#i went off the path cuz i saw an item out on the water

[amygdalae]

dreamt i was in a surreal unsettling low poly indie game that does not exist

[dzamie-oc]

Smaugust 14 - Feathered

A dragoness and her deinonychus friend go out for dinner and discuss having feathers. Then they eat some people. (2135 words)

cw: death, gore, hard vore

Sivarel strode into the restaurant and up to the host. The dragoness sat back on her haunches to raise a paw, digits folding to make a "V" symbol. "Table for two, please," she said with a smile.

"Of course, ma'am," the employee replied. He gathered a pair of menus and handed them to a tall, slender server - probably an elf, or elven in ancestry. "Will this be indoor or outdoor seating?"

"Outdoor, please," Sivarel said, "ideally not surrounded by other tables. Cuz, you know, wings." She self-consciously brought the feather-covered limbs closer to her body.

The host nodded and made a mark on the seating plan, then gave the server a quiet instruction. "Absolutely," the server said with a professional smile, "this way, please, follow me."

The dragoness dropped back to all fours to pad smoothly along behind the elf, through a pair of glass doors, and onto the stone-tiled ground outside. They wove easily around some groups eating and conversing, before the server stopped and gestured to the table. Sivarel thanked them, then nudged one of the chairs aside to sit on the ground, shifting her weight back to sit up and get her front paws off the ground.

"Can I get you anything to drink?"

The dragoness shook her head. "Just water, thanks." After the server left, Sivarel turned away from anything and anyone flammable, held her paws together, and breathed a quick jet of flame across them for quick and rough sterilization. She was far too proud of her draconic form to transform herself just for a simple dinner. After opening the menu in front of her, she slowly extended one wing along her side and began idly fussing with her primaries and secondaries, brushing them into place with small, careful claw movements. When the server appeared with two glasses of water, she refolded her wing.

"Are we ready to order, ma'am?"

Sivarel hummed, thinking for a few seconds. "Still going back and forth between a couple of things. In the meantime, could I start with the chicken strip appetizer?"

"Of course, I'll get that right out to you." The elf made a quick note in their order pad, then walked back away, leaving the dragon to her water. Then, in the corner of her eye, she recognized a certain someone.

"Hey, Siv!" said a deinonychus with a dark red stripe down her back plumage, waving at the dragon.

"Hello, Cerise. I haven't ordered yet, but there's chicken strips coming." She gestured with her head in a path through the door and the restaurant.

"Cool!" The dinosaur tensed and sprang up, easily clearing the fence to land next to her friend. She climbed into the chair opposite Sivarel and opened up her menu. "Ooh, that's a big steak," she commented.

"Did you really just jump up? I can't take you anywhere," Sivarel said with a smile. "I'm thinking of getting the half-chicken. I grabbed a small something on the way here."

"Something, or someONE?" Cerise asked with a mischievous grin.

Sivarel stared at her. "We're in a restaurant."

"Yeah, but you're still a dragon, and I'm still a raptor." Sivarel opened her mouth to reply, but Cerise held up a claw. "No 'veloci-' there, I'm right. Anyway, people are gonna eavesdrop cuz that's what people do. Might as well have some fun at their expense." She flipped through the menu a couple times, glancing at the items. "Split a full chicken?"

"Sure. And yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to play along." The dragoness folded her menu and stacked it on top of Cerise's.

A few moments later, the server returned with a plate of chicken strips. The elf took the order from Sivarel while Cerise took a few strips to her plate to begin eating.

The duo engaged in some small talk for a while, catching up on each other's days, before the chicken arrived. They each took part of the bird, a very brief break in their conversation.

"Oh, I forgot to mention," the deinonychus said after gulping down a bit of chicken, "I went and saw Jurassic Park again the other day."

"Really? Why? I thought you hated its popularization of naked dinos." The dragon smirked and leaned in slightly. "Or did you go to see the naked dinos, you naughty murderbird?"

Cerise glanced away. "Aren't we in a restaurant or something?" After another second of being smugged at by her friend, she rolled her eyes. "But no, I'm guessing they wanted to make dosh on concessions, so they offered ninety - yes, NINETY - percent off to dinosaurs. Got plenty of feathery butts in seats, I'll say that much." She tilted her head. "Or, at least, plenty of seats filled with feathery butts. I think the t-rex ended up taking, like, half a dozen or so, between her rear and her tail. Polite enough to sit in the back so us smaller folk could actually see every inch of Jeff Goldblum..."

"Well, eye candy aside, how was it? Quiet theater, or did you get one of the fun ones?"

"Oh, nobody there took the movie seriously. If there was a dino whose species appeared on screen, there were 'constructive comments' about the scene thrown about." Cerise grinned, silently recalling some choice arguments between the velociraptors and the utahraptors. "Plus, one of the non-dragons sitting near the rex kept talking about the differences between book and movie, which was at least more interesting than wondering if Rexy in the movie was going to eat the obvious protagonists. Dunno if it was the catfolk or the... dolphin next to her, though."

Sivarel swallowed the last bit of meat on her half of the chicken. "...dolphin?" she asked skeptically. "Oh, by the way, let me know when you're done. I crave meat."

"It was a dark theater, okay? Vaguely dolphin-shaped blob. Only got the catfolk cuz they meowed." She took a quick break to wolf down some more chicken, and Sivarel mimed asking for the check to the server, then the small dinosaur continued, "anyway, all of this was supposed to be a lead-up to: you've got feathers, I've got feathers."

The friends shared a quick smile and said together, "mine are prettier," and laughed.

"Anyway, again. We have feathers, but not, like, a ton. If you had to choose between being naked, and being as fluffy as an owl, which would you pick?"

"Easy," the dragoness replied, crunching on a bone, "I have a minimum comfort temperature, and no maximum. I will be the fluffiest dragon you ever did see, and I will be comfy forever." The server set down the bill, and Sivarel quickly placed enough coins to cover the cost and a decent tip before pushing it back towards the elf. "Keep the change. Anyway, Cerise, let's hear your answer. Big feathers or no feathers?"

"Joke's on you, I came prepared. No feathers, but I would have to hang out with my dragon friend a lot during winter." The deinonychus did her best sad-puppy impression. "Surely my bestest dragoness friend Sivarel wouldn't leave me to become a raptorsicle?"

Their conversation briefly halted as they wound their way back through the restaurant and said a polite goodbye to the employee at the front. "Anyway," Sivarel continued, putting on a silly voice, "Missus Owldragon, how many licks does it take to get to the deinonychus-filled center of a Cerise-pop?" She draped a wing over her friend as they passed a small grove, and pulled her in. "Let's find out. A-"

Suddenly, an empty two-liter bottle bounced off the dragon's head with an audible "donk!" She whirled and glared at where it came from. "Really?!" she shouted, only to hear a guy cheer and call, "ten points!"

The dragoness took a deep breath. "Cerise, my wonderful murderbird friend?"

The deinonychus swished her tail slowly, building excitement boiling off in the form of energy. "Yes, Sivarel, my sister in feather and scale?"

Sivarel bared her fangs - for it could not really be called "grinning." "I'm feeling a bit peckish. Shall we see about a second course?"

Cerise followed suit, crouching in preparation. "Why, I thought you'd never ask."

Cerise darted swiftly between the trees, darting back and forth like she was running the slalom at a dog show. Sivarel, in contrast, sprang up, soaring over the tops of the trees with a few powerful beats of her wings. She watched with keen eyes as the smaller dinosaur wove through the trees, screeching a challenge. The humanoids, not nearly as nimble as the deinonychus swaying her tail with each turn, quickly made for a clearing in the trees. Unfortunately for them, clearings were exactly what Sivarel loved to see.

She folded her wings and dropped like a stone, landing with a heavy THUD right in front of them. The first - a human - she caught his head in her mouth, sending him into a blind panic as a quick kick with a foreleg sent the other - a tiger catfolk - right into Cerise's path. Between the difficulty of subduing a struggling meal shortly after eating, and the need to avoid attracting too much attention with screams, the dragoness quickly made up her mind. She clamped down firmly on the man's head and jerked her own head quickly to the side. There was a snap, and the human hung limp in her jaws. Meanwhile, her dinosaur friend had come to a similar conclusion, and had leapt up to cling to the tiger's head, rapidly kicking to tear out the woman's throat. The catfolk, however, had better reflexes than her human counterpart, and successfully threw the little dinosaur off... before falling back, herself, rapidly suffocating and bleeding out.

Cerise wiped her claws on the feline's fur, then looked up at the dragoness. "I'm gonna go scuff up some tracks. Back in a few." And like that, she trotted back into the woods, pausing occasionally to kick around the grass, dirt, and leaves.

Sivarel flicked her head back, then jerked forward, catching the man's shoulders in her jaws. Another toss and a swallow, and she'd gotten him almost halfway in. She swallowed again and tipped her head back, leaving her mouth open as she shifted and jerked her head and neck, welcoming her second course into her stomach. One or two more swallows to make sure, and then she laid down to digest her meal and wait for her friend.

A couple minutes later, the deinonychus made a reappearance, trotted over to the feline body, now thoroughly dead, and began to tear it open. "Our next trick, of course," she said between bites, "is to get back home without attention."

"Even from volunteers?" Sivarel asked with a smile.

"Especially from volunteers," Cerise answered. "They're the absolute worst for me. You can gulp 'em down nice and easy, but they seem to think I can, too." Rip, tear, snap snap gulp. "No matter how many times I tell them, they're all super surprised when I slash open their guts and start snacking on their intestines. Ooh, speaking of which..." The dinosaur made a quick cut, then began to slurp down the organ like a bloody noodle.

The dragoness's stomach gurgled and growled as it compressed and moved the meat within. "Expecting you to start at the neck, maybe? Or do they just think that you'll be able to swallow them whole anyway? What would you even look like?"

Cerise dipped her head into the torn-open tiger woman, and reemerged a few seconds later with blood on her feathers. "No, I offer the neck and they always refuse. And, I dunno, I think my belly would drag on the ground. Uh, no pun intended."

"Behold the fast and agile deinonychus," Sivarel remarked with a snicker. "Anyway, when we're ready to head out, I'll lick you clean. Anyone asks, you spilled something sweet on you and I couldn't resist."

The dinosaur nodded, then went back to her eating. After a bit, she pulled back and walked over to her friend. "Along the feathers, if you could. It's harder for me to fix mine than you yours."

Sivarel nodded back, then set about carefully licking her, drawing the blood away from the coarse feathers and into her mouth. Once she had a soaked, but mostly clean, dinosaur in front of her, she smiled and leapt into the air. "See you back outside the trees!"

The dragoness soon landed back on the sidewalk, and started preening her wings again while waiting for her friend. A couple people stopped to watch; she stared back until they went away. After a minute or so, Cerise stepped out from the grove. With a wordless nod, they turned and began to make their way back to their homes, more full than they had at first intended to be.

[championfrita]

Pokémon Sword and Shield Review

So...I've taken some time to fully play Pokémon Shield. Now, I know this is pretty delayed, and I got the double pack so I wanted to play Sword first to see if how I felt was really accurate or if I was being too harsh. That said, let's talk about my experience with the Galar Region.

Initial Impressions

Overall, I was excited to play Shield at first. Everything was bright and exciting and the characters were easy to recognize and not overly generic.

The first few hours of this game, well it's a slow burn. And I do mean SLOW. Even with the text set to Fast and me taking things at my own pace it took me at least a good couple hours to reach the Wild Area. Furthermore, this game has an infernal amount of handholding, even when given the option to say "I know all this already" it still gives a brief explaination for almost anything and STILL makes you sit ALL THE WAY THROUGH the catch tutorial.

It's 2019 and older players still don't get the option to skip this. Come on GameFreak.

That said, the longer I played the more I began to notice...how should I put this? Blatant laziness?

The Wild Area

Now, the CONCEPT of the Wild Area in theory is amazing. It's still not too bad as is, but there are definitely flaws. For starters, the same tree has been copy pasted all over the place to make up 90% of the foliage.

More than that, though, despite the Wild Area having a good selection of Pokémon and a fairly varietied environment (desert, lakes, forest) it feels oddly...empty. There are no real secrets to speak of, no hidden areas, no easily missed items. Everything is all right out there to see and spread pretty far apart. I don't know if it's a lack of Trainers or the fact that I don't have an Online membership so I played alone, but the Wild Area feels like it just needs something MORE.

Dynamax Raid Battles, even when done alone, are fairly fun and sometimes challenging with the turn limit. Radiant AI Trainers spawn in to assist you if you're playing alone so there's no worries about having to take one on with just one Pokémon.

Camping, which can be done anywhere but is introduced to the player here, is an absolute treat. Have YOU played fetch with a unicorn? I have, and I love it. The wide variety of curries you can make with different ingredients is nice, and your Pokémon even get EXP boosts if you play with and feed them while camping.

The Pokémon

Honestly, I'm really not impressed. The Galar Dex of new Pokémon feels painfully small, so much so that playing Pokémon GO and catching a few Unova Pokémon made me yearn for the days when we used to get regions completely FULL of new Pokémon. Remember when you had to wait until AFTER the main game to start catching Pokémon from past gens? I...well, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I LIKED that.

That said, using a sparse selection of Galar Pokémon and Galar Regional Variants on my team definitely made the Gym Challenge more difficult. I picked Scorbunny, because Fire Types, and honestly didn't really care for it or its evolutions at first. Cinderace has really grown on me though and I like Pyro Ball as a move. It's flashy and powerful and that suits me just fine. Most of the new Pokémon's DESIGNS were good and I liked them, there just really weren't ENOUGH of them.

I'm fairly pleased with the regional variants as well. It was difficult to adjust to Ponyta and Rapidash being Psychic Type, but I really liked having them on my team. At the same time...Meowth not evolving into a Persian doesn't really sit right with me.

I'm all for branch evolutions, but Perrserker honestly just looks more like a giant Galar Meowth than anything. I played this with only the info given in the few scattered trailers I'd seen, so I was genuinely excited to see what a Galarian Persian would look like only to end up with Perrserker. The Typing is phenominal, and I think it's great to see a Steel Type Meowth for a change, but I just don't like where they went with it. Eh. Ces't la vie, moving on.

The Story

It's weak. Straight up, the story in this game is poor. There were so many directions they could have gone. I really liked the idea of Rose being this charismatic chairman hype man for the League and being the bad guy. I saw it coming, but it was a nice change to see just based on his personality. Still, it feels rushed. His motivations are really one dimensional and glossed over. Like, "Oh, here's the bad guy. Go get him." It worked in Gen 1 because Giovanni was a MOBSTER. He was MEANT to be a bad guy straight to the core in general, but Rose just doesn't have that vibe.

Not only that, but the "Bad League Members" are kinda meh. That feels REALLY lazy. They didn't even really get a decent uniform change when they started taking on the name Macro Cosmos in Rose Tower. They got black glasses. That's it. Just that. The fight with Eternatus feels painfully rushed and shoehorned in too, almost like they thought "Oh no, we need to give them a big nasty boss to fight! Let's just throw a random monster at them and say Rose summoned it. Seems like a solid plan."

I DID like the after story with Piers though. It really solidifies that older brother sort of nature with him, even if he tries to hide it most of the time.

The Characters

I liked Hop. As a character he's really fun and I like how they gave him this over excited very grand gestured sort of personality. He's really just happy to be ANYWHERE as long as it's with his Pokémon and you. His admiration for his big bro might come off strong and make him seem a little flat at first, but he's overall portrayed as a good kid and I like him.

Leon on the other hand...well I hated him for most of the game. His design is great and he looks fabulous, but he just has the most cocky, obnoxious, pandering personality 90% of the time. Still, I have to give credit where credit is due and recognize that he IS actually a multifaceted character. He showboats not just because he's too confident but also to give the crowd a show and put people at ease in times of danger. Not only that, but his recognition of his little brother's accomplishments and his graceful acceptance of defeat when you beat him reveals a really well written character.

I don't DISlike Sonia, and I have no problem with Prof. Magnolia sitting on the sidelines, but she can be a little...irritating at times with the way she speaks about and to people. The Gym Leaders, aside from Piers, feel a little...light.

I mean, most Gym Leaders don't have detailed backstories, but these ones feel paper thin personality wise as well. I had to look at the official GUIDE just to be sure what the relationship between Melony and Gordie even WAS because you only seem him in her Special League Card in Shield and that tells you nothing about him. The only real leaders that stood out to me were Piers and Raihan, and while I was iffy about his design at first I LOVE Raihan. He has so much more personality and ferocity than any of the other leaders. And the social commentary about him needing to constantly take and post a selfie, even after losing, is a nice touch.

The Galar Region

Is very linear. Like, VERY linear. Even when you take a branching path it either loops back around or gives you a free ride to wherever you have to backtrack to. I hope you like Hammerlocke, cuz you're gonna be visiting there several times.

I know that the region is based off the UK, and maybe my Americanized idea of cities is different (idk, I've never been to the UK), but a lot of the towns in this game feel really small. Like, almost smaller than some of the towns in Hoenn small. Maybe it's a lack of significant interactable buildings, but despite many of them having multiple floors you typically can only access one and that's kind of a disappointment. The hotel in Wyndon won't even let you get in the elevator, and while I get that Alola also did that, it's kind of jarring when the hotel in Motostoke WILL let you see other floors.

That said, I kind of expected more than ONE Wild Area. The one we DID get is fine, and I appreciate what it is and lets us do, but I honestly thought there would be multiple places to really explore outside the standard straight lines. Pokémon has never been a franchise to shy away from puzzles before so I expected this to not be any different. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Moreover, many of the environment pieces are just UGLY. A lot of the ground textures are reused 3DS assets, and those copy pasted trees I mentioned earlier? Also 3DS assets. How do I know? They're pentagonal instead of round. In other words, they have five sides. Why? Because the 3DS hardware couldn't handle complex environmental shapes that well so they could get away with it, but now that we have nice round berry trees the contrast becomes painful. The Wild Area is so ugly the first time you see it is at NIGHT. They were so aware of what they did they hoped making it darker would hide the lazy flop instead of showing off how bad it was.

It isn't like they COULDN'T fix it either. Look at Ballonlea and Glimwood Tangle. They're absolutely beautiful and very well done. The modeling with them is fantastic and I love the glowing effects. They absolutely could've made the poorly done areas look amazing, but for some reason they didn't and the game suffers some as a result.

Other Thoughts

The Gym Challenges...they were not fun. Like, honestly some were ok. Herding Wooloo was easy, but they really didn't feel like anything I would expect from a Gym. The water puzzle in Nessa's Gym was fine, and I personally liked the spinning cup ride, but the rest just felt like agonizingly long padding because they couldn't come up with anything. Look at Circhester's challenge. It's a dowsing rod gauntlet where you have to avoid falling in pits in an artificial blizzard. It. is. SO. SLOW. That said, Spikemuth having just a Trainer gauntlet instead was kind of awkward. I reached the end and asked myself "Was that it? Is this it? Is this all there is to Spikemuth? Just one giant alleyway and a Pokémon Center?"

Raihan's three trials of worthiness challenge? It was more difficult than the battle AGAINST RAIHAN. Speaking of, I beat Hop, Marnie, Bede, all the Gym Leaders, Rose, Oleana, and Leon on my first try every time. While it was more difficult with my specific Pokémon choices, it really wasn't much. And can I just say that the Gym Badges are kinda lame? I get what they were going for, but the designs of each piece could've been really unique and intricate and instead we got glorified stamps.

I liked a lot of the general features of the game. Camping, clothing shops, League Cards. I love designing League Cards, even if I'm the only one who's ever gonna see em. That said, the clothing choices were really narrow based on what we got in Sun and Moon. The variety of different items was pretty small, though I loved all the punk leather stuff but WOW IS IT EXPENSIVE. Like Lumiose Boutique expensive. AND WHY IS THERE NEVER A REDHEAD HAIR COLOR THAT ISN'T JUST AUBURN RED? There are actually A LOT of redheads with LIGHT RED hair (that's more a personal gripe than anything, I know).

A lot of the music felt almost like rehashes of older BGMs. Like, Postwick, Route 1, and Wedgehurst all sound like they have remixed Hoenn music. A lot of the other music tracks just don't feel fitting for the areas or for Pokémon games in general. I like parts of the Slumbering Weald music and I like the Gym Music, but the opening of Slumbering Weald feels awkward and like it doesn't fit a mysterious forest we're not allowed to be in.

I know I've complained a lot, but there were some things I genuinely liked. A lot of the Pokémon designs, place names, and other radiant decor and parts of the region are actually subtle and not so subtle references to cultural points of the UK. Skwovet and its evolution for example are a gray and red squirrel respectively and are a nod to invasive species, which is neat.

In Conclusion

Is Pokémon Sword and Shield amazing? No. Is it bad? No. Sword and Shield fall into that mediocre middle ground of being ok but nothing to write home about. Could I have done without them? Sure, they aren't some world ending imperitive must play. They're ok, and they make for a fine jumping on point and a fine little adventure if you have spare time. Have other mainline games done it better? Heck yeah, but that doesn't mean Sword and Shield haven't done a few good things too.

Overall, it sort of feels like GameFreak bit off more than they could chew, or were afraid to make changes because of unfamiliarity with the Switch's hardware and software limitations. Pokémon Let's Go had a lot more effort, but it also was much safer and had a much easier to work with art style to everything. Chibi proportions are a lot easier to fake than a more realistic counterpart. Things can be not perfect and it's less noticable than with more realistic proportions, and I think they were afraid to push back the deadline any further for the inevitable backlash despite that being what they likely needed. The DLC may change my mind, but as it stands, just the fact that they feel they can JUSTIFY their laziness with DLC packs really upsets me.

I give Pokémon Sword and Shield a 5/10.

It's just, OK.

[bts5sosempire]

Freedom

A/n: a couple of things before I start lol, I'm not fluent in German so I Google stuff a lot 😂😂 so if you see them please pardon me. Plus this was in the draft for soooooo long that I just wanna kms cuz I forgot about it. Another thing I don't approve this kind of behavior too.

Pairing: Yandere! Kim Taehyung x Reader

Content: implied stuff, horror, scheme, manipulation, etc.

Words: 2,135

Prompt: “What's the different of give and take?”

Maybe it had been days? No, maybe it was weeks? Months or even a year? You don't know anymore, staying in this dark basement have deprived you of any human contact and light from the outside world. The chains shackling your ankles is enough proof to say that you were confined. Bruises formed around them long enough to tell that they were marred there. The entity.

Oh, how you long to be free.

Your story is a variance of like how Icarus had flown to close to the sun.

Instead of your wings burning off, it was your freedom and dignity taken. Two things that were given to you at birth. You would do anything to have them back. But in this, can you? If you can't, maybe in rebirth?

Many questions swirl in your head, enough to paralyze your thought.

But the sound of the heavy door caught your attention. The hair on your neck stands up instantly, as a horrible shiver ran throughout your entire body. This is enough to cause epilepsy. A small whimper made pass your lips, as you try to make yourself small as possible by scooting closer to the corner and hide from him. However, nowhere is safe from him.

Taehyung will find you no matter what.

Horrible fate isn't?

“Good morning,” his voice rang throughout the small space you were confined in, “I hope you're doing alright?”

Alright, wouldn't be the word you'd use in this situation you were in. It was more like killing you slowly and taking away your sanity little by little. Pieces of you being strip away and barring nothing but your skeleton and your vulnerable naked heart in front of him.

And that is something Taehyung prefer to keep it that way. Kind of mess up if you ask yourself about it. But he's the definition of that two words, ‘mess up’.

Your silence disturbs him.

“Why aren't you answering me?” he took a step and this cause you to recoil back into the corner tightly as possible. This causes him to stop in his steps. You fear to look at him right now, he may look harmless but that night—on that day—proved how dead wrong you were. You never have seen a person who smiles from joy by hurting others and in a slow torture style.

“You're that scared of me?” The words seem to lose their kindness in them. His hands start shaking uncontrollably. Breath getting ragged. The next thing causes the blood in your veins to burst with fear. He was crackling a burst of laughter, enough to haunt your mind for your entire being. Taehyung doesn't or maybe he does know, the things he does (to you) would be a tattoo in your mind. His hand made a slow movement to his waist and pull something, as a glint was shown in the dimly light basement.

“Let's play a game shall we?” he chuckles, and you whimper out of fear. Taehyung twirls the knife in his hand as he scrapes the tip of it against the brick pillar. The sound of two different elements making contact comes closer to your ears unpleasantly. You turn away and grip the hem of the tattered shirt, this time crying. You hate this, you want nothing to do with this any longer!

“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers, let him go, eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” Taehyung voice stop abruptly and you bite your whimpers, in fact, you feel his presence just mere inches away, “My mother told me to pick the very best one, and that is YOU.” those words hit your ears with a strong shiver of horror. Tensing up, the tip of the knife trail up your back like water in reverse motion. But his trailing was very careful.

“If you win, you get to go free and I won't ever pursue you again.” His voice was low and eerie. The trailing stops in between your shoulder blades and stays there. “But if you lose, you will accept me wholly and be part of my life. How does that sound?”

Your silence was all he needs now, whether you like it or not.

.

Taehyung had made you ‘play find the treasure’, around the house there were three specific items he wants it to be found and you already found one of them.

The discovery was gruesome. It was his first victim already decayed body in the Iron Maiden. A key was stuck to its mouth, and you almost retch at the sight of it. The smell of death was strong in the room, even blood that was supposed to be washed away was stained there. He wants you to fetch the key from its mouth. You were hesitant about getting it, but if it means freedom from this hell-hole.

You are all in.

The second item was a code, but it was in a room filled with advanced math and equations, but you can make out the scribbles of white and red overlapping with each other. There were papers already prepared there. Like Taehyung already had planned this all along, since there were layers of dust coated the papers and desk.

You thought you were going crazy for a second as you saw repeated math equations, but you weren't. Taehyung did that on purpose. At first, you weren't sure of your going to get out if all the numbers are right since, you added them, subtract, multiply and even divide them but it doesn't make any sense at all! You were getting frustrated. What were you doing wrong?

Letting out a frustrated sigh, there was something bothering you. Taking a look at the ceiling and around you, there were more whites than red in the room. And the highest number you achieve was 27. The inner corner of your brows knitted together and you grab all the papers scattered around you. You had color coded them. There was a letter you had scribble next to the number when you had the answer. On each and one of them.

Looking around the room one more time, there was something laying in a forgotten corner. The paper folded neatly. You went over there and pick it up.

Unfolding it, it was only the alphabet letters. But it does make sense to you now. Each number represents an alphabet letter. You grab the papers that were filled with scribbles and jot down a letter next to them. But the red is more apparent than the white ones.

Freiheit ist nights, aber in Narrenwunsch.

You recognize it was in German.

But whatever it means, it's going to aid you in your freedom.

Running out of the room, you went to find the final piece of treasure.

.

Taehyung watches from the cameras in an unknown room, as he successfully saw you retrieve the key. He was neither anxious nor impatient, instead, he was rather very calm.

You were intriguing his mind more, very compatible. All he needs is to get you to join him is his misfortune and mischief, by ruling his side like the person he needed in this reign he's going to take over.

“Oh? She already solved it.” A small chuckle reverberates from his vocal cords. It didn't take long for you to solve the problems.

.

You run past the living room where you were supposed to be in there like fifteen minutes ago and you came back to find a computer hook up in cables and cords, as its links to a double door. Something made your skin crawl, it's not the cold air in this dark place. It's like you're being watched.

Making a small step at the bright computer, your eyes wince at the contrast. There was a question written on the computer screen.

What is freedom?

You type in the letters and press enter, and a click resonates around the room. The heavy doors open with a loud cry upon forces.

Everything in you pause for a moment.

A gust of strong wind push through the small gap of the door, you feel it rustle pass your unkempt self. Light peers through the dark room, making the darkness scramble away as it was eaten up. A breath of amazement escapes your lips, as you saw the landscape you were surrounded with. Wildflowers bloom everywhere, a giant lake down below the field, mountains far away with snow decorating their top.

Shaking your head, you cut off your thought. You need to get out of here!

Without wasting a moment, you set foot outside and it feels like many centuries have passed since you last visited the outside world. The rush of adrenaline filled you with excitement. A smile made on your dry lips. You pick up your speed and run towards the no path field of flowers.

Petals float in the air as your legs hit the wildflowers. The sun warms against your skin.

But the sound of a gunshot cut you short your freedom as you halt all movements. All feeling of happiness and childish self-flew away from you as fear regrips your heart again. You turn around and saw Taehyung there with a gun pointed in the air with a cynical smile. He then pointed it at you.

“Your freedom must've tasted good because it didn't last long.”

“You said you would let me go.” Your voice came out raspy because of the lack of use.

“But I didn't promise you though.” He comes close to you. Your legs start to buckle in fear and anxiety. “This was merely a lesson for you.”

“What?” Anger surge through you, like a breath of disbelief, filling your lungs.

“You know what ‘Freiheit ist nights, aber in Narrenwunsch’mean (Name)?” His terrifying eyes bore into your orbs, that look is enough to make your body lock under pressure, but you refuse to fall under his gaze. “It means freedom is nothing, but a fool's wish’. You get it to don't you? I let you escape like this to tell you how easy it is to take and give freedom. The words give and take are no different since they are so close to each other.” Taehyung closes the proximity. His hand went to capture your wrist with his one hand and twist them around your back. He pulls you close to him, chest to chest. This makes you struggle in his vice grip.

“Since taking away your dignity didn't break you enough, I would have to break your ambitions, your hope, your everything, and even the light that glimmer in your eyes.” The gun in his hand came dangerously close to you, as he traces the cool tip of the gun right down the side of your face. He leans his face close to you, just inches apart. “I will make you depend on me for the rest of your life. Want to hear a term for that? It's called Stockholm Syndrome. With enough deprivation of human contact, you will become eventually paranoid and start begging for my attention, then I'll make you learn how to love me.”

“You're sick!”

“I don't appreciate being called mentally ill (Name) after all, I'm not the one who killed their family and was label that.”

A snarl emits from your lips, as your anger override your emotions to think properly and words blurt out. “You think throwing the crime on me would make me come running towards you and kiss your feet? Instead, this made me hate you with a fiery passion that I run away and you're the one who came chasing after me instead! In fact, I appreciate if they killed me off sooner I wouldn't have to deal with your psychotic-”

A hand had made contact with your face. And you were shocked that Taehyung had just backhanded you! You bite your lower bleeding lip. “You don't mean it, you don't know what you're talking about. You don't hate me, you love me. Say that you love me.” Taehyung commanded the last sentence with the gun pointed under your jaw.

You give him a hard stare for a good few seconds before closing your eyes awaiting death if you don't answer.

“Open your eyes and say that you love me! Say it!” Taehyung tugs you.

Refusing to open your eyes, and the metallic metal was removed from your chin as you were pushed to the ground as the air was knocked out from your lungs. You open your eyes and saw him loom over you. There weren't any emotions shown on his face.

.

On that field, Taehyung was nothing more than an animal mask with the essence of the devil himself as he takes you there. He retook your everything.

[adapted-batteries]

And the Hidden Amulet

Fandom: The Librarians

Rating: General/sfw

Relationship: Jassekiel

Word Count: 7017

The Library sends the LiTs and Guardian off to Colorado, where an ancient cave suddenly revealed itself, complete with markings that make the LiTs nervous. Body swapping doesn’t really help matters either.

Also posted on my Ao3.

This is a continuation in the Land Pirate AU I’ve written in before. While it’s not exactly necessary to read the previous stories, some things will probably make a lot more sense if you have. “You Sultry Land Pirates Ruined My Dig!” is first, and “The LiTs Go Clubbing” is second, which this story follows.

This is the last fic I’ve got for the shipathon. The past two months have been great, and I’m super glad I participated.

-----

It had been two months since the Club 10 incident. Morgan Le Fey went off the radar again, or hid her tracks better than last time at least; Jenkins made it his priority to keep an eye out for anything of her handiwork. For the most part, the clippings book and their ongoing investigation on Dulaque had kept them busy, so when nothing rattled the clippings book and they had no progress on what Dulaque was up to, the LiTs grew somewhat restless.

“Jacob...what are you wearing?” Cassandra asked as Dr. Stone walked into the Annex.

“I figured I should find somethin’ to compare with your edgy wardrobe that didn't scream cowboy,” he replied, fiddling with the taupe scarf around his neck. He’d found a cream long sleeve shirt, some olive green pants, and grey work boots.

“I think it's an improvement,” Ezekiel quipped from his relaxed position, feet up on the desk while he scrolled on his phone. “A Nathan Drake vibe beats hick from Oklahoma any day.” Stone gave Ezekiel a confused look but paid attention to the pair of eyes currently on him.

Cassandra had been looking him over methodically. “You need more...leather. Maybe a splash of color too,” she commented, turning on her heel to make a quick trip to the costume room. Stone looked to Ezekiel, who just shrugged at him.

“Cassandra knows how to pick wardrobe, trust me,” Ezekiel said. He then looked up at Stone, eyes focusing obviously on his pants. “That being said, you look a lot more ‘edgy’ with fitted pants like those. A good looking ass and killer legs are always assets, mate.”

“You just want me for my body, don’t ya,” Stone teased, purposely jutting his hip out as he folded his arms across his chest.

“You know it,” Ezekiel chuckled, waggling his eyebrows.

A minute later Cassandra returned with things in hand. She laid them on the desk Ezekiel had claimed, then started handing items to Stone and giving him instructions. “Push your sleeves up, it highlights your biceps more, makes you look slightly more intimidating. The leather cuffs break up your arm while adding a rogue aspect to you. The shirt by itself is bare, so the leather straps are both practical for holding things and cool looking. The light blue cloth necklace adds a bit of color, and it looks like something you wear for personal reasons, giving your character more depth.”

Stone fiddled with the accessories for a moment. “Better?” he asked no one in particular.

“Definitely,” Ezekiel said with a smirk. “Now you look like our hired muscle.”

“When Colonel Baird isn't around then I technically am,” Stone added.

“Speaking of that, how is your training with her going?” Cassandra asked as she sat on the desk.

“Pretty good. I'm getting to the point where she doesn't kick my ass quite so much,” Stone replied, rolling his shoulders like talking about training made him suddenly sore.

The clippings book shook on its stand, catching all of their attention. The three crowded around the large book on its stand.

“Rock-slide reveals ancient cave, hikers discover hidden cave, mysterious drawings found on new cave walls...they’re all dated for tomorrow. Sounds like we need to check out this cave,” Cassandra said.

Stone studied the newspaper clippings. “These are all from Colorado, but Native Americans didn't make cave paintings, so either someone else did it or they’re-”

Colonel Baird walked in just as Stone got towards the end of his sentence. “Magic? What does the clippings book have for us today?”

Stone looked up at her, startled. “How did you-”

“Ezekiel texted me the highlights, and I was on my way back anyway,” she answered, gesturing with her phone as she came to stand next to Ezekiel to read the clippings. “Looks like we’re going spelunking,” She glanced at Stone, mildly amused, “and Stone here is ready to go.”

“I wasn’t...ugh,” Stone huffed, crossing his arms. He glared at Ezekiel and Cassandra who were both restraining giggles. “Go on and get ready.”

“Be back in five!” Cassandra said, giving Stone a kiss on the cheek.

Ezekiel slipped around Cassandra to do the same. “I think you look pretty sexy,” he not-so-quietly whispered into Stone’s ear, giving him a cheeky pat on the ass for good measure, then offered his arm to Cassandra. The two sauntered off to find some hiking gear.

“Cassandra help with the outfit?” Colonel Baird asked, trying to hide the smirk on her face.

“Uh yeah, I only managed half of this,” he replied, fiddling with the leather cuff on his wrist to hide the blush Ezekiel caused.

“Hey, that’s progress,” she said. She gave him a friendly punch in the arm then started heading out the doors for her own gear. “There should be some backpacks in the supply room for us.”

“I’ll go get ‘em,” Stone said, following after her.

---

Jenkins sent them to a visitor center in the forest. It was fairly crowded, people taking advantage of the last few days of summer before the fall rolled in, but no one paid them any mind as the group stumbled out a side door marked “Authorized Personnel Only.”

“Alright, the cave was on Logan Peak Trail, so we need to find the trail head,” Colonel Baird said once the group regained their footing.

“Got it,” Ezekiel said, casually sliding a map out of an unsuspecting tourist’s back pocket as they walked by.

“Dude, seriously?” Stone scoffed, rolling his eyes at him.

“What? She didn’t say how she wanted the information,” Ezekiel countered, opening up the folded paper.

Cassandra scanned the map for a moment before pointing at a spot. “There’s roughly where the cave is, so the trail itself should be right...here,” she paused, looking up to match the map to the various paths branching from the parking lot. “There, to the north, next to the bus.”

“What’s the rating on that trail?” Colonel Baird asked while she watched people coming and going from every other trail but that one.

Ezekiel flipped the map over to the trail listings. “Um...it’s an expert level, complete with steep inclines, some rock climbing, and the loop itself runs almost twenty miles, and connects to others,” he answered, not looking as thrilled as he had before.

“Based on the satellite images, the cave is somewhere between miles four and five,” Cassandra added, poking Ezekiel to flip the map back over. “We might have to scale a small cliff face about two miles in, but I don’t remember seeing anything else on the way.”

“This is why I had you guys get good hiking boots,” Colonel Baird said, turning towards the trail in a much more excited manner than the rest of the group. “Librarians, let's get our hike on.”

The group met her excitement with various grumbles and mumbled words.

---

Three sweaty hours later, the LiTs and their Guardian saw the freshly revealed cave, set into a steeply sloping rock face that softened as it joined the trail. The mouth was five foot wide at most. Boulders and rocks were scattered about, but none covered the trail itself.

Colonel Baird started up the slope to give the cave a look, but the others staggered over to a flatter boulder to rest. “It slopes down towards the back, but I can’t see anything once it curves,” she stated, flicking a beam of light from a flashlight around the walls of the cave. “We just need to take it slow, be careful...guys?” She turned around, not having to search hard for them.

Cassandra noticed Colonel Baird. “Can we have like, five minutes?” Ezekiel and Stone both looked up at her, guzzling water with pleading eyes.

Colonel Baird sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to get them moving any faster. “Fine. Five minutes, then we go inside.”

Even though they knew she was going to give them precisely five minutes, they still groaned and grumbled up the slope to the cave entrance. The complaints stopped once they went inside, replaced by their footsteps echoing down the tunnel. With the curve, the floor grew more jagged, becoming a set of large, shallow steps that opened to a larger chamber fifteen or so feet across and deep, and twenty feet high.

The walls, where they were smooth enough, had white symbols all over them that eerily reflected their LED flashlights. In the middle of the room was a four foot tall pillar of rock with a rounded top that jutted up from the ground, but otherwise the room was empty.

“Any idea what these symbols are?” Colonel Baird asked the room. The LiTs had gone in, but she stayed at the entrance, keeping an ear out for anyone coming in the cave.

“It’s not Native American. In fact...it looks similar to what those kids had on the floor in the basement of Club 10,” Stone replied, lightly tracing one of the symbols with his fingers.

“Do you think she came here?” Cassandra asked from the other side of the room where she had been looking for anything suspicious with Ezekiel.

“If she did, it would’ve had to 've been a couple centuries ago. That I can tell, the paint is a mix they used in early to mid 19th century America,” Stone said.

“You know that by just touching it?” Ezekiel said, glancing over at Stone dubiously.

“I wasn’t diggin’ in the sand in Iraq ‘cuz I didn’t know my stuff,” he retorted. “And while you guys were gettin’ ready, I checked into any literature related to this park and area, and didn’t find any mention of a cave. The oldest item, a diary, was dated eighteen forty three.”

“Okay, we get it, you’re a history nerd,” Ezekiel mocked, walking over to Stone to check out his wall for anything suspicious. “So secret cave that’s been sealed for at least a hundred and fifty years, with symbols that look a lot like what we saw with Morgan Le Fey, and a weird pillar thing in the middle. Any guesses?”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be good,” Colonel Baird said. “Stone, do you know what these symbols mean?”

“After our run in at Club 10, I read through all the Library had on magic in Europe in that millennium.” He paused when Ezekiel dropped his jaw slightly. “Yes...all. Reading is literally what I do,” he quipped, shaking his head to get back on track. “As far as her specific style, there wasn’t much I could find. She’s good at coverin’ her tracks, but what she was teachin' those kids cropped up a lot in several areas over a few hundred years.” Stone had been flicking his flashlight around the room, but suddenly stopped on a particular symbol. “There, something a lot like it came up a lot in the Celtic stuff. It was a ward, a symbol of protection. What exactly it did depended on who wrote which book, but everyone agreed it was part of a ritual for protection.”

“But not all these symbols go with that ward,” Cassandra started, flicking her hands in the air in front of her. “I remember looking over your shoulder when you had a book open, I’ve seen, well not the symbols specifically, but variants, similar patterns.” After swiping at nothing, her face lit up in recognition, then she swiped the air in her grand gesture of dismissing what she saw and aimed her flashlight at another symbol. “That one, it’s really close to the one I saw for detecting beings in an area, but it’s not the same.”

“Okay so someone was setting up magical security...but for what?” Ezekiel abandoned the wall for the pillar in the middle. “Something could have been here, if someone took it before we got here.”

“No, there weren’t any prints in the dust at the entrance. The rock slide happened recently, and the park rangers haven’t gone in yet, otherwise there would’ve been a notice at the start of the trail,” Colonel Baird explained.

“Then whatever they were protectin’ is still here,” Stone concluded, deciding the pillar needed more of his attention. “These wards, they were some top level stuff. Only a trained practitioner did them. Whoever painted these walls could have easily magically hidden whatever it is.”

Light tapping echoed around the room; Cassandra had pulled out a magical scanner she and Ezekiel had built together, and was waving it at the wall. “Did anything you read say anything about the wards regenerating, or if they decay?”

“That was another point people liked to argue on. Some said they were one use things, some said they regenerated the next day at sunrise, some said that they had to be recharged by a person after use,” Stone replied, eyes still on the pillar.

“Well whatever theory is correct, these wards have no magic in them,” Cassandra announced, pivoting towards Stone and Ezekiel. “The only reading I get is from the pillar, and it’s strong, like artifact level strong.”

Ezekiel had been feeling the base of the pillar for a trigger mechanism, so Stone touched the top, which shifted with his push, suddenly tumbling to the ground on the other side. The inside of the pillar had been hollowed out about six inches deep, housing a small, ornate wooden box. “I think I found what was givin’ off readings,” Stone said, gingerly lifting the rectangular box out of the hole. “This, the style, it’s old. Traditional carvings from thirteenth century France.”

“Cool box...so what’s inside?” Ezekiel said, standing up next to him.

Stone had to restrain himself from yelling about how rare a find like this was. Instead he focused his energy into carefully opening the box. A gold amulet about half the size of his palm sat inside, the red gemstone set in the middle reflecting light off its multifaceted surface. He pulled the necklace out carefully, intently studying it.

Ezekiel looked like he hadn’t been expecting jewelry. “Fancy looking necklace...okay. When’s it from?”

After some sniffing, and a lick, Stone replied, “It’s as old as the box, if not older. I’d put it at…”

Something felt weird. He looked up; the room was off slightly, something changed. He still had the amulet in his hand, but now the gem was green, and he was on the other side of the pillar, alone. He shook his head and continued his statement.

“Uh, yeah, I’d put it at late twelfth, early thirteenth century, the gold from the mines of the Mali empire probably.”  Stone ran a hand through his hair. His wrist felt bare, and when he brought his arm down he noticed the leather cuffs Cassandra had given him were gone. In fact, his whole outfit looked more like his normal clothes, not the outfit he’d been working on before they left.

“What, suddenly self-conscious mate?” Ezekiel quipped, drawing Stone’s attention to him. Stone could’ve sworn Ezekiel had a light grey shirt, but now it was much darker, a navy, too much to be a trick of light.

Stone shook his head, deciding to play off his confusion. “Nah, I already know you want a piece of this,” Stone said, waggling his eyebrows.

“Uh…” Ezekiel looked really caught off guard, and Stone wasn’t sure why. They did this flirting thing all the time. He glanced to Cassandra, who was also giving him a funny look, in a light green shirt, not the blue she had been wearing.

The amulet, it must have changed something, his perception maybe, or it transported him somehow, to somewhere. Maybe they’d understand him…

Stone’s voice faltered mid sentence. He looked around, not quite sure where he was. Ezekiel was suddenly next to him, and he’d somehow gotten on the other side of the pillar without noticing. He still had the amulet in his hand, but it was red, not the green he remembered seeing just a moment ago.

“Um...uh,” Stone lost his words, his train of thought completely derailed.

“It’s alright if you don’t know the time period, we can look it up when we get back,” Cassandra said, walking up and putting a reassuring hand on his arm.

“No, I know, it’s gotta be early thirteenth century, gold from Mali most likely,” Stone confirmed, shaking his head. He glanced to his wrists; when did he put on those bracelets? Wait, his whole outfit was not what he walked into the cave wearing.

“Are you alright?” she asked, looking at him with concern.

“Uh...I don’t...um, didn’t you have a green shirt?” Stone stammered, eyes flicking around to Ezekiel. “And you had a navy shirt, for sure.”

“Nope, I definitely walked into the Library this morning wearing this shirt,” Ezekiel said, looking at him with concern as well. “You sure you’re feeling okay?”

“I think so,” Stone mumbled.

Ezekiel offered his hand to Stone. “Here, let me have a look at the amulet.” Once the amulet touched Ezekiel’s hand, Stone shuddered. It was slight, but Ezekiel caught it.

“Now why would Morgan Le Fey, or someone she worked with or trained, hide this here?” Ezekiel thought aloud, looking at the red amulet in his hand, hoping to move past whatever had just happened to Stone...

Ezekiel had been watching Stone ever since he picked up the amulet. Stuttering while doing his history nerd thing, that wasn’t normal at all. Neither was forgetting what clothes they had been wearing all day, and looking around the room like he didn’t know how he got there. Except now he felt the same way. That amulet had definitely been red just a moment ago, there was no way he could have confused that with the green it was now.

Everyone was looking at him expectantly, but why he didn’t know, since he just asked them a question. Maybe he hadn’t actually said it out loud? Guess it wouldn’t hurt to repeat himself. “Uh, so why would they need to hide this amulet?”

Apparently they hadn’t been expecting him to ask that. Cassandra raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, it must be valuable, whether monetarily or magically,” she suggested. “We just don’t know what it does, yet anyway.”

Ezekiel glanced back at the amulet. “With the wards, it’d have to be magical. Maybe whatever it does is controlled by a command.”

“That’s an idea, though what would activate it we have no clue,” Cassandra started, eyes focused on the amulet for a moment before she turned to look at the box, sitting unattended on the pillar top. “Stone, is there anything on the box that might help us?”

Stone grabbed the box, holding his flashlight close to it. “I can certainly look.”

Something about Cassandra seemed different, Ezekiel couldn’t quite put a finger on what though. It was like she hadn’t been hardened by years of thievery with him. She reminded him more of what she was like when they first met five years ago; innocent, a bit naive, too trusting for her own good, determined to convince him that she was worth opening up to.

Apparently that meant he was looking at her with a face that revealed he was thinking about how he low key had a crush on her for a while (guess that happens when you start actually trusting someone), complete with biting his lip.

“Are you alright Ezekiel?” Cassandra asked, snapping him back to reality. If there had been more than just flashlights for light, he could confirm his suspicion of her blushing under his gaze...

Stone was being really odd. Flirting with him was not a normal thing at all, nor looking at himself like he forgot what clothes he put on this morning. Ezekiel hadn’t paid a whole lot of attention, but he for sure didn’t remember Stone looking like he belonged in a video game a second ago, and the amulet was not red either.

“Wasn’t the amulet green?” Ezekiel said, looking from the necklace in his hand to Stone’s weird wardrobe change. “And you definitely hadn’t been wearing those pants when we walked in here.”

“What? I’ve been wearing ‘em all day, and ya even said ya liked my ass in ‘em,” Stone retorted, looking at him with concern. Stone put the back of his hand up to Ezekiel’s forehead for a moment, then switched to cupping the side of his face. “Are ya feelin’ alright?”

The sudden tenderness from Stone was too much for Ezekiel. Instinctively he backed away a few feet, eyes wide, not a clue why Stone was being this way like it was normal.

Stone looked at him with even more worry. “What’s wrong?”

“You wouldn’t do that, you don’t…” Ezekiel stammered, not really processing what was going on very well.

“I don’t what?” Stone said, keeping his distance even though Ezekiel could tell he was restraining himself.

“You’re straight!” Ezekiel snapped, not really meaning to be so loud, but his nerves were very on edge.

Stone looked at him, more confused now than anything else. “I dunno what happened to you...don’t you remember kissin’ me this morning?”

Ezekiel’s jaw dropped. What Stone just said made absolutely no sense; he definitely didn’t do that today, that wouldn’t be something he’d forget easily at all.  “...what? I didn’t...”

Cassandra knew something was wrong with Jacob and Ezekiel, like they weren’t quite who they should be. Jacob stuttering mid-sentence, saying she had been wearing a green shirt when she definitely wasn’t, could’ve just been some odd memory loss, but Ezekiel suddenly thinking Jacob was straight was the thing that made her realize there was a problem.

“Are you two alright? You’ve both been acting weird...did something happen?” she asked. Stone looked like he was thinking, and Ezekiel responded with confused noises more than words. On a hunch, she took the amulet from Ezekiel’s loose grip, and saw him shudder. “Okay, where were you just now?”

Ezekiel shook his head, looking around the room, before answering. “I was here, but not quite. It was like you didn’t remember us at all, our past, and Stone changed his clothes…”

Ezekiel’s clothes changed, his shirt going from the grey she just saw, to a navy. He’d been mid sentence when she arrived wherever they were. “...and you said I kissed you this morning?”

Stone, definitely not wearing the cream shirt and olive pants anymore, made a noise that was part amused, part disbelief. “You definitely didn’t do anything like that.”

That gave Cassandra the information she needed. “I think I can explain that,” she started, getting both of their attention. “We must be shifting universes, and you guys are a parallel universe to mine. Everything’s mostly the same, but not quite, like the amulet. Where I came from, it had a red gemstone, but yours is green, and my Ezekiel had a grey shirt, but yours is navy…”

Cassandra figured out why Ezekiel was so freaked out about things Stone definitely didn’t do. When she took the amulet from him, she went somewhere, to the place Ezekiel had been describing, confirmed by Stone’s obnoxious looking adventurer's outfit. They’d been swapping universes via the amulet, its red-gemmed counterpart currently in her hands where the green one had been just a moment ago.

“...Ezekiel had said you somehow changed outfit,” she continued, looking at Stone with mild amusement, “which at first didn’t make sense, but I can’t deny what I see in front of me.”

“So have we been teleporting?” Ezekiel asked.

“Not exactly. The amulet must link the consciousness of the person to their counterpart in another universe, but only if both are holding the amulets,” she explained. “Our Ezekiel came back rather freaked out...what happened over here?”

Stone bit his lip before answering her. “I told him that he kissed me this morning, which ours did.”

“Oh...well that I know of our Stone and Ezekiel’s relationship is not that, well at least not yet anyway,” Cassandra replied.

Ezekiel was looking at her again like he had before he presumably returned to this universe. “What about us? Me and you?”

Cassandra couldn’t help the blush that came up from his gaze. “Uh, well personally I don’t feel that way...and I have Estrella now…”

“Who’s Estrella?” Stone asked, giving her a curious look.

Cassandra felt the smile before she even said anything. “My girlfriend. I guess me here hasn’t met her.”

“The name doesn’t ring any bells. Maybe she met her before you...she became a thief with me,” Ezekiel said.

It took a second for Cassandra to process that last bit. “I became a thief?”

Now it was Ezekiel who was smiling wistfully. “Yeah, just over five years ago.”

“Sounds like she had quite a life before the Library. I was just a janitor,” Cassandra started, not quite sure if she wanted to go back to what she had been wanting to ask. A few moments of awkward silence helped push her along. “So, Stone and Ezekiel, and me and Ezekiel…”

Ezekiel snickered faintly before clarifying. “It’s kind of a polyamorous relationship.”

“Kind of?” Cassandra asked, not sure what he meant by that.

“We’ve been busy, not exactly had time to explore anythin’,” Stone added.

“You know, just some unknown impending doom from Morgan Le Fey and Dula-” Ezekiel said nonchalantly, but Cassandra cut him off.

“Wait! Don’t say anything. If we gain information we otherwise wouldn’t have by ourselves, we could end up damaging our own timelines, or create new ones. We already know there are other branches from our reality.” Cassandra paused, motioning to Colonel Baird still standing near the entrance of the cave. “Our Eve traveled through them a couple years ago. I probably should go before I have a chance to say anything else.”

Cassandra was about to put the amulet back in the box, but Stone stopped her. “Hold on. Before ya go, I wanna test somethin’.” He slipped his backpack off and dug around for the scarf he’d taken off before they hiked. “Here, grab the amulet with this. I wanna see of skin contact is what activates it.”

Taking the scarf, Cassandra wrapped the amulet in it, nothing seemingly different. “I’m still here, which tells me it’s using my electromagnetic field, my aura, to connect. It was a good idea though.”

“Would it still connect if it was in the box?” Stone asked.

“No, it shouldn’t. In the top of ours anyway, there is a cancellation ward,” Cassandra explained, holding the box so they could see, “though your symbol looks like what our Stone drew to compare our symbol to.”

“Whoever put the amulet here must have been from your universe,” Ezekiel suggested.

“It could explain why there wasn’t any magic in our wards here,” Stone said.

“Our wards didn’t have any charge either. They symbols might not be compatible with your magic, but they should still cancel the amulet’s effects since it leaks our magic, and vice versa, to connect,” Cassandra theorized. She knew it was nearing time to leave. “I’m sure your Cassandra has put two and two together. It would be best if I return to my universe.” Stone gave her a nod.

“Have a nice...trip?” Ezekiel said, not quite sure what phrase to use.

Cassandra couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “Good luck on your mission,” she said, looking at all of them.

“You too,” Colonel Baird replied.

Cassandra placed the amulet back in the box, closing the lid softly. Her eyes unfocused for a moment, then she looked up at everyone. “Oh good, I’m back. So much unresolved tension.”

Ezekiel snorted. “Apparently not for you though. Do you know an Estrella?”

“No, but apparently she’s my girlfriend over there,” Cassandra replied.

“Alright, We can chat about relationship differences back at the Library. Let’s get heading back,” Colonel Baird said before the conversation could go any farther. After all the sort of teleporting, everyone happily agreed with her.

---

Exhausted and sweaty, the Librarians and their Guardian stepped into the Annex. Jenkins, who they had called minutes before to activate the backdoor, was in the process of organizing the perpetually cluttered main table. “Welcome back,” he greeted. “I assume your mission was successful?”

Colonel Baird slid her backpack off and carefully took out the box. “I’d say so.”

Jenkins stared at the box with a face that was even graver than the when he found out Morgan Le Fey was active two months ago. “You...found it.”

“Yeah...whatever it is,” Ezekiel said, not thrilled with Jenkins’s expression.

Jenkins opened the box, confirmed the amulet was there, then closed it again. “It is one of a pair, the amulets of world switching...sounds more intimidating in Latin. The amulets, if worn by the same person in each universe at a time that lines up, allows the consciousnesses to switch.”

“Yeah, we figured that out…” Cassandra said, glancing to both Stone and Ezekiel.

“So your counterparts were sent to retrieve their amulet too...Morgan must be on the move,” Jenkins added.

Stone looked at Jenkins, confused. “How do ya know it’s her?”

“She was looking for our counterpart, oh, early Renaissance. There was rumor she found it, but nothing came up that I recall. I can check the previous Librarians’ diaries and logs. Perhaps one of them prompted her to hide it for safe keeping,” Jenkins replied.

“But the paint of the cave, it was two centuries old at most,” Stone said.

“It’s plausible that she had it with her until then, or moved it then,” Jenkins suggested.

Ezekiel had been trying to piece it together, but there was still a part he didn’t understand. “The symbols, they weren’t from our universe.”

Jenkins glanced to him, more helpless than exasperated. “I do not know everything, Mr. Jones. Perhaps her counterpart and she were working together.”

“Do you think she caused the rock slide to retrieve it?” Colonel Baird asked.

“Not likely,” Jenkins answered. “If she had, you wouldn’t have found anything.”

“Then why didn’t the Library send us out earlier, before she had a chance to go back?” she further questioned.

“Nothing notable regarding the cave would have come up in the local papers, thus the Library had nothing to send you to. It’s also possible that the rock slide activated the wards, I assume she had them there,” Jenkins paused to get the nods of confirmation before continuing, “and once used, the amulet was no longer hidden from the Library. For now, we can prevent anyone from using the amulet. I’ll go find a place for it.” Taking the box in his hands as if it was going to disintegrate if he gripped too hard, Jenkins strode out of the Annex.

Not more than a second after Jenkins left, the backdoor glowed, and a battered Flynn holding an expensive-looking china teapot under one arm stumbled into the Annex. Colonel Baird immediately went over to him. “Welcome back...rough trip?”

“You could say that,” Flynn panted. “They did not want to give up their magical healing teapot.” He looked around the Annex for a moment. “Where’s Jenkins? Ah, I can take it to his lab. Hopefully he can fix it up, I could use a drink.” After pointing to the side at a thin line in the ceramic, he limped off to the same door Jenkins had went through.

Colonel Baird watched him staggering off. “I’ll brief him on what we found while I patch him up,” she told the LiTs before striding after him.

“Don’t have too much fun,” Ezekiel snickered.

“Speak for yourself,” Colonel Baird replied without looking back. She caught up to Flynn as he stepped through the doorway.

Cassandra, Stone, and Ezekiel awkwardly stood around, no one making any move to leave. If the Library had crickets (that weren’t contained in the bug room), they would perfectly accent the tension in the room.

Stone was the one to break the silence. “Kinda feels like we’re putting off the inevitable.”

Cassandra shrugged. “We have been busy…”

“This whole mess with Morgan and Dulaque, it’s been two months. We don’t know how long it’s gonna take, and we can’t guarantee we all make it through,” Stone continued.

“Way to rain on the parade,” Ezekiel quipped, not enthused with the serious route it was going.

“No,” Cassandra started, glancing from Ezekiel to Stone, “he’s right. What we’re going up against is big, and dangerous.”

Ezekiel folded his arms across his chest. “So what, are we just a thing now?”

“Well we kinda already were,” Stone said.

“We could...make it official, clean up then go get dinner?” Cassandra suggested, looking at the both of them. Stone gave a “sure,” and Ezekiel gave a “yeah,” with no suggestions. “So...what sounds good?”

“...pizza?” Ezekiel suggested after no one said anything. Cassandra and Stone looked at each other in amusement; they expected nothing less from him.

“Pizza it is then,” Cassandra confirmed.

---

An hour later the freshly-showered LiTs arrived at a local pizza joint they frequented. The sun had started to set, and the dinner crowd filled the restaurant.

“But how is the seating arrangement going to work?” Ezekiel said as they walked up to the front door. “A booth means someone gets left out, or all of us have no room whatsoever.”

“We could get a table, one of the square ones with a chair on each side, then it’s more evenly spaced,” Cassandra suggested.

“I guess that will work,” Ezekiel decided, smirk growing on his face. “We can save the cuddling for later.”

Stone looked at him, an eyebrow raised. “Later?” Cassandra was busy talking to the hostess to get them a table, no help to explain what Ezekiel meant.

Ezekiel left him hanging until they were seated at their table. “Yeah, We have a great couch at home, Cassandra likes the super plush ones. And courtesy of me, a nice flat screen and netflix,” Ezekiel finally explained with a menu in hand.

Stone peered at him. “Are you wantin’ to ‘netflix and chill’?”

Cassandra attempted to hold in her laugh, but failed. “What?” she said through giggles as Stone’s gaze zeroed in on her. “I knew he was going to try it.”

Stone huffed, but he playfully kicked at Ezekiel’s feet under the table. Once the pizza was ordered, and later arrived, the table grew silent (besides moans of cheezy satisfaction, mostly from Ezekiel) as the hungry LiTs devoured their food.

---

“What’s this couch made of, clouds?” Stone asked, somewhat seriously as he seated himself in the middle of the plush couch at Cassandra and Ezekiel’s apartment.

“For all I know it is,” Ezekiel said from next to the tv as he fiddled with the dimmer switch on the lights.

“It’s great, isn’t it?” Cassandra said as she plopped down next to Stone after setting some drinks on the little coffee table in front of them.

“I don’t know how you stay awake on this,” Stone replied, stretching his arms across the back of the couch.

“Here, watch this.” Cassandra leaned over Stone, shoving her hand into the gap between seat cushions. Stone figured out what she had been digging around for when his feet suddenly came up with what he had assumed was the non-reclining middle seat of the couch.

“Woah, even better,” Stone said, settling back into his newly reclined position. Cassandra gave him a goofy smile as she pulled her own lever, reclining her seat.

“What do you wanna watch? Action, drama, sci-fi,” Ezekiel offered as he sat down on the other side of Stone with a controller in hand.

“How ‘bout a documentary?” Stone suggested jokingly.

Ezekiel had been settling in, about to make his seat match theirs, but the question made him sit up and stare at Stone in disbelief. “How dare you suggest that in this house,” Ezekiel scoffed, hand on his chest.

Stone decided to push further. “Oh I know some good social ones, or there’s a bunch on all the art periods too. One of my favorites is on the-”

Ezekiel cut him off by putting a finger to Stone’s lips. “One more suggestion of educational television and you won’t be coming back here.”

Cassandra leaned against Stone’s side. “He’s actually serious about that. Ever since we started at the Library, he deemed home a strict relaxation zone,” she whispered, not intending to be quiet. Ezekiel took his finger away, but kept it pointed at Stone.

“Well, after today’s hike, I can’t say no to that,” Stone replied.

Ezekiel kissed Stone, then settled back against his side. “Good answer.”

---

Cassandra ended up picking Back to the Future when Ezekiel scrolled through options, with no complaints from the other two. Stone hadn't been expecting Ezekiel's extensive surround sound setup, but of course shouldn't have expected anything less from him. It reminded Stone of seeing it with friends when it first came out in theaters all those years ago, minus that characteristic theater smell, way too buttery popcorn, and well worn seats of the little theater in his hometown. He definitely preferred the cloud couch and the two ex-land pirates pressed into his sides.

None of them intended to fall asleep mid-movie, but the LiTs were more tired than they realized. Cassandra was using the left side of Stone’s chest as a pillow, his arm draped loosely around her shoulders. Stone had his head back against the couch, mostly kept straight by Ezekiel’s head, whose forehead pressed right above Stone’s ear. Stone’s other arm was smushed between him and Ezekiel, hands still intertwined.

If it weren’t for the loud thunder in the scene where Doc and Marty are preparing to return to 1985, they probably would’ve stayed asleep. Instead, Stone flinched, jostling the other two awake.

“Sorry,” he said around a yawn.

Ezekiel had sat up, looking entirely too cute after waking up. “It’s fine. At least we can watch the end now.”

The tinny thunder cracked again; this time Cassandra jumped a little. “I’ve never liked storms in the older movies, too sharp and crackley.”

“All those movies used the same sound clip, ‘Castle Thunder,’ which was originally recorded for the nineteen thirty one Frankenstein film. When the film industry went digital, they quit usin’ it,” Stone explained, earning a look from both Cassandra and Ezekiel. “What? I took a film course in college for an elective.”

“No, movie nerd is my spot, you get art and history,” Ezekiel said, waggling his finger at Stone for effect.

“Don’t worry, the class was a broad overview, and I took it in the nineties,” Stone replied, ruffling Ezekiel’s already messed up hair. “You can still one up me.”

Ten or so minutes later the end credits rolled. Stone got up with Cassandra, collecting the drinks that didn’t really get consumed like intended while Ezekiel powered down the console.

“The couch may be comfy, but the bed is better for the back,” Cassandra said after they put the drinks back in the fridge.

“Thanks for havin’ me over, guys, it was nice...including the falling asleep,” Stone said, intending to head for the door.

Ezekiel hesitated for a moment before preventing Stone from leaving by kissing him. “You could stay over, if you want,” Ezekiel said once he pulled away.

“Uh, I mean, if it’s not any trouble,” Stone said, mildly dazed from the kiss. “The couch won’t hurt me.”

“Nonsense,” Cassandra said. “The bed will easily fit all of us.” Stone hesitated, glancing from her to Ezekiel and back, which Cassandra took as reluctance. “That is if you want to, or you can stay on the couch if you want, whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“Oh, no, bed’s fine, it’s just, um, well,” Stone stammered, suddenly feeling embarrassed, “it’s just I kinda spent the past two months wonderin’ what it’d be like to...um...not that we have to do that-”

Cassandra cut off his rambling with a kiss of her own. “You are adorable. Not that we haven’t been thinking the same thing, but I think we can all agree that we’re exhausted from today. We can...explore that...some other time.”

“What are you guys, teenagers? You can say ‘sex’ in this house. I’m all about clear communication and consent,” Ezekiel said, clearly too tired to do any awkward skirting around the point. He only barely held back the laugh that tried to free itself when both Cassandra and Stone looked at him with wide eyes and red cheeks. “Oh my god you guys are dorks. Come on, I’ve got some pajama pants that should fit you, Stone.” He grabbed Stone’s hand and gently tugged him down the short hallway to the bedroom.

Cassandra was right; the king size bed was clearly big enough to fit them all. It took up half the room easily. Ezekiel dug around in one of the drawers in the dresser, triumphantly pulling out the pants and tossing them to Stone. Cassandra, who had disappeared for a moment, reappeared with a toothbrush still in its packaging, and handed it to Stone.

Not even ten minutes later, everyone had done their before bed routines. Ezekiel had given him an appreciative look over when Stone walked into the bedroom shirtless. He wasn’t sure how Ezekiel knew he didn’t tend to wear a top unless it was cold; more than likely Ezekiel just wanted to see him with his shirt off, he figured.

They opted for a similar order as they were on the couch; Stone in the middle and Cassandra and Ezekiel on either side. Stone found his eyelids drooping as soon as his head hit the pillow. “G’ night,” he mumbled, giving each of them a kiss on the forehead.

By the time he heard her reply, an echo of his statement around a yawn, he was almost asleep. He thought Ezekiel was already off in snoozeland, but just as Stone slipped into unconsciousness, he heard a faintly whispered “love you” in his ear.

Maybe he just imagined it, but Stone was sure he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

-----

Post Notes: Stone's outfit is the outfit he wore in the alternate universe where he was the Librarian in “And the Loom of Fate.” Also the Library having backpacks prepared for them comes from @hamelott ‘s fic which I thought was cool. That I know of, Logan Peak does exist in Utah, but in Colorado I don’t think there is one, at least that’s what google told me.

If the perspective switching tripped you up, the order it goes in (separated by italic paragraphs) is: AU Stone, canon Stone, AU Ezekiel, canon Ezekiel, AU Cassandra, and canon Cassandra. Before Stone grabs the amulet and after cannon Cassandra returns to her universe is omniscient third person narrator, mostly centering on Stone. The idea was cool in my outline...but a lot harder to write in a clear enough manner, so sorry if it was a bit confusing.

[therealestvc]

Special Friday the 13th for OITNG

"Chloe! I'm serious if you find a penny you are supposed to pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck" Max quips reading off the list of superstitions. Chloe,Max,Rachel, and Victoria were going to cabin ground for the weekend...ironically the day they were going was Friday the 13th, Max had been spending the last hour reading Chloe superstitions from a list she found on google. The list was: 1.Find a penny,pick it up... 2.Don't walk under a ladder 3.Rabbits foot will bring you good luck 4.Don't cross the path of a black cat 5.Don't you dare break a mirror 6.Step on a crack, break your mothers back 7.no opening umbrellas inside Of course...like Chloe does she starts making fun out of it and mocking Max for her superstitious ways. "Oh my gosh! Maxie pad, I think I just saw a black cat...we are so screwed" Chloe mocks laughing her ass off. "Where?!" Max looks around scared out of her mind. Victoria takes notice of this and reaches in the backseat without taking her eyes off the road and smacks Chloe upside the head(how did she do that? I don't know). "Leave her alone!! You know she gets like this on Friday the 13th" Victoria yells at Chloe. Rachel however was laughing her ass off at the whole exchange, she was enjoying every moment of this. "Chloe stop messing with Max and let's play a game on my phone. Vicky how long til we get there?" Rachel lets Chloe pick the game then turns her attention to Victoria who checks the gps. Victoria looks at the gps "about 15 minutes, Cleo I still can't believe your parents let you go after that little stunt at the mall" "CHLOE...my name is Chloe and yeah well I didn't tell them. They only think I'm staying at Rachel's dorm for the weekend" Chloe says before looking back at the game on Rachel's phone. The car is silent after that comment because they all know that Chloe doesn't have the best track record with lying. Max looks out the window, she notices a sign that reads "now entering campground". The campsite looked like out of that movie Friday the 13th...coincidence? I think not. They parked at a small area by the lake that had enough space for two tents. The four of them got out of the car and went to the trunk to get the camping supplies. Obviously Rachel and Chloe were going to share a tent...Victoria and Max were going to share one. "Guys! We should go swimming!" Rachel excitedly says getting her swimsuit out of her luggage. The rest of them agreed and went to get their swimming suits. Once they were all dressed in swimming attire, they went to the lake. The lake looked really pretty, it overlooked the horizon. "COWLA BUNGA!!!" Rachel shouted cannonballing into the lake making a big splash. The other three laughed. The rest of them jumped into the lake. "This is so nice" Max declares swimming around. "Yeah, I wish we could do this every weekend...classes are so stressful" Victoria agrees floating in the water. They swam and played in the water for about 30 minutes before Victoria complained about the change in water temperature. "I'm getting cold...let's go back to the tent Maxine" Victoria gets out drying off. Max got out of the water and dried off then followed Victoria back to the tent. Chloe and Rachel splashed around more after the two left. "I dare you to swim over to that little island" Chloe says while pointing at a small island about 20 feet away from them. "Psh, that's easy" rachel says then starts swimming towards the island. Rachel reaches the island touching the land then starts swimming back to Chloe...she decides to play a little prank on Chloe then goes under the water like she is being pulled under. Chloe immediately freaks out and starts swimming where she saw rachel being pulled from under. "Rach? Rach? Rachel!? Where are you?!" "Max! Vicky! Come quick!" She shouts to the other two who come from the tent with tired eyes. "What is it? Cleo can't you see we were sleeping?" Victoria grumpily asks. Chloe rolls her eyes at Victoria messing up her name. "Guys! Rachel disappeared!" She yells. "Okay, Chloe slow down what happened?" Max asks her. "Well...I dared her to swim over to that island over there and when she was coming back...she was pulled underwater." Chloe explains to the pair. They decide to take Chloe's word seriously and search around the area, suddenly the water bubbles and Rachel appears cackling up a storm. "Oh my gosh Chloe you are too gullible!! Ahahaha!!" "That's not funny Rach, I thought something happened to you" Chloe says pouting. "Aww I'm sorry...how about I make it up to you? When we get into the tent I'll-" Rachel finishes off whispering into Chloe's ear leaving Chloe flustered. "Uh-umm-I-umm-okay" Chloe rushes out the water pulling Rachel with her to the tent zipping it up. "Ugh...I do not want hear them" Victoria snarks. "Do you want to take a walk and explore the campground?" Max suggests. "Sure. why not?" Victoria shrugs then starting towards a trail with Max following toll. 20 minutes after doing stuff Chloe asked Rachel to grab their stuff from the pier since they rushed to the tent in such a hurry. The last thing she said to Rachel was to be careful. Of course Rachel laughed at this because Chloe could be dramatic sometimes. "She is soo silly." She says then hears a branch break. "Whose there? Chloe is that you? Stop playing around. Just cuz I got you doesn't mean you have to get me back". Chloe says to Rachel "you know you should be an actress. You are really good at fooling me" Chloe jokes coming out of the tent. "Now what is the problem?" Chloe asks her. "Nothing, I just thought I heard something" Rachel says. Chloe jokes "haha! Sure come on give me a break, let's go back to the tent and nap". She starts walking back to the tent, Rachel starts grabbing their stuff then goes to follow chloe when she hears a bubbling noise from the water. She turns around and out of the water is a man with a ski mask on his face and a machete. "AHHH!!!!!" Is heard when Chloe turns to the noise, she sees Rachel being picked up by the mysterious man then taken away to a wooded area, Chloe immediately runs after them but stops when she can't find them. Quickly she runs back to their campsite around the same time Max and Victoria come back from their walk. "Where's Rachel?" Max asks a distressed Chloe. "Sh-she uh umm guy...and she-and screams" Chloe manages to get out due to her shocked state. "Chloe what happened to Rachel?" Max urgently says to Chloe. "Th-the-there was this guy in a jumpsuit with a ski mask on his face carrying machete and he took Rachel" Chloe finally says coming out of her shocked state. Max and Victoria look at each other knowingly. "Chloe, I need to tell you something" Max says nervously. "Continue" Chloe encourages while sitting down at the picnic table. "Well, when we were walking...we ran into this old guy who said something about a camp legend. Apparently this campground used to be a kids campsite where this boy drowned in the lake. None of the counselors or kids helped him or anything. Legend has it that he gets resurrected every Friday the 13th and come to kill campers." Max explains about Friday the 13th. Chloe looks at her like 'are you serious?' Then starts laughing her ass off. "Maxiepad you've got to be kidding me that's ridiculous...you've been reading too much of this superstitions and myths. Vicky you better help Maxie over here with her delusions." She laughs kicking a stone on the ground. "Hey! Back off! She is serious, we looked at old news articles over the area...she isn't being delusional. Maybe Rachel left since your ass is too much to bear with." Victoria snarks to Chloe. "You take that back bitch" Chloe shots a retort back at Victoria getting in her face. "Or what? You are bluffing price" Vicky shots another one back. The two start arguing back and forth "Guys-umm-guys!!" "What is it Max!" They look over to her. "Look!" Their line of sight follows to where Max is pointing. Standing there with a machete and what looks like Rachel's bracelet is the mysterious guy. "Run!!!!" They take off into different directions to throw him off, Victoria runs for her life but snags her leggings on a branch getting stuck. "Help!! Someone please!!" She yells. She tries again getting her leggings out of the branch but to no avail. She stops struggling when she hears big footsteps, she looks up seeing the guy. "AHHHH!!!!!!" Is heard from all directions Chloe and Max run into each other. "Tori!!!" Max cries out. Nothing is said in response. Victoria was gone. "Come on!! She's long gone now like Rachel, we can't let him get us" Chloe urges Max to continue running. They start running again. They run into that reach what looks like an old camp cabin with dust and cobwebs everywhere. "I guess you weren't fucking around Maxie..." Chloe says cautiously. "Yeah I wasn't...we need to formulate a game plan because this guy well Jason is his name is really dangerous" Max looks around for any weapon and finds a bat and an old hunting knife. "Here you take this....I'll scoop out the area" Max hands chloe the bat then takes initiative and goes outside. "Maximus wait!" She's ready gone outside before Chloe can get to her. Ten minutes of quietness goes by when Chloe hears a girlish scream. She springs into action at that sound. When she reaches outside Max isn't there all that is left is a trail of blood and the knife. "Nooooooo!!!!!!!!!" Chloe drops on the ground screaming up to the sky. She gets up after 'mourning' over losing Max. "Jason wherever you are I'm going to kill you!" Chloe shouts grabbing her bat and knife then takes off in a run following the trail of blood. She reaches the end of the blood trail and end up at a lair so to speak then goes inside. The lair was full of newspaper clipping of killings at the campsite and of Jason's death. And a collection of items probably his victims. When she turns around, Jason is standing there with Max's hoodie in his hand almost mocking her. She runs towards him and hits him with the bat...the bat breaks, next she goes to stab him in the leg but all he does is stare at the knife in his leg then pulls it out then starts walking towards her. She breaks out into a run, looking behind her to see him catching up to her. 'Well fuck' she thinks then trips and falls over a large object, she looks and sees a body. She starts screaming then backs up and sees another body. She looks up and sees he's catching up to her, she gets up and starts running again. She is stopped at a deadend by a cliff. 'Wellup this is the end' she thinks awaiting her death she turns around seeing him. He puts his machete above his head, she is straying away from it then she hears "gotcha!" She looks up and sees Victoria, Max, and Rachel. 'What the actual fuck?' Chloe looks at them in confusion. "I thought he got you guys" Chloe says. "This is my dad's supervisor Greg" Victoria introduces the 'jason' to Chloe. "But how?" Chloe still confused asks. "Well, when you kept teasing me about my superstitions I told Victoria and we made a plan up then got Rachel into it" Max explains the situation. "I just wanted to teach you not to mess with me" Max declares. "Yeah hehe I'm sorry Maxiepad,I promise I won't tease you anymore about your superstitions" Chloe apologizes to her. "Ugh enough of the dramatics! Let's enjoy the rest of the weekend!!" Rachel shouts out. The others laugh then head back to their campground, they decide to have a barbecue. They all sit by the campfire and enjoy s'mores after eating their dinner. "Damn, you guys hella sure freaked me out with those special effects" Chloe quirks to them. Max,Rachel and Victoria all look at each other in shock. Max asks "what special effects?" Chloe laughs then says "you know the two dead bodies that I tripped over by the cliff". All three of the girls looked at her in fear. "We didn't have any dead bodies as props" Victoria says. All four of them look around in fear, suddenly a groan is heard they turn around and look. Greg had left a while ago...who is this? They all scream then head to Victoria's car with whatever they could bring. What an eventful weekend.