#i mean if i had a tall friend around in haunted places i would 100% do the same fr

[hauntedpearl]

i love how shane is basically ryan's security blanket. he doesn't particularly care about the ghosts or anything, and he loves watching ryan lose his shit but ryan is just like Okay So I Need You To Stand Next To Me Because This Place Is Scary To Be In Alone.

[dr3amofagame]

TW; Death mentioned

I had this thought, I was watching the Hunchback of Notre Dame and remember in the beginning where the Gypsy mother ran to the church and claimed sanctuary, but she died on the church steps

What if c!Dream either was let out of the prison or escaped and c!sam chased him down (for whatever reason you want) and Dream runs to church prime in the Holy Land, claiming sanctuary, and maybe Sam accidentally kills Dream on that land in front of the church

this was a FUN ask, anon, sorry it took so long for me to get to it

tw: DEATH, DEREALIZATION, religious themes, blood, grief, vomit, murder, violence, implied torture/abuse, dark themes, dark content, prison arc/pandora’s vault

To be honest, when George opens his eyes, he has no idea if he’s awake or not.

This has become an...alarmingly common occurrence. He’d been bothered by it at the beginning, had spent hours stuck in his own head, dropping and picking up items, counting forwards and backwards, seeking any sign possible that what he was looking at was real and not just a figment of his own dreams. In the end, it’d all been for nothing; he would be 100% sure in reality, that what he was looking at was the real world, only for it to dissolve into shadow and himself back to lying on that same bed in the middle of nowhere that he’d never remembered lying down in. At some point, he must’ve just...given up. It’s not like the dreams were unpleasant; they were the exact opposite, most of the time. Unlike that one reality-bending fit of wakefulness that had ended in him boxed in by lava in the middle of a chamber of red, one that wasn’t a dream, surprisingly enough, his dreams are usually just- normal. He goes to his field, harvests some wheat. Talks to Quackity and Sapnap and Karl, though he’s almost certain he’s not talked to any of the three in a long time in the waking world. Sometimes, he’ll even be visited by a god wearing Dream’s face, XD, though sometimes XD is there in the real world, too, so they’re hardly a determining factor. If he’s really lucky, in the dreams, he’ll even see Dream.

Dream, as he remembers him, not as the monster he’s been told he became. Once, the dream had even dropped in the flustered, confused form of Dream from the beginning of the server, all fluffed up hair and boyish joy. Usually, he’ll see a Dream that’s been let out the prison, hale and whole and sheepish, stuttering through brief apologies and hugging him in that overeager way that makes his ribs ache and then the three of them, for the lack of better words, prance off into the sunset without a worry in their minds.

And then he wakes up.

George rubs at his eyes, looks up at the sky to reorient himself; it looks real. It feels real. The sun is warm on his skin, the grass still wet with dew from the morning, brushing against his ankles as he stands up. He’s in the area behind Punz’s house, his walls and towers looming in front of him, and George blows a breath through his teeth as he goes towards the direction of the Prime Path. There’s no knowing if this is a dream or reality, but either way, standing in one place does nothing for him. Better to get the rest of the day over with than to waste it here.

He’s not even halfway to the Prime Path when sirens sound on the horizon, giving him pause. That’s never happened before. They’re loud, and shrill, and something niggles at the back of his head in a vague sense of familiarity, begging for him to understand and take note. He frowns, and picks up the pace- if he gets on the Path, he might get a better idea of what’s going on. At the very least, if there’s something dangerous, his best bet is the Holy Land.

Surprisingly enough, when he gets there, there doesn’t seem to be anyone around, only the consistent drone of sirens on the horizon. George strains his eyes along both sides of the path; nobody comes, or speaks, or makes their presence known. There’s only George, alone. It’s strangely eerie.

Is this a dream? he considers briefly, before shaking his head. It doesn’t matter.

It’s another several minutes before anything changes. He stands there, at the edge of the Holy Land, until he hears a faint clamor that draws his attention, prompts him to edge forward along the path. The sound, starting faint, quickly swells in volume, underscored by the hum of the siren still ringing in the distance.

First come the shouts, overlapping, too muffled for George to quite pick the words out between the sounds. Then come the footsteps, low and rumbling, making the path creak and shudder. Then-

“Get him!”

George watches, eyes wide behind his goggles, as a dull orange blur reaches the crest of the hill and stumbles down it in a dead sprint, not paying him a second glance as they swing under the arched entrance to the Holy Land to enter within it. They collapse into a heap on the quartz steps- and oh, that’s blood seeping out of them, staining the white red, their hands tight on the stairs as a shivering string of sounds leave their crimson-speckled lips. Their face turns towards him, unseeing, and George feels something splinter, irreparably, in his chest, because that’s Dream.

He’s dreamed about Dream a lot, but never like this. Never injured, like this, face hollow and haunted, scars splitting his skin into shards. The wheezes in his dreams had always been from laughter, not this seething, spitting rattle that emerges from his chest, worryingly wet and irregular. He’s collapsed on the bottom steps of Church Prime, legs bent strangely in a way that must be uncomfortable against the ground, arms resting against the edges of the stairs, all skin and bone and still-bleeding cuts, and he looks like he’ll never be able to stand up again.

“Please, please, pl-please,” he stutters through his sobs, meaningless begs and platitudes falling on George’s ears and making him cringe back at the sound, “please-” and George doesn’t quite know what he’s begging for, doesn’t know what has left his friend in a ruin on the ground, leaving bloodstains on the stone, but the words worm under his skin and into his skull and refuse to leave. Footsteps continue to pound on the path behind him; George turns around, gasps at the sight of two figures, fully in enchanted netherite, thundering over the wood and into the Holy Land.

“What-”

“There!” The voice is rough but familiar, and the figures dash over to where Dream is lying, defenseless. His pleads rise in pitch and volume, becoming almost unbearable to listen to, and there’s an angry clamor of voices and an awful, wet crack and a shrill scream-

Silence.

“Holy fuck-” George’s head is spinning, the voice finally registering- that’s Quackity, stance wide, a sword in his hand. Beside him, tall and imposing, stands Sam, his full set of Warden armor shining brilliantly under the still-rising sun. His hands are wrapped around his trident, gleaming cyan, the end speared straight through Dream’s chest.

“You killed him,” Quackity hisses, head raising and only then meeting George’s eyes. “Sam- what are we going to- you killed him.”

“I-” Sam shakes his head. “I had to, he was going to get away-”

“Sam-” Quackity’s voice pitches higher, more desperate, “Sam, did you- oh fuck, we’re in the Holy Land-”

The air shatters.

That, at least, seems to be the only way to describe what happens; George watches, breathless, as the air shimmers and warps unnaturally, the way his dreams do right before he wakes up, only centralized in the Church entrance instead of surrounding him on all sides. Blood continues to run down the stairs, stark against the pure white of the quartz, so dark it almost seems black. The ripple clarifies, deepens; there’s a sound like ripping fabric, and something carves a tear through what seems to be existence itself. Behind, there’s a starless void, alluring, wanting, calling, dark and deep and everlasting and the End this is The End-

A whirl of white and green and gold, and the tear is gone, leaving something entirely other in its wake. George shivers in his place; he thought that he’s seen XD angry, before, remembers vividly the feeling of being chased, the God’s voice calling after him as he shut the doors of Punz’s house behind him. He remembers the way their voice had glitched, growing deeper and distorted, the rage with which they had growled at him when they thought they were being used.

That all pales in comparison to this. That was all nothing compared to this.

“YOU-” the deity booms, voice echoing and crackling and rolling like thunder and cracking ice and the roar of the ocean on the sand, making George clamp his hands to his ears in vain. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”

George remembers being uncomfortable, back then, at how inhuman XD had seemed. Their jokes, gory and violent and startling, their idea of a prank being playing with people like dolls subject to their whims. It had taken him a while to really seem to get the God and for the God to understand him in turn, a while for him to understand that ignorance did not mean malice, that even a God that had never once known mortality could be so startlingly human. Here, their wings spread over them, seeming large enough to block out the sun, something dark and writhing behind the mask they wear, a sourceless wind howling around their robes and battering against the walls with aimless fury, George is reminded by how powerful they really are. That they are still eldritch, still a God, that they will not hesitate to judge those below him, the ones that they stare at, now, helpless and mortal and trapped within their gaze.

Sam stumbles back on the church steps, grip loosening on his trident. It continues to stick up out of Dream’s unmoving body, splattered with blood halfway up the handle.

“Oh no-” he hisses, and Quackity backs away with him, “no, no no I didn’t want to kill him,”

“THIS DOMAIN IS MINE.” Anyone else and it might’ve sounded petulant, childish. Here, with the deity’s fury directed on the two of them, even on the sidelines all George can feel is terror. “YOU HAVE TAKEN A LIFE UNDER MY PROTECTION, MORTALS.”

“Sam,” Quackity’s eyes are wide as saucers. “Sam, we gotta- we gotta run-”

“WHERE WILL YOU GO, LITTLE MORTAL?” XD disappears, then flashes back into existence at the Holy Land entrance, making Quackity and Sam shriek with their escape route blocked. “YOU HAVE ABUSED THE AUTHORITY YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN AND DESTROYED WHAT WAS NOT YOURS TO BREAK. YOU HAVE PURSUED POWER BEYOND YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND OUTSIDE YOUR POSSESSION. YOU HAVE ENTERED MY DOMAIN, MY REALM. DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU SHALL LEAVE UNPUNISHED?”

“XD,” Sam shouts, and thunder cracks overhead.

“A LIFE FOR A LIFE,” XD rumbles, their words final, and in the end, just as every other time, all George can do when the world ends is watch. Lightning spears to the ground, striking both Sam and Quackity with twin flashes of brilliant white, striking from a clear blue sky. The air sparks from the power, charged with static electricity and making George’s hair stand on end; thunder claps, seems to shatter the world into two as they disappear in twin shrieks and the smell of burned flesh. Just as quick as it happens, it ends, and George is once again left alone in the Holy Land, vomit clawing up his throat and tears stinging the backs of his eyes as he dry-heaves into the grass.

“XD,” he more begs than says, eyes fixed on Dream, still lying too-still on the church stairs. The deity turns to him, their face strangely blank. “XD, please- please tell me this is a dream.”

“Would that make you happy, George?” the god replies, and George sobs, face collapsing into his hands.

“Please, XD, please tell me- please tell me this isn’t real, please-”

“I don’t understand, George. Would that ease your distress?”

“XD- THIS CAN’T BE REAL- THIS- I-” George sinks to the ground. “He- he was supposed to be okay. He was supposed to come back, he wasn’t-” he grips their robes within his hands. “Please, XD, you can bring him back, please bring him back- this has to be a dream, he can’t be- he can’t be dead-”

Through his cries, the sirens continue to wail.

[laddieseddiemunster]

Hi! Thx for replying by for specification, I really loved the rebel aspect about the little sister imagine and maybe you could do one for like when it’s the day after she drank the bottle and the guys didn’t find her in the cave but can sense her around the boardwalk. I read in a few that when a new member is added they can feel it so that’s the route I’m going for. If not it’s cool.

Thank you for this ask! I really love the whole little sister concept with the lost boys. This ended up kind of turning into a wholesome fic cause I didn’t want to copy my other one. Hope you enjoy!

New Arrival (Lost Boys & 13 y/o Sister!Reader)

warning(s): mentioning of kidnapping, sneaking out of school, alcoholism, peer pressure

Some might say you were too young to be ditching school, but the hell with them, right? Though you weren’t sneaking out of school to a party. No, you were meeting up with friends to go exploring through some abandoned places. Sure, these places could be haunted, but the slight fear makes the experience more fun for you and your friends. Nothing spooky has ever happened before, so why should something happen now?

One of your friends came up with the idea. It was supposed to be a celebration for you and your friends most hated teacher because they had just gone missing. It was the ‘I’m glad you’re gone and I hope you never come back’ type of celebration. You didn’t know exactly what abandoned place you were going to, but wherever it was, it seemed to be really closed off near the mountains.

This abandoned place was beautiful, but it didn’t seem too abandoned. It was a cave that looked like it was something else originally, but it was decorated so nicely that you could hardly tell. The only problem was, there was some fire lit in the cave to bring light in, which probably means someone was in here not long ago.

Instead of deciding to leave, you chose to stay because you didn’t want to look like the one that was all scared. You’ve been to many abandoned places with your friends, but the slight fact that this place could possibly not be abandoned gave you the creeps.

As you all gathered up in the center of the cave, one of your friends thought it was a great idea to play a game of truth or dare. You made the smart move and decided to go with truth, because there was no way that you were doing a dare in this cave. One of your other friends decided to go with dare, and the dare they got was to crawl through the tunnel up hidden in the cave that no one had the balls to go into. You were thankful you didn’t have to do that.

Unfortunately for you, it came a time where you used up all of your truths, and now you were forced to do a dare. If you chose truth for a certain amount of times, then you had to do a dare no matter what. One of your friends came up with that idea, and you were currently hating them for it.

Your heart beat started to pump faster and faster as you thought of what horrible dare you would have to do in this cave. The answer to your question, was not thrilling or exciting as you might have guessed. Your friend handed you a tall looking wine glass that had been sitting on a table when you had first gotten to the cave. Your friend told you that for the dare you’d have to take a sip of whatever substance was in this glass.

Both of your eyes looked down in the direction of the bottle in your hands. The liquid inside was blood red, and it didn’t smell too appealing either. You almost gagged and immediately shook your head. There was no way you were going to drink this. All your friends started to whine and tell you that you had to do it because it was a dare. They started to chant “chug!” over and over again. You realized that if you didn’t drink it, then your friends would never let you live this down. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. “If I die it’s their fault,” you thought to yourself before putting the opening of the bottle up to your lips.

The substance burned your throat the second you swallowed a tiny portion of it. You let the bottle drop onto the floor and smash into thousands of pieces. You started to cough as you felt the burning from the liquid practically in your chest now. Your friends crowded you asking if you were okay, but you couldn’t answer them. You were barely able to breathe, more or less speak.

While you were trying to catch your breath, you heard some screaming coming from the other end of the cave. You thought this day couldn’t get any worse, but boy, were you wrong.

The screaming was coming from your friend that was given the dare to explore one of the tunnels in the cave. Well, they were now squirming out of the tunnel, and they looked scared shitless. They were screaming loudly that you all needed to leave now, and you definitely weren’t going to argue with that. The rest of your friends now looked pretty afraid, so you all grabbed your things and left as quickly as you could.

Your friend started to calm down when the cave was no where in sight and you all were safe. They claimed that they saw a couple people hanging from the roof at the end of the tunnel. A couple of your friends thought it was all a bunch of bologna. Some of them actually wanted to go back and investigate, but you were quick to shut them down. There is no way in hell that you were going back to that place.

->

The boys woke up and immediately noticed something was off. They could feel in their blood that a human had just been turned. Though, they didn’t know how. David could tell that it was from his blood, so he knew that someone drank the bottle. That, or one of them didn’t fully kill someone, and they hoped to god that that wasn’t the case.

Once they all saw the broken bottle of David’s blood on the floor they knew what had happened. They could also smell in the air that their were humans in the cave just a couple hours ago. Their main concern wasn’t to go out and kill some people that were in the cave, the main concern was to find you. A new vampire out in public could be dangerous. Lots of terrible things could happen that they didn’t want to think about. They knew they had to find you. Before Max did.

->

You didn’t feel too bad after a couple hours. You were able to breathe, and the burning in your chest went away. It was almost like nothing had happened. Well, so far.

Once you felt 100% you decided to take a walk around the boardwalk. Your friends were most likely already there. You met up with them there almost every day. Your mom dropped you off at the boardwalk before scurrying away to the nearest bar. It wasn’t a surprise to you at all. Sometimes you wondered how your mother even remembered to pick you up after school cause of all her drinking. You hoped one day she’d get some help for herself and you, but you’ve been hoping for that for years.

After your mom dropped you off you decided to look around for your friends. You usually met up with them around the carousel, but when you got there, they were nowhere to be found. You figured that they were probably still spooked over what happened at the cave, so you decided to go for ice cream because you knew it’d be a while before your mom would come to get you.

While you were in the line to order some ice cream, you started to feel a pounding in your chest. It felt like your heart was about to explode. You fell onto your knees and tried to take a few breaths. You could practically hear your own heart beat. It sounded like your heart was a ticking time bomb that was ready to detonate. A couple people in the line crouched down to your level and asked if you were okay.

As you looked over at the people trying to help you, you noticed that a weird feeling appeared in your throat. Almost like a thirst. Not a thirst for water though. You could practically smell the blood from their veins. It was quite unsettling, and the thirst in your throat kept increasing. It was like you were looking at them as if they were a meal. The people didn’t understand. They probably thought you were about to pass out.

The thirst was too much for you to handle, so you pushed past the people to try and stop it. Of course, that didn’t work at all. There was hundreds of people walking around, and you were stuck right in the middle of the crowd. The thirst didn’t go away, and the crowds only made it worse. The pounding in your chest didn’t help much either. You felt like you were dying, and no one around you seemed to care.

Your vision started to blur, and now your head was pounding along with your heart. You almost felt like your legs were about to give out. Until you felt someone grab onto both of your shoulders to keep you upright.

“Are you okay, kid?” Your vision came back and you looked up to see who was talking to you. It was a tall blond looking rocker, who definitely was considerably a lot older than you.

“Y-yeah! I’m fine,” you tried to get away from him, but he wasn’t budging. He hard a firm grip on your shoulders.

“Oh good, you found her,” you turned to your left to see a shorter blond with curly hair. He had a leather jacket on that had lots of vibrant colors. Since you had been on the boardwalk a good amount of times, you knew who these guys were. They were a part of the biker gang that was known for being feared. These guys were bad news.

“Wh-what?” The fact that they had been looking for you only sparked red flags. Luckily, your thirst started to become manageable. You didn’t quite feel it anymore. It was strange that the second these guys showed up was the second your thirst started to wear off, but you weren’t exactly complaining about it.

“Uhh, kid, you’re going to have to come with us,” the shorter blond said trying to take your hand.

“No!” You pulled your hand away from him, but the taller blond still had a grip on you.

“Kid, listen, you’re a-”

“No! Let go of me!” The blond rocker now grabbed onto your wrist. He was pretty strong, so no matter how hard you pulled, he didn’t budge one bit. The two remaining members of the gang had now joined in. Four against one.

“This is the one, right David?” The shorter blond asked. David. Now at least one of them was revealed.

“Yes,” the one called David said. He was definitely the leader. You recognized him because he always led the pack whenever you saw them around the boardwalk. “We have to take her back.”

You cursed under your breath realizing that you had to get out of this and fast. “Help me! I’m being kidnapped! Help!” You screamed for anyone to hear, but everyone just kept walking. It was like you were deaf upon ears.

“Stop it, kid! Ow!” The blond rocker yelped in pain as you bit down hard on his wrist that gripped onto your arm. He still didn’t release you, no matter how hard you tried. The other two blonds laughed at the two of you.

“Jesus Paul,” the brunette scoffed. “You’re scaring the hell out of her!”

“You’re not being kidnapped,” the shorter blond said with a mischievous smile appearing on his face. You could tell that he liked scaring people. “Well, not literally.”

The brunette shoved the shorter blond aside and walked towards you. “What’s your name?”

“Why would I tell you that?” You replied trying to back away from him.

“We’re not here to hurt you. You’re not being kidnapped,” the brunette said and turned back to glare at the shorter blond. “We’re here to help you.”

“From what?” You asked still unconvinced.

“We’re gonna explain that. Just tell us you’re name first,” the brunette said.

You rolled your eyes at told him your name. They all followed by telling you their names. The brunette was Dwayne. And the shorter blond was Marko.

David pushed Dwayne aside to walk towards you. “Let’s get to the point, okay?” You nodded even though you didn’t know exactly what he meant. “You drank from the bottle, didn’t you?”

You gasped softly. Dammit, you knew that you shouldn’t have drunk from that bottle. All because of some stupid dare. You shut your eyes and nodded.

David sighed. “Look kid, this is going to be really hard to explain, and I can’t do it here. You’re going to have to come back with us.”

“How do I know you’re not going to hurt me?” You asked not fully trusting them.

David chose not to put his hands on you. He felt that that would probably freak you out even more. “I swear to you that we won’t. We are here to help you, and protect you.”

“Protect me from what?” You asked.

“Yourself in a way.” You gave David a questioning look. What the hell was in that drink? “Listen to me very carefully,” you nodded. “You’re no longer...human. That drink contains something that turns you into... one of us.” He said which didn’t help your confusion.

“It’s hard to explain, but I can explain it better if we’re not in public. You’re going to have to trust us. If you don’t, it can be bad for you.” David said which still didn’t make much sense to you. But, you wanted to know what was the matter with you, so you nodded.

The boys took you out of the crowds and towards their motorcycles. You still didn’t exactly trust them, but if they could fix whatever was wrong with you, then you were willing to take the risk. David motioned for you to get on the back of his bike, and you had to take a breath before getting on it. Millions of thoughts raced through your brain, but you tried to convince yourself that these guys might actually be trying to help you.

The ride was actually kind of thrilling. You could tell David had no intention of driving slow. It didn’t surprise you when you saw them stop right in front of the caves entrance. You hoped to never see this cave again, but it didn’t look like this cave was ever going to leave your life.

You walked in trying not to look at the broken glass on the floor from the ‘wine’ bottle.

“Is this what you drank from?” Marko asked picking up some of the broken glass.

You gulped and nodded.

David and Marko shared a glance. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like a good one.

“Y/n, we are not exactly human,” David started. “You’ve seen all the missing posters around the town I’m sure?”

You nodded again.

“Those people are missing because of us. We are...killers. We have to feed from people to survive. If we feed, we will never die.” David said. You started to fidget. Maybe they weren’t trying to help you. Maybe they wanted you to be their next victim.

“So, you’re...cannibals?” You asked hoping that that wasn’t the truth. The two blonds started to laugh, but Dwayne glared at both of them internally telling them to stop.

David shook his head. “No, we’re...” David took a deep breath. He didn’t like stating the exact name of what he was, “...vampires.”

You scoffed in disbelief. You weren’t only in the worst place in the world, but now these guys claim to be vampires.

Marko and Paul shared a glance and mischievously smiled at each other. You were about to call them crazy, until you saw both of the blonds faces change completely. Their eyes turned golden, and their teeth were now sharp fangs that could pierce anyone’s skin.

Before you could scream, Dwayne put his hand over your mouth. “It’s okay, they’re not going to hurt you.” He tried to sound reassuring, but it didn’t work too well. The blonds turned back to normal after a few seconds, and you started to calm down. After Dwayne took his hand away from your mouth, you started to put two and two together.

“Is that what...I am?” You asked hoping that your conclusion was incorrect. The last thing you wanted to be was a vampire.

David nodded. “In that bottle, was my blood. Since you drank it, you’re now one of us.”

You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. Vampires were supposed to be fake! Not real! You couldn’t imagine killing people in order to survive. “Is there any way to turn back?”

David looked away before shaking his head.

“You mean I’m stuck like this forever?!” You raised your voice. This was worse than death.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Marko said.

“It’s worse than it looks!” You fired back making Marko look to the ground.

“Well, on the bright side you’re going to be our sister now,” Paul said with a smile.

“I don’t want to be your sister!” You said which made Paul’s smile fall. “I want to be normal!”

“Look, I understand that you probably want to think this over. There is a bedroom over there if you want to be alone.” David said pointing over to a room that was covered with curtains. You wondered why. You didn’t want to argue with them anymore, so you got up and walked over to the bedroom closing the curtains behind you. This was definitely the worst day of your life. You had to bite your lip to fight the tears that were threatening to fall. Crying wouldn’t help anything at this point.

You ended up spending the night there. The boys brought you food before the sun came up, but you never said a word to them when you came to give you the food. You woke up the next day assuming that it was morning. Instead, it was six in the afternoon. The sun was probably already down. You groaned realizing that your mom was probably pissed right now.

A couple minutes later, Dwayne, Paul, and Marko walked in your ‘bedroom’. You sighed and sat on the bed trying not to look at them. Marko walked to the side of the bed you were closest on, and he showed you a teddy bear that he had been hiding behind his back. He gestured for you to grab it, and you hesitated before grabbing it. The bear was brown, and it had a big smile on its face. You looked over at Marko and he shrugged his shoulders with a grin. You smiled and hugged the teddy bear tightly letting your head rest on the toys head.

Paul walked over to you and showed you a cake he had been hiding behind his back. On the top of the cakes was writing made out of frosting that said “Sister?” on it. You chuckled and took the cake.

“Is this...breakfast?” You asked not exactly knowing what to name this meal.

“Hey, if you don’t want it, I’ll eat it,” Paul said laying down on the bed.

“Did you write this?” You asked Paul pointing at the writing on the cake.

Paul nodded.

“Well, you have terrible handwriting,” you giggled looking at the words on the cake that were so hard to make out. It looked like someone drunk had written it.

Paul glared at you before grabbing the teddy bear and throwing it at your face. While you were distracted, Paul took his chance and wrestled you down to the bed and grabbed the cake looking like he was about to drop it on your face. You screamed for him not to do it.

“Take back what you said!” Paul pretended to be angry, but you could tell that he was just playing. Though he probably would drop the cake on your face.

“I take it back!” You gave in and Paul put the cake down on the bed.

You looked over at Dwayne who looked like he was trying not to bring up the elephant in the room. “Where’s David?” You asked him.

“He went out.” Dwayne said with a frown on his face. “Look y/n, you’re not a full vampire yet, you’re half. In order to be full, you’ll have to make your first kill.”

You looked away from Dwayne. Your good mood was now gone. “Do I have to make a kill?”

“Well, it’s probably best that you shouldn’t right now,” Dwayne said which gave you some hope. “You’re pretty young, so it’d be best if you wait til you’re older. It’ll be hard, but you’ll be able to do it.”

You sighed. “Will I ever get to see my friends and family again?” You asked Dwayne.

“It’s probably best that you don’t. You won’t be going to school anymore, so it’d be hard to explain to people why you aren’t going,” Dwayne replied.

“I’m not going to school anymore?” You asked.

“Well, as long as you’re with us, then no,” Dwayne said. No school? You hated school. Maybe this life wouldn’t be so bad after all. Then you remembered about your mother. You couldn’t just stop seeing her. Even though she wasn’t the best mother, you still loved her.

“What about my family? I can’t just leave my mom. I’m all she has!” You told them.

“It’s probably best that you don’t see her. If you see her and she calls the police, it could be bad,” the brunette explained.

Your mom was probably worried sick about you. The least you could do was check up on her, and make sure she’s okay.

“Can i at least go check up on her? Just to see if she’s okay? I won’t talk to her, I’ll just look through the window,” you suggested.

Dwayne looked over at Marko and Paul for an answer. They both shrugged their shoulders.

“Okay,” Dwayne agreed. “But just this once.”

You were glad that they were letting you see your mother, but at the same time it felt like they were controlling your life. You didn’t choose to be like this, but now you can’t get out of it. All because of a stupid dare.

Dwayne drove you to your mothers house. It sucked because you wanted to see how she was doing, but you couldn’t speak to her. You could only look through the window. You hoped to god that this wasn’t the last time you’d ever see her. The thought of that made you sad.

You told Dwayne to stay on his motorcycle, and that you wouldn’t be long. As you walked over to the front window you noticed a car pulled up in the driveway that you had never seen before. You shrugged it off and decided not to pay much attention to it. You crouched down next to the window and took a look trying not to look suspicious.

When you looked inside your house, you saw that your mom was sitting down on the couch. She looked like she was talking to someone, but you couldn’t see who. Suddenly, someone walked over to her. It was some guy you had never seen before. He grabbed onto the back of her neck and started to kiss her. She definitely wasn’t trying to push him away. He ended up getting on top of her, and she let him.

Your breath hitched and you started to see red. You mother didn’t seem like she was worried about you. It looked like she was having the time of her life. You had been gone for almost a full day, and she cared so much about you that she was hooking up with some guy in your own house. You knew she wasn’t perfect, but this was crossing the line.

You felt tears start to form in your eyes, and you tried to blink them away. Some still fell, but you were so angry that you didn’t care. Angry and sad. Angry because you just realized that your own mother didn’t look like she cared that you hadn’t been home for almost a day. Sad because of the same reason. She obviously didn’t care. She cared more about alcohol and this random guy more.

Dwayne noticed you wiping away tears from your eyes as you walked back to his bike.

“Are you okay? What’s the matter?” He asked.

“Nothing. Just drive,” you ordered him as you hopped on the back of his motorcycle.

“Is she okay?” Dwayne turned around to face you. He saw that your lip quivered and that your eyes were watering.

“Yeah, she’s just perfect, okay?” You barked back not looking at him.

“Tell me what happened,” Dwayne said while grabbing onto your arm.

“Nothing! Just take me home!” You said with a slight whimper. Dwayne decided not to keep bothering you with the question. Obviously something happened, but you weren’t going to tell him. Dwayne was a little surprised that you told him to take you home. Because you meant the cave. You wanted to go back to them. Dwayne realized in that moment, that whatever you did see, made you not consider the place with your mom ‘home’ anymore.

Dwayne said nothing to you on the ride back to the cave. He didn’t want to upset you any more than you already were. Dwayne wasn’t planning on telling the other guys about what had happened. They’d probably get worried and shower you with more questions.

David was already back at the cave when both you and Dwayne came back. When you walked in, you noticed that Marko and Paul had big grins on their faces. Too bad you didn’t feel like smiling along with them.

“Where’d you guys go?” David asked.

“We went for a ride,” Dwayne said which was half the truth.

David nodded before standing up. “Y/n, I got you something.” You sighed. You weren’t exactly in the mood for any more gifts. All you wanted to do was lay down in bed for the rest of the night. It was a terrible day, and you felt like nothing in the world could make it better.

Before you could tell him that you weren’t in the mood, David pulled out a black leather jacket that looked around your size.

“I thought that sense you’re one of us, that you should look like us,” he said handing you the leather jacket. You took it in your hands and admired it for a few seconds. It wasn’t too crazy like Marko’s, but it did have some design. The front had some golden print, and some beads were stamped on the upper part of the sleeves. The edge of the sleeves also had some golden printing. There was no zipper or buttons. It looked like a smaller version of David’s jacket.

“If you don’t like it I could go get another one,” David suggested.

“No! No, I like it,” you said still admiring it. You had never owned a leather jacket before. Up until now of course.

“You could decorate it, too,” Marko said pointing to his very decorated jacket.

You still felt a little hurt from the past situation, but you weren’t sad anymore. You felt welcomed by the guys. Even though they’re vampires, they’re now your brothers. Whether you like it or not, that’s not going to change.

“Try it on,” Paul said and you obeyed. You pulled the sleeves over your arms and noticed that it was a perfect fit. David sure knew how to pick the right size and jacket. You couldn’t exactly look into a mirror to see how it would look, so you looked over to your new brothers.

“How do I look?” You asked them.

“Like one of us,” David said and you smiled.

[mikaze-discord]

Love letter project ♡

Sooo to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Shining live, I put together a project! I basically got a bunch of people to write a love letter for their favourite boy. Things like, why they like them, how they got to like them and what they like about them were all accepted!

The event was supposed to have 2 fans for each boy but unfortunately I was unable to get two for some of the boys. 

Under the cut will be the love letters for all of Class A!!! Please enjoy~ And thank you for all the people who participated in the event and taking the time to write the love letters out. 

CLASS A

OTOYA ITTOKI

From @ponzu-penzui:

Hello world! My nickname is Yuki, and I’m here to tell you about the sunshine boy that is Otoya Ittoki. The redhead of the series, Otoya is your seemingly a-typical sunshine in a mascot boy character. But, as we all know with these types, the sunshine isn’t as, well, sunshine as they seem. Or, if you didn’t know, well… spoiler alert I guess. Go watch the anime, or play the otome games, then come back here. Anyways, let’s get started on our journey, shall we? Through the rabbithole that got me here in the first place!

Otoya immediately became my best boy the second I saw him. I’m not quite sure what immediately got me at first, whether it be his red hair and eyes, his voice, or his immediate friendliness, but here we are. I should also mention that UtaPri was my first idol anime, so I was completely unaware what was going to hit me later. And, if you’ve watched the entire anime, you know where I’m going.

Season 4 was an emotional wreck. I cried at least twice. Did I have a newfound appreciation for Otoya after all that heartache? Definitely. Without spoilers, it was incredibly painful for me to watch, but I don’t regret it.

After watching the anime, I soon found out about the existence of Shining Live. So, with no other UtaPri content to binge, I started to play SL in late 2018. After playing for a little more than a year, I tiered in my first Otoya event (Heartwarming Snow Festival), and achieved my first top 200. Ever since then, I’ve tiered in every Otoya event, getting top 200, then top 100.

But, why do I like Otoya Ittoki even to this day? Well, I guess this is the time where I say that, after a certain point, I started to see bits of myself in Otoya. This led me to start to RP him, and, as you probably know if you’ve ever roleplayed a character before, I started to look at the miniscule amount of translated game content (many thanks to the Ohayaho Translation Team) for, well, more content. And content I did receive. Long story short, this only served to solidify Otoya as my favorite boy of not only UtaPri, but from all anime/manga/game content I’ve ever seen/watched. His cheerfulness may have been the first thing that got me in this rabbithole, but his backstory and how he managed to grow up pulled me in even further. And, I don’t think I will or want to get out anytime soon.

Next one from; Anon

As much as we all know our Otoya for how sweet and kind he is, there is so much more to him than just a precious smile. He is uplifting, cheerful towards everyone he meets. He has empathy and goes out of his way to make sure his friends are happy. Even so, Otoya has feelings that aren’t always happiness and smiles. He can feel sad and angry just like anyone else.

The reason I care and love Otoya so much is because he has shown me that I don’t have to always put on a smile. It’s nice to show off your pearly whites, but sometimes, it’s okay to be sad too. There are times in everyone’s life when they feel out of place and that they don’t belong. Otoya also felt this way and that’s perfectly okay. He’s still being the best idol he can be: The idol that Otoya loves the most.

MASATO HIJIRIKAWA

From Anon: 

Masato Hijirikawa. Why do I like Masato Hijirikawa? I like him to the point that it feels weird for me to even question why I do. He's just- a good boy. A great boy. I love him. As a joke, I'd usually say that it was his weirdly pretty, bowl-cut hairstyle that drew me to him, or I'd say that he caught my interest when I read that he was "very good with his hands" (wink wonk) in his Shining Live description, and while both of these reasons are still true, it wasn't until I started role playing him in an old server that I really started to appreciate his character more.

Masato, despite his aloof and almost "perfect" initial image, is a very relatable character. When he first arrived at Saotome (in-game) he wasn't necessarily seen as someone with a lot of talent to become an idol, which he acknowledged with grace and worked hard to make up for. He's humble despite his privileged upbringing and is incredibly self-aware of his flaws, which are sources of insecurity for him sometimes (a lot of times). Though it should be said that most of this insecurity stems from not having a lot of control over his early life, which is why it felt so gratifying to see him break free of his metaphorical chains to pursue his happiness without any doubts. He's a hard worker and is willing to accept criticism with open arms, not only for himself but for the people around him. Despite his traditional upbringing and nature, he's very receptive to change as long as it benefits both him and STARISH. He values the people he cares about more than anything, which is why he constantly strives to be a better version of himself every day, not only for himself but for the people around him.

Though his stoicism sometimes makes him seem plain or even "boring" to some people, he hides a warm, hidden passion within that's just as bright as everyone else's. Like the springtime bloom of cherry blossoms after winter, Masato shows his passion and love with no restraint to anyone who takes the time to understand him, and I can very much attest to this. I love him a lot and I hope to see more content of him, STARISH, and the others for more years to come.

NATSUKI SHINOMIYA

From uh....me:

HELLO I’m Z~ also known as the mod of the mikaze-discord/utapri-hcs tumblrs, as well as the organiser for the event! But enough about myself, let's talk about Natsuki Shinomiya.

When I first watched the anime as a youngin, I had already known about the games and their plots but had decided to try out the anime as well since I had nothing better to do.

Natsuki was actually one of my least favourite characters in the anime just because of how they presented him. I just...didn't care for him at all. He was just some random tall guy who loved hugs and almost murder…. Yeah.

I’m sure like most, I had a changing point. Originally, I was a Tokiya rper but...I was just unhappy with how my Tokiya was, I wasn't as experienced in rping with that server being my first rp server i was ever in. I didn't feel like I matched up with the others. I felt my Tokiya was just lacking something, substance maybe. Another person actually had a similar feeling and had changed their character from Camus to Syo and since we already had an Ai, I had just decided to go with the flow and complete the rest of the cute team. Best decision of my life. I’m so grateful for Natsuki and everything I associate him with. Without him, I probably wouldn't have made my tumblrs, I wouldn't have stayed in that server, I wouldn't have gone looking for other servers to rp in. I don't think I would be the same without Natsuki. I just find him so endearing now, he is just a lovable giant who happens to be able to be a disney princess. He is just so darn cute damn it. , just look at his Christmas card, his King card, quite literally just half his Shining live URs. Also, just like his songs just slap. Natsuki to me, is just serotonin. He gave me so many opportunities that I could have missed. I don't even think I would have started this love letter project without him if I’m being completely honest. I genuinely enjoyed all the memories I made as Natsuki. Thank you to Natsuki and to the Mikaze-discord for basically starting me off.

From Luke:

Natsuki was actually the very first character I encountered before I got into utapri. A friend showed a photo of him and told me that I'd probably be into this guy. She sure was right! After installing shining live for the first time and having a familiar face on the screen, I grew curious of him each day and just had to find out why was so attracted to him. The fact that I've seen him so many times in the past was haunting me, telling me that this man actually watched me grow up from a distance without even knowing his name. It sounds weird but I find it rather comforting for someone who doesn't want to be protected but isn't strong enough to defend myself alone.

The thought of having him there was enough to get me through the day and gave me enough reason to wake up to the next. I admit I may have adapted some of his habits after looking after his account for a year but that isn't a bad thing if it means that it would turn me into a much better person than I am now. I guess you could say we've grown together now in a sense, preserving the feelings and just living through the moment no matter how happy or sad it is. What's important is that we're not alone in all things we do and in everything we feel, there will always be someone there to keep us moving when we feel like giving up.

[fugitive-96]

The Witching Hour (A TG/TF story)

"Okay we all ready for this?" Trish asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be." Blake replied.

"Ted, start the tape." Trish said.

Ted walked over to the table with the tape recorder and hit record.

"You ready Angela?" Trish said over to Angela who was sitting on the floor in front of a Ouija board opposite Henry.

"The time is 03:00 AM, Halloween night 1989. We are standing in the basement of the long abandoned Hall House where we are about to attempt contact with the astral plane." Trish spoke into her small recorder.

The four friends had long been shunned in school for being interested in the supernatural, more specifically their beliefs in things like psychic powers, various forms of spirits, and other creatures from urban legends.

The group of friends was made up of two boys and two girls. Blake who was currently standing by with a camera was tall with slicked back black hair and a set of thin spectacles and was dressed in a poorly made Frankenstein Monster's costume, albeit he'd removed the makeup. The second boy was Ted who was operating the various equipment such as the speakers and the large tape recorder sitting on the table who was average height with slightly long but messy blonde hair and was dressed in a denim jacket and jeans. Henry who was slightly chubby compared to the other two and was sporting a ginger mullet matching the freckles on his face and was wearing a yellow and green high school football jacket and was operating the Ouija board along with Angela, and whilst he wasn't a member of their group he decided to tag along after Trish and Angela invited him. Angela was the quietest of the group, but was also the one with the most extreme ideas, she was dressed in what she called her usual 'gothic punk' getup with shoulder length black hair, a black tank top and jeans, along with various studded items around her thin arms and a pair of studs on her lips which along with her eyes were done up in black makeup whilst the rest of her face was pale white. Lastly there was Trish who was the 'leader' of the group with big frizzy blonde hair and large glasses, who was sporting a green jacket and baggy clothes more appropriate for the cold weather.

The five of them had decided to spend their Halloween night in Hall House, an abandoned Manor house that had stood in their town for many years as an allegedly haunted location due to its dark history, needless to say this house was the location of murders and seances over the years. Angela was the one who suggested that they conduct their 'experiment' there, as it had been 100 years since the horrific events in the house had taken place.

They had gone down to the lower levels of the house where the events took place, and after setting up their equipment on the table they illuminated the room with only candles and were now about to begin.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Ted asked.

"*sigh* You bring this up now!" Trish replied angrily, stopping her tape recorder.

"It's just we're trespassing! I'm all for discovering what lies beyond and all that, but this doesn't really feel safe, I mean I don't think the spirits here would appreciate Angela breaking the front door of their house."  

"You heard Angela, this could be our one chance to do this!" Trish responded.  

"Could we get on with this already, I'm not sitting on this stone floor all night." Henry complained.  

"Yeah Trish is right, we're here now so lets do this." Blake added.  

"You heard them." Trish said to Ted

"Fine, but I've got a bad feeling abo-"  

"Don't say it Ted, you are not jinxing this!" Trish spat.  

"Anyway, back to it." She said resuming her recording.  

"Okay Angela, go for it."

As Angela was about to begin Blake got his camera ready whilst Ted resumed the large tape recorder on the table which was picking up any background noise whilst a radio next to it was skipping through channels.

"Spirits, can you here us?" Angela said aloud looking up.

The planchet then began moving slowly towards yes.

"Holy crap is it actually working!" Henry blurted out.  

"Shhh! *At 03:04* the planchet answered yes." Trish whispered into her recorder as Blake took a shot.  

"Spirits, can you show yourselves to us?" Angela then asked

"That seems a bit direct." Blake murmured under his breath before Trish shot him a glare.  

After a few seconds the planchet didn't move.

"Spirits, can you still here me?" Angela asked but again nothing happened.

Trish looked over at Ted who was still surfing through radio channels but was receiving nothing. They waited for a few more minutes but again nothing happened.

"This blows! That first bit was totally just Angela moving it by herself" Henry blurted out.

"SHHH! Be quiet Henry!" Trish whispered angrily.

"Or what, nothing's happening! Hey spirits what color's my hair?" He asked before clearly forcing the planchet over the correct letters causing Angela's head to sink in disappointment.  

"*Chuckle* Hey spirits what's my favourite colour?" Blake chimed in as Henry forced the planchet again.  

"It says green."  

"Holy shit it really is a g-g-g-ghost!" Blake replied dramatically.

Trish then aggressively turned off her recorder and slammed it on the table.  

"You're ruining it!" She yelled at Blake and Henry.

"There's nothing to ruin, nothing's happened." Blake replied.

"We were getting something!" Trish yelled back.

"Sure we were, I wouldn't have even shown up to this if it weren't for Angela being hot, and now how's the rest of the football team gonna treat me when they find out that I spent Halloween night with losers in a dusty old basement!" Henry said.

"Technically this is- was a crematorium." Ted replied.

"Hey it's because of you we started late." Blake said to Ted who just shrugged it off and continued using the radio.

"Oh shut up, if you weren't at that stupid party we could've started even earlier!" Trish yelled at Blake.

"Last time I checked the witching hour didn't start at 02:47! How are we even supposed to see anything if the room's only lit by fucking candles!" Blake yelled back.  

"GUYS SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TO THIS!" Ted yelled gesturing to the radio.

Blake, Trish and Henry all crowded around as Ted began to oscillate between radio channels which was creating a strange sound.

"Is that... breathing?" Blake asked, triggering Trish to quickly grab her tape recorder.

"Maybe it's just some old fart with a ham radio." Henry said.

"Between channels, is that even a thing?" Ted replied.  

"I thought you were a nerd?" Henry replied.

"Yeah ask me about comic books any day, I don't know how radios work." Ted replied.

As they continued to listen it was clear that they were hearing a voice, albeit it was very raspy and they weren't saying anything, until suddenly...

"GET OUT!" A voice yelled through the radio causing the four of them to jump away from the table, the static now sounding louder than ever.

"What the fuck was that!" Henry yelled, but the others were speechless.

The radio then started skipping sharply through channels, back and forth sounding like a knife tearing through electricity. All of a sudden the tape begin spinning faster and faster before it erupted into sparks along with all the other equipment causing the four of them to duck. As they slowly crept back up they each grabbed one of the many torches that were sitting on the table and after checking that they still worked pointed them towards the burned and blown up remains of the radio, but the sharp sound of it skipping channels was still somehow going, however after a few seconds it abruptly stopped.

The four of them sighed with relief simultaneously before realizing that the sharp sound of the radio going back and forth was now replaced with the sound of wood scraping back and forth.

All four of them slowly turned towards the direction of the sound and were greeted by the sight of Angela, still with her head hung low obscuring her face from view, as she violently scrapped the planchet against the now very worn looking board. She then abruptly stopped and crept forward slightly before looking up at the four of them, the light form their torches revealing her eyes to be nearly completely whited out aside from a tiny black dot of a pupil in each one.

"She's here." Angela said in a now deeper voice with a wicked grin.

"Oh fuck." Blake stammered.  Suddenly the furnaces in the crematorium that hadn't been used in over 100 years ignited with roaring flames behind Angela, as slowly a circular pattern formed in the floor between her and the others, which then began to rot and sink down as what looked like blood began to seep through it until it looked like a small pool of it formed.

The four stood there speechless as slowly a woman rose out of the blood. She had pale skin and white hair, with sharp black eyebrows and what looked like red makeup around her eyes and lips. Her nails were sharp and black with crosses painted on them, in fact she also had small crosses under her eyes and studs in her nose and belly button. She wore some form of  black headdress with various beads and spikes sticking from it along with angels sculpted on it. Her body was only covered by a corset that was laced in the middle showing off some of her stomach and a bra-like chest piece, both of which looked to be made from some thick leather-like material which connected down to straps holding thigh high black heeled boots onto her legs. She rose out of the floor with her eyes closed and her hands on her chest with blood dripping from her mouth down her chest and arms, her expression looking almost as though she was experiencing pleasure as she rose from her bloody gateway.

"Ooh It's good to be back here." She said as she lowered her arms from her chest and stretched her body before opening her eyes and looking at the four people in front of her.

"So, you're the two who mocked my arrival?" She said looking at Blake and Henry.

"W...we didn't mean it.. hones-" Henry began to blurt out but it was too late, the woman had pointed her finger at the two of them and purple electricity began crackling around their bodies. Their clothes were burned away as their bodies levitated as the two of them twitched and squirmed, Blake's glasses falling to the floor.

Trish and Ted backed up in shock at what they were witnessing, still speechless with their jaws hanging open.

Soon Blake and Henry's bodies were completely covered by black clouds which began swirling around them along with the electricity flashing, their screams of pain filling the room. Soon there came the sound of bones cracking and flesh rearranging and tightening as their screams turned more feminine, and during the occasional flash of electricity Trish and Ted could see their silhouettes inside the black clouds twisting and contorting as their figures became thinner and more delicate, along with certain areas becoming a lot more pronounced. During this their screams of pain shifted to moans of pleasure, then to slightly more animalistic sounds. Before long the clouds began to dissipate as their bodies became visible.

Trish and Ted stared in shock at the sight of what was formerly Blake and Henry, now in their place stood two women wrapped in black fur robes that draped down to the floor but left their bodies visible from the chest and shoulder area up. Their skin was now chalk white with pointed eyebrows and long black hair with short fringes. They had eyeliner that went off in streaks to the sides of their faces whilst black liquid dripped from their now whited out eyes. Their lips were also black and their noses were studded; their now pointed ears had circular black earrings and they each had a small necklace with a skull around their necks. They crouched there snarling with vampire-like fangs as their delicate hands with pointed black nails ran across their bodies.

"Come now my pets." The woman said causing the two of them to slink over to her crouching down behind her on each side.

"W.. what did you do to them?!" Ted yelled in a fearful tone.

"Oh them, I made them into my personal demonic hell spawn, they'll be keeping me company from now on, doing my bidding for the rest of their existence." She said as she ran her hands over their heads.

"Oh but don't worry your friends won't complain." She said with a grin.

"Now, I think introductions are in order." She said clapping her hands together.

"I am Kiniva, high ranking Demon Mistress of Hell." She announced with a grin, however noticing the lack of change on Ted and Trish's still shocked expressions her grin turned to a look of disappointment.

"Is that really how you respond to my presence!" She said angrily, before then calming down and looking intently around the room.

"Now, I believe I have business to attend to here." She continued as she very slowly began walking towards Ted and Trish, her hips swaying gracefully as she put one foot in front of the other, clearly knowing how to carry herself in the sexiest way possible with her figure silhouetted against the roaring flames behind her.

"W.. what do you want?" Trish asked nervously as she and Ted held each other fearfully as they backed up further into the corner of the room.

"Well, my loyal follower has spent many years waiting for this day." She said turning her head gesturing towards Angela.

"Wait.. what?!"

"Oh yes Ted, Angela here is the latest in a long line of followers going back over 100 years, dedicated out of shier multi-generational loyalty." She said turning around giving Angela a smile.

"Oh yeah well taste this!" Trish yelled pulling out a large crucifix and pointing it at Kiniva.

"What do you think I am, a Vampire?!" Kiniva replied angrily raising a hand to her face as she snapped her fingers causing the crucifix to erupt into flames in Trish's hand.

"Guess you didn't notice the crosses on my face." She said pointing to her face.

"But that's a holy item, it should repel you!" "Well you see Trish when you're as powerful as I am there isn't really much that can stop you, displaying that on my body wasn't enough to tell you that." She replied holding up her cross patterned nails. "Anyway enough of the small talk, I have things to do here." "What things?" Ted asked. "Well firstly I awarded my loyal follower who will now willingly accompany me back to hell as my apprentice, and those two boys were just a warmup, it's about time I had some real fun, starting with you Trish." "What are you talking about, why me!? Wasn't Blake and Henry enough?" "Oh no they were being punished for being impolite to a Demon, but you have much deeper sins." Kiniva replied with a chuckle. "What do you mean?" "You know what I mean, my follower latched on to your group due to your interests in my realm, but you didn't want to summon me to discover new worlds, new experiences, you just wanted to boost your ego."

Trish looked speechless. "It's no secret, you wanted to conduct this ritual just to prove you were right over all those other people, just knowing that I existed was enough, but you knew the danger I posed to the world and yet you went ahead without a care in the world. You didn't even show concern over your two companions over there being made into unholy creatures of hell, and that's not even the worst of it."

Trish was beginning to turn red as Ted looked at her confused.

"What's she talking about?" "Oh Ted didn't you know, she only let Henry tag along because she and Angela knew that in all of the previous rituals they had a sacrifice for me." Kiniva replied. "Is that true?" Ted asked Trish. "I...It didn't matter, he was a bully to me for two years straight back in middle school, he had it coming!" Trish blurted out through tears as she let go of Ted.

Ted stood there even more horrified and confused. "Oh Trish, it's alright. Doing something that horrible is considered admirable where I'm from." Kiniva replied as she stepped close to her.

As Trish stood there a sniveling mess Kiniva took her in her arms and held her close, running a hand over her hair.

"I'm proud of what you've done, you're officially a corrupted soul." Kiniva replied before lifting Trish's head up so they were face to face. "And you know what happens to corrupted souls." She said as her voice became much deeper before her eyes began to glow red as she held Trish in place who was screaming desperately as she tried to escape.

Trish let out a loud gasp as her waist was crushed inwards by a corset that had materialized over her torso, the binds creaking and tightening. A long black dress billowed out from the bottom of the corset covering her legs as it puffed out, and whilst it wasn't visible she could feel her feet raise as her trainers morphed into heels whilst her clothes under the dress vanished and were replaced with more appropriate undergarments. Her clothes on her upper body began to change also, with the neckline of her shirt widening and lowering down exposing an ample amount of cleavage that was being raised up by the corset, whilst her outer jacket darkened as it morphed into the upper section of the dress, with puffy shoulders, long black sleeves and dotted gloves that left her hands visible through them. An  elaborate necklace formed around her neck along with earrings whilst makeup materialized onto her lips, giving them a dark gold coat whilst  her eyebrows and eyes also became adorned with makeup. With the way she looked now she looked as though she belonged to a different time period.

Trish could barely express her shock at what she was experiencing as Kiniva held her in place by the head, forcing her to stare at her glowing red eyes as Trish could only imagine what was happening to her body. As Kiniva loosened her grip on Trish's head Trish's blonde hair began turning a dark brown as it lost it's frizzy look as it began to elegantly drape down her shoulders in a slightly curled appearance, before it suddenly began whipping around as it reformed on top of her head into an extravagant yet still elegantly styled bun.

Trish was speechless as she took in her new appearance, but soon noticed her whole body beginning to fade in colour; her clothes and skin were draining into a more washed out colour, but more disturbing was how her entire form was beginning to look old and flakey, not like an older person but rather like her skin and clothes were now made of a weathered material.

"Ted... help me.. please.." She begged but her voice was fading too, becoming quieter until no sound came from her lips, even her movements were becoming much slower and weaker, almost as though she'd fall apart if she wasn't careful. The sounds of her body stiffening and hollowing out continued as she froze in place with a vacant expression and her arms reaching up to her hair. Whilst she still maintained her shape she didn't look like an actual human anymore, instead she looked more like a paper model of herself.

Kiniva grinned as she drew a rectangle in the air with her finger, which morphed into a large old fashioned picture frame that floated behind Trish and lay on the floor. She then blew Trish a kiss that caused her hollowed out form to fall backwards. Ted tried desperately to catch her before she hit the frame but didn't make it in time, however instead of just hitting the frame she was absorbed into it, melting through until she was but a two-dimensional image, with the canvas  taking in the weathered appearance that her skin had. Ted backed up in horror at what he'd just witnessed.

Kiniva lifted the frame from the floor as she inspected it with a grin.

"Well Trish you did like to use people like they were objects, now let's see how you like it being one." She said before propping the frame up against the wall.

"Oh God." Ted said shuddering in shock after what he'd just witnessed. "Sorry God's not here right now, you're stuck with me." Kiniva responded turning her attention towards him. "Oh don't worry about her, she's in a dimension where well... let's just say she's not going to want to leave anytime soon." "So are you gonna kill me now?" Ted asked nervously. "Well I would, or I'd turn you into another hell spawn, but unfortunately you've got something that's too valuable to waste." "What?" Ted asked fearfully. "An uncorrupted soul and genuine curiosity in what lies beyond, unlike that other mortal I just dealt with." She Replied. "Her name was Trish." Ted said with a hint of anger. "See, there it is! Even after knowing that she was willing to sacrifice another human life you still feel pity for her after what I did to her, plus you showed compassion for your other friends that I dealt with, that's the sign of an uncorrupted soul." Kiniva replied sounding impressed.

"But I can see you, what you want to know. You want to know what it's like where I'm from, and not to boost your ego or to get some rush out of it, you're just genuinely curious aren't you? You're not even really afraid of it, you tell yourself you are but you know you're not." Kiniva continued as she got closer to him. "I can show you. You can experience what it is like to be a being not of this realm, to be like.. me." She said now being right in front of Ted. "What do you say?" "I.. what will I be?" Ted asked. "Something very familiar." She replied before wrapping her arm around his head and pulling him in for a kiss.

Initially Ted was taken aback, but something was beginning to happen to him, and whatever it was felt really.. really good. The two of them began to become more passionate as they kissed each other, but as they kept going Ted's hair began to turn white as it slowly stretched down his head until it was identical in colour and style to Kiniva's.

His whole body started changing with his torso, arms and legs thinning out as his skin turned very pale and less blemished than before, in fact his skin was now incredibly smooth. As he reached up an arm to Kiniva's head his hands became more delicate and petite whilst his nails turned darker and sharper.

As they continued making out Kiniva began to slip Ted's clothes off his body revealing it to now be completely pale and rather delicate looking, but as she held him close she ran her hands up his legs to his waist, causing his thighs to bulge out along with his hips whilst his waist pulled in and his stomach flattened. His feet also looked much more feminine. She ran a finger along his spine which was followed by slight popping noises as his spine repositioned itself as his height shrank, causing his thickening thighs to jiggle.

Kiniva then started to kiss Ted more passionately, but as she stuck her tongue down his throat it travelled down even further into his body as it began reworking his insides, pushing and squishing them into new forms, with Ted seemingly being completely oblivious to what was happening to him.

"This is the best part." She whispered as she ran one hand over Ted's chest and another over his crotch, before she began running her hand up and down his shaft.

Ted moaned as he felt ripples of pleasure all throughout his body. "That's it, let it out." Kiniva said as she continued running her hand up and down, Ted completely oblivious to the shrinking of mass in his crotch.

As Ted stood there with his head back in complete bliss Kiniva's other hand began squeezing his chest, causing slight lumps to plump out.

By now Ted's penis was nearly completely gone, but as the pulses of pleasure ran through his body each pulse caused his penis to shrink whilst the mass on his chest built. "Oh yes, YES! DON'T STOP!" Ted yelled passionately, his voice raising slightly.

Kiniva grinned as she watched as the last traces of Ted's manhood fade, and began rubbing his flat crotch as a slit formed.

"OH... OOH!" Ted's moans were now completely feminine as he placed his hands over his chest as he welcomed the way they began to be filled with his rapidly expanding breasts, which continued to expand with each pulse of pleasure that ran through his body. Kiniva once again pulled him in closer causing Ted's forming breasts to squish up against hers.

As this was occurring the pulses of energy had reached his face, with it audibly cracking and stretching as it became slimmer and softer with each pulse whilst his breasts continued expanding. Whilst most of his facial features were thinning out like his nose and head shape in general, his lips plumped as his eyes grew larger along with his eyebrows becoming sharper and more defined. His eyebrows and eyelids darkened as though they were coated in makeup, whilst his sharpening cheekbones began to glisten slightly along with his lips becoming coated in black. Small cuts in the shape of crosses formed under his eyes as a pair of crosses morphed onto his face, along with a stud on the rim of his nose and on his tongue.

By now he had a pronounced set of breasts on his chest as his facial changes finalized, leaving him looking almost completely identical to Kiniva.

"One last touch." She whispered into Ted's ear who sounded as though he was about to reach climax, before she then pushed her hand into his chest, fazing through his skin which glowed orange as she grabbed his heart and turned it cold.

Ted moaned loudly in release, marking the end of his changes as Kiniva removed her hand from his chest, which was now adorned with what looked like a tattoo of a heart.

"There, now you have the identifying symbol of our type of Demon." Kiniva said to the slightly dazed Ted.

"How's it feel?" Kiniva asked her now doppelganger.  

"This is, oh wow!" Ted replied looking down at his new form, still in shock at what he just went through but he strangely felt very accepting of his new situation. "I knew you'd like it."

"But I still don't understnad, why give me this but not Angela?" "Well Angela is a corrupted soul, so she will one day join our ranks, but she has to take the long way round in hell, but as my loyal follower she'll welcome it." "So, what am I going to do now?" Ted asked, a hint of excitement in his feminine voice. "Oh, I've got some ideas." Kiniva replied before her eyes glowed red as red beams shot from her eyes into Ted's.

She then began flooding Ted's mind with new knowledge, the inner workings of hell, the new powers this form allowed him to have as well as a Demon's lust for souls, as well as adjusting his mindset slightly to accommodate the intensity of this new knowledge that he'd, or more accurately she'd be needing, for now she was one with Kiniva. Once the beam had stopped her eyes turned black as a pair of red pupils flashed before returning to normal, signaling the completion of the process.

"Oh, now that feels so much better!" She said grinning with devilish energy as she lay her head back running her hands through her hair. "Thought you'd feel that way." Kiniva replied heading back over to Angela and her pets. "I must be off now, more souls to claim, more carnage to cause."

"Have fun Kiniva." "You too, Kiniva." The original Kiniva replied with a grin as a large black cloud swirled around her, consuming her, Angela and her two pets. It had nearly filled the whole room before it vanished, the fire in the furnaces having died, the hole in the floor that Kiniva rose from having repaired itself and the original Kiniva, along with Angela and her pets had vanished, leaving the room looking exactly as it did when Trish's group first entered it.

The new Kiniva stood there naked now completely silent and alone, before noticing the picture frame propped up against the wall which she picked up and inspected.

"Oh Trish, and to think I used to have a crush on you. Hope you like the view in there, don't worry I'll find a good place to display you." She grinned as she made her way out of the crematorium.

"Ooh, this place looks homely." Kiniva said as she headed off into the darkness of the house.

A few decades later..

"You sure this is a good idea?" David asked. "C'mon David, this house has stood here completely abandoned for years, people are too afraid to go near it because apparently some people went missing here back in the 80's." Brad replied. "So remind me why we're going in again?" "Because there's all the rumors about 'something' still occupying the house, so this is our chance to prove it, plus even if there's nothing this place was abandoned, so there's probably stuff in there worth millions, and seeing as it's 3:00 AM no one's gonna see us take anything." "Fine okay okay I'll go in with you." David replied reluctantly. As the two friends began making their way along the path towards the front door of the house, they were taken aback when the front door creaked open revealing the decrepit inside of the house along with the sight of a beautiful tall pale faced woman in a black dress with white hair.

"Hello boys, why don't you come inside, it's been years since anyone's visited."

The end?

[star-six7]

I Never Thought They’d Get Me Here

Ray Toro x Gender Neutral!Reader (ending 3 of 4 for Here In This House of Wolves)

Word Count: 1481

A/N: Yeah, I suck. I’m really sorry for the wait with this one, but I hope it was worth it :)

Disclaimer: This is entirely a work of fiction. No part of this story is meant to be libel, slander, or in any way derogatory towards any character’s real life counterpart. I’m not delusional; I know that these characters are simply based off of a public persona and may not actually resemble the people behind those personas. Any additional characters that you do not recognize are entirely fictional, unless otherwise stated. And finally, if you got here by Googling yourself, whatever happens next is 100% on you.

“Okay,” Brian said, turning around and stopping before entering the building. “I’m thinking we should split into pairs, just in case?”

“The buddy system, really?” Frank snorted. “This isn’t kindergarten, Brian.”

“I, for one, am in favor of this plan,” Gerard said, sounding nervous. Mikey moved to stand next to him without either of them saying anything.

“I’ll go with Ray. I feel like being paired up with the tallest one here is a good idea,” you stated boldly, smiling up at him. You had made up your mind on the way over. Today was the day you told Ray how you felt about him.

“Well,” Brian said glumly. “I guess someone needs to babysit Frank. Let’s go.”

Frank grinned, seemingly unoffended.

After the guides explained the rules and offered you the last chance to turn back, they brought you to the door that would lead you to what they claimed was “your worst nightmare.” You swallowed and moved next to Ray.

“Nervous?” he smiled at you.

“Yeah,” you nodded. You weren’t about to tell him it had less to do with the haunted house and more to do with the fact that you planned to tell him about your long-standing crush. Not yet, at least.

The last thing you saw before you were ushered into pitch blackness was an unreadable look on Ray’s face.

---

A few minutes later, you were shuffling down the path behind Gerard and Mikey with Ray by your side.

“This goddamn hallway,” Frank muttered up in the front, with Brian. “I have no idea if we’re even heading in the right direction.”

“It does feel like we’re going in circles,” Ray agreed. “Maybe we should split up and try and find the way to the next area.”

You heard Mikey and Gerard move off to your left while Frank and Brian pushed on to your right.

“Guess it’s just us now,” Ray said, somehow finding your hand in the dark. You were glad he couldn’t see you blushing.

“Yeah,” you whispered as your nerves skyrocketed. You cleared your throat. “Let’s try and beat them to the exit!”

Unfortunately, fifteen minutes later, you were no closer than any of the others. Speaking of which-

“Ray, do you know where the others are? I haven’t heard them in a while.”

“Me either,” he sighed. “Oh, shit!”

“What’d you find?” You were ready to get out of the dark hallway.

“I think I found a crack in the wall,” he said, sounding like he was concentrating. “Hold on-”

The section of the wall he was pushing on gave way, and you stepped out into what seemed to be an indoor maze. You took in the fake ivy-covered walls while Ray closed the door behind him.

“Wouldn’t want the others to figure out our secret,” he said sheepishly when he noticed your questioning look. “Shall we?”

And for the second time that day, you were holding hands with Ray Toro.

---

As you wandered up and down the paths with Ray, you let yourself get lost in thought. You remembered the tall, shy (and cute!), guy that Gerard had practically dragged down the basement steps for the first time, barely a week after the band went from being an idea Gerard would call you about at two in the morning to something real. You shook your head at yourself when you thought about how nervous you had been about adding a new member. You had been worried that Ray wouldn’t fit in with the long-standing, easy-going friendship you had with Mikey and Gerard. But, Gerard was right. The band needed someone who could play live. And Ray was certainly one hell of a guitarist.

In hindsight, it should have been no surprise that you and Ray became fast friends. Not only were you both dedicated, passionate, and talented musicians, but you genuinely clicked on many other levels as well. You couldn’t even count the hours spent in the Way brothers’ basement, arguing the odds of surviving your favorite horror movie scenes or building your absolute dream bands consisting of your favorite musicians. It only made more sense that you began to fall for him around the time My Chem went into the studio for the first time. You remembered staying into the early hours of the morning, hanging out on Geoff’s couch together as you pored over the previous day’s takes, eventually falling asleep on each other until Gerard woke you up to complain about his tooth.

“I hope you’re not laughing at me, or you might not be able to find your duffle bag tonight.”

You hadn’t even realized the small smile forming on your face until Ray interrupted your thoughts. You glanced up at him and saw a grin on his face that told you he was only joking.

“Wait, why would I be laughing at you?”

“Because,” he said, sounding glum. “I think we’ve been going in circles for the past twenty minutes.”

“We’ll figure it- wait, did you say twenty minutes? There’s no way this place is that big. How long have we been in here?”

Ray glanced at his watch. “25 minutes, actually.”

You swore as you sat down. “You don’t think the others got out already, do you? I mean, they would come back for us, right?”

Ray laughed as he sat down next to you, leaning against the wall of the maze. “Frankie might try it, just for shits and giggles, but Brian wouldn’t let him.”

“Thank god for Schechter,” you agreed. The conversation lapsed into silence, and you decided now was as good a time as any to test the waters. “Hey, at least we’re stuck together, right?”

Ray shifted to face you, smiling. “That’s true, Gerard would be hyperventilating by now.”

“And Brian would smack us upside the heads for getting lost in the first place.” You laughed and then took a second to regain your composure. “But, if I’m being honest… there’s really another reason why I’m glad I’m with you. Even if we might die in this maze.”

You paused, studying Ray’s face for a reaction. You thought you saw a flicker of emotion, but you couldn’t be sure. Apparently, Ray’s poker face could rival Mikey’s.

When you could tell that he wasn’t going to say anything, you continued. “I think it’s kinda obvious but… you’re my best friend. And as much as I don’t want to change everything for the worse, I feel like I can’t really hide it anymore. Ray… I think I’m in love with you.”

What you were going to say next died in your throat when Ray surged forward to kiss you. Your perception of the world around you slowly melted away as all of your senses began to hyperfocus on Ray. You couldn’t help the faint sigh that escaped you as he shifted closer, wrapping one arm around your waist and resting his other hand on the side of your face. Almost involuntarily, you scooted backwards until your back was resting against the corner you had sat down in, trying to get him as close to you as possible.

It was at about that point that you heard a familiar (and at the moment, grating) voice yelling at you from several feet away.

“Holy shit! Brian, you can call off the search party! I found them, and they’re making out, ew!”

Ray pulled away from you the second Frank had made his presence known. Though he rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed, you could see a blush creeping up his cheeks. If the heat in your face was any indication, you were sure you looked similar.

“Shut up, Frank,” Brian said as he rounded the corner, rolling his eyes. He turned to you and Ray and sighed, smiling. “I can’t say I’m not surprised.”

“Oh, Brian, are you gonna give them the ‘safe sex’ lecture? Scratch that, are you sure they know about the birds and the bees?” Frank said, and then laughed like that was the funniest thing in the world.

“Hey,” Ray said, scowling as he stood up. He offered you a hand and pulled you to your feet. “You better quiet down or I’ll make sure you never get shotgun again.”

“Okay, cut it out, assholes,” Brian cut in, though there was no real anger behind it. “We need to go find the others before Gerard goes into a catatonic state of shock.”

You half-listened to Ray and Frank bicker some more as you trailed behind them, unable to keep the smile off your face. It almost felt easier to breathe with your confession off your chest.

You had almost forgotten that you were still holding hands with Ray until he stopped suddenly, waiting to get a little distance from Frank and Brian.

“Hey,” he said, smiling down at you.

“Hey?”

“I forgot to tell you. I think I love you too.”

A/N: Thank you for reading! Feel free to tell me what you liked and send in requests!

[shyrose57]

Brothers anon back again. I had a sort of writers block for the last like 2 days which made it really hard to do some questions, but I got em done finally. Sorry about the wait. This one is split between the numbered questions, and next ask is the other questions you asked!

I think I accidentally skipped a question in the last one. I honestly don't completely remember but in case I did skip it by mistake, the groups first travel out of the city's limits and even further beyond in a carriage. When they reach the end of how far the driver is willing to go they then get out and start walking. With Jackie screaming about how their finally going on a adventure. 

1: It thankfully doesn't get to to bad before the others notice. And he immediately told them about Dream, wanting to be very clear with what happened and what they where getting themselves into. But they accepted him anyway and helped him. 

2: Isaac is the leader cause Cletus is too much of a wildcard and too impulsive to lead safely, Charles is too shy to lead, and while Benjamin is perfect for leading he doesnt really like leading and is more of a follower than a leader. But Isaac can joke around and gets along with everyone but also be able to take things seriously and know when something needs to be handled.

5: They do not, they last for a few minutes and unless its a healing or regeneration potion (in which it can take a few days for it to fully go away) they have no long lasting affects. They do know of eachothers past to an extent, they know enough to avoid triggers and enough to know what not to do when around eachother. They know through telling eachother, and they feel awful Grievous and Jackie had to deal with that, but leave it in the past and focus on making their current life better. 

6: Yes and no, while Jackie did mean to throw it at Ran, he ment for it to just hit nearby him, not directly hit him. It was ment to be more of a scare/intimidation tactic than anything else honestly. Grievous's luck is for basically everything, he has won the lottery twice before actually but only those 2 times, he's correctly guessed how many items are in a container more than a few times as well. 

7: I use the height charts and they help mostly for comparison, problem is I have trouble applying it to real world stuff and because of that I still have trouble knowing if something or someone is to tall or short. Jackie can get very mean, like he can make fun of someone who just lost a loved one or experienced a traumatic event at the worst. But he usually doesn't get nearly that mean, most he does normally is making fun of how someone looks or how they do certain things. The others comfort him the best they can when he gets sad, and when he gets mean they either encourage it (Grievous), or discourage it and stop him (Watson. Ran is between either encouraging or discouraging it).

8: He was! He spent most of his life adventuring actually! He misses it somedays now since he lives in Subbin, but he believes giving up his adventuring life for a family and friends who needed him is a more than far trade and would happily pick his family over adventuring again. For around 4 years after Ran left Mizu (including the day he left), Ran traveled everywhere, and learned how to survive himself and taught himself different things, like sewing. Ran has made new socks, fixed clothes, and made blankets for everyone at least once. Watson also designs bows and arrows for show, for top functionality, and for just simple (training) gifts to the others. Ran (and Watson) has visited the nether, though Ran tended to stay in it longer than Watson cause he could withstand the temperatures better. And while digging a new tunnel across the nether he ran into ancient debris, which he then messed with until he figured out to mix it with gold and coat his sword in it. He tried to find more ancient debris but sadly hasn't found any, leaving his sword permanently damaged and at risk of breaking. Jackie isn't good at all at painting, its more of a hobby he's trying out. They try to camp out there at least once a week, where Grievous will sometimes build a pillowfort and either force everyone inside or play a game of capture the fort with them. Sometimes Ran will also read during the pillowfort nights, but not to often. Jackie wants to vist a Snow, Savanna, Jungle,  Tagia, and if possible, a Ice Spike biome. He also wants to vist the nether but he'll have to fight Ran on that. Ran and Jackie's secondary titles are in Javanese!

9: Ran just kinda went "Hey Jackie, stand still for a second." "Ok?" And then he just picked him up and threw up. 

10: When he's first given dinner after already eaten lunch, he just kinda stares at the food. Then asks if they meant to give him food, and when the others say yes, he asks why because he thought people only ate once every few days. His answer shocked the others and they ask him to explain, and he explains futher that he was only allowed to eat and drink once every 3 days. Their horrified by this answer but explain to him how theres 3 meals a day and he can drink whenever, he doesn't believe them at first but eventually accepts it. 

11: When the fishermen first come to Ranbob about their worry, he expresses the same worry as them. But says that it's unlikely Ran will hurt the fishermen specifically, because Rans haunting are already friends with them, and Ran wouldnt risk breaking the friendship unless he deemed it necessary for their safety. 

12: Ranbob is sad that Ran goes to such lengths to avoid him and keep people away from him, but he has resigned himself to it. As he knew that if Ran was alive it was greatly unlikely that he would trust him and knew he would be avoided. Which is actually particularly why he believes Ran will never trust him again and why he views Ran as a kind of lost family member. One he'll never get back no matter what he does.

13: Their first stop is a nearby flower biome, and after that Watson has planned to lead them to a waterfall he found with a shattered Savanna somewhat close to it. They plan to travel for a minimum of 6 months, they can actually travel for as long as they want to, but Prokius made them agree that they must be back before the next General Pit Battles (which happens once every 5 years). 

14: He would 100% run himself into the ground until he's barely alive while searching for them. Benjamin compares Ranbob wanting to go back to Dream, to an abused person wanting to go back to their abusive lover. They believe they've changed and that they truly do love them and want the best for them, but in reality that's not it at all and others have to help them see thats not true and help them save themselves. So it doesn't surprise Benjamin or Isaac that much (it surprises Charles and Cletus though), and after its explained to them, their all more than willing to help Ranbob get over Dream and help him be himself again.

15: Oh definitely. Once they hear the Green-Eyed Enderman is back from hiding they all set out again, and after the group gets attacked and once word spreads that its in a group and there's another enderman with them, they all get targeted. With the Gladiators and Fishermen being targeted as bait or hostages to try to trick the enderman into following a trap. Ran wasnt affected like his brother was. Im talking about trauma and maybe even a bit of PTSD that came from Mizu, caused by Dream. Though both of the brothers have gained different amounts of trauma and PTSD from Dream. I may give the raven to either Watson or Ran, I think its fits both of them really well. I want to have them come across ruins of other Tales but im not sure which ones. Maybe they could find the remains of the Wild West Tale and the Haunted Mansion?

Glad to see you, Brothers Anon, and excited to read!

1: The perfect start to an Adventure. And a funny mental image. Imagining these two groups cramped into carriages is pretty amusing. How ready was everyone to get out by the time they could?

2: The fishermen are really great, and Ranbob is very lucky. I love them.

3: Isaac sounds like he’s a pretty good fit for it then. But nobody’s perfect! What are some flaws of his, leadership-wise?

5: Interesting. What makes Regeneration and Healing last longer? I suppose it’s not relative to the AU, but I am a bit curious. What’s the world’s potions mechanisms, if you don’t mind me asking? And that’s good! They may not know everything, but they know what to avoid, and that’s important. Everyone’s moved forward and are making the best of life, and honestly, that’s pretty cool of them.

6: Welp, Jackie, it seems intimidation tactic failed. However, you have managed to anger Ran, so..there’s that. He won the lottery? Dang. Well, if they ever need money, they can just send him to the nearest casino, I suppose.

7: Aight, so I may have a solution for you there. Whatever height you’re going for, find something in real life that’s just about the same height. Like a tree, or something. Or not, we can always just leave it at short enough to be tossed and tall enough to be the tosser. Jackie sounds like he knows where to hit to make it hurt, honestly. It’s good that they comfort him, though I am curious why they all react as they do to him being mean. Why does Grievous encourage it? And is it more of a depends on the day thing for Ran, or a depends on what was said to Jackie, and what Jackie’s saying thing?

8: Nice! What kind of places did he go? Does he have any particularly interesting knickknacks from that time period? And Ran personally sounds like he knows what he’s doing. Watson’s weapons sound really cool, where did he learn to make them? Is visiting the Nether not a common occurrence these days? Or is it simply that the others never got around to it before? Well, hobbies are always fun to try. Does Jackie keep at it and get better or get bored and try something else? How does Capture the Fort go with these guys, considering they’re gladiators? Why does Jackie want to visit those particular biomes? Is there a reason, or do they just sound cool to him? And why would Ran not want them going to the Nether? Because of the danger?

9: FDXGHJ- He just- tossed him?? No warning?? Oh my gods, I’m dying. How did Jackie react to that? Heck, how did Porkius react to that? I doubt anyone was expecting that display.

10: Oh, no. Now I really want to punch Dream in the face. What the heck, Dream?! He legit asks if they meant to give him food...If one of the fishermen or gladiators doesn’t eventually find a way to punch Dream, I will be forced to travel realities and do it myself. 

11: Kind of sad that Ranbob was equally concerned about it. But hey! He won’t have to be, one day!

12: Poor Ranbob. I hope he’s proven wrong, eventually. Do the fishermen know that he thinks this? If so, how do they feel about it? Or does he kind of just keep those thoughts to himself?

13: Flower biomes are really pretty. What did everyone think about it? Did they bring any flowers with them? So this roadtrip could possibly go on for a few years. Did they leave just after a General Pit Battle, or do they have like, less than five years? Speaking of General, is Jackie still the General in this AU? Does he have extra duties because of it? Or is that not something that happened in this AU?

14: Yikes. Reactions to this? Why does Ranbob believe Dream’s changed, as you put it? Is Dream still able to talk to him, or is it because he just misses being there? So Benjamin and Isaac aren’t all that surprised about it. Do they take the reins in helping out? And how do they all do so? It’s good that they’re helping him though.

15: Well, this sounds like it can’t end well. They try to use the hauntings as bait? Is anyone actually captured? Rescue missions? And alright, that makes a bit more sense. I can see how they’d both be effected differently, and honestly, they’d probably both have very different perspectives of the event, all things considered. Ravens for the win! And it’d be really cool for them to come across the ruins of old Tales buildings. Can you imagine the kind of things they’d find? Diaries, faded photographs, moth-eaten clothes, blood stained floors...Like a walk in the past, but they’ll never know what came to be for the people of that time.

[hanemiso]

Hiya!! Goodness i never knew we had alot in common!! Although Halloween isnt my favorite holiday( thanksgiving holds that spot!!) I as well love horror and paranormal along with writing ( although i dont write to much) and well as you know music. I also enjoy theator and psychology! I also get the same anxiety for stickers! Thats a really randon thing to have in comnon huh? Its. Like there could be a much better place but i wanna put it there, but then it sometimes doesnt look right and i cant fix it and ugh- its a whole spewl. Same thing with tape kinda. I grew up traveling alot so putting tape on boxxes has to be nice and neat or its wrong( in my eyes at least. If people prefer messy tape thats fine. Messy tape does the job just as well)! How about you? Have you traveled? And yesss! I absolutely love late night drives!! Especially with some chill music and a nice cool breeze though a cracked window? Sounds like pure heaven to me! Ugh man. I might go do that lol. Although being into paranormal i kinda get paranoid sometimes lol. Do you ever get paranoid on late night drives? Any spooky stories?

✨🐻✨-anon

IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO ANSWER ;-;

YES THATS THE EXACT ANXIETY LIKE WHAT IF THERES A BETTER SPOT? i tell myself “you know what i should just wait-“ LMAO

i also enjoy psychology :0 i was planning on majoring in it but then i kinda lost interest…so i’m instead going to major in japanese language to become a translator!! :D

i have traveled!! i actually don’t travel a lot tho 🥲 i love traveling tho, my family just had a tough time financially for a while and we couldn’t take vacations to mexico like we used to anymore. but, i did go on a road trip back in june with my friends!! it was so fun hehe, we went up to norcal (northern california) and stayed in a nice cottage-aesthetic inn :) i had to drive 6 hours to get there (🥲) but it was worth it hehe

i don’t get paranoid a whole lot when it comes to the paranormal, i actually used to live in a haunted house as a child so i’ve just always been around it 😅 i mean sometimes when i’m home alone at night i get paranoid, especially when i’m in the bathroom at the end of the hall and i can see the dark living room in the mirror behind me…😅😅

i don’t get paranoid while driving around at night tho hehe, i mostly feel calm :) i mean unless i start thinking about cryptids, then i might not drive around for long LMAO

as for stories…hmm🤔🤔 a couple years ago my dad took me to the yuma penitentiary and something followed me home. i woke up in the middle of the night to see a very dark shadow standing at the end of my bed, and then it bent down as if to start crawling on my bed, so i quickly turned on the lamp on my nightstand and when i turned back it was gone. didn’t appear until a week later, when i had fallen asleep with my TV on. i had a terrifying dream where i had to protect my family from something in our house, and then my brother told me “i think you got it’s attention…” and when i looked into the hall, there was a door slowly opening. that’s when i woke up in a panic, and at the end of my bed was a shadow figure. i could make out a complete outline, and i’m being 100% truthful when i say the light from the TV was being blocked out by the shadow. the same way it would if someone solid was standing in front of it. but it was blacker than black, that’s the only way i can describe it. it was tall too, not slender but built. i once again quickly turned on my bedside lamp and when i turned back, it was gone. haven’t seen it since.

i’m sure i have more if i really think about it lol, but there’s a spooky story! :) do you have any?

[macbetha]

So very excited to share this! It’s a playlist for my upcoming Free! fic, This Heart of Mine, the rewritten sequel to Eyes Wide Open All the Time. You can listen to the playlist on YouTube; this list simply helps define who or what a song represents to me. This list also includes some lyrics that you may want to pay special attention to. I recommend reading the lyrics by themselves before listening to the playlist. Mind you - some of these lyrics only act as symbolism. Some mean more. Some songs have connections. Some don’t. ;) *go girl give us nothing* List below! 

 THIS HEART OF MINE: PLAYLIST GUIDE 

Theme: Bring Me The Horizon feat. Halsey - In The Dark (MTLT / amo version) Oh so tall, it broke the fourth wall Guess our fairytale had a few plot holes Don’t you know you’ve lost control ↳ Honorable Mentions: ✧ grandson - Bury Me Facedown When I go into the ground I won’t go quietly I’m bringing my crown I won’t get tired Set the town on fire Thinking that they’ve won It’s only just begun  ✧ Lorde - Everybody Wants to Rule the World ✧ Ry X - YaYaYa ✧ Rihanna - Goodnight Gotham

CHARACTERS

✦ Haruka ✧ WDL - Monster vs Angel Got my own monster Nobody but me  Got my own angel  I would never call him enemy He’s the good god I need  But both of the sides Fight for me  ✧ Mumford and Sons - Broken Crown I’ll never be your chosen one In this twilight  How dare you speak of grace But in this twilight Our choices seal our fate I’ll crawl on my belly till the sun goes down I’ll never wear your broken crown  ✧ Lia Marie Johnson - DNA Dark as midnight 6 Pack Coors Light You don’t look the same Past my bedtime Blue and red lights come take you away I won’t be like you Fighting back, I’m fighting back the truth Eyes like yours Can’t look away But you can’t stop DNA 

✧ Cat Power - Sea of Love Come with me, my love To the sea, the sea of love ✧ Al Green - Love and Happiness (side note: this if my favorite song of all time) Love and happiness Something that can make you do wrong And make you do right 

✦ Makoto ✧ The Oh Hellos - Soldier, Poet, King There will come a soldier Who carries a mighty sword He will tear your city down Oh ley, oh lei, oh lord ✧ Labrynth - Still Don’t Know My Name I took your heart I did things to you only lovers would only do in the dark I made you a god Priests, popes and preachers would tell me I did wrong ✧ The Civil Wars - Devil’s Backbone Don’t care if he’s guilty Don’t care if he’s not He’s good and he’s bad and he’s all that I got Oh lord, I’m begging you, please Don’t take that sinner from me  ✧ Sleeping At Last - Make You Feel My Love (Cover) I could make you happy Make your dreams come true There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do Go to ends of the earth for you To make you feel my love  ✦ Sousuke ✧ Angel Haze - Detox You dance in a cage with some rats in it I’m about chemistry, you just react to me God might turn us to ash, baby I might just taste your last stars tonight  We were gods in a world that did nothing but doubt us But fuck it, I got us, from the dirt with the flowers Put in work in the shower ✧ Kaleo - No Good  You better start runnin’ When you hear the man coming It won’t do you no good Kiss your baby goodbye Come on love, it’s all right Heaven knows they wanna break you apart  ✧ The Oh Hellos - The Lament of Eustice Scrubb Brother, forgive me We both know I’m the one to blame When I touched the water They told me I could be set free ✦ Rin ✧ Halsey - Young God (Lullaby / Music Box Intro, Live from Webster Hall) Running, running, running And we’ll be running, running, running again ✧ SZA - Good Days Tell me I’m not my fears, my limitations I’ll disappear I gotta keep from losing the rest of me Chasing a fountain of youth that’s in the present I’ll await my armored fate with a smile Still wanna try, I still believe in good days ✧ Lola Blanc - Angry Too Does it get your blood boiling? Does it make you see red? Cause it gets my blood boiling It would eat you like poison if you knew what I knew I don’t wanna drink the venom they made me I don’t wanna be controlled by the past But boy, if you were me Could you really blame me?  ✧ Kendrick Lamar - u And if this bottle could talk: I cry myself to sleep, everything is your fault Because you shook as you knew confinement was needed I know your secrets Don’t let me tell them to world  About the shit you thinking  And the time that you - I’m ‘bout to hurl  I’m fucked up But I ain’t as fucked up as you ✧ Halsey - More Wooden floors, little feet Flower bud, concrete A little screen, a photograph Mine to take I still believe it won’t be like before I’ve loved you for all of my life ✦ Nao ✧ Johnny Hollow - Worse Things Anger grew like ecstasy And Leda threw the swan on me There are worse things, perverse things You should answer when the phone rings There are worse things I could do ✧ Young Heretics - Bones of a Rabbit You play with wolves But you sleep with the bones of the rabbit  You have conquered cities And torched the mighty sea You may keep yourself afloat But you cannot outswim me  ✧ Phantogram - Black Out Days (Future Islands Remix) Hide the sun  I will keep your face out of my mind  I’m hearing voices all the time And they’re not mine  Haunting my mind ✦ Natsuya ✧ Gang of Youths - Achilles, Come Down Remember your virtue  Redemption lies plainly in the truth Where you go, I’m going When you jump, I’m jumping There is no me without you  Today of all days See how the most dangerous thing is love ✧ Florence + The Machine - Cosmic Love The stars, the moon They have all been blown out You left me in the dark ✦ Ikuya ✧ Penelope Scott - Cigarette Ahegao So like, I guess I call it the sophomore slump Always crying and always drunk A few dead, more gone, the rest well on their way Thanks! I hate it Everyone that I love is stuck Because this, that, the other, and the state fucked up We covered it in a class that I’m about to fail  ✧ 100 gecs, Laura Les, Dylan Brady - Money Machine Tell me what's the deal, I've been trying to go to bed I've been up for days, I've been trying to get ahead Said it all before, and I'll say it once again I'm better off alone ✧ Halsey - Clementine  Through a breakdown or a blackout Would you make out with me Cause I don’t need anyone I just need everyone and then some ✦ Hiyori ✧ Florence + The Machine - Seven Devils Holy water cannot help you now A thousand armies couldn’t keep me out I don’t want your money I don’t want your crown See I’ve come to burn your kingdom down ✧ Michael Buble - Feeling Good (Cover) It’s a new life for me This old world is a new world And a bold world for me Freedom is mine And I know how I feel I’m feeling good ✦ Asahi ✧ Sam Henshaw - Broke If I wasn’t broke Would you spend more time with me Like you said you’d do Tell me what I’m supposed to do Cause the only thing I need Is to be loved by you  ✧ Mikky Ekko - Smile Smile, the worst is yet to come We’ll be lucky if we ever see the sun ✦ Aki ✧ Aly & AJ - Church I did bad things, can’t you see it on my face? I get caught in every lie I need redemption for sins I can’t mention For all the things I can’t reverse For all the places where it hurts ✧ ZZ Ward - Ghost Here the devil call out my name I’ve broken promises, burning flame God knows, darling God knows I gave Now the truth cuts like a knife ✦ Nii ✧ Of Mice and Men - My Understandings  Keep in mind that I’m a sore eye With blurry vision  ✧ Neoni - Outlaw They say that I’m wanted Hear the whispers in the street You better start running Cause nothing scares me  Faster, faster You’re the one I’m after  You built a fortress But I’ll never kiss the ring I’m my own king

✦ Gou ✧ Melanie Martinez - Lunchbox Friends We can be friends if you wanna be But only till the clock hits three I don’t want no lunchbox friends, no I want someone that binds the ends, no Come to my house, let’s die together Friendship that will last forever ✧ Maroon 5 - Come to the Water Come away little light Come away to the darkness Away from the life that you always knew Come away little lamb Come away to the water To the arms that are waiting only for you ✦ Isuzu ✧ Jessie Reyez - NO ONE’S IN THE ROOM  Spent my whole life being graded, being told I’m not enough Being told go find the one and sit and wait for death to come I don’t want to I need to talk to God There’s things I just don’t understand Like who am I when no one’s in the room EMI - Bad Friends Yeah, I got some bad friends No you cannot have them If you wanna talk to them  You talk to me, yeah We don’t fuck around with just anybody, yeah

✦ Takuya ✧ Imagine Dragons - Ready, Aim, Fire Off in the distance, there is resistance Bubbling up and festering Here in the casing Shaking and pacing This is the tunnel’s light Blood in the writing, stuck in the fighting Look through the rifle’s sight ✧ Billie Eilish - you should see me in a crown (acapella) Bite my tongue Bide my time Wait till the world is mine, ocean eyes Count my cards Watch them fall  Blood on a marble wall You should see me in a crown I’m gonna run this nothing town Watch me make ‘em bow One by one ✦ Kinjou ✧ Urban Country - Knife and Stone Tell me, have you ever seen a mirror Mirror in the middle of the forest Just waiting for the rain or the crown I’ve been up for thirty days Someone point to lost and found Ain’t no blood in the temple Just a knife and stone

✦ Mikhail ✧ Elsie Lovelock - Friends on the Other Side (Cover) The cards, the cards The cards will tell The past, the present, and the future as well I got voodoo, I got hoodoo I got things I ain’t even tried And I got friends on the other side I hope you’re satisfied, but if you ain’t Don’t blame me You can blame my friends on the other side ✦ Ryuuji ✧ elbow - Grounds for Divorce I’ve been working on a cocktail Called Grounds for Divorce Down comes him on sticks but then he kicks like a horse There's a hole in my neighborhood Down which of late I cannot help but fall ✧ Mumford and Sons - The Enemy I am not the enemy It isn’t me, the enemy I came and I was nothing So why did you choose to lean on A man you knew was falling? ✦ Nadia ✧ Halsey - Castle (Orchestral Version) They wanna make me their queen  There’s an old man  Sitting on the throne  Saying I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut I’m headed straight for the castle

THEMES: GROUPS

✦ FREEBIRD ✧ Kaleo - Way Down We Go Oh father, tell me Do we get what we deserve They will run you down Down till you fall They will run you down Down till you crawl Till you can’t crawl no more And way down we go ✦ ROUGH RABBIT ✧  Imagine Dragons - Who We Are Up on the mountain Down in the king's den  It's who we are Doesn't matter if we've gone too far Doesn't matter if it's not okay Doesn't matter if it's not our day ✦ DIAMONDBACK ✧ Florence + The Machine - Bedroom Hymns This is good a place to fall as any We’ll build our alter here  In the wine, the women, the bedroom hymns Such selfish prayers, I can’t get enough I’m not here looking for absolution Because I’ve found myself an old solution

✦ HONEYBLADE ✧ Megan Thee Stallion and Normani - Diamonds I love me this much My pear-shape all dripped up He want me to be a little more lady-like? Come through with my girls and beat your ass on ladies night ✦ BLOODHOUNDS ✧ Angel Haze - The Wolves Nothing left out there for me  I left my fucking heart out at the sea This shit sounds like the danger zone  I’m the big bad wolf  Gonna take the throne 

THEMES: PAIRINGS 

✦ Makoto + Haruka ✧ Phoebe Bridgers - Smoke Signals One of your eyes is always half shut Something happened when you were a kid I didn’t know you then and I’ll never understand why It feels like I did ✧ Radical Face - Welcome Home Peel the scars from off my back I don’t need them anymore I’ve come home ✧ The Track Team - Heart Chakra ✧ Blackmill - Redemption ✦ Sousuke + Rin ✧ Kaleo - Bang Bang (Cover) Seasons came and changed the times I grew up, I called him mine He would always laugh and say: “Remember how we used to play? Bang, bang.” ✧ Zayn - Good Guy I’m not a good guy But I know you’re mine (bang) I know you’re mine (bang, bang) ✧ L'Orchestra Cinématique - Crazy In Love (Instrumental Cover)

✦ Natsuya + Nao ✧ Cosmo Sheldrake - The Moss But have you heard the story Of the rabbit in the moon? Halsey - Colors Your little brother never tells you But he loves you so I hope you make it to the day you’re 28 years old 

✦ Hiyori + Ikuya ✧ Elvis Drew - Where Are You  I been trying to figure out where you from Is it the moon? Is it earth? Is it this place, where nothing is worse?  Nothing can compare to the life we had My dear just grab my hand and let me take you To my wonderland ✧ Swae Lee - Sunflower Some things you just can’t refuse I’m not tryna lose

✦ Isuzu + Gou ✧ Snow Patrol - The Golden Floor I’m a peasant in your princess arms Penniless with only charm

[amazingmsme]

For the horror ask thing, 3 and 20!

3. you're planning a horror movie marathon with your friends - which movies are you picking? The original Halloween & Nightmare on Elm Street first of all, those are my top faves. Room 1408, A Quiet Place, The Amityville Horror but the one with Ryan Reynolds, Delirium, Silence of the Lambs, What Lies Beneath, Bad Times at the El Royale, Kiss the Girls & probably a lot more that I can’t think of right now, but horror is like my favorite genre of film & I tend to prefer paranormal & psychological stories as well as more realistic ones like people being kidnapped or escaping a killer. Midsommar & The House that Jack Built are also fantastic films but both get extremely fucked up & graphic so I’d have to check with whoever I’m watching with. The Conjuring movies are all great & id probably have a marathon just for them

20. do you have any personal scary stories? something that happened to you or somebody close to you? I have way too many, you’d think being the only people who ever lived in this house would mean no ghosts, but you’d be wrong. But I’ll give some highlights:

-1 time when I was trying to leave my room as a kid, some orange nail polish shot out directly in front of my face & hit the wall before sliding down to the floor. With how fast it was going it 100% should’ve broke but it kind of stayed there for a second before falling down

-my sister heard & felt someone whisper in her ear that was pressed against her pillow

-I saw a tall man in my closet watching me dance in my room, this was around the time I was in middle school. To this day I’m still paranoid that I’ll see him if I go dance in there

-one time as a kid it was freezing outside but I still wanted to go out & play. My grandma was watching me while my mom took my sister to the doctor & I was playing out of sight from any window. My old dog Gabby was super protective & barked at everything, & out of nowhere this young woman appears, I’d say mid to late teens. For reference I was wearing 2 pairs of pants, a long sleeve shirt, a puffy jacket & a hat & gloves. This girl was wearing short shorts, a spaghetti strap tank top & was barefoot with no visible signs that she was cold. I was just frozen staring at her & she looked at me. I think she might’ve said she liked my dog but I can’t really remember. I looked over at Gabby & back at her & she was gone

-a few years ago when I stepped out of the shower, 3 full fingers were pressed into the steam on the mirror, but what’s really odd is that there was no palm mark. Of course I took a picture

-we have a tiny porcelain doll that’s haunted & I’m positive that’s where the little girl came from. She’s chilled out over the years but it used to be every time you talked about it, something would happen about 30 minutes after. Like our drapes would fly open, the tv would turn on, we heard a ringing that wasn’t our doorbell, weird shit like that. The guys my mom used to baby sit were terrified of her

-when I was like 3 I was staring at the cabinet she’s kept in & my mom asked what I was doing. She said I had this strange determined & stern look on my face & said “she needs to be standing up.” I was never a stubborn kid but I was adamant about it. After that the activity lessened by a lot

-also regarding the doll, my sister took some pictures of her on the first step in our pool for her photography class but no matter what, the teacher couldn’t open the files for the doll pictures. She could get the other ones but her computer would act very weird when she tried to see those specific ones

-everyone in my family has seen the little girl & even 1 of my sister’s friends saw her go to my room. I think only my sister & I have seen the man tho & he usually appears as a dark shadow, tho when he was in my closet I could see more detail like clothes, but his facial features were in shadow

-the girl looks like your basic horror movie child ghost, like I’m not shitting you. She’s got long dark hair & wears a white dress & whenever I see her the dress is usually the first thing I notice

-2 years ago my sister & I were at our house while my parents when you a high school reunion. We were chilling out by the pool when the chair sitting next to me scooted away from the table. I saw it happen & it freaked me out & my sister heard it & we were both scared. Idk why but I always just assumed they’d never go outside & so shit like that

-random objects can go missing & then appear right before your eyes, but not before you turn the house upside down first. I think they enjoy seeing us frustrated & it ticks me off

-we will hear people talking sometimes but you can’t really make out what they’re saying. If it’s more than 1 voice then it’s always a guy & girl’s voices

-I get touched by them the most out of my family & I fucking hate it. Get your fake dead hands OFF my body I do not like you. I’ve been touched in my house & a few times when I was hospitalized, & once this year at a guest house on vacation. The weird thing about the times in the hospital were that they all happened on the left side of my body. Hands down the worst part of it is when I can feel the size of the hands so I know if it’s a child or adult. & for some reason, ghosts like to touch you 1 finger at a time, 0/10 would recommend

-in my dad’s old house he said he could feel someone sitting on his bed with him & could even see the indention. He said he thought it was his Papaw. But when we go there I almost always get an unsettling vibe

-I made sure to save the best for last! This is my worst/scariest experience & I really hope my cousin doesn’t see this because it happened when they were here. But the younger one was in my room already asleep so I was just chilling on my phone in the dark. My phone illuminated the room just enough so I could see a few feet around me & I saw the girl at the foot of my bed. She had on that stupid white dress & her dark hair hung over her shoulders & hid her face. Then she grabbed the footboard & acted like she was about to fucking crawl up so I noped the fuck out & turned off my phone & proceeded to hide under the covers. Then I just… went to sleep? I mean I’ve been used to that shit all my life but I have no idea how I slept after that. I knew that if I got my mom then it would wake up my cousin & she’d know that something weird was up so I just ignored it the best I could. But you bet your ass I told Mom the next day

Like I said, I have a lot of stories & there’s still more I could share, but most stuff is pretty insignificant & I forget what exactly happened, but stuff does happen. Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of shadows & I really hope that there’s nothing in my new apartment. But yeah, sorry this got so long!

[startwithbrooklyn]

THE GREAT ND REWATCH OF 2021 / SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 // larkspur lane/the whisper box

this post is a double whammy cause they have 2 eps happen in the same day if u can believe it (thats how awful judging timelines in this show is!!)

-"hi josh..." LMAOOOOOOO

-BESS just breaking in lmaooo how many god damn times does bess just shit the bed in this show

-LOVE her frowny face at nancys closet ("my expectations are low" lmfaoooo but this would totally be me)

-"bet she meant it metaphorically" okayyy but then why did lucy say that at all? i feel like theres defo more to this story, combined with josh's cagey behavior (part of which is to get nancy to stop looking into shit d/t him and karen but still)

-"they dont accept visitors unless they're family" .....🙂

-ace "youre really good at that" to bess i fuckin love this friendship with all my heart (also love their talk at the claw mirroring nick & nancys talk in the last ep)

-also PINK AND ORANGE BESS ARE U BLIND (also 1) why tf would nancy own this and 2) where would she wear it??)

-okay wtf is vampire dip

-"boss??" see this is what i meant yesterday about nancy ruining everything for nick/george

-god DAMN she sucks at dealing with this news lmaooo that emotional competency babey + love george literally agrees to help bc she feels bad (AND nicks immediate look of "you just reprimanded me for helping her last ep and i know why youre doing this rn" lmaoooo)

-LOVE george noticing nick "shout out to jean valjean" lmaooo once again nancy would never have noticed/commented on something like that

-"get the hell out of here" was this foreshadowing for an epic dad joke for these two eps? "how do you make holy water? you boil the hell out of it" 😂😂😂😂

-so what i dont get about the whole haunting is the ball + kids' laughter but its all the emphasis on "mr roper" the adult? wtf like what kind of entity is this

-"how did you ever have a solo career??" 😂

-okay amaya's hair is gorgeous here (also "you feel like a snack" ....👀) *ahhh so the reason bess feels so off balance is bc its like a top vs a top scenario

-has anyone who's ever been to prison confirmed this is what it looks like?

-love how ace is the only employee there when they all leave so he had to fucking close the place when he goes

-why does she take the whole file? time constraints? it'd be smarter to take pics + replace it (better sleuthing) but this place is clearly not well run anyway 😂

-so this is a pretty decent cover she invents but theres no way she would get away with it so easily for a real guard

-love how ace recognizes ryan's car (+ is able to find it by driving around)

-"my father wouldnt do anything like that" LMFAOOOOOO SIS WHY ARE U DEFENDING HIM ironically, ace is actually the best person suited to engage w ryan here d/t the car accident + connection with laura being ryans SIL. its a unique set up

-i am fascinated by the concept of priests + holy water being so effective here combined with mcginnis' beliefs and basically nondenominational ghosts/seances etc after that. the show is very clearly big on diversity but definitely steers clear from too much WASP stuff yk? wonder if other stuff from christianity works against the ghosts/demons like taking refuge in a church "holy ground" or using silver etc

-"did this start after the night of sept 10?" *this is where you get the time line for the seance if you didnt know

-this is so fucking funny when u realize that patient sal talks to is actually a ghost so sal really is psycho i guess 😂

-bitchsplain/tall jar of mayonnaise 🙏🏻😌 2gether 4ever

-how did ace get this van? also heart attack when he yells at carson (but then grins at him like a goofball lmaooo)

-"for nancys sake and yours" damn she owes ace big time for all this shit

-"what do we do for 7 minutes?" ...ummm play 7 minutes in heaven lmaooo 👀🥵

-was not expecting ace to look this sexy holding an axe but okay (*ah, its his short sleeve shirt showing his arms. usually hes a sleeves guy)

-"desperate for attention" nancy (from gomber) vs "bc she's starved for attention" patrice --> lucy (and candace also...) we know nancys detective work makes her seem like an attention seeker, but what was lucy doing to make them all think that? she was trying to hide her relationship with ryan, not expose it. unless they just mean the rumors about her?

-so is patrice hiding lucy's "truth" talking about lucy being a whore or lucy being a ghost? what is lucy's secret? did patrice guess she was pregnant or did patrice's somehow garbled mind remember tiffany trying to show patrice the video with lucy on it?

-wonder what captain thom thinks of this stand off w ace lmaooo

-"like you do?" top v top shenanigans

-how awko for carson to talk to karen again like this

-"oh no" ACE 😂

-love how amaya says "be a human" like shes kind of admitting people in rich circles typically arent (^this is an interesting focus in s2 when bess's rich family rejects her, thus making her human again, but nancy embraces her rich fam and experiences subsequent moral struggle which is predicted with the wraith)

-wonder what ryan thinks he could get from the marvins (which he cant get now lmaooo)

-this damn whisper box. so many questions. who named it the whisper box? why are the ropers' old possessions still there? who decided to build a mental hospital on top of it? and patrice! she "hid lucy's secrets" hannah gruen thinks tiffany tried to show patrice video w lucy on it, which patrice then specifically says she hid in the thin mans book. so patrice knows of the thin man? can she see him? does she know he was a ghost/supernatural? she must have a supernatural sense to know about him (unless sal told or some shit) so then when tiffany shows up w/ lucy being supernatural in it patrice hides it to protect her? is this why she is "crazy" kinda like victoria? supernatural elements or ability to sense ghosts makes her unstable? this is why lucy being a ghost/nursery rhyme that she repeats makes patrice worse/"stroke"? how did patrice even get into the whisper box to put the key in the bible and get out without getting trapped? also, her dementia --> lucidity is really fucking off, some people mildly switch like that but usually with dementia they cant even register new shit anymore

-...so did bess take the ride? 👀

-interesting how celia says "your father will be disappointed" but nothing of her own opinion. wonder how much celia truly puts up with to keep everett calm and nonhomicidal

-like george asking nick follow up questions that nancy never really would have asked

🥞🥞🥞(ep13)🥞🥞🥞

-is this bitch just eating a plain pancake with her bare hand?

-"extra case load and excessive volunteering" ugh. nancy's family here are like, gross in how "good" of people they are // unrealistic, trying to paint carson in the best light/ no way ryan could ever compare (but the reality is theyre not that good of people for lying about nancy) **and shes arrogant to think shes better than everyone else ie the only one who truly lives virtuously, thinks she can do no wrong sometimes even tho using sex to cope, breaking and entering, etc is not morally "good" stuff she still thinks she is the only one who doesnt lie and plays fair (like in the pilot she lists everyone else as a suspect but herself- obviously we know she isnt guilty but no one else does. (i mean in theory we really dont, what if nancy was an unreliable narrator and was actually guilty, that would be a hella cool show)its reactions like that where she cant understand why others like the chief suspect her

-ooooh ironic that in the Good Place carson readily agrees to pay her for helping with cases as opposed to s2 in reality

-nick's house has "problems" so why does he need a lawyer? as opposed to an interior designer, plumber, or realtor?

-in the Good Place nick and george realize they are not going to work out after one date. does this failure in the Good Place predict failure in reality, or merely an easier way of figuring out the truth? does this mean that the "opposite" of the Good Place is reality, or only an opinion of what is better? (nancy says "you all like me" as her opinion of them liking her is skewed; does this then only reflect nancys version for what is the "perfect life"?)

-why is bess a hippie??? and love how george curls her hair and wears pink lipstick here

-if this dream is so realistic then why is the one thing it cant conjure smoke? like how random

-love the locket being a key realization bc with things like jewelry you dont notice the weight of them until theyre gone

-"you all like me" in her perfect life nancy means they "like" her objectively/regardless of circumstance even though liking her is still an objective choice (like they "like" her because of other reasons instead of her working at the claw? (like how you make friends with coworkers/people at school every day but after you leave the job/graduate you never speak to them again) and her "thanks for showing up!" as if theyre not doing exactly that in reality 😐like where is she getting this shit? she sort of acknowledges in earlier eps she is hard to like/that she puts mysteries before friends, but also pushing them away to avoid danger like the previous ep "why do u show up" etc

-is it just me or does the inside of nicks "house" look like the drews'?

-nick has a dick scar lmaooooo (or more likely was hit in the balls or smth)

-love how nick + george match their anger in confronting sal 100% on the same level

-so when did ace go back to work after having such a busy day earlier?? lmaooo

-damn father shane is a creep (casting defo hired him for his voice) and how tf did he just poof + escape? and what did he request???

-love bess's white hair bow here 😌+ her jacket, whole outfit on point as usual

-like how bess is right that nancy has to find her way out but thats kind of a nonstarter for a room full of panicked people wanting to help

-in the Good Place theres no bad blood between drews + hudsons bc nancy is really theirs

-"the only one who has the key is you" in the Good Place nancy has the key (smaller picture, to finding out what happened to lucy but bigger picture, post-reveal) but ryan has the clues nancy needs- following the Good Place's mirroring, this just means that in reality ryan will either be completely useless or an active hindrance (but you KNOW this is a dream bc in what universe would ryan remember clues like that 😂)

-so in a perfect universe ryan acknowledges his family's "criminal empire" as opposed to reality where he only makes under cover jabs about disengaging with being an "entitled corrupt legacy criminal" ie finding the bonny scot relics but does nothing about them, etc

-"strippers" 😂

-okay what is nancys obsession w her beanie?? bc her mom made it? "wear beanies do crimes?" idk

-making the call: nancy -unable to make up for lost time/both her mothers had to find out/suffer alone / in the Good Place nancy was able to be with kate while she called, and in reality she had carson; somethig about seeing the mother looking to the daughter for strength in the Good Place instead of the reverse (which is what reality sounded like, kate being strong for nancy through the illness despite the struggle)

-concept: nancy & nick "let's wait out the storm"

-"i believe that you believe it" nick in the Good Place + owen in reality both trust nancy when she says she's seen things (owen's is the teeth) but nick in reality (and not really knowing details) doesnt think much of their "moment" bc it wasnt real (so she had to leave the Good Place to save carson- but if she had known then he wasnt her real dad, would she have stayed to be w nick?)

-stranger - suede james 💙👌🏻

-"really anxious as a kid" v telling bc of her desire to know everything to remain in control of situations like she always does now

-"the medicine or the metaphysics?"/"you cannot beat supernatural with science"

-i love nancy playing with her pinky while saying goodbye 🥺

-"always seek out the truth even if it hurts" this is straight irony bc kate never told nancy anything. like does that include the truth about nancys parentage? they taught her to seek out the truth, but who taught her that the truth is the only thing to live by? ie things dont count anymore like carson and kate straight up raising her is tossed out bc she finds out its not "the truth" like all that work/stress to protect carson + she just drops him? with kate maybe shes just upset thst she spent all that time mourning for someone who lied. and would she do the same to ryan if needed? probably

-bess and ace head tilt 💙

-like how for all the time she spent there nancy only has a subconscious memory of blue curtains

-YESSSSS i LOVEthese beautiful overhead shots of hannah's hands. so out of character for the show lmao but so gorgeous

-i feel like future eps/grand future will be nancy going through the lock boxes to help people who asked hannah for help

-the video is officially dated Aug 22, 2019

-soooooo in the first ep nancy breaks into the hudsons house and finds tiffanys secret drawer w the nail polish and finds the amulet with a note that says "for your protection HG" yet on this video tiffany says she talked to a medium who gave her the amulet sooooo am i just confused? HG is hannah gruen obvi so is the address for the medium what hannah gave her? or was the address on the amulet which nancy dissolved in salt water to see? so how would tiffany know where to go? its chicken and the egg which came first hannah or the medium?

and lastly:

i close these two eps with a thought that everything in this show is sealed in death. all the lies, the imagery, the fake constructs people put up to get by all crumple the second someone dies- all the secrets come clean just like these doors have been unsealed.

[mh073099]

Excerpt from a book I may never write lol because these have been sitting in my drive for so long and just need to be put out there.

-MF Haley

I had just graduated high school and life was changing in every way possible.​ We spent 24 hours on the road to Florida. 24 hours sounds like a rough drive, but never with her. We confessed secrets, pointed out random thoughts, and described our dreams. ​Dream jobs, dream houses, dream men. We fought too. Fight and scream and accuse each other over our past and our pain​. Silently asking and granting forgiveness on dark mountain roads. Silence would open up into soft singing, and I ended up staring curiously at the mountain tops, wondering what the view was like from up there. She would bring me back down to earth by pointing out how hungry she was, and that food was the move.

We stopped at what she liked to call ‘greasy spoons’ or ‘holes in the walls’. When you're traveling, and you find yourself in the middle of nowhere on the interstate, you can find all kinds of hidden treasures in the likes of food. Choose a random exit, take a left or a right, whichever feels best. Drive for about 15 minutes, give or take. You are guaranteed to find a greasy spoon. These are liminal spaces, found tucked away from everyone, known to only those who wander or have been haunting that place forever. The small town will always have one, maybe two gas stations at most, maybe a post office. But the dinner will have the best food in 100 miles. Whether it’s BBQ in Atlanta, a Ma n’ Pa’s diner in Michigan, an old pizza parlor in Galveston, TX, or some backwoods diner in the smoky mountains, these places will always feel like home.The few people are friendly, the food will be cheap, and the coffee will save your life. We found our diner, off the route of I-75, tucked away in the corner of a mountain. Surrounded by fog and rain, we could hear a train in the distance, tracks clicking as an old beat up truck passed us by hitting puddles. The dinner smelt old and like coffee.

“Order anything you want,” she would say, but really she meant, “Order cheap please.” I ordered the same thing as her. We ordered breakfast that night, Eggs bacon and toast. Adding a side of grits for that sweet southern flair. She taught me to put ketchup on my eggs and dip my toast in them. We would laugh over Gossip and plan out trips we’d never take. Italy was always a favorite.

“Imagine an old studio apartment in Rome, a small door off a cobblestone path.” She would paint the prettiest picture. “The landlord an old shrew of a woman. There would be big open windows with flowing curtains and a tall ceiling. Old jazz will play in the background off an old radio, the smell of garlic and wine would hang in the air, and I would be warm. Warm and dancing in the arms of a tall, dark and handsome man. He would passionate and spontaneous.” She would dream up anything, and I would feed off those dreams. However, we learned to dream to avoid reality. Men don’t dance any more, and passion is a heartbreaker’s disease.

I told her of the boy I was dating, and how I could feel myself starting to be held back, and his grip on me tighten as he was starting to realize he would lose me once I went to college. In turn, she would describe old lovers who let her down, who ended their lives because “when I

left, I took all the love with me,” she said. “They would learn what love was from me, and when they hurt me and I left, the absence of it would change them.” She was cursed to always teach men what love was, but never got the chance to receive that passionate love she deserved. I told her of my doubts in my relationship, and she screamed, “NEXT!” She startled the few other people in the diner, and we dissolved into giggles.

“You don’t need someone to hold you back. One day, you’re gonna meet a guy who will encourage you to be the best version of you, you can be, and push you to take every opportunity you can. And he will stay beside you cheering you on, no matter how far you are because he loves you. You can do better because you are better.” Those words were probably some of the best advice she had ever given me. Love was a constant topic. We craved it, dreamed of the real thing. Avoiding the reality of what love is for us, a means to an end.

We ate our food, and carried on. Old songs blasted out the radio, and we sang along softly.

“So long ago I don’t remember when,

That’s when they say I lost my only friend.

They said she died easy of a broken heart’s disease, As I listened through the cemetery trees,”.

We sang out the words of a Wall Flowers’ song, not knowing that those words would mean so much more to us in time. Maybe she knew, and that is why she loved it so much. We passed the state line into Florida, and we were on a roll. The stars shone more brightly than I had ever seen. I thought I could see part of the galaxy. I stuck my head out the window, felt the cool breeze on my face, and tasted the salt on my tongue. The ocean smelt strong, salty and closel; that’s all I could talk about while she smiled at me as the sun rose over the road. Before we reached Key Largo, we stopped at Cape Canaveral, and played on the beach for a few hours. We were long over do for a break and needed to stretch our legs. We ate cheese sandwiches, smoked for a minute, and headed towards the water.

I can still hear calling my name out in shock, as I splashed her and she chased me along the waves, joy hanging around us. We swam in the ocean, feeling the salt wash away everything we were running from and trying to forget. We felt free and light, unburdened by our reality for just a moment. Our reality was changing and unknown, unfamiliar. Little did I know, this would be our last magical moment together. We eventually got where we were going, but the journey there was the best part. I knew everything was about to change, but there on that beach? The waves lapped at our feet, the sun kissed our freckles, and we just existed. We were ok, we were together, and we were happy.

Or at least, I was.

[corpse--diem]

Dirty Outs | Luce & Erin

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @divineluce​ & @corpse–diem SUMMARY: Erin bumps into Luce at Stacked Deck looking for information. Unfortunately, nobody wins.

Erin found out very quickly there was only so much couch wallowing that could be done at a time like this. It was unproductive. Didn’t soothe her mind or make her arm feel better, either. And from the moment she stepped foot inside, the Stacked Deck seemed exactly like the kind of place Felix would haunt. He was the one that had given her the tip-off, after all. Cigar smoke lingered in the air and an icy chill filled her chest. Her mind flashed back to the fire. To Roy. To the gray smoke curling around his fingers as those black eyes found hers. She shoved the fear down, put it somewhere it could be useful for now. She started to move casually through the small seedy bar and ordered a whiskey, neat. Her eyes flickered up from her drink, back down, then up again. The double-take only verified just how familiar that face she’d just landed on was. “Luce?” she blurted out.

Luce glanced over the rim of her glass, staring down the man who sat across the poker table from her. She knew her hand, knew what she’d been dealt. And, she had a decent idea of what he had. His tells were shit. He got twitchy, fiddly. He messed around with the zipper of his shitty hoodie when his cards were bad, rubbed the back of his neck when his cards were good in an attempt to make them seem like they weren’t. He was real fucking shit. As the man threw in a couple of 20 dollar chips, Luce cast him a level gaze before pushing her sizeable stack of chips in. All in. As the dealer signalled to the man, asking if he wanted to continue, he threw his cards away in disgust. With a grin, Luce tossed her cards-- a complete garbage hand-- and cashed out with her winnings in a handful of $100 chips. She’d gotten at least $750 from the table, possibly more. Getting up from the table, she turned to the bar, but froze. Shit. First Morgan, now Erin? Just another person she didn’t want to fucking deal with. Squaring her shoulders, Luce made her way to the bar. “Erin.” She replied before gesturing to the bartender, “Whiskey on the rocks. Put it on his tab.” She said, jerking her thumb over to the bald pit boss who’d spent most of the night hiding from her.

Erin tried to reign in some of the shock in her eyes but she could tell from Luce’s expression that she’d already obliterated that poker face. Great. She worked her jaw, shifting in her seat a bit. “Wouldn’t have pictured you as the gambling type,” she said with a curt smile, remembering how well their last conversation had gone. Not well. Pretty poorly, one could even say. “The Vural sisters are full of surprises though, aren’t you?” A wider smile crossed her lips this time, more genuine than before. She took a sip of the whiskey, a longer one than she’d usually go for, but she had a feeling she’d need it. Her eyes scanned the crowd briefly, not only to look for any familiar faces but to see if any eyes were burning holes into her back just yet. Didn’t seem like anyone recognized her, which was a good start. “So, uh… what’s your game?” she asked, turning back to Luce quickly, then to the pit boss she’d gestured to. “Does that mean you’re kicking ass?”

Rolling her eyes at the woman’s attempt at small talk, Luce accepted the drink from the bartender with a nod and lifted it to her lips. “Shows how little you know about us.” She replied. Both she and Bea had been born in Vegas, the family tradition every holiday had been to play some kind of table game, where their mother and father taught them how to count cards, how to hide their tells, how to turn the odds in their favor. The memory was bitter and she took a long drink from her glass. “I’m decent at any of them.” Not as good as Bea, though, the thought came to her and she grinned wryly to suppress that particular train of thought. “And it means that I’ve got an unwilling friend here. I can clean this place out and he can’t get mad at me for it.” She said before casting a sidelong look at Erin. “Why are you here? You going to try and blow this place up too?”

Erin raised a brow. “You’ve got me there,” she answered. It felt like one by one, the Vurals had barged their way into her life. Nell, especially, and quite literally. They’d blown in and out of each other’s lives since she’d met Nell way back at the beginning of the year. Felt like a lifetime ago at this point. “Good for you,” she smiled coyly at her. If she was good at it and could make some money, what was the harm? But she couldn’t help the eye roll that came when she turned back to Luce. Yep. There it was. “No,” she grumbled, before taking another slow sip of her drink. Straightened her back as she glanced around them, waiting for the bartender to move to the opposite side of the bar. “Trust me, trouble’s the last thing I want right now. I’m just here for information,” she said quietly as she swirled the whiskey around in her glass. “Feel free to just--do your thing and continue to ignore me. Won’t be offended.” It’d probably make her job a little easier at this point, honestly.

Luce stared at the ice floating around in her glass, watched it spin in the amber liquid. She poked her finger at the ice cube, stirring it for a moment before taking another sip from the glass. “Yep. Good for me.” She said, the chips in her rubbing together. She’d made a decent chunk of money and she really couldn’t afford to lose at the tables. It was in her best interest to leave while the going was good. But, she couldn’t help her… interest was the wrong word. Curiosity? Yeah, curiosity. Erin had been on a warpath, literally. And like any war, there were innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. Donuts. She’d only talked to the man once, when he’d caught her out in the middle of a thunderstorm, but she hadn’t had a problem with him. Another person gone too soon in this bitch of a town. “Information, huh? And you think you can get that here?” She said, gesturing to the Stacked Deck’s patrons. “I don’t know if you realized this, but the people here don’t just go around running their mouth.”

Erin felt the burn of eyes from her seat when the door to the Stacked Deck opened again. She didn’t look immediately, concentrating instead on Luce’s question. “A friend of mine is a regular here. Most of these guys are harmless but there’s a few to watch out for,” she said with a nod, taking another small sip of her drink. Lowered her voice even more as she turned to face Luce more squarely. “There’s something I need and someone here knows where it is. Hopefully I’ll be out of your hair soon enough,” she smiled, lips tight against her teeth. Her eyes drifted to the man walking past them at the bar, settling into a table not far from them at all. There was a smile on his face that could easily have passed for a sneer and it was hard to tell if it was just general male-creepiness or criminal-creepiness oozing from every inch of him. She crinkled her nose, glancing back to Luce. “He a friend of yours?”

“Uh huh.” Luce said with an unimpressed nod. A friend of hers. Who exactly was Erin friends with that spent time here? Then again, she took another drink from her glass, she didn’t really care, did she? Erin had helped her family, she’d blown up a building for her, they were even. And, she’d hurt Adam, Nell, and Remmy in the process. So fucking even. “Well, the sooner the fucking better.” She muttered. Noticing the way that the other woman shifted to face her, Luce followed her gaze. The man was definitely staring at them, a discomforting grin on his face. He wasn’t leering at them, he was just… staring. “Never seen him before in my life.” Luce said, scowling before turning back to the bar. Waving a hand, she moved to flag down the bartender, “Another, please.”

Comforting. Erin tightened her jaw, letting her eyes bounce around the room instead of staring at the set that kept finding their way over to the two of them. It seemed like he eventually got the hint though, and his eyes dipped down to the game of blackjack that was starting in front of him. Whatever his deal was, it didn’t sit right, and she couldn’t shrug the uneasy feeling from her shoulders. “I don’t like the look of him. I’d keep my distance,” she muttered offhandedly. There was no doubt Luce could hold her own, that wasn’t something Erin was afraid of. But she had good reason to be paranoid, especially after the fire. The burn on her arm twinged with a phantom pain and she pulled her sleeve up higher over her wrist. Glanced back again. He was on his cellphone now, sparing glances their way and getting scorned by the dealer for interrupting the game with his call. Whatever his deal was, he was brazen, and not all that concerned if they knew he’d been spotted in turn. Something didn’t feel right. “You should leave,” she almost whispered out as the bartender was pouring Luce’s next glass, real concern filling her eyes as she looked towards Luce.

Tracing shapes on the bartop with her fingertips, Luce scowled at the wood grain. “Got any other nuggets of wisdom rattling around in there?” She asked mockingly. Keep her distance. She was literally just here to make some money, have a drink, and pretend like things were fucking… normal. Whatever that meant. Erin shifted nervously next to her, looking back at him, messing with the sleeve of her shirt. Fidgeting. Accepting the drink with a nod, Luce cast another scornful look. “I don’t think so. I’m fine right here.” She said. Whatever was going on was Erin’s problem. If shit went south, she’d happily watch it go down and let the woman deal with her issues on her own. As Luce was about to take a sip from her cup, she noticed the door to the bar open once more, a tall man pushing the doors open. Even from here, she could see bright, shiny burn scars coiled around his throat. Like snakes. “Oh fuck.”

Fuck. How had this gone downhill so fast? She’d been here--what? Fifteen, twenty minutes? Whatever information Erin thought she was getting tonight was, apparently, going to have to wait. “You sure about that?” Erin asked, following Luce’s stare to the tall guy who just entered the room, walking right towards the smaller burlier one at the blackjack table. Fuck. Fuck. His hand moved to rub his neck, practically making a show of the scars there. This guy sure as hell knew them. Time to go. Another guy entered not long after the last one, joining the other two. Yep. This had been a mistake. The sound of chips and cards and light chatter was still prevalent, like a white noise, but altogether the room seemed to grow… quiet. Unmistakably tense. Erin quickly finished her drink, tossing some cash onto the counter. Slid off the stool and leaned into Luce. “You can stay as long as you’d like, but if you know another way out of here, I’d appreciate the tip,” she asked, the knife hidden against her leg hot and ready to strike if necessary.

Luce could feel the tall man’s eyes scanning the room-- somehow, he hadn’t noticed her, hadn’t recognized her. But, she had a feeling that would change pretty fucking quick. And as the man settled in next to the guy who’d been eyeing Erin… Christ. Muttering a few choice words in Turkish, Luce gripped her glass tightly in her hand. The room was on edge-- it felt like one of those scenes from a shitty western movie. The showdown in the bar, where all the patrons would nervously fidget with their glasses, while the white hat and the black hat would stare each other down. “I do, but it’s not an easy way out. Stay close.” Luce said, pushing away from the bar. As she stood up, she noticed the men rise from the blackjack table, the taller one going for something in his jacket. “Well, fuck that.” Throwing her glass of whiskey on the ground, Luce waved her hand and blue flames leaped onto the liquor. The alcohol soaked into the carpet, sending acrid plumes of smoke into the air as it burned.

Erin tried not to think about what would have happened if Luce hadn’t coincidentally been here to save their asses. Well--there might have been one less angry, charred tall guy coming towards them, that much would be true. But they were coming all the same. “Jesus, really--” Erin flinched as smoke filled the room. Was there anywhere she could go without the place going up in flames and smoke these days? It was like her life was some predictable action flick she usually fell asleep trying to watch. Either way, it was real, and it was happening and the only thing left to do was run. The smoke and singe distracted the goons but gunshots lit up the air. Erin ducked and followed Luce, the veil of the smoke keeping them just hidden enough for the bullets to miss but only barely. Fuck. Her heart pounded in her ears and she grabbed her knife, keeping it at the ready. A commotion rose up in their wake as the bouncer and some of the patrons were trying to calm the chaos, and for a moment, she thought they’d get out of there relatively unscathed. “Watch it!” Erin shouted suddenly, a figure running through the smoke towards Luce. The tall guy with the coiled burns around his throat. Erin reached for the closest thing to her, tossing one of the wooden stools at him just as another bullet shot from his gun.

As Erin swore, Luce rolled her eyes, ducking low to avoid the smoke. Beggars couldn’t be fucking choosers when it came to their escape routes.  A gunshot rang through the room, a bottle of alcohol shattering behind the bar, followed by a barrage of gunshots. Luce flinched, the sound an explosion in her ears. Pressing her hands to her ears, the witch darted across the room as quickly as she could, hoping that Erin was following behind her. At the other woman’s words, Luce was startled to see the man with his gun trained on her. She stared down the barrel of the gun but, before he could pull the trigger, a stool caught him in the stomach. His hand with the gun flew up in the air, the bullet shooting into the roof of the bar. “Thanks.” Luce breathed, her heart hammering wildly in her chest. “Let’s fucking go.” She said and bolted for the back door tucked away down the hallway that led to the bathrooms. Shoving the door open, Luce waited for Erin to run out of the building. Meanwhile, her eyes focused on the growing blue flames that had begun to consume the bar. With a growl of concentration, Luce tamped down the flames, letting them die down to nothing but smoldering embers. Just enough to keep smoking, but not enough to destroy the bar. At least, she hoped not.

Erin didn’t need to be told twice--or even once, for that matter--and ran out after Luce. The guy was already starting to stand back up by the time they spilled out into the alley. Coughing hard, freshly-healed lungs irritated by the smoke. “Luce,” Erin insisted, dragging her feet as she started down the alley. She didn’t give a shit if this place burned down too, not with the commotion behind the door growing louder. It wouldn’t have looked good for her but it was better than a bullet to the head for their efforts. She stood upright, waited another moment for Luce, before she couldn’t wait anymore. Booked it down the alley as the door flew open, smacking against the brick behind it. First the tall man, then the others. There were too many of them to fight. So Erin ran, as hard and as fast as she could, until the sounds of gunshots were far enough away for her to feel comfortable to slow. And when they stopped altogether, so did she. Heaving breaths, she turned, hoping to find Luce behind her still. “Fuck--are you okay?” she asked, crouching down behind a tall stack of crates, trying to figure out where they’d landed themselves.

Once Erin had darted out the door, Luce slammed the exit shut and let the magic flow through her hands. A ball of bright blue flames ignited in her palm and she pressed it against the door knob. She could feel the metal begin to heat under her hand, the steel slowly beginning to become malleable to the touch. On the other side of the door, she could hear feet pounding against the floor of the bar. The men. Gritting her teeth, she poured more magic into the handle until the metal had fused the door shut. She heard a howl of pain and smelled sizzling flesh-- one of them must have tried the door. Backing away, Luce grinned as she looked at her handiwork. For a brief moment, she was triumphant only for the sharp sound of a bullet ricocheting off the door and a sharp slice of pain to send her running. “Shit!” She yelped, hand pressed against her cheek as she ran. She was more aware of the trickle of warmth that ran down her face than she was of the pain-- hopefully that meant it wasn’t that bad. Taking off after Erin, she skidded to a halt next to the woman. “I think I’m okay. They shot the door. Nicked me?” She said, pulling her hand back. It wasn’t that much blood. Just a scratch? Whatever, she could deal with it later.

Erin’s eyes jumped to the blood. Thankfully, it wasn’t much. Looked like it would heal pretty quickly and painlessly, for the most part. But it wasn’t ideal and she was all too aware of how much worse this could have gone down. Nodding, she took a deep breath. “Seems pretty shallow.” Her feet kept moving, not wanting to be anywhere near the Stacked Deck right now, glancing over her shoulder periodically as she did so. “Chicks dig scars, anyway, right?” She tried to smile, but it was brief, and only a half-hearted chuckle wheezed out of her. She coughed again, trying to shake off the terror chilling her bones. Focused just on getting towards the main road. It was just then she realized how quiet it was. No fire engines screaming in the distance. “What did you do back there?” she asked, narrowing her eyes curiously. “Can you turn the fire on and off again? Like a faucet or something?” She felt stupid for asking but the magical realm was something she was still trying to properly wrap her head around. With the adrenaline still coursing through her, talking about anything at all was better than stifling it all back down again.

Luce’s heart was beating wildly in her chest, adrenaline still pumping through her, but she could feel exhaustion starting to creep around the edges. Using that much magic was fucking hard, particularly when she was already tired as hell. When was the last time she’d slept through the night? She couldn’t remember. Following after Erin, Luce rolled her eyes at the comment. “Yeah, because a fucked up face is the sign of a real winner.” She growled, though the words lacked the bite they would have held before. “What did I do? Magic.” Luce said sarcastically, wiggling her fingers. “It’s not a goddamn faucet. I can start fires real easy, but putting them out is harder. Think dominos. It’s easy to get things going, but hard to get it to stop until it’s run its course. It’s fucking tiring.” She explained as they two ducked into an alleyway that would get them further from the Stacked Deck.

It was Erin’s turn to roll her eyes. For a moment she thought that maybe almost getting shot out for a second could keep the peace between them even temporarily. Seemed she was wrong. “I know it was fucking magic,” she grumbled, biting back her own tone, but listened to her explanation with real interest. “Dominoes. Huh,” she mused, furrowing her eyebrows, picturing it for herself. So that meant she had stopped it? That was a relief, at least. Another look at the younger woman emphasized that exhaustion and Erin slowed down. Running a hand down her cheek, she stopped altogether. The alley opened up to a busier road--Main Street, it looked like. They’d gone farther than she realized and only then did Erin let out a long, relieved breath. “Why don’t you sit down?” she asked, gesturing towards a bench not far from them. “Just for a minute. I think the coast is clear, anyway.” For now.

“I’m fucking with you.” Luce said dryly as she glanced over her shoulder. The blood was still dripping down the side of her face, but she was more preoccupied with making sure that fucking dude with the gun wasn’t coming after her. Magic was all well and good, but it couldn’t stop a goddamn bullet. As they made their way out to Main Street, Luce’s shoulder relaxed a bit. At the very least, if the dude came after them, there would be witnesses. As Erin gestured to a nearby bench, Luce let out a deep breath and nodded. Fuck, she was tired. “Yeah.” She said, practically slumping into the bench. “You good?” She asked, realizing she hadn’t actually checked in to see if Erin was okay.

Erin didn’t know if it was because she wasn’t used to someone as sarcastic as Luce or if the bitterness in her tone was more personally directed but it was starting to get under her skin regardless. Took more of her strength to bite her tongue but she couldn’t hold back the side-eye that she gave her. “I’m fine,” she said quickly. At some points, she’d bumped her arm on the way out, causing the healing nerves under the bandage on her arm to scream at her. Otherwise she was fine. Because of Luce, she was fine. Working her jaw, she settled in reluctantly beside Luce, watching the crowd around them for any suspicious faces. “Do you want me to call anyone? Nell? Bea?” She glanced over at her, watching the blood drip from her cheek.

If Erin said she was fine, Luce was going to take her at her word. She was a grown ass adult who’d already been responsible for the deaths of others. Luce settled back into the bench, trying to catch her breath. She really needed to get more fucking sleep if this was how drained that bit of magic had made her. She hadn’t done anything much and yet, exhaustion had hit her like a fucking freight train. Watching the way the woman kept an eye on the crowd, she tilted her head. Erin had the expression of someone who was being hunted. And, given what they’d just been through, she couldn’t blame her. “No, I’m good. I’ll just crash at Ink for the night. There’s a couch in the back.” She said, pausing for a moment before continuing, “What the fuck have you gotten yourself into, Erin?”

Erin rested her elbow on her knees, nodding at Luce’s words. She knew the place wasn’t far from here. Luce would be fine. Good. One less thing she had to worry about tonight. But Luce’s next question was a fair one, and despite herself, a dry, hard laugh shook her shoulders. There was nothing funny about what she was doing--not the act of it. But a funeral director trying to take down a small town mob boss? It was the most ludicrous thing she could think of. “Maybe when I figure it out, I’ll let you know. Preferably over a few rounds. I probably owe you that much.” If Luce was willing. If Erin made it that far, even. The thought brought on another small, dark chuckle. It wasn’t funny, she knew that, but the adrenaline from the night was still coursing through her. With her own prolonged state of exhaustion was slowly but surely wearing away at her. “Probably not there, though,” she grinned again, gesturing towards the alley from where they had run from.

Raising an eyebrow at the other woman’s laugh, Luce sat up a bit on her own, some of her energy returning. She’d be able to get to Ink, it might just be a slow walk there. “Well, that’s good enough for me.” She nodded. And you know what? It was. Luce wasn’t sure if she was okay with Erin, not when the woman couldn’t give her a clear picture of what she’d gotten herself into. But, at the very least, she could hear her out over a couple of beers at Soul or Dell’s or wherever the fuck. “Yeah, no. I’m probably banned for life now. Which,” She reached into her pocket, pulling out the uncashed chips she still had on her. “Is a real kick in the dick for me. Whatever.” Luce said, standing up with a tired groan. “Shit seems to go south real quick with you, so… stay safe.”

“Sorry about that,” Erin said with a slight wince, but she meant it. Whatever reason Luce had been here, it was obvious she needed the money. It was probably why anyone would wind up at a place like that. She’d gone there for information herself and nothing came from it. It was hard to tell how Luce felt about her, especially given the tumultuous hour they’d just spent together, but she hadn’t blown up at her over any lingering grudges from what had occurred at the ring. So that was… progress? Sure. That’s what she’d call it for now. She pulled herself up, half a smile pulling up her lips. That was fair. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll do my best. You too, Luce.”

[queen-of-deans-booty]

The Real Ghostbusters: Part Two

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 2,056

Warnings: typical supernatural violence, language, angst, blood, you know the usual

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. Any and all comments on these are appreciated. I really want to hear what you guys think about this one!

Feedback is the glue that holds my writing together.

Tags at the bottom

After the conference was over, everyone shuffled into the main room to chat and have a good time until the event was supposed to start soon. Chuck and Becky were sitting at a table drinking cocktails in tall glasses with many straws and slices of lime. Seeing him sitting there with a smug smile on his face bothered you so much that you decided to talk to him about this. When he saw you coming, he grew worried about what you were going to do to him. Grabbing the front of his jacket, you pulled him close to you, but none of the threatening glares were there. They were all painful.

“What the fuck, Shurley,” you growled.

“Excuse us,” Dean smiled at Becky who only nodded. He turned to Chuck, and he removed your hand away from his jacket. “In case you haven't noticed, our plates are kind of full, okay? Finding the Colt, hunting the devil, you know the usual stuff. We don't have time for this shit.”

“Hey, I didn't call you!” Chuck defended himself.

Becky was giving Sam “come hither” looks, and he tried to ignore her advances.

“He means the books, Chuck. Why are you publishing more books?” Sam asked.

“Um... for food and shelter?”

“Who gave you the rights to our life story?” you asked, leaning in real close to try and intimidate him. You weren’t at your best, but he was clearly scared. “Because last time I checked, it wasn’t us.”

“An Archangel, and I didn't want it!”

“Well, deal's off, okay? No more books. Our lives are not for sale.”

“Becky, would you excuse us for a moment?” Chuck asked his number one fan who could only nod quickly and excitedly.

“Uh-huh!” Chuck lead you three into the hallway where there were much less people to overhear your conversation.

“Do you guys know what I do for a living?” the writer asked.

“Yeah, Chuck, we know,” you sighed, holding two fingers to your temples.

“Then could you tell me? Cause I don't, alright? I'm not a good writer. I've got no marketable skills. I'm not some hero who can just hit the road and fight monsters, okay? Until the world ends, I gotta live, alright? The Supernatural books are all I've got. What else do you want me to do?”

No one had time to answer because a woman screamed from the second floor, and you three wasted no time rushing up the stairs to see if she was okay. Chuck reached out to grab you to stop you, but he couldn’t get a grasp.

“No, guys, wait!”

Running up the stairs, you saw a man crouched in the corner of the hallway over a woman who seemed to have fainted. Thinking this was real, you leaned over the woman dressed in a maid’s outfit and helped her to her feet.

“Are you okay?” you asked.

“I think so.”

“What happened?”

“I saw a ghost,” she shivered.

A group of people dressed as you, Sam, and Dean gathered behind you. The skinny guy from the conference, and the larger man that greeted Dean when he first walked in were right in the front. This time, they had a woman with them who looked just like you.

“A ghost? Could you tell us what it looked like?” the tall skinny guy said in a fake deep voice.

“Why don't you leave this to the grownups pal,” Dean shrugged him off.

“A woman. She was in an old-fashioned dress. Really old. Like a school marm, or something?” the maid explained.

“Did she say something to you?” the woman who looked like you said.

“Okay,” the maid grinned, raising her voice so that everyone could hear her, “gather close everybody, for a terrifying tale of terror. I saw, a ghost!”

“For fucks sake,” you sighed, walking away from the group when you figured out this wasn’t real at all.

Dean watched you go off to a secluded area where there wasn’t anyone around, and he grew worried for your emotional state.

“You okay, sweetheart?” Dean asked when he approached you.

Sam followed behind him. Looking up, you noticed a woman standing on the far end of the hallway just staring at you. She looked exactly like Amara, but Chuck never wrote her in so why would anyone dress like her? Then, you realized it was her, and you were just seeing what she wanted you to see. Blinking, she disappeared in a split second, and you sighed deeply.

“No, I’m not.”

“Oooo, the LARPing's started!” Becky interrupted with a screech.

Dean wanted to know more, but he could tell you weren’t up to talk about it.

“The... what is that again?” he asked.

“Live Action Role Playing? It's a game. The convention puts it on,” she said, handing Sam a piece of paper. He opened it and began to read it out loud.

“Dad's Journal. Dear Sam, Dean, and Y/N, this hotel is haunted. You must hunt down the ghost. Interview witnesses, discover clues, and find the bones. First team to do so wins a $50 gift card to Sizzler. Love Dad.”

“You guys are soooo gunna win,” Becky grinned.

“Yay, can’t wait,” you sighed.

All the people who were participating in this game were gathering around the fake manager who was hired to play the role. They were all wearing suits with fake-fake FBI badges as they gathered the clues.

“Well yes Agents Lennon and McCartney, as manager of this fine establishment I can assure you that it is indeed haunted. This building was once an orphanage, run by mean old Leticia Gore. 100 years ago, this very night, Miss Gore went insane, and butchered four little boys before killing herself. Now folks say that the souls of those poor little boys are trapped here and the evil spirit of Miss Gore punishes them to this very day.”

“Well that's just about all the community theatre I can take,” Dean shivered.

“Yeah, this cannot get any weirder,” Sam agreed.

The tall skinny guy, the larger guy, and the woman all began passing by you three as they spoke.

“Barnes, we have to stay in character. You’re ruining it,” the larger guy said to the tall man.

“He’s right. We need to win this,” the woman nodded.

“Tasha is right. I’m sorry, Demian,” Barnes apologized to the larger man and Tasha.

He got into character before Demian spoke in a much lower voice.

“Dad said... he said I may have to kill you.”

“Kill me? What the hell does that mean?” Barnes asked, in character.

“I have no idea what the hell is going on or what I’m supposed to think of it,” Tasha sighed, in character of, well, you.

“How could you two not have told me this?” Barnes asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

They trio walked off so you couldn’t hear what their answer was, but you had a guess on what it could be. After all, you lived through it.

“I need a drink,” you, Sam, and Dean said at the exact same time.

Without waiting for them, you walked to the bar, took a seat, and ordered the strongest whiskey they had. Sam and Dean joined you, and Dean ordered shots and Sam just had a beer.

“Want to tell us what’s wrong?” Dean asked when he saw you downing the whole glass of whiskey when it was only meant to be sipped.

The alcohol helped your headache just a little bit, but not by much. This was a magical headache, so there wasn’t really any cure for it. Maybe you just had to let it pass or sleep so you can dream it away. Ignoring Dean’s comment, you ordered another round when Sam hasn’t even touched his beer. Dean drank his shots, but he decided it was enough for him.

“Come on, sweetheart. We want to try and help you.”

“You look like you’re in a lot of pain,” Sam commented.

“For the last time, I'm not making this up, okay? She's upstairs, a real live dead ghost,” a man playing the game panicked to his friend.

That caught your attention, and to try and shift your focus off the headache, you got up and decided to investigate what this man was trying to say.

“This is frustrating,” Dean groaned.

“Now you know how I feel when you do it,” Sam muttered.

Both brothers got up and followed your lead.

“I'm sure it was just one of the ghost actors,” the guy’s friend shrugged it off.

“Who beat the hell out of me and then vanished?”

“You saw something?” you asked.

“This isn't part of the game jerk,” he scoffed, turning back to his friend. “Look, I'm getting out of here and you should do the same.”

“Alex, wait. Hey, come back!” his friend urged when Alex stormed off.

“What do you think?” Sam asked.

“I don't think that guy's a good enough an actor to be acting,” you sighed, leaving their side to approach the real manager of the place.

Maybe he might be able to tell you something that the game wouldn’t. As you passed by the fake hotel manager, he was giving off the same speech you heard the first time. Ignoring him, you walked to the front desk where the real manager was.

“Excuse us, mind if we ask you a few questions?”

“Look, I don't have time to play Star Wars guys. Go ask the guy in the ascot,” he rolled his eyes. Reaching into your wallet, you produced a $50 bill and slid it across the desk.

“Actually, we really want to talk to you.”

“Okay. You guys are really into this,” the manager nodded, but accepted the money.

“You have no idea,” Sam chuckled.

“What do you want to know?”

“All this stuff they're saying about this place being haunted and Leticia Gore. Any truth to it?”

“We generally don't like to publicize this to... normal people... but yeah. In 1909, this place was called 'Gore Orphanage'. Miss Gore killed four boys with a butcher’s knife, then offed herself.”

“And is tonight really her anniversary?” Dean wondered.

“Yep, guess your convention folks want authenticity.”

“There been any sightings?”

“Yep, over the years. A few maids have quit saying they heard the boys or saw them. A janitor even saw Miss Gore once.”

“Where did Miss Gore carve up the kids?” you asked.

“Look, I don't want you stomping all over the joint. A lot of this place is off limits to nerds,” he groaned. Taking another $50 bill, you slid it to the man which seemed to influence him enough. He grabbed the money and leaned in so that no one else could hear him. “The attic.”

“You’re a good man,” you smiled tightly, leaving the counter.

Sam and Dean followed you, but neither of you noticed Barnes, Demian, and Tasha listening from behind. The hotel has three floors, so it didn’t take long to get to the attic which was covered in dust and spiderwebs. Sam had the EMF and a flashlight out, Dean has his flashlight out, and you illuminated your way with your magic. As soon as you entered the attic through the crawl space, the EMF started going off like crazy.

“The EMF's going nuts.”

“Great. We got a real ghost, and we got a bunch of dudes and gals pretending to be us poking at it,” Dean sighed.

“No way this ends well,” you muttered.

“Yeah well serves them right.”

“Dean…”

“I'm just saying,” he shrugged, continuing his search.

The light reached every nook and cranny the attic has to offer, but you weren’t finding anything that might tell you what was going on.

“My mommy loves me,” a young child said. Turning around, you noticed a really small boy about the age of six or seven crouching in the corner of the room, his hands holding his head. Sam and Dean approached your side to look at the little boy. “I said my mommy loves me.”

“I’m sure she does.”

“My mommy loves me this much!” the little boy removed his hands, revealing he has been partially scalped, then disappears much like spirits do.

“How many children are there?”

“The manager said four,” Sam answered you.

“Okay, one down, three to go.”

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[vraisang-a]

so, this was supposed to be a drabble but turns out I can't write only 100 words. thus, it became a huge one shot/meta. this was just a result of me loving maryse & her loving her children !! and because this is too long this is going to have two parts so obviously this is part one

     The morning of her wedding was still crystal clear in her memory. She had woken up early, early enough that the birds outside her window hadn't begun their incessant chirping; early enough for her to agonise in bed for hours until her mother burst through her room. The Trueblood matriarch had pulled the thick blue curtains open, letting the sun illuminate Maryse's room, its light brighter, reflected by the Glass City.

     Those few seconds her mother allowed her to remain in bed, Maryse remembered catching something in her grey eyes ― fear? regret? Something that, to this day, Maryse couldn't quite figure out the meaning to. And then that glint was gone, and Marisa Trueblood was hauling her up, pushing her into the shower, snapping in French that they had no time to lose.

     Never would she have more people fussing over her than on that day, from doing her hair and makeup and dressing her in the luxurious gown. Maryse had never had that many people walking in and out of her family home. But what she remembered the most was not the sting of her blue eyes as one of her mother's friends lined them with liner, or how tight they tied her up in her wedding dress. No, instead, what her mind clung to was the terror she felt as she walked down to the altar, surrounded by renowned members of the Clave ― surrounded by the Lightwoods and their judging green eyes, by their friends and families and by the Silent Brothers. If she could pinpoint a moment in which she felt most scared, it would be that one.

     As her father proudly handed her over to Robert, Maryse had never felt more like a child. Never once in her life had she wanted to turn around and call out for her mother, to run to her father's arms, to call out for her brother more than at that very moment. However, she did no such thing. Standing as tall as her stature would allow her, Maryse smiled, forced herself not to show how scared she was for her future. She was a Trueblood, she was her mother's daughter, and she would bring honour to their name.

     And at 15, she became Maryse Eileen Lightwood, Robert Lightwood's wife; Valentine's First General and youngest member of The Circle.

     Even at that young age, Maryse knew what was expected of her, and, like everything she did, she excelled in the art of being a wife. Robert became her priority ― as her mother had taught her ― then came the Circle and the Clave.

     There was nothing bad about being with Robert, he took care of her and she took care of him, but there was no love between them ― no attraction other than the simple knowledge that both of them were considered beautiful. But they compromised for each other; the moment they took that marriage rune, they swore on the Angel to look after each other, to be together no matter what. And Maryse could remember that perhaps the only time she saw something akin to love in Robert's gaze was when she, a year later, told him she was expecting their first child.

      The conversation between them in her last months of pregnancy would always be something she recalled with fondness. Trying to choose the name of their firstborn was no easy task, and Maryse knew she had no right to intervene too much. The children she would bear were Robert's legacy ― the Lightwood legacy ― and Maryse, despite having taken her husband's last name, would always be a Trueblood at heart.

     She recalled how he had approached her, voice soft and hazel eyes hesitant; however, he knew her dislike for stalling, and so he had taken a deep breath and with as much confidence as she thought he could muster he said: "How about Gideon?" to which she had gawked up at him.

     "You want to call our first child 'Gideon'?" Her big blue eyes meeting warm hazel ones, a sort of playful judgement in them. And for the first time in years, Maryse had watched as her husband stuttered, a deep flush colouring his tanned cheeks. "Okay, maybe that is not the best first name..." he had mumbled, and Maryse, taking pity on him, went back to the book in her hands. Flipping through the Lightwood family history, she found a name that caught her eyes.

      Alexander; protector of mankind.

     "How about..." she had begun, turning back to look at Robert, his attention now back on her. "Alexander? Alexander Gideon Lightwood."

     "That is quite a name, Maryse. Are you sure you want our child to have such a strong name? He might become too much to handle." Robert had joked, sitting next to her and placing a hand on her belly.

     "Yes. Alexander Gideon, our mighty warrior, our little protector of mankind"

      On September 12th, 1989, all that could be heard from the Lightwood household were Maryse's screams. In her room, surrounded by Silent Brothers, all she had wanted was a familiar presence ― Robert had been away on a mission, her parents refusing to hire a warlock for a portal. And so, she faced the pain alone. She had followed every instruction given by the Brothers, but it was hard to find comfort in their blended voices, hard to find any comfort in their cold hands.

     Those hours were spent in agony, a blend of screams, echoes of haunting voices, and a sudden shout of her name. That's when she realised Robert had arrived, and for once Maryse had allowed herself to be as young as she was, for once she had allowed herself to be vulnerable in front of her husband. Tears streaming down her face as she told him how much it hurt.

     And then, there was crying ― a child's wail ― and the excruciating pain was gone, only a dull ache and bone-deep exhaustion lingering in her body. The feeling of staring at her son for the first time would never leave her, Maryse could recall it as well now as she did back then; the awe, the overwhelming love blooming in her chest as she gazed upon that red and scrunched up little face. Robert had been by her side then, a hand brushing her hair away from her face, the other gently hovering over the small bundle in her arms. His eyes had been filled with tears, but the smile on his face was blinding even in memory.

    "Welcome to the world, Alexander..." he had mumbled, kissing her forehead, and letting one of his fingers trace the baby's cheek. And when Alexander reacted to his father's voice, Maryse gasped loudly. Her son had not inherited his father's eyes, nor had he gotten the venomous green hues most Lightwoods seemed to have.

     Alexander had inherited her sky-blue eyes.

     "Ah, he's momma's boy, I see." Robert laughed, and Maryse's heart soared, because that he was. Alexander was hers, her baby, her blessing. And she would never love anyone ― anything ― more than she loved him.

     If she stopped to think for a moment, Maryse would always marvel at how her life had changed so suddenly. In less than a blink of an eye, she went from being a feisty toddler to being sixteen, married, and with a baby. On top of all of that, she was still a Shadowhunter ― still part of the Circle, still trapped in Valentine's lies. Now she knew that she had only survived, had only gotten herself and Robert out because of Alec. Because Alexander had always been in her mind.

      After the uprising, things between her and Robert had started to fall apart. He blamed her, and she could understand that; she had always been more involved in the Circle than he had, and she suspected he only stayed that long because she was still enchanted by Valentine's words. She had taken the blame, bearing that burden on her young shoulders as she carried her family forward.

      But now that she was older, perhaps she resented Robert a bit. She had been no more than a child back then; naive and so easily manipulated by those older than her. But Robert, he had been an adult. He had been able to see through Valentine's lies with much more ease. Shouldn't he have tried to make her see reason? Shouldn't he have guided her toward a better path?

     Those first few months in New York had been hell on earth; so much to get used to, so far away from the glittering glass walls of Idris. At 17, Maryse hardly knew how to navigate this new lifestyle, and with Robert and Hodge blaming her for the outcome of the trials the only thing keeping her from fully breaking down was Alec. Her sweet and gentle Alec that, at one year old, had already been so in tune with her emotions.

    She recalled spending every moment of spare time she had with Alexander, reading to him or chasing him around the imposing walls of the Institute ― hearing his childish laughter echoing through the halls, alerting everyone to his presence, watching as he toddled away from her and she pretended to fall behind. Alexander had taught her to be a mother, taught her what it meant to care for someone so much you would fight hordes of greater demons without a weapon just so they could survive; taught her to not be so nervous, to not spend night after night beside his bed just to see that he was breathing.

    So, a year later, when Isabelle was born and Maryse was subjected once again to that overwhelming feeling of unconditional love as she stared at her daughter's brown eyes, there was no more fear in her heart. No more hesitation when it came to holding the small child or caring for her. All there was, was love.

    Isabelle had been a surprise; Maryse clearly remembered the shock when Brother Zachariah told her she was expecting another child. And soon enough Maryse knew this pregnancy would be wildly different from her first.

    When expecting Alec, there hadn't been a lot of cravings, nor morning sickness. The most she had ever faced were the occasional backaches and swollen feet. But with Isabelle, Maryse was being driven up the walls. She felt like she would throttle anyone that as much as looked in her direction, her emotions bubbling just beneath her skin. Later, when she was a bit older, she would recall the way Valentine used to describe her ― "You're the ocean, Maryse. Mostly calm and collected, but capable of destruction beyond imagination. And Robert, well, Robert is the earth, as solid and reliable as the very ground we stand on."

    And if she were the ocean, so was Alec ― beneath those blue eyes lurked power she knew no one could rival. She could see it when her two-year-old stared at his baby sister; the urge to protect. The same way Alec was hers, Isabelle was Alec's. And Maryse would never take her from him.

     But in that same way, Isabelle was not the ocean, calm and complacent until provoked; nor was she like her father; reliable and steady. No, Isabelle was a fire. She was lively and unrelenting, the flame in her dark eyes an indication that she would get what she wanted no matter what. And from the moment she was born, she was all Robert could see. If Alec was a momma's boy, Isabelle certainly had been a daddy's girl.

     As she had done right after their exile, Maryse spent every moment she could with her children, avoiding the resentful looks she'd get from Hodge, and the suspicion that Robert was no longer faithful to her. She would play with them and watch as they shared secrets in baby-broken French. She was the one who initiated training them. She was the one who had taught Isabelle about taking care of herself, of how to deal with her hair; and when the young girl had come to her asking for makeup, it had been Maryse to teach her how to apply it flawlessly.

[back-to-swift]

How I Became A Swiftie...

So, I was at this camp in 5th grade for a school field trip. I was 10. The counselors at this camp were singing Love Story the whole time we were there and I was like, ‘What is this song?!?!’ When I got home, I immediately looked it up and I fell in love with what I was hearing!! A few days later, I told my mom about this singer, Taylor Swift, and she drove me to Target and bought me Fearless. Not too long after that, she bought me the debut album as a surprise and omg I was instantly OBSESSED with both of these masterpieces!! I told all my friends and got some of them hooked! I would literally spend HOURS of my days locked in my room listening, singing, dancing, and even writing my own versions of these songs!! My whole life became Taylor! I looked up to her SO much! Fearless still holds such a special place in my heart because it was the first Taylor album that I ever listened to and the songs just bring back this feeling of nostalgia. They’re very special to me, so that album will always be one of my favs!

Fast forward to 2010 when Speak Now came out!! I was in 7th grade and that one really impacted me, as well. Junior high is an interesting stage in life because you’re trying to figure out who you are and you’re experiencing certain emotions for the first time. For me, I had this huge crush on my best friend at the time, so these songs really struck a chord with me. What really helped me through this time in my life was the prologue that she wrote for the lyric booklet. I also looked back at the Fearless prologue as well. Some quotes that stood out specifically are, “Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together. I hope you use yours for good, because the only words you’ll regret more than the ones left unsaid are the ones that you use to intentionally hurt someone,” and, “...I think the words you stop yourself from saying are the ones that will haunt you the longest.” Also, “There is a time for silence. There is a time for waiting your turn. But if you know how you feel, and you so clearly know what you need to say, you’ll know it. I don’t think you should wait, I think you should speak now.” The main quote that really really stuck with me and still sticks with me to this day is, “Fearless is having the courage to say goodbye to someone who only hurts you, even if you can’t breathe without them. I think it’s fearless to fall for your best friend, even though he’s in love with someone else.” When I took in these messages that I know came straight from Taylor’s heart, they helped me tell my best friend, and when he didn’t like me back in that way, these words also helped me be okay with that. When he fell for my other best friend, Taylor’s words helped me accept that, too. These albums became the soundtrack to my life. These songs made me feel less alone. They made me feel like somebody got me, somebody understood exactly what I was feeling. And even though I didn’t know her personally, I knew she was there for me. That’s when I knew she would start to mean so much more to me than just a singer I look up to. She started to feel more like a friend or an older sister who had all the advice I’d ever need.

In 2012, Red was released. It was my freshman year of high school. It was a time where everything was changing. I had changed schools for the first time in my entire life and I was still desperately trying to get over my best friend. This album came out at the perfect time. Songs like I Almost Do and All Too Well made me feel, again, like Taylor knew exactly what I was feeling. It was one of the saddest times in my life for a plethora of reasons. I felt insecure, I had to come to terms with the fact that this boy would never like me and I had to watch him and feel him grow further and further away from me, I felt lonely, I was fighting with my parents a lot, and I just was not happy, at all. The first few years of high school be like that sometimes, but thanks to Taylor, I didn’t have to feel completely hopeless and lost. I didn’t really understand the album fully at the time, but the songs on it that did resonate with me became a huge part of my life.

1989 came out when I was FINALLY getting over all that sadness and insecurity. I finally found the strength to let go of that guy and I finally had a solid group of friends who accepted me and loved me for me. I was getting along with my parents and I just felt a little more free. And what better album to become the new soundtrack to my life than 1989?? An album that is literally about freedom and becoming comfortable with where you’re at in life. Another reason why I loved this specific era was because it was the first time I ever got to go to a Taylor concert!! I was absolutely in love with the songs on 1989!!!! I went to the San Diego show with my best friend. We were at the very top, but it was truly one of my favorite nights ever. It still is to this day!!! I had just started my senior year of high school when I went to this concert. I was also new to the Tumblr scene and other fans inspired me to do a project. I cut out probably 100 colorful hearts and I brought them with me. When I got to my seat, I passed them out to people around me and I told them to hold them up during Clean. I wanted to show my love and appreciation to Taylor through that. I seriously can’t thank her enough for writing, “She lost him, but she found herself, and somehow that was everything.” That quote is exactly what I needed and it became my life motto! That night was so special and it’s one I’ll never forget.

Now, let me talk about reputation, which is personally, my favorite album ever!! I was a sophomore in college and omg, I was absolutely completely in love with everything about this album and this era!!! I still am!!! When Look What You Made Me Do dropped, I was driving. I blasted it all the way home and I swear, I SCREAMED every single time I listened to, “The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, cause she’s dead!” I am not kidding you!!! I was OBSESSED and also SHOOK. I was blasting it in my car outside my house and my mom came out and was like, “What are you doing?” And I told her that Taylor Swift just released the greatest song ever!!! When the whole album came out, my best friend and I filmed our reactions to every song. We screamed, we cried, we fell on the floor, we laughed, and we smiled. We still watch those videos and die laughing at ourselves being so shook every few months. I was fully immersed into this era because it was different and it was dark and sassy. 

When I first heard Gorgeous, I felt like the Taylor Swift entered into my mind and wrote exactly what I was feeling and how I acted whenever I liked someone. It was seriously so accurate, I was actually scared like WHAT?!?! Did I meet Taylor and tell her about my life and I just don’t remember or…??? Anyway, this era is special to me because I got to see my idol from the front row for the very first time in that whole decade of loving and supporting her. We got to our seats on the floor at the Pasadena show, but we couldn’t see ANYTHING because these tall guys were in front of us. So, my friend went over to the Shake It Off B-stage and asked security if we could stand there. Sure enough, she told us we could!!!! So we got to be front row!!! And I was on the edge right where there was a little opening for her to come out and go to the other B-stage. So, after that set, right before Blank Space, she walked right next to me. And I mean, if I reached out my arm, not even halfway, I would be touching her. Of course, I was too in shock to do anything, but holy shit!!!! THAT was the most iconic moment I’ve ever lived through. AND on top of it all, my friend won tickets for the next night!!! And that was the night Selena Gomez came out, AKA my other QUEEN!!!! I fell on the floor and cried, okay?? The two best nights of my life, honestly.

Anyway, I wrote this all to say that I cannot find the words to describe how grateful I am for Taylor Swift. She has been here for me for 11 years of my life… that is more than half of my existence. Her words made me feel less alone when times got hard, and they also made me feel more alive when times were good. I appreciate her for always being kind to us, sticking by us through all the ups and downs, and going out of her way to make us smile. I will never ever be able to thank her enough for writing the soundtrack for my life and for being the big sister I never had. I didn’t realize until right now, as I’m writing this, that each album came out at the perfect time in my life. Each album represents and fits each stage of life that I was experiencing at the time of each release. I can’t even tell you how much I love this woman and I will always look up to her. She means the world to me and I can only hope to meet her, hug her, and tell her exactly how thankful I am for her and how much I love and appreciate her. I can’t wait to hear Lover and analyze every word when it comes out! Thank you, Taylor, for everything.

Love, Carly

@taylorswift @taylornation