#radford spooky month x reader

[sunny6677]

Photography.

Summary:

In the late month of September, Y/N L/N decides to move back to a town they visited once in the past—with their old friend Radford helping them out with certain difficulties.

However, at midnight a few days later—Y/N decides to go out late at night without realizing how late it is, with the sole intention of using a camera they're particularly sentimental about. But they end up running into some rather spooky company—who end up being the cause of the many faces they end up meeting.

PROLOGUE, PT 2: Unpacking Memories.

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"Geez, dude—sorry about that. I didn't even notice that thing when I walked in."

Radford gave me a soft frown, looking on at me while he bent down right next to the side of my legs. I had my leg positioned upright—my shoe now completely off. Feeling the warm fabric of the bandage he had in his hands slowly wrap more and more around my toe, I nearly breathed out a sigh of relief—even if it didn't get rid of the stinging pain that was in my toe quite yet.

"..mmmh.. no—it's fine." I grumbled, furrowing my brows as the searing pain in my toe didn't seem to fade. "It's not like I really saw it either."

"..are you—sure you wanna unpack everything right now? I can just go ahead and do it for you if you want."

"N—No. No. I can—I can still unpack things just fine. May be a bit hard to walk though." I found myself mumbling in return. Once he lifted his hand away from my foot, I leaned over to grab my shoe, and bending my arms back, I slipped the show on.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Radford raise a brow, and then quickly furrow his own. His lips curling into a frown, he huffed. "..you're kinda stubborn, man."

Feeling mild irritation, I only rolled my eyes while grumbling quietly, "No, I'm not. If anything, you're more stubborn than me."

Huffing again, I finally bent down on my knees, letting my eyes drift over to the several boxes before us. "Anyway.. weren't we supposed to start with the decorations?"

Radford blinked. "Huh?" He then lifted his head, as if it were jolting back. "Oh—yeah! Forgot about that. Uh—here—"

Letting his arms shoot foward, he practically dragged the small box with decorations inside in front of me. From beside me, I heard him shift and move in before adjusting his position and crossing his legs.

Dragging the box closer an inch—he wore a slightly silly smile on his face. A smile that made my own lips began to curl upwards. Rolling my eyes gently, I chuckled.

"Geez.. how'd you forget? It's only been like a few minutes."

"Hey—y'know me!" Radford grinned, his lips slightly quivering from awkwardness. "Not like I can really remember to unpack stuff when you just got your toe stabbed by a nail."

"You asked me if I was sure I wanted to unpacked literally a few seconds ago. What do you mean you can't really remember?"

"Mmh.."

Seeing how he began to pout, I couldn't help but feel a heavy feeling begin to appear in my chest.

"..err.. sorry. I didn't—mean to hurt you, if.. that's what I did."

"What? No! No." Radford shook his head. "You didn't. I just—don't really like being joked about.. like that. Anyway—why don't we focus on cleaning?"

Shooting his arms foward again, he let his hands slowly slip beneath the flaps of the box, and with a swift motion, the flaps quickly came open.

When the flaps came open—I felt an oddly familiar, warm sensation wash over my face. It was.. most likely the dust or something, or just the scent from my old house. But the scent that began to flow through my nostrils right then was so familiar and strong that it felt.. almost as if I were back at my old house.

The sensation was so strong in fact I almost squinted for a moment. But once I had gotten over the sensation, I let my eyes flicker inside. I already knew what was going to be in there, so it.. wasn't as if I really needed to be surprised at anything that was in there at all.

Inside, there were simply several sheets of tiny napkins I usually had for my dining room. Long, strings of beaded lights that were curled up and burying whatever must have been beneath. Seemingly.. seemingly a few photo frames.

As my eyes lingered over the golden frame of what was beneath the beaded lights string, Radford spoke from beside me.

"Alright—lets start with these!"

Radford smiled. His hand shuffled inside of the box, and from out of the box, he slowly slipped his arm out—holding the pastel napkins that were inside in his grasp.

He blinked a few times, squinting. "Why do you have napkins inside of a decoration box?" He asked, shifting his gaze over to me.

"..err.. I dunno. I like making my place look fancy when guests come over."

"..is—" Radford snickered a little, holding up one of them. Seeing it, my expression faltered. "—this supposed to look fancy?"

It was a napkin I.. hadn't used for the dinning table unless I was really certain that whoever was over wouldn't mind me using it. I sort of just bought it a long time ago because I thought it looked funny—but it had text on it that simply read:

"If you're having a great time, stay as long as you like! If you're not having a great time, get the hell out."

A warm flush began to form on my cheeks, and I forced out a quiet laugh. "Heheh.. I.. thought—I thought that.. would have been funny. Heheh.."

"Heh—" Radford giggled from beside me, "Don't get embarrassed over it, man. I buy things I think look funny all the time!"

"..mmh.. yeah. At least it never backfires on you though.."

"..what?"

"Nothing. Uh.. hey—" I lifted my own hands, digging them into the box and pulling out the upper part of the beaded light.

"Why don't we take out these lights? I'll probably just end up putting them around the place later so you're not stuck here decorating my house for me."

"Eheh—I wouldn't mind that!" Grinned Radford. "It's still been a long time since I've seen you."

"Yeah, but it's not like you owe me decorations just because we haven't seen eachother in a while. I wouldn't wanna keep you here forever."

"So? Just cuz I don't owe you anything doesn't mean I don't wanna at least have a reason to talk to you."

"Well.. true. Wa—Wait, why would you need a reason to talk to me? Can't you just tell me if you wanna talk?"

"..yeah, but—mm.. nevermind. That stuffs too complicated."

"..okayy.."

I slowly said, a little unsure of what that meant. Still, I guess being socially awkward was just something everyone had to deal with every once and a while. Maybe even someone like Radford had to deal with it.

Grasping the cord in my hand, I began to slowly slip it out onto the wooden ground—hearing it click and thud onto the surface of the wood as I did so. Radford watched as I did this, slightly smiling to himself before looking back inside of the box. He then blinked a few times, chuckling softly to himself.

"..what? What is it?"

He flashed a quick grin at me, and then shuffled his hand inside for a moment, before pulling out a sticker. A white sticker with a burger with eyes and hands on it. One that I.. still recognized in fact.

Radford smiled, "Dude—you kept that sticker from the one dining place we went to?"

"..uh.." I trailed off, looking at the sticker. "..yeah. I.. I did. Heh."

"Aw, man—this is sick! Haha.." Radford lightly laughed. "We should go there again sometime!"

"Uh—maybe. Might depend on if whatever job I get will give me enough free time to."

"Heheh—don't worryyy! Not like your job won't give you breaks or anything. We can just go when we're both free!"

He looked down at the sticker, his smile weakening.

"..it.. really has been a while since you were here, hasn't it?"

"..yeah. I.. guess it has."

..there was a pause. Then Radford looked up. "You still remember when we first saw eachother?"

"..yeah. That—that was when you first got your movie theater job, I think. Heh.. you looked a lot less taller back then."

"..mmh.."

"Ah—sorry. It—it was fun though! Getting to meet you. Getting to hang out with you a little bit after even if I was only there for a bit."

...

"..that was such a long time ago. It.. feels like such a long time ago. Even if it was only a few years. That.. that was when.."

Noticing my expression, he appeared to realize what I must have been about to say, and a soft look flared in his eyes.

"Uh—hey—why don't we.. not talk about that right now, okay?" He laughed—or at least forced himself to. His voice became slightly more gentle. "I.. I still know that.. moving here must have been hard. You know, with.. everything that went down last time."

"But.." He set a hand on my shoulder, causing me to look up. "You're here now. You have a chance to make stuff better for yourself! Not really any point in being stuck thinking about things that already happened, right?"

"..that's.. true."

I let myself look down at my lap, and I let out a sigh. "..sorry. It's.. hard to think of the last time without thinking of.. y'know.."

"Don't worry. I know. I.. really know how that feels, actually. Just try not to think about it, okay? If anything, I know it's better not to let yourself get all caught up over it."

"..mmh.. well.. okay. Let's keep.. taking stuff out, I guess."

[luzxii]

spooky month characters walk in on y/n who selfharms

characters: kevin, radford, streber, rick

content warnings: self harm, blades, mentions of suicidal thoughts

notes: these headcanons are not intended to romanticize or make light of a serious issue, the goal of this writing is to discourage said actions and encourage those whom are dealing with these things to get help. if you or a loved one is dealing with the things mentioned in text, please reach out to someone you trust. you are loved.

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kevin

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You’ve been working at the Candy store for a while now, you were just having a really bad day.

Kevin creaked open the back door of the candy store, clearly exhausted; asking for some help cleaning up the store before his shift ended.

He stopped in his tracks once he got a good look at you, realizing you were bleeding out.

“ … Y/N?! what are you doING- I– “

 He could barely comprehend what was happening at first. He stood there in shock for a moment, completely frozen in place seeing you like that.

Once he took it in, He panicked. Kevin would stumble up to you and grab you by the hands; trying to stop you from causing any more harm to yourself. He didn’t at all realize that you were feeling like this, a part of him couldn’t help but feel like it was his fault for not being considerate. He couldn’t help but feel anger, not at you but at whatever was making you feel so horrible.

“ shitshitshitshIT.. “

He’d cuss under his breath, trying to keep any blood from getting on him. It clearly hurt him a lot to see you doing this to yourself, just holding your hands; even shaking a little.

He’d just question why, why did you do this to yourself? He understood to a degree however, he himself has had self destructive thoughts even if he never acted on them; especially to the degree of self harm. He was painfully unlucky, especially with Skid and Pump. But he just wished he could’ve stopped this before it started happening.

Kevin stayed for extra time to clean up the blood stains on the floor as well as your arms.

From then onward he said his sarcastic remarks and offhand comments less around you; wanting to be more respectful and considerate now that he knew what you were dealing with.

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radford

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“ I’m ready for the movie! I’ve got some popcorn and everything. “

He barged into your room holding a bag of freshly popped popcorn, a grin on his face; excited for the movie you planned to watch together at your house. The harsh realization of what he walked in on was enough for him to drop the popcorn all over the floor; his grin wiped from his face entirely.

“ …Dude… “

He went really quiet, He seemed heartbroken. He sat right next to you, you tried to cover your arms, but Radford already saw everything.

He took off his glasses, he could see without them; yet his vision was blurry with further objects. He looked at your arm, a big frown on his face. He tried to reach out to it but backed his hand away, not wanting to risk agitating your wounds.

“ How long have you been doing this? Have you told anyone? “

He seemed genuinely concerned, asking question after question to make sure he could help you the best he could. He just had no idea what to do. He wanted you to be happy.. You aren’t his first friend who's self harmed, but he never saw it firsthand and never really prepared to. He just stood by your side and made sure you were safe.

“ You can .. talk to me, y’know? You’re safe here.. “

He’d stick by his friends' sides for anything. He’s helped Kevin and Rick through a lot of things, and he was fully prepared to try his best to help you.

He treated you around the same as before afterwards, yet took your mental health into account and kept it in mind in your interactions.

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streber

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Streber let out a huge gasp at first, springing to you and holding you close, absolutely distraught to see you in so much pain. He didn’t realize it was self harm at first, just seeing you in distress was enough to bring him to this point.

“ Y/N, ARE YOU OKAY!? I’M SO SORRY I WASN’T HERE SOONER! OHMYGOD– “

He trailed off when he noticed the blade you were holding, gazing from it then to you. 

“ Wait. Are you.. You’re hurting yourself, aren’t you?  “

“ I’m sorry, Streber..”

His entire dramatic persona dropped for a second. He was naturally an exaggerated person, but certain topics brought him back down to earth for a moment.

The next thing you knew, Streber began to cry. He was a very emotionally driven, and finding out you were hurting yourself? That definitely was enough to cause him to break. It just made him so distraught to imagine you doing that, he couldn’t handle it anymore.

He yanked you into a hug, weeping into your shoulder. You tried not to stain his shirt with your blood, Streber didn’t seem to care. He loved you, he could put up with a little blood. He wished he could take all of those awful thoughts away from you, he’d take them on himself if it meant he could rid you of them.

From then on he always tried to check up on how you were doing more often,  wanting to make sure you were safe and taking care of yourself.

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rick

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You were silently crying in your apartment room, only to hear your door slowly crack open; to be met with your current roommate Rick.

I headcanon that Rick himself has had a history with suicidal thoughts and self harm, so if anyone can relate to how your feeling; its him.

He wouldn’t say a word, just observing you at first; keeping his blank facial expression with no sign of any emotion. However deep down he just took this situation very seriously, he didn’t want to alarm you or make things worse with excess reaction.

You watched him right back, trying to catch your breath; yet you didn’t feel it was any use hiding yourself near him.

He took the knife from you, stoic as before. Then leaving the room, returning soon after with some plaster bandages and other medical supplies; having put on gloves to avoid contaminating the wounded area.

Rick patiently cleaned your injuries then wrapped the bandaging around them, taking time with every swerve to not risk hurting you any further.

He placed a hand on your back in case you needed extra support once he completed, just staying present near you.

Rick didn’t think he was good at consoling people, but he knew it was unsafe to leave you alone like that for very long.

“ I get how you feel. “

You were still sniffling and he could see it, he’d rub your back up and down and pulled you a little closer.

From that day onward, Rick was able to understand you a little more. He wasn’t one to do or say very much but he tried to show his support in you improving; he knows for a fact that self harm isn’t worth it and that you deserve to get better, even if it's rare for him to say that out loud through his usual pessimism.

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[fivenightsatartists]

I been listening to some musicals (mostly listening to Be More Chill) and my brain just been exploded with a idea of a somewhat Crossover Au with a bit of X reader, let me know if you guys are interested in this....

(Spooky Month + Be More Chill Au) Kevin x Reader

Cast:

-Kevin as Jeremy Heere

-Radford as Micheal Mell (I'M SO SORRY!!! QAQ💔)

-Atticus (Skid's dad) as The Squip

-Reader as Christine Canigula

-Liv as Rich Goranski

-Ethan as Chloe Valentine

-Leon as Brooke Lohst

-Streber as Jenna Rolan

-Aria as Jake Dillinger

-Lila or Jaune??? as Mr. Heere (Jeremy's Dad)

-Jack (maybe???) as Mr. Reyes

Tell me if there's anything wrong in this then I'll change things up but no hate please, and yeah I know the BMC fandom is small and forgotten but I don't care I still love it ಠ︵ಠ

Spooky Month belongs to Sr. Pelo, Be More Chill The Musical (2015) belongs to Joe Tracz, and Reader (you) belongs to yourself

[omnidemidisaster]

Radford smut?

Hes so baby

Radford x gn reader smut

Nsfw warnings: Semi public sex, oral, hair pulling

Well this wasn't exactly what Radford had in mind when you wanted to come to work with him. But here you were..on your knees behind the counter sucking him off.

He bit down on his already bitten lips to try to suppress his noises, but shit...the wetness and warmth of your mouth made his head spin.

Thank GOD he only had to just focus on seating and taking money...and that he was the only one doing it. He briefly looked down at you. You pulled away to look at him, a trail of spit going from your plump lips to his cock head. You gave him a smirk.

"Having fun?" You purred out, tracing his thigh. He sort of shot you a glare, though you could tell he was enjoying himself.

"Knock it off...I swear one wrong move and I'm gonna get in trouble..." He whispered. You mumbled a "yeah yeah" before wrapping your lips back around him. He had a sharp breath go through his teeth, feeling your warmth back around him.

His hand tangled itself in your hair, encouraging you to go on. You let out a small moan, which sent a shiver up his spine.

He guided your head up and down his cock, trying so hard to not make noises. He was just glad barely anyone wanted to see a movie tonight, so if he did make a noise or two it wouldn't be too much of an issue. But still, he had to eat, so he isn't gonna risk anything.

He felt his stomach knot. He couldn't help it anymore and shoved himself down your throat, causing you to whimper. His seed filled up your throat, you letting out a choked whimper. After a minute of swallowing and regaining your composer, you rested your head on his still bare thighs. He looked down at you and softly pet your hair.

"I'm sorry for going a bit rough..hehe..."

You chuckled at his dorkiness. You pulled his pants back up, fixed him from the bottom, and got comfy on the ground.

"Wait...You're actually gonna just nap on the floor...?"

You nodded. Who knew a simple blowjob made you sleepy..well it was also late...

"Well..uhm...here.."

He moved his legs so you could at least rest on something comfortable, or in this case, his legs. He knew that he couldn't just cuddle you and give you proper aftercare now, so this was the best he could work with. Besides, you and him knew that the minute you both got home that he would properly give you the treatment that you deserve.

[speedystarshine]

Radford x reader (spooky month) hcs?

Oh my gosh ofc!! He's so <3 and there's not a lot of fics of him (or any actually idk-) so here you go!!

You didn't really specify so I'm just gonna go general dating hc's :]

First off, in case it's not obvious, he adores you. He's definitely the type to wear his heart on his sleeve, and he likes looking after the people he cares about.

He would be really appreciative if you help him out on his shift (whether or not you work there, if you didn't he would feel kinda guilty 😭) and would get really flustered if you go to meet him while he's working.

He gets so distracted by you when he's working because he loves you so much, the hatzgang kids probably use this as an advantage to sneak in

(minus Robert because they'd get distracted and start a convo and it would probably go something like "oh em gee there's my lil bro and his friends! They look so cute stacked on top of each other in that big trenchcoat 🥰....🤨...wait....")

Absolute worrywart. Did you see how he was with Rick even though they probably weren't close? This kinda prevents him from doing anything risky, especially if police are involved. He mainly cares about your and his safety 😭

Trait I hc he shares with Robert, but he will ramble a lot. It's quickfire too, something like "and then there was a giant bug, it was kinda pretty like you and then it went on my window and then- oh my gosh is that a new console-"

He'll get embarrassed if you point it out, just let the man's speak 😭

Ironic but movie dates? Movie dates. Most of them will probably be at yours, seeing as he literally works at the cinema and you guys could go to his house if your living conditions weren't it, but keep in mind you will never have a moment of peace. I think it's been confirmed he has like four or three siblings?

He probably randomly calls you at three am to talk about the new Pokémon game or smth <3 (try not to kill him-)

Kiss him out of the blue. His entire face lights up red its so worth it I promise habagahan <33

[the-comfort-den]

Fluff alphabet here I come >:)

can I request something with either radford, streber or attiucs?

letters; L, R, K, F

thank you and have an amazing week! :)

Radford:

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

This nerd(pos) would try to use romance movies to confess, using them to try to figure out what to do- before he just stammers out that he likes you!

-

K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Radford is a good kisser after awhile, though he loves kissing your cheek and is really cuddly in general!

Your first kiss with him would be a little fast, a quick peck after a date, but only after you two have been dating for awhile,

-

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

He'd forgive you very easily! Though he'd want to figure out what the problem was and fix it! So if you were just in a mood and ended up loosing your temper a bit(which he'd forgive even more easily since he's done that before- though oddly enough never with you) then he could end up being a little annoying-

Fights with him are never really serious, the most common thing you 'fight' over is movie stuff, like if Batman could defeat Superman in a fight and things like that, and when it's more serious he ends up being a bit of a people pleaser to try to get the fight over with faster so he can try to figure out what was wrong!

Please don’t yell and the traumatized boi(my headcanons for him get saad)

-

R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

He's somewhat romantic, he's really cuddly and loves holding hands and hugging really often, but will tone it down if you don’t like it!

He'd watch your favorite shows/movies and play your favorite games with you whenever you want to make you happy, though he normally ends up getting really into them too!

He's a little cliché but also really creative! A lot of dates with him are at home, like playing games or watching shows/movies and ordering in!

-

Atticus:

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

Despite what you might think, he's a little blunt, if he likes you and thinks you two would do well together when dating he's going to tell you! Preferably where it's a bit more private but you can still just leave if you want to, he doesn’t want to corner you!

-

K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

He's a very good kisser!

Your first kiss with him would be either when you first kiss him or after a date if it's been awhile, though he doesn't want to kiss you on the lips without permission so he'd ask first!

-

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

He forgives his partner after a fight very easily, and decides to figure out what was wrong instead of sit and stew,

Atticus in a fight is not the worst, he does his best to stay calm and not raise his voice so usually fights can get resolved kinda fast!

-

R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

Atticus is very romantic! He's constantly kissing the back of your hand, holding your hand, giving you forehead kisses or kisses on the top of your head, holding doors open for you and all that!(regardless of gender!)

He'd do a lot to make his partner happy! From breakfast in bed to being the one to clean the house, though he prefers splitting chores but he doesn't might helping, besides, everyone has ups and downs and not everyone's 100% looks the same every day!

He's a little cliché, but prefers dinners at home and things like picnics, though he'd happily go out with his partner and do other things like go to the movies or to a restaurant! This man would also go to places like arcades, he doesn't care if people think you two are too old for this! It's fun!

-

[glamoureddreamer]

Lunch

Spooky month (Radford x Reader)

Warnings: none (please let me know if this is wrong)

I hope you all enjoy I hope you all have a great day! Remember to take care of yourselves!

Radford drums a song with his fingers. It‘s a slow day at the movie theater today. On days like these, he just liked to scroll through his phone.

He may be extremely bored but he was thankful for days like these, his friend Kevin seemed to live a life of adventure. Always getting hurt on the job or having a terrible customer. Although he wished he had a coworker so he wasn’t so bored.

He waits for his girlfriend (Y/n) to answer, they had been texting all morning and now she wasn’t texting at all. His mind wandered, had he done something wrong? How would he make it up to her?

He shakes the thoughts out of his head, he knew better than to give in to those thoughts.

Every second felt like an entirety, his drums against the desk started to slow. His eyes felt droopy as he rests his head on his hand. He lets out a yawn, one small nap couldn’t hurt to pass the time.

He was almost fully asleep when someone taps on the glass. He jumps up shaking the sleep out of him.

“I’m sorry-“ He looks up stopping mid-sentence. There stood his girlfriend with a grin, she had two bags of food in her hand.

“If I was a customer I’d be furious with this service.” She jokes, Radford smiles and visibly relaxes.

“(Y/n), I thought you were at work?”

“Yeah, there was an incident so we were allowed to leave early.” She explains walking over to the door. Radford meets her there opening the door for her.

“You okay?” Radford asks a little worried, he pulls her into a hug checking her over.

“Huh?- Oh it was nothing bad, the power just went out, and it's not going to be back on for a while.”

“Oh good.” 

“So, I brought lunch, I figured you needed it.”

“Can you stay here and eat with me,” Radford begs with a smile. “I’m so bored.”

(Y/n) chuckles pulling his food out of the bag, she sets it in front of him on the desk.

“Sure I don’t see why not.” She smiles with a shrug. She sits on his lap.

(Y/n) wraps her arms around Radford’s neck and holds him. Radford eats while rubbing her back gently, both of them rocked back and forth in a comforting motion.

“Your the best (Y/n), I love you.” Radford cuddles her.

“I love you too.” She blushes with a smile.

That made his day a lot better.

[gutzfreak]

↑ gut's intro post ↓

Heyyy im Gut ★ I write fanfics ★ He/They Im new here, so bear with me please :) I take passion in writing x readers! Only for spooky month tho lol Heres a list of rules n guidelines....

WILL DO --------------------- - Fluff - Smut - Angst - character x reader of choice (ex. trans reader, goth reader, etc.) - Headcanons - Things for comfort (like a character taking care of a reader having a breakdown) WONT DO --------------------- - character x character, this is for x readers only - anything that makes me uncomfortable, I'll let you know - Skid x reader, Pump x Reader, Hatzgang members x reader (get out weirdos) - Certain characters like Father Gregor and Mr. Wonder, idk how to write for them. I can do Ignacio tho - Cult Leader skiddad x reader, he would be abusive. I will do carver skiddad though. - Bob x readers, he makes me uncomfortable sorry!! HERE ARE CHARACTERS I WILL DO!! - Kevin - Radford - Rick - Jack - John - Lila - Jaune - Ross's dad - Carmen - Richard - Streber - Ethan - Leon - Aria - Liv - Blaz - Thin Thief - Fat Thief - Captain - Shotgun Aaand thats all!! The characters not listed are characters I wont do, obviously My writing tag will be #gutz writez But I hope to write here a lot, thanks for reading!!

[man-creates-dinosaurs]

For Halloween I decided I wanted to try and write about something spooky that nevertheless still fit in with the overall theme of this blog. To this end I’ve decided to write about the fascinating field of cryptozoology and my own interest in the subject from the time I was in middle school till now and about how my views on the subject have changed and evolved.  Enjoy! CRYPTOZOOLOGY AND ME: A MEMOIR

When I was in middle school I went through a big cryptozoology phase. I chalk this up to a number of cultural influences. At the time my three favorite shows on TV were The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Invader Zim – all heavily steeped in the paranormal. For those who don’t know, cryptozoology refers to “the study of hidden animals” and its coinage is typically attributed to either Bernard Heuvelmans or Ivan T. Sanderson – who I’ll talk about more later on. For all practical purposes however, today the term generally denotes the vocation of “monster hunter” with the prize quarries being such legendary creatures as Bigfoot and the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster and other lake monsters including Champ the Lake Champlain monster and  Ogopogo of Lake Okanagan, sea serpents, living dinosaurs such as the Mokèlé-mbèmbé – an alleged sauropod living in the African Congo – or the Ropen – a bioluminescent pterosaur inhabiting Papua New Guinea – , as well as such decidedly weirder and less biologically plausible creatures as the Jersey Devil, Mothman and the Chupacabra.

As a kid I read all the major cryptozoological authors: Bernard Heuvelmans (On the Track of Unknown Animals, 1955), Ivan T. Sanderson (Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life, 1961), Loren Coleman (Field Guide To Bigfoot, Yeti, & Other Mystery Primates Worldwide, 1999), Jerome Clark (Unexplained! 2nd Ed., 1998), Coleman and Clark (Cryptozoology A To Z, 1999), Karl P.N. Shuker (From Flying Toads to Snakes with Wings, 1997), John A. Keel (The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings, 1994), Janet and Colin Bord (Alien Animals, 1981) and Brad Stiger (Out Of The Dark: The Complete Guide to Beings from Beyond, 2001). I also had a well-read copy of W. Haden Blackman’s The Field Guide to North American Monsters (1998) and readily consumed every cryptozoological related documentary or program that came on TV from Animal Planet’s Animal-X to Discovery’s X-Creatures – you can see the influence the X-Files had on pop-culture here! – to The History Channel’s History’s Mysteries.

Looking back on all this I’m not sure how much I really believed that cryptids – the nickname cryptozoologists use for the monsters they track – actually existed. But like many proponents of the paranormal I think it’s fair to say that, at the time, I had a very open mind about all of this.

It may also come as a surprise to many readers to learn that among the various cryptids my favorite wasn’t any of the alleged living dinosaurs or other supposed prehistoric survivors but rather Mothman. I don’t know what it was about the story of the Mothman that so fully captivated me. I think it must have been how utterly alien the creature seemed. By the time I was in middle school dinosaurs, pterosaurs, prehistoric marine reptiles, dragons and even giant bipedal apes were a pretty common part of my imaginary menagerie thanks to lifetime of consuming books and movies about dinosaurs. However until I read Keel’s 1994 book I had never heard of anything even remotely resembling a Mothman.

Today Mothman seems fairly well integrated into contemporary pop-culture – there was even a 2002 film starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney, though it did admittedly bomb upon its release – but for those who are unfamiliar here’s the basic gist as it has come down in the paranormal literature and is still being recounted to this day: Beginning roughly in November of 1966, citizens of the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia – located along the Ohio River – began reporting sightings of a creature which was described as a humanoid being with black/grey skin, red glowing eyes and a pair of giant bat-like wings which came out of its back. This gargoyle-like creature – which the local media would eventually dub “The Mothman” – was seen by dozens of eyewitnesses, usually in passing, though in one dramatic early encounter was said to have chased four young adults who were driving in excess of 100 mph down a deserted road. The sightings eventually came to an end nearly one year later in December of 1967 coinciding with the collapse of the area Silver Gate Bridge which killed 46 people. Many paranormalists, and even some cryptozoologists, have attempted to link the creature with the bridge collapse claiming that Mothman acts as a kind of harbinger of impending catastrophes.

By the summer of 2002 I was so obsessed with the story of the Mothman that I convinced my parents to stop by the town of Point Pleasant during our summer vacation to Niagara Falls. I wanted to see the town where Mothman had appeared. This would turn out to be a poignant trip for me because while on it I acquired the book Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend (2002) by Donnie Sergent Jr. and Jeff Wamsley. Sergent Jr. and Wamsley were Point Pleasant locals who had undertaken the arduous task of combing through local and state newspaper archives and locating the original Mothman newspaper reports which they then reprinted – alongside original eyewitness statements, police reports, and letters exchanged between Keel and locals – in their book. Sergent Jr. and Wamsley don’t attempt to make any argument about what the Mothman was or wasn’t, their book is simply a collection of primary source documents about the phenomena which unfolded in Point Pleasant between ’66 and ’67. Being able to go back to the original reports and read them for myself had a profound impact on me because it demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Mothman… was a bird. In the original newspaper reports and statements delivered by eyewitnesses the creature which came to be known as Mothman is repeatedly described as a bird. It does not have the body of a man but rather is described as being as tall as one. It does not have red glowing eyes but is rather described as having red markings around its eyes. It does not have leathery bat-like wings but rather feathers and wings like a bird. In some accounts it is even described as having long skinny legs and a beak! In a few cases eyewitnesses describe seeing multiple creatures together in a flock standing in a field or a clutch of trees before flying away. Many witnesses - including those aforementioned scared twenty-somethings who claimed Mothman chased them down a road - reported that the creature produced a high-pitch squeaking sound. What these people are describing is likely a flock of sandhill cranes which stand six-feet-tall, have grey feathers, bright red patches around their eyes and as for the sound they make: just listen. Sandhill cranes are not native to West Virginia but do migrate down the Mississippi River making it conceivable that a flock could have gotten blown off course and ended up in Point Pleasant where they proceeded to scare the daylights out of locals unfamiliar with such large, odd-looking birds. Another possibility is that some sightings of Mothman were of a snowy owl, which is also uncommon in West Virginia. However as documented in Sergent Jr. and Wamsley’s book in December of ’66 several news outlets reported that a local farmer had killed just such an owl. It is worth noting that after this, sightings of the Mothman largely fell off and were replaced by reports of UFOs (which in all likelihood were, pardon the cliché but I’m being dead serious here, weather balloons). A few sightings that occurred in the area during the summer of ’67 appear to have been the result of common turkey vultures. What this means is that contrary to what the paranormalists like to claim the Mothman ‘flap’ did not occur over a 12-month period but only for about three months at the end of ’66/start of ’67 and was certainly the result of people seeing unusually large birds in the area.

However what Sergent Jr. and Wamsley’s book also demonstrated via their reprinting of sci-fi TV screenwriter turned paranormal investigator John Keel’s private letters with local residents was that Keel was actively manipulating information and witnesses in order to have their accounts match the scenario he had envisioned in which the small town of Point Pleasant played host to a virtual invasion of flying saucers and alien monsters portending the disaster which was the Silver Bridge collapse. Keel initially presented these ideas in a streamlined manner in a chapter for his 1970 book Strange Creatures From Time and Space which he would revise in 1994 as his cryptozoological/UFOlogical “encyclopedia” The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings. Between that time Keel wrote a more extensive version of the Mothman incident as he saw it in the form of a sundry mish-mash of paranormal potpourri that was his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies. Today more people know Keel’s version of the events then they do the actual eyewitnesses’ and while Keel’s books captivated me as a middle schooler nowadays I find them more than a little cringe worthy. Keel was vehemently anti-science, anti-academia, never cited his sources and often embellished and exaggerated events to make them read better.

The same year I became convinced that Mothman was just a misidentified bird I also encountered the magazine Skeptical Inquirer at a local Barnes & Noble. The cover story was “Evaluating 50 Years of Bigfoot Evidence” by researcher Benjamin Radford. I got the magazine and in six short pages Radford had disabused me of any notion that Bigfoot might exist. A final encounter with marine biologist Richard Ellis’ book Monsters of the Sea (1994) on a trip to the library convinced me that sea serpents and lake monsters were also likewise nothing more than figments of mankind’s imagination. My fascination with cryptozoology now thoroughly deflated I redirected by interests back towards world mythology and folklore; a path which eventually led to me obtaining two degrees in Religious Studies and teaching in the field.

I didn’t think much more about cryptozoology during my time in college with a few exceptions. In grad school I took a class on the paranormal in American culture and had to read the book Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture (2011) by Christopher Bader, Frederick Carson Mencken, and Joseph O. Baker. I ended up having a lot of issues with the trio of scholar’s methodology – for example the fact that they seemed willing to accept certain claims made by cryptozoologists at face value such as the idea that Native American lore is full of descriptions of Bigfoot-like creatures: it isn’t – but one point they do make and make well is that the kind of spin-doctor treatment employed by Keel when writing about the Mothman is rampant within the field of cryptozoology and goes all the way back to its very founders.

As mentioned at the top, the coining of the term cryptozoology is generally ascribed to either Bernard Heuvelmans or Ivan T. Sanderson. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1911, Sanderson attended Cambridge University where he obtained a BA in zoology and later an MA in both botany and ethnology. For a while Sanderson worked as a science popularizer penning articles and appearing on TV with live animals. However, beginning in the 1940s Sanderson developed an interest in the paranormal in general and cryptids in particular – especially Bigfoot and the Yeti – and began writing about such topics fulltime; mostly for pulp-style men’s adventure magazines. As detailed by Joshua Blu Buhs in his book Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend (2009), while Sanderson certainly seemed to believe that Bigfoot and the Yeti existed he nevertheless didn’t hold most Bigfoot eyewitnesses in high regard, which is to say nothing of his low opinion of his fellow Bigfoot researches. Despite such misgivings however Sanderson knew what his reader’s did and didn’t want to hear and as a result spun stories in which less than reputable eyewitnesses became upstanding citizens, crazy sounding sightings were reworked into more feasible narratives, and credulous cryptid hunters became competent men of action.

In 1948 one of Sanderson’s articles on the possibility of living dinosaurs caught the attention of Heuvelmans; a Belgian-French zoologist who had earned his PhD from the Free University of Brussels studying mammal dentition. Like Sanderson, Heuvelmans became enraptured by the idea of cryptids and spent the rest of his life writing articles and books on the subject. Two of these books, On the Track of Unknown Animals (1955) and In the Wake of Sea Serpents (1965), were especially influential and worked to establish what would become the overarching methodology of all cryptozoologists. The first of these, employed in On the Track, is what paleontologist Darren Naish has dubbed the “prehistoric survivor paradigm.” Simply put this approach advocates that when attempting to identify an alleged mystery animal the first route one should take is finding a prehistoric animal which superficially matches the description of said mystery animal and proclaiming it the creature you’re looking for. Application of the “prehistoric survivor paradigm” is widespread in cryptozoology with Bigfoot and the Yeti being identified as Gigantopithecus – an extinct species of giant ape similar to an orangutan from Southeast Asia –, sea serpents and lake monsters being dubbed extant plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, mosasaurs, Pleistocene era whales like basilosaurus and in the case of cryptozoologist Dennis Hall a long necked Triassic era reptile known as tanystropheus, supposed giant Thunderbirds being claimed as either pterosaurs or surviving members of a clade of large North American vultures known as Teratorns, and legendary African dragons being seen as evidence of living dinosaurs. In one remarkable case Heuvelmans even proposed that the Australian cryptid feline known as the Queensland Tiger might be an extinct species of marsupial known as the thylacoleo. Thylacoleo means “pouch lion” but the lion part of the name is metaphorical not literal since in life the thylacoleo would have looked more like a giant wombat then a tiger.

The problem with the “prehistoric survivor paradigm” should be self-evident. Namely that the animals in question are extinct, in most cases by many millions of years. Proposing that a supposed mystery animal is a relic from some bygone era is a bit like a detective assuming that a mugger who a witness describes as being a tall Caucasian male with dark eyes and a beard must be Abraham Lincoln simply because he matches certain aspects of the witness’s description. Cryptozoologists of course love to point to the case of the coelacanth; a Cretaceous era fish believed extinct until living ones were discovered in 1938 in the West Indian Ocean. However this prehistoric fish is something of a red herring. It is one thing to lose track of a fish in the fossil record. It is another entirely to claim that large marine and terrestrial animals such as dinosaurs could somehow survive for millions of years without leaving any evidence.      

In the advent that the “prehistoric survivor paradigm” should fail, Heuvelmans’ second approach was to simply makeup an animal. This is what he does with wild abandon in his In the Wake of Sea Serpents. Have an eyewitness who claims to have seen an animal swimming in the water with brown fur, a long neck and tail, webbed feet and a horse-like head? No problem! This is clearly a description of an unknown species of giant long-necked, long-faced otter! Heuvelmans does this throughout Sea Serpents going as far as to invent nine whole new species of undiscovered sea monster. As Buhs notes in his Bigfoot book, Heuvelmans appears to have operated under the peculiar belief that as long as one could describe an animal so that it sounded scientifically plausible then that was enough to assume that it likely existed! Modern cryptozoologists still operate under this rubric. Loren Coleman, the most prominent cryptozoologist alive today and curator of the International Cryptozoology Museum located in Portland, Maine, follows Heuvelmans’ example perfectly in his 1999 Field Guide To Bigfoot, Yeti, & Other Mystery Primates Worldwide co-authored by Patrick Huyghe and illustrated by Harry Trumbore. In this book, Coleman proposes the existence of a dozen different species of unknown hominid ranging from extant Gigantopithecus and Neanderthals, huge “devil-monkeys,” swamp dwelling Skunk Apes, fairy-tale style “True Giants” and even a type of semi-aquatic species of primate with webbed claws and spines which he believes may be responsible for reports of the chupacabra – who we will come back to shortly.

Despite the fact that Heuvelmans and Sanderson’s methods were scientifically unsound, scores of self-professed cryptozoologists continue to use them to this day. And as Benjamin Radford notes in his book Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction and Folklore (2011) whenever the claim that cryptids are merely cultural constructions is raised cryptozoologists immediately point back to the alleged eyewitness testimony: the bread and butter of cryptozoology. People don’t have eyewitnesses encounters with cultural constructs they say. Except for the fact that they do. Human perception and recollection is extremely unreliable. People get confused, forget, misremember, make mistakes and unknowingly fabricate details even about some of the most commonplace and important events in their lives. With regards to seeing something that isn’t really there, a classic example is the case of the escaped red panda of the Netherlands’ Rotterdam Zoo in 1978. After news got out that one of the zoo’s red pandas had escaped its enclosure hundreds of eyewitness sightings from across the country poured in. Suddenly people were seeing red pandas everywhere and anywhere. Eventually zookeepers found the animal and determined that it had not traveled outside the zoo’s immediate vicinity. How then does one account for the multiple eyewitness sightings of the animal? Merely that people upon hearing about the escaped red panda became primed and expected to see it and so did. This same phenomena happens when people travel to places like the woods of the Pacific Northwest or Loch Ness. Because they’ve heard the legend of Bigfoot and Nessie they now expect – even if only subconsciously – to encounter the monster and as a result any unusual sight or sound becomes the beast. This is what celebrated folklorist Bill Ellis refers to as “Legend Tripping.”

Of course in some instances people actually do see some animal they can’t identify, but then we’re back to the sandhill crane in Point Pleasant. A former colleague of mine, Alan Rauch who specializes in the area of animals and their representations in literature and popular-culture, often speaks about the issue of “animal illiteracy” among the general public. The simple fact of the matter is that most people are not particularly familiar with the numerous creatures that inhabit this planet alongside us outside of those few domesticated animals we keep as pets or on farms and those celebrity animals found in zoos and aquariums like lions, elephants, gorillas, giraffes, dolphins, whales, etc... And many are also unfamiliar with the full capabilities of many animals. For example, few people seem to know that bears can move about on their hind legs, that moose and deer are excellent swimmers or that alligators are adept at climbing. The issue of animal illiteracy is undoubtedly responsible for a great many alleged cryptid sightings as was demonstrated in 2010 when a video posted online of a great frigatebird was mistaken by many Americans as footage of a pterosaur!

Once instances of legend tripping and animal illiteracy have been removed the small numbers of supposed cryptid sightings that remain often tend to be so outlandish as to raise serious doubts about their legitimacy. A good example of this is the case of the original chupacabra eyewitness Madelyne Tolentino; a Puerto Rican woman with an interest in UFOs and conspiracy theories who claimed that she encountered a creature identical to the monster from the movie SPIECIES (1995, Dir. Roger Donaldson) which she had just recently watched. Not only does Tolentino claim that she encountered this creature but that she was able to observe minute details about its anatomy – such as a lack of genitals – even though she was a considerable distance from it and that it levitated and communicated with her telepathically. She also claims that this was only the first of two chupacabra encounters that she had with the second occurring while she was taking a taxi across town! Despite the fact that Tolentino claims to have had two other eyewitnesses with her at the time of her first encounter no one has been able to corroborate her story, though her husband did at one point claim he was in possession of “chupacabra slime” similar in appearance to the ectoplasm seen in the movie GHOSTBUSTERS (1984, Dir. Ivan Reitman) though he could never produce the actual substance for anyone to see. Radford, in his aforementioned book Tracking the Chupacabra, concludes that if Tolentino is not perpetuating a hoax then she is likely a victim of confabulation; a psychiatric disorder in which a person loses the ability to distinguish between fact and fiction as evidenced by Tolentino’s conviction that the monster and events from the movie SPIECIES are real. Of course, even the most dyed in the wool cryptozoologists realize how ridiculous a story like Tolentino’s sounds, and so in the tradition of Sanderson and Keel will judiciously edit the tale when relating it in books and articles on the chupacabra removing inconvenient details and instead making it sound as if Tolentino merely had an eyewitness encounter with a strange animal.  

In wrapping up, I want to talk about what renewed my interest in cryptozoology. As stated before, after the boom and bust cycle of my middle school years I didn’t think much about cryptids. I don’t regret the time I spent looking into the subject however because I love monsters and because I believe that learning about cryptozoology and then learning to recognize the flaws inherent in cryptozoological methodology as outlined above helped me to develop critical thinking and research skills that served me well as I began to peruse a degree in Religious Studies – an academic field where researchers are often confronted with many issues similar to those found in cryptozoology (i.e. the importance of primary source documents, the unreliability of eyewitness testimony, the deliberate and accidental blurring of fact and fiction, etc…)

Then in 2010/2011 I discovered the podcast Monster Talk (tagline: “The Science Show About Monsters”) hosted by Blake Smith with co-hosts Karen Stollznow and, for the first few years, Benjamin Radford. As Blake has explained many times over the years the idea behind Monster Talk was to do a show on cryptozoology and the paranormal that amounted to more than just wide-eyed mystery mongering. To this end Monster Talk is firmly rooted in science and academic scholarship. Each episode focuses on a particular topic with special guests called in to speak on specific matters. These guests are not only fascinating to listen to but have also provided me with a wealth of new reading material including such books and papers as Robert E. Bartholomew’s The Untold Story of Champ: A Social History of America's Loch Ness Monster (2012), Robert Lebling’s Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar (2011), Matt Alt and Hiroko Yoda’s Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide (2012), Christopher Josiffe’s article on Gef the Talking Mongoose, Joe Laycock and Natalia Mikels’ work on the connection between Nessie and Buddhism, and Brian Regal’s fascinating research on the history of the Jersey Devil. And now is a great time to be interested in critical approaches to cryptozoology too with multiple excellent books available. Two that come highly recommended are Darren Naish’s Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths (2017) and Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids (2012) by Daniel Loxton and Donald Prothero.

To be clear, the aim of Monster Talk is not to ridicule cryptozoologists or those who believe or even just have an interest in such creatures but rather to try and separate history from legend and to do so with nary an ounce of cynicism about the subject matter. The hosts of Monster Talk are not doing this show because they think monsters are dumb. They clearly love monsters. It’s just that they believe (as I do) that it’s important to remain aware of where fact ends and fiction begins, and that often time truth is indeed far stranger than fiction.     

Image: Acclaimed sci-fi and fantasy painter Frank Frazetta’s art which adorned the first cover for John A. Keel’s Strange Creatures from Time and Space (1970).                

[sunny6677]

Photography.

A Spooky Month x Reader.

Summary:

2010, September 29th.

In the late month of September, Y/N L/N decides to move back to a town they visited once in the past-with their old friend Radford helping them out with certain difficulties.

However, at midnight a few days later-Y/N decides to go out late at night without realizing how late it is, with the sole intention of using a camera they're particularly sentimental about. But they end up running into some rather spooky company-who end up being the cause of the many faces they end up meeting.

PROLOGUE PT 3: Photo Frames.

————

"Uhhhh.. hey!"

Radford exclaimed, quickly letting his head face the box yet again. Bending bis arm back, he slowly reached into the wide but delicate space.

Y/N's eyes trailed over his slim hand as it fumbled around briefly in the shadows—before finally shooting back. Held in his hand right then was a photo frame.

"Why don't we—take out some of your photos? We can even look over them if you want!"

"..look over them?" I repeated. "Radford, why would I wanna do that? We're supposed to be unpacking."

"C'mon—it wouldn't hurt!" He giggled, "We can just look over them real quick and get back to unpacking some of the other stuff!"

Radford blinked, letting the photo he had in his hands drift closer to his chest. He arched a brow, laughing, "Heh—why do you have a photo of a bunch of trees?"

"A bunch of trees?" I repeated.

Though upon letting my eyes scan over the photo, I quickly realized what he was talking about. Dark wood stretched so high up you couldn't even see the puffs of green that must have been on it. A field of soft green grass right below it.

I blinked a few times, feeling my lips give a slight curl of a frown. "Oh. Uh.. I—I dunno. I just sort of.. wanted to take a picture of them."

Radford, with an oblivious smile still on the side of his face, lowered his hand to the wooden ground. The photo frame didn't land harshly, but it landed with a slightly loud thud that made me flinch. I heard the metal of its frame clank against the floor.

My heart began to quicken slightly within my chest, and I spoke softly. "..Ra—Radford."

Within a few seconds, his hands appeared to now be holding another photo frame. This time, it was a photo of—

"What's this one for?"

"..uh.. nothing. It's, uh.."

..It was a small frame of a bright blue void with puffs of white hung from above, with the faint silhouette of a bird flying overhead. The sun that shone from the corner of the photo made a shadow be cast by the creature—but whatever it was appeared to be small, and it's feathers were a bright red color.

Looking at the photo, I.. I wasn't sure why, but my heart began to beat a little more. "Can—can you just.. give it to me?"

"Uh.. yeah! Just gimme a sec. These look kinda sick." Said Radford quickly. Rapid as a bullet, his hand lowered to the floor again, placing the photo frame on top of the other one he had practically slammed onto the ground.

At the sound of it clanking against the other photo frame, I flinched again. A more puzzled look began to appear on my face. Why was he so interested in these photos anyway? I didn't even know he had an interest in this kind of thing. If.. if he had any at all.

Radford laughed to himself—fumbling a little with another photo frame, before lifting it up into his hands.

This time, the photo was of.. a black void. With specks of white scattered all across it. It was a sight I'd.. grown used to. Well, of course I had. I was a human being. And there was a day and night cycle.

The more my eyes lingered over the photo, I felt something weirdly.. heavy begin to dwell within my chest, and I wasn't exactly sure why.

I felt a lump in my throat, and I swallowed.

Radford only looked over it for a few moments, not really bothering to say anything this time. For right then as he looked, his eyes flickered over to the box again, and this time he just sort of.. stared.

Before I could speak, he tilted his head. "Uh.. hey, what's this doing in here?"

I tried to open my mouth in response, wanting to know of what he meant. "What do you—"

And.. then I saw it. Upon seeing it, I.. just sort of froze. Stiffened.

It.. was like time stopped. Just looking at the small item itself. The item itself was a small, sticky figurine of a snake. The snake was looped around, and with its jaw closed over its own tail, it appeared to actually be in some kind of loop.

Then—Radfords hand lifted up, and he began to reach foward into the box. His palm opened. He was—he was heading directly for it.

"Is this supposed to be from a movie or something?"

"Wait, no—don't!"

Without thinking, my hand just.. sort of shot foward on its own. I really—I really don't know. I'm sorry. It just.. happened on its own. I shouldn't have done it—but..

My hand opened itself, and with only the force of a shove, I practically smacked Radfords hand away. It.. well, I only intended to push his hand away. I processed the sound of my own skin smacking against his own, which practically rang throughout the entire area like a dramatic echo.

Radfords arm drew back like an animal cowering—his hand drooping downward. Immediately, my gaze flickered up to his face. I.. I saw his now wide eyes almost immediately shift, stuck on me with such worry. His mouth was completely parted.

As his gaze lingered over me, I felt my eyes go wide. It felt like the more his gentle eyes looked into my own, the more I felt a knife of guilt begin to pierce into my soul.

I didn't understand. A strange numbness washed over my skin.

"..du—dude, are you okay?"

..only then as he asked that did I finally notice the shaky breaths begging to escape my mouth.

I was stuck. Looking into his panicked gaze. I raised my brows, letting my pupils flicker to my lap.

"..I.."

I paused.

"I'm not.. sure."

..silence drifted in the air, and I let out a sigh. My palm lifted itself to my face. I felt my fingers clench onto the bridge of my nose as I grumbled.

..feeling something gentle wrap around my shoulder, and the sensation of something warm brushing against me, I swallowed down a lump in my throat.

"I'm—" I let my face lift up from my palm. "I'm sorry. I don't.. I don't know what's come over me."

"No—you're.. you're good! What—" His voice softened, "Is.. is something going on?"

I tried to speak.

"..it's.." I found myself pausing, "..no. No. I'm fine. I just—don't.. don't touch that, okay? It's.. it's important. Really important."

"..oh."

"..."

"..hey. I'm.. sorry. It's—kinda hard to cheer you up when I'm not really sure what's bothering you. Are you sure you can handle unpacking stuff with me?"

"..yes. I'm sure. It's just—hard to look at some of this stuff is all."

..Radfords gaze shifted from me, to the box. And so did mine. I let myself just.. look at the small snake.

"..God, I'm.." I sighed. "Again, I'm—I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's fine. We can make this work!" I heard Radford say from beside me, "Let's just—try unpacking everything as fast as we can, okay? If you don't wanna look at some of this stuff, then we can just unpack stuff without saying anything!"

"..maybe."

"..why'd you pack it if you have such a hard time looking at it anyway?"

"..it's.." I trailed off. "..it's just.. something you wouldn't understand. It's really hard to.. just get rid of things sometimes."

"..."

Radfords grasp around my shoulder tightened, and I saw him smile from in the corner of my eye. "..hey. I'm.. I'm at least glad you felt like you'd be comfortable with me helping you. Even if it is hard for you to look at all of this."

..awkwardly, I gave him a weak smile in return. "..thanks, Radford."

"...here."

..curious of what he was about to do, I looked. He grabbed a fabric I had placed inside of the box, and—slowly—he placed it in front of his eyes.

"I can make this into a blindfold! Then I don't have to see your stuff."

"..a.. blindfold?"

"..yeah! Heh.. or.. is that just stupid?"

"..."

My lips slowly turned upward, and a soft snicker began to escape my mouth. The heavy sensation I felt in my chest turned into something more tingly.

"..hahah.. yeah. Kinda. Haha.."

As I laughed, he slowly lowered the fabric from his face, momentarily frowning—but gaining a slightly wobbly smile in return.

I let my hand reach up to my socket, and I wiped away a tear that had already been begging to seep out.

"..alright, let's just.. try to keep unpacking things for real this time. Maybe it's better we just don't say a word at all with how I've ruined plenty conversation already."

"Heh.. don't worry, man. You haven't ruined anything at all. Let's just put up the rest of the photos now, okay? Then we can get to the other boxes."

"..yeah. Heh. Okay."

..Radford didn't tear his gaze from off of me, blinking a few moments more. Before he lifted one of his slim hands, his fists slowly balling up. Gently, he moved it closer to me with a larger smile than before.

I had already moved my hands back into the box, grabbing one of the other photo frames and setting it to the wooden ground as softly as I could. Noticing his fist, I arched a brow. "..what?"

"C'mon! We should at least bro fist before cleaning right? Movies usually have that as kinda like a transition thing before cleaning montages and stuff.."

"..is this gonna make you clean faster or something?"

"..maybe."

..I rolled my eyes, still smiling.

"..heh.. alright."

So, reluctantly, I let my arm lift itself up—and balling up my aching fist, I gently knocked my knuckles against Radfords own.

[sunny6677]

Photography.

A Spooky Month x Reader.

PROLOGUE PT 1: September.

Summary:

In the late month of September, Y/N L/N decides to move back to a town they visited once in the past—with their old friend Radford helping them out with certain difficulties.

However, at midnight a few days later—Y/N decides to go out late at night without realizing how late it is, with the sole intention of using a camera they're particularly sentimental about. But they end up running into some rather spooky company—who end up being the cause of the many faces they end up meeting.

————

LOG DATE: [REDACTED]

Upon doing further investigation of that forest near the house on the hill, we found the sight of deceased [REDACTED], along with different symbols depicted on trees and stones. And certain messages we couldn't decipher. There apprared to be a long, thin passage that the man in that red robe must have left there. But it's in Latin—and as of now, we know of no officers who can understand Latin speech, so we are yet to know what any of it means until we get a translator.

However, on one particular stone, there was something else. Written in [REDACTED], there was simply written:

"Adhuc hic sum."

There will be further investigation done around the area shortly.

—————

"Sedonah, Arizona. Harboring mysterious dissapearances of children for decades. Even now, there's yet to be found an answer about any of these strange dissapearances or vanishings. And even the towns authorities appear to not know of why this always seems to happen."

An image of a strange red robe displayed itself on screen.

"However—could this strange red robe that was found shortly after the vanishing of a recent child in the town be the answer to this mystery? Could this lead to an investigation that may finally solve this once and for all?"

"We will have to see—"

Then, a hand slammed against the top half of the television box. Before I knew it, the displayed screen was gone.

In response, I stayed quiet.

..slowly, she turned to look at me—her hand still on the set as she sighed.

"Don't.. listen to this type of stuff, honey. It probably isn't good for you to be hearing about this."

I paused, swallowing. But I understood. And I nodded.

"..okay, mama."

~~~~~~

..it's beautiful out here.

That's what I think anyway, looking out on all of these different sorts of houses in the late sunlight. The architecture average, but still somehow admirable. The moment I had driven here, I felt the same warmth I did from my last visit. That same, sweat producing, overwhelming heat.

And even now as I admire the dark green front yards and divergent structures of the part of the neighborhood I'm in, I can't help but feel as if I'm drowning it. As if the very sun itself were taking its hands out and wrapping it around my thin/large neck.

Slowly, clenching the small plastic device of a camera in my hands, I lifted my head and let myself look at the building before my eyes. I heard something buzzing but quickly fading into silence. The sound of chattering and.. yelling. I saw people in blue uniforms walking in, and out of the house with boxes held in their gloved hands.

I heard rumbling, I smelt the scent of vehicle exhaust. It was.. a rather a boring scene. Simply being helped by a company to move into my new house. I had already helped move some boxes into my own house, but after a while.. they just sort of insisted that I sit this out. Perhaps I was just that weak. Perhaps I was holding them back.

..the house looked pretty in the sunlight like this.

I lifted the camera that was in my hands, and nudging my thumb against the button, I pressed it—making sure it got a good view of the house.

The shutter went off.

————

"Er.. thank you. For—you know, doing all of this."

I said with a nervous smile, chuckling softly as the sunglasses-wearing woman in the front part of the moving van just stared blankly back at me.

"It's no problem. Just make sure to give us a call if you ever need to move somewhere else."

"..I.. I will. Uh—"

I stammered, trying to think of anything else to see. But seeing how no words really met my mouth, I could only manage to flatly get out, "Well.. take care."

"You too." She huffed out.

I began to turn around, letting the winds of the warm day brush against me—even now, I couldn't talk to people normally. I didn't really understand what was with me even now. I can't even talk to people properly without coming off as some sort of—

..oh. Right. You don't know who I am, do you? Uh.. well—

"Heyyyy! Y/N!"

..I turned my head. And in a vehicle that began to slowly pull up behind the blue and white moving van, I saw a blonde-headed man with a slightly silly grin on his face.

And seeing his grin, I made a half-smile. Still—my eyes went kind of wide too. I didn't really need to be surprised. I knew he was gonna be here.

As loudly as I could, I called out while the vehicle he was in began to slow a little more and park behind the van.

"Uh.. hey, Radford. How come you're here so early? I didn't think you'd show up right now."

"Heh—I'm off for a couple weeks! Didn't I tell you?"

"Well—no. You didn't. But—it's.. nice to see you again. How—how long has it been since I was last here anyway?"

"Heh—only 2 years. Don't worry though! It's not like much has changed since your last visit here. You should get used to living here just fine!"

"..mh. Maybe. If I can even find a job around here."

"You'll find that too! There's.. actually a lot of jobs open around here already. Anyway—you ready to unpack?"

I paused, flickering my gaze momentarily to the house, and then back at him.

"Uh.. yeah. I am."

————

"Woah—this is a lotta stuff, man. You sure you got most of this?"

"Yeah.. I'm sure. I wouldn't wanna make you do all the work for stuff that isn't even yours."

I looked down at the several boxes before us on the white tiled flooring, letting out a short sigh as the cool conditioning swelled against my flushed skin. "..now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have spent all that time taking so much stuff."

"Well—hey! Gotta take what you gotta take right?" Grinned Radford.

"..yeah, sure. Whatever that means." I quietly looked down at the floor, humming to myself and placing my hand beneath my chin.

"Well—" I sighed. "If we want this to be at least a bit easier, we might as well start by taking out the bigger stuff first and then moving them so you aren't stuck here til midnight."

"Eh—maybe. I don't think it'll take that long though—not like we're moving durniture or anything. Uh—here!"

Radford bent down, pointing to one smaller box on the ground. "Why don't we start with this one?"

I set my eyes on it. It was a box that was simply marked in permanent marker writing:

"Decorations"

I looked at it for a moment.

"..er.. sure. Why not."

"Alright—let's do it!"

I felt a sharp pain suddenly rise in my arm as he raised his hand into the air, his fist roughly nudging against my shoulder in the process. Well.. not really nudging me. Hitting me, actually.

"Wh—ow!"

"Oh—shit! Sorry—I didn't.. I didn't know you were that close. Are—are you okay?"

"Yeah. It's.. it's fine." I shook my head, lifting my other hand and rubbing my shoulder. "I sort of knew you'd—"

I paused. "..nevermind."

I let out a sigh, attempting to step foward.

"Let's just get everything ready before I hurt myself furt—"

..I winced.

"..h-hkkk.."

"Wh—What? What is it, dude?"

..slowly, I looked down where I felt a sharp pain in my toe, and I raised my foot.

There was a nail. Protruding from the floorboard.

[the-comfort-den]

New characters!

I have more spooky month characters for asksss

I am still burnt out so I’ll be a bit slow- and maybe out of order, but i still liivvveee

Characters:

John, Jack, Rick, Radford, Richard, Carmen, Captain, Shotgun, Mark(Fat thief), Harold(Thin thief), Easten(Candydealer), Frank, Atticus(Skid's dad), Ignacio, Dexter(human only),

[glamoureddreamer]

Holding you

Spooky month (Radford x M!Reader)

Warnings: none (please let me know if this is wrong)

Thank you everyone! I hope you all have a fantastic day and a great night!

Radford wraps his non-busy arm around his boyfriend’s waist and Radford pulls him closer. (Y/n) chuckles quietly as he shifted his head on Radford’s chest.

“Don’t you need both hands to play this game?” Radford smiles with a shrug.

“I’ll figure it out, I like holding you.” (Y/n) sighs happily.

“Funny because I like being held.” He whispered.

Radford pecks the top of his head, causing him to die in his game. He lets out a small curse and a laugh.

After a while, Radford noticed his boyfriend had fallen silent as well as motionless.

“(Y/n)?” He looked down at him, pausing his game.

(Y/n) fell asleep on him. His chest slowly rose and sunk and soft breaths left his mouth.

Radford smiles, he gently takes (Y/n) and moves them both so they could lay down and cuddle.

“I love you so much (Y/n).” He whispered as he positions them so that he was on his back and (Y/n) was on his stomach, face in his neck.

Radford wraps both of his arms around the other's waist and continues to play his game.

Being mindful of his sleeping boyfriend.

[sunny6677]

Photography.

A Spooky Month x Reader.

Summary:

2010, September 29th.

In the late month of September, Y/N L/N decides to move back to a town they visited once in the past-with their old friend Radford helping them out with certain difficulties.

However, at midnight a few days later-Y/N decides to go out late at night without realizing how late it is, with the sole intention of using a camera they're particularly sentimental about. But they end up running into some rather spooky company-who end up being the cause of the many faces they end up meeting.

[sunny6677]

Photography.

A Spooky Month x Reader.

Summary:

In the late month of September, Y/N L/N decides to move back to a town they visited once in the past—with their old friend Radford helping them out with certain difficulties.

However, at midnight a few days later—Y/N decides to go out late at night without realizing how late it is, with the sole intention of using a camera they're particularly sentimental about. But they end up running into some rather spooky company—who end up being the cause of the many faces they end up meeting.

[sunny6677]

Photography.

A Spooky Month x Reader.

Summary:

In the late month of September, Y/N L/N decides to move back to a town they visited once in the past—with their old friend Radford helping them out with certain difficulties.

However, at midnight a few days later—Y/N decides to go out late at night without realizing how late it is, with the sole intention of using a camera they're particularly sentimental about. But they end up running into some rather spooky company—who end up being the cause of the many faces they end up meeting.