothing more than sleep. Nathan had become completely consumed by his exhaustion over the last few weeks and his body just needed the rest. Wincing a bit his brows knit together slightly, the sweat on his forehead combining and slipping down the side of his slightly tilted his head. A small whimper escaped his lips as he head suddenly jerked before turning away from his hand, his breathing started to pick up speed as his mind started lighting up with signals to be worried “No. No. No… Don’t-” Nathan whispered, his voice cracking.

#Returned:Starter#No idea where he could be laying?#Anywhere honestly ahah 17 notes July 17th 2017, 2:40:31 pm · 7 months ago Sitting outside Nathan dropped onto the grass and pulled his legs up pressing them against his chest as he tried to make himself smaller against the building. So he could hide. Sucking in a deep breath he adjusted his head on his knees. He watched as a bird dropped down and started pecking at the grass a moment later, getting completely absorbed with the creature’s actions. His current state of mind is easily allowed to be distracted as it was still recovering from the head injuries he’d suffered and the entire mind fuck of Austin and Bethany, mostly Bethany lying to him.

#Returned:911#Returned:Starter#Events 21 notes July 9th 2017, 4:44:45 pm · 7 months ago Walking into the building, or more like being shoved into it, Nathan stumbled “Alright! Jeez, stop fucking touching me!” He snapped before he turned to look around the building. Blinking as some people seemed to stare at him in recognition. Austin. He reminded himself, even though the stitches on his forehead would have been a dead giveaway to anyone paying any sort of attention that he was in fact, not, Austin. Nathan narrowed his eyes on some people as he made his way across the room and then found a space to sit. Taking up a chair he brought his legs up, sitting lotus-style before he lifted up a magazine on guns from one of the tables to his side and started reading through it with little to no interest.

#Returned:911#Um sooo#okay#Hmm#Returned:Starter#Event 19 notes June 30th 2017, 7:51:54 pm · 8 months ago Pushing against the wall of a building Nathan let out a loud shout, it had sounded a bit too much more like a demon than something that would come from a human, as it was shredding his throat as it clawed its way out of him. He then pushed off the wall and paced for a moment before kicking his backpack further back into the alley “That fucking bitch! I will…-” Cutting off he made a brief strangling motion at the air “Isabella…Isabella… She’s ruining everything!” Nathan snapped before slamming his right fist into the top of a trash can, sending a bolt of pain up his arm hissing he pulled it away and in a fit of rage picked the empty trash can up off the ground and threw it out toward the street.

#Returned:Starter 23 notes June 24th 2017, 4:17:45 pm · 8 months ago Reaching into a ratty backpack he had lifted out of a trashcan some days ago Nathan pulled up a bag full of days old baked sweets. Of which he had dug out of the trash the other day from behind a bakery.  There wasn’t much work for someone who just got out of a mental hospital after all. He narrowed his eyes as he watched people walk by him as he took a bite, feeling as though they knew, and they were judging him and thinking he was disgusting. And so what if he were.  Dropping down onto a bench he hugged the backpack to his thin body and continued to watch people suspiciously “I need money.” Nathan muttered then before watching a few bee’s that were a few feet from him dancing around a flower. Blinking he observed the scene for a few moments before muttering “Bee…Does it still hurt…” to mostly himself. Dropping onto his side he curled up hogging the bench.

Closing his eyes he started to doze off. Which wasn’t odd since he could barely even sleep, and sleeping at night was a nightmare waiting to happen so Nathan mostly got his naps in throughout the daytime hours.  As he was slipping off to sleep he thought about his family and one of the many things he had in store for them, if he could even find them. He didn’t have any clue of where they were, of course. He figured this place, Killbourne, was a good place to start finding out. He would continue to try to get a job, and make enough money for gathering tools and items he would need in order to do what he had planned. Then he would search for them. When he would find them he would take all the things he gathered and start setting his plan into action, trapping them all. This was his plan, so far. Sucking in a breath he reached up and pulled the hood of his hoodie down over his eyes to block out the sunlight shining down onto the park he chose to rest in.

Paras austinxdouglas:

Austin had been in his room talking to his girlfriend on the phone. Since she’d been away he’s been locked up in his room a little more. He’d really missed her while she was away, when he heard the door closed he didn’t bother saying hi to his brother yet. “Yea sure, give me a minute.” He replied, after saying goodbye to his girlfriend he hung up and walked into the kitchen. “What’s up?”

Listening to his brother chatter away with his girlfriend, he stuck his tongue gently into his upper lip. Had he noticed Austin’s locking the door? Yes. But what else was new, Austin was never going to really, fully understand. Turning toward Austin when the other finally arrived he knocked his head toward them before moving closer to the other, smiling. With a slight tilt of his head he lift the knife up and pointed it toward Austin’s chest,  inches from his twins body, aimed right at a major artery “What are the quality of these knives? Do you think they will cut through meat like paper?” Pulling the knife up he frowned a little bit before resting the blade in the palm of his right hand “Are these professional? I bet you don’t even know…” He clicked his tongue at Austin then before turning his head away to look toward the door.

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 2 notes January 22nd 2018, 4:41:26 pm · a month ago Nathan let out a small breath as he entered the apartment, sighing a little bit as he walked toward the kitchen, moving toward the knives he reached over to pick out one. Lifting it up he looked it over, running a finger on his other hand along the side of it “Why does he have these, if he doesn’t cook?”  Shrugging then he turns, dropping the knife down from his face “Austin, can you come here for just a minute.”

@austinxdouglas

#Para#AustinPara#Austin 2 notes montana-rodes January 22nd 2018, 4:12:40 pm · a month ago nathan-douglas montana-rodes:

Montana shrugged. “Sure.” What was so complicated about that? She had gotten rather good at shutting things off over the years. Montana was looking back down at the phone in her hand, pretty uninterested. She herself was quite unfeeling and cold nowadays. She didn’t care much for sob stories or people spilling their emotions. As he spoke again, she looked up, not having expected it. Montana had already switched off. He shouldn’t have been born. Great. She held back a sigh and stared at him for a moment, not knowing what she could say.

Nathan stared up at her for a moment, unhinging his jaw as she replied to him. Or rather, there was not much of a reply. So there was not much else he could do or say to her. And he wasn’t going to stand there and have her looking at him the way she was. Blinking, he nods before he stood up, turned and walked away from her.

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#MontanaPara#Montana 12 notes gemmapearson January 19th 2018, 12:27:57 pm · a month ago nathan-douglas gemmapearson:

Gemma rolled her eyes. Why the fucking hell did he think? She didn’t say anything, averting her gaze again and looking down at her nails. “Yep. Nothing matters.”

“You, are a fucking moron. Why don’t you take your annoyance and go fucking stand over there.”  Nathan pointed at the end of the sidewalk, far away from him.

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#GemmaPara#Gemma 12 notes montana-rodes January 19th 2018, 12:20:30 pm · a month ago nathan-douglas montana-rodes:

“Just don’t think about it then.”

As she had said that he suddenly looked confused “Just stop thinking….About it?” It was a ridiculous suggestion. Of course, he understood she had no idea exactly who she had been talking to. To just stop thinking about something that seemed stupid to her, was like asking him to turn off a light switch. But for him it was like that light switch was on the other side of a fire pit, with some guillotines waiting to chop away at his body, along with poison darts ready to fire into him. The switch always being on the other side of that massive mind field of thinking he had for years armed himself with. And if he should ever make it to that light switch and just ‘turn off’ the trick was, all he would be met with was fucking electrocution “I can’t just stop thinking about it!” He started to giggle before laughing a little too much, a little bit too hard, for a moment. Then he paused before tearing up as a sadness struck him sudden, swelling in his chest, constricting his throat “I shouldn’t have been born.”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#MontanaPara#Montana 12 notes montana-rodes January 18th 2018, 10:54:06 pm · a month ago nathan-douglas montana-rodes:

“You make it sound like you’d forgotten.”

“If only it would be so easy to forget I was born. When I’ve spent most of my life asking why I was…I hate this day.”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#MontanaPara#Montana 12 notes gemmapearson January 18th 2018, 10:52:06 pm · a month ago nathan-douglas gemmapearson:

“What?” Gemma looked up, stunned at what he’d even said. She glanced around, panicked. “You shouldn’t say things like that out here.” She hissed as her head spun back round towards him. He should be more careful who he spoke to about being dead these days, regardless of whether Gemma had figured out herself that she was too. “But no. It doesn’t matter.” Nothing mattered.

“Oh? Why not?” He blinked then, staring at Gemma for a moment before sighing a little bit “It doesn’t matter.” Frowning a little bit he shrugs a shoulder “I guess that’s right, this doesn’t matter. Nothing Matters.”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#GemmaPara#Gemma 12 notes gemmapearson January 18th 2018, 2:14:22 pm · a month ago nathan-douglas gemmapearson:

Gemma rolled her eyes as she looked up and saw who it was who was mumbling. Great. Mister Mental. She scoffed, looking away again. As if she actually gave a damn.

Slowly he looked over after Gemma had scoffed at him. He narrowed his eyes a little before letting out a breath “Do you think it matters? If you are dead, does having a birthday even have a point? What about if no one ever cared you were even born in the first place…Birthday’s were celebrated mostly for marketing purposes. But still, it’s meant to make the person born feel important, special. All I’ve felt on my birthday, for a long time…Is empty.” Much like how he often felt. Nathan looked away then, humming again as he was thinking.

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#GemmaPara#Gemma 12 notes austinxdouglas January 9th 2018, 5:31:30 am · a month ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas :

Austin saw how Nathan’s attitude changed very quickly, “I meant later,” He added looking at his brother, “Like New Years, we can make it then cause we’re gonna get drunk for sure, and then we’ll have fresh pizza for when we get home.” He could feel his mouth water, “Right now, we’ll make cookies, what kind of cookie did you want to make? Should we add peppermint in for that festive touch?” He added with an upbeat attitude hoping that would reflect well on Nathan. “Okay, then what’s your favourite genre out of all of them? Or rate them, top three?”

Nathan could clearly tell the other was lying about that. But he didn’t say anything about it, because it really didn’t matter “Okay. …We are going to get drunk?” He asked then, a little confused, this was all still very weird. Nathan was wondering why Austin wasn’t spending this day with his own family. Exhaling he looked to one side, thinking “White cookies, with white chocolate would be good for the peppermint.” Smiling at the other then, faintly, he blinked softly before thinking for a moment “I like treatise, science, and fantasy.”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 11 notes emily--wentworth January 5th 2018, 1:33:43 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas emily–wentworth:

Sometimes it was nice working the day shift. But knowing her, she would probably pick up another shift. Emily needed the distraction that work offered, she missed Elena that pain of losing her would never go away. And she felt bad, because she felt like she was neglecting Miranda. And yes, she did miss Mason. Right now though she didn’t want to think about it, instead she turned to the person at the bar. “What can I get you?” She asked, a small smile on her face.

“A new life and a new family would be fucking great, if you have that in stock. But I don’t imagine you do.” Nathan said, sounding like he was joking as he took a seat and watched her, grinning “Not unless you are a fairy god mother, right?” Shaking his head then he moved to bring his left arm up to rest on the bar before lifting his hand and placing his head in it “Some soda would be good.”

#Para#EmilyPara#Emily 3 notes austinxdouglas January 4th 2018, 10:38:03 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas:

“No! Not always, I mean Kristine was going to teach me some things, and I can make a sandwich and cereal!” He argued which didn’t help since those were basically mindless. “Oh shut up.” He laughed lightly, shaking his head. He raised his eyebrows in shock to hear what his brother could make, “You can make pizza from scratch?!” He was truly shocked, “Dude! Come on, let’s do that! Let’s make that!” He could be super down for a homemade pizza, that would be unreal to him.

“Uh, I don’t read that many if I’m honest. I mean, I did a lot in high school when I would commute on the bus, but I don’t commute that much anymore. I loved action, or mysterious kinds of books though. What about you?”

Nathan could only look at the other looking disappointed for a brief second, he didn’t want to make a pizza from scratch, with Austin. It didn’t seem very christmasy to him. He wanted a normal chrismasy thing, cookies. He nodded though “Sure, okay, Austin. We’ll make a pizza from scratch.” The smile dropped off his face then and he looked away.

“Oh. Huh.” He could honestly tell.  Nathan pressed at the buttons on the control in his hands and sat silently for a long moment before shrugging haplessly and slowly looking over back toward Austin “I read everything.”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 11 notes montana-rodes January 4th 2018, 4:37:31 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas montana-rodes:

Montana became rather irritated as he started talking. She hadn’t asked for his life story, nor did she care about his feelings. She concealed her impatience and her frustration as she waited for him to finish talking, the laughter grating on her. “Right.” There was no reason for Montana to hold him any longer and the other guy was long gone. Nothing really happened and she wanted to enjoy her coffee in peace and try to salvage the rest of this day. “Well, stay out of trouble.” Montana said to him as she turned, though making a mental note to keep her eye on that one.

At her slightly dry response to his reply he let out a small breath. Guessing that when officers were basically told ‘fuck the police’, he would get this response.  Nathan watched her intently as she seemed to be thinking of something, perhaps deciding he could offer her no more on the guy who had walked down the alley, or on himself. Thus just chalking him down as another hoodlum, of which the town was full up on, he supposed this was the best way he could have gone about the interaction. At her last comment he lift his head up slightly, nodding toward her “Thanks. You too. Copper.” He gave her a more genuine smile this time before turning and walking opposite from her down the sidewalk.

Source: montana-rodes #Para#MontanaPara#Montana 13 notes montana-rodes January 4th 2018, 4:23:23 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas montana-rodes:

Montana’s suspicions raised at his response. It was unusual for somebody who wasn’t up to anything wrong to not comply with the police. It was painless to give a surname and go back on with your day. It only made her study him a little more. “If you haven’t done anything wrong then where’s the harm?” What was he and that guy really up to? She was sure it was something now.

As odd as it all would appear to have been on the outside, and indeed it was odd for him not to give a last name to her. But his reasons were that he didn’t like authoritative figures, let alone trust them.  After growing up the way he had, it was least likely any ‘grown up’ would make him budge on certain things, if anything. The twenty-three year old squint a bit at her when she spoke, then “Well, there’s no harm, inherently in your asking for one. But I’ve grown up in a way that has ultimately taught me that Authority is as about as helpful to me as a wet paper bag is in carrying cans, without the arm support on the bottom, get it?” Nathan laughed a little bit, teasing.

Source: montana-rodes #Para#MontanaPara#Montana 13 notes montana-rodes January 4th 2018, 3:07:36 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas montana-rodes:

Montana treated everybody this way. She didn’t trust and it kept her safe. This was simply the way she had been made. She would run his name through the database later, when she was back at work, just to make sure he wasn’t trying to pull a fast one. The way that other guy had acted and scarpered like that… it didn’t sit right with Montana. “Do you have a surname, Robert?” Montana asked, folding her arms across her chest. “I’m a police officer.” She added, in case he couldn’t figure out why she was asking. It’s not like she was in uniform. “Not trying to steal your identity or anything.” It was an attempt at a joke but it came out dry, with little humour attached, and no trace of a smile.

“I could?” He said, not at all planning on giving it to her. Because he could guess that if anyone went looking around for a ‘Robert Douglas’ they would eventually end up on his father, which he didn’t mind so much. It was the next thing she had said that had made him decided to never tell her his last name “Ah, well– As I am not being detained. I don’t know why I would need to give it to you. I’ve done nothing wrong. Maybe I have no last name? Like that lady, Cher? ”

Source: montana-rodes #Para#MontanaPara#Montana 13 notes montana-rodes January 4th 2018, 1:07:54 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas montana-rodes:

Montana just stared back at him, not cracking a smile in return as she waited for a better explanation. “Right. Okay.” Though to her it had seemed a bit more than that but she could let it slide right now, she supposed. “What’s your name?” She asked, deciding to file that away at least.

She didn’t believe him, he could tell. But there was really nothing more she was going to get out of him, on the subject.  When she asked his name he figured, well, he couldn’t give her his name. He was dead, and though he had no idea what this woman was like, he couldn’t very well go around giving away a dead guys name, his name, to strangers. It would definitely send off major red flags, so he gave off one he thought would be interesting, if not have a funny pay off later “Name is Robert.” Now, of course, he could have just used Austin’s name. The fact being, Nathan had figured, that, while they were identical-ish, twins, they had looked strikingly different to anyone paying attention. Nathan was scrawnier than Austin, Nathan had scars all over his body. He was a complete person, outside of having the same face as Austin, even that was an easy tell, their spots were opposite of one another, a mirror image. Ultimately, Austin’s naivety would give it all away in about five seconds after meeting them.

Source: montana-rodes #Para#MontanaPara#Montana 13 notes montana-rodes January 3rd 2018, 7:24:54 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas montana-rodes:

Montana shook her head slightly at the response she got. “Right. I’m sure he has.” She turned her gaze up the alleyway again, looking the way the other had gone. She’d had half a mind to chase after him. “So, who was that?” She asked, brushing off his apology. She needed to get names and everything straight round here.

“I mean, that’s a good excuse, right?” He grinned a bit, before unhinging his jaw a little, running his tongue over one of his canines as he thought about what he could have said instead of what he had eventually ended up saying. At her question though he brought his attention back to her “Just a–ah.. Guy.  I have business with.”  Nathan shrugged a little bit, not really knowing what else to say to that. He had business with that guy, so he didn’t feel as though he were lying.

Source: montana-rodes #Para#MontanaPara#Montana 13 notes montana-rodes January 2nd 2018, 2:03:52 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas montana-rodes:

Montana was sipping her coffee when it happened. She felt the body of another collide with her and she almost dropped it completely but managed to keep her fingers clasped around the cup. “Hey!” She snapped, immediately turning around to face them but unluckily the culprit was already hauling ass away back up the alley and round out the other side. “Asshole.” She muttered under her breath, a bit unprofessionally but she wasn’t technically on the clock, before turning her attention to the guy. “Are you alright? What was that about?”

Looking at the other when she asked if he were alright he turned to face her better. Nodding then he lift up his right hand, rubbing it against his left arm for a moment “Yeah. I’m great.  My uh– He’s just…Got a lot of emotions, about …stuff.” Nathan’s right hand then moved to adjust the glasses better on his face as he let out a huff of a laugh and glanced down the alley, staring for a long moment before shaking his head and looked back toward her “Holidays really seem to be getting to people lately, right… Uh.. Sorry, for, um, getting pushed into you?”

Source: montana-rodes #Para#MontanaPara#Montana 13 notes sashaxparker January 1st 2018, 6:27:09 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas sashaxparker:

“You won’t?” Sasha wondered if you could really just decide a thing like that. She had this idea in her head about the years going by and becoming older and wiser and more boring as they did. Ageing didn’t seem appealing. Though some days she did feel older than her years. “Oh, cool.” She smiled when they said they were twins. “I always thought that would be fun, to have a twin.”

“Naah. It seems complex, to do that.” Nathan frowned a little, having already come to terms with such a thing years ago. What had been the point? When it got you no where, got you nothing, to grow up seemed stupid to him anyway, without the seventeen years being imprisoned against his will. But because of what he had been through, it hadn’t even seemed important to do so. There was no future for him, no one cared what he would have been like. Because everyone had already made their judgments, they had designated him a monster, a killer, without a body count. “I guess.” He muttered to her ‘cool’.  As she said she thought it would be fun he looked at her, grinning a little sadly  “It …can be. But there’s the aspect that…there’s a favorite.” And he was not the favorite, obviously. “I guess that’s just my jealousy, sorry. Yeah, it was fun, once. Having a twin brother.”  Austin might as well have been the one that died, in his perspective, because it didn’t feel the same. He was still an outcast, wasn’t he? Rolling another ball of snow up he stared at the balls he had made already then sighed.

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#SashaPara#Sasha 10 notes montana-rodes January 1st 2018, 6:14:32 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas montana-rodes:

Montana wasn’t interested in festivities. ‘New Year’ wasn’t important. Nothing changed just because the calendar moved on and people were too hung up on this time of year. It was irritating. She had grabbed a coffee before everything closed early and was walking around, sipping her drink and keeping her eyes peeled for any odd behaviour. She needed to be on the alert after all. The dead were on the loose and that was no good for anybody.

“Alright, alright! Stop–Get off of me!” He plead as one of the local gang members pulled at his shirt before shoving him into a wall, before pointing a finger at him and threatening him about something gang relate. As Nathan, for several long months now has been being used by them after a very odd run in with one of their members who basically had him kidnapped or something of the sort, indebted to them for the injury he had inflicted on the other gang member, embarrassment played a huge part. With that he was punched in the face before being shoved away from them out of the alley and right into Montana. The gang member had been halfway gone before Nathan could recover enough to assess the damage to his face, let alone acknowledge stumbling into the other “Ow ow…” Adjusting the sunglasses one his face he frowned then as he pulled his hand away.

#Para#MontanaPara#Montana 13 notes austinxdouglas December 30th 2017, 4:30:28 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas:

Austin didn’t have a reason why he wouldn’t believe him, this was a guy’s kind of joke. Austin knew some friends who were too invested in their pranks for their own good, Austin figured Nathan could be that same kind of person. “Alright, maybe I would have” He spoke looking at his brother at the mention of the mental hospital. Austin was hoping one day they could talk about it and not have it be an elephant in the room.. He wanted for the ward to be something either he or Nathan could feel comfortable bringing up.

Austin shook his head gently while shrugging his shoulders, “Well, I don’t know. I mean, read books, games? I didn’t think cooking was going to be an option. So what can you make?” He asked curious about what his brother could possibly make in the kitchen. “Well, I know how to cook pasta?” He added giving himself a little credit, “And I can put a pizza in the oven.” he shrugged his shoulders, “I get by.”

Looking down at that, he didn’t like it. He didn’t like being dead. He didn’t feel right about it. He was dead, and he never actually, truly got to be alive. And it was just, really weird. “Yeah…” He said then as he stared at the screen of the tv.

“You didn’t? Did you expect to just live on take out and premade pizza’s–whatever you could pop in the microwave, your entire life? Kristine must be looking forward to that.”  He commented dropping his eyes down to the others waistline for a brief moment before smiling up at Austin again “Oh, you do? Wow. That’s amazing.” He tried to sound excited, but it was pasta, it wasn’t exactly a challenge to make such a thing.

“I can make all sorts of things, desserts mostly. But other kinds of food as well. I can make a pizza from scratch.” He mumbled as he turned his attention back to the tv spacing out as he played for a moment before saying “What books do you read?”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 11 notes peytonsaundersx December 29th 2017, 4:48:12 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas peytonsaundersx:

Peyton’s eyes narrowed, there was no way she was in the mood to deal with anyone’s shit today. She smirked, stepping to one side “Here you go, the shelf you’ve been longing for, for so long.” She really couldn’t believe how rude some people could be at times she’d rather not stoop to their level, but there was something about him that had just instantly grated on her “take your precious item and then do the world a favour and fuck off back to the pit you’ve crawled from.”

With the Peyton picked up the items she wanted from the other self, placed them in her basket and headed to the checkouts.

Nathan narrowed his eyes a bit on her as she narrowed hers on him. As was per the usual for him to do to anyone who glared at him. He had grown up on those looks from the staff and others in the hospital. Why should he have to meet with with any other look.  As she finally moved he went to grab the cooking items, so he could actually make Austin something and the other wouldn’t have to buy take out. Placing it in a basket with his other items he continued to listen to the other as she then, for no reason, went on “I’ll…be sure to do that.” He looked her over before turning and walking away from her.  A few moments later he moved to a self checkout and was leaving the store.

Source: peytonsaundersx #Para#PeytonPara#Peyton 26 notes peytonsaundersx December 27th 2017, 12:36:08 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas peytonsaundersx:

Now that Christmas is almost over, can we please go back to some normality. It’d be nice to buy a loaf of bread without having to wait forever in the line.  

Nathan eyed the woman, suspiciously “Get out of my way.”

#Para#PeytonPara#Peyton 26 notes peytonsaundersx December 28th 2017, 2:00:24 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas peytonsaundersx:

Peyton rolled her eyes, waiting having to wait for a simple purchase was one thing but have to deal with idiotic ass-holes was a whole new level. “I’m pretty sure there was another word you where supposed to add to the end of that sentence,”

Nathan inhaled deeply. Being raised with out parents and in a mental hospital among the most unstable people in town, that had to be locked away and forgotten about, Nathan had been sucked off all his politeness and manners. And so, Nathan grinned “Oh, yes. I did forget a word.” He paused, huffing, before rolling his jaw a little, cracking the bone and then speaking once again “Get out of my way, bitch. I need to get to what you are standing in front of, and you’ve been standing there for five minutes looking at the other shelf.” He gestured to the other side of the aisle.

Source: peytonsaundersx #Para#PeytonPara#Peyton 26 notes austinxdouglas December 27th 2017, 10:14:32 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas:

“Oh!” He yelled at the news about there being yellow snow, “Gross!” He immediately sprung up on his feet spitting at his tongue not even sure if he got any snow in his mouth but spitting it out just in case. Austin ran into the warm and shower and came out with some sweatpants and a t-shirt, similar to what he was wearing to bed. "Yea, and if I hadn’t ordered that food both of us would starve so which would you prefer?” he asked rhetorically as his brother stated he knew how to bake it surprised him. “You do? How?”

Nathan wasn’t sure how Austin so easily believed that he had actually put piss snow in that snowball. But if the other were going to just believe him, he wasn’t going to tell them otherwise. Maybe that was a lesson for the other.  Because Nathan had not done that, and had made sure to grab some of the purest snow he could, because he wasn’t going to throw piss snow at his brother. When Austin had returned Nathan continued to stare at the tv screen and sit on the floor playing the game “Uh-huh, Well you might have.”  He pointed out before turning his head, looking toward the other when they asked about how he knew how to bake.

He smiled shaking his head “Well, I was in an mental hospital for seventeen years Austin. What do you think goes on there. More importantly, what do you think I did there the whole time?”  Which was probably a good thing for them to talk about… “No, apparently, learning shit helps to keep calm. I was allowed to do all sorts of things, there. Learn a trade, even though I wasn’t really ever going to get out… They still had me go to a cooking class. Wait, How do you not know how to cook and live by yourself?”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 11 notes sashaxparker December 27th 2017, 12:30:05 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas sashaxparker:

Sasha didn’t want to think about her brother much right now. She’d used to idolise him so much… and now things were different. She hadn’t heard from him in days.. maybe it was longer. She supposed everything changed as you got older but Sasha found change hard. Especially now. With…. everything. “My brother’s always busy too.” She said when he seemed to get excited about them both having that in common. She giggled. “He is, yeah.. what about yours?”

“Mm, being an actual real life adult sucks. I’m glad I’ll never officially be one.” He muttered offhandedly before reaching out to grab more snow in his hands. He didn’t know if he could handle being ordered around by people who didn’t know how to deal with him. The only career he could see himself having was a career criminal, maybe a serial killer. That thought made him stiffen slightly before swallowed pushing it away from his mind when Sasha asked how old his brother was “Oh, we are twins. I don’t know who is older.”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#SashaPara#Sasha 10 notes austinxdouglas December 25th 2017, 9:39:40 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas:

Usually, Austin would spend Christmas with his family, this year everyone was everywhere so he stayed home. As he slept peacefully not caring at all about what time it could be, that was all pushed aside when he suddenly felt something very cold and very strong hit his face. He gasped as he got up in his bed and wiped his face from the wet snow, “Wha-wha-” without another thought he was suddenly pushed off the bed. “Whoa!” He exclaimed as he hit the ground. He groaned getting up a bit to look at him, “Give me a minute, I need to shower this prank off.” he chuckled shaking his head. “Sure, but I’m pretty shit at baking… and cooking in general.”

“Oh, of course. I want to tell you, I made sure to add the yellowest snow I could find to that snowball.” Pulling away then he slid off onto the floor on the opposite side of the bed before standing up and running a hand through his hair, letting out a sigh nods “I kind of assumed that, Austin. Seeing as you order food a lot.” He flicked at his hair before holding his hand out a bit from his face “Not to worry, I guess. I know how to bake. I guess we’ll just need the ingredients though.” Turning away he left the room a second later, and a few moments after that noises from the tv began to sound off, as if he were playing a video game. Which he was, as he waited on Austin to do whatever.

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 11 notes December 25th 2017, 3:12:15 pm · 2 months ago Watching Austin sleep for the last few seconds Nathan smiled a bit as an idea hit him. Pulling away he walked away from the room before leaving the apartment. A few minutes later he was hurriedly walking back through the other males apartment. Moving his left hand he tossed it out, sending a snowball flying right into Austin’s sleeping face “Wake up! It’s Christmas, scrub!” Moving over he dashed toward the bed before jumping into it and shoving the other right off the mattress. Dropping onto his stomach then he smiled “Want to make cookies?”

@austinxdouglas

#Para#AustinPara#Austin#No rush of course#just get to this whenever you are able!~ But still#I couldn't resist#XD 11 notes austinxdouglas December 22nd 2017, 5:01:15 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas:

Austin sighed as he only got a sarcastic reply, at the mention of wanting to sleep he nodded. “Okay, fine, okay.” He spoke not angry or pissy in any way, just simply stating he understood. “You can sleep at my place if you want. I’ll order us some food or something when we get there.”

Staring at the other he frowned a little bit. Nathan knew the other would not understand the sort of exhaustion he was feeling. He nodded then and looked away from his brother.  He guessed that Austin would probably still need to learn how his mind had worked. Dropping his head then he nods, stumbling over his feet then as he almost dosed off while he was walking. Jerking his head back up he blinked batting away the sleepy feeling “Sure.”

Source: austinxdouglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 59 notes austinxdouglas December 22nd 2017, 4:43:18 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas:

“Oh, okay.” He didn’t say much about it because he wasn’t sure how to bring it up to her, he didn’t even think that she may have run into him on her own. He decided to drop the idea of asking him more questions about that topic and moved on. His main focus was to help Nathan get normal again, as he began to talk about how Austin hated him and he was a pain Austin didn’t know how to reply. He wanted to help and comfort him in some way though he was at a loss, this was so new to him. A part of him wished Bethany was here, she was good at this, this was what she wanted to do with her life. Who knew if they’d let her pursue her dream job she’d actually be a help. That idea clicked in his head and brought a furry in him towards his parents, they were so scared of having Nathan be known amongst their family they didn’t think of the fact that if he was more included and Bethany went to psychology she could have helped him. She would have his best interests at heart, having this run through his brain pushed him further at wanting to do what he could to help his brother.

As Nathan put his thumb in his mouth, Austin decided to stay present but silent, he didn’t want to interrupt whichever method was going to help him calm down, though he’d made a mental note to try to talk to Nathan later in a calm manner about what and who he sees. Austin watched as Nathan began to calm his breathing and his entire aura became more calm and relaxed. “Hey, you okay?” Austin asked hoping for a solid answer and not a sarcastic one. Austin stood with Nathan, he looked back at the grave and although he should be relieved he was confused. “O-okay.” He spoke and followed his brother towards the exit and towards his car. “We can come back after dark.” He stated again.

Nathan gave Austin an exhausted look as they asked if he were okay. Of course he wasn’t, and he didn’t know how to not answer sarcastically, letting out an exhausted sigh, his shoulders slouched “I’m sorry, were you here, or somewhere else just a few seconds ago?” He mumbled, sounding absolutely drained. A moment later when the other repeated what they said he let out another breath “I just want to sleep, Austin. Okay…I don’t fucking care right now…”

Source: austinxdouglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 59 notes austinxdouglas December 18th 2017, 4:31:52 am · 2 months ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas:

As Nathan explained to him it was his fault, he truly felt more and more guilty because everything he was saying was true. Although Austin believed he was in a weird and odd situation it still didn’t mean everything Nathan was saying was a lie. Austin wasn’t sure how to reply, he looked down in shame and stuck the end of the shovel into the ground. He wanted to apologize though he wasn’t sure how a simple ‘i’m sorry’ wouldn’t fix anything. When Nathan had mentioned Kristine he furrowed his eyebrows, “She… what? When did you two meet? How did you two meet?” He tried not to ask it in such an accusing tone though he remembers the early days when Nathan would pretend to be him. It made his blood boil to think Nathan would have played a trick like that on his own girlfriend.

As Nathan began to hyperventilate he made sure to stay at eye level with his brother. It was time someone trusted him, someone believed his side of the story. Austin decided that would be him. Why was he treating him like a homeless stranger off the streets? This was his brother, no matter that he didn’t know him, this wasn’t how he would treat Bethany or Grace, why should he treat Nathan any different? As his words didn’t seem to help Nathan at all, he began to worry a bit. Austin immediately dropped his shove when he fell to the ground, “Nate, listen to me okay? Let’s go home, we can come back later. Sometime when it’s not as noticeable.” He offered, “Okay? Just calm down, focus on your breathing, or something. Close your eyes and focus.”

“Sh-she ran in-into one of those task force guys, who knocked her books on the ground.” Of course Kristine didn’t say anymore to him about the picture, as he was having another fit at the time and was all over the place then. He probably had been told more and just couldn’t remember it at the moment. Blinking he let out a few struggled gasps “I wasn’t doing anything.” He then said, as if he were doing something, not to Kristine of course. But there had been a reason behind why he was there, at that moment. When the task force officer had run into her.

Looking around he swallowed hard, trying to focus on Austin as the other spoke, but it was of course very difficult when he didn’t have anything that normally would have helped in situations like these. And even if he did have something, those somethings wouldn’t work. He was on his own with this, a fish out of water, gasping as it slowly died in the foreign world it had been yanked into. Bringing his eyes back to the other he continued to tear up, panic taking over as shadows from the corners of his eyes crept around them, even though it was in the middle of the day “I-I can’t…I can’t ca-calm down…I-it’s too…t-to-too hard.” He paused, his breath catching in his throat as his eyes started to drift again toward a creeping shadow before they jerked back to Austin. Closing his eyes tightly he whispered about something not being there, not being real.

Bringing his hands up to his eyes then he let out a little sob apologizing to Austin “I’m sorry–I’m trying…I’m trying to–But I’m– …I don’t mean to be-be ah- heh –I know you hate me. I kno-Know I am not making-M aking th-thi-iss e-eeasy…I’m a-ah burden–I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m not what any of you w-wanted.That I am hard to-to lllike. I can’t contr-trol this on my my own–please please…They’re everywhere, whispering, I see them-Shadows. I s–I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want this– I just want it to stop! Please.” Taking in a deep breath he held it pressing his face into his hands before unconsciously his left hand moved down, his thumb absently sliding into his mouth.

A moment later the tears and terrified look on his face faded almost completely as a dulled subdued look came over him. Almost completely calmed, his right hand pet along the hair on the right side of his face. His breathing tapered off into something more manageable then. A few moments after eerie silence and immaturely sucking on his thumb he finally pulled it out and shakily began to move, pushing himself up from the ground looking absolutely more exhausted than he did normally. These sort of things took a lot of out him whenever they happened, and they had been happening frequently since he woke up in the woods. Staring at Austin then he let out another breath before closing his eyes and dropping his head down, almost embarrassed as he wiping his thumb off on his pants and began to walk away from the grave, toward the exit “Come on. Let’s go. There’s no point in digging it up, or in coming back.”

Source: austinxdouglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 59 notes sashaxparker December 15th 2017, 8:13:11 am · 2 months ago nathan-douglas sashaxparker:

Sasha gave a little nod when he said she’d outgrown it. “Yeah. Maybe.” She felt older somehow lately, despite her sixteen years. Things just felt heavy, like she was suffocating, and she didn’t have it in her for much cheer or Christmas spirit. She used to love winter, too. Sasha moved to sit down on a bench nearby, wiping off some of the snow, and folded her arms as she listened to him. He seemed content enough with her not saying a whole lot, which was nice enough. “Yeah?” She remembered when her own brother had been around enough to do all that stuff with, when she’d been nothing but an innocent kid. “I’m sure he will when he’s less busy?” She tried to be positive but she shrugged a little. “I’d offer to help but I left my gloves at home.” Sasha scrunched her nose a little bit, before glancing down at his question. “Uh, yeah. I have a brother.”

He shook his head, feeling a bit bad for her. Or maybe just everyone in general, who got older. Most people let themselves be fooled by the illusion of adulthood. That they had to be mature. Nathan had never had that burden. He had never had to deal with anyone killing his inner child. Though at the same time he had to grow up far quicker than most that were his age. Contently he continued what he had been doing. He loved this time of year. He had always loved Christmas, though of course in the last seventeen years his Christmas’ had not been anything worth enjoying. But still, his love for this time of year had always remained. “He’s always busy.” Nathan said. Thinking about how Austin treated him, or just how Austin was always working.

He realized in all these months Austin spent more time thinking about how to deal with him, and not really getting to know him “Hopefully he stops being busy soon, so we can enjoy our time together.” He wondered how much time this all would last, where he could spend time with his siblings. Nathan had to guess that it would probably not last as long he would like. He was dead. And he had no idea what that really meant. As Sasha spoke again he glanced toward her and put on another smile “Yeah.” He answered, not wearing much winter clothing himself, just a few layers of shirts with a hoodie on top and a pair of skinny jeans he had found during the summer. “A brother!?  We both have brothers. That’s cool. Is he your older brother?”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#SashaPara#Sasha 10 notes sashaxparker December 14th 2017, 5:41:05 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas sashaxparker:

“Really?” Sasha smiled, somehow brightened up a little bit just by the sight of him seemingly having so much fun - and not seeming embarrassed or held back about it. “That’s cool then.” Lucky for him it had snowed then. “Oh.” Sasha gave a little shrug at his question, glancing around the park briefly. Maybe looking for an escape route in case she needed one. “I guess I’m not really in the mood to be honest. Why don’t you make a snowman?”

Nathan gave a small nod patting his hands gently over the ball of snow in his hand “Really.”  Looking at her he blinked, a little confused fr a moment before giving a smile “It is, really cool.” Going back to playing with the snow Nathan didn’t notice her looking around. When she spoke he looked toward her once again “No? Oh. Guess you have outgrown it. You were able to enjoy it as a kid.” Nathan scooped up some more snow, grinning sweetly, softly as he made another ball from it “ A Snowman wouldn’t be bad! I really should! I- I-” He laughed a bit “My brother and I used to make snowmen all the time. A snowman army.” Lifting up another handful of snow he started to make another ball “He’s too busy to do stuff like this. I’ll just have to build one by myself. Maybe one day he’ll join me. I hope.” Placing the ball next to the others he looked at Sasha “Do you have any siblings?”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#SashaPara#Sasha 10 notes austinxdouglas December 14th 2017, 3:51:35 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas:

“Nate I was just a kid! What do you expect from me? Do you think the second you left things were easy? I bet you they weren’t, you were my brother, at the time I probably asked for you all the time.” He argued, though that was the only thing he said. Because listening to Nathan as he vented while hitting his gravestone, everything he was saying was true in some way. Nathan couldn’t understand the dynamic of his family, their dad was tried his best, they both tried their best.

When Nathan threw his shovel Austin stood there not sure what to do, he just watched his brother’s headstone get completely broken in two. Watching Nathan get so heated and angered by their conversation he noticed this face again. He noticed this reaction, he noticed this pronunciation of his name. “Nate?” He spoke before standing in front of him, wanting to find a way to calm him down. “Nate relax, relax. You know what you’re right. You’re right about everything. What dad did was wrong, what mom didn’t do was wrong. She should have stuck up for you. I believe you, okay? I believe you not them.”

“I know you were a kid, Austin!  But you still forgot about me. Let that fucking bastard tell you lies about me! And you still believed them even until earlier this year! That I was made up! That I didn’t exist! And when you knew that I did! You still believed him! That makes you accountable. NOT for what you couldn’t do Then. But for what you helped do after, before this!” He pointed toward the gravestone. “Do you understand! I am dead! And that is all of your FAULT! No matter how little or big a part you played! You all helped each other play it! And I was murdered for it!–Your girlfriend told me all about that picture you two found!”

Gripping at his head, he gasped for air, trying to not choke on the thickness building in his throat. Swallowing he shakes his head as he hears Austin “I can’t, there’s too much going on. My head.”  Wincing he dropped a bit, closing his eyes tightly as he tried to shake away the feeling in his head, the thoughts that were cramming into it, he felt like his head would explode. He could hear what Austin was saying, but it had just filled in with the rest of his thoughts. Looking up at the other, he pant, sweat building on his face. He continued to stare at Austin. Not knowing what to think of what the other had just said to him.

With a choppy breath, he inhaled, dropping a hand to his chest as his breaths clung in his throat. Feeling dizzy he dropped to the ground, sitting down. The panic taking over his entire body. His face turned red, tears welling in his eyes as he continued to struggle for air “T-tin-Tin-tin…I can’t-can’t…heh, heh.” Nathan coughed, trying to jog something from his swelling throat.

Source: austinxdouglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 59 notes austinxdouglas December 14th 2017, 2:55:28 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas:

Austin listened to his brother contently, he hated hearing what he’d gone through. The more he was hearing it the more he was getting angry at his seven-year-old self, and his family.  “Hey!” He spoke looking at Nathan’s gravestone and noticed the month and year he died. “This is when you died?” He asked it as a rhetorical question before she was thinking back to when his mom began her depression. As he was going to on with his point his thoughts were interrupted. “First off, We don’t know each other well enough to be throwing judgements at each other. Second I am supportive, but this isn’t smart. Third, don't say no one gave a fuck about you because I know it’s not true.” He spoke before pointing at the stone, “The month you died was the same month Mom went into depression. So don’t think that you weren’t cared about.” He spoke before he shoved his shovel into the ground and began to dig.

Stopping as the other spoke he made a face as they asked about when he died. Looking to the gravestone then he sighed, sarcastically. Then as the other started listing things off to him he stuck the shovel into the dirt and nodded his head. When Austin had finally shut up, Nathan had to suck in a breath to think about what was just unloaded onto him “Austin.  I can judge you. You forgot about me, and believed me to be a monster.  You are not supportive to me. This entire time you doubt me, you never listen to anything I say. It’s always Denial first.”  Nathan paused then and leaned onto his shovel, grinning a little more “I know this isn’t smart, Austin. But it’s what I want to do. Because you won’t listen to me. Blame yourself.”

Gesturing back to the gravestone carelessly then he grinned a little wider “Because she knew this entire time and she let them murder me!“ Angry suddenly he picked up the shovel and started smacking the gravestone with it “She let that fucking bastard murder me and What!!??! Am I supposed to feel bad she feel’s depressed?! FUCK HER! I am the one who died! For a murder that never happened! I am the one who suffered all these years, for a crime that I never committed! And all I fucking wanted was my family to listen to me! TO be with them! And you want to say they CARE?!!?!”  

Smacking the stone hard enough at the end it finally cracked and broke in half.  Throwing the shovel away from him then he started to walk away, stomping “I never hurt her! I never fucking meant to hurt her! I am the one that spent seventeen years locked up in a fucking mental hospital being abused, because I didn’t hurt her! And your mom’s depressed?! BOO FUCKING WHOO! Bitch deserves to be! After what they did to me!!” Hyperventilating his hands move to grip onto the sides of his head, blood began to spill from his nose “ I– It’s too much– I feel too much– I-i-Tin-Tin–Too much-It hurts….it hurts…”

Source: austinxdouglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 59 notes sashaxparker December 14th 2017, 11:34:45 am · 2 months ago nathan-douglas sashaxparker:

Sasha was feeling quite out of it. Her mind was disconnected and she was feeling sort of like she wasn’t all here. She’d gone out for a walk to clear her mind but it wasn’t truly helping, though the clear sky was pretty to look up at as she went. She just wished she could feel like herself again… what if she never did? It was snowing now and she pulled her scarf up over her head to protect her hair. It looked pretty and it did strangely make her feel a little better. She came to the park and noticed she wasn’t alone suddenly. It set her on edge at first but she couldn’t help but chuckle as she watched the other having a good time with the snow. He looked carefree. “Having fun?” She asked, though not really sure why she struck up a conversation.

Packing some snow into a ball when he heard Sasha he glanced over and grinned a bit. He then looked back to the snowball and packed more snow onto it “Sooo much fun.” He says, a little excitedly. “It’s the first time i’ve gotten to be around snow since I was seven years old.” He wasn’t even bothered by the cold. He just wanted to enjoy this before it was ripped away from him, like everything else was. And had always been. He had learned to enjoy things while he had the chance, for as long as he could because it could be gone in a moment. Even if sometimes it might make him seem like a child, or even stupid. Nathan knew he was neither of these things “Why aren’t you having fun, too?”

Source: nathan-douglas #Para#SashaPara#Sasha 10 notes austinxdouglas December 8th 2017, 1:56:05 pm · 2 months ago nathan-douglas austinxdouglas:

Austin looked stared at the grave still in a little shock about all of this. When Nathan started to yell at him, he raised his eyebrows “Hey!” He yelled as he raised his arms to block the dirt that was thrown at his face. “I mean how did you die! I know mom and dad fucked you over! I know that, but you were alive when they sent you there!” He noticed as Nathan started to dig, “Nate come on, this isn’t a good idea.”

“I-” He cut himself off, trying to think. He didn’t actually remember dying. He just remembered leaving solitary “I was in trouble. They put me in solitary for days. I-i.. When they let me out- that’s it. That’s all I remember. I went to bed. Okay. And then I was in the fucking woods.” He glared at Austin “They might as well have sentenced me to death, Austin! Your Parents, they had to have known! I told her! Constantly. But she wouldn’t fucking listen! Just like you aren’t listening to me! And now I am dead. So…” He stabbed at the ground again “Eh! Good idea, bad Idea. I’m the one who is buried here, and no one gives a fuck about me. So help me or don’t. If you don’t, that’s fine. I’ve always done everything without you anyway.  You were always the one that was needy. So fuck off! If you don’t want to help me. –I don’t know why I expected any support from you, you were never the supportive type.”

Source: austinxdouglas #Para#AustinPara#Austin 59 notes kerrieridgeway December 5th 2017, 3:55:31 pm · 3 months ago nathan-douglas kerrieridgeway:

She sighed as he pointed out their last interaction, of course he didn’t put his actions into account. Only blamed her. “I promise to give you hot coffee if that’s what you want.” She spoke looking at him, before staring down either side of the street making sure that no one obvious was watching. “If they’re watching you, being outside isn’t a good idea.”

Nathan could be immature and yes, often blamed others before he would ever blame himself. There was no question about that. However, he had not done anything to Kerrie before she dumped coffee on him, accidentally, to him it  still stung, and everything that followed was because of the coffee incident. As she said she would give him more he paused and looked at her worried and shook his head “I don’t like coffee… Don’t throw any coffee on me anymore. Too hot. It’s too hot.” At the last thing she said he shook his head “It won’t help. He’ll come and get me, he’s not scared.”

Source: kerrieridgeway #Para#KerriePara#Kerrie 5 notes kerrieridgeway December 5th 2017, 2:58:48 pm · 3 months ago nathan-douglas kerrieridgeway:

Kerrie was cleaning a table in her diner when she noticed the young adult who she really disliked. Though as she saw him so distraught she felt something for him, she watched for a minute before sighing and deciding to do something. She put her rag down and opened the front door, “Hey,” she spoke looking at him waiting to get his attention. “Are you okay?” She spoke as she felt the colder December winds hit her. “Come inside,” she spoke wondering if he was distraught over anything task force related. She wasn’t sure, but seeing him so upset hit a chord with her.

Self “Found you, you bastard.” Nathan muttered, giving a slight smirk as he looked at the photo of the man he had searched for in the search engine on the computer he was on.  Moving he pulled out a journal from his backpack and then a pen, writing down several names. The current name he was on, the first of a long line, he began to write down several facts that were written about the guy on the computer “A gay son who works at the local gay stripe club. Interesting.”  Nathan mused for a moment as he wrote “Physical abuse accusations over a period of years, a little as a year ago, no surprise there. No wonder he was this easy to find.”

Nathan had spent the next few hours or so doing research, looking up several other peoples names on his list. He then left the library and made his way down toward a sidewalk that eventually lead him to a somewhat decent neighborhood. Nathan hide out near by a house, watching it, waiting for a cue. Once that cue had arrived home, some hours later, from work. Nathan smirked, confirming that his target had indeed been the right one he spent the next few weeks watching the guy’s activities, learning about where they would be, when he needed them to be somewhere.

After his observations had been made extensively, Nathan then began to make daily visits to the gay stripe club, at first observing goings on. Never calling the attentions of the son he had learned about just weeks earlier. After a few days he then made the move to lure the young male over to him, getting their attention by acting more on his personality with out the filter of ‘abuse’ that had often blocked his true personality, or emotions, from showing clearly. Once he had gotten the male in his snares Nathan spent the next few days getting to know the other, and them thinking the were getting to know him as well. To the point that had actually begun to treat Nathan like a friend. Even at times jokingly calling Nathan his future boyfriend.

Once reaching that point with the male, which was surprisingly easy, Nathan had thought. But still, he supposed for him an apparent sociopath, it wasn’t so hard to lure the weak minded into his fake personalities. It more so depended on what Nathan wanted. As time went on Nathan began to pay for a private room for him and the son of the guy he had been targeting.

They were grinding up against him then, pressing their lips against his, making out with him and rubbing a hand against his junk. Nathan played along, pretending he had been into the mood of the current situation. Once it was over though he frowned in mock sadness “I’ll be back tomorrow. I’ll even, probably, bring you a surprise.” Nathan pulled away then, button his jeans back up as they stood and toyed with his hair, telling him how much they wanted to have sex with him, before asking why Nathan had never asked them to meet him outside of the club “I will…one day. I just, have a lot of shit going on in my life.” Nathan forced a smile then “I still feel like we don’t know each other enough to show you that part of my life.” Cold dark eyes locked onto theirs “In time.”

He watched the male leave the room the before rolling his eyes and moving to exit as well. Minutes later he was walking toward his brothers apartment. Nathan had definitely noticed the other had been distant, which wasn’t anything entirely knew. Austin was hopelessly useless to him, in many ways. And if the other would rather talk to their girlfriend than help him, he supposed he would just have to get revenge, all by himself. On everyone who had ever fucked him over. Starting from the bottom.

#Self December 17th 2017, 2:26:48 pm · 2 months ago “Have you thought of any names for them?” A nurse asked the woman laying beside her, several months pregnant it seemed. She then glanced over to the woman’s husband as the woman had also, a grin on her face as is she were thinking.

“Well…” She started pointing at the monitor “I think this one should be Austin.” She said as she point toward one baby, that appeared to be sucking on it’s thumb “It fits, right Robert? Austin. And this one.” She paused for a moment to think, seeing the other baby was a bit more feisty “I think Ad-”

“Let’s name him Nathanael.”  Robert finally spoke up looking at the monitor and nodding “Yeah, I like that one.” Staring at his wife she gave him a concerned look before nodding.  She obviously had been thinking of a completely different name for the other twin, but she supposed she would let Robert have this one, it wasn’t that big of a deal to her, of course. Originally, when they thought one of them would be a girl one of the twins was going to be named something that fit a lot better with Austin.

A Little While Later

Getting in from the hospital Karina walked inside carrying one baby carrier “Alright Aussie, stop fussing.” She cooed placing the carrier down finally as the infant inside it whimpered before having a complete meltdown just as they were brought inside. Karina sighed, obviously extremely exhausted after having just had two babies only a couple days earlier. Both of which seemed a little fussy the entire drive home.  She watched as Robert finally came inside with the other baby carrier in hand and the baby bag. It was around this time that the other baby also began to fuss because of Austin’s crying “Here we go, again.” Karina laughed before giving a kiss Robert and taking the baby carrier out of his hands “Can you make up their bottles, maybe that’ll settle them down.” She turned to Austin’s carrier and gave a exhausted smile “Right? How’s that sound?” She cooed again gently reaching over to tickle lightly at his stomach “Good thing Grace is with Grandma.”

Placing Nathan’s carrier beside Austin’s he started to bring his arms and legs in closer to his body, his face scrunching and turning red before he let out a few whimpers of his own. Obviously he was attempting to cover his ears.  Karina noticed this and frowned “Hey, hey, do-” She looked toward Austin, thinking that if he could get him calm he could prevent what was about to go down. Searching for a pacifier then she found the one she had given Austin earlier in the carrier beside him “Here.” She offered watching the other take it, but a moment later she watched him refuse to take it. Looking at Nathan then she blinked, before her eyes widened seeing he was sucking on his thumb “Oh. Ooh.” She glanced toward the kitchen where she could here Robert and then back to the twins “Well, that’s surprising.” With a shrug then she continued to try and get Austin’s to stop crying. It wasn’t until Robert returned with a bottle and she handed it over to him, holding it for him that Austin had finally calmed down.

A Few Weeks Later

Austin was crying over something, perhaps it was the dark that had been keeping him up at night, crying. The crying had happened so often that Grace and Robert had both asked to sell him for a new brother.  One of them was joking, at least. The other was a little bit more serious. Nathan on the other had, had hardly ever cried. It seemed the moment that Austin started he would stick his thumb in his mouth and this had managed to make him feel extremely calm during Austin’s moments of  crying. Austin was a baby, of course, both literally and emotionally.  He would often cry over little things. Grace often didn’t appear to enjoy playing with him, because he always seemed like he was going to break.  One little wrong move and Austin would start to fuss. Nathan’s thumb would find itself in his mouth and stay their for the rest of the day, furiously being sucked at.

One Year Later

Nathan was sat up, sucking on his left thumb, his right hand lifting up a block onto another next to Austin who was chewing on a megaman toy contently.  It seemed that over the last year or so he had calmed down significantly enough to actually develop a personality trait that had not been ‘big cry baby’.  Nathan and he garbled something back and forth in some babyish talk. Austin giggled gently at Nathan after he garbled something. Nathan continued to loosely suck at his thumb, still somewhat locked into his mouth as he eyed the toys in front of him. The two only looked up as Grace had come running across the living room followed by Robert. She started shouting for their mother, obviously wanting to show her something that she had been working on in school.

Robert looked over toward the twins then “Hey, boys. Nathan, take that out of your mouth.” The older male ordered before walking over to Nathan and picking him up, and pulling it out forcibly before placing Nathan down again “That’s so disgusting.”  Robert mumbled, not realizing that Nathan could understand what the other was saying, and would remember these moments.

It went on like this on and off, every day, Robert would make Nathan stop sucking on his thumb then complain to Karina about encouraging such a disgusting habit. To Robert the habit had outgrown it’s cuteness and he was too old to be doing something like that.

Three Years Later

While taking a nap Nathan was sucking on the tip of his thumb absently, earlier that day he had an argument with Austin over a toy and was placed in time out by Robert who told him the next time he through a toy at Austin, that he would throw a toy at Nathan. Robert then left Nathan locked in their bedroom where he was told to stay on his bed and not move. Nathan eventually fell asleep as two hours passed and had been sleeping there for the last three hours.

The door finally opened and Karina walked in “No. Robert, Austin said it was an accident. He was waiting by the damn door when I walked into the house!” She shouted at Robert as she walked into the room toward Nathan’s bed. Crouching down beside it she reached over and ran a hand over the top of his head. Blinking Nathan looked at her and frowned. Karina smiled “Come on, Nanny.” Leaning in she gave him a kiss to the forehead before pulling down the blankets and picking him up. Robert glared for a moment before sighing and walking away saying that he might have gone a little too far, and that maybe Nathan would learn a lesson about throwing toys.

Some Odd Years Later

Sitting in front of the therapist Nathan sucked nervously on his thumb, staring at the guy sitting in front of him. They tapped their pen on the paper before looking at Robert “So you’ve always felt him to be unnerving and strange, compared to your other children? He’s hurt them, and been extremely aggressive since the day you brought him home.” They gave Robert a look before nodding “And how long has he been sucking on his thumb?”

“He’s always sucked on his thumb. We’ve tried all kinds of things to get him to stop. Put hot sauce on it, he likes hot sauce now.”  Karina answered looking at Robert, not wanting to say that her husband had gone so far as to threaten to put Nathan’s thumbs in a blender. She looked at Nathan then only to watch Robert reach over and yank the thumb from Nathan’s mouth and tell him to stop it.

“Oh. Well, some children usually will stop sucking their thumbs early on. Unless their’s something going on.  Usually it’s fixation. But there are also cases that abuse makes some children continue to suck their thumb.” Making a few marks on the paper in his lap the therapist nodded “ If he’s been doing this since before he was born, it’s probably an oral fixation.” What the therapist didn’t know was that Nathan’s thumb sucking was because of Austin, making him extremely nervous or anxious. Which as Austin got older it began to come Robert who was making him anxious all the time and use his thumb to de-stress after every encounter they had.

The therapist smiled then and looked at the pair before looking at Nathan “Don’t worry, we’ll see what we can do.” Ripping the paper from their clipboard they handed it over to Robert “Give him this every day and you’ll start to see significant changes, he’ll be less aggressive.” Watching this go down Nathan started to suck on his thumb again, anxiously, he inhaled sharply. Not protesting, because he mostly didn’t understand what was going on and he believed he was bad, and needed to do whatever to be good.

Age Eight

Yanking at his arms Nathan stared up at Breccan as the other talks “This will make you stop. I’m sure of it.” He gave a nod to one of the orderlies then and the brought Nathan closer to a bowl of liquid, dunking Nathan’s thumb inside it, coating his thumb. Then doing the same to the other thumb. The orderly continued to hold Nathan’s arms in a way that kept his thumbs from getting smeared as the liquid dried. Then they dunked it again, and proceeded to do this for a while.

Finally he was released with the other children in the hospital. Standing for a moment he walked over toward some toys that no one else was messing with. He could hear one kid freaking out over something and staff trying to deal with that. Sniffling as he picked up one toy he wished he were home. Feeling stressed out then as the shouting and struggling continued from behind him he moved his left hand up to suck on his thumb. Only to be hit with a bitter taste a moment later.  Gagging he yanked his thumb out of his mouth and shook his hand. Blinking, he stared at his thumb before looking over. Letting out a breath he glared before slamming his hand on the floor and groaning under his breath, his anger become a little hard to control.

December 18, 2017

Nathan had been sleeping, or more, resting, for the last day. He didn’t feel like moving, or doing anything at all. He just wanted to lay in the small closet in Austin’s apartment, feeling safe and comfortable there, more than he had been sleeping in a big open space.  The last few months of stress, being angry, and being hurt had began to manage itself. Pulling back into the recesses of his mind. Just being able to sit down and have a day where he wasn’t dealing with all the shit in his world was usually something he had needed, but rarely ever got. Since he woke up in the woods. Letting out a calming sigh he continued resting.  The thumb on his left hand being sucked on furiously as it helped him de-stress from everything.

Finally leaving the closet about two days after that Nathan opened the door and inhaled deeply before stretching out. Walking into the living room he noticed it was pretty earlier in the morning. He didn’t feel like leaving yet, feeling that if he did leave things would just become more stressful. He was feeling that for the moment he would hold off on the stress for the moment and make something to eat, because he was starving.  Hearing some snoring he looked down the hall toward Austin’s room and frowned a little “Well at least he is sleeping.” With a serious look he started toward the kitchen, which wasn’t very far away.

About an hour or so later Nathan was sat on the floor in the Livingston with a pile of breakfast food he made, by himself, from whatever was in the kitchen. Stabbing a fork full of pancakes, that he made, slathered in blueberry syrup on one side and strawberry on the other he shoved the bite in his mouth and chewed as he moved to grab up some sausage, ham and bacon and started to shovel it all into his mouth. Wiping his hand off then he moved it back over to the game controller in his hand and continued to play whatever game he was playing, loudly on the tv.