#my dead ass seeing all the skeletons trying to reach higher ground: WHAT'S GOING ON IS THERE A HOLY WATER FLOOD COMING?

[neveyleh]

Some very festive and imaginative usage of Halloween decorations seen at a mini-golf & ice cream place up in Dutchess County. We were especially delighted with the use of the existing water feature, although that animatronic clown was yet another bland 'clowns are evil and scary' bit that ruined a bit of the impact with how overdone it was. I think we need to loop back around to treating clowns as genuinely innocent and fun again, but I'm biased.

I wonder if @bogleech would get a kick out of these?

[roseabelle21]

No. 1

Requested by: @mirukobecomingbothered​

I might have gotten carried away with the headcanon, I'm sorry! 🥺🥺 I added a few twists of my own and I hope it reached your expectations. I hope you like it! ♥️♥️♥️

Pairings: Hitoshi Shinsou x reader, Katsuki Bakugou x reader

Status: Unedited

Genre: Fluff with a tiny weeny bit of angst.

Quick Background:

An outcast because of a 'villainous' quirk? Check.

Do you have friends? Not sure if you can call them your friends when they are all blithering idiots who want to mess with the spirits.

Does everyone think that you will be a villain someday? Every time.

Is everyone afraid of you because you look like you've been dead for the past five years but still walking above ground? Absolutely!

When do people see your cat do they automatically think that you are a witch? Yes, but more like a demon in disguise.

You shrugged them off, your quirk might be on the freaky and terrifying side but it is powerful.

Contrary to popular belief, ghosts are nice, most of the time. Maybe a bit clingy and attention seeker towards you since you are the only one who can see and hear them.

They are a nice company to be around. Most of them.

There was a time you used to hate your quirk, there never seems to be a privacy when you see those supernatural things.

You see things you wish you couldn't, things that can go beyond your imagination.

Everyone thinks the worst in you, and there are days when they get to you.

When that happens, the ghosts always have your back.

You try your best to prove them wrong, and when you got into UA and placed top 5 in the sports festival, some perspective changed, and some called you a freak.

Though they are all wimps since they can't say it directly in your face or around your friends, especially your boyfriend.

Lord knows what'll happen when someone talks shit about you around them.

They probably met Jesus soon after.

Shinsou Hitoshi

Straight off the bat, your favourite date, past time, and other couple activities are sleeping.

Him catching up on his well-deserved sleep and you calm your mind from everything.

Nothing in between.

Naps in the couch, beside the window, your rooms, maybe beside the window in the common room after stargazing.

You have to pry this headcanon from my cold dead hands.

This sleepy boi understands the pain and suffering you go through the best, especially since he's been there.

Both of you start as acquaintances.

You met him when your cat decided to give you a heart attack by running off to who knows where and not coming back for h o u r s.

It freaked you out since staying out late is unlikely of your lazy ass cat.

Despite your fatigue from training, you rushed outside to find them.

You didn't have to look for too long, you found them at the park accompanied by an Einstein inspired purple-haired guy with a UA uniform.

You let out a breath of relief, it didn't last long as anger bubbled up in your chest.

Yelling out their name that startled not only your cat and the guy, but the rest of the people at the park as well.

Shinso stared at you scolding your cat whilst bringing them in your arms.

Amused and curious at the same time.

Thinking that you took that TikTok meme "I'm alive but I'm dead" a little too far.

A chuckle that left his lips and your glare started a long interesting talk.

Both of you started eating lunch together at school with the Dekusquad.

A few teasing looks from Uraraka when he sat down beside you and greeted you before anyone else.

They started inviting him to your hangouts outside of the school and study dates.

It happened almost every day once he transferred from class 1-A.

A month after that Uraraka and Kaminari started teasing the both of you.

It confused you when they made a big deal about you and Shinsou spending more time with each other than the rest of the class.

It only confused you further when Shinsou started blushing every time you look at him or even go anywhere near him.

He finally confessed to you when both of you got stuck in the closet playing 7 Minutes In Heaven.

It was hard to listen to him because of the endless teasing of your ghost friends.

They approved of him the moment he talked and looked at you like a normal human being.

Shinsou as a friend was protective of you, knowing all of the nasty looks and what people say about you because of something uncontrollable.

And now that you're his girlfriend? Oh boy, haters can run but they can't hide.

He is the most chill person you will ever meet.

But once you decided to talk shit about his girl, just pray my dude.

Or beg for mercy.

If they are one in a million lucky ones, it might work.

But they're not so.

Not even Aizawa can stop him, cause he will turn blind eye.

Nobody talks shit to any of his children students and stay alive to tell the tale.

The both of you are his prodigies, they know nothing of the hard work you both put in your training with him.

You and your boyfriend are the best in stealth missions and gathering information.

You use your friends to gather information undetectable and Shinsou tricking the villains to brainwash them.

In short, you guys are the power couple of Class 1-A and everyone agrees.

A force to be reckoned with.

Besides, no one can pull off the cosplay of Morticia and Gomez Addams better than both of you can.

You rely on each other when times get rough and needed reassurance.

Being each other's rock to hold on and find comfort in.

Shinsou will wrap his arms around you as you spill everything to him.

Reassuring you that you are his hero, muttering sweet things in your ear, stroking your hair to calm you down, and humming you to sleep.

He knows what it feels like to hate something that is apart of you.

And he tries his best to make you see the best in the worst you think of yourself.

Everything about you is beautiful, nothing that is apart of you is worth hating.

Honestly, you couldn't wish for anyone better to be your significant other.

They can call you anything they want, but you will always be an angel in his eyes.

All of them can keep talking, and he finds great pleasure once they see your true power and find themselves speechless.

"That's my girl."

Bakugou Katsuki:

Not gonna lie, he will probably think that you are a zombie or somewhat related to them.

From the moment you walked through the door, slouched back, droopy red eyes, panda-like eye bags underneath, paper white skin that is unhealthy to look at, he was certain that you are going to collapse at any given moment. 

He scoffed, wondering how the hell you managed to get into UA, let alone the Hero class.

Were you even in the right class or are you just that tired to not see that huge ass sign at the door?

Either way, he didn't care.

So long as you don't stand in his way from being the best, which is highly unlikely to happen in his eyes.

So imagine his shock when you managed to score higher than him in the Physical Assessment Test.

What in the hell?

"Hey, freak bitch! How the hell did you score higher than me?! What are you playing at?!"

Kirishima immediately held him back and apologized profusely to you. 

Bakugou's anger at you only increased when you only stared at him blankly before rolling your eyes and walked away. 

Throughout the rest of the day, whenever he tries to call you or even go near you, he finds himself tripping over nothing or his things randomly dropping.

To say it freaks him out will be an understatement.  

However, that didn't stop him from pestering you. 

Constantly asking yelling- at you demanding your quirk and challenging you for a fight.

You're nonchalant response and sassy remarks only ticked him off.

The two on two activity was useless since you did nothing and Todoroki handled the rest. 

Cue the USJ incident and he is finally satisfied when he saw your quirk at first hand. 

Skeletons rising from the ground and villains mysteriously flying away from you when they get too close to you. 

He immediately put everything together and he is ecstatic. 

An unusual quirk but powerful nonetheless. 

Katsuki finds himself watching you in the classroom and during training. 

Finding your quirk nothing short of weird and curiosity of finding out how you use it is eating him alive.

Sometimes, he catches you talking to yourself and it only makes him more curious. 

And think that you are crazy.

The moment you agreed to challenge him was the beginning of your friendship.

He overheard a few girls that you went to school with talking about your hideous appearance and quirk when walking towards the school for training.

A slight twinge in his heart when he saw you, although your face didn't reveal anything, your eyes sure did. 

He dragged you by the arm to go faster and reassured you in his blunt way.

After that training with Bakugou became a routine.

The Bakusquad saw you both walking out of the park.

You declined their offer of going out saying that you have something to do and Bakugou just saying that he's not interested in going. 

So the teasing of when both of you will make it official happens every. Single. Day.

Be it weekends or weekdays. 

They will not stop their teasing even if they are on the verge of death.

Your bond with Katsuki strengthened when you came to rescue him from the villains and when he failed the Provisional License exams.

You were the first one to notice his change and the first and only one to confront him. 

He was shocked.

He thought he had it hidden well but not to you. 

At first, he was hesitant to tell you anything. But one hug from you and his walls came crashing down.

After that incident, you came to each other to open up.

You told him how you hate your quirk sometimes. Seeing things that gives you nightmares and paranoia.

In a short but somewhat sweet way, he told you about how those fears make you a stronger person. Physically and mentally.

He's by your side no matter what happens, he won't let you go through this alone.

To further emphasize it, he gave you a one arm hug.

He asked you out a few weeks later, quietly and all blushy face which was the first for him. 

Of course you said yes.

You both agreed to keep your relationship a secret from everyone until Halloween where - much to everyone's surprise- he joined in.

The real icing on the cake was when they saw you both in a cliche couple, Harley Quinn and Joker.

Mina and Kirishima were the first ones to realize and Denki being the last.

You are practically inseparable after you relieved your relationship. 

Anyone who talks badly about you and your quirk won't last long in the face of the earth.

Katsuki Bakugou is already explosive enough as he is, and you decided to talk shit about the love of his life?

Girl/Boy bye.

I hope you crossed everything off your bucket list cause the last thing you will see and hear is the sound of his explosions.

He once asked you about what your spirits think of him.

You were silent for a while before you replied, "I don't think you wanna know."

You know he won't stop there, he kept pestering you, again and again, every chance he gets to ask. 

Annoyed you told him.

"They think you are a crusty pomeranian and they find you amusing since it's a miracle that you still have your voice after al those yelling."

They like annoying him, whenever you both are alone, they whisper things to you that'll get you to giggle and he'll angrily question what they were talking about.

Making his things fall or mess with his hair. 

They like him for you.

As long as he keeps you safe and happy, they'll keep him safe and sound.

From the villains and the bad spirits. 

Random:

You have the perfect quirk to scare the living hell of your friends and family during Halloween season.

Who are you to deny the advantages of it. 😏😏😏

Various crosses and other blessed items by the priest litter around your room to keep the spirits away.

[thiswasinevitableid]

Anniversary (Taakitz)

This is my gift for @iamthehelperdog for the @thecandlenightszone 2019 exchange. Also my first time writing this pairing, so I hope it turned out okay!

Kravitz steps through the rift into the living room, enjoying the satisfaction that comes with the days work of a reaper and the drama his profession lends his entrances. 

Said drama is cut very short when his next step sends him stumbling over the largest wolfhound on this or any other realm.

“Ow.” He mutters into the rug, the fanciest one Taako could get his hands on, while the dog snuffles his head. 

“Mango, I swear if he just damaged my bone daddy I’m gonna blast you into the next century. Taako’s in the mood to get dicked down tonight, not take his boyfriend to the fantasy E.R.”

“Sorry Kravitz!” Magnus calls from the general direction of the kitchen before whistling for the hound. 

“It’s fine!” He calls back, standing up and resting his scythe in the holder by the front door (okay, so it’s technically for an umbrella, and the scythe will dematerialize in a matter of moments, but the domesticity of the action makes him smile).

“Nice to see you Magnus. Hello, love.” He pecks Taako’s cheek, not wanting to interrupt his flow as he cooks. It’s hard not to do more; Taako’s wearing the gold and teal skirt that shows off his legs, and his hair is pulled into the kind of messy bun that only he and a few sorority soceresses can make look good. 

“Reap anyone good today bones?” Taako dumps something heavily sage-scented into a dish.

“Nothing too unusual. Though I’m sort of worried that Barry and Lup have created a trend of lich lovers.”

“You mean people wanting to have sex with liches?” Magnus reaches for one of the slices of bread on a nearby tray, only for Taako to whack his hand away with a magically elongated spatula.

“Not quite. It’s more that they think what Barry and Lup did was romantic, even though the process was done as a fail-safe more than anything else. Setting aside the whole “defying the laws of death” issue, that process can backfire so messily that it’s better to head it off when we can.”

“What do they think of the whole thing?”

“Barry’s slightly embarrassed and Lup thinks it’s hilarious and, I suspect, a bit romantic. Even if she’d torch me for suggesting that.”

“You bet you tight skeleton ass she would.” Taako shoos their spectral cat, Dust, from her spot hovering above the counter. 

“So do they get a warning or-”

“It depends, mainly on how likely we think they are to try again.” He goes on to explain the rather star-crossed pair he dealt with that morning, as well as a spectre who was adamant about staying a ghost rather than crossing over. 

At first it feels like any other catch-up night, but as he and Magnus chat, something itches at him like pinfeathers, a sensation he long ago learned to trust. Something isn’t right.

Usually when he’s at the kitchen table, with by himself or with their friends, Taako is a motormouth in motion, chatting away as he cooks. Tonight, his comments are limited. 

Maybe he’s just in a contemplative mood. His boyfriend is allowed time to ruminate just like everyone else. Even if he usually does so out loud. 

But the itching in his marrow doesn’t cease. He looks over at the elf again. He loves watching Taako cook, the way he moves through the kitchen like a dancer on a stage. As he searches his movements, his profile, for some sign and starts going a bit starry-eyed from how beautiful he is, it hits him.

The dogs. 

Taako never lets dogs, Magnus’s or anyone else’s in the kitchen. It’s one of his rules.

Yet here they are, the wolfhound asleep beneath the table and the lab nosing about for dropped food. 

Either his boyfriend is under some sort of mind control spell, or something is wrong.

“Love, I’m going to grab wine for tonight from the cellar. Do you have a preference?” 

“It’s all hearty stuff, since we’ve got brawny here, so something red.”

“Got it. Magnus, would you mind helping me? I want to bring up several options just to be safe.”

“Sure.” Magnus shrugs with a smile and follows Kravitz out of the kitchen and down to the lower level. It’s only once they’re halfway down the cellar, safely out of range of elf-ears, that Kravitz poses his question.

“Does Taako seem off to you tonight?”

“Kinda? He let boys into the kitchen, but I didn’t say anything because I was kind of hoping it means he’s changed his rules. Not that they’ve got to go everywhere with me, but they look so sad waiting for us in the living room.”

“How was he before I got home?” They hit the bottom step, Kravitz scanning the shelves for the right bottle. 

“Normal Taako. We talked about the new floating aquarium Angus made Stephen, he complained about the restaurant down the road...but didn’t say he could make their stuffy a billion times better. Oh, shit.”

Kravtiz starts, nearly drops the bottle, “What?” 

“It’s the 15th, right?”

“Yes…”

“It’s the anniversary of the, y’know” Magnus puts a hand on his throat, making a choking noise. 

“Oh no.” That explains everything. 

“Wait, he never told you?”

Kravitz sighs, leaning against a nearby wine rack, “He’s told me about Glamour Springs, though for obvious reasons it’s not a popular topic. But he never mentioned a date, not that I can remember anyway”

“Hey, it’s okay, I only know it because he once got sloshed on Dwarven ale and told us all about it. Don’t know why Merle always uses Zone of Truth when he could just give people that.” Magnus is trying to lighten to mood, and Kravitz lets him. 

“Might be harder to toss out during a fight.”

“Dunno, I got a pretty good arm.” Magnus grins, takes the two bottles Kravtiz gives him, and leads the way upstairs. 

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

The rest of the evening is perfectly pleasant, Taako seeming ore like himself as they talk over dinner. He even lounges, his preferred mode of rest, feet in Kravtiz’s lap, while Magnus does the dishes. 

As he rubs his feet (and notes that he’ll need to repaint Taako’s toenails soon), he wonders if he should bring up the date. He could let Taako be, let him do whatever he needs to in order to deal with what he’s feeling. 

But what if Kravitz is what he needs, and he’s too haughty to admit it? He can’t bear the thought of being able to help the man he loves feel better and not doing it because he misreads the situation. 

Taako makes it easy on him.

“Alright, bone boy, spill; why did you have Magnus go down to the cellar?” Taako crosses his arms, blocking Kravitz’s path to the dresser (so what he can materialize clothes? Taako bought him some black silk pajamas and he likes looking dapper in them, damn it).

“To help me carry wine. I wanted to bring you a selection.”

Taako arches an eyebrow, “You have one of the best palates for wine of anyone living or dead I know. You didn’t need to grab more than one.”

“Uh, I wanted Magnus’s opinion?”

The eyebrow arches higher.

“Okay, you’re right. I knew that Languedoc would be perfect for the steak pie you made.” He sighs,  sits down on the bed, “I was worried about you, and I wanted to ask Magnus if he was noticing the same things.”

“Worried? Cha’boy is fine.” Taako waves his hand dismissively, “He made a baller dinner and is gonna get boned by his hot boyfriend. What could be wrong?”  He pulls his hair loose from it’s ties, shaking it out in a way that’s almost comically gorgeous. 

“Magnus told me what day it is.” Kravitz says softly. 

Taako sags, tries to recover his glib demeanor only for his disguise to flicker, then disappear entirely. He glances behind himself at the mirror, winces with distaste, turning his Wonderland-aged face back to Kravitz. 

It’s not that Kravitz doesn’t notice the difference between the faces. He simply doesn’t care. Taako is Taako, and Kravitz loves him, and would worship the ground he walks on, no matter what face he wears. 

He holds out his hands and Taako takes them, let’s him guide the elf down to sit beside him. 

“Dove, you don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to. But you also don’t need to conceal whatever you’re feeling from me. I love you, and I want to help you if you’re hurting.”

“I’d really rather not focus on it. But I got a feeling you’re not gonna let it go.”

“If you need me to drop it, I will. I could also give you something else to focus on.”

Taako glances at him, skeptical, “Like what?”

“Well” Kravitz strands, grabbing a bottle of massage oil from the dresser, “I thought I could make use of my magic fingers.” He wiggles them in the air, making the elf snicker. 

“Sure, go for it.” Taako pulls off his blouse, tossing it on the floor before rolling over on his stomach. Kravitz straddles his hips, rubs the oil  (a warming one, to correct for the chilly skin) on his palms and kneads his fingers gently and precisely across Taako’s back.  

Taako sighs, though all the tension stays put. Kravitz focuses on his task, on the shape of the man beneath him, humming a concerto as he does. 

“So you gonna ask me stuff or…”

“I’m going to massage you. You can talk about whatever you want.”

“What if I wanna talk about what Dust got up to today?”

“That’s fine.” 

Taako huffs, muttering something about difficult birds into the pillow. Kravitz manages to get the knot in his right shoulder loose. 

“....It’s not even about the audience. Not this time, anyway.”

Kravtiz makes a quiet noise to acknowledge that he’s listening. 

“It’s, ugh, it’s Sazed.”

This time Kravitz has to keep his own shoulders from tensing; there are strict instructions that reapers are not allowed to punish souls for personal reasons. But if Sazed ever comes his way in the afterlife, the man is in for an earful (and will still be better off than if he runs into Lup. Goddess help him if that happens). 

“Just...I think of myself as good with people. Everybody loves Taako, y’know but--hoo, yeah, there’s a spot--how the fuck am I supposed to believe that when I misjudged someone so badly?”

“Love, if you gesture like that it makes it hard to rub your arms.”

“Look, bone boy, you wanted me to open up, so I’m opening. I got the wrong read on someone I thought I could trust and forty people died, because he wanted to either frame me or kill me or both and I just, just” the next inhale is shuddery, “what if that happens again?”

“For starters, you have me, and I’m a decent judge of character.” He circles his thumbs along either side of the elf’s spine, gets a moan that’s sweeter than any song to his ears, “and it’s not just me. You have Magnus, and Merle, and Angus, who I’m quite certain will run a thorough background check on anyone he suspects of potentially being a threat to you. And that’s before we even get to Lup.”

“You-” Taako yawns, nestles his head down into a pillow, “you going somewhere with that?”

“When you were making the show, it was mostly you and Sazed. There was no one else who cared about you who could give you perspective, warn you if he seemed twitchy or you seemed too unkind to him. It’s not like that at all now. You have many people who care about you Taako, present company included.” He leans forward, kissing the back of the elf’s head.

“You do more than care, my man” the tease is back in voice, and Kravtiz is relieved to hear it. Narrow hips twitch under him as Taako adds, “could do more than that right now if you wan-” another yawn and Kravitz laughs, rolling off of him. 

“Raincheck until the morning, my dove? I do like when you go melty and relaxed when we fuck, but you look ready to drop.”

“Fiiiiiiiiiiine.” Taako huffs, crawls, and flops his way under the covers while the reaper washes his hands. Hops under the covers himself, Taako glomming onto him as soon as he’s within range. He switches off the light, cuddling the elf close. 

“Hey, bones?”

“Yes, my love?”

“Thank you. For, um, for listening. And for not pushing it.”

Kravitz brushes golden wisps of hair aside, kissing him tenderly and as long as he can before the elf needs to pull away.

“Any time, dove. Any time.”

[solitaria-fantasma]

((Extensive Session #3 highlights.))

We go to Von Trikona’s tower and are greeted by three students and a handful of golems.

Humphry eyes Mountain with abject terror.

Von Trikona gives us the preserved bodies wrapped in burial shrouds, and teleports us to the town of Fwee - just past the security gates, but not right in town square.

The map for the town of Fwee is heckin’ pretty.

“Oh no...oh no, I fucked up. I made a mistake! UwU!!!”

“Please don’t comment on the corpse-shaped backpacks!”

Udaji may be tol and stronk but she is also dumb and can’t roll higher than a 10 on her Perception checks.

“The only ones who don’t blend in with the local crowd are the Halfling and the Dragonborn.” Claus and I just can’t catch a break…

We walked around the marketplace with the preserved corpse backpacks for a while as we asked for directions to the Rose family home.

Mountain’s intimidation checks are on-point.

Udaji’s average Perception roll is a 4 while the rest of the party averages around 16.

It has been decided that this scaly baby should never have been allowed out of town on her own.

Somebody in this town is throwing mud balls and glitter bomb darts at our rogue and Udaji is seeing NONE of it.

“Claus would like to point out that you’re covered in paint.”

We entered a house and the DM resized our icons to reflect the height differences. It looked like a bad game of Agar.io and I was winning.

Matthias - still covered in paint - was politely asked not to sit on the furniture, and handed a single tiny-ass napkin to ‘clean up’ with.

“Yeeeaaahhh...there was no easy way to do this, was there?”

“Is it more disrespectful to put the bodies on the ground or the table?”

“It might be more disrespectful to try and unwrap the bodies one handed and risk dropping them.”

“Above the board, do we have to tell her that the bandits were already dead when we found them?”

Matthias ‘accidentally’ smeared paint on the servant on his way out, and offered him the tiny-ass napkin back.

Lady Rose thanked us for returning her family’s bodies, but asked us to give her some time to process her loss.

We then went to the magic district (mostly wizards, mostly elven) to get started on the errands we promised to run between Von Trikona and her friend Vincent.

We knocked on the door, heard a loud ‘CRASH’, and poked our heads through the unlocked door Scooby-Doo style.

The DM promptly had us roll for initiative.

I keep forgetting to select my token BEFORE rolling for initiative heck.

“Hopefully you guys don’t die.”

“Gotta be honest - I’ve thought about what character I’d bring in if Udaji DID die. But it would be really, REALLY sad.”

I had to run down to get dinner and missed half a turn of combat but I made it back just in time for my second go.

“Oh! Udaji! You missed this part, but the old wizard man has cried out for you to not set anything on fire.”

“Can do! That’s not my kind of dragon heritage!!”

The old wizard man is ‘Vincent Oman’ - an artificer. We returned his stuff, and he offered us dinner.

“This guy is, like, peak Grandpa. He’s very happy to have people over.”

Vincent has not heard of Lord Hassan, but recalled an enchanted lockbox a cohort of his (Ceri, another artificer) had made on commission for the dowry of a local girl marrying a man in the next kingdom over.

That lockbox (enchanted to be neigh on impossible to break into) was part of Clarissa Rose’s dowry, and now I’m sad.

Vincent drew us a map to Ceri’s house, and then we nearly left without picking up Maxine’s books (three advanced spellbooks & some of her notes).

He also offered to let us sleep in his attic for the night, since it was getting late, only asking us to try and keep quiet, as he was a delicate sleeper.

Matthias finally got to wash off the paint in the ‘waterifier’ (re: magical, water-creating shower).

Vincent reminds Udaji too much of her own dad, and she took one point of homesickness damage. Vincent gave her heartwarming life advice, and more food.

“It’s okay if you get sad sometimes, when traveling far from home. You will find people who will not, perhaps, fill the void, but surely make it feel less empty.”

I’m going to adopt Vincent holy heck

Ceri confirmed that the lockbox was commissioned to keep safe a dowry traveling a long distance, and told us that it could only be opened by using two skeleton keys simultaneously.

We had found one of said skeleton keys in the bandit/necromancer lair back in Session 1.

“We were too eager to shout ‘MURDER!’ in front of the guards back in Torrin so now we’re afraid to whisper it in Fwee.”

Ceri confirmed that the key we found is one of the lockbox’s two keys.

We then debated for five minutes who the key, lockbox, and dowry would legally belong to, now that Clarissa and Donald are dead, but never officially reached the wedding.

“This is not the kind of law my family studies!”

Ceri whispered a few rumors of engagements in the area that had fallen through due to ‘accidents’ which saw the dowries go missing, and that the enchanted lockbox had been commissioned by the Rose family to protect against that.

He then told us to get out of his house.

“That’s the kindest ‘GTFO’ I’ve ever gotten.”

“We haven’t heard back from Lady Rose yet, but I feel like it would be too awkward to go back to her house and knock on the door like “Hey, are you done grieving yet?”. The answer is probably ‘no’...”

“Maybe if we walk around town, someone will try to throw more paint at Matthias.”

We wandered around the marketplace for a while, trying to lure out the mysterious woman who’d been throwing things at us the day before.

[Just to set a little reference - this is all happening within the first two hours of the campaign.]

Matthias got egged, and we chased the perpetrator into a public park.

Mountain got distracted by the beautiful view, and Matthias threatened the woman with his bow. The woman pulled her own bow and threatened right back.

“I am going to swing my lute around in front of me to act as a shield in a worst case scenario. I’m not taking an arrow over an egg.

THE WOMAN. IS MATTHIAS’. CHILD.

DM: “How long has it been since you last spoke with your lover?”

Matthias: “Let’s say it’s been….twenty-five years, seven months.”

The kid’s name is Astrid, and she is mAJORLY pissed off at ‘dad’.

Udaji is backing away from the awkward family reunion, and Mountain is still distracted by the park scenery and has no idea.

“You’re Hohenheim, and she’s Edward.”

[I understood that reference!!]

“Udaji makes eye contact with Mountain and shakes her head like “Don’t get involved you’ll regret it”.”

Mountain officially confirmed for Tiefling.

Claus tries to calm Astrid with the blessings of Lathander. She refuses. Udaji bends over a little and pats Claus on the shoulder consolingly.

His player has difficulty articulating it (and honestly, who wouldn’t? Words are hard), but Matthias is legitimately upset to hear that his lover had died.

“You go up to her and give her a hug with a pat-pat?”

“She immediately starts sobbing in your arms.”

“I shed a single manly tear.”

Mountain has only just now caught up to the fact that these rogues know each other.

Astrid is now refusing to leave. Udaji is still the party baby.

“The only reason I was allowed out of town is because nobody could physically stop me.”

“Claus gives you a comforting pat on your hip, as that’s about as high as he can reach.”

After all that chaos, we were approached by a servant from the Rose family, calling us back to Lady Rose’s house.

Her name is now Ingrid Rose, because the DM forgot to name her until this very moment. Mood.

Matthias is still covered in egg.

Lady Rose admits that she thought the offer of marriage from Lord Bryant Hassan to her daughter was too good to be true.

She also admits that she thought the Lord had asked for a rather greedy amount of dowry with the proposal.

“Were any of my husband or daughter’s possessions recovered?”

Don’t look at Matthias. Don’t look at Matthias. Don’t look at Matthias.

Lady Rose asks us to look into the recovery of the enchanted lockbox that was carrying her daughter’s dowry, and offers to reward us for it.

She ALSO asks us to put a knife in the throat of whomever arranged her daughter’s death, should we find it to not, in fact, be a tragic accident.

Astrid is basically June from AtLA but without Nyla.

Everybody stocks up on rations for a long trip back to return Maxine Von Trikona’s books.

We get on the road back to Torrin, retracing the ill-fated Rose party’s steps as we go.

After two days on the road, we come across a seemingly wounded man on the side of the road, by an overturned cart.

He asks us for gold to get back on his feet.

Udaji immediately fell for it, and had to be physically stopped from reaching for her gold.

Miraculously, we all managed to avoid a bunch of mysterious projectiles and whistling noises.

Interestingly, both of the guard corpses we had ‘interviewed’ reported hearing a whistling noise before their death.

Mountain took an arrow to the horn, but only three points of damage.

We were all tired by this point and there were a lot of bandits so combat was looooooong.

Claus has two waiting Bardic Inspiration dice and is having a very good day.

“You’re going to shoot THROUGH your daughter and your cleric??”

ONE BANDIT DOWN!

I charged at a bandit, sword drawn, but couldn’t quite make it there in one turn, so I added an intimidating roar for good measure.

I rolled a nat 20, therefore proving that I inherited SOMEthing from my white dragon mother, and the bandit pissed himself.

THREE BANDITS DOWN!

I took 8 points of damage from the other bandits and it’s a good thing the DM had us level up at least once bc if I’d still had my lvl. 1 total of 9hp that damage would have damn near killed me.

“Ew, he’s got a skull face with horns! ...oh, wait, he’s just ugly nevermind.”

“If I cast the magic, but Matthias says the words, can we duet ‘Vicious Mockery’?”

“My mother [the white dragon] would be proud of that, and I’m not sure I’M proud of that.”

I stand corrected: Astrid is a ranger, not a rogue.

Dragonborn zoomies.

“I may be wearing a flower crown, but I’m still scary.”

I have now decided that there will be - at minimum - one fight where I take off my flower crown and force someone else in the party to hold it.

Probably Claus.

SIX BANDITS DOWN!

“Well, they identify as a corpse right now, so…”

We got distracted for another five minutes arguing about how useful Hawkeye was to the Avengers in the MCU vs. how useful Hawkeye was to Loki in the MCU, which spawned from the DM apologizing for her slowness in playing out Astrid’s turn, as she had never played a Ranger before because she thought they were useless.

Poor Hawkeye.

The bandit captain tried to ambush Astrid, hit her with one of two scimitars, and failed his dagger roll badly enough to stab himself.

Claus - incredibly inspired by Udaji’s music and heroics - saved Mountain from dying.

Udaji keeps rolling really well on attacks and damage...if only I could shuffle some of those over into Perception.

Astrid got the killing shot on the bandit captain.

I looted his body, and found (2) scimitars, tattered leather armor, the queen piece from a set of dragon chess, and (7) silver.

I took the chess piece, and nothing else.

Astrid found footprints leading back to the bandits’ camp, so we took over it for the night.

We leveled up! Woo!!!

Zone of Truth. Zone of TrUTH. ZONE OF TRUTH-

And College of Creation. This is gonna be fun!!!

[whyareyoureyesblack]

All His Boyfriends are Dead pt5

 The quiet walk down the hill, filled with the sound of both shoes and Edd’s bare feet making solid movement on the grass, was short lived once they reached the actual grave.

Tom only tried to break the silence once, and it was to ask how Matt had died. Uncomfortable, Todd shifted his hands under Tom to push him higher on his back as a sort of something to do, like clearing his throat.

Tord seemed to be so startled that he stumbled, and Edd grabbed his arm to steady him. Tord apologized and laughed a bit forcefully, saying that he had been spacing for a moment. Tom repeated his question, dull as if he didn’t trust Tord’s words, his gray rotted chin perched on Todd’s shoulder.

“He burned alive in his car the day after you died. The doctors said that it was likely he passed from breathing the fumes first.”

“Wait, the next day? You’re stupid curse didn’t even let you mourn me before it took Matt too-? I thought you had at least like an extra week or something.” Tom’s expression turned blank, as if he wasn’t sure how he felt. Tord just shrugged sadly, and gestured towards a line of graves.

“My curse doesn’t allow for time, Tom… Matt’s just over here. Watch your step, there’s a few rocks around here to prevent scavengers from making burrows.”

Tom didn’t miss how Edd stuck close to Tord, and pressed his bandanna covered mouth to Tord’s cheek, before letting Tord set up at the grave.

As Tord started digging, Todd carefully put Tom down on a flat raised headstone and Tom almost didn’t sound sarcastic when he thanked Todd for carrying him.

The digging of Matt’s grave was filled with the sound of an argument, starting practically the second Tord had the outline traced with the sharp spade of his shovel.

“Alright, boyfriend #3. I’ll be your surgeon for the night,” Edd announced casually as he stepped up to where Tom was sitting. He had a white first aid kit in one skeleton hand and Tom’s severed leg thrown over his shoulder at the knee. Compared to his own bare legs, Tom’s was more intact, not much of the flesh entirely rotten through to bone just yet.

Tom stared at him with dull, unamused black eye sockets for almost a full minute before stating, “Like fuck you are.”

Edd seemed calm, like he expected this response, though it was hard to tell with the cloth over the utterly rotten half of his face.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m more of a backwater apocalypse nanny; I should be sewing up toys, but instead I gotta stitch your leg back on. So roll up your pants.”

“No.” Tom scowled, his still attached leg lightly tapping.

“Well, alright, but your leg’s gonna look funny if I stitch it onto your pants.”

“That’s not a problem considering you aren’t stitching shit. I don’t want you even getting close to me with a needle.”

Edd tilted his head back a bit, as if he was confused, but something about his putrid black leaking eye sockets almost came off as challenging. Or maybe that was just Tom’s imagination.

“Why not?”

Maybe not.

“Because I’m not trusting a dead guy to actually know how to sew right.”

Todd looked over his shoulder from where he stood next to the grave. He called out helpfully, “He doesn’t do too bad. He sewed my head back on.”

“That’s exactly why,” Tom said in a pointed, short tone, “I don’t want to end up looking like your neck.”

Todd made a grunting noise, his hands flying up to touch his stitched throat that was still mangled and held with dark thread. His expression was offended. Tord paused as he stomped his shovel back into the turned dirt, and threw a look at Tom.

“Tom. Be nice.”

“What? I’m not wrong. His neck looks like ground beef stuck together with some edgy Goth choker trying to look like barbed wire. I don’t want such a shitty stitch job on my leg.”

While Edd scoffed in offense, Tord leaned over his shovel to Todd and smiled kindly.

“He’s just a bit grumpy, it really doesn’t look that bad,” Tord soothed, but Todd looked uncertain, so Tord continued with, “Besides, weren’t you a secret Goth anyway?”

That got Todd laughing, mostly in surprise, his dead hands slipping from his stitched throat. “I was not! I owned one black trench coat and heavy boots for rain!”

“You were very Goth.” Tord teased, returning to his digging as Todd playfully argued back.

“How dare you! You’re a necromancer! You are more Goth than I’ll ever be!”

“I have a curse on my family. It’s my birthright to act Goth.”

“More like your birthright to act like a dweeb.”

As they spoke and Tord scooped heavy dirt out of the hole, Edd and Tom’s argument was slightly less fond.

“The stitch job isn’t supposed to be perfect, it’s just supposed to be enough to keep you from breaking your stupid leg off again,” Edd’s tone was sharp as he explained dryly, “It’s not my fault you were running around before you drank the potion.”

“I wasn’t running around! Even if I was, since when does my leg breaking off call for you to fuck it up even more by trying to stitch it back like you did with that guy’s head?” Tom snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. Edd groaned in annoyance.

“Just let me sew your leg back on. I’m trying to be nice.”

“Really? I thought you were trying to scar me.”

“Your flesh is already dead, I can’t scar you.”

Tom made a disbelieving noise, “Pft- With your stitch work you can. You’re going to make me look like a goddamn voodoo doll.”

“You already look like a voodoo doll.”

“At least I don’t have the stitches like one.”

“Oh my fuck- Tord,” Edd called, voice incredibly impatient and irritated, throwing an incredulous stare at the grave.

Tord had switched digging somewhere during their argument, so Todd was busy working on the hole while Tord sat fiddling with the clothe ties on his fingers. They were stained red from blood and muddy with dirt, changing the original multi colored ties into the same dirty black red color.

“What?”

“Tell your stupid dead boyfriend to let me sew back on his leg!”

Tord snorted, and when he looked at them it was clear even in the dim light that he was trying not to laugh.

“Tom, just let him stitch you together again. Trust me, we’re not going to be running into anyone who can do better than Edd tonight,” Tord’s voice was fond and amused.

“Fuck that. He can’t stitch worth shit.”

“I can’t?! Really? Do you even know how to sew?”

“I’d rather duct tape my leg back on than let you try it,” Tom sneered, avoiding the question.

Tord laughed helplessly, “Please, don’t tape your leg back on.”

“You should probably hide the duct tape,” Todd commented with a snicker, hurling more dirt out of the grave.

“Better yet,” Edd offered sharply, ignoring Tord and Todd’s distant laughter, “Let me get you a stick instead, yeah? Then you can have a peg leg. Would that be better than my fucking stitch job?!”

“You bet your rotting ass it would be!”

“I swear to- Just let me sew back on your leg.”

“No!”

“You’re acting like a baby. A baby without a leg.”

“And you can’t sew!”

“You look like a stupid zombie flamingo!”

“Fuck off!”

“You don’t even have a good argument!”

“It still holds better than your fucking stitching! A preschooler could do a better job!”

“YOU CAN’T STITCH WORTH SHIT EITHER, PEGGY THE PIRATE!”

“I CAN KICK YOUR ASS!”

“WITH WHAT, TOM, I’VE GOT YOUR FUCKING LEG-”

Just then Tord interrupted their argument with a breathless cry of, “Both of you quit it before I cough up a lung! Ha-We reached Matt’s coffin!”

Todd made sure that he was out of the grave before Tord opened the coffin this time, practically sneaking behind where Edd stood scowling. He could have also been trying to put himself between Edd and Tom, but it was obvious by his expression that he wasn’t excited to see another dead body before it’s been reanimated.

When Tord pried the lid off, he let out a soft hiss of pain as his stinging hands complained about the pressure and the lifting. He ignored it and turned his eyes on Matt.

A portion of Matt’s flesh was thin rotted black, splitting like crevices in magma to show white bone instead of muscle or nerves, his burned skin having long decayed and peeled. His suit was flat and clung to his body in a way that made it seem like it was stuck there with sweat. The rest of his skin, which included a majority of his face, seemed to rot slower, with a pale color similar to gray bled together with yellow. His lips only partially remained, much of it chipped down with rot. Head rolled back, Tord could see how the black burns from years ago had molted the skin from his throat and thin collar. His hair was a darker version of the gleaming copper it used to be, long on one side but short on the other where his family had told the coroner to shave off the burned bits. Cracked ashy skin inched up along the shaved part of his head, like a morbid vine.

Burns were never something Tord could handle.

Tord hurriedly called for the items, which Edd, after sighing and shoving the first aid kit into Todd’s hands, calmly dug out of the bag. He kept Tom’s leg casually on his shoulder as he handed Tord first the jar, and then the bottle. The water made the molting skin seem even darker as it soaked in the liquid.

Tord finished cutting open another finger and wrapping it up, thus making his entire right hand tipped in bloody cloths, save his thumb. When he tried to get up, Edd first offered Tom’s severed leg for him to grab, which Tord scolded.

“If you’re not going to sew it on, at least give it back to him.”

Stubbornly, Edd lobbed Tom’s leg back onto his shoulder, and reached his hand down for Tord. “No. He’s rude.”

“He’s just jealous my legs are in better shape than his,” Tom called, smug, and Edd stood up straight, tugging Tord up with him.

“At least my legs are attached to me.”

“Alright, you two can keep bickering once I wake Matt up, but I need silence while I do this next part.” Tord laughed with a roll of his eyes, leading Edd away from the grave by the hand as Tom sneered. Before Tord sat down, he gave Edd a quick kiss on the bandanna covered cheek, and ordered nicely, “Be nice.”

Edd let out a tired noise, but nodded. He then stuck his bone exposed hands into his hoodie pocket and strode over to stand next to Todd and Tom, who only glared at him. Tord pulled out the book, and set up his candles. His hands felt like they were humming.

The back of his hands were hot, then burning straight through his skin to his bones. His finger tips, both sliced and intact, stung like something being twisted inside the slits of flesh. His eyes watered and hurt under unblinking lids, his vision telling him nothing but colors. When he finished the chant, his tongue felt raw and his jaw ached.

Tord was dizzy, but he could hear Tom’s voice in the dulled air, “Are his eyes supposed to glow like that?”

There was a sharp breath, followed by more gasping and a voice that was high and broken as it cried, “Tord?!”

Tord jumped, forgetting about the candles in his shock, and narrowly missed slamming his hands into the flames. He scrambled over the grass, until he was leaning over the lip of the grave.

Matt was stilling laying in his coffin, but his hands and legs were jerked up, pressing against the close walls of his box. His eyes were pits, much like the other three, but they seemed more red in the shadows of his grave. He was looking directly at Tord, his mouth gaping in heavy pants.

“Hey, Matt.” Tord offered a lopsided smile, unsure.

Matt blinked, his dead red hair dripping like strings into his eyes.

Then he was suddenly bolting up, out of his coffin. His skin made a cracking noise, but he was already at the edge of the grave, hands reaching up and touching Tord’s cheeks. One of his hands was rough with rotted skin, while the other just felt cold and thin and dry, like a glove.

“Tord,” Matt spoke, sounding shocked and in awe, then he was repeating the name in a more elated voice that broke from his dry throat, “Tord! Tordy- My darling! Thank god!”

Tord felt himself blush, but he was suddenly being tugged down by Matt’s hands grabbing his arms.

“Well, I guess one of us was bound to eat him,” Edd calmly stated upon watching Tord’s legs disappear into the grave. Todd made a concerned sounding noise, but Tom snorted.

“Serves him right,” Tom muttered, but didn’t take his eye sockets off the grave.

Todd frowned at them, scolding, “Guys…”

Almost with ease, Matt dragged Tord against him. Tord let out a laugh of surprise as his face became mushed against Matt’s hard cold chest, and Matt’s legs nearly tripped, but the tall dead man clung to Tord. How cold, ice cold, the body was against Tord’s chest and how incredibly, impossibly thin the waist felt, was what should have crossed Tord’s mind as Matt curled around him. But all Tord could think was that this was Matt.

Tord was able to ignore the reek of rot and the sinking under his arms at Matt’s waist, just holding. He felt Matt’s dry dead hands smooth down his back and touch his hair. The kisses on his head were gentle and felt a bit odd, more like nuzzles of a cheek rather than of lips.

Not moving his head from Matt’s chest, Tord asked in a subdued slow voice, “Matt. Do you remember what happened?”

“Yes,” Matt answered instantly, voice raw and sad, “But, give me a minute before we have the whole ‘we’re dead’ talk. I’m just so happy to see you again, I thought I never would. Your curse is a lot crueler than I thought it would be.”

Tord made a soft noise, like a sad hum, and he pulled back, only to push up on his toes to kiss Matt’s cold lips. Part of Matt’s lips chipped with the pressure, but neither noticed. Icy, solid like stone just lightly covered in thin cobweb like skin.

“Tord, you better not be making out with a corpse down there,” Edd’s voice rang out, followed by some quick footsteps as Todd approached the grave. Todd stopped and made a face.

“He is- Tord, oh my god, really? He hasn’t even drank the potion yet, he’s technically still dead. What if his head snaps off or something,” Todd spoke, sounding mainly concerned and scolding, and Tord and Matt both looked up at him.

Tord noticed the bottle in Todd’s hand, and let out a huff that just barely counted as a laugh. He pulled back from Matt, just enough that he could reach up towards Todd.

“Right, you’re right. Sorry. Matt was always able to bring out my more cuddly side.”

“Oh, so he’s the one that made you all sweet,” Todd mused curiously, giving Tord the bottle. Matt was staring at him, clearly focusing on Todd’s mangled throat and the holes in his cheek and his pit eyes.

“I told you. You all have had a hand in that.”

“What- Who is that?” Matt questioned in a hoarse voice, hands still on Tord’s waist. He sounded afraid.

Tord busied himself with unscrewing the bottle top, but spoke casually, “That’s Todd. The man before you and Tom. I told you two about him. He was very kind and smart, and he and I used to study in parks because Todd hated me being inside all the time.”

“Todd?” Matt repeated, confused, and Tord held the bottle out to him. He stared at it for a moment before taking it, and slowly bringing it to his mouth. Trusting enough to drink it without prompting. Just as the pink liquid seeped into his molten skin and dripped down the rot of his throat, Matt jumped and coughed, expression startled. He burst out with a higher, more stable voice, “WAIt- The Todd that used to take you for picnics, and bribed you outside with coffee, and walked home with you- your ‘second love’ Todd? That Todd?!”

Tord jolted a bit as liquid and Matt’s shout touched his cheeks and shirt.

A bit shyly, Tord nodded. “Yes. That Todd.”

“B-but. Why does he look like that? I thought he would look like you. I mean, you still look like you’re alive.”

Todd and Tord stared at him for a moment, confused. Matt just looked at Tord, his expression tight.

Then, Tord understood. Tord gently reached out to touch Matt’s peeled cheek, where the rot tattooed down to his bone up the side of his head.

“Matt, I am still alive,” Tord said carefully, “You and Todd are dead, you both died. I brought you back so you’ll still look like you’re dead until I can figure out a better solution. It’s all superficial… Did you think that we were angels? Ghosts?”

“I… yeah. I mean, it made sense. I thought- You’re here. The only reasons you could be here would be that either I was alive- which is impossible because I remember dying, with all that fire and smoke and the locked door- or that you had died too and we… But, you said you brought me back? Like a zombie?”

“Technically, yes. It’s been a few years, but I finally found someway to stop this curse, or at least reverse it? In a way. So that I can at least have those I’ve already loved back.”

Matt didn’t move for a long minute, just staring at Tord with wide dark sockets. His hand, gnarled rot over his fingers, came up to touch Tord’s hair, and it was obvious that he was finally looking at his own skin. He let out a sigh as his hand slipped into Tord’s messy locks, as if he just gave up on wishing the flesh to be alive.

“How bad do I look?” Matt’s voice sounded strained, just a bit, but he had a sort of awkward half smile, like he was joking.

“I think you look drop dead gorgeous,” Edd’s voice announced calmly before Tord could speak, and both Tord and Matt looked up in surprise at the new voice.

“Edd,” Tord started, but Matt let out a light laugh.

“Puns and charm,” Matt stood up straight, distractedly smoothing some of Tord’s locks through his dead fingers, “You must be Edd. You’re the only other boyfriend I know about.”

“Well, dead boyfriend #4 just won me over. You’re much nicer than the last one. Welcome to the club,” Edd leaned down and held out a hand, giving Matt full view of his leaking eyes and the severed leg still perched on his shoulder.

Tord gave Matt an encouraging one armed hug as he also reminded Edd to be careful.

Matt and Tord climbed from the grave with the help from Edd and Todd, Matt only slightly hesitating before taking Todd’s rawboned hands.

Once up, Matt didn’t see Tom for maybe a handful of seconds, but it seemed almost instantly that Matt’s gaze locked on the zombie, sitting on a gravestone like it was couch.

With a whispered, breathless, “Tom” Matt was running. He sprinted and threw himself at Tom, knocking both of them nearly off the headstone. Tom let out a shout of surprise, but it ended in a laugh that was lighter than anything he had let slip since waking. The two corpses hugged, ignoring the way their skin pulled and their bones let out soft pops. There was kissing, which Tom seemed calm in returning even when hardly covered teeth clicked between breaks in their thin skins. The pure joy between them was almost enough to ignore the exposed bones and rotten muscles decaying like oil down their necks.

Tord stared at them, seemingly caught in the awe of their reunion, and something about his expression made it clear that he was happy to see them together again. Like he missed them being together as much as they did. Todd led Tord from the edge of the grave, and towards the other two, with his cool hand in Tord’s.

Tom ended up making a comment about Matt’s half cut look, which led to Matt frantically feeling his hair in a panic. He was already whining lowly by the time Tord and Todd approached. Tord explained that Matt’s parents had decided on cutting off the burnt parts of his hair, and Matt scowled. Tord was able to calm him down a bit when he offered Matt a purple beanie, which was able to hide much of his rotted part of his skull and uneven cut of his hair. Along with the beanie, Matt also happily exchanged his dead suit with a loose overcoat which he buttoned and zipped closed over his exposed ribs and spotted rot flesh.

As he threw on an extra scarf, Matt asked about Tom’s missing leg.

“He has it,” Tom pointed at Edd, who looked back at him.

“I’ve been trying to sew it back on ever since we got here, but he won’t let me near him because he’s a damn cry baby.” Edd stated sharply.

“It would hold better with fucking duct tape.”

“I’m hiding the duct tape,” Todd called casually, stuffing the bag.

“Thank you, Todd,” Tord said as Tom scowled.

“I’m going to nail it back on, then.”

Todd hummed in response, “Hiding the nails too.”

“I’m going to hit you with your own leg,” Edd snapped at Tom and Matt surprisingly snorted. When he gained several sets of stares, Matt smiled.

“You lot act like you’ve know each other all your lives. It’s… really nice.”

Tord agreed, but Tom, Edd, and Todd all stayed purposely quiet as they readied to leave for the next trip. Instead of Todd, Matt pulled Tom into his arms to carry. Todd didn’t complain, and neither did Tom, although Edd muttered about Tom really being a baby now. Which earned a snarl from the man as he hugged Matt’s shoulders.

Tord hurried so that he could walk close enough to Matt and Tom to tell them stories of things that happened after their deaths, with Todd and Edd close behind. Despite, or maybe because of, the light bickering between Edd and Tom, the five of them chatted as they left one graveyard for another.

—

ahahhhhH!!! This is my favourite part so far!! ;v;