#maybe I should move my taxidermy deer there..

[seabeck]

Reorganized a tiny bit, I’m loving how this turned out.

[species-dysphoria]

tw talking abt hallucinations and other psychosis related stuff

it's so weird to imagine that others don't have voices talking to them all the time. like...not in a plural type way. I think I can tell them apart...

the voices are always negative. they are forceful. they tell me to do things. they make me feel like there is no other option. their way is the only way.

my headmates...like yeah some can be mean sometimes and say things out of anger, but not in the way these voices command. headmates have a slight presence. like another soul is occupying space. the voices just appear and disappear. they give no warning.

maybe I'm just bad at conveying how much these hallucinations affect me? like it's not fun to hear voices tell you to hurt yourself or to do bad things to someone. it's not fun to constantly feel like you are being followed. to see shadows watching you around corners. staring at you in the dark. objects moving on their own to just stare at you with hyper realistic eyes.

I had to close my door cause this taxidermy deer head we have would stare at me at night and these spider legs would sprout out of it and just slightly move.

my psychiatrist tells me I'm too aware of my condition for it to be schizophrenia now. but like I don't feel aware? I'm just describing what is happening to me. I cant rationalize in the moment. I can double bookkeep but only for certain things...

idk im not an expert so I get it and I should just shut up but I feel like its more than just my depression causing psychosis. but idk. ughhhh

[idk-mlb-is-reals-cute44]

Blossoming

Hey @queerymiracle ! I’m your (backup) secret santa! Sorry it’s so incredibly late!! I hope you like it. 

@mlsecretsanta 

AO3 Link 

Summary: It starts with a bouquet. It ends with one too. A series of moments in which Kagami, Adrien, and Marinette realize they might just be perfect for each other.

K A G A M I 

It must have started on a Tuesday. Kagami remembered this, because Ladybug had kidnapped her that day on her way to fencing practice to fight an akuma, and Kagami had fencing practice on Tuesday. 

The akuma in question wasn’t particularly special. Some college student who got his heart stomped on. There had been four nearly identical akumas that month alone. 

Still, Ryuko took every akuma seriously. 

Usually. 

She had just been thrown into a wall when she spotted them. 

In the mad dash to get away from the madman in bright pink, it seemed someone had dropped a bouquet on the sidewalk. They were a little crumpled… but… 

Ryuko’s mind stayed on the flowers for the remainder of the battle. 

“Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybug cried, throwing her polka-dotted taxidermied deer into the air. 

“That was awesome, m’lady!” Chat yelled, bouncing on the balls of his feet. 

Ladybug laughed. 

“You say that everytime.” 

She turned to Ryuko, who was fidgeting restlessly. 

“You did very well in this battle-” 

“One second!” Ryuko called, dashing down the alley. 

Scooping up the bouquet, now full of life, she sprinted back and shoved them into Ladybug’s hands. 

“Here,” she said, and smiled. 

“O-oh,” Ladybug stammered, “Are these for me?” 

Ryuko nodded. 

“Thank you,” Ladybug said, and then, “Why?” 

“I…” Ryuko didn’t know. Still, her mouth opened, and without her permission formed the words, “You look very pretty today.” 

“That’s my line!” Chat Noir called from outside of the ally. 

Ryuko opened her mouth again, but no words came out. Blushing and not sure why, she quickly took off her choker and gave it to Ladybug, already turning to leave.  

***

Then it happened again. And again and again. Picking a rose for Adrien as they walked together. Buying a bouquet on her way to school and thinking of Marinette. Tucking a dandelion chain into Ladybug’s hair. She did it unthinkingly, almost instinctively. 

It came to a head on a Wednesday. Kagami remembered it was a Wednesday, because on Wednesday’s she tutored her classmate Mark, and she was picked up off the street outside of Mark’s house. 

“What’s the akuma?” she asked, squirming into a more comfortable position in Ladybug’s arms. 

Ladybug blushed, the first sign that the evening was not going to go as usual. Ladybug didn’t blush, or at least not when talking about akumas. She was cool and collected in the midst of battle and strategizing, which meant that what she was about to say was neither. 

“No akuma,” she mumbled, “I just wanted to… I wanted to do this thing for you, because… I mean, well…” 

Ladybug trailed off and didn’t explain herself further, face not unlike a fire truck or some other incredibly red thing. 

Kagami weighed her options and decided not to ask again. She would surely find out soon enough. Instead she admired the color of Ladybug’s cheeks, which seemed, impossibly, to grow even brighter. 

Ladybug’s heels skidded against the concrete of the roof as they landed. 

“Here,” Ladybug said shortly, avoiding Kagami’s eyes as she set her down. 

Kagami turned to find… well. She wasn’t sure what it was. 

Sitting on the center of the roof was a collection of flowers unlike any Kagami had seen before. Not that they were some unknown species, but they were arranged in the shape of a heart. Ladybug had to have bought out an entire flower shop to make the arrangement. 

Kagami hadn’t seen anything like this outside of the stupid k-dramas Adrien made her watch. (She silently apologized to all the protagonists she’d made fun of. Her heart was fluttering. Should she go to the doctor?) 

“W… what is this?” Kagami asked, totally blindsighted. 

Ladybug coughed awkwardly. 

“Um… well,” she laughed, noticeably higher than she usually did, “You were just.. Always giving me flowers and I thought it was so nice, so I thought you might like some in return. It’s probably dumb though! I’m sorry, I was-” 

“It’s not,” Kagami said, nodding shortly at Ladybug. “It’s not dumb. Thank you.” 

“Oh,” Ladybug said softly, “Thank you.” 

Kagami strode forwards and studied the flowers critically. 

“What are you doing?” Ladybug asked. 

“Trying to figure out how to pick it up,” Kagami said, “I want to keep it in my room.” 

Ladybug giggled. 

“You don’t have to do that.” 

“I want to,” Kagami said, wrapping one arm under the base and holding the other side to steady it. Pushing with her legs, she picked it up- 

And toppled over. 

“Oof,” Kagami said, the air rushing from her lungs as her back hit not-the-ground. 

Not the ground indeed. 

Ladybug’s unfairly strong arms wrapped around Kagami, her chest shaking with laughter. 

“Let me help you with that,” she said, pressing a kiss to the side of Kagami’s head. Seeming to realize what she did a second after it happened, she let out a squeak.  

Kagami felt her own cheeks warm to match Ladybug’s. 

“Thank you,” she said quietly. 

***

“Adrien,” Kagami said very seriously, turning to him, “I have something I would like to talk to you about.” 

“O-okay,” Adrien said, putting down his video game counsel to mirror her, legs crossed and facing each other on his sofa. “Is everything okay?” 

“Maybe,” Kagami said, and then scrunched her face up, “I don’t want to hurt your feelings.” 

Adrien leaned forwards, then leaned back, looking (adorably) confused. 

“You don’t… have to?” he said. “I mean, don’t worry about that, actually. What do you want to talk about?” 

Kagami took a fortifying breath. 

“I think I’m in love with Ladybug,” she said, “And I apologize, because I know the two of us are… somewhat involved.” She thought for a second. “Pre-involved.” 

Adrien tilted his head and then laughed. 

“No need to make fun of me,” Kagami said, feeling off-kilter. She hadn’t been expecting him to laugh. 

“No, no,” he said, “I’m not. Me too.” 

“What?” 

“I’m in love with Ladybug too,” he said, “Well. Sort of. It’s complicated. I’m trying to move on, I think.” 

“Oh,” Kagami said faintly, blinking four times rather fast, and then settling into this new information. “Oh I see. So we’re rivals, then.” 

“Uh,” he looked stricken, “I guess. I guess so.” 

“Well.” She held her hand out to shake. He took it. 

He had a firm grip. 

“Well,” he repeated, and then neither of them spoke for several moments, still shaking hands. 

Finally, Adrien picked back up his counsel and resumed the game, and Kagami picked up her book from where she had left it, bookmark perfectly snug against the spine and red-side-up, and opened it. 

She leaned her head against his shoulder as she had been before. 

“What does being rivals entail?” Adrien asked, attention seemingly completely taken by the videogame. Still, Kagami noticed he botched a few hits he usually performed easily. 

“What do you mean?” she asked, 

“Do we have to like… compete?” 

Kagami thought about this. 

“Not necessarily,” she said, “I suppose we can have… an understanding.” 

“An understanding?” Adrien asked. 

“May the best man win. You know. We’re in love with the same girl but… we can still be friends.” 

“Friends.” Adrien smiled. “Good.” 

Kagami settled into his side more firmly and resumed reading. 

***

“Here,” Chat Noir said. 

Ryuko stammered rather intelligibly. “I- what- eu- you can’t-” 

Chat tilted his head, curious. 

“What are you talking about?” 

He looked down at the flower crown he was holding. 

“Do you not like it?” he asked then, looking rather sad. 

“No!” Ryuko yelled, quite a bit louder than she had intended to be. “No,” she said again, quieter, “It’s just so… so romantic?” 

Chat Noir stared down at the crown, uncomprehending. Slowly, his face turned red. 

Ladybug giggled. 

“Oh, come on,” she said, rolling her eyes, “He doesn’t mean anything of it. He gives me flowers all the time.” 

“You give her flowers?” Ryuko cried, “That’s my thing!” 

“Your thing?” he yelped, affronted, “That can’t be your thing! I’m the one who’s in love with her!” 

“You’re what?!” Ladybug asked, voice shrill. 

“You’re not the only one!” Ryuko said, “Get in line!” 

“You’re what?!” 

Chat Noir gasped in the most outrageously offended way, resembling a genuine cat puffing up in indignance. 

“I saw her first!” 

“She’s not a prize or a shotgun seat to call dibs on!” 

“Well! She’s my partner!” 

“She doesn’t even know your real name!” 

“You don’t know her’s!” 

“Neither do you!” 

“SHUT UP,” Ladybug yelled, face red. “Can someone explain to me what is going on right now? You guys aren’t… You guys aren't- I mean, you-” 

Which, of course, was when the akuma attacked. 

***

A D R I E N 

Kagami was waiting for Adrien when school let out. 

At least, Adrien thought Kagami was waiting for him. And she was, sort of. He didn’t expect her to snag Marinette too. 

“Come with us,” she said in the awkward, imposing way she did most things, grabbing Marinette’s hand as she strode down the sidewalk towards the park. 

“I- okay,” Marinette said, clearly as baffled by this turn of events as Adrien was. 

Kagami led the two of them to a picnic table. 

“You two are my only friends,” she started, shifting awkwardly on the bench, “And so I’d like to ask you some advice.” 

Only friends? Marinette mouthed to Adrien, looking sad. Adrien shrugged and turned back to Kagami. 

“What with?” 

Kagami blushed. 

“I have… feelings. For a girl. I would like to know how to pursue her. Or, ah… make her like me.” 

“Oh,” Marinette said, “Who?” 

“Aren’t we rivals?” Adrien asked, “Am I supposed to give you advice?” 

“We are honorable rivals,” Kagami said to Adrien, “So we are allowed to aid one another in the spirit of good sportsmanship.” And then to Marinette, she said, “The girl is Ladybug.” 

“You’re in love with Ladybug?” Marinette asked, face carefully blank, and then to Adrien, “Wait, you’re in love with Ladybug?” 

“We’ve already covered that,” Kagami said, and Adrien nodded. 

“Oh,” Marinette said, looking faint. 

“You seem distressed,” Kagami noted, “You aren’t also in love with her, right? That’s too many rivals.” 

“N-no,” Marinette said.”I’m not… in love with Ladybug.” 

“Good,” Kagami said. 

“What have you been doing so far?” Adrien asked. 

“Flowers,” Kagami said, pulling out a notebook, “But I have a whole bunch of ideas.” 

“I-it sounds like you don’t really need our help then,” Marinette said. 

“Your feedback is invaluable to me,” Kagami said, “I can’t possibly do all of these.” 

She flipped the five or so pages of ideas back and forth, looking at Adrien and Marinette with something resemblant of puppy dog eyes. If puppy dogs looked like they regularly kicked your butt in fencing and knew it. 

“I… sure,” Marinette said, sounding somewhat resigned. Adrien looked questioningly towards her. She was usually so enthusiastic to help. 

“First off,” Kagami said, “We have buying her a car. I saw that in a movie.” 

“Don’t do that one,” Adrien said, “Nino told me people don’t buy each other cars. It isn’t done.” 

“Why not?” Kagami asked. He shrugged, and the two of them looked at Marinette. 

“I-I don’t know,” she said, and growing rather flustered, continued with, “Maybe you should just… uh, compliment her. Show her that you hare. Care. Show her that you care, a-and maybe. Um. Maybe you could flirt with her?” 

“How do you do that?” Kagami asked, taking notes. 

“Puns,” Adrien offered. 

“No,” Marinette shot down immediately, to Adrien’s disappointment. “Just… you know…” 

She gestured vaguely. 

“What does that mean?” Kagami whispered to Adrien. 

“Look, I don’t know,” Marinette blushed, “I’ve never been all that good with… f-flirting.” She coughed awkwardly. “And people haven’t really flirted with me. Just… be nice to her.” 

“Am I not nice?” Kagami asked. 

“That’s not what I meant!” Marinette said, “No, no, you’re nice. Just. You know. Eye contact. And um… play with your hair. And wear red.” 

“Oh, I read that wikihow article too,” Adrien said, causing Marinette to turn a shade redder. 

“Eye contact,” Kagami mused thoughtfully. 

***

“I’m not gonna open my eyes until the two of you stop it,” Ladybug groaned, exasperated, hands over her eyes. 

“We’re not doing anything,” Chat Noir said, staring unblinking at her. 

“Yes, you are,” Ladybug grumbled, sitting down on the tiled roof, “Stop… looking at me like that.” 

Chat Noir smiled. Romance novel characters said that all the time. His plan was working. 

He glared at Ryuko, who was a foot away from Ladybug and peering at her owlishly. His plan, which had somehow been stolen. 

“Ladybug,” Ryuko said slowly, “On a scale from 1-10, how interested are you in me romantically at the moment?” 

“We’re supposed to be doing patrol,” Ladybug complained, “And actually doing our job. Can you two please quit it?” 

Ryuko backed off and looked sheepish. 

“Sorry,” she said. Chat rubbed the back of his neck. 

Ladybug uncovered her eyes and looked at the two of them, both rather chastised. She rolled her eyes and giggled, shaking her head. 

“You two are ridiculous,” she said. “Race you to the Eiffel Tower!” 

***

Adrien found a book in the library. Technically, he had a strict reading regime. He was predicted to finish reading his 20th classic novel of that year in two weeks. But he’d seen in movies that people hid magazines in textbooks, so he did this with the book he found in the library. 

He wasn’t sure why he decided to check out that particular book. The subtitle had been something about romance and he was determined to up his game now that Ryuko and Kagami were in the running. 

As soon as he finished it, he called up Kagami. 

“We don’t have to be rivals,” Adrien said. 

“What are you talking about?” Kagami asked, “Are you giving up?” 

“No, no, no,” Adrien said, “I’m just a genius. I read a book.” 

“You’ve never read a book before?” (And Adrien would be peeved if she didn’t sound genuinely confused.) 

“Look, polyamory,” Adrien said, “It’s like… a thruple.” 

“That word sounds gross,” Kagami said, “Is the meaning as gross as the word sounds?” 

“No,” Adrien said, “Look it’s like… a three-person-couple. A thruple. Ladybug can date both of us!” 

“You mean like… how in Taitoru O Hyōji, Ren, Ayumu, and Misaki share a powerful love connection that can withstand time itself?” 

“I haven’t seen that anime,” Adrien said, “But yes.” 

“It’s on Crunchyroll, we can watch it together on Sunday,” Kagami mentioned. 

“Sweet. Anyway, we can do that! Be three people in a couple. Or… a thruple.” 

“I agree to this only if you stop using the word thruple,” Kagami said after a moment of contemplation. 

Adrien felt a grin break over his face. “Great. Great.” 

“We should leave flowers on the Eiffel Tower for her, so no one else can find it.” 

“I know a great florist,” Adrien said thoughtfully, forgetting to wonder how she planned to get the flowers up there in the first place. 

***

Adrien was going to break out into hives. Or something. Maybe he’d drop dead on the spot. He sure felt like he was about to go into cardiac arrest. 

“Chaton?” Ladybug asked, “Are you okay?” 

“You got me flowers,” he said, voice cracking over the last word. 

“Y-yeah,” Ladybug said, “Is that okay? There was… a sale.” 

“Yes, that’s okay,” he said, carefully accepting the bouquet of daisies. He buried his face in them. “Thank you.” He smiled, and he was sure he must look a little weird, deducing from the fact that his cheeks hurt and his eyes were probably all crinkled, but he really didn’t care. His lady had given him flowers. 

“Y-you’re welcome,” Ladybug said, turning red. 

“Is there a reason?” he asked, “For the flowers?” 

“You deserve nice things,” Ladybug said, suddenly looking like she was ready to fight him if he argued. 

He plucked a single flower and tucked it behind her ear. 

“There’s totally a book I should lend you.” 

***

Adrien and Marinette were partnered up for a history assignment. 

“Ideas?” Adrien asked, tilting his chair back just far enough that he probably wouldn’t fall, pencil poised over a notepad. 

“Maybe we could do, um,” she said, then paused to think and scrunched up her face adorably, “Aqueducts?” 

“A-kwa-ducks,” Adrien said slowly, sounding it out as he wrote it down. 

“That’s kind of boring, though,” Marinette said. 

“I wouldn’t mind doing it if you wanted to,” he said, peering at her over the note pad to smile at her. 

She dazed off for a second, spacing off as she stared at his face. 

“U-uh, I mean,” she said, suddenly blushing and turning towards the desk so fast she knocked over her water bottle with her elbow, “I don’t really haunt-want-I don’t really want to do aqueducts. It was just the first… thing I thought off.” 

“Okay,” Adrien said, “How about…  flowers?” 

“Flowers?” Marinette asked, cheeks still mysteriously red and eyes laser-focused on the grain of the wood in front of her. 

“Yeah like… the language of flowers in history,” Adrien said, “Like how daisies mean innocence and purity and all that stuff. That’s because they were some goddess’s flower symbol I think.” 

“Really?” Marinette asked, finally turning back towards him. 

“Yeah,” he said, “I looked it up.” 

“That could be, um, cool,” Marinette said. 

“Do you like flowers, Marinette?” he asked, and somehow he wasn’t really sure what he was actually asking. 

“Um… yes?” Marinette timidly answered. 

The next day, a bouquet of tulips showed up on her desk. Adrien very carefully did not research what they meant before he bought them. It made it easier to pretend he didn’t absolutely know what he was trying to say. 

***

“Some things have come to my attention,” Adrien said the next time he and Kagami hung out. 

She tilted her head to signify he should continue. 

“Right,” he took a deep breath, “We can date each other. Too. In our thr- uh, I mean, our… couple for three. We can date each other too.” 

Kagami looked thoughtful. 

“Do you want to date me?” she asked. 

“Um,” he reined in his nervous giggles, “Uh, yes. I do.” 

Kagami scratched her hands absently through his hair, his head resting in her lap as the cartoony fight scene continued on screen. 

“I guess that could be nice,” she said, allowing a small smile. “I was rather disappointed when I had to break things off when we became rivals.” 

“I think I was too,” Adrien admitted. 

Kagami frowned then. 

“I’m not good at… emotions,” she said, “I know I like you a lot but I’m just not… I don’t know how to. Have them. Emotions.” 

“That’s okay,” Adrien said softly, reaching up awkwardly next to his head to pat her knee, “We can figure it out together.” 

Kagami’s frown smoothed out, and then her face was very close to Adrien’s. Very, very close. 

“We never kissed, before,” she observed. 

It turned out that they did kiss, after. Adrien didn’t remember how the movie ended. 

***

A L Y A (interlude) 

Alya was worried. 

“Marinette,” she said, a little desperately, “You can’t honestly be trying to convince me you aren’t bothered that Kagami and Adrien are dating now.” 

“Uh,” Marinette chewed on her lip absently as she flipped the page of the fashion magazine, “I don’t know, Alya. It’s fine.” 

“You can’t expect me to believe you feel oh-so-neutrally about it,” Alya said, “You can’t expect me to believe you’re over Adrien when just yesterday you basically waxed poetic about his eyes.”  

“I’m not,” Marinette said, most of her attention very clearly on Vogue’s new jacket line, “I can have a crush on him and be happy for him and his girlfriend at the same time.” 

Alya didn’t say anything, just squinted. 

“Suuuuuuuure,” she finally drawled, taking a pointed bite from her sandwich. Lunch was almost over, but she was getting to the bottom of this. 

***

“Look,” Alya said, “Adrien posted about Kagami on his Instagram.” 

Marinette took the phone from Alya. 

“Awww,” and Alya thought, victory, but then, “They’re so cute!” 

“You’re kidding me,” Alya snatched the phone back and scrolled through the slides. There was one of them holding hands and two of them sharing ice cream. “You’re not even a little jealous?” 

“Nope,” Marinette said, popping the p. 

“Really?” Alya asked, incredulous. 

“It’s really not that big of a deal Alya!” 

“So just like that?” Alya asked, raising her eyebrow, “You’re just… giving up on your crush? You’ve been crazy about Adrien for ages!” 

“I didn’t say I was giving up,” Marinette said, “I just… don’t mind that they’re dating.” 

“How do you not mind?!” Alya asked, scrolling through Adrien’s Instagram. “He’s clearly serious about her!”   

“Yeah, I know,” Marinette said, “Look, are we gonna work on the math homework or not?” 

Alya gaped after her. 

***

“What are you reading?” Alya asked, dumping her bag on the floor as she swung into her seat. 

Marinette held the book up without comment so that Alya could read the cover. 

“The Modern Romantic, How to communicate and form healthy relationships,” Alya read aloud. “Hm. That looks like something my mom would read.” 

“It’s actually really interesting,” Marinnet said, “A friend lent it to me.” 

Alya’s eyebrows crept up to her hairline. 

“A friend lent you a book about forming healthy romantic relationships?”Alya asked. 

Marinette blushed and buried her face in the book. 

“Shut up,” she mumbled. 

***

“Alya,” Marinette said, “I’m gonna need you to wear this.” 

“Why?” Alya asked, taking the blazer from her. 

“Because this is a business meeting.” 

Alya, thoroughly confused, put on the blazer. 

“Good, good,” Marinette said, clearing her throat and slamming a giant binder on the table between them. “I’m going to need you to talk me out of a spectacularly bad idea.” 

“Story of my life,” Alya said, snorting, “What idea of yours is so bad you need a business meeting?” 

Marinette flipped to the first laminated page. 

“Polyamory,” she said, in the very same voice she uses when doing school presentations, “Is when people consent to a non monogamous relationship.” 

“Yes, I’m aware” Alya said slowly, “I wasn’t born yesterday, girl.” 

“One type of polyamory is,” Marinette continued, flipping the page and ignoring Alya, “The Thruple.” 

“I’ve been on the internet before,” Alya said, “You don’t have to spell this out for me.” 

“Person A has a crush on Person B,” Marinette continued in her school presentation voice, “But Person B is in a relationship with Person C. Person C has openly admitted to having a crush on Person A. Person B’s feelings on the matter are.. unclear. What should Person A do?” 

Alya stared down at the chart before her uncomprehending for a moment. When it came to her, she looked up at Marinette so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. 

“Kagami has a crush on you?!” she asked, jabbing the red square that represented Person C rather violently. Marinette’s following blush was answer enough. 

“Oh my god,” Alya said, and then let out a laugh, “Oh my god! Of course she does. You’re too cute to resist.” 

“Shut up,” Marinette said, slamming the binder shut. “What should I do?” 

“Well…” Alya scratched the side of her jaw as she thought, “I mean, do you like Kagami?” 

“I-” Marinette made a choking noise. “...uh. Yes. Maybe… yes” 

“Well then I guess just ask?” Alya said. “I mean, what do you have to lose? Just tell them how you feel! Kagami and Adrien love you, even if it’s just as friends, so it’s not like it’ll ruin the friendship forever or anything.” 

“Alya!” Marinette shrieked, “Don’t say that! Because now I’m thinking about it, and what if I ruin the friendship forever?” 

“I just said that there’s no way that’ll happen,” Alya said, rolling her eyes, “Even if they don’t want to, uh, thruple it up with you, they’re not gonna be mean about it. They’ll totally be chill, I promise!” 

Marinette smushed the heels of her palm into her cheeks, smoshing her face and looking torn. 

“You were supposed to talk me out of this,” she mumbled mournfully. 

Alya just laughed at her. 

***

“Okay, but according to this website,” Marinette said, “Lilies mean pure love, but don’t they also mean death?” 

“Stop freaking out, girl,” Alya said, plucking a brightly colored sunflower from a giant bucket, “They’re just flowers.” 

“No, they’re not ‘just flowers,’” Marinette groaned, “They’re, like, important. I’m confessing my l- my… interest in a relationship. They need to be perfect.” 

“Okay, but consider this,” Alya said, “If you don’t know what flowers mean without extensive, confusing, googling, do you think anybody else will?” 

“They’re rich, Alya!” Marinette said, “They probably know all about this sort of thing!” 

Alya let out a frustrated puff of breath. 

“Look, I get it,” she said, “You’re a details kind of person. But you need to relax! I’m sure they’ll love anything you get them.” 

Marinette sighed, fiddling with a bundle of carnations. “I know. But I just… I want it to be special.” 

Alya rolled her eyes, but she was sure the fond smile she wore ruined the effect. 

“Okay, okay, I’ll help you pick out the perfect bouquet or whatever,” Alya said, “What about roses?” 

“Too cliche,” Marinette said, shutting that idea down immediately. 

“They’re only cliche because people like them!” Alya countered. Marinette looked thoughtful. 

Thirty minutes and several rounds around the shop later, they had finally come up with an arrangement that Marinette deemed acceptable. 

“Will this be all?” the cashier asked, smiling at them kindly. 

“Uh, yes, that’s-” Marinette said, and then the screaming started. Marinette blanched. 

“Akuma,” she said. 

Alya squinted, and peered out of the glass front of the shop. 

“Uh, yeah,” she said, “Looks like it.” 

Marinette looked regretfully to the flowers, and then stammered out, “I need to go check on, uh, my parents!” 

“Wait, Mari, don’t-” 

But Marinette was gone, the only sign of her being the door jingling as it swung shut. 

Alya sighed and turned back to the cashier. 

“I guess I’m paying then,” she said, fishing out her wallet. 

***

M A R I N E T T E 

Ladybug, Chat, Ryuko, and Carapace were trapped in a box. It sounded like the beginning of some sort of themed riddle that you’d find in the back of the newspapers that Marinette’s dad read.  

But no. 

Ladybug pressed her back to the chill metal and slid, slowly, to the ground. 

“Plan, anyone?” she asked from the floor, staring at the ceiling as though it might give her an answer. 

She was supposed to be confessing to her crushes right now. Hawkmoth sure knows how to time things, she thought to herself ruefully. 

“Uh,” Chat knocked his fist against the wall, “Seems pretty solid to me.” 

“I don’t see any seams,” Ryuko mentioned, “So no hidden doorways, most likely.” 

Carapace winced. 

“Maybe if I blast at it with my shield?” 

“I mean,” Ladybug sighed, chewing on her lip, “You could try, but I don’t think it’s gonna work, and I’d rather we minimize the amount of people about to detransform.” 

Chat twitched as everyone turned to look at him. 

“I’ve got three minutes now,” he updated them, bouncing his leg anxiously. 

“That’s,” Ladybug pressed her eyes with her hands, “Fine. It’s fine. We’ll just have to figure our way out of here in the next… two minutes. And then you’ll have a minute to hide.” 

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Ryuko said. 

Ladybug heaved herself up and started to examine the corners. 

“What are you looking for?” Carapace asked. 

“I don’t know,” she admitted, “But better safe than sorry.” 

“Two minutes,” Chat chimed in. 

“Okay,” she said, “Okay here’s what we’re gonna do. Chaton, do you have food for your kwami?” 

“Uh, yes,” he answered. 

“Good, good,” Ladybug said, “Okay, everyone turn around, and close your eyes. You can detransform, feed your kwami, and then retransform. Problem solved.” 

“We still don’t have a way out,” Ryuko said as they all turned to a corner and followed Ladybug’s instructions. 

“I left Chloe with her miraculous,” Ladybug said, “Because I didn’t have time to get it back last Sunday. So I guess we can only hope she figures something out.” 

They stood there in awkward silence, until the tell-tale glitzy sound of a detransformation could be heard. 

“Jeez, Adrien, you’re working me to the bone out there-” the tinny voice Ladybug recognized as Plagg’s said, and then, “Oh. Ah. I see we have company.” 

Ladybug sucked in a breath. 

Adrien? 

No, surely there were tons of other Adriens in Paris. 

But… 

“Adrien?!” Carapace said, sounding positively shocked. 

“I told you not to look!” Ladybug scolded, trying her very best to ignore her own burning curiosity. 

“Sorry,” Carapace said, not sounding sorry at all. “Adrien, dude! I can’t believe you’re Chat Noir!” 

Chat made a confused noise. 

“Do we know each other?” he asked. 

“Yeah, dude, it’s me, Nino!” 

“NINO!” Ladybug yelled, “Rule number one! What is rule number one?!” 

“Oh!” Ryuko said, “Adrien!” 

Ladybug groaned, turning around with her eyes still stubbornly closed. 

“Plagg,” she said, “I’m gonna… I’m gonna skin you alive!” 

“It was an accident!” he said. 

“Ladybug…” Chat said, sounding nervous, “I’m so sorry.” 

“No,” she sighed, “It’s not your fault. 

“You can uh,” Chat paused, and then took a deep breath, as if preparing himself, “You can open your eyes, if you want.” 

Ladybug grimaced. 

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” 

Adrien was Chat Noir. 

Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir. 

She had known it. Logically, what other Adrien did Nino know? 

But it was one thing to know it and another to see with her own eyes, Plagg hovering around the head of her crush. 

Her crush. 

“Oh my god,” she whispered, “I have a crush on Chat Noir.” 

“What was that?” Adrien asked, voice shrill. 

“You lent me a book on polyamory!” she said, ignoring him, “Oh my god! You’re Adrien Agreste!” 

“We’ve been over that!” he said, voice still unnaturally high-pitched. “You have a crush on me?”

Ladybug started laughing. 

“My chart was so inaccurate!” she said. 

“What chart?!” 

The box started to rumble. 

Ladybug shook herself. 

“We’ll talk about this later,” she said, attempting to return to serious leader mode. “Adr- Chat, I mean, transform.” 

He blinked at her for a second, shocked, and then complied. And in the nick of time. Just as the last of the magic sparkles were settling, the metal box popped out of existence. 

Queen Bee stood, a wicked grin on her face, and the akuma’s giant blaster resting on her shoulder. 

“You guys are missing the party,” she said, winking. 

“GIVE THAT BACK!” the akuma screeched from out of view. 

“Let’s get to it then,” Ladybug said, allowing one more quick look to Chat before she unclasped her yoyo and launched herself in the direction of the villain. 

***

Marinette tapped her fingers against the desk at a rapid pace, nervous. 

After the fight, she had had to run off before anyone could talk about anything. That had been yesterday. Now it was the first class of the day. Adrien hadn’t arrived yet, but Marinette was sure she’d find a way to make a complete fool of herself when he did show. Not that she didn’t usually, but now she held the oh-so-nerve wracking piece of information that he was Chat Noir. 

“Are you okay?” Alya asked, “You look like you’re about to explode.” 

“I’ll get back to you about that,” Marinette said. “I feel like I’m about to explode.” 

“Can I ask why?” 

Marinette shook her head. 

“Alright,” Alya said, a little suspicious. She cleared her throat and leaned closer to add, in a whisper, “I paid for the bouquet. I’ve got it at home. We can pick it up during lunch?” 

Marinette startled. 

Right. 

Somehow, she had forgotten about her plan to confess to Kagami and Adrien. So. Add that to the list of things that were stressing her out. 

She managed a shaky nod for Alya, and was about to say something when Adrien walked in. 

Hiding behind her hair, she avoided eye contact. 

“Adrien!” Nino said, “How… are you… after… yesterday?” He winked. 

Marinette tried not to giggle. Nino could not make it more obvious that something was up if he tried. 

“Good!” Adrien said, looking for all intents and purposes like an overenthusiastic puppy, “I am very good!” 

He sat down and shared a secret smile with Nino. 

Alya suspiciously looked between them, but didn’t say anything. 

“Okay, everyone!” Miss Bustier said, and Marinette breathed a sigh of relief as class started. She hadn’t made a fool out of herself. Yet. 

***

Marinette was left with a real predicament. One she contemplated instead of doing her math work. 

Fact one: She had a crush on Adrien and Kagami. 

Fact two: They had a crush… on Ladybug. 

Fact three: she knew their identities but they did not know hers. 

Fact four, irrelevant but also kind of weird: Didn’t Chat think that Ladybug was like… hundreds of years old? 

Marinette mulled this over. She saw three plans of action. 

Plan one: Take her chances as Marinette. Unguaranteed success. 

Plan two: Take her chances as Ladybug. Guaranteed success. 

Plan three, and the infinitely scariest plan of them all: Tell them her identity and ask them out. Guaranteed success, but at a major, major cost. 

The easiest plan was, of course, number two. But love wasn’t about being easy. It was about… 

Well. Marinette didn’t know what love was about, entirely. She’d never really been in love, not properly. But her crush was… getting there. For sure. 

Something about being in almost-love makes you want to take risks. 

Gaze flitting up to where Adrien sat in front of her, Marinette scrunched her eyebrows, thinking. 

This was a risk. Were they worth it? 

Yes. 

The answer came to her shockingly quick. 

But just because she was filled with hormones and a massive romantic didn’t mean she was an idiot. She was gonna plan this out. 

Flipping her notebook to a fresh page and altogether ignoring the algebra textbook beside her, she got to work. 

***

Step one of her plan was easily achieved. Technically. 

Emotionally, it was harder than lifting a bus. Which Marinette had done before. So, logically, she could do this(?). 

“Hi,” Marinette said, and then immediately wanted the floor to swallow her. 

“Hi, Marinette!” Adrien said, smiling up at her from the bench he was sitting on with Kagami. They were holding hands and Marinette was trying to not get distracted by how cute they were. 

“F-for you,” she stuttered, shoving the bouquet she had paid Alya back for in their general direction. 

“What is this?” Kagami asked, sniffing it. 

“It’s um.” Marinette felt like her face was melting. She must be blushing so embarrassingly hard. “It’s cause I, uh. Like. You. B-both of… you.” 

“Ma-” Adrien started to say, but before he could finish, or even really start, his sentence, Marinette was a block away and in a full sprint. 

So. Step one went… it went. Not well, but it went. 

***

Step two was easier by a long shot. She was in the mask, which meant instant confidence boost, and she didn’t have to mention her feelings at all.  

“I want to tell you guys my identity,” she mentioned offhandedly as they all sat on the roof, about to start patrol. The miraculous holders, other than Ladybug and Chat, were on a rotation for patrol, and today was Ryuko’s day. It was Saturday, which meant she hadn’t seen Adrien and Kagami since she had done a hit-and-run on them yesterday. 

Chat almost fell off the roof, and Ryuko scooted closer, stars in her eyes. They both looked at her expectantly. 

 “No, not now,” Ladybug said, “I’m just letting you know. That, uh. That you will know, eventually. Soon.” 

“How soon?” Ryuko asked, head tilted adorably. 

“That’s up to me,” Ladybug said, a little mysteriously, and then hopped to her feet. “Shall we?” 

They went off into the night, keeping Paris safe. Ladybug tried to suppress the smirk that was trying to make its way onto her face. She was totally crushing this. 

***

She was not totally crushing this. 

In her planning stage she had somehow managed to overlook figuring out who to tell first. 

“Okay,” Marinette said, partially thinking out loud and partially talking to Tikki, “Well, Adrien’s known me longer, so maybe I should tell him first? But Kagami is less likely to tell Adrien as soon as she finds out.” 

“You can’t just tell them both at the same time?” Tikki asked, flitting around her head. 

“No,” Marinette said, collapsing back into her bed, “Because the only time the two of them are together is during dates, and I don’t want to interrupt those, or during superhero business, and I really don’t want to do this all… out in the open.” 

“That’s true,” Tikki hummed thoughtfully. “But… what if you just invited them both over to your house?” 

“Tikki, what did I do to deserve you?” Marinette said. “I’m an idiot! I can just invite them over!” 

Tikki giggled. 

***

Step three began with a text. 

Hey! Do you guys want to come over tomorrow? 

The sending of the text was preluded by a generous amount of freaking out, but it was sent nonetheless. 

Yes, was Kagami’s short reply, followed by Adrien’s Yeah, of course Marinette! :) 

So of course Marinette spent four hours deep cleaning her room. Upon waking up, she spent two more hours picking out what to wear. 

They were arriving at noon. For lunch. So that left her an extra hour to freak out about what was for lunch. 

“I promise it’ll be ready!” Sabine assured her daughter, obviously amused, for the tenth time, “And yes, I promise to leave you three alone.” 

Before Marinette could reply, there was a knock on the door. 

“I’ll get it!” she yelled, even though she and her mother were the only two people in the house above the bakery. 

She flung open the door, revealing Adrien, holding Kagami’s hand, and Kagami, holding a small bunch of peonies.

“O-oh,” she said, “Are these for me?” 

Kagami nodded and smiled a little. Marinette’s knees felt weak. 

She took the flowers and turned to find a vase, gesturing them in. 

Adrien closed the door behind them, and they both took their shoes off before following her to the kitchen. 

“There’s soup and sandwiches on the table,” Sabine said, passing by them on her way out, “I’ll be in the bakery.” 

Marinette watched them sit down at the table as she filled the vase with water, and then stuck the flowers in it. 

“So, you like us,” Kagami said, cutting right to the chase, “Romantically.” 

Marinette squeaked and almost knocked the vase over. Steadying it, partly because it was expensive and partly to avoid eye contact, she whispered, “Yes.” 

She was going to pass out, probably. She kind of wished she would, if only to put off this conversation. 

No! she steeled herself, Be brave!  

Taking a deep breath, she turned around. 

“Yes,” she said again, louder. 

Adrien was smiling so wide it looked like his face would split in two, and Kagami’s cheeks were faintly pink. 

“Also,” she said, before they could reply, “Uh, I’m… well, how about I just…” 

She made eye contact with Tikki, who was hiding behind the cookie jar. Tikki nodded at her. 

“Tikki, Spots On!” 

The silence was deafening. 

“Um.” Ladybug felt like she was gonna sweat through her costume. “Surprise?” 

“Oh my god!” Adrien said, hurtling out of his chair. “Oh my god!” 

“Is it that bad?” she asked, and she meant it to come out as a joke but her voice wavered dangerously.

“No,” Kagami said, enormous grin on her face, “It’s not bad at all.” 

“Cool,” Ladybug breathed out, and then let her transformation go. Tikki winked and flew off. 

Adrien started walking towards her first, but Kagami was soon to follow, and the two had her crowded against the counter before she could blink. They both looked so incredibly happy. Marinette figured she probably looked about the same. 

“I’m Ryuko,” Kagami mentioned, “Since we’re getting it all out there.” 

Adrien’s smile grew impossibly wider. 

“Oh,” he said, “Oh.” 

“So,” Marinette breathed, “What happens now?” 

Kagami looked at Adrien, and then at Marinette. 

“Can we kiss you?” 

Marinette made a noise as all the air left her lungs. 

“Yes,” she said, “Yes yes yes.” 

Kissing Adrien was like kissing sunshine. Warm lips, a tentative hand hovering near her waist, his lips curled into a smile. 

Kissing Kagami was a rollercoaster. She started out fierce, crushing her lips against Marinette’s, but slowly softened, humming. 

Marinette felt like she could kiss them forever. 

“Wow,” she said as soon as her lips were free, and then threw her arms around them to pull them into a hug. 

***

E P I L O G U E 

It became a tradition, and a code, and an inside joke all in one. 

Sunflowers for every anniversary. One month, six months, a year. 

Get me flowers? Adrien texted, and his girlfriends knew it was gonna be a rough day. 

“Roses? You shouldn’t have,” Ladybug laughed on the random Tuesdays that Ryuko bought them for her. 

And Kagami wore aster flowers in her hair the day she proposed, many, many years later. 

And they were unimaginably happy. 

[twdmusicboxmystery]

FTWD 6x07 - Details

Okay, let's talk details. Even aside from the major and obvious parallel I talked about yesterday, there were quite a few smaller Beth symbols throughout the episode.

***As always, spoilers for 6x07 abound below. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

The first one was right in the opening shot. We see a deer being eaten by walkers and the camera zooms in closely on the deer's face and the eye. So, deer symbolism which points to both taxidermy elements of the episode, but also, deer symbolism = Beth. Which is important because of the Dakota both parallel, and it focuses in on the eye. (Sirius Symbolism).

When Strand and Samuels ride ahead to try and figure out what happened to Terry, there's a tree fallen across the road. And it's obvious that someone cut it down. (Turns out to be Morgan.) But we’ve seen this kind of symbolism around Beth proxies a lot. We saw fallen trees in 5x10 after the storm, and right before the music box woke up. We also saw one in 6x14, just before Denise died. And obviously she was a big Beth proxy two. So, I seeing one in this episode right before Dakota goes missing is important.

After they discover Dakota is gone, Strand says, "only one person matters right now and she's gone." So more of the “gone” symbolism and an echo of Daryl's, "she's just gone," from 4x16.

As I said yesterday, Ed's hunting lodge sort of gave me white cabin vibes from the missing S5 scenes. When Alicia sneaks in, she crawls under a chain and squeezes through the door it's holding shut. I reminded me a lot of Daryl and Carol doing that and consumed, which was when they were looking for Beth.

I’ll say it again, but the animals we see stuffed inside also symbols we see used a lot. The bear (bear symbolism), a bird of some kind. I'm not sure what kind it is. But it does kind of remind us of the blackbirds in the opening credits of TWD. A bobcat (cat symbolism associated with Daryl) and, of course, more deer. Later in the episode, we also see a boar’s head. (Pig Symbolism).

Alicia finds Ed working on a walker which is strapped to his table in his basement. The whole set up reminded me a lot of the funeral home from Alone. Just having a body on a table like that and the fact that it was a walker, not a human.

The songs playing are “Tonight You Belong to Me,” and “Jeepers Creepers.” I won’t go into either of them too much, but look up the lyrics. The first is about belonging to someone for a short time and the moonlight. The second is all about a person’s eyes. And both mention the dawn. So yeah, we can definitely read into those. ;D

I probably shouldn't read into this too much, but the names used in this episode definitely caught my attention. First, there's Ed. Carol's abusive ex-husband was named Ed. I'm not saying that has anything to do with Beth, but they could've used in the name of the world, right? And they used a name well known in the fandom due to Carol's arc. Next is that he had a daughter named Emily. Again, I'm not saying they're necessarily trying to use that as some sort of TD/return symbolism, but it was just a little jarring to actually hear Emily's name come up in this episode when there such a huge Beth parallel in it.

Ed asks if either of them plays chess and then he plays Dakota. We’ve talked about chess before. There are a lot of reasons that they may use it as TD symbolism. For one thing, the Queen is all-important in chess. It's also a strategic game, where players are lost periodically throughout. Which might be the writer's way of symbolizing all the characters who have been lost. We saw it heavily around the governor, in the two episodes in S-4 where he had a lot of parallels.

While Ed and Dakota play chess, was also a record playing. (No lyrics in this song, though.) He says, “Queen’s Gambit.” I’m not much of a chess player so I had to look that up. Aside from the mini-series that’s currently popular on Netflix, it’s a well-known chess move. Feel free to look it up on Wikipedia yourself, but let’s just say that it smacks strongly of a prisoner exchange.

Ed turns the music on loudspeakers to draw walkers in. Obviously a music theme, but it specifically ties to things like The Big Spot in 4x01, or Operation Lead the Walkers Away in S6. They did this more recently in S10 to lead the Whisperer horde away from the hospital.

Ed has an interesting line when he's explaining himself to Alicia. He's trying is tell her that everything is his fault. That it's his fault his family died, etc. He makes a point of saying, "I created them, but I couldn't control them."

I feel like this is an important theme. I'm not sure where it's leading yet, but I'm wondering if there will end up being a reveal that the virus was man-made and then got out of control. Or maybe it will have something to do with the helicopter group. I don't know. But it felt like a mic-drop moment, and like something we should remember going forward.

Also? At Grady, Joan said something similar to this to Dawn. “You can’t control them,” speaking, presumably, of the officers.

Then of course Morgan shows up, saying that he heard the music. I talked about how suspicious I am about Morgan showing up at the end of this and what it might mean for Beth yesterday.

We also learned that, had Alicia's original plan to exchange Dakota for her and Charlie being released worked, she was planning on taking them back to the stadium. That caught my ear because there's been a lot of talk recently about Madison's return. You wouldn’t think she would still be at the stadium, but you never know. Maybe she is. After all the talk in the fandom about it lately, I just couldn't help but side-eye that a little bit. 

Then Alicia and Morgan quarrel about what to do with Dakota. The thing that jumped out about this part is that Morgan basically wants to do another prisoner exchange, exchanging Dakota for the others in his group (presumably June and Daniel). They don't actually end up doing it, but it was sort of a nod to Grady.

 We also learned that Morgan was the one who attacked the convoy, trying to get a hold of Dakota so he could use her as leverage against Virginia. Again, something we saw just prior to Coda, with TF purposely setting a trap for the officers so they could use them as prisoners in the exchange.

It’s also worth mentioning that, for the characters in the episode (Alicia and Charlie, though this was true of Al and Dwight a couple of episodes ago too) the moment when they saw Morgan was a resurrection moment. We, the audience, have obviously known  he’s alive since ep 1, but they haven’t. So this was someone coming back from the dead for them. 

We learn that Virginia may have killed her own parents. But we don't know how. Me and my fellow theorists talked about how trustworthy Dakota is. I do like her overall, but one thing that bugs me is that the main characters don't press her. For more information. She said before that not only is she Virginia’s sister but that she hears everything that goes on in that house. So, I think she has to no more than she's saying. But her go to answer about anything is, "I don't know." Personally, I don't think she's going to turn out to be evil or anything, but I do think she knows more than she's saying.

Finally, Strand returns to Virginia and says that he's on her side and will help her bring back everyone Morgan has liberated.

For the record, while Strand always seems to have an agenda and to want to do things his way, I don't think he's actually working against Morgan's group. I think this is his way of being undercover and helping them from the inside. But Virginia believes him and takes him to where she's secretly hiding Grace, it was still very pregnant.

Dun, dun, dun! End of MSF.

So, yeah. That's what I have for details. Anybody pick up on anything I missed?

[falseroar]

Silver and Peppermint (Part 5)

((Part 5 of a fantasy AU, where Monster Hunter Abe and his reluctant partner, the DA, are trying to track down a murderous werewolf. When Abe’s questions are a bit much for one of their suspects/potential victims, it’s time to do some snooping around.

Links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 6, Part 7, and the Epilogue.))

Less than ten minutes later, Abe and the District Attorney stood back and watched as the paramedics rolled the banker out of his own home on a stretcher, an oxygen mask strapped across his face.

“I still think he could be faking it,” Abe said.

“Really, Abe? He could be faking a heart attack,” the District Attorney said, not even bothering to hide their disbelief. “The paramedics thought he was dead when they first got here.”

“Which proves they can be wrong.” Abe turned to follow the District Attorney as they walked away, shaking their head. “What? He just happens to have a major medical emergency right when he’s about to spill the beans on who our murderer is? Who does that?”

“Someone under a lot of stress? Look around Abe. See this?” They pointed at a glimmer above the front door, and Abe slowly realized that there was a silver pattern worked into the door frame. It was decorative, sure, but now that the District Attorney pointed it out, he noticed that there was a similar lining on the window frames, and even the door knob appeared to be made of silver. “All new too. He clearly thought he might be the next victim, and knew what was coming for him. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days, which probably didn’t help.”

“This wouldn’t keep a werewolf out,” Abe said, running a finger over the decoration on one of the window frames. “It’s not like a salt circle for demons or iron for those people, just having silver around won’t actually hurt a were unless they touch it. This wolfsbane mixed in with the flowers might do something, if you were to accidentally chuck the whole vase into the fireplace.”

He snorted and turned around to find the District Attorney studying him, as closely as they could from the other side of the room.

“You were here last night,” they said.

There was no accusation in their tone, just an acknowledgement of the fact, but Abe still found himself speaking quickly to explain.

“Look, I know I said I would check out Garroway, but things just worked out so I was watching this place instead, and good thing it did or else we might have had another dead body on our hands.” Abe paused to consider but didn’t correct himself. After all, the paramedics seemed reasonably sure Franklin would be okay, if not in any state to answer questions for a while. “And maybe I should have mentioned the wolf, but I was a bit distracted, okay? Has nothing to do with how it got away, don’t ask about it. Okay, fine, I missed. No one can shoot straight all the time. There. Feel better?”

“I…” The District Attorney paused, a strange expression crossing their face as they tried and failed to parse just what the hunter was talking about. “I honestly don’t know what I was about to say anymore. I’m just going to look around before the butler remembers we’re here.”

Said butler had said something about calling the other members of the board and rushed away the moment the paramedics wheeled his boss out, but Abe suspected he would want to follow him to the hospital once that was done. The District Attorney was right, they didn’t have time to waste.

While they checked around downstairs, Abe eased his way up to the upper floor, aware of the butler’s anxious voice on the phone coming from one room while he checked out the other doors. There were a few pristine guest rooms and a library that looked to be all tomes large and thick enough to knock out a reader if the books weren’t boring enough to send them to sleep on their own. Franklin’s bedroom was an absolute pigsty, which Abe could respect, but the room next door not so much. It was yet another room for entertaining guests, in theory, with a pool table on one side and a drinks cabinet opposite a massive fireplace, but Abe’s eyes were drawn to the stuffed animals that littered every available surface, from the deer’s head above the fireplace to the actual bearskin thrown across the floor. There were lamps with what looked suspiciously like lamia snakeskin in the corners, and someone had even stuffed a griffin, or at least what they thought a griffin was supposed to look like.

Abe fought back a derisive laugh at the sight, knowing that he had sold more than a few pieces of his bounties to rubes like this one for ten or more times what they were really worth, so there was no telling how much he wasted on that pitiful taxidermy hoax. He turned to go but froze when he saw something out of place on one of the small tables that dotted the room.

“What do you think you’re doing up here?”

Abe jumped at the butler’s voice and fought the instinct to reach for his jacket and make sure his find was hidden from sight. “Looking for the bathroom.”

“Well you can find one at a corner store, I’m sure, but you and your associate should leave. Now.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Abe grumbled, allowing himself to be ushered down the stairs where the District Attorney was already waiting for them, hands thrust into their pockets and the picture of innocence like they hadn’t just rushed away from poking around at the sound of someone coming. “Come on, Y/N, we’ve got things to do.”

“More people to send to an early grave,” the butler muttered behind him.

“He’s not dead,” Abe said, ignoring the District Attorney’s pull on his arm. “Well, not yet anyways—”

“Not helping,” they murmured. “Abe, we should go, there’s nothing here.”

It was so hard to resist saying anything, so Abe yanked the door open and slammed it shut behind them as fast as possible just so he could answer, “That’s what you think.”

With a flourish, Abe revealed the folder he found upstairs, the Haywood logo prominent on the bright blue background.

“You’re kidding me,” the District Attorney said. “Where did you find this?”

“Where do you think?” Abe asked, jamming a thumb in the direction of the house as he handed the folder over, unable to resist a smug smile. “He just left it sitting out in his game room for anyone to find.”

“Abe, that’s…” The District Attorney sighed, pinching the bridge of their nose. “You can’t just steal evidence from someone’s home!”

“Well, considering he stole it first…”

“That’s not how this works! And we don’t know this is the same folder. Even if it was, why would he go to all the trouble of stealing it just to leave it out in the open?”

“It’s not like he expected someone to just waltz into his trophy room, is it?” Abe said, smug smile gone now that they were clearly not responding like they were supposed to. Couldn’t they just be happy for two seconds, or did admitting he had done something right bother them that much? “Who cares, the point is this is another connection between one of our dead guys and Mr. Convenient Heart Attack.”

“Which we won’t be able to use in court—”

“In court?! We are talking about a raving, murderous werewolf who’s already torn apart four people now!” Abe became very aware that the people on the street were staring now, at least those who weren’t ushering small children to walk faster and ignore the terrifying man. He made the effort to lower his voice as he continued, “The only evidence I need is which of our suspects wears fur in the moonlight, if you catch my drift, and if playing along with this whole rounding up clues song and dance is how we get there, then fine. I wasn’t about to let that folder some kid died over sit around for the butler to tidy up his master’s mess for him.”

With that, he pressed the folder into the District Attorney’s chest and stomped away in no particular direction, being more focused on making a point than what happened next. He made it as far as the next corner before the District Attorney spoke up from behind him.

“You’ll want to turn left if you’re going to see Garroway. Or are you done with this whole ‘song and dance’ now?”

Abe stopped, if only because the traffic was too busy to cross without taking his life into his hands, and huffed into his collar, head turned down against the brisk wind picking up. Beside him there was the rustle of paper, and out of the corner of his eye he could see the District Attorney struggling to look through the folder without the contents blowing up and down the street.

“Maybe you could save that for later?” he asked.

“Maybe you could stay still for two seconds,” they answered, moving to stand so that his body blocked the wind enough for them to focus on the papers.

Abe scoffed again but didn’t move. In the following silence he became very aware of the District Attorney’s presence, close but not quite touching his back. He made a show of looking up at the sky, at the street, at his watch, but the moment somehow seemed so long and too short at the same time when the District Attorney moved, speaking as they did so.

“These are financial records for Haywood’s company, but I suppose only Marcus would know if they are the same records that he took home. Lenore could guess, but from what she said I suspect she didn’t have much time to look at them last night.”

“Anything useful?” Abe asked.

“Maybe, but I’ll have to take the time to go through them thoroughly later, and not standing on some random street corner,” the District Attorney answered. “The more pressing question is, what was this folder doing in Franklin’s home? These are internal records, not something you would hand over to a banker unless you’re trying to prove your business is solid enough for a loan, but Haywood wouldn’t need that, the company was winning contracts left and right, any bank in town would be happy to invest in them—”

They paused mid sentence and glanced at the records again, that thoughtful frown of theirs appearing just as it always did when they came across something that didn’t quite fit right.

“So why would Haywood go to ‘Honest’ John when he could get a better deal from one of the banks?”

“Maybe the company wasn’t doing as well as it looked from the outside,” Abe said. “Bit off more than they could chew and couldn’t spit or swallow.”

“…Ignoring that last part, you might be onto something.” The District Attorney looked in the folder again, their mouth moving silently as they went over the numbers.

Abe thought he could watch them all day, but no sooner had that thought crossed his mind than a new gust of wind hit him, somehow weaseling its way past every layer of clothing to send a fresh wave of goosebumps across his skin. An unwelcome reminder that summer was on its way out and the nights would soon be growing longer once more.

Speaking of, at this rate they would still be standing on this corner by the time evening fell.

“You said Garroway’s place was to the left?” Abe asked.

As he hoped, the District Attorney snapped out of their reverie and said, “Yes, yes it’s not far from here. You still think it’s worth going, or do you want to drop by the hospital to slap Franklin with a piece of silver?”

“Not saying we can’t do both,” Abe said and thought he saw a twinge of a smile on the attorney’s face before they turned away. “Besides, nothing wrong with being thorough.”

Especially not with loose ends hanging. It was a werewolf that had chased Lenore and the roommate out of the apartment last night, but even Abe found it hard to believe a werewolf would decorate their home with silver and wolfsbane, much less put a door knob on their very own front door that they couldn’t use. No, as much as he hated to admit it even in the privacy of his own mind, the District Attorney was right: Franklin was afraid, so certain that he would be the next victim he came close to beating the murderer to the punch.

So how did he come to have the folder? Was it an insurance policy of his own? Did he think it would help him any more than it had the poor clerk who had it last?

((Thank you for reading! Sorry there wasn’t much in this one, but the next part would have been difficult to split after this point.

Link to Part 6.

Tagging:  @silver-owl413  @skyewardlight  @blackaquokat @catgirlwarrior @neverisadork @luna1350 @oh-so-creepy @purpstraw @weirdfoxalley @95fangirl @lilalovesinternet-l @thepoolofthedead @a-bit-dapper @randomartdudette @geekymushroom @cactipresident @hotcocoachia @purple-anxiety-blog @shyinspiredartist @avispate ))

[96percentdone]

The Moonlit Prince and the Lying Thief (Part 4)

@oumasaiweek I’m a day late I’m so sorry! I couldn’t finish this chapter on time yesterday I got burnt out and it hit like 3am and I was dying inside. I’ll try my best to keep the daily schedule from here on out though!

But Happy birthday Ouma! This is the fourth entry in a series. If you’re interested, go on my blog and check the tag v3 tangled AU. Thanks!

“I have so many regrets,” Shuuichi groans, voice muffled. His face is starting to hurt a little from the way he flopped right on top of a hedge, leaves and twigs poking and digging into his cheeks, but the darkness the bush provides matches his emotional state, so he stays. If Tsumugi ever found out about this she would be so hurt. He’d never earn her trust back. She’d probably punish him for years, and he’d deserve it. “Why did I do this.”

“Beats me.” Doukeshi leans on a nearby tree, tossing a grey stone up and down. At this rate this side-quest of his will be over sooner than he thought. “Guess you can’t handle this after all, huh?”

“I can do it!” Shuuichi jumps back up, determination in his stance. “It’ll be fine! She’ll just never find out!”

“She?”

“My aunt.” And with that Shuuichi whines again, and falls back to sitting on the floor. “She’ll totally find out…” He’s in so much trouble if he does this. If he goes back right now, he can probably dodge it, right? He’ll tell her he jumped out the window, regretted it, and ran right back in. Does he leave the thief part in?

“You could just lie.” Doukeshi points out. Lying has gotten him out of so many conundrums. There seems to be just a whole lot of backstory here, and while he’s curious, he’s not planning on diving into it. He just wants to get this over with as soon as possible, so he can go home.

“I can’t just lie to her! She’d find me out, and it’d be wrong.” Never mind that Shuuichi is a poor liar, but to betray and then deceive her? No, absolutely not. He needs to just tell the truth, and go back, and this whole thing was a mistake. “I’m going back.”

“Suit yourself.” Doukeshi keeps tossing that rock, staring blankly up at the sky. “Toss me my satchel while you’re up there, will ya?”

“No!” At that, Shuuichi bolts up, and starts marching away from the tower. “We’re not doing that. I’m—I’m going to see those lanterns. You’re not getting out of it that easily.”

“Okay~” Tossing the rock aside, Doukeshi strolls along behind him. He doesn’t point out that this is the wrong direction, just watches as Shuuichi walks several more feet and abruptly stopping.

“I don’t know which way we’re supposed to go,” Shuuichi says, and Doukeshi can’t stifle his snorting, which earns him an embarrassed glare. “Very funny. Lead the way.”

“As you wish, detective-chan.”

They don’t get very far, maybe another few feet, before something rustles nearby. “What was that?” Shuuichi asks, eyes darting around before landing on the bush up ahead.

“I dunno.” Doukeshi shrugs. “Bandits?”

“Bandits?!” The rustling continues. Frying pan armed in sweaty hands, he freezes, eyes glued to the bush.

“Thugs?” Realizing that Shuuichi stopped moving, Doukeshi turns around.

“Thugs?!” Shuuichi takes a small step backward, eyes never leaving the bush.

“Axe murderers?”

“Mur—murderers?”

Something jumps out of the bush, and Shuuichi finds himself hovering behind the thief. After a few seconds, he peers over Doukeshi’s smaller, vest clad shoulder, to see—“It’s just a rabbit.” Small, and furry, and brown. Oh. That…that’s perfectly normal and harmless. He puts the frying pan away.

“You do know we’re outside, right?” Doukeshi asks, glancing behind him, and they both resume walking. “Maybe you can’t handle this.”

“I’ll be fine!” Of course, he knows that. He knows about animals too, but there’s so many other things out here besides just those. Even so, “It was just because you scared me.”

“Nishishi~ Sorry! I can’t help myself!” So Shuuichi is easily scared, huh? Maybe that works in his favor. They only just started but it might be time for a small detour. “Hey, you hungry? Cause I seriously need something to eat!”

“Um, sure.” Beyond the cave, there’s a seemingly endless array of trees. Every tree passed takes Shuuichi one step closer to his dream.

Tsumugi stops in her tracks, scanning the forest for the seventh time in the past half hour. There’s something off about these woods. She’s never been truly alone here—there’s that tavern on the way to town, and there’s always been the occasional child playing dangerous games—but there’s too many people out today. What happened?

The sound of hooves galloping across dirt approaches from behind, and on instinct she hides behind a large maple tree. Citizen? Or worse? A black mare flies past her. Tsumugi only manages to get a brief glimpse at the woman riding it, but the shining chestplate tells all. “No.”

What is a royal guard doing out this deep in her woods? The crown was stolen by someone, but if they’re this far in, they might find him! The trees blur together as she tears through the woods, knocking aside any stray branches or vines in her way. She has to go back. She has to go back!

There it is. The tower. “Shuuichi?” No response. “Shuuichi, let down your hair!” Still nothing. Where is he? Did they find him? She needs to get inside now. Wrenching away at the stones that make up the backside of the tower reveals a hidden stairwell. As soon as there’s enough space for her to crawl through, she does, sprinting up the stairs.

But there’s no one in the main room. “Shuuichi?” And there’s no one in his room. “This just plain isn’t funny!” And there’s no one in her room. No matter where she looks, there’s no sign of silver anywhere in the dark tower. She’s alone.

The noon sun shines through the window, and something shimmers under the stairs to her missing “nephew’s” room. What is that? Pulling the stair reveals a bag containing the stolen crown. But that’s not all. Slowly, Tsumugi pulls out a mask, black and red and resembling a joker’s hat. So Doukeshi took Shuuichi away.

Opening a nearby drawer reveals a glimmering dagger. She’ll find him. She’ll find them both.

“To your right, as previously stated, is more trees,” Shuuichi rolls his eyes as Doukeshi narrates their same-y surroundings. He’s been doing this for at least 20 minutes now, for reasons Shuuichi can’t understand. “But to your left is, voila!” With a grand gesture, the thief showcases a quiet trail that leads to a small building. “Our destination, Saishuu Tavern.”

“Final Tavern…?” What an ominous name. “What happened to the other taverns?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Huh?” What does he mean by that? Did something happen? What could have possibly—“Are you messing with me again?”

“Nishishi~ You make it so easy.” Doukeshi pushes and holds the door open as Shuuichi makes a whining noise in response. “After you.”

“Thank…you…” Shuuichi trails off upon seeing the interior of the pub. It’s…a lot to process. There’s a hodgepodge of stuff furnishing the somewhat-circular room. Some of it is innocent (a portrait or two, a piano), some of it is strange (the steering wheel of a boat, a racket), and some of it…terrifying. The array of knives and spears, a taxidermy deer head, a guillotine, and god there are just so many people. All their eyes are on him. Shuuichi freezes in place.

Except they’re not on him, but on the purple vested man behind him. “Doesn’t that gremlin by the door look familiar to anyone?” Miu wipes her messy blond hair away from her goggles and squints.

“Hmm…Tenko agrees, but she just can’t quite place it,” says Tenko, walking up past Shuuichi to Doukeshi. He’s just glad a woman that buff doesn’t have those threatening eyes on him.

“Who, me? Nah, I’m no one,” Doukeshi waves her off, strolling into the tavern without worry. He takes a seat in a nearby rickety wooden chair. “Sides I think my partner here is the weirder one.”

And everyone is staring at Shuuichi. This time for real. Nobody says anything, they just look dumbstruck at the sheer amount of hair. Until Rantarou pipes up, pressing a finger to his lips revealing the anchor tattoo running down the length of his arm. “No, I know who that is. That’s that thief. Doukeshi.”

“With the hair?” Miu shouts.

“He’s talking about the short one,” says Ryouma who isn’t much taller than the wooden table he’s standing around.

“You don’t get to call me short, dwarf-chan!” Doukeshi pouts, folding his arms and turning away. He looks like a petulant child when he does this, but despite this, is entirely unconcerned about being called out. He’s been in worse situations.

“Nyehh, shouldn’t someone get the guards then?” Himiko says, uncaring that her cape and hat are getting in the way of her attempt to nap on the table.

“It would seem like a logical source of progression,” says Kirumi from behind the bar. Without even looking, she catches the empty glass sliding back her way in her gloved hands.

“I’ll go get them! They should still be nearby!” Kiibo jumps up, one leg made of metal.

“Um—” Shuuichi starts, but the boy is already out the door. Great. He just got here, and he’s already going to lose his guide.

“Heyyy, barmaid-chan, can you get me the most disgustingly sweet drink you have?” Doukeshi waves his arm from his corner table, but she just ignores him. Even better: the thief doesn’t care at all.

“Um, Doukeshi-san, maybe we should—”

“Relaaaax, Detective-chan. I’m not getting caught. ‘Sides,” Doukeshi looks around the room with an easy-going grin, and Shuuichi is once again reminded of the weaponry on the wall. What kind of place is this? Is he in danger? “Don’t you wanna take in the experience? This is a five-star joint!”

“Actually, I think I really don’t—”

“Excuse me,” blue eyes bore directly into Shuuichi’s own, cutting off his line of thought, “but Angie was wondering why you’re with a wanted thief?”

“Gonta wants to know that too.” Lumbering over from the back, Gonta stares curiously at Shuuichi’s hair. “Also, why do you have so much hair?”

“Is it not possible that this menace is one of the accomplices to the crime?” Tenko says.

Ryouma scans Shuuichi briefly, and says, “Doesn’t seem practical with this much hair.”

“Obviously it’s a fuckin’ wig,” Miu says. “They’re both just trying shitty disguises.”

“They definitely don’t make wigs that long…” Himiko mumbles.

“Even if they did, I heard there were two accomplices,” Rantarou says.

The debate goes on around Shuuichi, with numerous voices piping in with their theories or suspicions. He wants to take Doukeshi and leave, but the thief shows no sign of leaving, kicking his feet back on the table and even egging them on. Not helping! The room is stifling. It’s so hard to breathe. Why did he leave the tower? He wants to go home. This was a mistake. There are so many people, and they’re all getting closer, and arguing, and arguing, about him, and Doukeshi, and his hair, and him and him and him—

“Hey guys, maybe we should let him talk,” Kaede says. She gets up from her seat at the piano, and walks over to Shuuichi, who all this time was still paralyzed at the door. With a gentle smile, she asks, “What’s your name?”

Deep breaths. Shuuichi exhales, slow and long, before finally speaking up. “I’m um, Shuuichi. Just Shuuichi.”

“Shuuichi-kun then. Then you can call me Kaede.” Her voice is warm and reassuring, like Shuuichi always imagined his mother would be like. He nods. “Do you want to explain why you’re here?”

“Well…” How does he begin with this? Obviously, Shuuichi can’t say anything about the hair, but the rest? Can he tell them about the deal? Probably not. So all that’s left is his dream. Are they really going to accept something so simple? So childish? It’s worth a shot. “I wanted to see the lantern festival. I’ve never gone, well…anywhere, before, so I need him to take me.”

“And the hair?” Miu asks. Crap he’s not out of this after all. What does he say? Does he lie? Can he lie? Should he lie? The longer he stays silent, the more suspicious this looks. But he doesn’t know what to say! What should he do—?

“He’s going for a world record,” Doukeshi answers. He’s not looking at Miu, but Shuuichi, and winks. A rescue; thank god. “I want in on the cash prize, so I struck a deal with him.” It’s a lie, but it saved him. Shuuichi will have to thank him for that.

“Stealing the crown wasn’t enough?” Gonta exclaims.

“Is the lantern festival really that important to you?” Kirumi asks. Nobody says it, but the question is implied: is it worth getting tangled up with a thief for this?

But to Shuuichi, that’s something he doesn’t even have to think about. “Yes.” It’s resolute, something he hasn’t been since he arrived. Maybe even before that.  “I’ve been dreaming about them my entire life, so now that I have that chance, I need to take it.” And maybe he’s working with a thief, but he thinks that Doukeshi isn’t all that evil. He didn’t have to help. In fact, he could have probably snuck out while they all focused on him, and ran back to the tower, but he stayed. He’s risked a lot just to be here.

But they’re going to turn him in if Kiibo gets back before they can leave. Shuuichi’s chance ends right here, unless he does something. He can’t let that happen. “So…I need you to let us leave.”

Doukeshi raises an eyebrow. Is he serious? Does he really think they’re just going to let him leave? Let Shuuichi go, maybe, but not him. Doukeshi is pretty sure he’s going to have to think fast to get out. Is he really that naïve?

“You can tell the guards where we went, if you want,” Shuuichi continues, looking around at the skeptical group, “I think that’s perfectly fair, but please just let us go. I’m sure all of you have dreams, right?”

“Oh? What makes you say that?” Angie asks, leaning over to the side. On her belt he can see a bunch of painting supplies.

“All of the stuff in the room,” Shuuichi explains. He’s been wondering about the eclectic collection this whole time. The knives, and spears, and taxidermy, all scream ‘thug bar’, and so do the tattoos some of the patrons have, but the other things? “Like Angie-san, you painted all the portraits hanging here, right?”

Angie lights up. “I did!”

“Kaede-san plays that piano.”

Kaede nods.

“And I think you—” Shuuichi points to the green-haired man.

“Amami Rantarou. You can call me Rantarou.”

“Rantarou-san’s a sailor. That wheel on the wall was your idea, right?”

One by one, Shuuichi wanders through the tavern, going through all the items in the room. He matches them from person to person, based on things they’re wearing, or things nearby where they were. Even for Kiibo, who is no longer in the room. And one by one, he captures the interests and names and hearts of every single person he figures out. He thought for sure that if Shuuichi came here, he’d be so overwhelmed he’d want to go back home, and yet. It’s kind of amazing, Doukeshi thinks, that someone so naïve is still so capable. Despite himself, he finds himself a little impressed.

“What about his dream?” Kaede asks, pointing to Doukeshi, and once again everyone’s attention is on him.

“Eh, don’t bother,” Doukeshi says, getting up from his seat. “It’s to be insanely rich so I can lord it over everyone else.” That’s a lie, of course, but nobody here needs to know that.

“That’s horrible,” Tenko says, and everyone nods in agreement, making their own judgmental remarks amongst themselves.

In that instant, the door bursts open, and Kiibo returns with around five or six guards. “I found them!”

And just as suddenly, he’s being grabbed, dragged behind the bar along with Shuuichi. He looks around bewildered, just in time to see Kirumi pull a lever, and the wooden floor beneath them lowers into a ramp, leading into a tunnel. An escape route. So all that touchy-feely stuff paid off. “Go. And don’t come back, or we’ll have to turn you in,” she says, with a stern gaze.

“Thank you, Kirumi-san.” Shuuichi bows a little from his spot on the floor. He didn’t think he’d be able to sway them, but he did. Somehow.

Her stern gaze turns soft, and she smiles at him. “Make your dream come true, Shuuichi-san. I hope it’s everything you’ve imagined.”

“Where is he?” Kaito is talking to the patrons about their disappeared thief while the other guards patrol outside, but they seem to be giving mixed stories. Maki tunes them out.

Those stories never mattered, because he definitely didn’t leave through the door. She has her own witness confirming it. So how did he escape? She’s examined every square inch of this room, but she doesn’t see that pesky thief at all. There has to be some trick. Going up to the bar, she runs her hands along the taps, until she finds one that moves. A lever. A yank, and the floor opens up to reveal a tunnel. “So that’s where he went. Momota. Get everyone. We’re leaving.”

“Harumaki—” But she’s already gone. Kaito sighs. “Fine, I’ll get them.”

Tsumugi watches from the window as Maki storms into the tunnel. It was quite easy to manipulate such an impulsive guard. She needs someone to catch that thief, after all, and dealing with a pest is their job. But she has to get to Shuuichi first, before they do.

He was traipsing around this tavern—carelessly—happily. She saw him. He had the audacity to betray her like this? Oh no. She’s not having that. He’ll have to be punished too.

“Oh, hello Miss.” She finds herself being addressed by a young boy with a metal leg. “Can I do anything for you?”

“You can actually,” Tsumugi replies with a plastic grin, before pointing the dagger right between his eyes. “Tell me where that tunnel lets out.”

Shuuichi will get his punishment, she just has to catch him first.

[vamytas]

18th May ‘94

     Molly,

Thanks for your exhibition prints. I’ve sold a few off the counter, the deer ones are popular. Still find it funny that people opt for the cuter kind, even if the forest frolickers are dead, although when one woman came in to buy a wallet for her husband and I told her the deer was a taxidermy she didn’t seem as eager to look around much more! Shame, that. Tried to tell her half the cost went to the RSPCA but she didn’t buy it. I’ll see if Alex wants one. Have you sent some to Tommy? He’d like the mouse driving the car (that’s him, right...?)

I would say ‘same old’ here if it was true but it’s not. The bloke I work with, Rob, the one who thought it would be a grand idea to throw Alex’s surprise birthday bash, he hasn’t shown up for work in a couple days and he won’t pick up his phone. I could joke that it was Alex’s doing but at this point with the way he’s become such a recluse I wouldn’t put it past him. Maybe they eloped? Not that they have any reason to, didn’t catch on to anything like that. Not that you’d care, obviously (ha ha). I shouldn’t joke about it, though. Rob’s somewhere we don’t know...or at least I don’t know. Thank god Alex is responding even if it’s minimal. I asked him if he knew anything and  he said he didn’t. At the moment it’s a mystery to us but I’m not sure if Rob’s family have managed to get in contact, or if he has any family to worry over him, there’s a lot of characters like that around here.

Don’t be a stranger, even if you have all the critics climbing all over eachother just to glance at your face. Are you really going to try and pull the Banksy thing?

    Much love,

    Seb

P.S. Have you installed your dial-up yet? Data’s quicker to send than paper.

21 May 1994

To: MissMolly

From: S.M.

Subj: Beep, beep ... nnNNRRHH

Happy to see you’ve joined the legion of the world wide web! I know a lot of people complain about the noise but it doesn’t sound much different to what we used to listen to. You haven’t sold your original 20 Jazz Funk Greats, have you? Not sure it would even rake in much with what we drew all over the back, unless you or Alex get put in the Tate. With the way you’re going I wouldn’t say it’s a far way off! Also need more of those prints! Running low. You’re a popular girl here :) -- that’s called a smiley.

As for the Earnshaw Update: he’s as much a hermit as your sister used to be when she started getting into The Cure. I don’t know what instigated it but he’s only been reachable by phone since his birthday, and only at night. I’ve tried dropping in but his door’s been shut tight and I don’t know where he keeps the emergency key. You should try talking to him (I can resend his address if you’ve lost it, he hasn’t got internet yet). That’s if I can’t tide him over by telling him you’ve got a gift, next time he picks up... if he does. Sorry, that sounds very doom and gloom. I really am worried about him, if only because he hasn’t been in this kind of stasis since... well.

Please get back to me as soon as you can.

Much love,

Seb

23 May 1994

To: MissMolly

From: S.M.

Subj: He’s alive!

Did you send that print to him? I came by his place tonight and he answered after the first knock! Smiling as ever. He felt colder than a Yorkshire winter, though, and pale. I told him I could help with the gas bill if he needed it but he waved me off. We went out to one of those clubs where everyone is in fishnets and knock-off McQueen, which is nothing new, but they were playing that new MTV gothic stuff, the kind he said he hated -- could be broadening his horizons. I lost him for a bit but he found his way back, he’s somehow easy to distinguish from the crowd now (for me that is, imagine it’s always been the case with you, ha ha!)

He also told me that Rob went on a spontaneous break to Rome. Rob in Rome! And that I’d be getting a “confirmation of assumin’ such responsibilties required of a leather shoppe owner, as well as the salary”. Alex and him were closer than I thought.

It’s all looking up here. What’s happening with you? Apart from the Guardian editorial, you don’t tell me much apart from work!

Much love,

Seb

27 May 1994

To: MissMolly

From: S.M.

Subj: Concerned again.

I don’t mean to ignore the other topics covered in our ditties but Al has gone Weird. I know he always has been, in that ‘cool cousin’ kind of way but now he’s just... I don’t know. He’s practically nocturnal. There’s more and more stuff popping up in his wardrobe that he used to say was a ‘fuckin’ disgrace of shite taste’ -- the chokers! There must be about ten discarded around his whole place. I’ve seen some of his paintings too and they’re dark, as in David Lynch meets Goya’s black paintings, I mean they’re good -- really good -- but it just seems excessive.

Worst of all, he keeps mentioning Ricky. Since the accident he’s been fairly healthy with talking about it but now it seems like he’s got this growing obsession with ‘what it all meant, his death’, I don’t even know what Alex meant by that.Then he’ll ask me where I think Ricky is now and honestly I don’t know, I don’t like to think about it. I just keep saying ‘somewhere warm’  because it seems like Alex needs the comfort. I don’t know if what happened to Ricky got to him more than he let on before, or if he was too preoccupied at the time with making sure I didn’t do anything drastic. Was I that needy?

I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what to suggest either. Sorry to end on such a downer of a note.

Love,

Seb 

1 June 1994 

To: MissMolly

From: S.M.

Subj: Dire.

I don’t know him anymore, Molly. When we don’t go out he just wants to talk about Ricky with me, like I’m a proxy for some kind of loss he’s going through. But I don’t know what loss that is -- you? It’s the only comparison I can think of. I feel like the kid stuck between two divorced parents with you two sometimes. Except he avoids talking about you all together and if I do bring you up, like how you were moving back to London, he just looks down, rubs his beard... a new habit. 

(Beard, yeah. I forgot to tell you because it was a really gradual transition at the time that I didn’t notice, but he has this Jesus thing going for him. Before, I didn’t think much of it but now it’s like an inherent look he should have been born with, innate? I could never imagine him looking like it but now it’s hard to imagine him looking any different.)

Anyway, beards aside. He’s getting... creepy. When we’re not drinking he just wants to postulate on death and ‘what comes after’, he’s a right fucking misery to be around. Although I haven’t seen him drink much at all, do you think he’s on drugs or something? It’s the only conclusion I can come up with, and I don’t have anyone else to ask about this because they’re all in the same scene he is.

Please reply soon.

Seb

2 June 1994

To: MissMolly

From: S.M.

Subj: -

Okay there are some things I’ve witheld for a long time because I didn’t want to cause you any unnecessary pain. As much as I know you say you’re fine it’s never a gift to hear these things but I feel it has a lot to do with how Alex is now.

After we moved to SF he started seeing this woman who I didn’t see much of myself,,  she set me on edge but I can understand how he was drawn to her because I think it was mainly a sex thing to get over you. I told yu before that he was a catastrophic mess after you left and things got better but when I say catastrophic mess I really mean it, I won’t state examples because I dont mean to make you feel guilty Molly but it’s the truth and I don’t know what to do anymore.

I didnt want to make uyo worry  because i know you;re already dealing with enough already, and i didnt want this matter in particular to be especially distressing for you. But I think alex and this woman were into heavy stuff  - not drugs but maybe that too. We went out while he was with this girl, in January, I think? it was to one of those fetish clubs, wasn’t my thing. But he left me there alone without telling me he was leaving, hhe left with the girl and didn’t even leave me  a voicemail. I got home fine, couldn’t sleep though. But then  I went over to check on him in the morning and his back was covered in gashes and blood. he didnt wake up but he was breathing. i didn’t know what to do,  i pretended i never walked in and he called me soon after to apologise for the night but i  wouldnt say anything about his back because i thought it was a bdsm thing but with the way hes acting now i dont know if he was being abused? I dont know the telltale signs, just that he’d follow this woman around like she had him on a leash.

There are still parts of him I recognise but there’s something about him which feels out of touch, like he’s not the same person but trying to be.  I dont know how to put it, maybe I’ve been away from someone who can actually talk about these problems for too long

The thing is I havent seen him with this woman in a while, since his birthday I’d say. Despite it he seems a lot happier now than when he was with her (apart from the Ricky fixation) but he’s gone full blown Byronic Bohemian.  He’s invited me out almost every day in the past week and since this was an improvement from locking himself inside, I tried to go as much as I could. Each time I’d lose him for a while because he’d gone off with a girl . He thinks he’s being discreet but I’m not much of a dancer for these places so all there’s left to do is watch. Sometimes he goes home with them and offers to pay me for a taxi, which is a step up from leaving me stranded, I’ll give him that.

I know I shouldn’t have but I looked through his art yesterday (his emergency key is in a broken light on a wall outside his door), not his stuff under the bed but in his wardrobe. There’s five entire sketchbooks of you, some of the drawings are so beautiful, he still remembers how you look exactly but in others they just seem... off? Not that they don’t look like you because they do, even if it’s a few strokes, but for someone who knows you they just look like he;s trying to put through what he is now onto you?  I don’t know. that doesnt make sense.Then there are some Ricky drawings in there too but  I don’t want to talk about them.  he writes stuff around you and Ricky, dates and places and random lines like ‘snake chokes on its own tail’ and ‘saw him around Seb’s’.  I  think he’s scared of losing parts of himself and not being able to get them back.

Please talk to him  Molly , you know his number and email . I know you think you’ll do him more harm than good but I don’t know what to say, if I point out how he’s acting weird he just resorts to deflective humour ‘it’s all part of being a la Americana now’. But I’m worried if I push it he’ll get angry. Sometimes I don’t feel safe with him and I don’t know why. Please reach him, I miss him, nothing’s right with Alex like this. I’m getting homesick because there’s nothing here that seems real anymore, everything feels like I’m watching it through a TV screen and it’s muted, or the music’s too loud to hear what people are really saying. I don’t want to leave Alex alone but I feel like I’m in a coma here.

Do you think I could stay with you for a while?

Love always,

Seb

[blaperile]

Hiveswap Episode 1 Reaction Part 10: Battery combinations everywhere + Living room Exploration Part 2

Okay, day 10 of playing! Starting at 8:45 PM today. We were exploring the living room and then suddenly found these E-cell batteries in the universal remote. Let's see if this gives any unique item combinations in Joey's room or if it will be the same bits of narration like with the other type of batteries. If not, we'll go look at the item combinations in the other parts of the house!

So okay, it indeed gives the same bits of narration for the things in Joey's room. In that case, let's start with the item combinations just outside the attic and work our way down from there! Batteries && Slinky ==> Wait... do slinkies really need batteries to operate? I never knew that. E-Cell Batteries && Flashlight ==> Oh man, the struggle is real. I've had this issue lots of times in my life, where I think a particular type of battery fits and it turns out it doesn't. xD Batteries && Caterpillar ==> Uh... 6 pairs of eyes? Where are the other 5 pairs then? :mspa: Also, she mentions them sensing the light, so for a second I thought the caterpillar's eyes might have looked differently in the dark now than they were in the light, but I don't immediately notice a difference. Batteries && Golden globe thingy ==> Pfff, another combination that prompts her to spin it. This time no Joey animation though, sadly. :( Batteries && Sufferer doll ==> Oh boy, can we not? xD "He looks like he might enjoy it" ... ... LET'S CARRY ON. 0_0 Batteries && Statue ==> "voice modulator that makes you sound like a skeleton" If that actually exists, dear god, point me to it because now you've made me curious. xD Batteries && Lite Brite ==> Haha, so there's an outlet right behind it! Actually, have we even seen any other outlets in this house yet? ...Oh, plainWonder's right, there were outlets beneath Joey's gaming television, I forgot about those. Anyway, this reminds me of what I was wondering yesterday after the power went out, about whether or not the lite brite worked on electricity or on batteries and thus if it would still be on or not after the power went out, haha. Batteries && Jude's door ==> I highly doubt these batteries would even be small enough to slip them under the door in the first place. :P Batteries && Universal Remote ==> Eeeesh, some more frustration towards Grandpa there. Interestingly, this implies that Joey and Jude don't use the remote, and the tv for that matter, very often? Anyway, that's it! We've done all the possible item combinations so far featuring the batteries, so let's move on to examine some new items! Batteries && Beanbag chair ==> Yep, (un?)fortunately, the beanbag chair isn't a massage chair that runs on batteries. :mspa: Pogs && Beanbag chair ==> Can't possibly get more 1994 than this, am I right? :P Cherub Key && Beanbag chair ==> Shocking revelation! You decide not to have a mental breakdown about it though. :mspa: Ballet slippers && Beanbag chair ==> Beanbag chair rises up on their echeladder to the highly-touted rank of BALLET BLOCKER. xD Ooooh, so that's a cassette player over there, not a walkman! And this seems to be one of the few things in this house that Joey and Jude actually share with each other. Huh, we can "salvage" it. Oh god, are we getting another pair of batteries here? xD Cherub Key && Cassette player ==> Oh boy, insert spooky music here! Because of the key's presence, music comes out of a cassette player that isn't turned on and has dead batteries... Yikes! Just like how it seemed to have some mysterious effects on the slinky as well... Jeez, what the hell is that key even made of? xD I'm also suddenly getting Revolution (the tv series) vibes, what with a magical trinket that activates devices that have become powerless. Tap shoes && Cassette player ==> Pfff, when she started talking about tapes I first thought she was going to make a tape/tapping pun, haha. Also, I don't think I've ever heard of Enya before, but I just looked her up on Wikipedia and it seems she's pretty famous in any case! Ireland's most succesful solo artist, that is pretty impressive. And yes, it wouldn't work to listen to that music with those dead batteries... unless you've got a mysterious Cherub Key nearby, of course! :mspa: Ballet slippers && Cassette player ==> I assume a rose in an iceberg is a reference to Enya? xD Hahaha, okay, so scavenging the cassette player doesn't actually make Joey put those batteries in her inventory. Aww, but I wanted to see a battery + battery item combination! :P Hey look, there's a gameboy! Which we can apparently ALSO scrounge for batteries, haha. So, this confirms that Joey isn't the only gamer here, Jude does like playing videogames as well! Batteries && Gameboy ==> Pfffff, I hadn't even caught it until plainWonder pointed it out to me, but "lil' hombre" is probably meant to refer to "boy" as in Gameboy. xD Ahahaha, I just love the lengths to which they're going to avoid literal namedrops. Pet treats && Gameboy ==> A third option would be to press it against your screen and try to feed a virtual animal on it, like a Tamagotchi or something. :mspa: Ha, "the illusion of choice"! Oh man, that is giving me so many Homestuck character select screen flashbacks. Tap shoes && Gameboy ==> Wait, Tatanga? Who's that? *looks it up* Oh, it's a Super Mario villain! From a few really old games. I've played quite a few different Mario games, but none of those coincidentally. :P Alright, looks like we're finished in this part of the room! I thought there was only one way to progress further (by clicking somewhere further in the background to move there), but plainWonder spotted very nicely that we could also click near the piano! And oooooh, that makes us look at the room in an entirely different perspective!!!! So apparently the front door of the house is right there! I bet we probably can't/won't exit? I wonder what it looks like outside on that part of the house, though. And there's a coat rack over there! Some pretty colorful clothing over there! I wonder who it belongs to. Dear god that's one giant trophy hanging right above the front door. 0_0 And it looks like there's even a picture hanging on the wall of when Grandpa killed it. :/ Hehehe, "Pet Vet - The doctor is out"! That immediately reminds me of Aranea's "the sylph is out" silly business in Openbound. That stuffed wolf though... that doesn't look too good. One of Grandpa's earlier experiments with taxidermy? :/ I really like that we're now getting a much closer look at the universal remote. That is indeed a preposterous amount of buttons! :o Also, that stuffed bear right next to the door reminds me of the bear behind the clock on the other side of the room. (I am also conveniently going to ignore that deer bear monstrosity on the other side of the front door) What's with all that dirt right in front of the doors though? Examining the bear trophy now... Yeah, Grandpa sure does like leaving a lot of useless/terrifying crap around everywhere, doesn't he? :/ Of course, opening the door doesn't actually work. Wait, Joey's scared of running into weirdos both outside and inside her home. I wonder who she classifies as weirdo, considering other than the monster there's nobody else inside and only Jude outside. Are Jude and his pet the weirdos? :mspa: Oh yeah, almost forgot to do the item combinations here! Batteries && Bear trophy ==> ...It's indeed a good thing that this bear can't be activated to actually move around. 0_0 Pogs && Bear trophy ==> 10 points for coming up with amazing puns on the spot go to Joey! Pet treats && Bear trophy ==> ...I think it's the latter, Joey. xD Cherub Key && Bear trophy ==> THE PUNS. THEY DON'T STOP. Tap shoes && Bear trophy ==> JOEY. STOP. YOU'RE KILLING ME WITH YOUR PUNS. XD Pet treats && Front door ==> Hahaha, "guardians"! ...Actually, there's the deer trophy, which of course reminds me of Dammek. For a second I was entertaining the thought that these 3 were all refereencing actual Guardians, but eh, probably not because what would those other two even reference? And anyway, what is it even with all these deer motifs throughout the house? Is that just to get hilarious/sad reactions out of Dammek in Hauntswitch? xD Cherub Key && Front door ==> Wait, there's not even any lock on this door, like, at all??? That's really weird... and also unsafe. Maybe Grandpa just always loses his keys and decided it would be handier if none of his doors would need keys at all? Honestly, I wouldn't even be surprised if that was his reasoning. Batteries && Deer trophy ==> ...Yes, let's also file that idea under "can we not"? xD Ballet slippers && Deer trophy ==> Oh deer (yes) god, I hadn't even realized yet how Grandpa and Joey both have stuffed animals, though in a totally different way. Eeeeesh. Alright, that's enough for today. It's already 10 PM, and I'm kinda feeling the tiredness settling in. Tomorrow we sadly won't be continuing our playthrough, because of certain IRL stuff, but hopefully we should be capable of playing some more on Wednesday!