#and the lateral thinking puzzle is from alexandra | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

manananggal · 3 years

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Written for the 13_Cases Prompt on the Trese Discord server by seductivevenus. Theme: Déjà vu + College. It's written in taglish and i’m too lazy to tanslate rn so... hehe. kinda follows the headcanon (?) from the fic Mumoo, Mumoo, Paano Ka Ginawa? that Alex went back to college to finish her degree. (naol! char graduating na din naman aqu)

Back when Lily was in second grade, she was seated to a girl named Alex.

Which, in her seven-year-old mind, sounded pretty cool. In a classroom full of Maries, and Annas, and Jennys, a girl having a boy’s name is unheard of. Her own name is pretty common too. She didn’t dislike it per se, but Alex (especially for a girl!) sounds waay cooler than Lily, so…

Alex was new to their school. She is fair-skinned, with shoulder-length hair with the darkest shade Lily has ever seen. She finds herself stealing glances at her new seatmate, her hair being a source of wonder for Lily.

The girl with a boy’s name is quiet. She doesn’t speak unless she’s called for recitation – she never raises her hand, but she knows the answer each time Teacher Evelyn calls her. Alex doesn’t speak until she’s spoken to and sometimes, she wouldn’t even answer then. Her being quiet is okay with Lily, though. Their house in Damka is noisy enough for her. Even their classroom is noisy enough for her.

The other kids, however, didn’t like Alex’s silence very much.

“Yabang naman neto,” Jen-Jen says, arms crossed as she walks back to her seat in the first row. Alex declined Jen-Jen Cruz’s invitation to play in their house afterschool . “Kala mo naman maganda,” She added, her upper lip curling in distaste.

Alex's demeanor didn’t change at all as she continued to eat her corned beef pandesal in silence.

Lily was confused, and maybe even slightly jealous. Jen-Jen was nice enough to her, but she was never invited to join them – not even for recess. Or even when they’re let out in the playground for PE. When she’d approach their group, Nicole, one of Jen-Jen’s friends, would say, “Puno na kami eh,”

“Alex, ‘bat ayaw mo sumama?” Lily asked, turning slightly to face her seatmate.

“Para saan? Marami naman sila dun,” It was the most Alex had said to her.

“Diba mas masaya kung madami? Classmate kami nung grade one. Mabait yun si Jen-Jen. Saka… maganda yung mga Barbie niya,”

“Kung mabait siya, bakit hindi ka nila sinasali pag nag-lalaro kayo?”

Others might assume Alex’s question as some sort of comeback, but even Lily’s young mind could understand the logic...? Sincerity...? of her words. Lily fell quiet as she chewed on her Square Lemon cheesecake.

Whispers started to spread that Alex is mean, and that she’s maarte for someone studying in a public school. After all, there must be something wrong with the quiet girl who turned down the chance to be friends with Jenny Cruz.

But when Lily’s too frustrated from having to squint at their teacher’s too-small handwriting on the black board (Kung sino man ang naka-isip ng alphabetical arrangement sa upuan, ang panget niya!), Alex would slide her own notebook closer to Lily, letting the other girl look from her notes. Alex’s writing is nice, especially for a second grader. A lot nicer than Lily’s Ate Camille, who’s already in grade six. The letters stay between the lines, and the pages of Alex’s notebook are clear of smudged eraser marks.

That day when Lily lost her Hi Catty pencil case, Alex lent her a spare pencil (newly sharpened, eraser on the other end intact, and without chew marks!). Lily looks up and gives her seatmate a grateful, teary smile. Alex gives her a smaller smile in return before resuming writing in her notebook. (Lily hoped that using the same pencil will make her own handwriting neater. It didn’t, but that doesn’t matter.)

When she opens her lunch box and sees that she’s having hotdog for recess for the third time that week, Alex offers to give her some of her baon. Lily took a single pandesal, and she swears she could hear the angels in heaven sing after she took a bite.

They’d sit together under the huge mango tree in the middle of the playground. Alex taught her to say “Tabi-tabi po,” before sitting. When it’s time to go back inside the classrooms, Alex would place a single, unopened chocnut in the base of the tree. Lily looked back once, and she could swear she saw a tiny person with skin as brown as tree-bark waving at them. She blinked, and the person was gone. She asked Alex if she saw it too, but all Lily got was a small smile.

Lily liked to think they were friends. Maybe even best friends. Which is why it hurt when one day, Teacher Vivian announced that Alex won’t be attending school anymore. She wondered if it’s anything she did. Maybe she annoyed Alex by being too chatty, or by eating her favorite corned beef pandesal one time too many. She didn’t think to ask for Alex’s telephone number – they didn’t even have a telephone at home. Besides, Aling Remy who owns the store in front of their house charges five pesos for five minutes. Her mom prepares her meals, and her dad picks her up from school, so there’s no need to ask for money.

Their class seating arrangement was changed, students were moved around, and Lily finds herself sitting next to a boy named Patrick who watches the same anime she’s seen and tells the same jokes she heard from yesterday’s Ang TV episode. As weeks turn into months, and months turn into years, Lily moved from using pencils to ballpens and intermediate papers and formal theme books, the girl with a boy’s name slowly faded from her memory.

Years later, when she enrolled back in college after taking LOA for a few years, Lily finds herself sitting in the back. It was the first day of classes, and she’s starting to regret taking the 9:00 am – 10:30 slot for Managerial Accounting, but the professor is highly sought after, and students are said to be lucky to be in his class. A girl wearing a long, black coat takes the seat next to hers.

Lily steals a glance at the person sitting next to her. The girl is staring straight ahead, her mouth set straight as she focused on what their Prof is saying. Her bangs (or is it a bang - singular?) looks cool, and while the long trench coat is way too hot for the Manila weather, the girl seems to rock it. She seems to disappear after class, and so Lily spent the next few weeks sitting next to someone who’s name she doesn’t know.

But that’s just college.

There’s something familiar about the girl, however, but Lily can’t place where she saw this girl before. Surely, someone with that distinct style would stand out. That’s the least of her worries, however, since Sir Lara had announced that there’s a quiz and she seemed to lose her only working pen.

“Shuta naman ‘bat ngayon pa…” Lily groans, as quiet as she can as she rummages through her bag for anything. She doesn’t really know anyone in this class. Within her circle of friends, she’s the only one who took this early slot to accommodate her work schedule. Being an irregular student, and an older student at that, she’s hesitant to approach these younger kids.

She'll take this quiz with a crayon if she has to.

A flash of movement caught her eye, and she looked up to see her seatmate handing her a pen. “You can use this,” The girl offers.

Her voice is a little deeper, but it suited her perfectly, completing the Queen of the Underworld vibe she has going on for her.

There’s something very familiar with the moment Lily finds herself in. It made her feel as if she’s forgetting a piece of a puzzle. But she could solve that for another day. Right now, the quiz is her priority.

“Mars, thank you!” She says, taking a relieved sigh.

Sir Lara started going around the room, reminding them to take one seat apart from their classmates before he hands down the answer sheets one by one. Lily was just thankful that she was able to study for this quiz last night.

When the bell rang signaling the end of that day’s class, she all but shoved her things inside her bag to be able to catch up with the other girl.

“Ate girl, yung ball pen mo!” Lily calls out.

The girl was already out in the hallway. Lily wondered just how many pockets her coat has, since she didn’t think she ever saw this girl carry a bag. “Uy, thank you ha.” She says, fishing the pen from her pocket.

“Wala ‘yon.” She regards Lily with a small smile. There is something that’s really, really familiar with the way her mouth quirks upwards.

“Teh, kung ‘di mo ‘ko pinahiram ligwak si watsung sa quiz. Ano palang name mo ulit? Ako si Lily,” She smiles, holding her hand out.

“My name is Trese,”

Wait… Lily heard that name before…

“Alexandra Trese.” The girl who introduced herself as Alexandra took Lily’s hand and shook it.

“Wait, teh, parang kilala kita…”

“It’s been years, hasn’t it, Lily?”

#posting fanfic on main? more likely than you think.#Trese Fanfic #trese #shit i've writ

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korra-the-red-lion · 3 years

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Unnatural Affairs. Chapter 20: What Do We Do Now?

(Ally + Lyn + Michael)

Ally.

It doesn’t make sense to me.

No matter how many times I’ve stared at the picture, it’s just not connecting. How could our professor be the one in the picture when he was alive and well, torturing us with his love for drama? It was like my brain had stopped working, because there were no theories or thoughts running through it for once. I was at a loss for words.

We ended up just going back to our rooms after that bomb was dropped, because what else could we do? We needed answers from someone who could actually give us something to work with. Our best option was to see if Dahlia would be able to tell us anything, or maybe even the lady that Michael’s been speaking to at the Dreaming Mythic.

As I unlocked the door to my room, Sarah was still up, working away at something on her laptop. She glanced my way when I walked in, looking away with an embarrassed flush. At this point, I was used to her just ignoring me, even though it still stung. Controlling the urge to sigh, I dropped my schoolbag and purse onto the floor, then kicked my boots off. I was ready to hit the bed right there and then when I heard Sarah clear her throat.

“Hey…” she said carefully, glancing my way.

“Hey,” I said just as cautiously.

“So, like…um,” Sarah rubbed her hands together awkwardly. “I thought about you told me… and like, well, it is a little hard to believe but I’ve decided something. I’m not going to like, ruin a friendship I have with you because of that.” She sat on the edge of the bed now, her eyes filled with tears. “I’ve been a bad friend, Ally. I hope you can like, forgive me for taking so long to realize that. I totally understand if you like, never want to talk to me again. I just wanted to let you know that I like, really miss you and know how badly I messed up.”

My own eyes had filled with tears and now they were spilling out. They left hot trails on my cheeks as I nodded. “I forgive you.”

Sarah sobbed as she got up. I got up too and we hugged each other tightly. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. I honestly thought that this was over, that we were never going to talk to each other again. I’ve lost so many people in my life to this, so the fact that I had so many friends I had who accepted me was so startling beautiful.

We pulled away and Sarah put her hands on my shoulders, looking into my eyes. “Ally, you have to, like, promise me that you’ll be more careful, though. Those bruises…they were horrible.”

“I’m trying to be,” I sniffled. “It’s not like I’m looking for danger, danger just comes looking for me.”

Sarah giggled wetly. “Danger usually follows trouble. So, if you’re like, looking for trouble, danger is sure to be there too.”

“Okay, I’ll try a little bit harder.” I smiled softly at her, placing my hands on hers. “Now, sorry, but I really need sleep. I’m about to pass out on my feet.”

“Please don’t.”

Tonight, as I slipped under the covers, my heart felt a little bit lighter, even if my head was full of uncontrolled thoughts.

XXX

Drama was the most awkward class the next time I was in it.

I sat in between Mags and Michael, as Professor Kinkly was wrapping up his lecture for the day. Exams were only a few short weeks away, so he wanted to make sure he was cramming all his last-minute crap in now. I wasn’t listening to a word he was saying as my eyes were focused solely on the clock, watching the seconds tick away. Class seemed like it was never going to end.

“…and I’m handing back those papers you all wrote for me,” said Kinkly as his final remarks before the end. I sat up a little straighter when I realized what was going on.

He started calling names so people would go up front and grab them. When my name was called, I stiffened for a second before scooting out of my seat, slipping past Michael as I did. When I walked up to him, all I could see was the face in the photograph. He barely looked any older now. How was that even possible?

“Good job, Alexandra,” he said as he handed back my paper. “It was a very interesting read.”

“Thank you,” I said stiffly. I’m not sure why, but suddenly I really didn’t like that he had my full name. There was a deep discomfort settling in my stomach at the thought. I quickly retreated back to where my bag was and stuffed the paper inside.

“Is everything okay?” Mags asked as they glanced at the grade scrawled on the back of their paper.

I nodded carefully, making sure to look more relaxed. “Just ready to get out of here, I’m starving.”

“Amen to that.”

Eventually Michael got up to get his paper. I’m pretty sure he was actually the last person in class to get his paper. Poor guy and his unfortunate placing in the alphabet. Together, we scampered out of there, the two of us sparing one last glance at our professor. I noticed with a jolt that he was watching us leave, the lens of his glasses reflecting funny, so we could barely make out his eyes. It was very creepy.

My head was in the clouds as we walked across campus, not really focusing on the conversation at hand. We passed by Dahlia’s tree, and I found myself looking for the ghost, only to see she wasn’t showing herself right now. I wondered where they went, if they couldn’t go back to the spirit world or whatever.

We sat down in the meal hall, and I could practically feel the tension in the air. Students were nervously catching up to last minute work that needed to be submitted. Others were discussing final papers or final exams. Some of the students even were discussing the big football game that our team was playing in this week. It was surprising, considering how bad they were last year. They really turned things around, I guess. Overall, there was just a sense of unease filling the room today.

Maybe it was just my over heighted senses, but I was feeling a lot more spiritual presence as well. I’ve suspected for a while now that there was something going on…oh. Oh. OH.

My eyes widen as the thought hit me like a wrecking ball. Oozing walls. Doors locking themselves. People had reported many times that something bizarre or unexplained happened each time there had been a murder. I was sensing stronger spiritual presence, even more so than usual. None of the students had said anything so far, but I wasn’t sure who would really be able to pick up on that. But suddenly, her skeptical face flashed in my mind, and I knew who I needed to talk to.

Janna Kawada.

I didn’t even think about it before, when she had mentioned it to me, because my mind had been collecting so much information at the time that I buried it. But she saw Fiona. She saw her in the mirror. No one else had ever said as much, but that meant that either Janna could see them too or the spiritual powers were growing, and I just never noticed because this is what I was used to.

I had to speak with her. I needed to know. But where would she be? A third year Biochem student on the soccer team. She probably didn’t live on campus anymore, and practice was no longer going on. Crap. I needed to think. How would I be able to get in touch with her?

“Michael,” I said suddenly, turning to him.

He was holding his fork halfway to his mouth, noodles dangling from them, dripping sauce onto the plate. “Uh, yea’?”

“Do you happen to know when the Biochem lab is for the third years?”

Slowly he put his fork down, his expression puzzled. “Kinda. Why?”

“I need to speak to someone. Janna Kawada.”

“The one from the newspaper article?”

I nodded quickly. “The very one and the same. It’s super important. I’ll explain it later.”

Michael frowned in thought. “Right. I think there’s actually one that happens at 4:30 today, so if you stalk outside the building, you might be able to catch her. But if you don’t, those labs are usually four hours long.”

I glanced at the time on my phone and saw that it was only 2:18. Crap.

“Why do you have to talk to her?” Mags asked, drawing my attention to them. Crap. I forgot we were sitting together still. My mind had jumped way too far ahead there for a second.

My brain worked furiously as I came up with an excuse. Finally, one popped into my head, and I said, “I’m thinking of taking Chem next term as my science credit, and I might need a tutor for it.”

Mags looked skeptical. “Why not take an easier class? Human Bio is supposed to be a bird course.”

“I want to challenge myself,” I lied.

Mags looked at me for a long minute before shaking their head. “Whatever, you do you. I don’t care. I personally would take the easy option though.”

I just nodded in response, not being to say much else. I had a plan now, I needed to focus on that. Maybe I could talk to Dahlia before then? I bit my lip, thinking it through. She was never willing to tell who had killed all these people before, but it still might be worth it. Deciding it was, I picked up my bag and said goodbye to my two friends.

Quickly I made my way back to her tree. I plopped myself down and knocked on the tree. After a few minutes passed, I was worried that she wasn’t going to come. But I felt the shift in pressure as all sounds stopped around me. Dahlia appeared beside me, but something about her posture was different. She had her legs pulled up, her chin resting on her knees with the smallest of frowns on her lips. Dahlia looked younger and more vulnerable than I’ve ever seen her before. She gave me a side-eyed glance. “Yes?”

I shifted so I was shoulder to shoulder with her. “What going on with you? You seem down or something.”

Conflict played out behind her sea-green eyes before she gave me a small shake of her head.

“Are you sure?” I frowned.

“Always,” she drawled. “What is it that you need, darling?”

“Well…I just noticed recently the increase of spiritual power on campus,” I said slowly, judging her reaction. But as usual, it was nearly impossible to read. “And I was wondering if you maybe knew something about that.”

Dahlia stayed quiet for several seconds as she gathered her thoughts. Finally, she did a jerky nod. “I can’t say too much. But yes, you are correct. He’s gathering power for his next…target. But that’s all I can say.” She shifted so she could look at me fully. “Ally, there isn’t much time left. If you don’t hurry, someone else will die.” Her image flickered briefly, as if she was disappearing.

A dash of fear spiked in my system for a flash. I was running out of time? I didn’t understand, and there was something that was not letting Dahlia tell me. I thought I saw a shadow of a hand creeping onto her face.

I wanted to reach out and touch her, to comfort her but I knew I couldn’t. I placed my hand next to hers and stared into her eyes. “Listen, I will stop him. I know you can’t help me but thank you for trying anyway.”

Her image flickered again as she smiled at me. “Archives, Ally. Check them, your answers are there. Trust me when I tell you that. It’s going to be extremely dangerous, but I do believe in you. I believe in Lyndsey and Michael as well. Just be smart.” She flickered even more intensely now, nearly disappearing from view. Her eyes lit up with mischief as she said, “Salty silver witches hurt those who cannot write missives, Ally.” She disappeared after that. Of her own volition, I wasn’t sure.

I sat there, puzzled. What did that even mean?

XXX

Michael.

It was later that night when Ally came stumbling into the basement of the library. After she had gone off to do whatever it was, I hadn’t seen her for the rest of the day. After Lyn got out of her practice, she texted me saying that she was able to help with any research, but for once I think we were all stumped on our next move. So, I ended up telling her not to bother. She still showed up and ended up just working on her paper. She looked up over her laptop, staring at Ally in silent confusion. I was just as confused by her sudden arrival.

Ally gripped her phone tightly in her hand, her whole body shaking. With what, I wasn’t sure. Slowly, she sat down at out table. Lyn pulled her headphones off and reached over to place a hand on Ally’s forearm.

“Ally, you okay?” she asked, the concern noticeable in her tone.

Ally nodded. “I think I figured something out.”

I scootched my chair closer. “Like what?”

“I…” she took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before slowly releasing it through her nose. The shaking stopped a little. “I spoke with Janna today, because I realized something. When I did my interview with her all those weeks ago, she told me she saw Fiona. It literally just came to me when I was thinking about the spiritual presences on campus feeling stronger. So, I did the stupid thing and asked her. I legit asked her if she could see the dead.” She stopped and took another deep breath.

“She said that she couldn’t. Not normally anyway. Michael, you said you could see her too, right?” I nodded and Ally continued. “Okay, so it is stronger. Stronger that other people can see it, which is why I think Dahlia was able to possess Lyn like she did, because she is already powerful as is, so it just increased her power. But it’s not all-around campus, it’s only at the Athletic Centre.”

“How come?” Lyn asked, her brow furrowed.

“Because…” Ally bit her lip, her face pale. “It was the last place someone was murdered.”

I tapped my hand against my knee, trying to keep my nerves in check. “What does that mean? Why does it matter it was the last place someone died?”

Ally pushed her glasses up her faces and pressed her hands to her eyes. “So, I spoke to the others before coming here. The others being the ghosts, that is. They all told me similar things.” She put her notebook on the table and pushed it forwards so we could read it. “Basically, each time someone had been murdered, the area where the last person had died some a sudden spike of energy. Jamieson said that he always hated having his class in Harper Hall because weird things happened all the time. Amelia was the last one to die, and she hated spending any time around the old art building, where it turns out there was another student who was killed there, but never reported on because it was considered an OD. Since Jamieson can’t leave the Student Centre, he didn’t notice the dark energy that surrounds the Athletic Centre, and he wasn’t aware that someone else had be killed.”

She sat back in her chair, the weariness on her face making her look older than 18. “So, the reason why you guys could see them when you normally couldn’t, is just that. But it gets worse, because Dahlia just went missing earlier. I can’t sense her at all. But, before she disappeared, she told me that the killer is gathering power for his next kill and that we’re running out of time. I’m not sure why he needs energy to kill, but if we think that he was the one who made Fredrik into the monster, he might be planning something similar.”

Lyn’s face looked like it was set in stone as she chewed on this information, while I continued to tap my hands against my knees. Ally sighed as she rubbed her face. “But I think if we can send Fredrik back, we can weaken the spiritual energy. That’s where Katherine comes in.”

“If she agrees,” I said quietly.

“If she does,” conceded Ally.

We stayed quiet for a minute, each of us thinking about different things. What if Katherine didn’t agree? I suppose we could always ask Talia, I’m sure she would help. But how much time did we have left? Not to joke in a serious situation, but I really hoped that he’d have the decency to kill before exams, so they were at least cancelled.

Lyn got up suddenly, as if she was possessed. Oh, maybe that wasn’t the right choice of words. Oh well. She said nothing to us as she headed for the staircase that led to the second floor of the basement. Ally and I shared a look before I shrugged. I wasn’t going to make the effort to go and see what she was getting up to.

XXX

Lyn.

I don’t know what possessed me, but I knew I needed to look in here.

The archives.

I was spending so much time looking up things online that I forgot about one thing: a lot of these old newspapers haven’t been put on the internet yet because someone had to do it manually. People were a lot of things but being paid a lame wage plus no motivation equalled someone not doing their job.

I knew the person who died in the ‘60s was Dahlia Cressman, because we had her old things in our home. My great grandpa had mentioned it a few times too. There was no point in looking into that, now that I’ve made that connection. But the opening of the school, that’s what I needed to know about. Ally had mentioned it a few times, but it wasn’t until now that something occurred to me. Dahlia had told her someone had died before the campus had opened. These things happened, unfortunately. Accidents happen at construction sites.

But what if that death was more than that? I went all the way into the back of the room, going to the oldest shelf. I gently pulled out boxes full of old news articles, flipping through them until I found what I was looking for: the article written about that day.

I gingerly opened the paper, being careful of where I laid it on the table. My eyes scanned through the garble of the paper until I found what I was looking for. The headline was still legible, reading Tragedy at New University Location.

What should have been a wonderful day ended in tragedy. During the nearly finished construction of the new University campus built in Yokeville, a disaster struck. 27-year-old Jeremiah Kinkly was found dead this morning, Tuesday June 12th. It was suspected that Kinkly was trying to sneak into the property, into the Kramer Hall building. This building had not been finished yet, and many pieces of scaffolding had been hung in place, not locked up. According to RCMP officer Lawrence, it looked as if the man fell to his death.

“His body was somewheres near the building, all mangled like,” said the young officer. “I got a call about a trespasser, and when I got here, I seen the body right away. I knew there was nothing I could do for him. Poor soul.”

Mr. Kinkly is survived by his mother, father, and pet dog.

The picture they had used for him looked exactly like the Drama professor. But that wasn’t the only thing I was looking for. I went back into the archives and shuffled through more of the boxes, knowing what it was I needed. The lights flickered dangerously overhead, which told me I was looking in the right spot after all. My heart picked up its pace when I found it. Quickly I read it over, just to be sure. I grinned in confirmation and headed back to the table. I picked up the newspaper and went back upstairs, where the other two where still sitting, looking just as tired as I felt. I put the paper on the table and pushed it towards them.

“Do you see the issue I see?”

Michael looked up with a frown. “What do you mean?”

I tapped at the end of the article, when Ally gasped. “Mother, father. No other family is mentioned. How is that possible? They must be related. They literally look like the same person…”

I dropped my other find on the table. “Look at this.”

Ally picked it up, her eyes widening as she got to the end of the article. Michael took it next and read through it a few times, his brow furrowed as he muttered, “This doesn’t make sense.”

“They’re the same person,” I said, crossing my arms. “Robert Kinkly claimed that he was related to the dead man when asked about after his hiring, but there were no other children, and the family seemingly didn’t have another child. Even if they did, Kinkly wouldn’t look as young as he did. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“But how…?” Ally’s voice was practically a whisper. “How is it that he died but he’s here now?”

Then Ally’s face paled as realization bloomed in her eyes. “He’s like them. He’s like the Moore siblings.”

Michael asked, “What does that mean?” as I sat down.

“They’re tangible. They can touch us and we can touch them.” Ally pulled over her notebook and started writing furiously. “I suspected the reason why they could be because they had turned into something evil. Was it because they had no family? Kinkly would fall into that category if that was the case, because his family may no longer be alive. But does that make him the killer?”

“The killings started happening once he got a job here, in the ‘70s,” I pointed out. “You said that Amelia didn’t like going to the art building, probably because someone had died there. What did she say about that?”

“That she always felt like there was someone watching her there,” said Ally. “Would it be worth it to try and talk to the ghost there? Maybe we can learn something.”

Michael ran his hands over his face as he mumbled, “We might as well.”

“Yeah, it’s not like it can get any more insane than this,” I said with a slight smirk.

Ally looked between us before nodding. “Alright, we’ll go for it tomorrow. I’m too tired tonight.”

“Blessed,” said Michael as he started tossing his things into his bag. “I really didn’t want to go tonight, no offence.”

“None taken.”

I packed up quickly too and followed them out. I made sure to say bye to Eileen as we left. I loved the little old lady and she always helped me out in first year. We walked with Michael all the way back to his res before I walked with Ally back to hers.

I wasn’t the most observant person on the planet, but I thought she seemed a little happier recently. A smile flickered across my face unbidden, and I looked up at the stars. They were hard to see through the light, the pollution, and the clouds, but they were fighting through. I always liked going camping in the summer and staring up at them, losing myself in them. It was one of the few things I liked as a teenager. It was a way for me to get away from all the drama at home.

Ally’s hands slipped into mine as she pressed herself against my side. I looked down at her and she was smiling up at me, her face pink from the cold. It was amazing that she could still smile through all of this. Her strength never ceased to amaze me. We were standing in front of Lukas but Ally didn’t seem to be in a rush to get inside. She probably would have stayed there for as long as possible, but I could already see she was starting to shiver. So, I bent down and kissed her, whispering good night in her ear. She kissed me back before heading inside, and I waved to her as I left.

I wasn’t sure why I went this way instead of heading back to MacGavin, but I found myself standing in front of the big tree. The one where Dahlia resides. I placed my hand on the bark, not able to feel the roughness because of my gloves. It was a strange feeling, knowing that someone I was related to had died here on this very campus. I didn’t feel a sense of sadness or anything, since I didn’t know anything about the chick, but still. It was a little unsettling, you know?

“Hey, um,” I felt my ears heating up, “I have no idea if you can hear me but thanks. I know I gave ya grief the other day for possessing me and shit, but you save our asses. Um…great grandpa never stopped missing you. I wish we had the chance to meet, because honestly you sound like a super cool lady. And thanks for helping Ally out, even if you can’t give her all the answers. I’m sure you have your reasons.” I let my hand drop to my side as I looked up at the branches, noticing for the first time that all the water had froze, creating a crystal-like appearance. It was gorgeous to look at. “Uh, yeah. That’s about it, I guess. It’d be awesome if you could help us one last time, but I guess you’re missing. I hope you’re okay. Well…bye, Dahlia.”

Did it feel super fucking weird to talk to a tree? Yes. Did it make any sense to me? Nope. But for whatever reason, I felt a little bit lighter as I walked back to my res.

XXX

Ally.

Next time I decide to solve murders of long dead people and go on spooky missions during the night, I’m doing it in a warmer season because I’m so sick of the cold at this point. It was only 8:00 at night but I was freezing.

I pushed open the doors of the art building, welcoming the warmth that blasted my face. The building was still open because there was a play going on for Drama. I had already seen it on a previous night because it was part of our grade to do so. I was here for a different reason tonight. To speak to one last ghost. Hopefully.

The music for the show was muffled but could still be heard through the doors. The two students in charge of the tickets were talking to each other to pass the time, paying me no attention, which was perfect. I didn’t want them to ask me any questions.

I quietly walked by their table as I felt my skin prickling. I looked up to see him sitting there, a young man sketching. I used the stairs to get up to the third level of the building, a decision I regretted almost immediately. Look, I’m not the most fit person, I’ll admit that, but I don’t think anyone on this planet could take multiple flights of stairs without getting tired. If they could, they probably weren’t human.

He was waiting for me when I finally made it to him, trying very hard to not wheeze. He had slicked back black hair and curious blue eyes. He gave me a wave and a small smile that I returned as I leaned over the balcony, looking down to the ground floor.

“You’re the one making waves around here, huh?” he asked, floating off so he was standing next to me.

“That’s me.”

He nodded, looking down as well. “You know you’re making a name for yourself in the spirit world, right? I usually don’t haunt here anymore, since I gave up hope a long time ago that anyone was going to bring that killer to justice, so when Dahlia told me about you, it was hard to believe. Yet, here you are.”

“Here I am,” I said softly. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my notebook and pen. I smiled at him as I waved it. “Mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“Go right ahead, young lady.”

“What’s your name?”

“David Lancaster,” he answered simply.

“If you don’t mind telling me, I would like to know how you died.”

“I don’t. I was here, working on my art project when I heard something strange. I decided to go check it out, because the banging wouldn’t stop. I ended going into the auditorium, that one over there,” he pointed at where the play was currently taking place. “Once I was inside, the doors slammed shut behind me and they wouldn’t budge. I knew about the emergency exit, so I wasn’t too scared yet, but I’d just seen Halloween with my girlfriend Sally, and I thought maybe it was my buddy Joe playing a prank on me. But as I got closer to the door, I felt this terrible chill just seep into my bones. I thought it was from the door since it led outside, but I was very wrong.

“Next thing I knew, I was frozen to the spot. I couldn’t move, no matter how hard I tried. Then I felt someone come up from behind me and jab me in the arm. I tried to get a good look at who it was, but I never saw his face, only heard his voice. He jabbed me again, and my vision went black. When I woke up, my body was lying on the ground and I wasn’t in it. I believe the coroner said I had OD’d. That hurt the most, since I never did a bad drug in my life. Just some weed, but most people my age had.” He scratched his chin before running his hand through his hair in thoughtful silence.

I put the pen down, surprised at how easy that fell off his tongue. I suppose being dead for nearly 50 years stopped you from being sensitive about your own demise. But listening to him, I was certain now that Kinkly was behind this. I asked if he saw the killer’s general height and hair colour, and when I showed him a picture his eyes widened a little.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he muttered to himself. “I remember taking classes with Professor Kinkly. He told me I was his brightest star.”

“I think…” I took a deep breath in and steeled myself. “I think he was the one who killed you, David.”

David looked at me, his jaw slack with surprise and his eyes watery. He closed them and his body started to shake. I was confused when I realized he was laughing, and I took a step away from him. The laughter became echoing, as if there was more than one voice laughing with him. When he turned to look at me again, his eyes were gone, and the skin was melting off his bones. Fear spiked in my system as I stumbled away from him. I spirted to the staircase, trying to get away from him.

“I told you he was coming! He’s coming for you!” His voice followed me all the way down, and when I turned around to see if he was gone, I saw nothing. However, when I got to the bottom of the stairs, he jumped out in front of me, reaching for my face. I screamed in shock as I fell back.

His face had warped into something monstrous, with bloody saliva and sharp teeth. I whimpered as I tried to scoot away, but the only thing behind me was the stairs and they stopped me from going anywhere.

“You shouldn’t have stuck your nose where it didn’t belong, you stupid girl,” said the voice of Kinkly’s from David’s mouth. “If you had minded your own business, then I would have left you alone. But now? Now, I have to KILL YOU!” He roared in my face, raising a clawed hand.

I lifted my arms up in protection when something strange happened. His body froze and began to twist in an inhumanly way. He looked like someone possessed in a scary movie. One clear blue eye found mine and he said in the calming voice from earlier, “You need to get away, young lady.”

I’m not sure how David took his spirit form back, but I quickly scrambled away. There must have been a distortion of space in place, because no one was around. I was all alone here, stuck with the murderer who killed so many before me. I wasn’t sure how long David was going to be able to hold out for, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out.

I hear him howling behind me and I made a mad dash to the door. I slammed against the glass and pulled on them violently, but they wouldn’t budge. My panic levels were starting to rise to a dangerous level as I looked around for an escape from this hell space. My eyes were drawn to the other exit, back from where I came from. My pulse was pounding in my ears and in my head as I ran like crazy past David, who took a vicious swipe at me as I did. I managed to dodge out of the way, with only a nick in my jacket to show for it.

The sounds of galloping followed behind me as Beast David charged at me. I jumped out of the way as he flew by, taking a chunk of the floor with him. I winced as I hit the floor but ignored it for now as I scrambled back to my feet. I raced towards the exit and smashed my shoulder into it, and the door popped open with a hiss like a pop tab. I slammed it shut behind me and backed away. David slammed into the door but couldn’t make past it.

Students were leaving from the other side, blissfully unaware of the monster that was on the other side. David’s form melted as he disappeared, his haunting empty sockets being the last thing I saw.

A few students glanced my way as I stood there, breathing heavily. I winced as I took a step back, pain flaring like heat in my ribs. I must have landed on them funny when I jumped. I raked my fingers through my hair, trying hard to bring my heart rate down.

David’s voice had sounded so familiar to me, and now I know why. He was the one who warned me, back in the library. He warned me that someone was coming for me. How he did that, I wasn’t sure. But it was him.

Slowly, I made my way back to my dorm room. I quickly fired off a message in the ‘Spook Searchers’ group chat as I did, wanting to let the others know what happened. I was just about to slip my phone back in my pocket when I noticed that I had a notification on Messenger still. It was from someone who wasn’t considered a friend. Curious, I hit it open and saw that it was from Katherine Howard. I was a little unsure of who that was until I read the message.

7:52

Katherine:

listen I thought about it

come meet me at the shop and we’ll talk

bring your friends if you want to idc

Shoot, that a while ago. It was nearly 9 now. I sent back a reply saying I was coming now if that was okay. The little green dot saying she was online appeared, and the little meatballs showed up saying she was writing back. All she said was “yes,” so I gritted my teeth and walked briskly towards the store.

My ribs felt like they were stabbing me as I approached the store. I wiped at the sweat that starting to form on my forehead despite the cold weather. I was really, really, really getting sick of being hurt from these ghosts. If this kept up, I was going to need more serious stuff than just some Tylenol and Ibuprofen.

There was a single light on in the store as I got closer. I peeked through the window and jumped when the door swung open. Katherine hurried me in and quickly closed the door behind us, making sure it was locked. She directed me to follow her into the back where she sat on the counter and offered me the stool. I sat on it gingerly, watching her carefully.

Katherine was tugging on her hair, a nervous gesture from what I saw last time we spoke. It was tied back in a messy ponytail with pink tips, and I could see a hearing aid resting in her left ear. She had long nose and stunning green eyes that were watching me carefully as well. Her eyes darted to the door and back to me before she hunched her shoulders.

“Did no one else want to come?” she asked, moving her hands at the same time.

I shook my head. “I didn’t ask them, actually. I just got back from business and come over here.”

“Business?”

“The supernatural kind.”

She exhaled through pursed lips as she nodded. “Right. Well…I thought about what you asked of me.”

I waited for her to continue, but she just sat there and said nothing. I frowned and with an indication of my hand, I motioned her to continue.

Katherine sighed, dropping her hands to rest on the countertop. “What you’re asking of me is very dangerous. Like, stupidly dangerous. I thought long and hard about it, because it’s not just some decision I’m gonna make on the fly…but… I’ll help.”

My eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Really? How come?”

“Because, when I talked to my mom about it, she said it was the right thing for me to do,” Katherine huffed. “Whatever the hell that means. When I asked her why she couldn’t just do it, she said that she couldn’t anymore.”

I nodded slowly. “Okay…” I tried to shift, which was a bad idea. Closing my eyes, I focused on taking a deep breath through my nose. It actually made it worse.

“Are you alright?”

“Just a little sore,” I said through gritted teeth. “So, not to come off as rude, but are you actually a witch? I know Michael was a little blunt in his approach last time.”

Katherine’s face went slightly pink as she nodded. “Magic is real. My mom taught me all that she knows. But if you guys need me to do a banishment or exorcism or whatever, that’s a really heavy spell. I’m gonna be wiped out after that.”

“Good to know.” I stood up, not being able to withstand the discomfort anymore. “I’m sorry that I’ve put you in this position, but I’m really grateful that you’re helping us out. It means a lot to me.”

Katherine looked away. “Whatever. It’s the right thing to do. Someone shouldn’t suffer like that because the acts of another did that to them.”

My eyes must be playing tricks on me, because I thought I saw something flicker around Katherine’s head when she said that. But there was nothing there. I did still have that strange sense like I did last time, however. I wasn’t sure what it was about her, but there was something that was calling to me. It was very puzzling.

“Is that all you wanted to talk about?” I asked. “Because if it was, I’m going to head back to my room. I’ve got some stuff to catch up on.”

Katherine nodded and slipped off the desk with grace. She walked over to the door and glanced through the window before unlocking it. She glanced at me with her hand resting on the handle. “We’ll have to do it before the full moon next week, otherwise I’m worried this guy will be too much for me to handle. I’ll get a boost too, but I’m not risking my head for this.”

I thought back to our last full moon encounter with Fredrik and shuddered. “No complaints from me. Thanks so much, Katherine. I really mean it.”

“You’re welcome, sheesh,” she pulled the door open for me. “Be safe walking home… Uh, Ally?”

“Ally,” I confirmed with a smile.

“Right. Okay, well, I’ll message you when we should do. Might be in the next couple of days.”

“Okay, just let me know. Bye, and have a goodnight.”

“You too,” she said quietly. She watched me leave and walk a little up the street before ducking back inside and most likely locking the door again.

At least one good thing happened before the night ended. Knowing that we had someone who was willing to help us with our Fredrik problem was a way better ending than me nearly getting killed by David’s monster form. The stabbing pain in my ribs was now a dull throbbing, which might not be the best sign in the world. I just needed to get back to my room and take some meds before heading to bed. God, this semester couldn’t end fast enough if it wanted to.

#unnatural affairs #ua #ally holland #lyn hart #michael yamamoto #dahlia cressman #mags richard #ghosts #paranormal #romance #wlw romance #sapphic lead #murder mysteries #writing #orginal work #orginal writing #original story

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not-majestic-bluenicorn · 4 years

Text

Puzzle || Ink Prints JohnKun Mini Series

Fandom(s): NCT (127 & WayV)

AU: Soulmates AU

Genre: Romance, Fluff

Relationship: Johnny x Kun

Language: English

Status: 5/5

Chapter WC: 2,684 words

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol, Bruises (someone falls of a bike).

Chapter Warnings: None apply

Summary:

Kun doesn’t really know what he’s doing with his life. He moved to South Korea on impulse to study his major, but he doesn’t actually know what he’s doing there. He is starting to regret his decision when his soulmate walks into his life in the most unexpected of ways. If only it were that easy...

AO3

Ink Prints Masterlist || Next Chapter >>

Tagged: @queen-of-himbos

Hello kids~

My name is Johnny and I’ll be your peer mentor for the next two weeks! In this e-mail you’ll find all of the important schedules that you’ll have as well as a map of the campus. For now, the most important document is the one with the information on how to get the key to your temporary room, it’s the first thing you gotta do when you get here!

On the first day we’ll have two meetings. The first one will be just a general introduction about the University, the campus and all that important business. Then I’ll take you to a tour of the campus. The second meeting we’ll be about the finalization of your transfer process, so it’s very important you assist to that one!

If you have time afterwards and want to, I’d love to take you all out for dinner! Send me a confirmation response please!

Johnny

Hello Johnny-ssi,

I’m Qian Kun, one of your mentees. This would be my confirmation response. Thanks a lot for the useful information. It’d be a pleasure to have dinner with all of the group.

Kun

Kun pushed his suitcase with one hand as he held the map of the campus with the other. He was trying to figure out where the dormitories were so he could get his key and pass out for the night. His flight had been postponed and he had ended up arriving later than planned, which ruined his plans of seeing a little bit of Korea for the day. Now, the only thing he craved was rest.

When he finally figured out how to read the map, he sighed in relief and made his way there. His legs ached. At first because of the somewhat cramped space in the Economy Class of the flight he had taken, but now because he had been walking around like a headless chicken trying to decipher the campus’ map. That tour was certainly going to come in handy.

He folded the map and shoved it in his pocket as he got to the building. The lady behind the desk was quite kind and understanding as she guided him through the registration process, and soon enough he was holding the miraculous key in his free hand. His room was on the second floor, which was ideal because he didn’t want to climb too many stairs while carrying the suitcase.

The room was a decent size and it had two beds on opposite sides. He knew he would need to share rooms once the classes started, but for now, he was grateful to have it for himself. Kun chose the bed further away from the door and sat on it, laying down the suitcase to begin pulling stuff out. He was tired, but his future self would be grateful to him if he didn’t have to struggle looking for clothes the next day.

Once he had put everything away, Kun flopped on the bed and took out his cellphone. He had bought a plan just so he could use it in Korea during his stay, but he would probably have to change numbers until he finished his studies. He had a couple of messages from his fathers and some friends, but decided to answer them later. He was still a little bit surprised he was actually going through with his decision to study in Korea.

He didn’t have an actual reason to do it. He had made the decision unprompted and just gone through with it, and now he was only a couple months away from starting his universitary studies in Korea. His fathers had been very supportive of him, like they had always been, but it still surprised him a little bit that they had just let him go to a whole other country. Still, Kun was sort of glad with his decision, if only because it made him excited.

He raised his arm and looked at the horse pacing on his skin. It was really big, even for a soulmate tattoo, and from what Kun had researched, he knew it was a Clydesdale. Whenever it was on his hand, it covered more than half of the back, and it made him feel somewhat small. It was funny though, because his fathers usually told him his soulmate must be someone really tall, even though the tattoos weren’t actually tied to the physical aspect of the person.

Kun sometimes wondered what the animal that represented him was. But more than that, he wondered if he would ever find his soulmate at all. He knew it was difficult to find your soulmates and that a lot of people were happy even when they never got to meet them. Still, he was allowed to hope. Maybe that was the reason he had left China in the first place. He sighed and turned around, falling asleep shortly after.

The next morning, he woke up with enough time to get ready and have breakfast. The problem was that he didn’t have food nor did he know where the nearest convenience store or cafeteria was. Fortunately, he had packed protein bars for such occasions. He opened one and shoved two more in his pockets before picking up his backpack and heading out, map in one hand and protein bar in the other.

His backpack had nothing but a notebook, a couple of pens, and his cellphone’s charger. Honestly, he didn’t even think he would need to take that many notes to begin with, and felt silly for bringing such a big backpack with him. It was a little too late to be second-guessing his outfit, so he just followed the map to the best of his abilities to the auditorium where they would be introduced to the university.

Kun finished his protein bar and shoved the plastic wrapper in his backpack before entering the auditorium. There were already people there. A kind senior student gave him a folder containing notes with what they were seeing that day, before directing him towards the seats. Kun walked down the aisle and sat down, keeping a certain distance from the other foreigner students waiting for the meeting to start. He still didn’t feel quite ready to make friends.

Little by little, the auditorium filled until the clock marked the time for the meeting. Kun took out his pens and made his own notes over the papers he had been given. The peer mentors told them a little bit of history about the university and explained to them how each department was divided. Kun paid close attention to everything, while simultaneously wondering which of those students was ‘Johnny’.

He had liked the first impression he had formed of his peer mentor through the email. He seemed kind and helpful. As far as Kun knew, most peer mentors were also foreigner students that had been new to the university at some point, just like them. Johnny was, according to his limited knowledge, an English name, so he wondered if his peer mentor came from England or maybe America.

“Now, let’s go through a quick overview of the campus’ map, and then your peer mentors can take you on a tour!” The student at the front said, as the presentation changed to a slide with a map of the university.

Kun compared it to his own map which he had been using so far, but it wasn’t of much help, as he had truly no idea how to even locate himself in the map. The tour would surely be helpful. The meeting came to an end shortly after, and the mentors pulled out papers with their names printed on them. Finding Johnny was easy enough.

His mentor was a tall man. His hair was long and bleached, half of it held back in a little bun. He was holding his sign high and moving it around with a silly smile on his face. Kun couldn’t help but smile, although he tried to suppress it as he walked towards him. From close up, Johnny was even taller, but his smile made him approachable.

“I think this is all of you,” Johnny said with a smile, as he folded the paper and put it back in his pocket. “My name’s John Seo, but please don’t call me John, it makes me feel old. You can also call me Youngho, as that is my Korean name. Whatever makes you feel more comfortable!”

As it turned out, three out of his four new colleagues were also Chinese, which immediately made him feel more comfortable. Junhui and Yanan were both taller than him, but the first one looked like he was up for mischief and the second one had a very nice smile. Handong looked like you didn’t want to mess with her, but she turned out to be quite funny and nice. Alexandra (or Alex, as she had asked them to call her) was very friendly and immediately bonded with Johnny over coming from America.

Johnny turned out to be an excellent guide. He let them know where the most important markers were and how to use them as guides to get to their destinations. The campus was really big, and they ended up only looking at the main buildings. By the end of the three hour tour, Kun was exhausted and famished. Fortunately, he wasn’t the only one, so Johnny took them to his favorite cafeteria on campus.

“Personally this is my favorite place to eat on campus,” he explained as they all picked something from the menu. “But you can always eat outside if you find time to come and go, there’s plenty of stuff around here.”

“Johnny-ssi-” Kun began, but he was quickly stopped.

“Hyung, please,” Johnny said with a smile. “What is it?”

“Johnny-hyung…” The word felt weird on his tongue since he didn’t actually know Johnny that well, but the oldest seemed content with his effort, so he was willing to let it slide. “Is it true that there’s going to be a treasure hunt?”

“A treasure hunt?” Junhui immediately piped in, eyes open wide.

“Ohh yeah.” Johnny clicked his tongue. “Spoiler alert, it’s quite hard.”

They followed him to a table. Kun sat in front of him, so it would be easier to ask him questions and listen to him without having to turn around. Johnny prompted them to eat their lunch while he explained a little bit more about the treasure hunt. The first bite tasted like glory to Kun, although he wasn’t certain if it was because of his hunger or because the food there was as good as Johnny had bragged it was.

“There’s prizes, mostly things that will be useful for your stay here. It can range all the way from supplies to food coupons which, honestly, can be life savers.” Johnny took turns to talk and eat, trying not to leave details out. “But it is pretty hard, since the campus is so big.”

“We should team up!” Alex suggested, and the rest nodded.

“Is it obligatory?” Handong asked, leaning closer.

“Oh no-” Johnny shook his head- “none of the activities are obligatory, they’re simple recommendations.”

“Will you participate in the treasure hunt?” Kun asked.

“Well, technically I can’t,” he said, after swallowing a bite of his meal, “but I will help prepare it.” Johnny winked knowingly, and Kun found himself needing to look away.

Johnny was very friendly, and very confident. Which he had a right to be, because he was also very attractive, but that only made Kun feel more flustered and awkward. It wasn’t that Kun didn’t have self-confidence, because he did… just not as much as Johnny. He just hoped he would be able to overcome it soon, because Johnny was going to be his mentor for two whole weeks.

“Right.” Johnny pulled his cellphone out of the bag and passed it to Yanan on his side. “Please put your Kakao account, it’ll be easier to talk through there than through emails.” Yanan sent himself a friend request and then passed it to Alexa. “Also, I would like to invite you all for dinner tonight, it’s on me. I’ll text you the details.”

Once they were done eating, the five of them returned to the meeting room while Johnny stayed behind to do some other stuff. This time, Kun did sit next to his new friends, finding it a bit more comfortable. Soon enough they were all added to a chatroom by Johnny, and Kun used the opportunity to add them all as friends.

This meeting was a lot more tedious, as it was packed with important information. Kun could barely take notes fast enough in Korean, so they ended up a mix of Korean and Chinese that probably only he could understand. It didn’t matter as long as he was able to use them for their intended purpose.

After the meeting, they went their separate ways, as they all wanted to use their free time differently. Kun simply went back to his dorm, thinking that he should ask Johnny for some places to visit over dinner. He kind of knew where he wanted to go, but getting the opinion of someone with more experience than him seemed like a better idea. Just as he was thinking of that, Johnny sent a message to their chatroom.

Johnny-hyung: meet me outside the dorms at 8-ish Johnny-hyung: dinner’s on me!

Kun programmed an alarm and then flopped on his bed to take a nap. He was exhausted and it took him no time to fall asleep. He barely heard the alarm when it sounded, and woke up with a start. He managed to fix his hair and rinse his mouth before storming off to the dorm’s reception. Despite waking up right on time, he was still the first one to make it besides Johnny, who smiled brightly upon his arrival.

“For a moment I thought you’d stand me up!” He said as a form of greeting. Kun bowed slightly, apologetically. “Don’t worry about it, the others said they’re on their way here. It seems like they had a busy afternoon.”

It took about ten minutes for everyone to get there, then Johnny called cabs for them and off they went. He took them to a grill house, and as soon as the smell of grilling meat reached them, they all felt hungry. A waiter took them to the table Johnny had reserved, and they all sat promptly, eager to eat.

When the meat arrived and Johnny began grilling it, Kun immediately offered to help. At least it was something he could do, and it made him feel better to have some sort of control over the situation. Everything felt so foreigner to him, which was kind of ironic when he was in a group full of other foreigners.

“Ohh!” Johnny exclaimed in admiration. “It seems like our Kun is good at grilling meat!”

Alex let out a cheer as Kun placed a handful of juicy pieces of meat on her place. Junhui tried to steal from her, but she protected her plate fiercely. Kun chuckled and served Junhui next, to avoid a war from starting at their table.

“It’s nothing, I just like cooking.” Kun smiled, feeling warm at the compliment.

“Really now.” Johnny smiled, taking care of his own side of the grill. Kun glanced at him briefly, but looked away once he discovered Johnny was looking at him.

Once everyone had meat on their plates, Johnny grabbed his glass and raised it to the center. The others followed him, glancing curiously at him.

“I want to propose a cheer for all of you,” he explained. “May your first year at the university be successful!”

“Cheers!” They all exclaimed in unison, clinking their glasses and then drinking for them.

Kun glanced at Johnny briefly, and the oldest smiled at him, reassuringly. He felt his shoulders relax as he took another sip of his drink before going back to grilling meat. Maybe he would be able to find himself in this unfamiliar place after all.

#kwritersworldnet #kconnet #kdiarynet #nct #nct 127 #way v #nct fanfic #nct fic #nct fanfiction #soulmates au #kpop #kpop fanfic #kpop fic #kpop fanfiction #nct johnny #nct kun #way v kun #ink prints #bluenicorn writes

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rockefcller · 4 years

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HSHQTASK 011 : SEBASTIAN’S FAMILY

NATHANIEL DAVISON ROCKEFELLER. 06 / 03 / 1959. daniel day lewis.

ALEXANDRA FRANCESCA ROCKEFELLER. 07 / 11 / 1959. madeleine stowe.

nathaniel and alexandra were high school sweethearts from very powerful families. it seemed only natural that they be married as soon as they graduated; so, in august of 1977, alexandra and nathaniel were married in new york city. the next step was starting a family, which they got to as quickly as possible, resulting in the births of three boys. nathaniel and alexandra did everything that was expected of them, and somewhere along the way, those expectations began to weigh heavily. there was a great strain on the relationship, and the two could never seem to get as close as they once were. very quickly, they mastered the art of pretending: they had three boys to raise, after all, and it felt at times as if the world was watching. and in a sense, certainly, it was. every high society darling of new york kept a close eye on the vanderbilt-rockefeller couple, waiting to watch them crash and burn. nathaniel and alexandra, though they had long stopped holding each other at night, refused to give nay-sayers and gossip-mongers even the slightest sense of satisfaction. so, they overcompensated.

sebastian’s childhood was idyllic to be sure. he and his brothers never wanted for a thing, always sent to the finest private schools and spoiled beyond measure with travel, new clothes, and more toys than they knew what to do with. nathaniel and alexandra made sure that they were the perfect all-american family, complete with summers in nantucket. nathaniel was a fair father, if a little distant. he was level-headed and quick-thinking. he instilled his sons, sebastian especially, with an appreciation for what they had and an understanding of where they came from. alexandra was always warm and nurturing, the sort of woman any child would want for a mother. being a stay-at-home mother, her children were her life and she kept them always within arm’s reach, sometimes to her ( and their, in caleb’s case ) detriment. sebastian likes to think that he took all his best traits from his parents: his mother’s warmth and his father’s intelligence. ( he’s yet to admit that he also inherited his father’s indomitable pride. )

SEBASTIAN TOBIAS ROCKEFELLER. 12 / 28 / 1979. chris pine.

AMANDA LOUISE ROCKEFELLER. 1980. emily vancamp.

when sebastian and amanda met, it was very much not love at first sight. at least, not for amanda. sebastian was smitten: she was whip-smart, grounded, sure of herself, funny, and ( it goes without saying ) the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. but in twenty-three years of being his father’s pride and joy, seb’s ego had inflated beyond anything remotely reasonable. he was pompous and entitled, and amanda had every right to reject him outright. their romance was slow and, at times, painful, but amanda helped bring seb down to earth, and seb made her feel like she was the only woman in the world. when he brought her home to meet his family, she fit in like a puzzle piece they hadn’t even realized was missing ( she was nice to caleb, took a genuine interest in what he had to say and smiled politely even when his jokes didn’t land, which was enough to have everyone clamoring for seb to marry her ). and marry her he did: march 15, 2009, the day that amanda hearst became amanda rockefeller, was one of the happiest days of sebastian’s life.

just under a year later, on january 09, 2010, alexandra grace rockefeller ( dianna agron ) was born. in the same year, sebastian was elected governor of new york. their second daughter, theodora antonia rockefeller ( madison iseman ), was born june 10, 2013.

and then, like grains of sand through his fingers, seb’s life began to unravel. he came home one evening to find amanda seated at the kitchen table, her cheeks tear-stained. she told him to sit down and explained that she had sent the girls to stay the night with sebastian’s parents. and then she gave him the worst news he’d ever heard: a routine checkup had revealed that she had cancer. in an instant, seb felt like the ground had gone out from under him, like the world was off-kilter. amanda died on october 20, 2015. after six years of marriage and eleven years of love and happiness, sebastian felt hollow, broken. he pulled through for alex and dora simply because he had to: they were all he had left.

LIAM ALEXANDER ROCKEFELLER. 07 / 26 / 1984. oliver jackson cohen.

CALEB JOSHUA ROCKEFELLER. 02 / 23 / 1989. logan lerman.

sebastian and his brothers took vastly different approaches to life. where sebastian was all force and family pride, liam was placid smiles and effortless charisma. a raconteur and a charmer, he fit right in among high society, always finding a way to be the center of attention. even as a boy, he had a smile that caused his mother’s friends to shake their heads good-naturedly and exclaim that he would be a heartbreaker. liam is too nice for his own good, the sort of man who flirts without realizing, and he’s never satisfied with much of anything. there’s always something more, something better. all this to say that his mother’s friends who called him “heartbreaker” weren’t necessarily wrong.

and caleb... sweet, bumbling caleb. certainly the quietest of the family, and often lost in his brothers’ shadows. he never showed much interest in girls, perhaps because when he did he often wound up with a drink in his face. he doesn’t mean to be rude or to say anything offensive, he’s just never been very good at expressing himself. caleb is the baby of the family in age, in face, in demeanor. and it shows: he clung to his mother’s side well into his preteen years, trailed along after sebastian when he felt too unsure to be on his own. on more than one occasion caleb has bought someone a drink only for them to flash a pitying smile and explain that they were waiting for liam or sebastian. and caleb has come to accept that he’s terrible with women — terrible with people, really. every family needs a bookworm.

#hshqtask011 #sebastian : tasks #i spent 1000 years on this #big giant thank u to bee for all ur help !!!!!#cancer tw #death mention tw

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stardancerluv · 4 years

Text

Puzzle Piece

Part 4a

Summary: Ford, takes action.

Warning: none, lots of kissing.

“Hello.” Said a velvety voice.

The voice made you shiver. It was a shiver that was uncomfortable. It was different then the ones that made you think of Jerome. You still were not sure why that was but they did.

“Do you have any books on history here?” The voice asked.

“Hello!” You smiled brightly, nodding. “They are going to be in the back to your right.”

As they walked by you something about them made you uneasy. You couldn’t put your finger on what it was exactly, but you were instantly on edge.

******

As Ford, sat there he grew anxious. He finished his drink.

“Ford, if I were you I’d head to the bookstore.”

He nodded. “I was just thinking that.” He looked at the barman.

“Go we can talk later.”

*****

Once he was a block away he could feel how upset you were. You had an incredibly strong presence, no wonder why Jerome’s ghost had not been able to leave. You were like a flame. Even before he had met you, he had been drawn to you. There was certainly something special about you.

When he was a few doors down, it finally hit him that in his hurry to rescue you, that he had not even stopped to get a weapon. He would have to use the influence techniques he had acquired over the centuries as a ghoul. This was not something he had wanted to do again. But right, he knew this was his only option.

He bit the inside of his cheek. He focused. Thinking, he focused on how uneasy you were feeling and that he had come by to pick you up. He pushed off the sentiment, it had been a long time. Slowing your heart and making you sleepy was easier. He had needed to do that was still unsure of himself if were to get truly hungry around you.

*****

He peered into the window on the door. You were scribbling a note, and grabbing your belongings, you came practically running out to him. “Don’t forget to lock up.” He grimaced. Searching, your mind he discovered that vampy was still somewhere in the store.

“Yes.” You nodded. “Thank you for coming to get me, I don’t feel so hot.”

“It’s alright. I’m happy to do it. Lets get you back to my place.” He reached for your hand, he inhaled as you took it. The usual jolt of incredibly strong energy came from you. The fuzziness, he had been momentarily feeling after using his influence on you was gone. He felt like he could take anything on

*****

Once at his place, you pulled off your boots and went over to his sofa. He slowly ebbed the feelings he gave you. Your eyes had a twinkle again, he had not really noticed just how much it would effect you.

“Ford.” You smiled at him, while he locked the door.

“Yes baby.”

“I’m already feeling better.”

“That’s great.” Coming over to you, he sat down behind you, he easily pulled you to him. A look of concerned was washed over his face. “You sure? You had looked pretty bad.” Nodding, you easily laid your head on his chest.

“I am.” One of your arms wrapped around. You were getting used to how cool he felt but at least it felt like his heart had stronger beat. The first time you felt how slow it was, you had been incredibly worried. “Would you mind, if I freshen up a little in your bathroom ?”

“Sure, of course.”

*****

You were half way there when he realized that if you snooped a little you might find a few odd things. Like the leaves or branches that were still on the bottom of his shower, when he had gone in there to wash before finding you. Yet, you didn’t strike him as that kind of girl. So he relaxed.

Closing his eyes and stretching, sighing contently, he brought his hands to rest them behind his head. Laying there, he couldn’t get over his day. He had not this much excitement in some fifties years or so. Having a conversation with your ex who happened to be a ghost, still shook him. In all his years he had never met a ghost. He was almost afraid to see what the rest of the day would bring.

*****

After using his bathroom and splashing, some cold water on your face, you walked back to Ford and butterflies flapped happily in your stomach. Seeing, him lay there in the soft black t-shirt and jeans, it did something to you. It pulled on you.

He looked incredibly soft yet as sharp as a razor. His features looked as if he they had been carved from marble but there was a part of him that was also very soft and the idea of cuddling back up to him made you very happy.

Spotting a place between his legs looked very welcoming. Since he was so still you were not sure if he had dozed off, so as quietly as you could, you undid your jeans and pushing them to the floor you stepped out of then. So, not hesitating any further, you went over and sat in that spot. Gently, you laid your hands on his thighs. His eyes slowly opened, his blue eyes met yours, before he took more of you in and he saw what you did.

As a smirk curled his lips, his pupils grew. “Do you like what you see?” His voice was a low and raspy.

You nodded, then you sat a little straighter. “I could ask you the same thing.” You whispered.

He sat up, one of his arms wrapping around you and held you while, he rested a hand on your bare thigh. He pressed a kiss on your shoulder. “I do.”

Turning, you kissed him. You lost yourself into the kiss. You gasped when you felt his thumb caress your thigh. It broke the kiss which brought some very deep chuckles from him. Reaching you held on his upper arm and kissed him again.

“You know where you belong?” He asked his eyes not leaving yours.

“Where?”

“Here.” You felt as he effortlessly picked you up and laying back he draped you on top of him.

A soft sound came from you, looking at yourself and looking at him. You felt your need for him uncoiling in the pit of your stomach. It had been a very long time, since you felt like this.

Despite feeling like everything in you was shaking you managed a smile. “Ford..I...I.“ You could not find the words.

***now his pov***

When he opened eyes finding you there, if he had a breath you would have stolen it. Through his existence, he had his fair share of beautiful ladies, women but you were different.

He had always thought one of Cleopatra’s servants had been one of the loviest, following closely by of the Tsarina Alexandra’s ladies in waiting. But you, you were different. You were the one who drew him in, all the others he had seduced. He had enjoyed the conquests. Sure he had grown to care for them on some level. You grabbed a hold of his long stilled heart and made it actually beat.

“Do you like what you see?” He smirked as you sat a little straighter, your curves more on display.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Sitting up, he wrapped his arm around you. He wanted you as close as possible, tentatively he rested a hand on your thigh, it was as soft as he expected it to be. He pressed a kiss against your smooth skin. Damn, he loved how you smelled. Such a delicate soft smell.

“I do.” He replied, then you kissed him.

It took everything in him to resist kissing you. Not that he didn’t want to, because he certainly did. But what Nancy had said, distantly worried him. What if kissing would lead to your death, would you turn like he had or would your soul reunite with Jerome and you’d both be ghosts. Caressing, your thigh with his thumb, it broke the kiss. He wanted you to be able to breath.

“You know where you belong?” Your eyes were so lovely as they twinkled and sparkled.

“Where?”

“Here.” Easily, he laid back bringing you with him.

The sound that came from you brought the images to his mind of ravaging you once again. He wanted to mark you as his. Anyone that would see it would know you belonged to him.

Ever so gently he felt as your body trembled in his arms. “Ford...I...I...”

@fandomgirl800 @mac-n-cheesie @shantellorraine @vcat55

#femi!reader #ewan macgregor #ewan mcgregor pov #ewan mcgregor imagine #ewan mcgregor angst #ford #ford angst #ford pov #ford imagine #cold ward tales from the cyrpt #cold war #ford x you #ford x y/n #ford x reader #puzzle piece #part 4a

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augmented-beauty · 4 years

Text

That didn’t stop you before

Did I just miracolously got a piece for Fictober done? Did my hiatus finally end? Let’s hope so ‘cause I’m sick of it.

Summary: AU where things go a bit differently and Adam and Alex end up being together back in Detroit already. Happens before the events of Human Revolution, but Adam is already working for Sarif. Alex comes back home after her usual shift at DPD in a bad mood, and Adam is right here to help.

Prompt numer 4

Fandom: Deus Ex

Relationships: Adam Jensen/OC (Alexandra Montgomery)

Rating: normal/general

Warning: none, just some light swearing

Word count: 1436

Adam and Alexandra being cute as hell and domestic fluff under the cut

You can also find this on AO3.

I didn't think people could surprise me anymore in their ignorance, but I was clearly wrong. I'm so grateful my shift is over for today because I can't bear with some colleagues' bullshit anymore. I get ready to head back home as fast as I can, storming out of the locker room and heading towards the parking lot where I left my motorbike this morning. I put my belongings in the trunk and then the helmet on my head, get on the saddle and start the engine. Luckily, it's not a long ride, I only need to go and buy some fresh ingredients for dinner before heading back to the flat I share with Adam. I do my groceries shopping as fast as I can, and something like half an hour later after leaving the locker room, I'm finally home.

"I'm back, cariño!" I call out for Adam, even though he probably heard me already.

"Hi, sweetheart!" he greets back from the bedroom.

As always, I barely have time to close the door before Kubrik rushes towards me to say hello, wagging his tail at the speed of light. This good boy always manages to make me smile, at least a little bit, no matter how pissed I am. Tonight is no exception, but I'm pretty sure my bad mood is still evident. I make a left to leave the shopping bag on the kitchen counter before venturing further into the flat. The classy, glass table Adam picked for the entrance always comes to my aid, and I leave my purse and helmet there. I properly greet Kubrik while climbing down the stairs, and I can already feel a bit of tension melting away from my body. Hearing Adam's footsteps as he comes out of the bedroom and walks towards me only makes it better. I look at him and meet him halfway, snaking my arms around his neck as he bends down a bit to give me our usual 'welcome back home' kiss, while his hands go to my waist. It might be a habit, but we cherish it deeply, and never get tired of it.

"Been home long?" I ask him, still not letting go, face still quite close to his.

"Some minutes. Just had the time for a shower and to get cosier."

I hum in approval, taking in his features. "Love that sweater on you." I reach for another kiss, savouring it in its briefness.

"How was work?"

My only direct answer is a groan "You first."

"Not bad, pretty tranquil, actually."

"Glad to hear that at least your day was better. Some people can only seem to be so fucking annoying, ugh."

"How about I get everything you need to cook today ready for the use while you get cosier too?"

Sounds wonderful" I give him a peck on those perfect lips of his before letting him go "Thanks, babe."

Heading into the bedroom, I change into a pair of leggings and one of Adam's baseball hoodies and then go take my make up off. Those small gestures are already helping a lot, and borrowing his hoodie once again was definitely a good idea. It smells like him, so, like home, somehow. Heading back to the living room and making my way to the kitchen, I notice how he also put on some lofi music, knowing damn well how much I like when I need to relax. Seeing me in his hoodie makes him give me a little smile and kiss my temple most sweetly.

"Want me to help you with that?"

"No, don't worry. I don't mind the cooking, and you've done enough already. Thank you for asking, though."

"You're welcome, beautiful." I give him a kiss on the cheek before getting started with the chopping of the veggies. While I do so, Adam wraps his arms around my waist and rests his chin on my shoulder gently. "Ready for your vent if you feel like it."

I sigh in frustration, ready to spill everything in hope to finally feel better for good, at least for now. "It's just...I might not be heavily augmented, but I still get so pissed when I hear bullshit about us. I just wanted to have a small break at the cafeteria in peace, you know, the time for a coffee. I get there to do that, and I can only hear some other cops I don't know that good saying nonsense. I tried saying something, but I got too pissed and just left with my cup in hand. I don't even know what had them starting, maybe there's an augmented rookie or something. The only thing I know is that they were saying how our life is much easier as our implants give us advantages in the workplace and shit like that. I couldn't help but feel called out, you know. How can they be so blind and don't realise that most of the time we don't even ask for our augs? It's not like we choose to be born with a genetical disease or to lose a limb or an organ! The post-surgical period is painful most of the times, and the eventual rehab is everything but easy. Don't even get me started on the life-long need for nu-poz. Sure, I'm lucky, I don't need heavy prescriptions, but many others are not that blessed, and the side effects for higher doses are terrible."

"Not to mention all the slur directed at you and the exploitation that occurs at times. And forced augmentation."

"Yeah, but go tell them that! Do they really think it's funny and easy to be augmented? We get discriminated, sometimes treated like we weren't human at all, and for what? For a fucking prosthesis? Sure, they're more sophisticated than in the past, but have been existing for decades now!" I fall silent for a brief moment, putting words and ideas together. "It's not the eye augmentation that makes me good at shooting, it's my skill, and all the training I went through! Just because someone has an augmented limb or whatever doesn't mean that they're automatically good at their job, it's more complex than that!"

"Everyone can be good at what they do, doesn't matter if they're augmented or not. Sure, for example, augmented people might be able to do manual labour more swiftly than someone who's not, but it's not like they don't need extra tools or don't make mistakes. Augs are not the problem, greed and ignorance are and augmented people are not to blame for this. In the end, we're all victims somehow."

"Exactly! And I've tried to tell them in fewer words, but anti-augs are so fucking stubborn."

"That didn't stop you before." I can hear the proud smile on his face by how he sounds, but I'm still a bit puzzled. "People might be stubborn, but you always find a way to successfully be heard. Sometimes you manage to educate people, and if they're too ignorant to learn something, at least you roast them as they deserve. So yeah, maybe you didn't shut them up today, but I'm sure next time they'll be talking shit, they might end up learning something. And if they're hopeless, they'll get what they deserve."

I stop in my tracks, putting the knife down and turning my head a little so that I can look at him. My fingers intertwine with his, and his thumb gently caresses my skin as I get lost in his eyes, noses lightly touching. "The world would be a better place if there were more people like you."

"Could say the same about you."

I can only smile at his sweetness and sincere admiration, feeling way better. I lean closer to him a bit for yet another sweet kiss of his, so full of love and care. "Gracias, mi amor. Me haces tan feliz."

Adam doesn't let go of me as I keep on cooking, and the only thing that changes is the subject. We keep on talking while I cook, and he makes me laugh, still with his chin gently resting on my shoulder, only moving to occasionally plant a delicate kiss on my skin. Even after dining, that's how the night rolls. It's all about gentle touches, heartfelt laughs and the mutual enjoyment of each other's presence, with Kubrik laying down near us in the living room. Doesn't matter how harsh the world is towards me sometimes, once I open the door to our home, that's all my life it's about. If someone asked me to picture Heaven, that's what I'd describe them.

#fictober20 #fictober 2020 #deus ex #deus ex human revolution #deus ex oc #adam jensen #alexandra montgomery #alexandra maribel montgomery #adam jensen x alexandra montgomery #adam x alex #my writing

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normantonpark3-blog · 4 years

Text

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korra-the-red-lion · 3 years

Text

Unnatural Affairs. Chapter 15: Back To Work.

(Ally)

Though the holiday weekend had been short, it was really lovely to have gone back home for those few precious days. I should try to make a little more effort to go home. I missed my parents and Wallaby, which mom caught me trying to sneak him into the back of the car. She wouldn’t let me take him after all the effort I put into getting him into a disguise. It was too bad. However, mom did pack me a ton of food in Tupperware that I could keep in my mini freezer.

After that conversation with grandma went so horribly, I stayed in my room for the rest of the night. Eventually mom came up to check on me, letting me know that it was okay for me to not return. Maybe dad meant nothing by his words, but my grandma most certainly did. I think mom felt bad that there wasn’t anything she could do to make the situation feel better, so her way of doing so was giving me a ton of food and offering to drive me back without dad. I took her up on that offer, but the evening of leaving I gave my concession that dad could come along if he wanted to. He had to work, though, so it ended up being mom and I alone.

She pulled into an empty parking space that was only a short walk away from my residence. Mom turned the engine off before she looked over at me with a look of pride. I blinked in mild surprise, unsure of where this was coming from. I cocked my head questioningly, which made her chuckle.

“I’m really proud of you,” she said sweetly, smiling at me. “Maybe you don’t see it, but I can see how much you’ve grown already. I know how hard it is to hear those words from your grandmother…and your dad, but the look in your eye was strong. It was hurt but I know you bounced back from it quickly. I’m not sure what you’ve been getting up to while you were here, but it must be something good because your confidence is brighter than I’ve ever seen it.”

Tears swam in my eyes as I reached over to hug her. I sniffled loudly, causing us both to laugh. When I pulled back, there were tears in mom’s eyes as well. She handed me a tissue and we both wiped at our eyes and blew our noses.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to make it so emotional,” mom said wetly. “I just wanted to know that I love you regardless. I never cared about you seeing spirits, as long as you don’t get hurt.”

Hearing those words lit a fire in my chest. Mom never outwardly said anything about my knack, except that she was very overly cautious with me at times. Her saying this to me meant more than anything in the entire world.

“Thank you,” I said softly, wishing I could say more. My inner turmoil was too much for me to comprehend at the moment. I squeezed her hand tightly, hoping the action would help get across my intense feelings.

She smiled at me again, her eyes shining with love. “Call me about anything, okay, Alexandra?”

“I will,” I promised.

I got out of the car after that, taking my bag of food alongside my travel bag. I waved to mom as she pulled away, and she waved back, sending me air kisses as she did. I caught them and held to my chest.

Just before she left, however, she rolled her window down. I walked over in confusion to see what she wanted, and she smiled cheekily at me. “Make sure you tell that girl how you feel soon, okay?”

I blushed as I stammered out my objections, but mom was already driving away laughing. Was there no one on this planet who wouldn’t tease me about it? Shaking my head in enjoyment, I walked back to my residence with a goofy smile on my face.

Sarah wasted no time giving me a huge hug and telling me about her weekend. Apparently, her family went skiing for Thanksgiving weekend. I listened with rapt attention, never been skiing myself. It sounded dangerously like something I would never enjoy as Sarah explained how her younger brother nearly careened off the edge of the mountain. I mentally made a note to myself never to go skiing with Sarah, who was cackling as she told me about her brother’s near-death experience. Actually, I decided to never do anything with her that could involve me dying.

After that, she made me tell her about my weekend. I did with some reluctance, but as I got more into it, I found myself enjoying it. I left out the bad stuff, and I was in tears with laughter as I explained how I dressed up the dog to sneak him over. Sarah demanded to see pictures, which I showed her immediately. We both laughed so hard that we couldn’t breathe over the pictures of Wallaby wearing sunglasses and a fedora.

We headed to bed sometime later in the night. But before I attempted to get some sleep tonight, I checked my phone for any notifications. I had a few from Michael, Mags, and even dad. For whatever reason, there was an unsettling feeling in my stomach as I noticed there was nothing from Lyn. Was I getting too overprotective? I just couldn’t get that look of anxiety she had on her face out of my mind. Was it even any of my business? Sure, we were friends, and I most definitely had a thing for her, but did that I mean I could pry into her private life?

Unfortunately, there were no answers to these questions. I sent a good night text to her before putting my phone face down for the night. Hopefully I would see her tomorrow.

XXX

“…which is why Medea is such an interesting tale,” finished Professor Kinkly. I found myself being elbowed awake by Michael, who was wearing a look of amusement on his face. I didn’t even realize that I had dozed off.

“Someone’s sleepy,” he joked as he put his notebooks back in his bag.

“I shouldn’t have slept in so much this weekend,” I amended. “It threw off my whole schedule.”

Michael laughed with a shake of his head. We waved to the prof as we left the classroom, who barely gave as a glance as we did. I was glad this class was easy, because I was mostly over it at this point. The material, which should be interesting, was made incredibly droll by this man. I couldn’t wait until this course was over with.

We walked out the classroom. The air was biting today, as it cut through our jackets. I pulled my jacket as close as possible, while Michael snorted in disbelief.

“You’re cold, yet you refuse to wear pants,” he said solemnly. “I admire the dedication to your style.”

“I hate wearing them,” I said. “I don’t mind pajama pants, but regular ones? Yuck.”

We both laughed as walked into the library. I bought myself a tea while Michael got a coffee. We sat down at one of the tables, letting the drinks warm us.

“I’m going to speak with her tonight,” I said quietly, making sure no one overheard us.

Michael nodded slowly, his eyes taking in the surrounding crowd. “I figured.”

“Has she spoken to you since the other night?”

“Nah, nothing,” Michael looked thoughtful. “I don’t think she will again, if I’m being honest. I think she talked to me so you would go talk to her. Which, thinking about it now, is extremely concerning. Why are they so aware of you?”

I pursed my lips. “I’m not really sure. Jamieson didn’t know anything about me. Dahlia didn’t know me either, but she could tell right away that I could sense her. Maybe she told Amelia about me? Dahlia told me she could leave the area, but she had to return. I have a sneaking suspicion that she’s been around, spreading my name.”

“Huh, I don’t know anything about her, but do you think she would do something like that?”

“It’s possible,” I hummed. “She knows so much but refuses to tell me everything. I suspect that she might even know who is behind the string of murders.”

Michael’s jaw fell open in shock. “Are you for real? And she won’t tell you who did it? Jeez, what a huge jerk.” He rubbed his face anxiously.

“Yeah, it’s very frustrating,” I grumbled, crossing my arms. “It’s like she’s testing me, but I don’t actually know what the test is. Doesn’t she want me to find the person who killed her and the others?”

“I guess being dead for a long time creates a lot of boredom,” said Michael. He slumped against the table, staring at nothing. We stayed quiet for a bit longer, until he had to head to his next class. I bade him a goodbye as I pulled out my notes from the case.

It was frustrating having so many pieces, but I couldn’t see the full picture quite yet. Maybe once I spoke to Amelia Turner something else would click, but right now it felt like I only had the frame of this puzzle.

Plus, I hadn’t mentioned it yet, but this occurred to me the other night after our chat we needed to go back to the locker room. Or at least, I had to. I needed to talk to Fiona, like have an actual conversation with her. Maybe even try and break through to who I assumed to be her brother. I saw the humanity in those eyes last time. Perhaps if I went again, I could get to him. I need to broach the topic with Lyn and Michael first, because I was scared to go alone, but I would if I had to. It felt like if I was going to be missing something important if I didn’t.

Oh, and I needed to talk to Jackie, the woman who got attacked. Maybe she knew nothing, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. I saw her around on campus, I just haven’t had the opportunity to speak with her yet. I groaned as I wrote that down as well. There was so much to do, and I had a really bad gut feeling that I was slowly running out of time.

Annoyed with myself mostly, I gathered all my things up and tossed them back into my backpack. I was leaving the café when I happened to notice a familiar strawberry blonde standing at the water fountain, filling her water bottle. I glanced at my phone to check the time, and I had enough time to go over for a quick chat before I needed to head to my Sociology class.

“Hey, Lyn!” I chirped.

Lyn looked over her shoulder, her eyes lighting up in recognition. “Hey,” she said softly, turning back to the fountain for a minute. After her water bottle was filled, she screwed the lid on tightly before turning around fully.

“How are you?” I asked tentatively.

Her eyes searched my face before she settled with a shrug. I could see how worn out she looked, with dark circles under her eyes. While I was getting used to seeing her looking emotionally exhausted, I wasn’t used to this style of dress. I would say Lyn dresses for comfort most days, but today she was wearing skinny jeans with no distress, a button up boyfriend shirt that actually had the buttons done up, and even her ponytail seemed tighter. It was her normal look but…more put together?

“…Did you want to talk about it…?”

Lyn’s lip quirked slightly before she shook her head. “Nope, not really. How was your weekend?” she asked as she started walking. I followed after her.

“It was good, except for my grandma giving me grief again,” I said mildly.

“Grief?” Lyn questioned, eyes flickering to me for a fraction of a second before looking forward again. “What for?”

“Oh, the usual reasons. That I’m some unnatural freak of nature because of my special ability. She used to spray me with water.”

“That’s fucking stupid,” Lyn muttered darkly.

“Yeah, kinda,” I shrugged. “Okay, I shared. Now you have to.”

Lyn snorted, shaking her head. “I never agreed to that. Besides, it’s nothing.”

“Ah, I see,” I nodded. “Nothing. So, the exhausted look and new look have nothing to do with your weekend home?”

Something akin to anger flashed across Lyn’s face before she mechanically put on a smile. “Maybe it does. Let’s just say that my weekend roughly went as well as I thought it would. At least Olivia and I managed to get through it without killing each other.”

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” I offered.

Lyn said nothing for a few minutes as she looked far off. We walked towards her class building and once we got there, she kicked her foot against the concrete. God, she wasn’t even wearing those tattered Converse of hers.

“I’m fine. I’m just tired and processing some things,” she said quietly, her voice tight with emotion. “Honestly, even if I wanted to talk about things, I don’t even know where to start. Let’s just drop it for now, please?”

I nodded and a look of great relief crossed over her face. “Thanks, Ally,” she said, sounding a little more like herself.

“Just take care of yourself, okay?” I asked, reaching for her hand. “For me, please?”

Our hands curled around each other loosely. Lyn looked down at our hands, her face not showing anything, but there was a war playing out in her eyes. Something that I finally began to understand about Lyn was this: she was normally happy, but she didn’t let the negative emotions show often, instead opting to mask her feelings behind fake smiles and a bubbly tone. But there was only so much one person could take before they finally exploded. This next part was assumption, but I suspected that Lyn was nearing her breaking point, that her façade was cracking under the immense pressure she puts on herself. Whatever happened at home was pushing her to the limits of how much pain she was willing to take. I think I only understood the surface of how bad her home life was.

Finally, she nodded. Her face was still devoid of emotion, but there was a little twinkle in her eye. “I’ll try my best, you know?” she said, finally looking at me properly.

I could lose myself in those electric blue eyes, full of so much life and emotion normally. While it broke my heart to see her like this, I had a feeling that pushing her wasn’t the best move. I recalled how tightly she grasped my hand at the hospital when Olivia started pushing, how angry she got.

“As long as you try,” I whispered, my heart thudding rapidly against my ribs. Whether from my infatuation or the intensity of her stare, I was unsure. My eyes flickered to her lips.

Lyn’s eyes never once left mine before she finally let go of my hand. “I have to get to class,” she said quietly. I could see her mentally putting up her wall again, the light in her eye getting dimmer.

“Me too,” I replied. She looked like she was going to reach up but stopped herself. She settled for awkwardly waving before heading inside. I stood there for a couple of minutes before turning on my heel, heading to my class.

XXX

The wind was harsh tonight. I was wearing a sweater underneath my coat, and it was barely helping. I even had the hat Lyn gave me on, but my ears felt the biting cold. I walked across campus, heading towards Harper.

The amount of parties had died down some. There was barely anyone on campus right now, most of them either in their rooms or the library. Honestly, that was good for me. The less people around the better.

Suddenly I felt an intense pressure coming over me. The wind had stopped but the cold was still there. I looked around in confusion before sighing.

“Dahlia, is that you?”

Said ghost appeared beside me, looking rather interested in what I was doing. I was surprised to see her this far away from the tree.

“It’s been some time since we last spoke, Ally. I was curious as to what you were up to,” said Dahlia, clasping her hands behind her back as she walked beside me.

“I’m going over to talk to Amelia Turner,” I explained.

“Ah, intriguing. I do wonder what you are going to learn from her that you don’t already know,” Dahlia mused.

I said nothing in return, instead focusing on my mission. She wasn’t necessarily wrong in her judgement, but I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that. I walked up to the doors, not surprised that they were locked. I chewed my upper lip as I attempted to work on the lock with a broken hair pin. They always made this look so easy on TV!

When I heard it click open, I suppressed an excited squeal. Good thing I did, because Dahlia drifted through the open door, where it was obvious that she was the one who unlocked it from the inside. I gave her a thankful nod, which she responded with a smirk. Together, we headed in.

The lights didn’t turn on automatically here like they do at the Athletic Centre. I pulled out an old school flashlight and turned it on. I could have easily used my phone, but I wanted it to available if I needed to take photos or make a call for help. It wasn’t that late, so Michael or Lyn hopefully would still be up.

I headed for classroom 223, the one Michael told me about. There she was, sitting at one of the desks looking forlorn. I slowly walked down to where she was, tapping the desk to get her attention.

“Hey, can I sit with you?” I asked, indicating the desk next to her.

Amelia looked a little surprised, tilting her head to the side. “Why are you even asking? I can’t stop you, even if I wanted to.”

“It’s only polite,” I said with a shrug.

Looking skeptical, she nodded. I sat down next to her, while Dahlia made herself at home in the seat behind us. She had a familiar look of determination in her eye, but I couldn’t quite place where I knew it from. Brushing that aside for now, I focused on Amelia. She was eyeing with me with suspicion, which I thought was curious. She was the one who wanted to talk to me, wasn’t she?

“I’m Ally,” I started with. “You’ve been talking to my friend, Mike, quite a bit, haven’t you?” I was careful to not use his full name.

“Only twice,” she clarified.

“Only twice,” I confirmed with a nod. “I wanted to ask you some questions, if that’s okay with you. I’m trying to solve all these murders on campus, and I have a feeling that you’re one of the victims from this unfortunate tragedy.”

Tears welled up in Amelia’s eyes as she nodded. “I am. I was in this very room when he came and killed me. I should have known something up when he invited me to speak with him so often.”

I reached over to her desk, placing my hand next to hers. “Amelia don’t blame yourself for the actions of the person who killed you. They’re a sick individual who hurt so many others. How could you have known?”

“He always was nice to me, making me feel special,” she said in quiet horror.

I took out my notebook, so I could quickly jot down the use of the male pronoun. The killer was male. It was a small thing, but in a case with very few leads, it was a big help.

“Would you mind showing me how it happened, Amelia?” I asked gently. I didn’t want to push her to tell me what happened if she didn’t want to. But I wanted to see it for myself, to see if I could pick up on anything. Unfortunately for me, seeing the death meant experiencing it through the lens of those who died, just like with Jamieson in the bookstore. I was fully prepared for it this time, however.

Amelia wrapped her arms around herself protectively. “It’s very gruesome, Ally. I’m not sure you should see it.”

I smiled encouragingly at her, despite my own nervousness pounding through my veins. “I’ll be okay. I want to help, honestly. Nothing you do will actually hurt me, okay?”

Finally, Amelia nodded. She reached over, placing her hand on my forehead. Although I was prepared for it, it was still shocking. I felt her confusion change into fear, fear into absolute panic. I felt the impact of my head smashing into the desk, momentarily dazing me. I felt the terror grip at my heart and lungs as I tried to get away from my attacker. I sobbed in terror as the knife slashed my wrists wide open. I hit the floor, blood pooling all around me. No one ever heard my screams. He stood over my, watching as the life drained out of my body without a single drop of emotion on his face. He looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite place the face right now. He bent down, cupping my face with his face, filling me with dread one last time before I died.

“Thank you for keeping me alive, darling.”

Those sickening words were the last thing I heard as everything turned to black.

Amelia withdrew her hand, and I gasped loudly as I slumped against my desk for support. My whole body was shaking, and I felt sick to my stomach. I pressed my hands against my eyes, not caring how wet they were. I needed to focus on my breathing. My wrists throbbed in agony, as if they were responding to how viciously they were cut. What a horrible way to go.

“Are you okay? I told you it was awful,” said Amelia sorrowfully.

I nodded, even though I felt far from okay. I took several huge gulps of air, sitting up straight. I adjusted my glasses, trying to focus on the fact that I was alive and not currently lying on the floor of the back room.

“She’s a lot stronger than she looks,” said Dahlia from behind. “She just needs a minute to gather herself.”

“T-t-that was so horrible,” I said through chattering teeth. “I-I-I’m so sorry y-you went through th-that, Amelia.”

Amelia nodded, her eyes mournful. “Do you really think you’ll be able to stop him from killing again?”

I grabbed a hold of Lyn’s hat, drawing a small sense of comfort from it. “I-I’m trying my best to make s-s-sure that it doesn’t happen again. I can’t m-make that promise, but I’ll be damned if I d-d-don’t give it m-my best shot.”

Amelia looked at me with a strange mix of wonderment and disbelief. Slowly, she nodded, looking towards the whiteboard again. She said nothing more, staring at something that the rest of us couldn’t see. I got up from my seat and thanked her for showing me what she did. On shaky legs, I walked towards the back door that led to the room where she was murdered. The door wasn’t locked when I tested the handle, and I numbly walked into the room.

It was just a storage room. There was nothing special in here that would ever suggest that someone was brutally murdered in here just over 15 years ago. I took it all in, snapping some photos in the process. There was nothing left for me to see here, so I closed the door behind with a firm tug.

I managed to make it outside before I threw up in the bush. I hacked and coughed, trying to get the disgusting taste of bile out of my mouth. Dahlia watched this all with mild curiosity, saying nothing as she twirled her hair around her finger.

“If you have something to say, say it,” I spat out, rubbing the back of my hand against my mouth.

Dahlia stopped mid-twirl, raising an eyebrow. “Someone is feeling a little testy.”

I whirled on her, my temper flaring. “Maybe because you seemingly know who did all these horrible things but won’t fucking tell me who it is! That was such a horrible way to die, and for the fact of the matter, so was Jamieson’s! Yet here you are, not telling me a damn thing!”

Mild irritation crossed over her delicate features. “Ally, I already told there was a reason why I couldn’t tell you everything. If you continue to behave this way, I won’t help you anymore. If you must know, the man who took all these poor lives is still on campus,” she snapped at me. “But that’s all I can speak on. Otherwise, something terrible will happen to me.”

Something terrible? I felt myself calming down a little. The look she had was annoyed, but I could see a tiny amount of fear in her eyes. Maybe she was telling the truth, there was something that was keeping her from telling me everything.

“Okay,” I dropped my shoulders. I was tired and feeling vulnerable. I didn’t want to fight, so I let it go.

Dahlia took me in for a second before she huffed out, “Good.”

I don’t know what it was about her tonight, but she was really reminding me of someone I knew. It was a strange feeling. Deciding that was a puzzle for another day, I shook my head and ran my hands through my hair, hating how sticky it felt despite the biting cold of the night.

I said goodnight to Dahlia, before heading to my room for the night. My phone told me it was after 11, which meant I was there for a few hours. I guess time flies by when you’re being murdered.

At least I learned two things tonight. First, the murderer was a man. Second, he was still here on campus. That second one really filled me with dread and fear. I didn’t know the identity of the killer yet, but I was more determined than ever to figure it out. Not for my own safety, but the safety of everyone at this school.

#unnatural affairs #ua #ally holland #lyn hart #michael yamamoto #dahlia cressman #amelia turner #ghosts #murder mysteries #paranormal #romance #wlw romance #sapphic lead #tw blood mention #original story #original fiction #writing

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eldritchrisingarchive · 4 years

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ON THIS EPISODE OF THINGS NO ONE ASKED FOR : A CATEGORICAL SORTING OF ALLOF MY MUSES INTO THEIR POTENTIAL ROLES IN A GENERALIZED RPG SETTING PART ONE. aka what role would they play in a video game setting.

#1- 5 lex foster, col. amanda schaffer, charlotte mitchell, claudia york, deb murphy

no one asked for this but this but here we are. will i make this into a hatchetfield rpg type thing ? only time will tell. probably at least a timeline

storylines : tgwdlm * post canon dlc / black friday player type : tank / dps / healer grey touched : yes / no

ALEXANDRA ‘ LEX ’ FOSTER

class : shaman locations : lakeside mall, lakeview trailer park, hatchetfield high first encounter ( black friday ) : an employee at toy zone, lex can be found lingering outside of toy zone prior to her shift. she cannot be recruited during the first encounter. she has a job to do. when the riots begin, lex can be saved from wiggly’s devotees and becomes a companion if the player agrees to search for hannah and ethan. if the player refuses after saving her, they will cross paths with her at later points in the game in which she is pursuing her own storyline where she is the protagonist, searching both for her sister and ethan, and a way to stop wiggly and his followers. the first of these remains her top priority. roles : potential protagonist, companion ( dps ) brief description : lex foster is primarily driven during the game by her drive to find her sister, she is a crucial piece of the puzzle when it comes to surviving the game, and if not recruited, the game becomes significantly harder but not impossible to win. as dps goes, she is not the most effective in the game, but is often one of the most perceptive members of the party, and upon accessing her connection to the black and white, becomes invaluable as a guiding force for the party. strengths : strong sense of survival instinct and loyalty, hand to hand combat experience, aware of a number of routes unknown to the player if she isn’t in the party. weaknesses : driven almost entirely by her pursuit of finding hannah and ethan, is not an experienced killer and is at times hesitant to make the final blow, in the event of ethan’s death if the player chooses to tell her she will be temporarily incapacitated by the news. interesting facts : if lex is rescued during the beginning of the riots, she retains the box cutter, meaning linda does not have it later on. this does not save frank’s life, but it does result in linda using different threats if hannah is eventually caught by wiggly’s followers. if ethan dies and the protagonist keeps this information from her and she finds out lex will immediately leave the party and will be openly antagonistic to the player, to the point of impeding their progress whenever it does not impede her own.

COL. AMANDA SCHAFFER

class : paladin ( oath of the watchers ) location : downtown first encounter ( tgwdlm dlc ) : amanda is the woman in charge of the clivesdale civilian base, and has been immunized to the apotheosis by the government. she is not available as a constant companion, only for specific side missions. she takes her position quite seriously and is the deciding factor on whether someone is admitted into the civilian base, requiring at least three clean blood tests during a 48 hour isolation period. first encounter ( black friday ) : amanda is boots on the ground reinforcements against wiggly’s followers during the hatchetfield riots. rather than being in the mall, she is roaming the downtown district, destroying dolls whenever possible and taking down violent rioters with lethal force as necessary, and restraining those able to be restrained. the current makeshift prison is the local animal shelter. they have been disarmed and are incapacitated. amanda can be found in near the animal shelter or hardware store if not recruited as a companion. roles : npc or companion ( primary dps / secondary tank ) brief description : amanda is loyal first and foremost to peip and the well being of the united states of america, receiving her orders directly from general john mcnamara and acting under his authority as he pursues a separate but equally important task regarding the leader of the free world. she can be recruited by the player if amanda truly believes the player capable of helping to defeat wiggly at the source. proving this requires the collection of five destroyed wiggly dolls to show devotion to the cause. strengths : impervious to wiggly ( peip training ), dislikes musicals, extensive military training, emergency medical training, immunized to the apotheosis weaknesses : prioritization of her assigned task over the player, can be demanding, will not stray from her training, used to being in charge interesting facts : amanda’s radio is one of the most useful tools for retaining up to date information in both tgwdlm and black friday’s storylines, following the death of general john mcnamara late in the black friday storyline amanda is forcibly removed from the party as she is the de facto leader of peip and must return to headquarters but will authorize the player to use her firearm the most powerful gun in the game.

CHARLOTTE MITCHELL

class : feral druid location : ccrp technical, lakeside mall, willow park apartments first encounter ( tgwdlm ) : charlotte can be found hiding not far from the ccrp technical building, having lost the group she was with, and speaking with her triggers an escort mission automatically. she knows where the other survivors were heading and will take the most direct path to get there, and while this escort mission leads to a safehouse with a number of supplies, it is a notoriously difficult mission as it runs directly through downtown. first encounter ( black friday ) : charlotte is one of the first wiggly followers to be encountered, but is not the most devout. her minor fight is able to be averted with the pre-fight conversation. if averted, charlotte will flee the mall and may be found by the entrance of the willow park apartments. if not averted, when defeated, all potential benefits of her escort missions and fetch quests are lost. role : npc with escort missions and fetch quests, potential minor antagonist. brief description : strengths : provides solid bonuses upon completion of quests, can turn into a large feral cat during escort missions to assist in fighting. weaknesses : not the most intelligent, will run headfirst into danger, easily distracted by cats and love interesting facts : items can be found in charlotte and sam’s apartment during her tgwdlm fetch quests that can be beneficial in interactions with sam and ted later in the game. they are not necessary to complete the game. if you agree to collect charlotte’s cats but instead choose to let them loose, you will later have to face charlotte in her druid form. it’s not an exceptionally difficult boss fight but can be annoying as it tends to occur at inconvenient times.

CLAUDIA YORK

class : seer location : varies first encounter : claudia is only found by those who read the graffiti and notes scattered through the game. interactions can be unlocked approximately one-third of the way into the game in both storylines. roles : npc with lore heavy quest line brief description : claudia can be a significant wealth of cryptic information on events both past and present, and if approached at different points throughout the game will provide answers and clues as to the strengths and weaknesses of enemies as well as clues of where to go next to continue the story. strengths : visionary abilities, directly in tune with the black and white weaknesses : incredibly cryptic, susceptible to sneak attacks interesting facts : if amanda has been recruited in the black friday storyline and is in the player’s party when speaking with claudia she can be gifted a radio that allows for communication with the player until amanda’s departure from the party, similarly an escort mission opens in tgwdlm dlc in which if you speak to amanda at the civilian base she will offer to join your party to escort claudia to the civilian base. if this mission is completed then claudia will supply messages to the party over schaffer’s radio from the base.

DEBORAH ‘ DEB ’ MURPHY

class : monk ( way of mercy ) location : hatchetfield high, lakeside mall, downtown, the bus station first encounter ( tgwdlm ) : deb can be found on their way to the bus station, checking their phone regularly for texts from their girlfriend. they cannot be recruited as a companion until meeting them for the second time, but they can give interesting first-hand information about the destruction of the starlight theatre the night before. first encounter ( black friday ) : deb is in the downtown area, attempting to help those injured in the riots. they’ve managed to stockpile a small amount of medical supplies, and can be recruited through a fetch quest for supplies to help someone with more extensive wounds. roles : npc, potential minor antagonist, potential companion ( healer ) brief description : an artist and passionate person, deb is a somewhat unlikely survivor of both wiggly and the apotheosis, but there is hope for them yet if they are restrained rather than executed following the infected!alice boss fight. an option that is always presented to the player, but at times has dire consequences. if restrained, and not executed by peip, deb will revert to her human self within 36 hours provided that infected!alice was also restrained and not killed. strengths : skilled healer, creative thinking, first-hand knowledge of the apotheosis from the night before. witness to early infections. weaknesses : susceptible to the apotheosis, wants to help as many as they can even when it’s impractical, sometimes a bit too creative with their solutions interesting facts : if recruited before infected, deb can be a useful ally in the fight against infected!alice, when paired with bill despite their bickering they can help the real alice break through the infection proving for the first time in the game that someone can survive infection, when paired with elaine further backstory about both deb and elaine can be discovered but productivity decreases immensely as they distract each other and others with their constant bickering.

#LEX.GEN ✂︎ ━━ there are things that have to be forgotten if you want to go on living ¸#SCHAFFER.GEN ✂︎ ━━ you must make that choice yourself ¸ and live with it for the rest of your days ¸ as i have ¸#CHARLOTTE.GEN ✂︎ ━━ i am pulling myself from your hands and digging my roots back in ¸#CLAUDIA.GEN ✂︎ ━━ to hope for someone’s freedom and not have to be the angry bitch to demand it ¸#DEB.GEN ✂︎ ━━ orange red of evening ¸ of clouds as tall as palm trees ¸ whorled around like hair down a drain ¸#i have spent too much goddamn time on this

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52weeks52scenes · 5 years

Text

Week 1- Assertive

Growing up, I had a neighbor who I barely saw. Once or twice at parties, and I caught a glimpse of her walking to her front door when I got off the bus sometimes, but I barely knew anything about her.

All I knew was that she was a hell of a woman.

“She owns a business downtown,” my mother would claim, “I don’t know much about it, but I’ve heard she rakes in a lot of cash. Ruthless, too.”

My father said similar remarks: “She’s greedy, Katie. Doesn’t pay her employees a cent above minimum wage, from what people say. Takes as much money for herself, all the while working her employees to the bone.”

When I asked my older sister, though, her answer was equal in judgement, but with a slight twist: “The business is just a front. She’s actually a secret agent, using brutal tactics to find and expose secrets from the mayor.” That was usually followed by some sort of bragging about how she knew secrets that I didn't know, or her pushing me out of the room, but the words still stuck in my head.

Things like that were common, words such as “ruthless”, “brutal”, and “greedy”, though the context of which may change. Business woman, secret agent, communist spy, cultist, there were many different negative settings to her supposed cruelty. It made me fear her as a kid, but as I got older, I grew curious of her strange ways.

So, one day, I decided to wait for her.

There was a tree in the middle of our two houses, most likely older than the houses themselves. No one actually knew which property the tree was on, which would be a problem later, when it died, but for me, it was perfect. I sat underneath that tree on a late August day that seemed a bit too cool, calmly doing some puzzles out of a book I got for my recent birthday.

Obviously, that is totally something that the average seventeen-year-old does, but I was seventeen at the time, so it seemed innocent enough to me.

I was probably there for about an hour before a car pulled into my neighbor’s driveway, which was when I realized that I didn’t exactly know her name. I put my book down for a second, looking over at the car as it idled for what felt like forever. My palms were getting sweaty, as it suddenly felt really hot and sticky, even though I knew it was cool and misty at this point.

Then, the car door opened.

“Hi, ma--” I stopped myself, as another one of the car doors opened, and I heard some sort of argument. As the driver stepped out, I was able to recognize her as my neighbor, but a man that I didn’t know stepped out of the front passenger side. Either way, I was able to hear more of what they were arguing about.

“For the last time, I don’t care what forensics says, this case is not cold and I fully intend on pursuing this killer,” my neighbor said, closing her door a bit too roughly, as the car seemed to shake a little. “You can join me if you want, but your decision is not affecting mine.”

“Tracey, please, you need to reconsider.” The car did not shake as the man closed his door, though it was still pretty loud, too loud. “This case isn’t just about being cold or hot, or caring about people.”

“I know, I know, we may find something we shouldn’t, and it could become a huge thing that gets us killed. I’ve heard all about it from every single person I’ve had this conversation with.” Tracey slung her pocket book over her shoulder, her back still facing towards me. “It’s all the more reason to take this case on.”

“And what about our reputations? You realize how little we’re trusted already?” The man walked towards the front of the car, and I began to wish that I could turn invisible. I knew that I shouldn’t be hearing this, but I couldn’t get myself to get up and go back into my house. That would make me look more suspicious, anyway.

“I don’t give a damn about my reputation, and you know that.” Tracey locked her car, making me think I was in the clear, and that they wouldn’t notice me at all. Then, she continued, “you hear that, kid?”

I froze as Tracey turned around, looking at me with a sharp look in her eyes. I probably looked so small, huddled up against the tree, but she suddenly became absolutely terrifying to me. Maybe it was the aura that seemed to be hovering around her at that moment. Maybe it was the guilt of eavesdropping on her conversation.

“Sorry ma’am, I, well, I didn’t mean to overhear.” It had nothing to do with the actual question she asked me, but I just felt really bad.

“I don’t care about you overhearing.” Tracey’s tone was cold, but she walked over to me with something that I would normally call a kind smile, if I weren’t in my current circumstances. “You’re one of the Birmingham kids, right?”

“Yeah, I’m Alex.” I looked at Tracey as she sat down next to me, looking over at my book.

“Puzzles?”

“I’m good at them.” I didn’t know why I said that, but I wasn’t prepared for her to just walk up to me like that. “I, um, I want to be a detective when I grow up.”

“A detective?” Tracey suddenly broke into laughter, freaking me out a little bit. I glanced over at the man she had been arguing with, who seemed just as confused as I was. “Hey, Jake! I told you!”

“You, you knew? I mean, how?” I felt my face turn red, even more as I heard my mother yelling from the house.

“Alexandra Hailey Birmingham, get in here right now!” She full-named me. I was definitely in trouble, most likely because I was talking to her so-called “ruthless business woman”.

“I have to go, maybe I can talk soon, Ms., um…” I realized that I learned her first name, but not her last.

“Eline.”

And for over ten years, that was the last that I had ever heard of her. Apparently, she had moved away while I was in college, so I never got to talk to Ms. Tracey Eline again.

One day, though, I got a new case. It was about seven months after I established my own private detective practice. A quiet, elder man walked into my office, looked around nervously, and handed me a thin manilla folder before I could say anything, even ask him his name. I opened it, feeling his anxiety begin to become my own. It held a few papers; sparse information, the usual for me. A murder case, completely normal. But, then a name caught my eye, and I felt my heart drop to my stomach.

Tracey Eline: murder victim

#writeblr #writing #writing challenge #flash fiction #writer #52weeks52scenes #week 1 #assertive

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travellvogue · 5 years

Text

HIDDEN LOVE

CHAPTER 6- You

you free? X

you sent the text without thinking, sitting in the back of the Uber not knowing what to do, originally planning on going home and crying yourself to sleep, but you missed his touch, his dimpled smile

for you, always x

A text pinged back as he answered the question quicker then you expected as you couldn’t help but smile down at your phone.

can i come round? X

of course you can, doors always open xx

thankyou Trent xx

It was like you’d known him your whole life, his heart so pure and welcoming. You could gradually feel your broken heart pulling itself together again as you told the Uber driver to go to his address instead of your, the original one you’d given him. He welcomed you at the door, hair still a mess not having time to do it before Dele had kicked him out, smile small as he pulled you into a hug once he saw your hurt expression, whispering that it was all going to be ok, everything would work out how it should be. You sat in the living room with his mum. she’d made you a cup of tea, chatting to you and Trent about the upcoming game, the one you were dreading. Conversation was soon changed as she noticed your uncomfortableness, your hands shaking slightly, the need to cry present,, but you couldn’t let the tears fall, not in front of them. Trent turned on a movie, flinging his arms around your shoulder as you snuggled into him, the warmth of his body comforting you slightly, his hold the only thing you needed right now. It felt... comfortable.

The rest of the evening was much the same, just two friends watching a movie, chilling, talking. He really was the comfort you needed, but it still didn’t feel enough. Every time you looked up at him you were hoping to see Dele’s face, hoping the arm around you was Dele’s, the person who you were crawling into bed with should be Dele, the body you fell asleep next to... should’ve been Dele.

And once again you found yourself waking up to his face, no naughty business last night, just cuddles. He was smiling at you as you rolled over to face him, you returned the smile, but it didn’t feel genuine, like a part of your heart was still missing. Like someone was missing. Your heart repidly pumping from the second you opened your eyes, mind racing over the events of the day. You’d both got ready in comfortable silence, you caught him looking a few times as you took your pyjama bottoms off and replaced them with jeans.

It was the day of the Liverpool vs Tottenham game... this was going to awkward. Trent had bought you tickets to go, trying to get you out of the low mood you’d been in, he’d given you an ‘Alexandra-Arnold’ to wear, the 66 on your back looking foreign. There should be a number 20 there instead... no. Stop. Forget about him. He doesn’t love you Y/N. He’ll never feel the way you do. You were sat in the home stands with Trent’s brothers, supporting Liverpool... not Tottenham. It was tense, everyone around you standing on the tip of their toes to get the best view. It was 1-1 your heart thumping in your chest, still not sure what team you were rooting for. But your confusion was answered a few minutes later. Own goal. Shit. Cheers pierced through your ears, almost deafening as the fans jump up and down, but you stood still, you couldn’t bring yourself to celebrate, you didn’t want to celebrate. Eyes following Dele’s every mood as you watched him throw his hands up in frustration, profanities leaving his mouth as he face screwed up. All you wanted to do was run onto the pitch and hold, tell him it’s ok, that your proud of him no matter what. Your thoughts were the only thing stopping you. He doesn’t want you anymore Y/N. He never will.

The match ended, forcing a smile upon your face as the Liverpool fans celebrated around you, it felt like someone was pushing your hands to clap. Trent’s eye met yours as he walked under the tunnel, back to the changing rooms. You smiled back, but it felt so wrong. Turning your head as you saw Dele coming towards the same tunnel Trent just entered, you wanted him to look at you, to see you, and he did. Yet his face dropped as his eyes landed on you, quickly flickering away to look at the ground again, noticing the red shirt on your body, Trent’s name across your back and not his. And it broke his heart, and he didn’t know why, he didn’t know why it hurt so bad. Why weren’t you his? And you were asking yourself the exact same questions, shivers running down your spine at the blank expression he had given you. Trying to brush it off as Tyler and Marcel begin conversation, the three of you waiting outside the changing room, stood between the home team and the away team. It was like a physical representation of your heart, not knowing what side to lean towards, feeling guilty wherever you end up. Your looking up from your phone when you hear the buzz of deep voices, Tottenham boys walking out of the changing room, phones in hands, headphones in ears as they try to drown the feeling of defeat. Your heart ached for every single one of them, but it broke a bit more when your eyes met once again with him, and this time he didn’t look away, eyes staying on yours as a silent cry for help as you found your legs drawing themselves towards him, Tyler and Marcel giving each other questioning looks as they watched you walk towards Dele, the two of you silent as you walked side by side and back into the changing rooms. And then it just you. Silent. Awkward. Neither of you knowing what to say, the thought of Trent still in the back of your mind, but the person you needed most was here, right in front of you. “I’m sorry” you jumped a little at his deep voice, brain processing the two short words he’d just said to you, a deep breath escaping from your nose as you kept your lips stitched tight together, your eyes meeting once again. “I don’t want to let you go. Your not a slut, if anything I’m the slut here. Thought sleeping with other girls would take my mind off you for once. But in reality, they’re not you, never was never will be” he admitted, fiddling awkwardly with his long sleeves, melting at his words, the ones you needed to hear to finish the puzzle of your broken heart, all the pieces coming together as you now realised just how deeply in love you were with this idiot. “Come here” you opened your arms which he instantly cuddled into, his arms around you feeling natural, and it didn’t fuss you that his hands were travelling lower to your ass, the light squeeze feeling normal. The scatter of kisses on your neck sending goosebumps to the surface of your skin, a small whimper leaving your lips. “I need you” he mumbled into your neck as you giggled at the bottom of his shirt, V-line becoming evident as his shirt rose. And it was all a blur, clothes being flung off each other’s bodies, breaths and moans becoming louder and louder, and he’s pushing you up against the counter in the middle of the changing rooms,, practically ripping your shirt off, the number and name on the back of it making him only want to fuck you harder, show you that your his, and only his. Forever. “This what you wanted huh?... To be fucked in the changing rooms, my naughty girl” and your screaming as he pounds into you, almost certain that anyone in the stadium would be able to hear the two of you, and he’s biting and tugging at your hair, ass red raw as he slaps it, and he’s checking your ok when you both finish. Pulling your knickers up for you as you shuffle back into your jeans. And it’s silence again. Not exactly sure what to say, tell him you love him Y/N, it’s now or never. “I-“ “Does this mean your mine again?” your words were interpreted as you both spoke at the same time, an awkward laugh leaving your mouth. “Oh sorry, what were you saying?” he pushed you to finish your sentence. But you couldn’t get the words out, thinking on the spot trying to make something up “Oh, just saying that I’m yours again. All yours” that was close enough, right? His smiled had returned, the two of you happy again as he pulled you into his chest again, his hold the only thing you needed right now. It felt... like home.

#trent alexander arnold #trent alexander arnold fluff #trent alexander arnold smut #trent alexander arnold imagines #dele #dele alli #dele imagine #dele fluff #dele blurb #hidden love

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freespiritdani · 6 years

Text

"But I didn't mean for this to happen..." Part 2 of 2

NOTE: I teach AP English at a high school in the USA. When I began this class this semester, I gave my class an assignment to write a fan fiction essay based on their favorite story, movie, show, or game. All but one of my students are Choices fans and wrote accordingly, Two of them (my daughter and my daughter-in-law) decided to team up and write one 2-part story. They gave me permission to share it here. You've already read Part 1 (I hope), now...submitted for your approval, here is Part 2.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaitlyn stepped off the Gulfstream at a little tiny airport just outside Northbridge. Ryan Summers, actor and fellow Hartfeld alum, had let Kaitlyn borrow his jet and pilot when Zack called her and told her about finding Alex dead.

She had slept fitfully during the cross-country flight. Alexandra Day and Kaitlyn Liao had been best of friends from the moment they met on their first day at Hartfeld. They were also lovers for a short time during freshman year. The memories of all the good times they had together was all that was helping Kaitlyn keep it together right at the moment.

Zack was waiting on Kaitlyn when she entered the terminal building. He ran up to her and gave her a bear hug, then he began to cry.

"I'm sorry I called you last night, but I didn't know who else to call," Zack said. "I went over to check on her like you or I have always done ever since she started drinking....and....and...she was lying on the couch, eyes open....not...not breathing...and..." Zack started sobbing.

Kaitlyn had started crying by now. She patted Zack on the back and said, "Don't apologize, Zack. Somebody had to let me know."

"And, Bec--" Zack started, but stopped abruptly when Kaitlyn's phone went off. She pulled it out of her hip pocket and checked it. A puzzled look came across her face.

"What the.....an email from Alex???" Kaitlyn asked, confused. She clicked on it and read it. "Ohhhhhhh myyyyyy god..." she said under her breath. "Alex, you little fool..." She bowed her head and slumped down into a seat in the lobby.

"Are you all right?" Zack asked.

Kaitlyn reached her phone to Zack. "She sent this at seven last night and queued it so I wouldn't get it until this morning after it was too late to do anything about it."

Zack read the email, then plopped down in the chair beside Kaitlyn and sighed. "Well, dear Alexandra," he said with a tone of resignation in his voice, "you're in good company, girlfriend."

"Zack Zilberg, the is the most inconsiderate thing I have ever heard you...." Kaitlyn paused, then it dawned on her that Alex's suicide wasn't the only bad news. "Is there something else you need to tell me?" she asked slowly.

Zack bowed his head. "Yeah," Zack said quietly, "there is. It's what I started to tell you when Alex's suicide note email came in. Becca committed suicide last night, too. Jumped off the eighteenth floor of the Hyatt here last night."

Kaitlyn's mouth dropped open. "Why? Did she leave a note?" she asked.

"No need. Madison was with her when it happened," Zack answered, then he proceeded to tell Kaitlyn what Madison had told him about the events of the night before.

Kaitlyn looked toward the ceiling, then began to cry. Zack silently reached over and held her to comfort her, as much for his own benefit as it was for hers. After a few minutes of this, Kaitlyn composed herself and stood up.

"Zack," Kaitlyn whispered, "I need to see them. Will you take me to them?" Zack opened his mouth to object, but Kaitlyn quickly continued, "Please, I beg you....I have to see them...I gotta do this for my own peace of mind."

Zack rose from his seat. "Okay," he said, trying to smile at his friend, "let's go."

An hour later, Zack and Kaitlyn were standing in the mortuary lobby, looking at the board listing all the bodies there. Kaitlyn found what she was looking for:

ROOM 2: DAY, ALEXANDRA J.

And a little farther down:

ROOM 8: DAVENPORT, REBECCA L.

They walked down to Room 2 and looked in. Near the coffin containing Alex's body, Kaitlyn spied a blonde woman standing and looking somberly in the coffin. No, it can't be! she thought. It's not possible! Then she remembered the girl in psychology class that went to Braidwood Manor and what she found. Or is it possible?

"Zack....would you mind waiting in the lobby? I need to be alone right now..."

Zack replied shakily, "Frankly, I want to get out of here, period. After finding her last night, right now I...I...I can't...can't see her...her..."

Kaitlyn put her hand on his shoulder. "If you want to leave me here and go, that's okay," she told Zack. "I understand. I'll be okay, and once I'm done here, I'll go get some rest and meet you back at your house at four. Okay?"

Zack put his hand on Kaitlyn's and smiled weakly. "Okay. Thank you."

Kaitlyn watched Zack leave, then she turned and walked to where Alex's body lay. She gently stroked Alex's cheek. "She's so beautiful," Kaitlyn whispered, then said in a normal voice, "Why'd you do it?"

The blonde said plaintively, "I didn't mean to! I didn't mean for this to happen.... I didn't want her to die...I just wanted to make things right between us..."

Kaitlyn turned and faced the blonde. "I know you didn't want her to die," she said gently. "I want to know why you wanted you to die, Becca. Why did you take that dive off the balcony?"

"Because my...." Becca paused. "Wait a second... You know I'm here? You can hear me? Because you're the first person who's even acknowledged my presence since...since...I landed on the street...."

"Kinda surprised me to see and hear you too," Kaitlyn replied, chuckling. "Then I remembered Hannah and her girlfriend and took the chance I wasn't hallucinating. So, I still wanna know: why did you jump?"

"Because..." Becca hesitated, looked in Alex's coffin, then said, "Because she's now dead and I caused it. She drank herself to death because of me...I know it. She drank herself to death because I was a selfish bitch that let my pride get the better of me."

Kaitlyn asked, confused, "How do you figure that?"

"You remember the blowup and breakup after I got accepted to transfer to Hawg," Becca replied. "Well, after it all went down, I knew the way I went about it hurt her....I'd made her cry....I was afraid to chase after her because I didn't want to make her cry again....so I threw myself into my studies, got my J.D., worked my way up to become the youngest District Attorney in California history....there's even talk -- scratch that, there WAS talk -- of me running for Attorney General next year....but...Kaitlyn....all that success, all that that glory...was hollow. It didn't fill the void that Alex left in me when we split up. All that I have -- had -- achieved...meant and means nothing without her... As each day went by...that empty feeling kept getting bigger, kept gnawing at me....It got worse every time I saw her on TV being interviewed after each best-seller she wrote, because she looked so happy without me....Finally, I'd had enough. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to talk with her and try to make things right...you know the rest....so, yeah, I killed her. I didn't mean for her to die .."

Kaitlyn sighed. "You didn't kill her, Becca. She killed herself. She sent me a suicide note by email," she said.

Becca was puzzled. "If I wasn't what caused her to take her own life, what was?" she asked.

"Well, technically, you were," Kaitlyn answered, "but not in the way you think. It wasn't anything you'd done, but something she'd done. According to her note."

"But...she never did anything to me! She was nothing but good to me!"

A voice came from behind them. "Yes I did, Becs. I did something bad to you. Three times."

Kaitlyn and Becca spun around. "ALEX!!!" Becca cried out.

"The first time was when I acted like a spoiled brat and walked out on you during the law school blowup," Alex continued. "The second time was last night when I gave you hell and walked out on you a second time without giving you a chance to talk....I screwed us both over with that one...had I taken the time to talk and listen, we probably wouldn't be in this situation..."

Kaitlyn looked at Becca. "She got you there, Davenport," Kaitlyn said, then looked at Alex and continued, "but you said three times. That's only twice."

Alex chuckled slightly and said, "Considering that my corpse is in this room, and that Becca's is three doors down because I made the one in here a corpse, number three is kinda obvious, don't you think?"

Becca looked at Kaitlyn and said, "She got you there, Liao."

"Oh, shut up!" Kaitlyn shot back.

Alex walked over and looked at her own body lying in the coffin. "I wish I could take it back, Becca," she said, regret and remorse showing in her voice. "The woman I loved, the woman I longed for, the woman I wanted to hold in my arms again, the woman I wanted to come back to me and take me and make me her wife...came back to me wanting to make things right between us....and I fucked it all up, ruining any chance of that happening...I couldn't take it. My life was over because I couldn't go on another day without her...so I sent Kaitlyn a suicide note via email, grabbed two bottles of tequila, guzzled both down in two minutes flat and...next thing I know... I'm standing up, sober as I can be, looking down at my dead body....".

Alex looked at Becca. "I died needlessly by my own hand. And because I did, you took your own life, also needlessly," she said ruefully. "I killed us...I'm ultimately responsible for both our deaths. Our blood is on my hands...and I can't do anything to make up for it and make it right...and...." She looked at Becca with sorrow and regret in her eyes. "...I have to deal with that for all eternity....I can't take back what I've done...I've condemned us to...to this....and...now...I have to face the fact that..that I caused us to never be together, ever...I'm so sorry, Becca...I never meant for it to be like this...."

"Are....Are you saying you don't love me anymore? You don't want to be with me anymore?" Becca asked dejectedly.

"I love you very much, Becca! I never stopped!" Alex replied. "But... we're dead. All we are now is a pair of ghosts. That sorta puts a stop to being with each other, doesn't it?"

Kaitlyn interrupted. "Umm, Alex... If Eleanor being a ghost didn't stop her and Hanna from being in love and being together, why would it stop you two?"

Alex thought, then looked at Becca. "After all I've done, after all the damage I've caused,":Alex asked nervously, "can you ever find it in you to forgine me?"

"I forgave you a long time ago, my love," Becca said gently. "Can you forgive me?"

Alex put her arms around Becca and kissed her tenderly. "I already have."

Becca put her arms around Alex and returned the kiss passionately. "Will you stay with me and be my woman?"

Alex smiled and looked Becca in the eyes, a deep love replacing the pain and regret that had been there earlier. "I'm yours for all eternity, my love! For all eternity!"

Kaitlyn smiled. It wasn't the way she wished it was, but her friends were back together at last.

#the freshman #the senior #mc x becca #becca x mc #becca davenport #choices stories you play #playchoices #fanfic

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