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fraeuleintaka · 3 months

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AAIC: The New Cover Art!

This is the 6th post in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Countdown: 75 days left until release!

Today's topic: the new Cover Art!

[Spoiler warning for both games]

I ADORE this cover art! I don’t think they could’ve done it any better than it is. Literal perfection! I’m so looking forward to owning this collection and just seeing this beautiful art whenever I pick it up. There are so many interesting details and for this post I want to talk about all of them!

First off, front and centre, we, of course, have the man, the myth, the legend: Miles Edgeworth, ace prosecutor, best character in the entire AA franchise and our lovely protagonist! I have an unreasonable amount of love for the pose they chose for him here because it’s essentially the same one as the first look you see of him in Investigations 2, just viewed from the front.

I don’t know if that was really the intention or if Miles dramatically putting on his jacket like this is just that sexy of a look – and I openly admit it’s incredibly sexy – that they had to use it again. Either way, I love it all the same. He looks very serious and determined which fits Miles perfectly. The colour of his hair also comes out really nicely, it’s slightly greyish brown but not actually grey.

Right next to him, as is only right for his two loyal assistants, are Gumshoe and Kay. Kay is as dynamic and eager to throw herself into the nearest action as I know and love her to be. She runs towards the right while Gumshoe is headed left creating a nice roughly symmetrical direction that goes through the whole artwork. Gumshoe is also in full active investigation mode to gather whatever evidence Miles requires him to and I especially love the added detail of him holding Missile in his arms. He’s more or less Gumshoe’s personal police dog and has a few scenes in both Investigations games so it makes perfect sense that they added him in. And he’s as cute as always!

Going downwards towards the very front we see our main rivals of both games: Shi-Long on the left for Investigations 1 and Justine on the right for Investigations 2. Shih-na is somewhat in the middle between them, a bit closer to Shi-Long which makes sense since she’s his assistant for the majority of the first game. Apart from that she’s not really a rival per se as you only really interact with her in the final case where she’s one of the two major antagonists but I understand why they typically add her in the promotional material since she does play an important role and is introduced together with Shi-Long so leaving her out would be suspicious. Her pose is reminiscent of the synchronized sun glasses removal thing Shi-Long and her do which fits nicely. (If you wanted to interpret it, you could see it as foreshadowing to her eventually removing her mask.) Funnily enough, Shi-Long’s pose is most similar to his damage animation, at least the way he holds his hands. He doesn’t look shocked though, his expression is open and focused, so it looks more like he's gesturing to something or visualizing a direction forward to himself. Like a wolf focusing in on his prey or a rival investigator animatedly discussing his theories. Love that! I also love how he stands firmly with his legs apart giving us a nice view of his belt and his chest which I always appreciate from him~ Justine is pretty much exactly in her "Hush" pose from the game which is not only badass but also gives her this aloof air that fits her really nicely.

In the gap between Shi-Long and Shih-na, significantly smaller because they're not as important characters, are Maggey, Lotta and Nicole. All three look really stressed or excited, Lotta with her camera and Nicole with her microphone are certainly trying to catch some scoop while Maggey was either pushed away by them in their haste or just reacts shocked at their antics. Love seeing a few minor characters added to the background like this, they add some nice flavour to the overall composition.

In the gap between Shih-na and Justine we can see the badgers from Gatewater Land in I1-3: the Proto, Blue and Pink Badger (including the handcuffs which you can just barely see on her hand), and if you look closely you can even see the legs of the Bad Badger sticking out from behind Shih-na. The others seem to have taken out the bad guy already. The Proto Badger even seems to have the weapon for it, you can just barely make out part of a sword hilt in his hand which seems to be a sneaky reference to one lovely image from that case 😉

Going back up, right next to Gumshoe, above Shi-Long on the left is Ray and next to Kay, above Justine on the right is Sebastian. Since Sebastian is the secondary rival to Justine in Investigations 2 it only makes sense to put them together. Sebastian makes a frame with his hands and looks through it as if he was adjusting or contemplating something which is also one of his in-game animations. I love that they picked one of his more serious poses for this, he is a goofy character but he has a great and emotional arc so this represents his overall role much better. You can even read it as already implying the arc he goes through where he has to adjust his entire perspective on himself, his life and his father. I also love how well the red of his jacket blends with the background and Miles' own right next to him which is a nice colour connection between the two. Ray is in the weird position of being sort of an assistant/mentor/colleague figure without really being one definite thing but he plays an important role in Investigations 2 so putting him with the assistants and rivals makes sense. He's faced to the side but looks to the front with a neutral, maybe slightly joking, expression. You can admire his hat pretty well which gives him the obvious connection to Gregory.

To Sebastian's right, also a bit smaller, we can see Badd looking like he's smoking a cigarette but really sucking on a lollipop. He's wonderfully shaded in dim light and looks like your quintessential edgy depressed cop which he's supposed to invoke in the game as well. I'm happy that they didn't forget to include him since he is pretty important in Investigations 1 and fills a great minor role in Investigations 2. Very deserved to be on the cover art.

Another lovely detail is what we can see in the frame Sebastian makes with his fingers: Regina, Simon Keyes, Money the monkey and Astique the elephant from the Berry Big Circus! They're tiny but you can even make out Simon's "being controlled by the monkey" animation. This is probably my favourite detail in this entire artwork because on the surface they only play a minor role in one case in Investigations 2 so perfectly justified for a little detail in the artwork like the badgers or Maggey. However, if you know, this is about the sneakiest way I can imagine to work in your main antagonist without giving the twist of his importance away. It's brilliant!

Going further into the background, we have Ema behind Sebastian and teen Franziska further behind Gumshoe. Ema has a short supporting role in both games (a cameo because she was originally supposed to be the protagonist of the spin-off) and is a relevant character over the entire franchise so she naturally shows up in the cover art. She holds her pink forensic glasses on her hat and looks somewhere towards the centre (maybe at Miles?) with an open expression, probably eager to look for clues in Miles' investigations the scientific way. Teen Franziska keeps getting put into promotional material despite only appearing in one case whereas her adult version shows up a lot more often in both games. I understand wanting to advertise with her since it's fun seeing her so young but I do prefer her when she's older. Anyway, fittingly she shows off her riding crop, has dramatically in the wind blowing hair and a very determined look on her face. Couldn't have asked for more for the Franziska von Karma's pose.

To Franziska's feet, in small, is John Marsh from Investigations 2's final case. Considering how important he is in that, and being Justine's adopted son, it's clear why he's here. He has some milk in his hand and seems to look downwards but without specifically referring to one of his animations.

Large in the background behind Miles we see Gregory and von Karma, positioned in opposition to each other. With both having a huge influence on Miles' life, in opposite directions, and being deeply involved in the whole theme that especially Investigations 2 has going on, again in entirely opposed positions, this fits perfectly. Their meeting and confrontation set off the events behind so much of the series and a large part of Investigations 2's story as well so having them loom over most of our characters here, most notably Miles, is a wonderful representation of that. Gregory has his hat pulled a little towards his face and looks mostly contemplative and serious while von Karma looks directly forward and a lot more aggressively confrontational. Another great way to show off their vastly different personalities.

Still further in the background, behind Ema and Gregory, is Shelly de Killer in his ice cream salesman "disguise" as he appears in Investigations 2. He's a pretty relevant recurring character so it's nice to see him here as well. Being such a famous assassin he mostly has a looming presence over the course of Investigations 2 where you wonder what he's up to while you uncover more and more secrets which perfectly fits his placement in the shadowy background. He even has his ice cream cone in his hand.

Going into the distant background away from the characters, we have the two monsters Gourdy and Moozilla facing off on the left - part of the set-up for Investigations 2's final case - and the Steel Samurai and the Pink Princess on the very top of a large building with a glowing sun behind them looking straight up out of the Steel Samurai show - part of the set-up for Investigations 1's final case. They're both Global Studios productions as well so they're nice mirrors of each other in several regards. In the very centre between them we see a statue of Iustitia, the goddess of law and justice, with her scales and blindfold which is not only thematically extremely relevant to a game about attorneys solving crimes and catching criminals but is also the exact same statue that stands inside the PIC meeting room giving us a nice connection to the other major antagonist in Investigations 2.

The very last detail that I want to mention in this unbelievably gorgeous cover art is the outline of the prosecutor's badge in the very back. It's a beautiful design, as far as I'm concerned, and what better image to invoke for the spin-off starring the best prosecutor in the franchise!

#ace attorney #ace attorney investigations #aai collection #ace attorney investigations collection #ace attorney investigations collection countdown #75 days left

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rededgeevents · 20 days

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Welcome Aboard Red Edge Residents! We're excited to have you with us. Below the cut you'll find your room assignments. SURPRISE! Everyone gets their own room!

Each room has a living room, and a hot tub on the balcony.

Deck 12

Cyrus Thompson - Room 1204

Kyle Hale - Room 1210

Donald Keller - Room 1212

Marisol Monroe - Room 1218

Lana & Noah Rodgers - Room 1220

Teddy Winston - Room 1222

Tyler Dupont - Room 1224

Thea Murphy - Room 1226

Damon Henderson - Room 1228

Emmett Hills - Room 1230

Melody Hastings - Room 1232

Juliette Maddox - Room 1234

Beau Williams - Room 1250

Flynn Gilbert - Room 1252

Leighton Whitlock - Room 1264

Jeremy Fellows - Room 1268

Max Turner - Room 1278

Luke Myers - Room 1280

Maverick Anderson - Room 1286

Elliot Booker - Room 1288

Klaus Richards - Room 1290

Lucas Roden - Room 1294

Anastasia Hill - Room 1298

Deck 13

Bonnie Brooks - Room 1308

Jax King - Room 1310

Katerina Lopez - Room 1318

Alejandro Fuentes - Room 1328

Silas Rivers - Room 1330

Calliope Adams - Room 1332

Jayce King - Room 1334

Rosalie Collins - Room 1342

Marc Hall - Room 1344

Declan Mitchell - Room 1348

Atlas Quinn - Room 1340

Shane Nichols - Room 1356

Valentina Lopez - Room 1360

Paris Astor - Room 1366

Eric Rose - Room 1368

Nicole Balliol - Room 1370

Pogue O'Connor - Room 1372

Lucia Rossi - Room 1376

Serena Bennett - Room 1380

Isabella Santos - Room 1384

Emma Eklund - Room 1386

Brooke Barlow - Room 1390

Jasmine Harris - Room 1392

Deck 14

Ocean Simmons - Room 1406

Petra Cromwell - Room 1408

Elena Dawson - Room 1418

Ivy Fitzgerald - Room 1420

Aurora Thomson & Chase Knight - Room 1422

Elijah Cavannaugh - Room 1432

Sienna Johnson - Room 1434

Kinsley Argent - Room 1438

Killian Quinn - Room 1442

Kennedy Simpson - Room 1444

Caleb Peace - Room 1446

Mila-Jae Monroe - Room 1448

Austin Barnes - Room 1452

Mariana Florez - Room 1454

Lydia Brown - Room 1460

Tanner Sommers - Room 1462

Autumn Hawthorne - Room 1464

Alexa White & Wyatt Baker - Room 1466

Kiara Langford - Room 1468

Illiana Fuentes - Room 1470

Brittany Miller - Room 1472

Paco Florez - Room 1480

Emersyn Michaels - Room 1482

TJ Cohen - Room 1484

Devin Carter - Room 1486

Kirby Sinclair - Room 1488

Freya Smith - Room 1490

Sloane Ross - Room 1492

Logan Slater - Room 1494

#rededgecruise #roommate list #rededgetrip

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aego-philautia · 18 days

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Stranded -Bamby(Bambelle x Anby) fic

Words: 5.5k

Barely proofread(I got lazy)

An: This goes with the art posted on my main, I got the idea after i was halfway through it which is why its the scene of Bambelle crying in fear LMAO. Im thinking of drawing another piece of this tho so hopefully I can draw her w a smile next time 😭😭

Enjoy~

Eyebrows scrunched in concentration, fingers aching, sweat dripped down the woman's brow as she put her full focus on the task in front of her. Her heart beat out of her chest, as her bright pink hair started to frizz up from the humidity around the group. A white-haired woman stood nearby, watching the action with bright-eyed interest despite seeing clearly the results that were coming.

Suddenly, the cyborg next to the pink haired woman let out a loud whoop as the screen on the arcade cabinet flashed a large ‘WINNER’ screen with the name ‘KID’ underneath. The woman next to him let out a huff of annoyance at his celebration, pouting as he did a victory dance,

“And as always, Billy Kid reigns victorious over his adversaries!” The AI was currently moonwalking around the woman mockingly.

“Ugh, Whatever, you’re an AI maybe you plotted the best paths to use or something to get the highest points.” She scoffed at him, pulling out her phone in mock disinterest as Billy gasped at the accusation.

“Me? THE Billy Kid, CHEATING?? A true Starlight Knight NEVER takes shortcuts!” He crosses his arms, annoyed, “You’re just mad because you lost for the third time in a row, Nicole.”

Nicole rolled her eyes, sharp nails tapping through recent messages on her phone, “Actually, we BOTH agreed that I should’ve won the first round since you killed my snake the second before the round ended.”

Billy let out a short huff, display changed to mimic a pouty expression, “Humility is one of the more important qualities in a hero! Even so, I won that round fair and squa-“

“Hold on a second,” she raised a manicured finger to Billy’s face before he could finish his retort, her eyes widened as a specific message popped up on her screen, “It seems our ‘co-worker’ has contacted us. So I guess I’ll let you have the win this time.”

“Nicole,” the white haired woman spoke up finally, pushing herself off the wall she was leaning against, “Even if you did win the first round, wouldn’t the ‘rule of three’ state that-“

“Shh Anby, not now!” Nicole hushed her as she gathered her stuff with sudden haste, “Everyone, let’s go rent some movies!”

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

Within the hour, the group arrived at Random Play, meeting the ever tired Wise, who offered them a dreary smile nonetheless before quietly ushering them into the back room of the store. After waving a short greeting to the Bangboo worker 18 and shutting the door tight, the other twin, Belle beamed at the hollow raiders.

“That was quick, Nicole. Had nothing better to do?” she teased the taller woman as she pulled up the commission details on her phone.

“Of course I did, my schedule is always busy, as you know-“

“Busy with being a sore loser~.” A staticy voice crackled from the couch behind her.

“A-hem, but I always have time for my favorite proxy!” Nicole said, ‘bright’ smile barely concealing her otherwise annoyed expression.

With a sigh, Wise jumped into the explanation, fiddling with his jacket sleeve, “We got an urgent commission from Belobog Heavy Industries.” He stepped over with a large tablet in his hands as the entire group gathered around to scan the information presented. Wise continued,

“A companion hollow suddenly formed around a team sent to do work for the day at one of the construction zones owned by Belobog. A majority of the workers and civillians managed to escape or be rescued, but a few that happened to be deeper in the zone are still left inside. Among those left is a particular employee that both Ben and Koleda stressed the importance of.”

Wise paused to let the group take in the information of the employee whose name and picture was displayed along with other general information. Billy cocked his head, reading the name carefully.

“’Bambelle?’ I feel like I’ve heard that name before…” he wondered idly, cupping his chin in thought, before Anby immediately spoke up.

“It’s that goat woman you almost killed in the video store the other day.”

Nicole quickly whipped her head toward him, “What!?”

“I-it’s not like that I swear-!”

“It actually isn’t.” Belle chimed in, getting Nicole’s attention before she gave the poor cyborg an earful.

“Billy and Anby were in the video store not too long ago looking for a movie. Bambelle happened to be there, and she…doesn’t have the best spatial awareness.” The short girl finished with a slightly nervous smile.

“Billy startled her when he came up from behind to ask what movie she was so focused on and she…” Wise continued before trailing off, not sure how to properly explain the next part.

“Died. And then, reanimated.” Anby finished without a hint of humor.

“She fainted.” Belle quickly corrected her.

Nicole blinked, clearly confused but relieved nontheless, “Im…getting different stories…”

“Bambelle suffers from a condition called myotonia congenita.” Anby continued, “It’s a condition that causes the patients’ limbs to lock up whenever they experience sudden surprise or excitement, thus causing them to go limp for up to several minutes. Almost like that zombie movie where the zombies only ‘die’ for a few moments, before coming back to life.”

Belle let out an exhausted sigh at the ending of the explanation, “The general idea is correct. Basically, Billy scared her and her limbs locked up, she fell over for a few seconds. She was perfectly fine, if not a bit annoyed…”

Finally, Nicole let out a relieved sigh, “Great, we can’t go around paying for wrongful death lawsuits.” She let out a shudder at the thought.

Wise cleared his throat, trying to get the group back on topic.

“Koleda and Ben personally asked us to take the commission as soon as they got the news, they’ll be busy taking care of the surviving workers and assessing damages so this is up to us. They’ve showcased a high level of trust in our abilities. So we decided to pick the team we had the most trust in.” The taller sibling finished with a slight smirk toward Nicole.

“Especially since they give us such a generous commission fee~!” Belle tacked on flashing her best winning smile at Nicole, who simply rolled her eyes at the display.

“Yes, yes, I get it,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, “Of course I have to give my most loyal clients the best price on our services! As long as they’re willing to return the favor- “

“We cannot forgive any of your debt Nicole, you have a bit too much you owe for that.” Wise states bluntly.

The woman muttered a curse, “Ok ok, consider the commission fee lowered then! H-how about that?”

“But Nicole, what about grocery expenses for the month?” Anby questioned. Nicole smiled back at her, knowing the obvious answer already.

“Billy was so kind as to offer to cover it this month from his paycheck~.” A sputter and crash could be heard from the couch as Billy fell off of it from shock.

“WAIT WHAT??? W-WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?”

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

Later, Inside the hollow…

Anby handed the shaking woman in front of her a small pack filled with supplies,

“Take this and follow the route out of the Hollow. The ethereals have been taken care of, don’t worry.”

“Oh, bless you ma’am!” The woman replied, excitedly taking the supplies before booking it in the direction Anby specified. Billy scoffed, rubbing at a scratch he got in the fight they got into before finding the woman.

“Seriously? No blessings for the hero who fought to defeat those monsters in the first place?” While he was pouting, Nicole smugly grinned at him, “A great hero once said, ‘Humility is one of the more important qualities in a hero’.”

“Well, yeah! Of course! But…a little recognition doesn’t hurt…” His screen turned to a hurt expression.

“Come on you guys,” The proxy, through Eous, scolded, “We managed to rescue most of the survivors, but it seems like Bambelle fled further into the hollow. Im getting a signal from that building further ahead.” The Bangboo gestured it’s tiny arms toward a large building in the distance, it appeared to be a sort of warehouse judging from the shipping crates and boxes surrounding it.

“Just be careful, im also getting some activity from outside and inside of it, including a rather large ethereal energy signal inside.”

Nicole tapped a finger on her chin, thinking up a plan of action to deal with the situation. Finally, she turned toward the rest of the group,

“Got it. Me and Billy will stay out here and clear out the ethereals to keep them from interrupting the rescue. Anby, you go in and locate Bambelle, try to steer clear of that dangerous ethereal and if you run into it, contact us immediately.”

Anby responded with a militaristic salute, “Instructions received, proxy, can you lead me to Bambelle while avoiding the ethereal?”

Eous looked at the small device in it’s stubs quizzically, “I can try. The ethereal keeps moving, almost like it’s searching for something…” The little guy shook it’s head before putting the device away. “Follow me, Anby!”

While Nicole and Billy headed toward a group of nearby ethereals, Anby and Eous snuck past the fighting to enter into the warehouse. With Anby quickly defeating the monsters as they encountered them, they were able to get pretty far into the building around where Bambelle’s energy signal was last pinged. Eous took out the device again, moving it around to try to get a better signal.

“Being inside makes it a bit harder to find any signals, but her last ping was a bit ahead, so she couldn’t have gone far. I wonder why she came here in the first place instead of trying to leave…”

Anby pondered the question for a moment, “Maybe, her zombie disease has started progressing to the next stage. In File Z, besides sudden limb locking, those affected would shamble to random locations with no recollection of how they get there or why. It was the virus slowly taking over their mental faculties- “

Eous let out a sigh, “Maybe we should bar you from renting any more zombie movies…wait!” The Bangboo stared wide-eyed at the display in front of it, “The dangerous ethereal, I just got a ping from it, it’s coming closer!”

Anby quickly grabbed Eous and hid behind some nearby boxes. Seconds later, animalistic growling and grunting accompanied with the clacking of nails on the concrete flooring could be heard. Wanting to take note of what the ethereal was, Anby peeked out from the hiding spot, thankful at the fact that the monster was looking away from her.

A large, humanoid frame covered in dark, black antimatter interrupted by shards of rock and metal jutting out from its shoulders and arms greeted her. The monster must have been one of the workers before it transformed, because it also had a power tool, specifically a power saw, attached to the end of one of it’s arms like a mock replacement for a hand. The ball of matter that acted as it’s head controlling it’s body looking around, searching for signs of life. The monster groaned lowly as it took a few steps around the area, clearly aware of Anby and Eous’ presence. Anby barely managed to duck back behind the box as it looked her way. But it seemed it was a second too late, as the pair could hear the monster as it started coming toward them, growling growing louder, a sharp whirring sound as the power saw, apparently still fully functional, started up. It seemed the monster planned on cutting the metal boxes apart to see whatever had just left it’s line of vision.

As Anby grabbed her sword, ready for a fight, a clinking sound nearby caught both her and the ethereals attention. She looked down as a small cylinder rolled over. A moment passed just before a loud bang. Suddenly, she couldn’t see as the entire area was covered in smoke. She coughed out as the unexpected gas entered her nose and mouth, barely registering when her arm was grabbed.

“Go! Run!”

Anby grabbed the confused Eous before following the voice, vision still blurred and senses dulled as she followed the person pulling her in the direction they chose to flee in. A loud roar was heard as the ethereal tried to pursue, but it still hadn’t recovered from the smoke bomb fast enough, thus quickly losing them as they ran deeper into the warehouse and took cover inside of a semi empty metal shipping container. After Anby rubbed at her eyes and took a few breaths, she finally looked toward the person who saved her, letting out breath.

“Bambelle!”

The goat therian woman was still recovering from running, clearly exhausted. The trinket attached to one of her horns shaking wildly as she huffed out breath after breath with her hands resting on her knees. She raised a tired hand to Anby,

“J-just a second. Whew… Thats… the third or fourth time ive…hah…had to run from that guy…” She stretched her arms up, placing her shoulder bag on the ground to stretch her shoulder. Finally, she looked toward Anby with sudden shock.

“You remember my name?” Her eyes lit up in excitement at the notion.

“Of course,” Anby replied, “You were highlighted as one of the workers we had to rescue for this commission.”

Visibly deflating, Bambelle let out a small sigh, “Oh. Right, naturally. That…makes sense.”

Eous tapped it’s small arm against Anby’s leg, “She also remembered your condition! Anby filled her teammates in on your myotonia congenita, all from memory!” The little Bangboo winked up at Anby, hoping she got the hint.

“I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a zombie vi-“

“SHE WANTED to learn more about you, to help out possibly!” The proxy loudly interrupted.

“Oh!” Bambelle said with a slight smile, “That’s pretty thoughtful! Unfortunately, it’s just something I have to deal with. I remembered to take my medication to help with it this morning though, so it isn’t as bad as it was that day!”

“Medication?” Anby questioned.

“Yeah, I’m a bit forgetful so I didn’t take them that day, under regular circumstances I could walk off a scare that small.” Bambelle explained with a bashful expression, tapping her fingers together. “My medication is special made for people with my condition, it helps keep my limbs from locking so I can function day to day. It has it’s limits of course, but It’s been really helpful for me to be able to outrun that ethereal, as long as I don’t focus on it too much.”

Eous bounced a bit, “Speaking of, that must be why you’re in this warehouse in the first place? To outrun that ethereal?”

The goat woman nodded, “Yep. I was helping some of the workers and civilians get out and I got in the middle of that thing trying to hurt a kid. I guess it held a grudge or something, it hasn’t given up chasing me for awhile now.” The short therian hefted herself up onto one of the boxes to sit on it, absentmindedly kicking her legs as she continued, “Grace gave me a bunch of her shock bombs to modify for a project we were both working on, so I’ve been luring ethereals into puddles and stuff and detonating the bombs to damage them before finishing them off. But that…thing has taken three shocks already and its still going. Im exhausted… And unfortunately, I used the last smoke bomb getting us out of there so, those are gone.”

While Bambelle was explaining, Eous had taken the liberty of digging out the last few shock bombs from Bambelles bag, letting out a hum as the proxy thought up a plan.

“Grace’s bombs are pretty powerful by themselves…that ethereal must have some kind of resistance.”

“Resistance can only work so much, esecially if the explosion is big enough…” Anby offered, following the line of logic the Proxy set out. Bambelle cocked her head, not understanding.

Eous held up two of the five bombs left, “Maybe we can fuse these all together and create a sort of ‘mega-bomb’ to set off on that ethereal. A bigger explosion might be able to take out a bigger monster, after all.”

Bambelle anxiously hummed, “I don’t know, what if we need them to deal with other ethereals?”

“You won’t need those bombs.” Anby swiftly replied, making eye contact with Bambelle, “As long as I’m here, I’ll keep you safe from any ethereals, that’s a promise.” She said with sincerity in her voice. Bambelle’s eyes widened, momentarily stunned, before she recovered, clearing her throat.

“W-well…ok then. I trust you guys!” A warm smile came onto her face as she hopped off the box and gathered the bombs together, new energy coursing through her. “Leave the bomb fusing to me! Just fill me in on the plan details once you get it all worked out.”

Anby couldn’t help the slight smile on her face at the sight of Bambelle’s excitement, but she brushed it away and turned to Eous, “Call Nicole and Billy, we have to start getting ready.”

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

The ethereal let out a low rumble as it scanned the area. It had been lured through the warehouse by strange clacking sounds and the occasional sight of the goat woman it had been chasing after, tirelessly dragging itself closer and closer to it’s quarry. It was now at the very end of the warehouse, surely there's nowhere else for her to run. It wandered until it reached a sort of makeshift hallway in a maze of boxes and shipping containers, ambling along the path single-mindedly. A sudden yell had caught its attention down one path it almost passed, turning and locking eyes with the very goat woman it had been chasing all this time at the dead-end of the path, surrounded on all sides by tall shipping containers as she stood defiantly with her eyes locked on it.

“HEY STUPID!” Bambelle yelled toward it, poking out her tongue, “Come and get some!”

The ethereal roared, power saw whirring to life as it barreled down the path full speed toward her. The danger of the situation fully sunk in, causing her anxiety to spike as Bambelle felt her limbs unable to move an inch. Dammit, her limbs locked up. Silently praying for the plan to work as the monster came closer and closer, relief flooded her as Anby dashed up from behind her at just the right moment to knock the power saw away with her sword. The monster stumbled back, caught off guard as Anby was launched backward by the same force, recovering effortlessly.

“Nicole!”

“Take this, you disgusting freak!” Nicole launched out from the open shipping container that the ethereal was next to, the monster too focused on it’s target to see the opening housing both Nicole and Billy as well as the container far opposite them that housed the fused together bomb. With a yell, Nicole lodged the barrel of her gun case into the ethereals side before triggering it, launching the monster straight into the opposite container right on top of the bomb.

“And now,” Billy piped up, aiming toward the bomb with his pistol, “for the finishing touch!”

Firing a high-caliber round straight into the bomb set it off, causing a loud explosion that shook the ground around the team. While the shipping container contained most of the explosion, debris from the boxes inside the container had flown out and scattered around the outside along with smoke and dust that had been aggravated into the air, somewhat clouding the area. As the team let out coughs and sputters, The proxy quickly spoke up through Eous.

“Is everyone alright?”

Bambelle, who was almost knocked over by the force of the explosion before being held up by Anby, sneezed a bit. Rubbing the dust out of her eyes, she responded, “I-I’m f-f-fine. Sorry Im…im still kinda…sh-shaken up…”

Nicole let out breath, fixing one of her ponytails, “It’s a good thing that crate was as far away as it was, otherwise me and Billy would’ve been hit by some of the debris.”

“THAT. WAS. AWESOME!!!” The cyborg in question yelled out followed by a whoop of victory as he did a celebratory dance, “Did’ya see that?! That shot was perfect! AND and the epic line before, ‘and now, for the finishing touch.’” He repeated the line, spinning one of his pistols before mock aiming it at the air, then punching his fist up in excitement. Nicole giggled, endeared by his childlike attitude.

“Awwww man I was SO cool back there! But ya know, it’s all in a day’s work for a he-“

Billy was cut off by a loud roar coming from the container the ethereal was supposed to be dead in. As the smoke and dust in the container still covered it, a hand shot out grabbing onto the ground in front. Anby immediately got in front of Bambelle as Billy let out a groan.

“Ah, I jinxed it, didn’t I?”

“You don’t say.” Nicole retorted, “Everyone, let's get outta here!”

Before they could fully turn, the ethereal emerged from the container. While it’s lower half was blow clean off, it still maintained the power saw and seemingly grew some extra limbs from where it’s body was damaged. And while none of the new limbs seemed to help it’s mobility issue, the extra hands grabbing and dragging it did still give it some speed as it started desperately crawling toward the group, digging the sharp teeth of the saw into the ground to give itself some minuscule leverage. The monster growled and roared as it scrambled toward them, clearly not giving up its pursuit even with its lack of legs.

Bambelle stood completely frozen, staring at the ethereal in horror as her limbs once again locked up completely. She barely registered Anby picking her up in her anxious state, arms only managing to lock themselves around Anby before becoming as useless as the rest of her body.

The team ran full speed away from the ethereal, who tried it’s hardest to chase after them using every limb it had to grab on to boxes and the ground to propel itself forward. Thankfully, it wasn’t quite used to the new mode of travel as it quickly lost sight of the group, letting out one last, long roar as everyone made it outside of the warehouse. The commotion had attracted other ethereals, which Billy and Nicole took care of with Anby helping out as much as possible while still holding a shaking and crying Bambelle close to her. Once the last ethereal was defeated and the area was secure, Eous gestured everyone close so it could activate the Carrot to get everyone out of the hollow.

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

Finally outside of the hollow, Billy collapsed on the ground and spread out, face toward the sky as he let out an exhausted sigh. Nicole sat down on her gun-case to catch her breath while Anby set Bambelle down, who immediately curled up and started sobbing.

“I-hic-im so sorry guys!” she wailed out between sobs, face cradled in her arms. “Im such a coward! I should’ve been helping fight but…but…my stupid limbs…” her words trailed off into cries as she continued breaking down. Nicole rubbed the back of her neck, clearly uncomfortable as Billy quickly chimed in,

“Aww come on! You were totally brave! There’s a certain bravery in knowing your weaknesses after all!” He cheerfully chimed, thinking that he was actually helping.

“Billy!” Nicole scolded, before clearing her throat and trying herself, “You were very helpful to the plan, Bambelle! I mean, we did need someone to be bait after all, you were perfect!”

Billy glanced over at her, annoyed, “And that was better than what I said??”

“Bambelle,” Anby piped up, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, “You were the one who managed to fuse the bombs together and lured the ethereal into place. If you ask me, that’s very brave of you.”

The small goat woman finally looked toward Anby, face still partially concealed, “I…I guess…”

“I know. You helped get me to safety earlier, and you were brave enough to face that monster down till the end. You don’t need to fight to be strong.” Anby finished with a small smile, the sight managing to cheer Bambelle up enough to smile a bit herself.

“Thanks, you guys…” Bambelle sniffles, wiping her tears away. “You’re all so nice to me despite this whole mess and me getting you into a fight with that dangerous ethereal.”

“Ah,” Nicole says with a dismissive wave, “We’ve faced ethereals that could eat that thing for breakfast, it’s just that our job was to get you out safely, not to fight.”

“I mean it.” Bambelle emphasized, shakily managing to get to her feet with Anby's help, “The first chance I get, I’m gonna make it up to you guys, I promise.”

Hearing this, Nicole got up on her feet and immediately jumped at the chance, “Weeeellll, If you’re really serious about it, we do happen to take tips and bonuses for our top-notch services~!”

“AHEM, the commission fee from Belobog is quite generous already, there’s no need to ask for more, Nicole.” The proxy jutted in as Eous jumped up in front of Bambelle to redirect Nicoles attention from haggling the poor woman. Nicole let out a huff as she pouted. “Fine. It’s our pleasure to simply do a job well done or whatever…”

Bambelle hummed thoughtfully, before an idea came to her, “Oh, my paycheck should be coming in soon! I can treat you guys to dinner sometime next week, you can pick the place!”

Billy tried to gesture for Bambelle not to do that, but Nicole piped up, “OH that's so generous of you! I know some great restaurants that I can only go to once in a blue moon, they’re a bit ah…pricey but I won’t leave the full bill to you of course, Billy and Anby can donate some money from their paychecks to it!”

“BOSS come oonnnn!” Billy whined as Anby simply sighed and shook her head.

“What? If it makes you feel better, I’ll take care of the grocery bill, alright? Besides, it’s only fair after you gave our client here quite the scare last time.”

“How was I supposed to know about her condition?! Besides, you still owe me a bowl of ramen since I won our round of games earlier!”

“As we both agreed, I should’ve won the first round! And I bet you cheated last round too!”

“Guys,” Eous bounced up to the pair to try to calm them down, “Maybe we should talk this out after we turn in the commission!”

While the trio were busy arguing, Bambelle went up to Anby, an embarrassed expression prominent on her face as she looked toward the ground. “H-hi.”

“Is something wrong? Are you hurt?” Anby immediately asked, mistaking her behavior for signs of discomfort. Bambelle shook her head.

“No no, Im fine, don’t worry! I just…wanted to apologize…I guess…”

When Anby simply blinked in response, Bambelle continued, “For, y’know, crying into your ear earlier when you were holding me. A-and for holding you so tightly when you were running, I was probably hurting you.”

“Oh.” Anby said simply, holding her chin in thought, “My noise-cancelling headphones were active, so I wasn’t too bothered by your screaming. As for the holding, you aren’t difficult to carry, and besides I was okay with you holding me tightly.”

Bambelles eyes widened as her cheeks got hotter, “Really?”

“Yep. It made it much easier to carry you.” She finished.

Trying not to let her disappointment show through, Bambelle gave Anby a somewhat forced smile, “Great. Im glad I could make things easier on your end!”

Anby studied her for a second, brushing away the thought she just had, “Let’s get you back to Belobog, Im sure they’ll be glad to see you safe.”

Bambelle nodded, “Let’s head out then!”

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

A giant bear therian nervously looked over some records next to a much shorter, red-haired woman. He let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his head at the large estimation in front of them, “This might cut into expenses much more than we planned for the month, President Koleda.”

The woman shook her head dismissively as she crossed her arms in front of her. Her shoulder hurt slightly from how tensed they were, but as always she simply ignored the feeling, “As long as everyone is safe and healthy, we can pay however much it takes. Besides Ben, incidents like these are covered under our employment contract, not to mention the meetings we have every day, our employees are well aware of the risks. Im more worried about the poor civilians caught in the crossfire, and about the safety of-“

“Bamby!!” Ben shouted as he stopped looking over the records and went toward the group who finally made it to the Belobog Heavy Industries temporary headquarters. Bambelle smiled widely, almost forgetting what Ben just called her. At least until Nicole spoke up with a snicker.

“Bamby?” the leader glanced at Bambelle after repeating the nickname, who looked away nervously, quickly regaining her composure to look calmer than she was at finally seeing her closest companion.

“B-Ben! Don’t call me that in front of others!” Bambelle quietly scolded the giant bear, who sulked a bit. Seeing his reaction, a wave of guilt and relief immediately crashed over her as she realized how much she missed him over the past few hours of this nightmare, and she swept her embarrassment aside to wrap her arms as much as possible around Ben in a big hug, who reciprocated immediately. “Who am I kidding, I missed you so much Ben!” She exclaimed, on the verge of tears again already.

Koleda cleared her throat, previously tensed shoulders now visibly relaxing at the sight of Bambelle safe and sound in the arms of Ben. “Glad to see that your back, Bamby- er, Bambelle.” She turned toward the group which now included Belle instead of Eous, Wise never really like being in the spotlight.

“And as for you guys,” Koleda continued with a grateful smile, “We managed to get the rest of the civilians out of the hollow safe and sound thanks to you! The payment will be wired to you as soon as we sort out the damages, expect it around two days from now.”

Belle cheerfully clapped her hands together, “As always, it was a pleasure working with you guys, thank you so much for trusting us with this mission, Koleda.”

Koleda nodded and went toward Ben and Bambelle, who were still close to each other as Ben bombarded her with questions about her wellbeing. Bambelle scolded him once again, gesturing toward the group who were about to leave and turning toward them to give them a wave.

“Thank you guys so much, for everything!” She called toward them, a wide, bright smile on her face as Ben also bowed and waved to them. The group gave their own goodbyes as they turned and went toward the van to leave.

As they were walking, Billy, who had his hands clasped behind his head, let out a yawn, “Man, all that saving really gets a guy tired. And hungry…”

“I agree, I say we get burgers for dinner tonight.” Anby said, looking toward Nicole with a slight spark of hope in her eye. Nicole rolled her eyes.

“I guess we did do a great job back there…fine, my treat I suppose.” She relented. Anby and Billy let out exclaims as Belle once again pulled out her winning smile.

“Hopefully that includes your favorite proxies as well?” She said giving the leader a puppy dog expression.

“Ugh don’t look at me like that! Yes, yes of course that includes you two. If only we could’ve invited Bambelle, Im sure she would’ve loved having the chance to talk to Anby some more~” her tone took on a teasing lilt toward the end of her sentence as she glanced over to Anby, who looked slightly confused. “What do you mean?”

Nicole scoffed at how dense her friend was, she really didn’t catch on?

“Come on, you saw how excited she was talking to you back there! She was smiling and everything, she has a crush on you, dummy!”

Anby simply shook her head, “She was in the middle of a high stress situation, her nerves were most likely acting up.”

“Yeah! Plus,” Billy chimed in, unable to read the conversation, “If I were in the presence of someone who saved my life, I’d be pretty excited too, y’know.”

Nicole, frustrated, crossed her arms and pouted at the both of them teaming up against her, “Whatever, it’ll smack you in the face sooner or later.” With that, she suddenly gained newfound speed and made it to the van quickly, with Belle and Billy rushing to catch up. Anby strayed behind a bit, thinking on Nicoles words in addition to her interactions with Bambelle. She was pretty excited. And the way she always smiled at Anby…

Anby cleared the thoughts from her head. Nicole was most likely just messing with her. Brushing the thoughts aside once again, she caught up to the van.

End! ^.^

#Bamby💜💚#self ship #oc x canon #self shipping #selfship #and now I disappear to play thru Natlan some more✨✨#If u see any mistakes no u dont🥰

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crossoverproductions · 6 months

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Rap Battles of the Bizarre

Here's a remake of my old Weird Rap Battles post I made a while ago.

RAP BATTLES

Anna Nishikinomya Vs. Patrick Bateman (Shimoneta Vs. American Psycho)

Jigsaw Vs. Monokuma (Saw Vs. Danganronpa)

Junko Enoshima Vs. Handsome Jack (Danganronpa Vs. Borderlands)

Angel Gabby Vs. The Intruder (Angel Hare Vs. The Madela Catalogue)

Nicole Vs. Micheal Afton (Class of 09’ Vs. FNAF)

SMG4 Vs. CG5

Satou Matsuzaka Vs. Arthur Hasting (Happy Sugar Life. Vs. We Happy Few)

Natsuki Subaru Vs. Colt Vahn (Re: Zero Vs. Deathloop)

Michael J. Caboose Vs. Serial Designation N (Red vs. Blue Vs. Murder Drones)

Leonard Church AKA. Alpha Vs. Ruby Rose (Red vs. Blue Vs. RWBY)

Rainbow Dash Vs. The Scout (MLP Vs. TF2)

Phone Guy Vs. Wally Darling (FNAF Vs. Welcome Home)

The Riddler Vs. Light Yagami (DC Vs. Death Note)

Meat Canyon Vs. Junji Ito

Green Goblin Vs. Goblin Slayer (Marvel Comics Vs Goblin Slayer)

Jacket Vs. The Punisher (Hotline Miami Vs. Marvel Comics)

Hannibal Lecter Vs. Karin (Silence of the Lambs Vs. Cooking Companions)

Alastor Vs. Rias Gremory (Hazbin Hotel Vs. High School DxD)

Celestia Vs. Ra (MLP Vs. Egyptian Mythology)

MAD Vs. Robot Chicken

Mr. Burns Vs. Mr. Beast (The Simpsons Vs. Youtube)

James Gunn Vs. Vivziepop

Trevor Henderson Vs. Okayado

Himiko Toga Vs. The Spy (BNHA Vs. TF2)

Barbie Vs. Emmett (The Barbie Movie Vs. The Lego Movie)

The Ghostbusters Vs. Mystery Inc. (Ghostbusters Vs. Scooby-Doo)

Adam Vs. Adam (Hazbin Hotel Vs. Record of Ragnarok)

Red Hood Vs. Alucard (DC Comics Vs. Hellsing)

Asia Argento Vs. The Medic (High School DxD Vs. Team Fortress 2)

Loud Forger Vs. Austin Powers (Spy X Family Vs. Austin Powers)

Issei Hyoudou Vs. Henry Stein (High School DxD Vs. Bendy)

Donald Trump Vs. Kokichi Oma (Real Life Vs. Danganronpa)

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asvterias · 1 year

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𝖲𝖾𝖼𝗋𝖾𝗍𝗌 𝖮𝗎𝗍 ~ 𝖭𝖺𝗈𝗆𝗂 𝖧𝖺𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌

Naomi Maria Hastings (Faceclaim as Siena Agudong)

This storyline is set in early season 5, so the liars are 18 years old so Naomi & Y/N are 16. This was just an random idea in my head that I put into words.

Warnings: Steamy Scene, Hickeys & Mentions of Cyber-Threats

Pairings: Fem!Black!Fields!Reader x OC!Naomi Hastings, Fem!Black!Fields!Reader x Platonic!The Liars x OC!Naomi Hastings

Summary: Maintaining a secret relationship with Naomi for 2 years was challenging but you made it work. Too bad, A’s always seeking and wrecking havoc, just for the confrontation of secrets to their enjoyment.

Tag List: @lvc-lv @cyansadness @ashreblogsnow @helovesthisgorillagripper

Word Count: 3.5k+

Author’s Note: Kinda got inspiration from @redhairedwolfwitch with one of her PLL storylines.

GIF credit: violetsbaudelaire-archive

(Y/N) Fields was a reserved girl, allowing others to know what you wanted them to know. You were the baby sister of Emily Fields by two years and the youngest child of Pam and Wayne Fields. Despite being adopted by the Fields family, they loved you unconditionally as their own.

Your skin tone was an entrancing cocoa brown that pierced the sun beautifully and glistened underneath the moonlight. Your hobbies consisted of drawing and photography, all sketched things related. From young, you had a natural talent for your artistic and photographic skills and it only blossomed throughout your growing childhood.

At first, Naomi had called you over for a study session but then that quickly steamed up into a makeout session instead. The faint pop music was used as part of your study mechanism, which was seemingly being drowned out by both of you.

Textbooks and notebooks were splayed out everywhere, laying across Naomi’s bed. You thoroughly examine your Physics notes as Naomi studies her English notes. She decides to tease you, randomly having the urge to kiss you.

“You look so pretty when focused,” Naomi mumbles, leaning over to kiss your neck. Her gentle neck kisses were ticklish to the touch, making you squirm at first but you sighed in contentment.

Limbs tangled together, constant swooning with each other through quick stares, and the faint giggles erupting from both of you filled the quiet atmosphere.

“We have to focus,” You giggle at her wholehearted sensitive kisses, “Well, I have too at least, not everyone can be born Hastings.”

You pulled her away from those magnetic kisses and she shuffled closer, “Oh, believe me, sometimes being a Hastings is more of a curse than a blessing.”

“Then, I don’t know how you and Spencer manage to handle it every day.”

“Oh, we struggle a lot with that…” She lowly bites on your neck, earning a surprised moan as she looks up at you with admiration floating in her dilated pupils. “But I have a very magnificent girlfriend to keep me grounded.” She smirks, analyzing your relaxed face, and observes the forming hickey.

“Oh, I feel special. Another Hastings who loves me.”

“Another?! Who’s this other lucky Hastings?”

“Your dear sister, Spencer.”

“Now I’m feeling jealous all of a sudden.”

“Don’t worry, sweetie. You know that you’ll always be my number one girl.”

“I better be,” She playfully teases, trailing her fingers down to your thighs. You shiver at the sensual sensation that she dominantly radiated.

Her temptation overwhelmed you and just like she’d hoped, you gave in to her needs. Taking the initiative of resuming the passionate kiss, Naomi releases a shocked hum, reciprocating your kiss back. Your mouths were trapped in a hypnotic dance as you steadily straddled her lap, not breaking the kiss once and her hands wrapped around your waist.

A thud from downstairs breaks you out of your intense makeout as you both turn your heads at the door at the same time. You quietly gasped, tightening your grip on Nicole’s hand for reassurance and you both stayed silent. Staring at the closed door for a few minutes before looking back at each with nervous gazes written on your faces.

“Your door is locked, right?” You questioned, turning your attention to her.

Her eyes connected to yours and her arched eyebrows bunch together. “Yeah, why?”

“Then we have nothing to worry about,” You pushed your girlfriend on her back playfully, climbing onto her body as your lips ferociously captured hers again in a luscious manner.

/////

Back downstairs, Alison, Spencer, Emily, Hanna, and Aria walk in, settling themselves in the living room. Alison accidentally hit one of the moving boxes, resulting in a loud noise that was heard from upstairs. The girls had recently just gotten an A message, and as per usual, it freaked them out. However, this message lured them to Spencer’s house, which was very peculiar, even by the girls’ standards;

You aren’t the only teen liars in town, you have some living in your houses, right under your noses. Hint!! Hint!! It’s (Y/N) & Naomi…and if you wanna discover their huge secret, go to Spencer’s.

— A

“I just don’t get why A would bring (Y/N) and Naomi into this. They did nothing wrong!” Emily worriedly states, biting her nails anxiously.

“It was only a matter of time that A would bring them up, Em.” Aria frowns trying to reassure her best friend.

“Yeah, it totally sucks!” Hanna scoffs, “It’s not fair that A gets to dog-walk us whenever they mention our families.”

“Let me see that message again.” Alison grabs Emily’s phone, rereading the text message. Suddenly, all of their phones ring as they nervously all exchange glances, picking up their phones and looking at the new text.

Well Emily and Spencer it turns out that your sisters can keep a good secret, perhaps even better than all of you combined. Maybe they should join your little posse, and spice things up for a change.

— A

“Ugh, I’m so over that bitch.”

Just then, you and Naomi walked downstairs, snuggling in each other’s embrace, blissfully unaware of the girls, lounging around the living room.

“Hey, guys..” Aria greets you with a smirk plastered on her face, observing the lovestruck aura that was displayed by the two young teen girls. You jumped at their sudden presence as Naomi subtly moved away from you.

“Were you two guys home alone?” Spencer questions with a hidden smirk as you both walk into the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Naomi shrugs, getting the glasses from the cabinet and you take the orange juice out of the fridge. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the skeptical eyes of her sister and her friends. “What? Is that a crime now, I live in this house too!”

“No, no, not a crime at all.” Spencer awkwardly whistles, analyzing her sister’s movements. Very discreetly, Naomi’s stare was seemingly drifting to you, unable to keep her eyes off of you.

Much to Naomi’s dismay, she was refocused on her sister’s questions as she lazily pulled her eyes from you. “So, what were you guys doing up there?”

“Jesus, Spence, I didn’t realize that this was 21 questions.”

Aria squints her eyes, zooming in on the huge bruise on your collarbone and shoulder nudges Hanna to look at it as well. Naomi notices the hickey showing out in the open that everyone can see. You catch your girlfriend’s eye by the clearing of her throat and you discreetly cover it with your oversized hoodie.

“Just studying, Spence.” You grin at her. “Although, did I tell you guys that Liam tried to talk to me?”

Hanna, Aria, Alison, and Spencer were like older sister figures to you and you appreciated the sisterly bond that individually formed with each of them. They huddled in closer, eager to hear how your conversation with Liam went, their overprotective nature kicking in.

“Wait, Liam talked to you?” Naomi hurriedly asks with a tone of possessiveness.

“Liam, Liam? Not Liam Ross, your ex!” Allison exaggerates, rolling her eyes, “And he’s still alive because…”

“Yeah, but I deleted his number and he cornered me when I was out on my morning jog.” You shrugged, drinking your orange juice.

“I swear to god that I will run him over.” Spencer groans.

“Can it be soon?” Emily scowls at Spencer. “I’ll help you bury the body.”

“Wait, didn’t you break up with him?” Hanna inquires. “Why did you guys break up?”

“Yes, she did, Han. Like two years ago, he stupidly cheated on her.” Aria says, remembering the day like a distant memory.

“You ignored him, right?” Alison points out, “Did you use that taser that I brought you?”

“You got her a taser?” Emily asks her girlfriend.

“For protection purposes, like these experiences,” Alison advised.

“Well, what did he want?” Naomi came closer to you with a curious but jealous glint in her eyes. “What did he say? Did he hurt or threaten you?”

Out of the corner of your eyes, you recognized her proximity and gently nudged her backward, giving you some distance, as a form of dialing it down a notch. Obviously, they don’t call Spencer smart just for show, and sooner or later (and you’d rather later), Spencer was catching onto your friendship.

You failed to notice the exchanged glances between Emily and Spencer at your body language towards Naomi. The atmosphere was tense

“Are you guys dating?” Hanna was always classical with her timing, bringing thought back into the kitchen. Shocked by the sudden random question from the blonde, your eyes widened as you avert your gaze onto the kitchen floor. Naomi’s gaze fell on you instantly, and you knew that she was trying to silently reassure you without physical touch.

You briefly graze over her hand in gratitude, watching a thin-lipped smile appear on her face.

“Hanna!” Aria yells.

“What? It’s just a question and besides it’d be kinda cute.” Hanna defends herself, trying to explain her logic, “Mini Hastings dating Mini Fields so then we wouldn’t have to worry about stupid boys breaking their hearts or them being teen mothers. Either way, it’s a win-win!”

“Come on, Hanna. They’re both too smart to get recklessly pregnant.” Spencer rolls her eyes at her friend.

Quickly, your eyes caught onto Naomi and they wandered over to Emily who just raised her eyebrows in question, searching for an answer.

“Well, are you?”

“Are we what? Dating or pregnant?” You questioned, tilting your head to the side. It wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t a clear question that your sister had asked.

“(Y/N) maybe you’re a mini Hanna instead.” Alison counters.

Naomi stifles a laugh, in an attempt to cover it up but you heard it. You turned your head swiftly to your secret girlfriend, eyes peering at her in annoyance. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, nothing, (YN/N).” She shakes her head, trying to suppress her amusement at your confusion about the situation.

You faced your older sister. “You didn’t clarify the question, Em. How am I supposed to suddenly know which answer you want.”

“She has a point! That question would confuse me.”

“Here, Hanna!” Spencer hands her blonde best friend a cookie, “Eat a cookie!” She inspects the cookie before yanking it out of Spencer’s hand and munching on it. Aria just shakes her head at Hanna and Spencer’s interaction.

Emily looks at you, her eyes twinkling with concerned curiosity, “We both know which question I mean.”

You inhaled sharply, facading a blank expression as you prepared to shamelessly lie to your sister and her friends. Surprisingly, you were interrupted as Naomi spoke and lied on your behalf. “No, we’re not dating.”

“Well, are either of you pregnant?”

“Hanna, for god’s sake!”

“Give it a rest Hanna!”

“We’re just clearing that up!”

“Why is that always your most overused question?”

The rest of the girls shouted to Hanna, clearly frustrated with her logic of understanding.

“No, neither one of us is pregnant.” You informed her, laughing at the thought of being pregnant terrified you to the maximum and Naomi would never put that much trust in a hormonal teenage boy.

Hanna, Aria, Alison, and Spencer were like older sister figures to you and you appreciated the sisterly bond that individually formed with each of them.

“There, happy, Hanna?”

“Geez, just checking, no need to overreact.” She scoffs, grabbing another cookie.

“You do know that you can tell me anything, right?” Emily said, walking over to you. The rest of the girls disperse into the living room.

“Yeah,” You nodded your head in agreement.

“Good, because no one’s forcing you to come out. Come out when you’re ready.” Emily reassures you, and purposely looks over at Naomi, “Both of you.”

“Em!” You whisper shout at your older sister, dragging her into a private area away from everyone else.

“What? Please don’t tell me that you thought that you were being so secretive. Anyone with eyes could see that you and Naomi are in love, I’m just surprised that our parents haven’t figured it out yet.”

You sigh, looking down at the ground, awkwardly shuffling on your feet, “Thanks for not telling anyone, Em.”

“Of course, what are sisters for?” Emily nudges you in a comforting hug and kisses you on the head.

“Em, we need you,” Alison states, gesturing her over. She heads back to her group of friends.

When you made sure that their attention was purely focused, you sneaked up and hugged her from behind, rocking as you did so.

“Thanks for taking over.” You smiled in acknowledgment, feeling her squeeze your hands in response. She turned around, her hands caressing your face and stroking her thumb over your cheek lovingly as you pulled her in closer by the hips.

“Of course, anything for you, babe.” She pecks your lips, her heart melting at your beautiful smile. All of sudden, a rapid knock on the door brings you out of your stupor with your beloved girlfriend.

Naomi refused to let go of you, already demanding that she’d miss your warmth but you managed to escape her embrace.

“Wanna go back upstairs?” Naomi suggests with an apparent smirk.

“To study?” You arch an eyebrow at her seductive suggestion. Spencer pasts you to answer the door as you and Naomi continue to murmur your conversation.

“Definitely to study.” She winks and drags you upstairs for the privacy of her bedroom.

#𓏲 📂 ⋮ 𝗆𝗒 𝖿𝖺𝗏 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗄𝗌 .ᐟ #oc x fem!reader #siena agudong #naomi hastings #no good nick #no good nick x fem!reader #pretty little liars #pretty little liars x fem!reader #nick franzelli #nick franzelli x fem!reader #nick franzelli x black!reader #nick franzelli imagine #naomi hastings imagine

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sapphyreopal5 · 1 year

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Hi there, I have just found your blog and I have found it very interesting.

I was wondering if you could do a reading on Drake Rodger, particularly his relationship to Jensen. Tbh I find it slightly creepy and he seems to be trying to emulate the relationship he and Jared had in the early years of supernatural but the big difference is he is now a middle aged man and Drake is not.

Hello Anon, thank you for the ask. I also want to say thank you for complimenting my blog, I'm glad you enjoy reading and I hope you continue to do so :) I find your question interesting given the timing you sent this in given there's a convention coming up this weekend that I am attending in Charlotte, NC where both of them will be at! So, with this being said I was told by Loki to only shuffle my deck once, which is quite interesting and is a new occurrence on my part. First I'm gonna talk about the associated keywords with each of these cards and then throw in the interpretation work. This is a bit of a long read so please bear with me, I hope you find this answer insightful and a pleasurable read nonetheless.

In the tarot, the keywords associated with The Moon card include intuition, illusion, dreams, vagueness, instability, deception, anxiety, fear, misconception, subconscious, and insecurity. The 3 of Wands indicates progress, expansion, foresight, overseas opportunities, or possibly playing small, lack of foresight, unexpected delays. The 4 of Wands often can signify celebration, excitement, homecoming, family unity (or instead and frankly more fitting in this case) an unhappy family, cancellations, and feeling unwelcome. The King of Wands in the tarot often represents a natural born leader, an entrepreneur, and a visionary or possibly on the contrary impulsiveness, haste, ruthless, high expectations. The 4 of Pentacles tends to mean either saving money, security, conservatism, scarcity, control or in this case, over-spending, greed, and self-protection. The 4 of Swords connotes to rest, relaxation, meditation, contemplation, recuperation, or on the opposite end of things exhaustion, burn-out, deep contemplation, or stagnation. Of course, the 8 of Pentacles often indicates apprenticeship, repetitive tasks, mastery, skill development, self-development, perfectionism, and possibly misdirected activity.

The card with what I believe to be the most significant one and indicates the overall tone of this reading is The Moon. If you noticed in this particular post when I was initially discussing the keywords for each card I used words and phrases like "or", "on the contrary", "instead", etc. when I mentioned what the keywords for each of the cards are as opposed to just mentioning so called relevant keywords. I chose to do this for this post because a lot of the card combinations based on typical interpretations of such tend to be more positive. In this case however, there was a lot of deception going on with the creation of The Winchesters from start to finish, behind the scenes and on social media which The Moon card confirms.

I think many of the readers here are going to be quite familiar with the so called "Prequel Gate" that happened which started seemingly when Jared Padalecki made a post on Twitter saying "Dude. Happy for you. Wish I heard about this some way other than Twitter. I’m excited to watch, but bummed that Sam Winchester had no involvement whatsoever." and when people thought he was kidding, he responded with "No. It’s not. This is the first I’ve heard about it. I’m gutted." Also, when the show was introduced it was supposed to be "an epic love story". Instead, the big climax of the show and the highly anticipated tidbit ended up being the return of Dean Winchester on the screen. I feel a relevant movie to bring up is Bewitched with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell starring, which is the movie where the remake of Bewitched is being filmed. As a synopsis, the show gets really poor ratings initially, as Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) made Darrin get most of the lines initially and the so called unknown girl Isabel Bigalow (Nicole Kidman) as Samantha got barely any lines. It's when Isabel calls Jack out on why the show was getting poor ratings and threatened to quit is when Jack comes to his senses and when he finally listens, the show ends up getting better ratings. See why I also included a photo of the movie's cover below?

The location of the King of Wands (man on the elephant) being below the 4 of Wands (a crown) is interesting because we know that Jensen has a crown tattoo on his lower inner arm by his hand (which funnily enough was a topic of interest due to a photo edit "oopsies" some people saw on Twitter and here on Tumblr). Both of these cards showing up in the orientation they are is very interesting and definitely points to Jensen as I'll discuss here why. This particular quote stands out to me and sounds very relevant to Jensen regarding The King of Wands: "The King of Wands represents pure fire energy in its masculine form. Unlike the other Wands court cards, the King is not so interested in creation and creativity, or in dreaming up ideas and implementing them himself. Instead, he is more inclined to take an idea and then enlist others to help him actualise it." Also another interesting tidbit I saw from this same site about the King of Wands: "At times, the reversed King of Wands can be aggressive and even arrogant in the pursuit of his goals. Be mindful that as you strive towards your dream, you are not putting others off-side, dis-empowering them or taking their contributions for granted. You need their support one hundred percent of the way."

If you watch this interview of Jensen and Danneel discussing The Winchesters back in October 2022, around the 2:03 marker Jensen says "we've got touchstones that have been laid out in the mothership you know our lore. Maybe we can hit those markers in a way that isn't expected", which correlates with that quote I mentioned above I got from Biddy Tarot regarding the King of Wands talking about being more inclined to take an idea and enlisting others to make it happen. It's also interesting to notate that in this interview, Jensen is wearing velvet, which was often worn by aristocrats in Middle Aged Europe. Velvet has a long history that dates back to Ancient China and Egypt where it was also seen as a luxury and sign of royalty and still is seen as such today.

As I mentioned earlier, Jensen even has a crown tattoo on his lower right arm by his hand that he got the same year he was crowned king in Mardi Gras back in 2019 (The W on the crown apparently stands for Winchesters). It appears him, Jared and John getting this tattoo is a "seers hint" that was missed regarding The Winchesters (don't worry, we all apparently have missed some). Interestingly so, there are 3 cards in this reading with the number 4 (2019 was 4 years ago when all 3 of them got this tattoo) that are diagonal from one another. Oh and the Charlotte convention starts in 3 days this upcoming Friday (I however will be going Saturday and Sunday, or starting 4 days from now). Jensen said also he, John and Jared now call themselves "The Three Kings". Jensen at least prior to the cancellation of The Winchesters perceived himself as a "king". I do believe the King of Wands card quote above stated that the "King of Wands can be aggressive and even arrogant in the pursuit of his dreams", which is 100% fitting in this case. Ironically, the 4 of Wands as I mentioned earlier can foretell of cancellations. If only Jensen had a bit more foresight as the 3 of Wands suggests he lacked.

It seems in his arrogant approach as a so called "veteran" actor in taking away the spotlight from Drake, Meg, Jojo and the rest of the "apprentice" actors he ironically killed his and his wife's project. Perhaps he should've followed Jack Wyatt's approach and listened when fans asked legitimate questions and expressed genuine concerns about the storyline of the show. Instead Jensen chose the path of not listening to anyone else and even said something along the lines of "if people don't like the show, were they ever fans to begin with?"

So... to answer your bottom line question about Drake and Jensen's overall relationship. This reading 100% states Drake needs to trust his own instincts more. It also indicates that Drake was side-blinded quite a few times by Jensen and perhaps is not really seeing the entire picture. Clearly Drake sees Jensen as someone to look up to and seek career advice from because "he's a good actor with a lot of experience and knowledge in the entertainment industry". A father figure so to speak, and perhaps sees the rest of the cast of The Winchesters as "a family" and is part of the extended "spn family". However, Jensen quite frankly has talked a big game since he left Supernatural which can be seen in the clothing he chooses to wear and even in the things he's said as aforementioned in this post. Frankly, his career is not on such a high note currently. It seems the failure of The Winchesters may have served as a bit of a reality check for Jensen. Not sure if you agree with me here but lately I believe Jensen's been starting to look a little thin, pale, exhausted, and downright depressed.

As for Drake, he clearly is an ambitious, handsome young man who genuinely wants to succeed in the entertainment industry. He may not have been quite the same as JDM's John Winchester, and was criticized for not having the right personality or look to play young John. Casting Drake as John Winchester yet Jensen expecting a Sam Winchester tie to Drake and therefore placing high expectations on him is perhaps indicated in the King of Wands card. I sense Drake has been contemplating on his time on the set of The Winchesters in a more nostalgic way and is in a bit of a recuperation period, which I think is reflected in his reblogging this post on Twitter. It sees he was quite thrown off guard and shocked about the announcement of Jensen and Danneel's Chaos Machine Productions entering a deal with Amazon and Jensen. Jensen has withheld a lot of things from Drake I suspect but also has given some good advice to Drake at the same time based on what he said in an interview Drake did in April.

I know this was a longer answer and such but I hope that you found this insightful and interesting. Thank you again for this ask!

#anti danneel #anti jenneel #anti elta #spn family #supernatural #psychic #divination #celebrity readings #drake rodger #the winchesters #spn cast #jensen critical #anti spn prequel #tarot card readings

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recklessjerry · 1 year

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So if anyone remembers that Meddling Kids post I've made a while back, I decided to develop the idea a bit further and I guess this is the introduction of the main cast of the TTR prequel :3

Most of these guys and gals were already introduced in their objecthead forms and these are their human+teen versions, since this prequel takes place several years before TRR.

Some of my other old characters will also make an appearence there, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna draw them or not...

#my oc #draw tag #red ribbons #cassidy o'neill #jordan hartingham #davey rutherford #richard o'neill #maria patterson #nicole hastings

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zoe4math · 8 months

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I have watched the Hamefura movie!

The movie came out in the country where I live, and I watched the premiere of it.

Actually, I don't really know how to express my feelings after watching it, but I still want to talk about it. (Warning: I may use some weird words and grammar. It's just because I am too excited, and I wish you can understand🥹)

Oh, and there are some spoilers, so please skip this article if you don't want to be spoiled.

And there is a more logical impression from @maboroshi-no

Ok 3 2 1 Let's start😀

I am amazed at the beautiful background of the movie, and the castle and the tent are wonderful(I didn't even remember the castle being so luxurious, and there was even a fountain!?)

The show of the caravan was wonderful! They even had a new song in that scene.

Geordo and Keith are really funny. Geordo is like, "Oh, 'cause I have a fiancee while you don't, so you should take this mission. Haha, and don't you think it is good to marry a princess?"

Even though I don't know why Keith is a little blushing after Nicol tells him that Geordo thinks that they are important to him, but aren't their relationship beautiful? I believe they can be together if there are chances.

I keep screaming something in my heart like, "Too close too close too close" when Princess Qumiit clings Alan, though I know Qumiit is a male...he even hold his arm and he...my God...

The back story of Aaqil is really tearing...

The battle between the sacred beast and the main characters is extremely eye-catching, and their magic is fabulous!(Geordo really can ride a horse!😲)

In truth, everything happens too fast that I sometimes feel in haste and wish they can slow down the pace. (I can't even remember plenty of details after watching it)

I was surprised by the vision effects and the music. They attracted my attention from the first moment to the last second.

I thought that there would be some romantic scenes between Catarina and her childhood friends, but in fact, most of the romance is focusing on the interaction between Catarina and Aaqil.

And there is no extra anime after the movie, I'm so upset about it...😢

But in conclusion, this is a marvelous movie, and I will surely watch it again if possible!

#hamefura #my next life as a villainess #hamefura movie #catarina claes #geordo stuart #keith claes #mary hunt #alan stuart #sophia ascart #nicol ascart #maria campbell #Aaqil #my next life as a villianess all routes lead to doom

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banisheed · 1 day

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TIMING: Recent LOCATION: Wicked's Rest State Park PARTIES: Nicole (@nicsalazar) & Siobhan (@banisheed) SUMMARY: Nicole must deal with a stranger who claims to be boning. CONTENT: no warnings

It was a good day to get boned. If Siobhan was being technical, which she was wont to do, it was always a good day to bone. Boning was an art she had perfected; no one boned like she did. Today, she was boning in the state park, which was her favorite place to bone considering that the likelihood of a human interrupting her intimate boning sessions was low. She liked to bone in peace, was that so wrong? A banshee ought to be allowed her private boning sessions. In some ways, maybe she was glad to be out of Ireland; there was no peace to be had boning there. If you wanted to bone, there were half a dozen other banshees that eyed that same place for boning. Siobhan had fought banshees off enough femurs to understand the relief of a solo bone session. Yes! It was wonderful to be here, in this horrible country, in this city that she didn’t care for, far away from home, boning! Indeed, it was a good day to get boned.

The firecracker pop of a branch behind her stirred her attention up like a prey animal; Siobhan stared between the tree trunks. The sun hit the tip of her steel trowel, shooting a ray into her eye. She groaned and dropped it and with it, the phalanx she’d just dug up. Blind, she groped around for her bone-bag—the banshees of Ireland would descend on her treasures with hunger and the instincts of boning were hard to dislodge. She caught the strap of the black duffel bag and yanked it towards her. The results of her boning tumbled out: a mandible, a sternum, a tibia, even a pubis. It was, after all, a good day to get bones. She hadn’t identified them yet, she wanted to be in the comfort of her own home, out of the heat. She didn’t dress for the weather, she never dressed for the weather. Today she dressed like she planned on robbing a bank: black cargo pants (pockets for bones) and a black turtleneck (bones could be kept in the collar) and black gloves (she just liked gloves). Maybe she would rob a bank later, the day was still young.

She stood up quickly, kicking aside her tools. “I’m trying to bone,” Siobhan said, aggrieved. It didn’t occur to her that boning meant something else to the humans. She only knew the true meaning of the word: the way that she used it. “This is a park; I’m allowed to bone here.” In truth, she didn’t know if she was, but she also didn’t care either way. In fact, it was more desirable to her if she wasn’t allowed to. She’d gone off the trails thinking it would make finding her impossible. The sun cleaved her eyes, and even holding her hand up and squinting, she couldn’t make out the figure approaching. How had someone found her? This spot radiated death; something big was buried beneath her feet and she wanted it.

The pockets of her cargo pants were also good for knives. Her hand crept towards one on her thigh.

—

Nicole was at the station filing incident reports moments when her radio pinged. She stopped swaying on her chair and leaned forward, picking up the device and snatching a pen in case she needed to write something down. It wasn’t abnormal to move around the park, take on different roles, put out different fires. The crew was too reduced due to the dangerous conditions to stick to one job only. Most days, she was everywhere: the stations, the trails, the exhibitions, the gift shops, as were the other rangers, adapting to different demands. Whether it was injured wildlife, or issues at different campsites, or a collapsed trail, Nicole had to be ready to answer the calls and do her best to solve problems.

Some calls, admittedly, were less common than that. Hastings was radioing her to inform her about a suspicious looking figure, dressed in all black, venturing away from the marked area of the Whispering trail. He spotted it while guiding a group of tourists around the park and couldn’t turn around to deal with it. He trusted her to figure out what was happening. Hardly sounded like something to worry about, so Nicole ended the call, grabbed the keys to the vehicle and set out in the direction of the Whispering trail.

When she was there, it was a matter of finding the mysterious figure. She parked at the trailhead and continued by foot, aiding herself with her heightened senses to pinpoint human presence in the area. The footprints helped too. They suggested an odd choice of footwear to be trekking in the park. Perhaps, Hasting was correct in his assumption that there was more to this than a hiker with a love for the color black. Nicole walked slowly, quietly, knowing it was in her best interest to be silent around the trail. It didn’t get its name for no reason. But the fucking branch she stepped on had different plans. Fucking— She froze, gaze shifting amidst the trees, waiting on something to pounce. Blood pounded in her ears, until a feminine voice came through. Nicole decided against yelling at her to keep her mouth shut, because at least, the suspicious black figure revealed her location.

Nicole wasn’t alarmed by the woman admitting her intentions for the hike. Slightly weirded out, sure, but not alarmed. Couples looking for intimate places in the forest— she’d encountered a few of them, unfortunately. It was always awkward and embarrassing for everybody involved. For her sake, Nicole hoped the woman and whoever she was with had all their clothes on. The sun breaking through the cracks illuminated the dirt path ahead of her, and Nicole trudged through the bushes and overgrown roots following the sound of the woman’s voice until she was in front of her. All black clothing in place, thank fucking god. However, nobody else accompanied her, and Nicole wondered if she misunderstood what was happening.

She rubbed her jaw, closing her eyes for a second. Did she spot a tool on the forest floor? And a duffel bag? Bones? Yeah, it didn’t make any sense. Her shoulders screamed from the tension building. It was going to be one of those days. Ma’am, she hesitated before continuing to rehearse what she wanted to say. She was likely to test out a few options before opening her mouth. The woman didn’t look much older than she was. Some found that level of respect uncomfortable. Nicole found all levels of socialization uncomfortable. She opened her eyes, “Good—” fuck, what time it was, was it past noon? “Good…uh, m— yeah.” Worst of all, the woman looked familiar. Where would she know that kind of woman from? The fruit aisle at the grocery store? The pet store? A bar? Nicole’s options were limited.

Didn’t matter, she was going to handle this. “Don’t suppose you got a… reasonable explanation for—” she eyed the bag pointedly. No, reason didn’t exist in this town. When would she learn? “If you trying to bury your trash, we got places for that. Will show you, it’s called— the trash can.” She would worry about the trash in question being bones later. She was resolving one issue at the time.

—

“Trash?” Siobhan huffed; the insult stabbed her as though she were the trash in question. The insult worked in layers, much like trash itself: the insinuation that Siobhan would litter, the insinuation that bones were trash, the insinuation that she didn’t know what a trash can was. A cloud passed overhead and Siobhan sighed, relieved that the sun’s unrelenting light was paused. In the temporary dimness, Siobhan regarded the human. She looked familiar. Where did she know her from? The grocery store? The pet store? A bar? Siobhan’s options were rather limited. She didn’t know her from any graveyards; the only people she met there were dead and the woman was—sadly—not dead. However, the state of living was mutable. Siobhan’s various knives sang a resounding “use me” in her head but there was something gaudy about a stabbing in a place like this. This state park seemed to beg for some cliff-pushing.

“This….ealaín isn’t trash.” Siobhan gestured to everything scattered at her feet. The cloud moved along and the sun returned and suddenly Siobhan drew a conclusion as to the woman’s familiarity: she was dressed just like the strange, unfashionable humans that dotted the park. It was some sort of cult, she guessed. A strange cult that seemed to boast authority over the trees. They told her things she never listened to, such as how she wasn’t allowed to write messages in ‘red paint’ around campsites. Like the woman, they insulted her with their insinuations. She’d never be so tacky as to use red paint, it was blood. “The only trash here is your clothes. You look like you’re going to have a business meeting with a squirrel.” And she looked like she’d lose the meeting and the squirrel would run off with all her money.

“And I do have a ‘reasonable explanation’: I’m boning. I said that. Don’t look at me like you don’t know what being boned is. I could bone you but…” She eyed her silly outfit up and down; she didn’t even want her bones. Siobhan waved her hand out, shooing the woman like an animal. “Go on. This is sexy woman business.” Siobhan paused. “Actually, do you happen to know where the nearest cliff is?” She grinned. “Say, one as big as—oh, for example, if one were to push you off it, one where you would die a slow and delicious death? One about that tall?” She imagined shattered spines.

—

Nicole was on the slower side intellect wise. Stupid, but aware, if such a distinction could be made. Possibly why she managed to fool a couple of her coworkers into believing she was more capable than she was. Her eyes, however, worked perfectly, better than most. So the woman’s clarification was both unwanted and unnecessary. Sure didn’t stop her from opening her mouth, though. Why would it? “It’s— bones, I know—” she interjected, a hint of irritation edging her words. Did the woman believe her actions would somehow make more sense to Nicole by clarifying the bag’s contents?

Her forehead creased, frown more pronounced when she heard the comment on her uniform. Nicole wasn’t going to let her get on her nerves. She wasn’t. This was absurd. But it didn’t stop the growing annoyance slowly replacing her confusion. The muscle in her jaw jumped as she clenched her teeth. “What are you— Squirrels don’t—” She buried the rest of the sentence with a sharp exhale. The woman was right, and Nicole hated it. Almost as much as she fucking hated the uniform, it was beside the point. She had to wear it no matter what. At least summertime allowed her to swap the button-up for a T-shirt. Not switching to shorts, though. She would never wear those. Thankfully, she left the hat in the vehicle. If she already looked stupid, she didn’t want to know what commentary the woman would have on that.

The conversation was going nowhere. The stranger repeated her initial explanation, and Nicole should’ve seen it coming. “Right— You keep saying that like it makes sense” boning was sex, no? Even she knew the term. Unless definitions changed drastically during the years the jaguar trapped her in the zoo. The woman wasn’t here for that, no. But she had bones with her— A heaviness set behind her eyes. Some connection existed there, but where? What the fuck was she planning to do with— Her eyes widened. Did… did the woman…shoo her?

Somebody else would’ve been offended or hurt by the diss. Nicole didn’t have the time or the energy to care about her appearance. She knew it wasn’t an issue. If anything, after all those years the jaguar exiled her from her own body, she was thankful she had one at all. Regardless of how the woman liked it or not. “In that case, we should both go then,” she grumbled, pointing back to the trail with a curt nod of her head. Whatever attractiveness this woman did or didn’t possess was repelled by her attitude. She wasn’t sane, that became evident. Who would bluntly admit wanting to kill somebody? Nicole took her murder intentions calmly, brain trying to piece together a reasonable explanation. It was impossible not to wonder about the woman’s mental well-being. Did she lick one of the mushrooms around the park? Happened twice last week, that they knew of. Rangers didn’t put nearly enough signs to discourage visitors.

She reached for her radio, and considered calling Hastings, rope another ranger or two. But she didn’t act on it, thumb hooking on the belt instead. Nicole was capable of handling one odd woman. The park was full of them. But she couldn’t figure out if this one was dangerous or simply a nuisance. She wasn’t going to disclose cliff locations, logically, but half an idea formed in her head. “Don’t know, maybe I do,” for once her lack of facial expressions would help. “Been to every summit in the park. But— You don’t sound like the kind of person I’d— share that with. Don’t wanna be pushed off a cliff, you understand.” she glanced at the bones scattered on the ground. The size ruled out they belonged to humans. “Why don’t you explain what you do with the bones first?”

—

Siobhan wasn’t sure that she liked this woman. She had a nasty habit of cutting her own sentences off, which was irritating, but on the other hand it meant she didn’t have to hear a full sentence from her, which was nice. In the end, it left a confusing taste in her mouth. The only words she enjoyed hearing were “yes” and “you’re sexy”; the woman gave her a lot of “no” and inane questions. “It’s boning. I’m being boned. These are bones.” Was it so hard to understand? Human minds always seemed to be shrinking; it must’ve been all the Ticky-Toks and processed foods. Any big, wrinkly brained human would’ve fallen to their knees weeping, praising her beauty and cutting the bones out of their bodies themselves.

Siobhan stumbled back, pierced by the unfashionable-woman’s words. She crushed a phalanx under her wilderness-inappropriate heels. “What do you mean I don’t sound like someone you want to share a large, dangerous cliffside with?” She could understand the sentiment, she hardly wanted to share one with herself, but to be told that so brazenly was a shock. “I’ll have you know I’m very…very…” Very what? By her own doing, she wasn’t friendly. She enjoyed the sound of her voice too much to care to listen to other people. She was impatient, irritable, and arrogant. She didn’t like herself, she didn’t make herself into someone to be liked; she wasn’t meant to be enjoyed, she wasn’t born to be palatable. “Very sexy,” she said, as though it made her agreeable. It did to some people. The shallowness of humans was, ironically, a deep well for her to pull from. When it didn’t work, there was nothing to reach for.

“I collect them,” she admitted with a measure of shyness; honesty tended to make her blush. “I—what do you mean you wouldn’t share a cliff with me? I’m very—maybe I didn’t want to share a cliff with you anyway.” Siobhan’s hands curled to fists at her side. Why did this suddenly bother her so much? To be the sort of woman that couldn’t be trusted around a cliff was the sort of woman she wanted to be. Yet, to be told so, to have it admitted to her…. There was no control here, Siobhan told herself. Yes, that was it. She needed control and this woman took it from her by deciding she wouldn’t show her a cliff. Siobhan was a contrarian; yes, that was it. She liked to do the opposite of a thing. If the woman said she wasn’t the sort to share a cliff with, then Siobhan wanted to be the sort. Yes, yes, all of this was it, and nothing more. Nothing else.

“I wouldn’t push you off a cliff today,” she said. Tomorrow though, probably. And any day after that, definitely. “Why don’t you…” Siobhan tried to smile the nice way, not in her usual smirk. Her cheeks ached; was she doing it right? “Why don’t you show me one? I love a nice vantage point. I’m a little like a bird in that way.” Her mind flicked to Jade and the I-Piss. Jade would show her a cliff. “Are you familiar with Nelly Furtado? No, never mind, that’s not relevant.” Siobhan knelt, picking up the worn skull of some bird. She strode towards the woman, displaying the delicate bone in the palm of her hand. “‘We are the birds that stay.’ To see the blue horizon is a simple pleasure; the tops of trees like wild nests. This land is beautiful, don’t you worship it? Don’t you want to share it with a soul seeking salvation?” And as she believed that the woman’s attire meant she was a part of the strange tree authority cult, she meant the question with complete sincerity.

—

“Sure… not seeing the—” What was the word Nicole was searching for— what did sexiness have to do with bones, boning or anything? “Correlation, don’t see the correlation.” And she doubted whatever explanation the other woman provided would be satisfactory. She expected more confusing words, strange behaviors and dead threats from her. “Sounds exactly like I said. Wouldn’t share a cliff with you.” Yet she had the nerve to be offended by Nicole’s negative to share information on the park’s landscape. And why the fuck was the word sexy being uttered again? Was this— a prank? Hastings' call was strange from the start, she should’ve read more into it. But why? Was there some noteworthy date she forgot about? She was fairly confident her birthday already passed. Sometime in— June?

She glanced at the woman, looking and sounding far less theatrical when she spoke again. Was that it? “Ah,” Nicole said to fill the silence she required to process the information. Collecting. That was less odd. People collected weird shit all the time, didn’t they? Museums collected bones too. Why the fuck wouldn’t she say so from the start? She remembered Yadiel, when he was ten, going through a phase where he kept all those stickers on fruit. Her mom didn’t find it so amusing when he stuck them in the closet drawer, though. She didn’t know what to do with the sudden memory of her brother. She didn’t want it, not now. If only that was something she could control. “Shouldn’t you— collect them somewhere safe?” not a closet drawer, or the middle of the forest. “They’ll get stolen here—” she trailed off, eyes drifting to the duffel bag, then the tool.

Something else clicked. Possibly, the one thing that should’ve clicked from the start. She wasn’t collecting them inside the park, she was here to pick up new items for the collection. “Ah,” Nicole breathed again, embarrassment flushing her neck. She was unsure if the explanation was reasonable like she wanted it but— she appreciated the truth. “Alright,” she accepted it, a new assortment of questions quickly spinning in her head. How could the woman find so many bones in the short time she was in the park? Were collectors that talented? She didn’t ask any. She hated the phrase “ignorance is bliss” but— sometimes. Only sometimes, she could see value in it.

Why was the woman switching back? Acting as if Nicole was wronging her for not wanting to die. She was used to being confused, but this was completely different territory. “What? You don’t want to share a cliff. You wanted to push me off it,” and why, were those words she had to speak out loud? She frowned, looking more perplexed by the second. Her face would freeze like that, surely, if she continued to talk to the woman. At least the murder offer was put on the back burner. For one day. Nicole liked that, she very much wanted to live. The breath that caught in her throat felt like a laugh, but why would she laugh about anything the absurd woman said?

Deciding it was safe to go ahead and take the visitor where she wanted, and hoping it had all been an acute case of miscommunication, Nicole opened her mouth to agree. Before she could, the woman picked up something from the ground and walked toward her, carrying it in the palm of her hand. What was this, was she being offered a bone? “Not touching that,” her lips pressed into a thin line, her best attempt at a polite smile. Her eyes landed on the bone, briefly, because the alternative was staring at the strange woman who five minutes ago wanted to murder her. More words were spoken, and it was uncomfortable. Was she— was that poetry? A song? Who the fuck was Nelly Furtado? Was it the woman’s name? She was receptive to the tone, however, despite all the fancy words making it hard to follow. She chanced a glance, and to her surprise, the woman looked sincere. She supposed her voice wasn’t nearly as grating when she wasn’t dishing out dead threats either.

But they were talking too much, Nicole was increasingly aware of the fact. She didn’t want to do that in this particular trail. And risk drawing one of those creatures the trail was infamous for. “Pick up your stuff, I’ll—” she let out a defeated sigh, “there’s one close. Not great for pushing— one of the best views, though,” the bed of bushes directly underneath didn’t leave her mind either. Precautions. She waited until the woman grabbed all her bones to move. She was not walking ahead, offering her back to be shoved when she least expected it. “You know— Nobody would think anything of you if you weren’t… dressed like that.”

—

To reject a gifted bone was a terrible insult in banshee culture. Possibly because it was extremely difficult for a banshee to deny the liberation of a bone and so it must’ve meant that the other banshee was deeply and truly hated. This human couldn’t have known what she did, but Siobhan was wounded nonetheless. No one had ever rejected her bones before and she felt that even Regan would’ve accepted it. Siobhan slipped the skull away into one of her many cargo pant pockets where it clinked harmlessly against the other tiny bones there. She searched for her usual haughty anger but grasped only at hurt. It was a nice bone and she’d offered a line of poetry with it. Siobhan strode back to her bag, hips swinging as she was still in heels and the ground was uneven and she never learned how to walk like she wasn’t trying to seduce the air. She knelt down and stuffed her bones back into the bag and slung it over her shoulder. She was definitely going to push this woman off of a cliff now.

“Dressed like what?” She asked, more than a little annoyed now after the terrible insult paid to her. And then there was the matter of the heat. Siobhan had never fared well in it: she was a banshee and a winter child and dressed with funeral colors almost exclusively. Sweat beaded around her forehead. “With the utmost offensive I don’t think I want fashion advice from someone who looks like they could be posing next to a department store catalog lawnmower.” She grumbled. “This is work clothing,” she said. “Clothes for boning,” she said. “Normally there would be more cleavage; I don’t dress like this.” Siobhan wiped her sweat away. There were more murders in summer, she thought suddenly. “In fact, if you hate this so much…”

Siobhan dropped her bone bag suddenly, a move she’d regret later, and pulled her black sweater off. “There,” she said, stuffing it inside her bag and pulling it back over her shoulder. Immediately, her pasty, freckled skin screamed red under the sun. She had enough sense to keep her glamor on but not enough to have applied sunscreen; she didn’t think she needed it. Still, it was a relief to be out of her shirt. The cool wind grazing her sweaty skin was a feeling comparable to boning. “Happy?” She scowled. She could feel herself burning but said nothing about her glowing red skin. She tried to keep walking under the shadows where possible. “I don’t care what people think,” she said, “least of all you.” Never mind that she’d done this because of what the woman thought. If she made another comment, the pants were going next.

Siobhan’s black bra was also ill-suited for the weather and ill-suited for physical activity and though she’d been uncomfortable before, each step propelled her into new states of discomfort. “How close is it?” She’d push the woman and be done with it and sleep inside the big freezer she used for dead bodies.

—

Nicole didn’t think she was getting a headache. She knew it. The pressure behind her eyes grew heavier and unrelenting the longer she spent time with the woman. Why was she so abrasive one moment and then acted— acted what? Strange. Childish. Nicole watched her pick up her bones like a kid who was chastised and had to put away her toys. Nicole didn’t get it. Though there wasn’t much she got about anything in the first place, it wasn’t surprising. Once it was all over, at the very least she would be an interesting story to share back at the station. She should focus on that.

The woman seemed annoyed as she stood, ready to go visit the promised cliff. Good. Nicole didn’t allow herself the satisfaction of pissing someone off too often. It went beyond the type of interaction she was comfortable with. The snarky back and forth would make her anxious. But this woman deserved contention. What was the— a taste of her own medicine. English idioms were fucking absurd. The woman defended her outfit and the corner of Nicole’s mouth twitched, one side curving imperceptibly. It wasn’t a smile, she lied to herself. “And this is mine,” she pointed out, hand pulling down the hem of her shirt. One thing was true though, she wasn’t the person who should be offering any kind of advice. “Fucking hate it. Can’t do much about it,” she shrugged. She didn’t know what effect it was supposed to have on visitors. It didn’t inspire authority. To Nicole, it almost felt like dressing like a clown.

“Don’t hate yours, I’m saying it draws too much—” Nicole didn’t finish her sentence, eyes widening when the woman dropped her bag and started… undressing. What the fuck— “I didn’t— I wasn’t— I meant… the black. Nothing wrong with—clothes are fine. No— not everything. Those aren’t hiking shoes,” she looked down, eyes darting on the ground instead of the woman flashing her. Though could a bra be considered— This was a prank, of course. And now her coworkers came out from behind the trees and everybody would have a laugh. She’d try following along, but in reality, she’d be humiliated. Nobody showed up, however. It was only them on the trail, the realization that it was a real human interaction she was having sinking slowly. “You always take things to an extreme?” she questioned with a scowl, glancing up at the woman. She kept her eyes from wandering anywhere but… the vicinity of her face. Because she couldn’t look her in the eyes either.

“Right,” if the woman didn’t care about her opinion she had a weird way of showing it. Nicole couldn’t take any word that came out of her mouth seriously. Once she was done with her little show, Nicole was able to expand on her initial comment. “All black makes you look like a fucking cartoon robber,” what was so wrong about gray, or that military green, or brown? She processed her words, and her eyes widened in fear. “Keep the rest though, please” she added, for safety measures. This was not the type of woman she should be interacting with. Where were the simple people? Nicole needed at least one more year of being back in the human world to be able to deal with her.

Hoping no other acts of exhibitionism would be committed, Nicole turned her attention to the path ahead. The other was ready to go too, it appeared. Not that she trusted anything or anyone at the moment. Logic and reason were buried on the ground where the bones used to be. “Ten or fifteen—” she huffed out an answer, casting a side glance when they finally got on the road. Was it too much to hope for a quiet stroll? “Could be more, with inappropriate footwear,” she reached behind her, searching for something in her back pocket. She held out a small tube of sunscreen for the other woman. She had a feeling she would be bright pink in no time. “It’s no bone but— uh, will keep you protected”.

—

What was the world coming to? Did the humans think of their cults as work now? Siobhan grumbled, trudging over uneven ground, kicking the occasional rock. In her time, cults were a fun hobby, not work. “Take it up with your leader,” she said. “You shouldn’t walk around looking that ugly. It’s insulting.” Even the usual black cloaks were more flattering. She kicked a few more rocks, most tumbled back down to her feet, so she kicked them again. She wished she was still boning. Even to prove a point, or whatever it was she was trying to do—the whim melted out of her mind with the heat—this was one step too far. All this physical labor for what? A cliff? Why couldn’t she just stab her? Watching humans spatter like crushed insects was fascinating, yes, but now, with all this walking, was it even worth it? Siobhan counted at least ten good stabbing spots in the woman’s back. Oh, but it was so hot. Why even bother with that?

Energy drained out of Siobhan quickly and only stubbornness kept her moving. “Am I not hiking in these shoes?” Poorly, she thought, each step threatened a twisted ankle. “They are shoes I am hiking in. Ergo, hiking shoes.” Her grip on her bag tightened. “Extremes?” Her laughter shot up like a howl, sending one poor bird flying off in a lopsided flight. “Live long enough, and mild becomes synonymous with boring.” Which was a rather verbose way to say yes, she realized. Did she always talk like this? And in this weather? Under these circumstances? Maybe she ought to start grunting one word at a time. “I am a robber,” she said. There was no praise for her straightforward response, which disappointed her. She gave up any attempts to speak less immediately.

“Ten or fifteen what? Feet? Miles? Minutes?” Siobhan scowled at the distance. Could the woman be leading her astray? She wanted to go back to her house now—she missed the air conditioning. Siobhan snatched up the sunscreen. She squeezed the cool cream into her hand and spread it across her red shoulders. She offered no thanks, despite how her skin was soothed. She ought to have rejected it, as the woman did to her bone, but the day was getting to her. “How far away is it now?” She asked. And again, not even a full minute later: “How about now?”

—

“My… leader?” Somehow, Nicole managed to look dumbfounded. As if she didn’t learn by now who her hiking partner was. Did the woman truly not know the National Park Services? She walked slowly, due to the other’s poor choice of shoes, as well as her own paranoia. She didn’t trust her not to do something if she kept her back toward her for too long. “My… leader,” she repeated, kicking one of the rocks that landed by her feet. Tossing it as far away from the trail without much effort. “Out of my control, I guess. Too high up the chain. Will have to keep— offending you with my ugliness,” she shrugged, half a smirk reaching her lips at the thought of insulting the woman simply by existing in a stupid uniform. Better than any real confrontation, Nicole figured, and carried on.

The woman wasn’t wearing hiking shoes. Didn’t matter what bullshit argument she was spewing, she had to know that. So, no, Nicole didn’t fall for the bait, tempting as it was. It wasn’t often she was certain about things, she would’ve enjoyed the chance to call out her terrible outfit and footwear, but— better keep her mental peace than get roped into another pointless discussion. Her silence seemed to be an affront to the other woman, whose howling laugh made Nicole flinch. Her eardrums were intact, but she wished she had her earplugs with her, should another one of those… attacks come. She tensed as the bird flew past them. Knowing they were stepping away from the dangerous areas of the trail wasn’t enough, she grabbed the woman by the wrist and rushed her as much as her stupid, inappropriate hiking shoes allowed. She almost told her not to try that laughter again, but— don’t must sound like do in the other woman’s head, so she relented.

Why did she continue to speak and act as if she was much older than Nicole? it made no fucking sense. A decade older at most, no? She clenched her jaw, fighting the snappy remark long enough that her exasperation vanished. “Live long enough, you revert to acting like a child?” she asked flatly, though she admitted to herself— At this point, she was intrigued.

The admission that she was a robber would have been concerning, if Nicole could take anything that came out of the woman’s mouth seriously. That ship sailed long ago. Granted, she kept that piece of information in the forefront of her mind, should it become relevant at any point. Though it was difficult to keep anything important in her head, when there was a persistent voice chiming in behind her. “Minutes,” she grumbled. Did she forget to say that part aloud? Shit. It happened sometimes. Her mouth got tired and stopped uttering words. Sometimes, they stayed in her head, in a senseless mess that couldn’t be untangled, so they didn’t get a chance to come out. When the other accepted the sunscreen, Nicole kept her eyes ahead, paying little attention. “Make sure to get your back,” not that her polite advice would be well received, of course.

And if Nicole briefly hoped that her gesture would be perceived as conciliatory, those hopes were stomped on the ground by inadequate shoes when the woman called out, asking when they would arrive at their destination. Nicole let out a weary sigh. Should she let herself be pushed now? It would end this painful interaction, after all. A broken rib was potentially less horrible. She was finding joy in pissing her off, surely. She couldn’t allow that. “We’ll get there when we get there, you’re the one who wanted the cliff, no? Can take you to one of the exits, if you prefer.” What else could Nicole have done? This wasn’t a woman who would’ve taken a ‘please step out of the trail’ kindly. “So what is it?”

—

There was no relief under the unrelenting sun. The merciful trees shielded her as much as their pitiful branches could, but scorching rays of heat dappled through the leaves. It wasn’t this bad back with the bones and Siobhan guessed her misery must’ve been a combination of things: the woman’s ugly fashion and general unpleasant attitude; the physical labor; the wasted time; the lack of bones; her own blistering annoyance at everything. “Not a child,” she whined like one. “How many times can you stand the same words? The same events? How long until predictability grinds your mind to a paste? The same things over and over again—if your life is boring, you lose your years. The passage of time turns to sludge.” Siobhan’s grip on her bag tightened as she tried to remember the years she passed in exile. As humiliating as her false commands were, they were all she remembered. In forty years, what remained were a handful of hope drenched moments. Everything else was the unending, unrelenting shame.

“Is that what you want?” She added, allowing her bitterness to keep her legs in motion. “To forget your life? A lack of fun is merely a lack of life.” In someone else’s mouth, it may have sounded inspirational, but Siobhan intended nothing of the sort. She pulled the words from her throat with an acrid conviction; as much a product of her current state as it was her hatred for this truth—wouldn’t it be nice to be boring? She couldn’t bear it for long, the self-hating itch of her mind burned as terribly as the sun. Forty years, she thought. If she had to pass another second like that again, waiting for nothing, she’d shatter the world. How could she endure anything so monotonous again for the rest of her centuries? It was better, always, to live in extremes.

It was easier too. In extremes, one did not need to think. Siobhan had never been very good at thinking for herself. “I can’t reach my back,” she said. In truth, the act of rubbing one’s own back was an embarrassingly ungraceful gesture. “I’m not going to try. Are we there yet or not?” Clearly not, the horizon was still swallowed up by tree trunks. The exits were tempting; each human-made path of trampled grass pulled her attention. And she watched them until the trees swallowed them too. She liked to think each of those paths led back to the parking lot, where she desperately wanted to go.

“No,” Siobhan said. She didn’t know which way the official exit off this trail was, but eventually the sliced paths between the trees thinned out until there was only the trail they walked and she knew that leaving now would probably be a longer trip than simply finishing what they started. “You’re stuck with me. In fact, we’re glued together. Forever. Always.” Siobhan liked the idea only because she thought it would horrify the woman. How terrible was it to be going about your tree cult business with someone like her trailing behind? “I’m going to come back every day. I’m going to be boning. I’m going to find you. I’m going to remind you that your fashion is ugly.” She smiled, now accepting the unrealistic idea as the fuel for her jellied legs. If only she could get to the cliff, and then turn this woman’s life into a nightmare as punishment for…well, actually, this was her idea.

“Are we there now?” Siobhan punished herself enough; she was full of punishment, unable to make room for one more. It would simply have to be deferred to this unfashionable cult member.

—

“Could’ve fooled me,” Nicole argued under her breath when the woman whined childishly, after being called childish. She seemed to believe she had to prove Nicole wrong, if the weird existential rant that followed was anything to go by. Nicole frowned, hearing words she only understood on a surface level, growing annoyed with herself for being unable to keep up when the other was trying to outsmart her. She shook her head, “Got the wrong person, I don’t think about that stuff,” she opted to lie, in hopes of getting out of a conversation erring into a more serious discussion. “But you got me, I’m not fun—or have a life. Suits me fine.”

After what had to be the third or fourth insinuation that the woman was something beyond human, Nicole was forced to reckon with the fact. Usually, she preferred making conjectures about supernatural species after lunch. Mornings were often reserved for Nicole to live under the pretense that she worked at a relatively normal job in a slightly weird town. Nothing more. But not even that peace of mind the woman was willing to grant her. Despite her appearance, she claimed to be old. So what? Vampire old? If her reaction to the sun was anything to go by… possibly. Nicole reached for her neck, instinctively brushing the fang marks there. Sure as fuck she didn’t want to find out if her hunch was right.

“I want peace,” she answered curtly. Why should she need more than a dog to care for, walls to keep the cold away, the comfort of a solid mattress and a kitchen to make a warm meal? When she’d lived the alternative, no— when she’d survived the alternative, it was easy to find fulfillment in small luxuries. “I won’t live several lifetimes like you have, though.” Hopefully, she’d reach a hundred in good condition, a sound mind. To make up for the decade she’d lost to the jaguar. That would be nice. The universe repaying her for what it put her through at a young age. She didn’t linger on her hopes and dreams, focusing on the fact that despite living for many years, the other woman didn’t know shit about life either. Nicole had expected years would bring wisdom and experience, but looking at her companion, anxiety wormed its way into her chest. Was she doomed as well?

Hearing complaints about the sunscreen, Nicole shot a judgemental glance back, ignoring the small pang of pity she’d never dare voice. “I’d offer, but I wouldn’t hear the end of it,” going anywhere near a woman who had stated her intentions to push her off a cliff was plain stupid. She shook her head, answering the second part of the sentence instead. No, they weren’t fucking there yet. Like they weren’t two fucking seconds ago, when the woman asked the same question. They were getting somewhere, however. The path twisted before them, the trees growing dense, canopies closing in for long stretches, then trunks peppered along the trail as the sky revealed itself again.

It should’ve been a sight that brought relief within Nicole, a step closer to getting rid of the nuisance she’d stumbled upon, but the woman had a different idea. Stuck. Glued. What? Nicole looked back at her, realizing how pleased she looked for coming up with such an evil plan. She smirked despite herself, because the woman’s vindictiveness made her stride faster, stupid inappropriate shoes be damned. Whatever worked for her. “You sure about that?” She drawled through her smile, tugging at her shirt. “Would have to hand you one of these, if you plan on being glued… voluntary ugliness,” she was thankful the woman didn’t know shit about her, otherwise she might have believed she was joking with her. She wasn’t. Didn’t know how to, of course not. “If you say so. Sounds to me like you’re the only one who’s gonna suffer,” because Nicole was slowly getting the hang of the woman’s tantrums. While she’d never had what it took to be a good conversationalist. If anything, only one of the two would find her silent company aggravating.

“Got no issues with you boning, by the way. Could’ve gotten away with it— if you didn’t dress like you came out of— Scooby Doo,” an information sign ahead of them indicated they were close to the summit. She let out a sigh of relief. “So maybe you didn’t. Want to get away with it, I mean. Maybe you wanted someone to find you,” she mused, forehead creasing. Was that it? Children wanted attention, didn’t they? Most people did, she supposed, though she was foreign to that concept.

Thankfully, they reached the end of their path a moment later. Crisp air filled her lungs, a much needed dose of oxygen after walking up the trail with an argumentative woman behaving in erratic ways. A wide area of foliage and rock extended ahead of them, giving them a panoramic view from one of the highest points in the park. The sun was at its tallest, rays unforgiving on their skin sure, but illuminating the horizon and showcasing the best of Wicked’s Rest woodlands. The sky was a bright blue, with scarce wisps of clouds that refused to give any kind of shade. Sweat beaded her forehead, but it didn’t matter, it all made up for the trek to get there, and the company she’d brought along the way. She breathed out, taking it all in for a moment, heightened senses attuned to the sounds of nature, allowing the vast landscape before her eyes to speak for itself. A minute passed, then she straightened her back, pointing at the distance. “We’re here. Viewpoint over there, careful with the boundary, or—” No, she didn’t know how that sentence was supposed to end, so she refused to finish it. With a nod, she encouraged the woman to go ahead. “Forgive me if I don’t walk farther than this, I have a murder threat to my name”.

—

The apartments weren’t empty, they were filled with dust—it was the thought that coursed through Siobhan’s mind as the woman claimed not to have a life, not to desire fun. She thought of herself—she was always thinking of herself—and the empty apartment. No, not empty. There was the dust and there was her. If she stayed in one long enough, she became convinced she memorized the pattern of the wood grain. What was the point in furnishing a temporary space? What was the point in doing anything else but her duty? Which then, those forty years, demanded that she wait. Siobhan winced as she recalled it. The humid air transformed into the stuffy aroma of an unused space. Surely, the woman had no idea what she was referring to.

“You’re part of a cult,” Siobhan said. “That’s fun. Clearly you need fun. Clearly you need something.” The idea that anyone could live happily with nothing made her shiver. And then, the idea of peace made her laugh. “No such thing as peace.” Siobhan sneered. “Fate will disrupt you; it always does. And what then? Why desire a falsehood? This world has never known peace.” She should’ve asked the woman what she meant by ‘peace’, as Siobhan herself was unconvinced of it and unsure of the exact definition. However, it was more fun to deny it outright. In her estimation, they were beyond amicable philosophical discussions now.

But they were not beyond murder. Siobhan imagined it, yearning. She was going down her mental list of all the different kinds of sharp, pointy things—cleaver, stick, fork, particularly sharp pencil—when the ugly-dressed woman dared to interrupt her again. Nevermind the fact that they were having a conversation. “I was not asking,” she said and then: “no, you will not.” It would be a touch of poetic irony if she used a stick to kill her; killed by the very thing she worshiped in her unfashionable cult. “You are attempting to dissuade me from gluing myself to you. You are attempting to pretend as though it would not annoy you. You lie. I will not have to wear the ugly clothes.” Somehow, she was struck with the rather distinct feeling of being treated like a child. The stick she planned to use transformed into a dull, rusted saw. “You’re the one that will suffer.” She was struck with the rather distinct feeling of acting like a child.

Where was that damnable cliff? “I don’t want to be found. I don’t…” Siobhan’s voice faded away. Didn’t she? Why had she worn the outfit? Because she looked good in it, yes, but who exactly was she expecting to be seen by? No one, of course. But then why? “I don’t wear ugly things, it’s the principle of the matter. The principle of not being ugly. You wouldn’t understand.” But was that enough to explain it? Did that even make sense to her? Siobhan shifted, forever displeased with her own seemingly contradictory nature. “I am not someone who dreams of being found by another.” But wasn’t she?

Where was that damnable—oh, there it was. Siobhan met the cliffside. The tops of trees like a quarry of green greeted her, the glorious sun embraced her, and the cloud waved to her, rolling over head. At once, her unpleasant attitude dissolved; it was impossible to be mean in the face of nature’s beauty. “Thank you,” she said, and spun immediately to the woman with alarm on her face. If she knew to take it, if she accepted it—she swallowed. Maybe she wouldn’t? Maybe— “I take that back. I take that back.” But it didn’t work that way; she’d said it, the fae magic was out there. “I had decided to use a rusty saw to kill you actually,” she said quickly. “Not the cliff. If you wanted to…” Disgusting. Was she really inviting her over? “Do nothing. Do absolutely nothing. Go turn around and leave. That’s what I want.”

—

Park Rangers belonged to a cult, according to the woman. One more reason for Nicole to believe she wasn’t talking to a human. She rarely met people who cared so little about concealing that side of themselves. Hell, she could count the number of people who knew about the jaguar in one hand. Not this woman, no. She was too clueless or too proud —perhaps a mix of both— to care about secrecy. It made their previous misunderstandings slightly less annoying. Only slightly. Nicole couldn’t let the murder threat go. She looked back at the woman, who laughed bitterly. She’d given up acting like a child, speaking instead like the jaded old woman she kept claiming to be, talking about fate being disruptive and shit. Nicole couldn’t figure out exactly what emotion weighed in her throat as the woman gave her verdict, —the world has never known peace— but it was tight, and it dragged down its chest like lead. Didn’t she know that too? Didn’t fate disrupt her life at every turn? Maybe peace was an impossible thing to achieve, but Nicole was stupid, wasn’t she? It was previously established. So she’d keep believing in it, hoping for it. Like the idiot she was. She cleared her throat, the only audible proof that she heard what the other said.

“Not much of a liar,” she grumbled, as the woman doubled down on her “evil” intentions. She kept on walking like she had places to go, finally, so Nicole nourished that energy. “At least you’d have fitting shoes—” Why was the woman attempting to convince her of how awful she was? It was often the other way around, no? People liked to pretend they were better, kinder than what their actions revealed. Nicole trudged past the forest that was her perpetual confusion, determined to follow the conversation. This woman was weird. Contradictory. She was certain that she could cause any of Nicole’s suffering. As if. It was amusing, almost. But the words were consistent with a self-centered monologue. “I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference,” she dismissed the claims. It was meant to be reassuring, though if the woman’s goal was to cause the suffering— it was likely to have the opposite effect.

No, she didn’t understand. The list of things Nicole didn’t understand grew longer with each passing day. The other woman wasn’t achieving anything new. “You’re right. I don’t understand,” another thing they could agree on, regardless. She paid no attention to the empty comments and the woman’s fixation on ugliness. She was full of shit, Nicole gathered as much. If she was honest about not wanting to be found— “Gotta be better at hiding, then. Camo print… next time,” perhaps, left to…bone unsupervised, she’d be able to find the elusive peace she claimed not to believe in.

Cliff-watching didn’t last long. Certainly not for someone who faced the scorching sun to reach the destination. Nicole was wrong, nothing new, it wasn’t a good cliff to push people off. Right, that had to be it. She was displeased, annoyed to be pulled along for this in shoes that looked more like torture devices. The woman didn’t ask for a picture or anything. Nicole considered offering to take one, but again, they were too near the cliffside for her liking. Safety first.

Half expecting a snarky remark after witnessing such a disappointing cliff, Nicole was surprised to hear a thank you. Too abrupt to suppress the expression on her face. She accepted the words with a shrug, aware that she didn’t need them. “You’re welcome, but it’s my jo—” she was cut off by the woman taking her thank you back. Nicole frowned, confusion bringing out a dry laugh, “what— too polite for you?” she almost rolled her eyes, but chose to ignore the outburst. Being thankful seemed to disturb the other woman to the point she needed to get back to making death threats. Fucking weird. Nicole hummed, eyes narrowed. It was a much weaker attempt, though. “You won’t find one big enough,” she dared her, emboldened by her logic. If the woman expected her to cower in fear, she should’ve tried something else. In fact, being friendly to begin with would’ve set off her flight or fight response quicker than cliff-pushing or sawing ever could.

“If I wanted to do— What?” Nicole blinked at the woman. Did she— miss part of the conversation? Shit. She must’ve been too inside her head to realize it. But no clarification was supplied, instead, the woman seemed adamant about going. And do… nothing? What? Nicole looked behind her, in case a wild animal was creeping nearby, causing the sudden shift. No. Only other hikers reaching the summit. “Right. Uh— Can’t do that. Nothing. Doing my job and shit right now, but—” she gestured back to the trail, “if we descend the other way we’ll find my car. I’ll leave you at one of the exits.” She hesitated, looking over at the viewpoint. No picture then? No picture. Her loss. She shuffled back to the trail, waiting for the other woman, eyebrows furrowed tightly as she replayed the conversation in her head. Whatever she missed, she wouldn’t know until she was alone. For the time being, there was a not-too-happy woman right in front of her, finally ready

to leave. “I uh— can make the way back entertaining for you, if this wasn’t up to standards,” her frown eased, a small smirk creeping on her face instead. She made sure they were too far gone from the cliff to finish her thought. “Go over what you can and can’t do at the park. Rules. List is long, got plenty of time.” Torturing could go both ways, no?

—

Siobhan walked alongside the ugly-dressed woman, defeated. She did not bone, as she planned. She did not toss this woman off a cliff, as she wanted. The only victory she could claim was knowing that the woman intended to annoy her, but inside the monotonous drawl of her voice listing things-for-Siobhan-to-do—they were rules and thusly things-not-to-do but to Siobhan they were a to-do list—she found an odd measure of peace. The woman’s voice laid out before them as the sounds of the forest did, underscored by the crunch of Siobhan’s heels. She might’ve seemed tortured—stomping around as though she could stamp out the heat—but her erratic thoughts were scooped out. The section on littering only reminded her that she would litter later; something compostable, she wasn’t a monster. The section on after-hours visitation cemented plans to come in the dark. The woman droned on and Siobhan, a chronic insomniac, was sleepy.

When she crawled into her car, she didn’t consider that it was that feeling—the tension withered from her muscles—that the woman was referring to. Instead, she thought it was odd that a cult should have so many rules. What a boring cult that was and she’d be back to tell the woman all about it.

#the real hero is the cliff #cliff for sale; never used for murder #(ty 2 mary for this fun time)#(ty to nelly furtado for bird)#writing #s2 #c: nicole #a moment of peace

3 notes · View notes